Monday, April 1, 2013

Miracle Week


So the week was awesome!  Two miracle stories from the work.  The first was when we were out knocking on Tuesday.  We gave out 5 books in all that day, which was a redhot day of contacting.  On of the last doors we knocked was a HUGE bald guy that answered the door and was just about to say "nej tak" and shut it, before we started asking random questions about himself.  One thing we have noticed is that most Danes LOVE to talk about themselves.  So, he started telling us tons of things about his life, and it turned out that he had lived in California for 10 years, and has been to Temple Square!  After a few minutes of talking, he said "Do you want to come in for 5 minutes?"  Of course we went in, and the 5 minutes turned into an hour!  We talked about just about everything with him and he told us about his rough childhood and how it has caused him to become a strong christian later in his life.  We talked about a few random gospel principles, mainly the Plan of Salvation.  Just before leaving, he invited us back for an appointment the next Tuesday (tomorrow)!  We also told him that the book was totally free, which made him happy.  He said it had been too long since he's read in a Book of Mormon last, and was excited to read it again.  His name is K., and lives in Herning. 

The next day, Wednesday, we finally had an appointment with Tom, which went fairly well.  He's still progressing pretty slowly but is still willing to read and pray.  We also asked if he would be baptized if he found out that the Book of Mormon was true, to which he said "of course!"  His lessons are usually pretty long, and go off on all kinds of tangents which always keep us on our heels :)  He seems to always have an interesting interpretation of a certain Bible verse that he'll show us every time.  

But, the biggest highlight of the week was the lesson with R. and M.  R is a referral from Fredericia, who met the missionaries two years ago.  She took a book and a couple lessons, but had to stop because of how busy she was with school and everything.  She called the missionaries just before she moved telling them that she would like to learn more, and just happened to move into the outskirts of our area, to a little town called Gludsted.  She was actually born in Africa, but was adopted by a Danish family when she was 2, thus giving her the last name "Jensen" even though she is African.  Very nice lady, and was raised as a normal member in the Folkekirke.  The boyfriend is actually from Holland and has lived here for 7 years as a manager at a Dairy Farm in Gludsted.  

We drove down there this last Friday with the senior couple missionaries, the Johansens for our appointment.  It was an awesome time, started out at the dining room table as we got to know them and her little 3 year-old daughter named Maggie.  Talked for a few minutes and then the first lesson came into the discussion super smoothly.  Right before we put the Restoration DVD in, we told her that they could put the little daughter down for a nap, as she had hinted that that was what she was trying to do.  It turned out to be really good timing, as that allowed them to focus on the video without having to keep control of the little girl.  After the DVD, we talked with them and asked what they thought about it all.  R. said that she relates to Joseph Smith, and has gone through the same in her life, wondering why there's so many churches, and has always thought that there was a "better church" than the one she went to, but went there anyways.  After asking what it would mean to them if they found out that the message was true, she gave a pretty surprising answer, "Well, I already know it's true, it just makes sense to me!"  That caught us a little off guard and we were amazed to hear someone saying that at the first lesson!  We took the opportunity to ask if they would be Baptized if they did find out about the truth for themselves, which they both said "yes" to!  We were stoked for that, and will be back this week to see how their reading and praying went.  We used the last few minutes to teach the importance of prayer and why it's the only way they'll find out for themselves.  They both agreed to read at least a chapter and to pray about it before our next visit!  We're excited for the timing this week with Conference.