Travel Plans Confirmed and we scheduled a baptism

 Hello everybody,

It's been a week of good news as I got my travel plans today!!! The email this week will be short but I'll make next week's email a bit longer to catch up. My p-day time slipped away today!

So yeah I have my travel plans and will be going to Denmark on the 31st of July. Amongst all the confusion I finally have the answer. It brings me a lot of peace to know that everything is working out. I'm learning a lot and am looking forward to arriving at my assigned mission. 

The other piece of good news is that one of our friends is getting baptized. My companions have met him before and after talking and reading the scriptures from second Nephi chapter 31, he said yes to being baptized. The Lord's work is going strong and I know he can work through me and all missionaries. It's been fun to experience this in the short time I've been here. I'm grateful.

It's been a bit of an adjustment but the field is awesome and I'm excited to be getting to work everyday. I've heard this area is hard but it feels like we're doing great. I'm excited to be working and look forward to what lies ahead.

 I don't have any pictures today but I'll make sure to have some next week. 

I'll see y'all next week!

Love,

Elder Lines

California er så smukt. Missionpræsident Pinnock er stærk

 Hello Everyone!

This last week has been an up-and-down in terms of what I know is going on. On Friday I made it to San Bernardino! They have been so welcoming.  I do have good news:  my visa has come!!!! I will need to get to Denmark within the next 30 days to keep my visa. I've really enjoyed the San Bernardino mission. I'm also excited to get to Denmark. I have no idea how long I'll be here,  but I do know that I am willing to be here for as long as I need. I'll get to Denmark when I need to. I'm grateful for all the prayers sent for my visa to go through. Thank you so much. 

The first couple of days in the field have been interesting but I've got a good trainer and some good roommates to tell me how things work. My trainer's name is Elder Taylor and he's a cool guy. He got trained by the now APs in our mission and overall really knows what he's doing. We are in a trio with another elder, Elder Hurt. He's an interesting guy with a solid knowledge of scriptural text. All together we can do a lot of good work and bring a lot of people closer to Christ. I'm grateful to learn from them. I've already felt that the people here are so awesome so I hope that we can find the ones ready to hear the Gospel. 

It's been fun to be able to see how my English teaching skills are but I can say that I'll need a bit more work but I've got this. I'm grateful to have opportunities to teach. And, I'm grateful for the practice.

A cool story is that our mission president has a watch given to him by President Nelson and it says, "Now is the time." (I think). Not only that but he is insanely strong and always squeezes real hard when he hugs. He is an amazing man and I'm so happy he's working with us.

I don't have too many photos this week but next week I'll make sure I got more. 

Love,

Elder Lines

Jeg elsker jer. 

Jeg håber I har en god uge.

Jeg skal tale med jer sidste.

Vi ses! Mvh Ældste Lines

Sidste uge i MTC! Vi er so spænt!

 Hello Everyone,

I have gotten word unless somehow it changes in the next 12 hours that I will be doing a short reassignment in California, San Bernardino until I get my visa. It's been a mix of emotions but after all travel plans have been set I feel ready to go out into the field. The MTC is currently huge with insane amounts of missionaries coming in, so it goes to say that we are happy but also sad to be leaving the MTC. There are so many good people in the MTC and we're gonna miss being surrounded by so many missionaries.

 
This week has been so good as a last hurrah as we have got to get a new teacher and he's been a really cool addition to our last couple of days. We will definitely miss all of our teachers too and we couldn't have wished for better people to teach us Danish. The cafeteria is back up to full production as so many missionaries are coming in. It's insane to see all them and just remember that we were once exactly like that.

 
The devotional we had this week was awesome because we had Brad Wilcox, who is an insane teacher at BYU and the First Counselor of the Young Men's General Presidency. It was so good and his speaking talent is just insane. We also sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic which was really good and just brings so much spirit. The MTC is truly such a faithful place too as I have felt so much peace this week through all of the tough times and tiring moments. A spiritual lesson I learned this week was that we should actively be asking everyone in our lives what we can do to help them. As a missionary we can ask our friends that we teach and just all the members of the Ward too. The closer we get to becoming like Christ, the easier it is to teach the Gospel to others.

Thank you for your prayers on my behalf. Extra prayers for my visa please.

Love,

Elder Lines 

We got a lot of photos this week and took some going away photos so i'll be dropping those below.

There are some pictures of ældste Stovall as Elder Oaks and some of me and him getting interviewed
There was a Wild Australian that we identified as possibly hostile

En uge til vi skal gå til danmark eller San Bernadino

 Hello Everyone,

This week has been very interesting and we've been super busy with our work. I have loved seeing the apostles and prophet around during our time because of the Mission Presidents Seminar here. I almost got to shake hands with Elder Uchtdorf but missed the opportunity. We got to hear from Elder Christofferson and a couple of others in our Devotional on Sunday which was a once in a lifetime experience to do being that close to all of them. With the concluding of the Mission President seminar we have started our SYL which mean s we shall try to only speak in Danish in everything that we do. I am happy to say that I feel like I can sometimes get all of my thoughts across in a completely different language. On that note this means that we have just one week till we leave which is a slap in the face because of how fast it feels that everything has been. 

With us leaving next week there have been some problems with my visa as I prepare to head out. It will come, but hasn't yet. As a result, I'm heading to the San Bernardino mission for 1 transfer. The mission leaders have already welcomed me via email and it seems like a great place to spend a few weeks. 

A fun thing we did this week was that we got to have some really good food due to the Mission Presidents. We got chick fil a and just a bunch of other really good stuff.

 A spiritual thing I loved this week was the temple session we did because we got time to just sit in the temple and think. I know the importance of the temple and everything that comes from it. I hope to be able to go as many times as I can. Another thing we did and something I learned from it was our Devotionals with mission presidents and the apostles. We got to hear about the importance of the Book of Mormon in teaching and the things that we can do to use it more in our conversion and others' conversion. 

Well everyone, it's been a good week. We'll talk to you again next week.

Thank you for the prayers and faith on my behalf. I have felt them this week as I heard the news about my temporary mission assignment.

Love,

Elder Lines

For this week's images we took a bunch of pictures of me and my District together so here they are.

Also one of me giving them a piggy-back ride

Weekly Email - Sige alt på dansk

 Hello Everyone,

This week has been awesome for language learning as I really feel like I've been progressing so far in my language learning. This week we had the ability to do some practice teaching appointments and we did pretty well but since they were all in Danish we were struggling to find words to say for some questions. So far, we are loving the language though. An interesting phrase we learned in class was square up bro but in danish it is spelled Firekantet op bror. It is pronounced as fee - er- cantaloupe bror. All I can say is that Danish is awesome and we have been getting really good about being efficient in our studies which has really helped us to really start learning the words and grammar we need to know. I know the gift of tongues is real because I already understand so much. 

Well on another note, I loved the activities this week as we played spike ball with the German missionaries who are about to leave and they are some cool people.  Also, on that note, I have improved a lot in spikeball and officially am not terrible at the game which makes it really fun to play with the Elders and Sisters in the European District. 

My companion Elder Kim is in the General Choir for the missionary conference when the apostles and prophet will be here and we have been able to hear a lot about the details of that. It's exciting to hear about it,  and there is a good chance we will see them around campus in the coming days. Our next devotional will have an apostle too which will be so cool to hear from.

A spiritual lesson that I learned this week is that simple truths are the best way to teach as they don't complicate and they bring the spirit. The simpler you can make it the better it will be taken and the less explanation you sometimes need to do in a language you aren't very familiar with. I know that this is true and know that the simple truths in the gospel can bring so much peace and joy if you seek to understand them more fully. 

On that note here are some pictures for you guys and I will see you next week!

Love to all of you,

Elder Lines

Dette uge af kærlighed

 Hello Everyone, Elder Eli Lines here....

Another great week in the Provo MTC. Just a few more to go!

This week in our four person Danish District we decided to make a goal to be as kind as we could to each other because we had been joking around a lot and wanted to bring it back a bit. It was a group effort but I could definitely feel the sarcasm decrease. In all honesty this week was awesome and we started our first days of full immersion using Danish and I can already feel like I know so much more Danish. The gospel part of Danish is getting there but I know all of this will come with more time and practice on my part. I am excited to say that we have been enjoying language classes even when sometimes it might feel hard to stay energetic throughout all of class.

The food this week was not as good as last week but still not bad at all. I am excited to see what the future holds. If you know me, then you know food matters a lot to me. So, there is the weekly food update. 

On another note, we have been having a lot of fun during our 1 hour of exercise because we get to play spike sometimes. I have realized it is a lot of fun and I've really enjoyed playing lots of it. I love the competitiveness that it holds and the (kind) trash talk and it just brings me so much joy to be having fun with everyone. We are pretty busy all day so its a great time to just relax and be ready for the rest of the day. 

ældste Kim, one of my Companions, tried out for an organ solo and played prelude at one of the Sunday devotionals. He's really talented. We got to talk to the music directors and there is a good chance he will get a few spots during one of the many devotionals that take place at the MTC. He also made the choir for the Mission President devotional that will take place shortly which will have all the apostles and Prophet there. I'm really looking forward to that devotional.

Some spiritual things we learned this week were about the Book of Mormon and teaching with the spirit. I'll first start by sharing about the Book of Mormon because we learned so much about how to study it and just how to use it to teach too. The Book of Mormon states the truths so plain and simply that often we just read it ourselves and don't need the explaining which has been really interesting to learn about. Not only that but the Book of Mormon has answers to everything and if you believe in it you believe that everything else in the restored gospel is true because it is the keystone of our religion. I love the Book of Mormon and know that it is true. Second we learned that we need to be flexible in teaching and in everything because the spirit guides in a variety of different ways. This has been a very valuable lesson for me to learn since I like predictability. This will be an awesome skill for me to develop. 

Such a fun week and time is already flying by. Vi ses. Farvel. 

Love to all of you,

Elder Lines

Music and Food

 Hello Everyone!

It has already been a good first week in the MTC and I love my district and teachers. We have made it a thing to find as many Danish words as we can and use them in everyday speech and it has made things interesting for the other people in our district. In order to make things make sense I first must explain that we are in a split district with four of us going to Denmark and the other 11 going to Hungary Budapest. It is really cool too because I get to be with Elder Wittwer AKA Elder Josh Sterling Wittwer District Leader Son of John Wittwer and Maria Wittwer. Due to our district being split we have some problems with organizing studies but it is nothing that can’t be worked out with another week of experimenting. First week in and we already feel the pressure of the mission field even though we have 4 more weeks.

The food in the MTC is pretty awesome with unlimited drinks and food and basically all of the dessert you want (my dream). I dread the day that I go into the field and have to cook for myself again but it is a noble sacrifice. Fast Sunday was rough but the food that night was much better than the other food probably because we simply hadn’t eaten. Another thing we realized this week is that the MTC exercise time is sick because of the gym. It's loaded with a lot of stuff and the field has a bunch of different things to do including spike ball and volleyball. It is definitely something to look forward to as a break from studying. 

One thing I have learned in the MTC already is to teach so much better. I came in and struggled to be able to teach in English alone but after a couple of practices and classes I realized it is much easier than I thought and now all we have to do is learn Danish. Currently we are about to go into the full immersion part of our MTC experience where we will attempt to do only Danish basically from now on. We love to hear it but also know we won’t basically understand anything that they are saying. 

There have been a couple devotionals in the time that we have been here and the biggest takeaway from them for me was to throw myself into the MTC and love the work. There was a moment during our devotional when we were singing in the choir (yes, I'm actually singing in a choir) and it really stood out to me and we talked about it as a district after. The moment was when the entire choir was singing the last notes of the devotional and we got to see the power of the organ with all of the voices along with it. It was very powerful and moved everyone and we all felt the spirit.

A moment that I really felt strongly about my mission and the MTC was on Sunday during fast Sunday during a part of the day called "Go and Do" which is a personal study time. During this time we got to listen to music provided and just study. I found this experience to be very opening as it truly was a time to just let the spirit guide me and study. I found that I could comprehend what I was studying easier during this time and really was able to find a lot of stuff that helped me in my studies. I really do know the Lord speaks to us and will guide us if we search with real intent. 

I also listened to the Superman Theme because it’s epic and the words “fly my son it's time” turned into “teach my son, its time”. Love that song. 

Well, I am so thankful to be at the MTC and I love the environment that we are surrounded by. 

I'll talk to y'all next week

Love,

Elder Lines