Sweeping the Nation: "The Elders"

Well this week was about normal, or not. Depends on what you think is normal, I guess. Some part of me thinks it's normal to walk around and ask people about their personal relationship to an Almighty Being who is their Father, but apparently it's not as normal as I think... It's still been a good week though! :)

Last Monday, was basically just did logistical stuff for the four man. We went emailing (had to take care of some for the Zone Leaders because they were inside) and then bought groceries for all of us. We basically barely got everything done before we went to an eating appointment (first one of the transfer!) at the Vestbø's! I just love their family! Bjarne and Jeanett have four boys, the oldest of which is 18 (then 17 and then some in the almost preteen age). Both the parents served missions (England or Ireland) and they're just studs! I talked mostly with Jeanett, and she reminds me a lot of a family friend I had growing up! (Lisa Huff) She's just fun and you feel loved around her, but she'll joke with you too! Their family is just fun to be with!

On Tuesday, we had a lesson with Rosa! We weren't able to find any members to come, but the Fonnesbecks (the married couple missionaries in Fredericia) were able to come with us! The lesson got a little off track because of Ældste Fonnesbeck, but Rosa still like us being there and commited to coming to church!! She's now planning on coming next Sunday, the 4th of March. After that we went knocking and just got shut down over and over. There was a guy that we were trying to follow through a locked door, but he specifically closed it as I tried to stick my foot in. So that was fun! ;)

Wednesday was another bike ride up to Cedervej to visit Alexander! We had knocked into him a while ago, but haven't been able to meet because he was in København. We taught him a little more about why the Book of Mormon is relevant for us today and he was actually really happy about it! He makes sure he understands everything and asks questions if he doesn't!! It's awesome! He did say he has some doubt, but he's trying to identify why so we can address it! He's just amazing! After the lesson we talked about scouts (Spejder) and he showed us his uniform! It was pretty cool! The rest of the day was also just knocking, but nothing too special.

Thursday was pretty long. We had District Meeting that morning, which was great! We talked about using the Book of Mormon in order to address concerns and answer questions. That way, the investigator knows that the answers don't come from us as missionaries, but the scriptures! After District Meeting, Christian (the Elders Quorum President) came to work on our Quorum song with us. It was honestly, incredible! Ældste Saviano, Ældste Cannon, and Ældste Schaffer literally just wrote music for a song right there! It's a piano and double guitar song. Now Ældste Preece, Ældste Gottfredson, and I are trying to write lyrics and vocals. It was pretty fun! We went knocking once we came home. Nothing too exciting there.

Friday was splits! Fredericia (Elders) came here to Kolding, and I was with Ældste Gottfredson. We went knocking and talked to a lot of super nice people! We also gave out three Book of Mormons which were basically all to Jehovah's Witnesses, so that was interesting. We also had a lesson with Tirtsa (Israeli woman). All four of us were there, and she basically just shot us with questions. It wasn't dangerous, just all over the place. We tried teaching the Plan of Salvation, but her questions literally were addressed by each different missionary lesson. It was pretty weird. That evening, the Sønderborg Elders came on splits with the Zone Leaders. It wasn't planned to have 8 people, but it worked that way. So, we all ate dinner and somehow found everyone a place to sleep!

Saturday was pretty freezing. We dropped off Fredericia (Elders) at the station and then tried contacting home, but no one was outside! The rest of the day was basically us trying to avoid being distracted by the other four Elders during Weekly Planning and knocking. We also visited a Less Active named Rigmor (“Ree-more”) again. She's really having a hard time and has started smoking again! There wasn't much we could do for her, but we're going to try to work with the ward on how to help her.

On Sunday, it snowed again! And it didn't make us late for church! (My favorite!) Church was great, and we had a fællesspisning afterwards. I was talking with Bent (the older guy with the chicken coup) and he totally knows who I am! I just thought that was cool. :) He also asked if we had visited Rigmor, which I thought was interesting. We got home and tried some contacting, but again, no one wanted to be outside in the cold. We also recorded our Zone Radio show again. (This was the third installment.) It was pretty good!

This week has shown more of the enduring to the end for me. It's very easy to see how all the good things people do are lost and nullified if we don't endure to the end. So, try this week, to endure to the end with something specific. Whether it's serving in little ways every day, just complimenting someone, or writing in your journal daily. Do it all week!

Thanks for the emails! I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

- Here's a fancy dinner we had once

- We did two puzzles, so we took some awesome pictures

- Ældste Schaffer and I wrote this in the snow. It means "Good Morning!"

- I made an album cover for the song. First single from "The Elders"

Sort Lungen

This week was pretty eventful, you could say... The title translates to "The Black Lung!"

Monday last week was quite interesting. We decided to bike up to the Storecenter, which is only 3-ish miles away from home, but it was also uphill. Once there, we basically just looked at stuff and got lunch. We went knocking later that evening, but the opganges we were planning on were locked, so we found a different street. 

Tuesday was Zone Conference!! It was awesome!! We had to wake up at about 4:30 in order to leave on time, but then the time on our train tickets was wrong! We had to wait for a half hour until the actually train went up to Aarhus! So that was kind of lame. Luckily, we had some trusty Cocios to keep us energized. ;) (The mission culture is to drink an energy drink called Booster on the morning of Zone Conference, so we're starting the chocolate milk revolution!) We learned about using the Book of Mormon in Baptismal invites, and the communication relationships of Parent to Child as opposed to Adult to Adult. It was awesome! We had about a half hour of contacting and then studies when we got home, so it was pretty good. 

On Wednesday, was pretty normal. We went out contacting and knocking. Not too much happened though. We knocked out in a little side-town called Rebæk which pretty much had a ton of really nice houses. There were quite a few nice people, but they didn't want the gospel yet. One lady talked to us about her King Charles Spaniel puppy though! It was adorable. She also agreed that my Dad should get one. ;) (nudge nudge, Dad) I also got a flat front tire on the way home, so we walked most of the way, but the weather was amazing so it was fine! We also gave each other hugs to celebrate Valentines Day. That's not actually a big deal here in Denmark, so that was all that happened. 

Thursday's weather was kind of confusing. It was cold and snowed, but then stopped and kind of rained. Welcome to Denmark, I guess. We spent some time patching my bike tube, but our little pumps wouldn't fill the tube up all the way! So we went street contacting instead. I used one of the other bikes so we could bike up to Knud Hansens Vej and we knocked for a while. The snow was really fun to bike in, and I had to use some sunglasses to keep it from getting in my eyes. It was pretty fun! We also talked to an Israeli woman named Tirsta on the street that evening. She's quite religious and loves talking about God, but might not actually want to learn more. We got her address though. Then we made pancakes for dinner! Also, Ældste Preece (Ældste Saviano's companion) kept feeling sick and waking up during the night, so they set an appointment with a doctor. (This is important to the title.)

Friday was normal as well. We tried stopping by John, but he wasn't home. Then we knocked a cute little street, but basically no one was home.  We had some other knocking and such for a hours, but not too much happened there. Later, Ældste Preece and Ældste Saviano came home from the doctor's and said that Ældste Preece had pneumonia! Sister O'Bryant asked him to stay inside on Saturday and he was pretty bummed about that. So Ældste Schaffer and I picked up some kebabs for everyone for dinner, to cheer us all up. 

Saturday's normality was destroyed. We were out contacting that morning when Ældste Preece got a call from President. There have been a couple other serious cases of pneumonia in the mission and he didn't want to take any more chances, so Ældste Preece was sentenced to staying inside until Tuesday!! So, as his sygplejer (nurse), we had to pick up snacks to last the two of them and also some hand sanitizer. So that was fun! That's where the Black Lung comes from. We had some weird Weekly Planning because of that, but we also got to knock some doors again. I was also officially given some little Lego sets that some Elders had left behind, so those were fun to mess around with. ;)

Sunday was pretty weird too! We left for church (without the Zone Leaders) and had a wonderful time. It was a great meeting where everyone was home from vacation (they had school off this past week) so the ward was actually there! The Fonnesbecks also gave us a Crockpot for the apartment, so that was cool! We came home and did some work outside and basically made sure the other two Elders hadn't gone crazy yet. We were contacting on the street and we talked to a guy who had a lot to say about religion. He was very well read in the Bible and had some interesting theories. For example: Blood holds your personality, so if you receive blood from someone else, you begin to assimilate their personality and lose some of your own. Also, the Ice Age is a false doctrine because the Noah's flood had to occur more recently and therefore ice couldn't have time to form. Along with, he has 3,000 books and therefore must have a Book of Mormon. We talked with him for over a half hour and then he declined any other communication because he 'didn't want to talk.' So that was interesting...

On a more spiritual note, we had an awesome talk this Sunday by Joshua (a priest in the ward) about service. He quoted his dad when he said, "You should never be too busy to help." Service is a large deal in our church, but it's just because we want to serve God! There are always little and big things we can do to help others. So try and find something small to do everyday, or something big you could do this week. Just look at how you can bless those around you by giving yourself. Joshua also quoted an apostle who said, "He who gives money gives a lot. He who gives time gives more. But he who gives himself gives all."

Thank you for your support! I hope everything is going well for you! Have a great week!

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

- The joys of biking in snow!

- Our apartment and my desk

- Here's a random selfie in the kitchen!

- Our Cocio morning on the train! (Also sent a short clip of them on the train with their chocolate Cocio drinks)

- Ældste Schaffer and I talked with apples in our mouth for Sprog study. Surprisingly helpful... (also sent a little video clip of them speaking Danish with an apple in their mouth!)

- Here's some random Lego stuff (don't judge too harshly, I only had two little sets to work with)

Jylland Zone Conference Feb. 2018

Taken from Sis O'Bryant's blog...


 Zone Conference was training on the Book of Mormon and using it more effectively in baptismal invitations.  Greeting each other before the conference begins is always greatly anticipated.

 President began the conference with a communication training, recognizing when we are communicating in the "Parent, Child or Adult".  We role-played a spaghetti dinner with the parent and the child.

 President then gave a wonderful training on the Book of Mormon

Our new senior couple...Elder and Sister Fonnesbeck

 Our dedicated and wonderful senior missionaries.

 Assistants training on how to use the Book of Mormon for more effective baptismal invitations.

 We achieved our goal for baptisms in 2017...and now we have a new goal to reach for 2018.

 Taco salad and ice cream bars for lunch.

The Jylland Zone is an enthusiastic and faithful group of missionaries.  They speak impressive Danish, are effective teachers and are focusing on developing Christ-like characteristics.  We are blessed to serve with them as we share the message of salvation to those who will listen.  Denmark is blessed!