Hello Everybody!
So this last week has been pretty interesting! When I say interesting... I mean it. I will got into it in more detail later on. I am excited to tell you about my first week in Slagelse! I cant believe another week has already gone by.
So to begin, I have a question for you. Have you ever seen that old Christmas movie about Rudolph and the misfit toys? Well The "Island of Misfit Toys", where Rudolph goes to is an island sanctuary where defective and unwanted toys are sent. Is this ringing a bell? If not you can google it. Now don't think I am rude or mean or anything, but Slagelse is the city sanctuary where weird and unwanted Danish people are sent. There are some of the most bizarre and wacky people I have ever met. I mean its strange. I don't really know how to describe it to you...but if you could just seem some of the people walking down the street you would completely understand. I have never in my life and in all my areas been more starred at and made fun of. Normal people generally don't bother with being rude to us, but the weird Danes always seem to find time. However, even though there are a lot of weird people, we have actually met a ton of very nice and normal Danes who listened and seemed interested. But out of all my areas I have served, so far this one is the weirdest.
On Sunday, I attended church for the first time here, and again it was a little strange. All the members were very loving and way kind and nice, but still it was weird. Just the way people said things and the way they acted was so completely different than any other ward I had been in. For example we had an investigator show up to church and the ward members didn't know how to act. They just starred at the investigator. haha. It was kind of funny. They had no idea what to say or do. Slagelse is a small ward, only about 60 - 70 people and half of them are all related. Æ.Meyer my companion thinks the reason the ward is a little weird is because they don't have enough diversity in the ward. I mean most of them are all family in some way or another. Then from talking to ward members Slagelse has been plagued with lazy missionaries and no baptisms for years. Our Bishop told us in short, The slagelse ward is dying. But me and Meyer and going to fix that to the best of our ability. We already have started turning this area around. We have found a ton of new people and are teaching some very positive ones too. I mean look at how shocked the ward was when we brought an investigator to church. I guess that hasn't happened in a while. So yea. I defiantly got my work cut out for me.
Unfortunately we haven't taught anybody yet, except in street teaching or knocking. We have appointments for later tonight and throughout the rest of the week. We did run into this way cool lady at the bus stop sitting down on a bench having a cigarette. We go up to her and she from the moment we said hi was just way down to earth and treated us like normal people. Sometimes when we contact people are rude or treat us like we are the scum of the earth. But she treated us with respect and was just nice to us. We told her who we were if she had a few minutes we could talk to her. Absolutely she sad and she even scooted over to let us sit down with her. Whats even cooler as when we were talking with her a big group of people walked by and normally when people walk by while we are talking with them, they get all embarrassed and stop listening. But when that group came by she didn't even flinch. She gave us her 100 % Focus. She even asked us questions and participated very well in the lesson. Then when we sat down on the bench, she put out her cigarette, which Danes never do. Her name is Enya and i must say very pretty and about 29 years old. We told her all about Joseph smith and the book of Mormon and she seemed very interested! She gave us her phone number and said give me a call next week! It was a awesome lesson, but what I really liked was how nice and how respectful she was to us. If only everyone did that. I mean theres not reason to be rude to people, but for some reason people love to be rude to the missionaries. That was one of my favorite street contacts, but other that that we have been pretty slow with teaching people.
My spiritual message for the day goes with my time in slagelse now. As I have kind of impressed in my email there is absolutely nothing going on in Slagelse. This area is way, way slow compared to Ballerup. Its hard because we do not see much potential right now. One thing that me and my companion have to do is endure and work hard and hope things will go ok. So my message today is simple but yet its an important principle in life. Sometimes things will be hard and no fun. Whether it comes to work, school, or even a hobby we are learning. Sometimes as we do these things we don't see the potential in them, and thus its a difficult task for us. So my advice is when these times come, lean forward and keep plowing on. Endure, work hard, and have faith... but most of all do it with the Lord on your side. Then when those hard and annoying times come (like me in a slow area), they will seem a bit easier.
Well thats all I have this week! I sure love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!
Love your Denmark Missionary,
Ældste Skyler Hardy
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