Life is Good (Slurpee Emoji)

Coming to you live from Roskilde... your reporter today is going to a viking museum so this one is going to be short and sweet:

Progress:

Well the work has been going pretty well here in our efforts to organize everything in our path. At this point we have gotten up to date and had tabs on most everyone that has been interested in the church for the past couple years so everyone has more or less gotten a chance to meet again. Its fun because you have to assume the best with everyone potential new friend, which means miracles! So you'll go to the ends of the earth to get in contact with them. For example, we drove all over the northern part of our area to do stop-bys that no one has done in a while. We ended up in what happened to be a psychiatric institution/asylum community to do a legitimate stop-by but they ended up not being home. We thought the place had an weird feeling but Elder Ziegler wanted a pic or two in front of an old castle type building so we took pics there before realizing where we were. That is the last place i want to be at night haha i knew i had a bad feeling about that place. Anyways, the stop-by after that was in the middle of nowhere on a farm. As we got out, two men drove up and asked who we were. We told them and then asked the name of the man we were looking for and they had no clue whatsoever... and just as the cherry on top weirdness for the day they told us that was also a institution ran by the local government. Not sure how the missionaries found all these people but at least we sorted some things out.

With our boy J* we were going to scan all of his family pictures dating back to the late 1800's but his internet was cut. So we had a hyggeligt talk in his small apartment in the middle of the countryside while an irish band called the Dubliners played in the background. Mental snapshot for you all haha.

Still in the works with a lot of the people we have called and they'll "call us back" *cough* classic so we are stoked to go out and just go hard knocking on some doors for the remainder of our stay here in this dejligt land :)

Other things:

We did a decent amount of service this week moving about a mile of electric fencing for some pastures and helping lay a driveway so that was great to get out in the beautiful weather and do something physical.

We went to a baptism for a girl that Elder Ziegler taught in his last area so that was awesome! Of course it isnt a baptism without the font not working correctly so we spent some time filling it up with buckets of water that we taped from other faucets around the church building. That wasn't even a big deal though the girl getting baptized just took it in stride like a champ.

We got put in time out this week by an angry train conductor heh heh. We happened to be on the wrong train line and by the time we realized that the train had switched to a different track, the time was pretty thin. So normally to access other tracks you have to go down some stairs and under and then back up to your track of choice. Well, as i gathered my stuff i realized Elder Ziegler had left my side already so when i turned and saw him halfway across the tracks, you could imagine i reacted fast. Yes... i realized it wasn't smart to follow but i had a half second moral debate whether it was better for me to leave him to go down alone for this one or not. I reasoned that we as companions must stay together at all times, plus the adventurous part of me was game for crossing so i did. Well, by the time i caught the train conductor saw the whole thing and was already chewing Elder Ziegler so you bet he was mad when he saw another kid without a brain enter the scene. Luckily, we avoided a LOT of problems by being put in a thirty minute timeout (wait for the next train) and think about our actions because we would have missed that one anyways had we gone the right way.

Well that was a humbling blow haha i was like dannnng i feel like I am 4 again. I think i might need two more years out here.....

Lesson learned: Yet again...The fastest way do to something is to do it right.

Spiritual thought:

I've recently thought alot about polishing. If you catch my drift here, I am talking about the things that we sometimes put unnecessary emphasis on. We polish our cars, our teeth, the floors of our home, our resume, our reputation, and so on. In that sense of the word the dictionary defines Polish as : "to make smooth and glossy usually by friction."

The next definition though is "to bring to a highly developed, finished, or refined state" and i've often wondered if ive been equally or at least more diligent in polishing my testimony. I am not saying its a bad thing to polish your teeth- in fact I would highly recommend it- but do the things of less import detract from our focus of bringing our testimonies to a highly developed, finished or refined state?

Alma would tell you "For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors." (alma 34:32)

his is coming from the man who was told by an angel that his testimony was tarnished and that if he would not turn away from the path he was on he would perish. Well, He listened and spent the rest of his life polishing out every speck of weakness and imperfection with a polish called Grace. He was developed and refined from "the vilest of sinners" to true disciple of Christ. That is what the gospel of Jesus Christ is all about!!!

So would invite you to consider these questions:

When was the last time you polished your testimony?

Can you see the yourself for who you truly are in the the reflection of it?

A good time to do so may be while brushing your teeth ;)

I'm out. May the best of the suns rays find you (--probably a chinese proverb)

Ældste j