Follow the Mormonz

Well i know this is probably what you have been looking forward to since my last email so I will  hurry up and just do it ;)

Progress:

So I will start with my main vietnamese man Vo Long. Yesterday he recieved the Aaronic Preisthood and he asked me if I would ordain him to be a Priest. Very cool experience even though i am by no means an eloquent Danish speaker:) But the spirit was there nonetheless and it was great for me to feel how much Heavenly Father cares for each and every one of his children! But Vo Long is way happy and way stoked to go to the temple so we will get the chance to do that with him:)

C* is still being her usual awesome self! She is such a awesome girl and has such a drive to come closer to Heavenly Father! She is right on track to be baptized in two weeks and is super happy to ask whatever questions and stuff to find out how she can be better! We taught her last night and had Rubi and Mads (two homies from the ward that are young adult age:) ) with us and that was a great thing to have. Once again, the young adults are wayyy solid:) Odense is so solid in general:)

Our boy T* has been meeting with Jehovahs Witnesses and apparently they are bashing on us way hard so he doesn't really know what to believe. He is also schitzophrenic we found out so that doesnt help a ton. But he said he wants to meet one more time and if he has found an answer by then, we can keep teaching him. The JW´s are pretty big haters over here.  I am not hating on them at all but its kinda sad how much they try to tear people down while talking about Christ. They love to give us grief when we walk by them on the Gå gade but we usually dont even look at them. So we will se what happens with him....

The russian disney princess investigator has been very busy so we are hoping to meet with her soon... She is either sincere in her schoolwork or very good at nicely saying no... haha:)

We were reffered to a guy who had met previously with missionaries and might want to again. We weren't really sure what to expect but we went and rang on his upgang (building) and he said to come up. When we got to his door he ushered us right in and sat us down and gave us some cola and just started talking. He is a way nice guy who has a small smoking problem and wants to quit. He asked us if we would come by every week and hold him accountable and share a small message.Well..... We could probably manage that ;) I mean we ARE  missionaries haha. But he is pretty sweet.

Also this week we contacted a a lady who ended up wanting to come to general conference so that will be cool!

Last night we made "suicide calls," which are basically where you look through your contact list and call the people you dont know. And guess what... we got two potentials! We are calling them back today to set up a time but it was such a simple and cool way to find! 

Sidenote though.... I accidentally forgot who one of the young adults was and i called her.... She said who she was and i still couldn't put a face to it so I'm  a little afraid of a future awkward moment haha :)

Blender:

Thats right... it has its own subheading ;) Probably the most wonderful purchase any could ever make! I must say that life is good:)

Føød:

This week was nuts because we had 7 eating appointments in 6 days! I honestly have not had so much food inside of me at one time! And the last one to cap it off was at Ediths. (The one where i ate moutains on mountains of chicken nuggets..... remember? ) But this time it was frikadellers, which are basically meatball things. They are way good, don't get me wrong.... but moderation in all things. 14 IS NOT MODERATION.... But hey she was happy so i guess thats all that matters.... ;)

Follow the Mormonz:

So this week we got a call from a guy named Rasmus who is a student at the university here. He said he is writing an article on Mormons and wants to follow us around and watch us in our natural habitat (not exactly in those words ;) ) But he came to CUV night and basically interviewed us and asked us everything about us and what we do. It basically turned into him asking questions and then us bearing testimony on them. Pretty sweet right? 

But then, he asked if he can follow us around for three hours while we contact..... Okay cool with me man. So we contacted and he took notes on us and stuff haha :)

here is a little snippet I translated for you :

"Darkness has fallen in Kongensgade in Odense. Not many people are left. They

two young men passing by groups and turning instead to people who are alone.

Like the two women, there is not any in the pedestrian area which will accept the Mormon Church

business cards."

haha kinda funny but thats what he got out of our experience:) At the end though he tried to just leave... but then i said with insane courange "Hey so i have one question for you, what do YOU think about our message" He kind of hesitantly and nervously said he is not religious... but what i saw from his reaction, it seemed he didnt want to admit anything.

So hopefully he feels the truth of it all:)

Fun stuff:

So we went to contact for a little bit three days ago and i was walking and i saw a girl around my age. So i said "hey excuse me" and then she proceeded to say "oh ya just a sec". So she reached in her bag which confused me because i thought she maybe already had a card or something. But she pulled out some cigs and offered us some smokes hahaha:) I then told who we were and that we don't smoke, but she really didn't care too much about what we had to say. She was pretty confused why we didn't want here cigarettes but i thought it was hilarious :)

Well hey i hope that gives your fix of Denmark for the week! Make it a great one!:)

 Quote:

in the words of Rod Kimble " Dont let your dads eat pie"

Real Quote :)

No legacy is so rich as honesty.
-William Shakespeare

Make your legacy good enough that you would be happy making a movie on it and watching it with your family :)

Love, granola, Joseph Smith 

Ældste Jeppson

--

Ældste  Jeppson

A super sweet statue and one of the biggest Cathedrals

Me soaking in the good Danish Vibes :)

This lasted a whole 24 hours :) Elder Gifford can pound these things

We did our companionship inventory with candles :)

Hey... I Love Denmark (and you:)

Translation: The mole you got poop on his head (His journey to find who did it)

Caught eating healthy #blenderdarelife)

We (almost) got kidnapped....

But don't worry because I'm here writing this so I'm obviously alive....  :)

But the highlights! :

Progress:

So this week was very good as far as the work!! C* had some concerns aboout whether she would be worthy enough or be able to keep holding the commandments so we had a lesson about how the atonement is so key in Heavenly Fathers plan. We explained how all we can do and what is expected of us to repent daily and strive to become better and better. We discussed things on the topic and it started becoming clear she had a load taken off of her.  We also had a guy around 21 there from the ward who has had a similar life story and could relate super well!  He told her,  "Take youre last pack of cigarettes and say, this is my last pack ever. and just smoke every one of them! And then throw it away and move on. He said it worked for his grandpa and his dad and himself and then said it will work for her. :)"  He also said he will check up every day so we don't really have anything to worry about:) He is such an awesome missionary in his own ward! Also, after that  I had a neat experience as I bore testimony of the things we had discussed! I started talking and my danish was on point! The spirit really helped me out and I was so glad to be able to say the things I said the way I said them :)

Vo long just keeps on being awesome:) He will be ordained a preist this Sunday so we are way happy!

So our older friend T* let us in on Thursday and we had a great conversation on the Book of Mormon and then discussed that if he reads and prays about it, he will be able to find out if its true. He kinda said yea but wasn't totally sure about it but then Elder Gifford said something along the lines of Its about Jesus Christ right? So how else can we find out except by asking? He then seemed confident after that, and confident enough that he said he would be baptized if he found out :) So he is on a good track! He also has a killer taste in the 70's and 80's music and has records on records on records in his apartment so I enjoy meeting with him for that reason also because we have good discussions on his favorites (he likes 10cc and billy joel :) )

Language progress:

As far as the language I am doing fantastic. I'm starting to get to the learning stage where it becomes exponential! Ive become way more conversational and its just so fun to finally start being able to express myself in Danish! I love to talk to people but its frustrating not to be able to say it like you want to so I'm pretty happy! :) The Lord is blessing me for sure!

(not) kiddnappings:

So this week we went to help an investigator move but it was shady because he told us to meet him behind the train station at 11 haha. What was shadier was that he had moved to Århus two weeks ago and then he moved back a week later so we thought it could be for us (Hey we were just having fun with it ) But we basically were a little sketched out :) So we meet him there, we open the sliding white door to the van, and then the part where he puts bags on our heads and pushes us in didn't happen so we got in and helped him move :)

He ended up just needing to move because his time ran out and then up in Århus something weird happened logistically or something so he came back. But he did buy us the same hamburgers as the people we helped move last time so we were happy haha:) 

Craaaaaazy Soup:

So after district meetings we do this things where we all bring a ingredient from some sort of food category and we try and make something out of it and its just way interesting! So we brought lasagna strips, the British Guy (Elder Amos haha :) and Elder Poff brought straight chilis (the super hot ones ) The sisters brought chicken and the senior couple brought sause (also chili)

So we broke the lasagna strips into noodle looking things and then put the chicken and ALL the chilis in a pan with green onion and paprika and fried them up and the made some chili spaghetti-lookin stuff. What came out as our meal was just about the spiciest food I've ever had. To put it into perspective, my tongue swelled up ;) hahaha It was so great because I knew from making the chicken  that it was absolute FIRE but the others didn't. They also thought they could be tough and brag about liking spicy food, but then again they never thought someone would have the desire to drink ranch dressing :) But thats what it came down to haha:) 

But guess who finished it ...... Me:)

I'm a barber now:

Basically I've become the Odense mission barber... So I cut my own hair because Elder Pitcher showed me how so I do that now and again. Then Elder Amos asked me to cut his while we were on splits and so I did... and it turned out pretty fresh:) It was good enough that Elder Poff,  his companion, asked me to cut his when they slept over because of stake conference. Well.... that also turned out great because this morning the two other Odense Elders came over during companionship study and I Cut their hair while we listened to Conference talks and discussed them :) 

Fun stuff:

During splits, me and elder Amos caught a pigeon haha. There are stairs going up to a loft thing and we went up and there was a SWARM of them! So a broomstick and a makeshift lasso later, and we caught a new friend named James (don't worry we cooked him well ;) )

Elder Pitcher, my "dead" dad, came back with his parents and we went to The Kreibergs house for dinner with them! It was way fun to see him again and how life is like without the tag haha. He still felt pretty weird but he is doing well. His parents are also way awesome! It was a great time just talking about missions and other stuff (Plus it was absolutly bomb food so i was happy :) )

Well, i get my camera finally this week so you will start seen a lot more of what actually happens! But I can tell you that what does happen is some of the most fun, hard, crazy, exciting growth of my life and I don't regret a lick of it:) The gospel is true and i know it. I can testify of it and the change it makes in peoples lives. :)

Have a fantastic week! Make a difference in someones life for me :) 

Med Kærlig Hilsen,

Ældste  Jeppson

This week we went to get slurpees and it was DUMPING RAIN but I didn't care because my love for slurpees is that strong. So the crazy Americans rode through the streets in all their slurpee glory haha (but my hand probably get hypothermia)

Also this week, The people we helped move last week gave us ALL of the food left in their house so we got a whole lot of just stuff:) But We like stuff so that was a highlight

Elder Gifford, Elder Jeppson - Almost (just almost) bought these

Our kidnappers van - hahaha

Elder Jeppson, Elder Gifford, Elder Amos, Elder Poff

tasted as good as it looks :) 

Our Fire Food Lunch :) 

Dedicated to my "dead Dad" ( Elder Pitcher)

All i can say is I brought my journal this time becuase this week all blurred into one giant day and I really can't remember what I did on which day:) Time does not exist as a missionary (Thats my theory) But I got some fun highlights for you that might interest you ;) :

Progress:

This is basically the highlight of my entire week so listen up :) We prayed to find a person that was prepared for us on Thursday right before we went out to contact. So we were walking for about 30 minutes and had no success on the main streets, so I thought, maybe we should walk on the gå gade (the walking street with shops). But then I thought "nahhhh, It is kind of a hit and miss there." But it came to me again and the spirit quikly helped me change my "wise" 18 year old brain. So we started walking and trying to contact and we we not really getting much. But then we ran into a guy from Somalia (whose name escapes me so we can call him Mohammed because that is a VERY common name over here with people from Africa and the Middle East ) So we started talking to him and had a great chat but he was mostly psyched out of his mind that we were Americans and lost it when I told him I was from California. He basically told us he loves America so much and wants to stow away (thats what i got out of it haha ) 

But anyways, we continued on after that and as we were walking I saw a girl sitting on a fountain and she looked pretty sad. I thought we should talk to her so we went over. She was pretty lonely and wasn't really sure about her whole situation. So we began to talk with her and found out that  she had just moved from Russia and that she was all alone and had just broken up with her boyfriend! (sound familiar?). She is half Danish so she speaks very good Danish. After just chatting with her for a while, she began to brighten up and you could tell  she was happy to just talk with people! But she asked after a while who we were and what we are doing.... Well, Good question :) So we started talking about what we do and what we share and that kind of evolved into a conversation about prophets and the restoration of the church. She was very open and very curios to learn! So we asked if we could meet again some other time and she said she would like that so we are looking forward to that! She said she would come to church but she got lost so she didnt make it haha:) She reminds me very much of a disney character or something with a sad backstory and then finds her true potential and becomes a russian princess or something ( I have dibs on submitting that to disney) So yea it was great!

Our other investigator C is still very excited to be baptized and is doing really well! She comes to church every week and CUV (the young single adults night over here) and is just as happy as ever:)

With our vietnamese homie Vo Long, he is doing very well! He is getting ready to recieve the preisthood and yesterday in church (i usually sit by him :) ) he wrote me a little note asking about "the little paper from the bishop" haha. (He meant his temple recommend) So he is doing very well! The other day we needed to find out 3 interesting facts about him so we could give them to the ward facebook page to help fellowship him, he told us that he is a dead eye with a cannon:) He said he can hit anything rain or shine:) (we didn't actually put that on the page though haha)

Glad he is my friend.....;)

The blurred week:

Most of this week has been finding for us. It all just kind of rolls together. We had a zone training this week but President wasn't able to make it this time. But it was very impressive that a bunch of 18-20 year olds could bring such a strong spirit! It was a very awesome thing for me to see! Everyone here is truly called to Denmark for a reason. There is no faint of heart here:)

Other fun stuff:

We did some service for a family that are friends with some members in the ward here in Odense. They aren't members but they're wayyyy awesome people and are super nice! We helped them move out of their house on Saturday and it was way fun! We got done pretty quickly and efficiently (shoutout to Dad for teaching me how to move people in/out right haha) because there were some big heavy things that we had to play tetris with a couple of times :) It was fun because the classic moving snacks are way better than American moving snacks (sorry America ;) ) Also they took us out to get American burgers!! Its been a while since I've had a Bacon BBQ Cheeseburger:) It did taste a little Danish but i mean I can't complain about good stuff here.

I hope I didn't forget anythinig but I honestly just can't remember a lot of the week! But I can say that everyday was doing the best thing that I could be doing right now so it doesn't matter too much about the details:) This is most definitley the most important work!! I challenge you all to find a friend or a family member and invite them to something :) It can be hard but its so wayyyy worth it :)

Guess what.... i found a ukulele!! I actually only borrowed it but it kinda of got me thinking about blessing the ears of Danes with church hymns (Translation: i might buy my own;) )

Have a great week!

Ældste Jeppson

Chalk contacting

I Found a Slurpee! 

A Kebab :)

Elder Perkins (left side brown hair), Elder Lee (left side black hair), Elder Dibble (Kassies friend:) and Elder Murphy (from Rocklin)

Our Brit, Elder Amos (also our DL)

Posing with Jimmy Hendricks

Our water went "South America" on us :) 

Our Chive Plant "Nigel" :) 

It Rains Here! 

Elder Gifford with a lava lava on his head #what

Mission Conference

I Need to Borrow some Sweats

So apparently this winter in Denmark will be one of the coldest on record in recent years so that just make the whole experience more memorable..... or something like that....... :) But its not cold yet so I will keep writing till my fingers freeze I guess. But this week was one more quality week for the books:

Progress:

So this week we had some good experiences with our investigators! We found a new friend named T who is about 60ish years old and is a way nice guy and pretty open to learn about the gospel. He says that he believes in a higher power and hopes that there really is. So we taught about the power of prayer and invited him to pray to find out for himself if it was true. He was pretty willing to do so but hesitant to do it in front of us. We then bore testimony that God really does love us and is there for us and is willing to help us and answer our prayers.  So we will see next time if he followed through on that. But he is a way nice guy and was happy to meet with us:) 

Also with C, she broke up with her boyfriend so that was good for the whole situation. I mean I only know the guy based off what C told us so we tried to leave that whole thing up to her. But she did it! She moved out to live with a friend and is still coming to the YSA activities and church very regularly! It has been so neat to see the progress and the love she has for this gospel grow! She is so happy all the time and has really opened up and found people in the ward to be friends with!

The Odense way:

The members here in Odense are nails! They all are so happy and willing to help in any way and have an awesome spirit! There are a lot of way cool people here who are just so much fun to be around. And they love the missionaries so we try our hardest to work hard and do the right thing always so we can continue to strengethen the relationship with the ward. They also can all cook very well :) One family that are way awesome and love the missionaries made us some pancake type stuff that really just raised our happiness levels to high :) But they are more then just good cooks haha. Even though I've only been in one area, its going to be pretty hard to leave! This is an awesome place!

Fun stuff:

This week we talked to crazy Steve (he is the drunk guy who always chants random stuff when he sees us). But it was way fun to talk to him because hes actually a nice guy (hes just a little drunk all the time :) ) But he had a friend named jason that was with him who was equally intoxicated but we actually had a way good discussion with him after crazy steve went to bed (at 6:30 hahaha ) But jason was very interested and very open! He has a TON of long curly hair pushed back by sunglasses and has an austrailian accent :) Im going to get a picture with him sometime because hes way cool!

Shoutout to Uncle Dan for gracing Odense with his Greatful Praise album :) haha

Brazilian food:

So this week we helped someone move and afterwards they took us to this Bazaar where there is a authentic brazilian place! (where you at Nate) But the food there is so good... that we came back the following night to try the Brazialian national dish called Feijoada. Its "rice, beans, and all the good parts of the pig" according to the lady who works there (who is super nice and loves us a ton!) But all the good parts of the pig include but are not limited to, the tail, the feet, the ears, and ......... more ;) But she told us afterwards so i cant complain because it tasted fantastic!! We will probably become locals there because the lady is our new friend and she can cook a bomb bunch of brazilian food :)

But hey, you have a lovely week! someone go to 7-11 and buy some cherry sours and eat them for me because they dont have them at the 7-11s here (which actually disappoints me greatly)

but they have bomb pastries;)

Mel Kærlig Hilsen,

The baptism of Vo Long with Elder Jeppson and Elder Pitcher

Ældste  Jeppson

Elder Jeppson squaring up with a Knight

Egeskov Castle

The Jeppson Car :) 

The Jensen Family with Caroline, Ferederik Koster and Axel next to Elder Jeppson

Elder Gifford and Elder Jeppson

My homie ET

The Classic Odense Monkey Pic

Feijoada

We sometimes climb Trees

I might need narcolepsy treatment :) 

The wonder Kitchen lives on with Elder Gifford, the headband comes on every night as a sign of another great day :)

I made this cake last night for Stella's birthday this week.  Me and my friends in my district will make sure we eat it for you :)  It is a brown sugar nectarine cake and it actually tastes very good!  I hope you have a wonderful 5th birthday!  Eat some real cake for me at your party!  Love you!! You are the best 7th Jeppson child in the world!