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| Jarom Sederholm (President Sederholms youngest son) and I on his last Sunday before the MTC and then to South Korea! |
Goddag to ya'll!
I'd like to start off by saying thanks to Mom for sending
all of those recipes! We're excited to try them this week!
I'm also grateful that Aunt Janene and Aunt Rachel have
been keeping me updated about the Sisters Wawro in their missions! I love to
hear all about their mission experiences as well.
I really wish I could be there at Yellowstone with you
all this next week! I'm sure it will be a grand ol' time.
Just some information you may be interested in...so
apparently there isn't a transfer that ends in April, there is one in March and
May. Since I began my mission in April I'm not sure which month President
Sederholm will want to send us home in. So just as far as picking me up, if
you're still interested in doing that, I'm not sure yet what month it will be
in. If it is in May, which I personally think it will be, I can imagine that it
would be difficult to come out here because it's the end of the school year and
Nathan's graduation. I'll let you know when I find out more, but just something
to think about!
We finally were able to move *Janet* [name changed for privacy] this week. We had
some people from the ward to come and get her moved, and the missionaries in
Birkerød were waiting in her new apartment to help move everything in. We are
going to really miss *Janet* here. We have really come to love her, and she's come
to love us! She actually told me that I was her son or grandson. And Lo and
Behold, even before she left she gave us another referral! She met a Mexican
lady that is here on vacation who apparently used to go to the Mormon church
with her parents, but stopped when she was really little. But she wants to come
to church this next Sunday! *Janet* is just such a great missionary, even
though we're still not sure if she's a member or not! She will be missed.
We met with *Susan* [also name changed, the Filipino investigator], and of course, we found out that she
doesn't actually live in Holte, but she lives in Birkerød's area. That's ok,
though, as long as she's baptized that's what's most important! We had a lesson
with her and it went really well. Jacob Sederholm (President Sederholm's son
who got back from his mission a month or two ago) was with us and he was a big
help!
She was a little confused about faith and grace, and was confused why we
would have to do anything besides just having Faith in Christ to be saved. We
began by asking her what it meant to be saved. She said it was to live with God
and Jesus Christ forever in happiness. That's of course, correct! We then
explained how God has so much more in store for us than just saving us from our
sins. He wants us to become something. Something that is better than what we
really are. And how can we hope to be happy with God if we haven't tried to
become godly? But, of course, in the end it is only through the merits and
mercy of the Atonement of Christ that we can be saved and that any of this is
possible! She was happy to hear that and I feel like it made more sense to her
than just to believe we are saved by faith.
She does still have some questions
about Baptism though. Her previous church kind of confused her into believing
that baptism actually isn't even necessary anymore, so we'll have to try to
resolve that concern. As she reads and prays, she'll start to resolve a lot of
her own concerns. Now all we have to do is set up a new appointment with her
that the Birkerød Elders can come to so we can make the trade-off so that they
can begin teaching her.
Our investigator *Mary* was married to *James* on Saturday! *Mary* met the church from David who is a member and now she has such a strong
testimony. They already have plans to go to the temple one year from her
baptism! We haven't really been able to meet with them since they were so
stressed about because of the wedding, but it sounds like she is still planning
to getting baptized this month! We still have a couple more principles that she
needs to be taught before she can be baptized, but we'll get that taken care of
once they get back from their honey-moon.
While waiting for our train we ran into a less-active
named Robert. I barely recognized him because I've only seen him once or twice
before for a few seconds at his door, but he told us he was too busy so try
again some other time. He never seemed particularly positive so we hadn't made
so much of an effort to keep stopping by him. Robert's from Australia and has a
PhD in Indian Culture and Studies. We talked for a long time at the station and
he sat next to us on the train. We were so blessed to be able to run into him
there because we built a friendship with him that we couldn't otherwise get. By
the end of the conversation he invited us to go stop by one of the castles in
the area with him one of these days!
We stopped by him a few days after and he
let us into his house for our first time. We talked for a little bit and then
he said he was going to work in his garden. We asked if he would like some help,
and he gratefully said yes! So Ældste Merrill, Robert, Robert's son, and I all
went to the garden to work for a couple hours. It was a great way to get to
know both Robert and his 19 year old son better and a way to start gaining
their trust. I can see already that they are really starting to warm up to us
and hopefully we can start talking a little bit more about the church in the
near-future.
Yesterday, Jarom Sederholm gave his missionary farewell
talk. It was way good! He is so prepared, but of course, he is a Sederholm. He
leaves flies to America on Tuesday to enter the MTC and will leave to South
Korea nine weeks later. He is the youngest son of the Sederholms so you could see
President and Sister Sederholm were pretty emotional to see their last son getting
ready to leave on his mission. Jarom invited us to his farewell gathering after
church, and we didn't think President would actually let us do that, but he had
gotten permission from his dad to invite us. So we spent the evening at
President's House eating and talking to everyone. For lack of a better term, it
was a "hyggelig" [translation: cozy] evening. So best of luck to Jarom as he begins his
mission!
Other than that, there's not much more to say. Ældste
Merrill has reached his last week of his mission, so today is his last Monday
and Preparation Day before I drop him off at the train-station. Next Monday
I'll be made companions with Ældste Mogensen (again) and Ældste Crank in a
tri-companionship for one week until transfers happen. So I'll be a solo-Zone
Leader for a week, should be fun enough. ;)
I love you all! Keep praying, don't stop singing, and
stay classy.
MKH,
-Ældste Wawro
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