Hej alle sammen!
Det er helt fantastisk at snakke med dig idag på email! Det er jeg helt sikkert på. Jeg håber du alle sammen har haft en dejlig uge og alt har skete godt med din Thanksgiving hellidag. Ting var godt for mig og jeg har haft det meget travlt. So det her rigtig slap af at være på bibliotek idag for at skriver til dig! :) So spædende.
Did you catch that? haha! If you did, then you should be in Denmark right now helping me! haha. So what a week it has been for me. It has just been simply crazy! I don't honestly even know where to begin as I am worried i might forget to tell you something! So I think the best idea is to just begin with the start of the week.So here it goes...
So the week begins on a Monday and my poor companion Elder Warner was as sick as he could be. The only problem with him being sick was.... we had to paint our apartment! haha. So we woke up that morning bright and early at 6:30AM, got some work clothes on and began painting our lovely apartment. The reason were painting it this week as next week we are getting new carpet, so our mission leader thought it would be a good idea to paint ASAP so the new carpet wont get paint on it. So we began painting and let me tell you it was a lot of work. My companion was out of commission, so he just did some touch ups. I told him to go sleep but he really wanted to help. So in short I took the roller and basically did all the large painting while my companion followed me with a little brush. We got just about everything finished, except the bedroom and managed to not get too much paint on ourselves. The apartment looks great and it was surprisingly kind of fun! :) Then we went out and ran to the church to finish typing up Nicole's Baptismal program. We needed to get it finished so we could send it to the mission office to be printed. So took care of that then ran back up to let Elder Warner rest.
Then After Monday comes Tuesday! haha. In case you didn't know. Tuesday began with us finishing up painting our bedroom. That didn't take long at all. Then we cleaned up and put the apartment back together. Then we waited until 10 as we had someone coming to install our new oven as our old one died. While we were waiting for him a huge snow storm began and within 2 hours, we had
almost a good foot on the ground. It was insane. So 10 o clock came around and our installer was a no show. So we gave him a call and he said he would be there in an hour. So we waited. Well the hour came and still he was a now show. So we again called him and he said he was on the way. So around 2 he came and installed our new oven! I was happy with the new oven but a little disappointed that took a big portion of our day. Then that even around 6 we had an appointment with Nicole to go over her baptism. We practiced how it would work and basically prepared her for the big day! She was excited and the appointment turned out great.
Then on Wednesday we had our thanksgiving party for the Zone! They decided to hold it in Århus, so I had to do a lot of the planning with the Zone leaders to make it possible. So we had an amazing thanksgiving. I unfortunately got way sick with the cold. I hit the climax of my cold that day and am still a little sick today. It was not happy about the cold. We played some football and had amazing food. We sang some songs, even the national anthem of American and even had some pumpkin pie! It was a completely amazing day! It however snowed the entire day! haha. So it was kind of crazy playing out in the snow! Then that evening we again met with Nicole to go over again the baptism stuff. So said she is ready and had a hard time sleeping that night for Thursday!
So Thursday finally arrived! Let me tell you it was a crazy day! I woke up feeling way sick, congested. I had a cold and it was hitting me hard. Luckily I had 4 missionaries coming to the baptism to help me out, so I was very grateful for that. So we woke up and ran to the church at 9:30 ish to clean the font. It was kind of dirty. We got some strong chemicals and scrubbed that font like crazy. I was surprised to find out the tile in it was white and not a creamish color.... :) Then we began feeling the font around 10:20AM. The bishop warned me it takes about 6 hours to fill up! I was like wow, what a long time. So while the font began filling up we set up the chapel for the baptism, made sure we had towels, refreshments, hymn books were out, etc. Then to top it all off it was snowing again. So we had to stay alert and keep the sidewalk in front of the church shoveled. That was an adventure. Then to top it all off the one coordinating the baptism (ME) was way sick. So i took some really good cold medicine and drugged myself up to get me through the day and the baptism. Well 4:00 finally arrived and so did Nicole and her son. We also had some members. Well the baptism went great. We had the Bishop conduct and a member play the piano and also a musical number.Nicole asked that I speak along with another missionary named Elder Davis. I gave a talk about Baptism and Davis gave a talk about the holy ghost. We also had a member named Bent give a talk about Agency. I got the privilege og baptising her and Elder Davis confirmed her.
It was quite an exciting experience being in the water. I got the privilege of confirming Christina when I was in Slagelse, so Now it was my turn to be on the other end. Well Nicole actually made and brought her own Baptism dress. She looked great... However that dress did not do well in water. She ended up being dunked 4 times as the air could not leave the dress. It was like a water repellent material! lol! So the dunking was not my fault! :) Finally on the 4th try a few members pushed the dress under the water while I pushed Nicole under. So she got baptized, finally! She was way cool about it and jokingly said after, " Maybe I needed those extra dunks! haha. ) Then at the end of the program she gave her testimony and she did a great job. She apologized for how difficult she has been and thanked everyone for their patience. The program went great and Nicole had an amazing experience! I am way happy for her. Ever since she has gotten the Holy Ghost she has not been the same person. She was been more forgiving, patience, and loving to people, when before she was very hostile and angry. Its been a nice change to see in her and I am proud of the changes she has made in her life to get to this point.
So it was a great baptism and she had a great first day at church that following Sunday! The entire ward was so supportive and loving. I could sense a different feel in the ward as they called her "Sister Jensen." though she still has a lot to learn and she still relies on missionaries a little too much, I feel she well be a strong member one day. The lord works in marvelous ways and changes people for the best! :)
Then on Friday me and Elder Warner were as sick as could be! lol! We collapsed in the apartment as those last 2 days we were running around like a chicken with its head cut off! So when we finally got some down time we just collapsed. I am not entirely sure what really happened on Friday. All I know is I remember sleeping a lot and taking lots of cold medicine. It was a nice day.... a well deserved rest.
Well Then on Friday we also found out about TRANSFERS!!!! Are you ready for this.... I don't know if you are.... its quite exiting... maybe I should wait.... yea maybe... OK here it is....
I AM STAYING IN ÅRHUS! Can you believe it!?!?! I get to stay here for Christmas and be with my new convert for a little longer! I was so relieved to hear I was staying. Its always hard to transfer right before Christmas. But wait it gets better, Not only am I staying but Århus is getting another set of missionaries for a month! So there will be 4 missionaries in Århus! I was way stoked for it! We are going to rock Århus and get so much work down! Its going to be amazing! :) But wait.... it gets even better... I AM TRAINING! Yes you read that right I get to train a Greene completely new from the MTC! I am a little nervous but way excited! It was a nice feeling having the mission president call me and tell me I am ready to train. That means he trusts me. So I am excited! I just hope I do actually know what I am doing. Good thing I have the Holy Ghost right?
Well everyone I think that just about raps up my weeks adventures. My spiritual message is quite simple this week, its that I know this church is really Gods Church. How cheesy that may sound, but I have really come to understand this last week how true it really is. I have seen the atonement in action and its REAL. I have also seen the Spirit effect people in ways I have never seen before, I have seen it bring relief to those in need. GOD does exist and he is there and he LOVES us all. This church is not just another religion or another belief. This church is REAL and its True. It always has been and always will. How grateful I am for it and how grateful we all are because of it.
Ok so i have posted more pictures on my online photo album on facebook. You DO NOT need a facebook account to look at the pictures. Simply click on the link below! Enjoy!
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I sure love you all and look forward to seeing you all again soon. I am starting to come to the end of my mission with only 9 months left. I have a lot to do and its nice knowing I have such an amazing support group at home to keep me motivated! However don't forget about my brother, I have to share you now, so keep him and the Canadian people in your prayers. I pray and hope my brother will have an even better mission experience then me! Again I love you all and wish you the very best! Merry Christmas.
Din Danske Missionær,
Med Kærlig Hilsen,
Ældste Skyler Hardy
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