Week 13: Danes Are Just Tall Hobbits

November 11, 2019

Week 13: Danes Are Just Tall Hobbits

Knocking on Domkirken

Alright, let me briefly explain this subject line. Hobbits enjoy working in their gardens, eating six meals a day, devouring bready foods, smoking a bunch, taking any opportunity to party, and staying comfy & cozy in their homes. I´ve discovered that this is the exact same lifestyle led by the majority of Danes. The only difference is that Hobbits are an average height of 3´6" and Danes are an average height of 5´10". That proves that Danes are just tall Hobbits!

You know, the good thing about Hobbits is that even though they are shy they are very sincere when you get closer to them. I would say the same about Danes. When they´re on the street, they avoid all eye contact and mind their own business. If you stop one of them, they are very polite - whether they are or aren´t interested in hearing what we have to say. If you become a friend to a Dane, then you can bet that it´ll last because they don´t joke around with relationships. I´ve really come to LOVE this about the Danish people! They don´t even know it, but they help make the missionaries´ job a hundred times easier. Jo tak!

We had a fun one this week! We started off strong with district leader splits in Roskilde. Ældste Merril and Ældste Grossnickle drove up from Nykøbing to spend an entire day working with us. Both of them are geeks! They´re ridiculously funny and know how to keep the spirits up! To be more productive, we split into two teams. Grossnickle and I went together to knock around Trekroner while Merril and Brown went together to knock at a collegium nearby. It was FREEZING outside, but thank goodness I have that huge jacket. Nice try Satan, the cold isn´t gonna stop us! Grossnickle and I found a man who wanted us to come back another time. His name is Thor - if that isn´t cool enough! Hopefully that goes in a positive direction, but we´ll have to swing by next week like he told us to do.

We had zone conference! The focus of this one was working effectively, which was something both Brown and I agreed on as the perfect topic for us. Præsident Olsen suggested multiple times throughout the meeting to take breaks and go out in short, effective time slots. We took his advice and immediately applied it! We found ourselves so exhausted after every day so we started to implement "contacting sprints" to keep us energized. We found that this strategy worked best for us and we´ll continue to use it. Right after the conference, we went out with Bastian and Markus again to contact. Bastian and Brown hit the gå gade while Markus and I knocked on two apartment complexes. Two people told us to come back next week! Spænende! We can´t wait to see if they actually are interested! :D

Don´t you just love the feeling of putting in all the effort you´ve got and eventually seeing the fruits of that labor? Yup, me too! After several days with no one to talk to for more than 5 seconds, Brown and I prayed to have just one conversation. We went to knock a different area and the first door was answered by an awesome guy named Michael. He talked to us for 45 minutes straight, which is 540 times longer than anything else we had gotten in the previous days. This experience reminded me that Heavenly Father really does listen to our prayers and answers them. I have no doubt of this and would encourage anyone to consider trying it out. It´s important to remember that God´s timing may be different than our own. An answer could come in the next second, minute, day, week, month, year, decade, or lifetime. All that matters is He will answer in a way that is best for us!

We saw another miracle on Sunday. The Roskilde Ældster were absolutely shocked by this one. After weeks and weeks of non-members coming to church, 11 of them showed up out of the blue! Isn´t that insane?! Getting people into church was our biggest struggle and then all the sudden it became our biggest success. This experience reminded me that no effort is wasted and only benefits God´s children at one time or another. As missionaries, we have an obligation to share what we know is true, which will naturally invite the Holy Ghost. After that, we leave the rest up to the Holy Ghost. It is not us who convert others, it is up the Spirit!

Speaking of Helligånden, we taught Benjamin about Jesu Kristi evangelium (the gospel of Jesus Christ) with a focus on the gift of the Holy Ghost. We had been planning to possibly set him on dåbsdato (baptismal date) but Ældste Brown leaned over to me during zone conference and whispered, "I´m feeling like we should talk about the Holy Ghost with Benjamin. Write that down so we don´t forget!" Turns out, that was the perfect topic for him! He told us that he was uncertain about the Holy Ghost´s role in the Godhead and the difference between the Holy Ghost and the gift of the Holy Ghost. I started off by saying that his role is to connect us to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Brown took it from there and did an excellent job at describing the Holy Ghost as a spiritual payphone and the gift of the Holy Ghost as a spiritual cell phone. The difference is that we don´t always have a payphone with us and we always have a cell phone with us.

If there´s anything to get out of this email, it´s that prayer works and that the Spirit is real! I have seen both of these bring forth miracles throughout my life. Prayer invites the Holy Ghost into our lives, who keeps us closely connected to God. I know that this is true and anyone can find that out for themselves. Prayer is communicating, whether out loud or in your head, directly with God and is only possible through the Spirit. Try it! It doesn´t hurt to give it a shot. Make a great week and remember that "by small and simple things are great things brought to pass" (Alma 37:6). I love you all so much and appreciate the prayers and emails!

Jeg elsker jer højt,

Ældste Moore