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I am running out of title ideas...

This last week was pretty quality! We were just jammed with appointments and the likes so we will how much i get out before i get to the spiritual thought :)

Progress:

This week we were all over the place but we did some quality stuff! We are still in the defining and refining stages with all the new stuff rolling in but it is looking like we will have some good stuff stick. We have been working to get appointments with some of the new people we found last week and then refresh the investigator pool. Its fun being at this stage because ive done it so many times that im fully confident the Lord will tie up all the loose ends which are many right now. So we have just been enjoying the ride. Elder Thurman has a metaphorical 8 foot beard by now so ill be seeing him off to the airport in 4 weeks so we have been savoring every bit! Here are two quick snippets of little miracles:

So we went out to a town called Udby to drop by one of the new friends we made last week. She ended up not being home so we discussed whether we should keep finding in that area since we were already out there or if we should go somewhere else. I had a thought that we needed to go stop by another lady and then just knock out there instead. It seemed rather impractical since it was a thirty minute drive back to the city but we followed the prompting and took a drive back into the city. We stopped by one of our friends and she was glad to see us but said she could meet in two weeks because she is moving work or something like that. So that was nice to get contact with her. Then we went and knocked for the 30 minutes we had and as the fates of cool missionary stories directed, we found another friends J* on the very last door we knocked :D She said she is very seeking and open to all truth so we gave her a Book of Mormon and said that this would be worth checking out if she is into truth and stuff. I hope that after i die i can get the job where i direct all the cool things that happen that we call luck or coincidence. "Director of Coincidence"... good title hahaha.

The second little miracle that happened was that we received a referral from a man who is investigating the church in another area of greater Copenhagen. We were told that he is in a wheelchair, and a huge pessimist on life, especially religion. The man who gave us the referral said his friend said he may could use some help around the house, because his care takers are lagging. So we took a nice drive out to a cute little Danish town that nobody has heard of and visited this guy. So you know as missionaries how we have ministerial certificates? Well its no big deal if you didnt because nobody asks to see official recognition of who we are haha. I bring it up because ive always wanted to flash that thing like the FBI gets to all the time and for the first time of my whole time here in Denmark as a missionary, this guy asked :) So check that off my missionary wish list hahaha. Anyhow, it was super neat to talk with him because he is a very wise older gentleman and very humble. I think the "pessimistic" man we were supposed to expect was a front because it takes a humble person to truly recognize the light of Christ, especially paired with a calling as a missionary.

So here is the neat part:

The subject skipped around from various subjects until we arrived at how we help with family history.. He basically told us that it was a clever approach to get in doors but after joking with him we offered to help. He can definitely sense that there is a bigger picture to why family history work is an important part of what we do but he settled on "no strings attached" haha. After that point the conversation changed again and we discussed things that normal young men dont usually discuss due to lack of depth haha. Im grateful my mission has really cultivated me; plus, Elder Thurman happened to have a lot of common interests so im glad the Lord used his personality/interests.

Okay sorry for getting off track.... this is the neat part:)

He asked our age and we told him: 21 and 19. Well that was the kicker. He then came with "You two are the nicest young men I've ever met, and I can learn much from you." Well i, for one, would love to inhale some of the wisdom this guy has so we told him that we would love to come and talk with him! You could feel he was perceiving the Light of Christ! He then related an experience he had when he was younger, when two Mormon missionaries came to his door and he was really hungover so he told them to hit the road, but told them they could come back. those elders never came back but the Lord was definitely determined to help this guy because here were two young Californians who were discussing girls 10 minutes prior to knocking on the door hahaha (hey for the record... Elder Thurman has to go home to do different kinds of "finding" ;) )

All in all though, it was once again a privilege to be a tool in the Lords hands to help a man with great potential:)

Other mentionable things:

We went to the gospel choir practice again on Tuesday. Its a legit deal because they expect us to perform on palm Sunday :) the coolest part of Tuesday was alternating solo verses of "Let it Be" by the Beatles with Elder Thurman in an old Danish Church on a hillside backed up by 30 danish women and one american guy in his 60's... never could i have imagined doing something like that haha so spontaneous!! That was yet another surreal moment of being a missionary because you'll do anything just to meet people and talk to them about God's plan for them!! It is such a blast:) I think they are having us sing it because it says "Mother Mary" a couple times in the song haha so i think thats why it qualifies to be sung. Way memorable though.

We went on splits with Elder Reed and Elder Dibble on Friday. The apartment was basically on fire because the heaters were cranked up so we spent alot more time laying there sweating and talking then sleeping that night haha. It finally cooled down after we opened the only openable thing to the outside (the door to the balcony). The next day we did some great finding and had an eating appointment with a recent convert and his Spanish speaking Albanian wife. She could only speak Spanish really so i successfully translated for the other missionaries. Her husband uses google translate to communicate so its an interesting dynamic...what can you do its love. He then showed us his 1997 Lotus Elise.... such a nice car!!

We had zone training and i met my "grandson" :) Elder Jensen who i trained is now training so i officially feel like an old missionary. I am trying to stay young but I am at that point where every missionary i see says "Hey woah... you are so dead! Like you go home so soon!"... So yea if you're wondering I am perfectly aware of how fast time is going (my mom is stoked though haha) As Danish people say, "Sådan er det bare" (thats just how it is)

Spiritual thought:

We had a way great gospel discussion yesterday with a man in the ward who I would say is a gospel scholar. Here is a knowledge bomb he dropped that i really appreciated:

The light of Christ is like a candle at the end of a dark hallway. When at the end the opposite end of the hall, how much of ourselves can we see? Almost nothing. However, if we begin to step towards the light, we start to recognize our true appearance, both outward and inward. Our strengths,our talents and our "good side" become apparent; however, more prominent to us become our weaknesses and imperfections. In this light, many will turn back and continue in the false security of darkness at the opposite end of the hall, away from the light that so glaringly illuminated their human weakness and imperfection. This is pride: to ignore or refuse to acknowledge our human frailty and our need for a dependence upon the redeeming power of the Savior. Those who choose such a path are willingly living in the shadow of what they could be if only humility was involved.

On the other hand, those who continue to move humbly forward towards the light will soon come to bathe in the light by which Christ sees us. Thus, the Lord " give[s] unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me." If we choose to do so, we will successfully press forward in the light of our Eternal potential.

Hopefully i remembered it all :) That was a strikingly simple example for me and i hope it helps you as you ponder how you can continue to Become.

Spring comes tomorrow!! Rejoice :)

KH,

Ældste j