The Dejligt Week

So. The dejligt week in a dejligt review. (A little fun fact about den Danske folke - they use the word dejligt all the time! So  if we have a really positive lesson and a member is there, afterwards when we go over how it went they'll say something like "det var dejligt!" (that was delightful)) 

On Monday after we e-mailed we went to the old/original church building here in Aalborg. It's been converted into apartments now, isn't that crazy? 

After we finished p-day, we had language study with the Bishop's daughter, who is super awesome and is thinking about serving a mission! She came with us to a lesson with a less-active who thinks he is no longer a member of the church. But... he still is. So that's awkward! Also, he is slightly in love with Sister Bishop and has proposed to her in the past. We're probably going to give him to the elders to visit from here on out, just to be safe. :) 

But it was a really good lesson about President Uchtdorf's talk in conference, Come, Join With Us. We invited him to come back to church and as we were talking about returning to church, I had a really cool thought! Sometimes people leave the church because they feel like they aren't loved in the ward. But Heavenly Father loves us! And even if it feels like no one else notices, He misses us when we don't come to church.

That's the talk that we shared in all of our less-active appointments this week, and all of our less-actives responded really well to it! President Uchtdorf does a really good job of addressing the fact that we are all human, and we are not perfect. I think that many people who leave the church or struggle with their testimonies do so because they've seen someone in church do something un-Christlike. It's hard when that happens! But no one is perfect! So hopefully in the next few weeks we can bring some of our less-actives back. 

We work with a lot of less-actives and I want you all to know, they are JUST AS important as investigators! And when they come back, it's JUST AS exciting as a baptism. Let's be honest, everything about missionary work is pretty dang exciting!

On Tuesday we went to an appointment with a physical therapist for Sister Bishop, and... he did acupuncture! It was super weird seeing him stick needles into Sister Bishop's leg. I'm not sure how much I buy into acupuncture, and so far it hasn't done much to help her, but we shall see what comes of it! 

That day we also took a bus to an outlying area to visit a less-active who was referred to us by his sister. He wasn't home, but we talked to his wife who isn't a member and she told us to come back when he isn't working! So come back we shall next Monday night. 

While we were out there, and since we don't get to go that far out very often (for clarification - our area is very big and in order to reach some of it, we have to take long bus trips or trains which can be very expensive so we don't get to do it that much!), we did some door-knocking in the area. It was really good! We had some great conversations with people and they were all very nice to us. And since we have a reason to go out there (to visit our less-active!), we can spend some more time knocking and contacting which we feel really good about!

We had a meeting in Fredericia (down in Sydjylland) where all of the new missionaries and their trainers came together to talk about their experiences so far! I SAW SISTER GRANT AND SISTER HALE!!!! Oh it felt like heaven to see them again. It was SO FUN to catch up with each other and see their beautiful faces! They're doing so well! I'm a little jealous because they're both on Sjælland (that's the island where Copenhagen is) and in the same zone as each other so they see each other all the time, but then again I love love love being in Aalborg! 

Seeing Søster Grant and Søster Hale!  (my MTC companions)

At the end of the meeting President Sederholm shared a spiritual thought that really touched my heart. Haha I sound like a Grandma! But it really did get me. He shared the story of Hannah and Samuel from the Old Testament. Hannah hadn't been able to have children, so she prayed to the Lord to have a child and told Him that she would give her child to His service. The Lord blessed her with Samuel! She raised him up until he didn't need her anymore, then she sacrificed her time with him so that he could be the Lord's servant. 

President Sederholm related that to us as missionaries. So you, Mom and Dad, prepared me to be a missionary and a representative of Jesus Christ, and when I was ready to go, you sacrificed your time with me so that I could come out here to Danmark and serve the Lord. And now it's my responsibility to serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength. So that I can be like Samuel and, when the Lord calls me, say "Speak, Lord, they servant heareth." I love it! Thank you for being so supportive and willing to send me here.

Ya know, before I came here I was told a lot of negative things about serving a mission in Danmark. That it would be really really hard, and no one would listen to us, and that I would maybe plant seeds but never see anyone actually join the church. It's not true! Serving a mission is only really hard, not really really hard. ;) People do listen to us. Our schedule is full and we have really great investigators. There are baptisms happening all over the mission and this week we're going to commit two of our investigators (a married couple) to baptism with a baptismal date. 

Another really pretty church in downtown Aalborg.

And, I just remembered, this week on either Friday or Saturday our Ward Mission Leader has arranged for Sister Bishop and I to be interviewed by a TV program! Uh... let me just say that any and all prayers would be appreciated because I'm still not actually that great at speaking Danish, much less answering questions about being a missionary in Danish on TV. ;) Good luck to us! 

Mom, I got your package! I love having my winter coat - it's like having a little bit of home. And you TOTALLY read my mind by sending cheez its! I have been missing those delicious crackers so much! I loved it. Thank you so much. Sister Bishop and I are going to do facial Friday with the facials this week! Woo woo!

Cute stone-walled church in an outlying area.

Anyways, it's been a great week and I am getting a lot more comfortable talking with people on the street! I'm getting so much better at seeing my purpose as a missionary and actually doing it. I'm working really hard on following the Spirit and I have seen it working! 

We had a lesson with a less-active on Saturday morning who has a REALLY strong, amazing testimony, but lives really far away from church and up until recently hasn't really had a way to get there. We were talking with her about starting to come to church and I felt a really strong prompting to tell her how much I looked up to her for how strong she has stayed even though she can't go to church, and how much her testimony has helped me. She started crying and gave me a really big hug! It was so surprising and such a great moment! I can't wait until we have our next lesson with her.

About the bike - unfortunately, I mentioned the yellow bike to the ægtepar (senior couple) because it's in their storage unit and I needed to use their key to get it out. They were so excited to hear that they have bikes in their storage unit, that they're going to use them! So... I can't actually take the bike. Desvar. Which means that next week we're going to Bilka (I think it's kind of like Target or Wal Mart) for to buy me a bike! Sister Bishop got hers for 200 dollars so that's kind of what I'll be looking for. Anyways, fun times! I can't wait to be able to actually bike hopefully, when Sister Bishop gets better! :) 

PS don't mind my awkward little self in all the pictures. I'm just not very photogenic, ok?!