Danish Word of the Week: CYKEL (SOO-kul) Bike. Bicycle. My other
half.
Where do I even start with this
week?? Horsens is like a whole new mission! Everything-the city, the apartment,
the ACCENT (I'm learning Danish all over
again :) Everything is different. And I LOVE IT! This place
is beautiful. We bike up and down all kinds of hills. There were no
hills in Copenhagen, so I am gradually remembering how to use the muscles in my
legs. It's fun. It's great. I'm sore. :) Another fun thing-Søster Briscoe [Diana Briscoe] was in this
area too! So many people remember her and love her here. Godt arbejde søster!
:)
I love being with Søster Barrett.
She is such a creative missionary. She's getting ready to go home soon, but she
is not letting her missionary work become rou tine! It is so much fun to be her
companion.
As far as the Sister Training Leader
thing goes-we're getting ready to go on our first companion exchanges tonight!
I'm excited to get to know our sisters! I always felt so motivated after exchanges
with the Sister Training Leaders, so I hope I can pass that on to these Sisters
now that it's my turn to be the leader.
We have already had some pretty
wonderful experiences. We
taught a new investigator how to pray this week. I think that one of my
all time favorite things about being a missionary is hearing people's first
prayers. It is such a touching experience and it's always so sweet to hear what
they choose to say to their Heavenly Father. This particular girl is from China,
and I don't think she had ever prayed out loud before. To open she said, 'Dear Heavenly Father, I'm
Amy.' I don't know why, but that simple statement really struck
me. I really felt the Spirit manifest in that moment that Heavenly Father knows each of us by name. Heavenly Father knows
exactly who Amy is. He is just waiting
for us to turn our thoughts to Him so that he can help us understand his
love for us. That simple statement, or introduction, was Amy's first step
towards getting to know God. It was
really special to be a part of that moment.
One thing that we've been challenged
with a lot this week is people telling us that they don't like the fact that
God has so many rules. Why can't we just do whatever we want and do whatever we
think will make us happy? Søster Barrett has a really great object lesson to
illustrate this point. Take a deck of Uno cards and deal them out to a group of people who have
never played Uno before. Don't explain any of the rules, just tell them
to start playing. ... ... not too much fun, right? There's no point to the game. There are no rules, there is no skill
involved- so there is no winning or losing and it's boring. Then deal the
cards out again, but this time give every player a slightly different set of
rules. Let them decide which rules
they want to follow and which ones they don't. Again, the game can't
function. Everyone has their own version of what is right and what is wrong.
It's frustrating, there's miscommunication, and again-basically no point in
even playing the game. But if you deal out the Uno cards, clearly explain the
rules, and then play-the purpose becomes clear. Many different things can
happen within the rules, but everyone is on the same page and can have a lovely
time playing Uno together.
I guess this week has really
strengthened my testimony that eternal truth does exist.
Heavenly Father has a perfect understanding of what we need to do to be
happiest in this life. He has clearly explained His commandments, and he will
bless us with peace as we follow them. He has also given us the ability to
choose for ourselves, so he won't force us to do anything. But, while we can
choose our choices, we can't choose our consequences. Choose good consequences!
TRUST Heavenly Father. Trust him enough to be obedient. We know that His work
and His glory is to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life. Trust that.
He loves us, and he will not lead us astray. And-unlike Uno-there can be more
than one 'winner.' Heavenly Father wants to see us all safely home with him
again.
'He doeth
not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for
he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that
he may draw all men unto him. Wherefore, he commandeth none
that they shall not partake of his salvation.' 2 Nephi 26:24
I
invite you all to gain a personal testimony of this. We are not expected to
blindly follow. He wants us to choose for ourselves to follow Him and partake
of His salvation! We can receive our own confirmation of this directly from God
through prayer. That is also such an incredible blessing! We can communicate
with God! I know and I promise that He loves you and will answer you when you
ask Him questions. He welcomes your questions.
Family!
I sure love you all. And-can you maybe mail me some
family pictures? I only have one kind of weird one and I miss seeing your
faces. Keep being wonderful and have a great week!
No comments:
Post a Comment