Bon Voyage Elder Merrill!

Grundtvig's Church, Copenhagen

So today's been a weird day. I just dropped Ældste Merrill off at the Copenhagen Central Station and now I'm with Ældste Crank and Ældste Mogensen for the week. Safe travels to Ældste Merrill!

Because it was Ældste Merrill's last week we spent a lot of it visiting members and saying goodbye. We had a lot of great discussions with the members and it actually was a great way to build up our relationships with the members. I got to know a lot of them more personally and we were able to get them excited about missionary work.

Whole District: Elders Wawro, Merrill, Crank & Mogensen
Sisters Rigby and Murrey

I had splits with Ældste Mogensen and it was great! It was a lot of fun to be working with one of my old companions again and to see how we've both grown as missionaries. We had an appointment with *Henry* [name changed for privacy]. *Henry* is a member who has been recently returning to church after a long lapse in activitiy. He's decided it's time to come back. We showed him a plan that Ældste Crank and d Ældste Mogensen made for him to get to the temple and he loved that. We also talked about prayer and how it would bless him in all aspects in his life. He seemed to realize how prayer could help him strengthen his struggling relationship with his girlfriend *Lucy* and asked us also to pray for them. This was a testimony to us about prayer because just a couple days later he and *Lucy* came to church together!

We also met with another man named *Joseph*. He's an inactive member and is very well read in the scriptures. We were trying to read out of the Book of Mormon with him but he kept questioning how the Book of Mormon quoted the passages in the New Testament even though the Book of Mormon records were written before the events of the New Testament. This has been a significant struggle for him and we are having difficulty helping him to see that the Book of Mormon prophets were shown those New Testament events by way of revelation and visions.  I hope something happens to soften his heart so that he can see more with eyes of faith!

Ældste Mogensen and I also visited *James* and *Jenny*. They were investigators that Ældste Mogensen's Mom found when she was a missionary here! They are so nice. They're actually coming with us to the ward picnic this Saturday so we hope that will be a good experience for them!

Elder Teixeira teaching at Mission Conference

We got to go to the Temple this week and see the newest of the Temple Videos! It's always so great to go to that temple. I hope you get to experience it, the Temple is beautiful. And actually, I saw one my Zone Leaders who was in the MTC with me! He is a missionary in Sweden and because he is serving in the southern part of Sweden those missionaries go to the Copenhagen Temple instead of Stockholm. We've been on our missions about the same amount of time, he's 2 weeks ahead of me. It was way fun to see him. It was also our last activity as a district so that was special.

We had the amazing experience of having my first Mission Conference this week. Elder Teixeira from the Quorum of the 70 and the Europe Area President came and spoke to us. Let's just say, he set some very high expectations and standards which we are all excited to start working towards and applying! He really was so great. One of my favorite parts was when he expressed his gratitude towards President Sederholm and how all missions are blessed with good Mission Presidents, but President Sederholm is special. He said that the Prophet, the Quorum of the 12, and the Quorum of the 70 all love President Sederholm and keep an eye on the special work that he does. So I'm very grateful for President Sederholm. :)

Training at Zone Conference

Now, answering some of your questions:

Yes, Elder Merrill went home today. So I'll get my new companion next week.

At our Zone Conferences we (the Zone Leaders) train, the Sister Training Leaders train, and President Sederholm train. We train on the Chapter from Preach my Gospel that President Sederholm assigns, but then the Zone Leaders decide what we need to focus on in that chapter. We make plans, set goals, and learn how we can improve. This last Zone Training was on Chapter 11, “Commitments.” President Sederholm interviews us personally quarterly.

I love you all! Thanks for writing, even though it was so late in the night! I hope you have a great week!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro