Monday was extremely eventful (but
sometimes very slow). We went emailing at the library in the morning, as usual,
and were ready by 11 to be picked up by Martin (our Ward Mission Leader). Then
all the missionaries and he drove down to Ribe! It was pretty cool! He talked
up this specific chicken place, where we ate. It was alright, but not as cool
as he thinks. We checked out the Ribe Domkirke, which is huge, and then some
other famous Ribe stuff. We decided to visit a national park, but then ended up
driving on the road to Mandø (which is a super little island off the coast of
Ribe). We were going to pull over and just walk around along the little road,
but we were being followed and then were basically on the island, so we just
went the whole way. We drove around for fun (not much to see, really.) But when
we came back to the road to leave, the tide had risen and covered it!! So we
were stuck on this island!! We basically started trying to find a place we'd be
able to stay the night because the tide only drops two times a day. There was basically
nothing open on Mandø, but we luckily found two people who helped us find the
tide times, which showed we could drive back over at 10:30 at night! So we
called President Olsen (our Mission President) and explained the situation. He
laughed at us and said we could share the experience at the next Zone
Conference. (He also said be safe and made sure we had some food.) So we took
some pictures with the covered road, almost got the car stuck in the water, and
then found ourselves a luxurious little villa (or tourist brochure room) to
hunker down for hours!! We had our Coordination Meeting and planned for some
upcoming activities. Of course, it started getting cold, so we rationed jackets
and such. After playing some funny girls camp games, telling life stories, and
basically whatever else we could think of, we left the island! We ended up
getting home about 1 in the morning, so that was fun! So for future reference,
check the tides before visiting national parks, or you'll never know if you'll
be able to make it back to your appointments on time!
Tuesday was extremely normal in
comparison. We were pretty tired, but we had stuff to do, so we worked!
We had a lesson with Snorri again, which was interesting. He had read and
enjoyed it, but couldn't remember much. We're not totally sure if he likes
meeting, or what's up, but we're meeting again this next week. We then talked
to a guy on the street named Bruno who was going to Las Vegas for the weekend
so he declined our conference invitation. He wanted something "crazy"
to believe in God, but he didn't accept any of the crazy things I pointed out
to him. That evening, we ate at the church with a copule of the members. It was
extremely rainy, and we were all soaked getting there. But it was fun eating
with Karen and Silas.
Wednesday was splits in Sønderborg.
We woke up early (awesome for the Mandø missionaries) and hopped on a train
down there. I was with Ældste Iverson that day, which was really fun! We worked
mostly in Aabenraa. Contacting there was super cool! The gågade is windy and on
a hill, super hyggeligt! We got contacted by a cool, young salesman from Viborg
who was Christian. He was pretty cool! Then we went knocking where we found a
couple people to teach and who took a Mormons Bog! We taught a lesson and then
headed back to Sønderborg for UV (Mutual?). Ældste Iverson and I played ping
pong with some cool youth while the other Elders went and taught a lesson. Then
we all met up again to make hamburgers and play Munchkin that evening!
Thursday was good. We drove up for
District Council, where we discussed tying everything in to Jesus Christ
(stealthy application with Pres. Nelson's talk Saturday afternoon). We
practiced tying random gospel topics in with Christ, which was pretty fun! Then
we headed home for personal study, which kept being weirdly interrupted by a
Hungarian guy painting our door and our landlord checking up on him. That
evening we taught Kaj, which was mostly just a discussion about the Word of
Wisdom again. We're hoping bringing the Bishop next time will be able to clear
up some things.
Friday was fast. We met with Thomas
where he bought Kaj kage! It was really good! Kaj is a frog from an old Danish
tv show. It was pretty fun! We also went knocking and then had an eating
appointment with the Bang Grabe family! Christoffer (their RM son) was home, so
it was incredibly fun! Lots of fun jokes and randomness!
Saturday was pretty sweet! We had
time to go out and knock, do weekly planning, and then had General Conference!!
We had an appointment with a man named Mark, but he told us to come back in a
half hour and then he wasn't home... So that was a bummer. But Conference was a
party!! We watched the Saturday session with a handful of people (everyone
wanted to watch it in english). It was super good!! I can't say I'm too
surprised with 2 hours of church, but I personally love the reasoning!! Not to
make our lives less about church, but to give us more opporunity for it to fit
our personal and family needs! Awesome!!
Sunday was interesting. We went
contacting in the morning because there was no Priesthood Session. It felt
super weird! But then we had the Saturday afternoon session at 2, which was
also really good! I loved Elder Uchtdorf's talk! (There were a lot of good
things, I don't have my notes with me currently though...) We went knocking a
bit in between sessions, which was pretty fun! I felt pretty spiritually hyped!
Then we came back for the Sunday morning session, which was incredible! I loved
President Nelson's talk as well! All of Conference seemed so simple and without
excuses! It was sweet!
My spiritual thought will consist of
a simple testimony experience. (Did anyone else notice the conference
testimonies were very short and simple?! Super cool!) After getting home super
late from Mandø early Tuesday morning (which involved other miracles), we were
just getting to bed and I realized I didn't have my planner in my bag! I
checked everywhere I could, but resorted to praying for help remembering everything
necessary in order to restart a new one for the very last week of the transfer.
Though not temporally valuable, that planner had numbers and addresses of
people we needed to contact and notes of when worked best. I had put a lot of
work and organization into it and was very dissapointed that it was gone. As I
was praying, I was strongly guided to say that I "would find it
again" not just remember what it included. The next morning, the Sisters
called and apologized that they had somehow ended up taking my planner with
them! Just a small little miracle to show that God truly cares about little
details of our lives. Not just that we get off an island and home safe, but
that we have everything we need to continue on afterwards.
I hope all of you have taken the
commitments from Conference to heart and will do your best!! President Nelson
gave some very grand promised blessings, go reread those!! Have a wonderful
week!
--
Ældste Bryant Jepsen
-Crazy Ribe/Mandø pictures
- Kaj Kage (Danish frog muffin cakes) with Thomas
No comments:
Post a Comment