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