Merry Jul from the land of the Danes

Heyyyyyoooo! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to y'all! This will be my last Christmas season in Denmark which is way sad honestly. I am going to miss this place baddddd.

This week hasn't been too insane for the most part. Christmas celebrations were in full swing, and Danes were very much inside all week. That being said, Elder Madsen and I got a break on Christmas Eve and we tossed around a football in the park for a while. It was refreshing. It was the first time doing that since July. We also were able to eat with some members in our ward and some of their friends. The whole ward spoiled us with a lot of presents. I was very thankful for that. I felt more at home. The chocolate we got from home and from members was eternal..... I think I am looking a bit.... thicker. Gotta hit the workout grind. lol.

We made some massive breakfasts for the 24th and 25th. Honestly, it was a big power move. Tasted way nice. Check the pics for details hahaha.

We ate with some super nice non-members and a less active and her daughter. Playing games and chilling with them was so fun. I won bingo by the way. Copped a W over a 4 year old hahaha. After that, we called home and that was great. I loved talking to my family and my grandparents. It was definitely a highlight! 

On the 26th, we ate with another member family as well. The ward here is great. We just chilled and played games with them for a while. We really connected to the younger kids there. We had some fun playing with them. When we left, one of the kids said he just felt like he could talk to us so easily and that we were his friends. That was a way sweet moment.

We had online church for the first time in a while.... That was odd, I like in person better. Other than that, I can't remember too much of the week. It's been a good one, went by fast. Time is flying.

I'm very thankful that I can serve and preach during a season meant to celebrate our Savior. The most wonderful time of the year for sure.  

I LOVE DENMARK!

Love from Kalundborg,

Ældste Modersitzki

Baptism by PowerPoint and LOTS of Driving

Howdy! This week was.... something new for me.  Like the title of the email says, this week was, in it's own way, baptism by fire... Neither myself or Ældste Madsen have any idea what we are doing.....so we have been making PowerPoints, trainings, Google sheets and all that kind of busy work to prepare for Mission Leadership Council which we had last Saturday.... Man there is a lot more busy work than I initially thought with this whole AP business.

But, there are also some MAD perks. We got to spend a day in Copenhagen! Let me explain. Our mission got new sisters this week!!!! These are the first reinforcements we have gotten since June/July and the mission has like 0 missionaries right now. And we got to pick them up from the airport! They were delayed too... so we got a day in Copenhagen... kinda. We still needed to do some office work and fix Ældste Madsen's phone, so it worked out pretty well. We chilled outside the airport for an hour in just our suits. It was freezing! What an experience lol. We had a little conference with all the sisters in the mission, and that went well too.

Another part of the job is to figure out solutions for problems that come up in the mission, and the big one this week was that the sisters arrived, but their baggage was in Russia. It came a couple of days later and we had to head to Copenhagen and pick it up, then drive it over to them on the other side of the country. Keep in mind that we live an hour outside of Copenhagen. So we had a quick little 8-hour car ride the other day playing taxi for some suitcases hahaha. But BIGGGG shoutout to the Sønderborg sisters. They grabbed us a shake and a McFlurry from McDonalds.... blessings right there.  We got home a little late from that drive as you can imagine. I whipped the whole way and it made me think of road trips with friends to Oregon and California. Good times. Rough amount of time spent driving this week: 20 hours.

Good news: Mission Leadership Conference went great and I felt like our trainings and PowerPoints were appreciated. The learning curve is still gnarly, but we are improving every day. Plus, we have a few friends we are teaching. One of them is WAY ready for baptism, but has a couple of fears that we are working with right now. She bore testimony of the Book of Mormon to us and it was POWERFUL. She will get baptized, I am sure of it. 

We went to this way sick bridge that we crossed a couple times this week. It's the bridge between Sjælland and Fyn. I think it is one of the longest in the world. So that is sick. We were right under it and got some pics too. Honestly, it was a great spot.

Sorry this email was boring, but I have a lot to look forward to this next week with Christmas and some other stuff! Remember to keep Christ at the center of both Christmas and your own life. Glædelig Jul from Denmark! Love you all so much!

Love from Storebælt broen,

Ældste Modersitzki

0-100, real quick

Howdy folks! Christmas is coming and I am PUMPED! It will be so awesome! I have some WILD news for the week, hahah! Stay tuned for it!

I went on splits again this week with Elder Leland! We had a great time as we reminisced about Frederikshavn. Then we had district meeting with our district in Herning. It was great seeing them all. We had a blast! Elder Leland heard a rumor that the best pastries in Denmark are in Esbjerg, and so we had the sisters down there buy us some and bring it to the meeting. We paid them back, don't worry. The pastries were fire. Then we got the news that district councils cannot be held in person anymore.... as we were sitting there in person... hahah. We got lucky!

This last week flew. We had a couple of teaching appointments too, so that helps. We taught a newly baptized member and her non-member husband. The lesson went well! We had a member with us and it was after an eating appointment, so it was just overall a big W. We also taught a referral from the sisters in Roskilde on the street, by a garbage can, outside a fast food place haha. It actually went pretty well and he was down to hear more later. He also took a Book of Mormon. What more can I ask for?

We had transfer news hit us this week. It hit me like a TRUCK! I am transferring AGAIN, to a new city called Slagelse! My new companion is Elder Madsen who is an absolute homie! AND we are going to be serving together as APs...... Who would have guessed? I did not see this coming because I had only been Zone Leader for 5 weeks. President Olsen took it from 0-100 real quick. I am SUPER sad to be leaving Aarhus. There are a lot of members there that I was just getting to know and love. But I know that God has a plan and that I am supposed to be serving here, with Elder Madsen, with the calling I have. It will be an adventure. We are both Whitewashing APs and have no idea what's going on. It will surely be a good time.

Because we are APs now, that means that we get to send off the departing missionaries at the airport and chill with them the day before, so I got to be with Elder Farr, Elder Peterson and Sister Hepworth for a decent bit of Monday. It was fun to see them and overnight at the mission home. We stayed up too late talking to them and then had to wake up at 3:45 a.m. to make it to the airport on time. I was wrecked the day after hahaha. But it was cool to send them off.

Also, a super nice member bought us a little Christmas tree in Aarhus so we pimped out our apartment! It was dope!

I think that is all for this last week!

Love from Slagelse and the Copenhagen Airport,

Ældste Modersitzki 

Good times, no such thing as tan lines

Howdy! This week was a great week honestly! It was super dark. I don't remember ever seeing the sun, but we are popping vitamin D pills daily. Swiped on those this week. They make a big difference, not gonna lie. It also started snowing. It didn't stick at all, but I was stoked about it.

This week we had some eating appointment mayhem. We were out with one of my fav families out here with a newly baptized member, her husband and our member friend. The kids had been running around a little and after our lesson, as we were getting up to go, this little sweet girl walks up to her mom and just pukes straight out on the floor. It. Was. A. Shocker. I was standing there in disbelief honestly hahah. Good times though. The lesson went pretty decent, even with that. 

I was able to go on splits with one of my good homies out here named Ældste Brown. It was so fun and we get along great! We were out contacting with a member one afternoon and it was one of those days where we were just getting cussed out like nobody's business. The member we were with is gearing up to start mission papers.... Don't worry though, she still wanted to go on a mission after all that. Glad she got a realistic experience. She's a homie. That night Ældste Brown and I dipped over to a less active family he knew while he was here. We had a great evening with them and helped them set up their Christmas tree as well. Honestly, it was lots of fun. And to put the icing on the cake, they even came to church this week! So big W! Splits were so nice.

We also had splits with the APs. That was fun too. It's nice to see how other missionaries do things sometimes. It really gave me an opportunity to reassess some of my goals and recommit myself. (Not to mention we got Burger Shack. Always a W.)

We also dipped out to Randers one day for some service and member splits with my boy Mads. What a legend. We are absolute homies.

Also, big RIP to our mission conference... It got cancelled because of Corona. The country is going into a soft lockdown with no open restaurant seating or barbershops or anything, soooo buckle up hahaha. It's all good though. I'm doing fine.

Good times this week. The cold and darkness can't get to me when I'm out focused on Christ. I can guarantee you guys that. A quick spiritual though this week is John 12:46. "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." I love when Christ is represented as a light. It's so applicable in all times and situations. I also love the way the word "should" is used in this scripture. We should all be abiding in his light! Stay strong! Love all of y'all!

Love from Smilets By!

Ældste Modersitzki