Dear wonderful Family (and friends)


Well family it was so wonderful to be able to skype you all and get the chance to talk to each of you. You are all amazing and it meant a lot to me to hear about your lives and see how much you are doing. You are all so talented and blow me away with your talents.
This past week was wonderful. I loved studying the birth of the Savior in the week where we have the opportunity to celebrate His birth. This week has been the darkest and rainiest and coldest week of my mission (weather wise) but it has been the warmest, brightest and most beautiful weeks I have had on my mission.

On the 24th, we went over to Lisbeth (a less active member who is slightly mentally handicapped) apartment because she called us asking if we could visit. So we decided to go over there and read Luke 2 with her and show her pictures of the Nativity. We asked her what she like about the picture and she said "everything, except that thing" She pointed to the manger. We asked her "why Lisbeth? Why don't you like that?" She told us "Because he should not have been born there, with all the animals and other things. He deserves to be in a castle." We asked her why again she thought that and she looked at us incredulously and said "because He is Jesus Christ! He should be in a castle". We then went on to talk about what Christ means to her and we looked at more pictures of His life and talked a lot about His Atonement and Resurrection and how much it would mean to her to be with her mother and cousin again. It was just a short visit though because we were going to be together with her later that night at the Bishop's house.

So after Lisbeth's house, we tried to go to the hospital to go singing but apparently we needed to have booked the hospital a month in advance to go caroling but that was okay because we had some good back up plans. We went out and stopped by a part member family. The wife is less active and has never ever let us into her apartment (because she tells us she doesn't want us over when her husband is over). Well her husband actually had been in the hospital for the past month but on Christmas Eve, he got permission to come home. So we went over there and buzzed up and she answered and we told her we wanted to sing to her. she said "My husband is home finally..." We thought she was going to tell us to go away, but then she continued "so come on up." She let us in and we sang to her and her husband. The Spirit was present and it was a miracle. I was so grateful to be able to meet her husband and to be the means of bringing the Spirit of Christ into their home on Christmas eve.

We stopped by an investigator but he was sleeping so he didn't answer. We were able to talk to two of his friends and sing Christmas carols to them and they loved that.

We had a Guds Tjeneste in the afternoon and there were so many less active families and non members visiting that day and so we had the opportunity to talk and to get to know a lot of them. So that was wonderful experience. It was great to see people focusing on the true meaning of Christmas.

After the service, Sister Tew and I biked in the cold rain to a nursing home to do some service. The man we had arranged it with told us that we could come at 3pm and that there would be some people we could just sit with and talk to and cheer them up. However, when we got there, everyone was napping. So we ended up just spending about an hour and a half helping the workers at the nursing home setting up the table and getting everything ready for their dinner that night. later, there were a few ladies we were able to sit with and talk to and we actually played some Christmas songs on the piano and sang for them. It was wonderful serving these beautiful daughters of God on a day when they were away from their families. Unfortunately we couldn't stay past 5pm because the Bishop was very clear that he wanted us at his house by 5.30pm. But it was still a wonderful experience volunteering and working with the workers at the nursing home.
Christmas Eve we ate with the Bishop and his family and we experienced a truly Danish Christmas. We ate the most typical danish food and it was delicious. Oh family, we are never going back to other Christmas foods. Sorry, it's only going to be danish food from now on, haha. But seriously, they made the most delicious food. And the bishop kept making eat and saying "come on, sister, is that really all you can eat?" and due to my competitiveness, I ended up stuffing myself to overflowing. But then we danced around the Christmas tree singing fun Jule sanger. den var virkelig sjov. And then we opened up gifts. and the ward here is amazing. The members gave gifts to the Bishop and his wife to make sure that we would have gifts to open up at their house that evening.
Then on Christmas day. We opened up gifts from home. Thank you so much family for everything! It was wonderful. I loved my gifts. We went to a members house and they own a jewelry supply shop here in Denmark and so their gift to Sister Tew and I was to get our ears pierced! and then pick out earrings. So, yup, I got my ears pierced and they allowed us to pick out whatever earrings we wanted from one of their best collections. That was cool.
Then on the 26th, the elders and us had lunch at a members house and so we tried getting there by cutting through a park but because it has rained so much here, the park was completely flooded so we couldn't walk on the path, so we ended up going off the path and trecking through a swamp and I pretty much destroyed my boots. But it was a good lunch with rugbrød and russisk salat and liver paste. Mmmm, I love liver paste now :)

Well I hope you all have an amazing new years and remember to make a goal this year centered on the gospel. I know that if you make a goal that revolves around the Savior, your year will be so wonderful and you will find peace and joy.
Love you all! Sister Diana Briscoe
Well, here are some pictures from this past week.
1. Sister Tew, Me and Lisbeth at the bishops home Christmas Eve

2. Me getting my ears pierced!


3. All the jewelry we were allowed to pick from (oh emmy, I wish you could have been there, you would have loved it!)

4. that is where the path to the members house should have been
5. this is the path we ended up taking, haha

Dearest Family and Friends,

First of all GOD JUL! (Merry Christmas!), I really hope this year you each get to spend time thinking of the true meaning of Christmas and the gifts that really matter. I have come to know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that He was born into this world in poverty and humility but that He will return in glory. Now is the time to prepare ourselves and the world for His second coming. What a marvelous time this is now to think of our Redeemer and to share His gospel with our friends and family. I know that reaching out to others in love will bring peace and joy and that more people than you can imagine will be ready to hear the Good News this week than any other week. I wish you all a wonderful Merry Christmas and I want to add my whitness to all the other ones that have come before me and will come after me, that I know, I know Christ is the Savior of the world and that He knows and cares for each of us personally. Come unto Christ, and you will find peace and rest.

Second of all, I want to tell about the many amazing miracles that have happened in this past week. Most of our time in the evening has been dedicated to carolling with the Elders, we carol from 5pm or 6pm to the rest of the night because the members just keep giving us referrals to sing to and danes always, ALWAYS invite you to give you some chocolate or candy or cookies and to talk for 10 or 15 minutes. I have seriously eaten so much chocolate this past week from caroling, it was ridiculous. But we have had some really good conversations with poeple about the church and about what we do as missionaries. So even though it's a different type of missionary work, it is still missionary work. And the members have gotten way involved. One member gave us 8 referrals to go sing to! and another member gave us four and after contacting one of her referrals (Hanne), Hanne referred us to her friend, Dorthe, and so we went and sang to Dorthe and Dorthe referred us to her friend and her daughter. So we have a little chain going.

Plus, caroling always results in many adventures. Like take yesterday for example. Yesterday started out cold but it wasn't raining yet so we thought "perfect, this will be great for caroling". and we had planned on getting a lot of members sung to and most of our referrals because we finally had bikes (both us and the elders). So our plan was to start caroling at 3pm and just do that until we finally finally were finished with this giant caroling project. Well, the elders showed up at 3 but sister tew and I were still trying to fix the many problems with her bike. So they show up and we're just out in our skirts and tights on the ground with bike grease all over our coats and then it starts to rain and rain and rain. So the elders were kind enough to hold their umbrellas over us as we struggled with the bike.but then they realized that they were making two sisters fix a bike so they made a switch spots so they could be gentlemen. It actually took an hour to fix her bike and by this point we're all pretty cold and wet. But we're all on bikes so we were going pretty fast, despite the raging wind and rain. We sang to one person and as we were all pedalling away, sister tew's bike broke...so we decided to show up to a member family who lived close by and see if we could plead a bike off of them for a few hours. We showed up and we all must have looked more pitiful than we thought because the members had this horrified look on their faces and they ushered us in quickly. So we stood there sopping wet in their entry way as the mom lectures us for being out in this weather. Then they refused to let us leave until we had all changed clothes into dry socks, boots, sweaters and rain jackets. They let us borrow a bike but it was too tall for Sister Tew so I rode it.

And once again we were off to carol and things were going really well and we were singing to a lot of people and having lots of success. Everyone we sang to was really grateful and told us to go sing to their neighbors and some of the members we went and sang to, decided to come join us as we sang to their neighbors and many people said "now I feel like Christmas is here" after we had sung to them. We were in an area with lots of people to sing to so we all locked up our bikes at one spot and walked from apartment building to apartment building to sing. Then we came back to the bikes and I reached in my pocket for the key to the member's bike and it wasn't there. frantically, I searched my pockets and my bag, dumping everything out and looking through it all. We used the flashlights on our phones and searched the area right by the bikes but we couldn't find it. So the Elders and us decided to split up and go looking for it. Sister Tew and I decided to pray and in the prayer I asked that the Lord help us find the key or help lead us to what He wanted us to be doing right then. So we searched for 20 more minutes...no luck. The Elders came back. Nothing. We decided that we could check this apartment building we had been in earlier to sing in but we all thought it was pretty unlikely that the key would be there. But we went back and Elder Christensen sees it before we walk in the entry way and says "hey I found it!". But right as he said it, a Danish woman, who was going into the building, looks at us all taken aback. We explain to her we were looking for the key and then Elder Christensen explains to her that we are out caroling and asks her if she would like to her a song. She agrees and we sing Jingle Bells. She tells us that it was so nice to hear us sing and that she got tears in her eyes from listening. I ask her if she would like to hear another one. She says yes. and we sing silent night. As soon as we started singing, we could feel the Spirit very strong and this time she cried openly and thanked us so much for our song. After we said goodbye to her, we offered a prayer of gratitude to be able to find that daughter of God who needed to feel His love that night.  The true miracle is that the key I had lost was in a place in that entry way where I definitely had not been standing. We all marvelled about how on earth the key could have ended up where it did, but the Lord works in mysterious ways and sometimes it takes Him helpnig us find a lost key to lead us to who He wants us to meet.

Well, I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Love Søster Briscoe

Week 42 of the mission, In which we get trapped in Aarhus and I start my own catering business

Dear Family,

So this has been a surprising week. It started out with me and Sister Tew going on exchanges with the Sisters serving in Esbjerg and spending our Tuesday with them. that was fun and no surprises there. Just a nice normal day of typical missionary work here in DK.

However, Wednesday was a day full of terrible biking. Sister Tew and I were biking really fast to the train station when she hit a but and went flying off of her bike. Thank goodness she had a helmet on and gloves and a big coat so there was no damage but still, that wasn't a lot of fun. Then later Wednesday, we were biking in the dark (so at about 4pm) and we had lights on our bikes but this car that was to the side of the road did not look at all when pulling out because I was right along side his car and I was very blessed that I was able to quickly turn and swerve out of his way. I was also blessed there was no traffic coming the other way. Well, as I was swerving and trying not fall off, Sister Tew stops behind this driver and decides not to try to drive past him because he seemed like he didn't know what he was doing. Anyways, he starts backing up and actually hits her bike! Luckily she jumped off before he hit her. So ya, bad bike day.

Then Thursday morning we went up to Aarhus for zone conference and the plan was for us to have training in the morning, a big Christmas lunch and then so more training and then we would all see a movie (Ephriam's Rescue). So the morning went as planned but then at the beginning of lunch, the zone leaders come in and announce that there is a huge storm on it's way and that they trains and bridges are closing down in about 2 hours and so then everyone frantically started trying to figure out how to get home. However, even with our frantic last minute plans, Sister Tew and I, along with 4 other Sisters and 16 Elders got stuck and left in the church. All the other missionaries who tried to make it home got stuck in a town called Fredicia because a semi-truck get blown onto the train tracks.

But it was actually really fun getting stuck in the church. We were still able to watch Ephriam's Rescue and then we just played ping pong and cleaned the church really well and then had a little testimony meeting. It was lots of fun. Luckily, there are sisters living in Aarhus, so all of the sisters were able to cram into the apartment and spend the night there. The storm wasn't as terrible as we thought it was going to be so we were able to make it home Friday morning. All the missionaries made it back to their areas on Friday.

On Saturday, Sister Tew and I stopped by our investigator Ruth who is kind of on pause from seriously investigating the church because she wants time to prepare for her birthday party which is this Saturday. So we stopped over and aksed if there is anything we could do for her. Well, I've made some Danish pastries for her in the past and so she gave me this big bag of flour, sugar, margrine and told me she wanted me to make cupcakes for her party and make patries and make them look really good. So I'll do that during weekly planning on Friday. But I just had to laugh because I never thought that on my mission I would turn into a baker who got hired to make free food and treats for ward parties and baptisms and regular birthday parties as well. I'll send pictures of what I make. I'm not exactly sure what I'll bake because Ruth just gave me some supplies and told me "bake whatever you'd like". But we did offer to help and if this is the service she wants us to do, then I'm more than happy to help :)

I am very excited for Christmas and celebrating it here in Denmark. I'm very excited to give a gift of devoted service to the Savior this year. I hope each of you get the chance to sit down and think about the life of Christ and the significance of His birth to you personally. I've been reading the four gospels in the New Testament and really pondering about the miracles Christ peformed and why He is the greatest gift I've ever received in my life. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that when we put Christ first on Christmas, we will have the most joyful day. I hope each of us finds a way to give a gift to Him on the day that the world celebrates His birth.

I love you all! Have a wonderful, Christ-filled week!

Med Kærlig Hilsen,
Søster Briscoe

Count your many blessings

Dear Family,

Wow, what a crazy week! I have just been travelling around and missing buses and trains left and right and one blessing I am counting is: members who are just amazing and see two sisters walking home in the dark cold rainy night with huge bags of dunas and stuff and just helping us out and giving us a lift in their car. That may or may not have happened twice this week because if a train is late, we miss the bus. If we miss the bus, we walk the 2 miles home. But thank goodness for good-hearted people who want to help us out :)

So we traveled to Vejle monday and spent the day there Tuesday on exchanges with Sister Ripplinger and Sister Henderson. It was really nice. Sister Ripplinger and I were together and we did some service and trying to teach people but we kept getting burned or people would forget our appointments. It reminded us of the good old days we spent in Odense in the beginning of our missions here in Denmark.

Wednesday was a normal day of missionary work for me and sister tew and then it was back to not normal and travelling around everywhere. Thursday was thanksgiving and sister tew and I made thanksgiving dinner for our district: Fried chicken, potatoes, and old salad and danish pancakes for dessert. the best missionary thanksgiving dinner anyone could hope for. Then Sister Tew and I traveled down to Copenhagen for the leadership council. We got to the mission home at about 8pm and arrived right as the Sederholms and their guests were finishing up a real thanksgiving meal. Guess who was there? Anne-maire and Mats and their family! It was great to see them and talk to them again and actually feel confident in speaking danish to them. i was able to enjoy some thanksgiving left overs that night and some pie as well. Well, all the leaders of the mission spent the night at the mission home and then I convinced sister tew to go running with me. So friday morning I went running in the forest right by our house and we found the rope swing and played on that for a while. Oh man, that brought back many awesome memories :) Remember family? Playing on that swing. Then we came back and I took a picture on our steps leading to our house (that too was a blessing this week, remembering you all and the great adventures we had in Denmark together)

After leadership council, Sister Sederholm prepared another thanksgiving feast (another wonderful blessing to eat homemade food!) and that was delicious. She is a wonderful woman and a fantastic cook. Then sister tew and I tried to get home. I say try because due to series of unfortunate events, like trains being hours late or getting on the wrong train, it took us 7 hours to get home! So we did most of our weekly planning on the train ride back.

And on Sunday during relief society, one of the sisters got up and got the elders and I thought "Okay, they must be doing some sort of presentation about missionary work and we sisters are not important enough", which was a bad attitude to have. The sisters then pulled out four giant wrapped christmas boxes and gave them to each of us. In denmark, they have Christmas count downs for every day of the month until the 24. So 24 gifts and in our boxes from the relief society, we have 25 gifts! (huge blessing) One for each day leading up to christmas and then one for christmas day because they remembered that americans celebrate it on the 25th of december. We were all so surprised and super happy.













The members here are great! I love them. We also had a Christmas concert sunday night and a lot of members brought their friend and Sister Tew and I had a chance to talk to all of the visitors. and now we are also going to be bringing several non members who were at the concert copies of the book of mormon and joy to the world dvds as well. It was a very spiritual and great concert, with a really sweet script along with it. It was fun to be a part of it and to help support the ward that way. I realized now that I'm not here in Horsens to try to force the members into helping me with my missionary work, but that I really am here to support the Horsens members in the missionary work they are already doing. I am a laborer in their vineyard.

And our investigators here are great as well. We just recently got a new investigator. Her name is Ruth and she is this lady from Ghana that I met on the bus my second day in Horsens. I have talked to her a few times on the bus and talked about God and what I do as a missionary and she told me about her life and then one time she really opened up and told me about stresses from work, family life and moving to a new apartment. So I told her "call us for service and we'll come help you move". And so two weeks later, she called! (another blessing here) And we went and served her and gave her a Book of Mormon wrapped in Christmas wrapping and now she is investigating the church. But she is super sweet and we are invited to her birthday party, which I am way excited for because she is a professional cake maker :) She is way sweet and nice. She's like my African mother I feel like. and she actually sad she could be my mom too.

And another investigator Solveig made me and Sister Tew and the Elders Christmas decorations because she told us "you don't have any family here and so I want to be your family". Sadly, she'll be in India the whole month of December but the decorations she made were way beautiful (and another blessing). She also gave me and sister tew huge things of chocolate...which I don't need by any means but as a wise brother advised me "when it comes to being healthy, it's mind over matter".

And Michael is home! That is so wonderful, keep him busy, tell him you love him and give him a hug... :) give him a compliment: Michael has brown hair.

Well, I love you all so much and you are all blessings in my life :)

Knus, Søster Briscoe

Visits to Odense

Dear Family, 

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.

Kære Familie,

Jeg bare elsker jer alle sammen! Jeg er taknemmelig at have jer i mit liv.

Okay, so this past week was really good. Sister Tew and I went up to Århus and went on exchanges with the Sisters there (this transfer we're doing travelling exchanges. Normally the sisters come to Horsens, but this time, we're going to them). It was quite the adventure in Århus though. At one point I was walking around the outskirts of the city in this little quiet countryside with Sister Hadley and it was just the coldest weather I have felt in my life. Let me tell you, the wind here can just rip right through your coat and chill you to the bones. It was also just pelting icy rain the whole time and neither one of us had umbrellas. It was great. We just laughed and sang hymns because we were lost in the middle of no where in the freezing cold. Also, it gets dark at 4pm now. So it got dark and then we were lost and found our way to this apartment comlex place and asked a lady for help. and so she walked with us, helping us find the previous investigator's apartment and she asked us where we were from and Sister Hadley told her "utah" and the lady said "oh that's funny, my sister used to live in utah, she was one of those mormons" and we're like "really? well we're the mormon missionaries!" She was surprised because she couldn't see our name tags but we had a great talk with her. Appartently her mom was an active member of the church and her siblings were baptized and she told us that she was blessed in the Mormon church and never baptized. She told us about how strong in the church her sister had been. The spirit was strong and I'm way excited to find out what happens with her.

Also, we had about 10 minutes left before dinner time but we were back at the church early and so instead of coming in earlier, Sister Hadley suggested calling the other sisters to get the address of a potential investigator. While she was on the phone, I felt impressed to still contact people. I told her that I was going to contact a man walking towards us as she talked with Sister McVey. I started talking to this man about faith and Christmas and he opened up about how he lonely he was because his life just left him and took his son from him. We started talking about Christ and His Atonement. And he confessed that he knew he needed to come to church to find peace because he kept seeing churches everywhere. He even pointed to our church and said "see? I just see churches everywhere!" I asked him if he had ever been inside the LDS church and he said "no, it's not like other normal churches". I explained that it was orginazed in the same way Christ had organized His church and started teaching a little bit of the Restoration. By then Sister Hadley was off the phone and we set a return appointment up with him for the next day (Sunday) and a chapel tour. It was just a great testimony to me that the Lord blesses us with success if we keep striving and having a hope that we will find someone who is ready to hear the gospel.

Then when Sister Tew and I came home from Århus we were on the train and this young man started chatting with us. We were just mentioning busses and how our bus had just drove and that we would just walk (we didn't tell him back to our apartment, because we never tell anyone where we live, so we just mentioned the hospital cause we live really close by there). He said, "ya, it's about 20 minutes to walk were you girls need to go, I'm going there too". We thought he just meant the hospital but we didn't ask him. Anyways, we started walking home and then this car pulls up to us on the sidewalk and this young woman jumps out and says in English "hey girls, I don't have space for you to ride in the car but I can take your suitcase." and then the young man who we talked to in the train hops out of the car. So we were really confused because I had never met them before ever. And the lady just continued "I'm going to the same place your going." And we still just kinda looked at her and each other blankly. "I live in the castle, where you live", she explained. So appartently, she is our neighbor Kimmie. So we gave her our suitcase and then walked home and then picked it up from her once we got there and she ended up giving us cookies. and she is Christian and lived in Colorado Springs for a while. She was way cool and super nice but we were just really surprised and shocked when she pulled up. We thought she was a crazy lady trying to steal our stuff but luckily she was just a sweet awesome neighbor who was helping us out.

Well, I hope everything is just going very well for all of you. I pray for you every day and I know the Lord is watching over you all and helping you out. and even though you may not get what you want at the very moment you want it, He will definitley help you receive that which you need. Be grateful for that, even though it may be hard, it is worth it.

I love you! Søster Diana Briscoe

Photos from Novembers Mission Leadership Council

Oct 21 - Harvest Time in Horsens

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

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

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 

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

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

Dear Family and Friends,
So this is probably the first you will hear about the fire that has just happened in my mission. A sister's Apartment caught and fire and destroyed everything in it in church yesterday (luckily the four sisters that used to live there were at church so they were all safe) but they have lost everything besides the clothes they took to church and the bags they had with them. It just so happens that I am one of the sisters that lived there.

From what the firemen think, it was an Electric box in our Apartment that pretty much exploded and started a huge fire immeditely. The fire and smoke and ash destroyed everything in our Apartment: Furniture, clothes (even the ones in drawers), books, Pictures, letters (so sorry to all my friends. I swear I had letters ready to send you but you'll probably have to wait a while longer to actually receive any letters from Sister Briscoe). All my clothes are gone. This is why you should wait to buy really cute and modest clothes from Europe until you are nearly done with your mission! Never buy them before. And don't care about material Things, you can still preach the gospel with just a few items as a opposed to many.

So sister Bartholomew and I were walking home after church and had planned to get her some Soup (cause she was sick). we saw our Windows flapping open and our neighbors standing outside. They were giving us weird looks and so we asked them what was up and they told us that our Apartment (just our Apartment, not the Building) had caught on fire and the firemen had been there and a few of them were still there but they also told us we were not allowed in our Apartment. Now at this point, I was picturing a Little fire. Like maybe the other sisters left the stove or oven on when they left for church and it started a small fire. But eventually, Sister Bartholomew and I convinced the fireman to let us go look and see the damage. I felt like I was walking into one of those crime scenes you see on tv where the person burns Down a place to hide evidence. Every singel inch of wall and ceiling was Black. some furniture was destroyed and they let us look at our clothes: all ruined. The Pictures I'm sending are from another sister's camera (mine was in the Apartment when it burned. I don't know where it is or if it's alright). The biggest bummer is the clothes. What a shame that all that Money is wasted. Now I know not to buy stupid stuff anymore.

But we called president, told the other sisters and then all four of us cried. We cried, prayed and cried some more. We cried because of the Financial loses and we cried because we are so grateful to just be alive. It was a freak accident and if it had happened while any of us were in the Apartment, "it is unlikely we would be alive" (quote from our friendly fireman) And we have so much to be grateful for. The members here have seriously stepped up immediately and donated old clothes and food and a place to stay and dinner appointments. I'm touched by how much people have helped. It makes me think of Doctrine and Covenants 84:77-91. The Lord knows that I, Sister Murray and Sister Hall, and Sister Bartholomew need clothes and food and so He blessed us to be in the most amazing and wonderful area where we already within 24 hours, have so much, definitely enough to get us through as missionaries.

I'm also grateful for the gospel. I am so grateful to be a missionary and to be sharing this wonderful gospel that I know is true. I know that Christ lives and that He still has disciples on this earth. I know them, they've given me food and clothes and a place to sleep right now. It's interesting and humbling being on the receiving end of so much love

and charity and kindness. I'm overwhelmed and I don't know how on earth I will ever every repay them back. To whoever reads this, don't take the most important Things for granted. Please don't forget that God has a plan and it involves the most important thing ever: our own families. Because of the gospel, God has given us temples and priesthood power where we can be with our families for time and all eternity. I know with my Whole Heart that the temple is the Lord's House and that we should do everything we can to learn about how wonderful the temple is and how we can get there.

I love you all so much. I'm so eternally grateful for you in my life and I pray for your safety! Please pray and thank the Lord for the members in Odense Denmark that are taking care of four homeless sister missionaries.

Much love, Sister Briscoe

A busy week, in which I get sick and get a ton accomplished

Dear Everyone, woah, what a busy week! After you hit the 6 month mark as a missionary, time just picks up and days and weeks slip by. This week went by so incredibly fast.

I was sick from Tuesday to Thursday (just a Cold and a really sore throat). But thankfully I was able to go out and Work for most of the days. I did feel awful Wednesday night, after our Ward coordination meeting and I ended up asking Elder Ivie and our Ward mission leader for a Blessing. It was a neat experience because Elder Ivie annointed and did that in English and my Ward mission leader (Stephan) Sealed the Blessing and did that in Danish. It was the first Blessing I've received in Danish and it was a very special experience. It just reconfirmed my testimony about how real the priesthood is and how God is the one speaking to us when we receive Blessings, because Stephan said some Things that he could have no way of knowing that it was exactly what I was struggling with. I love the priesthood. I'm so very grateful to know worthy priesthood holders that can act as intruments in the Lord's hands and help me and others when needed.

Despite being sick, we got a TON done this week. How grateful I am for Ward members that love doing missionary Work. There is this greenlandic member in our Ward, JJ, and he loves doing missionary Work. He comes teaching with us so much and he is right now helping us teach two greenlandic families (because we can't speak greenlandic). We've met with them once before JJ came with us and that did not go well because only one of the Family members speaks Danish and the second time we came, JJ was with us and the spirit was so strong and six other Family members now are investigators!

Also, we met this mulsim man trying to contact a referral with JJ. He pulled up on his bike and started yelling at us to come over and we thought he was mad but then we found out that that was just the way he talked. He just yells. Anyways, he was very interested and enthusiastic about our pamphlets and kept telling us we needed to bring him some in Arabic. Then he showed us his house, and hustled us in (like he did not even listen to us when we tried to tell him we couldn't come in because there wasn't a third girl). He just kept frantically beckoning us in and saying "come! COME! come!" finally, we just went in (I know, I know, I'm an awful missionary). Basaam (that's his name) is a very devote muslim, with the prayer rug and Compass pointing East and everything. Anyways, he made us sit Down and then brought out all this food for us to eat. Then he proceeded to yell us, not tell but yell, his life story. We finally convinced him to let us go and he very energetically told us that we were his sisters and JJ was his friend. "Sisters, Friend! Sisters Friend" he wanted to be sure we understood. That was an interesting experience.

Our investigator Nynne is perfect. Seriously she is. We went to a lesson with her and asked her how reading was going and she is half way through the book of mormon but she's going to start over and keep reading in Alma at the same time so she can understand clearly. She prayers after every time she reads and gets a confirmation that it is true. She now believes Joseph Smith truly was a prophet and she surprised us by telling us that she has read the ENTIRE gospel principles mannual. Yeah, that was a surprise. And she says she wants to live after everything she's read in it. I love her so much. She's so amazing. And it's so obvious to me that it's nothing I am doing but that this process for her is really between her and the Lord. He's the One teaching her, not me. And then, through her example and her sincerity, she has taught me so much of what it Means to put the Gospel and the Lord first.

Anyways, I love you all so much!

Kærlig Hilsen, Søster Briscoe

P.S. The Picture is of Søs Ripplinger, Me, Nynne and Søs Bartholomew and the other Picture is Nynne's oldest boy, Jonathan playing with the Elders after a dinner appointment (he is 3 years old)

Great Week

So this past week went really well. I love it when you have investigators who are sincerely investigating the church and putting time and effort into studying the Book of Mormon. I love it when you have investigators who have testimonies. And that is Nynne. She is perfect. Man, I love her so much and every day, that love just increases. It's so great being a missionary because the Lord just blesses you with a portion of His charity and love that He has for His children.

This week we went teaching with Sabrina! Yup, that's right, Sabrina from when we first lived here. It was great to see her teach. It was the first time since she's been back from her mission that she has gone teaching with the missionaries. I felt a Little special. She also called me "Diana" and that was weird cause it didn't sound like my name. I'm "Søster" now.

Also, we found out that one of the Africans in our Ward is going to another church. But we also found out that not only is going to another English speaking african church, he is preaching in an English speaking african church. And guess what he is preaching? The message of the Restoration and the Book of Mormon! haha, so that's missionary Work to the extreme. Now we just need to get all those people he's been working with to come to our church Building and then baptized. We'll have to have a talk with our African friend and see what is really up.

Hmmm, I can't really think of anything else that has been very exciting. Busses have recently been late. Like 30 minutes late to everything and that is getting old.

I'm hungry and I want to eat a Kebab. I love Kebabs. There are middle Eastern burritos and they are delicious. But I only have 63 krones to get me through this week so going and buying a kebab would put me at 13 krones. So no kebab for me. No food for me actually. Just a Little bitty small. That's what happens when missionaries travel and use all their food Money to visit less actives that live way far out there.

Sorry this letter is short this week. I'll try to have a more eventful week this week. Love you all!!!

MVH Søster Briscoe

Can't slow down now

So my new companion is Søster Bartholomew from American Fork Utah. She is 19 and super enthusiastic and likes to take responsiblity and work hard with me. Her Danish is also way good. I am highly impressed. It's cool cause this is our first companionship where both of us can speak pretty good Danish and neither of us are completely new to the mission field. So we work as equals and can get a lot of work done together. I love it.

And boy, the work is picking up fast now. We had several members bring friends to church yesterday and our amazing investigator Nynne came with her son. Sister Bartholomew and I ended up sitting apart from each other during sacrament so we could be sure to talk to all the visitors. We actually are having family home evening with one of the none-members and a member family tonight. I am so grateful to be serving in Odense where the members enthusiam and excitment for missionary work is just picking up and growing. The Lord is hastening His work, I feel like I'm running to catch up and I still can't make it. But in September, the Lord will bring 2 more missionaries to each ward. So by the end of September, there will be 6 missionaries in each ward here in Odense. 2 Sisters and 4 Elders. Plus, the married couple. So a grand total of 14 missionaries.

I am about to officially hit my 6 month mark and I do not like that. It feels like I just barely got out into the field a few weeks ago and so it's stresses me out to think that I'm a third of the way done with my mission. I've also heard that now time is just going to go faster and faster. No more slowing down. Wow.

Finally, I can send pictures again.



Me and Søster Ripplinger on our last weekend together. We went to the magical land of Vissensbjerg to teach Nynne and to see our goats. Oh, I also learned that we can eat these really delicious wild plums and cherries in Vissensbjerg.


For our last P-day together, Sister Ripplinger and I decided to match (haha, that was her favorite thing to do) and we aslo went and saw H.C. Andersen's Hus. That was cool to see where he was born and then go through a museum all about him. It's funny. In The main area in Odense, the street lights (like the green and read walking lights), they are little H.C. Andersen figures, complete with cane and tophat. One day I'll take a picture and send that to you.

Soccer, Strokes and Saying Goodbye

So it is a little crazy how much can happen over the course of such a short time when you are a missionary and I feel like that is how my week has been.

We played soccer this Saturday with some more investigators and non-member friends that members bring and I scored a goal! Et Mål!!!! JAAH! it was pretty cool too cause I scored it with my knee. ja, I'm pretty talented like that. Okay, fine, it was an accident, but I still scored the goal and that is all that matters. Oh, also, I stole the ball away from someone on the other team and they totally hit my nose with their arm really hard and I got a bloody nose again...man, me and my nose on a mission, it just can't take a break...get it? haha, a break? oh the cleverness of me

But going back a little bit earlier in my week, Thursday was a very crazy day, we had a lesson with these two ladies from Ghana and we brought a member from Nigeria who actually served his mission in Ghana. It went really well. Except Africans talk so fast that sometimes I don't even know if they are speaking English or not. But anyways, our Nigerian member just yellled at these two girls for like 30 minutes but it was done in an awesome African man way and so it was really effective and the spirit was way strong. Although at some points in the lesson I almost started laughing because I just thought "wow, is this really happening?" Life as a missionary, we have some fun situations.

Then after the lesson Thursday, we decided to walk by this less active and see what was up with him but we were debating which way to take when sister Ripplinger laughed and told me "that lady cannot pick up her bag. She's tried like 5 times, look at her." So I looked and I could see this lady trying to pick up her purse but her arm was completely limp and her fingers wouldn't move. I could tell that something was not quite right with her so I said "let's go help her" By the time we got up to her, some groceries had spilled out of her bag and she was trying to pick them up with her right arm but she just kinda flopped her arm at the stuff and that's all she could do. We helped her put the stuff back in the bag but she seemed really distraught. I asked her "Er du okay?" and if she needed a doctor. and then she started breathing really heavily and motioning like she was going to throw up. I stopped a nearby Dane and gave them our phone and told them to call the emergency number 112 and then the lady with the limp arm collapsed. It was a really good thing I was right next to her cause I was able to catch her. and just set her head in my lap. Poor Sister Ripplinger was freaking out at this point. I made her help me turn the lady on her side, in case she threw up. Luckily there was this nurse who saw the lady collapse and came and helped us, then a doctor came up and helped us out as well. We had to wait a long time for the ambulance though. We didn't see our less active member but we hope we helped that lady.

on Friday, we went to Assens, a beautiful town on the coast and taught our new investigator Pia. It's funny because she fed us cake and herbal tea. That's something I love about the Danish culture that I want to adopt when I get home: whenever you visit someone, even if you met them the other day, they always have this little tea party set up for you when you get to their house. They have cake and drinks and it's so fancy and nice. I always feel so blessed and spoiled. I want to do that though when I get home is always have some nice little refreshments set out for guests who come visit me.

We also got word on transfers. Well, I'm saying goodbye. Not to Odense but to Søster Ripplinger. It's crazy cause we haven't been together very long and they are already taking her away from me. I am staying in Odense and she is going over to Jylland. My new companion is Sister Barthalomew (i know that isn't how you spell it but oh well)

We also had an amazing lesson Saturday night with our investigator Nynne. We asked her if she had read and prayed about the Book of Mormon and she told us "Well, I actually decided to pray about it before I read it and as soon as I started praying about it I just got this warm feeling throughout my entire body and I knew that this was something that God wanted me to read and learn about." So yes, teaching her is so easy because it really isn't us teaching her. her learning is really between the Lord and herself.

We also had two investigators at church this week! Wooo! record for us missionaries here in Denmark!

Well, Love you all lots! One day I'll figure out how to send pictures, I promise!

Love Søster Briscoe

gå gade & geder (walking street & goats)

So this week has been pretty dull up until the weekend.

On Saturday morning, the Elders and us took a big sign to the gå gade (walking street) with a big picture of Christ that said "Vi har et svar..." and we just tried to contact everyone we could. Søster Ripplinger and I finally found out that we could sing with our guitar and not get arrested so we brought the guitar and sung a bit while the Elders talked to people and it was neat too because every time we started singing, the Edlers were able to give out a copy of the Book of Mormon. Apparently our magical singing did the trick. Nah, but we did have some success with people stopping and listening and talking afterwards...No return appointments so no new investigators. next time.

Then Sunday (yesterday), Søster Ripplinger and I took the bus to this little town called Vissensbjerg to try to contact a media referral. We were way excited too because the referral was from about 6 days ago (normally they are from 6 years ago). Well anyways, the bus takes out to the country. Way in the country. We ended up stopping in this goat field. that was cool. Except I got stung by stinging nettle. Sister Ripplinger threw a plum to feed the goats and accidently hit the biggest one right in the middle of the forheard.

Then things got weird. We laughed about the goat incident but we actually think that the goat may have turned our world into this little fairytale land because Vissensbjerg was not like anywhere we've been before. People were super nice and friendly and open. Our referral wasn't home but we met lots of good people and potential investigators.

And everything, the landscape was GORGEOUS. We ate wild strawberries (this super nice Danish lady invited us to pick some in her yard) and then this lady had the most amazing garden I have ever been in. she lives at the bottom of  this hill that goes up into a forest and she has created all these little paths leading everywhere, with plants just all in our path. We felt like we were in a jungle. She also had 2 little glass houses with comfy chairs and then a little log house full of books. then after she let us wander around her yard, she invited us in and gave us a tour of her house. it was awesome. She lives in this hobbit-like world, with cool homemade artwork and wood carvings. She was way sweet too. We are going to go back and teach her the gospel and hopefully help her in her yard.

Well, I realize now that my adventures may have sounded boring but to me they were the highlight of my week.

I love you all!

Love, Søster Briscoe

P.S. in Vissensbjerg i got to feed a wild bunny too!