Free Money?

Somtimes I stand on top of hills to plan how to best convert Silkeborg. 

It's been a pretty good week, except all our investigators are playing hard to get. One of them gave us the excuse that he was gone for the weekend learning how to drive tanks for the Danish homeland defense! Guess he has a valid reason haha :) We only taught lessons this week to new investigators! Normally that's hard to do... We did find some pretty cool people though. A man named Angelo from the states who has met with missionaries a lot and is very well versed on the Bible is looking forward to talking with us! It's hard because the church here is in Danish and although he speaks a bit of Danish it's hard for him to get a lot out of the meetigns. Also we foudn a guy named Pierre who comes from the Congo. Danish is his 5th language so it's very basic teaching we're trying to do right now. He has problems coming to church because of bus problems and the fact that it's in Danish as well... the struggle is real. The gospel would help his family so much though! His little kids are way too funny. 

We went to a members birthday 60th birthday party this week. While we were feasting on the endless supply of amazing Danish food our Branch's Relief Society president gave us an envelope and told us to be careful because it had a lot of money in it... We were very curious and opened it right when we got home. There was eighty American dollars inside and a bunch of envelopes! We were really confused and excited cause we had a ton of money, but we figured out that this wasn't just a random letter with money, it was a ton of referals! A missionary couple that used to serve here gave us the address of 13 people they used to have contact with and told us that we should buy them each a flower and take them a letter they provided to see if they were still open to learning about the gospel! Talk about unexpected blessings! We got to work contacting all these people and realized that for the most part they are all old and not very itnerested anymore, but there was one couple that invited us in and want to have us back for dinner sometime. We shared a message about families and showed them familysearch.org which seemed to catch their interest. If nothing else that made all the work worth it. I'm getting used to appreciating the good we can do just by sharing uplifting thoughts even if it doesn't lead to total conversion. We still have one more person to contact today from the list so wish us luck!

Here's us walking down the street loaded with flowers...

Oh! Funny story of the week. So we were walking down the road after teaching a lesson to Pierre and we saw a middle aged man and his young son walkign toward us. The guy came at a weird angle straight at us and was about to run into my companion. All of a sudden he just leans forward and screams as loud as he can straight into Elder Lawless's face. We tensed up and Elder Lawless was ready to hit the guy, but he just smiled. I aksed what he wanted and he mentioned something about Elder Lawless's arms at the ready and laughed and kept walking away with his son. What the?!?! We were both too confused to do much so I just told him to have a nice day and we kept walking... Gave me a nice adrenaline rush haha. I was worried Elder Lawless was just going to pop the guy, and to be honest we probably should have done something more about it but we were both had no idea what had just happened so we just let him walk away. Weird to think he pulled that stunt right in front of his son. 

It's been really really foggy the past couple days.

I don't remember what the sun looks like. 

I've been feeling kind of stuck lately. I want something to happen! We've been in the same struggle trying to get the same people to church for what seems like forever now and it just isn't happening. With such a big message sometimes it feels like the results should be bigger as well. I can at least see the results in myself though. I'll be honest, I had no clue what I believed or what the heck this church really even was before I came out here, but now I have a much better understanding of what it means to be a member of Christs church and how my commitment to it will help my future more than anything else! So yeah. That's my schpeel (how in the world is that word spelled?) for the week.

Seriously miss all of you! 

-Ældste Durrant

Borups Alle 128 1.tv

2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark

Journey to the Center of Nowhere

So I realized that I didn't take very many pictures this week. Sorry! But here's one from two weeks ago. Me and Elder Lawless were at the local Kvickly doing some shopping for the week and we came across Zebra Steaks. So we feasted on the flesh of Zebras for the first time in either of our lives and it was great. 

This week has been full of random stuff. We had to take a trip out to a city called Gjern and then go even farther into the middle of nowhere to get to one of our friends houses here so we could teach him about the Plan of Salvation. This man lives is isolation but he's a genius, he invented his own three dimensional alphabet so that you can spell words out in pillars of different shapes. Way neat. He got into egyptian history when he was young and some obscure research he did lead him to the Book of Mormon. He read the whole thing and now a bunch of years later he remembered us when some strange coincidences lead us to his door. Unfortunately he doesn't really do religion the way a lot of people do. He has his own belief which is kind of close to hinduism but isn't. Basically he believes the Plan of Salvation the way we do, life is a test to help us in our eternal progression, but in his mind we go through the whole process time and again until we finally get it and then we progress farther somewhere else. We both layed out our beliefs to the other, and I'll be honest his plan made a ton of sense and he kept going on about how ours just didn't compare because a one and done type of deal isn't fair to everyone. I didn't quite know how to respond, but I just turned inward to myself for a second and asked, is the Plan of Salvation as I know it true? I got a rush of a warm feeling that backed me up and it kind of clicked in my head - I just told our friend that this was God's plan. That we have one life here on earth because it is supposed to be important and not just a one in a million thing, and that although I don't understand the Spirit World or how it works that I know that everyone who didn't get their fair chance here will certainly have that made up to them later because this plan is perfect and because of that we need to use this great gift of living on this earth in the best way possible. It was just a normal lesson, I don't think this man will ever want to be baptized, but I just enjoyed the teaching moment I had to feel the spirit work through me. So that was fun. To show you where he lived I took a picture while we were walking out there, literally this was all I could see all around me:

We also got to do some good service for a lady named Vita who lives also in the middle of nowhere on a big farm. She loves having us over to move rocks and dig holes and then make us some of the best food I have ever tasted in my life! And then we teach her about the Book of Mormon, it's basically the best trade off in the entire world. I love being able to serve Vita. Hopefully she'll be able to come to church this week because she would get along very well with all of the members in our branch.

We've had a good week and were able to teach a lesson each day except our PDay so that was way good. From Danes to Kenyans to Swedes to Arabs, we've talked to them all! A man tried to convert me to Islaam this week... He wouldn't let us get two words in for all the muslim doctrine he was throwing at us. He told us that he could see in our eyes that we weren't a hundred percent certain about what we were saying and I finally just lost it and interrupted him and told him that the only thing I wasn't certain about was where to find references to answer all his different questions but that I knew that I had felt the spirit testify the truth of the message we have and that I knew this church could help him as well. It was the only five seconds of the whole lesson I felt good about. 

Anyway, we're still here trecking around random apartment complexes and far away fields. Here's a pic of my comp to prove it :)

Love you all and I'm way stoked for everyone who is out serving as well! I went through the list of emails I send this letter to and realized that half of the emails needed to be changed because the people had left on missions and had a new mail address. Awesome! Good job serving wherever you're called. I know Denmark is the place for me.

MKH

Ældste Durrant

Borups Alle 128 1.tv 

2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark

You know what blows? Wind.

In case you didn't believe Silkeborg is beautiful.

So there has been a ton of wind here lately, it's way annoying. This year has been record breaking for storms in Denmark... my first transfer was their very first Hurricane! 

Anyway, this week has been one for the books. We found out that one of our investigators has Schizophrenia. We talked to another guy on the street who wanted us to come back. On our way to his apartment he rolled up in his car with one of his friends and yelled for us to get in. After introducing us as his ''Christian brothers'' they both proceeded to pull out some very self destructive substances which are not usually sold to the public... After a long conversation in his car on the shore of a lake we agreed to disagree about Islaam and Christianity because he hadn't even read the Quran. We left the car a little light headed and went immediately to a less active lady who had called us to ask for a blessing. Her boyfriend was there too who has investigated the church before. It was so neat to be able to give her a blessing in Danish not only to help her gain her strength and hearing, but to give her boyfriend the chance to feel the spirit. Unfortunately despite my invitation for him to pay attention to how he felt during the blessing he said he didn't feel anything special when it was over. Denied :( He wants to investigate further though so that's always a plus! I testified that it takes a looooot of work to gain a testimony a lot of the time. I know it did for me. 

We also got to go into the belly of the beast for Elder Lawless' langauge test in Copenhagen. It was a fun trip, that's the benefit of serving way for out in the boonies, we get vacations to Copenhagen sometimes! It was about a five hour train ride and so Elder Lawless put his sunglasses on me and took some indie pics. 

After we got back we had a little miracle happen with the drunk people I told you about last week. Instead of typing it again I'll jsut paste what I wrote to my president this week.

      We had an unexpected outcome the other day from knocking. We were on the last floor that we were going to knock and we skipped a door because there was incredibly loud party music playing behind it. As we were about to leave though Elder Lawless reminded me of a quote that I love. ''It's better to say oh well that what if''. We decided to ring the doorbell, and a very drunk man invited us in immediately. He turned off the music and soon him and his two friends were bombarding us with a zillion questions and rambling on in slurred Danish about their own individual opinions about God. We offered them a free book which just seemed like the coolest thing in the world to them, and got out of there after leaving a note that we would come back to talk about the book. We didn't expect anything to come out of it, but when we went back the same man recognized us and invited us in immediately again. He had read a chapter every day from the Book of Mormon with a girl that had been there the first night and had specific questions! They both have Book of Mormons now and expressed a desire to come to church. The man said the reason he likes us is that he feels a good energy about us and wants to learn more. I can't believe we almost skipped that door because of a little bit of music! Now instead of going home disappointed we were able to find people ready to listen to our message. 

Yup. That's my week. I still haven't really gotten over being sick, but hey... I'm alive :) I really love each and every one of you. The old me was kind of dumb for not appreciating what he had. Being out here helps to realize that trials really do strengthen us. If something is hard, appreciate it.

Till next week!

Ældste Durrant

Borups Alle 128 1.tv 

2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark

What doesn't last forever isn't real

Wow. What a week, actually what a month. I finally have a chance to fill you all in, so here goes :) 

I've been very sick the last several weeks, I hope the worst of it is over but basically I had an infection in my intestines that caused me to drop around 15 pounds and the stress it was putting on my body was causing insomnia... No bueno. The infection is gone, they think, and I have my appetite and sleeping back for the most part so it should be good from here on out. The members in our branch found out that I have been sick and decided that the solution is to feed us so much that I can't even walk... Love them. 

Russia invaded Ukraine, so that's fun. Good luck Conner! One of your old areas (Simforpol right?) Is now under Russian rule I believe. You're in my prayers. 

My friend from Sweden has been gone for a week now. Doesn't quite feel real, not sure if it ever will. He baptized a lady into Christ's church the day that he died. It was one of the last things he ever did before a car going two and a half times the speed limit hit him. Thank you to everyone for praying for him and his family. He was a great kid and I think this only strengthens my desire to grow my testimony and to help others have the comfort of knowing that there is something more after this life. 

Congrats to Emily headed to the Dominican Republic! Also shout out to my cousins getting in to BYU and Christian Wendleboe headed to Russia and Dallin Zibetti headed to Peru! So awesome for you guys!

The weather here is starting to get warmer. I don't have to wear thirty eight pounds of clothes to go outside anymore. I get to look forward to the sun at night instead of the moon at lunch time now! My companion is pushing to go to a tanning booth, we'll have to see on that one. We have had our March zone conference already which was way fun, I got to sing in a double quartet while we had a bunch of lessons about how the mission is going to start using Family History as a tool to get people interested in the church. Many times people shut you off right away on the street when they here the words God, Church, Faith, or Missionary... but if we offer help with something they love like their own family the results can often be very positive! Wish us luck with that. 

As far as news that actually applies to what I've been doing here in this beauty of a town

we have been doing as much work as we're able to, but we've been traveling a lot. We went on splits in Horsens and had some great conversations with people just out and about on the street, and were able to attend Stake Conference in Århus. I think my favorite quote of all time came from the Temple Presidents wife. ''What Doesn't Last Forever Isn't Real''. Think about it. All my life I have been concerned that if nothing happens after death than literally nothing I do here matters at all. That's why our message is so important. That's why the fleeting pleasure that comes from breaking the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity is never able to stand up to the real joy that comes from a loving eternal family. Sometimes I wish I could just get the Danes to understand that one idea. It's hard to help someone quit smoking when they don't even want to! They can't see past the immediate future for two seconds to think about what really matters. A hope that things will just work out isn't good enough. I'm trying to love the Danes here but it can be frustrating when they slap away what will really help them. Oh well, I serve for the ones that will listen :) And hey, my testimony is better for it.

Just for example of the mentallity I see here sometimes, I was walking down the road and saw that a tree had fallen in the path. Instead of doing something about it a worker just put cones on top of it and called it good. 

It's like they didn't think people could already see the tree... 

Anyway, I hope we can all realize what really matters in our lives, because if it doesn't last forever, is it really that important? Is some temporary issue worth throwing a wrench into the happiness of our families? 

We were out knocking some apartments here and when we came to the last door there was party music blasting behind the door. We decided we probably didn't want to knock it but Elder Lawless reminded me of a quote me and Elder Ludlow used to have as a motto - It's better to live a life of 'oh wells' than 'what ifs?'. We knocked it. A drunk dude answered, and told us to come on in and join them... They turned off the music and before we knew it there were three super attentive drunks begging us to tell them why we were here and dying to tell us their own thoughts about God. They even took a picture with us haha! We hope they remember something when we go back cause I left a note with the Book of Mormon that they took. We also had a chance to teach a young man from Africa who has going through some rough times. He wants to make a change though and get closer to God. He's been in and out of jail and told us he wants to work towards maybe coming to church, which would be a big step for him. These are the more entertaining people to work with, but we also have a few others who are very positive.

In conclusion, I've been through the refinery, and I think I'm better for it. All the trials I've mentioned in the past few weeks and a few others as well have really really helped me. And although I may be dying to see people back home and to listen to some of my music, I know that what I'm doing out here will last forever, not only in my own testimony but in my future family, and that's what is real after all.

-Ældste Durrant

Moment of silence

Sorry everyone but not a lot of time this week. I've been writing some other stuff today so you get just a little bit... This week has been super hard. A lot of stuff with doctors and a lot of other stuff. 

I don't really want to talk about any of that though. I just found out that one of my great friends died while serving in the Stockholm Sweden mission. He was hit by a car while walking through the streets of Sweden and didn't make it. I loved that kid and am thankful for everything he taught me, showed me, and helped me with. One of my best friends that I had throughout High School and it was fun to get to go through the MTC with him. He will be sorely missed.

Pray for his family, and if you didn't know him well then pray anyways. He held his family together. 

Sorry, more will come next week.

Doctor's are lame, members are awesome!

So this week was fun. I went to the doctor, he thinks I have a bacterial infection and then told me I would have to take a blood test and another test that I don't want to talk about... anyway long story short we go back on Wednesday to see what's wrong and I really think they're wrong cause I haven't been throwing up. Also I thought going to the dentist in Danish was scary, but having a lady take blood from you while telling you that you have a british accent when you speak Danish (Lies!) and not really knowing how much blood they are taking is even scarier. Mission accomplished. I'm alive. If you wanna worry about somebody worry about Trevin's ant infestation in Africa or Conner being in the middle of a warzone in Ukraine. I'm fine =)

So doing work this week has been kind of a challenge because of the doctor telling me to rest and stuff so we've had to take more breaks during the day which is dumb. On top of that, nobody has been home this week! We had two appointments cancel on us, and another person didn't show up to a third and of our good investigators one has a stomach infection (coincidence?) one is out of town, and the rest all have crazy things going on like opening a restaraunt and calling us over to check it out and then offering us black market jobs (true story). No worries we told him we couldn't do black market under the radar labour to avoid taxes. I think he misunderstood me when I offered to provide service. The only productive stuff we were able to do was to setup a few appointments and to knock a few appartments, but nothing came out of that. 

As you can guess missioanry appartments are super boring so Elder Lawless decided to take some selfies with my camera. Værsgo

But this week has been one of learning. I'm a few pages away from finishing Jesus the Christ, started a study journal to keep track of questions we get, and I've been able to see a bunch of random people thanks to a members birthday party. Her name is Benta and she's basically our grandma here! She's the one that you saw over Skype Mom and Dad.

Had to be careful not to drink any alcohol at the party, I was confused when the bottle of water I picked out of the cooler said ''VODKA''  on the side. Danes still buy alcohol when they're Mormon so they can give it to their non member friends and family... go figure haha!

But we did have one pretty cool experience this week, we were on our way back to the appartment after a less active lady didn't answer the door and an investigator wasn't home. We were walking down one of the bigger streets in the city and we passed a restaraunt called Uptown Burger, for some reason I decided I really wanted to look at the menu... I just kind of stopped and started going through the prices of the outside menu of a place I'd already eaten at when this guy noticed me and came out of the restaraunt and starts talking at us a thousand miles an hour. He told us that we were going to get to be real good friends, and I was worried at first that he was crazy, but he stops and gets this big grin on his face and says ''We're gonna be real good friends cause you guys look like Mormons!'' I was way confused but after asking him a bit about how he knew us he told us that he used to meet with people like us and got a lot of good reading material from us and that he wanted to exchage digits so that we could meet up again. Jo tak! We got his address and are gonna stop by him sometime this week. So I guess one of the more productive things we were able to accomplish happened just because I was prompted to look at a menu and ''look like a Mormon'' haha! Go figure :) So everyone back home, keep looking Mormon cause maybe you'll help someone! 

Anyway, love you all, hopefully I'll be healthy again soon and get back to telling a bunch of anti-social atheists that God exists and that he loves them! It's the life :D

Vi ses y'all <3 Elder Durrant