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