Monday, September 1, 2014

WEEK 1 in DENMARK: I love it here! Danish blankets are made of clouds and hugs :)



Danish phrase of the week: Det er ikke sproget de underviste mig i MTC! That's not the language they taught me in the MTC! I have no idea if that's grammatically correct. Probably not actually. But that just highlights my point even more. 

I'm here!!! My first area is Frederiksberg, right in the middle of Copenhagen! It's the busiest area in the mission. So they are throwing me in headfirst! I love it here. I love being in the city where there's just so much happening around me all the time! Also-they speak Danish faster than I ever thought possible. And they drop the ends of their words. And they don't really move their mouths when they talk. So even if I theoretically know the words, it's going to take me a while to get used to their accents. I feel good about the fact that I can basically understand everything the other missionaries say. So I can understand a lot of American accent Danish. I just have to trust that I'll get there and work hard every day! 

My trainer is Sister Handley. She is a firecracker. I love her. She is Sara Marie Coray height and was a firefighter before her mission. She's a beast. This is her very last transfer so she knows what she's doing and is taking really good care of me. We spent the first couple of days in the country trying to get me checked in to everything. We spent like two hours one day in the Kommune (the DMV but worse) to get me checked into my residence and everything. To get there, we had to bike through the busiest part of the city during rush hour. I ran into a van. It's fine. I'm fine. But the brakes on my bike leave much to be desired. So we're getting that fixed pronto. 

We bike and ride the trains everywhere. I have showed up to several appointments already looking like I just jumped in a lake. I'm quickly learning that there is literally no point in doing my hair. I have a helmet or I'm getting rained on 80% of the time. I'm a real live missionary! It sounds bad, but I seriously love it. I'm so excited to be here.

I SAW DIANA!! That was the happiest thing. The AP's drove all of the new missionaries to the chapel where we could meet our trainers, and Diana was standing outside the church! We saw each other through the car window and started freaking out, and then the dear sweet AP took FOREVER to park. But when he did I jumped out and we ran across the parking lot to see each other. It was seriously the best/weirdest/BEST feeling to see her again! We got to talk a little bit throughout the day and then I got to see her parents and Emmy too! 

Our first night in the country, we stayed at the President's house. Ok. I think my favorite Danish thing so far is seriously the bedding. Doonas. Doonas are amazing. They are these puffy, snuggly blankets that are made of clouds and hugs. I swear to you they are the most amazing things. I'm never going back. It's impossible to have a bad night's sleep with a Doona. Anyways. President and Sister Sederholm are so fun-we had a big dinner, took pictures, had interviews with the President so he could decide where to put us, and had a Danish testimony meeting. We talked about the power of simple testimonies. There were almost 20 of us in the room, and we all bore short 30 sec -1 min testimonies, but the spirit was the strongest I think I've ever felt. Nobody said anything eloquent-we don't have the vocabulary for that-but we learned that eloquence is not what invites the spirit. Sometimes getting too wordy actually distracts from the Spirit. But bearing simple testimony is the most powerful thing we can do as missionaries. It was amazing! That's something I've learned in the lessons I've taught so far, too. I can follow conversations and I can add things in here and there, but the best thing I know how to do is bear my testimony. The Spirit is always there when I do that, and the Spirit is the real teacher, not me. Thank goodness!

The cutest thing is that the Danes call the Sister Missionaries the Lady Missionaries. I love it.
The food is amazing. I haven't eaten a single mediocre thing since being here. There are separate sidewalks for bikes because EVERYONE bikes here. Everyone is really fit and super fashionable.
Oh! I'm sending a picture of my apartment building. We are the unit in the middle on the top floor. It's a really nice place. Sister Handley and I share it with Sister Perkins (who was in the MTC with me!) and her trainer Sister Rigby. Sister Rigby just had a baptism a couple of days ago so there is proof that it does happen in Denmark! 

It sounds like you all are doing great! It was so fun to talk to you in the airport. Em I wish I could have called you! I luh you

I haven't been taking very many pictures. But today is my first P-day and we're going sight-seeing around Copenhagen so I'll have more fun ones next week! Also, there's a Denmark mission blog that I think Sister Sederhold posted some pictures on so you can Google that! 

I love you all! A scripture that we've been sharing a lot this week is 1 Nephi 11:17 where Nephi is talking about God and he says, I know that he loveth his children, nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things.  I love that verse. It's so simple. Heavenly Father loves us and has a plan for us. We don't know everything, we never will, but we can always rely on the knowledge that we are loved. He really will take care of us and is always aware of our needs.

I hope you all have a fantastic week! Jeg elsker jer!

The Danish keyboards are so bizzare. They don't have quotation marks and all of the punctuation is in a different place! Hardest thing about my mission so far is this keyboard.

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