Odense Part 2

Well this last week has gone pretty quick! I kinda feel like i took a 6 week vacation up to Frederikshavn and then back to Odense haha. But no complaints here for sure:))

I'll hop to it:

Progress:

So we have some good stuff going right now and it is going to keep going. We have some cool friends from Syria named A* and M*. They have been over here for less than a year but they speak English pretty well so we don't really have any issues with communication. But we had a way good lesson with them. They are Orthodox Christian and they believe in Jesus and have a lot of faith. We talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and had a great discussion. We didn't push them too hard because definitely want time to think about it. But they are great ! And they fed us some wayyyyy good Syrian food. So they definitley have a lot of potential (not just for eating appointments ;) ) 

We also have a man named B*. He is a pretty sophisticated, charismatic German who has lived in Denmark most of his life so you cant' really tell he isn't Danish except that he is very proud of Germany haha. But we gave him a call and he agreed to meet at Ikea at the food Court. So we had a long lesson were he talked alot about his life and about philisophical Things... but in the end he agreed to coming to church and he followed up on that commitment so he has potential. A funny note, me and elder Erickson got sick for two days but fought through it for one of them so we could meet with some people. We both used all the willpower we had to stay awake for one of B's* rants about some British royalty and the politics surounding it. So we learned not to give him to much room to run with the conversation hahaha.

Other teaching experinces:

These are some investigatoers that aren't necessarily positve right now haha. But there was a Romanian couple who we taught that basically tried to just throw down with us the entire two hours we were there. The only reason we stayed that long is because they were pretending to be positive at first. But basically.... they were just trying to kill all of our vibes and tear down our faith. But me and Elder Erickson had the truth on our side so we shut them down hard haha. It was pretty lame because they were really sincere (mostly out of skepticism) at the beginning but turns out they have really harded their Hearts. But it was good though because me and Elder Erickson really defended the faith and really got into a teaching groove. So there is a good thing out a bad thing....

We also taught this really old dude... He is probably crazy. haha. He told us that he believes everything that we say, but that he can't join the church because he is part of a spiritual brotherhood who basically all think they are higher than Christ. Not in a bad way... but they just think they can cleanse themselves from their own sins. They also do this weird meditation thing..... And he thinks he has been reincarnated 3 times except in a totally different definition of reincarnation that I can't explain. I don't know it definitely was interesting but i think he got something out of it spiritually so we accomplished our purpose:)

Newness:

So Elder Erickson is my new comp from Centerville Utah. Wayyy cool guy. We hit it off way well because the first day we taught three lessons in a row with each other all in English. So that really got the companionship chemistry juices flowing. Hes a way solid missionary and a way awesome guy. Here are some of the Things that make up our companionship so far:

-Music: we have gone way hard during lunches and dinners working on a rendition of "Come Thou Fount" together. He is on guitar and I am on the ukulele. We made a studio (as we call it) out of the couch in our bedroom and some big dynas (Danish bedding) So the sound quality is way good actually. But I'll include it in this email:)

-Sleeptime tea: It is kinda an inside joke but we have this herbal tea in our Apartment that supposedly helps you sleep but it tastes way good with Vanilla sugar so we are way hyped on it.

Questionable choices:

We have both been battling sickness and it caught up to us Saturday so we were immobilized for a good part of the day. Dont worry.... medicine does in fact do what is says it will. But because we were sick, our minds were a Little feverish haha. for example, We thought it would be a great idea to set alarms every hour to wake up to because Elder Erickson heard his friend Kline say that it helped optimize sleep.... Well Kline was cursed many times that night hahaha. We looked back on it the next night and died laughing for probably an entire train ride haha. Good times...

So we are getting along just fine:)

My challenge for this week is to really study the scriptures. I know a lot of times when we hear that from leadership in the church, we often take that as just reading longer (maybe that is just me... haha) But i recently finished the Book of Mormon. I think it is safe to say that is the first time i REALLY studied the Book of Mormon cover to cover. Like taking notes, cross referencing, taking time to think about it.... etc etc. And it felt so great!! I realized how much more i gained from it than the other times I've finished it in my life. The verses we read and take for granted are wayyy deeper than we know. It strengthened my testimony quite a bit so I was happy for that.  :)

So give it a go this week.

"Cheaters never Prosper" - all the teachers anyone has every had

See you in March!!

MKH,

Ældste jeppson

Lighthouse pic in Hirtshals

A World War II bunker

District activity out in Skagen 

Cold Legs

Elder Shuppy won the photo shoot

The classic tag photo

The boys of bunker 9

The fellowship of the Fjord

The Crew 

Elder Perkins- National geographic status bike ride

Elder Shuppy and Elder Jeppson

Saying goodbye to the Blackhams

Me and Elder Erickson....already being cool :)

Beginning of the hipster lunch hour photo shoot in Nyborg

Elder Erickson's seal impersonations

Nyborg

Adventure is Out there

We contacted one of the best graffiti artists around:) 

Fight Club in Frederiskhavn 

Switch Up

Well this week took a  turn that I didn't see coming.... But transfers strike again and its been an awesome, wild week!  Hey so i hardly have time to email today and i forgot my camera.... but that is because I transferred back to Odense haha. Except now I am in the second ward :) I have a wayyyy solid district so I am excited for that. But yea it has been a way crazy past couple days.  I am companions with Elder Erickson from Centerville Utah. He is a way awesome guy and we are clicking pretty smoothly. He is the group behind me so that is super fun. :)

I'll shoot this email quick from the hip because i don't really have time haha:

Transfers:

So you know how I've only been in Frederikshavn a transfer? Well now I'm not haha. I am actually writing this from back in Odense :) They shipped me back except this time I am in the second ward haha. So its has been a quick pack up and go and today has been a crazy day of traveling. But yea I am stoked!

Last week in Frederikshavn:

Monday: We took and essentials pday and went up to a cool place on the west coast called Hirtshals with the Blackhams. There is a way cool lighthouse up there and some world war two bunkers. We also have some less active members and investigators up there.

Tuesday:

So we did some major knocking and we had a cool expereince. So we met this Syrian family and they invited us right in. We then met some Danish lady named Trine who was there helping them with their Danish. So we taught a very simple lesson but realized that they didn't totally understand. So we basically used Trine to be our translator (she simplified our words for us ) and it was a really cool expereince because she basically bore testimony for us. She said that she thinks God does guide us because when we were talking about how God helps us in our lives, she said "I think that God guided me today to come here so i could meet these two missionaries." So it was super neat! And even though it is unknown what will happen, I know Heavenly Father guided her to us so we could at least let the gospel touch her life.

Wednesday:

Cant really remember anything specific.... whoops 

Thursday:

The reason we took an essentials pday on Monday was so that we could have our district meeting in Frederikshavn and then go up to Skagen for lunch and as a district. We had a great time and the pictures are way better that what i could say about it but i forgot my camera in my bag... whoops

Friday:

We met this guy from the states on Friday. He is an ex- navy seal and is probably cooler than I'll ever be haha. We had a great talk and turns out he is a member!! Woah we just were knocking but somehow we found him haha. But he is way cool!

Saturday:

Got transfer calls. Lost our minds. Found them again. Did missionary stuff. Also, I opened up in fight club to whoever wants to go two rounds for two minutes..... I ended up wrestling 45 minutes nonstop and I was a little tired.... 

 but I still whupped them;) haha 

Sunday:

We had church and then went to an eating appointment with the owner of the fight club. Then we went home so I could pack and then we caught a train so we could spend the night in Aalbord to split our traveling.

Yea so thats all i got haha. Do great things at high speeds! (unless youre in heart surgery)

MKH,

Ældste Jeppson

--

Ældste  Jeppson

Doing Cool Things: Elder Jeppson on the bag pipes

Today is the last week of this transfer.... so there is another reason why time is a theory haha.

This is going to brief so here come the highlights of the week:

-I beat an old lady a couple of time at chess.... had a lesson and gave her a Book of Mormon. Moral of the story is don't hold back;)

-Went to the great city of Aalborg from Tuesday night to Thursday afternoon. We stayed two night because of district meeting on Thursday and we aren't rich people haha

      - I got the privilege to be on splits with Elder Gudmundson. He was elder Giffords Companion so I had heard a lot about him. Great guy. He is a wizard at the bagpipes.

       - Which reminds me... I learned how to play the bagpipes:)) I think that is definitely a future interest for me haha. We were contacting at a park on a bright day in Aalborg and we got 2 potential people who want to meet out of it. It was so funny to see everyone just come out of the woodworks to see. Way great use of time. Plus I got to try.

-Didn't have the opportunity to go to MMA (or as we call it... fight Club haha) We went instead to a baptism for a boy in the Ward.

-Went to Skagen, got burned... So we knocked around and we ended up having a 1 hour lesson with a Turkish lady that speaks romanian. We had to use the computer to Google translate some Things and also we found the pdf version of the Book of Mormon in Romanian. So we get to come back next week and give her the real deal in book form:) She is way great:)

-We finally got in with a lady named L* Wayyyy cool story.  Basically, she was adopted into a Family in Sudan where she lived as a refugee. When she was older, she met an UN rep at a disco and fell in love. They lived all over the World and then when her husband passed away, she came up to Denmark with her boys. She has way cool stories and still has a diplomatic passport so she can basically just walk through any airport with anything haha. Way cool lady. Way positive!

-We found the original board game of Stratego in our apartment... in the down time of lunch and dinner hours we wage war with a game that I can actually beat Elder Shuppy in haha. Don't worry though... it isn't a priority ;)

-Saw a guy from fight club on the street and talked with him a bit. So this finding by fighting thing is totally working:)

-Transfers are Next week so it could get exciting up in here.

-Called a lady who was an Exchange student 5 years ago. She was positive so I called. Emphasize the was part. She rudely hung up so I texted her and asked why she did that haha. We ended up working out some misunderstandings and now we are on good terms.:) moral of the story is to use insane courage and tell people you're human too haha.

I got one quote for you all and them I'm out:

"Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work. As one gifted writer has suggested, when the infinite fulness is poured forth, it is not the oil’s fault if there is some loss because finite vessels can’t quite contain it all.¹⁰ Those finite vessels include you and me, so be patient and kind and forgiving."

-Elder Holland

Give a hug to someone you love. Happy Heart day!

Med kælighed fra fiskerne,

Ældste Jeppson

This Cat posed for me haha

The Aalborg Fjord

My best attempt at the Bagpipes

https://youtu.be/4K5qHe7-BXQ

Learning new things everyday...#IC

Now, here is the way it is supposed to be done:

Bagpipe contacting with the pros: Elder Gudmundson

https://youtu.be/SkDRcZH-G1w 

A cool church on a pond

Real missionaries wear pants..until they don't

Alma 26 and MMA Video

This week was one of the busiest weeks so far I would say!  I could also write this week in all caps haha.  Me and Elder Shuppy went to town and did a town of great stuff and got 10 great lessons in this week which was stellar for how packed it was!

The reason for Alma 26 as a theme of sorts for this email is that it basically describes some of the feelings/events/truths of this week. So if you want a taste of what it was like, read Alma 26 (and for extra credit... study it )

  https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/26?lang=eng

But I'll cut to the highlight reel of this week because there is quite a bit:)

Progress:

So the first bit of progress was with our friends M* and T*. They are a couple who have lived together for a while and the missionaries are pretty close with them (probably because they are way cool). But T* is a member but a little less active in the church, but that doesn't mean anything really because he has a way firm testimony of the gospel and really wants to help M*, who is not a member, find an answer for herself on if the church is true or not. T* Has been a lot more attentive and sincere the past couple lessons, which is great because sometimes the tv is on or his homework is out or something. But last lesson was so awesome:) We talked about the Godhead and their roles in Heavenly Fathers plan. As we talked about the Holy Ghost and his role, it opened up to a way great conversation about how the Holy Ghost prompts us and inspires us to know truth. The main point was how we know that promptings from the Holy Ghost are thoughts to the mind, and feelings to the heart (great definition from Elder Bednar :) ). So we continued to have a fantastic conversation where the Holy Ghost was with.

There is another lady named B* that we have been working with. She is a referral from her son who got the Scandinavian scholarship to BYU and who is there right now. He has a tonnnn of LDS (Latter Day Saint) friends and so his mom was curious about what we believe. She is a very nice lady who is very sincere in all of her questions and asks them often. So we have very dynamic lessons:) But she is very positive in wanting to learn more so we will see.

Skagen:

Now that im less starstruck about Skagen and more focused on it as an area to do missionary work (even though it is still way beautiful), I'll talk more about the work we did up there. We have 4 people we are working with to try and find time and stuff to meet. I've talked about G* before I think, but he doesn't have a cell phone and last time we came up he forgot about the lesson so we finally have a set one next week to meet with him. But he is still a way nice  guy and is happy to meet and talk:)

We also have a lady up in Skagen named M*. We are pretty good friends with her even though we haven't actually met yet haha. She referred herself to get a Book of Mormon and a visit from missionaries, but last time we went up I guess Elder Shuppy's police knock wasn't loud enough because she was asleep. So we texted her later that day and she said she was home but she was going to "sleep out the next couple weeks." What?? So we took that vague statement as- she is sick or having a hard time. So the next time we came up (this last Saturday), she didn't answer again.... Im going to do the knocking next time haha. But we even brought her some pastry because we thought it would perk her up because she was having it hard (wouldn't that make anyone happy?? haha ) But we left it on her doorstep with a note because she didn't answer once again. Then later that day we got a text saying thanks but I was home..... Arrrrgggg. She also said we don't have to give her food to win respect or something along those lines hahaha. So I think we have been having communication problems because apparently she isn't sick and she is doing just fine.

So I'll report on next time now that we finally aren't grasping straws haha.

This next part was probably the highlight of my whole week:)) So we were knocking around Skagen before our train came. We only did one opgang because something great happened. So we came to the first door.... no answer. The second door had the voice of a father telling his kids to stay focused and finish their chores or something (I know that one even if I didn't here the words hehe) So we decided to get it on the way down because we don't want to do chores haha. But the rest of  the entire opgang was not home, so of course we came back downstairs and rang on his door. 

We introduced ouselves and what we were doing and he said, "woah, you mean you took 2 whole years out of your life and learned Danish just so you could come around and talk to people on their doorsteps about Jesus Christ and God and stuff??" 

yupp:)

So we started to talk and he said that he has had a pretty rough patch come up in his life and that a lot of his family had passed away and that he was kinda just struggling. We talked with him for a while about faith and what he hopes. He says he used to have a lot of faith but he isn't sure now, but that he hopes there is something like higher power or God between earth and heaven. But he said "You know, it is really weird... that these last couple days I've been hoping to find something that could help me, and all of the sudden ... you guys show up. Isn't that just weird to you?" Man.... my whole body could have been floating. So I pulled out a Book of Mormon while elder Shuppy said something addressing what he had just said, and then we explained to him we are just here to invite others to read the book. That we give up for two years our families, friends, hobbies, and school among other things to come and invite people because it is something that has blessed our lives and that we have come to a knowledge of it being the word of God like the Bible. He asked "So you know its true?" And he was so sincere about it and I was so happy to have the opportunity to be lead by Heavenly Father to his doorstep to bear my testimony on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. So he took it and we gave him our number because he doesn't have a phone really and he moves around for work because I think he said he works on a boat or something.

I left that place with two things... 1) Heavenly Father truly does prepare people in their own ways and on their own time to have opportunities to accept the gospel. and 2) That I'm good enough as a missionary:) That I don't have to be perfect or even close to it to be good enough to fufill Heavenly Fathers will. That all I had to do was to be the proverbial tool in his hand, and let him do the work.

So yea I would say if you want to know what my feelings were, listen to Ammons words in Alma 26:)

Curtural Wednesday ft. The legend of Ib:

Wedensday we taught our good Burmese friends Familien Hrung. They are a way cool Burmese family and they are very sincere in their faith in Christ and we have great lesson despite language barriers. We usually show general conference talks in Burmese so we can have a more meaningful lesson with them. They keep asking when we will bring them a Book of Mormon in Burmese (that isn't translated yet) so they are super positive, I just don't think there can be any progression until we can break language barriers. But we asked him to say the prayer in Burmese which was wayyy cool because Burmese is a tonal language so it requires one to get more intense in tone for certain things. So it was a way powerful prayer.

Then we repeated the entire lesson with his older brother who is also from Burma and lives around the corner:) way cool!

So the legend of Ib is one of those stories that will be saved for after the mission because of the insanity of the whole thing. Don't be afraid, it all was totally fine after we got out of there,... but that was the single most nuts thing I have experienced in my life so far. I have never had a bigger moment of.... ??? what??? So yea. If it helps, it wasn't that much like the Saratov approach... haha

But hey lets talk about cooler things...

Fight Club:

So like I said, I get to coach/teach wrestling at an MMA club in Frederikshavn. Wayyy cool experience. I got to hold a clinic for 2 hours on Saturday and it was way cool!  We went over  lateral drops,double leg take downs, knee taps, ankle picks, and a bunch of other stuff. Quality stuff:)

But the reason it was so cool was that the member who is head coach, had a lot of the kids come up to him and ask questions and it gave him a ton of opportunities to share the gospel. One guy said, "woah they're Christian and they can do stuff like that? Awesome! " He also had a super cool conversation with the other coach who has had a rough life so it is another way of finding!

Well I gotta wrap up, but I hope You have a great week!

Drink a blue raspberry slurpee for me:)

MKH,

Ældste Jeppson

-- 

Ældste  Jeppson

Missionary Work MMA Style

https://youtu.be/kJoLk5VfchY 

Elder Jeppson teaching some Folkstyle moves to Danish MMA gym

MMA and wrestling

Elder Shuppy and me at our apartment

I got a super short haircut that I made shorter because T* made it an apostate haircut hahaha

Pictures up in Hirtshals

Ocean Sunsets

The Station

ALL CAPS

This is one of those weeks that I could write in all caps and be totally fine haha. Needless to say,  

This week was fantastic! Ahh man I'm way proud of it haha.

The Work:

 We had a great week of great lessons and 4 new investigators and basically two more except they had to drop for little reasons... but they have great potential in my eyes. Me and Elder Shuppy have been working at a goal of getting Frederikshavn into a tight level of organization and it is paying off. There have been a lot of past investigators who we have come into contact with again and had lessons with and got the okay to come back again:) We have done a lot of traveling out to Hjørring and Skagen, which are places with great potential! So as a whole, I think this week was a success!

This week has a ton of things I could say was a miracle but I think the main one was a girl named A*. She was a exchange student in Clovis, California for a year and she was hosted by an LDS family. She went to church every week and gained quite an understanding on the doctrine it seems. She loved her experience over there and expressed how she missed it. But before we found any of that out, we had to go through her dad... (who is actually a super awesome guy.)

 But apparently when she came back, her dad told her and the missionaries that when she was 18 she could decide. Apparently though, missionaries kept on following up on referals a little too well, so the dad sent a wayyy angry email. 

Well, it had been a year, and Elder Shuppy and I decided that hey... she is 18 now. So without understanding any of the gravity around the whole situation, we managed to somehow defuse what we found out after to be a very large time bomb, but for good reasons. So now we are friends again and get to meet this week:) She went to Buchanan High School (which I've been to a couple times) so it was way cool to talk to her about the realest state in the US (*unbiased statement** ;) )

Another cool thing, the guy Who is called Ib that i called last week from 2003... he called back! We get to meet with him on Thursday!! That was a Little thing that really built my testimony that everything  is on the Lord's radar and he has plans for when Things happen. Honestly, I was a little doubtful... I thought, "dang, he said he will call us back. that is what everyone says... " But I ate all my Words on that one and I'm happy I did. :)

Skagen:

We worked in Skagen twice this week. For those who don't know where that is, just find a map, and look at the tip top of Danmark. :) It is so cool! So there is the city of Skagen, and then the tip. We biked out to the tip of it for lunch hour and it was stellar:) The tip is where the Atlantic ocean and the Kattegat sea come in contact. So you can clearly see the different colors of the Water as the two bodies of Water come together. I would encourage you all to Google it :) Also, it was a very crucial place to defend in World war two, because they have some huge lighthouses that they extinguished so that the British couldn't come around the reefs with the guide of a light house. There are also big German bunkers everywhere so it was way cool:) I'll let the Pictures explain the rest.

Quality people:

I was thinking this week about missions and in particular the Denmark mission. I was impressed once Again with just how solid all the missionaries are. Just being with great companions, being with other missionaries and district meeting and zone meetings, makes me think every time how solid everyone is and how happy I am to be able to associate with just quality people. :)

Misc:

Yesterday I ate as much as 1 small wildebeast.... in an hour.

I taught Elder Shuppy how to wrestle and that was fun (to watch) haha 

Can't believe it is already February....

(Spiritual) food for thought:

"Except in the case of His only perfect, begotten son, imperfect people are all God has to Work with. That must be terribly frustrating to him but he deals with it. So should we."

-Elder Jeffery R. Holland

That was one quote i loved from one of my study sessions. I though about it a lot and how it pertains to me. I also thought that when we do gain ground and when we do have a sucess, its gotta be a proud moment for Heavenly Father. So my thoughts on that quote are that we should be doing our best to repent and overcome, and have those little successes. take those little steps. Stand firm on the ground we already have covered.

My last thought/ epiphany is that behind every sucess, lay 1000 feeble beginnings. Meaning, we will eventually get there. We will eventually accomplish or overcome or conquer. As long as we take Heart, and put our faith in the one who is better than us that asked the same question, "Father, why hast thou forsaken me."

I have developed and continue to develop a firm testimony about the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has been a great source of hope and has molded me in ways I never thought. To quote Elder Holland again, "it has changed me forever, and forever, and forever."

And that am I thankful for :)

 Have a great week!

MKH,

Ældste Jeppson

-- 

Ældste  Jeppson

This kind of pic you put an E in front of (Hopefully someone got that....)

Got a pic from Elder Amos with my people in The Fyn Crew

This Sign made my day haha (Danish schools have these signs)

Ocean Lyfe

A view of a bunker (or middle earth:) 

They probably didn't think their bunkers were as cool as I did!

Stellar Pictures at the best possible time :)

The place where the waves of the two seas collide

I tried to be like National Geographic haha

Picture number 20000(I filled my picture quota for this week in an hour :) )

Elder Shuppy: The German watchman