"I will not leave this country until I catch a duck" -Ældste Neiderman

Howdy folks! This week was more on the tame side of things, so no stress on this email hahaha. We did a lot of office work with planning transfers and travel plans and all that good stuff.

The biggest thing that happened this week was in-person district council meeting and going on splits with Ældste Neiderman and Ældste Hintze. This was the first in-person meeting we have had since November.... so that was baller. It was so much fun to see the district in person again. Plus, my district is undoubtedly the best district in the mission, so we all enjoyed that. We snagged some dinner beforehand, and a certain kebab place had a sale on pita kebabs for 15 danish kroner (aka $2.50), so we snagged two of those and a chocolate milk each.... safe to say we did not feel too good after hahaha. We also did a big old workout the next morning. The pitas were just not good fuel. Later we went out contacting in a place called Sorø, by a lake, and found some ducks chilling on the side... Ældste Neiderman decided he needed to catch one... After a good few attempts we gave up, but that man is fully convinced that he will catch a duck at one point or another. I fully support him, honestly.

We had a couple of other things going on this week including service at a restaurant owned by an Italian couple. After we finished cleaning drains and picking weeds, the lady asked us to come back on Saturday night for some fresh, authentic Italian pizza courtesy of her Italian husband (who we cannot understand). They were BALLER pizzas too.... AND she came to church on Sunday... We had 4 less actives pull up.... Gotta love it!

We also had an eating appointment with a newly baptized member and her daughter. She is 4 years old and probably the sweetest kid on the entire planet. We ate with them, shared a thought and had a little dance party with her hahah. It was so funny.

That's about it! Thanks to whoever still reads these, haha.

Love from Kirke Stillinge Strand,

Ældste Modersitzki

Coast 2 Coast (part 3?)

Heyyyooo! This week was full of splits and an airport visit. Things are getting a little wild. I'll dive in.

We had our Jylland Tour this week where we got to go on splits with all of the companionships in the other zone.... there used to be a ton of companionships back in the day.... now there are 4. So we hopped over the massive bridge and got on our way.

Our first stop was in Odense with Ældste Christensen and Ældste Langmann. It was an old ex-comp reunion with both of them and it was really good to talk to them. We helped them with some thoughts of the mission and they gave us some ideas too. It's always nice to get help.

We dipped up to Herning next! Ældste Cousins had made a Texas sheetcake for us when we got there and it was super good. Who can dislike sheetcake?? I got to help teach a basher over the phone with another ex-companion of mine, Ældste Millett. We had a good time.

We headed to Frederikshavn next! I love Frederikshavn. Plus, my boys Ældste Jensen and Ældste Jaursch from the MTC are there! We had a little fire on the beach because they had some records that needed to be burned. Don't worry, all was safe. We had a good time and just reminisced with them.

Then we headed to Aarhus with Ældste Fisher, Møller, and Paulsen. I was with the Danes for most of the time and I freaking love Aarhus. We got a nice burger too. Hahaha! I haven't changed too much, don't worry, lol.

After that, we drove all the way to Copenhagen to pick up a new elder from the airport. It was cool to pick up another new guy. That makes 2 American elders that have come to Denmark since 2019. President Olsen said that before I go home we will be down to 12 elders in Denmark. Crazy.

We gave a blessing to a less active member. The priesthood is super sick. I'm still learning more and more about it. We also had in-person church for the first time since before Christmas. It was so nice to see and talk to the members again! We had two meetings and the timing accidentally got messed up, so only one person got to bear their testimony. It was pretty funny.

That's about it! Good week! The church is true!

Love from literally every corner of Denmark,

Ældste Modersitzki

En blå bog??

The famous Little Mermaid statue

Heyyyyoooo,

Your favorite Danish representative of Christ is back again on the email train. Honestly, it feels like I hit send and then suddenly it is Monday again. Mission time is wild.

This week was not as exciting as some others but very funny. I would try to explain all of the jokes made in an eating appointment with four American missionaries and four Danes, but I don't think the English translations will make anyone laugh. I was laughing so hard I was crying during the whole eating appointment.... So was everyone else.

We had another eating appointment with our good friend and mission leader. Eventually I asked the question what his favorite book was and he said blue.....at first, I wondered if he meant a blue book---en blå bog. That was my utterly confused response. Maybe the Book of Mormon? He then just said he always puts blue in his paintings.... I had to laugh. I must have really messed up my Danish question. Just for the record, the word for book and color are not even similar in the slightest.... I'm still not sure where this conversation was going. Either way, it was tough to keep the laughter down.

We went on splits with the office elders and the Roskilde elders. Overall it was a good experience knocking doors and contacting with them. We met a lot of interesting people with the new missionary serving in Roskilde. It was probably was a good thing he couldn't understand everything they said to us, if you know what I mean. Small blessings, amiright??

We had a good lesson with Mette. She dove into some deep doctrinal topics with us.... oh boy. But luckily we could answer pretty much everything. We found a fire scripture to help solidify that Jesus created the earth under the direction of the Father. Hebrews 1:1-3 for all my missionary friends out there. Let's be real here, y'all probably teach more than me so you probably already knew that one. But it was a great testimony solidifier for me! :)

We got to tune into Iceland Zone Conference and give a training there. I really hope to go there in person some time. Fingers crossed!

We had lunch on President Olsen today with the office elders. He's fueling my love for burgers.

I also got a haircut from one of my favorite members here in Slagelse today. I will never forget getting lined up and a nice trim from my 80ish-year-old good friend Anny. Whatta legend.

Facts of the week:

• There are statues and monuments all around Denmark that are dedicated to or based off of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. Kinda sick. He wrote a ton like The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, Princess and the Pea, etc. etc. etc. 
• There are no mountains here at all. The highest point is 550 feet above sea level. 
• Denmark on average gets 171 days of rain or snow a year.

Anyways, this is long. Have a good week!

Love from den lille havfrue, (the little mermaid)

Ældste Modersitzki

Haircut day!

The episode where the Aussies say goodbye

Saying goodbye to Ældste Ngatikaura

Heyo! This week had some wild events but I will attempt to keep this short.... I know I say that every week, but it's true, I swear.

So the week started off with interviews with President Olsen, and honestly, we have fun kinda joking around a little and talking. It is always enjoyable. Both he and his wife are great people and this time they just pretty much told us, "We will see y'all tomorrow." So that was good. 

Now for the interesting part. There are two Australian missionaries that need to go home, but Australia is having a tough time accepting people in their country because of COVID right now. One of them has been waiting to go home since January. He found out on Monday that a plane was leaving early Thursday morning and he was going to be on it. So we started planning on how we would pick him up from his area. Then suddenly, on Tuesday afternoon, we found out that the other Aussie (my old comp Elder Ngatikaura) would be leaving a couple of weeks early because they were uncertain about him getting into his home country at the end of this transfer. Soooo he had to pack in like a day and a half. We picked them up and got their Corona tests and travel plans ready, and headed to President's house for a farewell dinner and testimony meeting. Then we dipped to the airport the next morning at like 3 or 4 am..... Safe to say I was tired after. We could for sure see the hand of the Lord in it all though because we ran into no problems and everything turned out perfect. It was tough to say goodbye to Elder Ngatikaura. He is a good friend and it's tough because I won't see him soon. Australia is far away. A mission is a constant goodbye to friends it feels like. 

We also went on splits with the ZLs. Nothing too exciting happened there. It's always fun to see other missionaries though. 

The video finally dropped! Check it out!

Quick spiritual thought from Alma 30 verse 8 which I studied this week. It says, "Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve." This hit me hard, as it always does. I am just happy to be on the team that will win and have made my choice beforehand that I am going to serve God. I am happy to be here and be able to act on my choice to serve God. Faith without works is dead. ;) 

Love y'all lots! 

Love from Bredegade,

Ældste Modersitzki

Church tour featuring unexpected theories

Look at the ice at Nyhavn! Crazy and beautiful!

Heyyyyoooooo! It has gotten down to like 10 degrees out here and I was not feeling it, haha! It froze over the ice in the lakes and even in the ocean. It's wildly pretty. Y'all should see it sometime! Let's dive into the week.

We had a ton of meetings, some more interesting than others, but some big news is that Elder Madsen and I are trying out Instagram for finding, wild. I don't know how I feel about it honestly. I guess I just need to get used to it.

We gave a couple of trainings to the two zones here in Denmark. It was a good time. We decided to teach about what our mission motto, Be Kind Do Good, really means and how to apply it to the mission. I guess sometimes I don't ask the right questions to get enough participation and then I have to make up the time, but overall it was a good experience. Ældste Madsen even taught me some ping pong tricks between meeting sessions. Also President Olsen announced in-person zone conference and district meetings coming up. Fingers crossed it works out!

Even the ocean is iced over!

Our friends are doing great! We had a lesson about tithing with one and she is down! Gotta love it! We read in the Book of Mormon with another, and had a first get-to-know-you lesson with a man we found on Facebook. We referred him to the sisters who work where he lives right after. Hope everything goes well with him!

We made two other new friends this week in a wild church tour. We found them over Facebook from our mission Facebook page, and they were interested in what is happening in the church, so we gave them the usual run through and they seemed pretty interested. Two 21-year-old dudes just wanting to learn about the church. We sit down to talk about the Book of Mormon and all that jazz and they just derail the convo soooooo hard talking about how freemasons run the world and all this wild stuff. I thought that I should just hold my tongue about Joseph Smith, seeing as he was a freemason, but they noticed my George Washington socks I was rocking and it just erupted. It was definitely not what I expected to happen hahah but we will probably be teaching them again so I will let y'all know what goes down.

We had p-day in Copenhagen because of a meeting with President Olsen and we checked out Nyhavn. It was so sick with the harbor all iced over. I will drop a pic or two so everyone can appreciate it! So sick. We went to go play basketball at the stake center there and realized I forgot my workout shoes in the apartment..... So I bought a quick pair of supermarket shoes for a one time ball session.... Safe to say I don't think I will be wearing them again, they are nasty.

Anyway, that's all for today! 

 Love from Nyhavn,

Ældste Modersitzki

Business moves and airport trips

Hejjjjjj! I'm back at it again from the land of the Vikings. The week was eventful, as always, so let's hop innnnn.

We started off the week with zero sleep because we got up at 3:45 am on Tuesday to drop off the new missionaries. I was super tired for most of the week because of that early start. This week was full of meetings too, butttt we are chilling.

We had a tour of part of Temple Square in Salt Lake City together with our friend Mette. She loved it! She is such a fan of the church and honestly just needs to join. She even FASTED yesterday! She's doing all the hard things already! She is a legend! We are still teaching her a lot and it's a good time.  

We filmed part two of our church tour video. Tune in to https://www.facebook.com/103540114691822/videos/180237823539269 to see me speak some Danish hahaha. It was fun filming with the tech elders. They helped a ton.

THEN we finally got the new missionaries that we have been waiting for, for MONTHS! Ældste Madsen and I and President and Sister Olsen picked up NINE new missionaries! Ældste Madsen and I were standing out in 15-20 degree weather in just suits and ties waiting for the new missionaries to come out of the airport. It was FRIGID, hahaha, but a good time. I've gotta say that I ended up rather purple, but you win some and lose some. Plus Sister Madi Hafen from Lone Peak pulled up! It's always nice to see people from high school. Crazy how we meet again in Denmark!

We visited some old monastery ruins today. It was slippery, but pretty cool. It mostly just looked like a run down building, but apparently it was the capital of the northern churches at one point, or something like that. It was built around 1100-ish and torn down and rebuilt a couple times.

Fun Facts: Stats edition

Our mission received 9 new missionaries this week, giving us a 25% increase in missionaries in one day hahaha!

We received a new American elder. The first American elder since December of 2019. Big news!

Nine new missionaries is the largest group we have gotten at one time during President Olsen's time here as mission president.

That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed!

PS - I hit my 18 month mark yesterday... wild days.

Love from Søborg,

Ældste Modersitzki

Ældste Ngatikaura's last day of his mission in Denmark.

All the new companionships---social distancing, of course. :)

From Slagelse to Palmyra

DAVSSSSSS! Hope everyone is doing rather well. We are big chilling in Denmark, but it is chilllllly. We are thriving, so it's allllll fineeeeee.

I started off this week by going on splits in Ballerup with Elder Stowe. I got to meet some of the members in his ward and visit some less actives he has been working with. It was a good time. We stayed the night there and I was able to talk to my good friend Elder Jensen! It is always fun to be with one of the boys from the MTC.

After our splits there we helped the Facebook elders by filming the first half of a church tour video for the Facebook page. So stay tuned to Jesu Kristi Kirke - Den Danske Mission to see us giving a church tour. We are finishing up filming this week.

We had a cool opportunity to participate in a Sacred Grove tour with our friend Mette who we are teaching. She is super interested in church history right now and loved it! We are going to do one of Salt Lake City next. She is super dope and down to get baptized..... stay tuned.....

We had a really awesome time on Monday with the departing missionaries, Elder Leland, my old comp, and Sister Duckworth who I came into the MTC with. In my mission we get one final tourist day with the APs before we leave and they decided they wanted to check out these really cool castles in my old area, Hillerød. So I got to play tour guide around 3 cool castles with my homies. We got up at 3.45 am to send them to the airport this morning. I cannot believe that my good friends on the mission are starting to leave. It is throwing me off hahah.

Fun facts for the week:

Denmark is the world champion of handball, again. They beat Sweden to win the chip.

The Danish flag 'Dannebrog' is the oldest flag in the world. It is 801 years old.

The furthest you can be away from the ocean in Denmark is 52 kilometers (32.3 miles).

That's all folks! Have a wonderful week from your pastry-eating boy in Denmark.

Love from Københavns Lufthavn,

Ældste Modersitzki