So we started off this week by trying to head down to Odense. We went on exchanges with Sister Rigby and Sister Bartholomew. I say try because it seems like every time Sister Tew and I plan to go on exchanges in the other sisters areas, we have just the hardest time travelling there. Last time, there was a big storm and trains were 2 to 3 hours late, this time (last monday night), we ended up missing our bus to our eating appointment and then we ended up losing our phone (but just in the apartment). And then our train to Odense ended up being 40 minutes late. Anyways, we finally made it to Odense a little late Monday night, but we made it.
Then I spent Tuesday with Sister Bartholomew and we went out teaching their new investigator Janet and guess who was the member who came with us to help teach? Nynne! Oh man, that was just so neat to see her again. Just a really big blessing. She has this bright light in her eyes and is just so happy and joyful. She is amazing. She went through the temple to do baptisms this Thursday.
And then I also ran into Sabrina in Odense again! That was cool.
We spent two nights in Odense because on Wednesday that was Zone Training there and so Sister Tew and I had the opportunity to train the zone there and then stay for a little bit of the talent show but we couldn't stay for the whole thing because we had an appointment with our investigator John. He is so incredibly busy. He gets maybe about 4 hours of sleep every day because he is a full time student and works full time every night. He does give us some of his sleep time and he reads the scriptures when he is on the bus.
On Thursday, we had North Jylland Zone training and Sister tew and I were able to stay there for the whole time which was nice. We started the day out by playing american football. We played as districts and my district (the red team) won! I even scored a touch down. that was cool. I also was a running back in one play but for the most of the time I played the defender person. I guarded the quarter back...i think that may be called the line man? well, I was one of them and I ended up punching an elder in the face...football is a dangerous game.
Then we ate a delicious thanksgiving meal provided by a part member family that owns a restaurant here. It was full on thanksgiving as well, with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, everything americans are used to. Then we had training and as always, that was spiritually nourishing. Having the chance to stand up in front of groups of missionaries and ask them questions is always humbling because my fellow missionaries always teach me more than I could ever hope to teach them. Also, the spirit that they each have is amazing and their light is visible to others, even if it's not visible to themselves. I think that's one thing we forget in this church, that we truly can have a countenance of light that others notice. Let your light shine! It get's dark here at about 4 in the afternoon but we can be beacons of light to those we meet on the street and their hearts will be touched.
Something I've learned is that just because the sun sets early it should not dim my desire to do missionary work. I've seen so much success from contacting people in the cold and in the dark. I've found some truly great people from contacting on a dark street on a cold evening when I sometimes am a little hesitant to do it. That's how we met Frank this week. We saw this young man coming up in a big coat, his hood up and I first thought "ah, great...this is sketchy." But we decided to talk to him anyways, we stopped him, found out he was from Ghana, so we spoke english and as soon as we told him we were missionaries from the LDS church, he asked "do you have a pen so I can give you my address and telephone number?" "Uh, sure". He wrote down is number and address and we got an appointment set up with him for sunday (yesterday). We got a member to come with us to the appointment and we taught him a first lesson and invited him to be baptized and he wants to read and pray first but he is sincerely seeking to understand more about our church and he told us that we would be welcome to come and teach him "every day". it was just really neat to see that despite how gloomy or dark things may appear, the Lord is using us as beacons of light and He is guiding those who are lost and searching towards us so they too can find the same wonderful Light and Truth that we know, that is Jesus Christ.
We also have had many great experiences of just finding super open people who will set up return appointments and give us their information. Like the other night, we stopped this Polish girl carrying a heavy thing. She said "sorry, I have no time, this is heavy" So i said "oh, well can we get your number and call you another time?" So she set her thing down and I thought she was going to be mad but instead she said "Sure, let me get out my phone to double check it's right." and then she told us that she would be free near the end of this week and we should call her then.
Just about everyone we contact in the dark and in the cold has been super open and willing to give us their information so we can set a return appointment. Or we have lessons right there on the street with them, despite the cold rain, they can feel the warmth and light of the Spirit and they stay and listen and most are truly interested in meeting again.
Also, this week was the primary program and our 9 year old investigator Cathalina was a part of it. Her mom is a less active woman from Columbia who speaks a mixture of Spanish, English and Danish all at the same time and she talks extremely fast and is sometimes hard to understand. For example, she'll say "lige nu it is svært for me porque yo quierro at har mere to do with min tiempo." I might have talked about her before but recently we've started teaching her 9 year old daughter who is just super sweet and really interested in learning about the Gospel. She is reading from the Children's Mormons Bog and she remembers the story of Joseph Smith really well and she loves coming to church. To help make things easier for her mom (the less active) with things on Sunday morning, we've been making breakfast for them. We make american pancakes and yesterday, Mimi was eating our pancakes with mozerella cheese so I tried it, it was not bad. Then later that day, I made fried chicken for dinner and accidentally put cinnamon in it. So yesterday was an odd food combination day but surprisingly everything tasted pretty good.
Well, things are going pretty well here, I'll be going back to Odense at the end of this week to go on exchanges with the other companionship there (I just can never get away from Odense, haha ;) Yay for visits to Odense!
Well, I love you all much!
Love Søster Briscoe
haha, I bet you would have never guessed that I would have loved football so much but I quite enjoyed being a defender and a charger man. That's what I call them.
So there is a picture of me and my district discussing our investigators and who we want to discuss as a zone. And then the other picture is of me and sister Ripplinger singing "come thou font" in south jylland zone talent show.
