Exploring my Dual Heritage and going deeper with Christ

Truly1999

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I believe God has called me to be an ambassador for Christ in Denmark and spread the Good News there. He had been working through my Danish grandmother for many years, gradually bringing me into a deeper fellowship.

Also, I am to go on mission to Serbia, as a result of my undergraduate studies and signs God has shown me in relation to the Former Yugoslavia.

But what do I feel, as a man in his late-forties about being part-Danish? What if my English grandfather had settled in Denmark after the Second World War? Then, I would be writing on this forum about being part-English.

When I was a teenager, I used to think about Denmark a lot and what it would be like to be wholly Danish, living in Denmark. Then, for many years since, I have hardly thought about it. My half-Danish mother rarely spoke about her Danish relatives. I have never been to Denmark and I never learnt Danish.

In the last few months, I have been thinking about my Danish heritage more and more. Have I missed out in any way. Am I less of a person today because I missed out on those connections with my mother's and grandmother's Danish family? My mother had Danish aunts, uncles, and probably her Danish cousins continue to live in Denmark.

How much is necessary to explore? An individual establishes their identity in their adolescent years. But who am I really? I never developed my Danish identity and I don't know what sort of identity I should have developed as someone of dual heritage. I am not totally English so I should never have developed a totally English identity.

I guess I'm suffering from an identity crisis. I feel a little lost. My grandmother died 20 years ago, so I cannot turn to her for advice. She never taught me any Danish - not wanting to 'interfere'. I did learn a lot about her life in Denmark, growing up in the 1930s and 1940s. I am glad I spent many hours in my teen years chatting with her over coffee.

If I am to be an ambassador for Christ in Denmark, then I must draw up a plan beyond watching Danish TV and learning basic Danish.

What emotions should I explore and what is life really like for Danes and immigrants living in Denmark? How will this draw me in deeper fellowship with Jesus?
 

Truly1999

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In studying another culture, I remember how I prepared for trying to understand Yugoslav persecution of Muslims during the Balkan Conflict in the 1990s. I prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to help me. I opened my heart to God and let Him stir my soul. In the case of Denmark, I will need to do this as well as open my heart to Danes and let them share my life and let Danes invite me into their lives and homes - Danish Christian brothers and sisters and Non-Christian.
 
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mnorian

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In studying another culture, I remember how I prepared for trying to understand Yugoslav persecution of Muslims during the Balkan Conflict in the 1990s. I prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to help me. I opened my heart to God and let Him stir my soul. In the case of Denmark, I will need to do this as well as open my heart to Danes and let them share my life and let Danes invite me into their lives and homes - Danish Christian brothers and sisters and Non-Christian.

Hello Truly; do you have any addresses of any of your Danish relatives that you could contact? May God bless your mission in Denmark and open many doors there for and in His Son Jesus name.

p.s. If not maybe you could have one of the online heritage sites look them up; it might help you for getting contacts in Denmark instead of just going in cold to strangers.
 
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Truly1999

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Hello Truly; do you have any addresses of any of your Danish relatives that you could contact? May God bless your mission in Denmark and open many doors there for and in His Son Jesus name.

p.s. If not maybe you could have one of the online heritage sites look them up; it might help you for getting contacts in Denmark instead of just going in cold to strangers.
I don't have any contacts or addresses. However, I know my grandmother's maiden name and town she lived in.
 
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mnorian

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I don't have any contacts or addresses. However, I know my grandmother's maiden name and town she lived in.

Well; I've seen many old movies about American or English people going over to the old country; which ever way that was, and looking up relatives; and they usually ended up in finding someone they didn't expect and finally having a romance and getting married.:) Maybe it will work out for you that you meet people and help them be married to Jesus as the Bible teaches that the church is the bride of Christ.:amen:
 
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mnorian

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I don't have any contacts or addresses. However, I know my grandmother's maiden name and town she lived in.

It might pay you to spend a little money and sign up for one of those ancestor company to look up your relatives.
 
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mnorian

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Also, I am to go on mission to Serbia, as a result of my undergraduate studies and signs God has shown me in relation to the Former Yugoslavia

Is your mission to Serbia through a Christian organization or just through your university? If the latter you might want to contact some evangelical organization to help you make contacts in both countries.
 
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Truly1999

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Is your mission to Serbia through a Christian organization or just through your university? If the latter you might want to contact some evangelical organization to help you make contacts in both countries.
In both my mission to Denmark and Serbia I am in the early stages. I am far from ready to make any moves - at least 12 months away, probably much longer. I am waiting for the right moment - I don't know when this will be but I will know when the moment arises. I must wait and watch.

In relation to Serbia, my intention is to operate through the Church, although this might not work out, in which case I would work through a Christian charity or my last option through a secular organization.

I graduated from university in 2008. I discussed Postgraduate Research in the Former Yugoslavia based upon my Proposal to prove that there has been a gradual religious renewal between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Pentecostal and Evangelical churches in Serbia. However, the University's expertise only extended as far as Baptist based in Central Europe and so they would not be able to support me. Again, I will wait and watch
 
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Truly1999

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Exploring more thoughts, feel free to comment.

My half-English, Half-Danish mother never developed her Danish identity, although my Danish grandmother, who settled in England with her English husband after the Second World War, tried to bring up my mother and my uncle in both English and Danish traditions.

My grandmother would regularly go back to Denmark with her husband and two children to visit her family. This carried on up until my mother got married. Then, my grandparents went alone.

Why didn't my mother pass on to me my Danish inheritance? Did my Danish distant relatives ever ask about me or my brother?

My physical characteristics are apparently distinctly Central European, according to a university friend from Ethiopia. He mentioned one day that I didn't look English. And often, other English people look at me funny - they probably think I'm Hungarian or something.

I feel like there's a different side to me I know nothing about, as though there's another person out there somewhere wandering around looking for me. My Danish character wandering aimlessly searching for something he has lost but not knowing what it is.
 
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Truly1999

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I have thought about asking my mother but I have seen how it troubles her any time anyone mentions her Danish heritage. When her and her brother were young, they spent the summer in Denmark and when they returned they couldn't speak English, they had forgotten how to speak English. They didn't go out to play with their friends. This must have been the beginning of troublesome feelings about their Danish heritage. I don't ask my mother because I fear I would open up a can of worms. Maybe my mother had a bad experience with a relative.

And what about my soul? There are life experiences which we go through that change who we are, that shape us into the person we are, such as a first love, marriage, parenthood. But this must also be the same for the things which we are supposed to experience but never do, or that it is delayed. Often we mention having feelings we never knew existed inside us. For instance, when I left my parents' home it was not because I was getting married, it was not because I was going to university or because I had a job in another part of the country. I was unemployed and 23 and I had had enough of my parents - I left "under a cloud". But many years later, in my thirties, I decided to go to university. My brother went to university when he was a young man and although I was much older, I knew that this was a significant enough life event that I should include my parents. I let them load my bags and drive me to My Halls of Residence, even though I had my own house and could arrange my own removals if I wanted to . It was an emotional time for my mother when it was time to leave me in my new town; I was single with no dependants and as far as my mother was concerned I was 19 again. When my parents left, I felt sad and lonely. Later at Easter, when all the young students went home for Easter, I had nowhere to go, except my Halls, because I had sold up. I was overwhelmed with sorrow and loneliness - homesick. Feelings I never knew I had.

What are the feelings I should have had as a child of dual heritage? Was my lonely childhood in part due to a lack of life-changing experiences that I should have had?
 
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Truly1999

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I realise now that the best person to know how God wants me to find my Danish self is me, since I'm the one in constant communication with Him. It's amazing how a good night's sleep helps and things look different in the morning. I am embarking upon a quest that will ultimately lead me into deeper fellowship with Christ. I pray that the Holy Spirit will encourage me to spread the Good News across Europe and to give God the glory.
 
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Truly1999

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Are you Lutheran; as I see that the majority of Danes are?
Oops I missed this one. My grandmother was brought up Lutheran, although I believe her mother was Catholic and her father was Lutheran. However, my grandmother's husband was Anglican but the family wasn't church-going. So it came as a surprise to everyone when, at the age of 15, I announced one Sunday that I was going to be a Christian.
 
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Truly1999

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It might pay you to spend a little money and sign up for one of those ancestor company to look up your relatives.
God has opened my eyes to the one worldwide heavenly family to which I belong. Danes who are born again - born of the Spirit and not of earthly parents - are my true brethren. If my grandmother's relatives are among them then that is great. But I'm not going to spend time on searching for earthly connections when I should be spreading the Gospel. My Danish Christian brothers and sisters are there waiting - at the Vineyard Churches where born again Christians worship and spread the Gospel.
 
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