Stuck in a Hard Place
This week was a lot of fun and full of experiences. We had a few successes knocking, gave out four copies of the Book of Mormon, and saw a few small tender mercies. (I tried a new spacing in this email, so hopefully it seems a little bit more readable… as Josh pointed out that his old man eyes can not read the massive maze of text)
Up to the Tower
I was on splits with an Elder from Fredericia this week and we went out contacting for around 4ish hours. We decided to take a quick break in one of the huge Odense churches and found this volunteer there who showed us around and talked about the church. He told us that he did in fact have one of our books and read it occasionally, he liked it, but didn’t think it was for him. We got talking, became pretty good friends with him, and went back to talking about the church. I asked him if the church has any ways to access the massive tower. He said, “yeah, right over here, do you want to go up?” I was ecstatic. One thing I really wanted to do in Denmark was go into one of those old, long, tight, staircases up to one of their clocks. It was an amazing experience and also proof that missionary work doesn’t stop when we take a break. Our actions, words, gestures, ideas, they all reflect what a disciple of Christ is, no matter where you are or what you are doing.
Castle
Our fun experiences with old buildings doesn’t end there, we had a party in our mission because we reached our goal of 10 baptisms. We went to Koldinghuset (the Kolding House) and had a fantastic time. I’ll attach a ton of pictures, but it was super cool to go around such an old building with so much history.
Getting Stuck
Well I’m here on the mission to learn right? Well my companion and I learned how to get a car out of the mud (pictures attached). Instead of getting it out with a piece of wood, we just took the easy way out and got a tractor. Lessons learned, experience gained.
Tender Mercies
Here are some of the tender mercies and work done over here in Odense, Danmark:
Gave a book of mormon out to a person who has heard about the church before. She didn’t want to meet up and talk about the book of mormon, but now she has one - it’s in her hands now.
Gave a book of mormon to a buddhist, very kind man
Gave a book of mormon to a college student who wanted to learn more and added us on facebook
Gave a book of mormon to a witch
We had a goal to give out 2 copies of the book of mormon on Saturday - which we accomplished (which you’d think who would turn away a free book, but you’d be surprised how many actually do), and we exceeded by 1 for Saturday. The day after we gave out another one. I think giving out copies of the Book of Mormon is super important, because even if they don’t read it, they give other people in their life to maybe have the opportunity. When we talk about planting seeds, giving out a book of mormon is literally like giving people a seed. It will only grow if they put the required effort into it.
Building a House
We helped people in the first ward build a house. Scariest thing I have ever done - Dad, I understand your irrational fear of heights better than I ever have before. We were helping them lift boards up for the ceiling, but they had boards under our feet… which made it like minesweeper. I felt like any board I stepped on could fall through the structure holding us up, thereby leading me to a swift fall into a pit of unknown doom. I felt sick the entire time.
Opposition
2 Nephi 2:11 “For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption no incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.”
I find this scripture simple and wise. It’s definitely a scripture I feel as members of the church (myself included) misinterprets in many situations. We see a circumstance and deem it black or white, good or evil, negative or positive.
I’ve been studying a lot for the coming General Conference in Saints, and this example of black and white I think works perfectly in Joseph Smith’s story. I think the majority of his story can be easily looked at from a negative perspective. He loses his children, his life, his social status, his everything. But obviously it was for a much, much bigger cause… so it’s not good nor evil. It’s evil powers working against God’s plan, but look at it from the eyes of Joseph. Joseph had to go through those things so that we could receive it all, that’s good, but brought tragedy on his life.
So here we are brought to the idea that there are different shades of opposition, we can’t label one as good, bad, holy, negative, etc… Instead we have to look at the situation, look at our reaction, and choose where we were pointed. What is the goal with our situation, how can we react?
Opposition is not merely one or the other, but a tool that the Lord uses for us to grow. Let’s take faith for example; I get rejected everyday. If I were to go up to a person my first day of my mission, and ask them if they want to hear more about Jesus Christ, and they say no… and I never try to talk to another person again, it doesn’t work. I have to have the faith that the Lord has prepared someone out there for me, and that not everyone will react the same way. This is of course an extremely hypothetical situation, but it can be applied to a slew of other situations.
What’s the point? The point is that when looking at our own situations, or others, we can’t simply deem them good or bad. There are shades and colors to every single event, information we don’t know, information that only God knows… but we must first trust that he has a plan for us. That although we may see something as a unfortunate circumstance, God knows that it is the only way to build us up further than we already are.
I miss and love you all! I hope you all have a great and wonderful week. I love hearing from you all :)
Scripture: 2 Nephi 4:28 - “Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.”
Word of the Week: modsætning - opposition
Challenge: Read Saints! It’s actually a fantastic book, goes very in depth about our church history, and is overall entertaining. They also just came out with the second in the series :)
Pictures: our off road 4 wheeler car, a picture before we got stuck, a picture a sister in our combined district drew, a weird pano we took, me in a church, søster brown dying, us on top of the world, some pretty views on top of the castle, some pretty views in the castle, a picture of medieval missionaries, a picture of a jacket that reminded me of the one I wore in Cinderella, a picture in the top of a church tower.
Med kærlig hilsen,
Ældste Salisbury
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