Week 17: Bronchitis - Ain't No Missionary Got Time For That!

Baking cookies

So you know how I said that I wasn ́t feeling 100% last P-day? Yeah, well I was at 0% capacity most of this week because I had bronchitis. I was dead tired with a gnarly cough, an annoying headache, loads of mucus, and a slight fever for seven days straight. Luckily, I started feeling better Saturday after I got a priesthood blessing from my man Ældste Brown and started taking bronchitis medicine that my grandma sent with me. I ́m super grateful for the power of God and of modern medications! I ́m feeling great today so no need to worry, folks!

My routine was basically the same for one week: sleep in, wake up, eat breakfast, chug water, take meds, boil water, breathe in steam, shower, read briefly, take a nap, wake up, eat lunch, chug water, gargle salt water, boil water, breathe in steam, (occasionally go out), drink chamomile tea, lay on the couch, write in my journal, eat dinner, chug water, take meds, boil water, breathe in steam, go to bed. I felt awful for my poor companion cause we were confined in the apartment for so long. Brown ́s a champ! We went out a few nights in the parenthesized time slot to some eating appointments or service projects. Thankfully, we would usually take the car with the APs. I literally died when we went out so Brown would carry basically every single conversation. It's always a huge blessing to have a really outgoing comp! (He´s the new district leader now so we´ll see how that goes) 

We had district council in Slagelse and I could barely stay awake during the meeting. The zone leaders showed up and did a nice little training. Ældste Nielsen and Ældste Friedbaum discussed the difference between fun and joy. Long training short, we basically concluded that fun is temporary happiness and joy is eternal happiness. I thought about this a lot as I was dying from bronchitis in our basement. I was definitely not having fun in the moment, but somehow I still felt joy since I ́m out in Denmark on the Lord's errand. This really reminded me that happiness comes from within and not from without. We can choose to be happy! After the meeting, the district went out to contact while Ældste Walton and I stayed back to get more sleep. He had some of the same symptoms as me and he's feeling a lot better now too - thankfully!

We also had a memorable ward Christmas party. The ward members were forcing the missionaries to do all the Danish holiday traditions. They made us start by making incredibly difficult Christmas stars out of arts-and-crafts materials, which took 2 hours! Then, they had us dance around the Christmas tree while singing Danish juletide songs and holding hands. Next, they had us play a weird bridge game, do tug of war, and do a shoulder train. Finally, they fed us flæskesteg with rødkål and risalamande. Ældste Brown and I spread some extra joy by handing out thank you cards to 8 families. There really is so much joy in enjoying the company of others and finding small ways to serve them! That's something that I ́ve been trying to do better because it makes missionary work so much better.

This Sunday, Elias, a young man in the Roskilde ward heading to Russia, gave his farewell talk. He spoke about his preparation for the mission and his belief that he ́ll be able to share his testimony best there. After him, a member of the stake presidency told a really cool story that reminded me that people are called to serve in certain areas for specific reasons. An elderly couple with poor health turned in their mission papers expecting to serve in a temperate weather. They were shocked when they got their call to Anchorage, Alaska. Family members began protesting by telling them to call Salt Lake for a change, but the couple ignored the complaints. They decided to serve in Alaska anyway and trusted the Lord. While on their mission, they were knocking on doors and one man opened his door and immediately exclaimed, "Mom, Dad?!" He was their long lost son who had left the family and lost contact with them. He let them in and started taking lessons from them. Eventually the son was baptized, along with his wife and 3 kids. Later, they were all sealed in the temple.

Something that has been on my mind a lot this week is that I am here for a reason. I have no doubt in my mind that I'm supposed to be in Denmark, even though I ́m still not sure why. I know that the Lord has a plan for me! One day I´ll see what it is! We´re going to start teaching Natasja and Meltide more soon so I would really appreciate prayers for them and, of course, for me and Ældste Brown. We are earnestly seeking to follow God's will and invite the Spirit to work his magic.  

Just to close, I invite you faithful readers to #lighttheworld this Christmas season! You can sign up for daily text reminders to do acts of service every day this month by texting LIGHT to 71234 OR you can use your creative minds to come up with something unique to help those in need. Either way, it's important to remind the world the true meaning of Christmas.

Kærlig hilsen,
Ældste Moore


Christmas party
Drinking Chamomile tea