Mosiah 3:4‏ - February 29, 2016

A goodbye to Hillerød and Frederiksborg Slot

 Mosiah 3:4 For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy.

Everyone,

Elder Shuppy and I are working really hard up here in Frederikshavn. This week we knocked over 250 doors, and found several potentials. We are both really young in missionary terms, but the Lord is really blessing us with what to say.

Some things about my new companion. He comes from FRANCIS, Utah. Danes can't say his name unless they know really good English. There are six in his family, and he is the youngest.

Elder Shuppy and I

Frederikshavn is the promised land of Denmark. We live above a fish shop close to the gågade, and can see the harbor from the windows. Our area has Skagen in it which is the northern most city in Denmark. There are so many missionaries who want to serve up here. Yesterday in church I met the branch, and they are amazing. The members want us to start having lessons in their homes with our investigators. This is amazing news for us, and something that is different from the Allerød ward.

Denmark

This week was full of new things for me. We went to chess club on Monday as a way to fellowship and meet more people. Elder Shuppy is the mission chess master, so he loves going. Wednesday night we played floor ball with members and non members. Floor ball is hockey without the ice. Everyone we played with got really into it, and when the other team would score the losing side would be really mad. I was a bit scared because everyone who came was bigger than me.

Battle Wounds from Floor Ball

We are in the Aalborg district. Elder and Sister Blackham drive us down to district meeting every week which takes about 45 minutes. We meet with the six Elders serving in Aalborg. All of us have a strong desire to work, and after the first few minutes we were all friends. We all get along really well.

Big miracles happened this week. While knocking before dinner here in Frederikshavn I felt like we should give up. Each door was a solid rejection. We had been at it for over an hour, so I was done. The next door was opened by a middle aged woman. Elder Shuppy said we were missionaries, and that we were here because families are important. She let us in, and we gave her a basic Frelsesplanen discussion. Her name is Henriette, and she is now our newest investigator.

The Blackhams drove us out to Hjørring. We had an appointment, and they visited some less active members. Our appointment was with a women named Gitte. She wanted to meet at a café which was fine with us. Last week they had a shaky first lesson with her, but they didn't believe that she understood. The lesson this week was amazing. We were able to answer and explain several of her questions clearly. At the end she accepted an invitation to be baptized. This week we hope to see her progress even further.

There is an inactive member in the ward, and we teach his girlfriend who is not a member. Our lesson was on the Restoration. It went really well because Thanus was able to explain several things in Danish, so that Mia could understand. After the lesson we could tell that there are some doubts with Mia about what was taught. One thing that was weird is how much Thanus talks about evil spirits. This week we hope to find a solution to help both of them.

Church was really hard for me. I had to give a talk on why I am serving a mission, and before the meeting started they asked that I translate into English. I did a lot of praying that I would be able to do both. This was my first talk all in Danish that wasn't a discussion. I was able to get through it, and the members said that I have decent Danish. Luckily the two speakers after me had easy accents, so I was able to understand most of what they said. I don't know if those listening to my translation got very much from it.

A goodbye to Hillerød and Frederiksborg Slot

Have a wonderful week.

Ældste Francis