Week #29 Ballerup

Happy Easter Everyone!!!! I hope all of you had a great one!!!! Well this is the last week for me in Ballerup for sure, President spilled the beans... I will get to that later!!

Splits

SO this week i went on splits with Elders McDougal and Hendriksen which was way fun! So first I went on splits with Elder McDougal (Guddy's old comp) on Tuesday and it was a good time. We taught four lessons together and the highlight was teaching my Indian brotha Sunil who was the sisters investigator but the ZLs took over him. He has came to basketball a couple times and he calls me ''Champ and Master'' when we play haha! But anyways, this guy is my boy and we taught him on the Restoration and the POS and it was a pretty good lesson. Then we got the news of Brussels and Pres O'Bryant said that if you are in big cities that you can not contact and to take off your name tags outside. So that was pretty crazy not going to lie. Then on Friday i went on splits with Elder Hendriksen which consisted of service for Bishop's brother. We like pretty much cleaned up his back yard and got it ready for spring to do some gardening. And we got rewarded with kebabs :) Best food ever! Then we went contacting together and didnt really have to much success excepts giving out a BOM to a brotha from Africa! Then we went to our apartment with Elders Poff and Jensen and us four spent the night there because we had service together in the morning. It was so fun and I could have partied with them for 6 months together in the Ballerup house but oh well... haha Splits was way fun all in all!!  Oh just remembered, so President called Elder Hendriksen about the names of our areas and stuff and he was like, so Elder Jensen and Elder Keller live in Mørkhøj right?'' ANd Elder Hendriksen was like, you mean Elder Reed? ANd Pres was like, oh you didn't hear that.... haha so i am peacing out next week!

Saturday

So saturday was an adventure not going to lie! So after waking up and doing studies together, all four of us headed over to Michael Olsen's to do some service! He is flipping rich and like has a huge pond lake thing, and like trees for days! So we like picked up broken off branches and then we ate these bomb hot dogs and frikedellar saandwhiches! Then after we went home and changed and contacted and talked with an old lady on the Atonement, because it was easter :), but she said it was just polite to listen to us or something. After that the craziness happens! We take dinner, and we were planning to go to basketball but a ZL called us and said that the only way we are playing basketball tonight is if we have an investigator there because all the other investigators can't come or something. So we were waiting for Weinan to reply back to us and kort sadgte he said he could come but he couldn't give us a ride like we were planning on so we had to run a couple miles to the church and even jump over fences which leg to me having a bloody leg, but dont worry mom, it is just a couple of scratches :) Then we played with Weinan and we are planning on eating a chinese hot pot with him this week which will be way good! 

Påske 

Easter in Denmark is a little different. SO they get a whole week off of work because of easter which doesn't make sense because most of them dont even believe in Christ or anything, but that is why we missionaries are out trying to tell them why they have a whole week off of work!! But we had a big easter lunch at Bishop's hopuse which was way fun and the food was great! The Danish tradition is smørebrød which is that open faced sandwhich with all different kinds of meet and fish. And sadly, the easter bunny and easter eggs and the easter baskets are not a thing in Denmark but I will live. :) Oh and tusind tak for my easter package! It was so clutch and i LOVED the food inside of it! 

Haha that is so funny you found my old easter basket from last year but i think i will pass on the leftovers ;) That looks like a way fun easter! I did not meet with Hugo because we were on splits but i heard it went good and he wants to come to church. Oh and it was way hard to meet with all of our investigators because they were all busy with Easter but we should have a good week this week. Oh and finances.... So we got a little problem. So i had three hundred krones in my wallet and i was about to pay the guy at the register for my groceries this week so i got the money our of my wallet and had it in my unbuttoned jacket coat and when i went to get the money it was gone! SO i am pretty sure i got pick pocketed because we looked for the money all aound the cash register but it wasn't there so i had to use my personal money. SOryy if it is a problem it was like 50 bucks that got jacked! SO we will see what happens, and i need to pay Harris for my bike so just tell me if it is going to be a prob. Man, that is sad that Oregon is out! Oh well... Well that was my week and i got one left to go! I have especially got a better understanding of the Atonement during this Easter week! I love you all and next time i write you i wont be in Ballerup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Æ Reed

                                                                  Alex's Danish Bishop

                                                       

                                                                         

                                                                      Danish friend

                                                           yard work service project

Week #28 Ballerup

Hej familie!!!!!! So I dont have too much time, we just got back from being at Frederiksborg slot, castle, and I am in a racce against time to make it to my eating appointment! :)

P DAy Madness

So the last two p days have been pretty sweet not going to lie! So last week the district and the assistents, did the infamous Nougat bit challenge! WHen you eat a whole box of cereal and 1 liter of milk and pretty much race against other missionaries! It was way epic but sadly, I got second and lost to Elder McDougal and ate it in 14 and a half minutes (6th in the whole mission :) ) Haha It is a real struggle because it is just like thick chocolate and is so hard to finish without throwing up! After that, i had the brilliant idea of playing basketball, and i played with some people from the district and the AP Elder Curtis who actually played for Lone Peak when they won all of those championships so that was way fun! But i pretty much died from the food..... oh well haha! It gets worse.... After that i had to make a 45 minute bike ride to a member's house for a flipping eating appointment! It was the worst! They was no possible way i could eat any more, but luckily, I got through it and am alive and well! Oh and the lady's sister who we ate at, her son was visting from America and it was way sweet! We talked sports for daysssss and I got all of the sports updates so that was really fun :)

Investigators

Undersøgere!!! So first we taught Hugo and his wife Maggie again which went way well!! We read 2 Nefi 2 and talked about commandments!! The only prob with Hugo is that he is anti-social. His wife said she wanted to come to church but he said he wasn't ready. But we are getting a member present to the next lesson, our mission leader (who pplayed for the Denmark youth national team in basketball.... no big deal right)! SO that will be way good! ANd he said that he feels positive vibes when we are there, #spirit! We ate with Derek last week, and we talked about Christ and his Atonement! Overall really good, we just got to help him recognize the spirit! And he siad he is reading a lot in the BOM so that is way good! With our Texas friend, Anthony, we met with him last week too! Way good lesson, we taught him the Restoration and he said he could believe everything we told him so that was way sweet and pretty much invited himself to read the BOM! Lets go! Oh and we got a new investigator from Korea, and she has met with sisters before, and so we stopped by her and talked about God and the love he has for  us and prayed for her. She was kind of drunk.... haha! But she could definately feel the spirit, if drunk people can feel the spirit..... No idea, anyways... haha Oh and so we were going to meet with the friend of the guy in the Stake presidency but she has been sick lately. But way cool shoutout is that he was talking in the second ward yesterday and a couple people came up to us and said that he talked about us at church. That when we taught his friend he didn't know that he could trust some 18 year old kids but he said when we were talking about the 1st vision and Joseph SMith that the spirit was so thick that he could cut it! So i guess that is a good thing! 

Sorry i really dont have time to write more! And Easter is really big here! People get like a week break from school and work, and last night we had an easter concert at the church. TEaching is way fun, i would rather be teaching then knocking on doors or contacting people! I would say that is comming along, my vocab has gotten way better than i first got here, but keeping it simple is keY! That utah trip looks way fun! And thanks for eating seafood without me! haha And that is awesome that you could see katelynn dance and tear it up on the stage! And just send my packages to the mission office. Transfers are in two weeks and according to Prez, I am transfering.... He said i am going way far away to a place that is way different than Ballerup. So i am thinking Skive!! But that is just my guess! And i think Oregon is going to take it! They gotta represent the Pacific North West!!! Well, family, I love you all, even when you are having fun without me! I guess i will forgive you'll! Haha Jeg elsker jer og ha' en god uge!!!!!!!!

Æ Reed

                                                                      Love this

                                                  

                                                       Check out Alex's Danish shoes

                                                       
                                                            Castle touring

 Alex and his Danish buddy

                                                         
                                                     Not quite sure what he is doing here?

                                                                     
                                                            Traveling on a bus or train?

                                                       For my grandma who loves swans

                                                    Looks like Alex's is playing the ukulele

                                                                Beautiful Denmark

                                                                       Pondering

             

                                                          Alex's practical jokes?

                                                           Think he looks guilty?

                                                            Danish sunset, very cool!

Week #27 Ballerup

Hej alle sammen, seks måneder senere...... Hvad skete!??? Isn't it crazy that I have already been out 6 months since I peaced out of Washington! Time is just flying too fast, what am I going to do! 

Last P Day

So last P day was pretty sweet not going to lie! So we went to København with the District and took a boat tour with best district ever around NyHavn which is what pops up when you google Copenhagen! Pretty Sweet stuff! We saw like a bunch of important stuff like the Queen's home or like a famous opera house, that i have no idea what it is called...., haha and we saw the little mermaid statue which i guess is famous but it is really little and honestly not that cool but what do I know haha! Then we took of to Bishop Paulsen's for family home evening and a great night of laughs and food! 

Æ Poff Splits Times 4

Well me and ELder Poff have been in the same district for 4 transfers so that means splits number 4 with Elder Poff! Some of the crazy highlights, well i guess they are not too crazy, are that we helped a lady in the ward with family history at the church in Frederiksberg. I had no idea what they were doing so i was just chilling in the background fighting the struggle of falling asleep... Then we went to the office because Elder Poff had a package and I talked with ELder Fairbanks for a little bit, and just talking about how crazy fast time has just flown by! And i talkeed to my favorite Senior missionary EVEr ELder Buxton! He is my boy! He served here back in the day and he is probs one of the few people here who know where Moses Lake is! And he tells crazy stories for days so I love that guy! THen we had a contacting sesh and then ate at this members home and hands down, they have the crazies little kids of all time! I cant even describe them, but last eating appoitment at their house, their parents gave us the HUGE challenge of invloving the kids in the spiritual thought which is literary impossible but we tried, show a little faith, right! So we had the kids throw a normal piece of paper and it didn't go anywhere, then we told them what can we do follow the commandments and for ever thing they said, we did a fold to make a paper airplane and said we get blessings when we follow the commandments! It kind of worked, but we had a couple interruptions of kids crying and trying to punch us hahahahahahaha #crazy! 

Hygge Sesh

So hygge pretty much means chill and have fun at the same time and that is kind of what happened when we went to eat at a family in the wards house. SO we have been working on having eating appointments only an hour because people in Denmark LOVE to hygge with missionaries for daysssss. So we did service, kind of carrying a washing machine down the stairs which was pretty freaky but we did it...., anyways haha, we got done and we were supposed to eat after service but they didn't even start getting the food ready and we couldn't leave so we spendt a long time chilling at this members home awkardly wanting to leave but we couldn't because well yea... Anyways it was a good time and we had way fun conversations about USA and different movies!

Saturday

Saturdays are just so great here! SO we woke up bright in the morning, well it wasn't bright the sun doesn't work like that here, but anyways, we went to play soccer and Weinan finally came! He has been way busy with vacation and had family over that we couldn't work with him but it was great to see him! My boy Greek, that is the nickname Elder Jensen and I gave him because he served his mish in Greece and is like my boy, he is about to get married to an AMerican and we have way fun conversations, had his bachelor party that day and so he invited all of his friends who are really good at soccer and it was a quality game, and Elder Reed was happy! :) Then right after that, we biked to the church for Lars and Teresa's daughter's baptism! It was a way good service and the spirit was so strong! Then after we munched on great food, and then went to work and contacted people! Then we went for weekly basketball at the church with the district and a couple of the sister's investigators!(Weinan will come next week :) ) And that was a party! 

Investigator Updates

So investigator updates!!!!! SO we taught Hugo again and this time his wife was with! It was hands down the best lesson with him! The spirit was so strong! We talked on the Plan of Salvation and read from the Book of Mormon. ANd Hugo prayed for the first time for us and then his wife prayed in Serbian! She isnt that good at Danish or English so Hugo translates for us. Oh, and when we got there Hugo was talking about how his back has been hurting and I was like in my head, should we give him a blessing... and at the end of the lesson Elder Jensen asked him if he wanted a blessing and he said yes, and that is just a testimony for me that we are both inspired! ELder Jensen and I think that he can make his date so that is pretty awesome! THen for all the other investigators, it was pretty hard to meet with, but we did teach like 7 lessons on the street! It was crazy! We taught like a young guy who is like a Danish pop artists who is on the radio and is pretty good i guess! Oh and we got a new investigator! ANd he comes from Texas! He is so sweet! He is way outgoing and sarcastic which was way sweet to here because Danes are not like that. So we are going to start teaching him, oh and if you are curious why he came here, he met is wife on the internet.... kids, would not advise that... haha! THe good new is that we have a whole bunch of appointments set up for this week so i am pumped for that!

WOw, i didnt even know that it was St Patricks day this week... haha i guess it isnt too big here! ANd bishop said that you guys got the video and me and Elder Hendriksen get along pretty well if you could say that haha! Aye, the Webley fam is looking great! Cant wait to play with all the kids again, that will be a good time! Oh and i am going to pay Harris this week, just so you know. Oh that is awesome Courtney is going to Africa! He is going to love it down there! It will be exciting to here where Cameron goes, and how is the soccer team doing?? Are you guys going to go out to any of the games? Oh and there is no way Weber State is going anywhere... sorry dad! Haha and how in the world is Oregon a #1 seed! That is crazy! Well, I have a sister missionary mission in front of me and it will be great! I love you all and have a great week!

Æ Reed 

Alex and his Danish friend

                                                                 

                                                            P-day adventures

                                                            First glimpse of sunshine

                                                               
                                                                   Did he or didn't he?

                                                                 
                                                                    Danish treats

Week # 26 Ballerup

Hej familie!!!! So after five loooong hard working months in Ballerup we got an investigator on baptismal date.... Actually times that by two! We got two investigators on dåbsdato this week which doesn't happened so all i can say is #blessed!!! 

Investigators 

SO like i said we got two investigators on baptisimal date! One is more promising than the other. The first is Derek, the guy from Scotland who almost got batized 40 years ago in Scotland before he joined the Unification Church. Usually lessons with him go FOREVER because he talks on what he believes on and his crazy adventures of his life which are pretty sweet! But I remember when he was talking about his church's doctrine, the spirit was gone, and when Elder Jensen and I started testifing on baptism and the Book of Mormon, the spirit was soooooo strong! Then we gave him a goal and if he KNEW without a doubt that the Book of Mormon was true, would he be baptized on April 16th and he said yes! The only prob is is that he has been a strong member of his church for 40 years so who knows if he is really willing to change. But Elder Jensen will be praying and fasting and showing our faith that he can get an answer! DåbsDato #2- So this is Hugo from Yugoslovia! He is our people mom! I guess.... I didn't know that fact about there and Croatia but that is sweet! So we gave him the goal also that if he found out all of this was true that he would be baptized on APril 16th also! THe only problem with him is that he is not really social but we are going to ease him in with getting him out on a church tour and get some members to the lesson, and even more exciting, I think next time we are going to teach his wife! SO that is pretty sweet! Other then those two, we couldn't meet with any of our investigators really, they all had something going on and couldn't meet, but we taught Harris, the guy who fixes missionaries bikes. Oh and I toojk my bike to him the other day to fix my chain and look at my really loose front tire and good thing i did because the part conecting the tire almost snapped in half and i could have face planted when i was biking... BUT we got to him in time, blessings :), and he got me a new tire, a new tube, and a new chain, which he said would have costed about 900 krones, but he is charging me 400 so i need to pay him that this week. SO I am so thankful for him and we had a fun talk about profets and God again with him! And while we were contacting people in Herlev one day, we ran into my boy Ricardo! The Indian dude from Mexico who speaks like four combined languages and thinks that he only needs Jesus and no religion and that the 10 commandments are only for Jews... haha i love this dude! Even though he is not all there, I am his best friend and his American Brother! But anyways ;), we saw him and taught him about the scrriptures helping us in our life and then i prayed for him, and haha, i opened my eyes while saying the prayer and he was just nodding his head agreeing with everything I was saying, and did his mother mary cross thing at the end! Haha it was a you had to be there moment! And ELder Jensen and I found like four potentials this week knocking and three of them come from Brazil, Serbia, and Montenegro! We keep on finding foreineers! I love it!!!

Zone Confrence

So we had zone confrence which was great to see the boys from the MTC group! It was great to catch up with Elder Fairbanks, and Elder Adams! THe focus was was using all of our tools to become better missionaries, and by tools i mean like improved finding, asking people who do they know for referals, and working with family history with the members! So that was sweet! And our mission is really improving in refrence to numbers, but President O'Bryant knows that we can be baptizing more, and I guess we are tied with Poland for the lowest baptizing mission  in Europe... so we will get that changed! But they are people, not numbers!! haha Then after zone confrence and a little contacting sesh, we went to eat with the Bishop's brother which was a great time! We talked a lot about his mission in Greek, and it makes me thankful to be here. Yes it is hard and the people are not that accepting, but in Greek, they had a crazy hard language, they would get things thrown at them and would be yelled at.... so shout out to Denmark!!!

Æ Jensen's Voice....

So Elder Jensen got sick for one of the first times on his mission because of me.... I have been kindof sick with this never ending cold for the past week and a half.... but anyways,  he lost his voice on friday, and guess what that meant.... I got to contact by myself, he was standing by me, for two whole hours! As much as i love talking to people, that was not an enjoyable part of my mission, haha! Okay it wasn't that bad but i guess it was a way fun experience! 

Saturday=Balling 

I love Saturdays! SO we planned on not going to soccer in the morning if Weinan wouldnt come, and we couldnt get a hold of him on Friday night. So at 830 we get a call from him that said he was coming but he was going to be late, so we changed clothes real quick and biked to the pitch! When we got there Weinan said he actually couldn't come, but we still got to play soccer so that was fun! Then in the middle we did some balling, missionary style. We gave out two Mormons Bog on the street and talked with two people for thirty minutes which really doesn't happen and so that was awesome! Then we huslted to a kebab shop, ate a kebab, probably bad idea, and then balled with the district and a couple investigators!!!

Sunday Funday!

Sundays are so great! So the highlight of church was me and Elder HendrikSEN, Elder Jensen didn't have a voice, teaching the youth for Sunday school! We started out asking them what their names were, the funnest thing they did this week, and their favorite American thing ;) And a couple kids said, ''Ældste Reed!'' hahaha For meget kærlighed!!!! Then we got serious and talked about the Atonement with them and it was great! Shout out to Elder Hendriksen because we alsways have fun together, and he is a greaty missionary to teach with!! Then we stayed inside after church to rest Elder Jensen's voice, and then we went out to a member's house for an eating appoitment and they invited Roy and Joana! Lets go! We had a great time just keeping it real and it was weird to speak in English to these members! Then one thing Bishop Paulsen told us to do is to treat Roy and Joana as new investigaotrs, so we taught them the first vision and why the Book of MOrmon is so improtant, and good thing we did because they didn't know that Joseph saw God and Jesus. Kind of a big thing, so we taught them that and it was a great time!

Aye! Baby Webely is here! And i loved the pictures! And haha good work keeping the blog updated, i know i can always count on you! And i have the SD card reader, i just forgot it at the church last week. And that is good the ward back at home is getting bigger! I was worried it would turn into a branch or something! hahah and i dont know that sister, she could be new, and that is sweet we got Harry Potter in the ward! hahaha And that stinks the girls lost, I ont get why the top two teams in the state had to play each other in the first round, Washington playoffs are wack... And that is great to hear that Big Bend is in finals! And coach Poth is such a great coach, that is awesome thaey get to be in the finals! Well, I love you all and have a great week!!! 

Æ Reed