October 16, 2017

Hello everyone!

Wow, what a week. We were in Vejle on Wednesday for splits, Aarhus on Thursday for zone conference, and then vejle again yesterday for stake conference. We were all over the place, but it was good. We've been having a hard time making time to just go out knock or contact, because we just bounce from one place to the other, but this week we made the goal that we were going to take the time to talk to at least one person in every place we found ourselves, regardless of time. We did pretty well, but we weren't seeing a ton of results come from it... until we got on the train to go visit a less active family. we sat down and Sister Hall was asking some danish questions when a girl plops down next to us, asks if we speak danish, and asks for help with her ticket. We helped her figure it out, and then she asked about our name tags, and we started talking. SHe was from South Africa and her dad has his own church down there, and she loves faith, but feels like the bible is missing a lot of truths because it has been translated so many times (why yes, yes it is..) Naturally we told her about the Book of Mormon and she got way excited. She decided it was destiny that she was on that train, because 1) she doesn't even live in Esbjerg 2) she doesn't normally reserve a seat ticket but she felt like she should this time 3) we happened to sit in the seats right next to the random seat she was assigned when she reserved a spot. We switched info and after we got off the train, we decided that the reason things worked out with her was because we had proven to God that day that we would talk to the people He put in our path, and so He trusted us with her. It was cool. :)

Splits

Our investigator Carlo basically did a 180 degree turn around (for the better!) we were talking to him the other day, and he told us that he didn't think he needed to pray right now, and we said why, and he said 'because I already feel adn know that this book (the Book of Mormon) is true, so I don't need to ask for another confirmation. I already know.' UM, JA TAK. thats a missionary's dream to hear! We explained that that wasn't the only reason to pray, but we were way pumped about his answer: He decided that he wants to work towards baptism on November 11. His birthday is the 10th, so when we asked for the 11th, he said that he thought it was destiny and said yes. Yesterday the bishop picked him up at 8:20 to take him to stake conference, and he stayed with their family going to various church activities until 8:30 pm. and he loved every second :) haha he also was talking to some members yesterday, and they turned to us and were like 'wow, this guy can do exactly what we need help with! its a miracle!' and when they turned back to carlo, he did a little bow and said 'yes, hello, let me introduce myself, my name is miracle...' hahah we love Carlo. He is so funny. So keep Carlo in your prayers, that things will keep going well with him! 

I guess maybe you noticed that both of those stories had something to do with destiny. Its a weird idea, having a destiny. And while I don't understand it, I do know that there is a deeper meaning and a deeper purpose to all that we experience. Try to find it, try to understand it! It will give so much more depth and purpose to your life! This is not related, but we were watching a broadcast yesterday, and somebody said "you will never be happier than you are grateful". I thought that was profound. Feel unhappy? Become more grateful. Its an easy solution to a big problem... try it out and let me know what changes! Hope you all had a great week! Miracles are happening around you! look for them, and BE HAPPY!!

Much love, 

Søster Ludlow

Another sleepy companion picture....hehehehe

Denmark is sooo pretty!!!

October 9, 2017

Hello! 

I GOT MY NEW COMPANION! Her name is Sister Hall and she is from Meridian, Idaho. She is awesome and we get along so well. I hope that someday I can be as good of a missionary as she is.

We got a new rug in our apartment. It smells like new carpet and so we laid on it. We like new things.

On Wednesday we got a call from some guy we dont know named Nickolei. He got our number from a friend who said we could help him, and he wanted us to come teach him so that he could 'try the mormon church'. We went and met with him on Saturday and he came to church yesterday and wants to keep coming :) Little miracles everywhere! 

Also we have a friend named Carlo and he is Italian, and every time that we say goodbye he says 'ciao' and I just love Italian people. And being a missionary. Life is just so good sometimes, you know? It can be so easy to just get caught up in all the little irritating details or all the scary or worrysome things... but there really is so much good. There's never a darkness or a negativity so dark that a little bit of light can't penetrate it. We just need to look for the light in our lives. And if we are having trouble seeing the light, or seeing the good, then maybe that means we need to turn around and refocus on something else. Remember that there is a bigger picture, and right now we do not have the full perspective. But He does, and He knows which direction we should walk in so that we can find the light of His love. 

Jesus Christ loves each and every one of you :) God is real. He knows you're here and he is aware of your every need. Reach to Him and He will lift you. I love you all. Be happy this week :) 

Love, Søster Ludlow

An impressive display of Danish Fungus

Our cute town of Esbjerg

Drinking smoothies while waiting for our Baby Comps!  

 

October 2, 2017

Hello Everyone! 

Well, today I said goodbye to Sister Kuhlo. She is on her way back to Germany. I am going to miss her a lot, but I am excited because I get to train again! Yay! I don't know who it will be yet, but I'll send pictures next week! 

Still a Y Girl!

This week was a lot of craziness because of conference, but it was still a good one. I got to go to temple in Copenhagen and it was incredible! I honestly can't really remember much else from the week..... Wow. Sorry. I am lame. But! This week will be full of lots of adventures and i will send them next week!  

I hope you all got to listen to conference! If you didn't.... GO LISTEN RIGHT NOW. But I'll give you a sneak peek. One of the things that really stood out to me from conference was the idea of how even though we are imperfect people, God is still perfect and His plan for us is perfect. And even though our lives may be in turmoil or we feel confused or lost, He is still guiding us through the stormy seas. Trust Christ and put Him as the center of your focus and at the center of what you want to become - and it will all work out :) I promise. 

I love and miss you all. Have a good week and know that I and heaven are cheering you along!!

Love, Søster Ludlow

Sister Kuhlo leaving Denmark....

September 25, 2017

Hello :)

We had yet another crazy busy week! I'll just share some of the highlights! Our friend Jean texted us asking if he could bring his friend Bo to one of our lessons, and we said.... UM YES PLEASE. So now they are little investigator friends :) Yay for missionary work! 

Thursday was our friend Kevin's birthday, and his parents forgot, so he decided that he wanted to hang out with his real friends.... so he called us and the elders and we had a Mormon birthday party for him! He is awesome and he is really close to baptism, so keep him in your prayers!! There is a big World War II memorial in the forest behind his house, so he brought us and the elders over there and it was so cool! 

Also, we had a talent show for our ward activity. We spent the whole week trying to think of something we could do, and finally, the morning of, it hit us..... nametag kazoos! For those of you that don't know, missionary tags double as a kazoo. so we started off by playing 'called to serve' all pretty wtih a guitar and singing..... and then we broke out the kazoos and started playing for real. The ward loved it, and it was an awesome night. 

Anyway..... I've been reading in Alma recently, and something that has become really interesting to me is to get to know the personalities of people in the scriptures. I've always just read the scriptures as some kind of assigned text, but recently i've been trying to read them with the intent to understand and see why different things were important for different people. I've also been doing that with the character of Christ and getting to know Him as a personality and how He felt while He did what He did, as well as just trying to see the story and all of His teaching from His perspective. It is incredibly eye opening to think about - just imagining what it woul dhave been like for Him. It has just made me realize how invested He is in who we become and in our success. He isn't in this for a short amount of time, He is there until time stops existing. He's not going to give up on us, so why should we give up on ourselves or Him? He's there and ready to help, I promise you. Just look for HIm. Seek with your heart, not your eyes. 

I hope you all have a great week! Don't forget to wave to strangers :)

Love, Søster Ludlow

Leftover shenanigans pic I received from Sister Petersen.  Classic....

Enjoying the Sunshine!

Danish Countryside

September 18, 2017

Hello friends :) 

What a week! Sister Kuhlo and I are best friends with the rain. Wherever we go, it comes with us :) Whenever we go outside, the rain comes out too. Its a really loyal relationship. Oh boy. Lets see... what happened this week. Oh! In case y'all didn't know, Jehova's Witness people don't celebrate birthdays. But - the other day, we were on our way to the church to have a mini birthday party for one of the elders, and we saw two people near our apartment looking confused. They looked almost identical to the elders, and I said "hey, do you think those are the elders or two JWs?" I'm known for having incredible eyesight, and so my companion said 'oh, its totally the elders'. so we decided to scare them, because they were already supposed to be at the church and we were gonna show them what they get for being late. So we creep over to the building that they went into, with our arms full of happy birthday banners and a birthday cake, we're standing outside the door, ready to go in and bust them........ and we get a text from them asking if we were on our way. we thought they were trying to find an excuse for being late, so we were thinking of a sassy reply when out walk two jehovas witness men from the buildling. we looked at them like deer in the headlights, birthday cake and banners and all........... they looked at us. and then we ran. hahah Needless to say, it was NOT the Elders, and we scared some Jehovah's Witnesses. Hehe. Oops. SO that was a funny one. 

Yesterday we had a lesson with one of our investigators about praying to ask for forgiveness, and how that is a vital part of the repentance process, and invited him to try it. He said ok. Then last night, we got a text from him saying that he had prayed for forgiveness and he felt so so happy now, and said thank  you that we had taught him about it. It just made us so so so so so happy to hear how happy he is. The gospel changes lives, people. It's incredible.

Well, I'm sure many of you have the quote book that my mom gives out each year, but I wanted to just talk for a second about this week's quote. "The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus in our lives".  This is so true.... Just look at Jean (the guy I just talked about). He is always so focused on how scary change is, and how hard it is to overcome things... but when he changed his focus to letting Christ help him, he felt HAPPINESS. Try reading in the scriptures and study what joy and happiness are. True happiness is found in the pursuit of eternal matters. Keep the end perspective in mind. Don't lose hope, don't give up, and don't take your eyes off the Savior. He won't lead you astray. I miss you all and hope you have an incredible week! 

love, Søster Ludlow

September 11, 2017

Hello Everyone! 

Wow, I swear, every week goes by faster than the first! This week was great. We were in Aalborg for splits (I LOVE AALBORG), and then we had Zone conference in Aarhus where we talked all about the Savior and his life, and then yesterday we had Stake Conference in Aarhus which was incredible :) 

But, some details: we have an investigator who has some social problems, so he doesn't like to sit and chat. He came to an eating appointment with us and after the main course was over, he said a very nice polite goodbye and started leaving, but the mom just says 'Hey, don't you want some dessert?' and he goes DESSERT? and immediately came back and sat down haha. IT was funny. Also Sister Kuhlo is such a power house. She commanded the clouds to not rain until we were done with our service project, and the second we came inside from the project, it started dumping it. WHAT. She's cool. 

Here's a really cool thought from Stake Conference: Is it God and Christ's job to fix our problems? Or is it their job to prepare us for eternal life, happiness, and godhood? A lot of the times we get frustrated or irritated because things just aren't going how we thought they would/wanted them to. We think that our prayers are going unanswered, but they are being answered.... just not in the way we want them to. Its hard to explain the things this made me think about, but the big lesson behind it is that God knows us. HE is preparing us. He hears AND ANSWERS every prayer. but just because he answers, doesn't mean he answers how we want Him to. We forget that he has the bigger perspective. so if you feel like you just aren't being heard, try taking a step back and asking Him what it is that you are missing - what is He trying to teach/tell you that you aren't quite understanding or seeing. He wants to teach us and help us - so let HIm! I promise you all that Christ lives and loves you. God answers prayers. He wants to hear what you have been dying to say. Speak with him :) Let HIm love you!

I hope you have a great week! Be good!

Søster Ludlow

September 4, 2017

Hello everyone!

This week, we found the Sister Ludlow Proof door. it had a tall fence guarding it, and the latch to the gate.... WAS ON TOP OF THE GATE. i couldn't reach it!!!! But, my friends, that is why we have companions! She is only a little taller than I am, but she reached it. But, right as she was about to pull the latch, what came shooting out of the treacherous wood?!? A MASSIVE SPIDER. we both lost it. but, because my companion is german and has nerves of steel, she reached past the treacherous spider and opened the lock! Win for missionaries! So then we knocked the door and no one was home :( but hey, we worked past our fears. well.... more like Sister Kuhlo worked past her fears and i cowered in fear behind her haha. but we did it! SO that was an adventure. 

One of the elders investigators gave us an entire chicken. So now we have to figure out how to cook an entire chicken in less than an hour..... any tips? 

Things here in Esbjerg are so great. I love our ward. They want to do missionary work so badly and it makes the work so much fun to have members involved. I'll have to tell more about some of people I've been meeting later on. But I love it so much. My life is incredible. 

So we have a focus in our zone right now about just teaching faith, repentance, and baptism. We overcomplicate the gospel so much. But really it just just those things: having faith in Jesus Christ. Repenting and becoming better. More Christlike, more loving, more forgiving. Being true to our baptismal covenants (read mosiah 18 if you haven't done so recently. Getting the gift of the Holy Ghost and always being worthy of its companionship by enduring to the end. It is so simple. Every doubt, fear, frustration, anger, worry, envy, concern, hestiation, betrayal, anxiety, hopelessness, or darkness in our lives WILL DISAPPEAR if we focus on those 5 simple steps and our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only thing that is constant in our lives, so stand on him when things get tough. God's plan is perfect. The people involved are not, but His wisdom, His love, and His power are. Trust Him. It will all turn out :) 

I love and miss you all. Have a good week and keep on keeping on! 

Søster Ludlow

DANISH SUNSETS!!!