When A Member Comes to Kolding...

When a Member comes to Kolding, he'll want to join the missionaries for a lesson. And so you'll have to set up a lesson for the member to attend. But then the lesson will be cancelled or the person won't be home, so you'll have to think of some others to drop by. And when the Member comes for drop by's, he'll want to joke about your lesson being burned. And when he jokes about your lesson being burned, you'll feel like you should make it up to him. So, you'll have to set another lesson for the next day. 

Thus went our week.

Last Monday, we had quite a few lessons scattered throughout the day. We met with Mousa, who we contacted. He's not super focused on the lessons, so we were trying to read in the Book of Mormon with him, but we don't know Arabic numbers... (He speaks Danish too) And then his friend came as well, but he speaks English, Arabic, and some Danish. So basically, we spent forever trying to read a couple verses with them. Later that day, we had a lesson with Molly. Christian Nielsen (The Elders Quorum Pres.) came with us. She was home but did not like the Plan of Salvation pamphlet we gave her. She said it was just old traditional beliefs and things. So, we ended up just talking about how Christ can help us in our lives, which she did like. And she wants to read more in the Book of Mormon. She also likes having us come and help show her the way to God (which she said in her prayer). So that was interesting. Not too much else that day. We roasted s'mores over the stovetop, so that was pretty fun!

Tuesday began our week with Niels Nielsen. He had planned on coming to a lesson we'd made with a lady named Natasha (her mother is Mormon but she is not... that's basically all we know about her). But when we came out to went out to hop on our bikes, Ældste Schaffer's tire was flat! So we had to ask Niels to come pick us up instead. And then she wasn't home when we got there! So we tried to think of some people we could stop by instead, because Niels was fine to try it. But anyone we thought of were also, conveniently, not home. So, Niels took us home, in shame. The rest of the day was some bike repairs, knocking, and contacting. Not super interesting.

On Wednesday, we had Niels come again! We had a lesson with Jonas that morning (before Niels came) which went super long!! He had a ton of critical questions about the Book of Mormon and basically didn't want to give it a chance. We did a great job of testifying though, which helped him accept a reading assignment and a return appointment. He's quite philosophical, which can be a bit interesting to try and teach him things. We read a ton of Bible scriptures in the lesson, but he still didn't understand why we only use the Book of Mormon... After that lesson, we had to bike across the city, up some hills, almost died/had our legs fall off, to make it to our lesson with Morten where Niels met us. We were out of breath and a couple minutes late, and then Morten wasn't home either! Luckily, we had set an appointment with Rosa the evening before, so Niels was able to come to that one. It was an interesting appointment. She's been having a hard time with her Schizophrenia, so we just read a bit of the Book of Mormon as some comfort. We also heard a bit about the voices she hears... That was interesting, but I wasn't really sure what we were able to do to help there. Then Niels headed home. We got some good knocking in and talked to some hilariously stubborn, old people. Then I got locked in our little balcony room (we call it the Smoke Room because that's what it is built for, we just don't use it like that) by accident. I was in there for almost two hours before they heard my knocking. 

Thursday was good. We had District Meeting about faith, which is always good. We talked a lot about Blind Faith, which is an interesting topic. Then afterwards, Ældste Hunt and I went on splits! We visited Kenneth, who gave us some awesome Danish help! We also shared a good spiritual thought, which he really liked. He's not very interested in learning, but is very helpful and friendly.  We also had some good knocking that evening.

Friday was a two part day. We had some good contacting that morning where we talked to some  Latvian girls that work with the Apostolic Church. We had a ton of knocking where people would be on the side of their house or in the backyard, so we saw a lot of Danish yards! It was super warm! The second part was an eating appointment at Niels' house! Frederick (his son) picked us up and we had a good time at their house. They have a giant yard (for Danish standards) with a goat and chickens. It was pretty fun! Frederick's friend Rasmus was there and he got his first Mormons Bog!

Saturday was good too. We had basically three things: Contacting/Knocking, Weekly Planning, and Sport. It was good. We had a good Weekly Planning Session. The knocking and contacting was fun, but not too interesting. We played soccer in Fredericia again, which was epic. We had an Americans vs. Danes match because it was 6v6. The Americans struck first and went up 2-0!! But then we lost 5-10 in the end. Joshua Bornemann is basically a professional. ;) It was super fun though!

Sunday was also pretty great! We had church! Yay!! And Kenn came! Ældste Schaffer and Ældste Preece had taught him on splits and invited him. He only stayed for Sacrament, but said he liked how the members get to share their own experiences! After church, all the missionaries were invited to the Vestbø family's house! It was great!! They're an awesome family too! (And we all got a picture with them!) Once home, we did some stop by's and contacting. We handed out some books and talked to good people. Good stuff!

My spiritual thought this week is from Pres. Nelson. I've been studying his talk about Revelation this last conference, and it's incredible!! Here's a quote from it: In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence fo the Holy Ghost." My invitation is the same as last week. Find something to change in order to improve your ability to listen to the Spirit. But have a question that you need an answer to. The Spirit has the best opportunity to speak when you truly need his help, so give him that opportunity.

Thanks for all of the support! Have a wonderful Spring week!!

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

- (No picture label, but a Christus in an old Danish church?)
- Traveling and pictures on the gagade (pedestrian street/outdoor mall area)

-  Indoor Smores!
- The yard and animals at Niels' house
- Our Soccer Party 
- The Spray Paint Perry in the Kolding graffiti tunnel

- The Vestbø Family!
 - We played on swings. It was fun. :)