Acción de gracias (Ej, hvor gik mit spansk hen?)

This has been an abnormal week, as usual. I've also been informed that I write too much, so I'll try to be a little more concise with my information.

Monday, we didn't really do much. We did the necessities and then some work. We had a couple lessons planned, but none of them happened. David has sadly dropped us because he's wife doesn't want him meeting with us. (That was a bummer.) Then we were out doing stop by's and such. Later that evening, the four missionaries went and cleaned the church building in preparation for TV2 Echo the next day. We basically blasted Danish music while we ran room to room vacuuming and organizing. T'was enjoyable at least. 

Tuesday was really hard to plan! We didn't know what time we were going to be filming, so we were just waiting for Martin to call us and tell us to come. We were knocking close to the church, but then went home to eat lunch before we got a call. Basically, the crew just wanted to film Martin working with us missionaries. So we went out knocking and they just filmed us as we talked to people on the doorstep. But they wanted Martin to do most of the talking, so we honestly did less than we usually do. Met a cool guy from Cuba though! Got to use a couple Spanish words, which was pretty patheticly remembered. (Listen in class everyone!) The rest of the day was very normal.

Wednesday included some crazy stuff! We went over to Fredericia for a Zone Training where President Olsen and President Rosenkilde (counselor in Mission Presidency) taught us a bunch of people skills! It was super cool! We had all read from Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and then we applied some basic things there. It was super fun and really helpful! After that, we had some Zone activity time which included American Football. Then we split up for Blitz Splits! I drove up to Vejle and was on splits with Ældste Throckmorton! We found two ladies, taught them a couple principles, and set appointments for the Sisters to come back again! It was super fun and I felt like we applied steps from the training very well. We then all had some kebabs to celebrate and we headed home. We arrived at 10:45 due to some exciting transportation, but it was a good day.

Thursday was Thanksgiving!! Although it was pretty normal. We went a worked, knocked, etc. But then to celebrate, we had an Elders Quorum Christmas party! (Denmark loves their Christmas!) We made some julestjerne (Christmas stars), ate delicious Christmas food, and had a present game (included dice and stealing gifts from others. Taken very seriously here). It was super fun! 

Friday was exciting. We had weekly planning, ate some æbleskiver with Steffan, and knocked out in Hjerting. We had to take a bus out there because it took less time, so that was exciting. We had some fun conversations with some people and stopped by some who Ældste Bailey had found on splits.

Saturday was super busy! First off, transfer calls. Nothing is happening to Ældste Bailey and I, so we're just keeping on keeping on! We had a lesson with a man named Faris. He's from Iraq and not the best at Danish, but he can speak English fairly well and wants to read in the Book of Mormon, so that's cool! We then headed to Sofie (mom with two daughters) and we had a member, Poul Erik Bohr, with us. But she didn't answer, so we just did some stop by's and set up appointments instead. Then we had a lesson with Mettemarie and Lars, who are a young married couple with one son and one on the way. Mettemarie had read the first couple pages of Mormons Bog, and had quite a few detailed questions. They're very open and happy to talk to us. We're going to keep meeting with them, luckily. Hopefully Moana just won't be on in the background again, that's super distracting! After that, we visited Martin Hansen (the one with guns). He hadn't read in the pamphlet, so we read some with him and he still wants to try. I'm a little skeptical about his motives, but we're at least visiting once again. He also gave Ældste Bailey a super cool old Bible and offered my a really fancy Koran. (I don't speak Arabic though, desværre.) And then we skipped over to Martin Rusbjerg's new apartment for dinner and Coordination Meeting! It was super fun! We made burgers and such. It was just super hyggeligt and fun. He also said that we have one of the best relations he's had with missionaries before, so that was super cool! 

Sunday was also crazy! We had choir that morning, which is always fun! Steffan and Kim (back from Thailand) both came to church! Kim was very proud of his new suit that he bought in Thailand. He was pretty schnazzy (not sure how to spell that...). Then we brought Erik the sacrament, which is always super fun! We also ate with Jonathon the Jew again! He's grown a beard, which looks really good. Not much different with him though. We had some contacting afterwards, but not much other than tons of Christmas lights everywhere.

Spiritual thought! Read in The Book of Mormon because it's awesome! In Alma 27 I found it interesting with King Lamoni and Ammon's diologue about taking the people out of the Lamanites' land. The King says that he will wilingly take his people if the Lord says to and he also knows that Ammon wants them to flee to safety. It takes a lot of trust in Ammon and the Lord to carry your people away from your own land in hopes that your friend's people will accept you. Just some food for thought there.

Have a wonderful week! I hope that Thanksgiving was incredible for you! Keep being thankful, it pays off now and later!

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

-Christmas is officially here (That's the town square with a giant ice rink in the middle)

-Selfies of Ældste Bailey and I

-TV2 Filming Crew (Mathias and Lasse)

-Dinner at Martin's (The Elders helped cook, so the Sisters cleaned) LtoR: Steffan Christensen, Ældste Bailey, Dennis, Lars Kjær, Poul Erik Bohr, Ældste Jepsen, Lukas Pedersen, Kim Andreasen, Joakim Nielsen

Revenge of the Pink Cykel

Some good things just cannot be avoided, like the chance to ride a metallic pink, woman's bike with a basket attached! (Granted, the lights on it are wonderful!) Ældste Bailey's bike has been having some weird problems lately, so we had to take it in to the shop and now he's gotten to use the pink bike for a couple days!! That's just kind of a side note from the week, but it's pretty funny either way.

Monday, we decided to get stuck on another island! Just kidding, we didn't get stuck this time. We all four went to Fanø though! That was fun! We spent most the time out on the beach, and found a wild starfish in its natural habitat! He was pretty cool. (He wouldn't take a Mormons Bog though. Said it was too big, or something.)  We had two appointments that evening, but neither went through. So we just knocked for several hours. 

Tuesday was pretty fun! We had some normal contacting that morning, then met with Marco!! Marco is a man from Holland but has lived in Denmark almost all his life. He is super nice and really cool! We met with him in the church and he was very happy to learn and be there! He wants to come to church as well, but it'll take some time. He got a major concussion a year ago and still gets migraines from basically everything. But we keep in contact with him. We also had Coordination Meeting at the church, which was fun. Ældste Bailey and I were trying to leave after, but all the youth kept talking with us. (Life is just so hard when so many people love you.) We were also told by Martin that he got a tv station interested in filming us as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. So we're going to be interviewed on Tuesday by TV2 Echo and their going to make a video centered around Martin. 

Wednesday was exciting too!  First, we had District Council which was good! We did a ton of different role plays and the Zone Leaders discussed some goals with us. We then had splits with Ældste Iversen and Ældste Kofford. Ældste Iversen and I did some contacting where we ran into some cool German members who were coming to church, and then we met this guy named Martin Hansen while knocking. He was raised in Australia, but his mum was Danish. He joined the military at age 16 and has been deployed 9 times. He's a super nice, hyggeligt guy and was open to talk about faith and Christ, so we took the opportunity. One thing led to another, and held a ton of different guns! It's insane how many kinds of weapons he has! 

Thursday was interesting. We first had interviews with President Olsen, which were extremely short and then he had to leave right after. He introduced the "9 to 9" policy which is now that we just speak Danish. Then we finished off splits with more contacting. And to end the day, Ældste Bailey and I knocked out in Ådalshaven again. We found quite a few people who would make appointments with us and taught quite a bit! It was super cool!!

Friday was fairly busy. We taught a lady that Ældste Bailey and Ældste Kofford found, but she dropped us by the end of the lesson. So then we turned in Ældste Bailey's bike and got the Pink bike! Then we contacted for a while, and we talked to two teenagers who gave us their phone numbers and said they thought religion is exciting! We met at Lasse's TV studio for some media training to prepare us for our interviews on Tuesday. I'm not sure how intense it'll actually be, but it was a helpful training. But Martin is sick!! So we're all praying that he'll be feeling better by the time we film. After training, we biked out to a lesson with Sofie (the woman we taught last Saturday with her two sons). But she wasn't home. We then met the Sisters at the church to practice singing for church, which went well.

Saturday was normal. We did Weekly Planning, but Martin Hansen called and talked with Ældste Bailey for 40 minutes, so it got cut short. Then we had another appointment who wasn't home. Then we taught Martin, and he showed us all his guns again. Ældste Bailey was super stoked! Basically a kid in a candy shop. Martin eventually accepted to read a Joseph Smith pamphlet and meet next week, but he's interesting and slow to work with.

Sunday went well. We had Christmas Choir again that morning, then sang in Sacrament meeting. It was pretty good! But then we had to scramble to get translation for some German members because Martin gone (he's still sick). That was a bit stressful. After that, we met with Erik Houborg again. It's just always fun talking with him! He's such a strong member! Then we went contacting until the end of the night. 

In our interviews with President Olsen, he explained that the reason we're implementing a 9 to 9 Danish is to better qualify us as worthy to receive the Gift of Tongues. I really resonate with the idea that we have to do something in order to receive blessings. As we are willing to work to see God's hand in our lives, He will be better able to show us. However, Heavenly Father loves us and knows that we are not capable to doing everything. We are going to mess up even as we try our best, that's how life works. Thus, we cannot be completely worthy to receive everything He will give us. Sometimes we have to accept that God can bless us without us deserving to be blessed. That's something I've thought a lot about recently. He really can do anything as we put our faith and trust in Him. Trust that God knows you and will bless you, and you will see His grace in your life!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Be thankful for all of the truly incredible things you have been given, for example dry air weather, multiple socks, a working nose, etc. There's a lot to be thankful for.

--

Ældste Bryant Jepsen

-Fantastic Beasts is here

- Martin Hansen and Ældste Bailey (most of the guns are fake, just so you know)

- Fanø harbor

- The Starfish bro! (one of his legs partially fell off while we held him, so that was exciting...)

- Ældste Bailey's sweet ride