"This Will Be the Start of Something New!"

Elder Wawro and Elder Mogensen in beautiful Odense

Hello Friends and Family! I'm currently writing from the library here in Hillerup. I can't believe I'm actually here on Sjælland. Nevertheless, I'm excited for the time I'm going to spend here in Gladsaxe!

Leaving Odense was very emotional for me. They asked me to play a musical number about 15 minutes before Sacrament Meeting started. So I did, but after I was finished I was right next to the podium and everyone was looking at me so I HAD to go and bare my testimony. I just couldn't hold in the tears because I loved all of them so much! I'll really miss them and I'm very sad that I only got 2 transfers there, but I've heard great things about [the Gladsaxe 2^nd] Ward.

Ældste Mogensen and I had a great last week in Odense together.

So, we have this investigator named S****. [we haven’t felt that optimistic about]...or so I thought. He was the one who stayed in church for only about 10 minutes and then walked out. We met with him again and he told us that he really isn't interested in converting at all. He'll read and stuff because he respects religions, but he's not really interested in changing anything. While he is telling all of this to us, Ældste Mogensen and I are just thinking that we probably have to drop him. But then, he asked if we had any pamphlets. We told him we do. He asked if he could have some so he could keep him out for all of his guests who come around so he can show them a little bit about our religion. He then said that the next time we meet with him he'll bring a friend of his who has just gone through a rough divorce and could use our message! Of course we were fine with that! We gave him a scripture to read and a couple days later we ran into him and he asked when we were going to meet again because he had read the chapter and has some questions about it. For not being interested, he is acting pretty involved in what we give him to do!

Knocking on Hans Christian Anderson's House ...
But this book is no fairy tale!

J*** J***** is doing great! We hope that he'll reach his baptismal date for the 26th of July! I really think he can. We had a great appointment with him where Kim de King [a local member] was present and he was fantastic. [Kim] explained how meeting with us was great and that we could teach him a lot about the church, BUT, [Kim added] “the real magic starts after we leave.” Kim explained that the most important thing he can do is read and pray to find out by the power of the Holy Ghost if our message is true. He then offered his services to drive J*** to church and back Again. J*** accepted and he came to church that Sunday and he really seemed to enjoy it. So we're very thankful for Kim de King!

We helped do a service project on Thursday where we moved a bunch of tile to help redo a driveway. The tile was way heavy and there was a ton to do, but the members were so appreciative for our help. We also got to work with their less-active son so that was a great opportunity to get to know him better.

The Fyn District

We also had splits with the Svendborg Elders again this week. I went to Svendborg with Ældste Syversen, and guess what we did Friday morning. We moved heavy tile for a member! By this point in time I was pretty sore, but the member was super appreciative so we were glad to help. We also found a new investigator! His name is Fossil (I have no idea if that's how it's spelled, but that's how it's pronounced). He's a friend of a family that they're teaching and he's actually Muslim. He's as least interested to hear more about our church, so we'll see where that goes!

On Saturday we biked EVERYWHERE in Odense trying to stop by people, but nobody was home. At the end of the day we were finally able to meet with J*** U***** P*******. He's doing great, has a great testimony, but he needs to come to church more often! I’m not sure how best to help him understand that. He's an artist, and he gave me a painting, so now I just need to find a way to get it home...

So, I got a call the other day which surprised me. I missed the call at first, so I called them back. When they answered they told me it was the missionaries from Lithuania and they asked me if I was Ældste Wawro, the District Leader of Fyn. I told them I was and asked why they were calling. They had a referral for us. It was one of their investigator's sons and he is super positive! He was supposed to come to church this last Sunday but he got sick, but he is really excited to meet with us. It was a little strange, though that the missionaries actually called me from Lithuania. Apparently they called the office and got our number from there...? I don't know, but they said they had permission. Great referral though!

Thomas Bøgelund is just fantastic. He is doing so well and is so excited to be an active member. The best news is: He is getting the Priesthood this next Sunday!!! I really wish I could be there to see it, but I am just happy to see him grow in the church. I am very thankful that I had the opportunity to meet him and help him be baptized. I've learned a lot from Thomas and I look forward to seeing him again someday!

With Thomas Bøgelund  

So I traveled this morning, got on a train at 10:07 AM and drove straight to Copenhagen. Exciting news, I saw Ældste Wright for my first time actually in the mission! He has been on Bornholm and I've been in Jylland and on Fyn so we've never seen each other. But now we're both in different parts of Copenhagen so next time we see each other we'll have to take a picture together. I'm sure members from the Stake back home would like that.

Well, I don't have much more to say! I'm excited to start working with Ældste Merril. I also get to go to the mission home for my first time since the day I got to Denmark for a Mission Leadership Council Meeting. That should be fun!

I love you all and hope the best for you!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

The Frederiksen Family (Stake Presidents Family)

Are you sure this is the way to Copenhagen?

JJ Simonsen, and awesome Greenlandic member of the Odense Ward!

The Nørrung Family (Bishop's Family)

I was able to see Ældste Lindstrom, my trainer, right before he left to go home. He goes back home today but he was at the train station so we were able to have a final goodbye. Safe trip back to America!

From Elder Mogensen: "I REALLY ENJOYED, our companionship. It was rad... rader than rad it was raddishliciousness... Back to business, you have some pictures that I might want, and I would highly appreciate you sending those. I also wanted to say thank you for a good companionship, and have a good one in Gladsaxse..."

Remember, Remember ...

Goddag Ya'll! 

Serving here in Odense is just fantastic! Beautiful city, fantastic members, great companion, good work going on, there is really nothing to complain about. Unfortunately, transfers are coming up so within the next couple days we'll get the call and Ældste Mogensen is most likely out of here. He's still in his first area and it's been 4 transfers and almost nobody is in an area for more than 4 transfers (except for me in Randers).

I actually didn't even know yesterday was Memorial Day, but Happy Memorial Day!!

We focused on meeting with Thomas this week. We were able to meet with him about 4 times and they were all great appointments. We've started the lesson again with him so we've already gone through the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. He basically can give these lessons to us without our help at all. He still is so happy to be a member of the church and he loves all of the members so much. 

Kim de King is doing great. He is really excited for his new calling in the primary and loves the member he is working with. He says there's a lot he can learn from him. He's really been trying to do his best. We also committed him to come with us to J*** J***** who lives just a minute away from where he lives. He said he would, and he would drive him to church next Sunday! So things are definitely moving along with Kim.

We are not completely sure what to do with J*** U***** P*******. He knows everything is true and he even comes to church every other Sunday, but we just can't seem to get him to come more than that. We also brought up going to the temple with him, and he knows he needs to get to the Temple, but he just doesn't seem to be filled with the urgency of "now". It's really too bad.

It was a great appointment with J*** J***** this week. He has a difficult time remembering everything we teach, but in this lesson we saw that he truly is believing the things that we've been telling him. He read the assigned chapter and he told us some of his favorite passages he read. After that, we taught the Restoration one last time to really help him remember. The Spirit was very strong and he told us that he believed Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. At the end of the lesson, we invited him to baptism and he said he would have to think about it. I asked him, "Well, you said you believe all these things we've said. And if you believe them and will continue to grow your testimony about them, what would be holding you back from being baptized?" He replied, "Well, I guess not anything!" 

We then gave him a blessing to help him remember the things we teach. It was a great blessing and I believe it truly will help him. Right before we were leaving, though, I got the feeling that we really needed to set a date. So I asked him if he would be baptized on the 26th of July. He said he would! So now we'll be working towards that date, and I'm sure that his experiences in church and with the members will be a great help to him. 

So, we were walking home the other day back to our apartment and in the distance we saw a bunch of middle-aged women (well, more like in their 50's), dressed in crazy clothes, and extremely drunk, walking down the road. As we approached they started yelling and asking us if we could give 100 crowns to the bride to be. It was then that we noticed that one of these ladies had a sign around her neck that said, "Jeg Skal Giftes!" [Translation: I Should Marry!] Again, all of them were drunk out of their minds. We quickly said we had no money and tried to scurry away, but they wouldn't let us escape that easily. They looked at our tags and asked if we were Jews. We said no, and then they asked us to take a picture with the Bride to Be. As the Bride approached us, she read our name tag and then yelled, "They're the Mormons!!!" They all started laughing and then she put her arms around us and pulled us in to take a picture. The entire time I was terrified she was going to spill her can of beer on my white shirt. Eventually, they finished and went on their merry way. Definitely a crazy experience that seems to only happen to missionaries...

A little bit of fun with the boys from Svendborg in ToysRUs ;)

Ok...so I just got interrupted by a call from President Sederholm with maybe the worst news I've ever heard...I'm transferring. 

I'm completely stunned. I mean, I can't even believe it. I love it so much here in Odense. I really just feel so distraught about it. The members have been so great to me. I love the work here. I'm leaving Thomas and all those who I've worked with. I mean, I only got 2 transfers here!! What the?!

I suppose you would like to hear where I'm going...any guesses.?

I'll be going to....(drum roll please).......

Gladsaxe 2nd Ward. [Copenhagen]

It's on Sjælland and actually it's President Sederholm's ward. I'm going there to become a Zone Leader with Ældste Merril, Ældste Mogensen's trainer.

I can't believe I'm leaving Odense. I can't believe I'm becoming Zone Leader. I mean, there were so many other choices before me who had been in their areas significantly longer than I...It's just so crazy...

Well, I guess I'll leave on that note. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Next time I'll be writing you all I'll be writing from Gladsaxe...

Here's to all of the great memories and friends I've made here in Odense. Skål! [Cheers!]

-Ældste Wawro

Copenhagen Or Bust!

Cool international market right outside our Apartment! Tons of people and had people and food from all across Europe!

As you heard, I was in Copenhagen this last week for a "Specialized Training Meeting" with everyone in my MTC group [they are the largest MTC group in the mission and now have been out for 13 months]. It was amazing. I can't tell you how great it was to see everyone again. Dad, you mentioned how it reminded you of when Alma saw the sons of Mosiah Again. President Sederholm said the same thing.

MTC Group at Copenhagen Temple for a "Specialized Training"

It was pretty interesting. President Sederholm began by saying, "I bet you're all wondering why you're all here for this meeting." Of course we were. Everyone had been talking about the past few weeks what it could be. Formulating ideas. IPads, opening Greenland, extensions, all sorts of things. He continued, "Well, so am I." Apparently, he just had this feeling that he needed to call us together, but it wasn't until he recited D&C 4 in the meeting that he knew why we needed to be there. He gave a great training about focusing on the things that are most important and enjoying enduring to the end. He's always very inspirational.

Getting pizza at the specialized training

After the meeting we got to go to the temple and see the newest temple video in English! Everything about it was so beautiful. I just haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

We went on splits with the Svendborg Elders this week. Ældste Jewkes was up here in Odense with me. It was a great experience and we learned a lot about being bold and loving in our teaching.

While on splits we taught F******, the man from the Faroe Islands who came to Thomas's baptism. It was a pretty good lesson. We focused on the Restoration/Gospel of Jesus Christ. He really liked all the things we told him. The biggest problem for him is testimony. He likes everything he hears but he says he doesn't know yet that it's true. So we'll definitely be talking more about testimony in our next appointment with him.

Ældste Jewkes and I visited J*** J****** as well. Because of his age and an accident he was in, he has a hard time remembering all the Things that we taught him, so we decided to go through the Restoration Again. He remembered a fair amount, but there were definitely some key points that need reviewing and re-explaining. He said he believed that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. So that's great! He also said that if he finds out that the church is true that he will be baptized. So, again, we'll focus on receiving that answer with him!

So we met with Martin [a recently reactivated member] this week. We first met with him after CUV to talk about going on a mission again and the lesson went really well. He then expressed that he felt like he needed to go back to Slovakia soon to help build up the church in his homeland. We gave him a Blessing of guidance to help him in his decision of what he should do.

A couple days later I saw him for about a minute where he told me he might be leaving sooner than he thought. I told him to make sure to call us when he found out when he was going.  On Friday we got a call from Martin. He told us he decided to leave the next day, Saturday, so he wanted to see us before he left. We talked for a little bit, talked about his plans, and then said goodbye. I also gave him one of my ties and told him I expected him to wear it the day he enters the MTC to begin his full-time mission. I really hope he gets out on a mission. I'm a little worried for him but we have his email, so we'll stay in contact with him.

S**** is an interesting man. We met him for our first time a couple weeks ago. He invited us over to eat that week with some of his friends and he prepared a really fancy meal for all of us and we were able to hygge [translation: have fun] a little bit and get to know all of them. Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to really discuss the doctrine of the church. It was more of us answering questions about what we did as missionaries and why we decided to be missionaries.

But, this week, we got another appointment with him. He fed us Again. It was actually pretty funny, because when we got there the door was open but the house was completely empty. We kept calling for him to see if he was around, but there was no answer. We waited for around 20 minutes. We started getting worried that he died and he was just lying dead in his house. Right when we were thinking about going in to investigate, S**** showed up. Turns out, he went to pick us up from the bus stop, but we took a shortcut so we didn't meet on the way back!

Anyway, we met with him personally this time and it was a great appointment. He isn't really religious but he respects everybody. By the end of the lesson he agreed to go with us to church. He came, but it was a little weird. Because it was Ward Conference this week the classes were first and sacrament meeting was last. So we were in Priesthood and S**** was sitting with us for the first 10 minutes. But right when we split off to go to our separate classes he just got up and left! Apparently he just wanted a taste of it and he thought that was enough...a little disappointing, but it happens.

Thomas is still going strong! We didn't get to meet with him as much as we wanted. Our Schedules just didn't match up well. But we are making Thomas a focus for this next week. Nevertheless, we met with him a couple times this last week.

We introduced The Doctrine and Covenants because he had some questions about it. He has a copy of it now so we read the introduction and some of our favorite sections with him. He loves D&C 4. He wants us to print it out so he can put it on his wall. He's doing great!

We had a great Ward picnic this week. It was just like being back at the states. We went to this beautiful location in Nyborg right next to the beach. It was so much fun. We played a lot of games. We did the egg on the spoon race: Me vs. Ældste Mogensen and the Bishop. Way fun!

I also played piano for both musical numbers in both wards here on Sunday. So much piano! I'm probably going to have to start telling some people no because we have other things to do than play in Sacrament Meetings. But I do love playing.

Oh, speaking of that, the lady that is in charge of the Primary told me that she's going to find me a beautiful Danish girl to marry so that I can move here to Odense and continue to play piano for the Primary. So, just thought I'd give your some forewarning about that. ;)

Thanks for everything you do! I love you all! Have a great week!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

Døbt!

Thomas Bøgelund Baptized!

Hello! It was great to talk to you yesterday. Thanks for everything you do for me and know that I love you guys and really appreciate you all.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!! I love you!

This week has been a blessing for us.

First and foremost, Thomas Bøgelund got baptized! It was a great baptism and we were happy about how many people showed up even though there were a lot of other things the ward was involved in that day. The baptism and the confirmation both went great and we all are excited to have Thomas with us as the newest member of the ward. The home teachers have already talked to him and are going to go visit him this week. I am so grateful for the opportunity I've had to work with Thomas and to continue to help him after his baptism.

We met with J*** J***** a couple times this past week. J*** is the man in the wheelchair we knocked into the week before. He doesn't always need his wheelchair but he has a really bad leg. J*** is a spiritual giant though. He loves the Bible and his testimony of God and Jesus Christ is amazing. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and the restoration and he seems to accept everything we're teaching. He's also read in the Book of Mormon between visits and loved it. He's an older man, though, so he sometimes has a hard time remembering everything we've talked about and read. We'll definitely have to check for understanding the next time. But we invited him to baptism and he said yes, so hopefully we can get a date planned with him this next week!

I** is a man that I've just met for my first time last Friday. He comes from Nigeria and has strong faith. Ældste Mogensen met with him in February and had a great first lesson with him, but then he went to Nigeria for a month or so and we lost contact with him. We were able to call him and set up an appointment for this last week. We were thinking of who we could bring, and we both decided Isabella, the new convert, would be best. Turns out it was perfect! When I** opened the door they both laughed and said hi to each other. Turns out, I** comes from the church that Isabella went to before she became LDS! So that was great. During out lesson we focused on the Book of Mormon and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a powerful appointment. He has a lot of problems going on in his life right now, but we testified how baptism and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost would be the best thing for him to do to help him with all of these big decisions he has going on in his life. He is very accepting of our message. We invited him to baptism and he gave a kind-of yes, when things start to slow down in his life. We'll continue to meet with him and see how it goes from there.

We had a previous investigator neither Ældste Mogensen or myself had met come to Thomas' baptism. I gave him a call this last week and he said he would come, but I guess we didn't really expect him to come. But he did! His name is F****** and he's from the Faroe Islands [a group of islands in the North Atlantic that are about 200 miles north of Scotland]. He believes in God and actually was really close to getting baptized. He had a date and everything. But then he went to a baptism which had a ton of people there and he saw how big of a thing it was and it freaked him out a little bit. But we're hoping we'll get him this time around! He seemed to really like the baptism and he loved socializing with all of the members. We have an appointment tonight with him so hopefully it turns out well!

After we finished skyping yesterday, the Bishop's wife asked me to sing some songs. She heard that I did some musical theater before my mission and she loves musical theater. So after we ate we got around the piano and played and sang Les Mis and Chess and a bunch of other songs as well. It was just like at home! That was way fun and I forgot how much I missed that.

With Elder Strong at Super Lørdag [Super Saturday]

That really was most everything for this week. Other than we got to help with Super Lørdag [Super Saturday]! It's a big youth activity they do for all the youth here in Denmark and they held it here in Odense. Way fun! I also got to hear "What Does the Fox Say?" for my first time. Ha!

Love you all!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

Chillin' at Super Lørdag

PS 

Here is a poster for a party for asparagus and beer. Typisk Danmark [typical Denmark]. Always have to add alcohol to everything.

Another great week, with a little bit of crazy mixed in.

Goddag mine kære Søskende! [translation: Hello my dear brothers and sisters!] The weeks are really flying by! We're already in the month of May and about to Skype Again next Sunday. I'm really looking forward to it!

It's crazy that Haley is in Montana. Such a cool experience for her! You should definitely meet with Ældste Huffaker. He's the bomb.com. Hope you'll be able to Skype as well!

I can't believe Jay Sargent is actually home! A lot of the ward’s missionaries are going to be home soon now. I read his blog every once in a while and its crazy how much of the Swedish is just like or super close to Danish.

The weather here has been really nice until the ending of this week. It started getting a little cooler and rainy. But that's just Denmark.

I'll start off with a knocking story. Ældste Mogensen and I decided that we should plan some specific time to go do our own finding because we've been pretty busy recently getting ready for the baptism that we hadn't had a lot of time to go knocking. While knocking we met a man named J*** J*****. J*** is a man in a wheelchair who is deeply religious. Right when we started talking about God he bore his testimony to us how God has helped him in his life and started getting emotional and crying right there. You could definitely see his strong belief in God and Christ. We started talking about the Book of Mormon, and at first he was hesitant, but he agreed to take one. There more we talked the more he seemed to like us and it ended with him telling us to come back, so we'll do that tonight!

We had another appointment with A***** which went great! She looks so much better than she did before, and the entire time that we were teaching her she was only drinking water. She is still in the process of detoxicating and getting all of that alcohol out of her system, so at times it was hard for her to really focus and understand everything. But she definitely felt the Spirit. We taught the first half of the Plan of Salvation to her which went really well. We'll have to remember to take things slower with her because of her lack of a Christian background. She really enjoyed our visit, though, and wants to continue to learn more and come to church! Unfortunately, she ended up not being able to come this week because her boyfriend was in town and prevented her from coming, but we'll get her there this Sunday.

We had another service project this last week with Claus. He lives Down around Svendborg in the middle of a forest.  We moved a lot of firewood for him. Let me tell you, it was a lot of Wood. It took around 3 hours just to move all the Wood into his shed, but he really was very appreciative about it.

Now, concerning T*****...We taught T***** almost every single day this week. Every appointment was as it usually was. We teaching a principle and/or reading in the Book of Mormon with him and he agreeing with everything we taught. He truly does love the Gospel so much. After our service project on Friday we took the bus back from Svendborg to Odense to meet up with the Zone-Leaders to go interview T*****. The interview was fantastic. They both said that he was one of the most prepared people they have met. Thomas was looking so forward to the next day.

At about 10:30 the morning of his baptism, right before we left the Apartment to go do some Work with the Zone-Leaders (we were on splits), we got a phone-call from T*****. "Brothers, I have some terrible news," He said. "I can't be baptized today." We were all stunned. He explained that there was a rule that there needed to be somebody from the Facility to come with him to change his clothes since he's paralyzed and there was nobody to come with him that day. So we ran to the bus just in time to catch it to Tornbjerg. When we got there, we first talked with T*****. He was so distraught that the Ward was going to be mad at him or think that he didn't want to be baptized. We assured him that both of those Things were false. We then talked to the administration there and they explained that the person that was supposed to come with T***** that day was sick as well as multiple others so they were understaffed. There was no way they could find someone to come with T*****. So, unfortunately, we've had to move the baptism to next Saturday. But luckily, we've straightened everything out so the baptism WILL happen this Saturday.

After we called everyone to tell them the Baptism was cancelled, and since we had some free time because there was no baptism and the Zone-Leaders were still with us, we decided to go visit some people. All of us met with a previous investigator from when Ældste Hawkes was in Sønderborg but she moved to Odense. She's way positive and wants to meet with us now! Apparently, Ældste Elsbury stayed at her family's house with his Family when they came to pick him up and it resparked an interest in her in the church. We also met with Robert, this way cool English-Man that Ældste Hawkes reactivated while he was here in Odense. He took Ældste Hawkes and me out to eat and we were able to commit him to prepare to go to the temple. We also met with a less-active and committed him to write his Testimony Down of the Book of Mormon. It was a great splits!

We also reactivated someone yesterday! Kim de King. That's right. He is the biggest Elvis Presley fan so he changed his name to Kim de King. We've been meeting with him for a while now but he's finally come to church for three weeks in a row and got a calling to Work in the Primary! That calling will be great for him and we're excited to start getting him prepared for the temple.

Things are great here in Odense. I love it! I hope you all have a great week and I'm excited to talk to you on Sunday!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

How did I get so lucky?

Hello Everyone! Just thought I would begin by telling you that I am the luckiest missionary in the world right now. But really. This week has been truly amazing. I'm excited to tell you all about it!

But first, It's great to hear about everything going on back at home. Crazy to think Haley's gone to Montana, and with Bonnie Stowell too! I was good friends with her in Junior High! That should be fun. Congrats to Casey as well that she made it on Student Council! That will be really fun for her. Mom, I'm glad your surgery went well. It's also way cool that you met with her Mission President! I love President Sederholm and I'm looking forward to being able to meet with him in the years to come.

Let me know who got their mission call [to Denmark] that Haley knows! I would love to email them and talk to them about it!

Now, about this last week...We were blessed this week with so many miracles.

To begin with, we met with T***** twice this week. He's getting baptized this week! At both of these lessons we had members which were both good for him and the members. All the members that meet him just love him. We also planned with the Elders Quorum President to send him Home-Teachers to meet him this week. We're excited to get the last things set in place for him to be baptized on Saturday!

We were able to meet with A*** P******* this week. She just has a lot on her mind. But she really wants to come back to church. She watched the Joseph Smith movie we gave her and she loved it. She also agreed to call her previous Bishop to send her records over here so we can assign her some new home-teachers. We really hope that we can get the ward as involved as possible with her.

C****** is a really great black guy from America we met with this week. He was a previous investigator but he went to Hong Kong for a few months so both Ældste Mogensen and I had never met him before. He teaches martial arts here and has had a long religious history. He was way fun to talk with and fairly open to our message. Basically, he's willing to hold any commitment we give him, but he doesn't believe he'll ever convert. We'll see if we can fix that.

At the end of our lesson his ex-wife called. She's an extreme atheist and hated any of the religious people he had brought over in the past. But she had a lot of extra birthday cake from her birthday that needed to be eaten, so he asked if he could bring a couple guys over to help with it. She said OK. He was so nervous the entire ride over that she was going to freak out when she saw our name tags, but actually, she really liked us! We had a really good, long conversation with her. Hopefully we were able to help with her negative feelings she has towards religion.

Easter at the Bishop's Home
(Unfortunately, neither the Bishop or his wife are actually in the picture)

We were down in Svendborg to eat a members (Lan Li) house and she had invited a friend to meet us. Lan Li asked Ældste Mogensen to pray for the food, but also that her friend would learn of the truth of the Gospel. They said amen, but then Lan Li turned to Ældste DeMordaunt and had him repeat the process in prayer. Amen again, and then to another member, Lan Li asked if he would use his Priesthood to help her friend and asked him to pray for a third time that her friend would accept the Gospel. Now that's what you call bold!

After some food and discussion, they learned that this friend has had some encounters with evil spirits. She was Vietnamese and you hear a lot about these Spirits from these people. While we were in the midst of a conversation though, she started shaking and crying. She started looking very scared and the tears just flowed down her cheeks as she begged us to help her. We were so confused. I had never seen anything like this before. A priesthood blessing was administered by Ældste Mogensen and Claus, and the evil spirits haven't been back since. She even came to church the next day. I still really can't believe that that happened, but I'm glad we could help heal somebody from these evil spirits.

This is the greatest miracle of this week and maybe my mission. Let me begin by saying how grateful I am for the Spirit and for members who are ready and willing to help in this great work of salvation.

It all started with an appointment we were going to have with T*****. We invited JJ to come with us to meet T*****. On the bus ride over to our appointment with T***** we got a text from him saying the doctors came to see him and we'll have to wait an hour. So we turned to JJ, asked if he needed to go, but he said he could wait.

While waiting he had the idea to visit this Greenlandic lady named A***** who was a potential investigator. Luckily (or was it really luck) we had gotten off at the bus stop to discuss our options which was right next to her apartment. Apparently, Ældste Mogensen and Ældste Merrill contacted her on a bus a long time ago and had brought JJ to meet her because, well, JJ is also Greenlandic so that's way cool. Unfortunately, she never let them in. So we had the idea to have JJ start the conversation by speaking Greenlandic with her as soon as she opened the door. It worked! We were in.

When we walked into the apartment it just stank with the stench of alcohol and smoke. We walked into her living room to see 8-10 opened cans of beer sitting on her table. She expressed how she hated that she drank so much, but she was so depressed that she's become addicted. She continued to drink throughout this appointment. We asked her if she was religious, and she said not really. When your dead, your dead. Her Grandmother was religious though and taught her some things.

She then told us that she had read a little in the Book of Mormon that Ældste Mogensen gave her a long time ago, so we got out our books and thought we would talk a little about it. We started reading the introduction with her and then we got to the part where it says, "The crowning event recorded in the Book of Mormon is the personal ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ among the Nephites soon after His resurrection. It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the plan of salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come." As soon as we finished that line she just burst into tears. We waited in silence for about a minute as she cried, and then asked her what she was feeling. She said, "Whenever I read in this Book, I just get the feeling that somebody somewhere loves me. But I don't know who it is." We then testified to her that we knew that God loved her and that he was reaching out to her through us and through this book. We told her that if she wanted to start a new life, give up drinking, and truly find peace in this life it would be through Jesus Christ. The Spirit was so strong and she was so touched that we wanted to help her so much. She said, "I never thought that there were people in the world like you. I thought they were all selfish and cruel. But you're not." She agreed to see us again the next day.

We came the next day, again with JJ, and she wasn't home. We decided to go visit a less active instead but he was too busy to see us. On our bus ride back we decided to stop by one more time. And guess what? She was home! We began talking about prayer because she said last time that she would pray. She was really nervous to pray because she had prayed one time before to receive help to stop drinking and she was struck blind for a few hours! She said it was a sign to her that if she continued down this path she would be lost. We then taught her about the Restoration to show her the contrast between her spiritual blindness and the light of the Restoration.

When we recited the First Vision, it was silent. We waited for a couple minutes, and again, asked her how she felt. She said she needed to believe in God. She agreed to pray, but she didn't understand that we wanted it to be allowed, so when we all knelt she just started praying to herself and we prayed that she would get an answer. She started balling again during her prayer, but when she was finished, she looked up just bright and smiling. She said it felt really good to pray. We then offered her a blessing to help her stop drinking. During the blessing, JJ said, "Jeg befaler dig at blive helbredt!" [translation: I command you to be healed!] It was powerful. Right before we left she went to drink again from one of her many beer cans, but right as she put it up to her lips, she set it back down on the table and said, "I can't swallow this."

We invited her to church, and she said maybe, but she wouldn't promise anything. I personally believed we wouldn't be seeing her there. But she came. She actually came to church. She had read the pamphlet twice that we left her and went through all the questions at the end. She read that she needed a dress so she went out and bought one. She missed her bus the Sunday morning so she paid for a taxi to drive her over to church. We had no idea any of this had happened until after Sacrament Meeting. The best part, she had only had one drink since that Thursday we gave her the blessing where before she had been drinking 15-20 a day. Only once. She truly is a miracle.

I feel so privileged to be able to help people like this. I saw so many miracles, big and small this week, and I know that God is helping us with his power to bless the lives of others. How blessed our we to be able to be a tool that God uses to heal the sick and the blind, the afflicted and the powerless. I am filled with gratitude as I think how lucky I truly am to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

I love you all so much! I hope your upcoming week is just fantastic!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro

P.S. - I attached a picture of the room where we had church in last Sunday in Svendborg. Svendborg holds a sacrament meeting once a month down there and they needed me to play piano. It's in a nice, little room we rent out, but the spirit is so strong there when us few people meet.

Påske! [Easter]

God Påske [Happy Easter] everyone! I hope your week was filled with lots of eggs, even more candy, and mostly, thinking about the great miracle of the resurrection!

Not gonna lie, it's been a crazy busy week. It's also been pretty hard to get around from place to place. You see, here in Denmark, they take lots of vacations. So Easter was another reason for them to close down all the shops and cut down the amount of busses that are driving throughout the day for 5 days. Busses basically only drove hourly. But that's ok! That meant more people that were home, right?

Ok, congratulations to Haley!!!! That is so awesome! Young Ambassadors will be such a great experience for her! She has a lot of great opportunities lined up for her. Also, congratulations to Nathan with student council as well! I loved student council!

That "Because of Him" video on lds.org is really good! http://easter.mormon.org/ We actually have already used it for a lot of our lessons. Luckily for us here, basically everyone speaks at least decent English so there were many people we could show that to.

I heard that Ældste Whitlock was back as well! I unfortunately didn't get to see him though. He should be going to BYU soon so you should definitely invite him over! Ældste Elsbury goes home this next Monday as well...it's really weird to think about that. I definitely appreciate the help and great examples they've been for me.

Speaking of transfers....Ældste Mogensen and I are staying together here in Odense! Wahoo! It's been a party up here and I'm glad we have one transfer more! This week we've made a goal to have a complete English fast so we've only been speaking Danish to each other. It's been way fun, but definitely difficult. It's showing the areas I need improvement in BIGTIME. But it's really fun to know that I can just speak Danish.

So...let's begin with the crazy story...Friday we were doing some weekly planning, right? So we randomly get this call from a member in our Ward named Ken Hall. He's way awesome, been a seminary teacher in the U.S. and all that jazz, and is one of the best members for fellowshipping. He doesn't call me Ældste Wawro though...he just calls me "The Polak" or "Polako." Unfortunately, he lives down around Svendborg so we don't really see him that much.

But! Continuing the story...

We answer the phone and he tells us to come down to Svendborg for an Easter Egg Hunt. There will be investigators there to talk to, so just come down. We were pretty confused, but we decided to go down anyway. We get to the other Elders apartment and ask them what exactly is going on. They said they had no idea, that he wouldn't tell, but the only thing he said was make sure we were wearing your normal missionary clothes, not P-Day clothes. He picked us up from the apartment in his car and we immediately started asking questions. He wouldn't give us any details. He only said, with his mischievous smile, "Don't worry, you'll only be breaking 8 missionary handbook rules today." (Of course he was kidding because we didn’t really break any rules.)

Where exactly are you taking us?

Nice place for an Easter Egg Hunt

We picked up one of Svendborg's investigators and proceeded to drive off the Island of Fyn onto the Island Thurø, still technically in our area but not a place we would ever actually visit because, well, it's off the Island! He then pulls off the road into a forest where we walk through mud and swamp onto a beach, all of us in our missionary clothes. We walked by a bunch of campers who all whistled at us and made fun of us for being in the middle of this swamp/camping ground/beach place in our nice shirts, ties, and slacks.

Then we began the Easter Egg hunt. It was in the center of the swamp where we were losing shoes, Ældste Mogensen alone fell about 4 times in the mud! All the eggs were stuck in mud or in thorn bushes where we were all getting scratched and cut up trying to reach. At the end of the hunt, we all returned back to the beach area, all bloodied, bruised, and muddy (especially Ældste Mogensen). But the festivities were not over. We then proceeded to have a bunch of egg competitions that involved us not trying to break the egg. The last game we literally just lined up and threw eggs at Ældste DeMordaunt (Again, us being in our missionary clothes). It was the craziest, most awful, and best Easter Egg Hunt I've ever been on. 

We met with T***** this week, of course. It's still going really great with him. He is still excited for his baptismal date. We did just found out something from a member who works at the facility where he lives. Apparently, he hasn't told his parents yet that he is planning on getting baptized. Technically, it's not necessary to get permission from them since he's old enough, but we don't want his parents to get angry at the church by feeling that we are taking advantage of him. So we are going to talk with him this week and tell him to talk to his parents about it.

There were a few people that we wanted to get in further contact with, so we decided to bake some cookies and deliver them to our investigators! It actually turned out really well. There were a few different people that we dropped them off to, but definitely the best experience was with Familien P*******, A**** P******* hadn't called us for a few days, so we were getting worried that maybe her husband scared her off. When we got to their house to deliver cookies, we were Lucky enough to be able to talk to A****, her husband, and her mom from Poland who was visiting! The mom really wanted to talk to us, but she only speaks Polish and German, which unfortunately, neither Ældste Mogensen or I speak. But luckily, Anna translated a few things for us and her mom said that she would like to visit our church some time! We also were able to talk a bit with the husband and I think that was really good for him to see that we were "fairly" normal people.

I had been thinking a lot about my time in California recently and thinking about what things I learned from there that I could use here in Denmark. There must have been some reason I was sent there, even if it was only for a short amount of time. I remembered a lesson that my companion and I made to help members with their member-missionary work. We called it "The Miracle Lesson." Basically, we promise a miracle will happen at the beginning of the lesson, we talk about miracles and how we receive them, we talk about the miracle of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ, and then we give the promise from Neil L. Andersen where he says that if you pray to know which of your friends or family are ready to hear the gospel, names and faces will come to your mind. We then kneel right there and pray with the members to know which people they should begin working with. While I was in California, it worked really well with every family we taught it to. It truly was a miracle as we saw them think about people that they hadn't thought of before or had ideas of what they should do. And of course, after we prayed we had them write down the people and the goals of what they would do to help them by what date.

We decided to try it this last Sunday on Easter at the Bishop's house. We combined the Miracle Lesson with the Family Mission Plan so we could keep doing what the Ward already was working on and we focused on the greatest miracle of all, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It went fantastic! They even mentioned that there were multiple people that they could begin working with. They really loved the lesson, so we're thinking about trying that more here with the members. And then Follow-Up!

Well, that's everything! I hope you enjoyed the pictures I sent yesterday. Oh! Also, thank you so much for the packages! Both my one-year mark package and my Easter package. I really did appreciate getting them so much! Love you all!

MKH,

-Ældste Wawro