Monday, April 1, 2019

Time to Split (Apparently)

I was out of the area on splits for basically half of the week, which ended in me being transfered to Birkerød, so I guess it was time to split. I loved serving on Amager! The people there are amazing and I had such a great time! I'm excited to bring the fire up here to northern Sjælland!

Monday, we had some interesting plans. We had an appointment with Chavalee, but we couldn't find a member who could come with us, so we had to cancel with her. However, she was sick and wasn't able to meet either, so we just made another appointment for Thursday. We also visited the underrated (if it was rated) Kastrup Fort! It was really pretty and had a nice view, but could best be used for picnicing, because there were mostly just picnic tables all over the place. We then had a Coordination meeting and dinner with Torben and Vicki Valgren. A pretty solid, normal day with some finding time too!

On Tuesday, I headed out to Taastrup with Ældste Chandler Anderson, who I went to San Francisco with to get our Visas! That was all the way back in spring of 2017. So we were kicking it! We had to take their car in to be serviced, and then we did some contacting in the city. We got to testify to some people about our personal testimony, but they sadly didn't want to meet. We found a man in Glostrup who was interested in meeting to hear more though, so we got his number! It was super windy. We also had an eating appointment in Frederiksberg with Ældste Moulton and Ældste McBride along with some members named Else and Erling. They were super nice! 

Wednesday was back on Amager, kind of... We had District Council which turned into a writing of yearbooks and we didn't get to talk about developing talents like Ældste Throckmorton wanted. But it was still good! Then we had a Blitz Splits in Frederiksberg, and I was with Ældste Moulton, which was super fun!! We all contacted around and there were a couple people found there. We got home and had just enough time to prepare to teach Bob and walk to his house before our appointment. But then the plan got thrown out the window anyway. He asked why it was important that Christ took our sins upon Him. So we spent the whole time trying to explain the Atonement of Christ. It was a good lesson, but Bob basically came to the conclusion that Christ's suffering was just motivating for us to change, but doesn't necessarily clean us. But right after that appointment, we walked to the church for the Come, Follow Me study group! We had Ulla, Jytte, and Jette, so it was a fairly good group. We had some good discussions along with some random ones. (As usual, of course!) Then we came home and ate dinner! It was a very busy day!

The next morning, I headed off to spend Thursday in Frederiksberg with Ældste Moulton! We were out contacting basically the whole day. It was super fun! We just click well together and had some really good contacts. We also had dinner with the UV crew! It was a party. Apparently, we Americans mix together sweet and savory flavors, which don't go together. We got that explanation by eating soup with bread and jelly. But it tasted good! Then we also got an appointment with Jørn and Birgit Jepsen, Troels Jepsen's parents. It was super fun!! They had a book about Andreas Jepsen which is the same as my Jepsen grandparents have! It was just fun to talk with them a bit and discuss some Jepsen stories. Ældste Moulton was also included in the discussion, so he wasn't left out, don't worry. :) It was a super fun splits!! (Further info we found out later... The Jepsen family is somehow related to Jeppe Thomsen, I'm pretty sure. They had visited some Jepsen's in Mink Creek, Idaho after they found out that they were realatives to Andreas Jepsen. The people in Idaho gave them the book. And the Jepsen family in København are expecting a visit when we come back, don't worry. I also have communication with them still.

Friday was an adventure! We had some normal finding activities, which took us to Dragør! A lady named Nargesa, asked for a Persian/Farsi Book of Mormon, so we went to deliver it to her. She is a super sweet and humble lady! Once we gave her the book, she realized that her native country uses Russian letters but writes in Farsi! So that didn't really work. Luckily, she's lived in Denmark for 9 years, so she could read Danish well enough. She was quite happy and excited to read. She's truly searching for the peace and joy that Christ can bring her as she comes closer to Him.

Saturday was another miraculous day! It started with the news about transfers, which I was a bit bummed about. I've loved my time on Amager! It's just been amazing! But we went contacting and met a Swedish woman that morning named Bodil (Boo-deal at least in Swedish). She was interested in hearing more about the Church, so we got her phone number. Then we had Weekly Planning, which included making a long list of people we had to get contact with or follow up with (only 3 of which we hadn't found ourselves). And to top the day off, we had an amazing lesson with Alf!! Preparing the lesson, Ældste Throckmorton said "shouldn't we invite him to baptism?" So we planned accordingly with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Alf had been reading "kind of slowly" because he "wanted to really think about the things I read and what I believe about them" and yet still read all the way to 1 Nephi chapter 21!! It was awesome!! As we explained faith and repentance to him, things just clicked! Once we got to baptism, it was so simple to ask him if reaching that milestone in his faith was something he wanted to do. And he said: "You know, that sounds like a good idea!" It was awesome!! The Spirit was way strong and testified to him that he was accepting the things that would bless him in his life! I was just beaming in the lesson!! We asked if he wanted to set a goal, thinking about a baptismal date, but he answered instead that he wanted to believe in the scriptures and truly be able to call himself a Christian!! It was such a cool answer!! He's super prepared and the only problem will be to find enough appointments for him to be taught everything before he is baptized! It was super cool!

Sunday was good, but sad. It was Fast Sunday, so that was awesome! We had our new Stake President visiting, so a lot of testimonies were about receiving confirmation of his leadership. I also got to share my testimony of love for the members, the success of missionary work in the branch, and the peace of Christ! It was an awesome Sacrament meeting!! I also got thrown in as tech support for the 5th Sunday meeting. So I scrolled up and down in the presentation for Grenspræsident Olsen (Branch President Olsen). I felt quite important. ;) And Torben even said he was impressed by our busy and productive week!! (That was a milestone, let me tell you!) It was a great peak to the week!

As a spiritual thought, I just want to put some pieces into place. Before my mission, I was called as a Youth Family History Consultant. I wasn't super interested in Family History, nor knew very much about it, but I was able to research a bit and get familiar with my Jepsen side of the family. Since being called to Denmark, the land of my ancestors, I have served where they came from, Seest, Hjørring, Ribe, and then I moved to Amager. I wasn't sure how that really fit into the pattern, but I was excited to serve anyway. Then just like clockwork, I meet Troels, Birgit, and Jørn Jepsen in Frederiksberg!! There's definitely a purpose with life, and it's not just clockwork! There are very specific missions served every day by every person! And if that's not cool enough for you, just imagine the individual who planned it all out! His power, knowledge, and care for you. He cared to send those people you needed the time you needed them! That's how amazing this plan is! And in just a couple days, we're able to hear the words of He who has organized it all through those He has sent to lead us! How cool is that!! General Conference is just the coolest! It's personal revelation for you and every other person on the earth! That's a lot of revelation! So tune in!
(And if you're feeling scriptural, here's a cool scripture I found as well: Philippians 4:4-7)

Have a wonderful week!! I hope you are stoked for General Conference! It'll be a party!!

--
Ældste Jepsen


- Me in the window (which is a nice seat actually!)
- Kastrup Fort
- A lot of people including Mads Foldgaard, Torben and Vicki Valgren (outside the church), the Jepsen Family (Troels Jepsen and parents, Jørn and Birgit Jepsen), and Ældste and Sister Gleason (inside the church)
-apartment pictures





























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