2-9-15

Hello Again :)

We had an absolutely fantastic week here in Nykøbing Falster. So when I first got into the area, there wasn't much going on because the Elders had been in the hospital for weeks because of Elder Petersen. That meant we had to do some finding. We've been working super hard to find some new people to teach to really give the area some new spark, and the Lord has been Blessing us tremendously!

Last Sunday, Elder Zalewski and I both fasted that we could find a new investigator. We went out to a city  called Stubbekøbing to stop by a former investigator, but they weren't home, so we decided to knock a few doors instead. We knocked the first one, but nobody answered. Second door. Knock knock knock. A bright smiling man opens the door! We come to find out that he's from Syria and does not speak English OR Danish, yet he insisted that we come in. We did just that, and after much back and forth over Google translate we were able to teach the restoration.

He said that we could come back next week, so we came back with our good friend *M* to help with translation! We now teach this man a few times a week through a translator, and things are going great!! His name is *J* (pronounced like the American baseball team) and he lives in Denmark alone. He has a wife and 2 year old daughter back home in Syria. He's such a kind and sincere man:) I love him already.

But it wasn't just him! We received 4 new investigators this week!! Awesome huh?? The Lord gets his Work done no matter what. This area has lots of potential. We just gotta find it. I have faith that things will pick up soon and we will see some glorious work get done in Nykøbing!

I love you all and so does you Savior Jesus Christ. If we just keep His commandments, everything else will fall into place.

-Elder Bradshaw

2-2-15

Well..... Where do I begin? You won't believe what happened to me this week. I'm going to try my best to describe it, but I'm not sure I can put it all in Words.

So as you all know, I've been in Hillerød for almost half a year now, and I'm absolutely in LOVE with the place. Transfer calls are supposed to come in today, but I really doubt they'll even bother to call me this time round. You see, something happened last Monday afternoon that I will never forget.... We had just finished our P-day and were walking out of this store we had been in with *J*. The store was fantastic and I even managed to snag a sweet pair of shoes, but as we were leaving the place, something happened that quickly changed my mood. The phone rang... I answered and it was President Sederholm on the other end... Woah. It's not very often that you get phone calls from the mission president himself. Anyway, I answered the phone with my usual cheerful ''Hej, det er Ældste Bradshaw!!'' but he quickly said '' sorry elder Bradshaw, but we'll need to speak English for this conversation.'' .... woah. I could tell it was serious. He went on to describe to me what had been happening to a missionary in an area called Nykøbing Falster, Elder Petersen. Apparently he had been in the hospital for about two weeks now due to some VERY serious Health problems, and was going to be sent home in the morning, and that he desperately needed a missionary to replace him in his area and that that missionary was ME. He told me that I would be moving to Nykøbing Falster the very next morning. That meant that I had less than 24 hours to pack my bags, say goodbye to everyone that I had come to love, and be in a city 2 hours away in under 24 hours..... I couldn't believe it.

Of course I told president that I would be willing to do whatever he needed of me, but as soon as I got off of the phone with him, I just stood there in shock. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know who to go see. I couldn't move. We usually have 7 entire days to say goodbye to everyone and a Sunday in church before we have to leave. I had one evening. Luckily, as I stood there in shock not knowing what to do, Elder Nelson took some action. He called up the *H* family and the *R* family straight away and was lucky enough to set up one big appointment at the Ricks house where everyone could come and say goodbye. So *J* came with us and we headed over there. It was such a bitter-sweet night. We had a little spiritual thought, but for the most part we just all talked about the great times that we had had together over the last 6 months. And you know what the weirdest part was?? THIS goodbye was 10x harder that the goodbyes that I gave back in Utah. That doesn't make sense to me. Far more tears were shed here in Denmark. I'll never forget the look on *M*'s face as she walked to her car after we had just said goodbye. Here was this 40 year old woman that had been a Danish tv superstar, crying over a snot-nosed punk missionary from America. Never before have I wanted more to break the mission rules than at that moment and just give the woman a darn hug!

Anyway... I won't say everything that happened that night, because it's quite personal to me, but how's about I tell y'all a thing or two about my new area?? :D Nykøbing is great! It's on the very Southern coast of Denmark. It's actually its own Island separate from the main body of Sjæland, and it's just beautiful. The work here is.... well I'll be completely honest with you, it's very slow compared to my last area. But that will be changing soon!! We were actually very blessed to be able to take a man that we just reactivated here through the temple for his very first time!! Oh and guess what?? So you remember *J*, the lady that used to cut my hair that just got baptized?? Well we were planning on taking her to the temple before I left Hillerød to do baptisms for the dead, and I was very upset that I wouldn't be able to go anymore, but they managed to get her session planned in the Copenhagen temple for the same time that I would be there on Saturday with our new member!!! I was able to take my new friend *M* through for the first time AND was able to take my old friend *J* through! It was such an incredible day.

Okay so I'm in a branch now. Woah. That's different. Only about 15 people. And guess what? I bore my testimony yesterday, and I'm giving a half hour talk next Sunday!!! Haha oh my... it's crazy. But the branch is great. A Little odd, but great :)

Okay sorry this email was so long. I still feel like there is so much I haven't told you. Have a great week!!! Lemme know if you have any questions.

-Ældste Bradshaw

1-26-15

Happy Monday everyone!!

I'll be keeping it quick this week seeing as I don't have much time left. Sorry :(

First of all, big shout out to Aunty Lauren!!! What an incredible miracle!! I hope you felt some special love coming from the Northeast (Denmark's direction). I love you tons!!

We are still working with lots of the same investigators. *M* is planning to be baptized on the 15th of February!! He is progressing soooo fast. Every time that we leave he asks us to bring a new book with us next time we come. We've been bringing him tons of pamphlets since he finished the Book of Mormon, and he's just been breezing through them too quickly, so we decided to give him something hard :) He is currently working on the old and new testament. Haha that should keep him busy for a while.

Things are going super with *J*. We see her soooo much more these days and I just love it. She completely surprised us yesterday and just showed up to church on her own!! Haha it was a miracle because it usually takes much prodding and planning to get her to come to anything, but she just showed up on her own!!

*Je* is doing sooo well since her baptism. We are planning to go do baptisms for the dead this Saturday, so that should be fun :)

I really feel like I'm settled into the groove of things now. I love it. Unfortunately transfer calls are in two weeks, and I don't think I'll be avoiding the Sharp blade of transfers this time. It will be sad to leave...

But all is well in Zion!! I love you all very much!

Have a fantastic week!

Ældste Bradshaw

1-19-15

Okay so first off, not that it matters or anything, but I have been on my mission for 187 days!! That's just over 6 months! My mission is now the same length as a sister missionary!!! Haha that sure feels weird...

This last Saturday was my exact 6 month mark, and what better way to celebrate than with a baptism!!! That's right, *J* is officially dunked!! Two times actually! Her foot came up the first time, just like with me and Amelia :) But wow it was just an incredible day... I remember when I first got here and she was a hardcore atheist. She was miles away from ever getting baptized. She's been meeting with missionaries for over a year now, so it really was incredible to see her finally make the decision. The thing with *J* though is that she is more like a mother to the missionaries than she is an investigator. She is best friends with every missionary she ever meets.

Consequently, she wanted all of her missionaries to come back for her baptism, so there were over 15 missionaries there! It was without a doubt the most spiritual baptism I've ever been to. Even better than my own! *J* is such a dear friend of mine and I just love her so much that my joy was absolutely full that entire day. It was also a great opportunity for all of our other investigators to come and witness and feel that incredible spirit of happiness. Ahhhh... I love missionary Work. It's slowly making the World a better/happier place.

Other highlights this week include the Work with our new pal *M*. He's a bloke from Australia that's lived in Denmark most of his life, and let me tell you, I have never seen anyone that has been so prepared for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He's just ready!! We invited him to baptism last night and he said ''Ja, selv følgelig! Jeg synnes det er bare helt fantastisk!!'' Basically he said yes!! Can't wait! Also, Josefine has completely stopped smoking now!! She's been clean for two strong weeks!! Woohoo! The Lord DOES Work miracles!

I love you all and I know your Savior does too :)

Until next week,

Ældste Bradshaw 

1-12-15

Wow what an incredible week!!

So at the beginning of the week, Elder Nelson got quite sick. We actually had to spend Monday and most of Tuesday inside. But that didn't hold us back from performing some good old miracles!! Tuesday afternoon we went Down to Copenhagen to pick up our new phone (our old one broke) and while we were in the mission office, one of the senior missionaries walks in and says ''I need two Elders right now to come with me to the hospital. We have another senior missionary that might be on his death bed''. Well, Elder Nelson was sick, so he wasn't able to go, but there was another missionary in the office waiting for his companion to come out of his interview with president, so we arranged a quick splits and Elder Call and I went with the man to the hospital. We got to this senior missionary’s bed and after chatting for a while, proceeded to give him a Blessing.

Elder Call was the one to do it, and for some reason, he said it all in Danish. I thought that was strange considering that this senior missionary couldn't understand Danish, but he was still glad for the Blessing. Not long after we said Amen, a man lying in his sick bed across the room chirped up and said ''hey! What was that all about?'' (In Danish of course). We explained to him what a priesthood Blessing was and he said ''well I want one!'' So we gave him one!! Haha it was an incredible experience. A true miracle. We gave him our info and said we would come back and visit him soon.

But that's not all that has happened this week! Even though we have spent so much time indoors due to sickness and crazy storms, we have been able to teach more lessons than ever before!! We have truly been blessed by our loving Heavenly Father. Ah I just love him so much :)

Anyways, stay tuned for next week to hear about Jessica’s baptism. Hopefully it all goes to plan!

Love you all!!

-Elder Bradshaw

1-5-15

Godt Nyt År alle sammen!!!!!!! Det er 2015!!!!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!! It's finally 2015, the only full year that I will be spending on my mission! Oh boy was New Year’s eve a fun one. I love the way that the Danish people celebrate. In Utah it's so dry, so nobody does fireworks, but here, because of the constant rain, everything is wet, so EVERYONE buys and lights their own fireworks. You would not believe how many fireworks they light! Just imagine the stadium of Fire going off in each individual house! You can look out to the Horizon and just see fireworks non-stop for hours on end. It was incredible. We were with a member Family with 4 girls aged 14, 16, 17, and 19. As you can imagine, 4 missionaries going over to a house full of Young Danish girls on New Year’s eve was quite the spectacle. We had a great time :)

The only thing you need to Watch out for is the streets. Denmark consumes more alcohol per capita than any country in the World, and especially on New Year’s. There were sooo many drunk people. It was absolutely hilarious taking the train home at 1 am and seeing all of these drunkards trying to keep their balance on the constantly stopping train. Haha I love drunk people.

The *H* Family has been progressing unbelievably fast. Unfortunately, *V* has yet to get permission from her father to be baptized, but it will come. We pray for it multiple times a day, so it will come. She's almost done with the Book of Mormon and has been loving it! *M* finished a long time ago, and also has a strong testimony of its truthfulness. Ahh I love the Book of Mormon. It's just so good. There is no way that Joseph Smith could have written it himself in the short time that he had. It has to have come from God. No doubt.

So much happened this week but I'm drawing a blank right now. As usual. Oh well :) Love you all!! Have a great 2015!

-Elder Bradshaw