Hillerød is
known as the Heart of Royal Northern Zealand. Or in Danish Hjertet af Kongens
Nordsjælland. And it was quite a cool, danish week up here in the heart!
Monday
included the usual! We drove down to Ballerup and relived the Medieval way of
life through the Middelalder Market as a district! It was super fun! Got some
cool things and smelled like smoke afterwards, so it couldn't be better. It was
also a cultural blending of people from quite a few places in Europe (mostly
Denmark and Poland). It was really cool! It's basically the Danish version of
This Is The Place. :) That evening, Ældste Harding and I ate with Bishop and
Sister Reuter. They're a really fun couple! We had invited Jan to come as well,
but he was unfortunately too sick to leave his bed. But Bishop Reuter kindly
showed us his Temple Knights swords and his Moto Guzzi motorcycles, so it was a
pretty cool appointment.
Tuesday
started by the power going out because of a lightning storm!! It was pretty
cool! So once we got that back on, we tried to get an appointment with Louise,
but she wouldn't respond to our texts and it was actually quite frustrating
because she asked late Monday night if we could meet. But we instead ended up
meeting, last minute, with Larry at the library. He's the man from Kenya who is
Catholic, but loves learning about Jesus. He's open to being baptized, but his
mother in Kenya is really worried whenever he mentions joining another church.
We basically keep contact with him to we can meet whenever he has time. But to
end the day on a high note, we taught Inger at the Rosenkilde's house! It was
interesting! Eilif, Helle, Amilie, and Katrine Rosenkilde were at home, so we
all sat in the living room and discussed baptism. Inger has been busy at work
and hasn't had time to read Mormons Bog, but still knows she wants to be
baptized. So we explained to her the requirements of baptism, and she was
completely accepting of everything! It was honestly concerning that she didn't
even bat an eye when we brought of the Word of Wisdom and Tithing. But she's
committed to be baptized the 5th of July! So we're way stoked for her! As a
follow up to Louise, we found out that one of our phones (we took over an area,
so we've had two Nokia phones this entire transfer) hadn't been sending any
text messages since last Saturday! So she never even heard that we could meet!
It was way sad.
Wednesday
included another quick service project, where we cleaned up an apartment with
Christian Ravn, and helped him take it to the dump. Then we drove down to
Ballerup for splits! I got to hang with Ældste Campbell there, which was quite
the party! We headed out to Herlev and knocked there for a while. We had an
eating appointment where we had Rød Grød med Fløde for dessert. That's the
classic "Can you actually speak Danish?" sentence that members ask
us. Then we contacted for a while, where we met a woman named Simone. I started
the contact by asking what her favorite ice cream was (which
was champagnebrus, by the way) and then had an amazing conversation about
how we can really connect with God! Also tied it back into ice cream by telling
her to taste it first before it could be her favorite. She was really nice and
we definitely had the Spirit there to testify for her. She took a Mormons Bog
and the Elders are calling her again soon. That evening, the lightning and rain
returned, but no power outages.
On Thursday,
we switched back companions and drove home before going to a lesson with Gerda
and Jacki. But they apparently didn't know that, because they weren't home. So
we just knocked before having a super fun eating appointment with the Mcmudow
Family!! (And no, I'm not sure how to pronounce their name.) They're a part
member family from Azerbaijan. The mother, Angela, and her two daughters,
Zebina and Alfina, are members. Her son, Rufford, was also there, which was
super cool! They also invited Isak (Danish) and Lucy (Peruvian/Spanish)
Ringheim. There were four languages used throughout the appointment, which was
insane! But we had an awesome spiritual discussion!! Rufford also said he
should probably read the Book of Mormon, so that was a win for Team Jesus!
Sadly, we had to leave just as the Salsa dancing started up. (In spite of the fact
that Ældste Harding is quite versed in his ballroom skills.)
Friday
included more splits! We went out contacting until the Zone Leaders showed up.
Then Ældste Nielsen and I, joined with Ældste Harding and Ældste Anderson, went
back and contacted some more! We contacted by the castle, where we talked with
a lady whose father was a member. She knows quite a bit about the church. As we
talked with her, Troels Jepsen and his fiancé, Phillipa (not sure on spelling)
came up and joined us! It was honestly the strangest contact ever! Everyone had
some relation to the church! Other than that, we went finding and bought ice
cream that evening. Ældste Anderson also loved our little bunny lamps which
change color when hit. Our bunny also did well against a wave of fists.
Saturday was
Philippine food! We ate lunch at the Nielsen family's (in Ballerup), which
included a lot of food! I also definitely ate part of my permanent retainer
which broke off during the meal... Then we had our District Council, which was
fun! And we did some stop by's in Farum and Birkerød on the way home.
Sunday went
pretty well. We had church! Yay! Inger couldn't come because she was working
basically all day. But we had a good service! We had to do Weekly Planning that
evening because we've been so busy the other days. We also got to go out
knocking and had some really good conversations!
Spiritual
thought: We had a musical number in church where a man got up to play the
piano, but couldn't remember the song after a couple notes. After a couple
tries, he stood up and bore his testimony of the Atonement, trials, and his
love for the ward and the Savior. He said that playing in church has been
something he's wanted to do, but hasn't had the courage yet. I have never been
so tempted to applaud in church before! That's exactly what the church is for!
We're all imperfect, trying to get better! That was my favorite talk from
Sunday. I hope church is a place where we have people who love, support, and
catch us as we do our best and fall down. It was simply amazing! That member
also got a ton of compliments and support after the meeting.
I know that
Jesus is the Christ! I'm so grateful for His infinite Atonement that makes it
possible for me to become infinitely better than the person I am now. I love
Him and my Heavenly Father with all the strength, power, and obedience I can
muster! I've been honored to serve him for the past two years, and look forward
to serve in other capacities and places throughout my life!
Pris Herren
for hans altomfattende kærlighed og plan!
--
Ældste
Jepsen
- Splits
with Æ Anderson and Æ Nielsen
-
Frederiksborg is just beautiful
- A couple
from the Medieval Market
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