12.30.13

Sent: Monday, December 30, 2013 3:52:31 AM

Hej! How was everyone's Christmas??

Christmas in Denmark was amazing... I don't even know where to start... They go pretty crazy over Christmas here. It was a way fun week! Christmas was so cool. The traditions here were amazing! Singing around the Christmas tree, running around in all the rooms of the house, trying to be the first to find an almond that is hidden inside a dessert (kinda like the pickle ornament game, you get a present if you find it!) Just way cool. Here is a picture of me lighting the candles on the tree ( yep- they still use candles as lights on their trees!)

The trio is turning out way fun! Its a little on the awkward side when we knock or talk to people on the street, but It's working! We have had a good week, found a ton of people. We had a little Christmas message that we offered to share with people where we sang and played the guitar and it worked really well! Our goal right now is  trying to have a companionship of ´oh wells` instead of 'what ifs'. We have being trying to take advantage of all the opportunities we get and give it our all, so that when we come back at night we never have to say "what if we worked harder" or "what if we had talked to that guy," and it has been very fun to live that way!

All is going really well and I am still loving every second of it here. I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and have some good plans for the New Year! I love you all and miss you!

Don't miss em-

-Conner

12.23.13

GOD JUL EVERYONE!!!! I hope you all have an amazing Christmas!! Know that I love you and miss you all!

12.17.13

He seems to be jumping for joy quite a bit lately! :)  And man he jumps high!   I guess the plural in Danish is -er, so no more aebleskiverS!  It's just aebleskiver.....and I've been trying to get him to try jam on them for years!  Oh well, I guess it took a native to get him to try jam on his Aebleskiver.  Hahaha! Thanks for your love and support!  Only 8 more days until we get to talk to him!!!!  Crysi

Sent: Monday, December 16, 2013 3:58:25 AM
Subject: I made weinerbrød!

Hej!!

I'M STAYING IN SILKEBORG!!! I'm beyond stoked you have no idea. I'll be staying with Æ. Nelson and we will be getting another companion, Æ. Durrant, who is from the same group as Æ. Nelson! So I'll be with two pretty young missionaries and I can't wait! It'll be a blast! It will be interesting to see us all fit into our apartment though... I don't know if I have mentioned it before... but our apartment is quite small. It's brand new and very nice, but a little small. Perfect for two elders, but 3 will be pushing it! But it will be really fun and it will help our area out a ton! There is a rule that missionaries can't go in a house with a woman if there isn't 3 men, so we have been running into trouble with that a lot, especially since our whole branch is single ladies! We haven't been able to go in and help if we didn't have another man. There's only one other man in our branch so it was hard to get him with. So it will be awesome having 3 missionaries because we can go in now! So it is looking to be a good transfer!

So I don't know if I have ever talked about this lady named Bente. She is one of our branch members and is my hero. She's old and just way cute and totally takes care of us. She is a convert and recently (like 1 year ago) became active again in the church, and has the most amazing testimony ever. It's not deep or huge or profound, but just simple and incredibly strong. She knows the gospel's true without a doubt and she isn't afraid to let you know. It's all just so real to her. But anyways, yesterday before church we were getting ready to start and Bente walks out of the Branch Pres's office with the BIGGEST smile on her face, and she is crying as well. She walks up to me and just gives me a hug  :/  haha and says: "I got my temple recommend!!" She hasn't been to the temple yet and has been working so hard to get there and yesterday she got her recommend! Idk why, but it was just so great to see. It meant so much to her to finally get there, and she was so excited for it. It was humbling for me to see how grateful and excited she was. I love her testimony and how real and meaningful everything is to her, and that was a great example to me. We talk a ton about how true happiness only comes through the church, but I know that at least with me it can still be a little hard to remember it at times. But Bente really showed how true that is! She knows the importance of the temple, knows how great it is and that's why she was so excited! Her testimony is such an example for me. It really is so cool. It was a little experience, but something that I thought was way cool.

So I made those sugar cookies you sent me for our branch Christmas party... they loved them!!! So good!! Apparently sugar cookies don't exist in Denmark. So they loved them and ate the whole thing haha! I'll send pics. and we had æbleskiver! They are so good! You eat them with jam. Holy cow they were amazing. I baked weinerbrød too this week!!!! I'm going to have some good stuff to cook for ya'll when I come back.

Hope all is going great with everyone and that you are all loving Christmas!! Christmas is the best!! Have an amazing week and continue with a great Christmas season! I love you all and miss you!

-Conner

æbleskiver plus the sugar cookies I made for the branch activity:)

More pics from December

12.9.13

Hej!  

So it was a good week. We knocked [doors] a flipping  ton. Which I kinda like. not going to lie. I think it's just cuz I love speaking danish and knocking puts it to use pretty good! Just trying to get Nelson as excited about it haha :) But it's going good, he's almost done with training and I think he's starting to get the hang of it now! 

Its gonna get cold here, holy cow! But it'll be fun. It looks so pretty when it's all frosted over and it's getting dark too. Sun goes down at 3 now. I guess we are almost to the worse, dark wise at least! Dang!  [Snowmobling] looks sick!! Way jealous! I just tried to ride my bike like a snowmobile on Friday to make up for missing the ride!  haha. Sounds like you got a good tree too!  

So I bore my testimony yesterday too!! and taught the lesson after... and blessed the sacrament... and prayed.... haha.   I love our branch. It's a crazy experience. There is only one other priesthood holder other than us missionaries so we get a lot of practice :) But yes I would love to share a bit of my testimony! Being a missionary is the best. Some nights I think back and realize I went a whole day just telling people about God and church and stopping people on the street and telling them about Christ, and its funny to think about. And it's fun! Your testimony takes on a whole new meaning, because its what you're using and doing all day long. I'm lucky that we have such a great family that helped me get one before I came out, so that now I just grown it and have things happen that just strengthen it even more. I know that it is all true, and I love being a missionary because I get to see it all work! One thing especially is how much Heavenly Father loves us. I know he does!! I know that prayer is a crazy powerful thing and that he listens to every little piece of our prayers. That's one thing I wish I had known before. He really does care about us, and I love that we can pray to him and just talk and not only pray for things but ask about specifics, help, questions, and blessings. We are lucky to know about this, and its one thing that I love telling people, that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us and cares about everything in our lives, even our friends and our school and work and all the way down to how we are feeling. I love being able to just focus on Him and not worrying about everything else. I know He's there. I know he hears us and cares about us. I know that all the stuff that He gives us like the scriptures and prophets and especially families :) are to make us happy, because He really is interested in that!  I hope you know that too :) cuz He really does and I know it! So with ACT, lacrosse, school, friends,  Don't be afraid  to just talk to with Heavenly Father, because he cares and will help you out! That's just one little thing that I have really learned is true since being here.

So we had this zone training about prayer. At the end our president challenged us to go and pray for something super specific, and then for the last hour of training we were going to go out and fulfill it! He promised us that if we went out in faith and gave it our all that it would happen. So Æ. VDB talked about what we would pray for, and we both prayed that in that hour we would be able to find someone that we could teach a full lesson to and that would give a commitment. So we said a prayer and asked specifically for that and then went out and we super pumped to see what happened. We were in åarhus and VDB had served there before when an area popped into his head, so we went there. We had a great contact with this lady, but she said Nej Tak (No Thanks) when we offered the church. We were kinda bummed cuz we thought that was going to be it. But we went on. About 3 contacts later we ran into this lady with a stroller and introduced our selves and who we were and she was like Oh hey cool! I have been looking for a church! where is yours?. haha we were a little surprised. so we pointed he towards the church, and then were able to sit down for a little bit and talk about the Book of Mormon and what makes our church different and she was really excited and gave us her contact info. So our prayer was answered! Just like promised. We went back to the training and found out that all the other missionaries had done it and had similar experiences. It was way cool! Really built my testimony on prayer and how much power faith really can have. The Lord really can do anything, and we know he can, so we just have to do our part and work towards it, and if we have faith he will help us out!

Another:  So we went to go out to this town to contact a referral. It was pretty far away so we had to take buses, where we had to switch buses in this little town called Sejs. We got to Sejs, got of the bus, walked to the other bus stop, and waited for the bus. we were about 5 minutes early, perfect timing. We waited for the bus. And waited. And waited. And waited and waited. For about 40 minutes after it was supposed to come--contacting people that walked by but just standing there waiting for it. We were really confused and didn't know why it wasn't coming. Right when we started talking about going back a car pulled up and a lady rolled down the window and said Hey! Are you Mormons?"  We said "Yeah!" and she told us where she lived and to come over for a cup of hot chocolate! So we went over and were able to teach a lesson and tell her about the church! But how crazy is that? I have no idea why the bus never came. but I'm sure glad that it didn't, because otherwise we wouldn't have found her! The Lord sure works in mysterious ways sometimes, that is for sure. Really Cool though.

GOD JUKE

-Conner

12.09.13

Language translation - sick=cool, "rad" or "stoked" in 80's lingo, amazing, wonderful, dope (not ok mission language), or awesome. :)  Just thought I would pass it along.

His language (English speaking) is starting to get a little crazy too.  We've noticed it a little here and there, which is a good thing. 

Notice - he would love to get some Christmas cards!  Thanks for your love and support!  Love you all!  Crysi

---

From: "Conner Ludlow" <conner.ludlow@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, December 9, 2013 3:21:08 AM

Hej!!

So this week was sick. well, this whole month has been sick. Being a missionary is just sick haha. I think that I am having a little bit too much fun with it... anyways. Sorry for the lack of e-mails these last couple of weeks! Not a ton happened. Not in a bad way though. Just like everything was a blur! But I'll try and give some updates.

So Christmas is in full swing here! It is absolutely insane. People here go all out with Christmas and it is so fun. And the best part is that they are a little more open to talking about Christ. Which is great because we knocked and contacted A TON. And it was way fun! I have loved contacting on my mission so far, which is weird because I thought that would be something that I would struggle with, but It has been way fun! That has definitely been a tender mercy from the Lord!  I get really pumped when I speak Danish :) that helps too. We are going caroling all day on Wednesday for our district activity and it will be way fun! Really, Christmas here is the sweet!

Crazy thing of the week: We got hit by a hurricane!! I think Danish hurricanes are a little less than real hurricanes. But it got a name, Hurricane Bodin! So I guess that counts for something! It was nuts. It may not have been a real hurricane like the ones in Florida, but it was still crazy. And it hit right in the middle of our Mission Christmas Conference. We were in the middle of it and the President stands up and tells us the situation, that there is a big storm coming, and that all the trains have been cancelled except for one, which leaves in thirty minutes ( the trains to Silkeborg were already cancelled, so we were out of luck). So things just went crazy. We had to hurry and grab all of our stuff and cram into all the cars to go to the station. It was nuts. We got crammed in the back of the assistants van and they drove us down to Horsens on their way back to Copenhagen, so we stayed the night in Horsens. We couldn't go out because of the storm, and its a good thing we didn't! The wind like exploded this old apartment next to where we were. and broke all the Christmas trees. Anything that could be broken by wind. It really was some crazy wind! I'll send pics. So Thursday we had to spend the whole day inside.

We had a way good week teaching-wise too! We had a nice little lesson with some Jehovah's Witnesses that was a little interesting, and then we were able to get a hold of a ton of the people that we had contacted from the last little bit and have lessons with them, and they seem really solid! That was really good to see for our area, really exciting. We are starting to get some investigators that are progressing really well and are really excited! It's so great for me to see, because I remember what it was like when we opened it up and we were just knocking all day every day, haha. Never give up on anything! It's been a great motivator for me to see the progress that has been made and I love it. So hopefully I get to stay here one more transfer. We find out transfers this week so fingers crossed. If I'm in Silkeborg for Christmas.... Holy cow I will be so happy!

Well, hope all is going good with everyone! It sounds like you are all having a great Christmas season! Don't forget to send me your Christmas cards ;) really though... that would be awesome! I love you all and miss you tons! God Jule!

-Conner

I took 180 pictures this week... its gonna be hard to choose.

Storm damage

Crammed in the assistants van

I'm gonna have to send another email of pictures... Denmark is way too cool. this house was older than the U.S....

11.25.13

A letter to Paul who asked for stories for a lesson

K I have a little bit of time to write some stories about our branch.

They have been amazing! They have been the perfect branch for missionaries. Before we came, they got our apartment all ready for us and left treats, and made sure that the second we came we felt welcome, and when it comes to missionary work they have been great. 

Right off the bat we got referrals from the members of people we could visit. They were excited about the work and always asking how things were going and looking for opportunities to help. You should have seen them the first time that we brought an investigator to church! I think you can remember the story about Frederick and Steven. As soon as sacrament was over, they ran up and introduced themselves and were just perfect as to how to welcome someone to church. My favorite part is how they treat the investigators. We have never once had to suggest to them to invite someone to their house, to a branch activity, or anything really. They just take the initiative! With Frederick and Steven that first day, for example, they brought up our branch activity to himmelbjerg and had rides offered to them before it had even crossed our minds. The branch is small, but they definitely pull their weight! It's great serving in Silkeborg because it doesn't feel like we are just missionaries assigned to a branch, but like we are a part of the branch. We don't have to call and make assignments or say we need help with missionary work, but instead its just like the missionary work is a part of the branch. They ask about it, offer their help, they know all of our investigators and ask how they are doing, and it's just really cool to see that branch work that way! And it makes us feel really good knowing that they talk to investigators and be their friends without any promptings from us, because then our investigators feel welcome and start to open up to the church when they see that people really do love and care and serve, and that its not just all by assignment. it's like our stake theme (at home. Crescent Ridge -  By love, Not by assignment!)  There's not really enough people to just make assignments or delegate. they see a need and they take care of it, and they love doing it! Pretty cool to see. Hopefully I don't get transferred haha! 

They were great with Knud, but I feel like you can't tell those stories because it kinda had a bad ending.

I'll try and get you more specifics next week (if you can still use them in your talk) just let me know if there is a specific topic you want stories on and i will get them for you! Love ya! good luck

11.18.13

Hej! 

Well it was a good week! We had our little thanksgiving activity with our zone this week! Well, it wasn't little I guess. It was way fun! We had a turkey bowl in the morning and our district took home the trophy for that!  It was so fun. Then we had a big thanksgiving dinner that was cooked by these members that had a restaurant and it was way good! It was weird not being with family, but it was fun just eating it with a bunch of missionaries and we had a really good time! After we had a little training and then a talent show! So It was a good Thanksgiving activity!

I don't really have any more cool stories this week... It was a good week though! We had a lot of appointments and were able to meet with a lot of investigators, and we also found a couple new people to teach, so all in all it was a pretty good week!

We get to go down to Copenhagen tomorrow for my language test for my visa extension. Hopefully I pass! Have a great week! I love you all!!

Don't forget to tell my Dad Happy Birthday!!!!!

-Conner

11.11.13

Hej!

Well, It was another great week! Last night was Mortens Aften in Denmark, which is pretty much a holiday so they can eat! And it was awesome! Our whole branch got together last night and had a big feast and then a massive dessert and it was the best! The main food was duck, and it was way good!! I don't know what they do to the ducks here but they are amazing. After the feast, we did a musical spiritual thought with our guitar and sang a bunch of primary songs with the branch. This branch that I am in is seriously the best. There aren't very many of them, but they are great! The church means a lot to them and they are all really close and are pretty much like one big family and I love being a part of it!

I don't have too many stories this week. It was one of those blur weeks again. Our investigators are all doing really good and we were able to meet with almost all of them this week which was way cool! So things are going great!

Hope all is going good at home! Sorry my last couple of emails have been kinda lame. I'll try and get some good stories for next week. Have a great week everyone! I love you and miss you all!

-Conner

Here is part of the food!  

11.4.13

Love you all!!! have a great week!!

10.28.13

Sent: Monday, October 28, 2013 4:54:25 AM

Hej!!

So I don't know what stories to tell this week... last week's was just way to amazing and I feel like everything else will fall a little short haha. It was a good week! We met with Knud twice and he is still on fire and loving everything we teach him! One of our members invited him over for dinner tomorrow and that'll be awesome for him to start getting some friends in the ward! We talked to a lot of people this week and found a couple new investigators and made quite a few return appointments with people that we just talked to on the street! It was awesome!

Holy cow! I ate so much this week. It was nuts. It was going good up until the weekend, good portions of food. We didn't have any  planned eating appointments, but then people just started calling and asking if we wanted to come over and eat! It happened for breakfast and dinner all weekend and it just destroyed us haha. You finish your plate and they just say 'spis!!'  Then they give you more food! It's so great though! Holy cow! Hopefully I can learn how to make some of the stuff so I can make it for everyone when I get back.

But yeah, it was a good week! Have a great Halloween!! Send me all the blue tootsie rolls!! And have a great pheasant hunt!! Don't miss em... send me some sagebrush!!! They don't have that here. Love you all and hope that you have a fantastisk week!

-Conner

10.21.13

Sent: Monday, October 21, 2013 3:41:54 AM
Subject: crazy

Hej!

So, crazy story of the week: We knocked on this door and a young man answered, quickly said 'nej tak' and shut the door. So we moved on to the next door, but then about the 30 seconds later the door we had just knocked opened up again and there was a different man there and he asked us who we were. We told him and he quickly took a card, told us we could come back, and then shut the door. A couple days went by and we felt like we should go back to this door and talk to that guy again. So we did. He opened the door and right off the bat told us to come in! We went in, but we quickly found out that this man had been drinking quite a bit and that he was drunk. Like way drunk. just totally gone. He wasn't really able to comprehend what we were talking about. He told us about how much he hates drinking, his addiction to alcohol, and how much he wants to change. We asked if we could come back another day and he said yes and we made an appointment, and asked him not to drink before we came. On the notepad on his desk we wrote the appointment down and a little summary of what we talked about haha, and that our message would be able to help him out, so that he could remember when we woke up. We came back for the appointment a couple days later... and he was drunk again. We didn't stay for very long, however he requested a Book of Mormon, so we gave that to him and again wrote down a little note about it so that he could remember what it was. The next day, as we were eating dinner, we got an SMS from this man, Knud, telling us to call him. I called him and he was really excited, telling us that we needed to come over and explain something to him and that he wasn't drunk this time. We told him we would be over in just a little bit and we left to go visit him. We got there and he was waiting outside on his balcony, when he saw us he yelled out to us, ran to the door, opened it up, and held up his hands and said "Look at my hands! They aren't shaking!' He quickly invited us in and we sat down and he excitedly told us how he hadn't had a drink since the day before, and that normally when he would go that long with out any alcohol his hands would shake and he would get a really big stomach ache, but none of those things were happening. He was explaining all of this really rapidly and he was just really excited and then he paused, and said, "It's because of that book you gave me!" haha That took us by surprise! He went on to tell us that he had woke up in the morning, saw the book and the notes that we had left, and decided to start reading the book. He read from the beginning all the way until 1 Nefi 19!!! What the heck?! That never happens! He told us that as he began reading the book that his desire to drink started to go away, his stomach ache died down, his hands stopped shaking, and that he started to feel this really amazing feeling. At the end of this story, he paused again and said 'there is something really powerful about this book. I know that what's happened is because of this book. I've investigated other religions, I've gone to different churches, but I've never felt this much power before. Will you explain to me what this is?' Æ. Nelson and I bore our testimonies about the healing power that this gospel can have, both physically and spiritually, and explained to him that what he felt was the Holy Ghost confirming to him that the book was true and that it really could help him. The spirit was super strong as we talked and he just kept telling us how he knew the book was true and powerful. We bore testimony that it was and invited him to be baptized and he said yes! After the lesson ended and it was time to go, he stopped again and said 'I know it wasn't a coincidence that I went back and opened the door and told you to come back. I don't know why I did that, but I know now that it wasn't a coincidence. I needed to find this book and this church!' hahaha Yeah I think I would agree with that!! Way cool story and we are way stoked!

Things are going good here! The Danish is still coming and it's getting really fun! The leaves are all starting to change colors and it is just crazy pretty! I love Silkeborg. Hope everything is going great with you all! Have a great week! I love you all and miss you all!

-Conner

PS. Shout out to Lia Ludlow! Don't worry I haven't forgotten you Don't worry!

PSS Shout out to all of my cousins! You are all the best! Love you and hope all is going great! 

Here's the pumpkin I carved. It's a missionary if you can't tell. haha and I had to take a picture with the honda sign! 

10.07.13

Hej!

So I'm possibly the worst trainer ever. I left my trainee on a train. Without a ticket. And without the Phone. On his second day here. haha Woops. Luckily though, he did still have a companion... who was also on his second day in Denmark... and also didn't have a phone or ticket. So to back up a bit: we were on our way to århus to watch conference and we are just about to step on the train when one of our investigators, Frederick runs up and he says "How do I get a ticket?!" all stressed out. So we pointed him to the ticket machine and he went over, and we got on the train. We sat down next to some other missionaries, Æ crank og Æ Zelewski (another new missionary), when I looked out the window and saw that Fredrick couldn't get his money to be taken by the machine, and he was stressing pretty bad. So Elder Crank and I were like "shoot, we have to go help him, we can't just let him get left!"   So we ran out to help him and left our trainees on the train. The train driver was leaning out the window and so we asked if he could wait just a little bit so we could help Frederick and he said it was fine. So we frantically help Fredrick out, got him his ticket, run to the train, Frederick slips in right as the doors shut, but they shut on us. so we press the button to get them to open again... but they don't... and the train drives away with our trainees, who have no tickets, phones and can't speak danish. hahahaha So we were like "Shoot! We just lost our trainees and they have no idea where to go!"  Looking back at it now it's pretty darn funny. haha It was funny when it happened too. For us at least haha. But we remembered that Frederick had gotten on the train so we just called him and gave the phone to our trainees and then told them what to do. They got off on the next stop (since we had the tickets) and then waited for us to come on the next train, which was about an hour later, and we made it to århus safe and sound. So it all turned out good. So that was definitely the story of the week. Pretty funny.

We didn't get a lot of work done in our area this week, just because we were in Copenhagen to pick up my trainee, Æ. Nelson and then århus for conference, so I don't really have a ton to tell. But it was a good week and I am really excited to be training! Æ. Nelson is cool and he's willing to work hard. Which is good because he will need it haha. So things are going great here!

Hope all is going great! Hope you all had a good time at conference! Love you and miss you!

-Conner

Metcalf and I with our trainees

9.23.14

From: "Conner Ludlow" <conner.ludlow@myldsmail.net>

Hej!

 

We had a great week! And the best part is that it wasn't only a great week, but it also set up this week really well. We found 2 new investigators. The first is Elliot, and I guess we can't really say we found him, it was all the members! He is dancing in the same group as some Americans that are in our branch for a couple months, and they became friends and started to have bible studies together. Then, Brandon and Vashti invited him to church and he came! He was interested to learning and he even came with some questions for us missionaries. Vashti came up and talked to me after church and said that he was interested in taking the lessons to learn more, and asked if we would teach him! So on Tuesday we are having dinner with Brandon, Vashti, and Elliot at Ole and Linda Donatis home (Members in our branch. Our danish grandparents they call themselves) and after, we will teach him the first lesson. We are really excited for that!

 

We also found a new investigator named Lisa. She is a single lady in maybe her 60s and lives in Sejs. We contacted a referral in Sejs a couple weeks back and then knocked around the referral, and that is when we first ran into Lisa. She was really nice and showed us some paintings she had made of Christ and told us about her religious background, and then we talked about what we do is missionaries and gave her a Mormons Bog, which she said she was interested in to read.  She said we could come back anytime. So we went back to Sejs this week to meet with her and she was still just as open! We sat down with her and answered some questions she had about what sacrament meeting was like and also about Mormons Bog and she was actually really interested in our sacrament meeting.  So we invited her to that and then set up an appointment to go and read the Book of Mormon with her since she has a little bit of trouble with the scripture language. We were also able to commit an old former named Kim to take the lessons again, and we were able to meet with our other investigator named Kim as well. So it was a good week!

 

Haha- it was a way fun week to end the transfer. Me and Æ. VDB survived transfers, but we could get moved mid transfer when new missionaries come when they get their visas. So we'll see! I can't believe the transfer is already over! It's nuts. I've been in Denmark longer than Fresno now! It sure doesn't feel that way. These last couple months went way fast. The weather has been perfect here, the people have been really fun and we have found more open people lately, so things are going great! 

 

I love you all! Don't miss em!

-Conner

9.17.13

Hej!

 

It was a pretty great week! We had a couple of really cool stories.

 

First, we have been trying to reactivate a girl named Ami Williamsen. She's 15 and the daughter of one of our branch members, Pam. She is really busy with a bunch of dance stuff and has almost no free time, so it has been hard to find a time to meet. But on Thursday the thought just popped into our heads during planning that we should go and visit Ami on Friday night. So we did that. And she was home! She told us how we were lucky that we had come over at that time, because the wasn't supposed to be free that night, but a couple things had fallen in place so she had some time off. Not only was it perfect timing to find her at home, but at that time they also needed help moving some boxes to their attic, since Pam and her husband have troubles lifting heavy things sometimes, and Ami wasn't really strong enough. So we were able to help them out with that and then sit down and talk with Ami. We were talking about how she likes to write songs and we got her to commit to writing a church song that she could perform in sacrament and we could help her out with the piano. She was really excited about that and told us that should work.  She would clear up her schedule to get some time to make it to church the next couple of weeks. We also talked about missionary work with her, since she had lots of questions about what it was like to be a missionary, and she started to get excited and actually gave us a referral of one of her friends! It was awesome! We are really excited about all the things that happened that night!

 

Another highlight of the week was when we visited a referral that had never been contacted.  We had found him in the area book that lived all the way out in Gjern (that was a way cool city). We went out there, just to find out that the person the referral was for wasn't home. But as we were walking away from the house a guy drove in on his lawnmower and he turned out to be the referrals dad, "Tex". We talked to him for a little bit and then he invited us into his house to show us a little art museum that he had made in one of the wings of his house (it was a pretty big house, a really old danish farm house.) It was sweet. He then started talking to us about how he had a Book of Mormon and had actually read through it a long time ago when he was in his twenties! He had always been interested in ancient civilizations and loved reading religious texts because they talked about Egypt and all of that stuff, so he had bought a Book of Mormon to read! So we sat down and answered all of his questions that he had had about the book and also about our church, and then we got to tell the Joseph Smith story and it was an amazing lesson! He was really nice and open, and all the things we said actually made pretty good sense to him! He gave us his number and told us to call him and make an appointment where we could come back and talk more! So we were really excited about that! The old referrals turned out towork well for us this week. We visited another one that hadn't been completely contacted as well. He is a 19 year old named Nicolai and he was super fun. He was really lively and just fun to talk to, It was funny that we were the same age. He let us in right away and told us how he loved learning about religion and that was why he had requested a Mormons bog. So we gave it to him and then he straight up asked, "so how did this book come to be?" That made for an easy transition into the restoration lesson haha. We told him about the restoration and prophets and then he asked "So how do you know this is true?" It was funny because he was pretty much just feeding to the flow of the lesson with his questions! So we told him how we came to know that it was true for ourselves, and then read the promise in Moroni that he could get the same answer that we have gotten if he reads and prays about it, and committed him to try the promise out. It was awesome! We told him how one of the things we do as missionaries is have little discussions about our church about what we believe and offered to come and tell him more, and he said yes! So contacting those old referrals turned out to be really good for us this week in Silkeborg! We are really excited about the work this week.

 

Hope everyone had a fantastic week! I'm doing great here and loving every second of it! I love you all!

 

Dont miss em!

 

-Conner

 

Pictures: skipping rocks and some kind of modern art thing.

9.2.13

HEJ!

 

So sorry for the rushed email last week...I totally ran out of time and had to hurry and throw one together before the computer kicked me out. I was hoping to get more in than just my hand bleeding, but that was all I got to. And I sent that email with seriously only 1 second left on the computer. But I have more time this week. Which is great because it was a fun week!!

 

Himmelbjerg last Monday was way fun! You could see forever from the top of it, even though it was only 500 feet tall. It only took about 15 minutes to hike down and then up it again haha. The parking lot was actually on top of the mountain. But it was still really fun! And incredibly beautiful. We had a blast. Our whole branch came and also Stephen, so it was a really good time! We also got to go to a little town called Gammel Ry. Gammel means old, and it was definitely fitting for this town. It was pretty small and just super old. Like sheep everywhere and the old danish houses with the grass roofs and bright colors and an old church and... a windmill! It was pretty much exactly what I had expected rural Denmark to be like. So we had a really good time there. We visited (or tried, they had moved) a couple of less active members and a couple of former investigators. Then we had to wait about 2 hours for the bus (only 2 buses come a day) so we went and knocked doors in the neighborhood around the windmill, that was super fun. The people there were nice. none of them were really open to the gospel, but they would sit and talk with us instead of just saying nej, tak and shutting the door. It was unreal knocking in that town though. It felt like I was in a movie or something, everything was just sooo old. And the people had some crazy danish jusk accents haha. I wish you all could hear these jusk accents. They are so funny. It pretty much sounds like mumbling with an s sound every now and then. But I can understand it now! Which is great. The work just keeps getting more and more fun with the more that I understand! I love it.

 

So highlight of Sunday: We have this inactive named Katharine. She was baptized 6 years ago and hasn't come to church since. Missionaries (including us) are always working on her because she is pretty fun and gives you hope that she will come, but then she doesn't. So our branch president had told us that maybe it was time to cut down the visits with her because they just weren't working. But we decided to visit her one last time. So we went and did service with her on Saturday and got her to commit to come to church. We told her about how we were doing a musical number in church (haha yeah we did a musical number) so she had to at least come to see that, and we also told her that we would ride our bikes to church with her in the morning. So we showed up at her house before church and.... She came!! We were so stoked! We got to church and the members were so surprised and they all invited her to come sit next to them and they were tickling her back during sacrament and totally excited about her coming back. One member even offered to give her a ride to church every week and Katharine said yes! After she told us how great she felt now that she had gone to church again and that she couldn't wait for next week!! awesome right? We were really excited for her. Hopefully she keeps coming! Frederick was in århus yesterday so he couldn't come to church, but he is still doing good and progressing, but not much new news with him. He's getting pretty busy with school so hopefully that doesn't get in the way!

 

So those were the highlights of the week! Pretty darn good. Silkeborg is still the best. The work is starting to pick up so we are getting more lessons in and it's great! I love it here! Hope all is going well with every one! Have a fantastic week! I love you all!

 

-Conner

8.26.13

Hej!

Another great week in Silkeborg! This city is the best. We had another really fun week. I finally feel like I'm getting to the point where I can start to have a little bit of personality with the work because I'm getting a lot more comfortable and experimental with Danish. Haha That means that I've had a lot more fails, but its been really fun at the same time. And we are going to Himmelbjerg (Danmarks højeste bjerg/høj) today after emailing with Stephen and Frederick, those two guys that I talked about in last weeks email, and a couple people from our branch! So in a couple hours we will be on top of Denmark! All 500 feet of it haha. It'll be pretty darn fun.

Yesterday was another funny day at church. I feel like church as a missionary is always just super funny and crazy when you bring investigators. Anyways, all went super smooth. Frederick and Stephen were present and on time and it was a great sacrament meeting. The members were awesome again and invited them to come to Himmelbjerg with us today, and they were super friendly and great to Stephen and Frederick. But then, all the sudden my hand started gushing blood haha. I had no idea why, it just did. So I ran to the bathroom and was trying to make it stop. And then one of the older ladies noticed and kinda freaked out and then all the ladies were like oh nej Ældste Ludlow! I was trying to tell them I was OK, but they wouldn't really listen. So they came running up with all these bandages and ice and all sorts of things and grabbed my hand and started fixing it up haha. There were like 4 ladies just huddled around my hand it was pretty funny. But I was still bleeding pretty bad. so they like shoved my hand up in the air so it was above my heart and kept working on it. It bled for like 15 minutes and I was starting to get worried. But then all the sudden it stopped, and there isn't really even a mark on my hand, so I have no idea why it bled that much. But it was a pretty funny to watch them frantically try and fix me up. They are all just like our grandmas we love it. So yeah that made for an interesting day.

Other than that, no too much happened this week! Just a lot of the usual knocking and visiting people and asking for referrals, but it was still fun and I loved it all!

Hope all is going good with everyone! Have a great week! Love you!

-Conner

8.19.13

So the fælles spisning he writes about is translated as "common dining" but I believe it is an "open house" after church where members stay and chat/hang out and eat.  Sounds like he is happy and well.  He makes me smile.  Love you all!  Thanks for loving and supporting this kiddo!  Crysi PS  He loves letters.......did I already say that? :)

Hej!

I'm spoiled so bad here! The members treated us like kings this week. I don't think I have ever eaten as much as I ate this week! There are only 2 couples in our branch, and there rest are just single ladies, and so we have pretty much become their children I think. We baked all the members cookies on preparation day to say thanks for all they did with getting our apartment all fixed up, and when we gave them to the members they just gave us buckets of food in return haha. Holy cow! It was all so good! We have been running like crazy every morning so that we don't get too fat from it all. But I can't complain, it's pretty great! Denmark is the best.

So we had our first investigator in church yesterday! We were pretty stoked about that! Last Monday we were walking around on the gågade after emailing and we ran into this guy, Stephen, who had been baptized in Russia about a year ago and he had just moved to Silkeborg, so we set up a time to meet with him so we could tell him about where the church was and what he needed to do with his membership record and things. So on Thursday we went and met with him when his roommate, Frederick, came down while we were talking and was like "Hey are you the latter day saints?" And then he explained how he had a bunch of LDS friends back in Ghana and that he wanted to start coming to church with us!! Crazy right?! So yesterday we had the members pick them up and take them to church! And man were the members excited about that!  Holy Cow. It was a madhouse. Stephen and Fredrick got attacked! Everyone was doing everything they could to talk to them and introduce themselves, which was really funny because Frederick and Stephen are both from Ghana so they don't speak a lick of danish... so the members would try and communicate in their English and it was just funny to watch. Haha and I think that Fredrick got invited to be baptized like 20 times by all the members, but he said yes every time so I guess that is a pretty good sign! It was the perfect day for them to come to church too. We had fælles spisning after church and so Fredrick and Stephen were able to talk to everyone in the branch and have fun and I think that they started to feel really comfortable, which is exactly what you want to see happen when you bring people to church. So we are really proud of our branch right now! Frederick is super solid and really fun, so we couldn't be happier about that! So that is the highlight of this week for sure. Other than that it was just a lot of knocking and trying to find people to teach! So not too bad of a week!

Hope all is going good at home and that everyone had a great summer! Good luck with the start of school! And everyone make sure to tell my mom happy birthday on the 23rd! I love you all! Have a fantastisk week!

Don't miss em!

-Conner

8.12.13

Hej!!

We have an investigator!!!! 2 actually!!! It was a great week. We finally contacted a referral that president had given us, and it was awesome! Her name is Tina and she is super cool! She was excited to see us and she gave us this awesome cake to eat when we first got there, so that was a really good sign right off the bat! We talked to her for a while and just got to know her then taught a quick little restoration message, and then she talked about how she loved the eternal families part of our church! It was a super fun lesson, and after she asked us for our number so she could have us over for dinner next time we come to teach her!! So it went really well. She has been out of town for most of this week but I can't wait until we get to go teach her again because there is a ton of potential with her and her family. And danish food is realllllllllllllllllly good. You should have seen this feast we had on Friday with some members. I wish I would have taken pictures it was so good! And then on Wednesday we went to go visit this former investigator, Kim, and we knocked on his door and they opened it and invited us in without us even saying anything! We were definitely surprised by that. Kim went on to tell us how he watches BYUtv all day long and how he even watched the district!! (the missionary training videos haha). He then started talking about baptism and how he would like to start working towards that again! And all of this without us really even bringing anything up! So it was super cool and we were really pumped about that! We went back and visited him on Saturday to invite him to church and he said he didn't really feel like going though, so that was a bummer. But hopefully something will come out of it! So we have investigators finally! Now its getting real. 

Man this week was so fun. On Friday we went to Kjellerop to contact a referral that we had received and to work out there for the day. The referral is for this lady that visited the U.S. and somehow visited winter quarters and was interested in learning more about our church! You should have seen where she lived.... holy cow! It was just out in the middle of nowhere and it was sooo pretty. To get there we just walked on this little road that wound through the hills and the fields and it was so cool! It's a good thing it was a fun walk because she wasn't home so it would have been quite the bummer if it wasn't a good walk. But we worked out in Kjellerop for the rest of the day and that was fun to work out in a little town like that! Yesterday we set off on this monster of a bike ride (40 KM) to a little town called Bording to visit a part member family. About halfway there we drove by this house and in the garage there was this massive Chevy truck and a 60's Chevelle and then an American flag! So of course we had to stop and say Hi! We knocked on the door and a guy walked up in this Miller lite jeans and we totally thought we had found an American! But then he said Hi to us in danish... and we were a little confused. Turns out this guy just has a massive crush on everything to do with America! It was pretty funny. We explained how we thought he was maybe american because of his cars and the flag and how hey! We come from America and he was really excited about that. I broke out a couple of pictures of America and he was just amazed, especially by the pictures of the Utah snow and us snowmobiling. He thought that was all just great! He thought it was great that we were from Utah because I guess Utah "has just the perfect weather to make your skin feel great!" He was super friendly and we had a ton of fun talking to him. His Girlfriend then came home with a box of some kind of danish bread and gave us some of that (again, it tasted so good!) and then we talked with both of them about how we are Mormon missionaries (she thought we were J dubs) and they said that once they get back from their trip (to America, of course) that we should come stop by and talk with them!! It was super fun, and I doubt that it was coincidence, so you best believe that we are going over there as soon as they get back!! How cool would it be if they ran into the church on their trip??? If anyone sees a couple of Danes in Texas ( Jared and Kyle) make sure to say hi!!! So those were some of the highlights of the week!

Hope everyone is doing great! I love you and miss you all! have a great week!

-Conner

Zone Champion at bowling. 177! . Whatup! 

8.5.13

Hej!

 

How is everyone doing? Things are going great here in Denmark! This week went by líke a blur! I think I have said that in every single on of my emails since I've been on my mission. There wasn't a ton of variety this week, just visiting inactives and knocking on doors!!  We figured that the members would be a good place to start with opening our area, so we got a ward list and made it a goal to visit every single member, inactive or less active. So that took up quite a bit of time from the week, just meeting with them. unfortunately, we didn't really get anything out of it... but that's ok! for the most part people just weren't interested in the church anymore and a ton of them had moved. Kinda a bummer, but nothing too bad. We only got through all the members in Silkeborg, so we still have to visit all the ones out in the little towns around Silkeborg (Which I am suuuuper stoked about because the danish countryside is amazing!) We did get a couple referrals from it though and we found a couple potential people to teach just by knocking the doors around the members, so it was still a success! Even if it wasn't too big of one. But yeah that pretty much sums up the week with what we did! Haha it was a lot better than it sounds I promise! Knocking doors was actually pretty fun. Especially when it was in all the little neighborhoods. And we did it so much that I was able to start to experiment with what I could say on my door approaches in Danish, so that was fun! There were a couple fails, but for the most part it worked pretty good! We are super excited for this area though. The members, even though there aren't very many, have been pretty excited about helping us, so we were able to get a couple referrals from them and are visiting them tonight! We know that its only a matter of time before we start to see things start to happen. Especially since the members are excited with the work. Anything can happen when the members are excited! We should see something start to change this week, so hopefully next weeks email will actually have some good stories about teaching people!

 

I still can't believe I'm in Denmark. Every time we go around a corner its something new and crazy and pretty. We got to go to a little branch activity (like 3 people showed up) this that was pretty fun! We went to a musuem of a tørv factory, and we got to walk a horse, so that was pretty cool! haha I don't know why but it was so exciting to walk a horse. That's what one of the pictures I attached was of, so I don't know what happened to the picture with the horse in it, so its just me. The second picture is just the Danish countryside and the last one is of a Danish playground. Pretty great!! I love everything I have seen in Denmark so far. It's all so great! Oh guess what! We talked to an American this week! It was weird. Danes are so much different! This guy was from Texas too, so It was definitely an interesting contrast. But yeah, it was a great week and I'm still loving every single second of it! It feels so great to be here and finally know that I can stay in my area and work and not have to worry about being transferred like it was in Fresno! Hopefully i don't have to worry about that at least... knock on wood!

 

Hope everyone has a good week!! Make the best of summer before school starts again! It's so great not having to worry about school starting again. I love you all and hope that everything is going fantastic back at home!

 

Med kærlig hilsen,

 

Conner

 

 

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7.26.13

Hej!!!

 

I made It!!!!!!!!!! And I have no idea where to start... Denmark is AMAZING. The food is to die for. The pastries...... wow. I'm going to get so fat. And it feels sooooo good here! Its been sunny and 70 all week! Everything is just way too perfect for this to really be a mission!

 

I landed in Copenhagen around 11 am and then for the rest of the day we just got to go sight see in the city. I'll send a bunch of pictures from that. I only took about 300. Everything in københavn is just so crazy! All the buildings were super old and there were canals everywhere with castles and cathedrals and all of those things and it just blew my mind! We went to Vor Frue Kirke and saw the original Christus statue, which was super cool! We also went to Nyhavn which is the place that comes up first whenever you google pictures of Denmark. That was just unreal! Me trying to describe it doesn't even come close to how amazing Copenhagen is! I guess you will just have to see the pictures. I'm going to go through a memory card a week! But we just explored Copenhagen and then went back to the mission president's home for dinner and stayed there for the night, and then in the morning we went to the train station and went off to our area!

 

I wish you could see my area! We live in a city called Silkeborg and the area includes Silkeborg and about a 30ish km area around it. Holy cow! Seriously, this area is perfect. Totally worth the wait in Fresno. I had my fingers crossed the whole plane ride that I would be out in the countryside in a small town and this area is more than I could have ever hoped for! It's a really old small town up in the "mountains" (himmelbjerg, Denmark's highest point at 500 ft., is in my area!) of Jylland (the peninsula of Denmark) and it is just crazy beautiful! I can't even describe it. Look it up on google or something. It's built around a couple of lakes and is super foresty. Its supposed to be the prettiest city in Denmark. That's what all the Danes say at least. But I believe it! It's so amazing! It's a brand new area, so we are opening it up. We are starting from scratch and I couldn't be more excited about that!  The branch has been super excited to have us here. I was supposed to come here when I got out of the MTC, so they have just been waiting for me to get my visa. They all new about my visa situation and they were way excited when I got it because now they have missionaries! It's pretty fun. The whole time that I was waiting on my visa they would just work on our apartment to make it look nicer, so our apartment is suuuuper nice (its the white house in the second picture I attached). Its 100% brand new on the inside, and its inside this really old house on the edge of the lake. So our front yard is a lake... yeah. So great! Church yesterday was nuts. There are only 12 members of the branch!!! Can you believe that?! It's crazy! That's small even for Denamark! Yesterday we knew that our branch president (who isn't even from Silkeborg, they had to import him from Aarhus since there Aren't enough priesthood holders) would be out of town as well as a couple other people, so we were seriously prepared to be the only ones at church. Luckily a couple people showed up and a guy came down from Aarhus to fill the spot of the branch president so we had some other priesthood. It is going to be so much fun working here! I'm so excited! We spent the first couple of days just visiting the inactives, members, and knocking on doors just to kinda get aquainted with everything. We have a lot of work to do here! But I'm so excited for it! I still can't believe I'm in Denmark. Oh, and my companion's name is Ældste VanDenBerghe from Riverton. I almost forgot about him woops. I just have so much to tell everyone about and It's all just kinda a blur and it's kinda hard to type because the keyboard is different because its in Danish haha! I'll just have to try and get it in over the next couple weeks emails.

 

But I'm loving every second of it. Hopefully you can tell how excited I am! Everything is so fun! Even when I don't understand Danish (which is most of the time, everyone in Silkeborg speaks jusk, which is like super hick danish. It just sounds like mumbling with a bunch of S sounds thrown in. But its sick because that means that'll be what I will learn to speak!) its still great becasue I'm just so excited to be here!

 

Hope everyone is doing great and I hope you have an amazing week!

 

Jeg elsker jer! Dont miss 'em!

 

-Conner

 Our house is the little white one next to this lake.

 

7.15.13

Hola!

 

So guess what! I got transferred again! I got a call Saturday night and was told I was getting moved up to Atwater in the morning, so now I'm up in Atwater! Sorry for the lack of updates. It has been a crazy month. I have been transferred 3 times since the last time I wrote a big letter to everyone. So I'll try and get everything in!

 

To start I got transferred to Selma the last week of June. Selma was really fun! My companion was Elder Lantz from Ephraim, UT! I got my first taste of biking and I actually really liked it! HOT, but I liked it! It gave us lots of opportunities to talk to people on the streets, and to ball it up with all the gansters. (That was one of my mission goals so I had to do it, sorry mom). The gansters were always my favorite people to talk to, even if it did get a little sketchy at times! They always opened up! Without fail! They would be hesitant at the beginning but as they started to feel the spirit they would always open up and start being happy. I love it when that happens. It's crazy what the spirit can do! We always are talking about it, but its so fun to see it actually happen. We baptized a 20 year old named Jonathan who had been an investigator for a long time, and that was really awesome! We were just the lucky elders to be there when he finally said yes to being baptized, we never really taught him any big lessons, just things to help him realize how baptism was important. But it was still a really cool experience and he was really fun to be with!

 

So after being in Selma for a week and a half I was put back into another trio at real transfers (July 3rd). My companions were the zone leaders in Fresno, Elder Larson and Elder Brown, and they were way too much fun to be with. We were over the YSA (Young Single Adults) ward in Fresno and it was a blast! Our apartment was right next to Fresno State and when we weren't teaching we were just talking to students who were walking around, and they were always really nice and fun to talk to about the gospel, because they were so easy to relate with. It was so great!! Snd I was in a movie! We had an investigator who is trying to become a movie director/producer. He hasn't made any big movies yet but he has one coming out soon that will be in theaters, so he was pretty excited about that. He came to FHE and made a movie with the YSA ward and we got to help out! He posted it on his website, I'm not sure what it is, but I'll put the link in my next email so you can all go watch it.

 

Then I got a call on Saturday and they had a missionary get emergency transferred so they took me out of the trio to replace him in Atwater! And that's where I am now! I don't have any stories for Atwater yet. But it seems like it will be a good area! I'm back in the Merced zone, so my old companions, Elder Thompson and Elder Rader are my zone leaders, so that will be pretty fun! And it's not as hot! So I definitely can't complain.

 

And I finally got a thing that makes it easier to get my pictures on a computer! So I have pictures! Hope all is going well with everyone! Thanks for the letters and the prayers for my visa! I still don't have any word on it, but hopefully it will come soon! I found a danish church video though so at least when I get to Denmark I will be able to say the things in that video--haha.

 

Love  you all and Miss you!

 

-Conner

 

These were my companions in Fresno. We wore matching ties everyday haha (YSA loved it)

6.13.13

Hej!

Man it is hot here! I'm so grateful we have a truck with AC! This was a fun week!  We were able to teach a lot of people. We are teaching a family named the Baker's and we committed them to be baptized on the 22nd of June!! It was awesome! We have barely even had to teach them. They were totally prepared. The family a single mom with 8 ( and only 1 is old enough to be baptized) kids, and they are way fun! The mom, Rhonda, is very religious and she has some personal religious beliefs that matched up pretty well with our church, so she is accepting it really well. They have a son named Jacob. He is 7 and turns 8 in October. He was really sad when we told him he would have to wait until he was 8 to be baptized.  Jacob and I are pretty tight and he is hilarious. He always runs up and talks to us and prays for us (the other day he prayed that we would be able to help him find a new bike), and invites us to come swimming with him and stuff. Hopefully I am still here when they all get baptized! It would be sad to leave before that. I love getting to know all of our investigators and working with them. All of our investigators are doing pretty good. We have a couple that could be baptized tomorrow if they could just quit smoking, so we are working with them on that and it seems like they are making good progress! We started teaching this other lady, Michelle, this week too. She said she had prayed about our church and that she got an answer that it was true, but it kinda freaked her out she is trying  to run from it. Sometimes I hate agency. But Michelle is opening up quite a bit and is getting more comfortable with everything, so we think we will be able to get her to church this week and set a date. Fingers crossed! Things get pretty crazy since I am with the zone leaders, so we are usually pretty busy, but it makes the time go by really fast! I get to call the other Danish missionaries during language studies, so I'm still able to study Danish and it sounds like visas are starting to come through, so I could be leaving soon! But if I have to stay for a while, that's ok. There is a great mission culture here and I really like it and am having a lot of fun and learning lots, even if its a little toasty! Well, have a good week everyone! 

Jeg elsker jer! 

-Conner

sorry for the lack of pictures, one of these days i will remember to bring my camera!