Love Our Missionaries: In Denmark Trains Magically Split in Half

Written by Elder Kolby Madsen, currently serving in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Danish.

(**Note to reader: You can click on the highlighted words and phrases to link to more information about the topics and phrases used in Elder Madsen's letter. You can also enlarge the photos by clicking on them.)

Hey, Mom!

Herning is pretty sweet. And by sweet, I mean sweet Idaho. I seriously feel like I am in Idaho. It's crazy! Especially coming from a huge city were I could literally go around my area in three hours. Our area in Herning is an hour train ride, so we ride train all day and have faith that the people we have appointments with are home. If they are not, we knock doors and street contact. It’s really different, but I really like it.

The branch is fun. There were 13 of us there yesterday. Us, the senior missionary couple and nine others. It's way different, but way fun. And we get close with the members, which is especially good around Christmas time.

Work wise, nothing really happened this week because of transferring half way through the week. That was all day by train on Thursday. We had a couple of appointments, but they fell through. It's okay because it was only an hour bike ride. On the bright side, I am getting some nice legs...one of the blessings of serving a mission! No, it's great. I love it!

Friday we had a district meeting in Frederacia, a way cool place about two hours away by train. We woke up early, got a train, and had a great district meeting. We had lunch with our district leader, Elder Swenson. He is way cool. I have been able to meet him a couple times. He goes home next transfer, so that is sad.

After lunch, we hopped on a train and moved to the front...not knowing that half way through our ride the train magically splits! So, we ended up getting off the train three hours later in Aalborg, which is a good three hours back to our apartment. So no work was done on that day because we got lost. But now I know the train system really well, so it won’t happen again :)

It’s been a ton of fun with Elder Zalewski. He's awesome and we get along way well. He is from Minnesota and is 20 years old. He came out a little later so he could save more money for his mission. He is a way cool kid. I am 2 for 3 with non-Utah companions. Elder Zalewski did go to BYU (Brigham Young University) before his mission though. He's pretty good at the language...way better then I was at his "age" in the mission. He will do great things!

Herning is great. We have some good things happening this week. We are going to change the focus for the first couple weeks to working with less active members of the church because we need to strengthen our congregation before we start finding people to baptize.

I was thinking back to that day I got my senior pictures. It's crazy to think that was about 20 or 30 pounds ago, haha! I still haven’t gained any weight on my mission, but I remember I hadn't even hit 200 pounds yet when I had my senior pictures taken. It's crazy that Maren is graduating this year. It kind of stinks that I will miss it, but it's okay. The Lord has better plans for me.

I am very grateful that I can serve here in Herning. I have learned a ton about trains and how to use them. I've also learned how a branch works because until yesterday it was completely foreign to me. But I love it! We are really involved, and we actually get to speak in church next week. It's going to be great...290 minutes of straight Danish. I am way excited. Can't wait to have that experience.

Well, I love you! Have a great week. I have two letters coming home for Maren and Sabrina.

Med Kærlig Hilsen,

Ældste Madsen

Elder Madsen is being Transferred (November 4, 2013)

The Lord's Hand in All Things (November 18, 2013)