Denmark Temple with our new convert!!

The amazing Malmö district.

Trip to the Copenhagen, Denmark temple.

Wow. Words cannot express how grateful I am. 

This past week we had the chance to travel to the Denmark temple with our new convert. Our mission president said that we could go with him if we went with a family. So, we asked a family in the ward and they, along with this convert, planned a wonderful trip. We went this past Saturday and I once again believe that the Denmark temple is my favorite temple. It has been my mission temple- this was the third time that I have had the chance to attend. Going to the temple with a new convert was such a breath taking experience that I don't think many missionaries get to have. Once we got there we first watched him do baptisms and then we got to do some confirmations. When he first stepped into the water he could not stop grinning. It took a little bit of time for him to get used to being baptized so many times in a row. But, after the session was over we gathered back together and he told us he has never felt so wonderful in his whole life. That is what the gospel can do for a person -  it gives them something they didn´t even realized they were missing. He kept telling us that it felt like he was helping people who are dead break the bonds of death with his help of the baptismal saving ordiances. Within the past 2 months we met this new convert, taught him, and have been able to watch him grow and grow in understanding. He truly is a miracle and strengthens my testimony every time that we talk with him. He has a strong desire to serve a mission but is too old so he is taking a mission prep class from Elder Dunn in Lund and now has a Preach my Gospel book, which he loves. We ended our wonderful day with all of us getting dinner in Malmö with one of his friends that he wanted us to meet. What an amazing missionary experience.

 

Well, as you can see, that was the highlight of the week. Syster Jacobs and I recently have been feeling the need to focus more on less actives. So, this past week we started some visits - which went okay. I think that the most heartbreaking thing to experience as a missionary is when you arrive at the home of a less-active and they say that they don´t want anything to do with the church anymore. We had that happen twice this week. But, we are at least doing our job and inviting people to act upon their God given gift of agency. I am all about inviting people to act upon their agency now. As missionaries and members our job is to invite. It has taken me pretty much my entire mission to truly understand my role as a member and as a missionary. When we just open our mouths and invite that is when miracles can happen and will. But, on the bright side of the less-active work, we also came in contact with two families who would like us to keep in contact!  Sometimes I just can´t believe how much work there is to do. I love missionary work and I am looking forward to helping with less active work when I get home.

 

Syster Jacobs and I are staying together! We were very scared to turn our phone back on once we got out of the Denmark temple because we knew that that was the day President was making transfer phone calls. But, I am happy to say, that we will be staying together! We feel very grateful for that and we also know that this is our time now to really see four more baptisms together! We have quite a few investigators right now. But, because it is summer time it has been a little bit harder to get a hold of them. All of our investigators also seem to be in very different spots of conversion. We have four people who would like to be baptized and we are hoping to see them baptized within the next couple of months. Because of Summer we are looking towards August when they come back from vacation for their baptisms.

 

On saturday night one of our investigators called us up and said that she had made dinner and was wondering if we would like to come over and eat with her. We said yes and headed right over. We had just gotten back from the temple so we were on fire. Syster Jacobs was really on fire and the Holy Ghost was present when we were teaching. Our investigator has had a problem with accepting the Book Of  Mormon and because of that Syster Jacobs had the idea for us to just read out of the Bible with her. That changed her entire attitude and she was much more willing to listen to us after we showed her how much we actually love the Bible too. We also watched a mormon message with tons of different people singing "I am a child of God" and that brought the Spirit so strongly. Our investigator even started singing along! Amazing powerful teach.

 

Then on Sunday we had a very jam-packed missionary day!  We taught young womans, sunday school, and had four investigators in church! We were very busy running around the entire day. Haha. I would have loved to have seen us. I love the young woman program and we have such amazing young women here!! We taught the lesson on scripture study and why it is so important for us. We are also planning a really big fun activity for the youth in August with missionaries. The work is wonderful and I love it.

 

Not much time left. But, today we are going with a member to a big outdoors market and to see some really neat Viking rocks. I love pdays and members! I love you all and wish you a great week!

 

Love, Talisa!