Week 43: Church Is Back!

June 13, 2020

Week 43: Church Is Back!

King of Kebab w/ Ældste Millett 🌯😋

After three months of sitting behind a screen for church meetings, the meetinghouse finally reopened to the public! :D There were many precautions taken in order to assure that this privilege would not be "stripped away" (*Zuri voice*). The limit was 50 people, so we had two separate times for the sacrament based on last names - A-K came at 10am and L-Å came at 12pm. Those blessing and passing the bread and water had face masks and gloves on. The boys passing would come to us, sitting in family clusters with proper social distancing, and we would put out our hands to have the bread and water placed into our palms. They used hand sanitizer multiple times throughout the ordinance and came around with trash bags at the end to collect our cups. We had a testimony meeting and weren't allowed to touch anything up front. The podium, the microphone, and tables were off limits and would be generously wiped down with disinfectant spray if anyone put his/her hand on them. We also couldn't sing since that also apparently spreads the virus extra fast, so everyone was just humming along with the organ. Besides all the strange requirements, it felt good to be in the church building for its proper use for the first time since I've moved to Odense. Church is back!

Now to sum up the happenings of this week. We served two families, the Bairds and the Andersens, and one individual, Claus. We did some good yard work with the families - weeding around the Baird farm and trimming hedges around the Andersen property. It felt great to serve our ward members in a small way. We helped Claus remove a bandage from his shoulder surgery and gave him a blessing. I immediately forgot what I said during the blessing and my eyes were violently blinking, which were the two signs that I always look for to know if it was God speaking through me. That was a powerful spiritual experience, indeed! We met in person with Rebekka down in Svendborg, in person with Andrea in downtown Odense, and over video call with Mariana in our lovely castle apartment. We just kept getting fed questions upon questions from these superstars. We absolutely loved every single one they asked because we could tie in all sorts of gospel principles in a natural way that didn't seem forced. We discovered that coming prepared with a topic is good, coming to answer questions is better, and coming ready for either option is best. We would come with a certain subject in mind and their questions would usually lead to it, which made it way more smooth. We remembered that we're out here to teach people, not lessons!

Our Facebook efforts took a different turn this week. We joined a group called "Odense International Hikes" to check out some cool nature walks. On Saturday, we arrived near Langesø to attend an organized event. We met four people from around the globe, George from Bulgaria, Elder from Brazil, Lauma from Latvia, and Virag from Hungary, and got to know more about them. We walked around a big pond, went off into forests, and took some memorable pictures. During the stroll, we found a church in the middle of nowhere. That started a conversation about religion and we discovered our new friends' background. When we returned to our starting point, we ate some lunch. Of course Millett and I forgot to pack food, so we bought some ice cream while the rest of the group sat around a tree. They were definitely talking about us while we were standing in line because they said that they had come up with some questions. From these questions, we explained our view on Jesus Christ, that He is more than a prophet but rather the Savior and Redeemer of the entire world. We also mentioned briefly the priesthood, the temple, personal revelation, and the connection between the Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon. Not bad, aye?

During our service projects, we invited each family to slow down, hold a personal interview, pick out specific things to improve on, and pray to become better at those things. This was inspired by our personal study based on this week's section of "Come, Follow Me", which included Alma chapters 5-7. As I initially read these chapters, Alma 5 really stood out to me because it felt like an interview from verse 14 on. The first question was, "Have ye spiritually been born of God?" This sentence made me ponder for a while. From the following questions, I felt that I had some work to do. I made a goal to become better at the last 2 commandments of the Ten Commandments. I would encourage everyone reading to hold a personal interview and ask yourself, "What do I need to do better to be spiritually born of God?" I promise that if you do this and pick a specific commandment or Christlike attribute to work, then Jesus Christ will help you. I'm already doing better at not bearing false witness of others and not coveting what others have. Put in the work and God will make up for the rest.

Jeg elsker jer højt,

Ældste Moore

P.S. Glædelig Fars Dag!! It was Fathers' Day this week in Denmark and I thought to entertain y'all with an imitation I made. Love you Dad!!