4-27-15

Hello Humans.

Let's start with a neat story this week. Elder Taylor and I were in a real messed up part of town the other day, doing the usual stop bys and attempting to find a previous investigator that we wanted to start teaching again. His name was *R*. Spanish I think. Well we knocked on his beat up paint chipped door. No answer. We rang the harsh doorbell. Nobody heard it. We turned away from the door to see a lovely lady beaming from cheek to cheek coming Down the stair well.

 ''Are you Mormons?'' she asked us.

''Yes.''

''Oh good. Come Upstairs, it's been a while''

She took us up to her apartment but we couldn't go in due to the fact that she lived there alone and we aren't allowed to visit single women. No problem. She grabbed a few chairs and we sat out in her Little courtyard. She pulled out 4 books from her bag. The Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price and Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith.... She went on to tell us that she got these books 30 years ago from a few boys just like us and that she had come to church with them once, but then they suddenly stopped coming... We were dumbfounded. She had read all of the books through multiple times. Her favorite was the Book of Abraham and could even quote it....... what kind of investigator quotes the book of Abraham?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!! I can't even do that!!!

Anyway her name is *M* and she is wonderful. So yeah that's my miracle for the week. We'll see where it goes with her.

Another neat story: On Wednesday Elder Taylor and I decided to try out our new guitar contacting routine. We've been practicing new hymns and songs and decided it was finally warm enough to try them out on the people of Nykøbing. We sat down in the city Square and started playing. Not much happened at first. A few people stopped and listened. One particular little girl stared at us for a good 15 minutes, mesmerized. Then after a while there came this big group of young adults walking by. They loved it and asked me if I knew any Red Hot Chili Peppers. Haha of course I do!! I started playing and one of the girls in the group and I had a Little duet sing along. Then we sat down and played like 5 songs together. She's now an investigator. Her name is *A*. Music touches hearts people.

So yeah... that's this week!!! I'm still LOVING Nykøbing! Can't wait for Mother’s day!! Party at my house on Skype. Everyone's invited... right Mum?

K I love you all!!!

-Elder Bradshaw

4-20-15

Hey Guys :)

It's getting so warm over here now! Okay maybe it's only warm in comparison to what it's been. It's a high of about 10 degrees Celsius (ed 50 degrees F), which is actually quite cold, but it feels warm to me. Anything is better than below zero. Well we've been enjoying it big time and even busted out the short sleeved shirts the other day. I love the sun.

We've had a great time teaching all of our new investigators. None of them really seem like they'll be changing their ways, but we have some great discussions with them and who knows, maybe something we say to them will make a difference down the road.

We had a neat experience with some people the other day. We knocked on their door and they reluctantly let us in. We sat down and started off by showing them the new Easter film ''because he lives''. They thought it was well made and liked it very much, but the neat part was what they told us next. Apparently they had been in Italy just 4 days earlier when some girls stopped them on the streets of Venice. They gave them a card with a link to a video and told them that it was a video from the church that they represented. They thought nothing of it and stuffed the card in his pocket. He pulled the card out of his pocket as we sat on his couch in Denmark and told us that he thought it was no coincidence that he was now seeing that same film just a few days later. THANK YOU SISTER MISSIONARIES. Anyway... I don't know if they'll go anywhere, but they were obviously very touched by the whole experience. God's hand was very present.

We've been loving the new Easter initiative. Such a great way to find and teach people. The Work is going great right now! The branch is being a little negative and unsupportive, but that's alright. We'll get them on board soon enough.

We get transfer calls next Monday. That should be interesting because if I stay then I have to stay for at least 2 more transfers due to the fact that Elder Taylor goes home next transfer, so that would make 5 transfers in Nykøbing! I wouldn't mind that. But it would also be fun to go experience something new.

I love you all! Vi ses næste uge!

-Ældste Jed Bradshaw

Jed in action at zone training last week

4-13-15

It's such a beautiful day today in Denmark, and things are EXPLODING in Nykøbing Falster!! You'll never guess how many new investigators we found this week. Go on. Guess...... Okay I'll tell you!! 22!! 22 new investigators all found in the space of 4 days!! We have a completely new teaching pool and we're LOVING it! On Thursday we were walking around a city called Maribo when Elder Taylor and I got a prompting to go knock on an opgang (Apartment complex). We knocked one door. No answer. Two doors. No answer. Then on the third door, this big old lady from Tanzania opens the door and invites us into her humble dwelling (that was a pun for someone. Hope you caught it). So we walk in just a few feet and are instantly surrounded by hundreds of little African children!! Haha they loved us! Well, after walking around the Apartment and shaking hands with everyone (there were soooo many of them) we find out that 10 of them are over the age of 8 (investigator age)!! We shared the new 'Because He Lives' video with them and they absolutely loved it.

Well... we came back on Sunday for our follow up appointment and this time they had brought back up. They had invited their priest from their church to come and join in the conversation! I couldn't believe it! I was sitting in a room with about 7 ladies from Africa and all of their daughters (I guess they don't like having sons) and their beloved priest. They all pulled out their Bibles and seemed as if they were getting ready to convert ME! Naturally, the priest just wanted to Bible bash, but I was having none of it. After running out of scriptures from the Old and New Testament supporting the Book of Mormon, I just started baring testimony because it was apparent that nothing else was going to work. Well... they got pretty quiet pretty quick once the Spirit was there. I felt very inadequate in front of these educated lovers of the Bible, but very brave. Luckily we were able to end on a very high note, and are planning on going back some time in the future. I did notice at least one woman that seemed very touched by the Whole thing, so I approached her afterwards and offered her a Book of Mormon in Swahili (nobody else would even look at the thing). She gladly accepted it and shot me a massive smile. Can't wait to see them again.

The other 12 investigators are also miracles, but it would take far too long to explain them all. Instead, here is my promised list of things that I learned from General Conference.

1. Fast and pay a generous Fast Offering. We may be far from those in the World that need help, but we are close to the Lord and his holy funds are capable of saving lives. We help Him help them.

2. Two secret ingredients to a successful marriage: a cookie and a kiss :) Also, married couples should complete each other, not compete with each other. Don't ever say bad things about your lovely spouse in front of them or behind their back.

3. Ingredient to being a successful dater of women: ''don't text her. Use your own voice''.  :)

4. RM does NOT stand for ''retired mormon''. We should use the skills we attain from our missions to be ''anxiously engaged in a good cause''.

5. I should strive to be a Father just like my own Father. Both my earthly and Heavenly Father. I should be an example to my children and respect the womanhood of my wife.

6. Not everything that Counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted Counts. Originally said by Albert Einstein by the way.

7. Every bonfire Begins from a single spark. If we ever feel small of inadequate, we need only let Jesus Christ fan us into the giant flame we can become.

8. The Church is NOT an car showroom. It is a place of maintenance and rehabilitation. Our members are far from perfect. We should remember that if we feel unworthy or damaged, that is when we need the church the most. We don't go to church to hide our problems, but rather to heal them.

9. We should resist the temptation to draw attention to ourselves. Instead we should seek the high honor of humility.

10. Many things are good. Many are important. Very few are essential. Families ARE essential to God's plan of happiness.

11. Sometimes those that we love go astray, and sometimes we should not act like the searching shepherd trying to find the lost sheep, but rather we should act like the father of the prodigal son and wait.

12. And my favorite talk..... ''I can teach you how to dance, but you must be able to hear the music.'' If we can hear the music of the gospel in our lives, then the dance doesn't seem so strange :) If you don't hear the music, keep practicing.

Well there you have it.

Have a great week everyone! I love you!

-Ældste Jed Bradshaw