Soaking Wet and Lots of Plans

Hello Everyone,

This has been such an amazing week and I have seen the "gift of tongues" so strongly as I have spoken with members and just random people that we meet around the city. I know that it is in God's plan for me to learn this language and to be able to speak to the people in Denmark. My understanding of the language has shot up like an exponential graph. I can see the miracles that have happened and can only imagine the miracles to come!

This has been a weird week for the weather as it has gone in and out of hardcore rain to being pretty warm. The weather predicts more and more rain so I can tell that it's really starting to ramp up. Along with that the sun has been starting to set way earlier making it so that we are forced to bike home in the dark which has been both fun and chaotic. Aarhus has a lot of drunk people and we had a problem when one of them walked into the middle of the road making my companion, Ældste Biesinger, stop fast and me to crash into the back of him falling over and crashing into the ground. Luckily no broken tooth but just a little more scraped up. Gotta bike slow at night to avoid the people. 

We have had a lot of service opportunities this week again. Each time I feel the love that God feels for others as we help without gain. We built some furniture and helped some people move out. In the process, we did however acquire one very important thing and that is the Mona Lisa. At least I'm pretty sure it's the real one? All I know is it is now my prized possession. I think we will hang it up in our apartment.

We didn't teach too much this week but we have been getting in contact with a lot of people as they get home from summer vacations. The lessons we did teach were with two amazing people that have had such hard and interesting lives. We'll call them Ted and Braden. Ted was a Chef and is an absolute beast of a man. He has this cool beard and just a great relationship with God. Ted was also a chef and he is an older man. He has been trying to find some more purpose and found the church. He has been coming to activities and meeting with missionaries for a bit. I hope that both of these amazing men can feel God's love in their lives and see the joy that they can have through covenants. 

We played fodbold (soccer) in the rain and it was an all right experience. I am in no way a good player but I can play a bit. When I say it was raining and I mean really raining. We were soaked half way through but still kept playing and having fun. We were with one investigator that I had never met before but he was a very kind and active guy. We ended up losing because one of the other guys was really good. It was a memorable, good time.

We gave the lesson in church today making for a pretty interesting turn of events as we cannot understand Danish completely. We did well enough though and encouraged a lot of discussion to the point that we didn't have enough time to share everything that we had prepared. It was about forgiveness and all I can say is that I am so thankful for Christ and his sacrifice. Without it we would be stuck making mistakes with no way to feel redeemed or to be with our Father in Heaven again. På grund af ham kan vi modtage tilgivelse fra Gud. 

Vi ses næste uge!

Elder Lines

Here are some pictures from the week and if you want a link to my main Photo Album just ask! Also, my tooth is fixed!!!!

Transfers, Problem Solving, and Beginning of a Transfer

 Hello everyone,

This week we had transfers and had the opportunity to work really hard. We are slowly getting more and more time for finding as we work on our time management scheduling activities and lessons better. Good skills to learn I think!

This week we have been blessed with such good opportunities to get to know the members. We have eaten with members everyday  and it has been such a good experience to practice my Danish and teach with whatever knowledge I have. In the process me and my companion have learned a lot from each other but mainly I feel we learn to put our differences aside. Like I said before, I really love my companion. The dinner experience we had with one of our friends (investigators) was awesome and they got along pretty well with the members house that we were at!!! It's great when things all work together. 

Well here are some of the highlights of this week!

Teaching Mikk this week was wonderful. He is a great guy and we are trying to find him a job. He is a very positive thinker and such a smart man. He is very good at creating things and this week we just reviewed the restoration with him and had fun. 

We had pasta with an Italian named Mattia, the man that went with us to the temple a bit ago. He is an italian and makes the best bolognese pasta ever. I literally almost cried eating it and thanked him a billion times. He doesn't live in Aarhus but is close enough that he can take a bus to get here and then just stays with a friend. He was here for the baptism of two twins in the ward. They are the cutest ever and just amazing. Their Danish is hard as they often speak faster than I do in English making it just sound like gibberish. 

We got to go to a member's house again and fix their tree branch among other things. They are such amazing people and everytime we help them I realize how much of an opportunity it is to serve in this place. We also were able to do some other service in someone's backyard and cleaned up their garden. Although it might be challenging there is nothing more rewarding than helping others. It really brings me joy.

On Wednesday, 11 missionaries went home and transfers were announced. Due to the lack of missionary replacements some areas do not have missionaries in them currently. We were lucky to stay in our mission area but sadly the sister missionaries left our area giving us a bit more work to do. I do feel that it will be a great opportunity to grow our own abilities and skills. I have seen the joy that we can bring so I hope to be able to spread that as far and as wide as I can. 

This week I gave a talk in church! The topic was "How can we use the Atonement of Christ in our everyday life?" I shared a couple of stories all in Danish and some scripture but the most important thing I did was keep a Taknemligsjournal or a Gratitude Journal. This was perfect because as we change with Christ we get the opportunity to change through him and be more grateful for the amazing world around us. I have seen the joy and the perspective that we get when we actively think about the countless blessings we have. 

Something funny that happened is I got in a fight! I was playing a game of "Monkey in the Middle" when the ball went over a bush, so with my good decision making skills I decided to jump over that bush. Little did I know the concrete curb on the other side was taller than I had suspected. This caused me to fall forward and the ground punched me in the face, chipping my front tooth! It got the better of me this time but next time I'll make sure to win against the ground. I do have to go see a dentist tomorrow and scrape up my chin. Live and learn.

I am happy to say that I came on a mission for the purpose of progressing the work and I can say that there is no better way to do it than working on it yourself, even as a missionary! When I try to strengthen my connection to Christ and my Eternal Father I bring more joy into my life which brings more joy into the lives of those around you. The mission will be a time to plan to progress my faith throughout my entire life. 

Thank you everyone for the prayers and support. Vi ses næste uge!

Love,

Elder Lines

Her er noget billeder af min uge. (pictures of my week)

The Temple and the Training

 Hello everyone, 

This week has been very eventful and I'm very excited to share. I'm going into my 3rd week in Denmark. I am happy to say that language immersion is real and I am definitely feeling it. I can't understand anything that is being said in sacrament meeting which has been quite humbling. I know it will just take time, so I'm not feeling discouraged. Just enjoying the ride and working hard. 

 I'm really loving the members of the church in our area. We have been able to join in on some awesome service opportunities. Some of that service was done on a member's property where they had a bunch of projects that they have been working on which included chopping wood, clearing dirt out, and moving wood to a pile. All of which were very fun and enjoyable things to do especially in such a cool part of Denmark. (They are such amazing people and their kids' Danish is very confusing). We also worked in another member's garden in order to help them clean up the edges and make it look nice. I really love all the serving.  I am very ready to be helping these people in anything that I can. Another plus side is that we also get some good food while we're at it. 

Speaking of food: I have had some extremely good food including but not limited to some tasty bread, pastries, meatballs, and all sorts of Danish delicacies. Food really makes me happy.

I've had a lot of good experiences this week so here are some of the main events:

 We went to the Copenhagen temple this Thursday with a recently converted man named Mattia. He is one the coolest people I have met and his experience in the temple was so special for everyone. We were able to do baptisms with him and it was my first time in the Copenhagen temple. It was very beautiful and peaceful. I really love the temple. We also took the ferry which was so fun! I'll attach pictures below.  

We went on splits and I got to go to Fredericia which is a very cool part of Denmark. I was with Ældste Whiting who is heading home within the next week. Such a good missionary that taught me a lot about what contacting really can look like. We met with some members and I was able to practice my Danish. They also served some amazing food! (I know, the food!). It felt good trying to use my Danish and see some improvement. 

Another fun thing is that we went to a ping pong park where the community plays games and tried to teach and play and contact all in one setting. My lack of Danish made it difficult, but we had some good contact and it was overall a win-win. 

Overall, it was a great week of planning and language learning. I am in the midst of my training and I'm happy to be pushing forward everyday!

Some things that I've learned from the scriptures this week is that we can receive feelings of peace if we take the time to find it and listen for it from the spirit. The Savior has loved so great that even the thought of that can bring peace to your soul. I specifically like Christ's teachings in 3 Nephi to partake of the sacrament and truly remember His sacrifice. I hope you all find peace through Christ this week and share that peace with others. 

Well everyone, thank you so much for reading and I'll be back next week. I love it here.

Love, 

Ældste Lines

Pictures: service, ferry, temple, my week!!!

1st Zone Conference

 

Sjaelland Zone Conference

 Hello everyone,

We had the Sjaelland Zone Conference at Odense this weekend and I had so much fun. We received some good training and got to hear from all of our missionaries. There were a bunch of missionaries there and I got to meet some potential future companions and see all the missionaries that I will be working with in my zone. Lots of good people.

We played volleyball and spikeball on Friday! Some of the Elders there were really tall which made volleyball harder but I loved all the fun we had. It is sad to see that so many missionaries are leaving and not many will be coming in for a while due to visa trouble. (Word on the street is that it might be months before new missionaries come in, which is why it's such a blessing I made it)  Elder Johnsen (the AP) and I were really good at spikeball together and won our games that we played. 

My companions' name is Elder Biesinger and he has been here for almost 3 transfers. Which is around 5 months. His Danish is definitely better than mine but we will still be learning together as the language is very hard to master. He's been such a great trainer. I really love him. 

At the zone conference we had some training but the most notable part for me was the testimony I had to give in Danish. Although I struggled a bit I was very happy that I could do it. I felt help from above and made it through. I am learning so fast so next time I'll be ok. President spoke about his short time left (10 months) which made me sad to hear but I know that for however long I have him he'll help me change so much. I also learned about ways to find joy. Denmark is a place where people don't want a lot of religion so trying to bring them the joy they can feel from what we teach is hard. We talked about different ideas for finding and clever ways you can talk to others. We are gonna try them out and see how they work!  I'm still super jet lagged, so I may have had a hard time keeping my eyes open through all my meetings. But, it's getting easier everyday!

We had dinner at a local food parlor place with the zone Leaders and it was so good. I had a burger WITH CHEESE! and ate every last bit of it. I don't know what this place is doing to me but I am happy to see it happen. Denmark is, after all, one of the largest consumers of cheese per capita. So, it's a real miracle that my dislike for cheese is turning around. My family may never let me live it down! (you were right mom)

I am thankful for everything that has happened to me and I wish the best to all of you! I am a very lucky and blessed human and I feel your love and support! THANK YOU

See you all next week.

Have en virkelig god uge!

Love, 

Elder Lines

Jeg er endelig i Danmark

Hello everyone, 

This week I did not have time on Monday to write any emails but I am happy to officially say that I am in Denmark!!! I made it safely and am now in my area. That area being Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second biggest city in Denmark and has a lot of college students which makes things interesting. 

Here are some fun things that happened in California before I left:

I had a chiropractic adjustment by a member of a ward which was really interesting. I have never felt more relief and pain at the same time. He was just a member that invited my companions so I tagged along with them. 

One of our companions, Elder Erickson, was sick and probably was going home because of that. He was such a good missionary so it's sad to see him so down. He's such a good guy and I learned a lot from him.

We got to teach some sunbeams and that was so much fun. I love their energy and all of their very outrageous comments. I don't think I could've done it without the help of my companions. Bless all sunbeam teachers everywhere.

We put another person on date for baptism and experienced many miracles during that process. She was very ready to be baptized and talked about her desires to come closer to Christ. These experiences in California have been such spiritual guides and I'm ready to bring this energy to Denmark.

I met my mission leaders, President & Sister Mattson. President Mattson is such a cool guy and I love everything that he has taught me. He has such good energy and I'm excited to hear from him at the zone conference that we will have this weekend. Sister Mattson is equally awesome and I can tell I'm really going to love them.

My p-days are normally Monday. Due to the zone conference, our p-day was moved to today. I'm really excited to meet my zone and start really learning the language!!! 

On my way to Denmark, I had a layover in Amsterdam. My mom messaged me and told me to look out the window and think of my Grandpa Ken and Grandpa Tony who both served their missions in the Netherlands. It was cool that my journey to my mission had a brief stop in theirs. 

Thank you everyone for tuning and I will see ya'll next week with more to share.

Love,

Elder Lines

Amsterdam airpot, thinking of my 2 grandpas

Journey to Denmark

 Elder Lines left California on July 31st. We talked with him during his layover in Seattle. He was a little confused about the length of his flight, time change, etc. But, after realizing he was spending the night on the plane and not the airport, he got on his 10 hour flight to Amsterdam. We all laughed and walked him through what to expect with passport control, etc.  He messaged us again from Amsterdam. I told him to look out the window and think of his Grandpa Ken & Grandpa Tony who both served missions in the Netherlands. Felt really sweet and poignant that he stopped there on his way to his mission. Then we got a few more messages when he landed in Copenhagen. So relieved and happy he made it to his mission. What a journey and how miraculous!!

And, a few hours after that his enthusiastic mission leader, President Mattson, posted pictures. What a thoughtful greeting he received. Traveling alone and later than he thought, I'm sure this felt so good to him. We feel that Heavenly Father answers prayers and that Eli is exactly where he should be.  Here's to another journey just beginning. (written by mom)

Calling us from Seattle