GOD JUL!
Can you BELIEVE how fast time is going?
It's almost Christmas!
It was just Christmas!
It's almost 2015!
Ahh. I am in shock.
I'm also extremely excited because... I'M GOING TO BE COMPANIONS WITH SØSTER HALE! In Horsens! Isn't that the best news ever?! I was pretty sure I'd either transfer to Gladsaxe 1 with Sister Grant or Horsens with Sister Hale, either way it would have been the greatest ever. Well, besides the fact that I have to leave Sister Hadfield. I love that Søsta! She's going to do great here in Slagelse - Sister Reed is coming from Frederiksberg - they were companions in the MTC!
We have had SUCH a great week, and of course this week is going to be even better - Christmas is so wonderful!
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| Me with one of the cutest girls ever! Her mom was baptized last week. The Elders are photo bombing! |
So I'll start off with last Monday. We finished off the night by stopping by S, from Sri Lanka we met on the street 2 or so months ago - she gave us her address, but has never been home. She was home on Monday! So was her daughter, S, and her husband, S (they're into the S names). They are a Hindu family, and so so sweet. We had a pretty good first lesson, and it turns out S is in the same class as the Bishop's son J at school!
They invited us back yesterday for dinner and a lesson, and it just so happened that J got called as a ward missionary yesterday as well so we took him out with us to the appointment. It was way awesome, he and S are pretty good friends, and the Sisters are going to go back to meet with them again on January 3rd (right after I leave :( ). We told S she doesn't need to worry about making us food, but apparently it's a big culture thing so she probably will do it again. Such a sweet family!!
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| Søster Hadfield on her birthday making flæskesteg |
On Wednesday we started Christmas caroling with the Elders to members of the ward. We've done it a few days for an hour or so at a time, and it's been really fun! Especially because the elders have a car so we don't have to freeze outside (not that it's been very cold, last night it was 7 C! I think that's in the high 40's F, right?). Here's the catch though: the Elders aren't very good singers, and once one of them messes up the other starts to laugh and it's all downhill from there.
We stopped by the Bishops family one of the first times we went out caroling, and literally could not sing one verse of Silent Night through without laughing. It was so. bad. Luckily the H's thought it was hilarious, and they started recording us on their phone. Did I mention this isn't the first time it's happened? I can't remember if I told you this - but we had that open house a month ago or so, and we had a little choir concert once an hour. We and the Elders were supposed to sing a song together, and in the first mini concert the same thing happened - so we didn't sing again the rest of the open house.
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| We all had lunch with T - love her! |
So basically, we're way good at spreading the Christmas cheer, just not in a put-together way. ;) It gets better every time though!
We had a great lesson with M on Thursday, and came back on Friday to help her unpack some boxes (she moved a few months ago but because she's been really sick/in a wheelchair, she hasn't been able to get moved in). It was really sweet - it was such a small thing to do, but she kept saying "It's so wonderful to have all of my clothes unpacked! Hvor er det dejligt!" For a 60-year-old woman, she's pretty stylish, I must admit. She got rid of some of her clothes and I may or may not have taken some. ;) Just being thrifty!
We stopped by M on Friday - remember him? He's from Iran, and had to flee because he converted to Christianity. We contacted him and his friend M on the street a few weeks ago. M doesn't speak very much English or Danish, so it's been really hard to communicate and he has a lot of questions/has heard some negative things about the church. BUT M and M decided they would give church a chance, and came yesterday. And H, a member of our ward who is from Iran as well, came too! It was amazing - H and M and M were instant friends, and H helped translate for us so a lot of things got cleared up, and we were able to really teach the restoration. They both believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet, which is why they are willing to give the church a chance even though it must be frustrating with the language barrier. The Spirit is so strong every time we talk with M and M, and I think that good things are really going to happen with those two.
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| M, M, and H and I - they are some really sweet guys! |
And Saturday. Saturday! We went back up to Korsør, to contact another referral. When we got to the house there were two girls standing outside, so we talked to both of them hoping it was the referral - no such luck, they were her friends going in for a Christmas party. So then it was a little awkward, because it's one of those she's-a-referral-but-doesn't-
But we had a little bit of time before the bus came again, so we decided to knock a couple of doors, and found S and M and their family! They're from Romania, and looking for a church to go to that is close by. S said she was hoping for a church as close as Copenhagen, and my thought was "Come to our church in Slagelse! It's even closer!" We watched He is the Gift with them, and are coming back again on the 24th (what a good way to celebrate Christmas, right?) To give them a Book of Mormon. On the bus ride home, we sang Christmas carols (Sister Hadfield and I can make it through whole songs without laughing when it's just us two singing, isn't that amazing?) and it was so fun.
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| We had a cleaning check on Saturday, and Elder and Søster Madsen came from Copenhagen with some lovely surprises - Christmas packages from home! It was such an unexpected surprise! |
Yesterday we sang Christmas songs at the nursing home, which was so good as usual. I'm really glad we kept up with going to the Nursing Home, even after G passed away, because it's one of my favorite things we do every week. After we finish singing we always shake all of the old peoples' hands, and they are so so sweet to us. Plus, it can be pretty hard to get into nursing homes and hospitals for service here, but since we have a good relationship with the nurses in the nursing home, we're going to come on the 25th and visit anyone who is alone for Christmas. We're baking cookies today to give to them all!
This Christmas is even better than last Christmas, which I didn't think was possible. This next week we're going to be SO BUSY - we have a dinner appointment almost every night (which is rare here), teaching appointments all over the place (which can also be rare the week of Christmas), a Christmas Program on the 24th, more caroling (pray for us!), the nursing home, lots of goodbyes for me, and SKYPING YOU! It's going to be so great.
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| Our lovely pile of Christmas gifts! It means a lot to know we're thought of over here! |
We had this ward challenge to write a letter to Jesus Christ, telling him what we would give him for Christmas this year. I finished my letter this morning. My heart is so full - I think that if I were to write a letter to the Savior a little over a year ago, I wouldn't know what to say. But I felt like I was writing to a good friend, who has helped me through so much my whole life long. I know Jesus Christ has always been by my side, but I didn't always see Him. Now I do, and I know that he is not only the reason for Christmas, but the reason we are here on earth and the reason we can come back to live with God someday. Though he is the King of Kings, he also cares about the little things that mean the most to us. We just have to open our hearts to Him.
I love the work, and I love this season. I hope to carry the warm feelings in my heart throughout the next year - no matter where I am. I am really going to miss Slagelse and all of the wonderful people here. I wish you could see what I see every day when I'm out walking the streets of Denmark with Søster Hadfield.
I hope you have a good few days before we see each other on the skype! I am SO EXCITED! It's going to be good to see each other, don't you think?
Love you so much!!! GOD JUL OG GODT NYTÅR!
Love,
Søster Barrett
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