Written by Elder Kolby Madsen, serving in the Denamark Copenhagen Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, speaking Danish.
(Note to reader: Some names are omitted for privacy. Highlighted words link to additional information.)
Mor!
Things are going swell. I love it here. We had a great week, and things with Elder Howland are going great. Man, I missed Youth Conference. That was always the best time ever. I can’t believe that Lex got her call to Chile. Like, everyone is in Chile. Holy Cow. We need some more Scandinavian missionaries. That’s crazy cool. I am excited for her. It will be a great experience for her. Maren just better not get called to speak Spanish. It's lame everyone is Spanish speaking. I think she should go to Sweden. That would be fun for her. That’s so cool about all the mission calls, just as the Lord needs it. The more out, the stronger they are when they get back, and the more we can send out in the future. It's a great cycle, and it’s exciting to see the growth in the world.
We have had some great thing happen this month in our mission. We have had a fast for the past 49 days (each companionship fasts for one day). We have had 22 people reactivated and 9 people baptized in two months. That's very, very unusual here in Denmark. It’s great to see the work moving forward. I really enjoy it.
This week we have had some great opportunities to meet with a couple of people. The summer months in Denmark....I guess I just forgot what it was like last year. The sun goes down at 10:40 p.m. and comes up at about 4:15 a.m. Last night was the longest day of the year, but it’s just wired seeing only sun. Især (especially) when I was in Herning, there was a total of 19 hours throughout the whole winter that we had the sun up and showing, haha! Just crazy, I love it.
We went to visit T** and V** this week. It went great. They had done their reading and stuff. We had a great lesson on prayer and why we do it. We are hoping to get T** to schedule a baptism date this week, which would be the highlight of my mission. This man is so prepared, but we will see how it goes. The Lord has His plan, and people have their agency.
This week we did a total of 15 hours of service for 4 different people. Service is defiantly the way to get people to see your work ethic, plus they can see that we mean it when we say we are willing to serve them. This area has picked up so much in service hours! I am so grateful I can be a part of it.
On Saturday we didn’t have much planned, so we were doing our studies, and on days we don’t have any lessons planned, I try to pray for help to study for those people we will come in contact with that day. I pray to have the Spirit with me so I will learn about what those around me need. During my study, I read in the Book of Mormon and then in the Liahona. There was a talk titled, "Challenges are Blessings," and I really enjoyed it. Right after studies, Elder Hicks (senior missionary) called us and said he wanted us to stop by L**'s home (a lady who is getting baptized) to see how she's doing with not smoking.
When we got there, she invited us in with a cigarette in hand. She tried to hide it, but then she just said that it is so hard to stop smoking. I still had the Liahona in my bag, and that article I'd been reading earlier popped in my head. So we gave a little lesson about how, in life, we have challenges and we have weaknesses, and that we should look at them as blessings. Then we talked about Ether 12:27 (my favorite scripture), and told her that our challenges are allowed by God. He allows us to have challenges so that we can humble ourselves and come closer to Him. Through our faith and humility, our weakness can become strength.
That experience was an answer to the prayer that our studies would be useful to those around us, even though we did not have anything planned. It was definitely a blessing and (again!) another witness of following the Spirit. I am so grateful for my mission, the things I have learned, the blessings that I have received, and the blessings to others I can see through the Lord's work.
I love y’all! Have a great week, keep up the great work, and have a great summer!
Ældste Madsen
Holy Days (June 16, 2014)
Prayers Drive the Work (June 30, 2014)
