Moroni 7:16 - August 29, 2016

Fun road to knock

For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.

Dragør

Everyone,

I am not sure on where to start for this week. We have had lots of random fun adventures throughout the week. Before I get into all of that, all of the school kids look great. I can't believe that another school year has already started. As part of that I will hit my one year mark here in Danmark. We don't try to think about it, but it is a milestone for Elder Magleby and I here on Amager.

Dragør

Amager has been very nice. The weather has changed from hot to cold, but we love it. About half of the island is city. Part of that is houses, and the other part is apartment buildings.

First day in Denmark

We have 12 missionaries in our district. 1 couple, 8 elders, and 2 sisters. We are the only ones from Amager. The rest all go to the same ward in Frederiksberg. We get to the office about once a week, and I see Elder Curnow at district meeting. I love having Elder Magleby as my companion. He is such a wonderful example for me.

Fun time making dinner

You asked how close we are to Copenhagen. Most of our area is Copenhagen. We are the only missionaries in Denmark with a Copenhagen address. That is really fun.

Most of the cards I have to carry to say that I am legal

Lære og Pagter 84:88‏ - August 22, 2016

Fun astronomy sign

88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mineangels round about you, to bear you up.

Everyone,

Another great week here on Amager. President O'Bryant is now in Utah. He sent us photos of them with many of the returned missionaries at Cafe Rio. President Buxton is officially over us for the next few weeks. The Buxtons are in our branch here, and we are so grateful for all that they do.

Crazy København

I got to go on splits with my district leader Elder Howes. Lots of finding, as usual. Coming off of last week with almost nothing we had great success on Monday with a great potential who accepted a Mormons Bog. Elder Howes really taught me about testifying to people about what we believe. Sometimes a testimony can really help someone.

2 Nephi 33:11‏ - August 15, 2016

Jim and I

 11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness.

Hedgehog

Everyone,

This week has been very long for us here on Amager. Elder Magleby and I have gotten along great. Lots of rain this week, bike problems, strong winds, and cold weather. Yea, I said cold weather. The mornings are colder and the nights are darker. Then we realize that it is the middle of August. Winter should not be approaching us until at the least late September. Oh, well. So is the life of a Danish missionary.

Transfer day splits

One thing that has made this week enjoyable is my new companion Elder Magleby. He is from American Fork, Utah, and is the second youngest of five. His first name is Sam (like my brother). His last name is very Danish. Almost anyone we talk to will comment about it. They always tell us about Stor Magleby which is by Dragør. One of the members we did service for pulled out a book, and read some of the history of the town. Elder Magleby already loves this area because that is where his ancestors are from. His third great grandfather emigratted to the United States from Stor Magleby, Amager, Danmark. A little slægtsforskning I thought was interesting.

Amager Fort

August 8, 2016

Everyone,

This week had some amazing things happen for us, but also one that is shocking. Elder Beck is gone, so now I am with Elder Magleby. These last six weeks have gone by so fast. Elder Beck is now in Skive and Elder Magleby is from Randers. He was in my MTC district. One year ago, and now we are companions.

We met with Stig and his family again. He is so close to getting baptized. His only thing is that he doesn't believe that Mormons Bog is a historical document. Other than that he is fine with everything else. Tithing didn't seem to phase him when he heard it was ten percent. Miracles really do happen.

D&C 111:11 - August 1, 2016

More spots around Amager

11 Therefore, be ye as wise as serpents and yet without sin; and I will order all things for your good, as fast as ye are able to receive them. Amen.

More spots around Amager

Everyone,

A strange coincidence this week. I met some people from Kaysville, Utah, The Jensons. Who could have guessed that would have happened? 

Meeting the Jenson's from Kaysville!

It didn't sink in until about an hour later that I had met people from my town who knew my family. Missions can bring some crazy miracles. 

Amager

One highlight was that we had my first member present lesson here on Amager. After some work and several phone calls we had Ulla with us to Anne-Lise. Members help with lessons so much. Ulla helped us to address several questions that Anne-Lise has had for several weeks. The members here are so strong, and their testimonies are very powerful.

More spots around Amager

We met two Africans while contacting. They asked us what our purpose was because they felt that there was something more in what we were saying. Ja, tak. One accepted a Mormons Bog, and was interested in why we came to Denmark for two years. At one point they said that my Danish was good and that I had all the right tones. Not to let pride get in the way, but that comment really helped me because I have felt down about my speaking ability.

Alma 30:34 - July 25, 2016

And now, if we do not receive anything for our labors in the church, what doth it profit us to labor in the church save it were to declare the truth, that we may have rejoicings in the joy of our brethren?

Everyone,

We did some great service this week. We took bricks off of a house for one of our investigators. Elder Beck has this jack hammer thing, and climbed up the scaffolding to get them all down. I stayed with the chisel and hammer on the ground. They fed us dinner, and agreed to let us come back this week to teach them.

Anne Lise is one of our investigators who just got back from vacation. She wants to be a member, but feels like she can pick and choose which principles she likes. This is really hard, but the branch has helped us to teach her. We went over a few principles to try to help her understand why we do certain things. Most of it was centered on work for the dead.

One thing that I loved about this week was the weather. Almost every day was clear skies, and hot temperatures. It was wonderful. Summer has finally arrived!

Andin met with us again. I was on splits with Elder Murphy. We taught her the Restoration, and the spirit was incredible. I pulled out a Mormons Bog in Indonesian which is were she is from, and her eyes lit up. She was so happy for our lesson. We had to do it by the beach which wasn't the best place. At the end I felt like we had a spiritual cocoon around us during the lesson. All the noise and people everywhere didn't affect us during the lesson. Special blessings come when we are doing the Lord's work.

1 Nephi 15:11‏ - July 18, 2016

 

Having Fun

11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me infaith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.

Bird Watching

Everyone,

Well, this week was rather fun with some crazy things happening. First thing is we had to bike to the office for interviews. It is only about 30 minutes, so it wasn't a big problem. We started off with clear skys. Then the rain came. Nice and short 10 minute storm with water falling like bullets from the skies. We got their soaking wet. On the way back we felt that we would make it all right, but no. Another short storm came for about 15 minutes. This one had more water, and was several times worse than the first one. We were both soaked to the skin, and our shoes were full of water. Always something fun happening with the weather here. 

Crazy Bush

We taught Phoalo this week. He had a few church questions, but not to many. We went over prayer with him, and recieving answers. He was really hesitant about it, and told us several stories from his past. He believes in spirits and stuff because of voices he heard in his head. It was rather confusing to me, but at the end he said that our church has answers to some of these things. Who knows were it will go with him. He expressed desire to still come to church, but because of work he couldn't this week. Things will work out though in the coming weeks.

The Garden I liked

Andin is a lady we met while contacting by the Strand one morning. She asked several pointed questions about life after death, and forgiving ones past. Two days later we were able to teach her an Atonement lesson, and discussed prayer. She shared with us how she had planned to take her life after her walk, but then we stopped her. The Lord places people in our path who we can help.