So many new mmebers were baptized while Jens Andersen was ward mission leader that the ward was divided. What's more, he was called as the bishop.

"We had a lot of good missionaries and exercised a great deal of expectation as we worked with members to bring new people into the Church," Bishop Andersen said. "We had a great desire to have a branch in Hellsinger, but we had been having only one or two baptisms per year in that area. We established a plan and helped the missionaries believe that they really could baptize a lot of people."Our plan was simple. Every Sunday after our meetings, we would travel to Hellsinger and hold a fireside. The missionaries and members went from house to house with an invitation for the people to come. We advertised in the newspaper and on local radio. Even then for the first two months only the mission leader and a few members attended. It was a test of our faith, but we didn't stop, and that was important, because soon people brought their interested friends and persistence won out.

"The firesides grew from the continued efforts. We had a good response and people to teach. Naturally, baptisms followed. The families in the ward invited the new members to their home for refreshments. We developed a wonderful spirit and feeling of love.

"Last year we had 38 baptisms. This year is even better. It took only two years before we had enough members to divide the ward and start a branch in Hellsinger."

When the ward was divided the bishop became branch president at Hellsinger, and the mission leader was called as bishop of Allerod Ward.

Bishop Andersen and his wife, Susanne, are natural missionaries and have a feeling for Church growth.

"We were stake missionaries when we were newly married," he explained. "We met in Church. I was teaching American-style square dancing and Susanne was a dancer. She had been baptized when she was 16, the only member of her family to join the Church. But she was very active and took seminary and institute in the home study program. Later, I went on a mission and she went to school to study home economics while I was gone."

Since their marriage, they have invited many people into their home to be taught by the missionaries. "We had a green sofa, and the people would sit there to be taught. It apparently became a subject of discussion by the new members because one recent investigator came and was very disappointed because he had not been taught on the green sofa. So I said, `Sit down,' and we taught him. He is now in the military and is an elder preparing for a mission.

"We have baptized several people from other countries. One man from Greece returned home and wrote that he had 50 friends waiting for copies of the Book of Mormon. Another man who had been in Denmark for five years studied the Bible and developed a faith in Christ. He decided that the true Church must be led by revelation, so when he read the Book of Mormon he gained a testimony, was baptized and is now in the branch presidency at Hellsinger, and a citizen of Denmark."

Bishop Andersen is a graduate student in management and marketing, and is sales manager for a successful grocery company. He and his wife have three daughters: Hanna, 8; Camilla, 6; and Elizabeth, 3.

"Our next goal is to divide the ward again, and it is possible in about three years with the support of the mission president and the missionaries," said Bishop Andersen. "I read about how Wilford Woodruff and brethren of the early Church would move into an area, find a friendly family, baptize them, start a new branch and then move to another area. Perhaps I will select an area of the ward and follow the same process. Yes, we feel the spirit and excitement of missionary work."