Aug. 10, 2010

Hey everyone!!

It was fun hearing a little message from everyone this week! Sorry that I didn't write you on monday like I said I was going to. We went to Roskilde for P day and didn't have enough time. But here is your email, don't worry. ;)

Hey Tani! How's it goin'?! Things are going great here in Denmark! I'm loving it here! We had a baptism last week, so that was awesome! And I'm able to speak Danish now, so that's good. Hey I'm really sorry, I have gotten a couple of handwritten letters from you, but I'm a loser and I always forget to write back. I'll try my best to write back soon. Well, It's good to hear from you sis! Are you excited to go back to school? I think that is so weird that you are starting Junior High! You aren't old enough for that! That's crazy that you and your friend have 8 classes together! Whoah! Junior High is definitely a different experience, but I think you will enjoy it, and you will do great! I'm glad you had a fun time at Girls camp! I always liked going on scout camps, and I assume that it was probably similar to that. Well, what else have you been up to during the summer?

Hey there Tia! How's it going, sis?! I miss you a ton! I bet you have already changed a lot! That's cool that another year of school is about to start! And that's great that you are excited for it. You were always super smart, and always enjoyed school! That's awesome! Mrs. Perkins should be a great teacher! That's good that you have a few friends in the class, and I'm sure that you will make even more. I'm glad that you like the pictures that I've been sending! Some of them are pretty weird, huh? Missionaries do some weird things sometimes! I'm glad you like the videos too! I want to see some more pictures of you, ok?

Hey Bro! What's up?! How's everything going in the good ol USA?! Yeah, the mission is going great! Denmark is a pretty awesome place! I'm glad I didn't go somewhere lame. Man, so you're 16 now! How is that? Do you like driving and everything? Hopefully mom is making you drive Tani and Tia around everywhere. Are you excited for another year of school? It's weird that you will be a senior when I come home! Are you taking any fun classes or anything?
Yeah, I heard about Bryce! That's cool that he is starting his mission now! It's cool hearing about where everyone is getting called to! Well, Have fun, but don't be too much of a punk. See ya later, Brutha.

Well, it seems like it was just yesterday that I wrote you, so not too much has happened this week, but I'll try to make this an exciting email anyway! First of all, I'm glad that you remembered to write me early! I guess I had a pretty good week. We've been working hard and getting a lot of stuff done! It's been kinda hard to work this week because it has been raining non stop for like 5 days! Ugh! I've discovered that Denmark never has perfect weather. It's always way too cold, way too hot and humid, or it's raining. Hmm, what did I do this week? During the week I carry around a little notebook and I write down things that happen that I want to write home about, but I forgot the notebook at home, so I just have to try to remember. Umm, I guess I can tell you about church yesterday. It was really good, and also a really weird church experience. Get this, the church here in Ballerup is in a shopping mall! How weird is that?! Its in a mall, and right beneath a gym. It is definitely the weirdest church building that I have ever been in. Anyway, we went to church and I got to meet the ward. They had me go up and bear my testimony and tell a bit about myself. The ward here seems really great! They were really friendly and inviting, and I think that they will really help us a lot with missionary work! Also at church we sing in the choir. The choir was only us, one other guy, and five old ladies.. It's pretty fun though, I like singing in choir. Well, other than church yesterday, not much has happened. Me and Elder Williamson have just been having fun. He's a really cool guy! He has a ukulele and we've been jamming together. We wrote a song about some guy that is trying to steal his girlfriend. Haha. Umm, we have also been doing a lot of cooking! Neither of us are good cooks, but we have been experimenting and finding recipes and stuff, and we have made some really good food! We baked our own spice bread a few days ago that turned out way good! And we made homemade pizzas, crepes, biscuits, and all sorts of other stuff. It's much better than just eating the same old meal like most of the missionaries do!
Yesterday we went to Roskilde for our Pday. We played soccer with a few other missionaries for 5 hours! So today I'm a little sore.. It's been cool serving on Sjæland because we are so close to so many other missionaries and we get to hang out with them a lot. On Saturday mornings we play basketball with all of the missionaries in the area and any investigators that want to come. That is way fun!
Well, that was my week. Not nearly as eventful as last week. Yeah, I'm so glad the Benjamin was able to get baptized!! He was so happy! You can just see it on their face when they come out! When he changed into dry clothes and came back and sat down, the spirit was so strong! The guy here with a baptismal date is Peter. It's gonna be really tough though.. He has actually had a baptismal date before, but it didn't work out. He went 2 weeks without drinking, and was ready for his baptism, but the day came, and he showed up drunk... :/ So, hopefully it goes a little better this time!

Thanks! It really was an awesome spiritual experience to give a blessing in Danish. Yeah, actually I do think in Danish sometimes! When I'm in a Danish mood. Like, when I'm at church, and everything is in Danish, and people are talking to me in Danish, usually the whole day I think in Danish.
No, we haven't had a chance to go to the Temple yet. We are gonna plan a temple trip for a p day soon. Maybe in a couple of weeks. They do the sessions in Danish, and I think that they have special sessions in English sometimes. But I kinda want to try it in Danish.
There are a lot of cool things to see and do in the Copenhagen area. Yeah, there are a few castles and cool churches to see. There is also a theme park called Tivoli that we are gonna try to go to some time.
Hahaha, I'm glad you liked my pictures last time! The viking ship was cool! I really like that picture of us jumping over the stream too! Haha, Missionaries are pretty weird sometimes. Yup that is Elder Clayton that I was with. He is one of my zone leaders, so I see him a lot. He was with us yesterday playing soccer. So you saw the teeter totter vid? Haha that was pretty fun! The missionary in the middle is Elder Roth. He is our District Leader.
Well, I have a few pics for you. Hope you like them! The first one is a picture of my comp, Elder Williamson. Then there is a picture of our yummy homemade bread, and delicious pizza. Then the last 4 are from when we got bored one time... We found this chess set with these pieces, and we customized them a little bit...
I already do have a back up. Remember, I bought that Hard drive. I put my pics on that. I could probably put some on a cd though and send it home.
Oh so you asked about birthday comments. Well, there were a lot saying how they thought I was really good at guitar, they said that I pick up on things really quickly like the language and missionary work in general, Someone said they like how I always smile, and there were some other things that I can't quite remember.

Well, It's time for me to go. I hope you have an amazing week!
Love Elder Tyler Lee

Aug. 3, 2010

Hey Everyone!!

Well, this has been a huge week! And a ton of stuff has happened! I'll start with Benjamin's baptism! Ben is now baptized! We traveled back to Esbjerg on Saturday night. It was kinda dumb that I had to pay to go back just a couple days after I left. Anyway, we slept there and then went to church in the morning and I had to translate sacrament meeting for some people. After the meetings we had Benjamin's baptismal service! It was really good and really spiritual! He went into the font and he was really nervous. When he leaned back to get baptized he got kinda scared and stopped, and then Elder Holladay had to force him down under the water. But he went under and it only took one try. When he dried off and came back into the room, he was so happy and just seemed so clean! We finished the baptismal service and I played a musical number in it on guitar. I played Joseph Smiths First Prayer. Everyone really seemed to enjoy it. After the baptism, we all went over to our mission leader's house to celebrate, and they made us some way good food! Then we drove back home after that. It was a really great experience and I'm so glad that I could be a part of Benjamin's life and help him become a better person!
The next day was Zone Conference. There were a few announcements of changes that are happening that we heard about. Most of them aren't so big, but there is this one thing that you should hear about; From now on, P-Days will be on Mondays! So that means from now on you have to write me before monday so I'll have an email from you there. :)
Also at zone conference I got my birthday comments! When a missionary has a birthday in the month, they get birthday comments, where other missionaries can just say things they remember about you or what they like about you. And my B day isn't this month, but it's next month, and we won't have zone conference next month so they did it this time. It was weird for me to think that I'll turn 20 so soon!
A few days ago we had an eating appointment with some members, and I had a really cool experience. The husband had a stroke about 15 years ago, and he is having it really hard right now, so he asked us to give him a priesthood blessing. Since I'm now senior companion, that responsibility fell on me. So I gave my first blessing in Danish!
Earlier in the week we had a service project where we helped this guy move, and then when we were done he have us ice cream, and he gave us SO MUCH! Ya know those liter cartons of ice cream? well he cut one in half and gave us each half, and then he cut another flavor in fourths and gave us each a slice, so I literally had to eat 3/4 of a carton of ice cream! Ugh... It was way too much!
Today we are taking our pday with 4 other elders. We are in Roskilde and it has been pretty fun so far. We went and saw a pretty cool Viking Ship earlier, and then we played a game of soccer. (My team won) And now we are here at the library emailing. Later we are gonna play some more soccer, and then go see a really cool huge church that they have here.
Ok, I have some other big news to tell you! Yesterday, we had splits, Elder Roth and Larkin came to Ballerup with us for the day, and it was a way good day! We taught 8 lessons, got 2 new potential investigators, a referal, and get this, a new baptismal date!!! Yup! Me and Elder Larkin went to teach our investigator Peter. We talked to him and read in the Book of Mormon about a mighty change of heart and asked him if he has experienced this as he has been meeting with the missionaries. He said that he has, and that he knows what we tell him is true, and that he really wants to get baptized! So we set up a date for September 11! Peter just has one problem, he drinks a lot. So that is gonna be the hardest thing to help him with, but we set a date for him to be done with drinking, so he has a goal to work towards. I really hope it goes through and that he is able to get ready!
Well that was my big exciting week! And I have some pictures to go along with it! About these pictures, the first three are from Benjamins Baptism! And then the next two I forgot to tell you about earlier so I will here. Me and Elder Williamson at dinner and then decided to go to a park and ride a teeter totter and then climb a big tree. It was really fun! The next one is the big Viking Ship, and then after that is a funny beer can. Read what it says at the very bottem of the can. The last picture is some of us missionaries jumping over a little stream.

Well the other missionaries want to get going soon, so I don't have much time to respond to what you told me. But It was good hearing that encouragement from dad. It has been a little tough being senior comp sometimes, but it is going really well. I'm understanding pretty much everything, and Elder Williamson is pretty good at danish too. We are teaching well together, and we get along way well! He is a ton like me, and he's way funny. It's been a good learning experience being senior companion, and I think that it will continue to be. I think I'm ready for it, and I'm excited for the rest of our companionship. Oh that reminds me, President also told us that he will be keeping missionaries in areas for a lot longer. around 6-8 months maybe! So I might be sticking around in Ballerup for awhile.
Well, I gotta go. Have a great week! Remember pday is monday now! Bye!!

Love Elder Tyler Lee