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

12-30-14

Hmmmm I don't even know what to say right now. So much has happened since last Monday and my mind is currently blank..... 

Transfers just happened. Elder Nelson and I are staying together but we helped everybody move. Whilst at the huge Copenhagen station we met this hot young Mormon couple from Utah! It was our P-day, and I really wanted to just hang out with them, so we ditched everyone else and showed them around Denmark. It was super fun. Oh and last Monday we went to Tivoli, the world’s oldest amusement park! That was soooooooooo fun! Dang, Denmark is awesome. I'm super lucky. 

Oh duh!! We just had Christmas!!! Almost forgot. It was so incredible to see the family. Love you guys. But surprisingly, that wasn't the best part about Christmas. It was weird because I have been looking forward to skype since day 1 of the mission, but the best thing about this Christmas was much more personal. It's actually quite difficult to explain. I just felt like the distance between the Savior and I was so.... miniscule. Nonexistent even. It was so weird to spend a Christmas with His name stapled to my chest. Right on top of my heart. I really got to know my big brother. It was absolutely beautiful. He will always be my best friend. 

Anyway. The *H* family should be getting baptized very soon here. So that's neat.

Also it snowed like crazy so Denmark is now a winter wonderland. So that's neat too. 

Everything is cold and cycling in snow is impossible. I love it.

-Elder Bradshaw

12-22-14

Alrighty I'll just get right Down to it this week. My district is going to spend the day at Tivoli (Danish amusement park) today so I don’t have much time.

This week a miracle happened. Remember the *H* Family?? Well *MH* (ex-supermodel and most famous tv star in Denmark) is going to be getting baptized along with her two children!! I remember when Elder Hooper and I first knocked on her door and were stunned to silence when such a beautiful woman said that she was interested!!

It's going to be such a boost for the church here in Denmark! It's a Christmas miracle!! That's 5 people now on track for baptism. The sad news is that transfer calls should be happening any second now and I'll probably be leaving my beloved Hillerød. I hope not.

Anyway. Enjoy Christmas everyone. I can't wait to see some of you on Skype on Christmas Day!!! I love you all so so so much!

-Ældste Bradshaw

12-15-14

Kære Alle Sammen,

Christmas is coming!!!!!  Who's excited?? I certainly am. This week in Hillerød we decided to start caroling in an attempt to spread that Christmas Spirit! So on Tuesday we went to the local hospital and sang carols for people for a good few hours! It was such an incredible experience! So many of the patients were in tears as they clapped and anxiously waited their turn to tell us their favorite Christmas song.

People don't really do caroling in Denmark, so it's something completely new for them. And while we were in the baby section of the hospital, what do you know we ran into *C* and *J*!! They're two old investigators and they had just had a baby together! So we sang some songs for them and were able to share the new He is the Gift video with them.

I don’t know if you've all seen this video yet, but it really is an incredible Little video. Two minutes long, yet so powerful. The church is really getting good at their films now. Especially compared to the junk they used to make.

But if you have not yet seen it, go to Christmas.mormon.org ASAP and Watch it. Then share it with every single human being you know. SPREAD THE MESSAGE! Christmas is about Christ, so let's try to remember it.

Our teaching pool has really increased this last week. We've been blessed with tons of new investigators, and *V* and *J* are both still on track to baptism!

Unfortunately I'll probably be transferred by the time they get baptized, but that's okay. It's not about me, right? Haha although it would be nice to see it all come together. Oh well. The Work goes on.

Love you all so much!!

Happy Christmas!!

-Ældste Bradshaw