2014 ...And So It Begins

Well hello there everybody! Let me tell you, it was so great to Skype with [the family] all this past week. You are all so wonderful! Ha, unfortunately, not a lot has happened since I last skyped with you all, so I'll just mention the few things that did happen as well as a little about Christmas.

So we spent a ton of this week with members. We ate sssssssoooooooooo much food! We also got to dance around the Christmas tree which is a tradition here in Denmark. We all held hands and sang songs together as we circled around the Christmas Tree. We also ate a ton of Risalamande which is a Danish Rice Pudding. At Christmas time they have a game with this pudding where they chop up a bunch of almonds and put them in the putting, but they leave one unchopped almond in as well. Whoever finds it is supposed to hide it in their cheek while the others search for it. Whoever finds it gets a present. Unfortunately, I never won, but my companion one every single time!!

The best part of the Christmas season was our opportunity to serve. On Christmas Eve we baked a bunch of cookies, printed off the First Presidency Christmas Message with a link to the Nativity Bible Video, and delivered them to some of our investigators and less actives. They were so grateful for our visit and even though we couldn't stay and talk because they were all busy, we could see they really appreciated that we thought about them.

Our Glorious Christmas Tree - Thanks Mom!

We also had the opportunity to help the Frikirke move their church. They moved to a new Building and all of them were so surprised to see the Mormon Missionaries come to help move them during the Holidays. They asked why, and we said because we love to help. They were so grateful and we heard them talking to each other about how great those Mormon/American boys were. It was a great opportunity to share the Christmas Spirit.

This week marks the beginning of the new year. I'm so excited to see the fireworks here in Denmark, apparently it's amazing. I'm especially excited though to begin my one and only full year spent doing the Work of the Lord! It's weird to think that 2014 is going to be spent completely on my mission. It's an exciting thought though.

Well, that's most of what's happened to me this week! Thank you for your love and support! I don't have Pictures right now, but I actually have videos. I uploaded them up on my Google +. You can see them from all of your Google + accounts and see them. It's an awesome setup and I think from now on I'm going to use Google+ to add Pictures/videos because they're instantly available to anyone who wants to see them and can be downloaded as well.

Can't wait to tell you about New Year’s Eve and my trip to København! Love you all!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

Glædelig Jul! [Merry Christmas]

Elder Brindley & Elder Wawro

A very Merry Christmas to one and all! 

Congratulations to Haley on being called back again for MDT! And congratulations on all the orders for the tamales! I know Nathan has been way busy with all of the Christmas Concerts but man, I really miss it. I was reading some letters from friends today while listening to music and "Carol of Joy" came on and it made me really miss singing that at this Christmas time. There are few things better than singing in Temple Square during the Christmas Season.

Super excited for this upcoming week. I explained how Christmas works here in Denmark to Casey, so I'll reexplain it again in the same words.

In Denmark they celebrate Little Christmas Day on the 23rd, Christmas Eve on the 24th is their big celebration day where they open presents and such, Christmas Day on the 25th, and Second Christmas day on the 26th! They're like Hobbits! So we have so many appointments with members for this next week. It should be a grand old time.

New Companion: Elder Brindley

So this past week has been pretty fun. Went down to Copenhagen again to pick up my new companion, Ældste Brindley. Ældste Brindley comes from this little town in Wayne County called Torrey. He came in a group of 9 Elders. He's really great and I'm super excited to get to work with him this next transfer!

Meeting Elder Brindley

I also picked up this huge box full of things needed for the new apartment/district. We had so many things to carry with Ældste Brindleys things, Ældste Kinchs (Ældste Huffakers new companion) things, my suitcase for staying in Copenhagen, and my huge box which weighed way too much for my liking! We were a miserable lot, but we survived and made all the trains.

I didn't get to go to the Temple, sad day. BUT, I will be going on the 2nd of January (Happy Birthday Dad) for a Leadership Conference in Copenhagen. All of the District Leaders and Zone Leaders are going down for some training and they told me to bring my Temple Clothes with because we'll be going through the temple! I'm super excited for that.

This last week really has been pretty uneventful. 2 of our days were completely shot because of the trip to Copenhagen. We did get to help a few people with moving and one day was a complete day activity! We got there at 8 in the morning and then left at 5. We've also met with lots of members as they are all excited to meet the new missionaries.

Right Place at the Right Time

We did have one great experience though that comes to mind. Yesterday, we were on the way to a members appointment but we had some extra time so we decided it would be best to just contact on the way to make up for the extra time we had, so we filled out some cards and left. It was raining pretty hard and Ældste Brindley and I quickly realized that there wasn't anybody on the road. We walked almost completely down to the members house (about 30 minutes away) without a single contact! Of course nobody wanted to come out in the rain and we were starting to wonder what in the world we should do.

9 New Missionaries and Their Trainers

I then had the thought to go visit this investigator that we hadn't visited in a while. It didn't really make sense in my head because we really didn't have that much time, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, and also this investigator was never home. But Ældste Brindley and I discussed and decided just to drop by. Strange enough, he was just walking out the door when we got there to go down to spend the Holidays downtown for the next few days so we wouldn't have been able to meet with him for the next week at least. He told us he only had 5 minutes before he had to leave, which was perfect for us because we did not have that much time either, but he let us come in and give a Christmas message. He seemed to really appreciate it and we were all thankful that we were able to catch him exactly at the right moment!

That's all for now, until Christmas, so have a great next couple days until we Skype! I can't wait to talk to you all! Love you all!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

Christmas Surprises

What a wonderful time of year it is! Despite the bitter cold, the sickness, the moisture, the money spent, the darkness, and other misfortunes this time of year always feels special filled with joy. Among these feelings are also many surprises, as far as gifts are concerned. I have a few to share with you all now.

First off, I'm sure you've all been wondering about what is going on with transfers. It's been something that Ældste Huffaker and I were waiting on the edge of our seats all week for- that is until Wednesday. You know that if you don't get called then you are staying, but alas, in the middle of our District Meeting my phone began to ring, so I stepped into the hall and looked at the caller id. "Præsident Sederholm".

He told me that both Ældste Huffaker and I will both be training. I can hardly believe I'm training again! It's pretty awesome. I feel like my entire mission has been one training session. I went straight from being trained to being paired with a missionary who finished training at the same time as me to training, and now training again! But then, we realized that one person was staying and one was going. So we asked who it would be.

So yes, alas I am being transferred. So I bet you are all wondering where in the world I'm being sent to. Well, I'll tell you! Here's a hint: I'm opening a new area. And the lucky area is......(drum roll please)............

Transferred.  But to where?

  

RANDERS 2!!!

Haha, I'm moving into a new apartment in Randers and now we'll have 2 sets of missionaries here! So luckily for me, I'll be spending Christmas here in Randers! Looks like I'm going to be in Randers for a long while.

BTW, here is my new address here in Randers:

Ældste Christian Patrick Wawro

Hobrovej 21, St. TV

8900 Randers C

Danmark

But, that wasn't the end of the call.

There is also a new District being formed and he asked me to be the new District Leader for it. Now I don't feel ready for that responsibility at all! I must have been the only option or something because I feel like I'm still trying to figure out what kind of missionary I am. I guess it's pretty cool though, but again, I don't feel ready to be in leadership position. Luckily the Lord always qualifies his servants!

So tomorrow I'll move to my new apartment (which is only like a minute away from my current apartment) and then leave to Copenhagen to pick up my new missionary and materials for the new area/district. Crazy stuff!

Speaking of crazy stuff, how was the Hobbit???!! Amazing?!!! Wow, can't believe it's already out. I feel like I just saw the last one. Actually, when I was going to visit one of our investigators he was playing a way sweet tune, I asked what it was, and he told us it was the Credits Track from the new movie!!! What's it called, “I See Fire?” Something like that. Well, it sounded waaaaaaaayyy coo! Can't wait to see it in another...well...long while.

Too bad that Mom got sick. I actually got way sick as well. Thanks Ældste Huffaker.  Præsident Sederholm actually quarantined me in my apartment, mostly so that I would become healthy in time to pick up the new missionaries tomorrow. So for two days last week I was stuck in my apartment. Talk about cabin fever! But I'm basically all the way better now.

Gammel Estrup Castle

By the way, I did get the last package with the stocking! Thank you so much for it. I haven't looked inside yet, I just saw the candy on top though. And thank you Casey for the Wonderful Card! That was awesome of you to write that. The bear is way cool too. I keep it on my study desk so I can always remember the true story of Christmas.

I didn't actually get to see Ephraim's Rescue with the rest of the mission!! I told you that we were going to see a movie at our Zone Conference, but a storm came and hit Jylland way hard so we needed to drive back early and stay indoors!! The trains actually closed down so a bunch of missionaries needed to stay in Århus so they all got to see the movie...all well.

Also, thanks for the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas songs! I love getting new songs. I love all the songs I already have, but I listen to them so much that it's nice to hear some new ones.

So as for my last week...

Last Tuesday we were able to take one of our friends from the Fri Kirke down to SUV (which is the Young Single Adults Weekly Activity) in Århus to meet some other Mormons around our age. It started off a little rough and she seemed kind of lost and alone at the beginning, even though the members were trying to be very inclusive. As the night went on, though, she really opened up and started to talk and get to know the members. It turned out to be a great evening. The best part was our talk on the way back to Randers though. We were able to see where she personally stood and she shared some of her concerns she had with our religion. We were able to explain all of these things very well in a non-hostile manner while still being confident that what we were saying was true. We ended by telling her that it doesn't really matter what we say though, it all depends on what she decides to find out for herself. We'll never convince her of the truth of anything, it's the power of the Holy Ghost that will tell her whether or not the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph was a Prophet, and this is the true church again here on Earth. I really hope she begins to read and just tries to find out for herself.

We had another lesson with a less-active member from China. He was really stressed out because of a bad business deal he made that he needed to solve fast, but he still let us in the door to talk. We ended up having a really great discussion about our faith. Because he's from China he doesn't have a Christian-background at all. When I first met him a few months back he thought the only Christian church was the Mormon Church! Anyway, he has had some discussions with some friends recently who have been trying to disprove our religion to him. He told us that a lot of what they had to say made a lot of sense to him. They asked him why he would join a religion that would restrict him from all of these things (smoking, sex, alcohol, etc...) that would make him happy? We told him that our religion was one that focused on giving us long-term happiness and not immediate gratification. We explained to him and asked him to picture what his life would be like with these things 20 years down the road versus was it would be without them.

He told then said, "Ya, actually what you said makes a lot of sense. You always seem to say the right things, it's like you're really good at debating or something!" We told him that it wasn't that we were good at debating, but what we had to say was true. The great thing about is that he is always open to hear what we have to say and I believe he truly believes in everything we tell him. We were able to finish off the meeting with a review of the Plan of Salvation which answered a lot of his other questions as well.

We also had another lesson with that one couple we meet with often. We went through Ether 12 again, really slowly because he had a lot of questions. We had a really good discussion but by the end it seemed like very little progress was made to help him agree to and hold commitments. We prayed and he told us he would drive us home (because I was sick). We got to the apartment and he just sat there for a second, and then said, "You know, I haven't prayed to God in a while myself. Let's pray together right now." And he went on to say a truly sincere prayer to God! It was amazing! We really hope that this begins to mark real and sincere interest in finding/building his testimony.

So Ældste Huffaker, I, and a couple of the members have also made a little Danish Christmas Band. We've had a couple gigs so far (the Randers Branch Christmas Party and the Århus Ward Christmas Concert) and we are actually way good! The one member, Bjarne Nielsen, is a professional Violinist and plays in the Randers Symphonic Orchestra, first chair I believe. He is incredible. His wife, Claire, plays flute and Ældste Huffaker and I play guitar and I also sing. I have recorded one of the songs we've played, I just need to find a way to send the videos to you...either way, you'll get them sooner or later! It was way fun to go down to Århus again and see all the members that I knew from once upon a time.

Gammel Estrup Castle

Well, that's my week. We'll probably be skyping Christmas Day around 8 AM (MST). That's what we've discussed so far with the members, we need to see how it all works out with the new missionaries, but if anything changes I'll let you know next Monday. But plan on that!

I love you all! I'm mailing my Christmas presents to you today so I really hope they make it by Christmas! Have a wonderful week!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

19 Days til "Jul"!!!

Elder Wawro with MTC Companion Elder Madsen and current companion Elder Huffaker at the Jylland Zones Christmas Dinner  

Why hello everyone! Can you believe it's already the Christmas Season? Ældste Huffaker and I have created a Christmas music playlist that we've been playing non-stop in our apartment to get into the Christmas spirit.

Speaking of Christmas, this is the month for Skyping! So, you asked about when, and that I'm still not completely sure of. I have to talk with the members we're going to be with. Here, they celebrate Christmas on the 24th, actually, and I'm not sure who we're going to be with at what time on the 25th and which ones of them will have Skype, so I will give you an exact time next week! Is there a particular time that works better with your schedule, or is whenever fine? I'm going to assume it will be around 8-10 AM (Mountain Standard Time) that I'll make the call. But I'll have definite plans next week! (unless I get transferred)

There's actually a great possibility that I could be transferred next week, the week before Christmas. I really hope I don't, I'd love to spend Christmas in Randers, but I guess we'll see! And I think, Mom, that you should still send the packages here to the Randers Apartment because if you send them to the office I won't get them in time.

Hey, so I've been sending a lot of people to my Facebook to add me as friends. I don't know if you have been already, but if you could get on my Facebook every so often and add any friends that are living in Denmark that would be great!

Elder Lindstrom (Trainer), Elder Wawro, Elder Huffaker (Greenie)

So I just found out that the Christmas song "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly" is actually a Polish Carol! Did you know that? I think it's awesome because that song is beautiful.

So, I don't have a ton of time today because Ældste Huffaker has another doctor’s appointment today. He got sick this week with a 38.4 degree Celsius [101 degrees Fahrenheit] and so we've actually been in our apartment for the majority of the week.  Also, I'm going to try to send some videos so that will take up some time as well.

Last Monday we were invited to go to another Bible Study with the members of the Fri Kirke [Free Church]. It was a really great night filled with questions about missionary life and "Mormonism". It appears that they really enjoy our company and their views of Mormons are changing drastically. They decided to read Romans 8 and discuss the chapter, which I was okay with because it's one of my favorite chapters! So we read it and we were able to talk about our favorite points in the chapter. Eventually, I was able to bring up Romans 8:16-17

“ The Spirit itself beareth a witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 

  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. “

Ældste Huffaker then started asking great questions about what they thought about where we come from and why we are here. He then began to share what we believed about pre-mortal life. One person, who started becoming a little more hostile over time with his replies, said that it doesn't say anything in the Bible about us living with God as Spirits, so where did we get this doctrine from? We began talking about prophets, but it became apparent that this man wasn't too eager to actually listen to what we had to say. The others, though, seemed a bit more curious and by the end of the night we got 3 to say they would come with us to SUV [?] the following Tuesday! The one man also seemed to calm down over the night and actually told us we didn't need to pay him for the food he made even though all of us were supposed to pay 30 Kroner [$5.52], so we're glad we were able to make a good impression on them all.

We've also taught a couple lessons with Peter and Anika, and they both went pretty well. We're excited for his little bit of progress as far as faith is concerned. We've now been focusing on grace, Forgiveness, and what exactly Christ's role is in all of it. He's had a lot of questions about that so we've been preparing to explain most of his questions in the following lesson.

The highlight of our week was at the Christmas party we had last Saturday. We had been passing out wrapped copies of the Book of Mormon on the street with invitations to our Christmas party and had invited all of our investigators to the Party. Unfortunately, all of our investigators said they couldn't come and because Ældste Huffaker became sick we couldn't go out and pass out all of the invitations we wanted to. We were scared that nobody would show up to the party besides members, so the night before I prayed that God would lead SOMEBODY to come to the party.

Randers Branch member at Christmas party

Finally, the party came and when we got there it was only us and a few other families. But 15 minutes later the church flooded with people, members and non-members! There were guests that were invited by members that came from invitations we had passed out with wrapped Book of Mormons, and from other random means. Even the [one of our investigator families] came even though, earlier that very same day, they said they couldn't because they were sick! We had around 60 people there and 20 of them were non-members. It was truly a miracle!

Randers Branch Christmas Party

We hope this upcoming week we will be able to find and teach even more people than the previous week. Ældste Huffaker has gotten a little better, but we're stopping by the doctor today to get him checked up.

That's about it for this week! Again, we were in our apartment for the most part so don't have a whole lot to share. But thank you so much for all the letters and gifts and emails you all are sending! I love them all so much! Have a great week!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

P.S. - Ældste Huffakers parents are going to be Provo so they might try calling you this week.

The Christmas Season has Begun!!

"We also wrapped a bunch of copies of the Book of Mormon and have been passing them out as Christmas Presents! "

Why Hello everyone! It is great, as always, to read and reply to your emails! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. I had as much of a Thanksgiving as I possibly could have [despite] not being in America and all.

Before I forget...Happy Birthday Mom!! Well, Happy Birthday tomorrow. I sent a postcard so I don't know when it's going to get there but know if it's not there tomorrow it should reach there within the next couple days!

I haven't had the chance to meet the new Temple President [who is the Uncle of the Ramsey Family in Utah] because I've only been to Copenhagen 3 times in my life...once when I got to Denmark, once when I took the language test, and once when I picked up Ældste Huffaker. So I haven't had any time to visit the temple or meet any members who live there!

I've actually been pretty warm, so you don't need to worry about me! The thermals really help out a ton! I'll let you know if I need anything else, but I believe I'll be good.

Progressing with Danish 
The language is coming along fine. Danish is a crazy hard language (the people here say the hardest besides Finnish or Chinese. Not sure if that's true...maybe they're just being prideful). It's so hard because the pronunciation is insane!! It's nothing like what's written and they use their throats for everything. They also don't have any rules so when you ask why they say something the way they do they usual will respond with I don't know. This must be the one mission in the world outside the United States where everyone there is fluent in English as well so when they hear you're not from here they will switch to English A TON!! It's so frustrating! Sometimes they think they're really good at English, but really they're really bad and it's really funny because I'll speak something Danish to them, they'll catch a hint of an accent, and then reply in some weird Danglish that I can't even understand! One time I knocked on a door and a man answered who heard my accent and so he yelled at me, "I'M NO INTERESTING!!" and slammed the door. I just started laughing and said to myself, "You're right, you are no interesting."

But Danish is coming along just fine. I understand almost everything now (except the other day a couple Danes started discussing politics and I had NO IDEA what they were saying) and I can say just about anything I want to in one way or another. Every day I see that there is still so much to learn, but I'm making quite a bit of progress daily!

I don't know when or if I'm getting transferred. I won't find out until around the 15th. I really hope I don't right before Christmas though!

Still in Randers and living on "Prince Christian Street"

This past week we had a lesson with an ex-member and the Senior Couple have been working with her, but they decided to invite us to go and teach about the Priesthood. I had met her one time before but we stay very long. Her room that she lives in was filled with smoke and it just felt dark and uncomfortable being in there. This past time though was completely different. It was like she was an entirely new person. The room didn't smell of smoke and she just looked so much happier. We had found out that she hadn't smoked at all for almost 2 weeks! She also surprised us with her knowledge of the Gospel and her strong faith she seems to be rekindling. It was truly amazing and remarkable to see.

Hope Precedes Faith

We also had a lesson with [an investigator] family at the Nielsens home. It was a fantastic lesson. It began as a Thanksgiving Dinner that Søster Nielsen prepared for us because she knew that it was the Thanksgiving season. We all had a good chat around the table and the Nielsens were really great about asking the [investigating family] a lot of good questions. We then went to the couches and the Nielsens asked me for the spiritual question of the night (the Nielsens like us to ask a spiritual question that we can discuss together whenever we visit). I didn't really know what I wanted to ask so I sat there thinking for a minute. Finally, I felt like I should ask,

 "What was the first block of faith which you made your foundation in your search for the truth?"

It was kind of a weird question and I felt a little uncomfortable asking it because Peter [one of the investigators] has been pretty adamant about telling us that he currently has no faith. The Nielsens both gave really great answers, and then it came to Peter. Peter first said he didn't know and so Søster Nielsen cut back in to keep it from being to awkward. I felt so dumb at that point in time for asking a question like that!

Then, after Søster Nielsen kind of made an end of her thought, Peter cut back in. He said that he currently did not feel like he had enough faith but what he did have was based on hope of there being something more, a purpose to this life, and a Great Creator. It was amazing! The rest of the night was discussing this hope and other such topics. It turned out to be a wonderful night and a wonderful blessing for us all.

Last night we got to go sing in the branch choir for a Baptist Church. They really appreciated us coming and we made a ton of friends. I could feel the Spirit really strongly while we were singing. Everybody was coming up to us and thanking us and asking us to come back another time to sing. We also got to pass out a bunch of fliers for our branch Christmas party for this next Saturday, so hopefully some of them show up!

We also wrapped a bunch of copies of the Book of Mormon and have been passing them out as Christmas Presents! That has been really fun and people are much more willing to except presents than just books.

Ya, well, that's all for this week. I love you all, hope you all have a fantastic week, and can't wait to hear from you again next week!

MKH,

Ældste Wawro

The Bible, Missionnæring, and some good Football.

Why hello there! The Sun has risen and set approximately 7 times since our last opportunity to write, and it's great to hear about all the events that have occurred in those 7 days.

First things first: I got all of the presents, I believe, by now. I got a few packages over the course of a few days. It was actually really funny because usually Ældste Huffaker is the one getting mail (because he has a girlfriend and other friends who right him a TON!) but during those 3 or so days he didn't get a single letter and I kept getting packages full of Christmas gifts! It was so funny!! Thank you again for all that you sent to me! 

Congrats to Casey on her part! I'm sure it will be a fun experience for her!

Thanksgiving Meal with the Zone

Exciting that you decided on 7 Brides for 7 Brothers (for the Scera Park Elementary musical)! That's a way fun show and I bet it's going to be soooooo funny!

So Ældste Will Wright will be speaking a REALLY different dialect then the rest of us. It's like speaking Danish with a Swedish accent almost. It's pretty weird. Oh! Which reminds me of this hilarious experience we had this past week! We ate dinner with this member from Sweden who now speaks Danish, her fiance who only speaks Swedish, and the Ægtepar (Senior Missionary couple) where one of them only speaks English! So it was a weird mixture of Danish, English, and Swedish at the dinner table!

Ældste Huffaker is doing just fine now. He's been off of his crutches and we've been able to work just about the same as before. Of course we're going easier on his leg because we don't want to overwork it, but he's been great! And let Grandma know that I'm willing to sacrifice the safety and well-being of all of my companions to get her letters mailed. ;)

An awesome experience we had was our opportunity we had to go to one of the Fri Kirke [Free Church] Bible Studies. They were so grateful for us going to their service project last Sunday that one of them invited us over to eat and discuss the Bible with them and some other friends. It turned out to be a fantastic experience. By the end they were all saying about how they now have a different perspective on Mormons where before they were really weird to them, but now they think they're awesome! We also were able to discuss our views on following Christ and becoming sanctified by becoming a true disciple. Ha, it was pretty funny because they started asking us personal questions about our lives back at home, whether or not we had girlfriends, and marriage advice for the future! Ha, it's always kind of weird talking about our lives back at home, sometimes they feel like they don't exist. They invited us to the next one as well so we hope we will be able to develop this connection we have with all of these Fri kirke members.

We had a really good contact this past week. Since we were short on lessons this week we had more time to go knocking doors where we hadn't had that much time to do that recently. So we were knocking and nobody was responding very well so we decided to switch contacting approaches. Before we were introducing ourselves as the missionaries but they would close the door and shut their ears before we could get any farther than that, so we decided to try starting right in on the message. The next door we knocked a lady opened the door and as soon as she opened I said, "Gud har genoprettet Sin kirke igen her på jorden. Vi har en profet til at leder os i vores dage, ligesom i Bibelen. Tror du på Bibelen?" [Translation: God has restored His church again on the earth. We have a prophet to guide us in our days, like in the Bible. Do you believe in the Bible?]

She was caught completely off guard, but after figuring out what exactly I was saying she opened right up. She thought that what I said was an interesting concept and she began to explain to us her beliefs. I then asked her, "Hvorfor tror du på Gud?" [Translation: Why do you believe in God?]

She thought for a second, and then said, "Jeg har ikke noget bevis at Gud eksisterer, men Han har givet mig trøst når jeg har haft det svært." [Translation: I have no proof that God exists, but He has given me comfort when I've had it hard.]  

Then I replied, "Du sagde du har ikke et bevis at Gud eksisterer, men vi har noget som har hjulpet os rigtig meget at styrke vores forbindelse til Gud, og det hedder Mormons Bog." [Translation: You said you have no proof that God exists, but we have something that has helped us a lot to strengthen our connection to God, and it's called the Book of Mormon.]

When she found out that we were giving the Book of Mormon out for free she was so excited. We then gave her a passage to read and asked her if we could come back on follow up on her reading and she told us we were always welcome! It just goes to show how preaching the Doctrine really carries the message to the hearts of the people who are ready to accept the Gospel!

I also got to go to a Football game (Soccer) this past week! FC Randers one of the Danish Professional Football teams and one of our members works at the stadium so she got us free tickets! It was really fun and I'll send some pictures!

FC Randers Professional Soccer Game

The rest of the week was pretty dull. A few lessons here and there were nothing really happened. A few of our positive investigators have been really hard to get in contact with so hopefully this week will be a little better with that! But you can't complain, things are going great here.

Thanks for writing! I love all of your emails. Remember I love you all!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Huddling at the Zone Turkey Bowl

Hello Hello Hello! It's always good to hear from home and to hear about your doings in the wonderful land of Utah. This past week has been pretty crazy for Ældste Huffaker and I, but very awesome nevertheless.

I'm glad to hear that David and Peter are ok in the Philippines! Good luck to Haley with all of her MDT stuff. That's crazy that Mr. Willie is coming to Denmark! What's making him come here?

Oh, by the way, Ældste Will Wright (from our home stake in Orem, Utah) got to the mission a couple weeks ago. I was really excited to talk to him except I heard that he was sent to...

BORNHOLM

Bornholm is a tiny Island that really is closer to Sweden than it is to Denmark. Actually, it's closer to Poland than it is to Denmark! But it's stilled owned by Denmark so it's in our mission. Ældste Wright actually had to take a train through Sweden and then take a ferry down to Bornholm, so I probably won't be hearing anything from him for the next couple months. All of the missionaries who were in the MTC with him love him though!

Striking Fear Into the Defense!

So, we had our Thanksgiving dinner this last week. It's awesome you have those pictures, I have a few more to send as well. It consisted of our Turkey Bowl, Thanksgiving Dinner, Zone Training, and Talent Show! Let me tell you, we have a very talented Zone. For my talent I just did an improv arrangement of Come, Come Ye Saints on the piano and sang. It was a really fun day and definitely was a good stress-reliever from the stresses of everyday Mission Life.

Zone Talent Show

You also noticed that Ældste Huffaker was on crutches, which also happens to be the reason why I haven't responded to Grandma Betty...   So last Monday I wrote my letter to Grandma (because I always send handwritten letters) and we were riding our bikes down one of the infamous steep hills of Randers. I needed to buy stamps to send home so we were on our way to do that. On the way down a car started turning right and suddenly stopped in the middle of the bike lane because another car cut him off. Ældste Huffaker couldn't stop in time so he rammed into the back of the car and fell down to the pavement. He is ok and is no longer on crutches. But it was a little bit of a scary experience. He ended up going to the hospital and we waited in the waiting room for 5 1/2 hours (I LOVE socialized medicine...) and finally got x-rays. No broken bones, nothing sprained! He got crutches because of bruising and swelling, but he's been healing up nicely and I suppose all's well that ends well, right?

Lookin' Cool at Zone Conference

So, our missionary experiences: We finally had the opportunity to meet with an investigator of ours. He has a family of 3 daughters and his wife. He has worked with people in Utah for a while now and has had the opportunity to meet and talk with many Mormons. He was given to us as a media referral and we met with him once before, but he left on another work trip to Utah and we lost contact with him for a couple months. 

We finally made contact with him over the phone and the first thing he says to us is that he is currently on FamilySearch and loves the churches genealogy site!

He continued to tell us that he visited Temple Square while he was in Utah, went on a tour, and loved everything that he heard. He was more than happy to meet again and discuss the Gospel. We prayerfully thought of a member that we could bring with us and we both decided to take the Elders Quorum President with us. 

Our lesson with him was fantastic. He told us that he downloaded the Mormon Channel app on his phone and he thinks that it is a wonderful app. He uses it all the time and he loves to see the videos. He also told us that he hasn't had time to "read" the Book of Mormon, so he has downloaded the scripture audio files and "listens" to them while he is driving in the car! He loved that we brought a Dane with us so he could know what it was like being a Mormon in Denmark. He asked about family life, raising children in the church, the church programs, how one becomes a member, and other fantastic questions. He also told us about his 7 year old daughter who has begun learning about religion in school and has started praying to God by herself. This man wants to be a member. The one problem is that his wife is not super into Mormonism. In fact, she is not interested at all. We can tell that that will be the biggest hurdle to get over but with the Lord's help we know we will figure something out!

Zone Training

We had an experience about following the Spirit this past week as well. We were going by some former investigators that we found in some records and nobody was answering their doors. It was getting a little disheartening, but we kept going and door after door they weren't home, moved, or just wouldn't answer. The second to last apartment we had to visit was locked and we couldn't get up there. But, for some reason, we decided to press the buzz box down at the door and see if she would answer and then come and unlock the door for us. So, we buzzed it and waited. A lady answered and asked who it was, we introduced ourselves, she said she had no idea who we were and then hung up. That was sad and confusing because we really felt as if we needed to do that. We continued on to the next apartment we needed to visit and looked on the mailbox and saw that the man's name that we were trying to visit no longer was there. We just stood there for a second, feeling a little bad for ourselves, when two men walked out of the apartment, one started to walk away on the sidewalk, and the other man looked at us and asked what we were doing. We told him that we were trying to find this man, and we showed him the name. He paused, then he asked us why. We told him who we were and we just needed to talk to him for a little bit. He then ran out on the road, called out to the man to come back who started walking away, and introduced him as the man we were looking for.

Turns out that man no longer lived there.  He was just visiting a friend who lived in that apartment just for a second, and was out the door right when we got there. The Lord placed us where we needed to be at the exact right time so we could find him! We were able to give him our card and invite him to church. It's amazing how the Lord works, and to think we wouldn't have met him if we hadn't taken the time to stop and try the buzz box.

We also had an investigator come to church! He is one of our friends from the Fri Kirke [Free Church] that we've had a little bit of a hard time getting in contact with. The Elders Quorum President actually was the one who was present when we first taught him as well and last Friday he ran into him at work. They recognized each other, started talking, and our investigator said that he would come to church on Sunday and that he would bring a friend. And he did! 

He actually is leaving to America today and he hadn't packed yet so after Sacrament meeting he said he needed to leave. He told me he was disappointed though because we didn't talk more out of the blue book (Book of Mormon). I told him that we would be doing that in the next class and if he wanted, he could just stay for 15 minutes and then leave right after. He thought for a second, and then decided he wanted to do that. He ended up staying the entire time for Sunday School and Priesthood! He was engaged the entire time, asked questions, and gave his opinions during class. It was truly amazing to see. He then invited us to a service project at the Fri Kirke in the evening which we went to last night and made many more friends! It's amazing all the people we have begun meeting from that initial contact Ældste Peterson and I made on the street to that Fri Kirke couple.

Probably the highlight of my week, though, was that an inactive that we've met with a couple times came to church yesterday. He is that inactive that we had the opportunity to meet with through the member who set it up during splits. He has such a strong testimony and the last time we met he told me that he knew the church was true, he just didn't know how to come back. I told him last time, "You'll come back, I know you will." but it was amazing to actually see him come. The Bishop and I were talking to him after Sacrament Meeting and the Bishop asked what made him come back and he responded, "I just have really good missionaries." And he looked at me and smiled. I was so touched and I never realized the importance of bringing less-actives back until then. It created a feeling inside of me that I've never felt before, not even at a baptism. I am very grateful for that realization and I hope that he will continue to come to church in the coming weeks!

By the way, I received all of my gifts this past week and I am very grateful for them! I set up the Christmas tree already and my gifts are sitting underneath it. And thank you Casey for the Album! I was literally thinking the day before I got them that I wanted to see that Christmas Concert again! It's sooooooo good! I can't wait to open the rest on Christmas Day! :) Thanks to all of you, and Grandma Warren as well!

Well, that's all for now folks! Thank you so much for writing! Vi snakkes!

MKH,
Ældste Wawro

Christmas Tree & Gifts from the Family 

7 Months and Counting- Lets GOOOOOOOO!

Hej Hej Hej!!

Yesterday marked 7 months! Where did those 7 months go? It's amazing to me that Christmas is just around the corner. I suppose you all have Thanksgiving first. Luckily, this week the Nord Jylland Zone will be having a little feast as well since it is not celebrated here.

The members have been so great and we have barely cooked at all recently. We are hopping from appointment to appointment with members to investigators to service and all other sorts of things. We seems to always be eating with an investigators and/or member. Good thing we cycle and walk everywhere otherwise I would be faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!

I'm glad that the YA Performance/Workshop was a blast! As usual, I know you were all extremely busy with that but it definitely sounded like it was worth it. If you have a chance say hi to my previous acting partner, Breanna, as well!

Dome Church in Viborg

It is getting significantly colder here. I've actually started wearing thermals every day! Luckily I'm always basically warm. The coldest I every get is when I'm cycling and the wind is blowing against my face.

We had a great lesson with one of our investigators this week. We read through the next chapter in the Book of Mormon which she left off from in her personal reading and it just happened to be the scripture which introduces the Liahona. We were able to tie that in with her great experience in church, her efforts in holding the Word of Wisdom, and commitment to attend church again. Things are going well with her.

We had a couple lessons with another investigator and his kæreste [girlfriend]. Both went really well, but especially the one that we had at one of the member’s homes. We ate dinner with them and talked about life and it was very hyggelig [cosy]. Somehow, though, the Nielsen family were able to tie it all in to God and the Gospel and a whole bunch of other topics. We barely taught anything! So as for your question, Mom, about how the members are doing with helping us out, they have been really helpful in almost every aspect of the work.

We've finally gotten in contact with a man who was referred from Utah in September and we had a first lesson with him in the middle of that month. He was really nice, has a family with a wife and 2 kids, a businessman, and seems to be all around a very pleasant man. He left on a business trip to Utah and we weren't able to contact him until this past week. Turns out that when we called he was on familysearch.com and was doing genealogy! Amazing! He also told us that he visited temple square and loved it, and wants to come to church this next Sunday. He has some questions for us and seems to be very positive for our next appointment this week. It would be amazing to have an addition like his family into the Randers Branch.

Yesterday we had another miracle. We didn't have any investigators who were coming to church and we were sad, but it happens. We were especially sad because it was the Primary Program. Right before church started a random man sees that something is going on in the church, decides to check it out, comes in, and stays for the entire Sacrament Meeting! Afterwards we gave him a church tour and a pamphlet and he said he would love to come again. He didn't want our number, but who knows, maybe he will come again!

Thanks for sending those Christmas packages Mom! I'll let you know when I get them! I don't know how long I'm going to be in Randers and I only find out if I'm staying another transfer the weekend before, so I can't give you an answer about that. Hopefully I make it past Christmas because we have a ton of member appointments planned!

Oh! I mentioned that the Primary Program was held yesterday. I actually played piano for it and they were so funny! I'm telling you, there is nothing like a Danish kid speaking at a pulpit. So funny!

I don't have anything else for this week, so prepare to get some pictures and I can't wait to hear from you all again in one week’s time!

MKH,

Ældste Wawro

P.S. - I also forgot, people have asked to see pictures of you all but I don't have any printed off! So maybe some point in time you can prints off some pictures of all of us from whenever and send them over. That would be fantastic! Love you all!

Glæde Halloween!

Elder Wawro and Elder Huffaker

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope that it went well for you all. Here in Denmark they do celebrate Halloween, but not quite to the extent that you do in America. That's ok because they really make up for it for Christmas! Members have actually already called us to have us over for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Day after Christmas, and New Year’s Eve! It's been really great being here in Randers and, by the way, I shall be here for another 6 weeks! I am really hoping that I do not get transferred right before Christmas, but I'll at least be here ‘til Dec. 15 with Ældste Huffaker.

Those costumes were great! Nathan's made me laugh so hard!

Mom, thanks for the packages! I really love the new tie that you sent. I've actually been in dire need of a green tie! Thank you so much for sending that. By the way, Søster Soper actually sent me a pack of scripture markers that have been so fantastic but many of the markers are almost out of the crayon stuff, so if in the next package you can send some of those that would be great!

A Danish Country Church

There was this crazy storm that I see that you found out about! We actually had to cancel a couple of our appointments and stay inside for the evening. It was crazy stuff, but we're completely fine. The lights on our street went out though and so it was just so black!! Fun experience though!

This week has been a very busy week for us! We have been richly blessed to have our days filled with member visits, lessons, and service. We're very grateful and happy to see our relations to the members strengthen and progress happen with our investigators.

This past week we had two surprise lessons with less-actives on our way to Grenå. We picked up a few numbers on our way as well with people who wanted us to call back, but a couple people actually let us in. One lives out in the middle of nowhere and hasn't been visited by members for years. He was born into the church but never has been too active. His wife died 10 years ago as well as one of his sons. He lives alone and he seems to be very lonely. At first he was a little stand-offish but over time we couldn't get him to stop talking! He really enjoyed talking with us and told us we could stop by again next time we were in the area.

The other lesson was in Grenå. We actually accidentally knocked on this door thinking it was somebody else but she let us in. She hadn't been to church in years because she is living with a man she is not married to and is very worried about being judged. She seemed to really appreciate our visit though and we plan and visiting again next time we are in Grenå.

We had a few other lessons with some investigators but the really positive experience happened with a particular investigator. We visited her this past week and had a DTR lesson with her. We wanted to figure out exactly why she was meeting with us and if she was really willing to change. The lesson was going well and then we invited her to church. She told us she couldn't because she was going to a party on Saturday and would be hung-over Sunday morning. For a second we didn't even know what to say. After a few seconds a thought came into my head and I said, "[Sister], but you said you were going to hold the Word of Wisdom so you're not going to get drunk, so you'll be able to come to church this Sunday, right?" She looked back at me, thought a second, then said, "Ya...I guess you're right. I'll be there at church." That in of itself was a miracle, but she had promised she would come to church before and didn't so we made sure to make arrangements like before to pick her up. We were hoping she wouldn't leave another note on the door saying she couldn't come (as happened last time). We prayed the morning of to let her come and when we got there we saw her already outside of her apartment and walking towards the church. We were a couple minutes late getting there so she began walking herself! Her experience at church was as much a miracle as the members were so warm and welcoming. Before arriving at the church she said that she might try coming back again in 2 or three weeks, but by the end of church she said to expect us seeing her the next week at church! We are so thankful for God's help in preparing the way for her to come to church.

The members seem to really enjoy Ældste Huffaker and me. They always seem to be inviting us over and have been really helpful with member presents recently! It's been a great blessing to work here with him.

Oh, randomly, this past week I contacted a person from Poland! I've actually met quite a few Polish people here but this one I had a pretty lengthy conversation with. Whenever I meet a Pole I tell them that my ancestors (is that how you spell that? well here's Danish for that [forfædre]) come from and then they quickly switch in to Polish and I'm “Hold Up!” I only speak English and Danish! But anyway, with this lady I showed her my name and asked her how many Wawros she knew. She said that she could tell that it was Polish, but she had never seen that name before in her life! I guess our name is uncommon wherever we go! It was awesome to hear a Pole pronounce it though.

Thanks again for writing! Can't wait to hear from you all again in one weeks time!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

More Danish Countryside

Here, There, and Everywhere

Looking out over the Village of Hobro

Hej! As the weeks roll by the time has come again to hear from Ældste Wawro! This past week has been a week of traveling to a few cities outside of Randers! This week for us has honestly been a little bit slower and actually I've had the least amount of lessons taught this week than any other week on my mission. It's been hard, but actually I feel like we did the best we could and we did much good even if it didn't show in the numbers.

I can't believe Halloween is already right around the corner! Those cul-de-sac parties were always fun! Too bad I can't help with the spook alley this year. I think that's so funny about Nathan going AGAIN as Nacho Libre!! This year I'll be going as a missionary. It's actually pretty creepy here because it's already completely dark at 5:30 now so the sun starts setting around 4. I can only imagine what Halloween is going to be like!

Please tell me about the Temple Præsident! So does he live in Utah Valley or how do you know them?

Things are going really great with Ældste Huffaker. People can tell that we get along really well and members seem to love us! Actually, Præsident Sederholm told me that he received a letter from one of the members in the Randers Branch telling him that he can't transfer either of us until after Christmas! We keep it fun in our companionship. Sometimes when there's nobody around we'll start beat-boxing or doing parkour and jumping off of things. It's great and I'm really grateful for a companion that I get along with really well!

As I said, this past week was spent in a few other towns in Denmark, so I will classify my stories with the towns:

Fredericia - Ældste Huffaker and I went down to Fredericia this past week for the 1 month new missionary training with Præsident Sederholm. We took a train ride down there and then picked up some of the other missionaries on the way. The train got so full that we ended up having to stand for 2 hours as we rode down to Fredericia. After we got off we realized we had no idea where to go so we had to start asking Danes for directions! After a bit of time we found another group and started following them. The leader of our group, a previous AP who was released for his last transfer here in Denmark, accidentally took us on the wrong bus and we had to walk forever to get to the church. It was a fun trip.

Elder Huffaker Sleeping on a Train

The meeting itself was great. Ældste Huffaker had a good time meeting his old friends from the MTC and I got to see some of mine as well. For the most part they were all older missionaries so it was great to get to know them a little bit better. I felt so young though! Præsident talked alot about making faith a principle of power and the ability God has to make up for our weaknesses. It was great!

Aalborg - We had our distrikt meeting in Aalborg and that is always fun. I might have already told you this but we switched from the Århus distrikt to the Nord Jylland Distrikt. Basically I only mentioned this because I wanted to make the point that we were in a lot of different cities this week, nothing special really happened in Aalborg.

Hobro -Our biggest miracle that happened was with the lesson we did have with one of our investigators. Everything just seemed to work out perfectly so we could meet him. We actually decided to stop in Hobro on our way back from our district meeting in Aalborg since it was on the way and it would save time and money. We had a list of some investigators we could stop by, but on our way up we found a bike on sale. Ældste Huffaker has been in dire need of a bike so we went in to buy it quickly but found out they didn't accept cards so we had to run to an ATM. The ATM was giving us problems and we found out that he couldn't take out all the money he needed in one day because of a safety block in his bank account, so after a few minutes of messing around with that we went back to the Bike Shop and asked him to just hold on to the bike until we could make our way back to Hobro.

We then made our way up and decided to stop by one of our investigators since he was so close by. We caught him right when he was on his way out the door and had decided to only drop by his house for a couple minutes. We had met him in the exact 2 minute time frame that he was home and we were able to have a lesson with him! Everything happened to work out the way it did just so we could catch him at the exact right time.

The lesson started off a little rough because he had just found out that Joseph Smith was a Free Mason and he had some deep concerns about that. We did the only thing that seemed right and bore testimony that we knew he was a prophet and all of his concerns could be solved through the Book of Mormon. He then asked why the Book of Mormon was so important and why God would need to send more scripture than the Bible. All of these questions and concern we were able to answer in just the way he needed to hear it. The Spirit was very strong and his behavior changed from beginning a little hostile and wanting to bash to sincerely listening to how we live the doctrine of Christ.

Village of Hobro

Another cool thing was while we were in Hobro, Ældste Huffaker and I went inside a Danske Folke Kirke [translation: Danish Free Church] and found it was completely empty. There was a piano in the middle of this hall so I decided to play it. Naturally, I had to play "Praise to the Man" and actually, it was a way interesting experience. I could feel the Spirit present.  Way cool!

You will also be happy to hear that Hobro is a very beautiful place so while I was there Ældste Huffaker and I took a lot of great pictures. It was great to hear from you all again this week! Thank you for everything and I can't wait to write again next week!

MKH,

Ældste Wawro

Insert Clever Title Here ....

Hello everyone, here and afar! It is all of your favorite time of week once again as you get to hear from your favorite missionary, Ældste Wawro. Let there be much rejoicing and merry-making.

Congratulations to Aunt Wanda with her wedding (that is awesome!!!) Nathan and his singing competition, and Casey with her volleyball games! What a week! Sounds like you all will keep busy. Thank you for writing, I really love hearing from all of you and all the stories you share! Unfortunately, today I don't have time to refer to everything you sent, but I'll spend a little bit more time on my experiences here since there were quite a few awesome ones!

First, everybody this week thought that I wasn't American who I spoke with! That's always good.  Nobody wants to sound American in Europe. ;) On the train a lady started talking to me and after a while she asked me where I came from. She said, "I just can't place it because you sound Swedish but your name tells me you're not from there." Nobody thinks I'm Danish yet, but I'll take any Scandinavian country accent over an American accent, as far as Danish accents go.

So I had the opportunity to go up on splits with the Ældsters in Aalborg. That was way great! We taught a lesson to this lady who had been investigating for a while. It was just a really relaxed lesson and the spirit was really strong. Right after, we played basketball and I made the winning shot for my team.  I suppose I'm just an awesome basketball player. ;)

There were a couple of experiences where we ended up somewhere and our plans fell through so we didn't know what to do. This month our mission has been focusing on chapter 4 in Preach My Gospel, Recognizing and following the Spirit, so we decided to pray what to do.

The first day we had gone to a part of town that took like an hour to walk to and got there to find out all of the apartments were locked at the bottom so we couldn't visit any of the people who said we could come back. We prayed to know why we were in that area because we had no idea why we were there. Literally not 5 seconds later we started a conversation with a lady who turned out to be a Jehovah’s Witness. She was way nice, took a pamphlet, and pointed us in a direction of apartments where they weren't locked so we could knock doors. It was a huge blessing for us.

The next time was a couple days ago. None of our people we visited were home and we found ourselves with some extra time, so we prayed again to find out why we were there. The next person we talked to was a younger Dane, she was probably around 19, and she told us that her Grandmother was born into a Mormon Family! Her Grandmother left and she was not religious either, but she told us she would like to learn what her family believed in and why! Amazing!

Anyway, the craziest thing was that this past week we went to a young adult "activity" for another church. It's called a fri kirke [Translation: Free Church] and basically all religions are welcome. Those 5 investigators we picked up are active members of this church. They invited us to this activity and we thought it would be a little bible study or something...we were wrong. There were hundreds of Danes from all across Denmark! They had an awesome Danish Christian Rock Band there and a priest who came all the way up from Britain who was awesome. It was a huge gathering and cost a bit of money, but they saw that we were Mormon missionaries from the US and thought that was awesome so let us go in for free and also gave us free albums from this band! They thought us giving up two years of our lives just to preach the Gospel was awesome. It is awesome, isn't it? It's the best, it really is. Our investigators were also so appreciative for our willingness to come and they said that they had to come to church and our Young Adults activity as well!

Well, those were the big things that happened! There are many miracles that happen every day and there is no way that I could name every single one, but they happen. One thing that Ældste Bednar has said is that we should pray for the Spirit of Discernment so we can recognize these blessings when they happen! We should always try our best to recognize them and be thankful.

I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all! Vi Ses! [Translation: You Six]

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro