One week down in Denmark.

Hi!! Well, I've now been in Denmark for over a week! Each day seems to go by way fast! I've heard that as a missionary, the days go slow but the months fly by. But for me, the days have gone fast and the months have gone even faster! So anyway, after one week I've started to adjust a little bit. The language is still way hard and it is hard to understand what anyone is saying. (I found out that the area that I'm in has the weirdest accent and it's the hardest to understand in Denmark...) Already though I feel like I'm understanding a bit more than last week. So I just have to be patient and it'll come. It has been way fun meeting and getting to know the ward members! The ward his is awesome! It's a pretty big ward for Denmark. About 150 members! They are way nice and inviting. We have had many opportunities to get to know them; Church, a few eating appointments, and we helped a family move last friday. They will be a ton of help to me as I try to learn Danish and get adjusted to life here in Denmark. Church was great on Sunday. That was one time that I actually understood most of what was being said. In sacrament they speak extra clearly and slower, and also they are talking about gospel topics which is basically all I know. Yeah, so that was good. I thought I was going to have to go speak or bear my testimony or something so I was nervous the whole time, but they never had me do it. I kinda wanted to though so the people would hear how bad my Danish was and they wouldn't expect that I can understand them when they talk to me. Haha! We have had a few teaching appointments. About half of them are actually in English! There are many foreigners here in Denmark, and for some reason they are much more open to the gospel. So we have a couple of black investigators and a chinese woman that we speak english to when we teach. We also have a couple Danish investigators that we're teaching (Elder Dalton does the majority of the talking with them) Hopefully they progess and are able to come closer to Christ. Thats cool that you are helping out the people of Haiti. That's a good Idea, raising money by doing a fun run thing. Good luck with that. Are just you and dad doing that or are the kids and any others getting involved with it? It's fun hearing about how the kids are all doing. Tia has always been a smart little girl. Thats cool that she is in the spelling bee finals! Congrats Tia! Good luck with that. I know that she can do a great job in that. It's just probably gonna be scary for her up there in front of everyone. She's gonna do great though! Let me know how that goes. Tani is a way fast learner on the piano. Thats cool that she has enjoyed it so much and tried so hard to do well. Oh, on monday we were at the church, waiting for family home evening, and I found a little keyboard and tried playing some hymns on it again. I actually was able to do alright. I was still able to read the music and everything and it wasn't to bad. How is the churchball team doing this year? I'm sure they are doing great as usual. I don't know why, but our teams were always stacked. I really enjoyed playing churchball. I think thats kinda funny that Jansen has been getting kicked out of the games. HAHA! I could imagine that he would get a little temper every once in awhile. Mom, do you really have to keep reminding me about the good weather in St. George?! Come on! It's freezing cold up here! I've only seen the sun for about 4 or 5 hours in the week I've been here. The sun rises around 9 O'clock, and it goes down at like 4. But it's always cloudy, so even when it is up I don't see it. It's always just bleak and dim and COLD. Hopefully it starts to warm up soon. I'm glad I have a good coat! No I haven't had a chance yet to buy a guitar or bike. I probably won't get a bike in this area. It's just so cold and snowy, it would be impossible to ride a bike around all day. I did go to a guitar store yesterday, but I didn't buy one. They were all way expensive there. I'll try to find a better deal somewhere. I did however get to play on some of the guitars there for a few minutes. that was way fun! I somehow still have my calluses. I thought they would go away after a couple months without playing. No, my mission pres isn't Danish. Well I'm pretty sure he isn't. He served his mission in Sweden, which is a very similar language. But yeah, I think he is American. He is a way good guy. He is very caring and also he isn't way strict with rules and such. I'm sad that he will only be my mission president for a few months. I think he leaves in like June or July. Well I better get going. I have better things to do than waste my time emailing. jkI love you all. Have a great week! Love - Ældste Tyler Lee

First email from Denmark!!!!!

Hi Family!!! Well I made it to Denmark! Finally!!! The flights were crazy and it was an insanely long day. I probably only got like 3 hours of sleep in three days! But anyway, I'm here! It was great talking to everyone on the phone. It was fun hearing everyone's voices. I can't wait til mother's day when I can call again! I'm sure mom is even more excited than I am! Well I guess I'll get into it and tell you a bit about my first few days and everything. Ok, so we finally arrived in Denmark at around 4 pm tuesday. We walked out of the airport and the mission president and his wife, and some missionaries were waiting there for us. They took our bags and then we went on a train to Copenhagen. And the first thing they had us do when we got there was start contacting! The only thing I really wanted to do at that point was sleep. Anyway, we contacted down a street until we got to the Copenhagen Temple. It is a way cool temple, and its way weird. It's just in the middle of the city and everything. So we took some pics at the temple real quick and then they picked us up and drove us to the mission home, were they had dinner prepared for us. They had some traditional Danish food. It was dang good. I can already tell I'm gonna like the food here! After dinner we had a quick testimony meeting (in which I fell asleep...) And then they finally let us go to bed. I never slept so good in my life! In the morning we had breakfast and then went to a church building in Copenhagen where they gave us a bit of instruction and we had interviews with the mission president and then after that we finally met our trainers and found out our first areas! My trainer is Elder Dalton. He is way cool, and he is gonna be a great trainer! He is way short. I'm like a foot taller than him. Our first area is Aalborg. Its the second most northern mission, so its pretty cold up here. something cool is that it's been only a sister mission for the past 2 years. We are the first 2 elders to be here in 2 years. We are both new to here, so we have a lot to learn about it. I think it's gonna be an awesome area to start. Oh yeah, chances are, I'll be driving a bit. Like 99% of cars here are stick shifts, and my comp can't drive one. Driving here seems pretty scary. Drivers are aggressive and roads are tiny! Oh yeah, to get here we had to ride in a train for about 5 hours! So It's pretty far away from Copenhagen. It was tough saying goodbye to my mtc district. We all got split up and thrown into different areas. Elder Shreeve went to Odense. I told him to say hi to Ken and Sally for me. Oh, at the train station we ran into Elder Clayton. We didn't have much time cuz we had to catch a train, but I said hi to him real quick. So today is thursday. P-days are wednesday, so that is when you'll usually get emails. We are taking a mini P-day today cuz we have so much Prep stuff that we need to get done. I'm emailing from a library thats about a half a block away from our apartment. Oh our apartment! It's way nice! My Elder Dalton was way excited about it. It's a sister's apartement and I guess they are nicer than the rest, so It's really big and nice. Like, the bathroom floor's are heated, and it's just all around a good apartment. I have to admit, I am way bad at Danish. Now that I'm over here everything is way fast and it's way hard to pick up on what they are saying. It's dang hard. I sure hope that the language will come soon. We talked with some of the missionaries that got here 2 months before us, and they seemed to be doing pretty good with the language so hopefully it'll come quickly. hmm, what else do ya wanna hear about? I'm way glad that I'm in Denmark now and not in the MTC anymore. It's so great just being able to go outside of a little bubble. I know it's going to be way hard being a missionary. Talking to complete strangers about religion in a language I barely know... But I know I have a lot of help. Today in personal study, what I read applied perfectly to my situation. I was worried about everything, and if I could do it and all. I read in D&C 27 I think. It said something like, From the time you leave until the time you return, you will be guided as to what you should do. Just go out there and open your mouth. It said something similar to that. So that's what I have to do, just go out there and open my mouth! Anyway, I'm gonna end this email. I hope to have plenty of great stories soon! Oh yeah, so how much money do I have on that debit card? I want to buy a guitar, and I also might need a bike. I don't think I need a bike in this area but I'll probably buy one eventually.Well, I love you and I miss you. See y'all later! Love Ældste Tyler Lee

Email from the mission home

Greetings from the Denmark Copenhagen Mission!

We are just writing you an email to let you know that your missionaries are in Denmark, safe and sound.

We are so excited to have them here. They look excited to work and serve the Lord in Denmark. Thank you so much for preparing your missionaries for this time.

Missionaries in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission usually have their preparation days on Wednesday, so you may receive an email from them soon...depending on the time and their train/car schedules. It is possible that they would email on the next day. Just know that they are here and safe.

When you send packages: A) send them to the office B) Do not declare medicine or anything worth more than 50 dollars, or they will not receive them. C) Send them via regular mail, we can’t send any other form of package on to your missionary. The package will have to wait until they either come to the office, or someone is traveling to their area.

Missionaries love to get mail. All mail comes to the mission office and we send it on to them:

Missionaries Name

Danish Copenhagen Mission Office

Borups Allé 128, 1tv

2000 Frederiksberg

Denmark



Here is where your missionaries will be serving:


Elder Hansen will serve with Elder Stacey in Allerød, Sjælland (Zealand)

Elder Van Nevel will serve with Elder Pearson in Nykobing F., Sjælland (Zealand)

Elder Shreeve will serve with Elder Brown in Odense, Jylland (Jutland)

Elder Lee will serve with Elder Dalton in Aalborg, Jylland (Jutland)



The trainers are the best of the best! Your missionaries have amazing trainers that will help start off their missions in the right way!



We hope all is well with you. Have a wonderful day!

Denmark Copenhagen Mission

Office Staff

Phone calls from the airports!

Yesterday was an exciting day for us! We waited (im)patiently for the phone to ring! Tyler told us he would call from one of the airports, just not sure which one, so to be on the look out all day. Luckily it was a holiday so the kids and Tom were all home.
We finally heard from him at about 3:00. It was so nice to hear his voice! I do wish we could have a few more phone calls throughout a mission, but I'll take this one for now!

They started out their morning by meeting at the travel office at 3:00. That was after about one hour of sleep. They were up late packing and then couldn't sleep much when they did lay down. They got their passports and visas and got in a shuttle which dropped them off at the curb and said...bye bye!

The first flight was to Denver. They had a short layover planned there. They boarded the plane for Washington DC and then found out there were computer problems that needed to be fixed. So they sat on the plane for THREE hours before takeoff!

In Washington DC they were suppose to have a 4 hour layover. That is where they had planned to make calls home. He called us and we were able to talk for about 45 minutes. We told him that he better go or he was going to miss his flight. Sad to say goodbye, but he said he would try to call again from Vienna, Austria.

So we were happy at 2:00 am when the phone rang. Usually a call at that time of night does not make one happy. He said that they had barely made it on the plane at the last airport. I guess they had been calling their names over the loud speakers. I think they were feeling a bit grateful that they made it!

He said it was pretty tricky to make the call from Ausria. The phone cards they had with them wouldn't work internationally. So they traded a bit of American dollars for some euros. They had no idea what the exchange rate was and they couldn't speak or understand German. They finally got the cards but the instructions on the cards and on the phone were all in German. Plus they didn't know they had to add a country code to call America. It's really quite amazing he was able to call us then!

We talked with him for about 40 minutes then he hung up to call Camron. After talking to Cam he called us back for about 10 more minutes. It would have been nice to keep talking but he sounded so tired. He hadn't been able to sleep at all on any of the planes. He has never been able to sleep in cars or planes.

His last flight was from Austia to Denmark. It was nice to know he was almost there. We now look forward to hearing from the mission home to let us know the details.

Hey guess what!!!

Hey guess what!!!! I met Thomas S Monson!!! Nah, jus' messin' witcha. But I did get my travel plans!!! Thats almost as cool!! So do ya wanna hear when and where I'll be going? Well, I have 4 flights! Yeah 4! ugh... And the first one leaves at 6:00 am, so I have to be to the travel office by 3:00 in the morning! :-( It's worth it though. So anyway, first I fly to Denver, and from there I fly to Washington DC. I'm there for over 4 hours, so thats where I'll call you from. I'll be there from 2:00 - 6:00 pm. I'm not exactly sure if that is in our time zone or theirs. So just be by the phone all day just to be safe. Ok after washington dc, I fly to Vienna, Austria! I'll be there from 9:00 am - 1:45 pm. I can also call you from there maybe. They told us that there aren't any rules about how long we talk or how many times I call. Aight, and lastly, I'll fly from Austria to Copenhagen Denmark! I get there a 3:35 p on Jan 19. Ok, so now that that is out of the way I can get to the rest of the email. Mom, last week I got the Dear Elder you sent me on wednesday evening. I got it about 2 hours or so after I sent the email to you. So I just barely missed it. But this week I got your Dear Elder and also the package so thats good. Thanks for sending me the stuff I needed. The running shoes feel good and everything fits nicely. So thanks for that. I can't really think of anything else I need before I go, besides the calling card. Do you know if that works out of the country? I'll try to record a bit more on the tape you sent me and send if off before I leave here. Sorry, I've kinda been slacking on that, and I haven't recorded very much on it yet. Dang! I can't believe I'm going to Denmark in 5 days!!! There are a lot of thoughts and emotions going through my head right now, but don't worry, they are mostly good ones. I'm way excited to get over there and start using what I've been learning! Oh yeah, That is so cool that they are allowed to play guitars over there! Dad told me about that too! I sure hope its true and I get a chance to play every once in awhile. That would be way fun. I have also heard that they might allow us to use skype when we call from there on Christmas and Mother's day. That would be cool to be able to see everyone while I talk to them. That's cool that Trent Brindley is heading out now. I guess I'll just barely miss him. He's gonna do great. I forgot where he is going..That's also cool to hear about Kasen Graff's mission call! Switzerland huh? That's awesome! Make sure you keep me updated on everyone that gets a mission call. It's exciting hearing about that. Well, just before this email, I went to the Provo Temple for the last time in awhile. I'm excited to go to the Copenhagen Temple. I hope I get lots of opportunities to go there. Oh yeah, so last week I came out of the temple a little after 5, and that's probably about the time you were planning on going right? It's a good thing you read my email before. That would've been really weird seeing you as I walked out. I don't think mom would be able to handle it. haha. Hmm what else? thats cool that you're becoming good friends with Elder Clayton's mom. That would be crazy if he was my trainer or something. I'm excited to get over there and get a new comp and everything, and just move on to the next stage of my mish. Ok, one last thing before I go. Last night at the devotional Elder L Tom Perry came again! So 5 apostles while in the MTC! Well, that was a repeat, but still. I don't know what it is, but for some reason, Elder Perry's talks just weren't that interesting. Like, he didn't share any personal experiences or stories or anything. But it was still good to hear from him. Well I gotta go. Have a great week. Next time I email you I'll be in Denmark! See ya. I love you. Oh yeah, mom make sure you post my new address on the blog and also on my facebook. its:

Elder Tyler Stewart Lee
Denmark Copenhagen Mission
Borups Alle 128, 1 tv
2000 Fredriksberg
Denmark

Alright, bye bye!!

Jan. 6, 2010

Hey there family! How's it goin? To tell you the truth, I don't really have anything prepared to tell you about... So we'll see how this goes. I'm trying to remember if I got a letter from you this week. I don't think that I did. I got one from Dad this week, but I don't remember getting the usual letter from Mom and the rest of the gang. Have you been slacking? Maybe you did write me one earlier but I just don't remember it right now. I'm excited to go to the Temple in about a half an hour. It's been closed for a few weeks so I haven't been in awhile. But its back in action and I'm excited to get out of this little bubble and go over there for awhile. Whoah! I only have one more P-day in the MTC and then I'm out of here! Can you believe it?! I sure can't. I hope I'll be ready! I feel like I don't know nearly enough of the Language. :( Hopefully it will come quickly when I actually get over there. Yeah, I'm able to teach in Danish, but that doesn't mean that I'm able to teach well in Danish. I'm out of here in 12 days! Whoah!!! Elder Osmond, Donny's kid, is pretty cool. He is in our zone and I've been talking to him and he seems like a good guy. I'll send you some pics sometime. I guess I'll tell you a little bit about New Year's here. It was pretty fun. On New Year's Eve we had a little party and we counted down to the new year... At 10:00, cuz 10:30 is bedtime. Hahaha. We had party hats and noisemaker things and confetti launchers and we drank some sparkling cider. It was a pretty crazy party for missionaries. Haha. Um, honestly not much has happened this week. The whole week has been a blur. I can't really think of anything to tell you. Uh, for the devotional last night we heard from Michael T Ringwood of the Quorum of the Seventy. He gave a really good talk about Enduring To The End. And how enduring to the end of my mission will prepare me with the skills and knowlegde I need to endure to the end of my life. Ok I'll try to remember some things that Dad wrote me in his letter to me. Thanks for writing me, Dad!Yeah dad, I was kinda homesick during the holidays, but I'm doing just fine now. Umm about the weight gain record, I haven't beat Camron's high score, and I don't hope to. I did gain like 8 or 9 pounds here, but I made it a goal to get rid of it before I'm done here. So I've increased my running laps to 21 (2.1 miles) Why 21? Just cuz. And also I've been eating healthier than I have the last few weeks. So hopefully it turns out well.Umm, I can't remember anything else you asked about in your letter right now. I shoulda brought it with me. Oh yeah guess what! Ældste Shreeve's Bro got home from his mission last week, and today he came and visited him here. It was cool seeing him and getting some tips and info about our missions. And the best part, was he brought some Panda Express for us! Haha It was delicous! Well, I can't really think of anything else to tell you about right now. It's about time for the Temple anyway, so I'll close this. Feel free to come on over to the Temple and say hi. ;)I love you and I miss you!

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone! Happy New Year!!! Whoah, it's pretty much 2010! And I come home in 2011! So I'm basically home already! Uh oh, I'm already getting trunky, and I'm still in the MTC... Well, Christmas here was ok. It just didn't seem like Christmas, because Christmas is supposed to be with family and traditions and everything, so It just wasn't the same. Thanks for the presents! I always enjoy a good summer sausage and cheese! :) Also it was great to hear everyone's voices on the tape. I've started recording some stuff on the other tape, and I'll send that home after I get a bit recorded. Christmas day was pretty good. It made me kinda homesick though. On Christmas Eve we stayed up til midnight and then slept in till like 8:00... (don't tell..) And on Christmas we pulled out the Ipod for awhile. We thought it was ok to break a couple rules on Christmas... (sorry mom) On Christmas day there was an MTC Talent Show. I wish I would have done a guitar song in it, but I thought they only allowed like hyms and Christmas songs. They allowed other songs though, as long as they aren't to wild. There were a few elders who played the guitar, but I gotta say, I don't wanna brag, but I'm better than all of them. My favorite performance in it was Sister Smart, she played a song on the harp and it was way good!We had another apostle come on Christmas. It was Elder L Tom Perry! So thats apostle number 4! I have to admit though, I was kinda disappointed with his talk, and I think everyone was... It was just kinda boring.That night, we had a fireside and Greg Olsen talked at it. It was really good. He is the artist that paints all those pictures of Jesus with the little kids, and basically all of my favorite Jesus paintings. It was really interesting to have him till us about the meanings behind his paintings.So that was my Christmas. How was Christmas for all of you? What did the kids get and everything? I am now the new District Leader! Which basically just means that I have no more power than before, but I have much more responsibility and meetings to go to. I think it'll be a good opportunity. Umm, about the visas. No I haven't heard anything about it yet. And nobody else in my district have either. I hope they make it here on time. That would be terrible to have to stay here at the MTC for longer than I'm supposed to. If they don't come, there is a chance that they would send me to a mission in the USA for a transfer. That's what happened to the old Dutch Elders. I think that would be pretty cool, and I would also get extra study time before I get thrown into Denmark.I'm really starting to love speaking Danish. We had a pep talk from our Teacher that we weren't speaking our language enough, and that got us all excited to learn it. So this last week we have been speaking it a ton. I'm amazed at how much I've learned. I read from Mormons Bog (the Danish Book Of Mormon) everyday, and I'm able to understand about 80% of what I read! We got 5 new Dutch Elders and 2 Dutch Sisters today in our zone. I haven't met them yet, but I'm excited to. It's always fun to get to know the new missionaries. One of them is Donny Osmond's son. Oh yeah, Mom, remember that time when we watched that Thurl Bailey devotional on tv, where he told about his conversion story? And how he said he became converted as soon as he shook the mission president's hand and looked him in the eye. Well it turns out that the mission president was J Halvor Clegg, the first counselor in the MTC presidency. He spoke in a fireside and told that story. I just thought it was cool hearing it from his point of view. Well, I'm getting low on time again. I better wrap this up. Happy New Year everyone!!! I love you! I'll try to get that tape sent back to you as soon as possible. Have a great week! Love Ældste Tyler Lee

Goddag min familie! Hvordan går det? Everything is still going well. Sorry I don't ever have any cool stories or anything in my emails. Not much excitement happens here at the MTC. I'm sure when I get to Denmark I'll have plenty of great stories to tell you. I have a few things to tell you about though, so here it goes.

I've been here for over a month already! Can you believe that?! Because I sure can't! It's gone by so fast! I'm more than half way done with my MTC experience! (Well, if I get my visa on time) The Danish is definitely coming. I now teach entirely in Danish! And I've only been here for 5 weeks!!! We've taught several lessons in Danish now, and it goes really well. Each time we are able to say more, and understand the investigator more. I'm completely losing all of my Japanese speaking ability. A few days ago I ran into some missionaries from Japan so I tried to talk with them for awhile, but I COULDN"T! I seriously would try, but It would come out in Danish!

Yesterday Neil L Anderson, of the Quorum of the Twelve, came to the devotional. He gave a great talk! I remember when he first spoke at conference a few months ago, and how he seemed kind of nervous or unsure, but he has completely changed into an Apostle. He gave an awesome talk about Christ. So now I've heard from 3 Apostles while I've been here! And I'm hoping for another one on Christmas!

Wow! Christmas!!! I still can't believe it's here! It's starting to feel a little bit more like Christmas to me, but without our Christmas traditions its just not the same. I'll miss you all an extra amount on Christmas. I'm excited to open presents! I still haven't gotten the gifts from you, but I hope they get here before Christmas. I've also gotten a few other presents from friends and family.

The Proselyting Center (formerly known as the Referral Center) has been awesome! Well, for the last couple weeks I hated it, cuz I would call tons of people, but every single one would go to an answering machine, or they would hang up on me. But on friday I went and called a lady named Debra. She had called for a copy of the Together Forever DVD so I called her back and talked to her a little about family and the restoration, and I shared my testimony with her. She seemed really open to it, but her husband is Baptist and doesn't want anything to do with it, so she wouldn't let me send some missionaries over there. She did however say that I could call her back and tell her more, so after the holidays I'll call her back, and hopefully I'll be able to bless her life. :)
Oh yeah, also that same day at the PC, I called a guy who's name was "Teddy Bear Childcare Martinez" HAHAHAHAHA He didn't answer, It went to the answering machine, but I thought that was hilarious!

This week, Chelsey sent me and my comps some In n Out cheeseburgers and fries in the mail! It was the best package ever! (No offense to you and the packages you sent me, mom) The burgers were so good! Everyone in our building was so jealous of me. They couldn't believe that someone sent me burgers in the mail. Hahaha. Thanks again Chels!

um, the new missionaries are pretty cool. It's weird, it seems like they are so much younger than us month long missionaries. They all turn to us for advice, and its cool being the cool experienced missionaries for awhile. It won't be like that for much longer. One of the new missionaries in our area is Elder Unga, Harvey Unga's lil bro. He is way cool, and he has an Optimus Prime voice that sounds exactly like the real thing. Its awesome! In a week or two, some new Dutch missionaries are coming in, and one of them is Donny Osmand's kid. Its kinda cool who I meet here.

I still haven't had to give the talk in sacrement meeting yet, but It's got to be here soon. I did however have to give the lesson in our district meeting on sunday. And I wasn't even told that I had to until 9:30 the night before! It actually went really well though.

Well, I'm just about out of time. The 30 minutes for email is the fastest 30 minutes ever! I'll talk to you later. Thank you so much for everything! And I love you! Have a wonderful Christmas!

Love Ældste Tyler Lee

By the way, do those Danish symbols work on the email, cuz when you sent that dear elder to me it didn't work.