Danish phrase of the week: Have en
god bedring (hey een goal bell-ring) That means get well soon. But literally it
means have a good bettering. People have been saying that to me a lot thanks to
my awesome and super cool cast.
Embarrassing moment of the week: We
took Aviaaja (the Greenlandic girl who got baptized last week) to do temple
baptisms in the Copenhagen Temple before she flew back to Greenland. So we were
having this great lesson explaining temples and why we have them and family
history and all of this exciting stuff. And then it was my job to explain the
actual step by step process of temple baptisms. So I thought I was telling her
that you go under the water more than one time, but I was actually telling her
that you go under the water for more than one HOUR. And she was looking at me
with these big eyes like, "So I have to hold my breath for more than an
HOUR?" Then I realized what I was saying and I was like NO! NO no no no
no! So it was all okay and we didn't scare her away. But the Elders laughed at
me a lot.
This week was a lot less...there
were no broken bones or street fights this week. So. It was a lot quieter. BUT
we did get to go to the temple with Aviaaja! It was such a special experience.
She was so excited to be able to help other people feel the same joy
she felt at her own baptism. She just kept talking about how much she wants
this for her whole family! Søster Handley knew a Greenlandic man when she
was serving in Odense. His name is JJ and he's been living in Denmark for a few
years. He was able to come down to the temple with us! It was so fun to
see him and Aviaaja together. They were speaking Greenlandic which is
the CRAZIEST coolest language I've ever heard... We really want them to
get married. Missionary work is also all about setting people up. :) Anyways.
He was so excited about having another member of the church from Greenland!
[THINK ABOUT IT: WE GET EXCITED WHEN THERE'S ANOTHER MEMBER IN OUR CLASS AT SCHOOL; HE'S EXCITED THERE'S ANOTHER MEMBER IN HIS COUNTRY!] Odense is a couple of hours away from Copenhagen, so it was definitely a
miracle that he was able to be there. He was actually planning on coming down
to Copenhagen the next day anyways, and he said, "It's like Heavenly Father
wanted me to be here or something! This worked out perfectly!" Aviaaja
flew back to Greenland the next day. She is the only member of the church in
Greenland right now-as far as we know-which is going to be hard, but we're
keeping in touch with her on Skype!
Søster Handley and I Skyped with her
on Sunday. We are officially the first Sister Missionaries on Greenland!
...through the internets. Yessss I love technology.
We are going through and teaching
her the new member lessons and answering all of her questions as she reads the
Book of Mormon. Her faith is absolutely amazing. She is so willing to
learn and always has so many questions for us! She just soaks it
all in. She is the epitome of how Christ wants us to be: teachable, humble, and
having a perfect hope in the gospel. I feel so blessed to be able to
work with her!
We've been working with a lot of
less-active members this past week. There was one in particular named
Rebecca that we had a really good time with. She's 30, a return missionary, and
she's just a really cool person. She was active in the church for 4 years after
her mission, but eventually went less-active because apparently some people in
the ward weren't very kind to her. We got her name as a referral from one of
her old friends. We didn't know that she was less-active when we went to visit
her, but we stopped by to get to know her a little bit. It came up pretty
quickly that she hadn't been to church in a while. It was obviously sad and
hard for her to talk about. There was a really down, almost
hopeless spirit in the room, but then I got the impression to ask to hear
her testimony. I asked if she still had a testimony of the gospel. She said she
did. I asked if we could hear it. She looked a little surprised and said she
hadn't shared her testimony since her mission, but she said she would. The
feeling in the room changed almost immediately. She didn't share a formal,
sacrament meeting style testimony, but she opened up a lot more about her
positive feelings about the gospel, and more importantly, she was able to
remember why she believed in Christ in the first place. And then, this is the
real miracle, she came to church the next Sunday! It was such a cool
experience.
It reminded me a lot of when we
lived in California and how lonely I felt at church. I hated going to Young
Women's. But Mom was always reminding me and helping me figure out why we
really go to church. It's nice to have friends there, but we really go to
church because we love Heavenly Father and we want to be close to Him. We want
to take the sacrament, feel the Spirit, and learn what we can do to be more
like Christ. It's hard to go when you feel like you're alone, but the blessings
are real, and we're never truly alone. Heavenly Father loves us beyond what we
can comprehend. And Rebecca, who was convinced that she didn't have any friends
at church, was able to sit by a couple of really sweet girls around her same
age who remembered her from the YSA Ward. So here's the lesson that I learned
from this-be kind and welcoming to everyone. Always-but in this case
specifically at church. You have no idea what kind of a struggle it was for
them to get there, and you have no idea whose prayers you're answering by being
a good friend!
So those were the highlights! Søster
Handley and I have been limiting ourselves to one Danish pastry a week. So far
so good...we'll see how long that lasts. Marzipan is amazing. The bread is
amazing...I do not understand how Danes are so skinny!
I love you all! I hope you have a
great week!
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