10.20.14

From: "Mission, Conner" <conner.ludlow@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, October 20, 2014 3:28:33 AM

Goddag!

So I start all of my journal entries off with a quote of the day. It has been really fun and helps me remember all the funny moments that happen throughout the different days. I thought I would start this email off with one from this week. Thursday's was: 'Oh good, I thought you were a little girl!'. It was said by some random guy to Elder Brady (who is this huge football player guy). Elder Brady tried some licorice ice cream out on the gågade (super public place) and didn't like it, so he made a horrible face. This guy saw that face and went up to him and asked  'What? You don't like it?' Elder Brady tried to be nice and covered his face and said he did like it. Then the guy said that, "Oh good, I thought you were a little girl!" right to his face! haha. We all just about died of laughter. I thought it would be a good story to include because that was the story of the week. We laughed a ton.

We also made a ton of people smile with this:)  

​We had baught pumpkins to carve and were walking back to the apartment, and you should have seen all the looks we were getting haha. :) I'm sure we made like 30 people's days, we got so many smiles. It was pretty funny. 

Ældste Swan and I taught Primary yesterday :) Man, I love primary kids. It was so funny. It was hard to teach because every answer that we would get would just make us die of laughter. Like we asked this one girl: 'Why do you love your family?' and she said,  'Well, because if I don't then they will get offended!' I dont know if we can request callings (Bishop Prater...) but I'm sold. It was a blast. 

It was a fun week. Went by crazy fast. I think that is just going to be the story of the rest of my mission but I'm not complaing about it! It's just a great time. Hope it is going well for all of you back home too! I love you and miss you! 

-Conner

10.13.14

So to explain the football....in Denmark people think it's too personal when someone walks up and starts throwing religion at them.  So Conner and his old companion noticed that if they just go out and start throwing a football people approach them to start a conversation.  Pretty smart I must say!  I'm sure they have many ways to turn a football conversation into a missionary discussion.  Haha.  Love this kiddo and am so excited he was able to make it back for his baptism!  Originally Conner scheduled the baptism for September 27th and so he came home knowing he would miss it.  But Sander had to postpone it, and gratefully Conner was back in time and President Sederholm allowed him to go to the baptism.  Tender mercies galore!  Thanks again to all of you for being part of this miracle!  Crysi

---

From: "Mission, Conner" <conner.ludlow@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2014 3:22:34 AM

Hej!

Sander got baptized! 

​(If you remember that one time where an investigator walked into the church while we were emailing, this was him!) I got to go back for it too! It was awesome :) He was super excited. It was a great little baptismal meeting. His whole family came as well, and were really supportive of him. I'm super jealous of the Elders in Slagelse right now because his whole family is probably going to start coming to church as well. I got to ride over to Slagelse with Elder Earl as well, so that was really fun to catch up and talk with him as we rode the train over to Slagelse. That ward is great, It was a blast being back, even if it was just for a little bit. So that was the highlight of the week for sure! 

Århus is great! I like it a lot. Being in a four man apartment is also a blast. I'm still getting to know the area, but it is coming. We ride lots of busses and walk a lot here. Our area is pretty big, has a lot of people in it for just 2 missionaries. And we have the University :) So we meet with some younger people and most of the people that we talk to on the street are younger as well. haha We were out throwing the football the other day and this kid came up and asked in perfect danish if he could throw it. We gave him the ball, and then watched with open mouths as he threw a perfect spiral like 40 yards down to me. Danes can't do that! Usually it looks like a duck and goes about 20 feet. Turns out he wasn't really a Dane haha :) His dad was American so he had grown up there. We talked to him for a while though and set up a football game against him and his friends. It will be a fun game haha :) So Århus is going pretty well. 

Hope everyone had a good week! If you didn't get the chance to see my sister's homecoming pictures, you should ask my mom to send you them. She looked great! (haha sorry to embarrass you Sarah :) But you did!) I love you and miss you all! Ha' det godt! 

-Conner 

9.30.14

Hey! I made it! Safe and sound and with all my baggage. Denmark is great.  No Idea where I am going yet, they aren't done with transfers yet. Thanks for the great three weeks! 

Love you!

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
​