WEEK 24: Short and sweet :) Ice Skating and True Happiness

Danish word of the week: LYKEE (Loo-keh) HAPPINESS

Hey everyone-I cannot believe how fast time flies! It seriously feels like I emailed you all yesterday or something. To put it in perspective-we get transfer calls next Monday! I am seriously learning so much about how important it is to make every day count! 

Speaking of which, email time also flies, and we're cutting it short this week so that our district can go ice skating.

Thanks for the love and prayers. Serving in Denmark is tough. There is a LOT of disappointment and rejection.  But I feel like I'm finding so much inner strength.  Before my mission, I doubted myself a ton. I was really hard on myself for every little thing and I lost hope really easily. This experience is teaching me to rely on God and to never doubt that he accepts my efforts. There is always hope, and miracles happen every day!  I'm learning to be truly happy. Not just the kind of happiness that comes when times are good, but the kind of happiness that stays with me always. Honestly, the kind of happiness that I've always admired in Mom! :) 

Jesus Christ's gospel is the recipe for pure joy and true happiness. The church is His church, and it is true!  Have a wonderful week! Love you!

WEEK 23: You're good-lookin' nuns! (said in an Irish accent); D&C 18:15, The worth of MY soul (and YOURS) is GREAT!

Danish Words of the Week: Jesu Kristi Kirke af Sidste Dages Hellige (YEH-soo Cry-stee Keerk-eh eh Sis-teh Days Hell-ee) This is the name of the church.

Hey fam! This week was not as windy, but it was definitely rainy. You asked about coming to pick me up-here's the thing. It's definitely an option, people do it all the time and I would LOVE for you all to see Denmark. But, I come home in January, and from what I've seen of January so far, it is ROUGH!  It's dark and freezing and rainy and windy and cold. This morning it rained and snowed at the same time. Now I have seen everything. :) Denmark is such a beautiful country, and I want you all to see it when it's ACTING beautiful.  But, we can talk about that in a year. :) Let's face it: it would be fun no matter what. 

We met the BEST Irish-man ever while we were contacting the other day. He was really confused about why we stopped him on the street. After we said our schpeel he was like, 'Are ya nuns?' And we were like-'No, no we're not. Sister is just a title we have on our missions...blah blah blah.' and he cut us off and was like, 'Well, I was going to say you're good-lookin' nuns! I might join the convent myself!' And then he walked away into the night leaving me and Sister Reed just DYING laughing. So now any time we feel bad about something, we just remind each other that we are good looking nuns. :)

It's going well here in Frederiksberg! In our mission we keep track of re-activations as well as baptisms, and Søster Reed and I have had 3 members re-activated this month! It's really exciting to see these wonderful people remembering their testimonies and renewing their covenants with God. Last year, our mission saw over 100 re-activations. The church is growing in Denmark! Slowly but surely! :) Our mission president just sent us an email saying that sacrament meeting attendance in Denmark has been going up every quarter (3 months) for the last 2 years! Before that, attendance was in decline. Heavenly Father really is hastening His work all over. It looks different in different parts of the world, but there's no denying that it's happening! It's exciting to be a part of it.

President shared this scripture with us in our personal interviews with him last month. It's one we hear a lot, but he put a little twist on it.

'And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!' D&C 18:15

Ok. So normally when we hear this scripture, especially as missionaries, we think, 'that means I've got to see one baptism or one re-activation, and then I'll be able to experience that joy.' But President asked me, 'Who is that one soul?' After thinking for a little bit, it clicked what he was getting at. 'My own.' Yes, I am out here focusing on serving others and finding other souls to share the gospel with, but MY soul is just as important. The worth of EVERY soul is great in the sight of God.  And if we labor all our days and bring but one soul unto Him, how great shall be our joy! I hope you all remember and know that God cares about you. You are known and loved by Him. Put Him first, and everything else will fall into place.

I love you all! Take care of each other, have fun, and have a great week! 

At the train station by our apartment. Danish sunsets are always amazing!

Me and Pia.  She always walks us out to the corner

There is grafitti everywhere; I love it. Valby. That's the name of our little suburb.

WEEK 22: 6 Months! and NOT counting, but loving every minute of every day!!

Danish word of the week: at skrupgrine (at SKROOP-green-uh) to laugh your head off. I just love that that's an actual word. And it's really applicable because that's basically what me and Søster Reed do all the time. That and missionary work.

I think there was one time I wrote about how it was super windy and I didn't know wind like that was even possible. I would like to retract that statement. Whatever kind of wind happened that one week doesn't even hold a CANDLE to what we biked through this week!! There was this one horrifying moment when my companion and I were biking up a hill, and the wind was so high that we literally couldn't pedal forward! I actually started rolling backwards a little bit! And of course we also had an audience. There were a ton of people standing at a bus stop right next to us and they were all laughing. But like, in a nice way. That's basically how it's been all week. So windy that some of the bridges were closed and the trains stopped running. How is this even possible! Our district leader actually did get blown over by the wind on his bike! 

This week ended with a miracle! We had a former investigator come to church yesterday. She left after sacrament meeting and sent us a text about how she knows that everything she heard was true. She said she came all by herself so that she would just be able to sit and listen uninfluenced by anyone else. The Spirit really spoke to her and touched her heart deeply. We called her and set up an appointment for this week. She asked me what she should do in the meantime, and I told her about Moroni’s Promise (Moroni 10:3-5) in the Book of Mormon. She got her Mormons Bog right away and read it out loud to me over the phone. She started crying and said that she would absolutely read and ask God what she should do. Another little 'side-miracle,' the woman who spoke in sacrament meeting told a story in Relief Society about how as she had been preparing her talk for today, she felt like what she should say had come into her mind word for word. She said that had never happened before, but that she knew that this time there was a special message that Heavenly Father wanted her to share. I know that what she said was exactly what this former investigator needed to hear! It's amazing how all of these little pieces fall together to create miracles. 

Our Sister Training Leader sent me this scripture in a Christmas card. I don't even need to explain why I love it. 

Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in  our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to 

see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed.

Doctrine and Covenants 123:17

I love you all!!! Have a fantastic week. I want you to know that every single week, your emails make me laugh REALLY LOUD in the library, and it makes everyone stare. I think they're a little jealous that their families aren't as funny as mine.