Dear Family and Friends,
This is the last email you will get from me (probably) as a missionary. Wow. Ouch. That hurts. I say that all the time when I'm talking to Sister Ripa and David. We'll be talking or something and all of the sudden I'll say "It hurts in my heart area!".
But really, it is so hard to say goodbye. Although it won't be goodbye forever. Still, it's really hard. Harder than I could have ever imagined.
I'm so sorry that this is going to be a really short email. But I will see you all pretty soon anyways :) (i've turned into Michael emailing!).
Serving a mission has changed my life and I'm so grateful to the Lord for blessing me with the opportunity to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ. I know that this church and the gospel, that they are true and that they will bless the lives of everyone who just follows the principles in it.
Keep on going strong. I'll see you all really soon :)
Love, Søster Briscoe
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Aug 11 Søster Brisco is going crazy
Oh my heavens to besty, time is such a funny thing, especially when one is a missionary. I think that you are just so busy that life slips by and before you know it, you're done with your mission and you're just sitting there thinking "what the? How on earth did that happen? I haven't grown up or become a mature missionary. I still miss the bus, I still get lost, sometimes people say things and I still don't understand". Plus, I have the weirdest accent as a missionary, I thought I wouldn't haven't an accent by now. It's definitely not sweet.
This past monday, Sister Ripa, Maria and I went to the Tivoli that is here in Århus. It was a lot of fun. We rode the rollercoasters and did a couple obstacle courses and then Maria talked us into doing what is called Sky Tower. It's where you pretty much dangle in the air 50 meters (about 160 feet) above the ground and then they just drop you into a giant net. so you just free fall and smack on the net. So Maria went. then sister Ripa. Then I was the last one. As the guy was strapping me in, I was just rambling to him because I was so nervous. "I'm really terrified of heights" I told him. "Well, your handling it well" He said as he hooked me onto the rope and then pushed me over the ledge. My heart was going a million miles an hour. "Tell me something funny!" I asked the guy who was about to drop me. "You are about to drop 50 meters." "THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" He just laughed at me and said he couldn't think of anything funny. I told him that I would tell him a joke so I asked "why did the chicken cross the road?" "Why?" "To get to the other side" and then I dropped. Bullseye. Right onto the net. It was a super thrilling experience.
This was my last zone training this past week. I had to bear my "final testimony" that was weird. My arms felt all numb when I stood up there and thought "what the heck is happening? I just got to denmark, I can't go home now." But I didn't not cry. I know I will definitely cry when I say goodbye to my friends here: Nynne, Isabella, Solveig, the Romanians, Ashley, Maria and David. They all have changed my life. Definitely for the best. Thank goodness for skype.
Also, I ordered two more missionary tags because I only had one left and I wanted a few others. But at zone training, I ended up getting 4 tags with "Søster Brisco" spelled on it. Oh well, pyt med det. puddle with it. such is life. I'll just be Brisco from now on.
Well, I love you all! Jeg elsker jer!
Love, Diana (or for those of you who have permission to call me it, Nana :) Emmy, you're the best
This past monday, Sister Ripa, Maria and I went to the Tivoli that is here in Århus. It was a lot of fun. We rode the rollercoasters and did a couple obstacle courses and then Maria talked us into doing what is called Sky Tower. It's where you pretty much dangle in the air 50 meters (about 160 feet) above the ground and then they just drop you into a giant net. so you just free fall and smack on the net. So Maria went. then sister Ripa. Then I was the last one. As the guy was strapping me in, I was just rambling to him because I was so nervous. "I'm really terrified of heights" I told him. "Well, your handling it well" He said as he hooked me onto the rope and then pushed me over the ledge. My heart was going a million miles an hour. "Tell me something funny!" I asked the guy who was about to drop me. "You are about to drop 50 meters." "THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" He just laughed at me and said he couldn't think of anything funny. I told him that I would tell him a joke so I asked "why did the chicken cross the road?" "Why?" "To get to the other side" and then I dropped. Bullseye. Right onto the net. It was a super thrilling experience.
This was my last zone training this past week. I had to bear my "final testimony" that was weird. My arms felt all numb when I stood up there and thought "what the heck is happening? I just got to denmark, I can't go home now." But I didn't not cry. I know I will definitely cry when I say goodbye to my friends here: Nynne, Isabella, Solveig, the Romanians, Ashley, Maria and David. They all have changed my life. Definitely for the best. Thank goodness for skype.
Also, I ordered two more missionary tags because I only had one left and I wanted a few others. But at zone training, I ended up getting 4 tags with "Søster Brisco" spelled on it. Oh well, pyt med det. puddle with it. such is life. I'll just be Brisco from now on.
Well, I love you all! Jeg elsker jer!
Love, Diana (or for those of you who have permission to call me it, Nana :) Emmy, you're the best
Aug 4 - What a wonderful week
Oh man, I love Aarhus. Can I say that again? I LOVE AARHUS! this city is my home. This is my city. But seriously, Aarhus is known as the "smilende by" or "the smiling city". And every time I look out over the giant cement buildings mixed with the cute, classic danish architecture, I just smile. When I first came to aarhus, I thought it was a little ugly, but know I think it's the most beautiful place in the world. A place is only as good as the people you see it with. I've seen Arhus with some of the most amazing people in this world. Dang, it'll be hard to leave. When you fall in love, it's hard to leave the thing you love. Stupid Aarhus, had to go make me fall in love. Anyways, that was my rant about leaving. Also, I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but there is a grafitti artist whose tag is "Diana" or "Diana 42" and you can find my name all over the city, especially on the street where we live. So Aarhus really is my city. I've got my name all over it.
We had a little miracle with reaching our goals this past Tuesday night. We had been to CUV and then we got a ride home from some members. We got out of the car and I looked at my watch. We had about 7 minutes before 9pm. I pointed that out to Søster Ripa and said "that's perfect, we have time to go contact!". So we just walked up our street stopping a few people that said "Ellers tak" or "Nej tak". I pulled out my planner and looked at our goals. In order to reach our goals for that day, we needed one more lesson and one new investigator. I looked up and saw a young man walking up the street towards us. Now we had about 3 minutes left before 9 but I told Søster Ripa, "We have to reach our goal of one other lesson, let's teach this man!" And we stopped him. He was very nice and very open. He is catholic and interested in the fact that we believe in living prophets. We were able to teach him briefly about Joseph Smith and he even said the prayer at the end of our short lesson. He asked God to bless us on our way and to find those who would listen. And then we were able to set up a return appointment with him! So we reached all of our goals that day! It was just another confirmation that as we do all we can to reach our goals, including using the last, precious minutes of the day to work, the Lord will bless us with His children who are ready to hear about this wonderful restored Gospel.
We have started teaching David about family history work because he knows so much about the church now. And at first, he thought he wouldn't like it, but then after we found his grandpa in the danish church books, he got really excited and then went home and spent his night looking up his grandpa's family history work and then his grandma's. Then when he was visiting his grandparents over the weekend, he showed them what he had been doing with slægthistorie and they loved it and showed him pictures of their parents and grandparents and great grandparents. I think he is feeling the spirit of Elijah and that feeling that could open his heart more to believing in God. Family history work is a tool I haven't been very good about using but seeing how much David likes it, it helps me realize that no matter your age or your religious background, family history work can been exciting and brings the spirit for all those who do it. I cannot wait to come home and do more of our family history work. It is so fun. I get really into it when we are helping David and he just looks at me like I'm a weirdo and asks ”why on earth are you excited? This isn't your family.” and I say ”I just everyone's family! It's so exciting!” It's true though, families are the best!
We also got two really positive referrals this week from members. A member in Randers called us and we went and taught her friend Rikke on Tuesday. The appointment went so well. She is very searching and very open. She has the sweetest six year old daughter, named Emelie :) (so naturally, me and Emelie were best friends from the start. We played dress up and she showed me all of her toys. It was great) We felt prompted to teach her about the light of Christ and how we can know truth, before we started teaching about Joseph Smith. When we told Rikke that that was what we wanted to talk about she just stared at us and said "That is exactly what Elisebeth (her member friend) and I were just talking about this morning." The appointment went very well. Later this week, we invited them to church and She and her boyfriend and her daughter came! All three of them loved it! Especially her sweet daughter, who did not want to go home. She loved primary so much. The ward reached out and so many people talked to them and they are planning on coming back next Sunday.
And here are some pictures of us and Ashley. Ashley and Sister Ripa are teaching me how to be a good frowner. I struggle with it. Sister Ripa gave me a good piece of advice for it though, she said "Sister Briscoe, you cannot smile and frown at the same time"
We had a little miracle with reaching our goals this past Tuesday night. We had been to CUV and then we got a ride home from some members. We got out of the car and I looked at my watch. We had about 7 minutes before 9pm. I pointed that out to Søster Ripa and said "that's perfect, we have time to go contact!". So we just walked up our street stopping a few people that said "Ellers tak" or "Nej tak". I pulled out my planner and looked at our goals. In order to reach our goals for that day, we needed one more lesson and one new investigator. I looked up and saw a young man walking up the street towards us. Now we had about 3 minutes left before 9 but I told Søster Ripa, "We have to reach our goal of one other lesson, let's teach this man!" And we stopped him. He was very nice and very open. He is catholic and interested in the fact that we believe in living prophets. We were able to teach him briefly about Joseph Smith and he even said the prayer at the end of our short lesson. He asked God to bless us on our way and to find those who would listen. And then we were able to set up a return appointment with him! So we reached all of our goals that day! It was just another confirmation that as we do all we can to reach our goals, including using the last, precious minutes of the day to work, the Lord will bless us with His children who are ready to hear about this wonderful restored Gospel.
We have started teaching David about family history work because he knows so much about the church now. And at first, he thought he wouldn't like it, but then after we found his grandpa in the danish church books, he got really excited and then went home and spent his night looking up his grandpa's family history work and then his grandma's. Then when he was visiting his grandparents over the weekend, he showed them what he had been doing with slægthistorie and they loved it and showed him pictures of their parents and grandparents and great grandparents. I think he is feeling the spirit of Elijah and that feeling that could open his heart more to believing in God. Family history work is a tool I haven't been very good about using but seeing how much David likes it, it helps me realize that no matter your age or your religious background, family history work can been exciting and brings the spirit for all those who do it. I cannot wait to come home and do more of our family history work. It is so fun. I get really into it when we are helping David and he just looks at me like I'm a weirdo and asks ”why on earth are you excited? This isn't your family.” and I say ”I just everyone's family! It's so exciting!” It's true though, families are the best!
We also got two really positive referrals this week from members. A member in Randers called us and we went and taught her friend Rikke on Tuesday. The appointment went so well. She is very searching and very open. She has the sweetest six year old daughter, named Emelie :) (so naturally, me and Emelie were best friends from the start. We played dress up and she showed me all of her toys. It was great) We felt prompted to teach her about the light of Christ and how we can know truth, before we started teaching about Joseph Smith. When we told Rikke that that was what we wanted to talk about she just stared at us and said "That is exactly what Elisebeth (her member friend) and I were just talking about this morning." The appointment went very well. Later this week, we invited them to church and She and her boyfriend and her daughter came! All three of them loved it! Especially her sweet daughter, who did not want to go home. She loved primary so much. The ward reached out and so many people talked to them and they are planning on coming back next Sunday.
And here are some pictures of us and Ashley. Ashley and Sister Ripa are teaching me how to be a good frowner. I struggle with it. Sister Ripa gave me a good piece of advice for it though, she said "Sister Briscoe, you cannot smile and frown at the same time"
July 28 If you can't take the heat... just remember the winter
Kære Vidunerlig Familie og Venner,
Hold nu op! it has been such a hot summer. I sweat a down every day. just letting you know, in case you were wondering. I must smell great...sorry mom, it was not a requirement to look good or smell good in order to come on a mission! Really though, the heat and the humidity is crazy and literally no one in Denmark has AC. no one. So we just open all the windows all day and lovely little bugs come crawling in at night and make themselves at home. Nah, it's not bad. I shouldn't complain, especially because I remember the cold, dark, long winter. I'll take the heat over the witner any day.
This week has been really good. Again, lots of time meeting with some of the best people in the world. Ashley, my hilarious, english brother. That's how I think of him now. My whitty, brother who helps me out whenever I need it. He changed the bike tube on the back wheel of my bike and that was awesome.
Then time with David. We are helping him with his family history and that's lots of fun. There is this awesome member in the ward that helps us a lot when we are teaching David. Her name is Gitte and she's great. She has just the best spirit in her home. Oh and a family from Peru came and visited church on sunday. They are members and they were here visiting. and so I made David speak spanish with them. i love spanish. I can still understand a bit of it and speak very little but enough to communicate.
Also we saw our friend Marius, from Romania. He works a ton but he really wanted to meet last night, so we met up and talked and read some scriptures. He's such a giving person. Just wants to make a difference in this world but he works like 3 jobs and doesn't have time for much of anything else.
Also, we went to Copenhangen this week for the New missionary and the trainers meeting. That was great. And we were able to go through the temple. I love the temple so much. What a wonderful place. Truly, it is the House of the Lord and you can just feel His Spirit so strongly when you are there. I was sitting in the Celestial room and I did not want to leave. I could have sat there in silence forever, just feeling like I was close to my Savior and Heavenly Father. I hope you all remember to look towards the temple in everything you do because that is the goal, that is the vision of the Gospel and of life: to live in the presence of God forever and the temple gives us a little taste of what that will be like.
I am so grateful for this last month I have to be a full time missionary and I love you all so much for your support and encouragement.
MKH Søster Briscoe
Hold nu op! it has been such a hot summer. I sweat a down every day. just letting you know, in case you were wondering. I must smell great...sorry mom, it was not a requirement to look good or smell good in order to come on a mission! Really though, the heat and the humidity is crazy and literally no one in Denmark has AC. no one. So we just open all the windows all day and lovely little bugs come crawling in at night and make themselves at home. Nah, it's not bad. I shouldn't complain, especially because I remember the cold, dark, long winter. I'll take the heat over the witner any day.
This week has been really good. Again, lots of time meeting with some of the best people in the world. Ashley, my hilarious, english brother. That's how I think of him now. My whitty, brother who helps me out whenever I need it. He changed the bike tube on the back wheel of my bike and that was awesome.
Then time with David. We are helping him with his family history and that's lots of fun. There is this awesome member in the ward that helps us a lot when we are teaching David. Her name is Gitte and she's great. She has just the best spirit in her home. Oh and a family from Peru came and visited church on sunday. They are members and they were here visiting. and so I made David speak spanish with them. i love spanish. I can still understand a bit of it and speak very little but enough to communicate.
Also we saw our friend Marius, from Romania. He works a ton but he really wanted to meet last night, so we met up and talked and read some scriptures. He's such a giving person. Just wants to make a difference in this world but he works like 3 jobs and doesn't have time for much of anything else.
Also, we went to Copenhangen this week for the New missionary and the trainers meeting. That was great. And we were able to go through the temple. I love the temple so much. What a wonderful place. Truly, it is the House of the Lord and you can just feel His Spirit so strongly when you are there. I was sitting in the Celestial room and I did not want to leave. I could have sat there in silence forever, just feeling like I was close to my Savior and Heavenly Father. I hope you all remember to look towards the temple in everything you do because that is the goal, that is the vision of the Gospel and of life: to live in the presence of God forever and the temple gives us a little taste of what that will be like.
I am so grateful for this last month I have to be a full time missionary and I love you all so much for your support and encouragement.
MKH Søster Briscoe
July 21 - Sorry it is going to be so short!
Dear Family,
I am so sorry but this is going to be a really quick email. Sorry! I have gotten very busy on the computer trying to write to lots of different people in Denmark. Plus talking to the mission office and President, etc. etc.
Anyways, the elders have started keeping a countdown for when I go home. Jeps. They are all pretty excited about that. it's weird to be a "dying" missionary. Doesn't feel like I should be leaving. I feel like I have so much to learn and so much to do.
Here are some pictures of me, Maria, and Sister Ripa after a huge rainstorm.
And here is me and the coolest trashcan in Aarhus. It talks when you open it's lid! I stood there for a long time just opening and closing it.
I am so sorry but this is going to be a really quick email. Sorry! I have gotten very busy on the computer trying to write to lots of different people in Denmark. Plus talking to the mission office and President, etc. etc.
Anyways, the elders have started keeping a countdown for when I go home. Jeps. They are all pretty excited about that. it's weird to be a "dying" missionary. Doesn't feel like I should be leaving. I feel like I have so much to learn and so much to do.
Here are some pictures of me, Maria, and Sister Ripa after a huge rainstorm.
And here is me and the coolest trashcan in Aarhus. It talks when you open it's lid! I stood there for a long time just opening and closing it.
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