Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Everyone,

I hope everything is going fine and well back at home! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! If anybody asks, it doesn't exist here. Bummer.... Oh well we had a Zone Conference and the Senior missionaries made us an American Thanksgiving so that was fantastic. After Halloween was over they started setting up for Christmas! Even today we saw a huge truck bring a huge Christmas Tree to Birkerød.

I've had a few people ask about Danish Christmas's and to make it short they have a lot of traditions. Which I am sure I will be sharing with you in the coming weeks. I know one thing is that we eat A LOT! This will be interesting.... =) Can't wait for it to warm back up so I can go running again haha.

Well me and Elder King have busted out the Thermals. Man it makes such a difference. We have also converted to our winter socks. It's getting colder here. We stayed over night with the Hillerød Elders (Elder Ogden and Elder Earl). We came back to the train station and their was frost all over my Bike!!!! Yah it's winter. But the GRASS is still GREEN! What's up with that? But because we have the thermals and the winter socks we are having a hard time staying warm and being over heated! No doubt I am warm all the time now, but because we are on Bikes, it gets hot really fast inside our wind proof/ winter jackets. So when we get a moment we have to air ourselves out after riding hahaha. Elder King says this is about the coldest it gets. Which is not to bad I must say. So Mom don't worry! =)

Update for the week, we have been able to meet with Michael Williams and he is super positive. He believes everything that we have said and he has gotten an answer about our message. He told us that anything to do with Jesus Christ he likes and believes. We are still pushing with him to keep reading and prepare for December 21st.

Also we received a referral from Brother Jens Andersen (previous Mission President of Denmark and our ward mission leader). While we were doing service for Brother Andersen, a couple weeks ago, we were able to meet with his neighbors and help them out with planting hedges. We thought it was a fantastic opportunity to share the gospel with them. They were super positive when we left and they are potential investigators. But Brother Andersen's other neighbors were planting hedges as well and heard us Elders speaking English. They talked with Brother Andersen and they want us to teach their daughter and her friend English! We are met with them last night after Brother Andersen's open house. They are super positive and we made an appointment to go teach their 11 year old daughter.

It is just a miracle that we had the intention of going to try to find interest with Brother Andersen's 1st neighbors. But instead the Lord put his other neighbors in ear shot to hear us speak English. And now we have the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. They want to pay us, but Brother Andersen already explained the situation that we won't take money but we will take dinner! So we get dinner out of this and the opportunity for them to ask us questions and to learn our message. I am so excited because their are 3 potential investigators. Than Elder King told me this is a wonderful opportunity to have my Danish explode. I hope that to be the case.
I will admit that it has been a miracle and a blessing with how much I have learned and have in the Danish language. We met with Finn P. and I thought about it for a second... ''Man 2 months ago I didn't understand this man at all'' And here I am having a conversation with him. We also had in encounter with American Exchange students on the train. They have been taking Danish since August and not to judge, but their Danish wasn't great. haha. I know that I have been truly blessed with what I have now. I am so grateful that the Lord blesses his children with these gifts, so that we are able to communicate our message with everyone in their native lands.
Well I thank you all for all the support and love you have given me. I hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving and Black Friday haha. (Turns out our black friday/ monthly thing is in January. Side note. haha) I hope everyone gets the opportunity to take Elder Ballard's challenge and to help find one person that they can help bring to this Gospel. The clock is ticking.. I'm looking at my watch and we have one month left. I know as you truly look for opportunities to serve the Lord will give you his Spirit. The time is now. And even after Christmas we can continue to help others. This is something that has been asked of us. ''Every Member a Missionary.'' ''Hasten the Work of Salvation'' ''The time is NOW''. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to share the Gospel this Christmas season with the people in Denmark. As President Sederholm has said, ''Let us focus our thoughts on the Savior this next month and what we can give'' I love you all!
-Elder Jantzen Richard Read
One of the best Flint finding moments I found by the Train Schedules. Love you FLINT!


I didn't forget about you (Paisley) and Mandie. Unfortunately I am unable to see this on my mission. hahahah. Love you PAIS!!!
Frederiksborg Slot (Castle) Last preperation day.

Largest Burger in the World... having fun in Birkerod

 

Teaching people from Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Farjoes Island in Denmark what?

Hello Everyone,

Holy cow it's almost Christmas. It has been an amazing week! What an amazing week we have had! We have had the opportunity to have attended a baptism, Nicole. The Lord is tuly blessing our District. I am so grateful and happy that I can witness all these miracles. I do know that they have come because of our willingness to serve.

We have also had the opportunity to teach Kaavah before the baptism on Saturday. We met him and later his brother, while contacting. (They were converted Muslim to Christiananity because of their father, who was a previous investigator who we taught) We taught him the Restortation. Elder King wanted me to do the quote the 1st Vision to him in Danish. I was so nervous. I tried rehearsing it to Elder King a couple weeks ago, but found out that my MTC Danish was still far from actual Danish. We got to talking about Joseph Smith. I remember saying a quick prayer in my heart. It was amazing! The result was that I was able to feel the Spirit testify so strongly!! I was grateful because I was able to say the first vision with maybe a couple of mistakes. We later found out that he had concerns because in the Bible it says to beware of false prophets. But he took a Book of Mormon and told us he would read from it. And he wants to come to church and learn more! He is super postive and we look forward to teaching him.
His brother is the same way! Super interested in our message but he was unable to attend our appointment because of work. But our goal and plan is to get ahold of their father again and teach the whole family. I believe they are a family of seven. We are so excited. The Lord is truly blessing Birkerød! I do believe there are people now who need to hear my testimony!
Speaking of Finn, we planned on him getting his interview for the Priesthood yesterday, but was unable to make it because he was with his daughter for the day. We also were able to meet with him saturday night with his daughter. She was smoking and drinking a can of beer when we got there, she's been going through a hard time in her life, and she was staying over with Finn for a couple days. Finn asked us not to talk about religion when she is there. But we were able to go over and she asked questions. Because Finn asked us to come over it opens up new doors. I fully believe one day she will ask more and talk with the missionaries. How great is this work of the Lord!

Another miracle of the week! We went through our Area book and found a man whose name is Michael Williams (Investigated the church begining of this year and took a couple of lessons at Bunmi's home). We called him up and he was interested in hearing our message again. We met with him yesterday. He is from Liberia, Ivory Coast. And his roommate sat in and watched in the back of the room about our message. Roommates name is Badu and he's from Ghana!!! Yah Elder Western I found one! They speak English amazingly and they have a christrian background. We taguht them the Restoration and they accpted everything we had to say. We presented them the Book of Mormon and invited them to baptism. They both agreed to read and find out for themselves. We invited them to Dec. 21st. They were completly shocked. It's only a month away! Badu thought it was too close. But we gave the assurance and I remember saying to them, I know without a doubt that if you both put forth the effort, Read, ponder and ask God, Than you will have an answer before Dec. 21st. Michael Agreed and said that if he got an answer by than than he will be baptized on that day. We didn't get much of a confirmation from Badu but they are super postive. We are so excited for them! We hope to get a date with him next time.

We also met with Adishena, Bunmi's husband who lives on the Farjoes and was visiting Bunmi. Super positive and accepted everything we had to say. He wants the same thing that Bunmi has and is willing to do anything. He already agreed to live the commandments without even talkng about it. We invited him to baptism and he agreed. He said he would like to. Bunmi punched him and said he would love too haha. She was so funny. He is flying back to the Farjoes here maybe this week. But as long as he is taught everything he can be baptized when he comes back to visit Bunmi! President is planning on coming with us to another teaching appointment this week to visit him. Because Adishena is under President Sederholms jurisdiction and President is Adishena's Ecclesastical leader. So we are super excited for him and his family to all be part of the FULL Gospel of Jesus Christ! What an exciting time! The Lord is truly blessing our area. I am so grateful to have a part in this great work.

I love you all! Hope you have a Fantastik week! Have a good one and always follow your hearts! And LOOK for opportunities to serve!

Love,

-Elder Jantzen Richard Read

Prayers answered at 8:26

It has been an amazing week. Been tough no doubt. We have recieved 2 new Elders to our District (Elder Peterson, trainer. and Elder Lawless, trainie) to Helsingør. They are awesome missionaries. I made a goal to speak to at least 1 person everyday, who I did not know. It has been amazing! I have seen the Lord truly bless me with the Danish Language. I am understanding more than I ever did before. I have seen miracles one of which is meeting a young woman named Sarah.

We were on the Bus, working our way back to home. It was a longer bus ride. There was a woman on the bus. I thought about contacting her and asking her what a certain Danish word on the bus meant. I was about to ask her when she turned away to the window. It didn't feel very good if I reached out in front of her and asked her what it meant. Just had a feeling the timing wasn't right. I waited a little longer, then all of a sudden another young woman got on the bus. I thought she could be contacted. She sat right across the ailse from me. It was a perfect set up. She was on her phone txting. I was a little worried. Thoughts came to my mind, ''She's busy on the phone, is she too young? Is this a good idea?'' I turned to the Lord and asked in my heart. Should I ask her? If I should than when should I ask her. I waited for a feeling, prompting, or something to let me know to contact her. Nothing came. I thought okay fine. I looked at the clock to see 8:24. I said another prayer. Saying Heavenly Father, I have a plan. I am going to contact her at 8:26. Will you help me. Closed my prayer. I figured either way it would help my Danish.

The clock turned to 8:26 I looked over and noticed she finally got off her phone! The set up was even better haha. I leaned over the aisle and asked her what does that word mean in English? She responded in English (She had amazing English, I was shocked that she was Danish) and we sat there for a second. She finally asked why? I responded that I had been here for a month and was trying to learn Danish. ( All in Danish) She reponded back in English and stayed in English. I tried to revert back but she wasn't budging. Non the less I was able to contact her. She found out that I came from Utah and she got excited! She and her friend were going to take a road trip to the USA next year, with Utah as part of their journey. She asked where my destination for the night was going to be, I replied Birkerød. She said that we would be taking the same train with her friend. She apparently was going to be meeting with her at the train station. We than spent the next 20 minutes talking about Utah, my purpose as a missionary, Denmark ect. We met with her friend and were able to talk for another 15 minutes. Before getting off the Train we gave our card with our number if they were interested in learning about our message. Totally Postive!!! (Even though they were going to a club ahaha oh and also she turned out to be 19 so SAFE haha) I am still hoping that she (her name is Sarah) and her friend will contact us.

We have also began teaching a man that we met door contacting. His name is Feroz and he is Muslim. It was so cool because when he answered the door and talked about what we shared he invited us right in. WHAT!?!?! Totally my first time being let in the door on the first knock. It was awesome. We taught him a little about the Church. His is totally open to hearing our message and researching other churches. We see potential in that. And are now waiting for him to call us after he has read from the Book of Mormon.

Man many miracles have come this past week. We even had Stake confernce in Danish. I didn't understand a ton of the talks but I was able to talk with lots of people. I am so grateful for the Lord for blessing me in learning more in the Danish language. Especially understanding.

I love you all and hope you have a fantastik week. Vi sis på næste uge!

-Ældste Jantzen Richard Read

BIKES! YIKES!

Hello Everyone,

Come to find out that I will not be getting transferred right now. I will be staying in Birkerød with Elder King. A bit of a relief that I am not training right now. Because it really is a possibility with all the new missionaries coming it. I am grateful that I am staying because I get to learn the language for another 6 weeks with Elder King.

Well the reason the heading is bikes is because since last Wednesday we have had bike problems like no other. These past 5 days have been really busy. It feels like we have had bike problems everyday. My bike recieved a flat in Slangerup and Elder King's bike has recieved two flat tires along the way. We have been enjoying the ability to walk this past week. We realize that it is a huge blessing that we have our bikes. It has been a crazy week

We also got out of a dinner appointment and missed our bus by 6 minutes. And had an hour before the next one came. It was 8 at night. We tried to go visit a previous investigator but he said come again next month. And we couldn't go knocking, because A, We don't like to go knocking because it is not effective. B. it was late at night so it wouldn't even work if we did go knocking. C. We had no other option but to wait and plan for tomorrow and make phone calls. Worst part of the week is when we are not working.

Not much has happened besides trying to find more people to teach and fixing bikes every other day. We really want to find a new positive, progressing investigator to teach. Still looking and seaching. I am confident that we will find someone soon. We taught Finn P. on the new member lessons. Elder King had me teach the whole thing. I never taught the new member lessons before. So that was a challenge. We are working to get Finn the Aaronic Preisthood and have him work to go to the temple soon for Baptisms. We are so excited. He came to President Sederholm's open house last night and gave his Testimony!!!!!!! It was pretty awesome.

President has an open house/ fireside every month at the mission home for anyone. We live really close so we were able to go with Finn. President taught us in Danish, for conviance for all the Danish investigators and members there. He amazingly in Danish. Not just in teaching appointments but as a speaker as well. He taught about member missionary work and Hastening the work. He wanted us to think of someone right now who could hear the gospel. He wanted us to if we could or couldn't think of someone right now, than either way, we need to ask the Lord. Pray for a specific person and intoduce them to the Gospel. He used Elders Nelsons famous words ''Ask the missionaries they can help you'' He has such a strong testimony. I do enjoy hearing and feeling it when I am with President.

To be honest, serving a mission is one of the toughest things, it maybe THE toughest thing, I have done in my life. The hardest task for me is learning, understanding and speaking the Danish language. I have learned in Pontiac Illnois that I can teach in English just fine. Yes I had to learn how to do it, but the benefit was my investigators understood me and I understood them. It is a difficult thing to do when learning a language. I does get stressful. But what makes all of hard times and stress worth it, is when I give my testimony and I teach. When I rely on the Saviour for help, I am strenghtened. It is also when I am able to help others come unto Christ than I am able to feel good and confident that I am here to serve. I am truly blessed to be in Denmark. I love serving here. It is a challenge but it is all worth it in the end. (We just came to the conclusion that I am 1/6 the way done with my mission AHHHH!!!) there is no time to waiste. I am grateful to be a servant of the Lord. I love you all and thank you again for your support. Have a good week

-Ældste Jantzen Richard Read