Hey everyone. It's been a great week. Highs and Lows and in betweens... Learned a lot, taught a lot (always great to be able to say!), and saw a lot of interesting stuff.
We taught an incredible guy named Mike. He referred himself after meeting the church at a festival on Bornholm, I think I've mentioned him before. Anyway he lives in Jægerspris, about forty five minutes away from us by car. He asked us if we could talk at the castle in Jægerspris... uhh... ja tak!
I ound out he's only twenty two... he looks a lot older haha. Basically he's super genuine and is honestly investigating the church with the intent to act on an answer he finds. He wants to have information, and is super smart! He told us all about the castle we were visiting and about how the King used to fish out of the castle window and would get super upset and punish people if he didn't catch a fish. Eventually one of the servants sat outside under the window with a couple of fish each day and would hook them onto the kings line without him knowing just to keep him happy! Eventually his wife died without having any kids so they burined her in this hill thing that kind of reminds me of a Hobbit house. Fun story for the day.
I want to help Mike find the answers he's looking so bad! He's a little nervous about joining the church for the simple reasons that his family and the country he lives in really don't appreciate people that have a religion like ours. Mike told me though that when I said the prayer at the end of a lesson he felt a calming force that allowed him to relax which was something unique. He also said that while he started the book of Mormon he was way drowsy and tired because reading always makes him that way... but as he began to read for one of the first times in his life the book actually gave him energy and woke him up! Crazy! I'm sooooooooo happy to finally see somebody actively noticing the spirit because of the efforts of the missionaries. In our first lesson he was nervous to say a prayer so I did it, but then later that week he said he felt a huge desire to pray so he did it right then and there, which happened to be in the shower haha. So he said the closing prayer while we were at the castle and is was awesome! Too bad he's going on vacation this next week.
There's another tradition the Danes have that I absolutely love. When a toddler is getting rid of their binky they take all the binkies they have and throw them onto a Binky Tree.
So randomly you'll see a tree somewhere that's just covered in hundreds of Binkies. It's great :) I guess it helps the kids accept the fact that they can't have their binky anymore.
We've also been talking to a family that said they'd come to church, but they didn't. Sad day. However we just bumped into them an hour ago while we were buying groceries at the store! They said their little girl got sick and so they couldn't come but that they are planning on coming this next week! Should be great. They're way awesome. We've taught a lot of other lessons to people this week but I can't remember anything sticking out... except that our friend Jakob is a high school teacher here in Denmark and he might have us come give a presentation to his classes in school! That would be way too much fun. I hope it all pans out, we'd be able to hand out like 19012904 Book(s) of Mormons(s) (In Danish it's just Mormons Bøger so there's no argument :P) I've never really done a public presentation on the Church to non-members.
We also visited a less active man who is actually brothers with the Stake President that fed me and my companions all the time back in Odense! His name is Per. He's super smart and has a massive testimony. I've learned a ton from talking with him and the ideas we discussed this week are something that I think will stick with me for a long time. I'm gonna try and break it down cause we talked for like an hour and a half about this...
Basically two different things can give us a ton of power over ourselves.
1) Focusing on the Principle instead of the Act
2) Applying the Mind Over Matter idea
I'm just now realizing as I type this that conveying what I learned in an email is ridiculously hard. I'll use an example.... maybe that'll make it easier. Let's say I want to lose weight. If I focus on what I have to do (working out and eating healthy) then it's going to suck and I'm going to be negative. I'm not going to want to make the changes and so I'm going to expect them to be hard and because of that it literally becomes harder. However if I focus on WHY then the thing becomes easier! If I realize that I'm eating better and working out BECAUSE I will be happier with a nicer body and a healthier lifestyle then I realize the short term sacrifice is something I want to do. Not something I HAVE to do, but something I want to do. Then we expect to enjoy making those sacrifices, and even if they're hard we know we want to do them and we can tell ourselves it's something good! Our minds are really incredible, they can be more powerful than our body. Suddenly we have the power to tell ourselves we enjoy these things, and even if we don't we can endure the short term sacrifice for the long term reward. Soon it becomes a habbit to live this new way. Because I want to enjoy exercise and dieting they become easier and because they're easier I enjoy them more. We can use this to over come addictions, habbits, accomplish large tasks, and basically anything. I hope this kind of made sense because I think it's incredible.
For example, instead of saying ''I want to finish my mission'' which requires existing for the next 10 months I can say ''I want to fulfill my purpose for the rest of my mission''. Suddenly I know why I'm doing the daily things I have to do, and I'm willing to make the sacrifice because I have a bigger purpose in mind. Then all the short term sacrifices become easier and I see results. I enjoy myself more, and I can enjoy or endure well the trials I have to face on a daily basis as long as I'm diligent in it all. The biggest part is prayer, and involving the saviour to help make the mental adjustments.
We all have to face trials in some way or another, but if we realize WHY we're facing them they become easier to benefit from and to allow our mind to triumph over the physical part of us that wants to give up! See Alma 62:41 for an example.
Wow, that was long. Hope it helps someone.
My parents said they want something about my every day life... so basically I eat sandwhiches all the time. They are one of the few things that doesn't turn my stomach inside out, and because of that vegetable are my new favorite thing. Yes Mom... I eat cucumbers and tomatoes on my sandwhiches. Hope you're proud ;) Besides that walk and bike through a forest a lot as a shortcut to the nearby apartment complexes. We stop by a lot of people who usually aren't home, talk to people on the way who usually only let us get out half a sentence before they see our name tags and say Nej Tak! and it's super super hot lately. I only have two short sleeve shirts! Apparently it's waaaaaaaay hotter than it normally ever gets and it is incredibly humid. Humidity = Sadness. I want the dry air back. Back when I could walk outside in the snow in shorts and be fine! We have a hammock in our apartment which is fun. Every thursday and Sunday we drive pass the beautiful Danish oceanside on our way to the city of Roskilde. Hope that helps a little bit :) We can talk more on Christmas I guess haha.
Love you all! Stay awesome
