No Growth in the Comfort Zone

There is no growth in the comfort zone, and there is definitley no comfort in the growth zone. 

That was the theme of this week for me so i thought i pass it on to all you who aspire for change but can't find the insane courage to do something:) 

But here is the week in a nutshell:

Progress:

Man alive..... one thing that has grown exponentially this week for me is patience. I feel like the proverbial horse whose rider dangles a carrot in front of its face to make it walk. Meaning, C* is so close and so positive but she decided to go to Austria on a ski trip so we haven't met with her for 3 weeks now. So its kinda of hard now to gauge exactly what she needs because we haven't been hearing a lot from her. The reason why its frustrating is because I'll most likely transfer in three weeks and I'd like to set her up on date at least so she is progressing.

The funny thing about a mission is that externally, all it seems is that we as missionaries, strive to just "dunk" people under the water and that is the main goal. I mean, yea, thats part of it, but I've come to learn that the reason missionaries should be serving is to invite and help the people they grow to love through their service. So yea, I'd love to see her baptized very soon. But I would like more for her to actually come unto Christ, not just because it is appealing at the moment, but because it is something that she has tested and found a strong answer. So that's kind of why I'm so intent on meeting with her:)

But as for M*, don't exactly know what to do with him. He keeps going on vaycay and stuff as far as I know. Luckily for us he is home this week and just as happy as in previous times we've talked to him, so that are we happy for (haha that was hardcore danglish grammar. Sorry haha)

So there is an inactive guy named D* that we called. He hasn't been to church in years but we gave him a call. He said he would like to meet with us, but I was a little skeptical.  So we kinda of just wrote him down to call in the next week as a reminder and thought we would just worry about it then. But guess what, his parents (who don't really come to church) were in the grocery store on Monday and they invited us to æbleskivers:) (which by the way, are so bomb!)

They told us that D* had been at their house and told them the missionaries called and showed them the phone and was pretty pleased:) So that was really cool to see once again the hand of the Lord:) And on top of that, the parents came to church:)

Bet ya'll think i wouldn't mention Vo Long this time..... EHRRN. He is still the man! He just keeps getting cooler:) He is even participating in third hour with high preists group! way awesome.

This week we did more family history with him but he lost his membership ID number so we couldnt do a lot because it's hard to make him a family search account without his number. But guess what, he gave me a department of the army pamphlet replica of a English to Vietnamese dictionary. I dont know how he got it because the print is type write so im pretty sure it is a photo copy of the real thing with a copy of the cover.

but chúng tôi là những người lính mỹ :) haha

He is starting to teach me some.

Other stuff:

So back to that eating appointment, they are way cool and are kind of controversial but it was so fun! They played christmas music blaring the whole time but it was all approved traditional stuff so we didn't really have a reason to tell them to turn it down.... i almost told them to turn it up when the beach boys christmas song came on ..... man i got a little trunky for that haha. But it was a super sweet time!

We went and did service again for a less active in our ward. Lets just say her little shack is the most unsanitary place to make food in and we have to share it with her, her whack boyfriend who is way funny, and her dog the size of texas. We blessed the food ( x 1000) because she used the eggbeater to scratch her head which really worried me. Elder Jensen was trying not to hurl when she pulled out the trout hahahahaha. I was dying laughing the whole time because he looked like he lost a good amount of dignity having to be there. Good stuff.

All you people who are involved in music, stick to it. I had to pull a piano solo out of no where for a song I've never played before becuase they needed some entertainment at a christmas party haha. So all the mothers out there, force your kids. haha. But yea, I'm way greatful for musical talents.

Spiritual foods:

Check out the talk by President Eyring called "Gifts of the Spirit for Hard Times". https://www.lds.org/ensign/2007/06/gifts-of-the-spirit-for-hard-times?lang=eng Quality talk. Super quality:) 

Also, this week I've found that in trying harder to give everyone the opportunity to hear the gospel, I have been way happier and felt way better about what im doing in Denmark. Especially because right now it feels like no one wants to talk because they are going all over the place to do Christmas stuff. But it was a way huge contrast when I focused on others more pointedly.

But hey, make the best of good things and make great things even greater.

Merry Christmas time and don't drink too much nog, that's my job.

God Jul!

Ældste Jeppson