Week 16: Where One Door Closes, Another Window Opens

Freezing my butt off

Halløjsa søskende, here comes the weekly! This email is gonna be a little shorter because I ́m not feeling 100% today but at least I ́m still functioning, right? I give all the credit to modern medicine - gotta love those drugs!  

So now, about that title. Last week, the door that closed on us was Benjamin. We had been teaching him for about a month and he became unmotivated to continue. Ældste Brown and I were bummed out about that but the Lord opened two windows up - Natasja and Meltide. We had met them both before and didn´t ever expect to be teaching them, but here we are! Natasja is the one girl that invited us to Bible study a few weeks ago. I spelled her name Natasha before but apparently Danes spell it Natasja. What ́s up with that? Anyway, she was the AP ́s friend before and they didn't have time to meet with her since they ́re so busy running all over the place. That's why they decided to handoff the ball to us! We met Meltide on her way to train during our first week in Roskilde. We called her several times and sent multiple text messages to see if she was interested to learn more about the gospel. We got no response for six weeks and then out of nowhere - BOOM - she called expressing interest. Remember friends, just because one opportunity flies away doesn't mean that you can ́t catch the next one - or two in this case!

We had mission conference this week. We heard from Præsident & Søster Olsen and Ældste & Søster Kopischke. I have to say, I was impressed by the training and I took three things out of it. First, the Book of Mormon needs to be introduced as a book inspired of God or based on revelation instead of a historical book. Second, missionary contacting needs to lead to gospel topics in a swift, sincere fashion. Third, church members and missionaries need to work together to support and minister to the families of those in the ward. Something that I do WAY better as a full-time missionary is listen closely during meetings and take more out of them. It really helps to pay attention and write promptings down while staying engaged because, who knows, I ́ll probably be using these suggestions to open doors in the future. I believe that if I introduced the Book of Mormon better, contact people on the street more effectively, and involve church members in the work more that success will come. It could be here or back home or somewhere I don't even know, but it will come!

We had a baptism this week - well, sort of... Ældste Walton and Ældste Jensen have been visiting an old man named Billy for a few weeks and he really wants to get baptized. He had previously been taught everything from the Roskilde Sisters (before they switched them to Elders) and all the APs had to do was commit him to baptism. Saturday was the big day of the baptism. Walton and Jensen both went in with him to the baptismal font so they could get him under the water and back up again. Jensen said the baptismal prayer and then Billy refused to go under. He kept repeating "det er svært" over and over again. The ward members there tried everything they could to help. They encouraged Billy and even put a chair in the water so he could sit on it! After a good amount of time, our ward mission leader told everyone to go back into the chapel. He came in and announced that he and the Roskilde Elders & APs would be doing the ordinance another day. Billy has never swam in his life so hopefully that doesn't interfere at all! We'll be helping him for hours next time we try, if needed.

Thanksgiving was this week and the Roskilde Elders & APs got a special treat that really made us feel at home. The Jakobsen family prepared a nice homemade Thanksgiving dinner for us! Sister Jakobsen looked up what we eat for Thanksgiving beforehand and then made as much of it as she could. We were fed sliced turkey, pork wrapped in bacon, stuffing balls, mashed potatoes with gravy, candied carrots, corn & peas, banana cream pie, and pumpkin pie. It was all SOO tasty, WOWZA!! Pumpkin pie is my favorite type of pie and she made it so well that I ranked it as the best one I ́ve ever had. That ́s a pretty impressive stat! Yesterday, we kicked off the Christmas season by baking three types of cookies: peppermint, vanilla, and chocolate. We discovered real quickly that we are TERRIBLE at baking so those didn't turn out too hot. But even with our amateur baking skills, we still enjoyed trying it out, Danes really go hard for Christmas! The decorations around Roskilde are beautiful and everyone is more open. I ́m so excited for Christmas Day!

To put the cherry on top, I want to remind ya ́ll to look at closed doors as opportunities to open other windows. Don't  wait too long staring at the door because it is just a sign that entering it may not be the best path for you. There are many other paths that are waiting to be taken. Search for them and take them! Never forget that "the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words". (1 Nephi 9:6) We can always trust him to guide us and direct us!

Skab en god uge,

Ældste Moore

P.S. Happy belated Thanksgiving!! Hope you all had a wonderful day full of gratitude and celebration with the family.    

Elder Brown and me

Contacting via park

Christmas truck

Kebab fry pizza