The title
for this week is all too applicable. Basically, we moved a house this week...
(stay tuned!) And we also received President and Sister Olsen this past
Saturday!! I'm super excited to get to know and work with them this coming
year!! I've been very grateful for the love and example of President and Sister
O'Bryant as well, and they've been a wonderful part of the past year for me!
On Monday,
we had a crazy day!! We had a lesson in the morning with Nerkiz, which went
really weirdly. Ældste Ravn was along with us and basically, she just talked
with him for a while and then we left. Then we were called in as reinforcements
for helping a lady move. Her name is Kirsten Pedersen and she's moving from her
house to an apartment and then hopefully leaving on a mission from there after
a couple months. But everyone knows that the missionaries are given strength
from the Lord, so we were called in to lift all the heavy things. (Literally
all of them! The other men who could come at the time had some medical reasons
not to lift so much) So we helped out there for a while. Before we left, Ældste
Ravn mentioned a less active man named Thanus. As we hoped on our bikes out in
front of the house, two 20 year old guys were roller blading past. One of them
(who was dark skinned) very purposely ran into my bike as I was about to get
on. He then said in accented English "I'm so tired, will you just pull
me?" So I said: "Sure!" His other friend was pulled by Ældste
Moulton. As we biked down the street I talked to him. His name is Thanus, and
he knew that we were just at Kirstin's house, but he wouldn't say he was a
member even though I asked some specific questions to try and find out. We
ended up dropping the two off at a little restaurant where they work, and then
Thanus said they had 30 minutes and to give them a lesson! So we started
teaching (in English for his friend Lukas who is from Romania) but it turned
into Thanus just testifying to Lukas about the truth and power of anything we
said!! So we gave them both a Book of Mormon and they said they'd come to
church in two weeks. Then Thanus gave a perfect prayer! So we think that he was
pretending he wasn't a member to make Lukas feel more open... Maybe?
Tuesday was
significantly less exciting. We talked to a ton of Swedish and German people on
the gågade. There was a Swedish guy who liked talking with us, and he
eventually took a Book of Mormon after a couple of Swedish members also popped
in and said hello to us. Then after, we talked to the Swedish members, whose
daughter had broken her arm on their vacation and they had just gotten out of
the Frederikshavn hospital! That was pretty sad to hear. The rest of the day
was normal knocking. We did have a lesson with René, which went alright. He has
been reading in the Book of Mormon, but has some concerns with
"Christ" showing up in the book because the word didn't exist at the
time it was written. So we're trying to get him on the truth searching path
instead of the analytical path. We set another appointment for Friday with him.
Wednesday
was funny! We had a normal lesson cancelling session with a lady named Hanne.
We've had a bunch of lessons planned but they never go through, so we just
ended up inviting her to church instead. We did, however, have an appointment
with an Arabic man and his daughter! His name is Sarya and he’s a pretty devout
Muslim. He can speak decent Danish, but had his daughter (about 13 and is
basically the Arabic version of Lindsay: plays soccer, fun with little kids,
laughs a lot, etc.) translate for him quite a bit. We read in Mormons Bog with
them and he basically decided that we should be Muslim. So that was pretty
funny! He said "If I could speak Danish, you two would be Muslim." So
we're planning on learning Arabic so he becomes Mormon instead. ;) That
evening, we got ready for Volleyball, but when we showed up, we didn't see
anyone we knew! So we ended up stopping by Kirstin who really needed help
packing because she needed to be out by Saturday.
Thursday
existed! We had District Meeting down in Aalborg. It was fun! We discussed the
purpose of a Missionary, which was really cool! Once we got home, we stopped by
Mille. She was home and said she had read in Mormons Bog and prayed and it
helped her!! But we couldn't meet right then and she's going to Copenhagen for
a week, so we're just waiting for her... We also knocked into a Buddhist man
who admitted that he could, theoretically, be Christian and Buddhist, so we got
an appointment with him. We also had a lady open the door to a bunch of wind in
her face. It was surprisingly funny. Her hair jumped and she let out a pretty
startled noise. So, you could say we pretty much blow people away. ;)
Friday was
pretty different. We were asked, again, to come and helped move Kirstin's
house. It went about the same as Monday, where we lifted everything that was
heavy. But there were only a few people there and so it went super slowly! We
ended up switching the times for our few appointments that day because it took
super long!! Towards the end of the day, a bunch of members showed up and we
got almost everything else moved out and organized, which went super fast!!
Many hands truly make light work! (And saves your arms! We had been moving
things for literally 9 hours!!)
Saturday
started a bit the same as Friday, where we helped in the morning to move a few
final things for Kirstin. But then we had some our Buddhist man's appointment,
which he burned. So we just knocked and then had Weekly Planning. We also practiced
a song for Sunday with Liselotte (Kurt's wife). It was a pretty relaxed day.
Sunday was
Fast Sunday! We also sang in Sacrament Meeting!! We did pretty awesome! ;) We
had a couple people say thanks and really compliment us in their testimonies,
which we appreciated and felt awkward about at the same time. We also had a ton
of Norwegian guests come!! That was exciting! After church, we went knocking
down on Provst Dreslers Vej. We have officially knocked every door on that
street! So that was fun!
My spiritual
thought is a strong personal experience from this week. Ældste Moulton and I
are not the average body builder type of guys, let's just say that. After
several days of lifting, moving, pushing, squatting, and overall handling of
heavy boxes, furniture, and anything else, we could still walk! We were able to
bike around the city, with and against the wind, and knock doors. We had the
strength and energy to serve, teach, and find all week!! This might not sound
like too big of a deal, but having the strength to do the work of the Lord is
not a fluke. In D&C 89 it says: " And the saints who remember to keep
and do these sayings, walking in obedience to the commandments, shall receive
health in their navel and marrow to their bones...And shall run and not be
weary, and shall walk and not faint." Do not get me wrong, I have been
tired this week. But as I have needed strength to talk to the next person,
knock the next door, bike the next stretch, I have never sought in vain. This
is my testimony that the Lord truly gives strength to those who strive to do
his work! So I would encourage you all to trust the Lord that He will give you
strength or time to do the things that He has asked us to do. It will take
sacrifice, but you will not come out empty.
I hope you
all have a wonderful week!! Keep having a wonderful summer!! (All the Danes
officially got summer break just a week ago, so you're blessed!)
--
Ældste
Bryant Jepsen
- I'm bad at
pictures, but today we climbed on the coolest jungle gym ever! Værsgo! (hopefully
I'll get a picture of some furniture we moved by next week!)
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