Happy Birthday, Elder Madsen!

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

Mor!

Well thank you for the birthday wishes. Yes, Elder Hansen has died and now he is on the other side (Elder Madsen is explaining that his friend finished his mission and returned home). It's way weird. I remember when me and him were together, we talked about how because he was such a young trainer that by the time he left, my time would fly. I am choosing not to think about that. Not good. Yeah, Sister Bishop went home two transfers early. She had some major back problems for the greater part of her mission. She had an interview with President, he gave her a blessing, and they decided that the Lord wanted her home. She was not very happy. She wanted to stay, but the Lord has other plans. I love that about the sisters in my group. They are all very focused and want to serve at all costs. It's way inspiring. Anyway, I’m loving it here.

This week was great.  Everything just hit the ground dead sprint. We have had some really good stuff happen. We were able to contact some less active members who have not been visited in a while, and it went very well.

This is the oldest companion I have had since Elder Hansen, but he is still younger than me. It's crazy. Up until now, I have had young companions. We have gotten along fantastically. We had some really good things happen.

We found this older Greenlandic lady.  She told us that her husband and her daughter, along with three grandchildren, have passed away in the last year. It was really sad. We told her about the Plan of Salvation and she wants to meet after August when her grandchildren leave from their vacations. We are looking forward to that.

After that, we were riding home. This was on Thursday. I got a call from the Randers senior couple, and they told me that T**  is going to be BAPTIZED on the 30th of August!! I am so excited for him! It's great stuff.

That pretty much just sums up the week. We worked hard and things are rolling. I am loving it here. Elder Zalewski is in my district and he is training, and so are the other three companionships. It's great. We have been able to teach the new missionaries some good stuff as well.

I am hoping that this week we can pay a visit to the grave of Hans Peter Madsen’s father. The other Elder Madsen served here and got a picture of the old house and everything. So I am hoping to get to do that.

We are finding a ton of people and trying to get some potential investigators to become progressing friends. We play soccer and basketball each week. We had an experience this week where we met with a family that was living on Greenland because the father works for the Danish government. He was kind of the "king" of Greenland-ish, and he is member of the church. He was there with his family for 28 years. His daughter served in the Temple Square Mission and came home right after I left København. She lives there for school, but I never got to meet her. We talked to them about how he was the branch president in Greenland, and they were the only members over there. The Greenland area is not open for proselyting, so we can't be over there to teach. So the work does not move that much. We came to eat with them, and afterward we shared our spiritual thought about working with the missionaries and how it is the Lord's will that all of us work together. It’s hard, but it’s the Lord's way. At the end he started to cry and just thanked us for coming to visit because he said it has been 28 years since they had missionaries in their home. They miss the feeling that having the missionaries in your home brings. It was a huge testimony builder because it's hard for us to feel any difference when we are just us. But we can see the feeling the people around us get when they invite us into their home. It’s not us that brings the feeling, it's the Lord.

When these humble, loving members open their homes to two imperfect missionaries, just trying to work hard and do our part, the Lord blesses them with a feeling of love. He touches their hearts.  It’s been a very comforting feeling to see it from this point of view. The Lord loves those who love his missionaries!

Love you! Have a great week and keep up the good work.

Med Kærlig Hilsen,

Ældste Madsen

Leaving Randers (July 14, 2014)

Caboose Toilet  (July 28, 2014)

We found Subway!!