October 17, 2016

Hey y'all!

We spent our P-Day up in a different area, so I don't have a ton of time to email, but hey, a picture is worth a thousand words :) lots of these pictures come from a little museum that shows what denmark would be like in the old days. Super cute and super fun. I LOVE DENMARK.

This week I got to go back to Slagelse for a day! I visited with Hans (the old guy who tells the hilarious women jokes) and it was so much fun. He gave us dinner and just set it down and said "eat, my big missionaries". If I come home a little chunky, it is 100% his fault.
We also biked down to the bottom of our area a few days ago! It takes a little over an hour, but the city down there is adorable. Two of our investigators live down there (a father and a son) and we love visiting them because of how pretty it is. I'll send pictures of it sometime, I just thought it would be fun for y'all to know that we literally bike for hours!

We went around offering to do service for people a couple days ago, and there was a lady who was astonished that we came around in the cold just to help... she didn't need any help (in her own words, she has 3 young adult children who need the punishment), but she invited us in and gave us freshly baked boller (kind of like a bigger, more delicious dinner roll) with pumpkin seeds and then sent us on our way.  Tender mercies of the Lord are all over!! We also had 4 investigators come to church yesterday, and that was really exciting. I also got called on in the middle of sacrament meeting to come up to the stand and interpret a talk that was given in English.... that is the second week in a row that I've been asked to interpret and IT IS TERRIFYING and so hard. But I said a prayer in my head that I would be able to communicate the speakers meaning, and it went pretty well. another tender mercy :)

A scripture that I have really thought a lot about lately is Helaman  10:4-5. It is interesting that the Lord is praising Nephi, not for converting hundreds of people, but for working with unwearyingness to declare the word. Do we go about our days like Nephi? or do we mope
around and say that we are 'too tired', or 'too busy' to help with the Lord's work? Food for thought. I hope that you all try to live your week in a way that you would be proud to present to the Lord. If we do that every week, I think that we very soon will find that all indeed
shall be made well. I love Denmark, I love the gospel, I love all of you! Have a good week and don't forget to be happy!

Love, Søster Ludlow

October 10. 2016

October 10, 2016

Hej!

This week was fun! All but one of our sit down appointments burned us, but it was alright because we ended up finding a lot of cute dogs and meeting some pretty interesting people! Even the rough things have their good side! I don't really have a lot of stories from this week.  We went to see a musical (inside the stake center) that was directed by one of the members from Slagelse. It was written by the same man who wrote the Forgotten Carols! it is called the Garden. It was in Danish, so it was a little bit hard to understand sometimes, but the symbolism in it was incredible! Our investigator Annelise (who is on date to be baptized!) came and brought 2 of her old lady friends from her church. They were very sweet.

Oh! I also got my first flat tire! and by flat, I mean that the sides of my tire ripped in half so I literally killed my tire. so that was  fun! I was frustrated, but then Søster Holbrook made me some danish hot chocolate and that  fixed everything.

Tender mercy of the week: we lost Søster Holbrook's name tag, and she was really sad about it. but we went out anyway, and I randomly decided to check the mailbox. We checked the mailbox, and someone had found Søster Holbrooks name tag and put it back in there! It was a little thing, but it was a tender mercy for her. just goes to show you
that the Lord's hand can be seen in the tiniest places of our lives; we just have to look for it.

My last little thought before I close off comes from Elder Christoffersen's talk at conference. I studied it a lot this week, and my favorite thing that I found was the idea that we won't learn until we decide to TRUST the teacher rather than resisting Him. I just want to challenge you all to be a little more open minded to the spirits promptings. Don't resist the teacher's advice - if you think you need to change something in your life, no matter how small - just do it. We
will learn so much faster and be so much happier once we let the Lord make us into something incredible.

I love you all and I hope you have a good week! Remember to smile and serve every chance you get!

Love, Søster Ludlow

October 3, 2016

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all enjoyed conference weekend! As usual, it was incredible! It was just a little more incredible for me because I watched it in a cute little Danish chapel in the middle of a Danish rainstorm :) Don't be too jealous, but I have the best life ever. Best Mission. Best mission president. Best companion. Best area. Life is good.

I have a new favorite thing about my companion, Søster Holbrook. Whenever we are in a really silent/awkward/serious situation (like knocking apartment complexes or teaching lessons to old guys with runny noses....) she just starts giggling and laughing and can't stop.
Which of course, rubs off on me, and then both of us are trying to be serious but we just sound like we're choking because we're trying not to laugh. It makes things a little more fun. And that leads me to our funny story of the week!

We went to a plejehjem (care home) to visit an old inactive man named Ole. He is small and skinny and has a beard and when he laughs, it is just a loud wheeze, so sometimes we don't know if we should be worried or if we should laugh. But anyway, we went to visit him last week. Whenever he feels the Spirit in the slightest, he just starts bawling. So we were in there sharing a scripture and a thought with him, and he was just bawling like a baby (which makes the same sound as his laugh, by the way) and his nose started getting really really runny. If you get grossed out easily, stop reading here! Eventually, he was getting nice, big boogers hanging down 1 - 2 INCHES out of his nose, and he would just wipe them all over and tell us to keep talking, so we would. Well eventually, we were talking about conference, and Ole had an especially big booger fallin out of his nose and Søster Holbrook just begins to shake. I can feel, literally FEEL the laughter trying not to burst out of her... and then Ole says "et øjeblik, jeg skal lige pudse nase" (One second, I'll just blow my nose... it is really
funny in Danish) and starts trying to blow his nose with an envelope... and that was when Søster Holbrook lost it. She handed him a tissue and then she just started chuckling... and then I chuckled... and then she snorted... and then we both lost it. We could not stop laughing. But Ole didn't even notice!! He just was so occupied with blowing his nose that he didn't even notice. Talk about the perks of teaching old men who can't hear! Eventually he stopped blowing his nose and looked at us funny because we both had these huge goofy grins on our face and he asks why we are smiling and Sister holbrook (still
laughing) says 'I just love general conference so much, it makes me want to cry'. Nice save, Søster Holbrook... nice save. Ah man.... I thought it was funny. And he was really happy that we came to visit.

Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed conference this weekend! I loved the focus that there was on what we CAN do. We really do have such large potential, we just need to find out how to access it. One of my favorite things from all of conference, however, was about
testimonies. One of the men was talking to the kids/youth, and saying that you are never too young to start gaining a testimony. Well, I would like to change that a little bit. We are never too young OR too old to get a testimony. It doesn't matter if we are 6 or 97, it is never too soon or too late to start seeking your testimony. Sometimes, we will forget the things we previously had a testimony of. The best time to start rebuilding that foundation is now. It is so incomprehensibly important that we all receive our own witness of truth. You don't even need to have a testimony of everything, as long as you have a testimony of something. That is my challenge to all of you - during the next week, choose a subject or topic that you want to gain a testimony of (or build it stronger) and then study that topic.Read about it. Pray about it. Apply it. I promise that if you sincerely try to seek, answers will come. I love You all and I hope you have a great week!

Love, Søster Ludlow

  

A picture right outside our apt. 

 Sarah had lunch with Soster Holbrook's grandparents this week too!

September 26, 2016 A New Area, New Companion, New Responsibility

Hello everyone!

It has been quite the week! I love my little island of Amager already!
It is pretty cool to get to serve in Copenhagen, even if it isn't the
center part of the city. First things first though....

The first couple days of the week were super fun and super stressful.
I got to be companions with Sister Player from my MTC group, which was
SO MUCH FUN. I love Sister Player. On Tuesday, we went to the office
and brought all of the newbies out into Copenhagen for their first
ever street contacting. That was funny, haha. At that point, we didn't
know who was going to be our companion, so it was like a guessing game
of finding who we worked well with. Wednesday we went and found out
who our new companions were going to be. AND I GOT THE BEST ONE. Her
name is Sister Holbrook and she is from North Salt Lake. Her mom is
from Denmark and her brother served here the same time as my brother,
so she already speaks really good Danish. Talk about tender mercies!
We get along super well and I love her so much already. It is going to
be an absolutely incredible transfer, I can tell.

President O'Bryant, Sister Holbrook and I, and Sister O'Bryant

We are the two missionaries who had brothers who just served in Denmark - as companions!

This week was full of meeting members and walking and meeting
investigators and walking and buying stuff for the apartment and
walking and finding buses and walking. We walked a lot this week. I
miss my bike, but I should get it back this week! I also LOVE MY
BRANCH. Oh my goodness it is adorable. Our ward mission leader is from
Sweden, and him and his wife are officially one of my new favorite
families in the entire world. They were both ballet dancers (REALLY
REALLY GOOD ONES), but right now only Christina dances still. I'm
pretty sure that she is actually a part of the Royal company, so that
is really incredible. We ate lunch with them yesterday, and their
younger son ( about 1 1/2 years old) ran up to the older one (5 years)
and grabbed him in a bear hug from behind, and the older one just
starts yelling 'mooooooooooooooom! heeeeeeeelp!!!! HE IS GOING TO EAT
ME AGAIN!!!' Hahaha both of the parents were laughing and the mom just
casually looks at the younger son and says "Come now Elliot, can't
you remember that people usually don't appreciate it when we eat
them?"  Man, I was laughing really hard. Things like that are a lot
funnier in Danish. I wish y'all could understand.

On Friday, we met an older Jehovah's Witness on the street. We don't
usually get along with them, but this one was especially not our
favorite. We tried to just tell her to have a good day and then move
on but she kept asking us questions, trying to trap us in our answers.
And then I would answer, about 3/4 of the way through my response, she
would realize that I knew what I was talking about and so she would
cut me off and say "mmm what? I can't understand you, you suck at
Danish." She could understand me. You all know how I get when I am
frustrated. It was very hard to keep my cool. and yet, somehow, I did!
Except for when she started insulting temples. Then I told her that
she needed to stop talking because that was a very sacred thing to me
and that I wouldn't listen to her speak about it that way. Luckily for
her, she understood me that time. The best part of the conversation,
however, was when we finally escaped and all of a sudden, Søster
Holbrook wasn't next to me. Naturally, I panicked a bit, because it is
not a good thing to lose your companion in Copenhagen on their first
week. But all of a sudden she appeared and grabbed my arm and said
'walk walk walk walk faster faster faster faster' and so we walked
away... and then she told me that she had run back and snuck an "I'm a
Mormon" pass along card into the lady's backpack so that she would
always know where to go when she had questions :) heheheheh I love
Sister Holbrook. So there ya go! That is what 10 minutes in the life
of us is like.

Another thing that I love about Søster Holbrook is her coping
mechanisms. Whenever she is talking to someone and she gets flustered
or can't remember a word, she just baaaa's like a goat and then looks
at me and says "heeelp?!". Also she gets really excited and randomly
hugs me when we are walking away from a good street contact or lesson.
I really do love her so much.

This morning, I was studying in Helaman and I found something that was
really incredible. In chapter 3 verses 27-28, it talks about how the
Lord's mercy is open to all who will ask with a sincere heart and that
the gate to Heaven is open to all who will believe on the Savior. I
just thought that was a beautiful reminder that it doesn't matter who
we are, where we live, or what we look like - if we want to be a part
of the happiness that is found from the gospel of Christ, we just have
to have a heart willing enough to accept it. The Lord is going to give
us as many chances as it takes in order for us to return to HIm. Don't
get discouraged, don't give up, and never stop trying to be better.
Keep your heart and your mind on the right path and you will see the
Lord's hand in your life.

Here's a fun question that I was pondering during church yesterday,
and I would love to hear what y'all think about it - We talk a lot
about being the Lord's hands. As a missionary, I am also His feet. I
walk the streets of Denmark seeking the lost sheep. However, the
Savior's most incredible feature wasn't his hands or his feet, it was
his heart. How can I be the Savior's heart while I am in Denmark? It
is interesting to think about. Let me know if you have any ideas :) I
hope that you all have a good week and that you remember to be happy.
It makes everything better if you just smile at yourself in the mirror
every morning. I miss you and I love you! Har det godt!

Søster Ludlow

September 19, 2016

Hello everyone! it has been a crazy week!

So last week, I got to experience what life is like in another area of
Denmark! We were on splits in a city called Søborg. Some
highlights....
We met a lady with a really fat baby that had bambi pajamas on.
The Søborg sisters had to mow their lawn, and we were supposed to
help, but I didn't have clothes to do it. So I used the apartment
genbrug (basically D:I.) to make a fun outfit that could get grassy.
We also went to an INCREDIBLE ice cream place... it is called
Ismageriet and it is ranked as one of the top 5 ice cream places in
the world and is the number 1 in Denmark. mmmmmm :)

On Saturday, the Elders in our area had another baptism and one of our
investigators, Tanja, came! She has been a little bit skeptical about
baptism, but now that she has seen how it works, I think that she will
be a lot more open to the idea! The bad news about that is.......
That I will not be around to see it happen.

That's right, I am no longer serving in Slagelse. On Saturday,
President called to tell us that Søster Jex and Søster Naylor would be
staying in Slagelse to train a new sister and that I would be OPENING
a new sister area as well as  TRAINING. Needless to say, I just sat on
the ground and started crying. I love Slagelse. My heart literally
broke when I said goodbye to the members there. I thought that I would
get to be there at least one more transfer... but the Lord has other
plans in mind, I suppose! I was really worried and really upset at
first. But then I started thinking about it, and this is going to be
an incredible experience. I will be serving in an area called Amager.
It is right next to Copenhagen and is basically an island that is
attached to Sjælland. There is only a branch in Amager, which is
awesome because in Denmark, sister missionaries only serve in
wards.... except for meeee! hehehe I am really excited. I haven't seen
much of it yet, but it should be really incredible. Terrifying, hard,
confusing, and crazy, but incredible. I feel a lot of responsibility
on my shoulders right now. However, I have been studying a lot about
how we can handle responsibilty and challenges that come our way, and
the biggest thing comes down to trusting in the Lord. It is just like
Nephi said, the Lord will not ask us to do something if he is not
going to provide a way for us to do it. He qualifies those whom he has
chosen, and even though I do not feel worthy or ready for this
responsibility right now, the Lord is going to provide a way to do it.
It is the same with all of you. Whatever responsibility you have been
given, just remember that if you have been called, you have what it
takes to accomplish it. Just smile and keep swimming, and you will
learn that you are far braver, stronger, smarter, and more capable
than you ever dreamed.

I hope that you all have an incredible week! Thanks for your love and support!

Søster Ludlow

Here's a picture of me sticking my head out of my new apartment

Here we are eating the world's best ICE CREAM!

Here is my new cute lil' chapel

Finn Kristiansen family in Slagelse before I left...remember the puppies?

September 12, 2016 - Last week of training

Hello Everyone - 

.....and welcome to my last week of training! WHAAAT! I can't believe that I've already been in Denmark for 2 transfers. we get our transfer calls on Saturday and I am really really hoping that I get to stay in Slagelse for another transfer. There is so much that I still need to do here! I'm not praying that I'll stay here, because it is not my choice, buuuuut............ I maybe think about doing it sometimes.

We had a good week! It was Søster Jex's 30 day in the land training, so we were at President's House for a few days. That means that we got to go to the temple again! In a place as crazy as Denmark, temple time really is special. It is probably the only time that you can sit in complete peace and not be overwhelmed with what goes on around you. In the training, we talked a lot about boldness and humility. Those are two things that our companionship has been working a lot on, so it really gave us the boost we needed to come back and stun Slagelse! We found some really positive FAMILIES this week, and we are really hoping that things work out with them.

Yesterday, we had no investigators in church so we went to the youth Sunday school Class. There is a 12 year old boy in there named Daniel who reminds me a lot of my little brother in his sense of humor.... The lesson was on For the Strength of Youth standards, and we were talking about dating. The bishops wife said "So, if we shouldn't date until we are 16, what CAN we do?" and this little kid sits up straighter, ponders, and then says very bluntly and slyly "well, we just pray that time goes faster!" WOOOOOO that kid had me laughing so hard!! So that was definitely one of the funnier parts of the week, just listening to his opinions on girls doing 'weird girl things' and dating. Good times.

Something That I found several times in my study this week came back to prayer. I read in Mark 1:35 about how the Savior went up to a solitary place to pray, and I had a quote stuck in my scriptures about it. It is by Spencer W. Kimball and says "When we pray alone with God, we shed all sham and pretense, all hypocrisy and arrogance..." then, I found in Jesus the Christ the following quote: "Prayer is not compounded of words... Prayer is made up of heart-throbs and the righteous yearnings of the soul, of supplication based on the realization of need, of contrition, and pure desire."

This really just got me thinking about how our prayers go. It is so easy to just sit there and say a quick prayer in our head before we head out and then be done with it. But is that as meaningful? Yes, God still hears them and will still answer them, but the strongest prayers are the ones that come from the deep yearning of your soul - when you sincerely FEEL the words that you say and you are willing to do anything to get a response. Further on in the book, it talks about how there has never been a person who is human who has not prayed -  because every one of us has a heart and soul that longs for things - and that longing is a prayer to God. My challenge to all of you is to re-evaluate your prayers. What priority do they get in your life? How do you say them? I hope you all will take the time to do what the Savior did, and find a solitary place, and there sit and pour out your soul to God out loud. I have tried it several times since being out, and I can tell you that it will change your entire outlook on your life.

Thank you for your love and support! I hope you all have a good week! I love and miss you all!

Søster Ludlow

 Our Picnic by one of the churches in Slagelse

A pretty place that we found while we adventured in the woods for P-day! There was lots of ducks :)

Here's a picture of baby ducks that I found because I love ducks. 

COMMENTS I GOT BACK:

Crysi,

I continue to be amazed at this girl.  She truly strengthens me every time I read her email.  Thanks for sending them. 

 Aunt Michelle Bailey

Thank you for sending her letters!  She is such a good missionary 😀

Catherine Hendricks

September 5, 2016

Hello all!

This week was a good one! I saw SO MANY PUPPIES. Also, I received some candy and letters from my incredible Family in Ephraim, and I got to show Danes what some of our American candy is like! They loved it.

This week I went to visit a Family that my Brother was really close to named the Kristiansens. Their dog recently had 7 puppies, and so when I walked into their Apartment, i was swarmed by tiny Little puppies! It was like walking into heaven! They were so cute. Naturally, that was a highlight of the week. 

We visited with the hilarious member Hans again, and I have yet another Hans quote! We were talking about how God has a sense of humor and søster Naylor said "He most definitely has a sense of humor. I mean, he made giraffes, just look at them!" and Hans said "psh, and women?!?!" hahahah he is just so funny. I love him so much. It is funnier in Danish. We also got invited to an open house thing by one of our old investigators. We got excited that she invited us because we thought she was reaching out to us again. We met up with her and we began to walk over to the address. Along the way, she randomly asked us if we work out. We had done a hard workout that morning (so we thought that we looked super buff or something) and we said that yes, we do sometimes. She just nodded and kept walking. we get to the address of the open house, and we walk around to the back side..... and I immediately started laughing. it was not an actual house open house... it was an open house for a hipster crossfit gym. We looked so silly, standing there in our church clothes in the entrance of a huge gym full of REALLY FIT Danish people.... Ah man. Good times. I love miscommunication sometimes... it makes for the best stories!

My little spiritual thought today comes from Alma 8:18. Alma had just left the city where he was preaching and he was really really discouraged. The people were not accepting his message, and he thought it would be better if he just went home. On his way back, an angel stops him and tells him that he needs to return to the city and continue preaching. Alma didn't take time to stop or rest or prepare himself; he immediately turned around and went back. Are we that quick to answer when the Lord asks us to change something? I know that I am not. But I can promise that if we try to be obedient a little faster, if we try to correct our course a little harder, that the Lord will give us that much more help. And just like with Nephi and Alma, the Lord will provide a way for you to accomplish the thing that he has asked you to do. 

I hope that you all have a good week! thank you for the love and support! Remember to smile! 

Love, Søster Ludlow

Me with Kristina, the lady with 7 puppies :)

Søster Jex taking a power nap during language study at the church... I'm a true mother. I take pictures of my children while they sleep.

Sharing the American Candy - Thanks Aunt Michelle & Uncle Tom!