Orem, Utah.

This week was C-R-A-Z-Y!

Hello everybody! Another week comes and goes, and it continues to be awesome here in Denmark. I miss Randers a lot, but let me tell you, I love being here in Odense! The 2nd of April will be H.C. Andersen's birthday so there's going to be a ton of festivities going on right around our apartment! Odense is great.

The days are getting longer here. I love it! The sun was already rising when we woke up and didn't go down until 8:00! Way better then sunrise beginning at 10 and being completely dark at 4:00. I love the sun!

I'm sorry to hear about Nathan's election. That really is too bad. But that just means that there'll be time for more things to do his Senior Year!

Wish I could see your show, Mom! I bet you it's going great! I'm glad to hear Music Man went well too, Casey!

So what exactly did Nathan do to his knee? [Nathan injured it at tap dancing rehearsal]

So...as for my week.

A Needle in a Haystack

It all started off on Tuesday at CUV. We were hoping to get a less-active to come but he ended up not showing up. While we were there at CUV, one of the other Elder’s investigators came in with her friend and asked if any missionaries would be willing to answer some of her friend’s questions. Ældste Jewkes and I raised our hands and ended up teaching most of the Restoration to her and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was so accepting of everything we had to teach. We didn't end up getting her address or number and had no way to find out which missionaries should be teaching her, so we just hoped that the Seden Elders would find out more at their next appointment with their investigator.

Ældste Mogensen and I were going to contact a referral about 3 days later. It was a referral we had gotten about a week ago that we had tried to contact a couple times but they were never home. They wanted a Book of Mormon. But this time she opened the door when we knocked and, lo and behold, it was the friend that we had just taught!! We had no idea that THAT referral, the exact one we have been trying to contact was actually the investigator's friend that we luckily, and accidentally, had taught just a few days previously. So we found out where she lived, got her phone-number, and she said that she'll come to CUV again this next week! Definitely a blessing from God.

"Just baptize him"

Things are going really well with our investigator with a baptismal date. We met with him a couple times this past week where we reviewed the Word of Wisdom and showed him some of the Bible Videos (which he loves!). He understands everything. It was especially helpful to read D&C 89 with him so he could stop and ask us questions. At the end we asked him to summarize the WoW and he understood it completely and agrees that we need to live it to protect our bodies which are gifts from God. He came to church as well and loved it, as usual. At the end of the meeting the Bishop said to "bare døbe ham." [Translation: Just baptize him]. He believes he's ready. So we'll continue to work towards the 3rd of May to get him in the water.

We did service for a member of the ward with the Svenborg Elders. We had to move a ton of chopped wood in a forest to his property before hunting season. It was hard work, but actually pretty fun. He was really grateful for our work and was surprised at how fast we got the job done. It's always great to do service.

CRAZY Bus Connections

So before I got here to Odense, Ældste Mogensen and Ældste Merril were contacted by a woman on the bus who said, "Hej Ældster!" [Translation: Hello Elders] which of course startled them. Turned out she had been taught by missionaries a long time ago but stopped investigating. They got her name but no other information other than she lived on the 2nd floor somewhere and was headed to Højby. Naturally, they went to the church and used krak.dk (in Denmark, everyone needs to register at the kommune, so you can use this website to find anyone in Denmark and where they are living and their phone-number) to find all the people that lived on the 2nd floor around Højby with her first name. They eliminated the names down to one person but never contacted it. So Ældste Mogensen decided to knock that area and "conveniently" knock on her door. When she opened the door she was very excited to see us and we had a great conversation. She also talked about a sister missionary who taught her here in Odense over 20 years ago. As she described her we became almost certain that it was Ældste Mogensen’s Mom while she was here in Odense serving her mission! Crazy! Obviously, she was really excited to hear that and said that we could definitely come back, so we will.

Just too cool

We met with Martin, who is a new convert from Slovakia, yesterday to talk about his temple trip. He really enjoyed it, but nobody explained to him that he wouldn't be able to go to an endowment session as well so he thought the trip was a little too short. But, as it turns out, he'll be a member for a year this May so it gives us time to start teaching some temple-prep to get him ready to get his endowment! So we'll talk with the Bishop and hopefully get that started!

"No. You do not! I lived in Orem for 5 years!"

We contacted another referral this last Friday. It was a family who requested a visit from the missionaries and a Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, they were busy that day but we got their number and they said to call back on the weekend to make an appointment. So we called both Saturday and Sunday but didn't get any answer until around bedtime. 

We got a call from an unknown number and when I answered it this woman speaking English in a thick German accent asked if we were the missionaries. We said we were. She then commented that my English wasn't a Danish-English accent and she asked where I came from. For some reason, I said "Orem, Utah" which is a lot more specific than I ever tell anyone right off the bat because most people don't even know where Utah is. I normally just say the United States. But then it got silent. She said, "No. You do not! I lived in Orem for 5 years!" 

She then asked me a ton of questions of where I lived in Orem, and if I knew people she knew. She also asked if I was the missionary that tripped at the door step when I was turning around and almost trampled her roses...I was. She laughed, I cried. She continued to explain that she was a member, she is now with her 2nd husband, and she had just received a visit from one of her old friends from Orem. While he was there, her husband read a Primary Children’s Songbook and the words really touched him. The prayer that the man said also stirred something inside of him and he told her that he wanted to learn more. So they referred themselves to the missionaries! They said that I have to come over now because I'm from Utah and we have an appointment for this Saturday! Pretty unbelievable.

That was basically everything with our crazy week! I don't think I have anything more to share. But I hope that you all have a wonderful week and I'm excited to hear all about it next Monday!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro