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| The Odense trio in front of Valdemars Slot 🏰 |
There we were, in dim candle light, surrounding the living room table within the walls of our apartment in the heart of Odense. The board took up the entire space and plastic figures stood on every possible spot. I exercised my power over the poor heathens, Ældste Jensen and Ældste Leland, and showed no mercy. Tensions were building high and I quickly found myself in position to win it all. With victory in my grasp, luck decided to turn the tide in Jensen's favor. He came from the south and annihilated Leland, my last minute ally. Soon enough, I defended against two fronts and doomsday was evident. Jensen's forces overran my blockade and pushed me deep into my home territory. I fought valiantly until the end and died as a tyrant. Now you're probably asking, "What's the moral of this story?" Well, it shows that you just need to take the Risk even if you end up being in the exact same position that Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini found themselves in during WW2.
Along with all the board games and card games that have been played, the church building has frequently been occupied by desperate missionaries looking for some sort of enjoyable pastime. Luckily, this very building has a ping pong table, a pool table, a foosball table, and an outdoor basketball court. We got a ton of "table time" as Facebook finding time was reduced to 2 hours a day and appointments came far and between. We drive and walk around Odense quite a lot to enjoy the sites (well, those that aren't closed). We saw the outside of H.C. Andersen's house, the Valdemars Slot (a castle in Svendborg), and Skt. Knuds Kirke (a cathedral in Odense), strolled through H.C. Andersen's Eventyrhaven (a park in Odense), and ate at the missionwide famous King of Kebab (a durum kebab restaurant in Svendborg). My eyes were very impressed with the sights and my stomach was very satisfied with the tastes. :)
During one of our daily strolls, we ran into Renas, an enthusiastic ward missionary. Honestly, it was quite odd to see a ward member on the street before meeting him in the church building - usually it's the other way around. He told of his plans to move to Switzerland to rig the tax system so he wouldn't have to pay it and encouraged us to keep hanging in there with the unfortunate circumstances. I met two other member families as well, including familien Køster and familien Nørrung. Jensen, Leland, and I did some service for the Køsters. We threw pre-cut logs from behind the fence into the backyard and organized them into piles. We then proceeded to burn them as we continued to cut branches into smaller pieces. We did this for about 3 hours and inhaled way too much smoke. Luckily, they gave us some dessert and drinks to keep our blood sugar high. The Nørrungs had us over to play basketball in their backyard. We expected to play against some mediocre Danes, as usual, but were shocked by the skill level of Michael (the dad) and Markus (the oldest son). They definitely out-Americaned us Americans!! LOL XD
They treated us with some drømkage and heard a clever spiritual thought connecting basketball training to spiritual training. It's important to remember that Jesus is our coach and expects great things of us.
We started and completed area book work. We sent texts out to everyone listed in the old records inviting them to hear more from the missionaries again. We created two piles - one to be saved and one to be burned. The stack of papers to be burned rose swiftly as many people responded to our messages with an emphatic "ellers, tak" or "nej, tak". Gotta love those Danes.. actually, that reminds me that we'll be getting a Dane in our apartment next week. You have probably seen him in one or more of my weekly emails. His name is Gabby, now to be called Ældste Møller. He just so happened to be someone from the Roskilde ward that would frequently bail out of planned splits. That will be hanging over his head for a long time in the Odense household. Endless teasing is on its way. ;)
With regards to online appointments, we didn't do so hot this week. Facebook finding resulted in no new friends and left us utterly disappointed. We did get in a few calls in, however. We read 3 Nephi 26 with Andrea, one of our super positive friends, and discussed God's plan for our lives. He really appreciated that we reached out to him and said that he plans to be baptized once the corona virus mess is cleared up. He wants to attend church again before making that commit, which is totally understandable. Andrea sent us a bunch of Italian recipes to show off the genuinity of his home country and ultimately thank us for thinking of him. He's a stud! We got permission to call Alex, a close friend of mine from Reno, once a week. Our conversation went really well and it was nice to catch up with him. We also squeezed in a short call with the Olsons just beforehand and those darlins always bring a huge smile to my face. My aunt, uncle, and cousins really enjoy seeing how I'm doing and I love to see that they're thriving during this strange time. :) In both calls, we invited them to shift their focus to the important things in life, such as building a relationship with God and family. It was so wonderful to share a positive, uplifting message to close friends and family.
In the calls described above, we also shared a quote from a 2016 talk by President Russell M. Nelson. He said, "We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year! My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives." These words were spoken BEFORE President Nelson was the prophet and yet they still touch my heart. Personal experience has shown me that it's up to us to make our days great. memorable, and worthwhile. We can only do that on a daily basis if we depend wholeheartedly on the Savior, Jesus Christ. Our focus needs to be on Him and our eternal families, through rain and shine, darkness and light, sorrow and happiness. Joy can thrive through any situation you may encounter, as long as Christ is in the picture. So, let me end with a rhetorical question that should get your mind moving. How can you shift your focus to the Savior even more this upcoming week? Trust me, it's worth the risk.
Kærlig hilsen,
Ældste Moore
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| Valdemars Slot 🏰 |
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| Klosterhaven ved Sankt Knuds Kirke 🌳🌷 |
