5-25-15

Hey!

This week's email goes out to my beautiful amazing sister Jordan!! I'm a flippin uncle now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Haha I can't believe it! Jordan, you are amazing and our thoughts and prayers go out to you and Lovely Little Luca. 

I feel like nothing I say will be nearly as exciting as what's going on over there right now, but we also did something pretty awesome here in Nykøbing Falster this week. No, we did not create life... however, we did get our investigator *M* in Church!!! It might not sound like much, BUT.. there has not been an investigator in the Nykkøbing Falster branch for over 1 and a half years, so it's pretty sweet!! And *M* absolutely loved every minute of it! He was smiling from ear to ear the entire time! At the end of church he came up to me and put his hand in mine and gave me the tie clip off of his own tie (which means a lot to him) and said how grateful he was that we kept on pressing and trying time and time again to get him there. He had been sooo nervous beforehand, but ending up being very happy that he came. It sounds like he will now start coming every week, which means if he comes to the next two Sundays then he could very well make his baptismal date!! And guess what?? He got fired!! Again, that sounds bad, but it's VERY good. He worked as a bar tender, which was NOT good for his Word of Wisdom problem and was causing him to work on Sundays. So now he can come to church and won't be constantly surrounded by the thing that's killing him (Vodka). 

Things are looking up in Nykøbing Falster. Elder Taylor and I have been extremely blessed. I know we have a Father up in Heaven looking after us and I can almost feel all of the angels surrounding us on a daily basis, leading us to people that are prepared. We're fighting the good fight. Here's a little something I came across this week: ''Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome. You have to fight through some bad days to earn the best days of your life.''

I love you all!! (especially Jordan, Tones, and Luca)

-Jed Bradshaw (The Elder)

5-18-15

Gooday mate!

Gee willakers what a great week it has been!! I'll tell you what folks, NOTHING is better than being a missionary. Where else in the world can one work so hard and get so much satisfaction out of it?? Nowhere!

Well this week our great friend *M* went through the temple for his first time to receive his endowments!!! I wish you could all see how far *M* has come in his life. When I first went into *M's* house, you couldn't even walk your way through to his kitchen because it was such a mess. He had been inactive for about 12 years and had become quite the alcoholic. Now he comes to church EVERY single week, pays his tithing, has a calling as the Young Men’s president, just got his endowments out and is planning on getting sealed in the temple to his new fiancé this summer!! It's so incredible to see such rapid progression take place in this man's life. I love him with all my heart! I'm hoping to be selected as the best man at the wedding ;)

We've also seen a little progression with our pal *P* this week. He took Elder Taylor and I out to his favorite private golf course for our last lesson! It was such a blast! Playing 18 holes and talking about the church. Nothing beats it. Pure serenity.

We had Zone training this week. Lots of big changes are going to be coming up in the mission soon. We have about 15 Elders going home this transfer and only 4 coming in, so the mission is going to have to shut Down a few areas... Let’s hope it's not Nykøbing!

Sorry I don't have much time or much to say this week. I promise to write a nice big fat email next week :)

I love you all!!

-Elder Jed Bradshaw

5-11-15

Good morning!

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day. Remember, unless you have a sibling that was bigger than you when you were born, YOU are the most painful thing your mother has ever experienced. To my Mother, all I have to say is: I'm sorry and I love you :)

Well it's a little weird emailing this week seeing as I just saw my family yesterday. It's always so difficult to hang up that Skype call because I look foward to it for so long and then when it's over I know that it will be another 6 months until I see them again. But I'm so grateful for my incredible family and all that they do to support me :) We were actually just talking about families yesterday in our priesthood lesson (the class that consists of two men and two missionaries). We were talking about how everything in the church is built off of the family and how a good home is the best place for a child to grow up strong in the gospel. Well I sure am lucky then because I had the best family ever.  We always held daily scripture study and prayer no matter what. My parents were always the best examples. My Mum is  the most Chirstlike person I know and I would be lucky to become half the man my Dad is. I love my family!!!

This last week in Nykøbing we had a great lesson with *M*. We ran through the baptismal questions with him to make sure he was ready for his upcoming baptismal date. He passed with flying colors except for one question. The Word of Wisdom. Oh boy... Now, let it be known that he has come a VERY long way from where he was before. When we first met him he was smoking multiple packs of cigarettes a day and drinking around 30 beers plus whisky. He has now completely stopped smoking and drinks about 10 beers a day. So he has come a long way, but we need a miracle to get him to give up alcohol for good.

We've been having lots of what we call ''make it or break it lessons'' with our investigators lately. Lots of them have been investigating for a long time now but aren't making much progress, so we're cleaning out our teaching pool and looking for some new people that are actually going to do something with what we teach. It's always hard to drop those kind of investigators because it means we won't be teaching as many lessons, but it's worth it in the long run. We're out here to find the elect so that's what we're going to do. That means knocking and talking to EVERYONE :) Can't wait!!

I love you all!!! Have a fantastic week!

-Elder Jed Bradshaw

5-4-15

Hey.

Well, transfer calls came on Thursday..... and.... (drum roll)....................... Elder Taylor and I are staying together!!!!!! WHOOOHOOO! It's actually pretty crazy because that means that I will probably be in Nykøbing for a total of 5 transfers (35 weeks) seeing as this is Elder Taylor's last transfer. But you know what? I couldn't be happier. Not just because I'm having the time of my life with Elder Taylor but because I know that this is where Heavenly Father wants me to be. There are people here that I'm supposed to meet and there are people here that are supposed to meet me. It's a very win win situation.

Let's see what happened this week.... sorry I never think about these emails beforehand. I just kinda do my best off of memory and things often get lost in the process. Well we've started teaching a new woman named *D* and her son *J*. They're amazing!!! They're so nice I would almost think they weren't Danish! But they are and we love going over to their place. *J* is 14 and loves two things. Soccer and Skateboarding. So we've played some good football matches and kicked a few kick flips on his skateboard. Lots of fun.

*M* is doing great! He's taken great leaps forward with the word of wisdom, but it's still going very slow with him. We're just praying and praying that he makes his date in July. I'm sure he will :)

Oh here's a thing that happened! We got a phone call from our mission president on Friday saying that there was a man in OUR local hospital in Nykøbing that needed visiting. He gave us no information other than his name. We were expecting him to be some old Danish man, but when we walked into the hospital room there was a young American fellow sitting upright on the hospital bed... he told us he had been expecting us. We told him that nobody had told us what was going on and asked him what on earth had happened to him. He then told us the long story of how he was on vacation here in Denmark from Utah and that one morning he woke up in his hotel bed in a deep puddle of blood! He knew no Danish and had no friends or contacts seeing as he was here on vacation alone. He managed to yell for help and the maid called the ambulance for him. Anyway, his situation was very critical and they found out that he has a fatal disease from which he could very easily die. They refuse to release him from the hospital. He knows nobody here and could be dying on his Danish death bed completely alone.... he asked us simply for a priesthood blessing, so we gave him one. We have not seen him since, but please please keep him in your prayers if you can. His name is *J*.

Sorry that was kind of a downer.... things are going great in the area!! We just had stake conference which was great!! I was able to see lots of my old friends from previous areas! I just love Danish people so much. It really bothers me that you don't all know all the amazing people that I know. I wish we could all just be one big family.

Well I love you all! Take care and have a great week :)

-Elder Jed Bradshaw

P.S. we visited Møns Klint today which is basically just a better version of the cliffs of Dover. I Included some pictures. They're MASSIVE chalk cliffs right on the coast. Enjoy!