How Can I Tell You?

The Vision

As much as I’d love to say this was about Joseph Smith’s first vision, it’s not. Instead, we went on splits with a really awesome, recently returned missionary. We went knocking, had some really good conversations where they talked so quickly to each other in Danish I had to ask them what they talked about after, and basically just had a good time. We were getting close to the end of our splits, but I decided that we should do this last row right before we leave. Well we do, and this guy comes out, I think he’s russian, but he starts telling us about his vision. Now, you never know, this man could definitely be telling the truth of what he saw, I don’t want to say visions and dreams don’t exist - because they most definitely do. However, you could see the hint of crazy in this guys eyes, and the fact that he began every single sentence with “Hmmmm, how can I tell you?” Well we went along with it, tried to relate it to Joseph Smith’s first vision, but he just wouldn’t let us talk. We asked him if we could come back and talk to him another time and he said yes… so probably more to come on that. 

Tue

This is one of the greatest miracles and experiences I’ve had on my mission. We were knocking at around 4:00ish, and we knocked into this one man who would only speak english to us. I think he didn’t understand that we can speak conversationally fluent danish, but oh well, we kept going in an awkward weird mix of danish and english. We started with our usual approach, asking him if he believed and he said no, I’m atheist. We asked him why, and suddenly he just opened up. He told us about his life story, how his wife, before she passed away, told him that she wasn’t afraid because she knows there is something after. He said that she always believed, and never had a doubt. I’ve never met someone with such a strong desire to understand the nature of God and to want to learn and to believe, but feels like they can’t. He was raised atheist and believed it all his life, I told him that I knew he would see his wife again, and that if he let us take thirty minutes on our lesson, he would understand how he can know too. He let us in and listened to everything we said. We related Heavenly Father to our own fathers, which related very well to him as he loved his father so much and knew that he would do anything for him. He had desire to still speak with his father, tell him the small little things, the big events, and just get advice from him. He began to understand how his Father in Heaven is a lot like his own father, and how he wants to hear about all the things and how he’s dealing with it, and he even wants to help in every way possible. As we come to the close, we gave him the tools to help him understand even more. We heard a wonderful, short prayer by him, gave him a book of mormon, and invited him to come to church. Sadly he didn’t come to church, however, he definitely wanted to learn more and feel closer to God (either he forgot or he was a little bit nervous because he didn’t know the ward members). The most amazing thing is that he said that throughout his life he’s met a ton of members of the church, just showing us that this man has been prepared by the Lord for us to find him. I know that having this belief for him in God will give him the hope and the love he needs in his life. There is much of his story that I didn’t tell because it just seems too personal, but he is truly a great man. I hope and pray that things will continue to work out with him and ask of everyone who reads this to pray to help him receive the faith needed to change his life.

Zone Konference

Zone Konference was very stressful for me. About 3 days before, Præsident and the AP’s asked me and Ældste Leland to give a musical number. Well 1 day before, Ældste Leland dropped out (the piano player and singer), so I had to do it all by myself. Problem #1: I don’t know how to play the piano. Problem #2: What we were originally practicing was a duet. So, I had to make some modifications to one of my favorite songs, When You Believe from the Prince of Egypt (@søster hepworth?? Hvorfor ikke? broadway er helt godkendt :), and learn quickly how to play the piano. Luckily, I know how to play chords on the piano so I played a very basic chord progression thing and managed to get by. I feel by singing the song, and in front of people, it really helped me heal from what I’ve been struggling a little bit with. After having the above experience, and the experience last week, I started to believe again. I started to believe that the Lord has prepared people, and maybe my mission is to find just Tue or just Familien Blankensteiner, but either way, I’m out here, trying to help people. When we do the Lord’s work, we see miracles. That’s what the song was all about. I had a Søster in my district write me another verse to it talking about how the Lord will heal our pain and lead us safe to shore. I’ve felt that healing and guidance. Music is a powerful tool to express oneself and to worship God, and it can change the lives around us or even our own.

The Power of a Blessing

The last week before was a pretty hard week, but hard is good. Hard means we are growing and learning. This week I wanted to talk about blessings. For those of my friends that don’t know what a blessing is, in our church, it is when a person who holds the power and authority from God give words of guidance, comfort, and help. I’ve seen that the power from these blessings works in different ways, sometimes the person giving the blessing needs it more than the person receiving it. Service is a powerful tool of healing also. The other way is the person who asked for the blessing receiving guidance. But the power in it is not always the words in the blessing, but the act of asking for a blessing. Often times, we are either too prideful or too scared to ask for one, but admitting that you need one is the first step. When turning to a blessing for guidance, we submit to the Lord and say that this is no longer something we can do. We can of course do this through prayer, but going to another person with priesthood authority and asking for one is powerful proof to God that you are willing to go to another servant of his and ask for help. James 5:14-15 “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.” It doesn’t say let the elders come to him, rather “let him call for the elders.” We must take that first step and ask for the help rather than wait for it to come to us. The Lord is standing their, with open arms, all we have to do is go towards him. He stays as close as we will allow him to stay.

Scripture: Job 6:6 - “Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” Job is out here asking the good questions.

Challenge: Go to a private, peaceful place (bedroom, nature, closet), and listen to some spiritual, uplifting music. After listening to music for a while and enjoying the outdoors/the comfort of your home,  pray to the Lord asking him if he has a plan for you and what you can do to follow his plan.

Word of the Week: comfur - stove (I’m learning a bunch of household words because the Køsters are remodelling our perfectly good sister apartment)

Pictures: A member we went on splits with named Daniel, Ældste and Søster Blackham (some of my favorite elderly couples in our mission), some weird satanic gathering that was happening on the street, a really pretty church, some really pretty skeleton bones, a really pretty catacombs that we got to peak into.

I hope you have a great week. I hope there is something that will strengthen your testimony in my emails, a little light that was shed on something. I love and miss you all! I look forward to reading your emails! :)

Med kærlig hilsen,

Ældste Salisbury