March 28,2011

Hey Everyone!! Whoah today was a bonus email with a little input from everyone! Thanks y'all. Hey Tani! Wooo! That is so cool that you went to the festival of colors! Did you have fun?! I thought it was way cool when I went to it. But it is also pretty weird with their songs and chanting and all that. I'd like to see those pics and videos that you got on your phone sometime. I didn't even know you have your own phone! It's tough to get all of that color off you isn't it. I remember I was still finding green and purple in my ears like 4 days later. Congrats on Churchball! That's awesome that you and your team are doing so well! Good luck with your upcoming games! Tia! I've heard that you are quite the little actress. I feel bad that I keep missing out on all of these plays and things that you have been doing! I would really like to see them. Thats cool that you enjoy doing those plays so much! That 3rd grade California play sounds really fun. I still think it is weird that you are in 3rd grade, and now you are almost done with it! Now that you've done a California play you need to do one about Utah! Or Denmark! Haha. I miss you so dang much, Tia. I always see little kids here that remind me of you. See ya in 7 and a halfish more months. :) (Note from mom...Tia is in 4th grade. What is he going to think when he realizes that?!) Hey pops! Thanks for the sports update. I hear a few things about the sports world every once in awhile and it is good being kept informed. Sorry to say this, but I am kind of glad that the Jazz have been doing so crummy. It would be a bummer if they were doing better than ever and winning the playoffs if I wasn't able to watch it. So I'm fine with them doing lousy while I'm away, but once I come home they need to stop messing around! That is cool though that BYU has done so well this year and gotten so much attention.

Hey, we were at our investigor Ronnie's place this week and he let me play his electric guitar for awhile. He has a nice Gibson Les Paul. It was fun playing again, but I've forgotten a ton of the electric guitar stuff I used to know! I have my acoustic guitar of course, but I can't play the same stuff on that. So I'm hoping that when I come home, it will come back pretty quick. I think that when I come home I am going to have to take an entire day down there in the music room with no interuptions. Haha. Well, see ya later. Mom, that is awesome that Landon is waiting on a mission call now! I'm excited to see where he goes and when he goes. I guess there will probably be a couple of months between. That would be weird if there went 4 whole years between seeing each other. Let me know what his call says when you hear about it.

Why thank you. I'm glad you liked seeing those piano videos. They aren't that good, I had a bunch of mistakes in that one. I'm planning on quiting again once I leave this area. This time it'll be for good. Just kidding just kidding. I'll stick with it. I'll just most likely play keyboard instead of piano because a regular piano is boring, and most of the music is lame classical stuff. Well this has been a good week I guess. We were able to get a lot of teaching in. I have to tell you some more about Mr. Jesper. Yeah Jesper is a nice guy. We found out that he doesn't live in that little apartment alone. He has a billion cats! Haha, its weird because the first two times we went there we only thought he had one cat, but this last time, I walked into the main room and there was seriously like 10 cats, and when they saw me they all scattered and ran around the corner. I think Jesper just gathers random cats off the street and keeps them, because some of them weren't in the best condition, and a couple of them hissed at me before they ran away. The weird thing is they ran around the corner into the kitchen and when we looked over there, they had all disappeared! I don't know where they went. Anyway we were able to finally squeeze some teaching in. He talks a lot and it is kind of tough, but we taught him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and showed him a picture of the Prophet. Jesper just went off about how it looked like Joseph had a ''hawk nose'' and that isn't what he imagines a prophet looking like.

We were finally able to get our bikes working like they should! But it wasn't easy. Mine was pretty easy, but Elder Poulsens had a lot of trouble. His tire exploded, so we went and bought a new tube and put it in, but when we put the bike back together and inflated the tire we found out that the actual tire was bad and had a tear and that is why the tube popped. So we took the wheel off again and went and bought a new tire. Well, when we went to put the wheel back on the bike, we found that the chain had randomly shrunk. It doesn't make any sence, the chain seemed to be too short and the wheel couldn't go all the way into place because of it. So after messing around with that for awhile with no success, we finally just had to take it to a shop and have a guy fix it for us. But now the bikes work great and it has been fun riding them around.

On Saturday we rode our bikes all the way out to Ronnie's place. It was like a 45 minute bike ride, so not way too long, but the weather on the way there was pretty good and the sun was shining, so we went with just a really light jacket and no gloves or anything. But after the appointent it was so cold on the way back and it was pitch black! We had lights on our bikes that we bought, so we could see barely in front of us, but it was just so freezing cold, and the wind completely froze our hands, we couldn't even feel them. When we got home we checked what the tempeture was and it was 37 degrees. Plus freezing wind. Next time we will be sure to be more prepared.

Oh let me tell you a bit about the appointment. He made us his famous homemade pizza, and it was so good! He really is a great cook. There was one point where he was telling us about his idea for a pizzeria. He said that he wants to start a pizza place where people make pizzas in the shape of flowers and butterflys... Hahahaha. We also told him that there is a chance that one or both of us might move soon, so he wanted to take some pictures with us.

Earlier that same day we also got some free food for lunch, because it was a relief society birthday party thing, and they invited us. After the meal we watched the Emma Smith movie. Have you seen that? It was the first time that I had seen it and I thought it was really good. Maybe that is mostly because it is the only movie I've seen in a long time. Jk, I liked how it showed about the Prophet Joseph from a different perspective. I was bummed because we had to leave before it was over.

Sunday it was way funny. It was fast and testimony meeting because next week is conference (crazy that it is already time for general conference!) So it was fast sunday, but they had a ward lunch together right after church. Haha, I was kind of confused during the announcements in Sacrement meeting because the guy announced that it was fast sunday, and right after that he said that we would be eating together after the meetings. I don't think they understand the idea of fasting..

We have now switched over to summer time with daylight savings. So we've had an hour less sleep. But a good thing about that is I was able to read your email an hour earlier!

Well, I have 2 pictures for you today. They are me/us with Ronnie. He doesn't smile much in pictures.

That's all for this time. Have a super week! Love Elder Tyler Lee

March 21, 2011

Hi again!

That's good that you have been able to contact all our friends in Japan and find out that they are all doing good. I'm glad that I wasn't called to Japan. Denmark is way cooler anyway.

You asked about transfers. Yeah they are coming up soon. You said that this one seems like it is going slow. Really? I think it's going pretty quick. I think that every transfer goes by faster than the last. It might seem like a long time because I was sent here a month before transfers so it is all just kind of blending in to one big one. Anyway, transfers are on the 6th. We filled out our fantasy forflytelser (transfers) brackets the other day. It was tough, anything can happen. My guess was that I'm staying here and that I am getting elder Tolbert. We'll just have to wait and see.

So you saw those miricle stories in the banner? Elder Williamson has an intresting way of writing, but his are always funny to read. So did you also see the new missionaries coming and see that we are getting a bald kid? What the heck?

Yeah I don't know why Mogens doesn't try praying. The other day I peeked at him during the prayer to see what he was doing and was just sitting there with his hands on his lap and staring at the table. Yeah It's great that he is flying through the BOM, but I'm getting tired of going over there and just hearing the same thing, that he hasn't tried praying yet.

Speaking of reading the Book of Mormon, I've been reading it again in Danish and I just finished Alma, and I think those war chapters are so cool! It's sad of course, but I think it is exciting to read about all of their strategies and everything. I couldn't stop reading, haha. So not only is it true, but its also a exciting book.

That Jesper guy is doing good. We met with him again. He gained a piece of furniture, this time next to his one chair he had a little pad bed thing. He is nice. We just stand in the kitchen when we talk. Oh, while we were there his cat threw up on the ground.. gross.

Well, this week we have been pretty busy, but not with missionary work unfortunately. On tuesday evening we traveled to Copenhagen and stayed with the zone leaders. And then the next day was zone conference. It was good. Oh, elder williamson finally finished his entry in my Mindebog. I don't know if I've told you about that. A Mindebog (or memory book) is a cool tradition they do in Denmark. It basically has pictures and writing and other things to help remind of good times. So my companions each put something in it, and Willy finally finished. His title page was cool, he had a velvet background with a picture of us holding a jellyfish, and around the picture was a hand knitted frame! Haha. It was knitted of Icelandic Sheep wool and Alpaca wool. Pretty impressive.

At zone conference the zone leaders gave us a way cool training about being ''John Stockton Missionaries''. John Stockton has to be my favorite Basketball player ever.

When we were done there we finally got our bikes! Oh yeah! Unfortunately they weren't in the best condition and when we took them home we had to fix them up a little bit. I had to get a new tube and put it in. I got mine working fine, and everything was going well, but then on Saturday we had an appointment with Ronnie, it had been several weeks since we had seen him. He lives a couple miles outside of Nykøbing and we were going to bike there. Well on the way there, we had just made it out of the city and Elder Poulsen's back tire exploded! So we had to call Ronnie and cancel and then walk all the way home. So far these bikes have been more trouble than help, but I think once we get them working, they will be good to have and also fun. It has also been forever since I have ridden a bike, so my legs have been so sore.

The weather has been pretty good, so it's not bad biking. But is still is frustrating because it gets really nice and warm and then the next day is way cold again. I thought we were done with that!

So that has basically been this whole week. Zone conference and Bike problems. Church yesterday was good. There was no weird or crazy things that happened! That's a first.

Well thats all. Have a super awesome week!!

Love Elder Tyler Lee :)

March 14, 2011

Hey!!

I'm doing good. It was so scary hearing about that earthquake and tsunami in Japan! It is weird thinking what it would be like if I was called to Japan. Because I thought for sure that I was going to get called to Japan, we all thought that, right? Imagine what it would be like if I was over there when all of this stuff went on. I heard that there are several thousand people who can't be found, and someone in church yesterday told us that a few missionaries are also lost. I have a couple friends who are serving in Japan, but I looked them up and it seems like it didn't effect them at all. I'm glad to hear that so far it doesn't seem to have effected anyone we know. I was thinking, mom, I bet you are glad that I was called to Denmark and not Japan.
Anyway, It was great hearing from you. I'm glad that you are all doing good.

Congrats with the churchball. Sounds like they had an exciting game, even though they didn't pull off a win at the end.
That is cool that Spencer is back home now (its also pretty weird) I'm sure it was fun to see him again and hear from him on Sunday.
Brielle's party sounds fun. That's still weird that she is getting so old. That is so exciting that they are expecting another baby! I'm excited to meet him/her when I come home!

Haha that is funny that you got a letter from the mission pres. I've heard missionaries saying that their parents have been getting those. The real reason is because he doesn't like missionaries and families complaining about release dates. About getting an earlier date or whatever. He's been saying that it isn't our choice if we extend or whatever. I don't think he would make me extend though and miss the holidays again.

I'm glad you like my balloon pictures, they were pretty fun. Oh, the big orange one DID pop actually. We were getting bored of it anyway though.
Mogens is the man! But he still hasn't tried praying. He reads a lot, he has come all the way to Alma almost, but that is only half of what it takes, he needs to pray too! We try to get him to, but he is scared to for some reason, or he just doesn't do it.

No, Henrietta and Isebella are in this area. Its just that we visited them the first week I was here and haven't been able to since, until last week. I don't know what was up, they would answer whenever we would try to get a hold of them. but when we finally got a hold of them the other day, they seemed really excited to see us again.

Gas at $3.35 is nothing. Haha, jk that is getting up there. I think it is going to be so weird though to come back to America and see all of the low prices. It is going to be so weird to go to a fast food place and get an entire meal for like 3 or 4 bucks. It costs like 10 bucks here for the same thing.
Here is something exciting. We found out that we are getting bikes finally!! We get them on wednesday when we go to Copenhagen for zone conference. I think it is going to be fun on bikes. It will definitely be better than walking around everywhere.

The other day, we got a call from a new convert, Lisa. She is this old lady who got baptized a little less than a year ago. Well she called us up and asked if we could come over and help her with some service. We said yeah of course. So we went over there and asked her what she needed, and she gave us money and said she needed 4 liters of 2% milk, and told us to go to the store and buy it for her. Haha, what the heck. So we did. It was one of the weirdest ''service projects'' I've done on my mission. Oh and that reminds me, there is another guy we teach, Henning, and everytime we go over to teach him, he always has us walk his dog for him when we are done. I don't mind, its a cool dog.

On wednesday, our district leader, Elder Mauler and his comp came on splits. But the best part about it was that it was a surprise splits. Haha, they just showed up without telling us before. It kind of freaked us out with they knocked on our door. It was good though, we found a new investigator. Jesper. He is kind of weird though, he let us in, and he had nothing in his apartment. There was literally only one single chair in the middle of the room and nothing else. No tv, to fridge in the kitchen. It was weird. We thought he might've just moved there, but he said he's been there for 5 months. And he has a big santa beard.

we made some darts. They are way fun! We also made a homemade target on the wall. We are getting pretty good I think. When the two missionaries came on splits we had some dart tournaments. They got way intense. It's funny, the next day we all had way sore arms.

On saturday we did a little presentation thing for the primary (or in other words, for the 2 youngest Johansen kids) They were having a mission preperation day where they learned to make some food and learned other important missionary things, and we were asked to share with them some of the things we did to prepare for our missions. Oh by the way, those kids loved the gift from you and they say thanks for that. They are obsessed with those little rubber band things.

Umm, that is about it. This next week should be good. We are going to Copenhagen tomorrow night and sleeping over and then going to zone confernce on wednesday. And then we are coming home with our new bikes, oh yeah!

I have some pictures for you today.
The first 2 are a way awesome sunset we saw the other day! It was even cooler in person. Then there is a bunch of pictures of our homemade darts and dartboard. You can see all the holes in the wall.. The last dart one is cool, Poulsen took the picture while the dart was in the air. And it happens to be the throw that I hit the balloon. And then the last two are some pictures that I got off of Elder Poulsens camera of our district meeting at the cliffs. To close we sang the national anthem and I had an american flag with. Hahaha.
I hope you have a great week and I can't wait to hear from you again next week!

Love Elder Tyler Lee

March 7, 2011

Howdy!

That sounds like fun that you have been able to spend so much time with family lately. Brielle sure is a little cutie. I like her smile. That is way wierd to me that she is turning 3. I still haven't even heard her talk.
We've always had a pretty stacked churchball team. I don't know why it always turned out like that. Church ball was always fun to play. No doubt the Meadowlark 1st ward priests will win the tourney.

Yeah it was annoying. I hate getting sick. It was just a cold I think. The funny thing is that when I got better, Elder Poulsen got sick. Haha. But we are both back to normal again.

I recieved the package on Tuesday! Thank you very much!! Thanks for adding the extra goodies as well. You know me really well, those were the perfect goodies to send. We have an eating apt with the Johansens tomorrow so I'll give them those gifts and tell them thank you.

We luckily work mostly here in the city anyway, so it's not too bad walking. But we can't visit any of the places outside of the city, so that's annoying. We have complained to the APs and to President and they should be getting us something soon. I think bikes would be fun. I won't have to buy one probably, because there aren't many biking areas in the mission and they don't make missionaries spent that money and try to manage a bike their whole mission.

I think the Jazz are done for for this year. There is no saving them. I heard that they lost Williams too. What the heck?

Yeah it's a bummer with Jeff, but that's what happens. He has his agency and can choose. He just made a dumb choice though. haha. But at least I can say, Mogens is doing way good! Let me tell you a little story about him. So we went over there a few times, and he said that he has been reading in the Book of Mormon, but he kept appoligizing that he hasn't made it very far. We were just excited that he had read anything! But then I asked him how far he has actually come, and he opened his book and said, I've only made it here, to page 113. Hahaha, he made it through first and second nephi in just 2 weeks. And he continues to read. We extended a baptismal invitation to him on friday, and got a soft yes. Meaning, he said that if he finds out that it is true he will get baptized. That punk just needs to pray!

This week has been ok. Like I said, Mogens is doing great, but other than him, there isn't too much exciting happening work wise. We haven't been able to work as much as usual because of lame sicknesses.

We were finally able to meet with Henrietta and Isabella again. She is that cute little girl I told you about who made me the paper frogs. It was so much fun, she is one of my favorite little kids ever. This time I tought her how to make paper airplanes and we talked on a walkie talkie.

Hahaha, at the Johansens it was so funny! The youngest kid, Peter fell asleep, and they woke him up because we were gonna eat ice cream. He was so out of it, he didn't know what was going on. They were all shouting his name and he was just staring blankly. Then they tried handing him a spoon so he could eat the ice cream, but he just reached out right past the spoon and grabbed the icecream with his hand and squeezed it. Hahaha, we were cracking up!

Oh I wanted to ask, what are gas prices like in America now days? I ask because prices here have now gone over 12 kroner/liter which equals over 8 dollars/gallon!!! So you can't complain about whatever it is over there.

I think that we have a haunted laundry room! It is the creepiest thing ever! I was doing my laundry a couple nights ago, and I was so creeped out, because the washer here is on the top floor of our apartment building and there is a long hall with all these abandoned old rooms and at the end of the hall is a creepy room with a washer. The light in the hall is dim and flickery, and the light in the room with the washer doesn't even work, so it is way dark up there. The only thing I was thinking when I was up there was Horror Movie. I think I'm going to wash my clothes during the day from now on.

Alrighty, a highlight of this week has been Balloons!! Hahaha, we got a bunch of balloons and have been having a lot of fun with them. These aren't normal every day balloons. I got some figure balloons and have been making balloon animals/hats/other things. Yeah, I can still remember how. But the best is the giant balloons we got!!! THey are so huge!! Don't worry I have some pictures.

Speaking of pictures, thank you for those pictures! It's fun seeing everyone. Everyone looks different! That is a good make up job. I looked at the pictures before I read the email and got kind of freaked out when I saw that.

My pictures this time are all just balloons. The first 2 are me and the star hat I made, and then #3 is the flower I made. Then the rest are just huge balloon pictures. They are enormous! Especially the big orange guy there! I don't know why, but huge things are always way funny for some reason.

Well, that's all for today. Thanks for the email and for everything!! Miss you!

Love Elder Tyler Lee