A Blast-To-The-Past

Zone Training

This week could definitely be considered one of the more abnormal ones since my time here on Bornholm. Most of our week was spent up in Copenhagen from Sunday until Wednesday evening, and then Thursday is the service day.. Yet! The Lord always seems to bless us with more than I sometimes feel like we deserve. But let's start with our first few days in Copenhagen!

We were lucky enough to be on splits with the Assistants, Zone Leaders, and our District Leader this round at Zone Training which was a nice refresher because really we aren't able to have opportunities for splits on the island. Even with our district leader we generally don't have any time at all. But on Sunday evening we were with the assistants and were able to stop by a lot of people in the city and set up some appointments. Elder Oakey and Elder Child are some great missionaries. I really appreciate everything they've done for us.

After our P-Day on Monday I was able to be in Gladsaxe 2 Ward area in Copenhagen again with Ældste Metcalf! It was a Blast-To-The-Past moment for sure. We were able to stop by some of the people we taught together and it reminded me how much I appreciated out time together. The best was that we were able to stop by the couple we first met right before I left for Bornholm. They have been progressing so well and told me flat out that God sent us to them to help them understand more about Him. And to think they both were self-proclaimed atheists when we found them! We explained a lot about the church and the Prophet, and then I was able to play "I Am a Child of God" on the piano for them because they heard that I liked to play the piano. It was such a good appointment, I just hope so much that they take the next step and accept it all!

Splits were great as well with Birkerød missionaries! We were able to spend some time both with Ældste Clawson and Ældste Brindley. I really admire both of those missionaries, and it was especially great to see how much Ældste Brindley has grown since our time together in Randers! It was especially special to see the newly baptized member we taught Margaret again. I cannot believe how much that woman has changed since I first met her on the road in Ordrup. How different would her life be now if I had actually decided to stop teaching her like I initially thought I should?! Her life is changed for the better. She wrote a poem, actually, for me, and it means a ton. The missionaries have shown her love that she hasn't experienced from her friends or even her family. I'm so happy that I could have been a part of this experience that really shows how the Gospel has the power to transform absolutely EVERYONE!

The ferry ride, luckily, was much better than the one to Copenhagen. No sea-sickness this time around! We had some interesting lessons, though, back on the island.   We met with a couple who have been long-time friends of the missionaries but while they haven't committed to join the Church, but still love the missionaries. We, especially Ældste Redd, was having some great feelings from our training about focusing more on commitments with them and maybe something would happen to soften their hearts.

Our meeting with them definitely ended up being too long, though, and we had lost track of the time. That was unfortunate because we weren't able to talk as much about the commitments as we wanted to because we were already going to be late home. But we found out a big concern she has about prayer and trying to force your religion on others. But something changed as she noticed the sincerity of our efforts. She then was able to make a connection about how she, as a nurse, tries to get some people to get tests and examinations that could very well save their lives, but they're not willing to do it because of money, time, fear, etc. She wants them so much to see how important this could be to their health and, possibly, their survival! But they're sometimes not even willing to give it a second thought. I feel like when she was able to make that connection, it really softened her heart. We told her that she needed to just try, and then she could discern if it really was something that could help her.

The other appointment I'd like to talk about was with our two new investigators we found this week. One was a woman who was a previous member of the church and is married to a non-member. We found their record tucked away in an old binder and it had no address or number on it. Generally, I would completely discard a record like that because there's no way to contact them and there was only one lesson written, but for some reason I had some good feelings about their names. Maybe it's because it was written in pink, I don't know! I saw that Ældste Clawson was on the drop status and so I called him up and asked how we could find them. He told me relatively where they were and so Ældste Redd and I went on the search!

We looked through quite a few apartment complexes until we finally saw their names on one of the post-boxes. When they answered the door, they looked quite surprised, but were very friendly and let us in. As we approached our meeting with them I wondered if they would be good kingdom builders for the Rønne branch. I remembered Margaret and decided that as long as the Gospel can make a difference in their lives, that would be most important. She actually seems like she still has a testimony of the church, for sure that God is her loving Heavenly Father. Her husband is still searching for who God is. We ended up having a great conversation and Ældste Redd actually knows one of the missionaries that helped her get baptized a long time ago! So that was also quite the "coincidence." *cough, miracle, cough.* We have a return appointment and I have high hopes for them!

Ældste Redd and I have lots of people to teach, but I don't feel like many people that are progressing as much as we would like. We really need to find more investigators. So look forward for us to follow up next Monday on how that goes! There's great potential here, they just need to be found.

I'm so glad that Casey's talk went as well as it did. I hope some of the things I sent helped! That's also so funny that you think Ældste Redd sounds like Robert from “Everybody Loves Raymond.” I can totally hear it now!

I'm realizing that I am really going to have to start making some money when I get back for school. So I was thinking about starting giving piano lessons. It's seems like a great idea to me and it also makes it so I can choose my own schedule that can fit around my classes and also that I can get start ASAP when I return! So if you could find out sometime if there is anyone that would be interested in that, let them know that I'd be interesting in giving their kids piano lessons.

I love you all and miss you a ton! Have a great week!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

P.S. - Enjoy the picture of our ferry, Povl Anker, as it was pulling out of port last Sunday during the storm. This picture was in the newspaper on Bornholm.