Sunday, August 28, 2011


First Week in the MTC

Dear Family and Friends,
Today marks the official close of my first week here. There is so much to write and say, but seeing as I only have 30 minutes to do it in, I'll have to be brief and direct. So kind of a bit of a shocker, but when I arrived there were 11 elders waiting to greet me. Our district is rather big, having 12 Ældste (Elders) and 1 Søster (Sister). The mission is expanding and we are about to bring to pass a great work in Denmark. Anyway these Ældstere are great and come from all over the place. We have some from back East, some from Idaho, Nevada, and California, and even one all the way from the Netherlands. My companion is a peculier fellow named Ældste Harms. He is from Vegas and is the oldest of two children. It has been a rough week with him. He is way more interested in learning the language and stuff along the culteral side of the mission, that he is lacking in spiritual. When asked why he was on a mission he said because it felt like the right thing to do. I pray for him and hope my fears are unprescedent, but I am not sure he will last too long. Nevertheless, I will do my best now to make sure he is included and help him along the way.
So we met our branch president on Thursday, and soon thereafter I was invited to be the District Leader for my band of brethren. I accepted and am truly blessed to be in this position. It is however fairly difficult. With 12 Ældster and 1 Søster, the beginning of our district was very spread, and there were not many good feelings towards one another. However through some effort I had gained enough respect to pull the district together. This has been a great blessing for us all. We definitely need the extra support offered by the other members in our district, as we are all away from home and learning a difficult language without any older Danish group to look up to. We have had a few meetings where we really unified with Helligånden (The Holy Ghost) and it has strengthened us immensely. I felt an impresssion last night in our meeting to testify unto them that the people of Denmark will praise the names of these missionaries forever for bringing them the truth, and I know it is true.
The Spirit is very strong here, even when we can not always understand what is going on. We pray constantly på Dansk (in Danish) and it has helped our language a lot. I find myself slipping up and writing in Danish in my journals and notes. It has been a really amazing experience. We have been put into a new pilot program that throws us right into the language. From day et (one), that is pretty much all we have spoken. We even started teaching an investigator (set up of course) på Dansk on day to (two). It has been really difficult but it pushes us to learn much faster. We have already had 3 lessons with him with the last one ending with a spiritual prompting to have him pray about baptism. It was amazing how much the Lord has strengthened us to more than we are. We are 7 days out, and we can already teach the basics of the gospel. The gift of tongues is truly with us.
I have learned a few things that I was not even looking to know, but am really glad I did. The first is about the MTC. The MTC is not here for us to learn the language, the doctrine of Christ, or to learn how to use Preach My Gospel, which I had suspected it to be for. It is to learn to know when you are feeling the spirit and to act upon those impressions. We are here to feel the powerful love of God and translate that into a love of Guds Børn (God's Children). We are to learn to come to look through others eyes and be able to empathize with them. We are to learn that we carry a name with us at all time, and that we are to be beacons of righteous power to shine forth to the world. We are to understand Christ and his role in the Atonement, that through him is our only chance to ever return to God. We are to learn to receive personal reveleation and we are to learn how to lead, for we are all leaders.
My time has run short, but know this. I have grown up in the church saying I know God lives and loves us each individually. But it was not until this past week that I really came to understand what that meant. I know Christ lives and is our Savior and Best Friend. He will do anything, if in righteous, if we only humble ourselves before him and ask. The MTC has hit me, and it dealt a stiff blow. I feel as if they broke my legs with a bat as I stumbled through the doors. It was very difficult to get around being so beaten, but it taught me to look to the Lord for help. He can help mend those broken bones and hearts, and he will make them strong again. He will help them develope into a much stronger thing then you ever could have imagine would be possible. I love you all and miss you dearly. Gud være med dig!

Megen Kærlighed,
Ældste Singleton

Thursday, March 24, 2011

JD received his mission call

JD was called to labor in the Copenhagen, Denmark mission speaking Danish. He will report to the MTC on the 10th of August. Not quite Boise, but it will do!