A Fiasco!

This week has been much much better, thank you for all your prayers and kind messages.

Splits

This week we had an awesome splits with two members from Odense. I learned a bunch from him on how he contacts. He’s a really really shy guy, so it was interesting to see how he contacted people and how he got success. He’s super awesome and it taught me that every person, no matter their personality, can find their own success in their own way. Everyone can contribute something to the building up of Zion. We each have our own talents, skills, personalities, abilities that are unique to us. God has a plan for us on how we should use those skills, but first, we have to ask him!

Cutting Wood

I’m not really that much of an outdoorsy person, or heavy machinery, or any of that kind of handiwork stuff… If we lost computers, electricity, all of the things that make our lives easier, I think survival of the fittest would take me. However, now I know how to use an axe and a power saw. We went over to one of my favorite members to visit, and he had us do some service for him because he has a furnace, therefore he needed wood. We came over, I lost my hearing because the power saw was so loud, we drank some herbal tea, and had an awesome conversation about what’s happening in the world right now. Just a great time.

Leit

We went over to eat with Familien Leit and they were just fantastic! They have two kids, and they are absolutely wild right now (because they’re super young), so we were just yelling trying to talk to each other and hear over the rambunctious noises in the dining room. They made some super delicious food also! Just fantastic people and members. I challenged them to share the Gospel with friends and family as Lehi did when he partook of the fruit, or the love of God. It is truly something amazing that I get to do out here everyday, although there sometimes are very dull points, it’s been a blessing to truly learn of the goodness and love that God has for me, and for all of his children.

Cookies

We made cookies. They turned out pretty good! We wanted to give out some cookies to say thanks to all of the members of the ward that made our Christmas and New Years what it was. They were all super appreciative of it and it actually tasted pretty okay… a lot of comments like, “watch out for these cookies… I’ve only eaten Elder cookies once…” Søster Duckworth said, “Ældste Salisbury, take good care of this area, you have a gift.” (roughly quoted), so I better watch out and not disappoint her. 

Arriaga

We went over to give cookies to Familien Arriaga and to quickly say goodbye… we ended up staying there for an hour and hygge chatting - scary stuff. Roberto told us about how he met his wife, I think the only explanation of his storytelling method is with Ant Man. You know that spanish bro in Ant Man where he goes “and then his cousin told me to tell him that his dog” etc… yeah, so that was basically him. He told it and his wife kept rolling her eyes, it was hilarious hahah. “She became addicted to these” *pointing to his lips* Probably the most awkward and funniest moment haha, we then had a SUPER spiritual thought that we left them with about faith, where my companion lit a match and tried to burn a piece of paper on Roberto’s hand telling him it won’t burn him. 

Familien Nørrung

We went over to this awesome family again and they gave us some super lækkert (delicious) curry. They also harassed me the entire night while I tried to speak spanish, danish and english. I was looking for the word “fiesta,” and in danish it is “fest” but instead I said fiasco… it truly was a fiasco… and then they further made fun of Idaho where the dad made up this fantastic idea: “Potato Pop” He wants to be a silent partner for my new potato flavored soda, but I told him he can only have 2% of profits. This is gonna be big in Idaho, just wait. We later gave a really good little lesson about the Restoration. We invited them to come up with a plan for how they will dig a little deeper into the first vision and overall the restoration of the church.

Transfer

Transfer calls came! I am now in Odense (on the same island, the third biggest city in denmark, same ward). My new companion is Ældste LELAND! I am super excited! Back in Frederikshavn, he was in my district for the whole time, so we know each other super well! It’s gonna be a good transfer :)

Interpretation

We had a really good lesson with our recent member, Martin. We talked a lot about Lehi’s vision and Martin said something really interesting. We are all given different experiences, different choices, different spirits, different intelligences, and because of that we all interpret things differently. I find it amazing how everyone can interpret art or scriptures in another way. Certain things impact others more. I think the thing I’ve been trying to figure out, and finally grasped a little, is that I don’t have to be like this other missionary, because I understand it in my own way. Our contacting methods, our personalities, our home life, everyone is different. I know that the most important thing to do is to hold fast to Christ, even though we are all different. As an example, thinking what Christ would do, say, act, etc… is the right thing to do. We don’t have to be exactly like Christ, we will never be exactly like God, but instead, we have the ability to become perfect in our actions and become the perfect form of ourself. We can lose ourself in our work, but part of losing yourself is finding yourself (hopefully that makes sense). We can go through life, but we can never forget that we have our own intelligence, agency, and talents that make us unique to our own situation. As we try to be like Jesus, we can strive for his perfection grace by grace, but we can never forget that God has a calling for us, a desire for us, for you, to come back and live with him, and only through the use of your talents and agency can you do that.

Challenge: Use your talents for something else than you normally do.

Word of the Week: timeligt - temporal

Scripture: 1 Nephi 15:8 “And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?”

Pictures: Familien Nørrung, district, zone leaders and us eating KING OF KEBAB, cookies

I hope you have a great and productive week this week! I would love to hear how your life is going and what you’ve been up to! Love you all!

Med kærlig hilsen,

Ældste Salisbury