Your Denmark Missionary 03-04-10

Hey Everyone!

Its your missionary from Denmark Elder Skyler Hardy! I am so excited to tell
you of my adventures this week! It was one of those weeks fr me that was
like WOW, I cant believe that was my week!

Ballerup is a really great area. I realized on other letters I never really
talked about it. Ballerup is really close to Copenhagen. Its a bigger city
but its mostly a industrial area. Which brings me to where I live. I live in
a house, which is cool, but its right in the middle of an industrial area!
So as you pull up to the house to the left of me is some car depot place,
where they take broken cars and use their parts to fix new cars. Then to the
right of me, is some sort of tractor storage area. Across this street is
some offices and other weird factory like buildings. Then theirs the house
and I think 2 other houses arranged randomly on the street. So I do have
some neighbors.

So the house usually has 6 elders live in it. However, when I got their only
4 live their now. So I have my companionship and another companionship. Its
actually been a lot of fun! So we have me, my companion Æ. Christensen, then
the other companionship Æ. Davis and Æ.Camp. Whats really neat is Æ. Camp is
from my MTC group. Its actually a funny story but in the MTC we hated each
other. We were always on each others nerves. So before I came to Ballerup I
was really nervous about how this would turn out. Well now me and Æ. Camp
are like best friends! ITs been weird but we have gotten along perfectly. It
was funny because one night Æ. camp turn to me and says, "You know, I didn't
like you in the MTC, " I turn to him and said, "Yea, I didn't like you
either." Then we just sat, and laughed and then I said, "It looks like we
both have changed and now we can deal with each other," haha. Its funny, how
people you hated at first can all the sudden become good friends.

Unfortunately, we had a mini transfer this month, and Æ.Camp and Æ. Davis
are getting their own apartment in their area. I am a little disappointed as
it has been a lot of fun having them live in the same house. It was fun to
come home and hear their crazy stories, and it was also nice to tell them
mine. Another benefit having them in the same house was, if I got sick of my
companion I could talk to them and kind of get a break. So I will miss them,
but hey I now have this huge house just for my companionship. I even get my
own bathroom! Isn't that crazy?!?! Oh and did I mention the bathrooms have
heated floors? Apparently that's like a standard thing in Denmark, who knew!
So thats a little about Ballerup and where I live.

This week we haven't had a lot of appointments. We are kind of taking a
break from the people we teach as sometimes its good to take a little break
from them. Its good because our goal this week is to find some new people to
teach to bring fresh blood into the area. We were out knocking on doors and
we came across this man from Afghanistan. He lets us in and says, "Hold, on
I have your book." He comes back with some book and kind of looks at us
weird. I looked at the book and found out it was a Jehovah's witness
pamphlet they give out. Æ. Christensen said you know this isn't our book,
were from the LDS church, you now Mormons. Then the guy gave us a big smile
and said, good, I didn't like that book. I kind of laughed. It amazes me how
much people confuse us with Jehovah's witness missionaries. Whats funny
about it, is when we do tell them who we are, they usually smile and kindly
say no or yes. It find that int resting. So we began to teach him about
Joseph smith and the book of Mormon. We found out he was Muslim, but left
their religion when we moved to Denmark. He said his eyes have been opened
that theirs more to life then the Muslim way, or something like that... We
asked him if he thought our message could be true? He turned to us and said,
"Absolutely, anythings possible with God." Oh baby, Perfect answer. He said
were welcome back. It was a great lesson. I hope it will turn into something
GREAT!

Then we were out knocking on doors again and we across this lady from
Ecuador! She welcomed us in with open arms! Shes was so happy to talk to
someone about religion! Apparently her boyfriend is Atheist and he wont let
her talk about God. She also told us how she cant speak very good danish
yet, and so she has a hard time wanting to talk about God as most Danish
people don't know the English religious vocab. She complimented us on
serving a mission. She says its some much better that your sevrving missions
and being good people, then what most people do at your age. Shes like most
kids your age are out drinking, partying, and doing horrific things. She
said, she was proud of us for serving God. After she said those nice things,
I was like in my head"is this women Mormon?" Shes too nice to be an
investigator! haha. We began to teach her, and we taught her about Joseph
smith and Book of Mormon, and she really enjoyed the discussion. We found
out shes Catholic and when she moved to Denmark, its because of God she made
it though all the trials it took to get her here. So shes very religious. It
was a great lesson, and of course she invited us over next week!

Then on Preparation Day we decided to go to Copenhagen, because of something
really cool they are doing for a limited time. The prince of Denmark, Prince
Frederik, and is wife, Princess Mary Elizabeth, when they were married began
renovation of the palace they are going to live in. Its been quite an
expensive little renovation, about 120 million Danish Kroner (Its 5 dollars
to 1 Kr, You can do the math). IT was completely payed for my the Danish Tax
payers, and they still charge you 40 Kroners to get in... even if you are
Danish! Well they are just about done, and they decided to open it to the
public for the next 2 months before they move in! So thats what we did, we
went and saw the actual Palace that the Prince and Princess will be living
in! Because of Security reasons we were not allowed to take pictures inside,
but I did buy a book that had pictures in it.Let me tell you, it was
beautiful! They actually restored a lot of the original design of the palace
when it was first built, many many years ago! They are some really neat
paintings, and all kinds of beautful hand carved ceilings and pillars! It
was truly amazing. Its something to see an Old castle, but seeing the one
they will actually live in, well thats an experience on its own! I attaced a
picture of me, in front of it! I hope you enjoy!

As an update, I mentioned in my last letter that me and Æ. Christensen have
gotten something free every day... can you remember? well Just to let you
know we are going on 3 weeks of always getting some type of food or
something from either invesitigators or members. I just fid it some funny,
we have gotten something every day. Oh the life of a missionary! :)

Here is my spiritual message for the day... Always treat people with
kindess and respect. In the MTC, I literally thought I would always
dislike Æ.Camp. And Now that I have lived with him again and gotten to
know him more, we became friends. I honestly never thought that would
happen, and now I regret the difficult time we had in the MTC. Always
be nice, because you never know who might one day be your friend or
someone you have to work with. Who would have guessed my bitter enemy
in the MTC would be a great friend?!?!

Thanks for taking the time to read my letters! I sure love you all and
appreicate all your love and support! Have a fantastic week!

Your Denmark Missionary,
Ældste Skyler Hardy

Your Denmark Missionary 02-24-10

Hello Everyone,

I hope all of you are doing great. I am excited to report to you yall what I
have been up to as a Missionary. Things have been very good lately and I am
truly loving being a missionary. It gets hard, but for the most part its a
more rewarding experience than it is a negative one. The language is still
really tuff, But I am not so stressed about it, as much as I first was.
Whats funny about that, is well I have been learning a lot more. Go figure
right? So learning the language has been a good experience also and its
definitely keeping me busy.

Believe it or not Ballerup has been pretty slow this week. We have taught
quite a few people but they were just normal lesson appointments. Nothing
incredible or amazing. Its just good to have people to teach here. It means
a lot when people are nice and kind and take a few mintutes to listen.

We taught this one couple named Joseph and Kasia. They are in their
later twenties and are married. They have met with the missionaries
for a long time, but took a break for a few months. They agreed to let
us meet with them. Before I forget, the best part about them is they
are Polish! haha. The polish language is insane. It sounds so cool and
really bizarre. They spoke english to us, and Kasia spoke Danish.
However, we did teach the appointment in English. This is fine for me,
as I can participate more in the lesson, when I understand what is
being said.

The appointment went really well. We basically just wanted to meet
with them to see what they knew and simply to get to know them. We
werent sure what the previous missionaries taught them or in short
what their situation was. We had a good time and they said they really
enjoyed our visit. We went over questions about the Book of Mormon,
and read a few scriptures in Alma. Its the story where the prison
walls are knocked down.... anyways, they really enjoyed it. They
brought up how they think our churchs only focus is the Book of
Mormon. They think we worship the book and lose foucus on other
things. We taught them that the Book of Mormon is simply a tool that
reminds us and helps us come closer to Jesus Christ. I emphasised to
them that our church is called the church of JESUS CHRIST of latter
day saints. Were not the Church of the book of mormon, of latter day
saints. It was a good conversation, and I think they got a lot out of
it. What was great about the lesson was they were open and willing to
listen to us.

On a sad note the investigator I set a baptismal date with, named
Christopher, his baptismal date was dropped. It was a little too soon,
and when we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, it kind of threw him
off. We also discovered some hidden issues reguarding his family that
we didnt know about before hand. Long story short, he will get
baptized, their is no doubt in my mind, its just going to take a
little more time. He did tell us again, he knows our message is true,
and knows he needs to do something about it, he just needed more time.
He still wants to meet with us, and we will still continue to prepare
him for baptism. However, the date was dropped, and I will let you
know of any changes.

On p-day we went to Copenhagen and saw this really cool church called
the Marmor Kirke. It was really pretty and the design of it was
incredible. It has a domed roof and inside it has some amazing
designs. It was really pretty. We we went their they even had the
organ playing and it sounded really good inside. Somewith with the way
the sound bounces of the domed roof makes it sound really good. They
do give tours, where you can go up closer to the dom, and outside
around the top. However, because of the winter and ice they closed it
down until April 1st. I was a little dissappointed, however, I figure
it gives me another excuse to go back. I attached a photo of me and
the church.

On a funnier note, we have had an appointment at least once a day or
more. Usually its about 1 - 3. Whats funny about this is me and
Æ.Christensen always get something free. We always get at least
something. From something as simple as some crackers and water as we
teach to full on meals by some of our investigators. They also always
give us fruit or something to take home! its insane! I dont think they
realize how much food I do have at the apartment. I live in Ballerup
and 2 sets of missionaries actually live their. So when we get
groceries we just buy what we want then all split it. So we save a ton
of money and get a ton of food in return. So not only do I already
have a lot of food at home, I also get a lot of food from
investigators. Then to top it all off, the Bishop of the Ballerup ward
runs a catering company. So he always has a ton of left overs from
those catering events and he gives them to us. Its just crazy to me
how much food me and Æ. Christensen have gotten. It always cracks me
up when we get something. We are going on 2 weeks, of always getting
some type of food. I just thought it was funny.

My message for the week is a really simple one. I have been teaching a
lot of people and all of them dont like how we have so many laws in
our church. They think it affects their agency. I am sure you have
heard this argument many a times by a ton of people about our church.
I had a discussion with my companion about it and this comment was
said.

"When we follow the commandments, we have nothing to worry about"

I thought that statment was true. I know rules can be hard sometimes,
and sometimes they dont even always make sense. But one thing I do
know is, that when Rules are followed or in this case commandments are
obeyed, we will have nothing to worry about. Isnt that great? Its like
our heavenly Father has given us a cheat sheet, to avoid the things
that can harm us in this life. So thats my message for the day.

Sorry this email isnt as exciting as the others, lol! Believe it or
not their is such things are mellow weeks in the mission field, haha.
Anyways, I sure love you all and thanks again for all your love and
support.

Your Denmark Missionary 02-18-10

Hey Everybody!

It was another exciting week in Denmark! Its been full of a lot of ups and downs and all kinds of things. However its been an awesome week and I as usual don't know where to begin. I guess the easiest place to begin is at the beginning.

This week I had my first Zone Conference in Ballerup. It was a great conference and I was taught a lot of things. Basically they go over how the missions doing and things like that. The sister Missionaries generally do a cute game and the Assistants to the Presidents give a training on what the Mission president thinks is needed in the mission. We also found out about my New Mission President that will be coming in July. He is Danish and is actually my Stake President right now. I don't know too much about him, other than hes really strict. Its a good thing, I am an obedient missionary, right? haha.

The day after Zone conference we had an appointment with a REALLY positive investigator named Kobfa. She is a really kind, awesome person. She comes from Taiwan and is just super amazing. Elder Christensen told me that she is really interested in Baptism. He said that she believes our message. Apparently the only thing holding her back is that she wants to see a baptism before she actually gets baptized. Crazy, right? Well before the appointment, we found out their was an baptism the next day in our area. So we were really excited to tell her about it and get her there. So we arrive at the appointment and have a really good lesson. We taught her about prophets and why its so unique and important to our church. She really liked it. It was also a great lesson because every other question from her was about baptism. Finally we told her about the baptism in our area and she was excited. She said she wanted to go. We told her we would pick her up and have a good experience. Then she said, "After we watch, Then my turn for baptism!" haha. I was like WOW! Shes ready. I told Elder Christensen, We may want to put a leash on her when we get to the baptism to keep her form jumping in the water! haha.

The next day finally arrived and unfortunately her son got really, really sick. She didn't have the heart to leave him home, so unfortunately she wasn't able to attend the Baptism. It crushed me, because we probably would have set a baptismal date with her after she witnessed the baptism. Oh well, their will be more baptisms. This is where the news gets good... The next Baptism in our area, is mine!

Yes what I said above is true! I set my first baptismal date with an awesome investigator named Christopher! Whats great about setting this baptismal date with him, is me and my companion didn't really do anything! haha. We arrived at the appointment and we even had a Member of the ward with us. We have met with Christopher a few times, but hes been taught since July. So we sat down and just begin talking, seeing how he is doing. Then he changes the topic and says, "I have decided something." We say, What have you decided?" He was like, " I want to get baptized!" This caught me and Elder Christensen way off guard! We were a little speechless. Finally my companion asks, "Why do you want to get baptized" he said the perfect answer, " I know your message is true, and Every time I think about this church and you guys, I feel peace." Except imagine that in Danish! haha. He told us, what we needed to hear. So we set a baptismal date with him for March 12th. As the appointment went on, we found out hes actually been teaching his girlfriend everything we taught him.. So to me that meant a lot. It showed he is taking what we have to say seriously.

It was just so exciting to set a baptismal date! We have a lot of work to do to get him ready, but I feel very confident and I what ever happens, happens. Oh just so exciting!!! After that appointment, we celebrated. I bought some Diet Coke and we had some Danish pastries. haha. I must say, it was an AWESOME day!

Then on Saturday I found out it was a Danish Holiday called Fastelavn. Its a kid Holiday, but basically its kind of like Halloween, except smaller and its not supposed to be scary. Its kind of funny actually. So like I said the holiday is for kids, and what they do is dress up. The usually dress up in something funny, like clowns, Einstein etc. Basically any costume that's not Dracula or a mummy with blood. Nothing like that. Then they have a bin filled with candy that they hit like a pinata. When I say bins I mean a wooden Barrel. They hit it until the candy falls out and the Barrel is destroyed. This tradition is way old and goes back to the viking age. Apparently in the olden times they would put a cat in the barrel. Then they would hit the barrel until the barrel broke. The goal was to kill the cat before the barrel broke. However if the cat was still alive after it broke, they would hunt down the cat and kill it. So yea, very interesting. The ward hard their own Fastelavn party for the primary. The kids just love it! Let me tell you, they wack the heck out of those barrels. haha. The barrels I saw had a picture of a cat on it, and that's usually where they focus their hits. I get this feeling, somewhere down the line of Danish History, they didn't like cats! haha.

There is also a chant they sing: Here it is, in Dansih and then translated in English.

Fasterlavn
er mit navn
boller vil jeg have
Hvis jeg ingen boller får
så laver jeg ballade

Boller op
boller ned
boller vil jeg have
Hvis jeg ingen boller får
så laver jeg ballade

Translation:
Fasterlavn
is my name
I will have some buns
If I don't get some
Trouble I will make

Buns up
buns down
I will have some buns
If I don't get some
Trouble I will make

So yea, Its similar to ours I guess. In Any case its kind of fun.

Then on P-day I went and visited my first castle! It was really cool. It was called the Kornberg castle. This is where Shakespeare based his story Hamlet on. Its an amazing castle. However the castle acutally burnt down many, many years ago. A kind rebuilt it, but it never was restored to its originally glory. It was also raided by the swedish during their war many years ago. They also lost a lot of stuff when the Germans occupied Denmark during WW2. In any case they are slowly restoring it and it still is really old. The only part of the builing that is original and about 600 years old is the chapel. It was the only part of the castle to survive the fire. I sent a picture in the email. I have one of me in the Chapel and of the castle.

However I was so awed about how amazing the castle was, I actually forgot to take a picture of me in front of the castle! lol! So the picture is just a picture of the castle! Its still really cool though! Here is a cool website that talks about it!

http://www.ses.dk/en/SlotteOgHaver/Slotte/Kronborg/Velkommen.aspx

Then on Tuesday this week, we had a lunch appointment slash service project for a ward member. His name is Bro. Rasmussen and he is a awesome guy. We get to his house and apparently all the missionaries chop wood for him. He still uses a wood burning stove to heat his home. So that was interesting. I have never chopped wood before. Lets just say, I looked pretty ridiculous! haha. However, we didn't do it long as the wood we were chopping was frozen. It's been a hard winter! haha. So luckily I didn't look like a fool for too long. However, attached is another picture of me chopping wood. Enjoy. haha. Who would have every guessed I would chop wood. I sure didn't.

As for my spiritual message, the one thing I learned this week is never assume things about people. Christopher , the investigator I set a baptismal date with, I honestly never thought we would set a date with him. Hes a punkish type kid, and I just thought he liked to meet with us and would never go anywhere with the gospel. That's BAd thinking on my part. When Christopher told us he wanted to be baptized, his punkish attitude disappeared. The spirit was in him and he felt it and he knew he didn't to act on it. You just never know who the gospel will affect and how they will take it. This can be applied to many different aspects about people, but to keep in simple, Never assume things about people. You just never know how they might take things, and how they might just act on it.

I hope you all are having a wonderful week! Its great to know that winter is slowly coming to an end. I cant wait to show you pictures of Denmark in the summer! Its going to be amazing!

Oh and before I forget... HAPPY, VALENTINES DAY, PRESIDENTS DAY; and GROUND HOGS DAY!

Have a wonderful week and thanks again for all your love and support!

- Hide quoted text -

Your Denmark Missionary,

Ældste Skyler Hardy

Your Denmark Missionary 02-10-10

Goddag Family and Friends!

I have had a good week and I am happy to tell you all about it. I also have
had an experience, I never thought would happen to me in Denmark so this
email might blow your socks off, just a little.

To begin, This week we had splits with our district leaders. My new
district leader was actually my old companion. So that made it
intrestesting. So, we had an appointment with this guy named Bent Lind. He
is a older guy, but way nice and said hes open to learn more about our
church. Hes actually been taught for quite a while. However he got kind of
forgotten and me and Elder christensen found his record. So we gave him a
call and we set up an appointment. So me and my old companion go up there
and he answers the door and welcomes us in. We went and sat down and from
that moment on it was just an awesome experience. I dont know what it, was
but for me it really was a great appointment. I was able to understand for
the most part what he was saying and I was also able to speak to him in
Danish. He made me feel so comfortable, and i just spoke as much as i could
to this guy. He was correcting me and helping me and simply being a nice
guy. I even taught him about Jesus Christ and how he wants us to follow his
commandments in DANISH! In short, he enjoyed our company and said he would
try to make it to church. I was just so happy i found an investigator that
likes giving danish lessons! I may be returning more often! haha.

Then later that night we switched companions. What was interesting about the
switch was the other companion was in my MTC group. Which means he is just
about as good at Danish as me! haha. So we switched companions and me and
Elder Johnson (the Elder from my MTC group) were dropped off in a city
called Herlev (pronounced Hair-loo). So I was way nervous and curious to see
what the night will bring. You can imagine, 2 you american missionaries, in
Denmark, speaking little danish, trying to teach people about the restored
gospel. haha. You can imagine how scared I was. So we began knocking.
We both took turns knocking and speaking. So every other door I had to
talk. Nobody really wanted to listen to us. Its sad, but the one thing
I never have a hard time understanding is rejections. haha.

We did that for about a 1 hr and we were freezing. So we decided to go
to the library that is close by to warm up. So we began walking, and
you guessed it, we got lost. haha. So once again, 2 new missionaries
creating a intresting situation. So we decided to ask someone for
directions. We found a guy and did our best to speak to him. He gave
us directions all in Danish, and I somewhat understood him. The hand
motions are acutally what really helped. However, we found the
library. It took us about 30 mintues to get lost, ask directions, and
find it. haha. So we got there and it was closed. haha. We forgot it
was friday. Everything in Denmark closes early on Friday. So we ended
up finding another store that was luckily still open, to get warm.
Intresting, right!

But thats not all, the intresting experiences continue. So we get
picked up by our companions and I get this phone call from a person we
have been trying to meet with for a while and he said he really wants
to meet with us. So my companion, Ældste Christensen says, well your
still on splits so you and Æ. Johnson, take this guy. Great. luckily
this guy is in english, so i felt a little better.

So me and Æ. Johnson arrive at this guys apartment. His name is Doru.
We knock on the door, no answer. We knock again, No answer. So we
knocked 1 more time and this time he answered. He opens the door with
knife in his hands! My heart skipped a few beats. I just about ran for
my life! So we say hi, and that were missionareis from the LDS church.
He turns on the light and says oh (f word). He then says "come in, I
have a lot of enemys. You can never be to careful." Oh and he says
this in a Russian Accent. Hes from Romania,but his accent sounds
russian. Me and Æ. Johnson hesitated a little bit, then Doru says,
"come in! Im not going to kill you." Well thats a comforting
statement, haha.

We enter and he tells us, that his friend Nikolai, wants to talk with
us and that he needs help. We talked for a while about all kinds of
weird stuff. Then Doru left the room and Nikolai was with us. So we
ended up teaching him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. It
was an all around awkward, scary experience being in that apartment.
Then I get this strong feeling, that we need to leave that apartment
right now. I signaled Æ. Johnson and we did our best to get out of
there ASAP. Apparently Doru thought we could find a job for Nikolai.
In short, they only wanted things from us. We found out Doru was
drunk. Anyways, it was a scary night. I am completely fine, but I am
never going to that apartment again. haha.

So that was my crazy experiences day. I cant even begin to tell you
how happy I was to come home that night! haha. Anyways, the day ended
good and I got my current companion back.

Then on Monday we had an appointment with a couple called Fin and
Pinella. Fin is a member but a less active one, and Pinella is an
investigator. They have just about been taught about everything, and
every time we bring up Baptism they kind of are wishy washy about it.
So we decided to show them the Testiments movie. We got permission
from them a week in advanced to have a longer appointment. They were
excited to see it. We showed it to them and wow! Their reaction to the
movie was perfect. Pinella, she is always quiet and dosent say much.
However as she was watching this movie, she just broke down and cried.
She tried to hide it, but she couldnt. Me and Æ. Christensen are
pretty sure she knows what were teaching her is true, but hasent made
a move because of her husband. However, fins reaction was also good.
He got really quiet, and his eyes didnt move from the TV. In short the
spirit was extremly strong in that appointment. We testified about the
Book of Mormon and challenged them to think about Baptism, and to read
the BofM.

WOW. I cant belive how long this email has gotten. Its been a crazy
week, and I just have way to much to say. Here is something I learned
this week especially from the last experience with Fin and Pernilla.
Dont let people tell you what to believe in, or let people intimidate
you for what you WANT to belive in. Life is short, and we cant
procrastinate things. Anyways, thats my thought for the day.

Thanks again for taking the time to read my emails. I sure love all of
you and míss you all. Your support and love means the world to me!

Your Denmark Missionary,
Ældste Skyler Hardy!

Your Denmark Missionary 02-02-10

Hello Everyone!

Its been a fantastic week and I am excited to tell you all about it! Things are so busy in Ballerup that its hard to keep straight all the things I have done. We have also had a TON of snow in Denmark! Its the most snow Denmark has seen in 15 years! Basically it feels like UTah outside. Its also been very cold. Its been so cold, It actually has been kind of painful! haha. I sent a photo with this email, so I hope all of you can access it. But I think it explains perfectly the weather right now... I also hope I my introduction on last weeks email changed things up a little! This week I will start from the beginning...

In Ballerup the Ward actually has a ton of members. The problem is only 1/3 of them actually come to church and remain active. So the Bishop in this ward as asked that we try to meet with less active members and get them coming to church again. So Elder Christensen has been trying to meet with a less active named Foster. Hes been trying over the last few months with little success. So we headed over to his house with a member named Rhonnie. We knocked on his door and he was finally home! Elder Christensen was so happy! He couldn't believe it! Foster is a awesome Guy from Africa. He told us he got really sick the last few years and in short had a really ruff time with life. But it made his day to see the missionaries and a member! Hes like you guys care, that just means a lot. He talked all night. HE is a talker, but I think he was just so happy to be able to talk to members. IT was a good appointment to me, because you just never know the circumstances of people. I kind of pre-judged this guy thinking he was slacking off a little. But in reality he is still knows the church is true and just has struggled with things. He now has the help and guidance of the ward and the missionaries to get back on the right path. Given time He will be back to church in no time. '

We have also this awesome brand new investigator who is completely fascinating and has had some interesting experiences. For privacy reasons, I think I will use a different name. So We will call him Frank. I trust all of you but I think I would rather be safe than sorry. So we were out in a near by city trying to contact a less active when Frank comes running up to us. He says, " are you guys the missionaries, the Mormon ones!" and he said this in English! So I turned around and said, yea we are. Frank then said, "Oh good, I really need to talk to you guys. ITs really important. Here's my number I will you on Saturday. Frank was way nice. He is a young kid going to school. Hes about 23 ish. What are the odds, we ran into him. Whats even weirder is that less active we were trying to meet never showed up. God does work in mysterious ways... haha.

So we call him on Saturday and set up an appointment for Sunday. He gladly opens his door and welcomes us in. He had sodas, and danish pastries for us. Hes like, I know you guys are busy and hungry so enjoy! Wow, what a nice guy, haha. We started talking to him and found out hes met with the missionaries before, but was never that interested. But hes said hes had some weird spiritual experiences and from those experiences he knows he needs to do something with his life spiritually wise. We discussed more with him about his experiences and found out he had felt the spirit. He said he was thinking about God and felt this calm and peace. He said, *I know this sounds weird but I heard a voice. Not a mean one, or a loud one... Then I interrupted him and said, a Still small voice? Hes like ya! He said the voice told him he needs to better his life. Then he said he had a scary experience with the devil after that. He said he felt something bad entered his apartment. He said he felt every bad emotion. After that he saw he said he had a impression he needs to meet with the missionaries. We also found out hes experiences with different types of drugs, etc. So those experiences might be the drugs talking, but in any case, he knows he needs to do something and hes willing to do it. The lesson was powerful as we answered his questions and taught various topics from various lessons. Hes a sincere young man, well my age, and wants to be better. That was an amazing appointment. The spirit was so strong and whats great was he was able to recognize it. It was a great appointment, and we have another appointment with him on Thursday!

The area I am in has always been the pit of the mission. Ballerup is always the area new missionaries and old missionaries get sent too, right as they arrive or when the are about to go home. So we have hundreds of papers of contacts that have never been touched and have just been forgotten about. We also have a ton of what we call Knocking books, where we record where we have knocked on peoples doors before. Unfortunately these records are a disaster and completely un-organized. So we have spent a few hours every day reorganizing and developing a new systems for all this. I know, Leave it to Skyler to make thing organized. haha. But our records are looking awesome and we are working a lot more effectively. We spent yesterday at the church typing and organizing everything. Now when need to visit people we know exactly where we need to go and not have to look through a thousands records. Anyways, i am proud of my new system and wanted to brag a little in my email about it. haha. We created a new system for knocking on peoples doors. We are going to start trying it out. I will let you know how successful it is. But Ballerup I think is now one of the most organized areas in the mission! Its amazing how much easier to work when things are clean and sleek, and simply organized.

So here's my spiritual message for the day. Keep your lives organized. I know it sounds kind of weird but I believe it to be true. Remember to keep your time balanced from worldly things and churchy things. Enjoy life, but know when its time to work. Things like that. Our church is ran very organized. Christ ORGANIZED his church. He didn't just call random people. That's the message for this week. I know our missionary work has seemed a lot more effective and successful having it organized and I believe the same concept can be applied to us.

Have a fantastic week everyone! I sure love and miss all of you!

Love, Your Denmark Missionary,

Ældste Skyler Hardy!

Your Denmark Missionary 01-27-09

Hej! All my family and Friends!

Disaster has struck in the Ballerup area. Thousands of people scamper
around, wishing, waiting for it to be over. The chills of the winter
air make the experience all the worse as they wait and wait. The look
to the right, to the left and notice a caution marker at the side of
the road. They look, they read, they KNOW. They run away, hoping they
can make it safely to their destination!

Hows that for a introduction! I bet you have no idea what I am talking
about. I have now officially been in Ballerup for 1 week! Its amazing
how much a person can learn in 1 week, and let me tell you its been
quite an experience and I am excited to tell you all about it.

So to begin, the one thing I have learned a lot about Ballerup is the
public transportation. It never arrives on time, or it arrives too
early etc. We as missionaries use the public transportation as we
don't have a car. This is tragic, but we do what we can do. My
introduction is about the public transportation. We always miss our
bus or our train. They never come at the time they say there supposed
to come on the train schedule (Caution Marker from intro). This makes
life a little difficult as we seem to always be either right on time,
to an appointment or a few minutes late. Its bad because we will be at
the station waiting, waiting, and waiting, then we figure out the bus
already came. Anyways, that's my public transportation drama this
week. You just got to love it.

I have only been in Ballerup for 1 week and I have already given a
talk. I know crazy! The bishop called me on Saturday and asked me to
give a talk in church. He said 5 - 10 mintues. I wasent too happy
about it as he only gave me 1 day to prepare. However I said yes and
worked all day saturday on my talk. I had Elder Christensen with his
great danish help me out. Sunday finally arrived and I gave my talk. I
was way nervous and pronounces a few words wrong, but I think I did
pretty good. They told me I speak really clear and that I dont have
too bad of an accent. I appreciated those comments, and was just glad
it was over with.

One thing about Ballerup that's completely different then in Randers
is the amount of appointments I have had this week. We have had at
least 1 appointment each day. Tomorrow we actually have 6
appointments. Its insane! we have been completely busy here. I am not
used to it. Ive met a ton of amazing people and all of them really
enjoy our visits. Elder Christensen has done a great job at creating
good relationships with them.

We have this investigator named Ann-Mai. She is a Danish girl and
actually studies religion in school. At first I was a little worried
about it, because shes probably only meeting with us to just learn
more about our church. However she told Elder Christensen that shes
studying religion in school because it interests her and shes looking
for the best religion to believe in. Ann-mai has a sincere heart and
is willing to listen, which is awesome! I wasn't there the last time
she was taught, but my companion was, and they showed her the Joseph
Smith movie. She loved it! She thought the movie was so powerful. The
movie brought tears to her eyes. After hearing all that I was way
excited to teach her. We decided to teach her the 2nd lesson which is
the Plan of salvation! She just ate this up! She loved it! She loved
how including it was. She just loved how our beliefs include everyone,
Mormon or not. It was a good lesson and the spirit was present. She
set aside her "mind" and was feeling what we were teaching, not
studying it. She loved the lesson and wants us to come back! I am
excited to see what the future brings with her.

Another experience I had, We were out knocking on doors in an area
about 15 minutes away from Ballerup. Just so you know, I haven't gone
knocking on doors yet. Usually we are just contacting on the street,
so this was a new experience for me. As of now, I don't like it! haha.
I really struggled with it. Over time I will get used to it but as of
now I do not like it! I contact on the street any day over knocking.

Anyways, we knocked on this door and a young guy Muslim opened up. We
told him who we were and what our message was. He said, "you want to
talk, lets talk". How he said it, made it sound like fighting words,
and they were. We ended up having a 45 minute talk about their
religion and ours. Whats funny is they did all the talking. We just
listened and were VERY respectful. They got a little aggressive (not
physical) but were talking loud and in a mean tone to us. I wanted to
die. This was a situation I didn't want to be in. They stated all
these "facts" about their religion and how it just has to be true. We
asked them if they have prayed to see if it is true. They say, we
don't have too, the facts themselves prove it. Oh boy, I thought. Then
they said, you think about what we said. Your preaching false
doctrine.

That lit my fire! I couldn't handle them dissing my church! I turned
to them an bore my testimony. I said, "I cannot deny what I know
(stole that line from Joseph smith, haha). I have prayed to my
Heavenly Father and he has answered me. That shut them right up. They
didn't know what to say to me. I thought to myself, "Now you go and
think about what I said!". Anyways, we said we had to go.I wanted to
get out of there as quickly has possible. However, I think they will
think twice before they say anything negative about the LDS church.

Then we had another appointment with an amazing lady named Vivi. She
is an older women and her husband was actually a member. She is very
familiar with the church. Before I came to Ballerup Elder Christensen
taught her once. Its funny because he was heading home and he actually
boarded the wrong bus. This wrong bus took him to Vivis house. He
decided to visit her since he was so close. He knocked on her door and
she opened up in tears. She said, "your a gift from my dead husband,
to come see me". My companion was like wow! Apparently her kids
promised to visit her that day. She spent days preparing for it. Then
her kids texted her and said they cant come. That broke her heart. It
broke her heart because they weren't coming and because they sent a
text instead of a quick phone call. So the missionaries came in her
time of need and helped her out.

Then on Monday he called her to schedule an appointment with her and
he called one again in her time of need. Her computer broke and she
didn't know what to do. My companion told her, well I just got a new
companion that knows a lot about computers. In short we got the
appointment made and visited her yesterday. We came in and she had a
table full of every danish candy/dessert you can imagine. We had a
great lesson with her and the spirit was present. Then we went and
fixed her computer. Her Internet was broken too be honest I wasn't
entirely sure what to do.The computer was WAY OLD and I am not too
familiar with the old stuff. I decided to say a quick prayer and asked
for help to help me know what to do. Sure enough, after I messed
around with the computer and did a few things, it started working. I
said a quick prayer in my heart thanking my heavenly father for
helping, because to be honest I didn't know what I did :). She
appoinment went VERY well and she loves me now! haha. It will be GREAT
to see what that future will bring with her.

Thats my spiritual thought for the day. God will always answer our
prayers. I know he did yesterday with that stupid computer. He wont
always answer when we want him to or how we want him too, but I know
he will answer. It amazes me every day when he does answer my prayers-
Even when i make mistakes and do stupid things, he still answers. It
goes to show you he loves us all and wants to help.

Those were the highlights of my week. Thanks again for taking the time
to read my emails, I sure appreciate it. I hope you have a great week!

Love, Your Denmark Missionary
Ældste Skyler Hardy

Your Denmark Missionary 01-21-10

Hello Everyone!

Still working on the exciting introduction... I have a few ideas that I think might be interesting to do. However I struggle at making decisions so I will try it again next week. This week has been rather slow for various reasons I don't want to bore you with. There has been lots of Missionary Drama and most of it has to do with Transfers that were this week. Yes I have been transferred. My New Area is called Ballerup. Ballerup is to the left of Copenhagen. So here is a link to wear Ballerup is... Hopefully it will work, If not just google it, haha.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Ballerup&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=35.219929,39.375&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Ballerup+Municipality,+Denmark&ll=55.688424,12.461929&spn=0.195851,0.307617&z=11&pw=2

I was really actually kind of sad to Leave Randers. I really enjoyed it there. I loved the ward members and the area, so I was really kind of disappointed. Usually missionaries stay 4 months in an area before they leave, however I wasn't as fortunate as some of the other missionaries. So I said my goodbyes to all the ward members. They were all sad to see me leave. They were also sad because Randers is getting White-washed which is a missionary term meaning they are putting 2 new missionaries in the area. Its hard on the Randers ward because Randers always get white washed and when that happens the work kind of slows down for a while as the new missionaries get used to the area. The Branch president and his wife both were sad to see me leave but said that because I am such a new missionary there is a chance I will be back in Randers. I hope so... I really enjoyed that area. The good news is that the next time I serve there, if I do, I should be fluent in Danish. One can only hope! :)

There isnt much to tell this week, as we spent an entire day cleaning the apartment and packing up our stuff. Its hard when an area gets white washed because me and Elder Robinson had to go through the area book, write notes and facts about certain investigators, etc. Usually there is an Elder that stays that knows all that stuff. However, becasue were both leaving we had to make a TON of notes to make sure the new missionaries wont forget anyone or anything. So that was boring. We had appointments with investigators, however a lot of them cancelled. This happens a lot, but once again because we were leaving we really wanted to meet with them to let them know some new missionaries are coming. It was sad beacuse there are a lot of good people I will be leaving behind.

On p-day I did go to a museum in Randers. It was actually pretty neat. It talked about the history of Randers from before the viking age to Modern Denmark. It was way cool. I wasn't able to understand or read anything in the museum, but I took pictures. Hopefully one day I will be able to translate all I saw. They even had this weird video on this rock about with the Danish Story on it. It was way neat. They had this rock that had been en graven with markings or something. Check out this link. I just absolutely loved the story... Its just so Danish. They even have the video I watched. It was just so cool! GO DENMARK!

http://centeredlibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/01/1000-year-old-runestone-digitally.html

So my days at Randers are now complete. I am sad but also excited to see what my new companion and new area bring. I have only been in Ballerup for about a day, well rounded its probably closer to 2. I am living in house instead of a apartment like I did in Randers. This house is great and big. 4 elders live there, including me. So its kind of cool as I will be able to talk to other missionaries. I am not sure why its a house but the mission uses it as a storage area. If an area in the mission gets shut down, they haul the furniture to the Ballerup house and store it there. I think that's why they have it, but not sure. When I find out I will let you know.

Ballerup is much different than Randers as there are a ton of foreign people here. I mean a ton. Randers was mostly all Danish people with the few foreign people here in there. In ballerup its mostly foreign people with a few Danish people here and there, lol! The other issue with this area that makes it hard for missionaries is there are a ton of Muslim people here. They are always very nice people, however they like to fight with the missionaries. Essentially they like to Bible bash with missionaries. However a few of them do listen here and there according to my new companion. oh yea I have a new companion... His name is Elder Christensen. He is from Utah (Hooray!) and his mom is actually Danish. So He knows Denmark very well. He also speaks really good Danish and is good at teaching it. He already has been helping me out a ton. So I am excited to utilize him to help me with my Danish skills. He even has relatives that live here that love to feed him. I think I can like that, lol! He also is a Mac fan, just like me. He loves technology and all that stuff, just like me. So, we have had already a lot of conversations about macs and in short everything I love to talk about. So, so far so good. I think for the most part we will get along. He also misses his IPhone... so we had a moment of silence last night for our IPhones... haha.

On a funny note completely off topic... We were on a train heading to Ballerup for transfers. The train was somewhat empty and was in a "quiet Zone". These are areas in the train were nobody is allowed to talk or have their phones ring, etc. We were in one of those zones sitting down and we came to a stop. This lady got on the train, and sat down near us. The train started going. She then pulled out her old fashion CD player and big headphones. Then she pulled out some carrot sticks and Broccoli. Then she turned on her music which was Michael Jackson, and started rocking out.. haha. She started tapping her foot and nodding her head. She was quiet and respectful and I honestly would not have noticed unless I looked at her. So you can imagine, I just thought this was hilarious. This old women, eating carrot sticks, rocking out to Michael Jackson with gigantic old fashion headphones! What a retro old women! IT just made my day and I thought it was hilarious! It also taught me something kind of neat. She was just being herself. She didn't care what people thought about her or her personalty. She was enjoying her carrot sticks and Michale Jackson music and rocking out on the train.

I have no idea why I thought about that when I saw her, but I did. I am learning myself too, to like who I am. The lord created us the way we are. Everyone has different personality's for different reasons. He wants us all to be different as he has a purpose for us all. Whether were a Mac fan like me, or an old person rocking out on a train, we should be proud of who we are. Its something I think a lot of people struggled with, I know I do. Sometimes we say, Oh I wish I was like so and so, or I wish.... etc. But for all we know that other person might want to be like us. That's my spiritual thought for the day and something I have really been thinking a lot about. Sometimes I am hard on myself as I am not always perfect and always making mistakes.. but I am trying to just do my best and rely on my Heavenly Father. If anything hes the one I should wish to be like.

Overall I am doing good. I think coming to a new area is going to be good for me and I think I will learn a lot. All the missionaries say you learn the most from your second companion. I am excited to see what the future brings.

I hope all of you have a fantastic week! Thanks for all your love and support! HAVE A GREAT WEEK! '

Your Denmark Missionary,

Ældste Skyler Hardy