Snow!

I have had a great week! Sister Packard is so so great. We are obedient and we work hard, and we have FUN! And miracles, but more on that later. :) 

Sister Packard has an ama-za-zing singing voice, and she plays the violin (she's studying violin at school) so at the baptism this saturday we're going to do a violin/piano duet! I'm a little rusty, and I am going to be doing some big practicing today, so let's all hope I don't mess it all up! ;)

As you will see by the pictures, we got a huge snow storm. It started snowing on Thursday night, and didn't stop until Saturday night! Holy cow! 

We decided to shovel snow on Friday morning, so we went to the store and bought shovels, then headed out to some members' houses to shovel. Then we decided to call the 2 pairs of elders to see if they wanted to join us, and they were already meeting up to shovel snow. AKA... they weren't even going to invite us! Those meanies! 

So we all met up and shoveled the Bishop's driveway, then the driveways of the houses around his, then some other houses in the area. We shoveled all. day. And then we shoveled all day on Saturday! It's crazy what being a missionary will do to you - all that snow shoveling was SO FUN! We were so sore by Saturday night, but it felt good to be out just trying to help people. 

Søster Packer and Søster Barrett

One of the very last houses we shoved for on Saturday was kind of a bummer moment though - we were just shoveling away, feeling so happy 'cause we were helping all these people to be able to open their front doors, and a man came out of his house and said "What are you doing? I wanted that snow there, you should have asked first!" Sooo... we may have ruined his snow day. He and his wife stared at us through their window as we continued shoveling snow at different houses up the street, and I think they were not very happy with us. But sheesh! Who doesn't want their snow shoveled?

I just read the new mutual theme (Come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness. Moroni 10:32) in this month's Liahona, I really like it! It's something I am working on - Coming unto Christ. And I really like that in that same scripture, it promises that if you love God then the rest will come too. I want to be a perfect missionary right now! But I have so much to work on, that the best thing I can focus on is to love God, and the rest follows. 

So I am working on showing my love for God by having more meaningful prayer and listening for His answers, following the commandments, and following the guidance in my patriarchal blessing. It's really  helping me!! And I think it's kind of similar to making the choice to serve a mission - just make the choice, and the rest will follow; love God, and the rest will follow. I remember one time Len Austin talked about kayaking with Maggie, and how they focused on the trees in the distance rather than the water right in front of them to keep them rowing straight. I have always remembered that and how it's the same with life - ya make a goal and do the things that will keep you on track to get there!

So besides snow shoveling, we had some other fun things going on this week! The biggest thing on our mind was, of course, Inga's baptism, and getting ready for that! Almost everything is ready now, so hopefully Saturday goes off without a hitch! The most important thing is that she gets baptized, right? :) 

Yesterday was the best day of the week. In church one of the ward missionaries told us that her friend told her she wants to meet with the missionaries, and is coming to Inga's baptism with her kids so they can meet us and make an appointment! 

Then we had a lunch appointment with a married couple, Hanne and Flemming, from the ward, and they were telling funny stories about when they first got married. I guess the first meal they cooked wasn't so good, and Flemming said that his first thought was "It's going to be a long life." Hahaha! We were laughing so hard!! He also said to "watch out, because when you fall in love you go temporarily insane." And then Hanne said "well you're still insane and it's been 20 years!" Ahhahaha they are so funny. 

Then we were waiting at a bus stop to go do some stop by's. There was a girl at the bus stop who we said hi to when we first got there. Sister Packard and I were talking about how we both liked hanging out at home with our families during high school more than going out with friends. The girl must have been listening in to our conversation, because she leaned towards us and said "I prefer that too!" We started having a great conversation with her, and we got on the same bus, and she came and sat by us to talk more! She told us that when we said hi it really threw her off because it's not normal in Denmark for that to happen, so when she heard us speaking English she thought "ohhhh that's why!" She also told us that she had had a really stressful day, so when we said hi it made her feel a lot happier. We were super disappointed because she got off the bus before we could do more than explain what we do as missionaries, but we gave her our number and she said she would call us after she takes a final exam this week (she's at university). 

Our last stop-by last night was a woman who let us inside because it was cold out. We taught her the first part of the Restoration and asked her if she believed in God. She said "I don't know where to find him." So we told her that she could find him through prayer. We said a prayer with her right there and asked her how she felt afterwards, and of course she felt a warmth in her heart. She asked us to come back on Wednesday and teach her more about God. Ohhh it was the greatest way to end the week! I love this work! You never know where you're going to find someone who needs to hear about the Savior.

So that was a little week in review! Sister Packard and I had a facial Friday (it was on saturday but oh well). We also sing in opera sometimes. And we also just have fun all the time! Go us!

Love,

Hannah