Greetings from "Elder Weird"

Greetings from Denmark! This last week has been a great week! Elder Lindstrom and I had the most member-present lessons and investigators in sacrament meeting in the mission this past week! We have been greatly blessed.

It sounds like you had a busy week as well! Happy Birthday to Haley as well! That is so fun that you all went to see YASI. I love YASI. It's good to hear we had some good Orem High representation!

The language is coming along better. I able to be an active part of the lessons and can understand more than I can't understand …for the most part. It's still crazy hard, but it’s coming. I actually sang "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" in Danish during Sacrament Meeting this past week!

A big tree at Rosenholm Slot (Castle)

Doing our thing with the Zone Leaders at Rosenholm Slot

Those pictures of Kaleb are great. He and his companion are basically twins....basically.

One of our investigators is getting really excited for his baptismal date. He actually moved it up a week which we will not complain about. He came to church and loved every second of it. He said he felt so good and peaceful the entire time.

Oh, by the way, before I forget, I can't wait for you to hear a Dane try and pronounce our name. It is hilarious! Some look at my name tag and don't even try. Multiple people have asked me if it's an Indian name! We actually met with a couple sisters who moved here from Venezuela. One sister is a member but can only speak Spanish, and the other sister translated for us. They were so funny! The sister that was translating for us just called me "Elder Weird" because she couldn't say my name. They made South American food and the entire atmosphere reminded me of getting together with my Mexican relatives.

Oh, I believe I forgot to tell you this. I was talking to President Sederholm the other day at a Media Training Conference/one month in the land meeting. Basically he told me I was going to train either in August or September! I’m a little nervous because I feel like I hardly know what I’m doing yet, especially in Danish.  I don't know for sure yet but that's what he said he was hoping for.

By the way, Mom, I did get your package the previous week! I somehow forgot to mention that, but I got it! Thank you so much for all the stuff you sent. It was great to have some American candy again.

Any more mail?

I forgot to tell you about this lady we met with this past week. She is a recent convert and lived in Nauvoo for a couple months right after her baptism! Her kids lived there with her and they were greatly befriended by the church members in Nauvoo and have since moved back to Denmark. We decided to visit her and by chance one of her sons was there. At first we did most of the talking but then her son opened up and just started sharing all of his personal experiences! Apparently he wasn't very talkative with the missionaries before but we seemed to form a quick friendship with him and he talked to us a lot! We had his mom teach a lesson on faith and we committed him to come to the Young Adults Activity, so we hope he comes!

Ha, super funny that Lauren Pugmire saw Carina's picture on instagram. She is a recent convert, baptized in April, and is a fantastic member! Let me know about Ben Thomas! Tell him to email me soon! I want to know where he is going!

I hope everything continues to go well with you all! Keep emailing me!  Oh, and the Dear Elder.com thing is great, keep doing that. Jeg Elsker Jer!

-Ældste Wawro

Baptism of Marius

Marius at his baptism

Hello everyone! Greetings again from the land! Hopefully you enjoyed all the pictures from last time. This last week has been great, but not a whole lot to talk about.

The biggest thing that happened this past week is that the investigator Marius was baptized this past week! He is the zone leaders investigator but we became pretty good friends. He is such a great guy and comes from Romania. He made us the best hot dogs I've ever had in my life! Anyway, his baptism was so amazing. The spirit was really strong and you could tell he was extremely prepared. We also had a couple of investigators there as well! Yesterday I confirmed him a member of the church and gave him the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was a great experience and am so grateful for that opportunity. I'll attach some pictures of the baptism.

That is really the big thing that happened this past week! I hope that all of you have a great week! Keep me updated on what's going on! Also, make sure to tell me about the funeral!

Jeg Elsker Jer!

-Ældste Wawro

Life Rolls On in Denmark

Hello everybody! 

Another week has come and gone in the land. Weather here has been pretty much perfect. It rains a bit but the last few days have been completely sunny!

I'm going to start off this email with the events of this past week to shake things up a bit:4th of July was pretty depressing here. It was pretty much like any other day. No "Cul de Sac of Fire" here!

Things continue to go well. We got a couple of our investigators to church this week. We got a couple of new investigators this past week. One of them I met on splits with one of the Zone Leaders (we do splits a bit since we live in the same apartment, both work in Århus, and sometimes need to multiple places at once). We taught him in the church and I invited him to be baptized but he said he was unsure about it. Later this week he texted us and said that he felt so peaceful while in the church that he wants to be baptized! So now we are working to get him baptized on the 31st of August.

The other investigator just moved here from Finland. She was a referral from the missionaries there and so we met up with her. She was really receptive to everything we were teaching, so at the end we invited her to baptism. She hasn't committed yet but we have high hopes for her!

Steering a Parked Tall Ship in Arhus 

On a funnier note, I was getting off the bus the other day and I saw an elderly lady struggling to get off so I helped her down. She then asked me if I could walk her to her house so I said yes and called out to my companion to come back since he started walking ahead. The next hour was filled with her just taking her to random places, her knocking on random people’s doors and then trying to get in if they didn't answer! We kept asking for her address and then she would just take us to another random place! We finally got her address out of her and took her to the bus. A member was getting on that same bus so we passed her off to them and sent her on her merry way back home!

The last big thing that I can think of that happened this last week has to do with that one investigator of the Zone Leaders that had the dream where I told him he needed to be baptized one the 12 of July. So his baptism is this week and he has been a golden investigator for them. When they asked who they wanted to do what for his baptism he said he didn't want to offend anybody and choose, so we sent the ward mission leader to ask so that he didn't feel like he was going to offend anyone in their faces. He ended up choosing the first missionary who found him (he currently serves in Copenhagen) to baptize him, but he chose me to give him the Holy Ghost and confirm him a member! I'm not even one of his missionaries! It's going to be a way cool experience though and I am so excited to confirm my first person!

Now back to you guys:

That's super sad about Uncle Manuel. You will have to tell me how the funeral goes. I hope everyone is taking it well. 

Feel free to not send me any pictures of Grandma's toe. I am doing perfectly fine without them. Tell Grandma Betty thanks for writing me and that I'm going to write her back this week! I just need to get a couple of stamps.

Looks like Cries of Freedom was a blast! I'm sure Casey was great in it! Nathan would have made the most Mexican Red Coat ever seen. I hope Casey has a good time on her Student Council retreat! It's too bad Haley didn't make the show. She should have. Its awesome that she saw Maddie and Marissa in the MTC though! If she sees them again she will have to tell them hi for me! 

The motorcycle is fun to ride, huh Dad? And yes, there is a ton of cycling here. Cycling in Denmark is a more popular mode of transportation than driving. They actually have individual lanes on the road for bikers on every single street.

Sounds like everything has been pretty fun and pretty busy back at home. Tell Grandma Warren and all the family hi for me as you see them.

Hope you enjoyed all the pictures! Jeg Elsker Jer!

-Ældste Wawro

Another Week in the Land of the Danes

Elder Wawro with Youth from Arhus Ward

Hello Hello! I would first off like to start out with an apology....

I left my camera cord back at the apartment so I can't send any pictures. Today was a little hectic and I had to switch bags quickly so I left it back. It's too bad because I took a ton of pictures this week! I'll see if there will be a way I can send the pictures later today...probably not though.

Casey! It's so great to hear about all of your temple trips. That is such a wonderful thing that you are doing. Also, thank you for all of the spiritual thoughts that you send me. They are always so great to read. I hope that Cries for Freedom is going well for you! Make sure to tell the Leavitts Hi for me! Also, great job with your audition! I hope you have a great trip for Student Council and make sure you email me about it.

I bet Nathan is doing a fantastic job as Charlie Brown. I am a little envious of him. I'm sure football is keeping him busy as well. It's too bad he had to quit Cries for Freedom but it sounds like his plate is pretty full as it is.

I hope Haley makes it into the show [In the Heights at the Hale Theater]. She would be perfect. In the Heights would be a great opportunity for her. Sounds like school is keeping her pretty busy. It's hard, but if you try to focus on how what you are learning will help you, it gives you a stronger motivation to carry on.

Now, this email is going to be a little bit shorter. I don't have a lot of time. Oh! By the way, President Sederholm informed us that all of us are required to get bikes for our mission now. Anyone who's staying longer than the end of December has to get them. So there was this bike out back of our apartment that was left by a previous missionary. It's a way nice bike but it was locked up and the key was lost. I went out there last week and pulled on the lock and it turned out it wasn't actually locked! So now I get my bike for free (which is a way nice bike) where as before I would have had to pay a significant amount of money for one! You’re welcome ;)

So this last week has been pretty busy. The highlights can be split up into three different events.

First, do you remember that one investigator I told you about? The one who I bore my testimony on the importance of the Book of Mormon in my poor Danish. We lost contact with her until last week. We met up with her again, this time with a member whom we just recently reactivated.  She was still having a hard time with the Book of Mormon. Luckily, this time our member bore his testimony of the importance of the Book of Mormon. She then opened up and said that because she loves the Bible so much and it has helped her in many instances in her life she has a hard time believing there could be another word of God. She then asked us to pray for her that she could know the Book of Mormon is true like we do. We called her a few days later and asked if she had read. She said she did and that she can now see why we love the Book of Mormon so much. She said finding out the Book of Mormon was true was the first step, and now she needs to come to church!! How amazing is that?

At Ward BBQ Activity

Next, we had a ward barbecue. It was way fun and I will send pictures ASAP! We played a lot of games and the Bishop's kids were helping me with my Danish the entire time. I also got to play a few songs on the guitar and lead the ward in a sing-a-long of Book of Mormon Stories ;).


Last, I went on splits up to a town named Randers with a missionary who got to Denmark the same day I did. We both had only been out here for about 3 weeks and we had to go to all of the appointments, contact, and tract by ourselves! Not going to lie, I was a little nervous because neither of us speaks really good Danish or understands a lot that's being said to us. Amazingly enough, we placed 2 Book of Mormons and got a phone number to contact! We also taught a couple lessons.

Randers, Denmark

Oh! Also the Bishop thought it would be funny if the zone leaders and my companion told me I had to give a 30 minute talk on Sunday! They kept me believing, as well as the Bishop, that I needed to give my talk in Danish until a couple days beforehand. Finally my companion felt bad enough because of my stress that he told me the truth. Ha, my Bishop is so funny...

Well, I hope everything continues to roll in Utah. I'll try to get those pictures back to you as soon as I can. Love you all!

"Dreaming" of Baptisms

Hej!

Wow, it sounds like things have been pretty exciting for all of you back home! That's crazy that Haley's moved out now. I can't believe she was one of the Honor Code Angels! That skit was so funny last year! Sounds like it was pretty much the same thing. Tell Brad and Shae hi for next time you can. Tell Ashley congratulations on her mission call to Alabama for me! That is going to be so great! Alabama is going to be such a great experience for her.

Casey, that's awesome you're going to start going to the temple with her! I know that will be a great experience for you. I hope you have fun on your Student Council Trip. Let me know how that goes for you, ok? Also, good luck with your Cries of Freedom performances! Mom, thank you for all of the letters you sent! It was great to hear from all the people in rehearsal! It's cool that you're emailing Ældste Walch's Mom. He's a really fun missionary to be around. Unfortunately he's on the middle island and I'm on mainland Denmark.

It's cool that you took everyone to the Worldwide Leadership Training meeting, I actually haven't seen it yet since it was going on around the middle of the night for us. We are hoping to get together to watch it soon though! 

Sankt Hans (St John's Festival)
A Traditional Danish holiday where a bonfire deters 
evil spirits on the eve of summer solstice  

This last week wasn't super exciting. We didn't have a lot of appointments this last week. Since we're opening this area it's been pretty slow in getting it going. There were a few pretty cool experiences.

First off, last night was the Sankt Hans Festival. It was a witch burning celebration! Let me tell you, it's really nice rooming with the Zone Leaders. They just called President Sederholm and asked if we could go and he said yes. We went with our Ward Mission Leader and his family. It was pretty fun and I will attach some pictures of the ceremony. 

Things are going well with Investigator Y who we set a baptismal date with last week. Her husband (who is a member) is really an eager participant. Hopefully we can continue to make steady progress with her.

This was the craziest thing that happened this last week. The Zone Leaders were teaching a man from Romania. He has been really positive and he is an amazing guy. I met him a couple of times and we got along really well, but neither of us really knew each other too well. So the Zone Leaders invited him to baptism this last week and he said he would have to think of a date. A few days ago the Zone Leaders asked him if he had a date and he shared this experience: 

"I had a dream last night that I was swimming in a river. I was swimming with you (Ældste Whitlock) and Ældste Wawro. Eventually you both approached me and Ældste Wawro told me I had to be baptized on July 21!" 

So now he's getting baptized on that date! Ha, the Zone Leaders were making fun of me for stealing there baptismal invitation.

The final thing I'd like to talk about is the book Teachings of the Presidents of the Church:Joseph Smith. I've read a lot since getting here. This last week I read through all of this book. It is absolutely incredible. The Fullness of the Gospel really was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. 

“After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel.” -Joseph Smith Jr.

Well, that's all for today. Thanks again for writing and thanks for everything you all do! Jeg Elsker Dig!

-Ældste Wawro

Learning to Teach the Lord's Way in Arhus, Denmark

Hello everyone! It was so fun to see Ben and Haley's pictures for the Senior-Sendoff. It's weird to think that they're graduated now! It was also way cool to see you with the cast of "Resistance Movement"! I bet that was pretty cool, but it's too bad Caleb Jensen wasn't there. Of course, he's doing something much more important on his mission in Cleveland! 

I'll get straight to this last week:

Being here has brought all sorts of feelings. I'm in the most beautiful land with such history that you wouldn't even believe. My companion is great and living with the zone leaders is about the best thing ever. This last week has brought many feelings of excitement, frustration, tiredness, and most of all, an increase of faith. 

Not being able to communicate with people is literally the most frustrating thing that's ever happened to me. I only speak to my companion in Danish throughout the day and everyone else speaks Danish so I really don't speak much English until the evening right before bed. There were a few days I just wanted to kick something because I was so frustrated!  I have this testimony and this message that I want to share but I don't have words to share it!  When a lesson starts to go south and I can vaguely understand why but don't have any idea how to communicate the thoughts I have...oh, that's the worst. We came here with no previous investigators to work with. We had to start fresh (just like in California).

Elder Lindstrom and Elder Wawro

Funny enough, I think I needed to go foreign speaking. I think in California I depended too much on my own teaching abilities (which I probably became a little too confident in), and didn't rely enough on teaching by the Spirit. That has been my biggest challenge here: learning to listen to the Spirit. Heavenly Father put me in a position where I literally could not do anything unless I was listening to what he wanted me to say. He stripped me down completely so he could build me up again His way, not my way.

Last Monday, after I wrote to you all and read your emails, I went out to teach a former investigator from years ago (back when this area was open). I'll call her X. X is originally from Greenland and has a strong faith in God. She at one point even had a baptismal date! Unfortunately, she never gained a testimony of Joseph Smith, specifically with the importance of the Book of Mormon. We originally had planned to teach her about the Plan of Salvation since she had had all the lessons before. She took us off track though once we brought out the Book of Mormon. She said she respects the Book of Mormon but that Bible goes first! The Bible is the most important thing! In the end it doesn't matter so much what church you're a part of as long as you follow the Bible!

This was the first time in a lesson I actually understood what was going on, which was nice. She asked if my companion, who was doing the all the talking, knew the Bible. My companion said that he regularly reads from the Bible but most of his scripture study had been focused on the Book of Mormon. She did not like his answer and went off on him!

Then the thought that you gave me about the importance of the Book of Mormon in missionary work from Elijah [Thomas's homecoming testimony] came into my head. Finally I couldn't restrain myself anymore. I opened my Bible and read her a scripture in Acts where Peter says, "We cannot but speak the things which we've seen and heard." I then told her, in my broken Danish, “Here are the things I know. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God.”

She cuts in and says “But the Bible is first!”

I answered, “Nej!!” [No] “The Book of Mormon and the Bible TOGETHER contain the fullness of the Gospel. Joseph Smith is a prophet called of God in these last days! We left our families back home so we could tell you how to bless yours! I promise you if you read the Book of Mormon you and your daughter will be blessed and you will feel God in your life telling you that what we say is true.” 

We gave her a scripture to read and she said she respected us enough that she would. That was a miracle from God and the first time I felt the gift of Tongues on my mission. Thank Elijah [Thomas] for his testimony and tell him how it helped me from the first day I heard it.

We got our first baptismal date yesterday with investigator Y. It was kind of a miracle how it happened. I played piano today for a musical number in our ward and it went great. Afterwards this guy came up to me and complimented me on the music and told me how much his wife loves music. I thanked him and went my merry way. Later I saw him talking to my companion and I came back up to him. He asked me if I knew my scriptures, Bible and Book of Mormon. I said yes, I've read through them a lot. He said great! I've been waiting for someone who could answer my wife's questions. I'm a member and she's not, and she has a lot of questions she wants answers to.

Danish food is yummy!

To make a long story short, we met with her for 3 hours! It was way too long, but we answered her questions and in the end Ældste Lindstrom asked her to baptism and she accepted!

In the MTC I mentioned that I focused a lot of my time in the Bible and I didn't know why. I've already had a couple experiences where that study in the Bible has blessed us so much. God really knows what we need better than we do. The miracles He performs every day are without number.

I love you all so much! I can't wait to hear back from you!! 

-Ældste Wawro

First Week in Denmark

            On Monday evening on June 3rd Elder Wawro was notified that his visa had finally arrived and he would need to pack immediately as he was leaving at 3:30 am Tuesday June 4th. The following is the first email he has been able to send since arriving in Denmark a week earlier.  

Wow!! Hej fra Danmark! Det er so mærkeligt at være her! Danmark er so smukt. Min Dansk er ikke godt, men det er ok fordi jeg ved det Himmelske Fader hvil hælper mig.

It's really weird trying to type on this Danish Keyboard, so if I make any mistakes ignore them. I promise I'm not losing my English abilities. 

Being here has been like a dream come true. Denmark is so beautiful. Everything is so green and the cities are filled with so much history. President Sederholm is one of the greatest people I've ever met. He really is such an incredible guy. His wife is a sister in law to the Camps! Crazy connection. All the food is absolutely amazing. Every pastry is to die for. I also just finished my first Danish Kebab. Sooooooooo good.

You're right Dad, jet lag is killer. I've been so tired for the last week. It doesn't help that the sun doesn't go down till after I go to bed and sunrise starts at 3:00 AM so at 4:00 the sun is bright and shining on my bed. That woke me up every morning for the first three days or so, but I'm mostly used to it now.

So getting here was a little stressful....The London airport is literally the worst airport I've ever been to in my life! They don't tell you what gate you are going to be in or put what terminal it is on your ticket. To find your gate number you have to wait until boarding starts and then they put the number on the television screens. Turns out we went to the wrong terminal to get onto another flight GOING THE EXACT SAME TIME TO COPENHAGEN! So we missed our flight. Luckily we explained the situation and they rebooked our flight for 3 hours later. We arrived safely and enjoyed the evening at the Mission Home.

My companion is great. His name is Ældste Lindstrom. He's a super humble person who works super hard. I feel like if you are humble and hard-working you'll get along with just about any missionary on your mission. 

Not speaking Danish well, has been tough for me. I felt like I was teaching really well in Temecula after we picked up our 6 investigators. Being here has stripped away almost all of those abilities. Funny enough though, I'm actually communicating here way better than I thought I would be.

I currently live and serve in the city Århus (Aarhus is the Americanized name - pronounced orhoos). It is the second biggest city in all of Denmark. It is actually referred to as the smallest big city in the world. I live with my companion and the two zone leaders (who are all amazing). 

Talking with members and teaching is very hard. I mostly just stare at them and act like I know what's going on, but they can see right through me. It's alright though because none of them can pronounce my name anyways, so I make fun of them for that. The members are super here. The mission leaders daughter is actually leaving to go to BYU in August or something, so maybe you can have her over and meet her! See what a real Dane sounds like!

It's so sad to hear about Andre. He was a great man. I am sure it's hard for Pam and her family. I know that her testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will help her during the tough days ahead. 

Dad - I'm sure it was harder to learn your language. Korean seems like it is so vastly different than anything we speak here. It's great to hear that Elijah is doing so well! Make sure to tell him hi for me (if you haven't already). I am positive he was just an outstanding missionary. 

Mom, thank you for sending me that talk! I haven't read it yet but I've been looking everywhere for one that President Holland has given about Peter! I'm sure it's awesome. I'm going to try and send as many pictures as I can (I don't know if I can figure out how to do it right now....) Oh, and tell Will Wright to start getting excited because he's coming to the BEST MISSION IN THE WORLD!

My mission address:

Ældste Christian Patrick Wawro

Denmark Copenhagen Mission

Borups Alle 128, 1 tv

2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark

I don't have time to send more pictures now, but if you go to http://cop-den-mission.blogspot.dk/ or http://cop-den-mission.blogspot.com you can read and see Sister Sederholms Blog about our mission accompanied with pictures! I'm in a few of them!

Make sure to write! I love receiving emails as well but I can only respond to so many at a time! If you don't mind me taking a while to respond and email is probably the best option. I suppose a letter takes a while to get here and back also, but I'll try my best! Don't stop writing because I love receiving every single one of your letters/emails!

Jeg elsker jer! I har det bedste familie på jorden!

-Ældste Wawro

P.S.  - I tried giving myself my first haircut in Denmark with the zone leader’s razor kit...turned out awful so I had to shave it so short! I already have my first traditional bad missionary haircut ;)

Elder Wawro with new companion Elder Lindstrom

President and Sister Sederholm with Elder Wawro and Elder Lindstrom

At Jylland Zone Training

Arriving at Copenhagen Airport

New missionaries and their companions