9.26.14

Hej everyone! 

Sorry it's been a while. Haha my mission has gone for a little twist lately, being back in Utah, but at least I was able to get my shot back in basketball :) I guess my mom updated you all on most of the stuff that had happened, but I haven't sent anything for a while.

I just wanted to tell you that you are all the best! I hope you all know how much I have appreciated and felt your prayers! It has been amazing to see how many people have been there for me. And your prayers worked! I'm going back to Denmark! On Monday! I got cleared! I can't tell you how grateful I am for all of your prayers and fasting and I know it's cuz of them that I'm going back. I'm beyond excited and so happy that things worked out the way that they did. Next time I write it will be from Denmark again :) 

Thank you all again! I hope everything is going great for you, because you deserve it. Have a great day! Love you! 

Conner

9.25.14 So Blessed

Words cannot describe how happy we were to see this!!!  A true miracle in our lives....

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9.25.14

Hello family & friends!

I thought I would fill you in on the last 2 weeks of Conner's very odd mission.  I know you haven't received any updates for a couple weeks and I will try to write one like Conner.  Denmark has changed for Aeldste Ludlow - it looks a lot like Utah.  

So coming home - we had a very private gathering at the airport for Aeldste Ludlow's arrival.  Just the 5 of us.  The time came and went that his plane had arrived and the people sitting behind him were there waiting to see him come too.  At that point, we were stumped where he could have gone.  One time we threw him a surprise party and he surprised us by sneaking up on us....so we had that in mind and started checking other doors.  Well, the trick was on him because he couldn't find us!  Hahaha.  So I spotted him across the airport, dropped the banner, and took off running and scared him!  That's the dramatic entrance (part 1) of him coming home.  It's on video if you want to be embarrassed for me.

After arriving home on the 10th, Conner went to work assigned to the missionaries in our stake.  He goes out with them every morning for companion study and then hits the pavement squishing around in his waterlogged body (his cheeks are SUUUPPPEEERRR cute right now) and lives the missionary life until 9 pm when he returns home to us. We only see him then and when he has an appointment during the day.  I have seen him faithfully live the missionary life and it has not been easy.  It is hard being dumped into a different mission with different culture and the work is just....unique....in Sandy, Utah.  Aeldste Ludlow has blown me away with his sweet humility and patience as he Just. Keeps.  Going.   I am so grateful for his example and strength.  

So after losing count of how many appointments he has been to, almost daily to be honest, his arms look like pin cushions or a serious drug user.  He has had CT scans, other unmentionables, ultrasounds and even a liver biopsy where in recovery he decided to scare the life out of his mother and take his heart rate and breathing down to 0 (yup - that's a ZERO) for about a little bit just to have fun.  Then he was bummed after because he didn't get a print out of the the 0 reading to show his companions.  Seriously - he did do that.  But it was a reaction to the medication they gave him.  He came out of it on his own, though the blue code team was there with paddles ready and I was standing in a puddle....but that's another story. After all has been said and done, Conner has been diagnosed with mild non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and most likely has had a lot of these symptoms because of a virus parked in his liver.  The virus is not diagnosable right now because it is slow moving and the antibodies aren't there to test at this point.  The treatment - time.  So his liver enzymes are back to normal range as well as his hemoglobin.  But his LDH is still pretty high and he is still....swollen.  This will hopefully work itself out in time we are being told.  So he will have to squish around for quite some time more, though he is taking his diet and exercise very seriously.  He is excited for the day his body decides to let go of all the water. Though as of this morning he is down a couple pounds!

Long story short, his 3 doctors have cleared him to return to his mission with no restrictions.  We have forwarded these recommendations to the proper grand pumba's (no disrespect - I've had to rely on a sense of humor through all this) and hope to hear soon what the decision of the Mission Medical Dept. is.

We can't help but shake our heads in awe at the miracles that have unfolded before our eyes, from what seemed very serious seeming to "simmer down" to a virus; to getting in to all the specialists we did without having to wait weeks or months; to people helping carry the rest of the load; to not completely losing it when times were hard, we have been blessed by your prayers, fasting and faith. We have no doubt the Lord's hands have led us and carried us.  And we thank all of you for your love and concern.

We will hopefully be emailing soon with news from the Mission Dept!

Love you all!

Crysi

The beginning of the trail of people after the crash....That room got REALLY full...taking pictures is all I could do that point!

Love you all!

9.1.14 :(

Hej Everyone!

So this might not be quite as happy of an email as some of my other ones have been... I kinda have some bummer of news. I'm not sure if this has all gotten around yet, but I thought you should all hear it from me. I've been kinda sick lately as you might have heard. The doctors here haven't really been able to figure out what is wrong. So I'm going to have to come home for a bit to get some tests done. It's a bummer. Hopefully I should be able to go right back out as soon as they figure out what is wrong! Thanks for all the prayers and fasting. I have really felt them and have felt super loved :) I am a way lucky kid to have people like you around me! I hope you know how much I appreciate it all. But we will get this figured out quick and then I'll be able to get back out and get going again :) 

But to lighten things up, Here is a picture of me, my chipmunk face, and a 2500 year old mini stone henge looking thing :)

Hope you all have a great week! Thanks again for all the prayers! I love you all! 

-Conner
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8.25.14

Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 3:24:13 AM

Subject: Hej!

Hej!! 

How was the week? I hope you all had great weeks. We sure did! 

Slagelse is so great. It's the first place where I'm really getting to know people and become friends. I didn't know enough Danish to really get to that level in Silkeborg, even though I still was close to the people, and in Taastrup I just wasn't there for very long. But here I am getting to know people and becoming tight friends with all of them and it is a blast. And all the people here are so fun! Our Bishop's son is going on a mission next month, and we go out to teach with him a ton, like almost whole days sometimes, and so that's awesome. The work is going really well here and it's all coming together to make things crazy fun :) 

I got to go back to Taastrup again this week!! I was with Æ. Christensen from my MTC group. We went and visited all of the people that I taught there and it was so great. Went to the taastrup buffet again too. Met with the Hansens! They are still doing so good. They are pretty much members. Its kinda funny. They are all the way there. Minus the smoking. They don't want to give it up. They want to do it someday, and they want to be baptized, but they are just kinda procrastinating with the smoking. So they just need to take that step... They'll get there soon. We also met with my old investigator David. (IDK if i ever talked about him much...) And we set a baptismal date with him! For the 1st of November! So that was super fun that I was able to be there when he set a date. 'Twas a fun day. Taastup :) 

We had a great day on Saturday! I'd like to think .......Whoa, live update!  Happening right now! Crazy story. One of our investigators just showed up at the church-right now! Sander. He's 19 and we just barely met him on Thursday. He's so excited and loves all the stuff we told him about. He thought church was today and he had run here to make it on time - he thought. I feel bad haha! But we still made it worth the trip. We talked with him for a bit and gave him a tour of the church. And showed him the baptismal font... He told us he wants to be baptized!!! So we set a date with him right there!!! How sick is that?? This kid is amazing. He wants to turn his life around and is sincere and ah, best preparation day ever. So yeah. There is your live update haha. 

But, to continue - haha I'd like to think our good day on Saturday was because of Mom's birthday :) We did some service and then we met with Sander, (the guy who just showed up at the church haha). We had knocked into him real quick on Thursday, it was the only door we knocked, and he said we could come back. So we did! And it went amazing. As  I said, he is so sincere and wants to find a new life. He had been in a pretty scary place in his life, but he's trying hard to turn around, and he told us that the church sounds like just what he needs! So we watched the new Mormon Message with him (called The Hope of God's Light.  http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001. If you haven't watched it you need to because its amazing!) It was pretty much a mirror of the situation he was in. The spirit was so strong the whole time and it was just an awesome experience. And he just showed up at church! So he felt the Spirit too. It was a way neat experience and we are excited for him.  So then we had cereal Saturday :) 

At the Kosterkirke is sorø. Good times :) We met with another investigator and some less actives too so it was just a great day! Which I was glad for. If I wasn't going to be spending my Mom's birthday with my Mom, it had better be a great day! Happy Birthday Mom :) 

So yeah, It was a great week. I know I say that every week, but it really was. I cannot complain at all. I'm one blessed kid. I hope that you are all doing well! I hope you know that you are all in my prayers and that I think of you all the time! I love you and miss you!

Don't miss 'em,

-Conner

Oh, and we ate fufu :) African food. It was way good! Super filling though- Holy Cow. 

landscape pictures because my face looks like a balloon and I'm embarassed haha :) 

8.18.14

Hej!

It's getting cold :( And its only half way through August. I'm getting a little worried... Danes are already breaking out their coats... Hopefully it just blows over! I have lucked out with weather since being here though. It has been a nice summer and last winter was pretty mild. So I can't complain! But man, getting cold in August... that's not a good sign.

It was a good week! We met with Søren again :) I love meeting with him. He is so great. And he read again! He explained the whole chapter of Alma 32 for us and said he really liked it. And we had a great lesson with him, all about faith. He  told us that one day he wants to surprise us and teach us about a chapter in the Book of Mormon :) We told him that we would be excited if he did! So things are going really well with him. And we got some sweet pictures on the drive back from his house :) (he lives in the middle of nowhere). 

​So that was a fun day :) 

We had a mission conference this week!! It was so great! President Taxiera came to talk to the mission and it was awesome! He came to talk to us about how to use technology in missionary work... hopefully that is a good sign that we are going to be getting iPads :) But it was a way fun conference. It was crazy having the whole mission there. Got to see everyone! Literally!! It was way fun to catch up with all my old companions and friends from the mission and yeah, it was a great day. 

We ordered a pizza!! It was the first time I had done that in a while. So I thought it would be worthy for the weekly email :) We didn't get a chance to eat dinner one night so after planning we ordered a pizza. And we thought we would add some danish culture into it so we lit some hygge candles as well. It was a fun night. haha 

​(And yes, that is lettuce on a pizza. Pizza here is weird haha. It's totally different from American pizza. Not even in the same category. But super good! 

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But yeah, It was a great week. I'm having so much fun in Slagelse. Transfers are coming up on Monday, and we won't be getting calls until later in the week. I don't think I will be transferred though. But hopefully nothing changes here in Slagelse! It is all too awesome. I could stay here for a while.

 Have a great week everyone! Have a good start to the new school year! Crazy. And don't forget to tell my Mom Happy Birthday on Saturday :) She deserves it! She is pretty darn great :) I love you all and miss you all! 

Don't miss 'em! 

-Conner

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8.11.14

Hej!

I'm sorry. I have been horrible about writing lately... Emailing has just been super crazy so I haven't been able to get a good email out. But I'll try this week!! 

It was a dope week. This transfer has just been way too much fun. Me and Elder Earl are having a really good time in Slagelse. We have some way fun companionship traditions. Like Cereal Saturdays :) Every Saturday so far this transfer we have been going up to this city called Kalundborg, and its to far away to drive back for dinner, so we started eating dinner up there. Which can get pricey. So a couple Saturdays back we decided to bring some bowls and just buy some cereal and milk for dinner. Cheap and easy. And  then we drove to the beach and at it on the beach.

 And after the first time doing it we decided it needed to become a tradition. So, cereal Saturdays were established :) 

Like I said, It was a way fun week. It was an Alta week! I went on splits with Æ. Cameron Walch and Æ. Andy Gifford, who both went to Alta! It was way fun. So we were down in Nykøbing Falster and in Copenhagen for a couple days this week. And in Roskilde for zone training. So we were kinda all over the place, only in our area for about half the week. But we made the best of it. the work is going way well in our area. We have been super busy and it is keeping up pretty well! We met with Søren, the guy we met in Sorø who had the Firebird, and we brought Finn Kristiansen with (the dad of the Kristiansens, who I talk about way too much. they are like our family here in Slagelse) and get this: they had met each other before! They had both been tow truck drivers and had met through work. So that was sweet! It was a fun lesson and went really well so we were stoked about that. Speaking of the Kristiansens, we went over there last night for dinner and all the youth from the ward were over too and they were out racing their cars in the field next to the Kristiansens house (they are so fun haha). But one of the cars shot out some sparks and aought the field on fire! So we had to grab buckets of water and try and put it out. luckily the farmer was outside with his tractor and saw it and was just able to come by and plow it over and it put it out  quick. But it was pretty exciting for a second. 

All is going well here! Having way too much fun. It's crazy to think that it is already August... Hope everyone is having a great end to their summers and making the time count! Thanks again for all the prayers :) You are all the best! I am feeling good and am having a great time, and can really feel all the love and support from back home so thank you so much! I love you all and miss you all! 

-Conner

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