Elder Pullan: Denmark Copenhagen

The best two years ever

2011-03-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well my family, this is really weird. It's finally starting to feel a little bit real. This week has been a little bit rough. It's been a lot of half-goodbyes because church is tomorrow and I'll see everyone again. We have literally had about two eating appointments everyday for the past two weeks. I AM SO FULL ALL THE TIME. It will be nice to start running again at home. I've gained a little the past month or so. Today is going to be a really special P-Day. Pauline is going through the temple in about two hours and we get to go with her. I don't know how I got so lucky, but I am SO happy that she was able to do it while I was still here. The Karrens have been here for the past week which has been really nice. It's just been a really good week. We had our last round of zone conferences and leadership trainings this week and they went well. It's going to be so hard to leave everyone behind. I take comfort in the world of Facebook and Skype. I don't know how ya'll did it before... I actually wonder if my Facebook is even still there... I'm sure they may delete if you don't log into it for two years. We'll see...

Over the past few weeks I've thought a lot about what Bishop Prince has said I'm sure a million times. "A mission will be not only the best two years of your life, but for your life." It is absolutely 100% true. I've read through my journal a little bit, and thought a lot over what's gone on over the past few years and it truly has been the most difficult, emotional, and sometimes confusing two years of my life. Despite all that, it has also been the most rewarding, happy, inspiring, and best two years of my life. Looking ahead, I can definitely see the "best two years for you life" part of it.

It's hard to sum it all up, but I would say the biggest and greatest thing I have learned is the importance of the Gospel in this world today. Without it, there truly is no purpose, there is no reason for living, there is no reason for being here. I have come to know and understand even more that we have a Father in Heaven who is right there, and we can feel of his presence, be directed, and get the comfort and direction we need in life. I know with all of the energy of my heart that Christ came to this earth and established a church- a divinely foreordained organization that would teach God's children his doctrine, teach them how to be happy, teach them how to avoid sadness, teach them how to endure to the end, and one day, lead them directly back to the loving arms of our Father in Heaven with those that we love most. I have experienced the sadness our Heavenly Father must feel when his children do not understand his doctrines and choose differently than he would otherwise wish, I have also felt the inexpressible joy and excitement that comes when someone finds out that Heavenly Father really is there, really does love us, and can and will talk with us. I have experienced the miracle of prayer- in my life and in the lives of others. What a simple, yet extraordinary thing! I have seen how Satan works in the world. I have seen how simple and easy it is to slip. I have seen people destroy their lives because of addiction, lust, and the easiness of just "following the crowd". But I have also seen the Gospel of Jesus Christ, change lives, break addictions, heal families, and bring real, pure joy, that lasts and outweighs all other losses. I have experienced miracles on my mission, too many to count. I have seen the hand of the Lord in so many things. I know that this is His work and that he prepares those who are ready.

I have come to love this country and the people that live here. I have come to love the saints here as my own family. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't excited to come home and see everyone again, but I also would be lying if I didn't say that I feel like I'm leaving home all over again. København has become my home, and it really is going to hurt getting on that airplane. I don't know how I can be on the other side of the world away from it all. I love this mission, I love these missionaries, I love my mission President and his family. I love the members of my ward here... it's home.

I have a testimony of this restored gospel. It's not just a belief, it's what I've built my life upon. This church is not just a church, it's woven into my life, it's who I am. I am not perfect by any means, and I make mistakes all the time- and quite often the same ones, over and over again. I have also come to know that I can be forgiven for them- each and every single one of them because of my Savior Jesus Christ. I know he lived and suffered inexpressible pain so that I wouldn't have to. I am humbled each time I think about it. I am so grateful for his love, for his sacrifice, and for his life. I love him. I know Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw, God and Jesus Christ. I know that through the power of God, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon as another testimony of Jesus Christ and God's love for his children. Everything that we need to know to be saved and to come to our Father in Heaven is in that book. I've read it over and over again and each time, I find something new and something exciting. I have also had it confirmed to me time and again that it's true. That it's not a story. It's a history. It happened. That these prophets truly saw our day, and wrote what we need to know today. I know that we come closer to God by reading it and that there are answers in that book. I know that Thomas S. Monson is God's living prophet on this earth today. He is God's mouthpiece. I know that if we will just do what he asks, and pray to know if it truly is God's will, we will come to find out that it is and that true happiness can be had if we will listen and act on his words. I am also eternally grateful to my Heavenly Father for these two years. I wouldn't trade them for anything. They truly have been the best two years of my life. A lot of people look at it as a sacrifice, as something that we need to do, and I won't lie, it feels like that sometimes. But a missionary gains just as much if not more from these two years as those that they have touched, taught, and worked with. There is indescribable eternal joy in sharing the gospel with those that you love. It truly is the best thing that we could do for anyone. I plan to keep it going when I get back.

When I started my mission, President Olauson told me that I should work and take advantage of every day, so that I could one day, end my time here in the words of Paul.

"But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof they ministry. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." - 2 Timonthy 4

"Behold, the world is ripening in iniquity; it must needs be that the children of men are stirred up unto repentance... remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God... For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.... wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people... And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!" - D&C 18

It's been the best two years ever. I'm excited to see you on Wednesday.

Love you and see you soon,
Ældste Pullan

Q-tips & fiery darts

2011-03-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

Today was a little bit of a crazy day and it's a little late so this is going to be a fast one. :)

This week was a lot of office stuff again. I'll just put the frustrating news out there on the get go- Tanja isn't going to make her baptismal date. I was really bummed at first, BUT... she's making progress so that's better than nothing! She has finally gotten it approved to go to school and things so this week and a lot of next she is going to be really busy... meaning we can't meet until next Thursday (therefore... I was bummed). It'll happen one day, just not while I'm here. She's still very positive and still learning, so that is definitely a blessing.

Monday: Had lots of great plans. Then stuff happened. Plans changed, appointments canceled, and we spent most of the day working on stuff for Zone Conference. However, President did invite us over to FHE with their family that night. We planned a lesson about David and Goliath and putting on the whole armor of God (they have a son a little older than Spencer) and they are just a really fun family. SO... we decided that we would give everyone straws and TON of Q-tips (representing the fiery darts of the adversary) and have them shoot the person who was acting as themselves. We gave them different types of armor (pillows, blankets, bike helmet, etc.) to represent praying, reading the scriptures, keeping the commandments, etc. They then had to run across a room put on a pair of slippers and get back out the door without having any parts of their body hit, or else they were frozen. Really good idea and it worked for a while. But then Sister President Andersen started shooting everyone else in the room... so then it turned into all-out war in the living room of the mission home with everyone diving all over the floors, shooting Q-tips at each other. It seriously lasted for an hour or so... the things that entertain us. Anyway... it was really fun. We all feel like a part of the family... it's going to be really hard to leave that. President took tons of pictures. They're online. That was Monday.

Tuesday: Spent most of the day continuing to get ready for Zone Conference BUT we got a phone call from a man telling us that he had met with missionaries previously in America and asked if he could meet with us again.

We said yes.

We met with him and found out he lives in Randers and he has more or less been investigating for 25 years. He says he knows its true and has known for sometime and that he can't continue to put off him joining... the only thing that he is worried about is his wife who is really against it. He talked with us for a good hour and a half about a lot of things. The spirit was really strong. He is TOTALLY converted and we are excited to see what comes of it. We let Randers know he is coming back so they are hopefully going to be all over it. Awesome stuff!!! We also had our last eating appointment with the Knudsens. That was rough. All these lasts are difficult... Tuesday night, I got sick. Like... the worst cold I've had in a REALLY long time. Don't sleep for more than about 3 hours that night.

Wednesday: Zone Conference came early. Woo hoo! I was exhausted and didn't feel so hot. It went well, though. It was really good. Right when I was expecting things to end (I forgot it's tradition), President stood up and asked me to bear my testimony for my last time on Sjælland. I was literally shocked. I hadn't thought about that, had completely spaced. But you would have been SO proud. Not a single tear fell. I got a little chocked up a few times... but there were no tears. Honestly, it didn't feel real. None of this does... so that may be a part of it. The other part is that I have seen and will continue to see a lot of those missionaries throughout the next little while. So... it wasn't good bye. We'll see how it goes on Jylland. The pictures from Zone Conference are also uploaded. I'm gonna miss them all!

Thursday: Leadership training. It went good too.

Friday: Was actually a little bit rough. It was good though too. We had to go down to Sønderborg again and drop some things off for them (some Elders got sent down there to fix up an apartment for a few weeks...). It provided the opportunity for me to see Emily one last time before I leave which was awesome. She's doing so well! And, last I heard, they are teaching her husband now too. It made the whole trip worth it seeing her. She is so happy and she kept saying over and over again how good life is and how she has direction now. SO awesome!

And then we are to today! Today was P-Day and it was interesting. It started out with a baptism in Ballerup. Well... the Ballerup Elders had a baptism and they do it at our church since Nitivej doesn't have a font. Anyway... it was so cool to see almost the entire Ballerup ward again. It was also kind of cool to actually be able to understand what they are saying now and converse and joke back with them now. I didn't really have that ability on the first go around. It was really neat to see all of them. We drove Ballerup home because one of the Elders was not doing well at all. Dropped them off and then drove to Helsingør to see Kronborg (the Hamlet castle). It's one of the very few I haven't been to and it was actually really pretty cool. We ate there and drove back to Frederiksberg... only to find out that I left my camera at the Kebab shop we ate at, so we had to drive all the way back and then we had an appointment at 6 which we just barely made and then Tina Paulsen has needed help with her computer for a really long time, so we went over and helped her with that and now we're back e-mailing.

And that's been that. To answer mom's question. Only when Zone Conference and Leadership training are on Jylland do we stay the night. Otherwise we just drive back and forth. I looked at our kilometers the other day. I've put well over 12,000 kilometers on that van.

Love you all. I too was hoping that these things would be all inspiring and great as the time winded down. I'm tired though... :) I've got one more...

Love,
Ældste Pullan

18 days left.

2011-03-12T13:56:00.000-08:00

18 days left. That is unbelievable to me. It honestly doesn't feel real. I've heard lots of people say that and always wondered... how exactly does this not feel real? You've been out for two years. That's a really long time- a really really long time. How does it not feel real?

I really don't know. It just doesn't.

Last Sunday it did click a little bit. I went up to bear my testimony and during the long walk up the isle, it clicked that it was my very last fast and testimony meeting in Denmark... my very last one at Nitivej. The tears were already on the way when I finally got up to the pulpit but I looked out and it was almost like everything had been put on pause. I was looking out at everyone, but it wasn't just "everyone". It was my family. It was faces and people that I know and love... and then it got even harder to get everything out. That was a really sad realization. Really, really sad. After tomorrow, I've only got two Sundays left... and I'm singing on the 20th. I am honestly worried about being able to make it all the way through the song...

So... it is starting to feel a little bit real, but only just.

This week has also been constant "stuff". I don't have my planner in front of me... it's hopefully up in the apartment (I have had some serious problems with losing stuff these past two weeks). Most of this week has been spent getting things ready for zone conference next week and moving things around in the constant revolving mess that has now become our office. They are almost done with all the painting and hopefully things will be able to be put back in their places. Carpet is going to be installed within the next little while along with a glass wall up at the front that will make the office look a little bit more professional with some lights and things, etc. I'm sure it will look very nice, but I secretly hope that nothing else happens until after I leave. I want to remember the office in the way it's been since I've been here the past 13 months... not the way it's been for the last month or so. On top of those things, we did get to teach Tanja. We've had some really good progression with her.

She came to church last Sunday and came to President's open house. She was hooked through everything all day Sunday, they even talked about genealogy in relief society (which she is in to I guess... we didn't know this) and you could just really tell that she was enjoying herself. Anyway, I got a call from her on Tuesday (we had an appointment with her the day after) and she said she just wanted to call and say thank you. She said that she was walking home from church and was just so happy that she wanted to cry. She said that she finally understood what the spirit was and how God speaks to us. She then told me that, that night when we were all at President's, he had talked about the spirit and about what feeling it is like and what it's trying to tell us. She said that all of the sudden everything that we had taught her finally made sense and she realized that she finally knew what it meant when we said we felt the spirit, that she understood what it meant by God testifying to us of things that are true, etc. It was a really cool phone call. Anyway, Wednesday came and we brought President with us to our appointment and it was an awesome one. The spirit was really strong, and we taught about what feeling the spirit actually means- altså, that it means we have to actually do something with those feelings. We can't just feel them and think "Wow... that was nice" but accept them and do something with them. She had been taught most everything and after she talked and we said that it would be goal to work towards, she said yes about being baptized on the 26 of March. I was ECSTATIC!!! She has had a really rough life, she has been taken advantage of a lot throughout her life, so this was a huge step of faith for her. Saying yes to something like this without knowing absolutely everything she was getting into. I called her again to set up a new appointment a few days later and she had changed. She was worried, didn't know what she was getting into, said she didn't understand how feeling so happy and so good once meant that she needed to do something this big, etc. We met with her the next day and really talked things over with her. She had lots of questions about tithing and was very strongly against it. She didn't go into much detail but she said she couldn't afford it and she had tried doing that once, trying to help people with her money, expecting the blessings to come, but then her almost going hungry for days at a time. She did not like tithing. So then we started talking about faith. We were asking a lot of questions trying to find out what the problem was and finally... the thought popped into my head, telling me to ask her if she had a testimony of Jesus Christ. I did so, and through a line of other questions, we found that she believes he was the son of God, but doesn't believe that he suffered for ours sins. We were shocked. She had said over and over again that she believed in Jesus, that she had a testimony of him, that he had always helped her through her life. That is a very foundational thing. SO. We still have her date set for the 26th... but it's going to take a miracle. We are going to start all over again with her and teach her like we do those that aren't Christian. She is Christian... but she just is lacking a testimony of a lot of the Christian beliefs. She was also supposed to come with us to a baptism that is happening today... but she didn't. So, I'm slightly worried about her. We'll see how it goes.

I also still haven't heard anything from Jonas. His phone is disconnected, he isn't every home... I honestly am wondering if he ever even came back from Luxemburg. His mom didn't seem to think that he was completely healthy. Who knows... I'm praying that I'll be able to see him one more time before I go home.

We did have one other guy that we taught this week that we're excited about. His name is Ossi and he is originally from Finland (his English is really cool- we speak English because he doesn't speak Danish and my Finnish is a little rusty). He actually contacted us. We were at the kommune a few weeks ago getting Elder Steed registered and he came up to us and started talking to us. He had talked with missionaries before in Finland. Anyway, he finally got some time to be able to meet with us at the church and it went really well. It started off a little bit rough, but finally he opened up. He admitted that he didn't believe in coincidences. I asked him then if it could be possibly that Heavenly Father put us both there at the time to give him another chance to learn more about what we teach. He said he thought that that was very much the case. SO. We're teaching him now. We don't have an appointment yet. He's really busy, but we're hoping he'll come to church Sunday, along with Tanja.

And that's mostly our week. I'm pretty much ready for my last round of zone conferences. We've got one more training to prepare, we need to polish the other one and then we're good to go. We've got Zone Conference Wednesday, and Leadership Training Thursday here on Sjælland and then Zone Conference and Leadership Training on Jylland on Tuesday and Thursday the following week. Get in a few good days of working... and then it's over.

Still doesn't feel real.

Love you all and talk to you in a week,
Ældste Pullan

Sunshine

2011-02-21T14:16:00.000-08:00

THERE IS SUNSHINE RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW RIGHT NOW! Finally! Last week it was finally starting to warm up... especially Tuesday. It was great, we weren't really needing heavy coats or anything. Go to bed Wednesday night, wake up Thursday and it is pitch black outside... and snowing. Worst. Morning. Ever. It is finally warming up again and there is sunshine today, so life is good. Sounds like it was another really crazy week for everyone.

This week was a really pretty good one. We were able to work quite a bit relatively speaking. President was on the Faroes all this week so we didn't have very many tasks which was nice. We are in the middle of making some new boundaries in areas that have two sets of missionaries in one ward. We are all a little bit frustrated with the whole situation... but we've got the boundaries done and we are going to talk with President about it on Monday. We've had a few not so fun calls we've had to make this week, but otherwise... it was a good week!

Monday: We helped a temple couple move out of their apartment... the Olsens??? You probably don't remember them... actually I probably haven't even mentioned them before. They originally come from Ballerup and were there for the first two or three months I was there. We helped them move out of their apartment there when they moved here to Copenhagen to serve in the temple. Now they are moving back. They both are really sweet and really funny. EVERY Sunday brother Olsen comes up, smacks my shoulder and says "HOWDY!". It NEVER gets old. We did a lot of visiting people and unfortunately weren't able to run into very many home. We did have an appointment with Delia and it went well. She seems to be very interested in reading the Book of Mormon and came to church last Sunday. She said that she really enjoyed it (even though she fell asleep in the middle of sacrament meeting). Tanja didn't end up coming... she said that she had promised her niece she would come to her birthday party. So... that wasn't too cool. We called her later that day I think it was and she said she'd call us some time this week for us to set up an appointment. We haven't heard from her. I'm going to just presume that it's because she's always really busy (just like us) and that before she knew it, the week was over and she had just completely forgotten. We're going to call her tonight, along with Delisa. Hopefully we can get appointments with them for this week.

Tuesday: Had a few things to work on in the office and then had an appointment with a guy named Per (one of the sisters' investigators that they turned over to us... he liked the sisters... a lot). At first, we didn't really think that he was progressing much, BUT he said that he is praying every day and that he would continue to read the Book of Mormon and his goal is to stop smoking on 1.March so we're rooting for him! We did a few drop by's and then started our dinner appointments. We had dinner appointments from Tuesday on. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. It was slightly ridiculous, but kind of nice at the same time. We did have two cancel, which made it a somewhat normal week, but it was impressive to look at our calendar last Sunday. Anyway, we had an appointment with the Knudsens. My second to last with them. Really sad.

Wednesday: We had a few things to work on again and then headed out. Did some contacting and found some really nice people. It never ceases to amaze me when people feel the spirit, want to believe... and then just... don't. There was a lady that we were talking to and she was so nice. We talked for quite a while about a lot of different things. She brought up the fact that her husband had passed away about a year ago which allowed us to talk about the plan of salvation. The spirit was definitely there as we were talking with her- we told her that she would see him again, that she could be with him forever, but she just had this sad, far away look about her and just told us that she really wished she could believe it. SO SAD. I don't understand people sometimes. Anyway, we had an appointment with Emil and April and ended up only teaching Emil. He leaves for Afghanistan today so it was a little hard saying bye, but he is in good spirits. I hope and pray he finds some good people over there to support him. We then had an eating appointment with the Stake Patriarch and his wife. SUCH sweet people. The spirit is so strong in their home, you could really feel it. They kept asking us over and over again what they could do to help us, and at the end they gave us two referrals (which we visited... neither were interested, but were very nice) and it was just a really good day.

Thursday: We had to run down to the kommune to register Elder Steed. While we were there a guy came up to us and just said, "Hey guys!" It was VERY strange because it was in English and he came over and sat down with us and started talking. People don't do that here. That's going to be a bit of an adjustment coming back. Anyway, he just moved here from Finland and was meeting with missionaries up there. It sounded more like it was just hygge sessions that they had, but he said he'd like to meet, so we're going to. I actually need to call him today... writing that down before I forget. Had an appointment with Lilian. It was a little... rough. She is actually going to be put on pause. She is a nice lady, but doesn't really want to do much. She won't even really read. She will come to church on her own when she wants to, but mostly just invites us over when she needs help with something (even though she has home helpers that do that kind of stuff). LONG story, but we ended up having to pick-up a few things for her that took quite a bit of time and then we call her to try and drop it off and she had gone to bed, even though she told us it needed to be done that day. We were frustrated. We had an appointment with a member and one of her friends, but her friend canceled so that wasn't very cool. We worked and then went to bed.

Friday: Get a call from Lilian asking if we could drop those things off. We told her that we would probably be able to around 12 or 13 but that we would call her when it got closer and set up an exact time. She got irritated that we couldn't just set the time then so I was a little stern and told her that we weren't planning on doing her shopping for her yesterday and we certainly weren't planning on dropping things off for her on Friday either so she was going to need to work around our schedule. She said okay. I just don't really leave her feeling very happy... so we're putting her on pause for a bit. We had to do a few things in the office and then had an appointment that night. This week was a little frustrating because when we are with this certain elder at nights, when we have free time, his back seems to work up and he just can't go out and work. Kinda convenient, but irritating all the same. And we are trying to lighten up on him so we've just dealt with it this week. He is determined to go home next week... we'll see what happens when President gets back. The whole thing is a little frustrating...

Today: We are going to the Clawsons to wish them both a happy birthday and drop off a card, and then we are going to do something. Outside. Since it's absolutely beautiful. I don't know what, but we'll find something. And then we, the sisters, and the Mary's (an ægtepar here) have an appointment with Jytte tonight at 5. We are way excited, she is our favorite!

And that has, very stortset, been our week. I got an e-mail from Jana. Her wedding is on the 23 of April and she wanted to make sure I was coming. SO weird. I can't believe that she is going to be getting married! Marissa getting married was very strange for me... but this is almost like my sister is getting married. I can't imagine what it will be like when Alexa and Haylee even come close to that point. I'm not gonna think about it... Anyway, I'm really excited for her. You probably already know, but I just thought I'd tell you in case you didn't.

I love you all! As long as you don't involve me in the countdown, I'm good :). I have missionaries over here informing me that I've hit the 30's... I'll talk to you in a week!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

The days are winding down...

2011-02-16T13:45:00.000-08:00

Hi my family.

This week I have been so grateful for the amazing and wonderful family that I have. No reason in particular... I just have an incredible family. My mission has really opened my eyes to a lot of things, and one of them is the realization that family is an incredible part of Heavenly Father's plan for us. I have no idea what I did to be a family with all of you, but I thank Heavenly Father every day because of it.

The days are winding down... and I'm finally going to admit it. At the last two specialized trainings this week, there were a few people who mentioned it... and now it's even in the Banner which is terrifying. I am not going to lie. I am terrified to come home. This work that we do out here is so important... I LOVE IT. School sounds scary, dating sounds scarier. The world is a little bit of a dangerous, scary, unpredictable place, and this way of life just blocks most of it out. Your entire life is worrying about other people- their needs, their trials, their growing... I guess it's a little bit like being a parent, only you don't have to worry about jobs or money or schooling. It's just one focus area. And yet... you can set all the goals that you want, you can have all the plans planned and the idea that something is going to run according to plan and WHAM. It goes completely different. But I've learned that, as long as you are doing your very best, and you know that the Lord accepts it, then that is good enough. That has been this week. We've had great plans, we've had some great experiences, but it didn't go according to plan at all, but it was still a very good week.

Monday: Got ready for specialized training, taught Delia, it was in Spanish so I caught maybe 10% of it, BUT she said she would come to church on Sunday which we are excited about. We worked on our trainings and that was about it. Mondays generally are rather anticlimactic. Sorry.

Tuesday: Had specialized training on Sjælland. It went very well AND we even stuck to time. After we finished our training, I had the chance to sit down and look out on the 25+ missionaries that we have in this zone and just kind of watch them. It was incredible - the feelings of love and brotherhood that came over me. I love each an every one of these missionaries. They are my brothers and I would do anything for them. AND, Elder Koop got up and said the opening prayer. HIS DANISH IS AWESOME! I was so excited and proud of him! He has come a long way.

Wednesday: Had an appointment with Tanja and it went great! We taught about the Word of Wisdom (she had told us earlier that it was something she wanted to learn more about) and she said that she would live it. She said that she didn't completely understand why some of the things were on that list, but that she would try it and see if the promise was true. THEN, she brought up the law of chastity which is always a little bit of a sensitive topic in general... but once you add the fact that everyone here has a very... well liberal view of sex and what is acceptable or not (and are SHOCKED to find out that we wait)... so we were a little bit tilbageholdene as to how she was going to take it. We talked a little bit about it, practically taught the whole thing and she seemed pretty unshaken. We told her we'd talk more about it next time as well. We had to run so she prayed, and in her prayer she thanked Heavenly Father for leading her to a church that has the same values she's had throughout her life. It was an incredible prayer. She said she would come to church tomorrow too. Woo hoo! Had a three hours service project (LONG story) with the Clawsons, but it really helped them out and they are the sweetest people in the world and take care of everyone around them. Did some finding, worked on a few things in the office, went to bed.

Thursday: Had to get the Van serviced (and the brakes re-done. Elder Ray gives me that same look Dad gives me when I come in and tell him the van is doing something funky or that I need the mission credit card.) Then we ate with Pauline, had to get a whole bunch of stuff ready for Specialized Training in Århus, did a few drop by's, had an eating appointment with some members and their less-active daughter and it went well. She won't come to church, but I think we raised some questions for her to think about, worked a bit, and then went to bed.

Friday: Drove to Århus, had specialized training, had that same experience of looking at everyone and feeling an indescribable love for them all, trainings went well. Drove back home, went to bed.

Saturday: P-day. No idea what we are going to do today. Just veg... maybe take a nap. And that's been our week!

I know this Church is true. It is the only true church on the earth today. It is only through and by Jesus Christ that we can come back to our Heavenly Father, and it is only through this church that we can enjoy the fullest blessings, the most direction, and the greatest happiness in this life. I know that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. I know that he was called to be the first Prophet of this dispensation. I know that he restored Christ's church back to the earth, he restored God's plan of salvation for His children. I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, I've read it 3 times on my mission and each time I find something else, something new, something that applies to me that day. I know that the gospel will only bless us in direct relation to the work and effort that we put in. Faith doesn't just mean hoping and praying, it means going to the end of the earth and doing everything we can... it is then that the Lord blesses us. The Book of Mormon is our map back and is the truest Book on the earth today. True, lasting, eternal happiness comes from living the things that are taught in that book. I see it each and everyday. Those that do the simple things, praying, reading, trying their best to follow the commandments are the ones that gain a testimony, the ones that get baptized, the ones that progress. The moment they stop, the moment they get lazy, is the moment Satan is able to get in and stop the entire process. I have a testimony that Heavenly Father weeps when we hurt and get lost, and rejoices when we get back on the path leading back to him. We are his children and he loves us. I know all of this to be true and this is what I have built my life on. I'm not perfect, by any means. But I have wonderful examples in my life and I look up to each and every one of you. I will continue to build my life on this because I know it's true. It's by the small the simple things that save us each and every day.

I love you all and miss you!
Ældste Pullan

The Days Are Flying By

2011-02-07T11:58:00.000-08:00

The days are flying by... and it's really kind of scary.

This week has been a little bit of a frustrating one. We had great plans, were going to be able to go out and work and find some new people and visit those that aren't taking the phone... but it didn't end up happening that way :).

Monday: Had a missionary that was having a really rough time and was going to go home. Came down early in the office to get that taken care of, move around some travel plans and got transfers to work again, called everyone and let them know. Picked up the sisters (they were transferring on Monday) brought them to the train station here, they did their switching, brought back a sister going home, she had an interview with President, got a phone call, this missionary isn't actually going home, changed plans a little bit again, no prob, took the sister (running very late) and flew down to the airport, waited for her family to come, waited for her family to get their rental car, their dad went out to get it... we waited and waited, the mom decides it would be best for us to take them over and meet him at the car, we all pile in, drive over there, he passes us on the road, I do a U-Turn, he does a U-Turn, I wave at him, tell him to stop, I do another U-Turn, so does he, I give up and pull into ground level parking, he sees us, takes the wrong exit, goes to underground parking, drives around for a bit down there, comes up again for take two ... misses the exit again and gets parking garage parking, comes back down tries again and pulls up to luggage delivery, he gives up and just pulls over in the middle of the road onto the sidewalk, throws his hazards on and waves for me to follow him. I pull up behind him in the van, but he stops so I don't have enough time to get the back end of the van up on the sidewalk too so we are blocking TWO lanes of traffic, they all get out of our car and into theirs. I keep getting text messages from this missionary saying that he really hates the mission, wants to go home, get a phone call from three other missionaries who are covering an appointment for us that day telling us they are currently stuck in an elevator. I call the appointment and the member is just going to teach her (relax... she was a missionary and she teaches her in Spanish anyway). Tell them to wait it out and that we'll try and figure something out. We finally get out of traffic and we drive them to the Rays where they are staying, drop them off, tell them to meet us at the mission home for this Sister's last dinner, fly back home, figure out things with transfers, find out the missionaries are finally not stuck in the elevator, get a train ticket for this missionary to come talk with President the next day... get a change 15 minutes later that he'll be coming in Wednesday, not Tuesday. Change it. Fly to presidents, have dinner there with the family, come back and finish things up. This day sums up this week.

Tuesday: We got the new missionaries. They were exhausted, but excited to be here. It was nice to get out and work with them. Showed them the sights, got a text message from the Elder saying that everything is good now, no problems. I'm relieved (I really like him). Take them to the mission home we all eat go to bed, pooped.

Wednesday: Transfers. Went pretty smoothly. Got everything taken care of, ran back to the office and had our zone leader council meeting, went well, President left to go to Germany, take the other elders to the train station to head back to their areas. Come back finish up some things and then go to bed.

Thursday: Worked on office stuff but got to go out for a few hours and try and make some contact with people. No one was home. SUPER bummer.

Friday: Had two appointments with new investigators... and they canceled. Lame. We have two trainings to prepare for Tuesday Specialized Training on Sjælland and Friday in Jylland. We're almost done with the first one. We didn't like the direction it's going so we're trying a different approach.

Saturday: P-Day. Finally. We are going to take a nap, buy some food, and who knows what else. Sleep maybe. And everyone else is ready to go and I'm the last one writing.

So! I gotta run. We haven't been able to teach Tanja this week, she hasn't returned phone calls so we're going to try her today, Lilian we haven't taught (she was sick) but she is doing okay. Still can't get a hold of Jonas, we taught Delia (sort of)... basically... we are hoping next week will be much better :).

Love and miss you all!
Talk to you in a week!
Ældste Pullan

Last transfer

2011-02-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hej med jer,

It's finally p-day! This week went by pretty slowly which we aren't totally used to, though I can't say that a ton of exciting things happened this week, it was still pretty good.

First off, we just finished transfer plans which is very nice and we haven't had to deal with hardly any complaints. Honestly, it's not that big at all... I think there are only 8 people moving, but it was still a little strange working on these, knowing that the decisions that were made were going to be how we finished things out. So... yes, I am staying as an AP in Frederiksberg until I go home. I will say that I am mostly happy about it, especially since I get to finish things out here at home... but a little nervous about a few things too. I am excited about my new companion who is currently the ZL here on Sjælland (Ældste Steed). He's a really spiritual guy, a good leader, funny... and loves cars. So I think we'll get along pretty well. Elder Holladay is going to be training in Horsens (which I'm slightly jealous about... I didn't get to finish training all the way) which he's also really excited about. Elder Pearson is moving to Frederikshavn, other missionaries are moving... yeah. And that happens next Wednesday... along with Zone Leader Council is that day too. Tuesday is when Elder Sandstrom and Sister Redd get here, that morning, so we will be spending most of the day with them. Monday will be a mini-transfer and tomorrow is church, I'm accompanying a song for our fællesspisning after church- oh! That was something else I forgot to tell you about. The Hequists came back! They were in Australia and are back for 8 months at least and showed up at church last Sunday. It was a total surprise and made Sunday AWESOME. It was really great to see them, and Kip (their little son) has totally made me feel okay with having kids that don't speak Danish. And then we are also teaching a little bit during Sunday School about what members can expect when they come out teaching with us, what they should say and shouldn't say (for example not saying they know when the second coming is and how Kolob is CLEARLY in our galaxy) etc. So we are excited for that. I did this in a little bit of a funky order... here we go...

Monday: Mondays just kind of stink. Lots of office work to do, had to do some stuff out in Ballerup, did some drop-bys, still haven't been able to get a hold of Jonas, Tanja was sick this week, and we haven't heard anything from Delisa in a long time... she keeps saying she'll call us back, but never does.

Tuesday: We had leadership training in Fredericia, drove up and back really quick and made it just in time for an appointment with some members that night, got some more work done, went to bed.

Wednesday: Worked on transfers with President, got travel plans going, worked on a few other small projects, went out and visited some people (none of them were home... again), BUT we did go by an old investigator named Delia who is a political refugee from Uruguay and has been here for 30+ years. Anyway, had a good lessons with her and made an appointment to come back with someone that could speak Spanish (we really could have you used you over here Sean). After the appointment, had a dinner appointment with the Hedquists, came back and finished transfer plans.

Thursday: Had an appointment with an investigator named Per Christensen who was originally being taught by the sisters... but because of a few things, they decided it would probably be best if we taught him, so we did. He didn't want to meet again until the first of March and we had to really talk him into letting us meeting with him next Tuesday. Anyway, after that we had an appointment with Lilian and it went well. We taught about keeping the sabbath day holy and the 10 commandments. She said that she really likes this doctrine-y stuff, so we're going to keep it coming. We then had an appointment with Anne-Christina (the lady who speaks Spanish and is teaching Delia with us) and then it was Jytte's birthday so we went over with the sisters and the Brobergs and sang her happy birthday and brought her flowers. Turns out she had made two lagkager for her OWN birthday (lame) but they tasted amazing and she stuffed us again. She is such a sweet lady.

Friday: We had an appointment with Lilian to walk with her down to get her passport taken care of. We didn't really get to talk much about gospel related things, but I'm hoping in this case actions were louder than words and she knows that we really do care about her. There was a fireside that we went to because Thomas was supposed to be coming. I am SO grateful he didn't. The guy who was giving was literally insane. I have met crazy people on my mission, but this guy seriously takes the cake. He paced up and down the isles of the church building talking about everything BUT Mormonism, which was the topic. He is a brilliant professor who is also a member of the church, but I think he forgot what he was supposed to be talking about. I have NEVER heard anyone talk so loudly... he was practically shouting. We talked a lot about H.C. Ørsted and Søren Kirkegaard and H.C. Andersen... but not much else. Interesting, but very glad there were no investigators there.

And now we are today which has been a REALLY good P-day. We started out at 8 with our coordination meeting with our ward mission leader. We are trying to visit every member of the ward within this next year and get them really involved in missionary work. We are trying to work in member's neighborhoods, asking them to pray with us before we go out and set a certain goal as to who we need to find, etc. So that's exciting. PLUS, we got to go help with the YAs in the stake as they went and did baptisms at 9 and Elder Holladay and I got to do the confirmations which was an incredible experience. I've never done it before. We had some Swedes that were there and I had to do it in Swedish once and that was a little nerve-racking, and then we had a few people come in who wanted it in English and it was actually really difficult! I was stumbling all over my words... anyway the spirit was really strong and it was a very powerful experience being there in the temple with the youth and with the Brobergs (who work with the UVs). We love them all! While we were there I ran into a member from the Sønderborg branch which was really nice, AND they had a temple trip with the Malmö members and there were some missionaries from Sweden at the temple that day that we had become friends with at the MTC, so that was exciting too! We went out to eat as a sort of last hurrah with the three of us before Ældste Holladay leaves, and now we're back.

Things are good, we've got a good week ahead of us so we're excited!!! Love and miss you all!

Mkh,
Ældste Pullan

The Church is true!

2011-01-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

First off...

HAYLEE!!! I am SO sorry that I didn't say Happy Birthday in my e-mail! I remembered and then some things happened on Saturday and I completely forgot to say Happy Birthday. You should be getting the card any day now. I love you! Won't happen again, I promise! How was it? 15 is really old... it's a VERY good thing that this is your last one while I'm away. This whole dating thing has been WAY too lax in our family. From now on when the two of you are asked out, there will be a questioning period, a check-up on genealogy (we don't want any crazies in the family... especially ones that run around naked in the streets thinking they're a prophet), and then I'm just going to be able to say either yes or no. Prepare yourself. You've got a year.

This week has been a pretty good one. We are still getting used to being three now, but things are coming along. We were able to teach quite a few times this week which was really great!

Monday was mostly spent in the office getting ready for zone conference on Tuesday. We had some time towards the end of the day to head out and visit some people, but no one was home. Honestly... it was just nice to be out.

Tuesday we drove to Fredericia and had our Jylland Zone konference there. It went well, though I think our training went better on Sjælland. People were more familiar with the building so they could look around easier, they participated more and it just seemed like it was more powerful (I always new Sjælland was my favorite), but the Jylland one still went well. There spirit was strong and we have incredible missionaries. At both conferences when we were singing Tjerene for himmlens konge (Called to Serve) I was looking out over all of the missionaries and just felt this huge feeling of love (and of course I had to take a few pauses here and there... Dad's fault). They have really become my family and it is so incredible to be able to work side by side with them.

Wednesday was supposed to be leadership training, but because it got canceled, we ended up staying in Fredericia and going on splits with the Zone Leaders (we are supposed to do it once a month, but we haven't had time to and decided that we NEEDED to make time for it this month) and it went well. Long story but their apartment is in the middle of being repainted right now because it was a complete disaster and it was a WAY bigger project than they thought it was going to be. We helped them work on it a bit and also got to work with them. Elder Pearson is one of the Zone Leaders on Jylland... I think you may be thinking about Elder Peterson who was the AP. Elder Pearson was the one who came into the office after I left. Anyway... we finished with them and FLEW home to make an appointment. Long, but good day.

Thursday we had quite a bit of stuff to do in the office, but also had three appointments which was VERY nice. We had an appointment with Tanja again and it went well. I have to admit that I really don't think she is going to be baptized before I leave, but I know she will be this year. She is very methodical and careful and wants to understand everything and take it seriously which we are very grateful for. Now we are just trying to connect the dots so that she can know that when she feels the spirit, it's Heavenly Father speaking to her, telling her these things are true. We also have Helena with us each time we teach her which is always nice. This past lesson we talked about faith and about how it's important in our lives and then we gave her some time to ask questions and things. Anyway, we came back and then had an appointment with the man who lives right above us (Thomas) and his 10 year old daughter (Olivia). They met us at the church for a tour and are INCREDIBLE. He told us right at the beginning that the reason that he was there was because he taught religion and wanted to teach facts to his students, not the stuff that people can read online about the Mormons. Through the whole thing he was asking a lot of questions and was very interested, he especially loved the articles of faith and thought they were very powerful. His little daughter was also pretty incredible. She asked questions, read parts of the Book of the Mormon and understood them. I don't know that I've ever had investigators like them. They have a very close relationship and are very religious. They are going to be awesome members one day. Anyway, we get the feeling that he is personally very interested, but was a little nervous in telling us straight out, so we're going to see how it goes. We have some firesides that will be happening next week talking about the history of the church, what the church is, etc. and he says that he would love to come to those, so we'll see how that goes. After that appointment, we had an appointment with Helena Mølgaard and her family and Tanja came too! The food was really good, but we ended up being able to teach her again a little bit about the word of Wisdom. Helena's husband is a convert and is actually usually pretty quiet, but during the appointment he really opened up and explained things to her in a way that was absolutely incredible! Sometimes, I wish a was a convert so that I could understand what it's like to be on the other side. I had to explain what a testimony was and how you get it... which in and of itself I thought would be easy, but it was actually really kind of hard. We also got transfers taken care of with President. Anyway, it was another really good appointment, so Thursday was a good day.

Friday we had some stuff to work on in the office but had plans to be out. They got changed. Elder Valgren (the third elder with us) had a teacher die that he was really close to and he got permission to go to the funeral so we went with him to that. It was a very different type of funeral, they played Beatles songs and then some popular Danish songs... sorta weird, but everyone said it was good so I guess it was good. We came back to the office, worked on some things and then had an appointment with the sisters at Jytte's (I call her grandma). WE LOVE HER! It was really good (just like always) and we had a really good time. AND, she gave me the full collection of H.C. Andersen's writings in Danish (the ORIGINAL Ugly Duckling story and Little Mermaid... did you know she dies at the end?) so that was cool. Anyway, we were planning to go out after that again, but then the sisters said that the ward was having a party the next day (that we aren't going to) and that a poor lady from the ward was sitting there getting it all set up all alone with her 1 year old baby and that help would be nice. So... we went over there and she is there working while her husband is sitting down doing nothing. I WAS FURIOUS!!! Haylee and Alexa... don't EVER marry anyone like that or there will be some SERIOUS problems between your husbands and me. The work ethic is very different here. So... we got it set up and nice looking and then came home and went to bed.

Saturday is today. Crazy. We have a little bit of a P-day. We just got back from the airport picking up a new Ægtepar from Alaska. People REALLY do live there... I thought the whole Sarah Palin thing was just a joke. Go figure... I didn't ask them what they thought about her. I don't think I will either. Anyway, President is in Iceland so the Rays are having everyone over to their house for dinner to welcome them. They are so worried that it won't be the same because President isn't there so they are doing everything in their power to make it all work... they are seriously the sweetest people ever. AND... that's the week.

OH! I forgot to write about Lilian. Thing are going well with her. She came to church last Sunday and is coming tomorrow, so hopefully that will be Lilian, Thomas and his daughter, and Tanja at church. Looks to be a REALLY good Sunday!

I'm trying to think if I have forgotten anything. OG YES!!! Angie's package came last week (sorry... last week was a little crazy. I forgot to mention a couple of things in the e-mail apparently). It took forever to get here because somehow, it got sent to Indonesia somehow. Anyway, it got here safe and sound and thank you so much Aunt Angie! I saw the pictures of Michael and Matthew and Reagan. Oh my GOSH! They are all huge! Especially Michael... he looks like he could be married! And who wouldn't want to marry that kid! He was looking way studly. Watch out for those girls Michael... I may have to start approving your dates too.

Stortset, that's my life. It's busy, but very good. Not too much going on next week. We will be needing to do transfer plans and leadership training in Fredericia again on Tuesday, but other than that, we're thinking it will be pretty free!

The church is true! Take every opportunity you have to share it with those that you love! I have regretted it SO many times on my mission... wishing I would have taken advantage of the opportunity to share the gospel with my friends back at home. I've got some work to do when I get back... and I'm afraid it's coming all to quickly!

Love you all!
Ældste Pullan

A testimony of missionary work

2011-01-09T12:41:00.000-08:00

I am looking at my calendar (because that's the only way that I can remember what went down during the week) and I can't believe that Monday was the 3rd. That feels like FOREVER ago... this week has been pretty rough and long. The not so fun side of being an AP happened this week. President Andersen has been really busy lately and is out of the office quite a bit, so a lot of responsibilities that happen in the office and in the mission have fallen on us and they have all really piled up this week. Most of this week has been spent doing all of that stuff. I have had some not so pleasant phone calls I have had to make this week to missionaries that aren't doing so well...

Tuesday we weren't planning on going up to Århus for the One Month Meeting with the new missionaries so we made an appointment with Tanja and a member... but it got canceled because we decided we had better go because of a whole bunch of reasons. President pulled up to our apartment and asked me drive because he was pretty exhausted. We drove up together and planned zone conference and leadership training happening next Tuesday and Wednesday (we are going to plan our training tomorrow hopefully). We had the meeting and it went really well. We really do have such awesome, incredible missionaries... drove back down to Odense so that President could stay with his parents and nieces. We took that train the rest of the way back and actually ended up sitting right next to one of the sister's investigators who they haven't been able to teach or talk to in quite a while. So that was miracle! We got to teach him and talk to him for a good hour and a half.

Wednesday was also spent doing office and catch up stuff. We had a little bit of a funny experience (funny now... not cool at the time). DONG (our electric company) apparently didn't know that we had switched to another power company so they were understandably upset that they haven't gotten money from us for the past couple of months. So they sent a guy out on Wednesday to cut the power. He was super nice and I feel really bad for him because I'm sure it would be a tough job... but that was NOT what we needed in the middle of the week :). He asked me where the meters were so I took him to the back and showed him. He told me that he was actually there to cut the power because he hadn't been getting bills and things so I spent the next hour and a half on three phones with our Physical Facilities guy in Herlev, DONG electric and someone else who I still don't quite know why they were involved trying to get it all taken care of. BUT... the good news is that we didn't do anything illegal, it was all DONG's fault, they apologized... and that has been the perfect example of this week. We plan accomplishing things and then heading out and working, and then stuff takes forever to accomplish because we have stuff like that happen and before you now it, the day is over.

Thursday we had our Banner message to work on and it took FOREVER. We had just written a New Year letter and said pretty much everything we wanted to say for this month... but then we realized we have a Banner message to write and we had to get it done then and we were running SO dry. Plus, all those little interruptions again :). We did get a chance to teach a new guy named Bo. We thought he was really interested... but he wasn't. We taught him once and dropped him afterward. Those lessons kind of stink... like, a lot. Yesterday (Friday) we had Mission Council (or zone leader council as they call it now...) and it was actually really productive. REALLY intense, but really productive. Our mission is doing well. We are becoming better at teaching and helping our investigators reach their goals... 6 months ago it took us around 57 new investigators to get a baptism, now we are able to do it with just 15 investigators. We ended last year with 47 baptisms which isn't as good as 2009... but we are all really excited for 2011. Big things are going to be happening. It is nice to see that all of this work that we put into training skills and things really works! The only problem is that we are having a really hard time finding new investigators (generally). So... that is going to be the focus of our zone conference along with goal setting and changing your own circumstances for the better.

Thanks for the info dad. I don't think that fear of talking with people is huge problem here, but I think that oftentimes our mission is afraid to have faith. We WANT baptisms, we WANT to find new people, but we are afraid to ask for specific help from the Lord each day for fear of being disappointed... and I'm thinking that we can apply some of those scriptures. So thank you. It will help us quite a bit! We ended up staying and talking with President for a while; talking about this emergency transfer and what we should do... plus a few other things. Got back and I started working on my talk I'm giving on Sunday about fasting. I'm learning quite a bit about fasting!!! I really wish I could give it more time and thought... yesterday and today have been the only days with a few hours to work on it. I've got to be done tonight! :)

Yesterday night though we stopped by Thomas' who lives above us (I think I told you about him). We've been trying to get into contact with him since he talked with Sister Larsen on the street but every time we went by he was either busy or not home. We FINALLY caught him at a somewhat good time last night. He let us in and we talked for about 10 minutes. He asked if he could come by the church and get a tour so we said of COURSE... problem is he can't until the 20th. But hey... we'll take what we can get! Peter and Evans have dropped off the face of the earth, Delisa couldn't meet at all this week, so we have high hopes for next week, Tanja may be coming to church tomorrow, but we have another appointment with her on Tuesday. We have an appointment with Lilian tomorrow and I'm speaking and substituting for the ward choir (they just called...) and... yeah. That's been our week thus far.

I am SO sorry that it's so boring. Sometimes I think you all must wonder what on earth I do all day with the e-mails that I send :/. Hahaha, life is always exciting! I have a huge testimony of missionary work and it's importance on the earth today. Elder Holland told us that it is a step into the Kingdom of God and I've seen that and been able to take part in it. I love this work, I love this country, and I love the gospel. I know it's true with every fiber of my being. I know that my Savior lived and lives today. He suffered for my sins so that I don't have to. I have really been conscious of how blessed I truly am and how quickly life can change. I am so grateful for you all, and thank Heavenly Father for you every day. I have been so blessed! I have my family and an incredible extended family with countless faithful role models. I feel the love of my family and friends daily and I thank you for yours prayers. I love and miss you all.

I think I may start summer semester at BYU. I've talked to a few missionaries up here and they have loved it and say that it's when you should take all your hard classes because they are forced to cut everything down to the really important things and cut out the fluff.

I could have sworn that we have a book at home (one of the ones that is really beautifully illustrated) about this looking glass or telescope or something that when looked through, it shows the potential of something or the potential of the individuals and one of the people I thought was a king who had a really messy unkempt kingdom and this man showed up with this looking glass thing and lets the king look through it and he sees the potential of what his kingdom could become and has something to work towards. I think that it could be that it tells the story of a few different people and it's all about unlocking that potential that is inside of us, etc. Maybe I'm making it up... I REALLY thought we had it. If not, I'm going to write it because it's a brilliant book if I do say so myself. I thought it would fit really well into our training... I also thought a lot about that book Danny wrote when he was on his mission about the one legged people and them having to work together to get around. It was forever ago that I read it, but I remember it having a good message...

Sorry... I've been rambling. Love and miss you all! Talk to you in a week!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

2011

2011-01-02T16:31:00.000-08:00

I ønskes tillykke med 2011!!!

I can't believe that it's 2011... 2010 just started. That was my mission year. It all actually was a little bit surreal. New Year's Eve was really fun and great... but while we were standing there on the roof, to be honest, I was a little sad. That was my last new year in Denmark as a missionary. The past two weeks have been a little bit rough missionary work wise. We haven't talked to Jonas in a long while, we're hoping that means he is in Luxemborg. Delisa said she would call back, but we haven't heard from her in quite a while. We're hoping to get into contact with her tomorrow, we taught Tanja on Monday and it went well. She said she can't come to church tomorrow, so we were hoping that she will come to President's Open House tomorrow, but we aren't completely sure that is going to happen anymore.

SO... it was a busy week, but a good one. Monday: We taught Tanja and it went really well. She is such a sweet person and is pretty excited about this new boyfriend that she has gotten. He seems nice, but he is taking up TONS of her time. How the heck are we supposed to convert her if she's all twitterpated all the time? We have an appointment with her on Tuesday and we are hoping to bring Helena Mølgaard with us (a member from the ward that went to Gymnasium (their equivalent of high school) together with her)... hopefully. SO, things are going well with her. After that we had lots of stuff to do in the office. Boring. ALSO... I almost forgot. The mission bought five new cars (to replace the five really old Scoda's that we had) and we had to go pick them up. Normally... this would not be that big of a deal. Okay, actually I still would have been just as excited about it, but for the first time in almost two years... I drove by myself. President had Elder Holladay and I drive back two of the five and it was really pretty nice. I had about 30 minutes from Taastrup all the way to København all by myself. I didn't even miss Elder Holladay that much...

Tuesday: Got up and drove to Århus for Jylland's Christmas get-together. We are trying to get our mission more united, plus President wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and have a Christmas meal with them. The whole day was spent listening to some spiritual thoughts, playing Danish games and competitions, President even broke out a Wii. It was a really fun day and it was nice to "hang out" with the missionaries and get to know them better. We drove back and got home late.

Wednesday: We were really excited to go out and do some visits, we did have two appointments to help people move, but we figured they'd go quick. There was a lady named Effie Jensen who is from Greece who we have never met, but randomly called us one day and asked if we could move something up to her apartment for her. We showed up and it was this little dresser that took all of about 3 minutes to get up her stairs, but she kept thanking us over and over again. She was such a sweet lady. She started telling us that she didn't have time to talk much that day, but to call her that she'd have us over for dinner, make us some Greek food, do some Greek new year traditions (I didn't quite catch them all... something with an Almond I think) and that we could talk about the Book of Mormon that she had and about the church because she had already been to a meeting because of a friend she had in Søborg. Our jaws about dropped. SO. We are hoping to meet with her this week. We then went over to help Sister Brandt (one of my most FAVORITE families in Frederiksberg)'s Sister who lives on Amager move. It took forever. But we got her done. We flew back for an eating appointment, and then came back and got ready for...

Thursday: The Christmas get together on Sjælland. Lots of the same stuff, but just as fun. (I uploaded a TON of new pictures. These are up there too.) Sister Andersen even played some Wii with us and it was the funniest thing I have ever seen and heard. She was screaming and jumping up and down and laughing... we all love her SO much!!!

Friday: Was New Year's Eve and we had it over at the Ægtepars' apartments again. We got to see the Queen speak (which was really cool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4-PnzghhsA&feature=related) and THEN President gave us permission to see Toy Story 3. IT WAS SO GOOD! There were most definitely some wet eyes in that apartment. We went up, saw the fireworks, and then went to bed.

Saturday: Got up, ate breakfast, and then came home and had our Store rengøringsdag (big cleaning day)! We haven't been able to proselyte for the past couple of days because of traditions and things... and this day was an especially big no-no. So... every year the mission cleans. And I've cleaned the same apartment both times, both years. I love KBH! :) And now we are e-mailing.

Sunday: We all get to missionaries again! Nobody has days off anymore, they don't have any holidays... so we get to go out and work. We are going to do weekly planning, but we are going to do quite a few visits as well. So! We are EXCITED!

Yes! I got a package from you and from Aunt Debbie on Tuesday and Wednesday. I LOVED THEM. Awesome picture Nennemans!!! ;) And I loved the package mom and dad and Grandma and Grandpa Layton and Grandma and Grandpa Pullan. I especially loved the Flat Ricky book. I miss and love you all SO much! And the ornament was way cool! But I'm with mom on this one... that thing reeked. It was so fun to see you open the package over Skype! And yes... the new flight plans are perfect. And Elder Holladay loves them too. His family actually wrote him and asked if Dad had some sort of special pull to get the flight plans changed to such a nice time. We are happy with them. AND... we get to go Amsterdam which will be kind of cool. Maybe we'll see Elder DeMeester? And yeah, the ornaments are hand-woven. I'll see if I can find some more... I really need to just get a whole bunch of cool little small thing. We don't know what's going to happen with us either. Transfers are the 2nd of February and at least one of us for sure will be leaving. We don't know who. Elder Holladay wants to go... and I wouldn't mind staying here. Frederiksberg and Copenhagen are home to me and I would love to finish my mission here with the people that I love so much! We'll see though.

I'm sure there is stuff that I am forgetting to tell you. I end every week and feel like we were crazy busy but don't have any really cool stories to share. Sorry. Though in our defense, the past two weeks have been really slow with regards to missionary stuff. The week before and after Christmas are REALLY rough because the Danes have SO many off days and they get really offended if we knock or contact them... so we have to be really careful and find other creative things to do those days. I'm going to go put some information on those pictures that I uploaded and explain what's going on in them...

Love you all! Talk to you in a week!
Ældste Pullan

93 Days!

2010-12-27T11:32:00.000-08:00

It's official. March 30th at 6:31 p.m.! Whooo! Hoooo!

Puttin' up a fireplace

2010-12-23T18:10:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas time! And it finally feels like it now. On Monday we decorated the office finally and it's been snowing pretty hard... AND we even put a fireplace up this year.

We had a super weird experience this morning too... we dropped off the very last missionary that was ahead of us. Holladay and I are next, and both of us are sick about it. We talked with President about our date... both of us REALLY wanted to be home in time for General Conference. We talked about it with him and in a matter of minutes, the date was changed to us leaving on the 30 of March. I think that means I would get home on the 31. I still haven't decided if I'm okay with that or not. I would LOVE to go to Spencer's first Priesthood session and one last one with Dad before I leave for school... but that is basically the only reason. At the same time... I feel like that is really good reason. I don't know what to think anymore. Any thoughts???

Winter Break!!! I laughed at your e-mail Alexa. You said that you were way happy and excited about the dark, gray, rainy, cold weather. I would just like to say... you're crazy. That is what is has been like for the past two months and I am SO ready for some sunshine. It's been snowing all the time... especially this morning. We don't have winter tires on our van and I was a little worried we weren't going to make it to the airport in time. We felt a little bit like a snow plow this morning on the freeway. Snow was flying everywhere and it was pretty much anyone's guess as to where the lanes were... so we just kinda picked a general direction we wanted to go and drove through it all and everyone just kind of followed. Needless to say... the snow and the dark and the cold and the gray are way overrated. :)

Nope... I haven't gotten the package yet, but I'm sure it will get here on time. Your package however, I'm a little worried about. I was told it would get there on time... if it doesn't, PostDanmark is so fired.

This week we had specialized training on Tuesday and Thursday and had a lot of preparation for them. We have started this mission binder and I was AMAZED at how much time it took to put them together. We have quite a few of these little projects from President that are really good ideas and will really help, but take a ton of time on our end and we aren't able to get out as often as we would like. I wonder sometimes what Præsident Andersen thinks of his Assistants. OH! I have one request... do I get to see our families Christmas card this year??? Maybe it's in the package...

Mandag: Decorated the office (translation had already done theirs and President came in asking if we had decorations...). We had some people to drop by. None of them were home. Bummer. Came back and worked on stuff for Specialized Training on Tuesday.

Tirsdag: Specialized Training. Made a few trips to and from the train station and then tried to drop by Jonas' and some temple referrals. None of them were home. I'm actually a little worried about Jonas. We haven't heard from him in quite a while... I know he was going to Luxemborg (which is a country... not a city in Germany. Learned that last week...) We're hoping to get contact with him really soon!

Onsdag: Worked on getting the binders ready for Specialized Training again on Thursday and tried to drop by more people. Not home. I hate winter. We also had Jytte with the Brobergs and the sisters which is always fun. Came back and finished up stuff for Thursday.

Torsdag: Specialized Training in Odense. And it snowed like CRAZY. We were VERY glad it was only in Odense and not in Århus. We didn't get there as early as we wanted... part of it was that I was so focused on getting as far left as possible to get around a stupid semi that I missed the E20 entrance for Odense and drove towards Amager for about 20 minutes. AND THEN once I figured out we were going to wrong direction and got us on the E20... there was a cop that drove almost the WHOLE way to Odense with us. Danes speed. Like 30, 40+ km/hr over the speed limit is very normal. Not this time. Anyway, it was a very adventerous trip over the bridge... and to Odense, but by the time we were coming back, everything was cleaned up and a pretty quick drive.

Fredag: We had an appointment with Delisa... but she called that morning and cancelled. We dropped by a few people, hoping to catch them home. None of them were. Talked with President about our goals and plans for next year, talked about the specialized training and what the mision needs, made some phone calls that have needed to be made for the last month... and then took Ældste Ribble (the missionary that went home) to the mission home for is farewell dinner and testimony meeting and then we slept over there.

I dag: We got up and took him to the airport. It was snowing. Hard. He realizes that he forgot his passport. Calls Præsident Andersen. Præsident says he'll just meet us at the airport. Præsident Andersen can't get up his driveway because of the snow. SO he and sister Andersen have to shovel their driveway at 5:30 in the morning to meet us at the airport (in our defense, we told him we'd just turn around, but he said to keep going and that't it would be easier for him to just meet us there). SO... we felt SUPER bad about that but Sister Andersen just laughed and they were super nice about it all. I think Elder Ribble was pretty embarassed. Got him on his plane, drove back home, crashed for an hour before our coordination meeting at 9. Had that, now we're e-mailing. AND WE GET OUR WHOLE P-DAY TODAY!!! Our first one in a month... so we are going to drop by people tonight and then hopefully go to Tivoli. We'll see. I really want to see the Christmas decorations this year.

SO... that was our week. Sorry... now that it's all written down, it looks pretty boring. This week should be considerably more missionary-y (thank goodness) and we are hoping to get back into contact with Jonas and the others again. We are hoping that Tanja and Jonas and Delisa will be coming to church tomorrow for our special Christmas services (Julegudstjeneste) that is going to be all about guests. The stakes are holding special sacrament meetings throughout the entire country (it's sort of like Christmas mass I guess??? it's very popular in Denmark. EVERYONE goes to church on Christmas) so we're hoping for members and their friends and tons of investigators to come. Tomorrow should be a really good day!

Love you all! Merry Christmas and talk to you in a few days, but I'll e-mail probably either Monday or Tuesday with plans!

Ældste Pullan

Glad jul alle sammen!

2010-12-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

Glad jul alle sammen!

It's very strange... last year I felt like I said that more than I do this year. I can't believe that December is a third of the way over! I gotta get on things and start saying it to everyone I meet! It sounds like it's been a pretty busy week for all of you as well! AND, I got your package in the mail as well on Monday... so it SHOULD be there on time. Don't open it until Christmas day. I didn't have time to wrap everything. Not to be like, whiny or anything, but... I want Christmas pictures! :). Have the Christmas cards started rolling in yet? I am fairly certain that that Christmas card wall in our house is one of my favorite decorations... I love hearing from all of our families. AND NOW! That card that we get from Ann-Marie in Sweden every year... will actually make sense.

This week has been incredible! WAY busy, WAY insane, I don't think I have ever been so exhausted in my life, but I am really loving life right now. AND, there is sunshine right now... REAL sunshine. Like, it's shining through the window and putting some serious glare on the screen which would otherwise be annoying, but we haven't seen sunshine in about two months, so this is totally okay.

Here is the run down from the week:

Monday - It snows. A lot. Freezing cold. It broke records apparently... All day was spent running errands and getting stuff ready for Wednesday. Incredibly long, boring, not much to report day. Sorry.

Tuesday - Had three appoints- two canceled. Also... since we didn't get P-day last week, we did about an hour of Christmas shopping and got the packages sent later that night... after closing time. Miracle. Had an appointment with Jonas down at Det Kongelige Danske Musikkonservatorium (the Royal Danish Music Conservatory... Jonas is REALLY good at the piano). He was really stressed about the whole day (he had a big exam and just wanted some support down there). So, we picked him up and drove him and were able to be with him for a little while before the exam. This place was incredible. Really old gorgeous building with super modern and old architecture mixed on the inside. It used to be the old Radio station in Copenhagen and is ENORMOUS. They have several different studios with this big huge doors. SO. COOL. Anyway, he did incredibly well and passed his exam. We're really excited for him.

Wednesday - Up early to get everything ready for mission conference that day (okay... not quite mission conference. Iceland wasn't there.) Got everything ready and had an INCREDIBLE conference. Præsident Kopischke is incredible. He didn't come with anything prepared- he had a few things to talk about, but most of the conference was composed of about 5 questions and he talking for about an hour on each one. He gave SO much good advice, so many good ideas, new ways to try things. I am so jealous of the new missionaries that got to start things off with that. It has happened several times throughout the last couple of months where I just sit back and WISH that I had more time. There are so many new things to try, to do differently and I don't have very much time left! I really want more time! I don't feel like I've perfected things yet and I still am experimenting every day. I guess that's what happens though... as soon as you start to finally feel like you know a little bit about what your doing, the Lord changes things up. I feel like we're playing catch up all the time and our attention is being pulled in a thousand different directions on such seemingly small things, that we miss the big things, or don't give the big things the time and consideration that is needed. I haven't had much time to yet, but either tomorrow or Monday I'm going to sit down during personal study and figure out what my goals are for the last few months. What I want to accomplish, what I need to do better. Incredible conference.

Thursday - Got up even earlier and drove out to Amager (closest to the airport) and had our Zone Leader council with Præsident Kopischke, the 3 sisters here in København, and the ZLs from Sjælland and Jylland. Had another incredible meetings. I think we all have felt that our mission is awesome and great and we love it... but there is something that's missing. Something that isn't there that we need to change. And we found it! Præsident Kopischke talked about how faith isn't praying and hoping and believing in the big things. That's God's business. We have to "create the conditions for a miracle" and that's all the small little things and that's all we can do. Yes, our faith can move mountains... we have to get shovels and get to work and then, when we show that Lord that we are doing EVERYTHING that we POSSIBLY can, we hope and pray that the miracle will come. He shared an example about the Brother of Jared that I loved. He said that we can relate to the Brother of Jared SO much because we are just like him. Not to negate the importance of their call or who they were, that's not it at all but the prophets were all pre-ordained to be prophets. The Lord has called them to be prophets. But, the Brother of Jared wasn't necessarily. Yes, he had a specific purpose, but he wasn't called as a prophet, he had to repent for not praying for those years. But, he had the faith to "fight through the veil. He was SO faithful, so hardworking and believing that the Lord literally could not keep him from seeing his finger." I have decided to become like the Brother of Jared. He did everything that he possibly could. He could have gotten any other rock and asked the Lord to touch it, but he went up to the mountains and molted rock that would make the stones clean and pure and clear... as CLOSE to shining as possible. He did all that he could, created the conditions for the miracle, and then the Lord blessed him with the miracle. The Lord wanted to bless him, the Brother of Jared just had to put in the work. As missionaries, we need more faith. Faith is an action word. Sometimes we forget that. Anyway, it was another incredible meeting and I couldn't take notes fast enough. We drove he and President to the airport. Something came up (not quite sure what) where they could only go to Iceland, not the Faroe islands (desværre). But he gave us even further instruction while driving... it was just an incredible day. Came back, grabbed a quick lunch and then ran to a tire place to get vinterdæk (winter tires) put on the van. The tires that we had didn't fit the van and she was like, "And the winter tires for your vogn are hopelessly sold out in all of Scandinavia until probably February. Drive safe!" So that was a bummer. After that, we had an appointment with Jonas which went REALLY well. We taught him the restoration (the first time since a LONG time ago) and I think he really gets it this time. He said he knows that Book of Mormon is true... he just doesn't feel like he can switch faiths. We talked to him some more and let him know that we are his friends and that we aren't there to be pushy. But that we know this will bless his life. We asked him to pray about it... he said he would. He is supposed to be coming tomorrow to church. We then had some drop-bys planned. We dropped by a lady named Delisa who was an old investigator of the ZLs a REALLY long time ago. And she was home AND she invited us in AND we taught her the first. And she was REALLY interested. She said she truly wants to know. She said she would read a pray. She has two sons (maybe 8 and 11 years old) and is married to Dane. She is from Liberia, but speaks Danish and has lived here for three years. Her husband even studies religious history and is writing a book about it... could it get any better? So we are really excited about her.

Friday - Got up and drove to Sønderborg for our hopefully last time to clean the apartment. On the drive down, we talked a lot about the past two days, what changes need to be made in the mission, what focuses we need to work on, etc. We've been praying for it over the past few weeks. We both feel like we're serving in this position for a reason and we wanted to help change things, make things better, and yesterday, I think it all hit us. We have some goals for next year, some changes in the ways we are going to train, what we are going to train about, focus on. We're really excited about it. Anyway, on the way back, we stopped by Emily and it was SO good to see her. She is doing SO good and Paw (her husband) is now PRAYING! Before he didn't even believe in God... and now he's praying. It's incredible. Anyway, she had some friends there, the husband was actually quite interested in religion come to find out and we were able to also teach him about the restoration which was a really cool lesson. Unfortunately, we aren't the missionaries down there, so we had to pass him on, but yesterday was a really good day.

Saturday (today) - We got up at 4 to take a member with no family here in Denmark to the airport to leave for his mission in Ogden, Utah! HELD OG LYKKE J.J.! Vi ser frem til at høre om dine oplevelser. Du sikkert skal være en utrolig dygtig missionær! Vi ses om et par måneder! Came home, slept and then got up for our coordination meeting this morning with Benjamin... who I'm pretty sure is the best mission leader in the world. Helped a little to set up for the ward Julefest (Christmas party), came home, ate lunch... and now we're e-mailing. Later today, we just have the Christmas party which I am singing in and both Ældste Holladay and I are playing in as well. We're really hoping that investigators will be there! We'll see!!!

It's been a good week! Hope everyone is healthy and happy! Especially you Spencer! :)

Love and miss you all and talk to you in a week!

Ældste Pullan

I got spoiled

2010-12-08T13:55:00.000-08:00

I am NOT trying to make it sound all dramatic like or anything, but I am seriously having issues keeping my eyes open. I think I'm only going to send one (letter)... but I'll try and write individually throughout the week. It has been an incredibly long week and long day... and next week is going to be even longer. BUT. Things are good.

First off, thank you for the birthday package. I actually got two. One from you and one from mom and dad Larsen (Brother and Sister Larsen from the office). It was really surprising and made the day even more special. I LOVE THEM BOTH SO MUCH!

Second, I haven't had time to finish Christmas shopping or look for a Nativity, but Brother and Sister Ray (the sweetest people ever) have taken it upon themselves to find one for me. They've been on the hunt! He actually collects them and has been looking for some himself and has been keeping me updated. I saw a picture and they are really nice and very Danish. I could take a picture of the ones I have and then let you choose... unless you want it to be a surprise.

Here's the run down this week:
Sunday - Went to church, had some meetings, weekly planned, fixed some problems, took numbers, went to bed.

Monday - Did some stuff in the office while waiting for President to get back from Iceland so that we could have our meeting with him (he's a trooper). Had an appointment with Jonas and it went well. We read 1 Nephi 17 with him and talked about how often we are commanded to do things we aren't sure we can do, but the Lord leads us through everything. I think he is really getting it and really seeing how the scriptures can apply to himself. We then had our meeting with President and got quite a few tasks so we worked on those the rest of the day.

Tuesday - The new missionaries got here. They got here pretty early Tuesday so we actually got to give them a little tour of Copenhagen, take them to Vor Frue Kirke where the Kristus is along with 12, they saw strøget, the inside of an H&M (one of the Elders didn't come with a jacket), ate their first kebab, road the Metro, contacted at Kongens Nytorv. A really good day. BUT! When we first picked them up and were driving, they told me that I talk differently. They said I had an accent... but they couldn't describe the accent. I don't believe them... but you'll have to tell me I guess. We then went back to the airport that night to pick up the Icelanders and then we all went to the mission home for dinner and sleep there. Yes, the Icelanders usually come in so that they can come to the mission home base, meet President and Sister Andersen (we call her Sister President since there is a Sister Anderson missionary here) and then go to the temple since they won't have the chance for two years. No. We don't have the chance to go to Iceland. But this coming week, President Kopischke (the area President) is coming here for our zone conference AND going with President to do some work.

Wednesday - Wednesday was transfers. And, it honestly went VERY smoothly, but it was still a crazy day. I don't remember everything that happened. Just glad it's over.

Thursday - Drove the Icelanders back to the airport. The quickest trip to the airport I've EVER made. In and out in 10 minutes. I really do think they were the only ones flying to Iceland that day. Their luggage was WAY over the limit but they didn't say anything. There is an Elder Willden who is now on Iceland who is actually from Henderson. We visited Jonas and he's having a rough time but really feels like he can trust us and the church. He had read 1 Nephi 18. We talked about the Liahona with him and how that was how God led Nephi and his family and that he does the same thing in our lives. That as we are obedient and do the small things we need to, we are blessed and the direction comes... but when we don't, it's harder to get that direction. I think it clicked for him and he seems to really be enjoying reading. I talked to him today and he said he isn't planning on coming to church though on Sunday. Bummer. We had an appointment with Lilian, but she canceled last minute. Again. We are at a loss with her. We don't know what to do next with her. And we also don't know what to do with Tanja either. Both of them are the sweetest, nicest people ever. Anyway... the rest of the day was spent trying to make out huge to do list somewhat smaller. It didn't work. We had an eating appointment with Pauline and she spoiled us. She really is my second mom over here. She takes really good care of all of us. Made a really good dinner, always makes sure we are warm and healthy... brings us tea and things if we're sick. We love her.

Friday - I got spoiled. I opened the packages from you and Mom and Dad Larsen before Zone Leader Council. Thank you so much! I'm going to be huge when I get home. Seriously... it's a worry. Ældste Holladay made me breakfast, we went over to the mission home for Zone Leader Council and it was very productive. For lunch, Sister Andersen made... basically pot pie. At least as close as you can get in Europe and it was INCREDIBLE. She also made two lagkages that were ALSO incredible and made it a really special day. I came back to the office at about 4:30 only to find all SORTS of baked deliciousness from Sister Ray (who spoils us ALL all the time... without her, thanksgiving wouldn't have happened) and she had heart attacked our office. The Sisters also went all out in our office with balloons and streamers and notes and even a scavenger hunt with instructions written on a puzzle that I had to put together before I could even start it. They gave me TONS of candy and put in the time and made the day even MORE special. I got Grandma and Grandpa Pullans and Laytons cards and they MADE MY DAY too! I have the best family ever. I got phone calls throughout the day and felt really loved. It was nice... and I am way spoiled, and way blessed. I thank my Heavenly Father for you all every day! We then had an appointment with Emil that night and Elder Pearson got to see him for the first time in a really long time. Emil was shocked to find out that I was turning 21... he said he thought I was like 24, 25... and just had a baby face (still don't have much growin').

Saturday - Today... we had Temple Referrals day... but it went really long this time. It was the last one, thank goodness which means that we won't have to not have our p-days anymore! WOO HOO! We had a coordination meeting with Benjamin (the ward mission leader) afterward, cleaned up the chapel, ate a quick dinner, and now we're e-mailing.

Tomorrow - The day is pretty much full. We have church, eating with a member, going to Presidents for an open house (hopefully with some investigators) and then a Christmas concert afterward, weekly planning, numbers... hopefully we'll get to teach a bit.

So... that's the week. I'm hoping to send the Christmas stuff home this week. I've heard it has to be out by the 8th to get it home in time. We'll see! :)

Love you all! And miss you! Glad jul!
Ældste Pullan

Merry Christmas to all!

2010-11-28T12:53:00.000-08:00

Glad Jul Alle Sammen!

And Christmas is in full swing... sort of. Actually I was really feeling it today. We've had the Christmas music playing all week but to make it even BETTER it has (no joke) snowed all day on Thanksgiving and hasn't stopped since... today it snowed and is snowing quite a bit. We kinda love it a lot.

Today... we walked down Strøget (the big shopping district) and they had ALL the Christmas decorations out in the stores, Christmas music playing, the snow was falling, people were drinking hot chocolate and being all happy. It was picturesque hygge.

Here's what's gone on this week:

Sunday: Had church, weekly planned, Benjamin and Anne Dorthe Feltsen (the mission leader and his wife) invited us all over for dinner. We were able to go out and visit people for a bit which was exciting... and then something happened, but I can't quite remember what.

Monday: Had an appointment with Jonas and it went really well. We talked about prayer and about how we need to make it an important part of our lives. He committed to pray every morning and every night... and he's kept to it. We did some drops bys, had an eating appointment with Familien Paulsen and invited our neighbor that lives above us to come to some Christmas stuff (he had talked to one of the Ægtpars here and said he had had a Mormon teacher that had had a big impact on him). Anyway, we are going to start teaching him next week which we are really excited about. We also did some office stuff...

Tuesday: We had quite a bit of office stuff to work on and had an appointment with Peter and Evans, but they ended up burning us. Had another eating appointment with Familien Andersen and came back and worked on more office stuff.

Wednesday: Met up with Jonas and talked a lot about the plan of salvation and what we do. He said that he really feels the power of prayer in his life and feels that he is protected and happier. Things are going well with him. We had more office stuff to do, a little snow storm hit so a 20 minute drive turned into an hour and a half drive out to pick up some bikes for the mission, then we had to come back and make pies for thanksgiving. I made banana cream and Ældste Holladay made Burberry pie. They were delicious... and we even had to make our own crust because they don't do pie here.

Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! We got up and went and played football that morning in the FREEZING cold. We won. Ran home, showered, got a few last minute things ready, and then went to the church to help cook and get things setup. Had dinner at about 15 tiden and that went for an hour or two, had a talent show after, sang the national anthem to the American flag... I love America. Really good day.

Friday: Pretty long, rough day. Sometimes I forget that missionaries are only 19... but sometimes I wonder if they really are that old. Anyway, we were cleaning up messes all day, BUT we got to teach Evans, Lilian and Jonas. Jonas committed to read in the Book of Mormon which we were really excited about. He also said that he would try and come to church on Sunday which is a big step forward that he would even try. That night, the light snow turned into a BLIZZARD while we were all at the temple for the lighting of the Christmas lights. We had April and Emil there which was fun. We came back and finished up cleaning messes, and had to send some things to President Kopichkes office before he comes next week. President is crazy busy in Iceland so we've had quite a bit to do.

Today: P-day. FINALLY. Our first real one in like three weeks. We spent it Christmas shopping and not answering our phone :). And it started POURING snow. WE LOVE LIFE. Tonight we have to get transfer plans done... because everyone needs them by Monday. And THAT has been our week.

Transfers don't happen until Wednesday and we get new missionaries coming in. I am SO glad that this isn't the Denmark I came into. It's freezing, dark, snowy, windy... I love spring time. The whole AP thing? I'm going to need a little bit more clarification on that question. We do a little bit of everything... all the time :). For sure we will be together until the 31.jan and then one of us will probably leave. Elder Holladay wants to leave and I would be okay with staying for the rest of my time here. I love Frederiksberg, it's my home, I've been here for almost half my mission and I'd just like to end that way. We'll see though! And yes... it's just us two in the apartment, and it's quite fantastic. Frederiksberg is just a suburb of Copenhagen. It's like... the strip (Copenhagen, Rådhuspladsen) with the freeway taking us out to Summerlin (Frederiksberg... which is kind of a ritzy place) only on a much smaller scale.

Gotta run! We've got transfer plans to get out. Love and miss you all!
Ældste Pullan

This is what missionary work is

2010-11-28T12:40:00.000-08:00

Øj.

THE CHRISTMAS MUSIC STARTED THIS WEEK! I have been on the fast since October and I couldn't take it anymore. I'm not listening to any of the really good Christmas stuff (I can hold out until Thanksgiving), but this week needed Christmas music. And no, I promise everything is fine, just SUPER busy and to be honest... and writing takes TONS of time. Speaking of time, it is currently 20:58... so this is going to have to be real quick. Just as a warning, this week had TONS of office stuff... so not TOO exciting, but there is some very good news :).

Sunday: Fantastic day!!! So totally worth last week... Nana got baptized and it couldn't have gone better. The Bishop was VERY nice- had the meeting in English, printed out some information about the Church in Ghana and talked a lot about being involved in the ward, etc. The spirit was SO strong during the meeting. Nana got up and bore a very strong testimony about his conversion. About 5 months ago he was out walking and the missionaries contacted him while he was getting on the bus. He got their number but said that he had no intention of calling them. He said he went three months without calling even though this voice kept saying, "Nana! Why do you refuse to call these people?!" He texted the number he got and it ended up being the month that Ældste Holladay and I were the ZLs. We texted him the directions and didn't see him for a month. He said that for that month, that same voice kept saying, "Nana! Why do you refuse to go to that building!? GO!" So, one morning he got up, and decided that he would go. He walked to Nitivej, and that just happened to be the first week that Ældste Holladay and I were made the APs. He said, "From this point on, I knew it was all true." Then he looked at us and said, "I thank God for my missionaries every day." It was incredible. He has said it a few times since then in prayers and it hits me every time. THIS is what missionary work is. I'd take a week last week any time if I could have a baptism like that. I'd do this for the rest of forever!

Monday: Office meeting... office stuff. Had some appointments, but they canceled. Worked on transfers a little, just... lots of stuff. Boring, not so good day.

Tuesday: Had more appointments- they canceled. Worked on more office stuff (we had quite a bit to do this week... dunno why). Lilian we are actually a little worried about. She keeps canceling our appointments and not really super interested in coming to church anymore. No idea what to do there. It's the same problem as with Tanja. We'll see what happens. We also made cookies that night to give to the Bishop in Søborg, gave some to President and his family, translation, the office... no idea why I'm telling you this... it was an anti-climactic day.

Wednesday: Very bad day turned to a very GOOD day. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong, had more appointments cancel. BUT! I got to do a baptismal interview with a 9 year old who was really funny. We talked all about Ben 10 (is that big in the states? A show on the Disney Channel?) Anyway, she said it was really good... WAY better than Hannah Montana. BUT, if I really want to have a great viewing experience, Ben 10: Alien Force is that way to go. It's like the regular Ben 10... but he's older so she didn't even know why it was called Ben 10 in the first place... because in THIS one he's like 14. We talked about horses and her friends, all sorts of stuff. BUT, the coolest part was that she was so strong! I don't know how to explain it! She was just glowing and happy and intelligent. It was a really cool experience. One of my favorite interviews. After the interview (I was on splits with Amager) we came back and Ældste Holladay and Ældste Shreeve weren't back yet from teaching Peter (another interesting experience) and I was just kinda wondering what on earth we were going to do until they got back and then the thought came to me to go visit Jonas. So we did. And he was home. And it went INCREDIBLY. He REALLY opened up and talked openly about a lot of things. I think there were some people in the ward that really pressured him and he was a little nervous about coming back, but he is open to coming, wants to meet regularly, and would love to get involved with anything musikmæssigt that the ward does. I told him I was sure we could find SOMETHING for him to do. Anyway, we have an appointment with him on Monday. Thanks for all the prayers! Keep 'em up! They're working!!! We were able to go out for a little bit more and work which was nice!

Thursday: We were in the office all. day. We have some big stuff coming up and Thursday was the day to get the dirty work done for the most of it. And we worked on transfers for a good two hours. They took FOREVER but we feel good about what we have. No. I'm not telling you anything. EVERYONE keeps calling and asking to know whats happening.

Friday: It snowed. And normally, I would be happy. It didn't really stick, but it just means we're getting closer to Christmas! Problem is, that day, we had to drive down to Sønderborg to move them into their new apartment (it's closed currently until we get new missionaries). Because it was snowing, it took us quite a while to get down there... actually it took us almost an hour just to get to the main motorway. So we got there at about 12:00 and didn't leave until about 19:00. We stopped by Emily (I called her and told her we'd be coming by) but she wasn't there. I was pretty bummed, but we headed out and made it home by 22:30.

Saturday: Today was another crazy day. We had another one of those splits days where all the missionaries on Sjælland came in and went out to contact referrals from the temple dedication 6+ years ago but this time in Søborg. We spent the first half getting food and things ready, but got to go out for the second half. There weren't that many members so the ward didn't get anywhere near as many done as they would have liked, so a lot of us had to go out on splits with other missionaries. Ældste Holladay and I went out with Ældste Mauler and got a few done. They were SUPER spread apart, but we got most of them. After that, we came back and packed the van full of missionaries, took them to the train station and then grabbed the Brobergs and the Sisters and went to eat with Jytte and a had a really great time. She made my favorite. Kalkun la' cor da bleu (or however you spell the French part of that) with potatoes and gravy and carrot salad (really good... the name doesn't do it justice) and then for dessert, she made my FAVORITE Æblekage apple cake. No words to describe. Just, incredible. I'll make it at home one time. SO. Good. After that, we had an appointment with the ZLs and Nana to teach him about the Holy Ghost and what's going to go down tomorrow when he gets it. I was a little sad to be turning him over to the ZLs, but they'll do a good job.

Sunday: Tomorrow... we are having a meeting for our Thanksgiving stuff and getting things ready for that, we have church (hopefully Peter will be coming) but we'll be going to Søborg for sacrament meeting, we have to have weekly planning tomorrow, hopefully we'll have an appointment or two... and then we have an eating appointment where we are going to hopefully get a referral. SO. A good day for tomorrow!!!

It's all good! But we're busy. We're really hoping and praying for some new investigators this week... and we're thinking that this week should be considerably more rolig and calm than the past two weeks, so we're excited for that.

We're going to bed! Love you all! And talk to you soon!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

Nana's Baptism!

2010-11-14T18:20:00.000-08:00

This week was totally worth it. :)

Love you all!
Ældste Pullan

Intense

2010-11-14T18:11:00.000-08:00

I'm not trying to be all negative, and as I'm writing this I'll probably realize that this week wasn't as bad as it seems, but this week was INTENSE. We had a few crises, TONS of things went wrong, didn't get much sleep, I haven't run (or done ANY exercise) in days, and it just keeps getting better :). BUT! Nana IS getting baptized tomorrow!

Sunday was good... sort of. Stake Conference was INCREDIBLE. It actually was really cool because I was sitting there with all of the members from Sjælland, talking with them, etc... I really felt at home. I really hope I stay here forever. Anyway... Nana, Peter, and Phillip all came and had a wonderful time. We took them back and as we were taking them back, we found out that we had apparently misunderstood Nana about where he lives. Instead of him living in Nørrebro, he actually lives in Belahøj (Søborgs area). SO... quite a bit of the day is spent trying to organize a baptism in a different ward for a week later in a ward that has never met the man. They are not happy about it... commence the battles. We also had a fireside with President and his family at their house that night. Tanja says she'll come. She doesn't. We don't know what to do about her.

Monday was actually not bad at all. We had our office meetings, gave a few tasks, got a few tasks, etc. The meeting went on for quite a while, but Elder Broberg made it funny so it was good. We had an appointment with Lilian, show up... and she has an electrician over putting up lights. No problem... we'll talk to her about the gospel anyway. Wrong. When we started in on our message, she shook her head and pointed at the electrician... even though OUR appointment was scheduled before his. So then she started ordering us around (she was kind of snappy on Monday... no idea why) and having us do tasks for her. She is a sweet a lady and we love helping, but that can't be ALL that we do with her. Anyway, so we didn't end up getting to teach her. We came back, worked on some other stuff, and then went to an eating appointment with familien Mølgaard. It was really good and he made WAY good lasagna. We came back to the office, grabbed the car keys for the Sønderborg car which is going to Sister Andersen and headed over to the center (we had missionaries leaving... and they drove over from Jylland in Søster Andersen's car). Anyway, we couldn't find them, couldn't find the car. Took us forever. The Rays (sweetest people ever) in the meantime are following us around at about 9:30 trying to find this car and these elders so that they can drive the car over to the mission home with us and then have us take them home. Anyway, it ends up working out... the day is over. Hallelujah.

Tuesday was the day the new Elders had their interviews and stuff with Præsident. Sister Broberg was having issues with the banner so I helped her with that for quite a while (I thought I was done... we've kind of become the office elders too). We had an appointment with Jakob, came back, did some referrals stuff, had an appointment with Evans and Peter, got burned, came back, and got a call from the Bishop in Søborg. "Talked" with him for about a half hour about Nana. Anyway, we then went to the mission home for the Elder's farewell dinner which was INCREDIBLE. Sister Andersen made duck. So. Good. Had a testimony meeting and then went down at about 10:00 for bed (they have almost another house under theirs where the elders stay when they stay over). The other elders leaving stayed up and talked FOREVER... until at least 12:00. Finally... they went to bed.

Wednesday started dark and early at 3:30 to get up and take them to the airport. That took quite some time, but we got them sent off. Elder Holladay and I were talking about it as we were driving home, the AWFUL realization hit us that we are the second oldest in the mission now. Elder Ribble is the only one in front of us and he leaves in December. It made me sick. Anyway, we came back and then got ready for specialized training, headed over to the center for specialized training. That went until about 5... had an appointment with some members who invited us over to dinner with their less-active daughter and her son. Came home, and went to bed early at about 9:00.

Thursday we had three appointment lined up... they all canceled a little bit before so we ended up working on stuff in the office for a lot of it. Bornholm was supposed to catch their train, but DSB (the train company) didn't tell them where they were supposed to catch their bus... so they missed it... so they missed their ferry so we went and got them. Brought them back to the train station to catch it a second time at about 4ish and DSB told them to catch a train at the airport, they go all the way out there... nothing. So we work on getting them home... basically DSB ruined their lives that day and they didn't get home until 5 o'clock Friday morning. Later that day we went to Ballerup to get a whole bunch of furniture and stuff from storage for the new Skive apartment... packed the back of the van FULL with it all, came home and went to bed.

Friday we were up at a quarter to 5 and on the road for Århus by 5:30. Got to Århus in record time (AND beat President there by half an hour)... had specialized trainer there and made lunch for the zone, left at about 4:30, headed to Herning to pick up more furniture, lost the key to the apartment, spent a good half-hour looking for it... had to unpack the van, found the key, packed it back up, drove all the way out to Skive (I felt like we went to Norway) to drop it all off and then headed back home at about 8:30. We got home at about 12:30 PM only to get a call from the ZLs saying that an elder had gone missing. Took care of that, and then were in bed by a little after 1.

Saturday... got woken up early by a text message saying that the Elder had turned up back at home. Got woken up later by a phone call from the elder's companion, and then again a little later by President who was driving out there. Got up, got ready for the day... and now it's P-day. Today... we are going to relax... we dunno what we are going to do, but it's going to be good. We have an appointment tonight with the Bishop from Søborg and Nana so that they can meet each other. And then he is getting interviewed for baptism.

SO. That's been our week :). It was crazy, but made good by the fact that Nana is getting baptized tomorrow! Wish I had more exciting stuff to share! I'll try and send pictures tomorrow... with some happy stuff :)!

Love and miss you all! Talk to you in a week!
Ældste Pullan

100th post...wow

2010-11-07T15:48:00.000-08:00

Kærest Familie,

Jet virkelig savner jer denne uge! I'm really missing you this week! It's been a busy week once again, but things are good!

Last Sunday was good, and a little crazy. Lilian and Nana both came to church and the ward is taking REALLY good care of them. A member family invited us over afterward (along with Lilian) to have lunch with them and some other friends. It went really well, except for out of nowhere, Brother oh-my-gosh-what-were-you-thinking, we'll call him, speaks across the entire table and announces that he knows when the second coming is going to be (mind you this is after he has talked about this crazy book called "the memory" or something all about this guy who apparently died and came back but saw the other side and he was going on and on all about it and about how life is going to be... all very doctrinally sound material) and then the whole table falls silent. We are shocked. I look at Lilian who is a little hard of hearing and begin to pray that her hearing aids have just died. Sister Ruth Hammerlund (one of the sweetest ladies ever who was also invited) says back, "Well... you're the only one then." And then Sister Reschke adds, "Yeah... I'm pretty sure the scriptures say that no one knows when it's going to happen." So then this debate breaks out and he goes and gets his "research" and comes back into the room. At this point I am freaking out. I had to keep suppressing the thought to pick up my cup and chuck it at him... and because of that my brain isn't functioning very well, trying to think of some sort of way to change the conversation. I try a few things... but he keeps bringing the subject back. SO. I asked Lilian the first thing that came to mind and that was, "So Lilian, do you have a favorite dry cleaner?" She looked up at me, probably trying to register what I had said and trying to make sure that it was really what I had wanted to say. But then, all of the sudden her face lit up and we had a 15 minutes conversation about dry cleaners and about how Copenhagen has very few to start with and how many of them have the nerve to charge outlandish fees and then return the clothes wrinkled! I know... I was just as shocked. Anyway, the good news is that it got her distracted from most of the conversation and I don't think she heard a word of it. I think it was only because she was there that the whole place didn't get hit by lightning. Miraculously, she said (very genuinely... I think my prayer worked) that she had had a wonderful time and that she looked forward to next Sunday. I think we may need a different friendshipping family... and we also may need to lock Brother oh-my-gosh-what-were-you-thinking in the closet the next time we come, because we really do like his wife. The rest of Sunday was not anywhere near as exciting. Also I called Emily (from Sønderborg) and she is doing well! I love talking to her. Paw is doing really well. Before he wouldn't even acknowledge the existence of God and now he prays. Just a little while longer... he'll be baptized. She also invited us all over... but I'll let her know.

Monday we had a lot of office stuff to do and were there most of the day. We also helped Brother oh-my-gosh-what-were-you-thinking and his wife move a washing machine into their apartment.

Tuesday we had Zone Leader Council at the mission home and that took quite a while. I also think that I was suffering from a small case of ADHD because I was having the hardest time focusing for the last hour or so. We have the AP on Iceland skyped in, so we had a good conversation. We then had to run the Sjælland ZLs to an appointment (they were a little late), fly back to Copenhagen to grab their car and bring it back to them so they could make their appointment an hour later and then drive back to Copenhagen to drop the Jylland ZLs off at the train station and then go home.

Wednesday we had an appointment with a former investigator who had investigated the church like... 50 years ago or something. He had gotten called into work that day and was having issues focusing so we shared a thought and are going to give him a call today actually. Gotta write that down. We ran home, flew into the Indiana Jones parking lot (we call it that because there are HUGE ditches in this dirt parking lot that the Van just barely clears and it's JUST like the ride at Disney land... maybe even better) and run over to the park where we teach Phillip... only to be burned. So then we run over to the church with Pauline to teach Peter and Evans... only to be burned. We had a good talk with Pauline. Then we had an appointment with Lilian where we talked a lot about baptism. We're taking it slow with her, making sure that she gets everything, and she is incredible, but very careful. She said she'll be baptized when she finds out more and if it feels right :). We love her. Then we had an appointment with April and Emil to eat with them that night. April wasn't feeling so hot so we ended up going to a pizza place with Emil and had a good talk with him too.

Thursday we had quite a bit of office stuff to do again. Jakob Lybæk invited us over for lunch that day. We came back to the office and worked on transfers and getting stuff ready for the Elders leaving on Wednesday, helped Sister Andersen with her computer and then got to go out and try and make contact with old investigators, etc.

Friday we had appointments with Lilian, and Peter and Evans. We contacted for a little bit, but also talked with President about transfer plans, what he needs, etc. Good balanced day. We also met with Nana who continues to be incredible. He is going to get baptized next weekend (13.nov) and we are way excited for him!

Today is P-day... mostly. We have some stake meetings that President wants us to come to with him and then we are meeting with the ZLs for a bit. We are going grocery shopping and then Ældste Holladay and I have decided that we have parts of Copenhagen we haven't seen yet... so we're going to go find them today.

Life is good! Love you all and talk to you in a week!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

Just stuff

2010-11-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

Nuvel, jeg har ikke så meget spændende at tale om denne gang! Undskyld!!! (Well, I do not have much exciting to talk about this time! Sorry!)

Okay... not that it hasn't been a good week, just... a lot of this week has been... just stuff. THANK YOU FOR THE HALLOWEEN PACKAGE! Those suckers are bomb. I haven't had one of those in FOREVER. AND THE CANDY CORNS!!! I love those things... we had a new sister get here from Sweden the day the package arrived and both she and President gave me some strange looks. Who knew they looked weird??? Denmark has some pretty funky looking candy here... though it's not really popular. They don't really eat candy here... mostly just pastries packed full of butter and jam and frosting and marzipan. Much healthier stuff.

Well... lets see...

Sunday: Had Lilian and Nana come to church and it could not have gone better. We had a fællesspisning right after the block of meetings and Lilian LOVED it. The ward took really good care of her (even invited us and her to eat with them tomorrow) and she just loved it. Nana is doing great to. He is going to get baptized in November, no doubt about it! We planned and went out and worked!

Monday: We had our regular meeting with President and the Rays and Brobergs. It went REALLY long, but we talked a lot about his trip to Germany, things the mission needs, etc. ALSO... Sister Andersen's birthday is on Monday, which is the SAME day we have Zone Leader council which REALLY stinks for her because it's at her house and she usually goes all out making food and stuff for us, so we're trying to figure out something special to do for her. We'll have to figure it out... anyway, we had what we thought was an appointment with Tanja, but it turns out she met us the door and handed me my planner that I had left there almost three weeks ago and was completely useless at this point, but was our reason for coming over in the first place. I really don't know what to do with her... we found her by a miracle so we refuse to drop her OVERHOVEDET, men, she isn't really going anywhere and she is so busy all the time... anyway, the rest of the day was spent getting the new training program done for the new missionaries to fit the new "Simplified Curriculum of Fundamentals of Preach My Gospel" (sounds simple, right?) ready for Søster Ronström who came in on Tuesday.

Tuesday: Sister Ronström came and quite a bit of the day was spent getting things ready for her and making sure she was taken care of. She was the only one in her group that came in, so we all wanted it to be a little bit more special than usual. We spent a lot of time contacting referrals and then had an appointment with Lisa, someone that President had met while out contacting. We took President and the new sister along, but actually ended up getting burned (ouch...) so that wasn't cool. We then went over to the Brobergs and had dinner over there. Luz (who we taught at the center when we were both ZLs) cooked for us and introduced us to one of her friends from the states who is over here trying to get a partnership started up with the University of Copenhagen to do humanitarian aid work. He was an incredible person- very humble, very believing, and was very generous and nice about the work that we do (though I think he would have liked us a little bit more had we been serving in a third-world country). Anyway, a good appointment and, from what we hear, Luz is coming along nicely.

Wednesday: We had an appointment with Lilian and she still couldn't say enough good things about her experience on Sunday and how excited she is to come again. We've been organizing our area book and had a HUGE list of people that needed to be visited. So, that's what we did for three hours... and almost all of them weren't home... and of those that were, they weren't interested. Came back, ate dinner, and then headed out for some more. So... we didn't find anybody, but we feel good about the fact that we are getting things cleaned up and organized.

Thursday: We spent the entire day working on our banner message. It was only supposed to take an hour or so, but things kept popping up in the middle of it and it took us forever to figure out what we should talk about, random phone calls, random tasks, questions. It was a little bit of a frustrating day. BUT. The banner message is done.

Friday: Was yesterday. We uh... well we had an appointment with Lilian which also went very well. We helped her move some things around in her basement and get things cleaned up and then we got to teach her. We taught her very seriously about the restoration and she asked what exactly it was that she needed to do to join the church. We told her she needed to be baptized. We didn't push it further, but I think we decided that if it feels right, we're going to ask her if she wants to be baptized next time. We did some more drop bys, had an appointment with Phillip and he burned us, but we ended up running into Peter in the process and got to teach him. He is really struggling. He still doesn't have a job, feels lost, can't figure out why he felt like he should come here, doesn't have a place to stay... nothing. We talked to him about trusting God and doing all that we can, and that God will do the rest. I can't even imagine what it would be like. We are so blessed to have all that we have!

Saturday: Today is P-day. Finally... I think we are going to take a nap after we are done writing and shopping, straighten up the apartment a little bit, the Stewarts have invited us over with the sisters to eat at 4 with them... we have an appointment with Nana tonight. It'll be a good day.

And that was my week. Sorry... not anything terribly exciting, but all in all, a good one. Tomorrow is Halloween... I really would like to buy some candy to pass out, but no, they don't really do trick-or-treating in Denmark. It's starting to get a little popular, but the office and our apartment is in a fairly nice part of town with older couples that don't really have kids... so that is rather utilfredsstillende (the word for lame... learned that this week...).

And everyone SAID that Danes are supposedly tall, but I have to say, I haven't really noticed a difference, and if there is a difference, I have not noticed any type of compensation in buildings, ceilings heights, low-hanging umbrellas and pipes, and small cars. I've accepted it all and moved on. I love Denmark. Everything being so small makes everything super hyggeligt. And no, thank goodness, it has NOT snowed yet, though it is getting super depressingly dark at around 4 o'clock again. It REALLY makes it hard to get out and run in the mornings... we average about 2 or 3 times a week. And the cold makes it even worse :). We may have to start running around in the parking garage under the building, even though it smells like fish and rotten pastries. I seriously loathe the weather this time of the year. I love the changing leaves and everything but you've only got about a 3 hour time period where you can actually see the colors and things. And it's about to get worse when we set the clocks back... we need to remind everyone of that now that I think about it.

Life is good! Glad to hear that life is good on your side of things! Have a wonderful week and I will talk to you soon!

Masse kærlighed!!!
Ældste Pullan

Super Young

2010-10-24T17:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Everyone,

You. All. Look. Really. Old. Okay, lemme qualify that really quick. I got the pictures of Alexa and Haylee and Brooklyn and Brittany... hold da op! When I think back of my friends in high school and college, they all looked as old as those four. What is going on?! Sitting here, I had the strangest feeling come over me... I think I experienced it a little bit when I first got to the land and was reading your e-mails. But I feel like I'm on this HUGE pause but everyone else is on fast forward. I don't feel like I'm changing or getting older... definitely not more mature, but every time I get pictures from home (especially Spencer) everyone seems SO much older and doing and worrying about the same things I was worrying about when I left. I guess I just feel super young- in a weird paradoxical sort of way.

This week has been a REALLY good one. Really busy, but very good and we've gotten to teach quite a bit.

Sunday: We got up and went to church and got to teach in Primary. They were really funny and we had a really great time. Church was also really good. The stake presidency came and spoke and one of the talks really hit me. He spoke of the Lehis vision of the tree of life and talked about how most of us are definitely on the path leading back to the tree... but asked us if we sometimes we just stop on the path and kind of look around... or maybe hold onto the rod and reach out in to the dark a little bit. Are we constantly progressing towards the tree or do we sometimes put our progression on pause. We're not necessarily doing anything wrong, but are we actively coming to the tree. It was a really good talk. Afterwards, it was such that we were supposed to have an appointment after church with a guy named Peter Hansen who Charlotte (a member here that we work with) found while we did our huge splits thing last Saturday... but he didn't come. Utilfredsstillende (lame...). We did some planning and then had an eating appointment with some of the classiest people I have ever met. There apartment looked like some of the castles I've seen. Everything in it's proper place, fancy furniture, fancy chandeliers, fancy plates and bestik... it was REALLY nice. And they were really nice too... the Wornsdorfs. After that we came home and finished our planning for this week.

Mandag: Monday we had quite a bit of office stuff to work on. We weren't planning on having that, but President left for Germany and had a little bit of a to-do list for us :). We had an appointment with Nana (the man from Ghana who just showed up to church last Sunday) and he is incredible. We met with him almost everyday this week and soaks everything up we teach him. The lesson went really well and he accepted the invitation to be baptized on November 13th... it is VERY possible that it could be moved up. We also taught Emil and April. Emil is such an incredible member already! We watched Joseph: Prophet of the Restoration with them and they both really liked it. We'll see what happens!

Tirsdag: We had an appointment with Jakob Lybæk for lunch. Anyway after that we had an appointment with Peter and Evans who now have baptismal dates for 6 November and we are really excited for that as well. They are doing well. They are really forgetful about appointments so we have to call and remind them... but they are really good guys and have a desire to come to Christ... and come to church. We then had an appointment with a lady named Lisa who President Andersen met on the street during the splits day Saturday and got an appointment with. She burned us which we were bummed about. But President called from Germany a little while later and told us that she had called him and was sick and rescheduled for next Tuesday. So we're still on with her! We had another appointment with Nana and then we had an eating appointment with familien Knudsen (WAY cool family) who had us, the sisters, the Rays, and the Larsens over for dinner. Really fun time and Bror Knudsen is an INCREDIBLE cook. Anyway, we came home afterwards and went out for a bit and worked on our tasks a little bit more.

Onsdag: We had quite a bit of office stuff to work on so that took up most of our day, but we met with Nana. We got some time to drop by Jonas again... wasn't home. And neither was the other referral that we tried.

Torsdag: We had office stuff again, but taught Nicolai who some missionaries had met on the street while doing splits. We stopped by. He was very gracious but not very interested. He let us share the message of the restoration with him, but he didn't want to meet again. Bummer. We taught Lilian again and helped her clean her windows. Smoking. Is. Disgusting. And she decided the same thing. The first thing she said when we walked into the apartment was, "I'm quitting smoking!" She is also coming to church on Sunday, we're really excited for her. She is also really excited. They are doing a fællesspisning (pot luck) afterwards and asked me to either sing something or play something. I haven't had the time to prepare anything so I'm playing something that I already know. I haven't played the piano in FOREVER. I am getting worse :(. I want lessons when I get home again... anyway... we'll see how it goes. We were supposed to teach Peter and Evans that day afterwards, but they forgot and didn't show. Also bummer. Then we taught Nana. It went really well. We then tried stopping by some referrals and Jonas again... still nothing. Since we didn't get P-day last week, we were going to take an hour and go see Tivoli with the Ægtepars BUT it rained. A ton. So we went to their apartment and had hot chocolate and hygge'ed a little bit. It was fun.

Sorry... I was hoping to get this done before we went to the temple today... but that didn't happen so I've kind of lost my train of thought. It's been a really long time since I've been to the temple so we were really excited about it! We went in and there were a TON of Swedish people from Malmø there. We walked in and changed and asked if the session was going to be in Danish, they said yes, so we didnn't grab any of the translation stuff. Anyway, we get up there and sit down and we slowly start to realize that it probably is going to go down in Swedish. Just as we realize this, they start, so we don't have any time to grab the earphones. SO. We went through a session in Swedish. Can I tell you how glad I am that I went to Denmark. Sweden I'm sure is beautiful and the language is beautiful... but it really does sound like they are singing... and for the first little bit of it, all I could think about was Aunt Kim mimicking the Swedish Cook off of Sesame Street. But it actually turned out to be really cool. We both understood most of it... and I went through in Swedish too (the temple President is Swedish) so that was interesting as well... they pronounce everything wrong. Anyway, after that the Brobergs and Rays took us to Tivoli to see the Halloween decorations (just as cool this year) and then we had an eating appointment at Jytte's and I ate way to much and now we are back. Finishing this really quick and then getting stuff done that has to be done by Monday. Woo hoo!!!

Alright...

Fredag: We worked on the new training packets since we have a Sister coming in on Tuesday (and we have NO idea where she is going), had an appointment with Phillip and then another one with Nana which, just like the others, went VERY well. Worked on office stuff... yeah. Pretty boring day.

And you already heard about today. So... I think you're all caught up. Glad to hear that everyone is happy healthy and that homecoming was a success and is over :).

Love you all and miss you!
Ældste Pullan

I wish I knew the map better

2010-10-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Family!

I think you all might be awake right now, I'm not quite sure. Sorry I'm writing so late... today started at 4 o'clock this morning and it's been a pretty non-existent P-Day, BUT it's been an AWESOME day anyway. I left my planner at Tanja's on accident, and we haven't been able to see her since our last appointment, so this is going to be from memory.

Sunday: We... went to church, had three investigators there (Emil, Nana, and Christopher). Emil is the guy who got baptized today! WOOT! Nana was someone who just showed up to church. He's from Cameroon and we haven't seen him since. And Christopher is a friend of Dana Stewart's that she met while out walking, and he's from Ghana. Peter and Phillip didn't show. We were pretty bummed, but it was still a good day at church. After church we had an appointment with Lilian who is a SUPER sweet older lady that can't walk very well so she can't get up and let us into opgang when we ring her apartment. So we have to ring everyone else in the opgang and hope one of them lets us in. It's worked every time... until this time. We rang everyone and no one would let us in. The old man that lives above her looked out the window at us and shrugged. He came down the stairs and yelled at us in some language that was NOT Danish and went back up, shutting the door behind him, so we weren't able to get in and teach her. We did something else after that... and I can't remember what is was. Anyway, we ate dinner and got some things ready for Zone Conference Tuesday.

Monday: We had an office meeting and quite a few things to work on for President, all of which I can't remember. They were important though. Hope they're done. Uhh... we also had to go register at the Kommune that day so that we didn't get arrested and sent out of the country since we are really supposed to go register after being in the area for only 3 days. We had been here three weeks. Uh... mostly the day was spent running around and getting ready for Zone Conference. We had to tweak our training a little bit to fit with the Zone Leaders trainings here on Sjælland, make some changes with President, picked up some bikes in Allerød, brought them back... I'm forgetting stuff I think. Anyway... a pretty boring day in terms of stuff to report. Also... the whiteboard in our office fell off the wall and nearly killed me. I'm okay though.

Tuesday: Zone Conference... we got there. Things were a little behind schedule, but we caught up and it ended up being a REALLY good zone conference, even better than the one on Jylland I think. I really think that the mission is catching the vision and getting excited for things. Anyway, Zone Conference ended, we got the pictures taken, got everyone off to their trains and headed in the right direction, 9 of us pile into our van, we start to back up and hear this HUGE pop noise. I figure that it must mean we have too many people in the van and that it had made the front bumper rest on the curb. So, everyone gets out I try to back up, nothing. The van won't move anywhere. I turn the steering wheel to the right to try and back out and realize that my left tire isn't moving at all... as a matter of fact, it's pointing as far left as possible- I had two front tires pointing complete opposite directions. At first, I was SUPER annoyed. It was NOT what we needed this week with getting people home, and specialized training the next day and having a new Ægtepar come in and the Jepsons leaving... BUT, I immediately thought about what would have happened to us had that happened on the freeway and was SO grateful it happened in the parking lot of the church when we hadn't moved more than a foot. SO... we called President, he drove back took two trips of people to the train station and we road the train home. Got home, got stuff ready for leadership training the next day, and went to bed.

Wednesday: Got up, President picked us up and brought us to Søborg. We had a really good Leadership Training, our training went well, the ZL's training went very well, and President's was awesome. I really hope everyone left that as excited about things as I did... though I think that a part of it was that Ældste Holladay and I were super excited to have the zone conferences and leadership trainings OVER with. At least for the next two or three weeks. We packed up, and headed out. We had an appointment with Emil to get things ready for his baptism and it went well. He is SUCH an incredible guy.

Thursday: Thursday was supposed to be our "catch up on everything that has been thrown to the side since we got here like organizing/cleaning our office, area book, henvisninger, small tasks from President, osv." We started off strong, but then we got a call from Lilian who thought we had an appointment... it was supposed to be on Friday but she couldn't make it Friday so walked over to her house (I know... we had to WALK. Ridiculous...) It took us about a half hour to get in because no one would let us in... she even told us to go across the street and ask someone from another building to come let us in (she was under the impression that their key would fit her door... they all informed us differently. We kinda figured... and I'm sure it looked and sounded pretty strange to have two Mormon missionaries coming to your door asking to borrow your keys... but Lilian acted like it was totally normal, so we decided we would too). Anyway... no one would let us borrow their keys (shocker) but we came and rang the klocker one more time... and FINALLY someone opened the door for us. We had a really good appointment with Lilian... she's getting stronger and says she'll be able to buzz us in next time. After that we ran back to the church to an appointment with Peter and Pauline came with us. It went well. After that we were walking back by the temple and we saw Sister Stewart talking to someone and she waved for us to come over. We ended up talking with her and this other guy and Pauline for at least a half hour... he just wanted to argue, but Pauline knows the bible INCREDIBLY well and shut him up pretty quickly and got him to accept a Book of Mormon. I wish I knew the scriptures better! Anyway, we ran home, ate a quick dinner and then headed off with the ZLs to Emils to do his baptismal interview. Good news- he passed.

Friday: We used quite a bit of the day trying to catch up on things we had gotten behind on (and that we didn't get done on Thursday) and PRAYING that we would be able to get the van back that day. Lisa (who is one of my favorite people in Denmark who works in translation) came over and was like, "You need it today? I'll call them." She did. And we got it that day. She asked for chocolate chip cookies. I need to make them. Anyway, we ran up to Roskilde to get the car and back just in time for our appointment with Christopher and Dana Stewart. There is a little bit of a language barrier there with him. He is so nice and really trusts us and says yes to almost anything and everything we say... even if it's more of an open question. We have a baptismal date, but we REALLY want to make sure that he gets everything before we do anything. Anyway, after that we drove over to President to welcome the Jensens who are the new Ægtpar in Aalborg and say bye to the Jepsons who were leaving the next day. Sister Andersen cooked AMAZING food for us and we had a really good testimony meeting, talked a lot about their responsibilities at the center, etc. We drove the Jensens back to the Rays along with their luggage and then went home and went to bed. Because...

Today (Saturday): Well... it started at 4. We got up and were at the Jepsons by 5 and at the airport by about 5:30. They had 8 suitcases... big ones too. It took us almost two hours to get through the airport but we hugged 'em and sent them on their way. We drove back, came back and started getting stuff ready for our big splits day in the stake. Remember when we found all those temple referrals from about 5 years ago? Well... President has decided (and we all think it's a great idea) that they all need to be visited, so we're trying to do that before the end of the year. Today we had all the missionaries on Sjælland come to Nitivej and we went on splits with members from the stake and got about half of them done. The mission was in charge of lunch so we spent the first session out getting pizza and fruit and getting it all ready. Anyway, we ate and then Brother Stewart and I went out to visit some henvisninger. WE didn't have anything AWESOME happen, but there were quite a few others that had cool stories. We mostly found a lot of people that had moved or weren't interested "overHOVEDET ikke". But we had a good time and got a lot done. We came back just in time to get things going for Emil's baptism (pictures are online...) and it went really well. He is FINALLY a member. He's been one forever, but now it's official. Ældste Pearson got to baptized him which was awesome and we all sang. We're so excited for him! We took Ældster Pearson og Johnson back to the HovedB to catch their train, and then came back, and now we are e-mailing.

I'm so sorry... these e-mail have turned more into a bullet list of stuff that's gone on during the week. Things are busy, but very good. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! Yeah... it is kind of hard sometimes, but the ups BLOW the downs out of the water. I know the church is true, I know that Christ lives and that because of him, I can come back one day. The Book of Mormon is the truest and most important book on the planet. It's our map back. We can choose to either follow it or not. I wish I knew the map better, but I guess that's what the rest of life is for :). I love and miss you all!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

Just sayin'...

2010-10-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Mom and Family!

Homecoming weekend is happening??? Doesn't that usually happen later? That last e-mail made everyone sound CRAZY busy... I would just like to point out the talk President Uchtdorf gave... about slowing down :). Just sayin'... This week has been pretty dang busy, but we have had quite a few opportunities to go out and teach, thank goodness!

Sunday was watched General Conference most of the day and it was SO good! I feel like the entire thing was written for me. I loved President Uchtdorf's talk about pride and his analogy with the pen- I have decided that I need to be more willing to serve EVERYONE no matter what they may need. I loved President Holland's talk where he thanked everyone who can often be skipped over, when in reality, without them, nothing else would work. I loved Patrick Kearon's talk about coming to the Savior and being healed... it was all SO good.

Monday was spent getting ready for zone conference on Tuesday på Jylland and then Leadership Training on Wednesday. It took quite a bit of time, and we worked pretty late to get it all done, but we got it done. We also had an appointment with Peter... only he burned us. So that kinda stunk.

Tuesday we got up at 5 and left at about 6:15 and headed for Århus, stopping in Odense to pick up the Elders and Sisters there. We are getting really good at this drive :) The Zone Konference went really well, our training went pretty good, I wish we would have planned a little more interaction with everyone, but with the time we had, I think it went pretty dang good. We drove back to Fredericia and stayed with them over night and finished up our trainings for the next day.

Wednesday was leadership training (where all the ZLs, DLs, Trainers, and APs get some training from President, the APs and the ZLs). We have a new standard of excellence that we all have developed along with President Andersen and we are giving ourselves 6 months to get to the point where each companionship will baptize at least once per month. We are staying in our areas longer, we are getting to know people better and really just focusing, buckling down, and getting to work. It was SUPER windy over the bridge and the van isn't exactly aerodynamic so that was fun, BUT we made it home in record time, bringing our total driving distance over the past two weeks up to a little over 1700km. Woo hoo!

Thursday we worked on our to do list and got quite a lot done. We really felt that we should drop by Jonas at 4 o'clock that day and did so, but he wasn't home. We're going to try again either today or tomorrow. We had an appointment with Peter and his friend Phillip (both of whom have baptismal dates now, woot!) and it went well with them both. They are both coming on Sunday. Went home, ate a quick dinner, and then ran over to the church with an appointment with Emil and April. I don't know if you remember April from when I was in the office, but she was the one from America who sent her BF to the church to come find us so she could get a blessing and some help? Anyway, we set up an appointment with them and President for Friday (yesterday). We came home and went to bed.

Friday we got up and did studies, came to the office for a little while, and then had an appointment with Tanja (FINALLY) at 12:00. It went REALLY well, but we had to leave quickly because she had company so we didn't get to pray with her at the end, but she really liked the plan of salvation and the OTHER goal of ours is to get her baptized soon too! She is planning on coming to church Sunday (and bringing me my planner... I accidentally left it at her apartment... good excuse for her to come). Came back, worked more on our to do list, helped Sister Ray with President Reports (it's our job now since there aren't office Elders... I LOVE these reports...) and helped Sister Broberg with the banner (I am AMAZED at how well she works with a computer), talked with President about some changes and ideas for the zone conference here on Sjælland on Tuesday and Wednesday, and are still playing catch up. We started to call some investigators and referrals that the APs have had for MONTHS and haven't had time to touch them, so that was good. Made our record for our coordination meeting we had this morning... and then went to bed.

And now it's today. We had our coordination meeting, and now we're back, e-mailing. Today's P-day will consists of two appointments: one with a kid named Christopher who Dana Stewart met and invited to conference and we are going to start teaching, and another one with Emil and April. Uhh... we'll go shopping at some point in there for food, and then probably take a nap... and then head out and do some contacting... and POSSIBLY start weekly planning... we may have to wait and do that tomorrow. And now, I think, you are completely caught up on my life :).

Life is good, it's busy, but I LOVE IT. I hope everyone has a great week, and great Sunday, and I will talk to you real soon!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

April 5th...not that we're counting

2010-10-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

It is finally Saturday!!!

The past few days have gone by way fast and dragged by all at the same time... and we have TONS to do today so this might be a little quick.

And it sounds like everyone has had quite the week too. When is Homecoming? I loved that picture of you and Dad. I have almost no pictures of the two of you... it trunked me out a little bit. I miss you all so much!!! If the WHOLE family came over here, I really could just stay here and do this for the rest of my life. I'd be totally content. My release date is now officially April 5th. We thought that the new missionaries would be coming in on the 21 of March, but apparently it got pushed later.

SO. Tuesday was a sort of half transfers. Tuesday we went to the airport and picked up the new missionaries and then took them back to the mission home for dinner, a little orientation, testimony meeting, etc. After that, we drove back to the Hovedbanegård (the train station) and picked up Ældste Årsnes and Ældste Hansen so that they could overnight with us for transfers the next day.

Wednesday was transfers... and it was crazy. We got up early and before all the craziness started, we did get to go out contacting with the new missionaries for a little bit and they are GOOD. We were all very impressed. We all came back, had another orientation thing with the Rays (the new office Ægtepar) and then they went to the temple with President to see the baptismal font, etc. Then our day started... and went until about 6. There were about 3 or 4 big groups coming and going from the train station with a lot of other little transfers in the middle- the vast majority of the day was spent in the van, driving between the church, the office, Lyngby, and the HovedB. At 6 we came home, threw our stuff into our apartment (which was a disaster) and loaded up the huge van we drive (we call it the toaster) with luggage and a bed from our apartment (which we had to break down... that was interesting too :) and drove to Herning (about 3 hours) dropped it all off and then drove back and got home at about 1 o'clock on Tuesday morning.

Thursday, we spent most of the day organizing, cleaning, and trying to find out what on earth is going on. The apartment that we moved into is the same one I lived in when I was in the office before... it has gone from having 6 missionaries, to just Ældste Holladay and I... and it was a disaster. There aren't any more office Elders either (the Rays and Brobergs are going to be handling things) so we also have a WHOLE bunch of referrals and potential investigators that we need to get into contact with... and our area book is a little bit of a disaster. We understand why... we haven't had a chance to call almost anyone. We are going to call Tanja today, I haven't gotten a hold of Jonas yet, and we did get to take a few investigators with us that belong to Frederiksberg... so we have people to teach, which is great!

Friday we had mission council (or Zone Leader Council as we call it) and made a whole bunch of decisions and goals for the mission. The goal is to have each companionship baptizing at least once per month in each area... and we decided to have that going by May of next year. President and Sister Andersen are incredible. We all love them and are constantly amazed by them. President is a go get it done type of person and is quick to make changes if he sees problems, makes corrections, evaluates... I don't know how to describe it. He's just awesome. And Sister Andersen is the sweetest, funniest lady EVER. She is an incredible cook, takes care of ALL of us all the time, and is SO easy to talk to. We all love them both. Anyway, that took most of the day, then we came home and worked on our training with the Zone Leaders for Zone Conference in Århus which is on Tuesday and then planning out Specialized Training for Wednesday to try and get the mission going in the right direction to accomplish the new goals we talked about. Big changes are in store for the mission! We've got some good ideas that we are hoping will get things going even more so! We had an appointment with Peter, but he burned us (which really stunk), we came back, drove the Jylland ZLs to the train station for them to head back home, then we came back, and went to bed.

And then we have today... which is P-Day... sort of. We have a few trainings to work on, some agenda stuff to do, we are hoping to do weekly planning today since we can't fit it in anywhere else, and then we have conference tonight at 6 which we are SOOOOO excited for! We gotta run! I love and miss you so much! Talk to you in a week!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

I love being busy

2010-09-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

Kæreste Familie...

I keep saying this, but I honestly have no idea where the week went. It was a long and crazy one, and the next month is going to be pretty busy too. Monday was P-Day and then FHA... nothing much to report there, but we did get a call from President asking us to come by the mission home the next morning. Tuesday we got up ran, did studies and all that jazz, and then went over to the mission home. President asked Ældste Holladay and I to be his next APs. I knew something was up, but I didn't quite expect that. I am way excited that Ældste Holladay and I get to be together for a while longer. The switch happens tomorrow when the new missionaries arrive... we're excited!

We taught Peter on Tuesday and he opened up a little bit more about his life. He's had a pretty rough one, but his faith is incredible. He said that the word of Wisdom thing is going to be a challenge, but that he's going to do it. We're trying to get him to stop smoking... he's on one cigarette a day, so he says :). After that, we had an appointment with another man named Peter whom Ældste Holladay taught when he was serving in Lyngby. This man, smokes like a chimney. Anytime we go in there, there is a haze that we have to see through. However, both of us have come to the conclusion that the Lord really wants him baptized because both of us speak the best Danish we have ever spoken when we teach him... it's possible it has something with the smoke to do, but we're hoping it's the first.

Wednesday we went out contacting and walked to our appointment with Peter. He didn't end up showing up (bummer) so we spent most of the time contacting. We also taught July and Evelyn and it went really well. We told them it was our last day with them and they weren't too happy about it (which made us pretty happy... we DO actually mean something to our investigators :) We are excited for them to meet Ældste Meyer and Ældste Steed (the new ZLs)... they are going to great with them. Thursday we had splits in Slagelse with Ældste Meyer and Ældste Brown. It convinced me further that Ældste Meyer and Ældste Steed are going to be the BEST ZLs ever. We got a lot done there and even though the baptismal interview that we were supposed to have canceled on us (double bummer) it was still a productive trip. We took the train there and back and got home at about 21:30ish. Friday we got up and had a pretty free day as far as appointments (which usually would be a bad thing, but we had quite a few things to catch up on and get ready for the new ZLs) so we had an appointment with Peter that went well. He really wants to believe in God, we're just trying to help him get that faith.

Saturday we had an appointment with Luz but had to leave a little bit early (thank goodness for the Brobergs, they took over) for our appointment with Sean... who burned us so we contacted until our appointment with Peter which went really well. He has been praying, but says that he doesn't really feel anything. We read about faith and praying with real intent, etc. But we also talked quite a bit about the spirit and making sure that we are open to it and really listening for it. That was our last lesson with him... we're excited to see how he's doing with the new Elders. We then had an appointment with a 22 year old from Uganda (who is here LEGALLY... WOO HOO!!!) He actually referred himself to the Brobergs. Apparently, last week when they were having a fireside with Elder Scott, he heard the bells from the Old Church across the street ringing and wanted to find out if there was a prayer service. He walked to the temple (which is right in front of the Church with the bells) and saw that it was closed so walked behind it and found the Nitivej church building where he saw it was open because of the fireside. Anyway, shortly said, he went up met the Brobergs and one of the UVs (Sabrina) and attended and had a really good time. He got our number, called us and set up an appointment for Saturday. We were pretty excited. Anyway, we met with him and it went really well. He is very religious and wanted to go into the clergy but didn't have enough money to pay the fees (our church is so true...) so he decided to go work for the Red Cross which has some sort of a program that provided him a way to get here for a couple of months to go to school and study. We read him the Book of Mormon and he took and said, "I am not going to sleep very much tonight... this is a good book, I can already tell." He was really excited about it and about the center in General. We invited him to UV sacrament meeting last night and he said he would come. Anyway, after that we had dinner with the Brobergs along with Ældste Brown (who's family was here... they leave today I think...) and then afterwards, we came back and started to pack a little bit and make some very much needed phone calls to set up appointments, etc.

Sunday, we went to church in Søborg... it was only my second time being there so I think they're just going to think we were on prolong splits or something. Anyway, even though I didn't get to know Søborg that well, I'm going to miss it. It was a wonderful ward and took REALLY good care of us. After that, we came back and did weekly planning and writing up a whitewash report for our area, ate a quick dinner, and then ran over the church for UV Sacrament meeting which was REALLY good and then headed back to the office afterward to take numbers. And that was Sunday... And now we are at today.

Today, we are e-mailing and then going home and packing and straightening up the apartment because tomorrow we go to the airport to get the new missionaries and then stay over at Presidents with them. Then Wednesday is actual transfers which will be crazy... there are some big moves going on along with some apartment changes so we are driving some furniture and some elders up to Herning on Jylland and then back again. And then... I don't actually know what the rest of the week will be. It's going to be busy, but I love being busy and look forward to new challenges. I also am excited to be able to work with Jonas again (he's in our area... we're going to go track him down) and make sure he's okay. I really hope he's ready for us... I've been praying for it. AND... another change. This now means that, once again, my P-Days will be on Saturday... so I will be reading e-mails on Saturdays (some serious Deja Vu). Sorry this one seems so robotic. I PROMISE that Saturdays letter will have something cool to share... I hope :). Love and miss you all. Talk to you Saturday!!!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

Beautiful, amazing children of God

2010-09-29T12:12:00.000-07:00

Okay... before I get started, I would just like to voice a concern. I got a letter from Grandma Layton the other day (and Aunt Kim AND Jayce too, thank you!... Ældste Holladay was pretty jealous) and Grandma mentioned something about Uncle Danny and Aunt Dana expecting a third child. And this is the first I've heard of it. Now, I'm not complaining (because missionaries NEVER do that... like, ever...) nor guilt tripping (because that's mom's job...) but this is kind of a big deal. Things like this are supposed to be documented, video taped, announced, and published. I see none of that... now I'm worried about what other "goings ons" have been going on that I don't know about... is my bedroom still my bedroom??? (Sorry Dan & Dana. I though I told him :))

The past week was good... I'm so sorry that I haven't been having more interesting things to share. I guess I'll just share what went on this week... Monday was P-day. It went by fast and then we had FHE. A few people came, we didn't have any investigators, bummer. Tuesday we had a really cool appointment with Peter. We met him at the park that we usually teach him at and walked to Nitivej (the church in Frederiksberg). We were hoping that this way he would know where the church building was, what went on there, etc. He really liked it and expressed that at this church, he felt something really special, whereas at the other churches... he just kinda felt "something" but not a lot of that "something". It was a really good talk that we had with him. After that, we were supposed to teach Luz and July, but they weren't able to come so we ended up going on splits with some YAs here in the Copenhagen stake and visiting some of the temple referrals. I can't remember if I've told you about them or not. When I was in the office, we were cleaning out the kitchen and found a BIG box of referrals from the temple from about 6 years ago that supposedly had been visited, but actually hadn't. It's something like 6,000+ people... so the stake and missionaries are working to get them all visited this year. We are REALLY hoping for some miracles to come out of this.

Wednesday we were supposed to visit Prince and Elizabeth, but they canceled and rescheduled for Thursday. We did some drop-bys and then went over and taught Sean. We showed him a talk from President Monson and he didn't like it at all. He still feels like President Monson is out to hurt people, wants power, etc. We are at a loss with him too... dunno how to help him. We're praying and praying and hoping the Lord will soften him up a bit... After him, we went to the center to teach English and Danish. We had Avelyn from Peru come, Mariko from Japan, and July from Venezuela. We didn't get to talk to much about the gospel with them, but we got to work on pronunciation a lot. Afterward, a members came in and we all started talking and laughing. It was a very strange thing. I had that same feelings that came over me that Ældste Jensen and I felt at the train station.... I am so content and happy right now. Where else on earth could I possibly be to be with such beautiful, amazing children of God, from all over the world, all under one roof. I love this work!

Thursday we got a visit from President. President is going around and checking all the apartments and doing interviews with the missionaries in the apartments. Good news... we passed- both the interview and the cleaning check. Interviews are very different now then they were with President Olauson. We don't have them as often, and they aren't as long as they were. Not necessarily a bad thing... just... different. Next, we taught Prince and Elizabeth. We watched the Restoration DVD with them which they were really excited about. They watched it and said they really believed it. They still hadn't read in the Book of Mormon (lame... we're working on it...) but they believed what we were teaching them. We asked them if they would be baptized to which they both were rather hesitant. I have no idea how, but they knew that if they wanted to get baptized, they had to be married (double lame... about them not being married... not about the rule). We said that, yes, that was in fact the case. So now we are trying to get them married... I've never done this before, but we'll see how it goes. After that, we went out and did some contacting and then had dinner with a really cool newly married couple (he's from Germany, she's Danish) and had a really good time. After the appointment, we drove to Allerød for splits.

Friday was spent in Allerød... Ældste Holladay and I got up and went on our run, though this time we ran up and around Frederiksborg slot and back. I had another one of those "holy cow I'm in Europe" moments... I ran by the castle the first time towards the gardens and was pretty much hating life because... well running really kinda stinks. But on the way back I looked up and was like... wow... this building is older than my country... and I'm in Europe... running through gardens... it was weird how quick I took that for granted... anyway, we spent most of the day contacting and doing weekly planning with them. I got to work with Ældste Van Nevel from Tennessee and HE is an incredible missionary. He is a convert to the church, read almost the entire Book of Mormon before he even met the missionaries... incredible missionary... I wanna be like him when I grow up. Anyway, we had some really cool experiences with them, were able to teach some people around Frederiksborg (the castle with the really pretty gardens behind it... it's in their area...) which was really great.

Saturday we went to play basketball with a new Investigator named William who we actually need to call today. He was interested in playing basketball at the church with us. It ended up just being the three of us and the APs which made for an intense game. We were pretty dang tired after about an hour. I am terrible at basketball. I can get the ball to bounce of the backboard... but the whole getting in the net thing is still a challenge. Thankfully I was the tallest there so I was able to be of SOME use. Ældste Wirig and I won against the other three... he can shoot really well. After that, we went and taught Luz and it went well... she's becoming more and more open. We'll see where it goes... after that we had an eating appointment with Jytte (the really sweet older lady from Frederiksberg) along with the APs, Office Elders and Sisters, but we ended up not going because that was a time that Stanley and Irene said they could meet and we hadn't met with them in a while. We showed up at their house and they were like "We just got home and we're really tired... today just isn't a good day. Maybe you could call and set up a different day?" We tried very hard not be irritated. Jytte makes really good food... we had to weekly plan that night so we went home, at a really quick dinner, planned and made Zucchini bread...

On Sunday we went to church and Peter came! The ward did a really good job of welcoming him. Frederiksberg got a new Bishop and I REALLY like him. As soon as the meeting was over he was on his feet, down the stairs, and introduced himself to Peter and talked with him a bit. It was awesome. He left after guest class... I think he was embarrassed that he didn't have on nicer clothes. I'm going to give him one of my white shirts and a tie... hopefully he won't be embarrassed next time. After that, we had an appointment with a really sweet older woman named Lilian. We don't quite know what's happened to her, but she is pretty weak and can't walk or stand without help. We helped her with some little things around her apartment which she was SO happy about. She kept thanking us over and over again. We talked with her for a bit and then read to her all of Alma 32 and talked about faith. She really liked it and is REALLY believing. She would love to come to church but can't without help... we're are trying to find her a ride. She also smokes REALLY heavily... like more so than a normal Dane. I think I'm going to come home with the lungs of an American smoker. After her we came home and ate lunch, then headed out to contact on Rådhusepladsen. We, of course, ran into some Mormon tourists, but they weren't even obnoxious- there is hope! Surprisingly there weren't too many people out... after that we got to eat dinner with familien Bång who had a son just get back from his mission. We talked a lot about missions, etc. We also got to know Mads Frost (I really like that name... Mads... pronouncing it like Mass is the closest way to explain it...) who's a YA that we haven't gotten to know very well, so that was cool. After that, we took numbers and then went to bed. And now it's today... and it's raining. Hard. Autumn is OFFICIALLY here which I'm really excited for. Danish Falls are what you see on computer wallpapers and postcards. SO. GORGEOUS. Simpelt hen SÅ smukt! Life is really good.

I hope the cruise was good and that you didn't get too sunburned or become too busy while on this really unexciting vacation that you were dreading :). I want pictures if any were taken... documenting these things is super important. And I hope Grandma and Grandpa had a good time staying at the house! Love and miss you all! Talk to you in a week!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

Danmark seems like home now

2010-09-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

So this week I actually have my planner with me, and I still feel super confused as to where on earth the week has gone. Last Monday, P-Day went by super quick. Since we wear our regular missionary clothes on P-day, we keep getting stopped by Mormons on vacation who want to talk FOREVER (no idea why we always run into them on our P-day... and not on days when we would actually LIKE to talk to them...) and then we had FHE after wards. Sean came to that and it went really well.

Tuesday we had specialized training... the training that I got when I was on Jylland in Sønderborg, but this time it was for the whole mission. AND! I had a package waiting for me there from Aunt Angie! THANK YOU SO MUCH! It was so good! And we've been getting a lot of use out of the Magic 8 ball :). President saw it and asked what it was. We explained and he looked very confused and was like, "Oh! Like a Liahona!" I don't think he understands that whole... American magic 8 ball thing. But thank you so much!

We ended up leaving the training a little early because we had an appointment with Luz. We are kind of stuck with her. She believes in the Book of Mormon but believes that there is good in all churches and that as long as you belong to a church, you're doing okay and that God will work it all out in the end. Frustrating... she just doesn't see a need for some reason. We had an eating appointment with the Toft family who had three of the cutest little kids I have ever seen in my entire life. I am now seriously considering marrying a Scandinavian...

Wednesday we had some stuff to take care of and then we taught Peter (who's baptismal date now has to be moved since he didn't come to church Sunday...) and also taught Sean. We had a very interesting appointment with him. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and I think he accepts it. Now he just has a problem with a living prophet... we're working on it. We're going to show him a talk from conference next time. Later that night, we taught Luz and her friend Julia, English and then taught a little bit about the restoration, the Book of Mormon, etc. since Julia was new and we figured it would be good for Luz. Luz is also brilliant... she is studying genetics here... and is also teaching me Spanish... or at least trying. I can't mimic a Spanish accent though... I throw all my r's into my throat now. It's hard to make them roll... Elder Holladay got told that we are losing our flawless American accents (who knew that there was one of those...). Granted he was a German and married to a Dane... not all of us talk like Dan Rather...

Thursday was spent contacting, someone burned us, and then we had to hang up posters for the center around the different dorms. They've done it in the past and had some success... so we're hoping for that again. We also had an eating appointment that night, but they forgot and felt really bad, so they took us to a Shawarma place (even though we told them it was no big deal...). They paid for us to park but didn't tell us how long we had. They left because they had to catch a temple session. We finished eating and heading out of the building. As we were walking out, we walked past the P-Vagt (parking watch??? people) who were arguing with someone about whether or not he needed a ticket, got in the car and started to back out right as they walked towards the car. They just waved and smiled and moved on to the next car. We looked down at our ticket... it had expired like 20 minutes before. Someone was watching out for us. We were ECSTATIC! We beat the P-Vagt guys... Friday we went on splits in Roskilde. We are supposed to go on splits with all the DLs in our Zone as well as the trainers once a month. It was really pretty and for once, running was ALMOST (I'm not quite to the Alexa and Haylee stage yet. Running is NOT fun... I keep having to convince myself it's healthy...) enjoyable as we ran along the coast of the fjord. Splits were good.

We came back Saturday morning, had an appointment with Prince and Elizabeth (who we think and HOPE are married...). They hadn't read yet since the last appointment so we read with them. We taught the Plan of Salvation. Prince seems to accept it no problem, Elizabeth had some issues we talked about. We'll see how it goes next time. We had an appointment with Peter, but he burned us. We called him and he apologized. He said he'd come to church yesterday and we set a time to meet him at the 9:30 to pick him up. We met with Stanley on Saturday too (Irene wasn't there with him... bummer...) and we spent the whole lesson talking about the Book of Mormon. He is really sincere and wants to know if it's all true. We're excited for him. We also weekly planned and did some contacting.

Sunday, we went on splits with the office elders because we were hoping to have investigators in both Frederiksberg and Søborg. Frederiksberg is convinced that I am back. Of the four Sundays I have had in this area, I've gone to Søborg (the ward we are supposed to go to) once, and Frederiksberg the other three. Ældste Johnson and I went to Frederiksberg and Ældste Pearson og Ældste Holladay went to Søborg. No one showed up in either ward. Bummer.
We haven't been able to teach Tanja yet this week. She said she was going on a short vacation to her Grandma's over the weekend, but to call her Sunday and that if she didn't answer, she'd call us back today. Hope so!

So that's been the week. Busy, but not much to report. Sorry it's kinda boring this week. We did however get a potential release date for Ældste Holladay and I. It's looking like it will be at or around March 21. President doesn't want gaps between missionaries leaving and new missionaries coming in (understandable) and if we stayed... they'd have to either open up a new area and shut it down when we left... or create two threesomes. I dunno what's going to happen...I honestly can't believe it's 6 months away. September 11th was our year and a half mark and we kinda forgot about it until the night of. It was really strange. We both kind of realized that Danmark seems like home now. We don't feel foreign. Going back is just a really strange feeling... good thing we don't have to think about it much more.

Well... I think that's about everything. School is in full swing... also very weird. Everyone is so old. Did we get first day of school pictures? Life is busy, but really good! I love being a missionary. Love and miss you all. Talk to you in a week!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

The Lord has really blessed us

2010-09-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hey Family!

Once again it's Monday... and I just got a new planner and I can't remember everything that went down last week, so this is going to be stream of consciousness... I'll apologize now.

First off, yesterday was REALLY awesome! Not only did I get a letter from Grandma Layton AND Grandma Pullan (those are the BEST ones) but we also had our investigators Tanja AND Sean come to church. Fast and testimony meeting went really well (thank goodness... no one said a single crazy thing...) and then guest-class happened. I was not aware that Sean was still at church, I thought he left, so all of our focus went to Tanja. We taught her ourselves instead of going to the guest class... which is where Sean went, I wish I would have known he had stayed. The lesson with Tanja was okay... we wanted to teach her a lot of stuff but we didn't have very much time so the lesson ended up moving pretty quick and was a little all over the place... we're going to have to re-teach her some stuff. But she LOVED church. Unfortunately, she can't meet at all this week so we will have to wait until next week to meet with her. SEAN, however, when we asked how guest class was (shocked that he was still there) said that it was interesting and that they had talked about the end of the world. Yikes. We pressed for more details and all he said was that it was interesting. So... I ran over to the APs who were shaking their heads. Basically... the teacher who will remain nameless was talking about the 2nd Coming and how he had worked it out to be something like April 6, 2014. Our investigator raised his hand and said something along the lines of "Isn't it supposed to be kinda like a secret. Like... nobody really knows when it's going to be. I believe that when he comes, most of us won't really be expecting it..." I didn't get to hear the teachers response. Anyway... at the end of the lesson he committed everyone to work out their own date. I could have killed him. So now, Sean thinks that we're a little interesting... not that he didn't think that before, but now he thinks it even more so. He is planning on coming to FHE tonight and then we are going to teach him after wards... so we'll hope he comes and we'll clear a few things up.

ALSO. Speaking of crazies... I am TERRIFIED to come home. Any Americans that we run into over here are loud and OBNOXIOUS! Either the Danes have brain washed me or I have run into every Ellen Degeneres/Judy Judy act alike that is visiting Denmark. Yesterday we were out contacting on Rådhuseplads and a lady came up to us and started talking to us and you could IMMEDIATELY tell she was from Utah... usually the accent doesn't bother me at all, but hers was AWFUL. We asked if she was a member and she looked at us incredulously as if it was OBVIOUS that she was. THEN... at the same time out of the corner of my eye, I see this flash and look to my left. This guy with short shorts, a long sleeve black polo and a white-wash jeans jacket tied around his neck has just taken our picture. He comes up laughing and in another really weird accent tells us (VERY loudly, I might add) "I'm sorry! I just HAD to get a picture of you too here! You Mormons are EVERYWHERE... especially you Missionaries... you're just like the plague! Hhahahaha..." and starts cracking up and then smacks me on the arm as if I should laugh too. Not. Funny. At this point, I'd like to point out that people are walking by, STARING at this man... and us. Not that we aren't use to being stared at all the time, but this was a different kind of staring... this was more like, loathing. And I was feeling it to. We all wanted this man to leave... immediately. Too bad for us he would NOT shut up. He kept going on and on talking about how he was a devoted Catholic but doesn't practice it anymore and how he had lived ALL over the place and he now lived in Utah and how they keep trying to convert him and how they are nice but crazy and how he's touring for three months (at this point Utah lady doesn't have any fake laughs left... so she politely excuses herself), etc. This conversation lasted for at least a half-hour. I thought he would never leave... but before he did, he needed one more picture. I hope his camera gets stolen. I think the Europeans have brain washed me with their social norms... and that guy yesterday was trampling ALL over them. It was disgusting.

Lets see... what else happened. This week we were able to do more contacting and finding we didn't teach a ton, but we've got some really good potential investigators. The Lord has really blessed us. The other day I got a phone call from a private number and it's an African... and I could have sworn it was James Earl Jones on the other end with a VERY heavy accent. He sounded angry and I couldn't understand a word he was saying. I talked to three people in the course of this conversation. One of them... or one of their friends knew the missionaries from Ghana and wanted to be baptized. They were too busy to be taught, but this friend was interested. So... we call him, he tells us to meet him in Nørreport. We head over there... call him. A woman answers this time and says we are in the wrong spot... we have to take a bus somewhere else back to Nørrebro. We do that... they tell us to wait by a Netto and they'll meet us. We wait there for 45 minutes... call them... he says he's on his way... wait there for another 20 minutes (at this point we have passed out all of our cards, brochures, everything...) call him again, he says he just left the apartment and is on his way...we wait another 10... finally he calls us and is across the street. It was a funny day... anyway, we ended up meeting with Peter (that's his name) and ended up setting a baptismal date with him. After we finish teaching him we get up to leave and there are 3 other Africans sitting behind us who start asking questions, want to learn more, etc. None of them had ways to be contacted, we're just going to meet them at this park later this week. We'll see...

Congratulations Chelsie! And yes... I wouldn't say I remember Michael Bolton... I know who he is and some stuff he sings. He has kind of a funky voice... I actually hadn't heard about the beer and champagne being discovered off the coast of Denmark. You'd think that'd be bigger news here... then again we don't really see much of it so maybe it has been talked about. I know that they've been having some scandals in the government here. Sad. I am just finishing up Mormon and can't help but feel SO sad. I really hope that things don't get that bad while I'm alive... if they do... I may buy an Island and move my family and friends there and we'll just block out the world. Elder Holladay pointed out that no one in the world is wicked enough to be eating each others' flesh yet... so that's good. If it's starts happening though... I'm buying that island.

I can't believe school is beginning... For the past week or so I've really wanted it to be Christmas, but then it hit Ældste Holladay and I that... when Christmas hits... at least December, we'll only have about 3 months left. Scary. I still haven't figured things out as to school and coming home and all that jazz. We might not actually be allowed to extend. Whatever... I'll worry about it when the office calls me. Weird... I've only been on their end of things...

Things are really good. I love it here and am really happy with the way life is right now... I'd be okay if it just froze. The gospel is such a huge blessing and I come to realize that more and more everyday. I couldn't live without it. It's so simple- it literally is the answer for everything. We just have to find the answer and then actually LIVE it. I've got to work on that last part. The church is true, it changes lives, and I love being a part of it. I love and miss you all and will talk to you in a week!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

StuCo...all over again.

2010-09-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

Good Morning!!!

I am thinking that this is probably the earliest a few of you have gotten up in a very long time :). (School and seminary started this week)

This week has been insane. And not like, "we baptized 12 people" insane, I mean like, "I thought I left student council 2 years ago" insane. But, once again, for some reason, in a very sick way, I kinda love it... like... a lot.

Last Monday didn't actually turn out to be much of a P-day. We had a meeting with President right afterward and he had quite a few tasks for us to work on, some of which still aren't done. We had a few errands to run, and we were thinking we would spread the hours that we lost throughout the rest of the week... didn't really happen. Anyway, that night we taught a Lady named Luz who is from Nicaragua (I am totally back in Copenhagen... I haven't taught this much in English in a while...) and she is doing well. She is very believing and very active in her church. She is here temporarily on an exchange program... I don't actually know when she is going back. She is really cool and helped us with international night... I'll explain in a sec. We then had FHE Monday night and it went really well... lots of people came, I saw lots of familiar faces, we had a good time... it was a success (though we are really trying to get more people to come... especially those that are less-active).

Tuesday we had some tasks from President to work on and had a relatively normal day.

Wednesday we spent some time trying to get up some posters advertising for the center (English classes, FHE, International Night, etc.) and had a few appointments and then some language lessons at the center after wards. We went in to take numbers.

Thursday we put up more fliers, had a few more appointments, taught some cool people, had an eating appointment and came home and called about 100 or so people, trying to get as many people to International Night... which was Friday.

Friday... was international night... and it was crazy. It was really fun, but I seriously had StuCo flashbacks ALL. DAY. LONG. We had a coordination meeting with the mission leader over the center (actually... it's a committee) we ate lunch and then were supposed to meet Luz at 12:30 to go shopping for the stuff that she needed to make her food (we were celebrating Nicaragua that night and she was REALLY excited and offered to make food, make a presentation, do some games, etc.) but she called and said she couldn't shop with us until 2. We had an appointment at three, so that didn't work. So we called and changed it so we could meet with our appointment earlier. Flew across town (they are tearing up ALL the streets in Copenhagen so everything is a mess and it takes us hours to get anywhere) met with him, flew back to the center and started shopping. We were thinking this would take maybe an hour... an hour and a half tops. Ha. We went to five different stores all over Copenhagen and it ended up taking over two hours to get everything she needed for her food. Traffic was insane, it was Friday at rush hour, bikes were all over the place because their Gay Pride Fest thing had been going a few days prior and people were still here from that. Anyway, we get back to the center at like 5:30ish, she says it takes her two hours to cook the food... people are going to be showing up at 7. I pray. She sends us back to the store, no joke, 4 times, to get things because the things she got aren't working, we are setting up chairs and tables and getting things ready for people to come, people start coming in at about 7, but it's not many. I'm very worried. 7:30 rolls around and many more people come. The food is delicious, many people told us that they came because we called and invited them (meaning that the UV (young adults) here need to call from now on... especially if all it takes to get less-actives there is to invite them). Everyone has a really great time. The activity turns out to be a success and we have some really good interaction with less-actives.

Saturday, Pauline has us come over for breakfast. We come home, do a really quick study and then begin working on our zone reports (which aren't done... that's our project for tomorrow) we have a few appointments, Jytte has us over for dinner, and we get to contact for a little bit after wards (which was nice).

Sunday we go to church in Frederiksberg hoping we will have at least 3 people show up. Not one of them comes (bummer) so we go back over to Søborg for the last two meetings of church. It was really weird being in Frederiksberg again and it threw more than one person through a loop seeing me there. It was nice to see them again and talk with them a little bit. After church we taught Tanja (the lady we found last Sunday) and it went REALLY well. She wants to know if it's true. She asked Heavenly Father to let her know if this Mormon faith is true and for her or not. She had already read 15 chapters in the Book of Mormon, had questions, really wants to learn things and find out things for herself. She's awesome. Unfortunately, she is also VERY busy throughout the week and can only meet on weekends as of now. She said she is planning on coming to church... so we are going to Frederiksberg again next week. We came home and ate a quick lunch while doing Zone Reports, had a meeting for the Center with all the head in charge people and then they had Young Adult sacrament meeting after wards which was really good. We have really good young adults.

After that, we drove the Brobergs home because the buses here are AWFUL on Sundays and the Larsens said they needed us to pick something up. Turns out that Sister Larsen had made me banana creme pie (apparently she had promised to make it for me when I was in the office and she had forgotten and she said she felt awful about it... I love them so much. I call 'em both mom and dad) and she had us all stay and eat... but we had to hurry (and I felt so bad about it) because it was numbers night so we had to run back to the office and get everyone's reports for the week. We finished and came back home... went to bed. And now it's P-Day. I have no idea what we are going to do... but it IS going to be a P-Day.

So... that's what the last week was :). Life is good and I'm loving every minute of it. We have some AWESOME investigators that we got this week (we got 4) and we're really excited about that. This week we have Mission Council and FHE so things should be less crazy. And yes... P-days we have to wear our regular missionary clothes. Unless we are playing sports or something that requires other clothes... and then missionary clothes are supposed to come back on. He's whipping us in to shape! :)

Sorry... I typed this REALLY quick and I'm sure it's way boring and full of mistakes. I loved that story that you shared mom! It has a really good message to it. I especially like the part about how after they accepted God's will, the realization of the blessing came. I don't know why, but this past week I have really realized how, well... awful the world is getting. But at the same time, I've realized how beautiful the world and the people inside of it are. If we could just get them to see the light, life would be SO much better for thousands, probably even millions of people. I guess that's why we're out here, ik'?

I can't believe that school has started... it seems like you were just starting summer! I had to laugh at the Christmas music remark... I've turned on Christmas music a couple times this week because it's been not only cool, but cold for the past few mornings. Ældste Holladay probably thinks our family is insane. I turned on a David Lanz Christmas album... not too Christmas-y, but just enough. He told me it was too early. I said no it wasn't... that there are DEGREEs of Christmas music. I explained to him how it all works in the family. If we come home in July and Christmas music is playing. Don't bother mom. Something happened that day and she is not happy. (Christmas music makes me happy!) Fall... Jon Schmidt, David Lanz, Mannheim Steamroller... all acceptable. Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby however, are strictly off limits. November marks the beginning of the Christmas Music Fast. For 30 days, we suffer through everyday, wrestling Christmas CD's out of each others' hands and accusing others of breaking the fast (even though we all know we all have done it... we saw the Amy Grant CD in mom's car!). And then thanksgiving comes. We are Thankful and happy... November is over. And then BAM! We come home, Christmas music radio stations are programmed in, decorations go up, and we lose track of popular culture med hensyn til music for a months time. Then January comes... a very dark month (except for the 15th of course...that's what gets us out of depression) and then Christmas music sneaks in every once in a while until we do it all again. If my future wife is reading this... this is how it will work. Sorry.

Anyway... it's becoming Christmas music season... and I'm excited... and Ældste Holladay will get over it. Life is really good, I love being a missionary and wouldn't be anywhere else. Have a WONDERFUL week back and I'll talk to you in a week!

Love you all!
Ældste Pullan

KBH Kid

2010-08-23T17:49:00.000-07:00

I love Copenhagen.

The week had been a little bit slow, not much had happened- we had done quite a bit of contacting, some service, packing, etc. We met with most of our investigators and some of the less-actives that we've been working with and I kept finding myself walking out of those appointments with a kind of really big, gaping huge empty feeling. I found lots of things that I was going to miss etc, but I also kept telling myself it was time to leave and, to be honest, there were parts of the week where I was very much okay with leaving. I packed and found out that I have TONS of stuff (I sent a box of that stuff home... hopefully you get it in about a week), and headed to the train station for our 6 hour journey back to Copenhagen. We switched in Fredericia (the very edge of Jylland... right next to Fyn) and Ældste Holladay and I are back! :) When we pulled into Hoved B... actually before we pulled into Hoved B and especially on the way home, it felt like I had come home... I don't know how to explain it. When I left Copenhagen almost 5 months ago, I was very ready for something new. The something new was good, but I think that I will forever be a KBH Kid.

That was Saturday night at about 9:45. Sunday, we got up, went to Church in Søborg (different than the ward I was in before... I was in Frederiksberg before) which was great (met two Germans and a Ukrainian), came home, ate lunch, unpacked, weekly planned, got acquainted with the investigators, etc. went out and worked for about an hour and ran across Tanya and Benjamin. We were actually out doing some visits and instead of coming across the Rune we were looking for, we came across a Rune that used to live in a different apartment now occupied by Tanya and Benjamin. They were really cool, very open to the Book of Mormon and very religious... at least believing in God. Tanya was the most interested. We taught them on the doorstep for about an hour. We're hoping to meet with her on Saturday.

After that, we went to the office at 8:30 for numbers (reports of the zones numbers every week... we forgot to eat dinner...) and then got back to the apartment at about 9:45ish. So... it was a busy day and I still don't know much more about our investigators. Give me a week. :) We have Family Home Evening tonight at the CES Center. Basically, they use to unify and get all the young adults together so they can have some support and just a good atmosphere. We do family home evenings on Mondays, language classes on Wednesdays, and then once a month on Fridays, we do an International Night. It's like a big party where we celebrate a certain culture (it's very diverse, the people we have as members and who come to the center) so we decorate and make cultural food, etc. It kind of feels like StuCo all over again... which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's really great too because it's an awesome missionary tool... at least it can be if those WE invite actually come to the center, but especially if the Young Adults bring their friends who come to find out that we really are normal people, hear parts of the gospel during the lessons at Family Home Evenings, and then hopefully one day get get baptized. The Brobergs serve in the center so I will get to work closely with them, which I am also really excited about.

Sorry that this letter is kinda short... it was kind of an anti-climactic week in Sønderborg and I've been here a little over 36 hours... we're working on that. Life is good. This is going to be a really fun time I think, Ældste Holladay and I have been laughing since the train ride here, so life is good. I have no idea how long this thing is going to last... we'll take it a transfer at a time... I really hope that we can make some changes in people's lives and get to know the area really well.

And thank you everyone for the letters while you were at the cabin! It was so fun to hear from all of you! I love and miss you all. I think of you often and you are in my prayers.

Talk to you in a week!
Love, Ældste Pullan

I am REALLY going to miss them

2010-08-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

Hi.

So, I really and truly honestly have NO idea how it's Monday again. It seems like forever ago that I wrote last, but at the same time... it doesn't seem like I've done a whole ton since. Monday we had P-day and then caught a bus to Kolding, it came late so we missed our train and took another train into Fredericia. I FEEL SO BAD FOR ÆLDSTE KOOP! I have never spent so much time on buses and trains in my life as I have these past three weeks... great start for him. Anyway, in Fredericia, he met Ældste Andersen and they headed back to Sønderborg... late... because they had to miss their train because I accidentally took the phone (which is our license to live here...) so they had to come back and get that. Oops. The training was awesome. There weren't any huge revelations or huge changes, but just very practical, very down to earth, back to the basics advice. Things that we can use every day. A lot of it was reminders of things that they had taught us in the MTC. I think the biggest thing that they realized (they being... well I don't know... the MTC people who notice things I guess) that missionaries would look at PMG and get a little overwhelmed... not really know where to start, how to begin teaching, etc. Before we knew what we needed to do, we all were fiddling around, trying to figure out the best way to begin... this told us how, finally helped connect the dots. Training was a lot of role playing, a lot of training on how to ask questions, on being bold, etc. We have never really done role playing in the mission before. Before, we focused a lot on the spiritual side of things but we lacked a lot of the skills to actually put it all to use. Not anymore- or at least we're finally addressing that. I am SO excited to see the changes that the mission is going through... President Andersen is awesome! We talked with him a lot about tons of different things, but we got on the subject of slang. Keep in mind that this man could be an apostle. He acts a lot like... Elder Packard actually. Very quiet, speaks clearly and slowly (very un-Danish), but very firm and is funny when he wants to be. Anyway, we asked him about funny Danish sayings etc. He told us a few but said that he wasn't the best person to be asking. He then asked for English slang and then began to use them throughout the training sometimes. I honestly have no idea why I am telling you this because you had to be there, but it was hilarious. Every once in a while, in the training, he'd break into English and say something like "everyone down with that?" or "this is pretty tight, ik'?" Really funny... moving on...

We trained for the first half of the day and worked for the other half. It was the leaderships of the mission that went (DLs, ZLs, APs and those that are training). I worked in Århus the first night, Horsens the second night, Fredericia the third night, and then headed home Friday. Ældste Robinson and I were on splits for a good part of it which was really fun... it was also really fun to be able to be with the other Elders and talk with them and work with them. I love this mission. We were all pretty anxious to get home and try out some new things... hopefully get some things moving. We met Ældster Andersen and Koop in Kolding and went to grab some quick lunch before we caught the train back. We had just sat down to get some food when the phone rings. It's President. I walk outside, answer and we talk for a bit- and then he asked me to be a Zone Leader on Sjælland. I was literally shocked. I have only been training for 3ish weeks... and a good chunk of that was spent either away or in a different area on splits. I didn't really know what to think. I am really excited- really, really, ganske excited. I'll be back in København, I'll be going to Søborg, the biggest ward in Scandinavia, I'll be working at the CES center for quite a bit of the time, working with the young adults and hopefully getting involved and making some changes over there, I'll get to work closer with President which will be nice, I'll get to be in København, I'll be able to speak Danish again... None of this Sønderjysk stuff, I'll be in København. HOWEVER, yesterday was my last Sunday in the ward and I am REALLY going to miss them. SO much. I love this branch here. I love the members, I love the kids, I love the family feel it has... you just don't get that in bigger wards. I also am REALLY going to miss the people we work with so closely (some more than others... not gonna lie). I've been in Sønderborg for 4 almost 5 months and I am ready for change, but at the same time... I'm really going to miss it. If you all come, we're going to Sønderborg. Anyway, the other cool part of this is that I will be companions with Ældste Holladay again, which I am really excited about. I get moved on Saturday, so I'll be writing you from good 'ol KBH on Monday.

So... after only a few short weeks, Ældste Koop and I are going to be separated... lame. He is already an incredible missionary. You can feel that he wants to be here, you can feel of his testimony, the spirit is strong when he teaches, and he has really made me want to be better. Ældste Clayton will be coming here and finishing up the training with him. You have an amazing son Brother and Sister Koop! You should be very, very proud of him!

I've been praying, asking to know what I should do for school and the rest of my life (the fact that there is life afterwards is kinda weird... it was always something that was so far away so... intangible that it is REALLY weird it's half a year away)... to be honest though, I haven't really been listening for an answer... I ask and then think about it throughout the day. For some reason, waiting until Fall has me a little worried. Summer is feeling pretty good right now... the job thing will be interesting, Ældste Pearson and Ældste Stacey will be up there at that time and we'd like to room together, I seem to have a few more things figured out if I go at that time. As for what I'll actually do when I get there, that's anybody's guess (seriously... if anyone has a suggestion, bring it on...). I do think I'm leaning more towards summer... that's not for sure yet.

I'm trying to think of anything else exciting to share... since being back we've worked a lot with Darius (I can't remember if you remember him. From Poland, baptized a while ago, has two way studly sons). Anyway, he came to church Sunday! And told everyone in the ward he would be coming EVERY Sunday. We have an appointment with him for Tuesday. I am SO excited for him! He's coming back! His son will be turning 8 in a little over half a year, so we are PRAYING that this is what will get him back. We also have been working a lot with a less-active lady named Gudrun (I talked about her last time), anyway, SHE also came to church, which we were excited about. Great Sunday to leave on...

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff... this is totally stream of consciousness in the worst way, sorry. I hope everyone is doing really well! Enjoy your last week or so of break! Talk to you in a week! Love you!

Ældste Pullan

God loves us ALL

2010-08-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

Hi.

It has been quite the week and to be honest, I am sitting here and I have no idea what to write. Things have been busy, but at the same time a little bit frustrating.

WE HAVE DONE SO MUCH SERVICE! Which in and of itself is a wonderful thing. Problem is it's the members asking us instead of home teachers or other members... we love to help, but it usually turns into a "well, since you're here, could you really quick..." or "just one last thing before you leave" and before you know it... it's been two or three hours. There is also an older lady here that we've helped for a few hours twice this week taking some things down. Anyway, her husband is now dying and she has to move and her kids are charging her to come help her pack things and she can barely get around the house to walk, much less to pick up boxes and things. She keeps texting us asking us for things, and how exactly, do you say "no" to that? I talked to her for a little bit and she broke down crying... I think she is realizing some things and it's hitting her pretty hard. I feel SO bad for her and hope things get better for her soon. I hope that after he's gone (he has a tumor in his brain) she'll be able to come back... we'll see. For now, we're helping her out, giving her hugs and support and hopefully everything will be good. She had to leave before we were done last time so she told us to just lock the door and let ourselves out. We wrote out a little note and left a Mormons Bog, hoping that wasn't too forward. She texted us (yes... she's like almost 80 and texts, how cool is that?) and told us thank you and that she would read... and then asked us for more help. So if helping her is going to bring her back, we'll do it.

I actually am feeling pretty guilty that I'm leaving for these next couple of days. We have two appointments to give help to members this week, we're helping that older woman again, and then something else we're helping with... and I'm dumping it all on Ældste Koop (who's only been here a week) and Ældste Andersen (who is Danish... but has never been here before...). Not to mention some appointments with people they haven't met, and I REALLY want to be there for some of these appointments to make sure things are all good... this 4 days thing in Århus is REALLY becoming a pain, but I hope it's worth it. Missions sure make you figure things out quick I guess...

This week we've had some really good appointments. We had some with less-actives where they were committed to come back to church (Darius and Marko) both of which didn't come because of different reasons (which is SO frustrating... we try and get the ward really excited and pumped up and welcoming and then they don't show up... so the rest of the ward is just kinda like, 'see... told ya' they wouldn't come'. We had someone very bluntly tell us that... very. annoying.) HOWEVER, Maricela (the less-active girl from Chile) DID come to church and looked SO much better. We gave her a Book of Mormon in Spanish last time and she told us on Sunday that it has helped immensely. She said it was the best medicine ever and whenever she wants to relax or feel better about things, she pulls it out and reads it. I would like to find more Maricelas. That made Sunday a good day :). We did have one last bummer on Sunday. I don't know if you can remember Mihaela or not- anyway, we have been trying to get in touch with her since I've been here and we ran into her on the strand yesterday. We asked her how things we going and when we could meet... she told us "actually... I'm not so much interested anymore. My priest and I talked and I know what you are all about now. I appreciate you're work so much, but it's not what I'm looking for." I really wanted to ask what it was they had talked about... but for some reason I didn't. I REALLY hope we run into her again when she isn't with friends and see what went down. I would think it would be common sense to think that, if you wanted to learn more about a religion, to talk to someone who's a member, not your priest that you would be leaving if you were to find out that those Mormons might actually have something... probably I won't say that if we see her again.

WE DID however, get to go to a different church on Saturday. We swung by to meet with Sawsay and his friends but Sawsay wasn't feeling so well (and he didn't show up for our appointment on Sunday either...) so we went to his friend Nandar's house and asked him if we could talk with him and he said no because he was on his way to church... he paused and asked, "Do you both wanna come?" We thought... why not? He said services started at 17, by this point it was 17:30 so we figured... should be done by at the MOST a quarter after... so we said sure. It was an international worship service, as they called it. There were mostly Africans there, but from everywhere- Uganda, Nepal, Ghana... everywhere. It was so cool. They would speak in English and then it was translated into Danish, French, and Swahili. They did a lot of singing and dancing which was kinda cool, but it was also interesting that when they got to the preaching part (some of the Africans taught... but also a Dane got up and taught too...), when they were talking about true things (and to be fair... most of it was true), the spirit was definitely there, and I felt it too. The meeting went on for quite some time (it ended at 7 at night) and before that, there came a time that they asked us all to pray. I said a little prayer of thanksgiving and a little check to make sure it was okay for us to be there for this hour (good news... it was okay for us to be there) and finished. I looked around and was in awe- it was amazing to look around and see all of these beautiful people from everywhere, people of different beliefs, people wearing regular clothes, people wearing traditional African clothing and head dress, and realize that we really all are God's children; we really all are praying to the same God and he loves and helps and blesses all of us. We as Mormons don't have that monopoly on goodness... God is good to all no matter where they live, how they worship, what they look like, or what language they speak. That hit me really hard and I immediately felt a deep love for them all. It turned out to be a really good thing we came too because there was an African family we've been trying to get a hold of and couldn't, and they actually came to the service, so we got to talk with them. After the service, EVERYONE in the whole congregation came over and welcomed us, gave us handshakes, thanked us for coming... it was incredible. There was a lady who came up to Ældste Koop and told him that she had worshiped a few times in the LDS church. We are PRAYING that we run into her again. We wanted to be VERY careful and not make anyone there feel like we were treading on their turf or trying to convert the congregation so we didn't really talk to any of them about religion or anything. We are hoping that if any of them see us on the street, they'll wave or come over and say hi... hopefully start a conversation that way. They also have people from different religions teach on Saturdays... so I think it would be cool if they asked us. We'll see... it hit me again after that meeting though. Only in Denmark... if I had served elsewhere, I really don't know that I could have had that experience anywhere else.

Anyway, the rest of the week we had appointments and stayed pretty busy which was good... nothing WAY exciting to report. As far as the changes President has made... the one affecting me the most is P-days on Mondays (just for the fact it's a different day than Wednesday... no big deal) and Missionary clothes on P-Days... which is not a HUGE deal, but it was kind of nice to be able to walk down the streets with normal clothes on and not get stared at all the time. Music hasn't really been changed too much... mostly just a reminder of the rules because missionaries have become a little lax. The other one is movies... only church films, otherwise we have to call for approval and I doubt we'll get it :). I'm actually excited about this rule... the movies were nice, and there isn't anything wrong with them... it just distracts I think. I haven't heard any complaining or anything about it... I think it's all good and I think everyone else for the most part thinks that same. We're thinking it's the next step that the mission needs.

We had an appointment with Amos today but he had to move it to Wednesday... bummer I won't be here, but they've got it. We laid out a whole bunch of scriptures in the Book of Mormon and Bible that support each other and things, so we're hoping that will make him more open for it. Pauline too called us and gave a TON of scriptures from the Bible to be able to support that Book of Mormon as well as the fact that the Sabbath doesn't have to be on a Saturday (and she used to be 7th day Adventist... so she knows her stuff which we are SO thankful for). As far as Sawsay and Nandar and Nade Tun speaking anything else, they said they didn't... just English and Burmese. I actually had no idea that it was close China... now I know :).

I haven't heard anything from Maggie and Lilly... I actually need to e-mail them and get their address. I promised Maggie I would send her the Book of Mormon stories book with the pictures and everything. It really was sad to see them go... but I really do think I'll see them again someday. Don't know how or when... but I think I will.

Life is good, the next four days should be interesting. I'll take lots of notes and let you know what to teach your friends :). Love and miss you all, talk to you in a week!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

Good but weird

2010-08-05T12:58:00.000-07:00

Heja,

No. I cannot, in fact, believe that it is August. And I also cannot believe how OLD everyone looks in those pictures that you sent. I have GORGEOUS sisters... and a WAY studly brother. How did I miss the good part of gene pool? I guess as the first child I was just an experiment anyway... glad Mom and Dad finally got things figured out :).

The past couple of days have been REALLY good and really kind of weird all at the same time. Weird because, on Monday, Elder Jensen and his family drove down to Sønderborg to see some sites and then took us out to lunch... and he will soon be on an airplane headed for home. Yesterday, we had zone konference (which was also really good) and Sister Reed and Elder Robinson and Sister Robson and Elder Brown ALL bore their final goodbye testimonies because they are leaving in two weeks and 4 weeks respectively. I can't believe that it's here? We just got here? How is that Reed and Robson are leaving? So that was very strange... very, very strange. The Larsens are also going home which I am really sad about. They have been a huge strength to me while being here and I loved being able to serve with them in the office for 7 months. I'm sad to see them go, but they will be some of the FIRST people I visit when the time comes... I've still got the Jepson's for a little while longer.

Zone Konference was really good. President made some big changes that are sure to stir things up. The change that affects you is that P-Days are going to be on Mondays (no idea why...) so I will be writing on Mondays from now on (sorry... I know Sundays are like, the most UNbusy day for our family... ha). He made some changes that I think many aren't too happy about, but are great changes for the mission in general and are the things that will get us up to the next level. The church has also revamped the way we teach. They have a new program out the is supposed to simplify things even more (like how they went from the discussions to PMG... this is supposed to be on the same level). Anyway, we have P-day this coming Monday and then that night I head up to Århus for a 4 day training on the new program. They are making me leave Elder Koop... this early. He will be here with another Elder so things will still keep going, I trust him!

AAAAND......

people are FINALLY coming back from vacation! Next week marks the beginning of school (YES!) so that means everyone has to be back. We have had quite a few appointments this week and have been able to teach quite a bit on the street which has also been a nice change. We've got 3 new investigators this week already which we are also really excited about. The first one was a man named Amos who was an investigator before but was dropped a really long time ago because they didn't think he was too positive. We came by and he was waiting for us. He didn't seem very open at the beginning of the appointment- we found out why. I really hope that he had just understood the missionaries wrong, otherwise I know why everyone in Sønderborg looks at us weird- he was under the impression that we believed that the Book of Mormon fell from the sky and Joseph Smith just happened to catch it and bam... he was a prophet. We clarified. He had a lot of concerns with Joseph Smith and did our best to help him. He also didn't believe that the gospel would be taught to those who have passed on (weird thing to get hung up on, but whatever...). We had him read the scripture in Peter 4:6 and it helped, though he still seemed doubtful. We asked him to read in the Book of Mormon and he refused. I asked him, if we could show him the Book of Mormon being talked about in the Bible, would he read it? He said yes... so our work is a little bit cut out for us. We're excited though.

We also were FINALLY able to teach Sawsay, a 20-something year old from Myanmar who is here as a Refugee. We came into his apartment and were about to show him Finding Faith in Christ (he said he really wanted to see it) but he stopped us and said he had some friends who wanted to come too. He called two friends (Nandar and Nade Tun... cool names, ik'?) and they watched it and all loved it. Afterward, we talked a little about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and they needed quite a bit of explanation, but they got it and were very excited about it all, especially Nandar. They can't really READ English so we thought we'd get a Burmese Book of Mormon. Guess what? It's not available. SO, we thought we'd have them check out the church website in their language. We go to it, the only available link is to listen to General Conference in their language. We thought, "Great!" We click on the link... ALL the places that you are supposed to be able to click to listen or to read... are non-existent. Cool, eh? We were pretty bummed about that... we called the office. The only thing we could get in Burmese was a really old Joseph Smith pamphlet and a really old 70's version of Gospel Fundamentals (both of which we said ja tak to) so they are on the way. We are trying to figure out how to teach them, but they are excited and willing to listen... at least Nandar really is, so we're excited. If anyone out there knows Burmese... please translate the Book of Mormon. Pronto... like by Saturday.

We also had a cool experience yesterday. We have a less-active in the ward named Darius. He has two sons (7 and 2ish I think) and is married. He has been less-active and we don't really know why. I've been by twice with two separate companions and we haven't really gone anywhere. We haven't been able to meet with him until yesterday after zone konference. We go in and it starts off the same- we talk about everything BUT the gospel. He and his wife are having problems and are thinking about getting a divorce (which I was really sad to hear). He is doing well at work though which is good, he had some questions about databases and excel and I helped him with that a little bit... anyway, Ældste Koop started the message with him- asked him how he felt when he got converted, etc. He talked for quite a while about it and how much it meant to him. I don't quite know what happened, but for almost 45 minutes we talked with him, shared scriptures (I have NEVER had scriptures come to my mind so clearly) answered questions and then invited him back. The spirit was SO strong. We asked him to come back and he said he would and that he would bring his son. And then, I was a little nervous, but I felt that I needed to tell him that if he really wanted his son to get baptized, if he really wanted things to get better with his family, he needed to start coming to church, reading, praying, and get active... and that if he did, things would all work out. He said he knew that and believed that and that he would. He thanked us over and over again for coming, gave us hugs... it was an incredible appointment. We are PRAYING that he comes to church Sunday and gets active again. I think he really meant it... we are going to come back once a week from now until... well for a long time and re-teach him the missionary lessons (we are hoping his son can be with us) so that he can re-learn and remember things. We hope to get this part member family to all join the church.

Tonight, we have an appointment with Præsident Eriksen (our Branch President and his wife and family) and we are going to share with him something we'd like to try. We are going to focus on missionary work for a month, have Præsident Andersen come down, give a fireside, etc. Have them fast in September for missionary work in the branch to grow, and to have them fast for experiences to share the gospel, strength to do so, and at the end of the month, have at least one person they'd like to meet with the missionaries. Members are where the new members will come from. We are really hoping it works... we're going to call it our M&Ms program (we'll give them a big bag) but its stands for Medlem Missionæring (member missionary work... hmm... it works in English too...). We hope to make it fun, but also make it serious. We want to present it to the whole ward and then go and visit most of the families and offer the challenge personally before next month. We'll see how it goes...

We still haven't been able to meet with quite a few people, but we FINALLY got a hold of Feng and have an appointment with him tomorrow. Tonight we have an appointment with Maricela (the less-active (I typed that with a k at first... this is going to be a problem for a while I think)) and her "not-boyfriend" named Brian. We are hoping we can get her back and get him interested. We have a new investigator from China named Yina who called to us from a block away while we were out contacting and asked us where the nearest grocery store was. We taught her and need to call her to get another appointment actually... gotta write that down in my planner... It really made me happy to know that we are known as good people (weird, but good people) who are willing to help.

Uhm... I'm sure I'm forgetting things but it's just been really good. Zone Konference was good and weird. Weird that people are going home, exciting because a new group of INCREDIBLE missionaries are here... I guess it was just weird because it finally hit me that I am one of the old ones now... I don't feel like it, but I am. After this month, I only have four missionaries ahead of me and Ældste Holladay. So strange. Weird that I have to figure out what I'm going to do with school... it was a really good one because we really focused on simplifying our teaching. Trying to get DANES to see why they need Christ. I LOVE Præsident Andersen. He is a Dane and he knows how they think. We had a little role play with him where he was "contacted" by several people and he answered like a Dane! EXACTLY! With all the answers that they give. It was actually pretty funny... he did a really good job of it. But he is beginning to train us on how to break the barrier, how to invite the spirit. Obviously it's the spirit that converts... but we have to get them to feel it which is REALLY hard to do when they only let you get a few words in and then walk away.

Things are good. Training is going well. Elder Koop is a awesome missionary- he had a pretty rough start. He luggage got lost, we had to go on splits. I think for his first week in the land he only slept in his own bed twice. Things are back to normal now... until Monday. I am way impressed at his Danish. I don't remember being anywhere NEAR as fluent as he and his entire group are... everyone compliments him on how good it is for only being here a week. They have a training program that we are supposed to do and it is laid out by week with different things we need to do. Teach each other, role play a contact, read a certain talk, etc and we are supposed to check things off as we go. It feels like Duty to God. I had to laugh... if only mom could see this. Pay back.

Anyway, things are good, I know I'm forgetting stuff. Those pictures make me smile. I miss you guys so much :).

Love you all, and talk to you Monday!
Ældste Pullan

Elder Koop

2010-07-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

I'm HOME!!! Almost...

We are currently writing form Aabenraa because we have an appointment here in about 3 hours and our mileage is low (except kilometers... I dunno what that's called... kiloage???) and so we didn't want to drive all the way to Sønderborg and then back again.

Yes! I have my new companion. It is Elder Koop and I have to say that his first couple of days have been quite the adventure. He had an awful plane ride... they had delays, missed flights, etc. But on top of that, they lost his luggage... like, all of it. So we didn't go home last night- we had to stay at the office apartment (which was some SERIOUS deja vu). We contacted quite a bit AND! (This is totally going on a rant for a second...) but the thought came to mind to swing by Jonas'. I don't know if you remember him or not. The musician who was having a rough time, came to church a couple of times, then sorta disappeared for a while. Anyway, the office Elders now (Elders Pearson and Johnson) have tried dropping by a few times, calling, etc. and could never get a hold of him. Anyway, we swung by and he was there! We talked to him for about an hour about how life was, what's going on, etc. We also talked to him about prayer, to continue praying and reading, asked him to come to church, etc. It went really well and he looked 100 times better than when we last saw him... he really is pretty much back to normal. He had been in Paris for a little while and had been in a few rough spots (he didn't exactly expand on that at all) but said that he had prayed a few times and that God had helped him... which is a HUGE step because when we were teaching him, praying wasn't "his thing". So I was really happy to hear that. Anyway, the office Elders are supposed to call him and swing by on Sunday... we'll see what happens. Back to Elder Koop...

We walked into the new missionary meeting and sat down waiting for it to start... all the new missionaries were at the front of the chapel and we were at the back. Præsident Andersen began to speak a little bit, but to be honest, my heart was beating SO fast that I don't really remember what he said. Next thing I know, he announces that Ældste Koop and I would be companions, and it's been great since! Præsident invited us over to dinner with his family that night (I love that man... he and his family are so awesome. No other word to describe them) and then since they got in so late, as he was driving us back to the office, he took us along the coast and gave us quite the little car side tour of Copenhagen. Anyway, we came back to the office, everyone went to bed except Ældste Pearson and I... we had to get luggage that was being delivered at midnight. None of it was Æ. Koop's... so we got up this morning, had studies... and then Præsident arrived with just one piece of Ældste Koop's luggage. The other still isn't at the office, but will be brought to Zone Conference on Wednesday. Tomorrow will be the other half of our p-day and then that night we leave for splits in Esbjerg for a baptismal interview over there... and that will be Ældste Koop's first couple of days in Denmark. Absolutely NOTHING like what it's supposed to be. He's looks pretty tired, but is doing really well. I'm really excited to get to serve with him! I'd send pictures but these computers are ancient and... well I don't see any USB ports for the camera... so those will have to wait. Sorry :(

The weather is okay... it's been pretty hot in København the past couple of days... so we'll see how Sønderborg is... I haven't been here for twoish days. It is about the time that it should be cooling down (hallelujah!)... and in that last letter I was just joking. I dunno if I'll only have one area left... but with my track record of only being in 3 thus far... we'll see :)

Life is good... this week, unfortunately, hasn't provided for too much actual "missionary work" in our own area which is kinda frustrating, but we're hoping that once things calm down and we're back on Saturday from splits that people will be back from vacation, there will be more people to teach, etc.

Love and miss you all, we'll talk to you in a week!!!

Ældste Pullan

Called to Be a Trainer

2010-07-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

Once again, I don't have that much to report this week... sorry. Sandie dropped us. I have no idea what happened or what is going on with her. We dropped by her house last Thursday, shared President Uchtdorf's message about adversity, how to overcome it, etc (it's not just the Priesthood that gets really good talks...). She said she really liked it, learned a lot, it looked like she still was keeping all of her commitments, etc. She said she was planning on coming to church and that we could probably meet with her mom. Sunday rolls around, she doesn't show. We ask if we can come by and she responds that we can't and that she just doesn't want to meet anymore - that we will always be her brothers and that she will always believe in God and Christ, but that she needs to go her way, be alone for a while... I don't even know. We tried to get into contact to find out what on earth she is talking about and she didn't answer. SO. I sent her text basically saying that this was how she was going to be happiest and that we wish her the best and that if she ever needs something, we're here. SO. We'll see what happens there.

Almir has up and moved and isn't answering his phone... we have no idea where he has gone either. Feng was supposed to meet with us on Monday, but he wasn't there. He works up in Kolding and so we assumed he was still up there from the weekend, but we can't get a hold of him and don't know where he is at this current moment in time. And... Lilly and Maggie are also m.i.a. We saw them about a week and a half ago and haven't seen them since... and they aren't answering their phone either- we are PRAYING that they haven't left for China yet...

We did have some good things happen this week, mostly with less-actives. We are working with a lady named Sonja who is originally from Germany. She has been a member for the last 28 years, but hasn't gone to church much because she has always worked on Sunday. She has a son who she really wants to join but doesn't want to push him either. We've met with them twice and they came to church Sunday and seemed to enjoy it. She wants to be temple ready and is hoping to start up her own business soon so that she won't have to work on Sundays. We get to meet with them tonight which we are excited about.
There is also another less-active member named Marco who we are meeting with. He has been inactive for years... he is REALLY into the deep doctrinal stuff, reading all sorts of stuff... anyway, apparently he tried teaching some of it and got shut down by a few members of the ward and he hasn't been back since, though his wife comes almost every week. We went over and shared a message and he asked for a blessing. In it, he was told he needed to come back and that if he did all that he could, things would be back to normal within a month... I don't know what "normal" means, but it was pretty cool to be a part of it. We are really hoping he comes back.

Emily, the woman who we baptized, is doing well and staying strong. Kirsten Pedersen and her husband Aage invited Emily over with her non-member husband for dinner on Saturday, and we are really hoping that they come. We don't get to see Paw (pronounced 'pow'... he's Danish... no idea where the name came from) very often so we're hoping that this will be a good way to get to know him.

We had interviews yesterday and they made me love President and Sister Andersen even more. She comes with him to EVERYTHING. It's amazing... they talked with us all and we all had a really good time. Anyway, President has called me to be a trainer which I am super excited about... and nervous about too, on SO many different levels, but I think it will be fun and I really hope to teach someone the things that I've learned and make a difference in that respect. We also found out that we are getting a new apartment (we will see when that happens) and we are also supposed to be getting a new car soon (which we are also very okay with). This means five months in Sønderborg for me :). 2 months MTC, 5 months in Ballerup, 7 months in the office, 5 months in Sønderborg... I guess I'll just have one area left! :)

This one's a shorty! I dunno if I'll write on Wednesday or Thursday next week... I think I drive into Copenhagen to get my new companion Tuesday night, but I'm not quite sure... I'll let you know!

Love and miss you all. Take care and enjoy your summer!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

The Lord does help us

2010-07-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well my friends and family...

I am sitting here, mentally preparing myself to compose yet another letter masterpiece, filled with funny stories, wisdom I've gained over the last week, things I've done, the people I've taught... but as I sat and thought over the week, there really, unfortunately, isn't too much to report on. In my defense, a) it's only been 6 days since I last wrote, not the full 7... that extra day really does make a difference, and b) everyone is on vacation. No joke. Everyone. We had less than 20 people at church on Sunday... kids included. And everyone that we had appointments with this week, forgot we had appointments, and went on vacation... or their friends tried committing suicide.

We FINALLY were able to talk with Sandie a few days ago, over texts of course because for some reason she refuses to answer phone calls. She said she still wanted us to come by and said that she missed us coming by, so we set an appointment to come by on Sunday. We came by, she wasn't there. We dropped by a less-active who thankfully wasn't on vacation, and then came by again, still not there. She texted us while we were at the door and asked, "Was it today we had an appointment at 4 o'clock?" No... it was at 3:30 but we didn't say that, so we just said yes. She wrote back that she had just gotten a call from the hospital and that she had a friend who had tried to commit suicide and he wanted her there. So she went. I would say that that was a good excuse to not be home. She texted us for a little bit afterward, but the moment I asked if there was anything we could do for her, no answer. And she isn't answering Stacey's phone calls either. SO. We've decided that even though we have driven 1,000 km this month and only have 300 left, even though she is way the heck up in Nordborg, even though our luck with just trying to drop by people with the hope that they will be home hasn't worked out so great over the last few days, we are going to drive up to her apartment and drop by without making an appointment. Maybe we'll catch her by surprise. If she isn't there... we will sit... and wait until she gets there and figure out what on EARTH is going on. I'm not worried about whats going on with her baptismal wise anymore... mostly I'm just worried. Okay... we won't really sit outside of her apartment and wait for her to get there (that would not be normal... and we missionaries are well-known for our normality around these parts...), but we probably will spend a good chunk of the day up in Nordborg and try and catch her at home...

We've been spending quite a bit of our time contacting and knocking this week, actually that's what most of our day is spent doing. We also spend maybe an hour or two in the day driving around dropping by investigators who we can't get a hold of hoping and praying that they will be home. This week has been particularly interesting because they have had their "Ringridersfest" here... basically a full week of people doing stuff with horses and parading about the streets, bands playing (some of them very cool... some of them very not) and for a while, it was very cultural and very cool. But then it got to the point where, whenever we would go out to contact in our normal areas, they would be doing parades or shows and you can't contact in that. So we'd try to head to a different spot but find that we are surrounded on all sides by white hat-wearing, horse riding, smelly, sweaty (it has been RIDICULOUSLY hot... 98 degrees with 80% humidity... awful) people... with bands parading around behind them. And with all of this lovely heat, all of the little- or big- things those horses leave behind fermenting and producing the most lovely aroma. It's pretty pungent. At the rear of each of these parades, they have the street sweeper/sprayer trucks which are there I would assume, to pick up the mess.... mostly they just smear it and make it worse.

However, we have been able to teach a few times throughout this week... we had an interesting experience on Monday. We had about an hour left of our day after we had finished knocking not finding many people home... so we went out to contact. We were out on the gågade and there weren't many people out. There was a man walking towards us so we contacted him and began to talk. He was mildly interested (mostly in exchanging beliefs) and we sat down on a bench to talk with him some more. I'm in the middle of 2 Nephi 2, talking about the Plan of Salvation when these two girls walk down the gågade passed us yelling something. I just blanked them out and ignored them and kept teaching... that's what we usually do, which probably isn't the best thing... anyway, somewhere in my subconscious I guess I realized that Æ. Årsnes began to yell something back... I was still talking with the guy when all of a sudden, these two girls came over and started obnoxiously asking questions... all sorts. They started going through my backpack, asking what we were doing, etc. We figured they were a little drunk, but when one of them leaned down to look at what we were reading... her breathe smelled awful... like nothing I've ever smelled. It was definitely vodka... but it must have been super powered stuff. Blech... anyway... the guy ended up leaving because of these two after asking them where he could find some food. I was super bummed about it but the two girls stayed and kept talking with us. They asked a lot of questions... about EVERYTHING... and I mean everything. What were missionaries allowed to do, not to do, could we go out with them... more blunt questions. Their questions lead us all over the place, talking about the law of chastity, parts of the Plan of Salvation, how it is that I came from Vegas and never had a drink in my life, how pretty Ældste Årsnes' eyes are... anyway... one girl, who was MUCH more sober than the other asked me what our view on piercings was... she asked if she could go to the highest kingdom if she had a pierced tongue. Figuring that she might not remember what I said, I was less tactful than I normally would have been and said she would have better chances if she didn't have those types of piercings. She took it out right on the spot. "No more of this" she said and put it in her purse. Ældste Årsnes committed the other one to be chaste... she said it would be hard, but that she would try. Okay, so basically they probably won't remember it all, but it was cool to feel like we may have made just a little bit of a difference... maybe they will at least think about things or at least get more interested later in life. Who knows... it was most definitely an experience.

It has been a little bit of a slow week, but we've still seen the Lord work through us. We were out contacting when all of a sudden a person popped into my head to drop by that we hadn't dropped by in a very long time... to be honest, I had forgotten about them. We did so and they were actually home. We had probably tried 20+ times and he was home and we got an appointment for Saturday. We also were out knocking one day... Ældste Årsnes was having a bit of a rough day that day and felt like we weren't doing any good and that no one was listening, I will admit it wasn't one of the better days I've had :). Anyway, I had just opened my door to get into the car to head to a different place when a kid across the street, maybe 100 feet away was heading towards us. I saw him and the thought popped into my head, contact him. I immediately was like... why? Anyway... I told Ældste Årsnes to hop out really quick and walked over to the kid. He wasn't interested in meeting with us, but said he'd be interested in having a copy of the Book of Mormon. We were pretty excited about that. We probably won't see him ever again, but we're praying one day, he'll find that book on the shelf years from now, see the card with our website and number on it, and feel something. The Lord does help us in his work, and those small little things reminded me of it.

We do have an appointment with Rasmus and Anders tonight, we've only met with them once and it was almost a month ago. They aren't super positive, but I think they are mildly interested. We also are working with a less-active named Sonja from Germany, trying to get her to come back and get her son a testimony (he's not a member). We are ready for July to be over and for people to be back! COME ON AUGUST (sorry... I know school starts and that's depressing... but I'm looking forward to August. Next week, we have interviews... but I think that's it.

We're working to get appointments and things, but I think most of this month is going to be spent contacting and knocking, which is probably a good thing. We need to build up our investigator pool. We are heading out! Love you all! Take care of those missionaries in your area! Give them referrals, don't be afraid. Even if they are a little "weird" (that's for 'the aunts'), they are who the Lord has put in charge of your area. Trust them, and you'll be blessed.

Love,
Ældste Pullan

I forgot one thing... we had an appointment last Friday with that Serbian family and we got permission from President to Skype in Goran. (Goran is a Serbian friend of a friend. He served his mission in Salt Lake) It was an AWESOME lesson, we didn't get much of it because, while the plan was to do it in English and Serbian, they asked questions in Serbian and he answered in Serbian and since my Serbian is a little rusty, we didn't really know what was going on, so he'd pause and explain. He is so cool! I can tell he must have been an amazing missionary! And thank you so much for putting me into contact with them Sister Noorda! She (Milena... the grandmother) said that if she gets an answer, she will join the church. They are, unfortunately, now in France for a month for vacation, but we are going to try and teach with him again as soon as they get back.

Still love you all!
Ældste Pullan

I love this man

2010-07-14T13:17:00.000-07:00

Huhe...

Well... I figure I might as well just put it out there and get it over with- Sandie isn't getting baptized on Saturday... and we still don't completely understand why. Last Tuesday we had an appointment with Feng who is doing really well lately. There are still language barriers there, but we started teaching him with the scriptures. Finding chapters and people that match what he needs to hear, reading them with him, discussing them, clarifying things (for example he didn't know who the Lamb of God was, or who Moses was, etc... I never realized how confusing the scriptures can really be... I figured if it was in your language, you got it all... falsk). Anyway, so it was going really well with him and we ended up setting a baptismal date with him again which we were really, really excited about. We come out of the appointment, walk down to the car really excited and the phone beeps... I tossed it to Ældste Årsnes for some reason to check... hopefully I was doing something else and wasn't just being lazy... anyway I ask who it is and he doesn't answer. All he says is, "Oh no... this isn't good," and for some reason I knew it was from Sandie.

She told us that her mother and brothers visited and told her basically that she was going to have to choose and that they were very against her getting baptized. She told us that she knew it was all true and that they could never take that away from her, but that she couldn't be baptized. We had an appointment with her that night scheduled and asked her if we could still come, talk about her concerns, what it was her family had said, etc. She said no and that she just needed some time to think. No big. We try calling her the next day, no answer.

We go a whole week without hearing from her once. We tried to get in touch with her, even dropped by. Nothing. Finally, Æ. Stacey gets a hold of her the Saturday before fast Sunday (he was the one who found her a year ago...). She talks to her for a little bit, not very long at all, but they decide that she and all of us are going to fast for her (which we were planning on doing anyway) that she would know what was right, and that she would do, regardless of her hesitations, etc. We still haven't heard from her at this point. We go all day Sunday without hearing anything, all day Monday... finally Tuesday we get a call from Mikkel (the Elders Quorum President in our ward who helped her a lot at church, etc.) saying that he had talked to Sandie for a half-hour and that he had told her to cancel her baptism to show love for her parents (which I agree was probably the best thing), but to tell them she still planned on coming to church and keeping in contact with the missionaries to show them she was serious about this church thing (also was okay with...), THEN he tells us that she shouldn't be pressured or bothered or anything so we should refrain from calling or contacting her until he had spoken with her next week at some point and given her a blessing that she had "asked" for (which is also interesting... we haven't really talked to her much about that) and given us a call back letting us know what we should do. I have to say I was pretty dang irked, but just told him thank you and hung up. I was so frustrated with EVERYTHING! I didn't understand what her parents concerns were, she won't talk to Årsnes or I yet for some reason she will talk to everyone else but she won't tell them what her parents concerns are either- so we both just kept working and tried not to think about it.

I texted Sandie that night (because she won't answer phone calls) and basically told her that, when she wanted to talk, we'd be there; that we were praying for her and hoped that she would keep in contact with us. She texted us back the next morning and said that we both mean a lot to her and that she will definitely keep in contact with us, but that she needs to listen to her mom too. And we haven't heard from her since. SO. That is literally all that we know. We are hoping she will come to church Sunday... we haven't talked with her since she texted us... and she hasn't said anything since either. We'll wait until Sunday to try and talk to her again... so as to not be pushy, ya' know. We'll let you know what's going on with that...
Since then... the area has continued to slow down quite a bit more which has been a little rough. The past few days have been spent contacting and knocking, we haven't taught much, but we've been working hard, seeing little successes. Right now I think we're right in the middle of a build up stage again. When I got here, it was sort in that stage, but people were actually in town so we could get appointments or at least drop by. However, everyone is now everywhere else but in Sønderborg... which stinks. SO. Things could be better, but, to quote Margaret, we're keeping on, keepin' on. We had some investigators drop us this week, but the biggest problem is just trying to meet with them... everyone is on vacation!

SO. To be honest, Ældste Årsnes and I were pretty worn down by the time Wednesday rolled around for Zone Conference. We got up at 5:30 (which reminded me of those 4:30 ATECH mornings... it hurt :) and drove up to Odense for Zone Conference. We get about half-way and it hits me that I have a new mission president (as it has done quite a few times this week... the first was on Monday when we wrote President letters and I got to write mine in Danish... which I think will be cool) and I was a little nervous, but mostly excited. I walked in and saw Hannah Andersen (his daughter who served a mission in Arizona... we became pretty good friends when I served in Frederiksberg) which was fun. Anyway, they tell us DL meeting is upstairs so we head upstairs. I walk into the room after most everyone is there, he smiles, walks up to me, reaches out his hand and says, "Ældste Pullan," I grabbed his hand, and he pulls me into a hug, "Det er så godt at se dig. Tak fordi du kom. (It's so good to see you. Thanks for coming)." I don't know how to explain it but... everything that I had ever worried about with him, any misgivings, any worries, left. Completely gone. It was amazing. Our district meetings was held in Danish (which was AWESOME), he announced that zone conferences from now on, for the most part, would be in Danish, and mostly I think just calmed our fears if we had any left. He radiated with love and humility... it was amazing. I can really say that I love this man. Our zone conference was really good. Because it was in Danish, they needed someone to translate for the Ægtepars so I did that for the first session... I don't know if it was just because I had to translate so I was focusing on NOTHING else but what was being said, but the spirit was really strong.

President said something that got us all pretty excited. I think everyone was kind of feeling this down hill slope... he said that after Elder Holland had set him apart, he shook his hand and said, "President- the greatest growth and development in the church in Scandinavia lays ahead of us...". All of us were very happy to hear that, but I can PROMISE you that all of us were wondering... where are they? How come we aren't finding them? Why are things so slow? etc, but we couldn't help but believe him. The whole conference was like that... and the more and more interaction we had with him, the more and more I loved him. I am SO excited serve under him. AND! To top it off, he responded to my President's letter and was just incredibly nice. I asked him if he would be willing to come down here and do a fireside for our ward... get the members a little more motivated to do referrals, etc. And he said, "I'd love to come to Sønderborg! You just tell me when and I'll get down there right away!" And that was what our entire conference was like. He said over and over again, "After zone conferences or interviews, if I'm doing them in your area or your area is close by... if you want me to come out knocking with you, you just say when. If you want me to come teach with you, meet investigators, hold firesides (I was happy to hear that one)... anything. You just let me know." He is SO full of energy, SO excited to get things moving, and got all of us equally excited too. And his wife is absolutely incredible too... all I can say is they are both awesome, incredible, and full of energy and we are SO excited to get to know them. I really hope I get chances to know them as well as I got to know the Olausons.

Anyway, zone conference was a huge boost to all of us. It was Elder Jensen's last zone conference, which is SO weird. I can't believe that my companion of 7+ months is going home. I am REALLY going to miss him. Anyway, we worked in Odense after conference that day because we had district meeting/activity the next day (which was today) so it was neat to contact and work in a change of atmosphere. The people were so nice... though not many were out. It's football season here... everyone was in watching the game. Today we ate breakfast, had a training, played some games... mostly just relaxed. I think everyone needed it. We left Odense at about 3 and headed back for a 5 o'clock appointment (which became a 5:30 appointment because of traffic) with a less-active named Sonja (a 45 year-old lady from Germany who has been a member of the church for 28 years... but has had some rough experiences with members) and it went really well. She works on Sunday as a nurse so she usually can't get to church. We're going to work with her. She was REALLY excited for us to come and when we asked if we could come by weekly she said, "OF COURSE!" Our lessons was a weird blend between English, Danish, and German. We can't really speak it, but we can understand some of it if they speak slowly... she wants to get better at English so she asks us to talk with her in it... so we're excited to be working with her. We finished at around 6:30, were walking out and Feng called, telling us he got called into work so he couldn't come. We are teaching him on Sunday though so it wasn't THAT big of a deal... we get back into Sønderborg at about ... 7:45 (she lives in Aabenraa), grabbed some dinner... and that's about it for today. The rest of the week we've got some good appointments (finally... we're praying they hold) and still lots of places for contacting and things so we're praying we find some new people! :)

So... things are slow, but life is good. We're excited about the new President, we're excited about changing things around, and we're praying that as we work and do all that we can, the Lord will do the rest. As far as transfers, I don't have any clue what's going to happen... we'll just take it as it comes. Your guess is as good as mine :) Give Sean and the family a big hug for me! Is Doug in the MTC yet? I know he reports pretty soon doesn't he? Can I get his address? Actually... I guess I could just dear elder him... those are always the best to get... do you have the info? And Ældste Årsnes and I generally speak English... he says speaking Danish is draining, and his English is really good. I think in Denmark and Norway and Sweden, all students are required to take English courses, and most of their TV programs are ones that we watch in America but with Danish subtitles... so they hear a lot of English. It is cool though...every once in a while we hear a Disney channel show or something in Danish. The other day we were over visiting Yves (an investigator that was dropped that we've picked back up...pronounced Eve... yeah I dunno how either...) and his daughter was watching "Kim Possible" but it was all in Danish... it was pretty cool. Anyway... I gotta run. We gotta head home and plan and go to bed, we're exhausted.

Love you!
Ældste Pullan

Peanut Butter and Root Beer

2010-06-30T16:47:00.000-07:00

Hva skjera? (What's up?)

Yes, I am now fluent in Norwegian :) Are you impressed??? Actually, I was reading in Ældste Årsnes' Book of Mormon på Norsk on Monday, and though it's spelled WAY differently than Danish, it still makes sense. When they speak it, they pronounce things WAY differently and have some different words, but you can generally get the vast majority of what they are saying. SO! Ældste Årsnes is learning me some Norwegian. (and apparently we are going to have to 'learn him some English' when he gets back too.) IT IS HARD!!! When we were in the MTC, I remember wishing that THAT was what I was speaking because all of the sounds come from the front of the mouth like English, but now... I can't do it at all! Danish noises keeps coming out!

We've only been companions for a few days, but he is awesome. He's a super hard worker, super easy to teach with, easy to get a long with, and really funny. He is trying to convince me that Norway is the best country in the world, and i modsætning til det, I am in the processes of converting him to Americanism. Yesterday, we were eating lunch and I pulled out the peanut butter that you sent and asked him if he liked peanut butter. He said back something along the lines of "It's pretty good on sandwiches. I like it with honey... jam is good too. You American's put it on everything...". He said this of course as I was putting a little on a banana. He laughed at me. I told him he should try it and offered it to him. He just laughed and said, "No thanks, I actually like my peanut butter on apples. Mmmmm..." to which I said, "Oh yeah... that is really good." And he looked at me with a look of total shock and asked incredulously, "You put peanut butter on your apples? That's disgusting! I was only joking..." Okay maybe you had to be there and see his face and be in on the whole conversation but it was pretty hilarious. I really don't get the whole European not liking peanut butter thing... I did discover why they don't like root beer though. Apparently that's what the mouth wash at the dentists here taste like... I guess that explains their teeth...

Tomorrow is July 1st (which is insane) and that means that President Andersen is officially in charge. He flies in tonight, stays at the mission home, President Olauson hands over the phone (priesthood keys are one thing... but the cell phone...wow! :) ), get's on a plane, and heads for home. We are really going to miss President Olauson, but I think we're ready to get this change thing going. It's been in the air for so long, people questioning what changes were going to be made, etc, so I think we're all relieved to get it done and over with and see what happens now. We have zone conference next week, and then interviews the week after. Since we are so far away from everything, we spend a lot of time driving places... actually we just got a new car. Okay, newer car. The one we had had 144,000+ km on it (I put over 6,000 of those on it...) and this one only has 103,000 and it feels brand new. It is such a blessing to have car. I was under the impression that we were going to have to do without and was worried about how we were going to get to everywhere we needed to go in our area, but they fixed things differently and we were able to keep one. THANK GOODNESS.

Sandie is doing so good! We taught her the law of chastity yesterday (that, tithing, and the word of wisdom are always the cliff hangers...) and she accepted it no problem. She said she hasn't smoked in over a week. She says that the temptation comes and goes, but that it isn't too strong anymore. Now the concern is her mom. Her dad is okay with the whole thing, he is even going to come to the baptism. Her mom is very concerned for her because of the things she has read online. If the things she had read were true, I would be very concerned on a number of levels too, but good news... they're wrong. Sandie just has to somehow convince her mom of that. We fasted for her and her mom last Saturday... I don't doubt that she will get baptized, I know she will. It would just be nice if her mom was more supportive. We planned out her program and she is going to get baptized in the ocean and says it'll be hyggeligt (sorry... not really an English translation for that word). Elder Stacey is baptizing her and she asked me to give her the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. The ward is really excited for her and we are just as excited... if not more so.

Lilly and Maggie are still gone, but will hopefully be back by the end of the week or early next week. We were finally able to meet with Feng again and I think he really does want to learn more, he's just been really busy. We've met with him twice since then and he's keeping his commitments, reading and everything. So, we'll see how things go with him. We've found a few new people to teach, not super positive, but they ask questions and things. We are having a rough time getting appointments with people because of summer vacation and things but things are going alright. We STILL can NOT get in contact with Mihaela for some reason. There are a few other people that we are trying to get into contact with that we met when I first got here and they have somehow vaporized. So frustrating. So we are trying to work with less-actives (some of which are less than happy with us about that), trying to find Maricela again (she gave us her number, it worked for a while now it's disconnected and she hasn't been to church), we're just... trying to get new people!

I had our first European beach experience of the season the other day... we were out contacting along the coast walk (which is where people always go out on walks, sit on benches and watch the sunset- they never actually swim or tan here... the ground is too rough... or so we thought) had some really good conversations with people, reached a point where we wanted to turn around because there weren't any more people in the direction that we were walking, did so, and BAM! Topless people laying out on the beach everywhere! I don't know how we missed it! I really do dislike this time of year- the ads get disgusting, people don't have clothes on (literally)- but the teenagers all of the sudden become nicer. They offer us beer, cigarettes, drugs... other things. We also seem to be running into all the crazies too.

The other day Ældste Camp and I were outside with one of our investigators, walking to where we were going to teach him, when all of the sudden who shows up but Kira, an inactive, literally crazy 30-40 something year old member of the church who tries to seduce missionaries, along with one of her crazy old friends who immediately starts asking questions about who we are, why we have ties on, what's up with the name tags, etc. Of course, Kira being the member and expert in all things missionary related, grabs hold of my tie and adjusts it VERY awkwardly explaining why we have them, and then grabs hold of my arm to adjust my sleeve... we got hence. We run into her EVERYWHERE! It's ridiculous! And it's not just her. There are crazy people all over the place, and I think they go into hiding and then summer time and the draw of people who won't mock them openly is just too much for them to resist. So they come out and target us. Fun stories for later I guess...

I can't believe that Sean is coming home! That went by so fast! Doug heads out soon... is he going to the same mission as Sean? Sean has been an awesome example to us! Du er manden Sean! (You are the man Sean) Get BYU ready for the rest of us ;).

Things are going well... they are a little slow, but NEVER an uneventful day. I'm glad to hear that everyone is happy, healthy, and having a great summer so far. Thanks for all the prayers and support. I love and miss you all!!! Take care! And make the missionaries' in your ward's day and give them a referral!!! :)

Love,
Ældste Pullan

There is nothing they can throw at her

2010-06-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

Goddag everyone!

Things here are going really well! We actually just got back from an appointment with Sandie and we met her 4 year-old son Adam who is crazy, but a really cool little kid. Yes, Sandie's baptismal date is still set for the 10th and she is SO solid. We taught her the word of wisdom on Monday and it went well. It helped that she had already heard it (sort of...) and kind of knew what to expect, but she has been smoking for several years (EVERYONE does here) and she has committed to stop. When we taught her today, she said she's been able to go for 2 days thus far. She says it's hard, but that's she's going to do it. We are so proud of her! And the ward loves her too... and she has already experienced the many different sides of the branch here, and she still comes back, so I guess we haven't scared her away yet.

Last Friday, we had FHE with her and some of the older and single people in the ward and Gitte (the lady that picks her up and brings her to church) invited her to come. Anyway, we all get to the church, we all sit down and Karen (the blind lady who translated the Book of Mormon into braille) had the lesson and announced that we would be talking about the Word of Wisdom. "Great," I thought, "No big deal, it will just be a sort of warm up... they all know she's an investigator and will surely only discuss doctrine and things that are SUPPOSED to be taught." False. IT WAS AWFUL! Not only was Coke and caffeine brought up (No shock here, we are used to dealing with that one... Danes LOVE talking about that one...) but two got in an argument over it. And then they started going off, talking about how no one lives the "eat meats sparingly" part of the word of wisdom and that started another "debate". Then someone brought up how we don't follow the "don't eat things out of season" part of the word of wisdom and someone said that it didn't apply anymore because we have freezers and that it's okay that we eat tomatoes in December which started yet ANOTHER debate, all the while, Sandie is looking around nervously wondering what on EARTH is going on. AND THEN! They start ripping on smoking... and not even tactfully talking about it. I mean, talking about how STUPID it is, how it's so addictive and they don't understand why people start... SO FINALLY I couldn't take it anymore. I shared 1 Corinthians 6, talking about how our bodies are temples and how that's why all of this is necessary in the HOPES that it would click with Sandie as to the WHY we do this (no one had discussed that yet... they were too busy with Coke:) and then I read D&C 89 talking about the blessings that come from it, and they all turned and they realized, as if they didn't know, that Sandie was in the room... and looked VERY confused. Anyway, they agreed, bore testimony of the blessings that come, etc.

ANYWAY, after the meeting, I went up to Sandie and she just started laughing... she basically just said that we had some explaining to do on Monday when we taught her the Word of Wisdom. She is amazing. If she can sit through THAT and still want to be involved here, there is NOTHING this ward can't throw at her (even the discussions about how we should only listen to the prophet when he is speaking as the prophet... we don't need to listen to him when he speaking as 'a man'... that's another discussion...). SO! Sandie is doing great! We have another appointment with her on Saturday. Lillie and Maggie are doing well too. They didn't come to church on Sunday because they were frantically trying to get ready to go to Norway (they are doing some traveling before they go back). Anyway, when they found out the transfers were going to happen on the 28th and that it was possible one of us could leave, Lillie asked us to come over and she made us a little Chinese dessert which was really good and we said a little goodbye. (The good news is... I don't actually have to say goodbye... I'm staying!)

Feng's baptismal date is dropped. He hasn't come to church once and I really was getting frustrated, thinking that he wasn't really interested. We taught him on Tuesday though and I really think he is interested, just busy, so we are going to start from the beginning and teach him again. He is going to be here for a while, so we're going to see how it goes. The Serbian family is doing well. They also said they would come to church, but didn't because they got called into work. We swung by their house to drop off their Book of Mormon in Croatian for them which they were really excited about. It's going to be a challenge teaching them with 3+ languages going on at the same time, especially if they come to church, but... bring it on. We'll make it work. And yes, if we could get that contact information, that would be AWESOME!!! We had a few people drop us this past week which was kinda lame. We are spending quite a bit of our time out trying to find people again. We are praying and hoping that we'll be able to find those who are ready!

We are excited for the new change. Zone Conference was really, really good and things were said that we all needed to hear! The topic was on change and how most often, the biggest, hardest changes bring about better opportunities. That was weird to think that that was the last time I would see President (as President at least...) and that in a little over a week, President Andersen will be here. I would say that the mission is ready for the change. I don't know how to explain it but there is a sort of tension or worry that's been in the air for the past few months, worrying about what it's going to be like, what's going to happen, etc. I think we just want it to happen so we can move on. I think he is coming in with pretty big expectations. Since he is Danish, I think it's there's hope that he'll be able to give us magical formulas for contacting or getting people baptized... The mission I think just kind of feels that it's on a little bit of a plateau right now... and we're ready for President Andersen to get us going again. Yes! We have heard about transfers! I am staying in Sønderborg which I am good with. It's going to continue to be a challenge, but it'll be really good! I also am getting a new companion! Ældste Årsnes from Norway will be my new companion here in Sønderborg. I don't know him too well, but I know he's really funny and a hard worker, and very much a fan of Norway. I'm REALLY hoping to learn some Norwegian... they are really pretty close... Norwegian is just easier to pronounce I think. Ældste Camp is moving up to Esbjerg as a senior companion with Ældste Lee (they are going to be in my district now) and Ældste Holladay, who was in Esbjerg is going to København as the Zone Leader for Sjælland, which we are ALL really excited about... too bad he couldn't be the Zone Leader here on Jylland but whatever... I guess we'll give him over to the Sjælland zone ;). Uhm... other than that, I know nothing else. I feel so out of the loop lately, especially being so far from EVERYTHING and EVERYONE!

What else has happened this week... it's graduation week here which means that everyone, okay the young people (there are VERY few here in Sønderborg, it's mostly a retirement area) are driving around being crazy and drunk and have been very kind in offering beers to us every once in a while. We decline, but are very cordial on the whole, if I do say so myself. We also were out knocking this past week and this lady invited us in, but the moment she found out we were Mormons she started chewing us out and yelling and telling us what we did and didn't believe (did you know that our leaders are paid and are brain washing all of us? True story apparently...) and didn't let us get a word in edge-wise. I ended up just having to just stand up and saying thank you and Ældste Camp and I leaving... we've seen her a few times in passing as we knock in that area. SO awkward.

We also got to take our P-Day today (most of it anyway and a little bit of yesterday) with the Odense district and did a district activity for Sankt Hans aften (the burning of the witch thing, only this time they didn't have a witch, which I felt defeated the whole purpose... but I guess I'm just a naive American) and Sister Reed and I were talking and it clicked... that was my last one. AND! She goes home in August, and Sister Robson goes home in September... that is NOT far away. We JUST got here. Anyway, the activity was fun and we had a good time in Århus (the second biggest city in Denmark... pronounced 'oar-hoos'... dunno if that was necessary or not). It was nice to be out there, but it's nice to be back in the area and do missionary work again (pictures are online).

Sorry... I feel like this is SUPER random... we don't have time much time to write this week since we got back from Århus. I'll talk to you in a week!

Love,
Ældste Pullan

A pretty long week

2010-06-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

Hej min familie!

Okay so, unlike the last two P-Days... I can believe that it is now Wednesday. It was a pretty long week, good, but long. We had quite a bit planned but uhh... well then the weather happened and then cancellations happened, so we weren't able to teach much unfortunately. BUT, at least it was nice and cool outside... it's been pretty warm for the past little while and for some reason, the really cold winter and snow don't seem so bad all of the sudden :).

I honestly can't believe it IS June... I kinda wanna know where May went. We had our last interviews with President last week (weird, once again) and we were supposed to have our last zone conference with him on Friday, but it got moved -twice. So now it is NEXT Wednesday (meaning we will either be e-mailing Tuesday or Thursday... not quite sure at the moment) and it's in Århus. And then the following Monday, transfers happen. Which is really crazy, and I honestly have NO idea what is going to happen. Mostly I'm just trying not to worry about it and just work. We don't know much about President Andersen coming in- he goes to the MTC next week for a week of training, and then comes out here. We are thinking that he is going to make some big changes, but I think they will be good things, things that the mission needs. I know that he lives close to the mission home and he is going to live in the mission home and I have heard that he sold the home they live in now, but that I'm not positive about. The mission home really is pretty big in reference to most houses here in Denmark and that's pretty necessary, so he is moving in. We are all so excited! We are really going to miss President Olauson, but we're excited to see what's in store ahead.

Things are going pretty well work wise. We are doing more and more contacting and knocking as it becomes harder and harder to get appointments. EVERYONE in Denmark goes on vacation in the summer, especially the students (who are quite a few of our investigators). We set a baptismal date with Sandie (woo hoo!) originally for the 24th of July, but we bumped it up to the 10th. We walked into the church last night to put together a baptismal calendar for her and stumbled across ward council. Since we don't have a mission leader in the branch at this point (the old one moved back to the states) we've been working with President Eriksen (I've checked and I'm fairly certain he's the best one out there) and he asked us to talk a little bit about how the work is going, etc. Anyway, we told them about the baptismal date which they were ecstatic for and then told them the date and it was like we were in a vacuum... all the oxygen disappeared out of the room. I ran what I had just said in my head... I couldn't POSSIBLY have said anything bad... so what was up? Anyway, it must have been a pretty intense meeting, but come to find out, July is the month that everyone in Denmark goes on vacation to Turkey... and or Italy. So no one was going to be there on that date and they all really wanted to be there. So we talked with Sandie and she said it was fine to bring it up. We're going to have to teach her probably 3 times a week and we're dropping the big ones on her (Law of Chastity and Word of Wisdom...) next week and pretty close to each other. But she's ready, she knows it, she knows God knows she knows it, and she's sticking to it. SO. We hope everything carries through.

Lilly and Maggie are doing really well. They are getting busier and busier and it's harder to meet with them. They are heading back to China in August (which the branch was really sad to hear about... along with us) and they are vacationing quite a bit before then so we don't have too many more appointments before they leave. I was really hoping to get them baptized before they headed back, but for sure seeds have been planted and I think one day, they'll accept it. Maybe they just need to hear it in Chinese. WHICH they started teaching us... it is an AMAZING language, I have NO idea how they do it. Inflection can change whether you are saying "I want to kiss you" and something else completely different that I can not remember at this point in time. So... it's a good thing I came to Denmark.

Maricela... I don't quite know what's going on. We ran into them on the street the other day and she said she would come to church and would love to have us come visit her. She didn't come to church, returned a phone call only once, and then her phone is now either apparently disconnected or she is out of the country. SO. We're going to see what's going on with her. And Sydney! He is fine, thank goodness. He is still in the camp, he has to stay there to sleep and things, but he is free to come and go and roam around as needed. As far as I know, his paperwork is being processed and he is on his way to becoming a citizen... if I understood right... and if he understood right. That made my week to hear that. Being all the way down here in Sønderborg, I felt like I couldn't do anything. If I ever go back to København, I'm going to go see him.

We also had a cool experience while we were out "for at banke" (knocking). It had been a pretty rough day and no one was interested. We came to a door, they answered, we introduced ourselves and asked if we could share a message with them about God and Jesus Christ and a young boy who saw them both. She paused, looked at us, and then told us to hang on. She shut the door. We heard hurried footsteps, talking in a different language, a pause which seemed to go on forever, and then the door swung open wide with a different lady who spoke to us and said, "Hi Missionaries! Come in! Come in!" I haven't heard those words too many times on my mission... they were like gold. Anyway, come to find out, this family is from Serbia and they are Christian. They were taught about a year ago but lost contact with the missionaries. They speak a little bit of English, and her son and his wife spoke Danish with us. They aren't great at either, but I think they get the general understanding. Anyway, they said that would come to church, but they didn't. We stopped by later and they weren't home. We're going to try and drop by tomorrow again.

I'm trying to think if there is anything else to write about. It was a little bit of a slow week, but still very good. This week is going to be good too. We may or may not go on splits up to Horsens this week since Zones Conference got moved, and I am supposed to do that once a month, but we'll see.

Life is really, really good right now! I love being a missionary! Take care and talk to you in a week +/- day :).

Love you all!
Ældste Pullan

That's German for Good Day...

2010-06-10T14:54:00.000-07:00

Hallo (that's German for Good Day...)!

It was has been an INCREDIBLE week! First and foremost, Emily got baptized (pictures are up). It could NOT have gone better. Almost the entire ward came, Emily's step-daughter came (her husband couldn't... he was working) but a less-active came, everyone supported her, and she just had a really good day. And YES! Her baptism happened in Flensburg, Germany and can I tell you how weird it was driving over the border? You wouldn't have really known you were going into another country... they make you slow down at the border, then there is a sign off to the side pretty hidden, and then bam. You're in Germany. It was an adventure trying to figure out where we were going what with the signs being in German and all. I was surprised at how close things were when spelled (Aabenraa in Danish was Abentrud, etc.) They welcomed us into the country with a considerable bump in the speed limit (I love Germans), Porches and B'mers were passing us and then we started seeing BIG cars, okay maybe not big cars, but normal cars. SUV's even! It was amazing. At the gas station that we stopped at to double check directions (which was strange in and of itself, I went up to the girl at the counter and started speaking Danish but then realized... oh... oops... uhh... can you speak English???) we saw an Infiniti FX (which I haven't seen in over a year) and I think we even saw a Tahoe. It was beautiful.

We kept driving a little bit further in, and I realized that things felt a little cramped and for the LIFE of me, I couldn't figure out why. And then it hit me... I couldn't see the horizon. There was... land mass next to me while driving on the freeway. Not even trees blocking my view... there was ground. I saw mountains! Okay, granted I haven't seen a mountain in forever so I get excited about even little changes in elevation, but I was really surprised to see that within only a few kilometers, how much the land could change. Anyway, we also got to meet the Elders there and talk with them a little bit while getting things ready which was also really fun. Elder Lee was from Kansas and Elder (really cool Italian name) was from Italy. They were super helpful and really fun to talk with. I do have to say though that, as cool as it was to be over there, I couldn't help but think as we crossed the border that I love Denmark too much to want to serve anywhere else. It was fun... but it wasn't Denmark.

Sunday came and I got to confirm Emily a member of the church and give her the Holy Ghost. It was an incredible experience and one I won't ever forget. That same Sunday, we also had FOUR investigators come to church! We fasted that Sunday for Lilly and Maggie, that they'd be able to get an answer to their prayers about whether God is there or not. We're still working on that part of things, but they came to church but had to leave right after sacrament meeting to take care of something. We ended up going over afterward for a few minutes because whatever it was, was in Danish and she doesn't speak Danish. We got to talking with them and shared with them the story about the Nephites and the prophecy about two days without darkness and then the story of Christ appearing to them later on after his death. They asked TONS of questions (especially Maggie) and we had a really fun time. Maggie does this funny thing that I only saw kids at school do... apparently it's really big in China to throw up a peace sign when you smile. She does it sometimes when she smiles really big and it made Elder Camp and I laugh... we wanted pictures with them both! As we were leaving, I realized that I am REALLY going to miss them when they leave (sometime in July... most of the students are leaving then). And they all have those names (I asked him why they all had English names) because (I asked Lilly about this) in school, when they begin to learn English, they choose an "American name" as they call it and whenever they speak English, they are taught to call each-other that name. She is also trying to teach us a little bit of Chinese and I have to say that... well I am glad I came to Denmark. I thought Danish was hard... ha...

Anyway, Sandie also came to church which was really cool! She can't meet this week, but she seemed very much at home there and the ward was even MORE ecstatic for the fact that she was a Dane and would be staying if she got baptized. Everyone came up and said "hi" afterwards and were just awesome. We then had a less-active member from Chili come along with her not-boyfriend (riiiiigghhhtt...). He isn't interested in learning more about the church, but I think she needs to have the lessons again. She is very believing though- I was translating for her in Sunday school and she would make comments about how she agreed or what we can learn from the things being taught, so we are excited to get to work with Marciela (her name). We also have been working with a really cool kid from Germany (I dunno if kid is the right term... he's our age... I dunno what to call him...) named Dennis who is pretty interested and we're meeting with again soon. We are hoping to get a baptismal date with Sandy at some point soon... things are just really good!

We had a few rough things happen this week too. Maurice (our baptismal date) dropped us... he has been apparently meeting with JW's over the past few months and feels he believes them more. Things ended well, he was super nice about it, but we were still pretty bummed. The other thing we found out about this week is that Sydney (who we taught in Ballerup and got baptized last year) has been in jail for the past few weeks. Apparently it has something to do with his visa. They had some problems with it and we don't quite understand the whole situation. Sydney called President from the prison and asked him to come by. Apparently he couldn't just "come by" he had to make a formal request that took tons of time. President still hadn't heard anything back for several days, called the people and they told him basically that if he didn't get a response back that it meant Sydney was no longer at the prison and was either sent back to Nigeria or at a refugee camp in Aalborg. SO, we have no idea what's going on with him and we're hoping he's okay.

What else- oh! President and I had our last interview yesterday! It was a good one and I think that the mission overall has a very calm feeling about the switch. We're going to miss President, but we're excited to see what's in store for the mission next. I'm trying to think if there is anything else, but I think that's about it! Things are going really well! We got two new investigators yesterday who are pretty cool... Rasmus and Anders. They aren't brothers we found out and they told us they are really, really good friends (and we hope that's all they are...), but we don't meet with them again for another 2 weeks... and I think that's about all I have to report!

Life is so good right now! Congratulations Aunt Laurie!!! I heard the wedding was beautiful and could not have gone better! I'm so happy for you! AND congratulations Kelsey and Diana! You both are now officially old. HA.

Miss and love you all!
Ældste Pullan

It's Monday again

2010-06-02T23:49:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's Wednesday already, and on top of that, June. Where did May go? There is always this weird paradox thing going on... you are out working and it seems like the day has gone on for quite a while, but you come in to plan and night and wonder how on earth it's Monday again. Ældste Camp and I have only been companions for a little over a week, but it seems like WAY longer... and I mean that in the best possible way :)

Things are going really well! Emily is getting baptized on Saturday!!! We are meeting with her this afternoon to get a few things figured out and lined up, and then tomorrow is her baptismal interview. We're really excited! The ward is excited and supporting us one hundred percent.

I have to say that this branch is probably my favorite branch/ward in Denmark. I love how small it is! They get things done here! They are really spread out and our area is pretty big, so most of our interaction with them is at church. We ate dinner with President and Sister Eriksen (the branch president and his family) and were talking a little bit about the baptism, making sure things were ready to go. We talked about getting the baptismal clothes and towels etc, and Sister Eriksen basically just was like, "Don't you worry about a thing. We'll swing by the church and pick up everything that's needed." IT WAS SO COOL! I called the relief society president to see if anyone was bringing anything or if we should just go out and buy some things and she said, "No, no, no! I already called all the sisters in ward. We're coming and they're bringing cakes, rolls, and cookies. Don't worry about it. We'll see you there!" Equally cool. So... Sønderborg branch is the best in my book :)

Speaking of church, Lilly and Maggie came, and had an awesome time! They had a Fællesspisning (dunno what that is in English... eating togetherness???" after church because our mission leader is moving away. Everyone invited her to stay and eat, they talked with her, invited her to other things, invited her back. She loved it. And Maggie (her 8 year-old daughter) loved it too. I was a little worried because neither of them speak Danish, but we had translation for them both in Sacrament meeting (which was an adventure... tell you in a second), and then one of the 10 or 11 year-old girls has a Dad who's from England so she speaks Danish and English, so she translated for Maggie in Primary and they hit it off really well. The adventure part was that, last Sunday was missionary Sunday (if every there is a fifth Sunday in the month, it's a missionary Sunday where the missionaries and Mission leader speak). We had hoped that we would have investigators come. By 10:30, no one had showed up so we didn't line up translation or anything. The time comes for me to go up and speak and all of the sudden, in walks Lilly and Maggie. I had to go up and speak and Ældste Camp isn't comfortable with translating yet, so we had to rush and find someone to translate for them both (thankfully the Collingfords took over), and then get up on the stand. It actually was probably pretty comical. I was worried that she was going to feel uncomfortable having someone she didn't know translate for her, etc. But I think it was a blessing. They talked for a while afterward and the ward just, well really took her in. It was an awesome Sunday for all of us.

The investigators are doing really well! We are having some set backs with Maurice and Feng and even Lilly and Maggie. They all still don't feel that they have gotten an answer as to whether or not God is there. We spent the first couple lessons teaching about prayer and faith and hope, but they still didn't get an answer. So, we thought that maybe we could move on and teach a little bit more, thinking that if they had a little more of a basis to pray about, they'd be able to get an answer. Long story short- we are on the third lesson with them, teaching them commandments, and they still don't even know if God exists or not. WE are at a little bit of a loss as to what to do next... so we're praying hard and doing everything we can. We challenged Maurice to live the Word of Wisdom for a week and we promised him that if he prayed and read in the scriptures everyday, that he'd get an answer by this Friday (our next meeting). I am PRAYING that he has received one. We text him a scripture to read every night, but we don't ever hear back from him and he sounds bothered when we call him... a good portion of our investigators right now are super busy with finals and such, making it VERY hard to meet with them more than once a week, and oftentimes our lessons are drop bys because they say they are too busy to meet when we try to schedule appointments. I never thought I would hate final exams when I was on my mission, but that very strong dislike it most definitely present at the moment. We keep trying to meet with the Romanian woman we met while knocking (Mihaela is her name) but she has been super busy too. We are hoping to meet with her Friday. We also met with and taught a really cool German kid who is pretty positive... and busy with finals. SO, we're hoping to get to him later this week too. We have SO much potential here... everyone is just too busy. Most of Tuesday was spent contacting and trying to find, and while we didn't find any new investigators, we got two phone numbers and it was nice to be out trying to find. Also it was a BEAUTIFUL day.

Tomorrow will be a pretty cool day though; we will drive about 20 minutes up to Nordborg to teach a girl named Sandy who Elder Stacey taught. She was really positive and expressed a desire to be baptized. But, she had an abusive boyfriend though who didn't want her to meet with the missionaries. They laid off, and then lost contact. Anyway, Æ. Stacey called me the other day and said she had been on his mind. I tried to make contact with her and she picked right up and we scheduled an appointment. She has moved so we're thinking she is no longer with the boyfriend... I'm hoping so... Anyway, after that we drive back to Sønderborg to teach Feng (finally... it's been almost two weeks), then we drive about an hour to the very west coast of the Jylland (our area is huge...) to meet with a less-active member who we are hoping will get re-activated, and then we'll drive about an hour an a halfish north to teach Emily and have her baptismal interview and then drive about 40 minutes back home. I love busy days. Friday should be a good day with a few appointments, Saturday is the baptism, Sunday has a few appointments but will probably be spent doing dropbys and contacting and then... wow, well it's Monday again.

Sean is coming home... already?! Actually... to be honest, it seems like he's been out forever... I guess I just remember thinking that when he got home, I'd only have about 8ish months left... send him my love! Wish I could be there Sean!

So... things are going well! I'm loving life, I'm loving the area, I'm loving the work and... well I don't want things to slow down! I'd be good if things picked up even more. I love being a missionary! Pas godt på jeres selv! Love you all! Thanks for the prayers and support. Talk to you in a week!

Kærlighed,
Ældste Pullan

A kick in the pants

2010-05-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

Goddag min Familie!

JEG ER SÅ GLÆDE FOR AT VÆRE TILBAGE I SØNDERBORG!!! I'm so glad to be back! The past couple of days have been... well a TON of driving. We went to church Sunday, came back, Ældste Mauler packed and we headed out. We drove the 3ish hours to Roskilde to drop off Ældste Mauler's luggage and pick up Ældste Camp's, drove the hour more to Ballerup to stay the night in the Ballerup house (VERY weird being back there... and sleeping there...). We got up early Monday morning went to zones conference (which was AMAZING by the way), finished around 5 o'clock. Finished cleaning up by about 6:30ish. The travel plans said that we should drive back Tuesday morning, but we had planned to drive back Monday. We didn't. For some reason we just felt like we should just get up and head out early the next morning. So Monday after zones conference a few of us grabbed some sandwiches from the Italian place under the office and then ate outside in the office courtyard. We talked a lot about the conference, experiences... it was really nice and really fun to see everyone again. We hadn't seen other missionaries in over a month! Weird... but nice :) Anyway, Ældste Camp and I got up Tuesday morning, and drove back. Got here about noonish yesterday. Ældste Camp unpacked, we ate lunch and headed to an appointment at 2:30, then another one with a less active member afterwards, and then another one with an investigator named Jack that we haven't been able to meet with since I got here. By that time, it was about 6:30. We ate a quick dinner, headed out and did some contacting (there was hardly anybody out), came back in at about 8:30, made some calls and scheduled appointments until 9. Planned, went to bed before 10:00 because we were exhausted, woke up this morning and uhh... well now it's today. Don't know why I just told you all of that, but there it is.

ANYWAY! Zones Conference was ABSOLUTELY amazing!!! It was Elder Teixeira of the 70 who is the 2nd counselor in the European Area Presidency and, well, to be honest he kind of called the missionaries of Europe to repentance. It was pretty cool. He talked a lot about how we come here thinking we can't have the success that they see in other places and how if that's what we believe, then it's true. It's not going to grow. "However," he said, "you were not sent here to maintain. You have the abilities and responsibility to transform Europe... it's time for missionaries in Europe to start being missionaries, and stop being tourists... I want my grandchildren to be raised in strong wards here in Europe, not dying branches." He also shared stories of faith, suggestions on how we could improve and find new investigators. He also brought things down to earth for us. He spoke of how European missionaries talk about how hard it is to be a missionary in Europe etc. He smiled for a second and said, "I was a mission president in Brazil, and I will tell you, their missions are just as hard. I had missionaries who were walking 300+ miles every week. They didn't have cars. There were missionaries who got seriously ill and didn't have great medical care..." and shared other experiences that really opened our eyes as to what they go through to be able to get all of those baptisms. It was a much needed kick in the pants I think.

To be honest, I've been a little bit worried about our mission. It isn't the same mission that I came to a little over a year ago. Things have changed quite a bit. There are a few missionaries here with a pretty big influence on others who don't care much for rules or missionary work and unfortunately it's rubbing off on part of the mission. HOWEVER, yesterday was a comfort to me because we have some of the most solid younger missionaries I have seen. They do things because they know what's expected of them. They have a good time and are fun to be with, but they don't let fun get in the way of being a missionary like so many others here. Anyway, I really hope that him coming here was a real wake-up call to our mission. I know he really stirred things up and opened up our eyes to a whole new way of thinking. Mainly the fact that we can work expecting results now. Often times we have this mindset that, most of our time will be spent just planting seeds. We have to start reaping somewhere! He talked about expecting results next week, about being spiritually mature and becoming persuasive teachers. I think one of the coolest things he said was, "Danes were pillars to this church when it was first beginning. Those Danes are still here." And then he told us to go and find them. I took tons of notes, there are TONS of things I need to work on, but mostly, I think that most of us left feeling inspired and ready to get to work! Ældste Camp and I are praying and expecting things to really pick up here. We want another baptismal date before our companionship ends!

Things are going well with Emily. We are teaching her tonight and tomorrow. June 5th is coming up quick! We meet with Feng and Maurice (we found out we've been spelling it wrong... Maurice, not Morris) later this week and their dates are still holding as well. We brought the Book of Mormon to that Romanian women. She was busy at the time, but said that we could come back later this week. We're really hoping and praying for something great to come out of this! We met some other really neat people before heading into København on Sunday and we need to follow up with them. I feel a little bit like we're playing catch up, but it's a good problem to have I guess. Things are going well, we're excited to get to work! Sorry this one is so short!

Talk to you really soon! Love you!
Ældste Pullan

Big news of the day...

2010-05-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

Hva' så min familie?

Once again, p-day is here and I was SO ready to come read E-MAILS!!! Woo hoo! Well, I guess I'll start with the big news of the day... okay actually I have two big newss (Is news already plural??? Whatever...) to share. The first, is not that happy of news, and that is, namely, that Ældste Mauler is getting transferred to Roskilde. Yeah... hvad evigt. I can't believe it has been a month already! Good news though! I get to stay and my new companion is going to be Ældste Camp. To be honest, I don't really know much about him. He's from St. George, he's taller than me, he's good at basketball, he likes... things... I'm pretty sure of it... things that I am not currently aware of. Anyway, Zones Conference happens Monday (we have a few 70's coming to talk to us... since the volcano messed it up last time) and then I'll be driving back Tuesday with Ældste Camp and back to our area WHICH...

... HAS THREE BAPTISMAL DATES! The first one is with Emily Midoza. I'm pretty sure I've talked about her before. She is Philippino and married to a Dane. She is really funny, makes us call her Ate (ah-tay... it means big sister in Tagalog), and gives us a hard time if we don't make ourselves at home. We taught her at the beginning of the week and planned to re-set a date with her. We brought up the 26th, thinking that we were going to have to fight for it. She started in and I thought, "Here we go..." but then, the words that came out of her mouth might have been sung, I'm not quite sure, but she said, "No... I think it needs to be sooner." So, we set one for the 5th of June and she is solid. We are really excited for her! Her husband is your regular, run-of-the-mill Dane and really couldn't care less about religion, but they pray together and he actually is making little steps... so maybe in a couple years??? We'll see... AND, bonus, the closest font is in Flensburg Germany. SO, if all goes according to plan, I may be able to say I went to a different country while on my mission.

Morris (who had a date when I first got here, but then didn't ever return phone calls and wasn't ever home) got his date moved back. We met with him and he still has some things to work through, but we set it for the 26th of June, and I think it's totally possible for him. He, along with Lilly and Yue (students we teach at the Skovvej kollegium) are all having a rough time getting an answer as to whether or not God is there... which is REALLY frustrating for Ældste Mauler and I... Anyway, we showed Morris the Finding Faith in Christ DVD (which was, awesomely enough, på Chinese) and he said that he felt something and it made him want to cry. BINGO!!! We told him that that was the spirit and that we feel that when he testifies to us of truth and good things. He was very happy when we left and I'm PRAYING that he will get an answer soon... we have yet to have that same experience with Lilly (we have an appointment Friday) and Yue is... well I guess he's a hard core Chinese Communist, but like, super nice. SO, we're still working with him. Things are going... very, very slowly, but they are coming along nonetheless.

Lastly, we set a date with Feng for the 3 of July... and honestly, well... it's a goal. We are going to work with him, but there is a VERY large language barrier (I think he understands us, and thank goodness I went to a high school with a high population of Asian parents with VERY heavy accents) and we can understand him, he just has some problems expressing himself which is really frustrating him (I've been there... I understand 100%). We have to use the Book of Mormon a lot to explain things. We used repentance the other day and we had to read him a verse from Alma so that he could figure out what we were talking about. We are getting REALLY good at recognizing chapters headings in Chinese. It's going, slow... we will see what happens.

Other than those couple at Skovvej, I think we are pretty much done there, most people know who we are, say hi when they see us in the buildings, a few even asked if we live there (sometimes it feels like it), so we've been doing quite a bit of contacting this week and trying to find some new places to knock. We found a few other kollegiums that we've been trying and at one of them, found some really cool people to come back to. One of them was a German student who was really interested in seeing Das Buch Mormon (that would be "The Book of Mormon" for those non-German speakers out there...) and we also came across a really cool lady from Romania who has a PhD in Chemistry, and was really interested in receiving the Book of Mormon på Romanian (sorry... don't know that language yet...). It was actually really interesting. I really can't explain it, but when she opened the door, it hit me that she could be baptized. I felt something that I haven't really felt before... I honestly could picture her getting baptized. She was a really sweet lady in her 30's or 40's and said that she would be interested in talking, but that if we brought by the Book of Mormon and she wasn't there, to just drop it in her box (which, we are SO totally going to be giving it to her in person). Anyway, after we finished the contact, Mauler and I both recognized the same feeling. So we are really excited about her.

So the work is coming along VERY nicely. We've found some new places to work in, we're working with a less active named Darius (who is from Poland, married to a SUPER nice polish lady and has two cute little kids) who was baptized about 5ish years ago and has been inactive ever since. I think a lot of it has to do with his wife... he's knows it's true, he wants to come to church... But I think he just needs a little bit of a kick in the pants. We dropped by yesterday to deliver that kick in the pants (along with a plate of cookies which were pretty good if I do say so myself) and invited him to church. We are hoping he comes on the first Sunday in June. We also invited him to come out and play soccer with us and the branch next Saturday. (no... I have not played it once since being here, and I'm pretty certain that ANY of the kids in the branch could beat me soundly...) If it gets him out and makes him feel better about himself in the process ...because I have issues running, much less running while kicking a ball and trying to pass to people around me... then it will be worth it.

Everything is good in the mission... really good actually. I think we have 16 baptismal dates set for this month. We are finally bouncing back from winter and I think President wants to make sure it stays that way. However, there are definitely some missionaries on cruise control mode, which is really easy to get into. I dunno... I think that sometimes we think that our mission is harder than other missions because it's in Europe (which is, to be honest, ridiculous to think... all missions are hard. Have I had malaria since coming on my mission? no.) and so I think some feel that it affords us a certain amount of leniency towards diligence. We have a good mission, but just like the banner said, there are a few. I'm working hard mom :) I promise!

I'm glad to hear that the Smart Night thing is OVER and the BYU/UNLV night is also over! Woo hoo! If you're reading this Caitlin, thanks for helping! Min mor has REALLY appreciated it. She's been stressing over it for weeks... not even in my stake and you get roped into things anyway :) hahaha

Well... I think that's about all I've got to report! Life is good right now. We are heading up to Horsens tonight for splits and won't be back in our area until Thursday night, when we have an appointment with Emily. Friday looks to be pretty busy, Saturday will busy (we have a few appointments and Ældste Mauler has to pack), Sunday is church and then we head for København afterwards to make it for Zones Conference early Monday morning. Weird... I won't have to do a thing. This is so great! The sun is shining today, things are green and not wet... I think summer is finally here!

Jeg elsker jer alle sammen og håber på, at I vide vor meget jeg savner jer! Hav en god uge! Husk på, at du er ALTID et forbillede til dem som er omkring jer! (I love you all and hope that you know our much I miss you! Have a good week! Remember that you are ALWAYS an example for those who are around you!)

Med kærlig hilsen,
Ældste Pullan

Screamin' Scoda

2010-05-12T12:11:00.000-07:00

I feel like I just talked to everyone :) (he called on Mother's Day)

... and unfortunately I don't have much more to report! I am currently writing you from the library... the computers at the church are dead... still. They really need to get that bill paid...

And we had PLANNED to go to the border today, but, as with anything that I drive, the Scoda kept screaming at us every time we started it up and the check engine light was on. We took it into the shop... turns out our catalytic converter needs replacing. Nothing good ever comes out of those visits... we've been to the shop twice already with this car since I've been here. Not to mention it's always an adventure figuring out what they are talking about, BUT I now know how to say lots of car stuff in Danish. Exciting, I know. Anyway, because of that, we are getting horrible gas mileage, like... the gas mileage indicator says that we drove 60+ km yesterday... when drove 32 km. Gas here is around 8-9 bucks a gallon, so we're trying to not drive very much. And, to add to it all, it is POURING. We FINALLY had a sunny, somewhat warm day yesterday, and now it's raining. Hard. So, today will probably consist of e-mailing, grocery shopping, watching a Disney movie at the church, and then cleaning up the apartment. WOOT! Party :)

We don't have any appointment scheduled tonight, just some drop bys and contacting... so hopefully it will stop raining.

Things are still pretty busy. There have been a few days where we've scheduled contacting and NO ONE is outside so we have to figure out something to do. I am a little worried as to what will happen when the kollegiums empty out in Mid-June... that is where we spend some pretty big chunks of our time. BUT, if I've learned anything about being here, it's that as long as we are doing everything that we can, things just work out. I can't remember if I told you this or not, but I'm going to tell you anyway...

Last week we were at Skovvej, one of the kollegiums we spend quite a bit of time at. You have to get beeped in and most of them don't know how to do that, so they just come down and let us in. This particular day, we had an appointment with someone, but not until later and we didn't know how we were going to get it in. We said a prayer in the car after we pulled up, asking that the Lord would provide for us a way to get in. We grabbed our stuff out of the car and started walking towards the doors. Not 10 seconds later, the postman pulled up, pulled out his keys opened up the door, walked inside and held it open for us. How cool is that? I know that if we really pay attention we see the Lord working for us all the time, but having something so up front like that is really cool every once in a while too. It was another testimony to me that the Lord really does watch out for us and help us when we need it!

Our investigators are doing well. I was getting really frustrated because I felt like we were teaching them, but they weren't progressing, they weren't going anywhere. This week we decided to set some serious commitments with them and do some "do or die" lessons and thus far it's worked. We haven't dropped anyone (woo hoo!) and we've gotten two people to commit to coming to church Sunday which we are really excited about. This Sunday we are hoping for at least 3 but preferably 4. Morris' baptismal date is back on for the 26th of June. He's been in and out of town, hasn't been to church yet, etc. I've only met with him once before, and that was right when I got to the area... come to find out, he doesn't even know if God exists or not yet, but he still wanted to set a baptismal date to work towards. He is really confusing me... some days he is so on top of things and wanting to work and become better, and other days, his head is somewhere completely different. We're excited for him and continue to work with him. Feng is also doing well... we are still trying to help him get an answer as to whether God exists or not. He and Morris are two of the three we are hoping will come to church Sunday. Emily is doing well. We are meeting with her Thursday and she usually comes to church. She knows it's true, she just doesn't want to have to change some things... once she get's a testimony of it all, we're hoping her heart will change.

Transfers are not this coming week or next week... I think it's the 29th or something. I honestly have no idea what's going to happen. We're just going to keep working and take it as it comes :) Big transfers are every two months, and they have little "shuffles" in the months between. This one coming up is a big one, so we'll see what happens! Det blive spendende!

Sorry this is so short and boring... things are going well! It was so fun talking to everyone, but I have to admit... I'm not ready to come home yet. I hung up the phone missing everyone and smiling, but I'm not ready yet :) Good thing I've got 10+ months!

Love and miss you all and talk to you next week (just once though),

Ældste Pullan

a FANTASTIC problem to have

2010-05-05T06:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Family!

I have no idea why, but I was SO excited to come and read everyone's e-mails today (more so than usual of course...). This past week has been AWESOME and super busy, which is a FANTASTIC problem to have.

Mom asked a little about these colleges. Well, I don't quite understand the whole thing. BUT. Every major city in Denmark has a "University", though I doubt that it has the same connotation as it has in the States. They are able to get a Bachelors through a Masters degree at most of them. They are very small in comparison to Universities in the States, but they seem to get the job done. When we asked Feng (one of the people from China that we teach) why he came here, he said that his school back in China had a link with schools here in Denmark; I don't know how they do it, but apparently Denmark will give them schooling. I don't know if they have to pay for it (Danes don't have to, everything is paid for by the state) but if they do, it's nowhere near as expensive as what it would be elsewhere. So most of them come here for a few semesters, and then move back to China. I guess it's kind of like a springboard to other schools. I think Denmark gets an advantage in these smaller places, because most Danes go to the bigger cities for higher education, so these smaller Universities go unused... I'm guessing that's why they bring people in from all over the world. BUT, maybe it's better than what they have back at home, so I guess everyone wins.

As far as teaching them, there are only a few that we teach regularly. Feng is one, Lilly and her daughter Maggie are two others, and Morris is one (he has a baptismal date but we haven't met with him in over week and can't get a hold of him so that might change). We teach many others on and off, but they are so busy with the end of the semester coming up, that it's hard enough to get appointments with those that we do meet with regularly. That kollegium (it's basically like a big dorm) that we teach at where they all live have locked doors and you have to be buzzed in- problem is, most of them don't know how to do it. Oftentimes they don't have time to schedule an appointment so we just have to kind of drop by. But, most of the time, the Lord provides and we find a way to get in and drop by those we teach regularly and make contact with others who haven't.

We had a strong feeling that we should go to Skovvej (the name of the Kollegium) so we did. We didn't have a set appointment, we didn't know how we were going to get in, but we went anyway. We got there, and right as we walked up to the doors, someone walked in front of us, opened the door with a key and then held it open for us. Jo tak! We went up to Feng's room and knocked. He answered and was happy to see us. He had sprained his ankle pretty bad, and his phone was broken and he hadn't been able to get into contact with us. We got to talking and we found out that he had submitted his thesis for checking (not a grade but just for them to see what he was up to) and his teacher told him that he needs to find some people who speak English to proofread and help him out. BLESSING! We told him we'd love to help and I am now learning all about the economics of housing in China... interesting? Not so much, but we're glad to be helping. I guess I don't have to understand it, just make sure that the sentences flow, that there are commas where there need to be commas, periods, semi-colons... I hope he aces this paper.

Lilly and Maggie... I can't remember if I talked about them last time. Lilly is teaching at the University and taking classes as well. She has an 8 year old daughter named Maggie who is SO cool. She asks lots of questions, wants to know all about Christ and who he is, and why he had to die on the cross... they are just awesome. We taught them about prayer a little more and they said they would try. We had them read Alma 32 and she said that he made her want to believe that God was really there. SO, they are both going to pray and see if he is there. WE ARE PRAYING SO HARD THEY GET ANSWERS!

We also have been going around visiting lots of less-actives and referrals from the temple open house (people who had gone through the temple 6 years ago... some of the referrals had been found in the office while we were cleaning and we were like, "Hmmm... maybe these should be taken care of...) over the past couple of days (I love having a car... it makes things SO much easier and quicker...). Most of them haven't been interested (for the referrals), many of the less-actives weren't home, but we also have found many people to teach too. The less-actives we visited were very gracious, but not too interested in coming back. We're going to keep visiting them. Most of the temple referrals have been nej taks, but there was a lady we visited named Lissy who was way cool too. We talked for probably about an hour about ALT MULIGT. Everything from the Book of Mormon to Joseph Smith to Flerekoneri (polygamy... I HATE questions about that...)... everything. Anyway, she took a Book of Mormon and was actually really interested. Problem is, she's moving and is super busy... SO, we're hoping to drop by and catch her. She is pretty outta the way, but we're hoping to get a hold of here again.

So... this week has been busy. We've stayed busy, had a good balance between teaching and contacting and visiting and less-actives and just... it's been a REALLY good week. We did have two pretty positive investigators (Emman included) drop us, which was not so cool, but we have quite a few POTENTIAL and sorta progressing investigators that we are trying to get a move on with... so! This will be a great week too! We have interviews this week on Friday which takes a HUGE chunk outta the day, Saturday we are helping some members with some service, we're hoping that won't take too long, and then Sunday night will be taken up with a PHONE CALL!!! WOOT!!! I'm so excited!

Wow... really long e-mail. I had pictures to upload, but since we're doing it at the library, I don't think it will work... so we'll have to wait until next week. I guess people can e-mail if they want, but it would be nicer if they wrote. We don't have tons of time on P-day to write. If they are sending letters, the address is Borups Allé 128, 1tv 2000 Frederiksberg Denmark. The package situation is still a mess... but if you do send one, the address is Helgolandsgade 25 st tv, 6400 Sønderborg Denmark. OR you can send it to the Borups Allé address, but it won't get to me until Zone Conferences or interviews. Once you get close to transfer times (a week or two before I guess) it probably would be best to send it to the Borups Allé one... wow... being here on Jylland... I feel so outta the loop! :) Jeg elsker jer og vi snakkes på Søndag!!!

Ældste Pullan

I love being a missionary again!

2010-04-28T06:18:00.000-07:00

Goddag min familier!!!

I love being a missionary again!!!

Things are going so well during these past couple of days... we really have been spoiled. Before I got here, Elder Dalton and Elder Mauler (my new companion) stumbled across china town here in Sønderborg. It's a Kollegium FULL of students from China and I love teaching them. We are teaching about 4 or 5 of them regularly and trying to get into contact with maybe 3 or 4 more. It is so amazing teaching them! I have never really taught people like this. They don't know much about God and Jesus Christ so we really are starting from the very beginning with them. There is a mother who we are teaching with an 8 year old daughter named Maggie and both of them are really interested in learning about Christ- Maggie especially. We've been over there only once, but through the whole lesson she kept asking about him: who he was, why he had to die, how we can know he loves us, etc. It was AWESOME! Last night we also taught a Chinese student. He explained to us that in China, you must be a part of the CCP (or the Chinese Communist Party). All throughout school you are taught that there is no God, that after this life there isn't anything else, etc. When we told him that God was real and that he wanted to hear from us and that he had provided prayer to be able to talk with him, Yang was shocked. He literally was hanging on EVERY word we said. I have never had someone listen like that. We gave him a Book of Mormon in Chinese as well. We asked him to try praying and that we'd meet with him again and see how it goes. He was so excited and happy! This has kind of been the general theme for a lot of the Chinese people that we are teaching. They are really interested and excited and all of this is pretty new to them.

Yesterday was our day to fast during the month of miracles (each companionship takes a day in the mission to fast for miracles in their own area as well as in the mission so that someone is fasting for the mission each day throughout the month) and we had a really awesome day. We started off yesterday with visiting some less-actives and getting appointments to come back with some of them. We also found some really pretty scenery (a city called Blans right outside Sønderborg... our area is HUGE). We were able to make contact with quite of few potentials and found some new potentials and still had about an hour and half before an appointment. Ældste Mauler offhandedly suggested that we try a new kollegium so we drove out there and the very first door that we knocked, we taught a student named Almir for about an hour right on his doorstep. He had SO many questions about everything from the Word of Wisdom, to the Law of Chastity, to the Book of Mormon, to Thomas S. Monson and the Apostles- tons, and TONS of questions. But we answered them, gave him a Book of Mormon, asked him to pray, and are hoping to meet with him again before the end of the week. We also taught Morris (also Chinese- he has a baptismal date for the 29th of May) and he is doing well. We are also hoping to challenge a woman from Egypt that we teach, to baptism tomorrow as well, depending upon how things go. SO! Things are going pretty well! And we are so grateful for it!

I am amazed at the different types of people that I've met... within the four days that I've been here. We've met people from Germany (not that big a deal... we can see it from the Havn), Egypt, Bosnia, Mexico (he was a long ways from home...), Poland, Russia, Lithuania, China... everywhere. It has made it even more clear to me that, sure... maybe the Danes aren't listening very much, but perhaps missionaries are here to teach those from other countries that wouldn't have the chance otherwise. Sure... they may move back after school, etc, but we are helping the church grow in other countries by means I didn't even think about.

Ældste Mauler is an AWESOME missionary. He's been here for a month and knows Sønderborg like nobody's business. He is a hard worker, obedient, but is really fun to be around too. I'm looking forward to getting to know him better.

The apartment... well it's disgusting. There is mold ALL over the place, when I got here the kitchen was a disaster, the floors hadn't been cleaned in who knows how long... so I've been cleaning up slowly for the past couple of days. The kitchen is in pretty good shape (other than the mold problem, but I don't think that's our fault), floors have been cleaned... slowly but surely, things are getting cleaned.

Getting here was also fun... we actually almost did end up in Germany (I'm kind of disappointed that we caught ourselves... one day... hopefully). Our area butts up to Germany, and there isn't even a line really. We may drive out and take pictures today. We're also going to visit a museum/windmill thing where a couple of wars happened between Germany and Denmark. I don't know much about the history up there, but we'll find out... and probably take pictures. I don't have my address handy, but I'll send it to you on Monday.

Sorry this is such a short and kind of random e-mail... we're in a little bit of a hurry. Love and miss you! Talk to you in a week!

Kærlighed,
Ældste Pullan

Julie's Baptism

2010-04-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

So, it is currently 21:00 and I just got back from the train station so this might be a little bit short.

Firstly, I just got back from Julie's dåb (baptism) who we taught while I was in Horsens. I attached a picture (L to R: Elder Pullan, Elder Bailey, Julie, Elder Champenois, and Elder Nørgaard). It went really well and it was really cool to see the few people that I met while over there again. Most of all it was really great to see her and feel of her spirit was awesome. Most of P-Day today was spent on the train riding to and from Horsens...so this is why the letter is so late, and short (excuses are kind of a talent of mine).

In other news, I am going to...

... drum roll please ...

Sønderborg! Where they speak the weirdest Danish EVER. It is RIGHT next to Germany; literally RIGHT next to Germany... our area goes right up to the German border. I'm nervous and excited and hope to heaven that I'll be able to understand Sønderbronx as it's called apparently. My new companion will be Elder Mauler who is in the same group as Elder Johnson and to be honest, I don't know much about him. BUT, I have heard that he is an awesome Elder and loves missionary work, which... what else could you possibly want from a companion??? I'll still be a District Leader, but this time it'll be my area and then Horsens (where Elders Champenois and Nørgaard are) which will also be really exciting. I'm told it's one of the prettiest places in the mission, one of the nicest apartments, and you run into a TON of Germans... so maybe I'll pick up some German??? This will be the first time (except for one month in Ballerup with Elder Ramsey) where I have had only 1 companion... or at least having only 1 other person living in the apartment with me. That'll be a bit of an adjustment, but good too. I leave for Sønderborg next Saturday, but we may leave late so I may be able to write next Saturday.

ALSO! I don't know if you remember Anu from Ballerup, but she is also getting baptized! Next weekend! And she has asked me to witness and play at her baptism, so I get to go to that next Saturday as well! I'm really, really excited for her! Two weeks in a row... this a great start to a new area... Also, side note, I found out that Sønderborg now has a baptismal date as well. Could it get any better?

I know we have done tons of other stuff this week, but I honestly can't remember much of it. We are getting a new AP. Elder Ockey is going to Herning and Elder Dalton is coming in as an AP. He goes home in July, so probably he'll stay in until he goes home. Elder Jensen is actually going to Ballerup along with Elder LeFevre (don't know if I've mentioned anything about him at all). He too is an awesome Elder and they both will learn a lot. I'm really going to miss Elder Jensen though. Even though he has done everything in his power this past week to make me not miss him (shooting rubber bands at me, untying my shoes, stamping things, turning my milk blue, etc.), I'm still really going to miss him. Seven months together went by really fast. I'm really going to miss the ward, miss København, miss being in the center of things, miss being close to President... but I am so ready to get out and work again.

Everyone still sounds really busy and crazy still! When does summer break happen again? :)

Sorry this is so short! I'm exhausted and will try and write a bit more tomorrow. Love and miss you all!

Ældste Pullan