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