Tuesday, May 1, 2018

The Harbor is Kolding

Well, the week has come and gone. Again. It existed, just also left really fast. Yup... That seems like an introduction to a letter I'd send to a lot of people, good enough! :D

Last Monday, we had a sweet little picnic! It took us almost all morning to plan, so it turned into a brunch! That's where the swing pictures from last week came from. We just ate up on a hill with a little playground. It was fun! We went knocking later that day. An old lady let us in but insisted that she 'couldn't buy anything because she doesn't keep money at home.' Yea, one of those people. But she ended up taking a Mormons Bog and setting it next to her husband's Ringernes Herre (The Lord of the Rings) books. It was cool. We also taught Morten! We read a bit in the Book of Mormon and he really liked it! We invited him to baptism, but he kind of brushed past saying yes or no, but he's open to it! He then asked if he could read something before we come next time! It was awesome!

Tuesday was good. We had one lesson planned with Jakob and Britta, but they had to cancel (again). It was actually a really funny text. Jakob apologized that they had to cancel, "again." So we went out knocking all day! We talked to quite a few people. A lot of younglings took a book. Some turned out to be a 9th grade girl so her parents called to tell us not to come back, you know how that goes. ;) It was pretty good though. One guy was pretty irritating that he wouldn't accept that we had a testimony of the Book of Mormon. That was fun. Ældste Schaffer and I were by ourselves that evening because the Zone Leaders were in Copenhagen. It was pretty fun!

Wednesday was normal as far as Wednesdays go. We knocked out by Højhusene, almost bounced on a big bouncy green bubble, had to fix Ældste Schaffer's bike (again) because the chain fell off (again). We got out to a beautiful part of town along the fjord. It wasn't super positive, but the people were pretty nice! We then had French Toast for dinner and listened to the Joseph Smith lectures by Truman G. Madsen. They're pretty cool!

Thursday was pretty eventful. We had District Meeting, so that was an event. We reviewed the trainings from the transfer, which I liked. We had an awesome spiritual moment as each of us shared a faith building experience. It was wonderful! I also got to share Romans 3:3 (it's awesome!). After we got home, Ældste Preece and I were on splits, so we went knocking! We met a teenage boy who was being confirmed the next day (Danish confirmation in the Folke Kirke happens when the child is older.) He was interested in a Book of Mormon! We all ate at Burger Shack that evening, which was wonderful!

Friday was interesting. We got to go to a Konfirmation (that's danish). The hymns were really fun to sing, but the rest was kind of weird. It was great to see a lot of people doing spiritual things, just also weird they're doing it a little differently than they should... Then we had the rest of splits. Not much different there. Then we had Weekly Planning. Ældste Owen and Ældste Evans from Esbjerg came for splits, so that was fun!

Saturday rolled around. Transfer calls came. I was called to go up North to Frederikshavn! I'm super excited!! I'll be with Ældste Moulton, who is an awesome guy and a hard worker! The rest of the day was just some knocking and finding. I also packed a bit and such. It was really fast.

Sunday was really sad! I was really looking forward to church, but it went by too quickly!! I got to see all the people I've come to care about, and then we all went home. I was able to share a quick testimony and help pass the sacrament, so I appreciated that! I also got some pictures with a couple people. There was a little lunch with some members afterwards. I sat by an investigator (from Vejle) named Klaus. Then after, he drove all four Kolding Elders home! We had a lesson with Rosa, which was my last. She committed to pray daily and keep the Sabbath Holy! It's been hard lately with her mental state, but she seemed fine and was very happy!! I also got a picture with her!

Monday, which was yesterday, was insane!! We woke up and instantly started giving each other haircuts. That was fun. The most of the morning was packing and doing some thunderstorm contacting. Then we ate lunch at Lagkagehuset. Finally, Ældste Schaffer an I headed to Fredericia to send me off officially. I switched trains with seconds to spare and then rode with a ton of missionaries for most of the way to Aalborg! It was awesome! I saw a ton of people from my group!  Finally Ældste Danielsen-Jensen, Ældste Newton, and I arrived in Aalborg. So I hopped onto another train to Frederikshavn! We got there just in time to see all the stores and library close, so we just went home and unpacked. It was pretty crazy! But I'm super happy to be here!! I'm really excited to work with Ældste Moulton and get to know this branch!! Also, Havn means Harbor, that's why the Harbor is Kolding. ;)

My spiritual thought comes from a paraphrased quote by Winnie the Pooh. He said (something to the effect of) "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." I definitely experienced that with the Fredericia ward. I didn't think I would come to care for them so much, but they really felt like I belonged there. They welcomed me with open arms and loving hearts. I'm going to miss that ward, but now I get to do the same for others who don't know they belong in God's arms. So the challenge is, try to open your arms to someone this week. Welcome someone to wherever you are! Just make them feel like they belong, because they do! We all belong together as children of God! 

Thanks for all of the support!! You are all wonderful forces of good! Keep it up! Have a great, loving week!

--
Ældste Bryant Jepsen

(my SD card reader isn't being read by the Frederikshavn library computers, so I'll try to have more recent pictures next week...)

 
 Pictures!! We found a computer that worked!

- Rosa
- Familien Bornemann
- Niels Iskov Nielsen
- Ældste Moulton!!












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