Monday, January 23, 2012

Hej familie og venner!

All went well this weekend, finally. After that debacle of a week. But its done. Big relief. The baptism went really well. Yeny showed up and was very very tired and very sick at first because she had been in the hosptial for a chemo treatment the day before. We rushed her into a classroom and gave her a blessing, and within about 5 minutes she was perfectly fine, smiling, and energetic enough to make it through the whole two-hour event. It was amazing. I wouldn't believe it if i wasn't there to see it. She started talking to me about how hungry she was, when just 15 minutes before she had serious nausea. Miracles happen. But everything wen't very well after that. It was a beautiful day for everyone there. A day I will never forget.

We had a bit of a surprise on Sunday morning too. We met with our ward mission leader before church, and he said that I was to confirm Yeny, the daughter! I was not expecting this at all. He had told us that she requested elder williamson a week before, but apparently he just misspoke. Because we asked her again and she said she wanted me to do it. Shocker. I'd never done an ordinance or given a blessing in danish before. I was pretty worried my danish wasn't going to be up to par. But I quickly learned the right wording and made it work. I know my grammar and everything wasn't perfect, but it went well enough. I didn't really have time to get nervous, so that was good. It was a really cool experience. I kind of felt bad because willy hasn't had the chance to do that at all on his misison yet, but I guess that's just the way the cookie crumbles? I feel very lucky and blessed to have baptised and confirmed someone so early on in my mission. That's rare here.

It was good to hear from all of you! I appreciate the emails and news. I'm impressed that i'm still so in the loop! I appreciate it. I know lots of missionaries here that don't have a clue whats going on at home. But knowing our family I guess i'm not too surprised. I miss talking over the dinner table long after the food has gone cold.

Giants and Pats again? That's lame. I was really gunning for Frisco, naturally. But there's always next year, right?

So Willy hasn't transferred yet actually. He hops on a train to Sønderborg at 12.34. He got permission to stay an extra week for the baptism and confirmation. So that's good. This has probably been the funnest and most productive week of my mission. We've had a trio, with Ældste Poulsen, me, and willy. Poulsen will be my new companion. He's from Dallas, Texas. Stud of a kid. Been out 20 months. I seem to get all the old guys battling chronic trunky-ness, but that's ok. haha it's fun because they know how to work hard and have a good time doing it.

So things are going better than ever over here. Going to have to get used to a new companion and all that jazz but we get along just fine, i'm not too worried.

Hope all is well at home! Miss you all. I think of you and pray for you often.

med kærlig hilsen,

ældste wooden

Monday, January 16, 2012

Long time no see! It's been a while! Lets just say we've been very very busy.

But good news! We have a baptism this coming Saturday for sure. Its been bumped back a few times just because of the holidays and a few mis-communications but the Mother and Daughter from the Peruvian family are going to be baptised on the 21st. We're still waiting on the son a little. There's a big language barrier and some question about how much longer he will be in Denmark, so baptism isn't making sense right now. But he's got a strong christian faith and likes the vibes he gets from church and when we teach. He just can't understand what we're saying enough for it to stick. But I have no doubt that if he goes back to Peru and finds missionaries he will be a strong member of the church one day. He will just say "OH. That's what they were trying to explain." He's a great kid. I'm gonna miss him a lot. He could be leaving this week sometime, so we'll find out from the immigration office soon. 

The weather isn't too freezing yet here. A little scary actually. Sounds like the whole world is a little warmer than last year. Hmmmm. No snow in utah and not much in sweden or norway either. interesting.

We've been working a lot lately with an 18 year old girl who has been investigating the church for about a year now. That's something notable about the work here. Investigators usually investigate for a looooonngg time. But she's got a testimony and likes church a lot, but our Branch doesn't have any youth her age at all. Everyone is either over 30 or under 15. So its a weird mix. But apart from that she's getting a lot of heat from her parents regarding her joining the church as well. Its helped me to see how big of a process it really is, to convert and change one's lifestyle. Sometimes we forget how hard it can be. Especially if there's no friends or family for that person in church. So open your doors to investigators! befriend them! Its crucial to the growth of the church. Not to mention the blessings that come when we do so.

Something else of note... we acquired a used and cheap orglet this week. That is to say, we got a good 80's electo-organ. haha its made for a great addition to our apartment. I'm brushing the dust off of some my old skills, so its been fun. Thrift stores for the win.

Looking forward to our next potential baptism with a guy from India, who is married to a member of the branch. Just moved in. He's a really cool guy actually. He's been to church about 4 times now and really enjoys it. Super nice, speaks english. Invited us over for indian food this tuesday, so we'll let you know how that goes. We're really excited. he said, "You come home tuesday at seven, I make some grub, and we have a nice talk? How does that sound? Bring your coke in hand, i like it spicy." haha. He's a riot. 

So that's about all i think, I'm trying to hit the high points here... Um yeah I gotta run but I think we're all caught up! News coming soon about this week's dåb!

venlig hilsen,

ældste wooden

Monday, December 20, 2011

Nu er det jul igen!

 

Hej.

So, I know I've talked alot about christmas. You're probably sick of hearing about Christmas in Denmark every week for the past 4 months. But that's about how much they talk about it here, so you're getting a good taste. But now I will proceed to lay out the Christmas plan for the week and then it will be done. Hang in there.

 

This week we had our ward Julefrokost (directly translated: Christmas Lunch). It's their version of thanksgiving. Huge feast. Family, friends, etc. We also had our ward Juletræsfest. (Christmas tree party) We sang songs, ate lots of yummy food, and played christmas games and danced around the tree as a ward. It was alot of fun. We've got a great ward. Just a fun group of people. So it was a big party week.

 

Last night was also our ward Christmas koncert. Went pretty well. Sang in our church with the Ældresagens kor. ("Danish national church" choir from Frederikshavn). Our little branch choir is only 9 strong, but we busted it out. It went really well. We definitely held our own. If it was a battle of the choirs, we would have won. We sang a mix of english and danish traditional christmas hymns and stuff, it was pretty fun. Had a good time. Its helped us strengthen our relationship with the branch a ton as well.

 

So, this week:

We'll be in Aarhus again for two days for zone conference/mission julefrokost. Be back in F-havn friday night.

 

saturday is Juleaften. (Christmas Eve). But in Denmark, it's on that day that all the celebration takes place. So we'll be spending the whole day with a family from the branch. Eating, opening presents, singing songs, eating, dancing around the tree, playng games, eating, hanging out, and eating some more. Should be alot of fun. And its a very proper occasion, believe it or not. Apparently we will be wearing suits. And not becuase we're missionaries. I'm told tradition goes that it is a very important occasion. Everyone wears their sunday clothes. I'm sure it all depends on the family so i'm not positive exactly what will happen but that's the plan as of right now.

 

Sunday, Jul. (Christmas). Not sure what exactly what I will be doing that day. I'm calling home! That'll be great. And we'll have a short church service. But if i was Danish and not a missionary I would be just eating and hanging out all day with my family at home. Not sure if its as formal of a day for danes, but you just enjoy time with family and eat. Did I mention we eat alot around christmas?

 

Monday, andenjul (Second Christmas). Danes take the 26th and have another christmas day to hang out with their families. Stores are shut down, everyone's home, and the streets are pretty much dead from the 23rd to the 27th. So not sure what we'll be doing. Its p day but the library will be closed so i'm not sure how we'll write home. We'll find out what happens i guess. I'll probably just be eating and drawing and playing musik all day. Really looking forward to it to be honest.

 

So there it is. I apologize with the christmas overload. Its just so contagious! I love it. There's alot more traditions dealing with food, candy, songs, presents, and gatherings and more food but its hard to remember them all. It's just great. We'll leave it at that.

 

Jeg må skundte mig, men jeg håber i har det godt alle sammen. Tillykke til Josh Dahlin, hjemkommende missionær! Jeg håber alt er i orden og I alle kan ha' en glædelig jul med sine familiene. Fryd dig, o jord!

 

god jul!

ældste wooden

Monday, December 12, 2011

Hej med jer, jeg håber alle har haft en rigtig god veekend.

So i'm getting the impression its going to be January 2012 before I know it. Time is speeding right along. Christmas is upon us! And with Christmas comes joy and charity and love and hygge. Hope you're all thinking of someone else this juletid. When we look out for others they look out for us. So don't worry about yourself. Life is to short to waste it thinking about yourself. On top of that, Christmas is alot more fun when your with people, lemme tell you. I love my companion and all, but christmas time just isn't the same when you're not with the ones you love. So this christmas, be a people person. There's my little message for this month I guess. Be a people person. Think about someone else.

 

Fluffy stuff aside, lets get down to business. Food, Talks, Peruvians, and Storms.

This week we experienced som of the craziest weather I have ever seen in my life. I was very close to being blown over by wind. Not even kidding. I don't know what ticked poseidon off but he was pissed. We went up to Hirtshals on the worst day of all of it and saw the biggest waves i've ever seen. It rained/hailed all day, and by the time we got back to Frederikshavn it looked like a warzone. Banners were were torn off buildings, trees blown over, it was great fun. This was also the same day that we had to carry lots of christmas packages and a duck that a member gave us. So tomorrow night we're making JuleAnd (Christmas Duck). I'll let you know how it goes. I am rather excited. I don't think I've ever had duck.

 

I gave a talk in Church yesterday. It didn't go too badly actually. My topic was inspiration. I even went overtime. It was a whopping 7 minutes of danish. I imagine the members found it pretty dry due to my limited vocabulary and simple sentence structure. But "by small and simple means", right? That was my motto for the day. I was feeling pretty good about myself. They just said afterwards that I should have spoken up a little, apparently the mic is turned way down since the room is so small anyway. But not bad in my opinion.

 

The Peruvian family we're teaching is extremely extremely close to baptism but they all want to be baptised together but they're at different points in their journey. It could happen by the end of the year though. Its possible. Pray for us. We gotta help them make the jump. They're ready. Time to act.

 

Mad. (food)

Danske julemad er den beste mad på jorden. I love Danish food. Especially Danish Christmas food. Kartofler, brun sauce, frikedæller, æblekage, risengrød, ris alámand, grønlandskål, and, kylling, I could go on and on. Its so delicious. So don't worry too much about me food wise. But I do miss a good american burger. Alot. And homemade cookies. Danes don't do cookies, i've found. Just marzipan and pastries and småkage and a bunch of other delicious things. But oh what I would do for some snickerdoodles. 

 

Anyway, I'm short in writing today, but as usual time runs out. Too many good things to talk about!

Monday, December 5, 2011

goddag!

So not much time to write at all, really. we gotta go get some things done. but. Thought i would give all an update from the High Plains of Denmark. (Name that literary reference)

 

This week's been up and down. Sometimes it feels like no one cares. In fact, lots don't. But theres some that do. "Going for the one" was our motto this week. We did find a few people who were interested, and One we are especially excited about. An old woman who lives in Sæby. We're excited to start teaching her this week. Go for the one! They're worth it!

 

We've also done lots of experimenting with food lately. We've winged some ideas for food that have been delicious. Homemade æblekage. Deer meat. Piskeflød. Thats all I can say. Can't give out too many secrets. But its good.

 

I've also become very interested in old Danish books.

Here is a good time to explain a little background/cultural info about Genbruger. A "Genbrug" is a store thats basically a small D.I. or Salvation Army. A secondhand store? is that what they're called? anyway. Denmark is historically Christian, and so theres lots of conservative and charitable traditions that run in their culture. They're recycling fanatics. Danes also WILL NOT cross a street unless it is within a crosswalk and the green man is shining. But in every city there's a couple Genbruger where people just go drop stuff off. Usually sponsored by the Danish national church or Jehovah's Witnesses. No Mormon genbruger. Yet. But yeah they don't like throwing things away. So everything goes to Genbruger. They're gold mines! The have the coolest old stuff. We've furnished our apartment solely on Genbrug art, for example.

But they always have sweet old books. For example, I now have in my possession a 1925 Danish leatherbound copy of Charles Dickens' To Byer. (A tale of Two Cities). I'm gonna keep a look out for more classics. They're pretty sweet. One day i will be able to read them. My danish is a little too primitive right now, and its really old Danish anyway.

But yeah there's your fun fact for the week, I gotta run.

 

med venlig hilsen,

ældste wooden

Monday, November 28, 2011

Hej med jer!

Glædelig Taksigesdag! Happy thanksgiving/black friday everyone!

Hope everyone had a hyggelidt thanksgiving with their families. The holiday season has made me painfully aware of how much I miss you all. In the spirit of Thanksgiving I'd like to say how thankful I am for my family and friends. You are all a huge inspiration to me and remind me of the need to count my blessings. I'm thankful for the blessings that come from living the gospel and the opportunity to be here in Denmark. Its a pretty unique experience, as I'm sure you can tell. Chances are if you're reading this, I know you. Which means I owe you a personal thank-you for your example and help. If I don't know you, well... Go to mormon.org. Its cool.

We had a great thanksgiving week. Our mission præsident was cool enough to let us have a thanksgiving celebration in connection with zone conference. Thus, we were down in Aarhus on Wednesday and Thursday. Such a cool city. I'd love to serve there one day. Kind of has that big-city feel. But wednesday morning was a turkey bowl followed by Thanksgiving lunch. Both were exceptional. It was great to play some good ol' muddy american football. I borrowed some cleats from an elder who wasn't playing and we had a fun time. Our mission president watched for a little and was pretty confused. He asked when we were done, in a very mild-mannered Haven't run that much in a while, unfortunately. I miss sports!!

Next was the feast. There were 3 ektopars (senior couples) who prepared it and basically went all-out. It was fantastisk. They made so much delicious food. I forgot to get a picture of it I was so carried away in eating as much as humanly possible. But it was great.

After which, we had a talent show. haha that was lots of fun. Me, Williamson, Klc, and Dunshee put together a 'Book of Mormon Stories' arrangement and performed. Our band is called the Boxcar Children, since we're on trains quite a bit. But it was pretty impressive, if i don't say so myself. Williamson and I were on ukes, and Dunshee and Klc had homemade moraccas. Williamson has a video of it so we'll see if we can get it uploaded or something somehow. Idk. But it was a blast. We had a great time. Not bad for our first gig. Book us for 2013 if any of you out there are interested.

Thursday was zone conference. It was very good. Not much else to say i guess. Took alot of notes... Yay.

Friday we had a great meeting with Christof and June (fake names). They're a young couple we met in Hjørring last week. He's in Denmark playing professional soccer actually. From england. So its weird teaching in English. It just doesn't come out quite the same. But they're both very very curious and we're excited to see what happens with them.

The peruvian family I've mentioned is so close to baptism! They just gotta take the step of faith, and they're having a tough time with it. I've learned alot about faith through teaching them. It really is a 'leap of faith' most of the time, because we dont know exactly what we're leaping into. Could be a swamp, could be a swimming pool. But we gotta have the faith to put Heavenly Father to the test and make the jump.

Had my first experience with being yelled at in public on Thursday, that was cool. Williamson, Klc, Dunshee and I were on a bus in Aarhus headed to the train station, standing just talking among ourselves, when a guy a few rows down said (in a scottish or irish accent or something not quite english) started yelling about how crazy mormons were. He was very drunk. But being loud in public is very unusual in Denmark. They are a private, self concious, self contained people. Basically, don't draw unneccessary attention to yourself by being obnoxious. Thats the first rule of Danish society. So this guy made quite a statement. We all laughed about it. He said some pretty derrogatory things, but he was a wacko. it was fun.

We had a "hurricane" yesterday... It was really really windy and rainy actually and we couldn't really work outside.  But the danes were all kinda freakin out. It was funny. Hurricane advisory in Nordjylland... haha now i can say i've been outside in the middle of a Danish hurricane. Beat that.

So we're shifting into the christmas cheer now, and Denmark does Christmas right. We've got two or three 40-50 foot christmas trees scattered througout town and every sign or lamp post has lights on it. I think its mandatory by law or something. There's bands dressed up like santa that walk around town causing traffic jams and disrupting gågade shoppers, but they spread the christmas musical cheer so i guess they can get away with it. We put up our christmas tree in the apartment yesterday. Its a very indie christmas. Our tree is about a meter tall and didn't have a stand so we stuck it in a stack of 5 kg weight plates. But it has lights, so that was cool. We've recently been listening to Sufjan Stevens Christmas album and its fantastic. I would highly recommend it. We've been making hygge food. Soup, mashed potatoes,etc. I'm learning how to cook, believe it or not. Poor man's food, but food nonetheless.

Thats about it i guess. All i can think of in the life of logan. ældste logan wooden, i mean.

I miss you all! Happy Christmas! Think about other people this holiday season. Thinking about yourself is boring.

med kærlig hilsen,

ældste wooden

Wednesday, November 15, 2011

Goddag til jer!

It was a tough week in F-havn. Had some great moments and some rough ones. Lots of dropped appointments, flakey people, and cold weather. But some great progress with investigators and just good ol' fun. Such is life I guess right? We win some, we lose some.

Most importantly, we successfully played floorball without any major injuries. Chalk one up for safety first. Williamson will regain full vision in the next two weeks we're hoping. Still a little foggy. David Bowie all the way.

But, exciting news right now. We're looking at a few potential baptisms with Karen and her children, Tyra and Bernard, (All fake names, privacy's sake) right now. They're awesome. From Peru, so language is kind of tough. We teach in a medley of Danish, English, and Spanish. haha its kind of a riot sometimes. But they're awesome. Karen is battling breast cancer right now so we have been keeping really close contact with them and its amazing to see a family grow together in the gospel. I've watched as the church has strengthened this family quite literally. Tyra is 10 and Bernard is 18, and they enjoy church despite the fact its 100% danish... Which is a miracle in and of itself. But Bernard reminds me of Nick and Andrew. haha We're really good friends with him actually. He always comes and plays soccer and floorball with the branch. December 22nd is what were looking at as a possible baptisimal date because its Karen and ældste Williamson's birthday, so that would be a fun little party. Keep them in your prayers.

Everyone is gettin in the Christmas spirit over here, its pretty fun. Danish culture is very social. Everything is about family and friends and who's with. Its fun. Interestingly enough, as a result they dont use brother and sister so-and-so when addressing members of the church. Everything is just first names. Its strange at first but I've grown to like it. Instead of Præsident Christensen, kind of a mouthful, its just Kasper. And last week we had a lunch appointment after church with Ella, this sweet old lady in the branch. I don't even know anyone's last names really. haha But the informalities bring everyone a little closer together, its fun. I'm learning alot about Danish traditions and they're so sweet. Their holiday traditions, birthdays, weddings, you name it. They've got the coolest traditions. Real heritage, not quite like the states. haha But i do miss american soil, i promise i'm not a traitor or anything here...

But I gotta run, we're running out of computer time.

Love you all! Sorry i'm short in writing again this week. Thanks for all the support though. I appreciate your letters and notes and thoughts and prayers. They do not go unnoticed. Oh and if anyone wants to send me anything, use the Søndergade address on this blog. The other address takes way longer. And if you send packages to the other address they just stay at the mission office until the next zone conference or something, which will be a while. So yeah, be sure and send stuff to søndergade. its a good place. you can even stalk me on google maps. haha

 

med venlig hilsen,

ældste wooden