Monday, June 29, 2015

WEEK 47: June 15, 2015: Back to Copenhagen! Aviaaja's mom and Discover and Remember who we really are :)



Danish Word of the Week: Træls (TRALS-a like in apple.) Lame. Tiresome. Annoying. This word is one they only use on Jylland (the Horsens half of Denmark) So now that I'm transferred back to Sjælland (The Copenhagen half of Denmark), I have to say goodbye to this word. I will miss it.

So yeah! I got transferred! I am back in Copenhagen-different area, different ward, but Copenhagen!! YAY. Me and my new companion Sister Ripa are Sister Training Leaders for the Sisters on Sjælland. I'm way excited to be back here. Other fun thing-Sister Briscoe trained Sister Ripa! So like-obviousl,she's great.

Exciting news-the Frederiksberg Elders have been working with Aviaaja's mom (remember her? :) and her mom is getting baptized in 5 days! It was a huge miracle and I am just so happy for Aviaaja! It means so much to her to see her family accepting the gospel after it made such a huge difference in her life.   [Aviaaja is the young lady from Greenland whom Amanda met early on in her mission.  After being baptized, Aviaaja returned to Greenland – where there are quite literally probably less than 10 members!.  Amanda and her companion continued to teach Aviaaja via skype for several weeks, thus becoming quite possibly the first missionaries in Greenland … via skype.  See earlier letters from Weeks 19-21 for more about Aviaaja])

It was sad to leave Horsens. I learned and grew so much there, and we had some really wonderful investigators! Even though I'm not there anymore, I'm excited to see the progress they make with Sister Perkins and her new companion.

I love being a missionary. I love having this time to just focus 100% on the gospel an on helping other people understand and love it. It is helping me understand and love it so much more than I ever would have if I had just stayed home and finished school. I know this is where I'm supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing right now. The people that I'm meeting and serving and the things I am learning from them are changing me into the person God knows I can be.

There was this really sweet story I heard about Michaelangelo-who knows if it's true or not-but while he was sculpting David, a boy would come by and watch him work every day. He saw Michaelangelo start with a block of marble, and gradually saw this masterpiece take shape. When he was finally finished with the sculpture, the boy looked at the sculpture of David and thought back on the block of marble and asked, 'How did you know he was in there?'
That's like God with all of us. He knows what's in each of us. He gives us experiences and challenges to help us self-discover what we're capable of. My district leader in Horsens would always read this quote to us, 'If you could see yourself the way that God sees you, you would rise up, and never be the same again.'

I hope that we can all discover and remember who we really are. We are sons and daughters of God. He loves us and wants us to be eternally happy.  He knows things about us that we don't even know! He knows we can succeed, with his help, even when we think it's hopeless. There is always hope, and there is always help.

I love you all so much! Don't forget to read the Book of Mormon every day. Have a great week!

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