September 3, 2012

Hej!

...

Kinda a bland greeting, isn't it?

But no problem! It's the thought that counts right? Mmm... Nope not when

work is involved. Like taking out the trash. If you just use a though, then

nothing really is accomplished. But ya know whatever. Sometimes the thought

does count. I'm rambling in circles.

Where to begin? This week was pretty slow in regards to work. It just was

an off week. We tried knocking some towns in the middle of nowhere and they

were super negative. Like we weren't even able to teach them lessons on the

doorstep.

Most of our investigators were either sick, or couldn't meet. The ones we

did meet up with, we had sorta... unfocused lessons. One of the people we

taught asked if we wanted some pizzas to eat while we were there. uh... no

need to go out of your way to do that... But anyway, cool. Where does to

line come where being a jerk by turning somebody down becomes necessary?

There was this kinda funny event. We were buying some food, and the server

guy started talking to us. He identified us as religious, and asked us what

we were. Christian? Protestant? I told him were Mormon. His response was

curious. ''Oh yeah, we're Mormon too.'' Um... Yea, sure, I don't know if

you quite understand what I mean... but sure we both believe in Christ.

Maybe next time, we can talk about it.

Danish is improving! Yay! I can follow most conversations if I focus, but

it's still lots of hard work. More language study!

We knocked a middle of nowhere town again. Two this time actually. Knocking

in small towns = super less effective. The most non positive I've seen on my

mission. They weren't exactly negative, but nobody listened to us at all.

Rats. Lots of farmland out there. Oh and I saw the BIGGEST DOG EVER. Easily

up to my chest in size. The bark freaked us out bad. Domesticated dogs are

ok, but those farm ones.... uhugglie.

Not a whole lot this week. Or time either. But that ok. Work goes forward.

Read about the Nephite wars this week. There is some aspects of Spiritual

gold in there. Alma 57:21? Fantastic. I'll let you look it up. About the

stripling warriors. Yes. I hope I remembered that scripture right.

Ældste Christensen

At the local theme park called "Somerland".

August 27, 2012

It was an interesting week for me. (Wait... that's a stereotypical way to

begin a update.) Lots of stuff going on. Forgive my normal style of

writing, but different weeks very on what is worth being told of... wait...

maybe that almost makes sense to me. But yea. It almost feels like a normal

week. Which is bad. Normal is boring. Maybe I've just been busy. A lot. The

daily routine has been absolutely scrambled of late, so that's good enough

reason for me!

Lots of catching up to do on many things, mostly journal writing. Ældste

Arts was sick with allergies this Wednesday, so basically we were stuck in the

apartment the whole day. Poor guy. Glad he's better now.

We worked in the middle of no where this week! Nothing could been seen as far

as the eye could see, and here in flatland Denmark, you can see pretty darn

far. We went to this town that we completely knocked in literally in an

hour. Gave away one book of Mormon. Maybe the only person who would've

taken one out there. Woo! Following the hand of the Lord! That is the only

way to work. The trick is figuring out how. Faith maybe? hehe.

There was this really big dog in the middle of this small road we were

knocking that we were going to have to pass in order to finish knocking the

street. It was stoic, big and staring at us like it wanted to eat us.

Luckily, we managed to pass by it just fine, though it still sat there

starting at us. It was probably totally domesticated, but still... I wonder

if missionaries just look more appetizing to those guys?

 We knocked a coligium, a place where college kids live. That seemed pretty

positive, but there seems to be a curious pattern to who listens to us. Its

always the young teenage girls. Hmm... Should I be concerned, flattered or

just happy somebody listened to us? Pås på Ældste...

Ran into ANOTHER drunk guy who wanted to talk to us. That's the 2nd one this

week. Not exactly the best situation, but we sat down and talked to him.

Come to find out he'd actually listened to the missionaries before, and had

them over at his place before. Whoa! He gave us his address and phone

number and invited us to come over sometime. So.. that works for me. And

even more interesting enough, when we called him later, his number was

already in our phone. It is a REALLY old phone. Fun. So very good guy to go

hunt down sometime. But why is it always the drunk people? Word of Wisdom

people! Blesses your lives! That's what the gospel does for you! Follow it!

We met with two of our investigators this week, and they were both positive.

 We extended to invitation to (name withheld) to be baptized and he

agreed, though we didn't quite set a date yet. It was the closest invite to

a hard date based invitation you could get, so next time we meet, we'll

have a baptismal date! Woo! Super exciting! It seems that if you just give

some time and solid effort to any area, you can find success. We showed

(name withheld) the Restoration movie we had, and the Spirit was totally in there.

Pretty strongly too, I know she could feel it. We met with (name withheld) this week,

a less active member we've been trying to meet up with. Basically we just got

to know him better. He's a super cool guy that is VERY into video games and

Magic cards and stuff like that. I can relate to him very easily. I hope we

can continue to meet with him and work with him.

Ok, creepy story for the week. The past week or so, there has been this one

house with one window that has been of interest to us. When we look out our

back window, because we are on the 2nd floor of the building, we see over

the block. And during the evenings, every evening, the light in the window

flashes on and off. Its goes at a constant rate, and goes all night. It

then stops when morning comes around. We can't see anyone from our angle.

Nobody has fixed it yet, and we aren't even sure if anyone lives there. But

it is always there. One of these days, I'm going over to find out what it

is... very very strange.

Spiritual snippet. Alma 32. A Hope of Faith. Probably one of my most favorite

chapters because it talks so much about Faith. Fascinating topic to learn

about and apply. Also patience and humbleness... hmm... I think that its

turning into just a building of Christ like attributes. With Humbleness

comes Hope. And in prayers, ask for understanding! Totally ok to do.

Oh, and some language advice to those who are learning it. Don't just say

'yea' when ordering food, or talking to anyone else. You'll accidentally

order more then you bargained for. Or agree to something else... ha-ha...

yeah, my fault.

 But the mish is going great! I'm learning! I hope! I'm not exactly

fantastic at self review. But that's ok! Glad to hear from everyone! Sounds

like things are kicking into high gear out there! Det er digeligt!

Vises! Hej hej!

Ældste Christensen

July 23, 2012

Evangelist Forkynds af Missionarene!

Den er sandhed men også gennem medlemer.

I sometimes wonder if I'm telling too many stories. I'll come back and have

nothing left to tell. That would be unfortunate! I'll thank limited

timeframes for hjælpe mig holde der low key.

This past week was very slow. I guess every missionary has a week like

this. Nothing really scheduled, which leaves us to a lot of finding, and

finding without members is tough and unproductive a lot of the time. Or

rather unfruitful. Knocking = hard. Going to referrals from members =

fruitful!

That was the one of the many things I'm beginning to learn quickly here on

my mission. Working with the members, especially dedicated members, brings

the absolute best results. Why? We knocked some 3-4 hours one day, to

nothing to show except a lot of no's. We then took 5 minutes to stop by a

referral by a member, that was in-between areas we were knocking. Very

positive result. So when a member gives to a referral, USE IT! So yea.

Last week actually WHILE we were typing emails, a lady that Ældste Arts had

taught came up to us. She began to talk to us, and mentions how Elder Arts

hadn't called her back. In my head, my thought process was Ældest Arts

doesn't drop people without good reason. The conversation continued. She

said she wanted us to see this one video that she thought was great and how

it was the truth. My mind flashed red alert for two reasons. 1: We aren't

supposed to look at other videos online and such. 2: I remembered a story

he'd told me of an investigator that kept trying to show him and his

companion videos of priests online. Unfortunately it turned out the be the

exact same women, and she proceeded to show us the video. We couldn't

exactly blow her off like jerks. Basically it was about how Mormons and

Catholics weren't Christian. She was telling us how there wasn't any other

book from God other than the bible and such. She actually had a pretty good

monologue going, full of facts and whatnot. However, both Elder Arts and I

basically said that we didn't believe what the video was saying about us, and

I said how I beloved the Book of Mormon was the word of God and it was

true. Not much more for me to say, otherwise it would start turning into a

Bible bash, and at the library, you are supposed to be quiet. She finally got

the message I think and left. Weird thing was, about 5 minutes later she

returned and gave us some sort of treat. We had no clue what it was and

when I asked her she didn't say. Both of us looked at each other and wisely

decided NOT to eat them. I later discovered it was some sort of chocolate

egg, but that still woundn't have persuaded me to eat it. Weird.

It was a interesting experience to be put on the spot like that. To have

somebody directly say you're wrong. It makes you appreciate your Faith and

Testimony which are both things I CANNOT deny. I'm glad I've been building

it and know such truths well.

After she left for good, elder arts on his computer typed at me, ''See why

I didn't go back?'' Yep. There are better potentials out there seeking

truth at that moment.

When we went to Nykøbing Mors, I saw some chocolate. No ordinary chocolate

though. This one was the BIGGEST toblerone I had ever seen. It was on a

1:10 ratio of a normal one! If I wasn't going to be walking the rest of the

day... I would have so got it. Haha.

Saw a rainbow the other day. With how much it rains here I thought I would

have seen one sooner but go figure. This one was kinda fun because I was

nearly a full circle if the earth wasn't in the way. So as I followed the

rainbows circle I could see the end of it! If my suspicions were correct,

the pot of gold lay at resting home, that a 100 year old member lives. If

we weren't rushing to catch the bus... I would've stopped by.

We got some candy at the store during the end of one of our days. Elder

Arts let me have a piece of his, and to my misfortune discovered it tasted

like cough drops. Um... who makes candy that tastes like cough drops? I

looked over at Ældste Arts and he was munching away at them. Ok, Europeans

have weird tastes. Sure, I'm weird, but that... ugh.

Ooo! ok, so for those who know me, I'm known to talk in my sleep. I've

talked a little here and there, and in full sentences and one sided

conversations sometimes. It was fairly infrequent before. Now, according to

Ældest Arts, I've been talking in my sleep almost every night. It wakes him

up, and leaves him cranky in the morning. We finally decided to video

myself talking. Sure enough we did get a video of me talking, but the audio

was bad, so we'll have try again. But until then, hope it doesn't hurt our

daytime energy for work! I blame all the long sleep hours and healthy food.

The Spirit guilds our actions and it's a fantastic experience every time we do

turn to him for guidance. I hope everyone can train themselves to listen

to the Spriit. It leads you to much more effective results then by yourself.

The catch is figuring out why you are where you are when your original

appointment falls though. But the Lord doesn't waste a single action, so

just remember to look around when you do. There is usually some reason you

are where you are.

Thats all for this week. Love you all! Not much time as P-day is skewed

today to fit in some work!

Bestest Ønsker!

Ældste Christensen