Well, it was
a pretty weird week. At least in contrast with less weird weeks. ;)
This past
Monday, we decided to spend in Aalborg! We also, conviniently, met up with the
other missionaries in the District! (Including and limited to Ældste
Danielsen-Jensen and Ældste Ellis, Ældste Newton and Ældste Walton, along with
Søster Esplin and Søster Matheson) We all got food, which was surprisingly hard
because stores were closed for Anden Pinsedag (Second Day of Pentecost). Then
we played games and ate in the Singing Forrest! It was pretty fun! We also had
a soccer ball! After, we all recongregated at their Bishop's house for some
service!! It was actually really fun! We helped clear out weeds and branches,
set in woodchips, and then raked the entire lawn twice after they mowed up all
the moss. :) It was pretty great! They also fed us afterwards and we had some
fun conversations!
On Tuesday,
we had splits with Ældste Danielsen-Jensen and Ældste Ellis in Aalborg! I was
with Ældste Ellis, and we basically had a two part day. We went out contacting
in the morning and talked to quite a few mothers with baby carriages. Then we
had a lesson/chapel tour with an older Thai lady named Lai. After missing the
first bus, reading some of the Book of Mormon with her, showing her around the
church (that I'd been in only twice before), she accepted a baptismal date! So
that was great!! We then had to run home so Ældste Moulton and I could catch
our train home.
Wednesday
was quite typically awesome! It was the best member day ever! Our morning
contacting wasn't very fun, but there were quite a few people who knew Erik and
Marie Toft (some members). Then we planned for a lesson at home and were
heading out when we ran into Jeanett Ørtegren (member) who had made us dinner!!
We said thank you and then rushed off to meet Torben Andersen (another member)
to explain our lesson for Naja. Naja is a Greenlandic woman who has been coming
to church off and on for a while, and she loves it! But she has a hard time reading
Danish, and doesn't want to move too quickly into baptism. We had an awesome
Gengivelsen (Restoration) lesson with her and Torben shared some powerful
testimony!! It was great!! She is still planning on coming to church and will
start reading! We also had choir that evening, where Lise Lotte (Kurt's wife
and choir director) said we weren't allowed to transfer because the songs
sounded great! It was a fun day!
Thursday was
different. Ældste Ravn came and inspected our apartment that morning (which passed).
Then we helped Kurt clean out some of the church's storage. Our knocking was
highlighted by an older lady and her 30 yr old son. Her son gave us ice cream
and told us to say hi to one of the members! We had a lesson with Dorthe and
Søren that evening, which was actually taught and they understood it, but they
dropped us at the end. So I wrote a sad poem that evening, just because that's
whacha do, ya know.
Friday was
strangeness all over the place. We had an appointment with an older lady who
was frustrated that we couldn't come inside because our member didn't get back
to us. But then she wasn't able to find her Mormons Bog and went looking for it
as we stood on her doorstep. Then once we left, we got a call from an unknown
lady who said there was some non-Danish guy outside our church who has been
there for hours. So we hurriedly biked over there to meet with a traveling
Rabbi!! That's the best description. He lives on his bike and was making tea on
a campstove when we showed up. He shared a bunch of Bible scriptures with us,
but wouldn't take a Book of Mormon! He also insisted that "Jesus
Christ" is a made up person from the Catholic church, but Yehoshua is the
savior. It was a pretty interesting experience. We also had weekly planning that
day and we made cookies to give to Jeanett.
Saturday was
insane! We had the Zone Leaders come to our District Meeting, so it was on
Saturday. But Saturday was also Carnaval in Aalborg, which is not a missionary
approved activity, to say the least. The train ride down to the city was
basically terrifying. There were people packed into the train! There were some
26-ish year old girls with glitter and capes sitting on the armrests and table
of our seats, and then some 16-ish year old boys that also looked uncomfortable
even though they were also in costumes. I had some glitter on my pants at the
end. Luckily, we all survived and got there safely. But then Aalborg was in
even more chaos!! We quickly hopped on the bus with the Zone Leaders and made
it out to the church fine. District meeting was about starting to teach rather
than just trying to set appointments. It was really good!! We all ate lunch on
the church lawn (which was safe) and then the four non-Aalborg Elders headed
off again. But Ældste Moulton and I just barely missed a train to
Frederikshavn! Instead of waiting an hour, we left for Hjørring (same direction
just not all the way home). We did 20 minutes of contacting there, where we
taught Vera on the street! She'd been taught by missionaries before and wants a
Book of Mormon!! Thankfully, Carnaval did not happen in Hjørring! :) I called
Aalborg as Babylon as we left. The bus and train floor was super sticky from
all the alcohol, and basically there was just craziness and weird people
everywhere. It was an interesting day!
Sunday was
significantly less weird. We had church! Naja wasn't able to come though!
Afterwards, we ate at Ella Damgaards house with her and Kirsten. They're two
hilarious and fun older ladies! It was fun! Then we went knocking a bit in RAIN!
It was a very weak and short rainstorm, but it was the first time in the past 3
weeks that it's rained! So that was fun!!
I was
thinking this past week about The Book of Mormon, as missionaries do on
occasion. In Preach My Gospel, there's a quote which says that the Book of
Mormon has all of the doctines that are required for salvation. As a part of
our spiritual thought for Ella and Kirsten, we talked about how cool it was we
had a book, let alone that it also has all of Salvation's truths in it! Kirsten
told us that Mormons Bog was first released 16 pages at a time until all of it
was translated and published. I think it's incredible that we have access to
such powerful doctrine in a single and convenient place! So I would challenge
you all to write down a question for the week (or a couple days if needed) and
to look for an answer as you study the Book of Mormon throughout the week! Let
me know how it helped you and strengthened your testimony!
I hope all
of you have a wonderful last week of school or third week of summer for those
of you out of college!
--
Ældste
Bryant Jepsen
- The
Traveling Rabbi told me to take a picture of his Bible, so I did!
- Here's a
calmer picture as we were leaving Aalborg
- This is
Gregory's hotel from the train
- The clouds
outside our apartment were gorgeous! Also, there's a Baptist Chruch right there
too!
- Some of
the District
No comments:
Post a Comment