Serving in Skive

Everything is just a blur...I blinked twice and it was finally my turn to transfer out of Århus after a good run of 7 months serving there. Luckily, that is longer than most missionaries get in an area so I am pretty happy for the time I had. It was funny because I forgot how hard it is to change sometimes and it was especially harder this time because it really felt like home in Århus. I realized that I didn't actually own that apartment and that in reality my stuff only filled a closet and a desk. Missionaries are the closest thing to homeless people as it gets haha.

I will give a quick rundown on Skive. Skive is a sweet little place of about 20.000 people  smack in the middle of Jylland. It is pretty dang sweet:) There is a small branch here of about 15 active members and then us two missionaries. Our apartment is pretty great (and spacious) so I will be happy to post up here during the winter time. And we get a car! I am way stoked about that because last winter I did just about as much biking as possible as a missionary so I am glad to level up this year. No complaints:) the work has been going pretty strong as of late as well. There were 3 on baptismal date who potentially all still will be baptized so I am excited to settle down here and do work. My companion Elder Beck hails from Aberdeen Idaho and is a stud. He is a wrestler and a football player and loves everything outdoors. He is pretty chill and is beast at the guitar so i think we will get along just fine:) 

 I have had the chance to go on splits with him recently and he is just a great missionary. I am really stoked to be with him even though it will potentially only be one transfer we are together. But nevertheless 6 week is plenty of time to make dent:)

Highlights of last week:

Unfortunately I didn't really get my last chance to meet with a lot of the people we are working with. We had two days eaten up by meetings and stuff and all of the appointments we did had got moved until this week... so that was kind of a bummer. But the few we did have we with our boy Frank and L*.

Elder Paul V. Johnson of the quorum of the 70 came to visit the mission:) He is such an awesome man! On Wednesday we had a short leadership meeting where he talked about how to be the best leaders we can be which was way cool. Ill save my favorite bit from it til the spiritual thought but he is most definitely and inspired man. The funny part was that we rode for four hours both ways to go to that brief meeting but it was definitely worth it. 

Then the next day we had a zone conference where he and his wife gave some trainings alongside president and his wife. Straight fire:) Elder Beck and I ironically enough got called up to do a role play with him which was pretty cool. How many missionaries get to role play with a 70?  Pretty neat experience.

Ate lunch and had a legit burrito for the first time in Denmark at a low key burrito place. So good! Our buddy David took us out before i left:)

man... honestly i can't remember anything but i have a million pics that will make up for the lack of memory.... sorry :)

Spiritual thought:

"Dark Days are great days to spread sunshine" -Paul V. Johnson *drop mic*

Love from the DK,

-- 

Ældste  j

A throwback to the trio of Århus

Zone Training with Elder Johnson

City scenery

David and I

Elder Bennett and Frank going go an appointment on the bench :) 

Elder Bennett

Forest creature pics 

The sunset over my time here in Arhus... haha poetic

Brothah Mike and I

 My boy Marius and I:)

Asbjørn and I

Goodbyes- Lasse, Me, rasmus, Olive, Asbjørn

Goodbyes to the district 

Sister Acosta

Elder Preece

Elder Erickson

Sister Andrew

The apartment 

Role playing with Elder Johnson

Zone Training 

Approaching Lightspeed Towards Great Things

Well... this week was great:) It was pretty all over the place but that was a good thing. We had a lot of noteable experiences and adventures so... I'll shoot them off in backwards old Germanic alphabetical order:

Monday and tuesday:

We had the chance to be on splits up there with Elders Halversen and Jakob Jensen. ​

​That was way fun! We did a ton of finding and had a lot of time to just work. We also played a little. The pics of the cannons and stuff are from WWII when the Germans invaded Denmark so they are actually German guns. Fun knocking dialogue for you all:

I knock. The myster man behind the door says "hello?".

Me: hello?

Mystery man: who is it?

Me:us

*silence*

*he knocks on the door this time*

Me: who is it? *then break down laughing*

Mystery guy: walks away from the door.

hahaha one of the funniest doors I've knocked. Elder Halversen and I were in a pretty humorus mood after that so every door soomething funny seemed to occur. Wayyy fun knocking sesh.

Wednesday: 

We were on splits again with Elders Peel and Nielsen on Wednesday. I got to be with Elder Peel who is pretty awesome. He is a pretty fresh young gun from Paradise Utah and he is a hard worker. We did a good bit of finding and had a lot of success with that! We knocked two doors in a row and were let in and we gave them both Books of Mormon. Granted, one of the people that let us in might not have been all there but it was good just the same! He is named Keld and he just yelled in English "that is good" or "that is bad" depending on what we said. It was a pretty funny lesson to teach because we would say something like "Jesus loves us and we believe...." and he would just yell way loud haha. He totally understood us on everything we said but I feel like he is pretty forgetful. I don't know but just another fun snippet out of our finding efforts.

Thursday:

Was over before it started.... we had district meeting and then an appointment with L* which went pretty well except we figured out that right now is really the time in her life to make the important changes as far as we can tell. She is a wayy awesome girl but she isn't totally searching. No worries though... it takes a couple touches to sink in:)

Friday and Saturday:

We went on splits again with the Elder Murphy and Elder McDougall in Copenhagen. WE basically just went hard finding on the streets in the rain. I though it was actually pretty enjoyable and it went pretty well. 

Alright and hold it down: So we went to an all you can eat running sushi bar and here are is the approximate damage 4 Americans were able to cause:

4000 kroner worth of sushi which is equivalent to 585  or so american dollars approximately 15 rolls each (they came on small plates with two pieces to a plate so its a rough estimate based off of the menu)

150 plates between the four of us

37 ish plates each.

That was most definitely the second best sushi experience of my life, only topped by eating PK sushi with Dad until we just about died. But same principle both times haha.

I will tell you though, contacted for that last hour with a brick of fish and rice in the stomach is pretty hard. This scripture helped though :

"And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders (stomachs), that even you cannot feel them upon your backs (stomachs), even while you are in bondage... ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." (mosiah 24:14)

I won't count that one in as the spiritual thought though haha....

On Saturday we finished out splits and then took the wrong train on a fun 2 hour detour to north Sjaelland... so it took extra long to get home and by the time we had gotten home it had been seven and a half hours... rough haha

Sunday:

We were able to meet with Y* today and we had a pretty cool lesson on the restoration of the gospel. I loved being able to teach with Elder Bennett such a powerful lesson and I am greatful for his ability to teach very well because we were really able to help her understand the importance and pertinence of the message we bring. In the end we committed her to praying and reading every day to find out for herself if it is ture so we are super stoked:) just a great day!

Now comes the spiritual thought

"We do not have to cry unto him with many words. We do not have to weary him with long prayers. What we do need, and what we should do as Latter-day Saints, for our own good, is to go before Him often, to witness unto Him that we remember Him and that we are willing to take upon us His name, keep His commandments, work righteousness; and that we desire his Spirit to help us...What do you pray for? You pray that God may recognize you, that he may hear your prayers, and that he may bless you with his Spirit" Joseph F. Smith

This is something that really impressed me in one of my studies and I found it in the talk "priesthood and person prayer" by Henry b. Eyring. I've really come to appreciate how important it is to build our relationship with our Heavenly Father throughout my mission and I have learned incredible amounts from prayer. It certainly is one of the greatest truths of the gospel that we need not only believe the words that come from around us but rather from above. I say that Not to say that we cannot be helped by those we love but to point back to our best source, Our father in Heaven. I would challenge everyone to ponder on the role of prayer in their life and reflect on their relationship with our Heavenly Father because i know the strength that comes from humbly kneeling before the Lord and directing our hearts heavenward.

I know what I believe and I believe what I know, that Heavenly Father is here for all of us. Just reach out.

Well have a great week people:)

Ældste Jeppson

ps.. transfers are next week so I might email from another different Danish computer next time.

coming soon to theaters.

-- 

​​

Ældste  j

Bangsbo

My son and I 

Wehcome hahahah

The crew for Blitz Split

​Blitz splits dinner time... snobrød and hot dogs:)

Bennett's Berrys on Tour

When I was back in Odense and Elder Bennett was in Svendborg, we planned a fake music group called Bennetts Berrys so that we could say they sponsored me and Elder Erickson's album "Odense Underground Hymn revival." Its fun the group is almost fully back together (rip Elder Hartmann...)

This we was great! I really am just feeling it right now:) There is nothing more satisfying than fufilling something greater than yourself and at the same time, nothing more fun. I think if i had to go back in time 3 years to pitch a mission solely off of the expereince,this week would have been a great week to sell:)

Progress:

The work here in Århus is going off right now. We have a ton of really awesome individuals who all have various degrees of desire to know the truth.

We found 4 new freinds who all want to hear the good word:)

First off is Juan #2. hehe He hails from Panama and is such an baller! He was way good buds with the missionaries back in the dayand they played a lot of football americano and basketball. He is about 40ish and is absolutely full of good vibes. WE were on splits with the Ålborg elders so i wasn't at the appointment,  but he had us over for dinner and according to the mouth of Elder Bennett he is mega believing! He got wayyyy hyped on the Book of Mormon and asked for one in espanol so we are super stoked on Juan number juan and number two ( Haha)

The we found Frank. Frank is a way cool brotha from Nigeria and has live in Copenhagen for sometime and moved to Århus 9 days ago. It was really neat because we prayed forto go out and find someone who is looking to come to church and we found Frank about 20 steps down the path. Frank is way believing and loves to talk about things that we build his faith. We met with him Friday and Saturday to talk but we kinda rocked his world with the plan of salvation. Meaning, we were dicussing Gods plan for us and we got to a certain point in the lesson were he said" I am going to need some time to think about that-" So we sat in silence for 4 minutes and apparently that wasn't enough because he reallllly needed time I guess. So we invited him to study and pray about it and he said he might need a month haha. So Frank only goes at Frank speed.

Elder Bennett and Elder Whitaker found another guy named J* on splits. He is way awesome because he was stoked that there actually is a church that claims to have been restored after the period of apostasy. He is very well read on religion and  is very certain we as people were in deep need for a restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we are really looking forward to that lesson:)

Cool faith promoting story:

The fourth investigator we found is named J*. Before we knocked on his door, we had prayed to know where to go so that we find those that are willing to set the message of the restoration to the test. Well, if you really pay attetion to what you say in prayers, God is going to do it if we ask in faith and if it is in accordance with his plan. So we came to the first door and gave it a knock. J* opened, we introduced ourselves, and then he proceeded to let us right in. What resulted from knocking that door was a very intrigued J* and a powerful lesson about the restoration.I dont know if ive seen anyone so focused listening when telling of personal experiences and testimony. He was very intrigued when Elder Bennett and I shared our own personal stories about the spirit of God and how listening to it changed us. Basically, he is at a point where he wants something he can go all in with his faith on. Such a cool guy! And then to top off the appointment, he remembered an old neighbor he had who had taken the lessons in Austrailia and who wanted the missionaries to come and teach him again. Incredible:)

C* is progressing surely and steadily. She is hovering about right above frank speed but she really has sincere desire to read the Book of Mormon:)

Highlights from the week:

Monday:

We had the Ålborg elders come down for pday before splits so that we could have a cill pday. We got invited by out Christian friends from the youth church in Århus to go play soccer fifa street edition. There are small soccer courts with walls and stuff around Denmarks in parks and schools and stuff. We played 6 americans vs 5 danes and we only lost by 2:) It was raining pretty good so it made it all the more classic danish fun :D

Tuesday: 

I had the chance to be on splits with elder Olsen from Sandy Utah. He is a way cool guy and we had a way great time together on splits! We had the opportunity to break into an apartment complex together. that sounds more intense than it was because the elevator is usually pin coded but a man walked out at the perfect time so we took a gamble and walked in. I know why they keep it locked... thats where all of the hardcore atheists were hiding haha. Man that was kind of a bummer knock sesh as far at the talking to people went. But i had a great time getting to know Elder Olsen and having fun with him:)

Wednesday:

Started touring the districts to give trainings to the 3 districts in the zone. We started with our own district and had a really good meeting and then found our boy Frank. Probably the biggest point of Wednesday was that the Bible study we attend at the new covenant church  gave us, the 6 missionaries who come, to give a Mormon  night so to speak. We passed out 30 Book of Mormons to the congregation of mostly African descent and then taught a 15 minute run down on the first lesson and then turned it over for questions. I must say that the spirit of Erastus Snow lives on here in denmark Because that is the second time ive preached to over 30 people on my mission haha so great!

Thursday:

Went up to Ålborg to give the district meeting to that district. We talked about the Book of Mormon and why it is such and important tool:) Always a great topic.

We also taught Connie and had a pretty good lesson. She gave us some snacks as well and fun fact about Denmark, meat and cheese never go together. that also counts for salmon and cheese on a cracker. They will take it personally if you do it so do it behind closed doors;) hahaha

Friday: We went out to Skive to give district meeting to the midtjylland district and then we stayed the rest of the day to blitz the area. That baically means you take a bunch a missionarys and get them stoked on work and then turn them loose to go buck wild on one city:) We found 4 investigators total for Skive which is really good! Elder Beck and i were on splits and had a really cool expereince. I had been fasting to find someone in Skive during blitz splits. Well, we found someone:) It was really neat how the Lord blessed us because i could tell Elder Beck was a bit strained from what had happened recently in there area and that they hadnt really had a lot working out since it happened so it was really cool to get let in the door and teach a way cool young guy who was humble enough to listen to the words of two 19-20 yr old guys. :)

Saturday:

Taught the one and only Frank again:)

Sunday:

Successfully improved an arrangement of "Abide with me tis evening tide" for sacrament meeting to accompany sister Andrew:) So that was great. Then we went and did an improved finding block and found our boy Jonas (see above again). incredible:)

Today we are in Frederikshavn on Splits to boost the area up here:) It is good to be back. It has not changed one bit and it has really made me realize how fast time actually goes when you dial in, That was 9 months ago that i arrived... just wild

Spiritual thought:

In a talk given by the temple presidents wife at stake conference, she talked about how we all have five minutes to make a difference somewhere. This week I have been thinking about how i can render more charitable service to others and that i will always be able to find five minutes to do so. Here is how i figured to that conclusion... 

If the thing we call time is relative, ESPECIALLY to God, then we will have time. God is surely more concerned about the charitable service we render in his name than how fast we arrive to school or work or whatever. It will surely come back to bless us and then some. I had this impression during third hour of church (i really WAS trying to listen...) and it got me thinking a lot. I invite you to think about what you can do with five minutes.

Peace Love and chik-fil-a,
-- 

Ældste  j