April 27, 2015

Hey Ma and Pa!!

So I'll be finding out about transfers this week... Crazy!  After this I'm down to three transfers left, and things keep speeding up week after week.

Thank you so much for the Birthday package!  It had takis ... so basically everything I need to hold me over for the next few months ;)  I've learned over the course of my mission though that there is a direct correlation of the amount of Heart burn that I get in relation to how much of my takis I share ... I've gotten progressively better at sharing ;) 

I'm really stoked for the Flames.  You'll have to let me know how Things turn out, and of course I'll be sure to keep everyone in my prayers.

So we had a disappointment this week with ‘M’.  We kept trying to get in contact with him and when it came right down to it, he cancelled. That was kind of a letdown, but I still feel like it was a really good day in church. 

The members were all excited because callings were changing, and we even got a new branch mission leader.  ‘C’, the man WHO was recently reactivated was called this last week after ‘T’, our previous mission leader, was released. 

We had a really good appointment with the ‘S's last night as well.  We again invited ‘MA’ to baptism, and this time they showed some signs of pressure. 

They both seem to think that at some point in the future ‘MA’ will be baptized, but right now they aren't showing any urgency to get there.  They kindly asked us to back off just a little bit, because for the last few times that has been the focus of the lessons, and they feel like it can sometimes be too much. 

The lesson this time was on the restoration of the priesthood keys, and what that means with regards to the eternal family, and they both seemed to like it quite a bit.  We're trying to make things work with them, and promising blessings and extending invitations, but like I said, I think the urgency just isn't there. 

We also were able to get in with ‘R’, ‘Rb's mom this week and teach her when Elder Amos was on splits with me.  I was pretty straight forward and asked why she wasn't a member.  I feel comfortable enough in our relationship to be able to do that, and she actually was able to name off a few things that we're working on answering now, so it was a very effective visit I think. 

We have been finding a lot more this week, and the friends we've found for the most part seem to be pretty open to talking about the church. 

It should be a really good week coming up here.  The district is holding up pretty well.  It seems like things are always kind of up and down in Esbjerg.  Their friend who was preparing for baptism broke up with his member girlfriend, and it sounds like he hasn't showed much interest since, and the Ward and the missionaries are having a hard time connecting.  Problems seem to be going away, but I still feel like they are struggling from time to time. 

Overall though, the missionaries have a good attitude and they are hard workers so I'm not too worried. 

The rest of the week has been great. 

Elder Higby and myself went up to the temple this weekend, and had a really good experience with all of the recent converts from Fredericia.  I especially liked the car ride home where I got to talk with a very sweet old member named ‘J’ who drove us on the way back.  To make it short, I love hearing people's conversion stories.

I'll get around to sending photos now, but I wanted you to know that I love you, and that I'm still loving it here in Sønderborg. 

Pray that IF I go somewhere else that I'll travel in safety, and I'll be sure to let you know where I end up.  With only three transfers left I feel like it could be anywhere. 

I Love You!

Ældste Pitcher

April 20, 2015

Hey Ma, and Pa!

This week in Sønderborg was awesome.  Especially for one friend, ‘M’, who has had an especially good week. 

We were able to meet with ‘M’, really focused meetings, 3 times this last week.  Each time we focused on coming to church, and during the second meeting, Elder Higby felt a prompting that may have made a serious, long-lasting change in ‘M's church attendance. 

Elder Higby proposed a fast on Saturday that the way would be prepared for ‘M’ to come to church yesterday.  ‘M’ felt a powerful confirmation that that was something that we should do, and of course I was all for it. 

Saturday comes, and we meet ‘M’ at the church with his family while they were cleaning the church, and have another awesome meeting, and he commits to come to church.  Fast forward a bit further and 5 minutes into the beginning of sacrament meeting ‘M’ walks in with the rest of his family.  Elder Higby and I were grinning from ear to ear. 

After church he called us to let us know what an incredible day he had had, and said he felt like it was about time for him to start coming to church more often.  The prayers of the zone are being heard in ‘M's behalf.  He saw General Conference, he came to church, and we're confident he'll be coming next week. 

I love Sønderborg.  We found two new friends to teach this week, and we also had a great splits up in Esbjerg.  There is a great change occurring in Esbjerg right now.  They were struggling there for a while, but there is a new light starting to pop up with this baptismal date they've just made.  The rut they found themselves in is gone.  I'm really excited for the Elders and Sisters there, and I feel like it's been an answer to all of our prayers, just to get them going again.

It was awesome to hear how everything is going back home.  Thank you for the birthday wishes and the nice note about how awesome I am ;)  It made me feel real good. 

I'm excited to see you all on Mother's day!  I can't believe that is the last time I'll be skyping from Denmark.  The whole thing has seemed to go by fast, but I guess I could've guessed it would. 

I'm just happy that I've had as fulfilling of a mission as I have had UP TO THIS POINT, and I know that these are going to be an awesome 5 months.  I'm really looking forward to that package :) 

Love

Ældste Pitcher

P.S.  I left my camera in the Esbjerg Elders Apartment on splits, I don't have more pics for this week... WAY SORRY, but hey, that just Means more NeXT week right? ;)

April 13, 2015

Hey ma and pa! 

Hey, did you both know that I love you?  I've seen the way the parents in this young branch raise their kids so focused around all the right things, and as you'll read later in the email, it helps me remember and appreciate all that you two have done for me.  They are AWESOME here.  And thank you again.  Here's a bit about my week though.

This week has gone by quickly. We had a lot to get around to, and between travelling to Fredericia for zone training, and Allerød for ‘V's baptism, it's been a pretty crazy week. I will say this though, it's been one of the more spiritually uplifting weeks of my mission.

To see how much of an impact the gospel has made on a family I've come to love in Helsingør, has been enough of a miracle in and of itself. I've seen a new light come into their eyes in relation to when I first met them, up to now where ‘V’ has just been confirmed a member of the church. They have had their struggles, and no doubt they haunt them every day, but they have a better view of the future now, and their hope strengthens my testimony.

Like I said, I LOVE this Family, and I was so happy I got to see all of them again. I was happy to see Lars there as well, despite him and Jessica having gone seperate ways, they get along, and Lars still has the missionaries over from time to time.  We still have a future Adventure Time man date set up as well for some day in the future. 

We have just AWESOME members here in Sønderborg. We have been out visiting them all recently, and they all have such strong families, and wonderful children. They are raising a wonderful generation of faith. 

On Sunday a former companion Elder (now Cameron) Walch was here visiting with his family.  I got to translate for them, and it was fun to see how American they looked ;)  They brought me a HUGE thing of American peanut butter for which I'm indebted to them. 

It was kind of a trunky moment, I must say, to have Elder Walch's mom stand up and bear her testimony of how proud she was of her son and all missionaries WHO serve.  It did bring the spirit really strong though, and I was touched. 

It's been a good week, this mission thing just keeps getting better :)

Still just chuggin' along here.  I love my mission :)

Ældste Pitcher

April 6, 2015

Hey ma and pa!

Just so you know, we ended up needing to do our emailing in the church today instead because Elder Higby and I had made too many appointments over the last week for Tuesday, we wouldn't have been able to get around to everything.

It's been a really good week for us here in Sønderborg. 

Elder Higby and myself are getting along great, and have actually made a goal to only speak Danish for the rest of the transfer.  I have for the most part spoken Danish whenever outside of the apartment with companions, but this is the first time 100 percent, and Elder Higby and I feel like we're making some improvements. 

It's crazy how good his grammar is for how long he's been out.  He corrects me all the time on things, and I trained his MTC companion ;)  it does get kind of annoying sometimes, but I'm patient  because I really do want to get better, plus he still has a fairly young vocabulary so we even each other out a bit. 

Anyway, that's pretty much my life right now. 

So, this week went by maybe a little bit slower than they normally do, but, we still were able to get around to a lot of different things that we wanted to, and were able to share the initiative helives.mormon.org with pretty much everyone we came in contact with. 

There are a lot of people that seem actually quite interested, so we are praying for some good feedback that we know is coming the missions way. 

Elder Higby and I have been talking a lot about the confidence we have in the mission, and it's great to see the snowball effect that it's having on the mission.  We are both really proud to be a part of such a huge explosion in the work here during this time. 

This week specifically though, we did have a rough time with getting around to everyone we usually meet with because they were busy, or out of town, though that didn't stop us from being able to find a few new friends. 

Nobody that we have found is being regularly taught yet, but we have confidence in our little batch of potentials, and one woman who had spoken with missionaries before even invited us to come help teach a religion class in folkeskole in July.  That was nice to know she thought well enough of us to invite us to something like that. 

General Conference has been a wonderful opportunity to learn, and today we'll have the chance to go meet with Anders and MaryAnn and watch the last session with them.  I'm looking forward to that. 

It's been wonderful to get outside and finally be able to feel some sun. It's starting to warm up here :)

Love you both lots!! :)

Ældste Pitcher