December 29, 2014

Hej Mor og Far,

This has been a wonderful week. Christmas was an awesome experience, and I know I'll come to really treasure the Danish Christmas(es) that I've had.

Elder Lester and I had another good opportunity to talk with people on Christmas Day. After visiting with the Dalberg family in the morning, we asked if they knew of any specific places we could go caroling that they thought would be good. We'd been searching for plejehjemme type places mostly, and 'L' suggested one that we could go visit in town.

The people there were really excited to have someone come sing to them, and some of them even joined in as we continued singing. The spirit was really strong, and afterward we made sure to take the time to talk with all that had listened. It was really sweet to be there on visit with these people, and all of them with such interesting stories.

The first woman I was talking about clearly had some problems with her memory, but was never less enthusiastic about telling us what sweet boys we were for coming and singing to them.

The woman that Elder Lester was talking with was a little bit more with it, and said that she would be interested in talking with us further. It was an awesome visit, and really made us feel like we made a difference to somebody on Christmas.

I love this time of year. I'm looking forward to my next transfer here. Ældste Millward seems to be very excited about the work and Helsingør in general, and we get along great already.

It really was an incredible experience this week with skyping. 

'V' had always given me a hard time that I didn't ever cry (which you both know is quite untrue) so I told her just to wait until I got my parents on Skype, and sure enough, you guys delivered ;) 

It really was a sweet spiritual moment, and I was even more grateful that 'V' was able to be present, not just to see me cry but to really be able to relate that same spirit she feels, in a situation where we were testifying of exactly what that feeling was as we read about the voice of God and the Holy spirit. 

I love you both. I hope you all have a happy new year!

Love you,

Ældste Pitcher

December 22, 2014

Christmas is in the air!

We've been caroling a lot this week, and bringing the message of Christ's birth to everyone we've been talking with. I love being able to share the spirit and meaning of Christmas through music. Its one thing I'm certain to incorporate more in my personal celebration of the Savior's birth when I one day have my own family.

We had a nice experience with the Hillerød Elders caroling to their investigator family, familien Hirsea. Because we were four we were able to come in and share a Christmas message, and talk with both ‘M’ and ‘V’ about joining the Church. They both have a great desire to join, and throughout the appointment they continued to express what a blessing they both knew it would be in their lives. It was great to be a part of, but I'm sure the Hillerød Elders will explain more about it.

‘V’ just recently received her baptismal dress in the mail. She is coming down off of the e-cigarettes right on schedule, and is asking us for things we can commit her to every time we come over. The change in her attitude towards the church and the gospel is a miracle. It's been a complete 180 degree change, and she is thirsting for knowledge. That's even the Christ like attribute that she chose to study along with us for this month is knowledge. She has chosen to read the Book of Mormon through before her baptism, and she's well on her way.

All of this excitement about religion in the house has had a huge effect on ‘Vi’, whom, to everyone's surprise, actually went and checked out a bunch of books about the Bible from the library this last week. We've been teaching them together, and ‘Vi’ is following close after her mother.

I love this time of the year. I'll never forget my Danish Christmas(es) :)  

Some fun stuff from the week was that Elder Lester and I tried a Swedish delicacy known as Surstrømming.... Absolutely disgusting.  No doubt the worst thing I've ever eaten. The strong smell attracted a fox into the Dalberg's front yard by the end of the evening.  Wow, it was bad.  You can see videos online of people vomiting as they eat it.  Gross...

We got ‘V’ a REALLY nice Danish Bible she had been wanting, and today we just went to Tivoli! That's actually why I'm emailing so late, we just got back. 

I'll try to send some pictures next week since I'm trying to keep it short now.  Hope y’all don't mind. 

EVERYONE BE ON SKYPE AT 6:30 a.m. ish. That's about when I'll be skyping home.  Hope that's ok, we just have the other elders from Birkerød coming, and we decided to take the earlier time. 

Hey, I'm way short for time, didn't really get to look at your email right now.  I'll be sure to send more tomorrow before district meeting before church.  I like the cards, and congrats Dakota!!  Like I said, more tomorrow, Peace and Love!!

Ældste Pitcher

December 15, 2014

Hey Ma and Pa!!

Here's the week.

To start off the week, I figured I might talk a little bit more about the 'He is the Gift' initiative.  It's been going great in our area, and it's been very easy to talk with more and more people about Christmas, and its true meaning. 

During splits this week, Elder Enniss and I contacted one woman on the street, and by simply asking her what Christmas meant to her, we were able to set an atmosphere where we could bear testimony of Christ.  She gave us her number, and we'll be looking forward to setting up a time to meet with her hopefully today, or in the coming days.  This tool really does work, and I've already seen how many hearts it has softened.  It's actually been a surprise to me to see just how many people DON'T care to talk about Christmas.  I'm so used to getting such a positive response from people, it is shocking when people aren't even willing to look up the website.

Things with ‘V’ continue to progress and go forward.  Now and again she'll have her doubts, mostly because she feels like things are just going so quickly now as opposed to before, and she doesn't feel like she can always answer all of her family's questions, but she's always clung to the testimony she has, and knows that this is the right path.  She's excited, we're excited.  She should be down to zero nicotine by next week, so keep her in your prayers! 

‘Vi’ has been coming to church regularly as well, and even had a part in a quartet in choir yesterday in church.  She has her own growing testimony, and we are continuing to teach her as well as ‘V’.  We're all looking forward to Christmas time, and I don't feel at all away from home during the Christmas season in Denmark.  I look forward to miracles that come at this time of year with the work, just as I witnessed last year during this special time.

 
I just remembered this last bit from when you were talking about the experience I had with my district last year caroling in the hospital during Christmas.  There is a man in our ward who has just found out that he has cancer.  We visit every now and again, and decided this last time to sing some carols for him and his wife.  After having a wonderful experience with them, we went ahead like we did last year and sang to all the different faculties in the hospital.  It was an awesome spirit that travelled with us, and we were able to talk with a lot of people about the true meaning of Christmas.  I love this time of year :)

I also forgot to mention, but Elder Lester and I were able to do four little acts of kindness the other morning that I wanted to talk about. 

On the way to Allerød to pick something up from the church, Elder Lester moved a pallet of bricks to the side to help a woman get her stroller off the bus.  Then, when we were about to hop on a train an old woman asked us to help her get her wheel that had fallen off of her little carry bag out from in between the train and the platform.... (about a 6 inch gap to work with, and it was about 2 and a half feet down).   Then I thought about it for a second, and quickly whipped my belt off.  After a minute of fishing, and to everyone's (especially my own) surprise, I looped the metal part through one of the spokes and was able to pull the wheel out.   You'd have thought that I just saved this woman's cat from being run over by the way she was going off about how amazing I was haha.  She started introducing me to people on the train as if I was a super hero.  It actually turned into a great conversation, and I was able to share the 'he is the gift' video with her. 

We later helped some people from Syria find their way to get to Copenhagen, and also helped one man in an automatic wheelchair get off a train when his front wheels got stuck trying to cross the gap onto the platform.  It was a pretty awesome day :) 

Anyway, that's pretty much it.  I love you both, and hope you have a good one.

Ældste Pitcher

December 8, 2014

Hey Ma and Pa!

Everyone loves Christmas!! I've been able to bring up the Savior in conversations that started out talking about an RC robot that a man was bringing home as a Christmas present for his grandchild. Everyone feels the spirit of Christmas, and it makes it easy to bring in the message of our Saviors birth.
And, of course, ‘V’ is set to be baptized on the 17th of January now!! It came out of nowhere when we were just talking with ‘V’ about setting a date, and how she didn't feel comfortable about doing it before the end of the year.  Elder Lester just said, 'Well then, when DO you see yourself getting baptized?' And January 17th was the date. 

What an amazing week it's been in that part of Helsingør. It's crazy to see that she has seen such a dramatic change in her overall happiness this last week. She is so excited, so nervous, and sometimes even a little bit worried, but we've been reminding her of the blessings she's already seen as a direct result of her decision, and she's pressing forward with faith. 

December 2013 - Copenhagen Denmark Temple

During this last week as we were considering different pieces of the baptismal calendar, ‘V’ asked me to do the confirmation.  I feel so honored, and am so happy that I've been here to witness the change in this family's lives over the last few months.  I know that I was supposed to be sent to this area at this time to help them, and I'm grateful every day for the experiences that I've already had, and for the ones that are on the way.

Participating in the Christmas concert in Copenhagen was also a wonderful experience, the spirit was present, and I was happy to be a part of it.  This mission has A LOT of talent, and I'm always impressed at the caliber of missionaries we have in this mission.  It's awesome to see.

It's really good to see the family pictures and all the fresh happy faces.  Still, I'm going to have to be sure to get as much out of my last Christmas in Denmark as I possibly can :) 

December 2014 - Copenhagen Denmark Temple

I actually got to see Sister Klein at a Christmas concert put on by our stake last night (the Kleins were the family I was with last year for Christmas)  and it was an awesome little memory of my time spent here in Denmark during the Christmas season, and the amazing experiences that I'll be able to cherish the rest of my life.  I'm definitley going to be incorporating some of these traditions when I get home though. THAT you can be certain of :)  They really know how to party during 'Juletiden'. 

Another big part of my Christmas this year is actually a big thing that the church has going on right now.  A huge initiative is being put on by the church right now to share the true meaning of Christmas.  On christmas.mormon.org, there is a Christmas video called 'He is the Gift' that talks a little about the first gift of Christmas.  It's really inspiring, and I've already seen it touch a lot of hearts of people that we've been able to share it with. 

And that's the next part of the initiative.  Share the video with EVERYONE :)  #ShareTheGift and share it online, and everywhere you can.  This is something that all my missionary friends, and all the members over the whole world are doing right now to spread some Christmas spirit based around the true meaning of Christmas.  Let me know how things go :) 

Love you both

Ældste Pitcher

December 1, 2014

Hey Ma and Pa

We will indeed be skyping from ‘D’s. Likely around the same time as last year. I'll be sure to coordinate, and of course ‘V’ can always just find you on Facebook :)  

ON to this week :)  We needed to find a few new people this week and we did. It's been tough over the last little bit here with finding. We've been talking with more and more people and learning how to come out of our comfort zones with the focus on finding since it's been the focus mission wide, and we found two new investigators to start working with this week.

I'm most excited about a girl we met named ‘L’. Elder Lester and I were going to an appointment Thursday evening clear out in Tikøb, a little city out in the middle of nowhere to have Thanksgiving with a friend of ours. He burned our appointment. We were a little upset, especially since it was supposed to be our Thanksgiving meal with him, but we decided we'd just hop back on an earlier bus and try to see if we could talk with anyone on the way home.

I sat next to ‘L’ in the back of the bus and started a casual conversation. After a while we started talking about why I was here, and about the church, and eventually her questions led to a full blown lesson. We ended up getting off at the last stop with her, and she told us she hadn't really had a plan of where she was going to go that evening, she just felt like taking a trip on the bus. It's moments like those that always make me feel the best. 

We'll actually be meeting with ‘L’ later today, so hopefully things go well :)  

Everything continues to go well with the ‘D’s, and we're working so hard to make sure that ‘V’ keeps progressing the way that she has been.  ‘Vi’ also got back from Thailand this week, and we've started teaching her.  So innocent and humble.  It's awesome to be with this family.

Ældste Beary

I miss you both huge bundles.  I'm grateful for everything that you guys have given me, and I just remembered after saying that that I forgot my 10 things... sorry. I'll have to try and do some make up work, but I am thankful for the plan that God has for all of us. 

Recently I've really started to focus on the plan God has for us while we are on the earth.  After feeling pretty low in the middle of this last week, I kneeled down to pray to ask for forgiveness, and help to be able to bear some of the burdens I've had recently.  A scripture from my personal study came to my mind, and I recognized something interesting when comparing it to another scripture we had considered sharing we someone earlier this week. 

The first one is in Matthew 11 when Christ invites us all to come unto him and he will make our burdens light AS we take upon ourselves his yoke.  Right then a huge burden hit me like a pile of bricks.  I sat there for a second thinking, 'man, I thought coming to Christ meant the burden would get lighter' but then I remembered a good lesson one of my missionary friends Elder Beers wrote to me about a man who was asked by Christ to move a boulder.  The man and Christ worked together for a little bit to move the giant rock, and then Christ left him for a time on his own to push the rock.  After years of pushing the rock alone Christ came back to the man to see that he had nearly given up.  The man asked Christ why he left him to be alone, and why he couldn't have come to help him.  Christ then told the man to stop and look at himself.  The man realized he had become big and muscular, and strong.  Christ told him again to move the rock, and finally it moved.  The burden is meant to keep us going.  Just like in Elder Bednar's talk from a while back.  Don't remember what it's called.

Anyway, Love y'all have a great week.

Ældste Pitcher