Nordjylland Zone Conference

Taken from Denmark Copenhagen Mission blog...

Nordjylland zone - training by the assistants.

 Team building.

 Nordjylland zone - looking good even in 30°C. Wonderful day in Århus.

Mission Cats Pt II (Kind of)

This week has been pretty normal! Ældste Ellis and I are working hard and loving life!! Not too much to report, other than awesomeness!!

Last Monday was the fastest transfers ever! I literally just walked off the train with Ældste Moulton and then onto another train with Ældste Ellis and came right back to Frederikshavn! My transfer travel was finished on transfer day before 9:30! So we had the rest of the day to unpack, do normal P-day stuff, and go knocking! That was pretty fun!

Tuesday, we were out finding all day! We did some contacting on the gågade and Ældste Ellis decided that we need to learn Swedish! It was exactly like I was when I came here! I've picked up a few greetings in a couple languages and can identify where people come from, but we don't have much to say if we can't communicate with them... We also went out knocking. We talked to a guy who tatooed his late son on his arm. He really liked the Plan of Salvation, but would only take a pamphlet. That basically sums up the day. Ældste Ellis hurt his ankle as we were biking home though, so that was pretty lame. (Pun not intended, because he can still walk. We're good!)

Wednesday was about the same, finding all day. We met a ton of people who knew Ældste Ellis' family and specifically his mom! There was one lady that basically brushed off my approach to start talking with Ældste Ellis about his mom! It was actually pretty funny! And then she invited us to come back again, so that's good! That evening, we were knocking a street and a young cat came to us. We pet it and then it just kept following us door to door!! We tried reading some of Mormons Bog with him, but we think he only speaks Norweigan... But our Mission President also has a cat, so that's why it's Part 2, because we already have one!

Thursday had some funny contacts and such! We contacted a German priest on the gågade. He wasn't super interested even though he already had a Book of Mormon! We then had a Muslim guy let us inside but he only spoke Arabic! He had some weird wrestling show turned on, and then we had a short conversation with his daughter over the phone. That was funny. We found another friend of Ældste Ellis' mom though! We need to start keeping a tally, to be honest.

Friday actually had a teaching appointment! We met with Hans Christian, which went pretty well. He already knew Ældste Ellis a bit. And apparently I can pronounce all the Danish vowels correctly, so that was exciting!! After that, we taught Magnus! He's a 20-ish year old man from the Faroe Islands (Farøerne). He gave us cake and we discussed the Plan of Salvation! He also said he loves coming to church! Sadly, he had work this weekend, so he couldn't come. But he's a sailor, so he leaves in about a month for a six week trip along the Greenlandic coast to rescue and salvage some destroyed villages! That was pretty cool to hear about! We also stopped by an Eritrean man named Anwar, who said he and his friend wanted to come to church!

Saturday was super fast! We literally had District Council, studies, and part of Weekly Planning! We talked about revelation in District Council. We listened to "Cast Not Away Therefore They Confidence" by Elder Holland. (I love that talk!) Then we hit up Pizza Pasta Place (again). I'm starting to petition for a new place to eat.

Sunday was almost a repeat of Saturday! We had church, which was hilarious with Ældste Ellis being welcomed. And Zibar came to church!! I was super happy about that! We got to teach the Restoration in Guest Class and then had an incredible third hour discussing member's missionary responsibility and a couple other things. It was great! After church, we had a short choir practice and then headed to Jytte and Søren Nilesen's for an eating appointment. They knew Ældste Ellis beforehand, so it was pretty funny. We also got attacked by a lot of wasps trying to eat our food. After the appointment, we had time to have studies and finish Weekly Planning!

My spiritual thought this week is basically just read/watch/listen to "Cast Not Away Therefore They Confidence" by Elder Holland! (It's a BYU speech) It's super good! He talks about receiving revelation and pressing forward with the answer we receive. I really like his comments on fearing. It is very important that we keep our sight on the light that we are given and do not let the adversary degrade the revelation that we have received! Be sure in your faith! Press on in the light!

I hope you all have a wonderful week, as I usually do! I'd also encourage you to pray and search for missionary opportunities around you! They'll come, I promise!

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

- Ældste Ellis and I on splits in Aalborg (it's just a cool picture!)

- The Mission Cat

Two Man Band

This week was pretty normal, other than transfers, I guess.

Monday, we helped another member move. Her name is Vibeke Hansen, and she's super nice! Almost the entire Elders Quorum came to help though, so we were done in a little over 3 hours with her entire house! It was awesome!! We also picked up a keyboard from her, so now we have three guitars, an organ, and a keyboard in our apartment! Thus, we need to start a band! Stay tuned to see if we actually do anything with that! Ældste Moulton and I didn't do anything specifically exciting that day.

Tuesday was splits! We headed down to Aalborg and I spent the day with Ældste Danielsen-Jensen. It was pretty fun! We had a lesson with a previous investigator, Finn, that they had contacted on the street. He loves the missionaries and fed us fruit! I learned that you can eat the skin of a kiwi in that appointment. (Thanks to an Australian companion!) It was a pretty fun splits! We worked hard and laughed hard.

Wednesday was weird. I had a dream about an elderly lady in Aalborg who needed to hear the gospel, which I relayed to Ældste Danielsen-Jensen. Then Ældste Moulton and I headed home and did some normal stuff! We taught a man named Niels. He had read the Mormon section in the Encyclopedia, so we were happy to discuss the parts not included. He was interested in reading in Mormons Bog too! We also met with Michael that evening! We discussed the Restoration, which he remembered a lot about. He also said he was very tempted to become a Mormon, so we're pretty excited. He doesn't have a baptismal date yet, but I think he will accept one soon. That evening, we heard that the Aalborg Elders had found an elderly lady who was really interested in learning more about the Gospel of Christ!!

Thursday was back in Aalborg for District Council! The Zone Leaders came and discussed faith and miracles. It was very focused on our expectations as missionaries. If we expect miracles to happen in our work, they will occur according to our faith. It was really cool! We also played some volleyball and chair soccer (that some other missionaries had recommended) afterward for our District Activity. It was pretty fun! Once we got home, Ældste Moulton and I ate with Ældste and Søster Ravn. It was fun!

Friday was really busy! We had a lesson in the morning with a man named Hans Svendsen. He's a Catholic but is quite interested in learning. He had some interesting questions, like where our spirit is inside our body, but we answered quite a lot with the Restoration! We also had an appointment with René. That was pretty rough. He basically said that Mormons Bog was good because it testified of Christ, but it can't be inspired scripture because of small discrepancies with the Bible and other Apocryphal scripture. And he wouldn't commit to praying twice daily, so that was sad. We might only have one more lesson with him just to invite him to church or something.

Saturday went quickly. We got transfer calls that morning. Ældste Moulton was headed to Horsens and I am staying. As my new companion, I get to be with Ældste Ellis! That was a big surprise because his mother's side of the family comes from Frederikshavn. So we're going to be doing some good strengthening of member missionary work!! Ældste Moulton and I then taught Ezekiel, which was mostly watching The Restoration in French (that's not the language I learned in the MTC). He said he'll come to church and then think about baptism after. We also taught Zibar, which was a super short lesson. He was washing clothes in the basement when we came by so we ended up coming back a half hour later when he came back. He still wants to be baptized, so we talked about Joseph Smith a bit. Then to end the evening, Vibeke Hansen invited us to hear her conversion story. She fed us a ton of chocolate and talked about a crazy trip to the USA that changed her life! It was pretty great!

My spiritual thought is about gratitude. I've been incredibly blessed these past two transfers to serve with such an amazing Elder as Ældste Moulton. We all have someone or something that we're very happy to have. So show your thankfulness this week! Tell you mom thanks or compliment your sibling! There's a lot of options! You'll feel happier and so will they!

Have a wonderful week!

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

- Pastries!

- There's a wind machine in Aalborg and we were waiting for our bus!

- Ældste Moulton heading down to baptize all of Horsens!

(pictures of Ældste Ellis and I coming next week!)