S10:E06 "Demons and Rummikub"

Another week has come and gone. Twas a pretty good week. Things are still pretty down to earth here in our area, and what I mean by that is that we don't have a whole ton going on. Besides finding. 

Well then again, on Monday we went and cast some demons out of a house. That was pretty exciting. We just got this referral where someone wanted us to bless there house because one of the kids was complaining about this spirit waking him up. So that's what we did, just went then said a nice prayer. We had a good chat with all of them, they were super friendly. It was just weird when the member called us and was like "hey, I need to you go cast out an evil spirit". But I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do as a missionary. 

We had a good lesson with Cecilia, we just talked about getting answers to prayers, and how it comes. That was a way good chat. Once again it's just a discussion and she asks a lot of questions about why we believe and how we got that belief. She is still super positive and searching for truth. She got sick this week though so we were only able to meet that one time. 

We were able to talk with a priest for a little bit about the church. That was fun. He ordered the restoration movie, and when we dropped it off we just started talking about what we believe in. He wasn't interested in becoming mormon, because he would have no job, but he thought it was interesting in any case. 

Ummm... We had a crazy lesson, with Finn. Finn would not have any of the gospel. It was like talking to a brick wall, and I finally just threw in the white flag. He is just a guy who is pretty drunk most of the time, who wants someone to vent to, which I would be okay with if he would listen to what we had to say as well. But he was just too stubborn. I felt way bad for the member that came with us. 

We had a lot of appointments cancel again, but we had some good fun appointments with members. Got to know them better. 

Gosh, that's about it. Yesterday we were with some members and played some Rummikub with them. That was way fun. It was one of those families that I could just joke around with them the whole time. I was pretty hard on the father of the family. But he started it. haha. It was way fun. 

Nothing too crazy has happened.... I wish I could write more, but I can't really.

I love you all, hope you have a good week!

S10:E5 "Cream balls of DOOM!"

Hello everyone, once again I am writing to you about what has happened in this past week, and I will have you know, it wasn't a whole lot. Lots of cancelled appointments, so that means lots of time out in the cold. But it builds character right?

We started off the week last monday by going to Lan Le's, another girl from Vietnam that just feeds us ridiculous amounts of food. So I guess that was a good start to the week. We also got to sing karoake with her... interesting appointment.

Moving on we got burned by someone, which was lame because we had a member with us when it happened. It made it even lamer because it was Cecilia that burned us, our most positive investigator. 

We knocked for a long time this past week. Nothing too crazy came from it. 

Ummm.... oh, that was a fun experience. We knocked on this guys door and he starts yelling, then right before he opens the door he yells "I'm gonna kill ya!" That was fun. He thought it was his neighbor knocking on his door, and apparently they have that type of relationship as neighbors. haha. We ended up having a good conversation with him and actually kind of got to teach him. So that was one plus of this week. 

We were able to meet with Cecilia once this week though! That was a really good lesson. We just focused on how to get an answer to prayers, and how that really is the key to everything that we are talking about. We also talked a lot about marriage and stuff. It was a pretty good lesson if you ask me. 

Charles bailed on our appointment, but we were finally able to get in with a guy named Adam. He is a less active and hasn't gone to church since he was like 13. He wasn't super interested, but at least we got to talk to him. 

All in all, that's about everything that happened. Recently I have been trying to make these though. (http://chocolat.dk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/fl%C3%B8deboller1.jpg) Flødeboller. It's been quite the process learning how to make them. But I'm getting closer.

I love you all, the church is true! Never forget that.

With loves,

Ældste Swan

S10:E4 "Kungfu death brownies"

Hey family,

I'm still doing well, still hanging in there. It's not too cold yet, which is way positive, hopefully that means it won't be cold for very long, instead of being a late winter. But I've been successfully countering the cold with a ton of unhealthy food. 

Ummm... this week was alright. We had a lot of plans, and most of them changed and got cancelled. Last monday was a good day though. We were able to meet with a girl named Cecilia, and we had a good chat with her about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and what it means for us to follow him. She is super sincere when it comes to investigating the church. Most of the lessons we have with her are just answering really good questions. So after having that good lesson, we went with her to a members house and ate dinner. That was fun. This was familien Ildskov, a younger family and their youngest kid who is probably like 5, is just completely hyper. So that was probably a fun introduction to the mormon household for Cecilia. 

The next day was lame. We had 2 appointments in the morning that got cancelled. Which was a lame way to start the day. Then nothing really happened. Then I got a way bad migraine that night. Not very fun. But while I was sleeping my companion made death brownies. So that was a plus of that day. 

Wednesday we had zone training. That was alright. It was weird to be there and not have to do anything. Just as a normal missionary. It was fun to see some of the friends again though. Then after we got back, we went to another appointment, and he opened the door and told us that he couldn't meet. He had a good excuse though, he was passing a kidney stone. So once again, dissappointing. But after that we met with our good friend Kim de king. So Kim de King has that name because he changed his name. He changed his name because of his love for the king, Elvis. So, he is a pretty interesting dude. But I love meeting with him, 1. because he always gives us way good hot cocoa, and 2. because he is actually a way nice and smart guy. So we have had quite a few good conversations with him this week about the sacrament and some different things. Sadly he hasn't been to church in a while, but he has a strong testimony of it. 

We also got to meet with Thomas, the guy in a wheel chair. I always love meeting with him. Just super sincere the whole time. But this time was a little different because he found someone who wanted to get visited by the missionaries. So we talked to him about that and figured out what we can do to help him. So that was fun. :) yay member missionary work. 

We taught Cecilia again as well, but the last time it was on commandments and why we have them. We also talked about the protection that comes when we read the scriptures and come to church. So that was a good lesson as well. 

Oh man, we went to an eating appointment with 2 brothers, Erik and Lee Jepsen. So much fun.So Lee is married, just a young couple, and Erik has been back from his mission for about a year. The eating appointment pretty much consisted of them showing us all the new video games and just having some super nerdy talk. It was great to have that again. It had been awhile. That was loads of fun. Then we talked about having a missionary mindset always, and being able to see oppurtunities to share the gospel. 

We also met with Charles, a kungfu master from New York. That was another fun lesson. Talked about baptism, and authority and all that fun stuff. He had been baptized 4 times already in different churches so he told us that he probably shouldn't be baptized again. But we'll see what happens with that. 

So everything is going well in Denmark. :) Love you all!

S11:E3 "You're as cold as ice!"

Well the time has come where it's gotten very cold here. But.... it had to happen some time. But other than getting bombarded with ice shards the past couple days, we have had a way good week.

We have been working with Shayrone and Patricia, and they totally came to church on Sunday! That was awesome. We just saw Matthew (Shayrones 4 yearold son) Run through the rain and into the church. They had a good time. We had a good chat with them about the plan of salvation, and we tried to answer the infamous question of "why do bad things happen to good people?" That was a good discussion we had, and that's one thing that I love teaching because I know that we are here to develop and to get better, and even though it's not very fair between everyone. It's like the parable of the talents. We just have to make do with what we have. 

We have also been working a lot with Kim de King, the nice less active guy who always gives us hot chocolate. We have some really good chats with him about what it means to do your part with your whole heart, and not to do anything half heartedly. Sadly he wasn't in church, but he seems to slowly be progressing. 

We have also been finding quite a few new investigators this week. That's always a good thing. Mixes it up a little. 

I was able to go on splits with an elder named elder Wright. That was fun. He taught me how to do a head stand. It was actually pretty wild, because we were knocking down in his area, and we found someone who is a really good friend of Shayrones! So we ended up talking to her for awhile. 

Well, I actually ran out of time on the computer, so sadly this is all I will be writing for today. My bad family. I will makes sure to write more next week!!!! 

Love you all!

Ældste Swan

S11:E2 "Chandlers new year"

Hello family, everything is good over here! Still just trying to get settled in to Odense. It's not quite as good as Århus was, but it's still not bad.

First things first, I totally went to a wedding! That was exciting. My first one. What made it even better is that we got to sit on the stand, right behind the happy couple! We are probably going to be in all of the pictures. What makes it EVEN better is that I didn't know them at all. :D way fun experience though. It was strange having this queasy feeling watching two people make such a huge commitment. I don't think I will ever be able to do that. But, nothing like crashing a wedding as a missionary. 

We had a way sweet lesson with Shayrone the first day I was here. (Yes, she is black and I'm pretty sure it means Sharon.) We just talked about where are church comes from, a good first lesson. Then I played with the kid and just hit a balloon up into the air at him for a bit. Good ol' goofing around. That's what life is all about. 

We work with a guy named Thomas here in Odense. AMAZING guy. He has serious muscular distraphy, so he is in a wheel chair and can only move two of his fingers. He got baptized a little while ago and has the most amazing testimony ever. He is just someone that radiates sincerity and also hope. Sounds awesome right? But we just go over there and talk to him every once in a while and share a message with him. Way good guy though. 

New years was fun, we were with Ken Hall. Now Ken Hall lived in springville for like 3 years. So he is pretty much American, he acts that way anyways. He is well known around the mission for making missionaries do stupid, but fun things. So that was fun. He had bought like a kajillion confetti cannons and we just obliterated his house with these. We also launched off some fireworks. One of them was stuck in the ground and exploded there... that was exciting. 

Ummmmmm.... we had an investigator come to church. Anne Cecilia. She is way positive. She is the investigator that we are working a lot with. That was the first time I met her, so I don't know a whole ton about her except that she is Norwegian. 

Yeah, not a whole ton of crazyness is going on with me... these emails seem to be getting shorter and shorter. That's how it usually works when you have been out for a while right? 

Well love you all!

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