Week 6 in G# Major

Well my fate is sealed! Elder Thurman is gonezo and my new companion is..... Elder Ziegler! Haha crazy stuff. So we will be staying in Holbæk for a 6 week sprint to the finish before signing off and following the sun in the sky back west (Well actually Elder  Ziegler is from Bern, Switzerland soooo ill be solo on that journey but you get the point) It pretty much isnt even real and ive decided that until im actually in the airport in the act of going home, im here forever :D Gotta stay in denial as long as possible right? 

Well we woke up at 5 and we are in the office right now and i have a couple minutes to shoot off some emails before the current of today takes me until i come to a spot where i can get control of the schedule haha. Transfer days are nuts because you have to do a lot of waiting and switching around so im not sure what is going to happen but at some point ill get my comp and we will drive on back to Holbæk. 

So a quick recap of the week and I am off:

We met with J and had a good last visit with him for Elder Thurman. It was pretty neat because we both felt at the same time to start talking about the Book of Mormon and how we had a copy we wanted to give him. He was very intrigued by it and said he would love to read it. The thing about his situation is that pretty much all he does/can do is read or watch good old western movies. He is really in to family history and history in general, war and military strategy, and philosophy and religion so im sure he'll find something in the Book of Mormon to relate to ;) Way sweet though! We are the only friends he has so it is a privilege to come and visit him and learn about his life and stuff. At this point he has really inspired me to live life without my brakes on and make it worth writing about so ive benefited a ton from our "chats" haha

This week was easter week so that basically means that everyone and everything is off schedule haha. Denmark is especially closed down in the past couple days so there has been a lot of no contact with people/ people dont want to meet at all until next week. Here is kind of what happened:

Monday: Essentials pday so that we could have time during the week to take our pday time (ill get to that)

Tuesday: Travel for 5 hour by bus and train because the main line was shut down for this week because of track construction. That made getting down to splits a loooonnng ride haha

Wednesday: Had a way good splits down in Nykøbing Falster! We had a great 3 hour block of door knocking and we also went to the famous Møns Klint for a couple hours. Møns Klint translates to "The Cliffs of Møn" and the coolest part is that they are made of chalk! So we had a fun time hiking around and in Elder Beck and I's case, straight up (more or less) Dont worry i dont think you could even rate it a class three climb except for one part ;) But the buddy system wins all so we had a great time and took tons of pic

Thursday: Traveled for 5 more hours and then had district meeting and a district activity where we grilled burgers and played soccer and stuff so it was pretty chill. Ill be honest i prefer to take my pday all at once haha but this week was pretty unique.

Friday: The best part of Friday is that we had a way spiritual visit with these hip young members in the ward. Martin is from Denmark and served a mission in Finland where he met and then went back for his wife, Sini. They're way legit! But they had us over before Elder Thurman left and gave us some food and a ton of pastry! Way great

Saturday: I turned a ripe old age of 20 :D I like 20 wayy better than 19 but id be fine to stop aging here heh heh. Anyway, today we were supposed to have sport but because everyone was in Hygge mode no one showed up. The sister then told us they need us to come to the church before our eating appointment because they had an investigator who is a man and they needed a third party to at least be in the church so they could teach him. Well it ended up that that was all a sham and they pulled the wool over my eyes because it was a set up to give me cake and say happy birthday haha way sweet! So dont worry i got cake on my birthday after all. 

​After that though we went to an eating appointment but it turned out that they had totally spaced on it and were on their way to a Thai restaurant... so they just took us along. Ill be honest i dont know if i could have had a birthday dinner than some way spicy panang curry and then a sweet little Thai lady gave me some cool chip things because it was my birthday. Then we went back to their house for some dessert and had a way great spiritual thought. We went in a circle and everyone had a minute to talk about why they are grateful for Jesus Christ and the spirit was just strong! So thumbs up on saturday.

Sunday: Just a good old day of church followed by Easter dinner with some members:) 

Spiritual Thought:

And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins. (2 Nephi 25:26)

​Boom. Easter. I invite you all in the wake of a great Easter season to follow Nephi's example and do as stated above. 

Happy Easter! God Påske!

-- 

Ældste  j

Happy 20th Birthday 

Møns Klint!!

Pastries

Last Goodbyes- Elder Thurman and Elder Beck 

​Goodbye pics ft Martin and Sini

Only Six Titles Left

Don't worry I am not counting down or anything... only Returned missionaries will understand that sometimes your brain runs away from home on pdays... ​Every time i sit down to email i solidify what happened as a write the title and that might just be the hardest thing i face today haha. Just a little sneak peak inside the mind of Elder Jeppson...

Progress:

Story time. So we went to go help our friend J* with family history this last Thursday. He has a tonnnn of family records, pictures, and other family memorabilia in a huge dresser drawer but the problem is that since he is in a wheelchair he cannot easily access it. So we got to go through a bunch of "cool old stuff" way back to the late 1800's and talk a walk through his family's history. Way sweet:) I took a picture of just a bit of the cool old stuff and its way cool... and old heh heh. (Should i only use those two adjectives for the rest of the email?) Anyways, we set up a family search account( which was a journey of its own) and then started to plug stuff in. Well he had a hard time remembering his Grandfathers birthday and other information so we we rifling through all of his stuff to see if there was any useful info. If you have never used the family search database, you might not know that it is the worlds largest by a long shot. So if you plug in your grandfather and he has already been indexed into the database, it will automatically link all of the additional info; namely, more family :) So this was pretty huge if we found something because his family has been very Danish going all the way back to kings and the likes so if we found the right info we would be able to hit a jackpot. 

Well this is the part where it got pretty neat because there was a large box with tape all over it. It looked like it hadn't been opened since he last moved so i took my knife and popped it open and starting going through a bunch of new photos and papers. I came to a small stack wrapped in a newspaper that had the names of two individuals on it  so i unfolded it and found a registration card. I wasn't sure at that moment if that was who we were looking for but I asked what it was and he said that it was required during World War I that everyone carry a certain identification card on them at all times. This card looked important but i kept going through more of the stuff but i had a nagging feeling that i should probably look a little harder at the card. Well, "just to be safe" i thought, i went through the rest of the box but when i got to the end of the line i felt again that i should open up the file wrapped in newspaper and look at the card. I asked who the man was on the card and he said "oh... well that is my grandfather!" So we were able to plug it in and BAM we found a line going back to the 1600's through his grandfather. Way sweet!! He was able to see that it really is legit stuff we are helping him with and that we aren't just two monkeys in suits pushing buttons. That was probably one of the victories of the week! :)

Another highlight is that we did what we call "suicide calls" which now that I am thinking about should probably have a new/different name haha. But that basically means that you just call everyone in the phone and make a list of what happens and delete numbers and that sort of thing. Our phone is ancient and had people in it from all the way back to 2006 so it was about time haha. It was a neat and creative way to find because Elder Thurman is one of those people with the gift of talking in a way people listen and he is really good with people, so we channeled his talent into that haha. My goal is to stay as busy as possible until the day i go home and we had some "slower days" so it was the perfect time to do so. The results... there are now 19 people who we either have an appointment in  the works or who would like us to call back!! So that should funnel out to a couple solid new friends to teach:)

Well I am stoked to share the part two of last weeks spiritual thought so here it comes:

Once again shoutout to Scott because this put together some puzzle pieces in my head that I have been trying to put together all week :) :

We discussed the importance of building inner strengths and positive emotions.  Research has shown that positive emotions can help heal psychological wounds, improve resilience, well-being, and life satisfaction.  They encourage the pursuit of opportunities, and promote success.  They also strengthen your immune system, protect your heart, and foster a healthier and longer life.  

On average about 1/3 of a person's strengths are built into his or her genetically based temperament, talents, mood and personality.  The other 2/3's are developed over time.  YOU GET THEM BY GROWING THEM.   This is wonderful news, since it means that we can develop the happiness and other inner strengths that foster fulfillment, love, effectiveness, wisdom, and inner peace.   No one can just say, "I was born this way and it is in my genes to be depressed or anxious."  That is only 1/3 of the equation.  The other 2/3 we can change and develop!!.   

The brain takes its shape from what the mind rests upon.  If you keep resting your mind on self-criticism, worries, grumbling about others, hurts, and stress, then your brain will be shaped into greater vulnerability to anxiety and depressed mood, more reactivity, and inclinations towards anger, sadness and guilt.  However, if you rest your mind on good events and conditions, pleasant feelings, and your good intentions and qualities, then over time your brain will take a different shape, one with strength and resilience hardwired into it, as well as a realistically optimistic outlook, a positive mood, and a sense of worth.  In effect, what you pay attention to - what you rest your mind on - is the primary shaper of your brain.     ( Info taken from Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson Ph.D)

The gospel really teaches us all the necessary tools we need to shape our brain to find joy and happiness.

I would add my testimony that if you are living the gospel to the best of your abilities, despite all weakness, shortcomings, trials and tribulation you will come back to live in the Kingdom of our Heavenly Father. That is a promise. You are good enough! You will make it! Don't leave what you know because for a moment you are unsure, you fear, or you doubt. Just because something seems unreasonable does not make it unreasonable. We must remember that "My thoughts are‍ not your‍ thoughts, neither are‍ your ways‍ my ways, saith the Lord. For as‍ the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher‍ than your ways, and my thoughts‍ than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55 8-9 ). Someday we will come to fully understand the wonderful plan of happiness and how great will be that day. Just do your best to become what you want to be by being what you want to become everyday. It is God's intention that obtain our divine potential and somehow i don't think He aims to miss his goal :) 

Thanks Scott! To all you other lovely people, have a great week! And shoutout to my Mom for yet another year on this earth :))

Gotta jet,
-- 

Ældste  j

There is beauty all around

Old photos

#GenConf

Hope your minds have recovered from the mind bombs dropped at General Conference 2017. Isn't it a blessing to hear from inspired men and women twice a year? (if you're shaking your head no, I would recommend you watch again heh heh)

I think this week we drove into a wormhole because i have no idea how another week slipped by. I think God turned on incognito mode because i feel like last week only lasted 3 days worth of time haha. This is all i remember:

Progress:

We visited our boy J* and he is doing well. We learned that we are the only people that really care to visit him which is sad because he knows more than most people ive met out here i feel like and you could learn just soooo much from him! He said that he really loves our company and i think his heart is really open to us because during the time we were there with him last he had 4 home help people come and he went as viking rage mode as a man in a wheelchair can on them... I saw why the person who referred him said he was pessimistic but then again he has a lot more reason than most to not be too happy about his life so i dont blame him. We got to the point where we were going to jump into a lesson but that was when the home help showed up and that put him in a less than pleasant mood, though it wasn't aimed at us.  Anyhow, we got closer to meeting the child of God in him and definitely saw parts of it. It is so neat to see how the Lord slowly softens and changes our hearts, even when we dont realized it. By letting us come back and talk with J*, he is letting the light of Christ into his life and it is a privilege to be one of the ones to help him come closer to God. It another testimony that we are in the place we are meant to be because im fairly certain that the Thurman Jeppson combo was one of the only combos to open him up and im glad the Lord is mindful of us and others and guides our paths accordingly. 

We still have a bunch of new investigators in the air right now but we have some appointments for this week which im pretty excited for because with all the meetings and conferences last week we didn't have very much time free to just go hard. This week is promising though:)

Other stuff:

We watched general conference at a members house and then they had a surprise Easter egg hunt for us because they had promised Elder Thurman one like a year ago when he last served in this ward. So i still haven't missed out on an Easter egg hunt:)

The next day we gathered at the church building in Copenhagen that was showing General Conference with most of the missionaries in the Copenhagen area. It was way sweet because like 3 of my previous comps were there and a ton of people from past districts and stuff. Im at the point where ive gotten to know everyone just about throughout my mission because our mission isnt crazy big but i really enjoy that aspect of a smaller mission. Just a bunch of aces running around Denmark preaching the gospel :)

Spiritual thought:

Here is some wisdom passed through one of my previous comps who felt like sharing something his father shared with him. Its one of those perspectives to look through to give you more insight how truth is in everything and everywhere. It drove home for me even more the words of Alma when he said "All things denote there is a God; yea even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator" (Alma 30:44)

So here is the lesson: 

 So many people need to realize that there is a lot THEY can do to find happiness in their lives. The brain is an amazing organ. It is the organ that learns and is designed to be changed by your experiences. Day after day, your mind is building your brain. (This is called neuroplasticity)This is from the book "Hardwiring Happiness": "If you want to feel less stressed, anxious, frustrated, irritable, depressed, disappointed, lonely, guilty, hurt, or inadequate, have more inner strengths will help you. Inner strengths are fundamental to a happy, productive, and loving life."

Inner strengths are positive emotions but are really the fundamentals of the gospel: faith, hope, charity, honesty, gratitude, patience, etc.  Gordon B. Hinkley says: 1) Be grateful. 2) be smart  3) Be clean 4) Be true 5) Be humble. 6) Be prayerful... I could wish for you nothing better than that your lives be fruitful, that your service be dedicated and freely given, that you contribute to the knowledge and the well-being of the world in which you live, and that you do it humbly and faithfully before your God. He loves you" 

I'd invite you to find somethings in life that are currently burdening you and think about what will give you inner strength. Jesus Christ is there to help you bear the load you are currently carrying and is capable of providing that strength if you let him. For he said in Matthew 11 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Think about it:)

Shoutout to Scott for the Spiritual thought! 

Merry April,

-- 

Ældste  j

The Roskilde DomKirke

Last Weeks pics: Elder Beck and I on splits

Wrestling

Service on a Farm

General Conference, watching the Saturday Morning on Saturday night at 6. Sister Acosta, Sister Jones, Elder Thurman 

Me and Elder Thurman

After the temple, it was raining so we took a pic in the stairwell 

The My Plan meeting with my group featuring Sisters Hansen and Bevan who are going home with us.  Just about the best bunch of 6 to ever come through Denmark :) 

Like sand through the Hourglass so are the days of our Lives

I only know like one person who would get that song reference haha.

Well another wonderful week in Denmark has come to pass. A sick wave caught my companion for two of the days but thanks to large amounts of EmergenC packets in our apartment I successfully fought this years sickness. It got Elder Erickson and I for three days in Odense last year but I came out on top. Fun fact: If you make something delicious like cookies or muffins just because you have time to spare, just remember that you'll probably eat them all... not that I did that or anything.. ;)

Progress:

Well we werent really in our area too much due to splits in Nykøbing Falster with my past companions Elder Beck and Elder Shuppy and also due to sickness. However, I have some neat experiences:

We stopped by J* this last week (the older man in a wheelchair) and my testimony of baked goods increased. I think i understand why the Romans believe in ambrosia because cookies soften hearts! (and waistlines... but just don't think too much about that). Anyhow, we got him all set up for next time so that we can come and help him set up an account on family search and go hard finding his family:) He already knows a bunch about his ancestors so it shouldn't be to crazy difficult to help him. He once again blew our minds with his vast knowledge of war history and I'll bet i would have made my Grandpas proud of how much I could keep up with him. It made me want to study the great wars more ( and no I am not calling my Grandpas old... it is just a grandpa thing to know everything :D)

Wanna here a "coincidence"? Well the very first day of my whole mission I woke up to Elder Pitcher doing pushups to the Lower Lights. We did studies as missionaries do in the mornings, and then my very first thing I did on my first full day was do service for a cool couple named Lasse and Pernille. I must have talked with time like 15 minutes tops and helped them move for 3 hours tops and then they drove away. You can imagine in my new missionary brain that i thought i would never see them again...  Well 7 blue moons later I ate dinner with them:) Elder Thurman was tight with them when he server in the area a year ago and so we visited them and had a great time. They are way legit and know more about missionaries and missionary work than new missionaries do. They aren't members but they had me fooled my first day haha. And to top it all off, they're moving again, and I will help them move my last week of my mission.

Just like a movie heh heh. Cool stuff.

Other Stuff:

Elder Beck and I had a proper wrestling match in the apartment down in Nykøbing Falster. It is actually a huge apartment so we had plenty of space. We laid down a mattress, but the problem was that the carpet surrounding it was as close to sandpaper as it gets haha. So we got carpet burns for dayyyzzz but worth it. I've never been so out of wrestling shape but I won 7 to 0. ;)

I finished the Book of Mormon in Danish when I was inside all day with Elder Thurman.  Way neat :) then we watched Johnny Lingo... both versions:)

¨

Spiritual thought:

This computer has a time so I have 3 minutes and 48 seconds left...

Elder Uctdorf Says:

We are as happy as we have it in our minds to be. We can pull out the weeds and water the flowers, or we can ignore the flowers and focus on the weeds."

You choose. :)

I gotta make like a banana and split. 

Cheers,
-- 

Ældste  j

(Insert your favorite food here)

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

Found a boat named The Emma... shoutout to my sister who didn't know she owned a boat in Denmark

Elder Dibble (with ratdog in hands) and Elder Reed

Elder Reed and I chillin in the 1997 Lotus Elise.  Lækkkkkert!

Our Apartment

Cleaning the "Narnia Hole" (aka our storage unit)

Pretty little parts of our area

Elder Thurman posting up