I apologize that these are late in being posted. Clarissa and I have been in Europe for her senior trip for 2 weeks and I didn't take a laptop. We had a great time and no we didn't go to Denmark to see William - although it was very tempting. He is totally right though the weather there is freezing cold!!! The Mom
Hej Familie!!!
So I made it to Denmark safely as you can guess from the email that you are now reading. So much has happened I guess I'll start at the beginning. After 15 hours of traveling time we got to København (Copenhagen) at aroung nine on Tuesday morning. The assisstants, Ældster Pullan and Holladay and Præsident Andersen were waiting after we got our bags. After the airport, the assisstants took us to the mission office to chill for about 15 min. until we went out again. Pullan and Holladay took us on a tour of Copenhagen, where we saw some of the culture and went to the church that has the original Christus statue. It was way cool. There are also statues of all the twelve apostles except for Judas Iscariot who is replaced by Paul. After that we had a Danish fast food lunch, that was fun and then we went contacting by the harbor that was nerve racking! But we did it and handed out some pass along cards and then went back to the office to get an orientation and be interviewed by Præsident Andersen. He is a way awesome guy!!! I guess you already saw a picture of him but yeah so after the interview we went back to the airport to pick up our Iceland comrades that flew in later than us. From there we went to the mission home to have dinner and crash and burn for the night. Søster Andersen made a fantastic meal and then we had a short testimony meeting and went to bed. (We still don't know where we're serving or who we're serving with by this point) In the morning we wake up, take a shower, get dressed and eat breakfast and then go the Nittivej Chapel behind the temple. FINALLY!!!! We were finding out what we really wanted to know!!!! So yeah he called us up one by one and told us where we were going. Ældste Tolman went to Randers, Ældste Feil to Århus, Ældste Bailey to Esbjerg and me to Slagelse! Its a really small town on Sjælland (Zealand), on the west coast of the Island if you look it up. My trainer is Ældste Mauler. He's from Colorado and has been out about 15 months. I'm his second trainee so he sorta knows what he's doing.
We left almost immediatley after meeting our trainers. Before I could unpack we were out the door again. At night we did some tracting and like any senior companion would Mauler gave me the first door. With alot of his help we were able to get in with this guy from Mexico, yeah he didn't even speak Danish!!! Not bad for a first contact. The guy is way weird but we're teaching him again tonight so we'll see what happens. I've eaten with two member families so far. No make that three. So far the food has been good but the conversation not so much since I can hardly understand Danish and especially legit Danish!!! But its coming along and already I'm starting to understand more and more. Church was only about 50 people if that and almost all of them were old people. The most interesting part was that they couldn't pronounce my name! In Danish SOME of the time not all, the 'V' makes and 'w' sound and they don't have a 'ch' to speak of, so they kept pronouncing it 'Weesh', I just shook my head. I must have told people and corrected my name a thousand times just in the three hours of church. One guy was like, >Weesh, like weesh-craft......< no not at all.
So yeah there was a ton of snow when I got here last week and it hasn't let up at all!!!! The wind is terrible and we have to walk to alot of our appointments!!! Weather.com might say that Utah is colder but I've been in both in the last week and I can tell you now that Denmark is so much colder than Utah right now!!!! The snow is making me really tired, for some reason. Every time we get on the bus I fall asleep. Not on purpose, it just happens! The food is amazing. Even the store bought bread tastes as good as some of the expensive bread in the states. AHHH!!! its just all so good!!!
So when they had the temple open house six years ago, alot of nonmembers came and were asked to right down their thoughts and they might be visited later. I add that because they just started doing them so we went and helped the Copenhagen district the other day with theirs. It was like a giant splits thing. I don't know how it happened but I ended up with Præsident Andersen!!!! I was like uh.....are you sure. But it was actually a really good experience. We placed a bunch of Book of Mormons and got two new investigators. One of the ladies we taught was a Muslim from Bosnia that had fled the country before it got bad. It was way cool to talk to her. I have come to love immigrant Danish because it is so much clearer than regular!
Well thats about all. I have to write a letter to the mission president now, so I'll just say that I love you all. Hope you're having a good Holiday prep. Things are going very well here. Hope its the same with you. Email coming next week!!!! Jeg Elsker jer!!! Love you all!!!!
-Ældste William Veach
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