Reflections: Mormon Message - November 2, 2015

Elder Halversen and I bought treats for Halloween. I have a 2 liter Faxi Kondi and chocolate. We had a little party that night, and I thought of the fun Francis Party. Happy Halloween!

Everyone,

Hej! Den uge er fantasis for os her i Hillerød. Vi arbejde ver dag, og vi har mange velsignelse fra Gud. Vi undervise mennesker om den ting som vi tror på., og vi hjælp dem komme til Kristus gennam Helligånden.

We have worked our tails off this week trying to become instruments in the Lord's hands, and finding those who are ready to receive the restored gospel. Thank you for all the fun emails. I love hearing from all of you, and am so glad that you are doing so well. Rhett's email was very funny for us. He was talking about the rain, and biking through it. That is the story of our lives here in Denmark. It isn't a normal day without a little rainstorm or even a big one.

Last preparation day was wonderful. We went down to Søborg and met up with most of the missionaries here on Sjælland. We had a Halloween party and carved pumpkins.

Elder Jenson and I carved this pumpkin of the temple. We took third in the competition.

The winning pumpkin. When you look through the eye there was a sign saying Noahs Ark,
and several plastic animals.

Some of our district.

I met two of the new elders who just got here from the MTC. They are surprised at how cold it is here, but love the food, people, and Denmark. We had a great time talking about the MTC, and all the things that we enjoyed. The party reminded all of us of the celebrations and parties at home. The danes don't celebrate the way that we do. They will decorate, but the children don't go out to trick-or-treat, at least not where we were.

Me with the Thomsens.

That night ate with our district at the Thomsen's house. We had one of my favorite Danish meals of meatloaf with bacon on top. For dessert we had Rød Grød med Fløde. Americans can't pronounce it correctly, and children love to ask us to try. This is basically fruit and cream. I really enjoyed it, and some p-day Elder Halversen says we should try to make it. We will see how it turns out.

We have worked really hard trying to find new investigators. We are filling in as much time as possible with finding. There are mission, zone, district, and companion goals that we are working on. Sometimes it is hard to keep track, but we keep working.

Two miracles that occurred this week. We went knocking about a kilometer from our house. Almost everyone wasn't interested in our message, and came up with the usual excuses on why they couldn't listen to us. Towards the end of the night we met a guy who had heard of us. He said he wasn't interested, but told us that what we were doing is good. That really gave us the courage to keep going. 

The last door we knocked a lady answered, and was very open to our message. She wasn't very religious, but accepted a card of Jesus Christ. We tried to get her number, but she said that she would call us. She gave us coke as we left, and the whole way home Elder Halversen was very happy. He said that we would stop by with an origami shirt, and he would thank her. Sunday night we were contacting on the gågade. We were having a really hard time, but something inside kept us going. Elder Halversen stopped a lady walking by, and she stopped to talk. We found out that she is very religious, and is a volunteer at the cathedral with the statues in it. She accepted a #HeIsTheGift card, and asked us why our church was different. We started telling her about the restoration, and she accepted a pamphlet. 

The spirit was so strong as we talked to her, and she was very interested in what we had to say. Before she left she looked at the card, and saw the word Mormon on it. She asked us if that was who we were, and we told her that it was a nickname for our church because of the Book of Mormon. Then she asked us about it, and accepted one. We have been praying to find people ready for the gospel, and we believe this was an answer. We got her contact information, and are praying that she will accept the discussions. These two miracles have really given us confidence.

A beautiful sunset by the castle here in Hillerød.
Everyone was stopping and taking pictures, so we did to.

The weather here is very odd. You can't trust the sun or the clouds. We always take our jackets with us just in case it gets cold because sometimes the clouds will come up out of no where. The sun sets around 4:30, and from dinner until 9 we work in the dark.

A beautiful sunset.

Saturday we took the train north to visit an investigator. We didn't have our bikes, so we tried to walk to his house. It was farther than we originally thought, so we had to turn around to catch our train. The train comes once an hour because it was Saturday night, and if we didn't get there in time we would have been stranded. The sky was very clear, and we were walking through the fields. We were able to see the milky way, and we both saw shooting stars. It was awesome, and we sang "If You Could High to Kolob." It was amazing, and we could feel God's love for us out in the middle of no where.

Have a great week,

Ældste Francis

P.S. Thank you for the wonderful cards that you send me. They bring a lot of comfort, and I want to move forward in order to be the good missionary that the little kiddles think I am. Sometimes we do things, and I think: "I wish that they were with me to do or to try this." This has happened several times when we get on the trains to go to an appointment.

Have a wonderful week, and Naomi looked great in the dress you made her.

Love,

Ældste Ben Francis