May 1, 2011

Hey everyone!!!

How's it going?! This week seemed to go by way fast! Thanks for the email and pictures!!!
I'm excited for next week! I think we have it mostly figured out for how I will call you. Simon Johansen said that we can borrow his laptop, so we could use it for skype whenever we want! We just need to find out if we would be able to get some wifi. 12:30 for you guys will work fine for me/us. We'll just make a skype account that we can use. What is your skype account again? Tell me before sunday, and we can get it worked out. If all else fails, I can call you with the calling card and you can call back for free. We have unlimited minutes on the phones.
Haha you need to try the smoked eel sometime! It really was delicious. I'm sure you would have gagged if you tried it. But that is not really how I ate it, just take a big bite out of the whole thing. We put slices of it on some bread with eggs.
It's sounds like you and G & G have been really busy with the condo. I still can't believe that my family bought 2 condo's while I've been in Denmark and also gone on a cruise and went to Disneyland! Gosh! Haha, I'm excited though that we will be able to have a lot of fun times in St George!
Hahaha I think that is funny that you got snow AGAIN! Utah is so weird! That's kinda scary that they are worried about flooding when it warms up. I hope it's not bad!
The last couple days have been cold here too. :/ The sun is shining but there is a stupid wind that is freezing cold!
That is crazy that Osama was found and killed! He stayed hidden for a long time! I was surprised when I heard about that.
Congrats to Camron and Rurika! That is awesome that they have graduated! And that now they are moving on to the next stage. Hmm, when I first started my mish I was thinking that I might have a new sister by the time I got back, but now I'm getting close to the end and nothings happened yet..

Whoah what the heck?! I wasn't expecting to hear anything from you, Jansen! Thanks for telling me what's up though. I'm glad to hear that you haven't died in a biking or backflipping accident. That is cool that you have been working with JJ so much. You said you are looking for another job. I'd recommend JC Penney! That job was great! Not.. Never ever work there! I would really recommend the movie theater though. That was a way fun job. Not the very best pay, but it has a lot of benifits and it was actually really fun for the most part. There are also a bunch of cool people that work there. Good luck with that.
I'm surprised that you didn't fail English, seeing that great grammer of yours. ''I know I aint wrote you a lot. But that don't mean that I don't care.'' Just kiddin. So you are gonna be a senior soon, eh? How's that? My sophmore and junior years weren't my favorite but I really enjoyed my Senior year. Well I guess I'll talk to you more on Sunday aight? Peace!

Hey Dad, Thanks for the little message! Thanks, It's been cool being DL. It's fun traveling around every once in awhile and of course having the extra glory of being a leader. (not that thats so important) ;) At this point of your message I was expecting a missionary story that relates in some way to my current situation but it didn't come. Instead it was just compliments, thanks.
It is sometimes tough to stay motivated when there isn't very much success, but it is all worth it when somebody actually does accept it and you see it change their life! Hopefully there will be a few (or a lot) more of those cases in the next 6 and a half months!

I've had a pretty good week. Awhile back President Andersen gave us a challenge to read the Book of Mormon in 3 months in Danish, and to focus on how much it witnesses on the Saviour. And this last week I finished it. :) I was also reading D&C in Danish at the same time, and I finished it the next day, and so I started the Pearl of Great price and also finished that. So it has been a pretty productive week study wise I'd say. Now I'm reading the old testement in Danish. It's the first time I've ever read the bible, and I have to admit, it's not my favorite. The book of mormon is much better. I've obviously been reading a lot lately.
This week we have been doing a lot of bike riding. It has been fun, but not when there are stupid bike problems!!! Elder Tolmans pedel broke. It kept falling off, and after a ton of time we were able to finally rig something that holds it on. They seem to be working fine now. On saturday we biked over to a city like 20 minutes away and we found 2 people who seem interested. One is a girl, 20ish. And the other is an older woman. They both seem really cool. The bike ride is really awesome because we bike through the woods for a lot of the time and it is really pretty.
The other day Elder Tolman went down to the church to practice the piano, and he locked the keys in the church. We had to call around to some people in the ward and have someone come unlock it for us. Also that same day, we were walking down the street and we found an iphone! It was just sitting on the ground. So we picked it up, and I looked through the contacts and was able to find the guys wife. I called them and they were excited. I told them my name was lee, and gave them our address. They came over and he brought a big tough guy with him with a macho goatee. It turns out that they found out that the guy who stole his iphone was named Jackson Lee, and so he was scared that I was some punk guy that stole his iphone. They were relieved when they saw that I was just a friendly missionary. And he was really happy to get his iphone back.
Yesterday in church was pretty good. It was a holiday which is the same as labor day for us. But in Danish it's called ''Arbejdernes internationale kampdag'' Labor day is a lot easier to say.. We were in church and right as we were about to start we heard this loud music and we went to the door, and there was a random marching band marching down the street right in front of the church. It was way random. Oh during our sunday school class our mission leader, Bro Korgård's phone went off, and his ringtone was Barbie Girl! Haha. He was so embarassed.
The Johansens invited us over to another eating appointment yesterday. We are up to 2 appointments a week with them! After we ate we went over on their couch and the youngest kid, Peter fell asleep on my arm. And then randomly he started saying, ''ow ow ow ow ow ow'' I was thinking, what the heck happened. I guess he was just having a dream and he got hurt in his dream or something. We all started laughing at him.
Well thats it. I'm excited for today. Hopefully I'm on fire again when we go bowling. I'm also excited for next week! Sorry to tell you I don't really have many pictures for you, I just sent you a picture of my paper countdown. There is the original when I first started, and where it is now. I've made it into the 100's! There are around 198 days to go.
Have a wonderful week! And I'll talk to ya soon!
Love Elder Tyler Lee :)

April 24, 2011

Hey!

Sorry to keep you waiting. The smoked eel yesterday was way good! The whole meal was, they had a nice Danish Easter lunch and it was all so good. It was smørbrød which is basically like open faced sandwiches. They had the smoked eel, there was also way yummy smoked salmon, some shrimp, ham, eggs, leverpostej (liver paste, which is actually really good), cheese, and a bunch of other stuff. I ate so much though. I got some pictures of one of the smoked eels, they are way creepy, haha. But they sure do taste good. The Johansens catch them and smoke the eels themselves.
I know, holy cow!! How did Mother's Day get here so fast?! I just barely talked to you guys! I realized that Mother's day is just in a couple weeks and that was kind of weird. I also realized that it will be the last time I call you before coming home (unless I decide to call one more time because I got ripped off 1 call while in the MTC) But I've thought a bit about it, and we could talk to the Johansons and see if we could use their computer for skype, but otherwise we would probably have to just call. I got a calling card from another missionary, but I don't think there is much time left, so I could call you, and then you could call the number back for free. It's free to the recieving phone too right? I was thinking we could probably do it at 7am for you, or like 12:30/1ish after church. Whatever works. I'll get more figured out for next time.

Well I'll start with splits last monday/tuesday. It was fun. And yes we try to do splits with members as much as possible. It is always better when we can have a member come with to appointments, although it is kind of hard hear in this area. We went to Slagelse monday evening and played a quick game of basketball with them. They have a b ball court right outside their apartment. Then again in the morning we went out to the court and played some more, it was fun but guess what! I sprained my ankle! I kind of walked it off, but then made the mistake of playing more. The rest of the week I was limping and it is just barely getting better. It's not completly back to normal yet. While on splits we were able to crank out a few lessons. Oh yeah it was cool. So last week we were at the Johansons and they turned on the news and there was something about a girl named Felicia who was kind of a big deal. I didn't pay much attention to it, but when we were on splits we contacted a girl and taught her, and the whole time I was thinking, I know I've seen this girl somewhere. Well before we left her we asked her name and she said Felicia, and then it clicked that it was that girl I had seen on tv. Anyway, after we were done we had dinner with the slagelse elders and went home, but we missed the train by 1 minute and had to wait for an hour, and so we didn't end up getting home til 11.
One day, I think it was thursday, we decided to bike away from the city and work in an area that hadn't been worked in a long time, and it worked pretty well. We knocked on a ladies door and she was really friendly. She let us in and we talked for like 45 minutes. Her name is Barbl. She is from Germany but has lived here for 20 years so she is good at Danish.
Church was fun. The Germans came again. There were also a lot of ward members absent, so about half of the people in church couldn't understand Danish, so they just had someone up on the stand translating the talks to german the whole time. And then in the sunday school class I got to be the one to translate for everyone! Luckily I got to translate into English instead. But I sure had a lot of pressure on me there.. haha. One of the german girls had her boyfriend with this time, and he looked so much like arnold schwarzenegger! Muscles and all. And he also happens to be Germany's number 2 ranked beat boxer. He beat boxed some hymns for us, it was way cool. After chuch we had a meal as a ward. They do that the last sunday of each month.
Hmm, I think that is about it. It has been so hot this past week! We made it to 75 degrees the other day, but it is also way humid and that makes it seem like even more. What's it like in Utah lately? Did you finally get rid of all that snow for good?
My clothes are doing ok. I have gotten a few things here in DK and my stuff seems to be holding in there. And money situation I think is good. I usually don't take out money from my personal funds. I had to last month because our money took an extra week to get here than it should've so I had to take out like 30 bucks to get me by. Also, that is just fine that I didn't get an easter package. Prices are crazy and it seems kinda like a waste anyway. We got a bag of candies from the ward so that is good enough for me.
Sorry that I wasn't in any of the pictures last time, but don't worry, there are a few of me this time. The first 2 are me with a big smoked eel! yummy... Then I attached some pictures of a cemetary. I think that Danish cemetaries are way cool. They are really pretty. Then there is a pic of me in my new shirt that I bought. After that, oh this is kinda funny, we were at the store and they had free samples of wine! Only in Denmark... And there wasn't even an employee giving it out, it was just there for you to take, a kid could have easily taken some. And then last of all is a picture of me in front of some cool graffiti we found. This is actually what made me remember that Mother's day is almost here!
I miss you!! Have a great week! :D


Love Elder Tyler Lee

April 17, 2011

Hey!! :D

Unfortunately I don't have too much time so I'll have to type fast!
Well would you like to hear about my week? It has been pretty exciting I'd say. We'll start with bowling last pday! I was on fire! I tied my old high score of 165, and then I beat it, and then I beat it again! My top score was 175. oh yeah! I usually have that problem where I get 9 pins but the last one won't fall down, well that wasn't too much of a problem this time. I think I got 13 or 14 strikes out of 4 and a half games. And I got a turkey. Elder Tolman didn't do as well unfortunately. I usually beat him by at least a hundred points.. You have to see the video of him, its so funny.
In the evening we went to copenhagen because Tuesday was zone conference. I brought a coconut to share with the zone leaders who we were staying with but we got there late, it was like 10:30, so I just saved it and brought it with the the zone conference and everyone thought it was way cool, haha.
On wednesday evening/thursday, the zone leaders came over to Nykøbing for splits. It went way well! They drove us to the very west side of our area, about an hour away, and we visited some less active people who were really nice. And then back in Nykøbing we found two new investigators who are really cool. One is that guy Jeff's girlfriend Hanne. Remember Jeff? He was the one who came to our church to meet with us but then told us he wasnt' interested. Well it had been a month or more so we gave him one more chance and he wasn't home but his girlfriend answered. She said that Jeff had told her a bit about us and they had read a little bit in the book of mormon. She said it was really interesting and that we are welcome over anytime.
Saturday we took another bike ride over to Ronnie's place. His appointments are always great, for one reason because of the way good food! This time we had some delicious American style bbq. He barbequed some steaks, it was way good. I'm trying to remember if he said or did anything extra funny this time, but I'm not thinking of anything.
Then yesterday was a good Sunday. We had a special Easter service that was nice. There were some visitors, a family that came from Germany, and they were way awesome. They also had a foriegn exchange student named Jordan from Idaho and she was way cool too. She asked me to translate for her, so that was fun. It's been awhile since I've had a chance to do that. They are also coming next Sunday. Since it was a special Easter sacrement meeting they asked me to perform a musical number. So not only did I play the organ during sacrament, I also played a song on the guitar. It was Jesus the very thought of thee. I thought it went well, and everyone seemed to be happy about it.
And that brings us to today. We aren't really doing anything fun today. Just going to look around some stores. But later in the evening we are heading over to Slagelse which is in my district and we are going on splits with them tomorrow.
Well that's all. I have some pictures for you today, but I'm not in any of them this time. Sorry about that. The first 3 are bowling scores. I think its funny on the first one, by the time he finally hit any pins I was already over a hundred.. Then there is a cute old matching couple that I saw. Oh man, and then the next ones are of the haunted laundry room that I've told you about! Going up there in the dark is seriously the scariest thing I've ever done. First there is the long dark hallway with the really dim light that turns off every 30 seconds. On the sides of the hall are all these creepy doors with abandoned rooms. Look at the picture with the old bathroom, look at the bottom left corner, I think that black shadow might be a ghost. Then at the end of the hall is the random laundry room. A dark concrete room with a washing machine in the middle. Over in the far corner is a small door that I always think some little demon will crawl out of. Anyway, those pictures are so you can get an idea of the horror I go through just to have clean clothes. I'm glad that the days stay bright longer now. Ok and then the last 3 pictures are my newly decorated planner. I think that it is some of my best work yet! Oh, and I also attached a video, I hope it works.
Well I'm glad that you all had a fun time in Cali and at Disneyland! That place is always a blast. And congrats to Weston and his girl. I didn't even know they were getting married until Grandma and Grandpa told me in a letter I recieved a couple days ago. You probably told me but I forgot. Haha, so you saw that miracle story eh? Yeah it is about Mogens and his Mormons Bog reading. Bog means book, but it's pronounced like (bow) I gotta go so I can't respond to everything, but thanks for the email and the pictures. I love Tia's style! Haha, and her glasses too.
Have a fantastic week!

Love Elder Tyler Lee :)

A letter in the mission banner written by Tyler to the Mission President.

Vi har en rigtig possitiv undersøger der hedder Mogens. Jeg kan lige fortælle dig en lille historie angående ham. Vi kontaktede ham for ca 3 uger siden og han fik en Mormons Bog. Han sagde han vil begynde at læse i den. Vi kom forbi nogle gange i løbet af de næste par uger, og spurgte ham om han har læst. Han svarede, jo, men jeg ikke har nået ret langt. Vi var bare begejstret over at han har læst noget som helst! Vi spurgte ham så hvor langt det egenlig er han var kommet. Han sagde; Jamen kun de første 113 sider. :) Han læst hele vejen igennem først og anden Nefi på kun 2 uger. Og han bliver ved med at læse. Nu er han næsten kommet til Almas Bog. -Ældste Lee

April 11, 2011

Hi everyone! Sounds like you are already having a fun time on your vacation! That's nice of Steve and Susan to let you in and be so nice. Redlands is a good place. It was fun going over there and staying with them for awhile. Tell everyone hi for me. So do you have other plans than Disneyland for while you are in Cali? It's going good as District Leader. I can tell you a little bit more about what it is I do. My district is 3 different areas that I'm over, and so I'll go on splits with them every once in awhile and teach them at district meetings, and it is also my job to interview the baptismal candidates if there is someone getting baptized. That would be way cool! So far I haven't done too much. Just called to the areas to get numbers for the week yesterday. Ældste Tolman and I bought a coconut this week. We were shopping and I saw some coconuts and I had to buy it. Man, it was soo hard opening that thing! We were banging on it with a hammer forever! It was way worth the work though because it tasted so good! It was the first time I've tried a real coconut. Oh I have to tell you about the train ride to Copenhagen for transfers... So we happened to sit next to the bathroom, and we ended up having to help 5 old ladies figure it out during the ride. They would always push the light for some reason instead of the open button, so we had to point to the button they are supposed to push. Well on the last one, the lady goes in and shuts the door, but I guess she did something wrong becuase after a minute the door just opened up completly on its own and the old lady was just sitting on the toilet with a horrified look on her face. So Elder Poulsen just stood up and walked over and pushed the button. That is not what I wanted to see. haha This week we borrowed the Emma Smith movie from someone in the ward and watched it again. I'm glad that I was able to see the ending. That movie was so awesome! So there is this lady in the ward, Lisa. The one that had us pick up the milk for her. Well she saw our missionary planners and said that she wanted something like that, and she gave us a little bit of money to find her a planner. Well we bought one and gave it to her, and she just yelled at us because it wasn't the one she wanted. What the heck? And then she had us carry a big bag of clothes to the church. This is a weird place. We went to visit Jesper the other day, and he gave us an excuse that I have never heard before. He said, sorry I can't meet with you today, one of my cats is giving birth. Haha. I guess that probably happens with him a lot seeing as he has a billion cats. Today we are going bowling! Woohoo. I'll let you know how I do. And then later tonight we are heading to Copenhagen because tomorrow is specialized training. I have some pictures for you. The first two are Tolman. And then there are some coconut pictures! That's all for today. Have fun at Disneyland!! Love Elder Tyler Lee

April 5, 2011

Hey again!!! Sorry about the stubby email yesterday, I'm just going to get right back into telling you what was going on with my week. Where did I get to last time? Oh yeah, I had just told you about interviews and what is happening with transfers. I just remembered, there is one more thing that President Andersen told me about. He brought up my release date. :O That is so weird that it is getting so close. The date isn't set, but this is how the conversation went. He said, Lets see when you are going home, and then he pulled out a paper and it said me and two of the others go home on Dec 13... What the heck. I told him that it said Nov 17 on the calender he gave us, so he looked at that and was like, oh that's right. Anyway, he basically just said that he wasn't sure and that we would figure it out later. So I could come home on one of those two dates most likely. I think it would be a bummer to miss a third thanksgiving if I had to stay an extra month. That would be a good time to see all of the extended family again. The next couple days were the only days that we were able to work like usual and so we went and visited our investigators so Elder Poulsen could say goodbye. He also had to start packing because we were out of town for the weekend. On saturday afternoon we left for copenhagen. We got some food at burger king and then went to the young adult center to see the first session. The elders that drove us from the station got kind of lost on the way to pick us up, so we came like 15 minutes late. The weekend was way fun, because for one thing we saw conference, but also we got to see a bunch of other missionaries and members that I know from Ballerup. And we also stayed in the Ballerup house with 8 missionaries, so it was a party. (Missionary appropriate party of course). On sunday we went to the stake center and saw the priesthood session, and then later on we saw the saturday afternoon, and sunday morning sessions. We don't get a chance to see the final session, so I'll just have to watch it online sometime or just read it when it comes out. Oh I wanted to tell you. I'm sure I have told you about Maria before. She is the girl from Denmark that I met at EFY before my mission. She was in my group. Well, it had never worked out for me to see her, I was either on the opposite side of the country, or when I was closer, she was living in America. Well I finally saw her at Conference! It was cool seeing her and catching up with her a bit. I also met her parents and talked with them for a bit, they just got home from a mission in Poland. I was also able to see Jennifer and her mom again! They are so fun! I don't think I've told you, Jennifer's mom is investigating the church now pretty seriously. She has stopped drinking coffee and everything. :) I've got some pictures from all that.. It's so great that we are able to hear from the prophet and apostles every 6 months! I think one of my favorites was from Neil L Andersen in the priesthood session. His talk was all about missionaries and missionary work. Haha and then the President Monson one just made me want to get married way bad. ha ha. :/ Ok and then after conference was over we went back to ballerup for one more night, and the next day (yesterday) we spent p day with them. It was kind of lame, we had planned on going bowling together and were all excited for that, but we went to the bowling alley and it was closed down! And there wasn't another one close. But it's ok we still had a fun pday. We ended up going to a cool church that had a bunch of huge coffin things. And then afterwords we got a soccer ball and played a couple games. It was really fun. Well we are back home in Nykøbing but we are making another trip up to Copenhagen tomorrow for transfers! Anyway, thanks for your email. And thanks for the awesome pictures. Utah weather is so weird! It has actually been pretty sunny around here lately! It sounds like you have had a good conference weekend. Thats great that you have been able to get together with some family. I bet the kids are getting way excited for the california trip! Say hi to the lees for me! That vacation got here pretty quick! Time moves too fast.. You asked about Elder Christensen. Well he goes home in 2 months! I remember when I was with him he hit his year mark and now he is basically done! That would be cool if you could go to that, I'm not sure exactly when it is. Did you ever end up doing anything with his mom? Hahaha That April Fools dinner looks awesome! Did you come up with that?! I think that is so funny. It looks so much like a cake. Umm, well I think I'll wrap this up. I sent you a ton of pictures. The first few are from Conference. The first girl I'm with is Maria, and then there is Jennifer and her mom. There are also some random stuff of Me, Willy, and Klc. Then after those there are some pictures from our trip to the Church. :) Thank you for everything!!! See ya! Love Elder Tyler Lee

April 4, 2011

Hey sorry to keep you waiting, and sorry to tell you that I will have to do it again. The library closes soon and there isn't time to write about all that has happened.

But, I will tell you a bit about interviews! It was the first time I have had interviews with president in 4 and a half months! Because when I had that emergency transfer it was right in the middle of interviews. (Nykøbing interviews were just before and Aalborgs were right after) So I missed out. It was good talking to President Andersen one on one again. He told me some really big news! So transfers are coming up, and he told me what would be happening with me! Are you ready? Well first of all, I'll be staying in Nykøbing longer, and I'll be getting Elder Tolman. AND I'm becoming District Leader! :) So that will be really exciting! It will be some extra responsibilities, but I think it'll be fun! And one of the coolest things is the other bit of news that he told me. In my district it includes the Bornholm Elders, and President told me that it is time for another splits over there, so I get to go visit Bornholm! I don't know if you know anything about Bornholm. It is a little island way way way to the east of Denmark. They speak a language that is a mixture of Danish and Swedish there. It has a reputation for being a beautiful place, especially in the summer. All missionaries want to go there but no missionaries want to serve there, because they are so far away from everything and they usually stay there together for several months. So going on splits there is a big desire for all missionaires. I would also have to travel through Sweden to get there, and then take a boat for part of the trip. How cool is that?! President told me that me and him would go there together for probably 3 days sometime in June probably.

Anyway, transfers happen on wednesday. I don't really know Elder Tolman. He has been here for only 4 months and all I know about him is that he broke a chair at his first zone conference. Haha, he was so embarassed.

Oh dang, this library closes in 5 minutes! So I'm going to have to cut this email short and you can get the rest tomorrow, because there is still a bunch to tell you and I have a lot of pictures too. Sorry to keep you waiting again! Bye for now! Love Elder Tyler Lee Ps I attached a pic of Denmark so you can see where bornholm is. That little island clear over to the right!