Yes the title is in German. I'll explain. I got transferred!! I am now in a city on the other side of the country called Sønderborg. It's been my dream area for a while now actually. Basically it's right on the border of Denmark and Germany, and when baptisms happen here we go down to Flensburg in Germany for them! It's also known for being arguably the most scenic part of Denmark. (I've served in some of the most scenic places in the whole country... can't believe how Lucky I am!) I've already managed to be a set apart missionary in England where my Dad served (airport) and know I have a shot to hit the one my Mom served in with Germany!
Leaving Holbæk was way sad though, I had to say goodbye to awesome people like the Stokholm Family!
They're awesome, their son has kind of left the church but it was great to make friends with him. He's super nice and loves music. He's actually in a metal band and sings for it... pretty intense. Sister Stokholm gave me a really nice juleaften plate as a present. They're really nice souveneirs and I was actually kinda shocked she'd give one away. Their youngest daughter Mathilde is the most adorable six year old little Danish girl ever, she's the one that gave me flowers a while ago haha! Sad to say goodbye to them and all the other great members and people in the area. I definitely think I connected with the most people here in the Roskilde Ward out of all of my areas so far!
One of those is Mike! He's the one that took us to a Castle so we could talk about the church. He's incredible, I'm gonna miss that guy. He's 22 and we had a super awesome lesson with him (at the Castle again :D) and he really opened up. He told me that he needed to explain something, but he wasn't really sure how. Basically he said that during our lessons he'd gotten a specific feeling two times... Once when I'd said a prayer at the end of a lesson, and once while the member we brought to a lesson was explaining something. It was a feeling that he'd never had before in his life other than when he's talked with us and both times it felt like he shivered inside of himself, and all his hair stood on end. It was as if there was someone behind him looking at him even though there wasn't and he said he got a comfortable feeling that was kind of scary but that this feeling made him feel good about the things that were being said, not because they made sense or because he agreed or even because it was something for him but because he felt it was true. I told him that was the spirit and that I'd felt it before too. I asked him what he was going to do now that he had recieved that feeling. He said he'd keep trying to learn more about the church and the Book of Mormon. I pulled out the baptisimal interview questions and showed them to him and he had no problems with them, and he agreed to make baptism his goal even though he wasn't ready to choose a date right then. Easily one of the best experiences of my mission so far! He's making leaps and bounds of progress and I was way sad to say bye to him... but we exchanged information and hope to meet again sometime. Hopefully it will be at his baptism =) I gave him a brand new leather bounded triple that I'd bought from the office with some of my MSF and saved for someone that I knew would use it. I know he'll use it.
Then I left for the German border :)
No worries the magazine in the zipper is a souvenir and therefore stays in the trunk!
But this is just the first shot I grabbed on the ride over here. This type of stuff is ALL around me here in this area. I love it!
We're living in an apartment with two other elders! I've wanted a four man apartment my whole mission and now I finally have one. Also there is a piano in our apartment. Literally all of my dreams are coming true. The branch down here is reputed to be one of the nicest and best in the mission, and they just got upgraded to four missionaries so Elder Willardson (my new comp) and Elder Read (My old MTC comp) split the area they had last transfer. Oh yeah, I still have a car! Haha there are like four car areas in the mission, and two of them are for the zone leaders. I've been priviliged to serve in the other two straight in a row :) Yay for cars!
The area down here in the South is also known for their language... Denmark is a really small country, like it could fit in Utah four times...ish. But somehow their language is all screwy from one part of the land to the other. Down here they speak ''Sønderjysk'' which Means they swallow and mumble all their Word and have weird slang like ''Mojn'' which Means both hello and goodbye and like six other things that I can't remember... I can't even begin to describe how nice of a place it is over here. Every roundabout has sculptures and is decorated all nice with flowers and the ocean going through the town is just like glass and the bridge goes up high a Little bit to give just an incredible view. Trust me when I say Pictures will be coming =)
I really think this area will be the high light of my mission. I know what to do, I've got the language down, and I have three elders in the apartment who are willing to do the Work. None of them are super talkative, but they keep the rules and will Work hard and that's all that really matters. I already do enough talking for four elders put together. I plan on reading the entire Bible this transfer! That's gonna be an interesting challenge. I read the Whole Book of Mormon last transfer and high lighted every scripture I read that had to do with Helaman5:12 because that's something I've tried to focus on lately. Really interesting to read through that copy of the Book of Mormon now with all those spots high lighted! We also want to find tons of tons of new people to meet with so we made a goal to fill all 95 slots in our planners provided for information for potential investigators... that's a TON! So far we have three :) But it's only been one day!
Elder Willardson is from Kingston and went to Piute High.... There were like 27 kids in his graduating class. Ok no that's a lie... There were exactly 27 kids in his graduating class. And I thought Provo was kind of a small school! It's also good to be back with Mr. Jantzen Read. Lived with him in the MTC and now it's a big reunion down by the German border. Fun stuff!
I have soooooooooooooooooooooo much more to tell you but with only this much time I only really have time to Express my excitement for transfers. When President called me he said ''Elder Durrant, you're going to be transferred... you're moving to Germany!'' I knew exactly what he meant. He meant the area that I'd prayed to move to for a while know.
He meant Sønderborg!
Ældste Durrant
Borups Alle 128 1.tv
2000 Frederiksberg
Denmark
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