December 22

*So he just sent a short email this week, since it was Christmas and he was able to skype with us.  He looked great, and we were blessed to have a little over 2 hours to skype with him!  Pretty much unheard of, most missionaries only get 45min-1 hour these days.  

So this week is not going to be very long because we are going to talk soon and because we have a short p day today, Christmas and stuff is going to take some time out our work but we have one heck of a week set up for work and for fun starting with a Jule hygge with the Assistants but I hope to see you all soon Love GV

One of the Packages he got!

Getting to see him on the big screen TV on Christmas day!

G and Emma meeting each other for the first time, he stuck his tongue out first, she just copied him

Tour of his apartment

So G took a video of his apartment, so if you want a tour, here it is!

Click here to view the tour on YouTube

December 15

So, here is his pictures and audio from this week!  He sounds like he's doing really great, and its so much fun to hear his voice!

Garrett attempting to keep up the Vance tradition of making Gingerbread houses...

It didn't work so well haha

December 8

This week Garrett changed from writing letters to sending us audio files.  Enjoy!

He got our Christmas package!

December 1

This is super cool, look at what Garrett did for us! He's started taking videos and sending them for us to look at.  This week, he took some videos of him riding his bike through Denmark (warning, its a little shaky so be prepared). We've had some trouble getting the video to work on the blog, so if you can't view it on the blog click the link below and it will take you to the YouTube page to view the video.

click here to view the video on YouTube

November 24

*He responded to a bunch of mom’s questions, and then gave us a recap of the week.

·         So how was your first full week in Fredericksburg? Well actually its Frederiksberg, there are a couple of different cities that are all spelt really similarly but it is great I love it so much, by far a large change from the quite town of Silkeborg and then Big city but I have really enjoyed it so far. We have less investigators but we work a lot more with less actives. The ward is over 400 but only 100ish come every week so we are going to focus on that as well as our investigators.

·         What is it like sharing an apartment with the AP's?  I got to say that I am really lucky so be in this apartment because I get to see 3 wonderful examples of great missionaries every day. They help me with language questions and gospel questions and they are some great friends. We get up and run every morning the 4 of us and have a lot of fun. The jokes have just started and I am glad that I am here for Christmas.

·         Do they mostly do mission business or do they get to do regular missionary work also? They have a lot of other things to do like numbers work and travel and transfers and meetings but they get to work a lot more then I originally thought. O and they have to take like a 3-4 day trip to Greenland every month, crazy right. But we are one strong unit here.

·         How is it going with the new companion? We are good friends already he is one hard working son of a gun and actually my same age. He came right out of high school and has been out almost a year and a half, crazy because we choose different paths but we both are working hard and having fun.

·         Did you know him before at all? Yea so I rode on a couple of long train rides before and got to know him a little and I had him on my list of dream companions along with the Assistant Elder Oackey and I get to live with both of them. Tons of Fun.

·         Are the people in Copenhagen more open to hearing the gospel? A lot more open, We have found like 5 potentials in the past week, I found like 2 in all three transfers in Silkeborg.

·         Can you understand them?  I get most of what they are saying but they talk about 3x faster then the other side and they have a funny accent, it is about the same as someone from Deep south moving north east but after a couple of days I could understand a lot more.

·         Can they understand you?  No, the first two lessons I taught not a word I spoke was understood by the investigator and less active because I have a heavy Jysk accent, like deep south Denmark hick accent. I have since been working every day to speak with a different accent and it has been working so far a huge difference in my Danish but I like it more people understand this accent it is like the most clear Danish you can speak.

·         Do you see the mission president more? Yea I have already seen him twice this week, and his wife twice as well, I love being able to see him, I love that man, he is one inspired guy.

·         How much daylight do you get?

·         Total we are talking 6-7 hours a day and all of that is covered with clouds and dark

·         When does the sun rise and set typically?
It is coming up like 10 and back down about 5
Are you using your bikes more or less?

·         We use our bikes to go everywhere, I was hopping we had bus passes but we don't on the plus side we havn't had a bike problem yet.
What kind of things are you going to be able to do on P days?

·         This week we are going to go to the temple, next week we are headed to a zone conference (christmas) then the next two weeks are sight seeing and shoping, then christmas and the last week hitting up christmas sales.
Do you still have that genealogy info we sent with you? I think so I have the big family tree thing but not much more then that.

So a short Recap os the week I have spent the first three days wondereing where I was and what I was doing and saying and then I started to find my groove and bearings, the Dialect here is so fun, I will try and hold onto it for the rest of my life, it is the proper danish kind of like British English, I like the way it sounds. We have had to opportunity to watch a baptism and to reactivate a member here. Sunday was the Primary Program and I got to pass the Sacrament to like 40 little kids on the stand, I loved it. I have started meeting people and making friend and it is so neat to run past the temple every morning I kind of feel like I am back in Provo but I am not strange. I get to see a lot more going on here just because there are so many people here. Sorry but running short on time today but know that I love yall

Yours Truly Æ Vance

November 17

Well to start out Congrats to my Sister and Will on EMMA I have heard the good news and holy cow it seems like just yesterday y'all told me that you were having a kid and that I was about to start my mission. Time flies in the service of the Lord.

District Activity- Our district had an activity this past district meeting and it was bowling. We had a great time, just relaxing a little bit and having some fun, I threw a bowling ball 37.64 kil/hr and afterwards we got a bite to eat and held our regular district meeting. 

Finall Days in Silkeborg- So there was not much craziness in the last days leading up  to the end other then a circut being blown in our apartment and then I had to try and figure out Danish electricity and fix it that was great but that was about it. Packing started Wednesday and ended Sunday night, I have acquired many things so far on my mission and trying to get them to fit in the suitcase is not the easiest job when I ended it was two 80 something lbs bags that were very full of stuff. I am going to slim it down next time after I know just how cold it is going to be.
  The last sacrament meeting was the biggest thing that went down. I had to bear my testimony and then I took pictures with everyone. I really feel like family there with all of the people that have helped me learn to read and speak danish. To finish things off a member made a feast for us to say goodbye and good luck. It had turkey bacon and Icelandic Layer Cake which is the best stuff on earth holy cow. I swear it is like nuttela and cream and coconut yummm.

Transfers- The day started with a 530am wake up call, getting ready for the day and then heading to the bus, from the bus to train one and from train one to train two. 4 hours later I ended up in the big city with the assistants there with a car there to take me and the new assitant home. I set my stuff down and we ran to get some food and then biked through down town to get to the library and start emailing. So that is it right now but some awesome pics of the place and of Copenhagen will be comming.


A Testimony by yours truely
So there have been a couple of things that I wanted to do recently and this is one of them. I want y'all to know that I know that this church is true. I just finished reading the BOM in Danish and after I finished I hit my knees for a little while to double check and see if it was true and if I was out here for the right reasons. My conclusions were as follows one the book it true and it is also true in Danish. Two, Joseph Smith was a true prophet and some of the evidence comes from the BOM and also from Docterine & Covenents. Jesus Christ is our brother, savior and redeemer and we are only able to get back to God and Heaven through his great sacrafice and Atonement. As I have been here I have been trying to figure out my own knowledge of Christ and who he is or was and my conclusion has been that he is and will forever be the man. He was a perfect individual with patience and love but he was also perfectly balanced in all things and I know it is only by his blood that our sins can become clean again. I love you all so much and wish you happy hollidays and close this i Jesu Kristi navn Amen

November 10

 

So this week has been a lot of fun with our celebration of thanksgiving a reactivation, branch conference, and to end news about transfers.

 

Thanks giving, we traveled to Århus for a zone conference/training and it was great. This month was all about finding and talking to everyone that we can possible make contact with, including contacting on bikes and other crazy stuff. I we got some more ideas on how to contact but I mean life is every changing and to be good at contacting you just have to be ridiculously outgoing, talking to anyone and everyone that would listen. The best contactor I have seen is just a very easy going kid who is really good at cracking jokes and that is how he starts all of his contacts with a great joke and a complement or something like that. I will be trying the new stuff out in the next couple weeks and see how good I can get at connecting with people in a split second.

 

After the training we had lunch it was a great deal of turkey and mashed potatoes, I ate three servings of each because you don't see that every day here. Then came the talent show, the tripanionship put on a little reenactment of the night before Christmas with a mission transfers theme. There were lots of talents from guitar to violin and singing and skits, just missionaries that wanted to relax and have some fun. And like all great thanksgivings there was football, we had two zones and a lot of people to play so we split up in districts and had some fun with it, nothing to competitive but just a lot of running around which is just not possible as a missionary. On the way home we got on the train covered with mud and looking for some people to talk to on the train ride home, I plopped down next to the nearest college kid and started talking a little about his math book, the subject that he was studying and why (at this point he switched to English) and we started talking about differences in the culture of Danish and really every where else, some of the most important things that we are supposed to do in life and why we thing they are so. I started into the differences in religions and then to Joseph Smith but he soon lost interest. I then just asked him a lot of questions about how to say things in danish and he ended up just laughing at my attempts to pronounce them. Then I brought up Christmas and some of their traditions that they have in his family and the train ride was over. I was not the most successful contact I have ever had but it was the one where I was most like myself, I am almost to the point where I can be myself in danish but there is  a lot more work to be done before I am there.

 

Branch Conference- so a less active that we have been working to help come back to church has been coming on and off since my second transfer here and this last week she has been coming enough to be reclassified as active wowowoowowowowowo that is great for her, and we are working on setting a date for her to work towards the temple. At branch conference we meet the new stake President and enjoyed a great meal prepared by the ladies in the ward.

 

Today I learned that I am going to Fredricks Berg which is in down town Copenhagen and is a 4 man Apartment with the assistants so I will be able to ask some of the best danish speaking missionaries about questions I have every day.

November 3

 

So a week of many blessings.

Splits in Horsens

- I was on splits this week with the district leader and we headed out after lunch to give some service to an investigator who was has been difficult to get a hold of. It had been about three months since the last set of elders had spoken with him because of some medical conditions he is sleeping a lot of the day. We started to mow his lawn when out of no where he walks out, he is from Florida and asked if we could come in and teach him and his kids a little about God and clarify some questions he had. I about dropped on the spot you don't get asked that ever in Denmark so we went inside and he asked many really great questions committed himself to read the Bom and come to church, what an experience and blessing that was to me and to the District leader.

A Less Active coming Back

- We have a less active who has been very set in her ways since she was baptized and hadn't been back to church for a long time, in the past two months she has been 5 times and has committed to keep coming. Awesome

Endurance like none else

- So something went wrong with my bike the other day and it was late in the evening, I looked at it, it was strange it would roll without me on it just fine but wouldn't roll with me on it at all. (came to find out later that the quick release on the back wheel was up and when I sat on it the wheel would pinch itself in the breaks but when I got off it would release, crazy thing so we started walking but weren't going to make it in time for our missionary curfew so I started jogging and the other missionaries were riding next to me for 7 klicks until we got home with 1 minute to spare, I haven't ran in a long time it was a lot of fun but everyone who saw the three missionaries gave us some crazy looks like why is that third one running. I fixed the bike the next day when I could see it in the light, crazy stuff.

There are so many miracles that I get to see in a week that to list them all would take more then 2 hours I hope you all get a taste with just the one or two that I can write in time, know that I love you and can't wait to see y'all at Christmas.

This next Monday we should get calls telling us where we will spend Christmas, crazy that I have been out that long already. I will always keep you in my prayer

Love GV

October 27

So this last week we had many interesting things happen, out district meeting was on Tuesday so we traveled up to Horsens and had a blast with the District helping each other set new goals and conference about new ways to try old things like knocking and street contacting. Then returned and worked the rest of the day. Wednesday morning we had a visit from the Couple missionaries who came to inspect out apartment, we passed with flying colors. (Mom I have kept the who thing clean since the day I got there, I even make my bed).
 Quick story- so out sinks seal was bad and it leaked a little so we went to the hardware store to get a new one with the Couple, they were newer in the land then I was so I directed them around the store and talked with the employees trying to find what we need. I am so thankful that Danish has a lot of English Cognates. Well found the parts and repaired the sink and got a great candy bar from them.
 Anyways life continues and that night the Horsens Elders got in for splits, because I am the oldest one in the area I had to make plans for two sets of elders to go around and explain where everything was and is. Next morning we went out to work, two went to a lesson the threesome (I was in the three) took off to visit a Less Active that lives outside Silkeborg. Well we made it about 3/4 of the way there when we got a flat tire (theme of my mission) and walked it all the way back home. We fixed it and took off to go try and catch an investigator before he went to work and on the way up we got a flat tire awesome. We ditched the bikes and went knocking for the rest of the night and ended with a lesson at a Less actives home.
 Next day We repaired the bike again and take off to an area that has a lot of promising potential investigators, we set up two appointments and find another potential investigator and begin our Journey home when once again we had a flat tire, (total to date 34 flat tires in my mission all with my companions bikes) We then spent the next two hours walking out bikes home. Well many many many flat tires but there is just one more that I would like to talk about and that is the miracle flat tire.
 We were biking heading over to knock a new area when one of the elders got a flat and we had to stop for a minute, in that time a young man that we had been teaching English to pulled up on his scooter and wanted to schedule an appointment, he had lost our number and didn't know how to get in contact with us again. Well we set it up and it should be a great meeting.
 So this was a basic summary of the week hope you all have a great week, love
Æ GV

October 20

A Miracle followed by another Miracle

So this week is an account of Gods’ hand in the work in Silkeborg.

It begins one rainy day, well almost every day it rains here but yea it was raining and we sat there in companionship study preparing to go and contact a referral that we had received the night before. We planned the bus route and we would have a hour in this little city to contact them. We biked to the bus station and waited for our bus. It came, we hopped on and we continued our journey for the next twenty minutes down a little road in a straight line. We got off the bus and found the house in a matter of minutes, knocked on the door and the answer was a very firm No. Ok so there was 45 minutes before the next bus came and that entire town had been knocked two months before. So Elder Nielsen asked aloud, “so now what do we do?”, and at that precise moment a man in a car drove up and opened the door and asked if we were Mormons. We said yea and he said get in. Without arguing we all slid in and started talking to him, glad to get out of the rain, he recounted his trip all around the US when he was a teenager and told us about the many friendly people that helped him during his time there. He told us that he was not interested at all in the church but that he might invite us over to eat dinner to start repaying some of the kindness that was given to him over 30 years before. Well he took us back to Silkeborg and dropped us of, a crazy experience. Immediately after that we went to a less actives home to talk with her and help her get back to church. She has been meeting with missionaries for over 6 years and had only recently come to church at all. She read about 5 verses in the scriptures and started asking some incredible questions. We discussed some of the things that were on her mind and at the end of the lesson she asked for a blessing from me. Leaving that appointment was probably in my top five of all time strongest points in my life where I could feel the Holly Ghost. The following day she was at church and she participated in the classes after as well. Back to Back Miracles!

It is crazy just how much the Lord helps us out here in the field sometimes, there is just no other explanation. I love you all so much, have a good week

Love GV

October 13

Monday the Crazy Day, So last Monday I sent an email about transfers and my new companions and that is where I am going to start off...

We went straight to work after emailing we had the opportunity to do service for an investigator, she is the one who makes us really good meals when we work hard enough for her. Well we worked hard enough, there are three of us and we tried to move an 800lbs counter top out of this house for her and I came out dripping sweat head to toe and breathing heavy, we got the counter about half way out and we had to give up because we just didn't have the man power (I can feel myself getting weaker but I am about 184lbs know and ripped from Danish food). 

The following Day we had 3 lessons which is uncommonly high for us and it went great. Wed. Thrs.& Fri. All of the lessons we planned were canceled and three investigators dropped us (they do not want to meet again). Well to put it like this it sucked!!! But we started to search in some new areas for people to teach and I hope that this will be fruitful. Our normal working day includes stopping by people who are interested hoping they will schedule a lesson (we try first to call them but many don't answer their phones ever and then we have scheduled appointments and knocking, street contacting, and service. There has not been too much in terms of excitement in the work in the last two or three weeks but we have been trying to get the juices flowing. 

Thursday we had District meeting and I am the oldest one in the District so I am referred to as king of the District and I am also no longer the youngest missionary there either because the Sister in Horsens is training a new missionary, exciting, and it is a good reminder of how far my Danish has come in the last 3 Months really it is crazy the progress.

Well Saturday and Sunday were a little more like normal with the companionship falling into a routine and a flow, I think that a little more time and we will be able to flip this area upside down and teach all the single women in Silkeborg (because we no longer have to worry about a third man)

The interesting thing that I studied this week was actually about the fall of Adam and Eve, What I concluded was that the fall came from the word of wisdom. The word of Wisdom gives us counsel about our personal physical temples and God gave Adam and Eve similar counsel in the Garden. Their bodies were in an immortal state and they could only partake of certain things to continue in this state. Well when they partook of something of the world the fruit of the knowledge of good and Evil it changed their state to a continually deteriorating state that we have inherited as human beings. It is important today to follow the word of wisdom because it gives us a way to maintain our physical temples in a manner that the holy spirit can dwell with us, if we are not respecting out physical temples we will not have the holy presence of the spirit at all times. To put it like this to feel the Holy Ghost while drunk would be difficult not only because your senses are all dulled but your body is also being attacked by harmful substances. I have a strong testimony of the Word of Wisdom and that it was given to us in these latter days to help us stay strong in the Gospel and in the world of changing values. God gave it to us because he loves us and we should show our love for god by following his Counsel.

Well that is that for this week Love you All

GV

October 6

Wow there is just so much to cover.

Splits, Zone Conference, Zone Activity, General Conference and Transfers O man

So we had splits here in Silkeborg this time and I was working with Elder Bateman he is a really funny kid who loves to crack jokes, we get along great and we stopped by a list of like 30 people and nobody answered the door. I had a blast and we ended up taking a couple of pictures that look really awesome.

Zone conference was great, it always is great but before this last one I was able to talk with president in an interview, he truly is a man of God and we talked about my training and about Silkeborg and a couple of questions I had in terms of procedure and other stuff but I felt great after. After the training we had a zone activity and that meant soccer, capture the flag and ultimate. I had so much fun just running around for the first time in months man I miss playing sports with friends but the days after I was so sore holy cow.

Well we got calls about tranfers and I was told I was going to be part of a trio and that one of them was going to be my old companion from the MTC elder Neilson, I laughed because he is very easy for me to get along with and we should keep each other sane. The other is elder Sullivan who is new to me I haven't heard much about him because he has spent all his time on Sheland.

For General conference we had to go to AAhrus and we watched with a lot of other people Saturday night. It was actually the Saturday Morning session. We stayed with the zone leaders that night and the next day we watched priesthood at the church. That morning we ate with a member and I made a fast friend, there is something about getting along with older women I must have inherited dads ability to just make friends with them. So after that we went to another members’ house to watch the next two sessions and eat dinner. I was confused as to why we didn't watch it at the church but then as I was talking with the member it became apparent that she needed a blessing and she knew that it was me who needed to give it to her. Well it was a crazy powerful blessing and we called it a night. The next morning was transfers and it is crazy, so I picked up my first companion that morning and the other came in about noon. We loaded them both up onto a train and road into Silkeborg, We chatted and then took a bus to drop off their bags and came to the library to email y’all. Well hopefully we will get to know one another a little better on as the week goes on but there is a lot of weight on me because they don't know the city or the people who we meet with so I will carry everything for a little while. That just means a lot of stress but I can take it. I hope you all have a good week and know that I love you all so much

Love

GV

I also took on two eating challenges this week. One was the chocolate triangle. It is a giant pastry and most missionaries can’t eat it all before giving up because it is too rich. I ate the whole thing and part of another missionaries because he couldn't finish his and then some more of another because I was still hungry. The pastries are good but not that good, I expected something mind blowing, it is just ok but  mom’s cheese cake still beats it. The other was a super hot pepper that was supposed to be super painful to eat. Two missionaries tried before me and they both cried like babies. I was number three and my eyes began to water but I held it together for the win. It was great fun this week I just have to remember to have fun with it every day and not get to serious.

I also had the opportunity to talk with a member about life for a little amount of time. There are many blessings that we are given as members of the chruch and the  knowledge that we can see our family again after death is so comforting that this week I just wanted to give you all my testimony of Gods plan for us and although there are trials put in our lives they are there for reasons. We are given comfort in God’s plan because we know what will happen after this life on earth is over but it also gives me comfort while tough things happen in life. It is going to be alright if we have to suffer for a little amount of time because in the long run our sufferings are so little compared to Christ’s and we will be able to look back and see our sufferings with the growth that comes from them. Always keep your head up and looking at the future.

Love

GV

September 29

So this week’s letter will have three parts The long Walk, The long Talk and the New Start

The Long Walk- So there was this address in our area book and the record was great, well she had 4 lessons and wanted to be baptized and that was where it had ended about a year ago nothing else so we prepped for a long haul bike ride to visit her. We made it to her house in 1 hour and 45 minutes that was booking it was about 45 kilometers but it was a gravel road, the path was anywhere from 2 inches wide to 2 feet wide depending on the part of the path and it was a straight shot for bikes between these two cities. As I said it was great time going there but on the way back we made it about 5 kilometers on the path when my comp blew out his back tire again and we started to walk. In total it took about 4 hours to walk home and the rest of the day to fix his bike. On the plus side there were some really nice people I got to give directions to and some others that stopped and tried to help us pump up the tire but it wouldn't hold any air. Nobody was interested in hearing about our church though.

The Long Talk- So this past Sunday I gave my second talk, this one was a full 20 minutes long and man it was a struggle. The first 10 minutes or so it was just fine everyone could follow along and I was doing ok and then there were some big words in the scripture and I felt like I struggled the rest of the talk, everyone told me that I did great but they do that even if you didn't so I don't trust them on that. Well the good news is that I can give a long talk in Danish and it did do something for someone in the audience. There is a less active in our branch that hasn't come since she had been baptized 6 years ago that we convinced to come. We walked with her to church and sat with her. After Church we walked with her home and I talked with her about what she liked and missed about church and she opened up and told me why she was baptized and why she stopped coming to church. We sat down talked a little about faith (that is what my talk was on) and I pulled out Mark 9 They story of the father and the son. The son has an evil spirit and the father pleads with the apostles to cast it out and they can’t, he then pleads to Jesus to help in any way and Jesus asks about his faith. He immediately responds with his faith and asks for help with his disbelief. We set out a plan to help her come again to church and to work towards going to the temple in about a year. She was so excited that she went right inside and started to read the BOM again. 

The New Start- So there was a man that we knocked into about a month ago and he is in no way shape or form going to convert, that is what he tells us about 12 times a lesson but he always invites us to come back and talk with him again the next week. Yesterday we talked with him a little about baptism and being able to repent, a fresh start. He told us that he is interested in learning more about that but that he can't be converted by us. I quickly came back that we don't convert anybody, he responded with another comment like well then I guess you are crappy missionaries then. I said that it is not my job to convert him but to help him learn the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Holly Ghost will testify to him and then he will convert himself. He said that’s what they all say and laughed. He is one of my favorite people to visit because he has a great sense of humor and loves motorcycles. He finds it funny that I love them as well and he never thought a church man could love motorcycles as much as he does. I told him about an I’m a Mormon video on the website about some old men who ride bikes all the time and help people. 

My personal study is some of my favorite time in the day because I can learn more about the questions I or my investigators have and strengthen my testimony. I hope that I can send back some things that will help ya'll in your lives. There is just so much that happens in a week that it is a little difficult to write it all. 

Love

AEldste Vance