Christian's Best Two Years: First Week in Denmark

On Monday evening on June 3rd Elder Wawro was notified that his visa had finally arrived and he would need to pack immediately as he was leaving at 3:30 am Tuesday June 4th. The following is the first email he has been able to send since arriving in Denmark a week earlier.

Wow!! Hej fra Danmark! Det er so mærkeligt at være her! Danmark er so smukt. Min Dansk er ikke godt, men det er ok fordi jeg ved det Himmelske Fader hvil hælper mig.

It's really weird trying to type on this Danish Keyboard, so if I make any mistakes ignore them. I promise I'm not losing my English abilities.

Being here has been like a dream come true. Denmark is so beautiful. Everything is so green and the cities are filled with so much history. President Sederholm is one of the greatest people I've ever met. He really is such an incredible guy. His wife is a sister in law to the Camps! Crazy connection. All the food is absolutely amazing. Every pastry is to die for. I also just finished my first Danish Kebab. Sooooooooo good.

You're right Dad, jet lag is killer. I've been so tired for the last week. It doesn't help that the sun doesn't go down till after I go to bed and sunrise starts at 3:00 AM so at 4:00 the sun is bright and shining on my bed. That woke me up every morning for the first three days or so, but I'm mostly used to it now.

So getting here was a little stressful....The London airport is literally the worst airport I've ever been to in my life! They don't tell you what gate you are going to be in or put what terminal it is on your ticket. To find your gate number you have to wait until boarding starts and then they put the number on the television screens. Turns out we went to the wrong terminal to get onto another flight GOING THE EXACT SAME TIME TO COPENHAGEN! So we missed our flight. Luckily we explained the situation and they rebooked our flight for 3 hours later. We arrived safely and enjoyed the evening at the Mission Home.

My companion is great. His name is Ældste Lindstrom. He's a super humble person who works super hard. I feel like if you are humble and hard-working you'll get along with just about any missionary on your mission.

Not speaking Danish well, has been tough for me. I felt like I was teaching really well in Temecula after we picked up our 6 investigators. Being here has stripped away almost all of those abilities. Funny enough though, I'm actually communicating here way better than I thought I would be.

I currently live and serve in the city Århus (Aarhus is the Americanized name - pronounced orhoos). It is the second biggest city in all of Denmark. It is actually referred to as the smallest big city in the world. I live with my companion and the two zone leaders (who are all amazing).

Talking with members and teaching is very hard. I mostly just stare at them and act like I know what's going on, but they can see right through me. It's alright though because none of them can pronounce my name anyways, so I make fun of them for that. The members are super here. The mission leaders daughter is actually leaving to go to BYU in August or something, so maybe you can have her over and meet her! See what a real Dane sounds like!

It's so sad to hear about Andre. He was a great man. I am sure it's hard for Pam and her family. I know that her testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will help her during the tough days ahead.

Dad - I'm sure it was harder to learn your language. Korean seems like it is so vastly different than anything we speak here. It's great to hear that Elijah is doing so well! Make sure to tell him hi for me (if you haven't already). I am positive he was just an outstanding missionary.

Mom, thank you for sending me that talk! I haven't read it yet but I've been looking everywhere for one that President Holland has given about Peter! I'm sure it's awesome. I'm going to try and send as many pictures as I can (I don't know if I can figure out how to do it right now....) Oh, and tell Will Wright to start getting excited because he's coming to the BEST MISSION IN THE WORLD!

My mission address:

Ældste Christian Patrick Wawro

Denmark Copenhagen Mission

Borups Alle 128, 1 tv

2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark

I don't have time to send more pictures now, but if you go to http://cop-den-mission.blogspot.dk/ or http://cop-den-mission.blogspot.com you can read and see Sister Sederholms Blog about our mission accompanied with pictures! I'm in a few of them!

Make sure to write! I love receiving emails as well but I can only respond to so many at a time! If you don't mind me taking a while to respond and email is probably the best option. I suppose a letter takes a while to get here and back also, but I'll try my best! Don't stop writing because I love receiving every single one of your letters/emails!

Jeg elsker jer! I har det bedste familie på jorden!

-Ældste Wawro

P.S. - I tried giving myself my first haircut in Denmark with the zone leader’s razor kit...turned out awful so I had to shave it so short! I already have my first traditional bad missionary haircut ;)