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