One Day at a Time

Well hey howdy hey. This has been another week in the promise land of Sønderborg! We got transfer calls, I'll be staying with Elder Reber for another six weeks. Sounds perfect to me! We're doing great, we've been trying to find some new investigators because we're running a bit low on the people we have to teach. Right now there is a slighty... well ok actually totally insane guy sitting by us at the library asking Eder Redd if he's married to Jesus and going on all sorts of tangents.

 

We had Zone Conference this week and we got to go all the way up to Aarhus for that. We played a huge game of football after and I can say I've never been more sore in my life. I could barely move the next day or two.  We ate a big dinner right before which didn't help... oh and Elder Reber accidentally ate a dessert that had some walnuts in it and I almost had to stab him with his epipen thing. But luckily someone had benedril on hand and that seemed to take care of him. We also had a talent show while all the missionaries were together. I played a medley of hymns on the guitar while four of us sang a duet. It was tons of fun. It was basically our own little version of Thanksgiving.

 

 

Football with Elder Lawless and Elder Ockey. Yes Elder Lawless is huge.

 

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I've really been noticing the difference that the Little daily Things do recently. I feel as though when I have had a few days in a row where I haven't had the time in the mornings to study the scriptures because of travel or because I fell asleep during studies or because of whatever that my ability to withstand feelings of frustration and other negative Things is weakened. The same is true with nightly prayers. I've actually started whispering them to myself because whenever I do them silently it's simply to easy to start thinking about Castles made out of pastries or why my roommates smell so weird or what kind of Rocket I'm going to buy once I'm a millionaire. But having an honest moment of communication with God each night can really help. Just kind of brings to mind Helaman 5:12 (which was mentioned more this conference than any other scripture ;)) that He really is our rock and we have to make an effort to reach out to hold onto it. ​I aways have big ideas in my mind of the kind of person I'm going to be and the Things that I want to accomplish, when realy the biggest and most important battles are the tiny ones we make each day that end up huge in the long run. I've never been one to take it one day at a time but I'm trying to change my habits and start being the dedicated prayer saying teeth brushing morning waking uping working outing scripture reading person I want to be. I know that requires a lot of consistant daily victories but they really are small ones and I think I'll really see a change over the seven months I have left.

 

Holy crap.

 

I only have seven months left? Weird! I like Denmark better than school, studying the gospel better than studying math, and I like helping people. Better suck it up while I can :)

 

If anyone who is reading this had any creative finding ideas while on their mission let me know! We're really working on that right now. We tried singing on the street downtown with my guitar and knocking doors with regular street clothes to offer free service, any other ideas?

 

Love you all!

 

Ældste Durrant                        

Borups Alle 128 1.tv                  

2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark​

The Desires of Our Hearts

Hey everyone. This week has been pretty great! I'm officially two thirds of the way to two years which is crazy. Time doesn't really exist to me anymore though so it feels like it's just a number.

 

The sickness that Elder Reber brought to our apartment earlier in the month has still been giving him problems with headaches and stuff but he was refusing to rest... Well me and the other two missionaries decided that it would be best if he finally gets over this thing and so we forced him into a chair and literally used six zip ties and latched his arms and legs in place until he couldn't move. Then we called the mission nurse and made him talk to her and he received orders to take some Ibeuprofen and rest. Victory! He's feeling much better now haha.  

 

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We've still managed to do some good work though. We taught a man who was baptized when he was eight but never had anything to do with the church since. He was nice and gave us soda, he's used to the missionaries tracking him down through the Ward list, but he has absolutely no desire to do anything of any sort that has to do with God. It was a unique chance to have an audience with a typical Danish person. They simply do not want to have to be ''forced'' into thinking about God or trying something as weird in thier minds as prayer, and definitely not wasting their Sunday hours with church. The most interesting thing he said though was this: ''In my opinion if us danes were put into poverty or war or had a disease come through the country everyone would turn to God quickly'' Me: '' Well then do you think you personally would turn to God if you had a trial in your life?'' Him: ''.......... I don't know... Haven't thought about it much'' Me: ''Well, will you? It's important we think these things through before it's too late.'' Him: ''Nah that's just not me. I'm ok.''

 

Really an eye opening experience to me about how someone can have no Desire at all... and after all is said and done that is what we will be judged on.

 

We also headed up to a Little town called Felsted where we've made a few friends that are interested in our message. One of them is studying to be a religious teacher and wants us to come by and teach about Chrisitianity and the Book of Mormon to her so that one should be an adventure. The roads around this area of the country are incredibly beautiful.

 

 

There was also a beach nearby where we took a short breather before heading back to town to do some more contacting.

 

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​It's been great working with a new missionary. His Desire is in complete contrast to that of the ''less active'' man we talked to. I've seen the work pick up a bit simply because we have more energy going out the door. We handed out four Book of Mormons in an hour or two the other day, something that may not be big in another mission but here it is a pretty big feat. We're working on removing excuses and we're trying much harder than ever. We've decided that this week we're really going to Work on being more focused on the Work and not let living in a four man Apartment distract us or all the many excuses we have every day take anything from the Work. Wish us lusk :)

 

I know that the Desires of our Hearts are what makes or breaks us. In the past I used to do church Things and say church stuff simply because that's what was easiest and that's what was expected, it was never really what I desired. Well that's lame. I can now say that I Desire to have a testimony, I Desire to be the kind of person who wakes up each day ready to build myself spiritually, I Desire to be the missionary I know I can be.

 

Alma 41:3 And it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good. (Many more where this one came from)

 

Not just our Works need to be good, but our Desires to :) That Means that until about half way through my mission it wasn't really benefiting me a lot. That's my thought for the day, how are your Desires?

 

Ældste Durrant                        

Borups Alle 128 1.tv                  

2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark​

Trust in God and Believe in Good Things to Come

Hey everyone! It's been another week here in Sønderborg. We're doing great. Me and Elder Reber had a fun opportunity to go to a soccer game here in Denmark with one of the members for preparation day!

 

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It was a tie... but fun nevertheless. The crowd was smaller than I had anticipated considering that it was the top league in Denmark... guess this is why they didn't make the World Cup ;) We knew that Sønderjyllands goalie is actually really interested in religion and so we tried to talk to him after the game. Unfortunately the players weren't going to be available until too late and we had to head home to make curfew. Oh well.

 

But hey the work is still going steady here. We're starting to have to move a little bit towards more finding. Finding is made difficult in Denmark by the fact that nobody wants to talk. I'm not even mentioning the disposition towards organized religion or the fact that it gets dark at 5 o'clock now. But the simple fact that people here are isolated socially to the point that talking to someone on the street is considered crazy just makes it a challenge. What could be better suited to the task though than me and Elder Reber? I was thinking about the challenge of finding a lot. There's all these missionary rumors and such of apostles saying that there is always more prepared people in every area in the world than the elders could possibly teach, but it's hard to keep that mentality. I think in the same way it can be hard to keep that hope for spiritual experiences back home. In the end that's all what it boils down to. If we have hope that everything is gonna work out, the process itself is made easier and result come more readily. We can change our areas on missions, and our lifes back home, if we keep the hope that it's possible. I never understood why hope was one of the Christlike Attributes in PMG but I think I get it a little more now. Basically all my thoughts and things can be summarized in this video: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-05-12-good-things-to-come?lang=eng

 

Seriously love it. The music is great as well. Elder Holland is a spiritual giant.

 

Also this article is awesome :) https://www.lds.org/church/news/the-surprising-science-behind-supremely-happy-people?cid=HPFR102414513&lang=eng

 

That should take care of Elder Bednars urge to have us all use Social Media in a positive manner right?

 

One thing I've really enjoyed about training is that it helps me realize all the things about being a missionary that I've started to take for granted. Elder Reber is so much more excited about a lot of things than I am, and I shouldn't just stop caring about things because they aren't new. For example this pretty lake right off one of the castles we had our weekly planning session at... I don't know.

 

Oh, we also had a great dinner meeting with a family in the branch. They've been super busy the last period in their lives and are really trying to get the family back into the pattern of regular church attendance. They asked us to come over once a week to help get their eleven year old boy ready to move out of primary. They're awesome! A way fun family and it's interesting to teach on a different level. We focused on ''Putting on the Whole Armor of God'' because the kid Mathias enjoys super hero movies. Check out Ephesians Chapter 6 for more ;)

 

Anywho I'm doing great, hope you all are as well. Other interesting things this week include almost witnessing a man get very seriously hurt by falling into the ocean, having all my ties stolen by another Elder as a practical joke (I have a high neck sweater and a scarf on to hide it until I can find them...), and having to plan a long treck out to the police station in tønder to retrieve another Elders bike across the country that mysteriously turned up in the outskirts of our area. All in a good weeks work :)

 

Hav det godt!

 

Ældste Durrant                        

Borups Alle 128 1.tv                  

2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark​