S11:E1 "The beginning of the end"

Well, I finally got moved. :( I'm gonna miss Århus. But Odense shouldn't be that bad. I'm with someone I knew from my highschool, so that should be pretty fun. I'm looking forward to getting to know the people here.

This past week was just eating loads of candy and hanging out with members and saying bye to people. Nothing too crazy happened. I can just give a final wrap up on people. 

Ashley is alcohol free now, moving to Iceland in 9 days, then he will be travelling to the states after that. He is doing well, and going strong. 

We visited Roy on the 25th, and that was great. He really enjoyed the visit. It was great to see the change in him, because the first time we met with him he said "I think God just wants me to cut all strings with people" but this past time we saw him he was like "You made me realize how much I like people, and want to spend time with them." Solid stuff, I'm glad that we could help him in the ways that we have. 

Frank has been one who has changed a lot as well. He told me flat out that it's crazy he is in church and that the most important thing to him is his family. He isn't looking super close to baptism or anything, but he is making good progress and learning a lot on the way. Getting good at ping pong as well. 

Ummm... Boy... miss that area already. Such great members. 

We hadn't seen Fred or Isaac or anyone in a while sadly. So I'm not sure how they are doing. 

Christmas was fun though, nothing too wild happened. 

It was nice talking to all of you again. Happy new year!

Sorry for the short email, don't have a whole ton to say this time.

S10:E11 "We wish you a merry jingly"

Hello everyone! I've had a pretty good week, nothing too crazy though. We went out carolling yesterday as missionaries with 2 others, that was a blast. Just good time fun when you go out spreading Christmas cheer.

Monday we went to the Trap Nielsens house. They are a super funny family, who are way nice to us missionaries. We will actually be skyping from their home. But that was just a fun time that we had with them. We actually sang to them yesterday, and it was a great plan. One of the girls who went with us knew the code to their house, so we opened the front door and just started singing. It was a nice little Christmas surprise. 

We have been meeting with Frank still, things are moving forward with him. He really likes the church services we have here, and he tries to come just about every sunday. We have had some good chats recently about commandments, and the last time we met with him we talked about the word of wisdom. So hopefully he will be cutting down on smoking, because it is something that he wants. So that's going forward. Oh, and Elder Ludlow and I are getting ridiculously good at ping pong. So much fun though. 

We also got to try Gløgg the other day (alcohol free) AMAZING. You need to try it this christmas season. Well... it's kind of late. But you can buy it at Ikea, and it's a way good warm christmas drink. If you want to make it even better, with the ikea one in any case, you mix like a cup of apple juice and a cup of black currant juice with it. Then put raisins in the bottom, and chopped almonds on top. :) Yummy stuff. (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50218780/) There ya go. 

We got to meet with Roy this week. He is still himself, just hard to communicate with because he likes to talk. But we still have nice times together. We learn a lot from each other. 

Ashley is doing a lot better. He is clean now, has a plan, meeting with us frequently, and was in church yesterday. So thank you for all of your prayers and everything. They must have been the trick. So that's good news.

I think I may have forgotten to mention this which is kind of sad... but last saturday I went to the baptism of Lise Lotte. The girl we were teaching a while back who had all the marriage problems that we got dragged into. They are doing way well and it was a spiritual baptism. But the best part is that Simon, her husband, is trying way hard to quit smoking and drinking, and he hasn't since wednesday. Pretty solid stuff. 

All in all, I'm still doing great. We find out transfers next monday though, that'll be kind of sad. :/ it'll be sad to leave this place. I love it here in århus. 

Love you all, have a great week filled with jingly merry fun.

S10:E10 "O holy night"

So first things first. As a mission we watched frozen, and that is a way good movie. And boy was I into it, crazy what not seeing a movie in a while will do to you. A very touching movie. haha.

But on to important things. 

I am doing great, and I don't have a whole ton to report on because a. I lost my planner b. I was in other areas or doing zone training for most of the week. But I can give you a little update on things.

Ashley is doing better, we have helped him go to the clinic for alcoholics a couple days this week, and they just give him pills that help him stop drinking. That has been going really well, and he is progressing a lot. Thanks for all your prayers. So that is moving along well. 

We have had our fun with Frank, playing ping pong and talking. That's going pretty well. Although he has been practicing ping pong, which totally isn't fair. But that's okay, he needed the extra help. haha. But our lessons have been going well with him. He is slowly progressing forward. The last time we met with him, we talked about what happens after we die, and kind of why that applies to us here. He seemed to like what we said. We will see where it goes. 

Ummm.... zone training went well. It was all about this (christmas.mormon.org) Nothing too wild there.

Still just loving my time here in Århus, next week I will be going back up to Aalborg, and I'm pretty stoked for that. 

Oh, last night we got to see Fred again. Goodness that man is funny. We had a nice chat with him about the holy ghost, and recieving answers. It was a good chat, and it was interesting because at the end we started talking about the difference between the church and the gospel. And how the church is really just there to support us in following the gospel of Christ. good stuff. 

But I know, this is a lame email... but I lost my planner and it's getting that time of season where I can't remember anything. 

Love you all!

S10:E9 "On the first day of Christmas"

Hello Family,

I hope that you all are doing well. I sure am. We had a pretty good week this past week! 

I will just go through the people that we are working with real quick. I don't have a whole ton of time because I had to do some other things this morning. 

But Frank, our good ping pong brother is doing way well. We played ping pong with him 2 or 3 times this past week, and the lessons went way well. We set a baptismal date, just a goal for him to get an answer. And this last appointment we had, we talked about prayer again, and he was like "I actually got an answer, and it's a good step towards that goal we set for the 10th of January" That was great to hear. He is an awesome guy. He was also in church yesterday, and he seemed to really enjoy it. 

Roy was in church as well, and him and Frank took off together after sacrament meeting to get some lunch together. So that was awesome. Roy is still himself, but he is doing better. Moving along.

Big news, I don't think I have mentioned Daniel in any of these emails, but he is a member that we have worked with quite a bit. He has OCD and is afraid of most things happening. BUT he finally got the Melkezidek Priesthood yesterday! That was an awesome thing to see. We had been working with him for a long time to get him ready for that. He was way happy to finally have achieved what he wanted. 

Ashley is fighting the fight. He is a champ and he is working hard. We are still working with him, supporting him in any way we can. There isn't a whole ton you can do in these situations besides just be there for them. But that's exactly what we are doing. Keep him in your prayers, he could really use them. We are working hard to get him over to Utah, just because that's his goal. So hopefully you will be able to meet the man himself one day!

Fred has still been impossible to meet with. He has just been super busy. But you saw him for like 10 minutes this week and had a nice little chat. He is still super funny. We talked about how you can recieve an answer, and we showed the David A Bednar patterns of light video. Solid stuff right there. 

We met with a guy named Mike as well, he was pretty funny. He was just a jokester, and right before we left I just remember him saying "Tell Jesus hi for me". Perks of being a missionary. 

Isaac is doing well enough. It's still hard for him to really try out if the church is true because he started investigating just to prove it wrong. But it's coming along.

We had a good leadership training that was just on how we can spread Christmas Cheer. I'm way excited for this december. Caroling and cookies all day every day. 

Loooooove you all!

S10:E8 "Come and get it"

Hello everyone,

I'm just doing dandy, still trying to get over this pesky cold though. But it's slowly getting better. We had a pretty eventful week this past week though. Lots has been going on and I can definitely feel that it's starting to add up. 

But to start off, an update on Ashley. It's been a roller coaster, just up and down. He has a plan to move to Utah in the beginning of next year, but he needs to get his act together before then, and right now he is drinking again. So we have been trying to help him, and by help we many just listen to him and be his friend, about all we can do. We are praying though, because it's sad to see him in that state, not only that it's just delaying all of his plans every day he keeps it up. So we hope that things will start looking up with him soon. 

We have been meeting with Frank a lot, and that means we have been playing lots of ping pong. That has been a blast. Last time I represented the family well and didn't lose a single game against them. I summoned my inner asian skills, just like I did with Starcraft. haha. But he has been slowly progressing, he still tries to teach us all about his buddhist stuff, but he is opening up more and more to the idea of actually trying our message and seeing if it is true for himself. He is a fun guy though, and amazing at piano. We talked a lot about the holy ghost and guidance that we recieve from it this past week, it was all really good stuff, and he was able to put it into his own life. 

The members here are awesome. Recently they have been super supportive of the work that we have been doing. But not only that, I feel like they try to be our friends at the same time. I love wards like this where they treat us missionaries as actual humans and not just missionary robots. It makes it much more meaningful, and makes some lasting friendships and impacts on people lives. Just like Maria, who is in the states now, they just always look out for us. Then you have Flemming who is just a prankster, makes things fun for us, or Daniella who watches over the young single adults and does a ton for them. All 3 of them help out a ton when it comes to teaching. So moral of the story, be nice to missionaries, and treat them as humans! 

Oh yes... Roy is doing great as well. We had a good lesson with him at the beginning of this week where we finally got to say what we wanted to. He actually really like the message after that. We finally got the point across that we agree with what he is saying, and that we are just adding upon the ideas he had.He also made it to church, and really enjoyed it! And this time he didn't get in a huge argument with one of the members here! It was awesome. haha. 

We have also been working with Isaac, our super bible smart black friend. Just trying to answer all of his hard questions and address those concerns. That has been fun. This past time was about marriage Luke 20:34-35. Interesting stuff to try to explain. 

We got to sing in gospel choir again! So much fun, It had been so long since I had been there. But we finally made it again and I sung my heart out. 

Another thing that we have been doing recently is that I have been the trainer or coach for 2 of the elders in the apartment. Every night I just make this super hardcore 20 minute workout that they have to do. That's been fun, but it kills my voice to yell at them so much. 

But... yeah, Everything is good here. Hope you are all doing great!

Love you!

Ældste Swan

S10:E7 "Still alive"

Hello everyone,

I don't have a whole ton of time today, but I will write a little something that happened this past week. 

The biggest thing is that Ashley checked himself into rehab which is awesome! I'm way glad that he is trying to stop drinking. He was also in church yesterday, which was solid. He is a great guy, and I'm sure that he will be able to get out of this hole again. 

Yesterday we also played pingpong with Frank. That was loads of fun, and my countless hours of playing pingpong before my mission finally paid off! I always knew there was a purpose. I smoked all of them. Then we had a very good lesson with him about baptism and more of what it means to become a member of the church, and why we do get baptized. We also talked about priesthood authority and how we need it so that the baptismal requirements won't change, and that it will be acceptable to God always. 

After that, we ate with Maria who is going to the States for a while leaving on Tuesday. Hopefully you will get to meet her, she is super nice and has done a ton for our family history. I will let you know if she wants to go down there and just say hi. I know that she will be spending quite a bit of time in Utah. 

I gave an awesome fistbump handshake thing to a crazy drunk guy. That was one of the most amazing experiences on my mission hahahaha. He held out both of his fists right before I left, and so I shrugged my shoulders then had a great fist bump. Then he lifted his hands and dropped them down like a rainbow, so I gave him a down low, then we reversed it. It was one of those moments where I was just reading his mind and it was the most fluid thing ever. He was way happy after it happened. Good ol' crazy drunk people. 

We are still meeting with Roy, although he is still talking all the time when we go. Super nice though. But we are hoping to be able to finally answer some of his questions, as long as he gives us enough time to say something. 

We played a prank on Elder Walch. We were all waiting to get a letter that tells us when we will be going home. (March 24th) and so Elder Ludlow and I made a fake letter for him and planted it in the mail box. He was so sad for like 20 minutes until we finally told him. It was amazing. 

We also got to meet with Inger again, and this time we brought a member with. I love Inger so much, but when we were giving the spiritual thought, Daniella (the member) would not stop laughing just because Inger kept reading when we wanted to say something. Typical lessons with members haha. Inger talks a lot, but she is just a super funny Grandma type person. When I first sat down this time she was just like "It's gonna be sad when you leave Elder Swan, no one will know me like you do." It was cute. I broke her pitchfork and shoe horn... so she will probably remember me haha. 

That's just about it. Love you all, keep the faith.

S10:E6 "A Gentlemans Challenge"

Hello again,

First things first, we had our thanksgiving event here in Århus a lot of missionaries. We gave a way good training where we shared the starfish story. (look it up, about the kid throwing them into the ocean) and we just talked about how everything counts. Then we ate delicious food. We had the talent show which was amazing. He had been spending some time coreographing a dance for this thing. It was great. I will try to find a way to send it to you all. Then we held the turkey bowl, and our district won even though we were definitely the underdogs. 6 people vs 9. No big deal.It was so much fun though, I love the missionaries here, and being zone leader is fun because I get to know them even better. 

Another big thing is that Elder Holbrook and I were able to go to the temple this past weekend. We got to see Andrea go for the first time. It was such a spiritual experience, and it was awesome to see someone that I care so much about, really enjoy and practice her religion. She has changed so much through the year that I've known her. She is just happy and more optimistic about everything. It was awesome because the people in the temple when I was there was a mix between Aalborg members and Sønderborg, and those 2 are probably my favorite wards here. 

Fred is still doing well. We were able to meet with him a few times throughout the week and he really wants to come to church events now. He is trying to find if this is something he once or not, which is awesome. He is also one of the people we are teaching that I can say he is my good friend. I just get along with him. 

Sad news with Ashley... way sad. He started drinking again, and he is scared that we will look down on him because he slipped again. It was way sad to see him drunk, because he is another one of those people who really was my friend, and is my friend. So keep him in your prayers! We will be trying our best to help him out. Addictions are a bad thing... and way hard to come over.

More sad news is that Simon, the guy who we were teaching that moved up to Frederikshavn started drinking again as well. So this week was pretty up and down for me in my emotions. 

Roy is doing well, our good englishman. We have had some good meeting with him, and he was even in church on sunday! He really enjoyed it, even though one of our members tried to screw it up by getting into an argument with him right before he left. We ended up talking with Roy for an hour after that to try and calm him down... members need to remember to be nice to all people at all times! Or else missionaries will be really mad at you, and will probably call you out on it. (That's what I do anyways) But he is doing well, he really likes our visits and he says that he learns a lot from it. 

Ummm... I found out that I'm staying in Århus for Christmas!!! YAY! :D I love this place, and it's gonna be awesome to be in a big city for it. 

Love you all, keep being awesome!

S10:E5 "Like a beat of a drum"

Hello again!

I forgot my planner again, so let's see how much I can remember from my brain.

We went to Copenhagen this week because of a leadership council meeting. That was way fun. We went to get something to eat in the city and came across a concert, and a super funny drummer on the street who turned out to be this guy (http://www.sn.dk/modules/xphoto/cache/7/511007_590_415_0_0_0_0_2.jpg) A super funny comedian drummer. We asked him to play a Katy Perry song and he just made up a super funny song about how he is a teenage dream. At the concert it was 3 danish rappers, which was pretty sweet, we ate some food while listening to them. Then there were 2 dj's that went up. It was an eventful time in KBH. 

We got home from the leadership training just in time to go to the YSA Halloween party! That was a blast. I didn't come prepared with a costume, but with what I had, I ended up being a member of a boy band. It was great. I also got to be one of the scarers in the spook alley, which was a blast. Elder Brady, one of the elders that I lived with scared the senior sister so bad. Good ol' Halloween. Our investigator Fred showed up to it as well. In the spook alley, he just took a whole ton of selfies with us, which was fun. I love that man. We then played some games. At the end of it all, they started watching this video with Michael Jackson, and Fred and his 2 friends starting dancing along with it. It was one of the greatest things I have ever seen. It was loads of fun. We also had 3 random people that we invited from the street come, and they seemed to have had a good time. Hopefully...

We threw our pumpkins into the river because they got all nasty and moldy. That was fun. #BHC

We also played some soccer on that Saturday, which was fun as always. 

I got to see Inger Fugl again, the cute older lady that we meet with. The same one that I did service for and broke her pitch fork. It was way sad because we were talking about how I broke that thing earlier, then when I was putting my shoe on with her shoe horn, it snapped. I felt so bad. I don't know what things like that always happens to me, but it does. Oh well, thus I am. 

Maria fed us some more. What a nice lady. :) AND we didn't do service for her this week! But she is actually someone who is way nice to us missionaries, even though she doesn't have the easiest life right now. 

We are giving a zone training this week on how to find people, and having faith to find the right people. So that should be fun. We are also having our turkey bowl then. Which has been a pain in the bum to organize, but more time put into it means more fun right?

That's about as much as I can think of right now. I'm still doing great, still loving it here in Århus. Really hoping that I don't transfer... but you never know.

OH, one last thing. We were talking with Asger, an older less active guy, when his dog out of nowhere starts eating his wall. It was way funny. He would just rub his top teeth on the wall until he got something in his mouth... 

Well that sums up my week haha. Love you all.

S10:E4 "Come and get it"

Welcome back to the Elder Swan show, this weeks episode is brought to you in part by viewers like you, thank you.

Not a whole ton has happened this past week. Just work. Monday was fun, we played hide and go seek in this fake jungle place, it was like a giant green house. That was an absolute blast. Then after that, we went and met with Ana, a girl from Portugal that got baptized 5 or so months ago. We just answered a lot of her questions that she had. It was awesome because we came into the lesson planning on talking about temples and temple work, and who would've guessed what questions she had. So we just talked about why we have temples, and what it does for us. She actually brought up a question that I had had. It was just about why we even have ordinances, like baptism, and we both just talked about how we thought that it was purely to help us. God can do anything, but his work and his glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. So with that in mind, the reason why we are required to do things is because it will help us. It was a way good discussion we had with her. 

We have been meeting with a British guy named Roy recently. He is super nice, but pretty paronoid. And it was funny, because we brought Ashley with us to an appointment and Roy was acting way weird in the appointment, and we found out later on that he was just super intimidated by Ashley because Ashley is a little taller. But Roy seems to be sincerely interested in our message, and it was awesome because he had read a book by Dallin H Oaks before we met him. 

We have also been meeting with this guy named Frank, another person from England. He is way good at piano, and he is Bhuddist. We have had some way interesting conversations about the similarities that we share. We should be playing ping pong with him sometime soon.

I also was able to go up to Aalborg again, and that means that I got to see the Mathiasens! So much fun, I love that family. Got to play with Thomas (the youngest) again. I swear everytime I'm there he just pulls out all of his toy guns. Then we were able to just talk with them after all the other missionaries left cause we had like 20 extra minutes before our train left. It was nice, we just talked about how much they had done for us as missionaries, and they told us about how big of a blessing it is to get visits from missionaries. 

We also were able to help Daniel clean up his house. Daniel is someone who has in most ways hit rock bottom. His house was nasty. I was the unlucky one who had to grow through 2 closets of clothes that had just piled up for 4-6 years. There was too much clothing... we had to organize all of it as well. But I was way happy to help him. It was something that I wanted to do for a very long time, ever since I saw his apartment. 

We also made with Fred, and he was teaching us Pigeon English, which is the greatest thing ever. Fred is so close, he believes it all, he just needs to start coming to church. But he is the best, I love when we meet with him. It was way funny because we rode the bus with him, and the lights were out for some reason on the bus, so it was way dark. So you could barely see Fred, until he smiled, then you just saw these super white teeth. 

We finished carving pumpkins as a household yesterday. It was loads of fun. I love the Elders that I love with. They are all super funny. 

Well... love you all, keep on being awesome!

Ældste Swan

 

 

S10:E3 "Tidalwave"

Hello everyone. Time is still just flying by, having fun out here.

The best thing that happened this past week was that I was able to experience the baptism of one of my best friends here, Anders Steen. That man did so much for me way back when I first got here to Denmark. It was the neatest experience to see him make the decision, and to see the joy that came from it. It was also awesome because it was me and Elder Holbrook who went down together (we were there in Sønderborg in the beginning) and we were able to stop by Andrea, the girl that we found and baptized when we were there. All in all, it was awesome. I love the town there, it's super pretty and the people down there are the best. They pretty much are still my family. 

But besides that, things have been going pretty normal, just working hard, seeing things happen. We have been working a lot with a guy named Leonard. Sadly the last time we met with him we had a way bold lesson with him on baptism and more specific how we have to do something with our faith and that our actions is what defines as us Christians. But he shot down baptism way quick... kinda just told us that he was happy where he was, why should he change. So that was way sad. But we also got to meet with Kaj and Inger, the nice older couple. We had a good little chat with Inger, who is the member, we talked a lot about how God is loving, and talked about comparing the scriptures to our lives when we study them. 

We taught a lesson to Simon and Lise Lotte, that went well. It was another spiritual thought on the blessings that come through obedience, and we tried to focus on why we have the church and why we try to live it. It was good. The church just brings blessings, whether it is long term or short term, we don't know. 

We also got to finally meet the girl that seemed insane and was texting us a whole ton. She definitely was kinda crazy... just a hoarder, of beauty products and things. And she pretty much just vented her life story and told us about why she doesn't like people anymore and why she doesn't trust them. So that was fun. We didn't really get to say much at that appointment.

I went on splits with Elder Christensens (Lil' bear) the other kid that I trained. That was a lot of fun to see him again. Pretty much all we did was some service for Maria. 

We got to meet this awesome english guy named Roy yesterday. He went on about how dreams can be prophetic and how we should be aware of what we dream. It was way neat actually, because he had like 20 folders full of papers with dreams written down. He has been writing down his dreams for the past 20 years. He was way nice, and seemed way interested in the book of mormon, although once again, we didn't have a whole ton of time to say things. 

But all in all, it's been a very good week. My pen exploded in one of my pockets, I wore my tight pant suit again, I ate the delicious kebab. Life can't get too much better than that. 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Ældste Swan

 

 

S10:E2 "Right on time"

I'm already back to writing all of you again. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was doing this. But this week consisted of a ton of eating appointments.

But big news is that this saturday I will be going to Germany again for the baptism of Anders Steen! I'm so excited for that! It'll be me and Elder Holbrook again, going all the way down. :) Nothing better than that. 

We spent a lot of time working with a member named Daniel. He is someone who has hit rock bottom and it's hard for him to really do anything. But we had a way good lesson with him, and it was a weird invite we gave him, but we committed him to 1. shave his beard because it looked gross, 2. Finish washing his clothes and 3. Start cleaning up his house. Like I said, he was someone who had hit rock bottom... But it was actually awesome because later that night we saw him with a clean face, and he had washed his clothes, AND started cleaning up his apartment. But the best part was that he felt good, like he actually did something and that he was on his way up instead of just staying on the same level or being stuck in a rut.

We also got to teach Simon and Lise Lotte, and that went pretty well. But they had a fight afterwards... makes me scared for ever getting married. But I think that they are over it again and that they are doing well. 

Oh... I screwed up a 120 dollar tile carpet thingy for Maria. I felt way bad because she actually trusted me to cut it right. We just forgot to measure a little lip of the stairs, so there was a gap right there. That was a pretty lame day. 

But we got to eat at Flemmings again, the greatest family ever. It was a lot of fun, and we convinced Flemming to play a prank on one of the missionaries here. So that's in the works and I'm way excited for it. 

We had an awesome lesson with Ashley, that answered what he had been going through recently. We shared the Elder Oaks talk from General conference. And that talk was the one that talked about how we need to love everyone, unconditionally, no matter who they are, or what they do. A way good talk, I highly recommend watching it. Then we just started talking about how it's up to us to react the way that Christ would. That we need to focus on being Christlike, and loving God and our neighbor. 

Another talk that we have been using is the one from Elder Bednar. He gives a great analogy of how we work as humans and why we try to share the things we share. (specifically with the gospel) 

We also got to Eat with Lin, our awesome chinese member. But Simon, our Swedish investigator came with us. It was a lot of fun. And Lin tried to super spicy hot sauce. I felt so bad for the poor little asian. He looked so miserable. 

But everything is going well with me. Nothing too crazy has happened. Love you all, have a great week!

S10:E1 "Now let the story begin"

It's been a good week for me. Nothing too crazy happened. Although I got a new companion. His name is Elder Ludlow, and I was in the MTC with him, and I am way excited to be with him. I have a feeling that this transfer is just going to fly by, and that we are going to do a lot of work here as well.

But we had a fun family home evening this week, we had quite the turn out of new converts. We taught a good lesson on Christ and why he is important to us, and why we needed his atonement. Then we played a game that the sisters led out, called "big booty". It was just your run of the mill girls camp rhythm game, and let's just say that I was "the big booty", champion of that game. Simon and Lise Lotte have been doing alright, no huge fights in the past little bit. So we are way happy for that. 

Tuesday was a good day as well. We planned for zone training, and then we ate with Simon and Lise Lotte, and talked about repentance, and how we can be repentant. How we should feel remorse, then try to make things better and say sorry, then not redo it and so on. It was a good lesson, and a good thing to clarify.  

We had a way bold lesson with Asger, a less active that we know and are working with. We pretty much just kept bringing up the question of why he doesn't want to come to church, until he actually answered us. It was a good lesson, just very bold. We also had a nice chat with an investigator named Leonard, and taught a short lesson on Prophets and told him to watch General conference. 

We had our zone training, which was just role playing how to implement some things we are trying to change in the mission, then we had our zone activity, which went very well. We just played a whole ton of sports. Soccer, capture the flag, then frisbee. We were all pooped by the end of it, but that's how it should be. 

I also got to have an interview with President Sederholm. It was good to talk to him, and I learned a lot. Although it was weird, he brought up how I only have around 5-6 months left, then asked me if I would prefer to go home in March or May. I told him March because that would be much better when it comes to finding a job. But I would be happy either way. :) I always enjoy those interviews, it's always a spiritual experience. 

We told more service for Maria... which was normal service. Then we had an eating appointment with a lady in the ward who is scary. She is the type of old lady that is just mad for being mads sake. She is super duper judgemental of what people do, so you have to watch yourself when you are with her. But I think(hope) that I'm on her good side now. 

We also got to see Fred! I love the black man. He is super funny and he really wants to do his best to follow Christ. 

Saturday we had a little birthday party for Ashley before we played soccer. We made some breakfast for him in the church, then had the gang together. 

General conference was way good, I highly recommend watching or listening to it, and then reading it. There was a lot of good stuff there. I personally really liked Elder Christoffersons talk. 

Love you all, congrats to Phill for getting married.

S9:E13 "Season 9 has been going for awhile"

Hey everyone, this letter won't be super long. (I don't think) had a lot of little emails to send out to people today.

Everything has been going well with me. Nothing too crazy has happened in the past week. The most exciting thing that I found out is that someone that I taught a lot in Sønderborg is getting baptized in 3 weeks! :D Anders Steen. That was probably the best phone call that I had ever gotten was when I missionary told me about that. 

We have just been teaching a lot, trying to be good little zone leader examples. :P I have been studying a lot recently about habits and trying to develop good habits. (Like holding my pen right, you should be proud mom) So we will see where that all ends up. 

Another neat thing that happened was that our investigator Leonard showed up to church this past Sunday, after he said that he probably wouldn't come. Blessings of having a good lesson with investigators the day before church. That is one of the moments where it's awesome to be a missionary. When an investigator walks into church and you didn't expect it at all. 

The church is true... sorry it's way short. Need to write things and stuff for Phills wedding. 

Love you all.

S9:E12 "Gospel singers with potatoes"

Good day everyone,

This week was pretty much the same, just missionary work. The same things, but different. 

We went on a whole ton of splits this week, so I wasn't really with Elder Gines for that much time. We started on monday, and I went out with a guy named Elder Hafen. We went up to stop by an investigator who was home, which was way surprising. We were lucky, and blessed that we decided to stop by him when we did. We had a good lesson with him and mainly talked about the struggles that come from being Christian in todays society, and the complications and temptations that come because of others' influence. It was a nice lesson for all of us. 

We also went out to eat at a place called Jensens Bøf Hus, got the endless potatoes again. I tell you this because Elder Christensen and Walch came with us, and Elder Christensen ended up throwing up from how many potatoes we all ate. (That's the kid I trained! Got them both to do that.) But I digress...

We also had a good lesson with Kaj and Inger, the couple where one of them is religious and the man isn't. We just talked about how we all have questions in life, and that we can find answers, whether it's through science, or prayer, or both. Truth is truth. 

We got to meet with Søren, our friend who is a priest. We had a good chat with him on prophets and why we believe that we have one in our day. It was good. Then later that day we had a lesson with Asger, a less active member. We read a talk that talks about how we need to stand up for what is right no matter the consequence. It also talked about how opposition is what makes things strong. 

Thursday I was on splits again with Elder Walch, a good friend from the MTC. We got to visit Kaj and Inger again, and did some service for them. Then just followed up on the lesson that we had earlier in the week. But, we went to gospel choir that night. Goodness... that is so much fun! I can't remember if I described this in my last email, but I'll do it again anyways. We have this very picture perfect black man who is the main singer, then we just have a whole ton of white, mostly older people as back up singers. It is one of the most enjoyable events of my life. haha, but it's great because one of the members here who is struggling really needs something to do, and he just so happened to enjoy gospel choir. So that's the main reason of why we went, so we could support him and get him out of his house doing something. 

Friday was a good lesson with Ashley. He is still doing well, still coming to church and I think that he is enjoying it. We also got to know some of the members a little better, and heard some of the stories from their missions. It was a good evening. 

Saturday we played some soccer, and halfway through, this group of Danes comes up and asks if they can play with us. Of course we let them. We ended up playing against them which was way fun, the more the merrier, especially if they are good. Then we met with a new investigator named Tobias, he knows a guy who is dating a mormon, so we had a good chat with him and his friend, and answered a lot of their questions. This weekend was also Stake Conference for us. So everyone was together again, and on saturday we had a way good meeting and I learned a lot from 2 of the area 70's. The spirit was strong in that meeting. 

Sunday was the actually meeting. We got a new stake precidency, then we went and had a lesson with Simon and Lise Lotte, and had a fun lesson with the 10 commandments. It was really good, and what they needed. Then we had an eating appointment with Maria, which was the usual... we show up late, I feel way bad, then we eat and leave. 

So all in all a good week full of uplifting experiences. Nothing too crazy, and I'm still alive. Love you all and wish the best for you.

S9:E11 "The perfect lesson"

Hey everyone, I hope that you all are doing well. I'm still just fine and dandy. Nothing too exciting has happened in the past week, and I forgot my planner so this will be a very sketchy memory of what happened.

We met with Simon and Lise Lotte, that was actually an exciting meeting. We get there to just Simon standing in the room where we normally meet. The first thought that I had was that they were in another big fight, because this had happened before. But it was different. Simon told us that Lise Lotte was upstairs comforting this mom that just found out that she is going to lose her kids because she hasn't been doing well enough in rehab and coming over the problems that she has. It was some pretty serious stuff going on. Then Lise Lotte comes down telling us that she just offered that we could pray with this mom and give her a blessing. So that's just what we did, and it went very well. I was actually pretty sceptical, it was way rushed, and her kids were making a lot of noise in the background. But we gave the blessing and we later found out that it helped her calm down a lot and it especially helped her to start thinking reasonably about how she could get her kids back and so on. A way special occassion for me, and it was a big testimony builder when I heard that it did give her the comfort that she needed. 

After that whole experience. We sat down and ate with Simon and Lise Lotte, then we had a nice chat on the restoration. We also talked about the organization of the church, and why we have apostles and so on. It was an exciting but good night. 

We had our zone training, it went way well. We played some simon says, got everyone to do some dance moves. Then we talked a lot about obedience, and what it really means to be obedient. We focused on how we need to be converted to the rules, and that we need to actually understand the why of following them. I used a lot of stuff from this talk from Elder Uchtdorf: (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/the-love-of-god?lang=eng) I highly recommend it. After that we had splits with the assistants, pretty straight forward stuff. 

Another good thing that happened was that we stopped by an investigators mom, and her son let us in, and we started talking with him. In the middle of talking with him, he stops us and says "wait one second" and stands up and comes back with his mom, so we say a prayer, then I say like 1 sentence on how God is our heavenly father and that he loves us, and the mom was like "This is so wonderful! One second" and stands up and brings in her husband and tells us to say the same thing over again, so I did. After I finished the one sentence, they stand up and said "thank you so much for that message!" and then left. But that was when the son asked if we had a book or pamphlets with us about our church. So we had a way sweet lesson with him, and we have started meeting with him 2 or 3 times a week. 

We also got to go on a road trip with the Hicks. They are this way funny missionary couple. We went with them to stop by all these referrals that we had in a town called Ebeltoft. A way pretty place, and the houses were way nice. It was loads of fun. We just joked around the whole time and ate a whole ton of candy. Sadly nothing really came of the trip investigator wise, but good memories were had. 

Well... my mind is running empty. We played tennis this morning which was fun. Then we ate lunch with Ashley here in the church. 

That's all for this email. Thank for everything. Loves for everyone

Ældste Swan

S9:E10 "Elder Bednar has come"

So it was a pretty good week this week. Ate some good food, had some fun times... BUT, this time the highlights won't be all the food I ate, but rather the fact that an apostle of the Lord came here to Denmark! :D This will be the first time in over a year and a half that I will try not to talk about food.

But I will just start out by talking about the visit with the apostle. Way spiritual, and not at all what I was expecting. The entire meeting was question answer based, before the meeting, he asked us to study 3 talks that he had previously given. So at the beginning of the conference, he asked questions about what we learned, why we learned it and so on. Then after that, the roles were switched and we were asking the questions. It was super special for me because the things that I learned weren't necessarily the things that were talked about, but they definitely did come from the spirit. He is a super talented speaker as well. It was neat because he was teaching us about how to ask questions, and how we should teach investigators, through his example of asking us questions. But at the same time, he was teaching us pieces of the gospel, and little pieces of spiritual knowledge. It was like a lesson inception. Elder Bednar IS an apostle of Jesus Christ. He has the apostolic keys that were on the earth in times past. It's a huge blessing for us to have the prophet and apostles in our lives today. We should listen to them, and take heed to what they say. These men know a lot about what we should do here in life. We just have to keep learning line upon line, precept upon precept.

But besides that way awesome mission conference, we had a good week. We met with Simon and tried to sort out some things with him. Simon and Lise Lotte are two people who really want the gospel to be a part of their lives, but they are having so many problems as a couple that they can't let it in right now. It's sad, but it's getting better. We have just been trying to replace the arguments and things with the gospel and scriptures. 

We also got to play tennis with Ashley and Mario, and we shared a spiritual thought with Mario afterwards. We talked about the sacrament, and the importance of it. 

Wednesday was a fun day for us. We did service all day. :) We started off by helping an older couple pull up some massive roots from a garden. I ended up breaking a metal pitchfork... I felt pretty bad about that. The lady we were serving came out and was like "I don't know where I can get another one like that. I really liked that one." So we started off with that, then we traveled down south to help out another member. This time we were cleaning up a front yard and weeding and things for this girls daughter. It was a way special experience. Because the daughter just barely had her husband leave her, and the house has turned into a mess and she didn't really have any money or anything to keep the house. So it was the least we could do. But after we were done there, we shot up to Marias to do some painting at her new house. I was way tired when we got home, but it was a very good day. 

It was also Elder Gines' birthday this week! So we got to celebrate that by helping out Maria some more, then going to Ikea and buying ice cream. Then to finish the night off, we had a nice appointment with Ana, and all the missionaries and some others that we teach. A sweet birthday party finish.

The rest of the time was just meetings, we had a mission leadership meeting, then we had the elder Bednar conference. 

A very good, memorable week. Love you all, remember who you are and choose the right!

S9:E8 "Baptism of Ashley Ball"

Hello hello, everything is going well in the land of vikings. We had a pretty busy week this past week. We had transfers last p day, which took up a lot of our time, but after that we had a lesson with a way positive investigator named Fred. Fred is a way nice guy from Ghana, who is studying here in Århus. It was the first time that I ever met him. But he turned it into more of a discussion right from the get go. He was just like "I have had this question on my mind for some time now, I just want to hear your opinions on it." The question was "why does it even matter if we believe in God". We had a way good discussion about this, even though Fred is a believing guy. We just talked about how there is a plan for all of us, as God's children, and the belief in God means a belief in our potential and that we should strive to become better and follow the best example that we have, which is Christ. It was a good chat. Then we talked about the Book of Mormon and how it fits into the plan, and how it's one step closer to God here on the earth. It was a good lesson. We also invited him to be baptized again, but he was just like "I will do it in my time, I know that it's something I want to do."

The next day Fred came to SUV, the little young single adults activity. That was way fun. Elder Gines and I got to host the activity, so we played a fun game that was like baseball. We also got to play tennis that morning with Ashley and Mario. Tennis is super fun, and we also got to share a quick message afterwards on the priesthood, because Ashley will be getting it in a week! :D 

We also got to stop by Maria once this week. Had a nice little chat with her on prayer, and ate some cake. After that we had a lesson with a guy named Alex Oleson. He is someone that has known the church since he was like 4 years old. We taught him about why we have the church, and why we believe in it. We also talked about how there is opposition in all things, and that it's sometimes hard to do what we know to be right, but if we do push through, we will be blessed for it. 

We taught Ana, the recently baptized girl. That was a fun lesson. We had the new Couple missionary with us for it! (They got here last week) It was their very first lesson. We ended up drawing the plan of salvation out, it was a cute little primary type activity. But it went way well. I honestly think it's the best way of seeing everything. But it was fun to have Elder and Sister Parker with us, and see them draw little parts of it. 

We got to go on splits in a town called Silkeborg. Absolutely beautiful place. It's in the middle of nowhere here in Denmark. But it is a great place. We went there to try to help the missionaries find some people to teach because they are having some struggles down there right now. I got to go with Elder Christensen. He is a guy from my MTC group. We had a lot of fun. We got to talk with a way nice lady who wants to meet with the missionaries. So people are out there. Then we celebrated and went to Jensens Bøf Hus. Just a cheaper steak house with unlimited potatoes. Way yummy. Later that day for dinner we went to a midevil festival, which was fun to see. 

We also did some service throughout the week for Maria, because she is moving. So we moved a lot of boxed throughout the week. It was neat because on Sunday, both Ana and Ashley (The 2 new converts) were serving 2 different people in the ward. 

Ashley got baptized on Saturday! :) I'm so happy. It went way well too. I think it was the smoothest baptism that I have seen on my mission. After the baptism, we ate some food and had some good chats. We had a way good turn out, I think there were 50 people there. Way spiritual experience, especially for the missionaries that found him. Just to see this guy that was drunk out of his mind when they first met him, to now be completely sober and baptized. 

It was a good week. But I'm still doing way well. Everything is going forward.

Love you all!

Ældste Swan

S9:E7 "Another one down"

Hello everyone, time to hear a little bit about me again. Not a whole ton of exciting things has happened, just the same old missionary work.

We started off with a good eating appointment with a way nice less active family. I'm not entirely sure why they are less active, but they are. But it was a lot of fun. Ashley was with us, and it was one of the last hurrahs for Sister Briscoe because she went home today. So it was a good day. Drank some more bubble tea. 

We had a lot of service with Maria on Tuesday. that was a lot of fun. I always enjoy doing som service. Then we had quite the adventure. We were on our way up to an appointment on a bus, and that's when this American starts talking to me. So we end up talking about religion and stuff, he is a pretty religious guy. So he asks us where we are heading, so I tell him that we are stopping by one of our members. (a less active member) and so he asks if he could come with us to the appointment. We told him that we could ask. So we walk and we all go into this lesson. Which turns into him just trying to argue about how our church was wrong, and was trying to convert us to his religion. (way annoying, never argue) So eventually we calm it down, have a nice little discussion more about what we believe and not really who is right. The we parted ways after trading numbers and stuff. Just as we get home for the night, I start getting texts from this guy. Still going on about how we "need to think about it like a baseball game" and that we "are on the wrong team". Boy was I tempted to argue. But luckily Elder Christensen came in and took the phone from me because I told him to. Some people these days... But other than that guy, it was a good day. 

We got to go back to Aalborg! :D so great to be back. I love that town. I got to see almost everyone that I knew. Specifically, I got to visit with Familien Jørgensen again, the greenlandic family. It was so great to see them again. They are still doing way well in the church, and Judithe just got a calling of being in charge of the primary music stuff. So that's way exciting. The day after that was up in Aalborg as well. We got to eat at Lee Thi Lams again. The Vietnamese lady that just stuffs you with food. Then we got to meet with the Mathiasens again. I got the package from home. (Thank you!) and just had a way fun time with them. They are such a great family, great examples to me. 

Friday was some more service for Maria, we spent pretty much the whole day moving boxes. Good old moving. Takes me back to the good ol' days. 

Then we played soccer on Saturday, then helped out and went to a wedding reception. That was fun, way weird though as a missionary. Then we ended up having a lesson with our good friend Ashley. It was a good lesson, mainly on the atonement of Christ and why we need it. We also got to meet with a family, the Trap-Nielsens. Way fun. They had 2 of their friends visiting and I just hit it off with them. Way funny sense of humor. They also had a whole ton of kittens there, which is a perk. 

Sunday was a busy day full of teaching. We were pretty much teaching the entire day, up until we had an eating appointment at Marias. The last appointment for some missionaries leaving Århus. We got to teach Ana, the new convert. We talked about the sacrament and we read the prayers with her, and explained them. And that helped a lot, because she doesn't speak Danish, so she actually didn't really understand the sacrament. It made me realize that following/doing things doesn't mean very much to us if we don't understand them. Which is why we need to always be searching for a better understanding of all things. 

All in all it was a good week. Lots of time outside of our area, but a lot of fun. 

Love you all, the church is true!

Ældste Swan

S9:E6 "How to make no friends, and influence nobody."

Well... would you look at that. It's me again. :D Hopefully got some good stories for all y'all.

Monday we went to a nutso little greenhouse thing. It looks like a giant alien Godzilla egg, but it was like the amazon inside of it. We got some good pictures, but sadly, I don't have them with me. So I can't send them home. :P But that was an adventure. Then we finished the day off buy stopping by a guy named Rafik. He was a way nice guy who has been meeting with the missionaries for a long time now. We just got to know him, and said a prayer together. It was a very good p day. 

Tuesday was started by playing Tennis with the British man, or in other words, Ashley. So that was way fun. then we shared a little message with him, talked about testimonies, and what it is to have a testimony. It reminded me of something I read this morning from the Book of Mormon, where if you have a true knowledge of something, then it's not really faith. Just remember that we do act in faith, in all things. :) After Ashley, we went and had a good lesson with a Greenlandic lady named Bitten. That went well. I love Greenlandic people. They are so amazing. What was crazy is that she knew about Judithe Jørgensen from Aalborg. (The girl that got baptized up there) I guess Judithe really is a famous singer.  But after that lesson we went to Simon and Lise Lottes for a birthday party. It was a blast. There was so much of that hot sauce consumed. I felt bad for everyone. But we had to hurry home from the party because that morning we locked ourselves out of our apartment. So we got the key from the other elders, then grabbed our stuff to travel to Copenhagen for a mission conference. 

Wednesday was said mission conference. It was elder teixeira who came and visited us. I learned so much. Before the actually meeting, we had a little leadership meeting, where it was just the zoneleaders. I have a lot to learn and work on when it comes to being a leader and an example. But after the meeting, and seeing everyone in the mission, we stuck around because we were going on splits with the assistents. So that went all fine and dandy. That night, we did some service on splits moving a whole ton of stones. It made me realize how out of shape my arms are now. 

Thursday morning was working in Copenhagen with the Assistants, we had a good lesson with one of their less active members who is making his way back to church. Then we zoomed outta there so I could get back to Århus for an appointment. We taught this appointment, which went well enough. He wasn't too positive but he said that he wants to take a 14 day pause with lessons. Which is fair enough. Then we had a lesson with a member, Daniel. T'was a good day. 

Friday rolls around, we taught a lesson to Ashley. We watched the Restoration movie that the church has. That went well. Then we had a little Young adult party in the church, and we helped out with that. It was a lot of fun. 

Saturday, we were set up to have a lot of lessons... but we got burned a lot. So we ended up having one lesson with Leo, our nice less active friend. We talked about who the Holy Ghost, and the purpose of it. (John 14:26-27) It was a good lesson. 

Sunday was church, then meeting, then we tried stopping by a referral who wasn't home. Then we ate at Marias. Got to see Victor again, the little French man. Then we stopped by 2 of our investigators and got their phone number because we forgot to get it the last time we were with them. 

But now I'm here. Doing just fine and dandy. I hope that everything is going well with you! 

Loves,

Ældste Swan

S9:E5 "The Sermon on the Savage Geese"

Hello again everyone. I am back with some good news! I'm still alive! Going strong! And we had a good zone training this week. But a quick run through of what I have done with my life in the past week:

Beginning with more drama from our neighborhood couple Simon and Lise Lotte. But we figured it all out and had a good lesson and a good dinner with them. We talked about how we need to endure to the end in all things. But especially that we need to have hope in all things. After that, we tried to stop by one of our investigators named Fred. He had a baptismal date, but I have never met him, so we haven't had contact with him in the past 5 or 6 weeks. :/ Oh well, we will get in touch with him.

We also got to help my good friend Victor move some things on tuesday. Gosh I love that kid. Just a funny french kid who likes to nerd out. So we get a long, and we have about the same sense of humor. This was also the day that we planned out our zone training. It was all about commitments. Having faith in commitments, and having faith that the people will do them. 

Wednesday was more moving things for Maria this time. (Maria and Victor live in the same house... just like a big apartment place) So that was fun. Then we had a good lesson with Leo. We found out that he is way Christian. Which was interesting. Because this is the same guy that says that God is an idea. So we had a way good chat about why Christ was here on earth, and what it means for us. We also talked about our purpose, and our relationship with God. It was a way good chat. We finished off the day by watching a movie with Ashley. (the english investigator that wrote the song I sent home). That was a blast. We watched 17 miracles, and Ashley had some way funny comments throughout the film. It was like MST3K. After the movie we set up the church for zone training...

and zone training happened. It went way well. Even though the Sisters who were giving a little thought went waaaaay over their time. We were still able to cram our message in. We focused a lot on how we need to be the example, but as the example we needed to have faith in them around us. We also talked a lot about following up, and how we need to remind the investigators and we need to remind eachother. It was fun to see the zone, and I don't know why, but the zone training just drained all the energy from my body. We finished off the day by eating some dinner with Victor and Maria. We showed Victor and his friends a mormon message (http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001&cid=HPTH073114368) way good one. It was the first time I was able to have a conversation with Victor on religion. It was a neat experience.

We had another good lesson with Ashley, talking about why we have the scriptures, and what they do for us. It's an important thing to get that spiritual light every day. 

We also met a new younger couple and we talked for a while with them, just about life and stuff. We also got to talk about the church for a little bit. It was crazy, these two were so smart. They both studied economics. But the guy went to Harvard for a year, and he pretty much just said that as a passing statement. So I learned a lot from those two. 

Sunday was good. I enjoy church. We had yet another lesson with Ashley. But this time we mixed it up and just watched a talk from Elder Holland. We also had a good lesson that night with Ana, the girl that got baptized 2 months ago. She is still doing way well. Although that lesson was one where the member who was there tried to take over and say everything that even crosses his mind... it's kind of irritating. But oh well. :D

That was my week. I hope that you all have a great week, and keep smiling!

Ældste Swan

S9:E4 "The drama takes flight"

Hey all. We had quite the busy week with travel and splits with other missionaries and things. So this email probably won't be the longest thing, but I will attach the song that was inspired by me.

But starting off on last monday, we wrote home, bought food, drank some bubble tea (Delicious stuff) Then we had an appointment with some way nice members. It is actually pretty strange because a past missionary married their daughter. And they were there. (What's really weird is that this guy was on his mission while I was here) But we had a way fun time. They are a way nice family. And they have a kid who is handicapped in a wheel chair named Thomas, pretty much the nicest guy ever. He always just has the biggest smile ever on. Amazing. But after that, we got summoned by our investigators, Simon and Lise Lotte. They were just having some dramatic problems and we showed up and heard them out, shared a little spiritual thought then prayed with them. It seemed to help. We also committed them to praying together every night. And that went well for them. One thing I never wouldn't expected is how much drama and things I would hear as a missionary. It's insane.

Tuesday was a good day. We did zone reports. Which just means we made calls for a long time in the morning. Then we went and taught Simon and Lise Lotte again, things were going way better. We talked about the power of prayer and how answers can come. It was a good little follow up. Then we traveled up to a little town called Skive for splits. 

Splits was pretty straight forward. We had fun. They made us some good food. Then we eventually made it home again. It was special because on the way home, Elder Gines and I were able to stop by someone that Elder Gines taught. This guy got baptized after Elder Gines left, so it was a nice little reunion. 

Thursday was district meeting, then weekly planning, then we travelled to Copenhagen for a leadership meeting. It was way fun. I got to see some good friends again, and ate some delicious food made by Sister Sederholm. 

Friday was the meeting, then we traveled home. Got home in time to teach a lesson to Anne, the girl from Portugal that got baptized a little while ago. :) It went way well. We talked about missionary work and the blessings that come from it. 

We actually got to work a little on Saturday! We played soccer in the morning. Then taught a lesson to Ashley. Then we had a lesson with Thomas right after, now that went way better than planned. We had our ward mission leader with us, and it was the first time I felt like we actually had some common ground with Thomas, and that he learned from our lesson. We focused on the Atonement, but it kinda bounced everywhere. We finished the night off by visiting Daniel, a way nice guy in the ward who is going through some trials in his life. So I was way thankful for the oppurtunity to be with him and to try to help him out. 

Sunday was fun, we wanted it to be more effective but it got taken away from us. We had church, then we were going to teach Ashley, but we all got invited to Marias house and just cleaned up and helped make food all day, which was fun and good. I had a nice conversation with an investigator named David and kinda what he believes in now. So good came out of it. 

Now I'm here writing. Life is good. Choose the right! 

:D

 

 

S9:E3 "Pollen knee, bolemic missionary"

Hello everyone, I hope that you all are doing dandy! I sure am. Nothing too out of the ordinary has happened with me. Just kinda... still missionarying.

Oh, starting off, right after emailing last monday, some guy stopped us and talked to us for like 20 minutes about how everything leads back to aliens and the flat skulls. He also talked about royal blood and things like that. It was pretty intense. Good ol' people like that. But nothing else too special happened that day, we just bought a whole ton of asian goodies from an asian import store.

Tuesday was fun, we played tennis, then had a lesson with Ashlee, the funniest british man in the world. We just had a nice discussion about taking that leap of faith, and finding confidence through obedience. But after that, we had a nice lesson with a guy named Leo. He is a nature lover, hippy for lack of better terms. He mainly just believes in intuition and karma and things like that. But we had a way good discussion about who God is and why he is there. He is a way smart goober. Right after that appointment, we went and ate dinner with Simon and Lise Lotte, my two friends. It was way good. They tried to kill us though, with hot sauce. I was crying for 5 minutes and it instantly gave me the hiccups. Definitely the hottest thing I've ever eaten. But we also had a good lesson about Family home evening and trying it out for them. :)

We helped out Maria, our good member friend move some things, then we ate lunch with her. I was also on splits again with Elder Christensen, the boy I trained. It was fun. Then we had a good lesson with a guy named Bull tut, he's from Africa. We talked about church and the blessings that comes from coming. All in all it was a good day. 

Thursday was thursday. We had district meeting, learned about setting goals. Then we ate some koldskål with a member, then we tried stopping by someone, but the bus drove right past us so we couldn't make it up there. But we finished off the night with an appointment with a nice older lady who is a member. We talked about how there is always a plan for us, and we shared the story in Ether 6:4-6,12. We just talked about how faith ties into these plans. 

Friday we got burned... darn it. But we finished off the day by having an appointment with Ashlee and a member. Ashlee wrote a song that was inspired by me. :) I will send it to you all when I get it. But that went very well. We talked about our life here on earth and that God sees the bigger picture. Kinda like the lesson from the day before. (2 Nephi 2:6-8,25)

Soccer on the weekend, like always it was way fun. Then we had a lesson with Thomas, our good friend that won't do anything. So we talked about what grace is, and tried to explain how we are saved by grace but still need to do something with our faith... but he still doesn't see it. But we believe! It'll come! Then we had another appointment with Maria, which was fun as always. 

Moving on to church, which was good. :P Nothing too special. Then we taught Ashlee again, he said that he wants to get baptized in the next 4 weeks. :D I'm way excited for him. But after that we tried stopping by someone, with no luck. 

Good week everyone. Keep the faith, thanks for the prayers! LOVES!

Ældste Swan

S9:E2 "Don't listen to your parents! Listen to your mind!"

Hey everyone! I'm doing just smashing! Århus is a nice area, and being a zone leader didn't really change much of what I do at all. I hope that everything is going well with all of you.

So this week was a blast. We started off on Tuesday with playing tennis with this way funny British investigator. That was a good start. We also had a way good  lesson with him. Then we had a sweet lesson with this couple named Simon and Lise Lotte, who have been investigating the church quite a while. They are living in Århus for a couple weeks because Simon is going through a rehab program for drinking. Which is working wonders. We just had a way chill chat with them. Got to know them and figured out what they want from the church. They both want the church in their lives to bless their baby, because they know that this will be the greatest blessing they can give him. AND with Simon, his occupation is a video game tester, right? :D Way awesome. Then to finish the night off, we went to SUV, which is just the institute thingy for the young single adults. They have a nice ward here, I'm excited to get to know them even better.

Wednesday went pretty well too. We went on splits at a place called Horsens. I went with a kid I knew pretty well from before the mission. Elder Bateman. He was in drumline with me. So we had a lot of fun talking about Mapleton and things, we also had some way good lessons. Nothing too exciting happened on splits. :P

Thursday we had district meeting, and it was weird to not be the one giving the lesson. But... things change in life haha. Then we went and had a lesson with Thomas which didn't go as well as I would've hoped. :P He has a testimony of the book of mormon, but doesn't believe that he has to do anything now, that just his faith will save him alone. Kinda kills me, because I feel like that defeats the purpose of faith if you don't do anything with it. But hopefully something will change in his life. :) After that we had a way good eating appointment with some members, and we completely shocked them, with how awesome we are. They were kind of in doubt on inviting missionaries over, but then we just had a way fun time, and had a nice little spiritual discussion after. It was amazing.

Friday was... alright. We did some stop bys, then weekly planning. Then we got lost because we took the wrong bus. And because of that, we missed our appointment with our investigator. :( But we finished the day off with some more stop bys. So it was all right. 

Saturday was soccer in the morning! :D Got to see and play with the British guy again. He is pretty much my most favorite guy in the world. After that we had another lesson with Thomas. Nothing changed. He told us he had a strong belief in the book of mormon, but didn't want to do anything with it. Then we went and stopped by some people. But while on the way, this way drunk middle aged greenlandic woman stopped us and started ranting. It started off nice enough just talking about how she is Christian. But then she got mad... then sad... then mad again. I thought she was going to kill us in the end. So as we started finally walking away from this woman she turns around and says "Don't listen to your parents! Listen to your mind!" and points at her forehead. So after this traumatizing experience, we took a little breather to laugh about it, then continued on our merry way. 

Sunday was church, then we got summoned to help move a table for this girl named Maria, but the table turned into a lot of things. And we ended up being there all day because we also had an eating appointment with her. I got to talk to her mom, who is this way smart marketing person, and I learned a lot from that. Yay! :D So it was a very good day.

Now I'm here, same as usual. Love you all, stay strong!

Ældste Swan

S9:E1 "A new place, a new beginning"

Hello hello hello! I am out of Aalborg sadly... but life continues on! I made it safe and sound into Aarhus, a lovely little college town. And my companion is Elder Gines, the other Snare drummer in the mission. So I'm excited for this. But I forgot my old planner, so I will try to say a little something something that happened in the past week.

It was mainly saying bye to people. We had a nice little appointment with Kate, we started talking about a goal to get her into the temple! YES! :D she is an awesome lady. That would make my day if she made it to the temple while I was here. 

I also got to say bye to the Frosts. We had a nice eating appointment. They are such a fun little family. Then I said bye to Malik Jørgensen, I'm gonna miss him a ton. The Greenlander that got baptized while I was there. We had a nice conversation about when things get hard in life. To focus on the testimony that you do have, not the testimonies you don't have. I always love talking about it. Because it's a very helpful little principle. Ummm... I got to see Familien Mathiasen as well, another awesome family. We shared Alma 17:2-3 with them, and talked about how we need to stay strong in the faith so that when we see eachother again, we will be as happy as they were in the scripture. It was a nice little feel good lesson. 

Ummm... we met with Abdi, who going through a way hard time and not liking his life... at all. So we talked some sense into him. Luckily. So that was an exciting day. 

Sakarias (Judithes Uncle) is back! Which means he is out of money so he can't by booze anymore... but still. We got to teach him a little, and he was at church! It was kind of a perfect way of ending off my time in Aalborg. 

Ummm.... Frozen yogurt places are taking over the town of Aalborg. Which is ridiculous. We walked past one being build, then 30 minutes later we walked past it again and it was the grand opening. This was the second one opening in the past 2 weeks! Scary scary things. 

I'm still doing well, still alive. This is kind of a short one because everything I do through the week just gets all mushed together into this big ball of wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff.  

Love you all, and hope you have a great week!

S8:E10 "Elder Swan is moving??? :o "

So, I am moving next week. I'm moving about an hour south of here to be a zone leader. I'm pretty excited, but I'm way happy because I will still be coming back to Aalborg. :D It's not completely gone yet! I'm way happy for that, but it will still be sad to leave, leave all the great people here. :P oh well. But as for me and my week:

We started off on monday by stopping by having a fun family home evening with the Klitgaards. Sadly we didn't have anyone with us, but it was still good to see the sisters' investigators and try to uplift them and stuffs. Luckily for us, Sister Middlemas didn't bust out one of her random distracting comments like "Those seagulls are like Terradons, they are huge!". But it was a good day all in all. 

Tuesday we had a lesson with Abdi, which was a typical Abdi lesson. We talked about the plan of salvation, specifically where we come from, and that we are here on earth to become better. But his mind was just taking it to completely random places, but we eventually got it on track and taught the lesson. He is a great guy and trying his best though. Then we had a good visit with this less active girl who we had never met before. But she was way nice, and she hadn't been visited by missionaries for like 5 years. So it was about time. We talked about what a testimony is and where it comes from, and just got to know this sweet lady. She made fun of our danish, which kinda hurt my feel goods. But I forgave her. haha

Wednesday was fun. We had a nice little kate lesson, talked about the temple and what it is and how it blesses us. It was a good little chat, and a very good clarification for her. We also got to walk her dog that day, which was way fun. Her dog is probably the funniest looking creature that has ever been made. But I digress. We finished off the day by playing some b-ball. (sadly not outside of the school)

Thursday was zone training, a very needed interview was held afterwards. It helped me refocus and do things better. I love my mission president. He is an amazing man who has taught me so much. But interviews went a little long so we got home just in time to teach an institute lesson, and an investigator was there! It was a god lesson. We talked about obedience to the commandments and how we can test what really is from God, and that we learn and develop from the things we do and don't do. 

Friday was good, we had a party with the district for the 4th of july, I stepped n a bee, and it stung me. :( I hate bees, just like Nic cage. Then we did weekly planning. Then we had an appointment with the Vand de Weerds. (Maybrits parents.) I love them so much. It went great. 

Saturday was splits, I was with Elder Zalewski and had a party with him. We did a lot of finding, and it was still fun! It was crazy! We ate the last box of mac n cheese (Thanks fam) and everything was good. 

Sunday was a good church day, then we met with an awesome member family and ate dinner with them. We just joked about EFY or FSY and the real purpose of them.  It was way stinking funny. Then we finished the day off by stopping by one of our Greenlandic friends named Andreas, and we taught him and his friend that was there. Hopefully they will be in church on sunday, because it sounded like they wanted to come. 

But that's me, I'm doing way well still. I'm excited for the future, and time just seems to be flying by. 

Love you all!

Ældste Swan

S8:E9 "They call me doctor worm"

Hello all of your from the other side! Once again, a week has come and gone, and once again, I don't know where the time went. I will try to tell you some things that happened in this week, hopefully it's worth while.

But to start things off, twas the season to burn a witch again. (Crazy that I've been out more than a year right?) This time we didn't actually get to see a witch get burned. We were hanging out with an awesome family though with all the missionaries. It was way fun. We did have a fire, and roasted marshmallows, and the smoke ruined a pair of my pants, but that's okay. I didn't need them anyway. 

Tuesday was a day of pure eating. We stopped by abdi and talked about reading the scriptures, and that it's important that we do it everyday just to remember God, and to feel his spirit at least once through out the day.That was good. Then we had an eating appointment with Ly Ti Lam, the vietnamese girl that feeds us way too much every time we go. I ate my brains out, and she still called me out for not eating very much. The thing is, with her eating appointments, you just sit down and eat, and she is in the kitchen... she doesn't like eating with us, or it's not in their culture or something. But it's delicious food. Then she gave us a 20 pound bag of food to take back with us. Fun day,  then after a quick stop by, we headed to the next appointment, which was way fun. We talked to the kids a lot about serving missions, and our spiritual thought was about D&C 4, and to really think about if you want to serve a mission. 

Wednesday was goodish, I finally got my bike! :D yay! We had to do our weekly planning this day, just because that'ts when it worked out. The other thing that happened was an eating appointment with the klitgårds. It was way fun. The best line of it was "Do you like the potatoes?" ... "It's because I peeled them" The most true statement ever. 

Thursday we had splits, had some fun with Frederikshavn. I was kinda sick, but we still had a good lesson, and a fun time together. 

Friday was more splits, doing service for this American guy, then we ate some delicious lunch with him. Then went to another eating appointment (Pretty good week haha) this time with the Mathiasens (greatest family ever), it was just a fun time with them, getting attacked by two of their kids and just hygge. After that we went to another party for a kid in the ward that graduated, eating more and seeing all the members. It was way fun. I love the ward here, I really hope that I don't transfer. 

Saturday was awesome, we had a ward camp out thingy, where we just had fun in a forest then ate some food. There were water guns and it got a little out of hand. But they started it with the water balloons... it wasn't my fault. I love the ward. After that, we went with Kate and her boyfriend to a viking market! Way awesome tents and people dressed up. Then there was dancing and awesome music. I think I'm going to buy that cd even though it all just talked about the nordic gods. But that was pretty much our day, we had some stop bys after that. 

Sunday  was church, saying bye to a lot of people because I don't know if I will see them again. (Darn summer vacations!) But we stopped by Leif, our favorite member friend, and ate some turtle ice cream and joked around. Then we had an appointment with Familien Jørgensen, and that was fun. We got to play with Maanguaq, and her friend. We had a good spiritual thought on Alma the younger, and how we never know what will happen. It's amazing to see their testimonies and how strong they are. With Judithe, ever since we set the baptismal date way back when, she just knew through the spirit that it was where she should be. 

The church is true, and very cool. Loves <3

Ældste Swan

 

 

S8:E9 "The Greenlanders conquered."

Welcome to this weeks episode of "Who's that pokemon"! Or rather, my email to you all about what I've done the past week.

Last monday, we went to the Frosts again! I got to spend quite a lot of time with the 18 year old, Emil. We just kinda hung out, and talked for a bit. I really want that kid to go on a mission. We ate dinner with them, then shared a spiritual thought where we invited all of them to think about serving a mission, and to think about when they could go on a mission. Then sister frost asked us to share why we came on our missions. It was a way awesome lesson, I just hope it did something for Emil. 

Tuesday rolls around and the exciting thing that happened was that we brought Malik Jørgensen (The newly baptized guy) with us to a lesson with a less active girl. It went way well! We just talked about how we have to trust in the Lord, and that he knows better than us. After that we walked with Malik to his house, where we had an eating appointment. It was a great day. We also got to talk about the priesthood to the Jørgensens and Sakarias, and why we need it. Very very good. 

Wednesday was a good day of service with Benny, we did lot's of random garden work. That was fun. We actually spent all day with them until we played basketball. A good day. 

Thursday we were able to stop by Erik, our older member friend. We listened to his stories for a little bit, then we went to a young mens activity and played some flag football with them. Nothing like playing flag football with a whole ton of danes that don't know the rules. But it was way fun. 

Friday was good as well. We found that the international market is back. (Boy have I missed it) so I bought 20 deutch waffles. Other than that, we had a little priesthood dinner thing in the church, so we got to get to know some of the Elders better.

Saturday was fun, is was the national greenlandic day, so we went to the Greenlandic house to hear Judithe sing, it was way fun. Then we went back for dinner, and to hear Judithe sing again. Nothing like watching a whole ton of Greenlandic people sing and dance. It was a blast. 

Sunday was church, and we got a new bishop. That was pretty exciting. We also had a way good lesson with Mette, who thought about baptism a lot since the last time we had met with her. She knows how serious it is and thinks it through a lot. She is an awesome lady. We talked a lot about prayer, and how that is the first step to come closer to God. Then we had another eating appointment with the Jørgensens, and we played soccer with them. (I got nailed in the face, classic) and then we had a good follow up lesson on baptism, but more specifically why we have challenges and repentance. (Ether 12) 

So that was my week, a way good week. I hope that you guys have a great week and I send my loves. <3