Gaudete/Glæd Dig

This has been quite the interesting week. Miracles exist up here in Nordjylland. Missions are a rollercoaster and I absolutely love it. I feel like I’m growing everyday, through my trials and the miracles I’ve seen, it’s fantastic. Let’s get right- into the news.

Gathering

Well we had mission conference, and it was, not gonna lie, pretty awkward. We had a seventy there and many of the things he said were really wise. But during it, he was looking for a specific answer a lot of the time, making a bunch of missionaries embarrassed. He also brought out mission president to do a role-play (or public humiliation if we’re gonna be honest), and basically didn’t let him talk. It was a little weird, made everyone feel awkward, little contentious almost, but the overall idea of it was good intentioned. Also, his wife made us do yoga and was very very animated. very. Anyways, I got to meet up with those of my old MTC district, which that was fantastic, and I got to see my dad, Ældste Kofford, so it was just a good old reunion. I also got to see Søster Lewis who I went to High School with for a little bit! It was great to talk a little bit with her, it’s crazy how we ended up on the same mission. Overall, it was just a grand old time meeting a bunch of new people and talking to a bunch of good friends. Our mission isn’t so big, so you pretty much get to know everyone (around 50 people, maybe more) and it’s only getting smaller next year! Crazy stuff.

Golden

Aalborg had a fantastic experience with a referral from Salt Lake City! They called, told them someone’s name and number, they called the number, he said he would love to come to church. Turns out he’s been really prepared for meeting the church, he petitioned at his school not to sell alcohol at the parties, he doesn’t like smoking and basically had all the standards of the church. This was an absolute miracle and joy to hear, especially since it’s been a pretty long time since we’ve found any new friends. I’m super excited for them and praying that it will all work out every night for them, he sounds like a crazy awesome guy (only 16 years old!) and I hope for the best!

Grandma

We went over to my danish grandma’s house again, she’s so awesome. We made æbleskiver again, and they turned out way better! (picture attached) It was a great time.

Gågennem

We went and practiced the song with Martin for sunday (he played piano for me, which he is insanely good at it). It was really great, and we got talking a little bit about church and stuff and it’s really cool how you can be in a total normal conversation, yet still apply Gospel principles or talk about the Gospel in some way. We were talking about the best way to teach his son, and I started bearing my testimony about the Book of Mormon, not in a “I’d like to bear my testimony” way, but just simply saying what I know. It also brought him to open up a little bit more about his thoughts on the Book of Mormon which was fantastic to know what we can help him with. Simply bearing your testimony is so powerful, and it can be done in a completely casual setting, or in a church, wherever you feel comfortable, but most importantly where you can feel the Spirit.

Great Grinch

It’s been an exciting start to the Christmas time here in Frederikshavn! There was a band where we went and watched Elias play his drum in a marching band. We also saw them turn on the Christmas tree lights, and set off a sparkler (but a pretty bright one), and had this really weird nisser (their elves, but not elves, like… gnomes? I’m not sure) talk really weird and yell a bunch. It was kinda hilarious, I think he was trying to pump up the kids and the families, but when you can’t completely understand the language and there just screaming, it sounds kinda creepy. We also decorated our apartment so it looks more hyggeligt and christmasy, so it was great. We are out here killing it up in Nordjylland.

Gik Ikke Så Godt

I tried to make candy this week. So did my companion. Let’s just say we both made something that was edible. Mine was really tasty and marshmallowy, but way too liquidy and it just wouldn’t set for the life of it. And my companions was a little flavorless, so if we combined the two… maybe it would have worked haha! I have pictures, it was a disaster hahaha.

Ground

So we went underground, into a members cellar, well I did - we were on splits. And if that doesn’t sound creepy, well it wasn’t creepy, but it was not exactly what I had planned for Thanksgiving hahah. One of the members took me down to find christmas lights in his cellar, but he ended up pulling out all of his Christmas stuff so his son could take it all up, and then after an hour, he finally found it. I just kinda sat there while he rummaged through his cellar, it was an experience. I thought he was never going to find them to be quite honest.

Godt Nok

And to the end, my favorite part, where I try to sound wise and knowledgeable. I had my solo in church, and let’s just say it didn’t go as well as I hoped. Nothing too terrible, just a little bit of a crack during the biggest part of Mary Did You Know… and then I messed up the words after it. But the crack was in key, so it sounded like I meant to do it, it was just a little bit of weird timing, and they can’t understand english anyways so it was fine. Anyways, I thought about why that happened. Let’s just say, Danes are pretty sarcastic, and two people the day before said, “Oh, you’re gonna sing, well, I guess we will have to put our earplugs in,” and the day before, my companion and I were talking about voice cracks and stuff. So of course, I was trying to find meaning behind all of this right? There’s gotta be some kind of spiritual lesson I can pull out of this whole experience. My thoughts were, and not saying the people that told me the sarcastic stuff were Satan, but often times, Satan will try to put little pits of doubt. I know that they were joking, completely, but something deep down inside of me doubted it. Talking about voice cracks before with my companion, it also brought that little seed of doubt. These little seeds of doubt finally brought me to falter a little bit in my song, and to basically mess up. (I probably overdramatize it, it really wasn’t that bad hahah), but yes, I messed up. So I get off the stand after I finish singing, feeling eh about it, because it wasn’t the best. I kind of thought in my head “That was terrible, I’m pretty ashamed of myself.” Now it was after that, that I realized that I was completely wrong. The person I was sitting next to told me that it was really really good. Martin also told me that it was really good, and that was one of our best, if not our best performances. But one person, Kasper, told me that it was amazing, and that it really helped him to feel the Spirit and think about the whole story. Now, of course, one of the reactions was “oh they’re just saying that to be nice.” But looking at it, they were very genuine. How I look at it is this, one mess up doesn’t ruin everything. Satan wants you to think that after you messed up, there is no returning there is no hope, but did I just stop after I messed up? No, I continued on, and I tried to be stronger after it. Satan wants us to think that everything is over, there’s no hope, and the entire thing was a fail. Heavenly Father wants us to look at it, improve it next time, and keep continuing onward. Don’t just stop and turn around, you had to build up to the climax of the song, so why turn around and not care anymore. Endure to the end. It’s hard, it’s not easy, I’m only 18 (almost 19 :), so maybe I don’t know everything about enduring to the end. I know it’s not easy though, but I know that Christ wants to help us. He wants us to continue, to continue our work, and if we mess up, he wants us to learn from them, turn from them, and continue to do the right thing. We can’t let one mess up, one trial, one ill thing, ruin our entire view of the song, of the experience, of our lives. We must continually be positive and remember the things that we did good, learn from the things that we can improve, and keep an optimistic outlook on everything. It’s in no way easy, but I believe it becomes much easier when we look to Christ for the help that we very much so all need. 

Scripture: D&C 6:36 “Look unto [Christ] in every thought; doubt not, fear not.”

Word of the Week: nok (sounds like knock) - enough, probably

Challenge: Looking unto Christ in every thought also means sharing Christ’s light. Now that it is becoming Christmas time, we have a fantastic time to think about the Lord and all he does for us. Recently the Church came out with the most accurate video portraying the Savior’s birth. I encourage you all to watch it as a family or by yourself, and remember that he is our Savior. He atoned for our sins, he taught us that we can come back to our Father in Heaven through him. And I can’t thank him enough for that. I am so grateful for our wonderful, willing Savior.

Pictures: failed candy, æbleskiver, the member's cellar, our apartment living room, me on pikkebakken (if any of you saw this on facebook, translated from one of my Danish friends, it does not at all mean what it says on facebook! haha), some trees near pikkebakken, a meme about black friday shopping in Denmark, all of frederikshavn

I love you all and I hope you had an absolutely awesome, thankful, Thanksgiving (and black friday, cyber monday). I hope you enjoy being around your family and starting this wonderful Christmas time!

Med kærlig hilsen,

Ældste Salisbury