what a week of miracles! I truly applied my goal of being more bold this week and started inviting more people to baptism in the very first lesson we have with them. And so for this week, we've invited nine people to be baptized! seven out of those nine are new investigators! And eight out of those nine said yes, when they know it is true and the ninth said "I just woke up", haha. I could really see how much the Lord has been blessing our efforts here in Horsens. I feel very good about our new investigators, especially these two young adults: Kaitlin and Rasmus. Kaitlin is from Ohio! Yay for Ohio :) and living here in Denmark with her boyfriend Rasmus. Kaitlin was a referral from the Elders and we've tried stopping by with no luck but this past tuesday we dropped by and she was home. We started talking and she let us in. Her boyfriend, Rasmus was sleeping on the couch and when I saw him I thought "oh great, there is no way he will be interested" But he woke up, sat up and was really polite and very interested in what we had to say. They told us a little bit about their religious background, both of them grew up agnostic but they are both trying to be open minded and not rule anything out. And then we taught them the entire first lesson. The spirit was way strong and Kaitlin ended the lesson by saying the first prayer she's said out loud before. We set up a return appointment for Thursday, we came and taught them the entire second lesson. We asked Rasmus to open with the prayer and he said a really wonderful prayer. He said "Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you that I'm in good health. I ask you to help me know if the words in the Book of Mormon are true and if I should be a part of this religion..." He went on, but the spirit was very strong. We invited them to be baptized and they said "of course" after they know it is true.
All of our other investigators are very positive as well. They very open and I can just feel their sincere desires to know if the Book of Mormon is true and if Joseph Smith is a true prophet. It is so exciting to see the harvest pick up here in Horsens.
I've learned a lot about sincere and heartfelt prayers this week and I would just like to share it with you all. Prayer is not just us thanking God for what we get and then asking for more blessings, even if they are rigteous desires. I learned that prayer is addressing the Creator of our very souls and physical bodies and having the ability and privelege to talk to Him like our own fathers. What a blessing that is. We address Him, express real gratitude for the blessings we've seen that day and then we find out what His will for us to do is and then we ask for the strength and courage to do His will. That is probably the hardest part about prayer but the most beautiful when you actually do it. And I just want to let all of you know that a sincere prayer can hardly be matched in the power it brings. I know the Lord answers prayers. I've seen Him do it this week for me and for others. I know if you are in doubt of the Gospel or any one you know is in doubt, you can ask your Heavenly father in sincere, fervant prayer and HE WILL ANSWER, I promise you, if you ask and are willing to ACT on the answer He gives you, He will answer you and there will be no more room left for doubt. I invite you all to ask your Heavenly Father if He is there and loves you tonight. You will receive a wonderful answer.
I love you all and pray for you all!
Søster Diana Briscoe Ha
Monday, October 28, 2013
Peace and Quiet
Dear Family,
This week has not been too crazy (except for today where it's pretty much a hurricane outside and President told us not to leave our apartments unless we had an appointment). Anyways, this week was very stilel og rolig.
I went to take my language test so I could stay in the country and that went really well. Then SIster Tew and I went to the temple, which was amazing. There is only one place in the worlds that can compare to the peace that the temple has and that is the home.
Also, we had a great lesson with this young danish man named jakob. We gave him a chapel tour and we ended by teaching the first lesson in the chapel and we kneeled down and he prayed and it was a really wonderful experience. The spirit speaks to us, even if it is just a whisper.
Well, I actually have to go. Time is up!
BUT i love you all so much!
Also, family, please pray for my sisters Bayley Enright and Jen Bergloff. They are amazing missionaries!
Love Sister briscoe
This week has not been too crazy (except for today where it's pretty much a hurricane outside and President told us not to leave our apartments unless we had an appointment). Anyways, this week was very stilel og rolig.
I went to take my language test so I could stay in the country and that went really well. Then SIster Tew and I went to the temple, which was amazing. There is only one place in the worlds that can compare to the peace that the temple has and that is the home.
Also, we had a great lesson with this young danish man named jakob. We gave him a chapel tour and we ended by teaching the first lesson in the chapel and we kneeled down and he prayed and it was a really wonderful experience. The spirit speaks to us, even if it is just a whisper.
Well, I actually have to go. Time is up!
BUT i love you all so much!
Also, family, please pray for my sisters Bayley Enright and Jen Bergloff. They are amazing missionaries!
Love Sister briscoe
Monday, October 14, 2013
Dear Family,
This week has been so great! Sister Tew and I went to two zone trainings and two leadership trainings because we are over all the sisters in the North and South Jylland Zones, so President Sederholm has decided he wants us attending all trainings and conferences. It went really well. I've learned that training missionaries in zone conferences or trainings is not hard at all. All you do is ask about three questions, discuss them and then have them role play with each other. It's so nice because missionaries are just so eager to learn and share their insights. There is nothing more satisfying or easy than teaching a group of missionaries. Sister Tew and I actually got to do a little more training this week than we were planning on. At our first leadership training, President was the one training and then he came up to us and said "and guess what you get to do with this training tomorrow sisters," "um...present it?" "Yup! cause you've already seen it twice, so could you please present it to the zone and district leaders tomorrow morning?" So we trained the south jylland leaders on stress and how to manage it because apparantly, being a missionary is stressful, go figure right? But now I know a lot about stress and how to handle it...well...how to help others handle it.
Then we had an investigator from Horsens (this wonderful older lady named Solveig) drive us down to Odense to see Nynne's baptism! I love Solveig so much but she is a crazy driver. We nearly crashed...twice..and when I say nearly crashed, I mean the swerving and honking and frantically trying to get out of the way of a semi and other cars. But thankfully we made it to Odense alive, even though we were slightly late and walked in right as they started singing the opening song.
Nynne's little 3 year old, Jonathan, saw me walk in and yelled "Briscoe!" and ran over to me and sat with me the whole time except for when I got up to give a talk. Nynne had asked me to speak about Baptism and I had prepared a nice little talk but the moment I got up there, I completely changed what I had planned and just pretty much talked to Nynne about the covenant she was making and how it was the gate leading her to other covenants and blessings. Then she started crying, which of course got me crying, and yes, so I just cried a lot Saturday. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life. To see Nynne change her entire life from two months ago and to see her learn about true principles and apply them to her life. It has been such a wonderful experience. I know that this gospel can change lives and I know, as does Nynne that "this Gospel and this church are true!" She bore such a wonderful testimony on saturday. am so grateful to be out here serving a mission and being allowed by the Lord to be a part of His great and glorious work and to see the change in others that in turn changes myself more than they will probably ever realize.
An investigator from Horsens, Solveig, came with Sister Tew and I to Nynne's baptism. Now Solveig is interested in learning about the church but she is still a little apprehensive and somewhat set in her ways. But the baptism and especially Nynne's powerful testimony touched her heart. In fact, it moved her so much that yesterday (Sunday) she drove all the way back to Odense to see Nynne receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and then she stayed for all three hours of church. The Odense First ward members welcomed her in and Gerd Barkou talked to her for a long time. And what ended up happening is Solveig received a priesthood blessing from Elder Henrichs and Keith Held (the new ward mission leader). It moved her to tears. She is still in Odense, but I am just so excited for her to come back to Horsens and for us to teach her in person again.
Well, that was pretty much my week. Miracles are happening! I love you all and pray for you every day!
Love Søster Briscoe
I just wanted to foward this awesome email from Nynne I got today. I have special permission from president so I can email her every week but this is what she said today
This week has been so great! Sister Tew and I went to two zone trainings and two leadership trainings because we are over all the sisters in the North and South Jylland Zones, so President Sederholm has decided he wants us attending all trainings and conferences. It went really well. I've learned that training missionaries in zone conferences or trainings is not hard at all. All you do is ask about three questions, discuss them and then have them role play with each other. It's so nice because missionaries are just so eager to learn and share their insights. There is nothing more satisfying or easy than teaching a group of missionaries. Sister Tew and I actually got to do a little more training this week than we were planning on. At our first leadership training, President was the one training and then he came up to us and said "and guess what you get to do with this training tomorrow sisters," "um...present it?" "Yup! cause you've already seen it twice, so could you please present it to the zone and district leaders tomorrow morning?" So we trained the south jylland leaders on stress and how to manage it because apparantly, being a missionary is stressful, go figure right? But now I know a lot about stress and how to handle it...well...how to help others handle it.
Then we had an investigator from Horsens (this wonderful older lady named Solveig) drive us down to Odense to see Nynne's baptism! I love Solveig so much but she is a crazy driver. We nearly crashed...twice..and when I say nearly crashed, I mean the swerving and honking and frantically trying to get out of the way of a semi and other cars. But thankfully we made it to Odense alive, even though we were slightly late and walked in right as they started singing the opening song.
Nynne's little 3 year old, Jonathan, saw me walk in and yelled "Briscoe!" and ran over to me and sat with me the whole time except for when I got up to give a talk. Nynne had asked me to speak about Baptism and I had prepared a nice little talk but the moment I got up there, I completely changed what I had planned and just pretty much talked to Nynne about the covenant she was making and how it was the gate leading her to other covenants and blessings. Then she started crying, which of course got me crying, and yes, so I just cried a lot Saturday. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life. To see Nynne change her entire life from two months ago and to see her learn about true principles and apply them to her life. It has been such a wonderful experience. I know that this gospel can change lives and I know, as does Nynne that "this Gospel and this church are true!" She bore such a wonderful testimony on saturday. am so grateful to be out here serving a mission and being allowed by the Lord to be a part of His great and glorious work and to see the change in others that in turn changes myself more than they will probably ever realize.
An investigator from Horsens, Solveig, came with Sister Tew and I to Nynne's baptism. Now Solveig is interested in learning about the church but she is still a little apprehensive and somewhat set in her ways. But the baptism and especially Nynne's powerful testimony touched her heart. In fact, it moved her so much that yesterday (Sunday) she drove all the way back to Odense to see Nynne receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and then she stayed for all three hours of church. The Odense First ward members welcomed her in and Gerd Barkou talked to her for a long time. And what ended up happening is Solveig received a priesthood blessing from Elder Henrichs and Keith Held (the new ward mission leader). It moved her to tears. She is still in Odense, but I am just so excited for her to come back to Horsens and for us to teach her in person again.
Well, that was pretty much my week. Miracles are happening! I love you all and pray for you every day!
Love Søster Briscoe
I just wanted to foward this awesome email from Nynne I got today. I have special permission from president so I can email her every week but this is what she said today
Kære Briscoe
At få helligåndensgave, var som om at en stor gave man bare har vente på at få i 100 år, det bringer bestemt stor glæde.
Din tale var super god og jeg kunne godt forstå dig, så det kunne de andre nok også.
Jeg mødte godt hende fra Horsens igår, og hun vil da også deltage mere og mere i kirken som dagen gik frem, så det er jo super.
Jonathan har det godt, han fortæller stadig alle at han er kærester med dig :D
Benjamin er desværre stadig meget syg, han har dog lært at gå selv nu, så er super stolt.
Hvordan går det ved dig?
er det en sød menighed du er kommet til ?
Håber du har det godt og vi så dig super meget
Mvh Jonathan,Benjamin, og nynne
At få helligåndensgave, var som om at en stor gave man bare har vente på at få i 100 år, det bringer bestemt stor glæde.
Din tale var super god og jeg kunne godt forstå dig, så det kunne de andre nok også.
Jeg mødte godt hende fra Horsens igår, og hun vil da også deltage mere og mere i kirken som dagen gik frem, så det er jo super.
Jonathan har det godt, han fortæller stadig alle at han er kærester med dig :D
Benjamin er desværre stadig meget syg, han har dog lært at gå selv nu, så er super stolt.
Hvordan går det ved dig?
er det en sød menighed du er kommet til ?
Håber du har det godt og vi så dig super meget
Mvh Jonathan,Benjamin, og nynne
Monday, October 7, 2013
Dear family,
First off, I don't know what the official definition of a sister training leader is but here is mine: we are pretty much zone leaders for the sisters and instead of sisters reporting to zone leaders, they now report to us. We also are supposed to go on exchanges with every sister in our zones. Yup, plural. My companion, Sister Tew and I are over the North Jylland Zone and South Jylland Zone. Which means we get the blessing and privilege of going to both zone conferences and zone training and presenting training in both places.
Second off, I have left the "promised land". That is what missionaries call Odense and I am now on Horsens! Yay! Horsens is very different than Odense but I love it already. Also Jysk is different than the danish I'm used to but I can understand most people. Sister Tew is my new companion. She is 22 and from Idaho Falls. She's super cool and we get along great. So I look forward to serving with her as a Training Leader.
The past five days have just flown by so fast. I don't know if it's due to the fact that I'm now a sister training leader or that there just seems to be a lot to do in Horsens. Probably both. Yet despite feeling like I have way much more to do than I have ever had in my entire mission, I'm calm and confident about the future. General Conference was amazing. Every single talk that the Lord's prophets and apostles seem directly addressing my needs and concerns. The knowledge they shared and the revelation from the Holy Ghost brought a lot of comfort and peace,
Horsens is a wonderful place and I am so thrilled to be here. I can already tell though that it is very different than Odense and member have a different attitude about missionary work. They are still hesitant
and a little worried and still think they are too busy to do "missionary work". But I know as Sister Tew and I work hard and show them how serious we are, the Lord will not only bless us to be able to find the elect, He will also bless the members to have courage to find the elect as well.
Also, if people reading this did not see M. Russell Ballard's talk from this past conference, go watch it right now! here is the link: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2013/10?lang=eng&vid=2722055724001&cid=11 Watch it and pray and ask God in the name of Christ if what this apostle of the Lord is true. I promise you, you will receive an answer that it is. I invite you to act on that answer and go and find someone who is prepared to receive the restored Gospel. I will do the same this week. I also can promise that the joy that comes from sharing the gospel is unequal to any other joy we can have, besides the joy of eternal families, which I am so grateful for mine :)
I love you all so much and I pray for you!
Søster Briscoe
First off, I don't know what the official definition of a sister training leader is but here is mine: we are pretty much zone leaders for the sisters and instead of sisters reporting to zone leaders, they now report to us. We also are supposed to go on exchanges with every sister in our zones. Yup, plural. My companion, Sister Tew and I are over the North Jylland Zone and South Jylland Zone. Which means we get the blessing and privilege of going to both zone conferences and zone training and presenting training in both places.
Second off, I have left the "promised land". That is what missionaries call Odense and I am now on Horsens! Yay! Horsens is very different than Odense but I love it already. Also Jysk is different than the danish I'm used to but I can understand most people. Sister Tew is my new companion. She is 22 and from Idaho Falls. She's super cool and we get along great. So I look forward to serving with her as a Training Leader.
The past five days have just flown by so fast. I don't know if it's due to the fact that I'm now a sister training leader or that there just seems to be a lot to do in Horsens. Probably both. Yet despite feeling like I have way much more to do than I have ever had in my entire mission, I'm calm and confident about the future. General Conference was amazing. Every single talk that the Lord's prophets and apostles seem directly addressing my needs and concerns. The knowledge they shared and the revelation from the Holy Ghost brought a lot of comfort and peace,
Horsens is a wonderful place and I am so thrilled to be here. I can already tell though that it is very different than Odense and member have a different attitude about missionary work. They are still hesitant
Also, if people reading this did not see M. Russell Ballard's talk from this past conference, go watch it right now! here is the link: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2013/10?lang=eng&vid=2722055724001&cid=11 Watch it and pray and ask God in the name of Christ if what this apostle of the Lord is true. I promise you, you will receive an answer that it is. I invite you to act on that answer and go and find someone who is prepared to receive the restored Gospel. I will do the same this week. I also can promise that the joy that comes from sharing the gospel is unequal to any other joy we can have, besides the joy of eternal families, which I am so grateful for mine :)
I love you all so much and I pray for you!
Søster Briscoe
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