Hello Everyone.
Its good to finally get to the computer and write to all of you. I sure love doing it. Its fun to share all the experiences I am having in Denmark, with all of you. Again, I know I say this every week, but thanks for your time. I sure love you all.
Ok so to begin I am in a new area called Slagelse. Its a little ways from Copenhagen. Below is a link to google maps where you can see it.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=slagelse+denmark&um=1& ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Slagelse,+ Denmark&ei=HHbZS9D- MJGuOLbbicAP&sa=X&oi=geocode_ result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved= 0CAsQ8gEwAA
The area seems to me to be really nice. Its not so fast paced at Ballerup was. Its also a lot prettier than Ballerup. Ballerup was a big industrial area while Slagelse is almost more of a suburban area. Most Danes live in apartments but here in Slagelse I have seen a lot more homes. Whats even cooler is these homes are way nice. Like the yards are well kept, the houses look like they have been updated and remodeled. The homes I saw in BAllerup were very run down and old looking. So its kind of a nice change of scenery. Its also helps as the weather is amazing right now. Its very warm and the trees and flowers are all blooming. Its just wonderful. Its so much easier to be a missionary when the weather is nice.
As an update on my old investigators Kenny and Peter from Ballerup. From what I have been told from the new missionary and my old companion that are now in BAllerup they are doing fine. Peter as really come down on his drinking and is also attending a rehab clinic. That's great news and hes making great progress with his addiction. According to Ældste LeFevre, he is sure he will be baptized in the coming months. So yea! that's fantastic. The other baptismal date is Kenny! He is doing amazing! We had stake conference last Sunday and I was able to see him there and to talk with him! He is such a great guy! I was talking to him and he was like, this just feel right! I cannot wait for my baptism! It needs to come sooner! He really enjoyed stake conference. He doesn't speak danish, but they had translating headsets for him. So he was able to hear and follow along the entire time! It was just awesome for him! There was also a lot of stake business taken care of during it, and people were called to new positions and some released and this got him all excited! Kenny didn't realize that once you become a member you can have a calling. He said he really wants to be a teacher! He said it would be awesome! SO in short, he is way excited for his baptism which in on May 15th! I look forward to going back to Ballerup to see him! Oh its so exciting to see some one build a testimony of the church!
So that's all the old news in Ballerup. Here is some stuff about Slagelse. Unfortunately there is not as much stuff going on in Slagelse. This area unfortunately has been plagued with lazy missionaries. Its kind of sad, but true. So me and my new companion Æ. Meyer are going to do our best to see this area shine and grow again. Meyer has been here already a month and I can see the work he has put into the area. Hes done a lot and I hope I can do my best and help. But we do have these 2 really positive investigators named Tom and Kristina. Tom is American from New Jersey. He has a thick Bronx accent and is catholic. He married a Dane and ended up moving to Denmark. His wife died a long time ago from cancer. Its a very touching story. His wife was pregnant when she found out she had cancer. They only way to save her life was to have an abortion and go through kemo therapy. (sorry, I am having a hard time spelling...). She refused to have an abortion and had her baby. But by the time she had her baby the cancer had spread to far and she died. Tom was very proud of his wife and tells us constantly. So Kristina is his daughter and she has grown up in Denmark. So she is essentially a Dane with some American inside ofher. A perfect combination if you ask me. She was very pretty and has a very sweet spirit. She doesn't drink, or smoke and prays all the time. That's very unusual for a dane to do. So I met with them for the first yesterday. Æ. Meyer has met with them once before. We taught the plan of Salvation and they just ate it up. They really enjoyed it. It brought tears to Toms eyes when we told him he could be with his wife again. They said they are going to try and read and find out if its true. I can see he as a REAL desire to know. They promised to come to church on Sunday, so it will be a great day! I will keep you update on these awesome people. Its nice to teach an American, haha! Oh how I miss the good old USA!
Other than that we have mostly been doing some contacting on the street. We have taught quite a few people and ´they listened, but we not interested too much after we finished talking with them. But we got a few of their numbers and look forward to calling them next week. This area isn't as bustling as Ballerup but its been a nice change of pace. This area really is beautiful. Its a perfect example of a European city you would see in a movie. Cafes on the street, pigeons by the statues, cobble stone sidewalks and roads, old buildings, and people speaking a weird language. I will take some fun pictures and send them in the letters to come.
So my spiritual message for the day goes with Tom and Kristinas story. I bet you didn't see that coming *Wink*! There are lots of skills we can develop and do in our life. We can go swimming, (Expect me, as I am a misisonary, haha), go to church or read the scriptures ( I do that one a lot, *Grin*), play the piano, run a marathon, etc. All these are great things. But when do those things become things worth while? I can read the Scriptures every day, but when do I actually get something from them? It all comes down to our desire. Do we have a desire to play a masterpiece on the piano? Do we have a desire to attend church or read scriptures? Without a desire to do something, anything we do wont mean anything. Tom may think joining the church and be a good person is great, but does he have a desire to know if its true, a desire to come to church? etc. Without that desire, especially when it comes to spiritual things, the lord cannot and probably will not help us. We have to have a desire deep in our heart for the Lord to help us in all our endeavours. We may want his help, and it would be nice, but deep down do we have that Desire. So my message is this, whether it comes to swimming or the church, we must have a desire to know and to act in order to get something worth while out of it. Developing the desire can be hard, but I promise if we do that things will be much more worth while in our life.
So yea, wow that was a long spiritual message. Didn't mean to get all preachy on you. I guess its safe to say i have definitely been on my mission way to long. haha. I hope you all have a wonderful week! I hope its getting warm over there, and if so enjoy the warm weather. If not, bundle up. Take Care!
Love, Your Denmark Missionary,
Ældste Skyler Hardy!
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Ældste Skyler Hardy
Ældste Skyler Hardy
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