Davs! (Letter From Katherine - 01/20/2014)

Greetings from Esbjerg!!!

Well, another week has come and gone. I can't believe how fast time is flying. It has been super windy and cold lately, but my coat is awesome. This week we have worked hard to find a family to teach. We knock doors in the evening in hopes that familes will be home together at that time. We have met some pretty interesting people...haha

So not too much is new.

We were able to begin teaching Emelie, she is a little girl whose mom passed away last summer. Emelie grew up in Norway. Sister Vige, was actually her primary teacher there, but she now lives with her aunt an uncle here in Denmark. We taught her God is our loving Heavenly Father. It was such a sweet experience. We talked to her about prayer and the Holy Ghost. We were teaching her different ways that she might feel the Holy Ghost. Helge, Emilie's aunt talked about an experience Emilie had and Helge told Emilie that that was the Holy Ghost. Emilie responded with, "okay so it's kind of what i'm feeling right now." There really is such a special spirit involved when teaching children.

Thursday Sister Vige and I went to Fanø. It's a little island next to Ebjerg. We took the ferie there, so that was kind of fun. The weather was not so good though. There are a couple of members that live ther and we had an eating appointment with one of them named Else. Else is 93 years old! She is a hoot!!! After we had eaten dinner and were chatting a little bit I asked if I could use the bathroom. She told me that I didn't need to ask, to just go. While I was in the bathroom I heard sister Vige laughing way hard and I wondered what was so funny. After the appointment Sister Vige told me that when I had asked if I could use the bathroom Else thought I said "må jeg prutte?" Which means, may I fart. hahah it was funny. We asked Else to think of someone that she could invite to church, she then asked, "you want me to find you someone that you can teach in my home?" we just went along with it and said yes. haha she then said, "okay, i'll see what I can do." All in all it was a great eating appointment!  

This week we were also able to get into the home of some previous investigators. Early in december they told Sister Packard and I that we could come back after the holidays. So we tried, and tried, and tried, but they were never home. This week they were finally home! They had recently had a baby and Analine (the mother) had been in the hospital for about a month. The spirit has really softened their hearts because they are much more willing to learn about the gospel now than they ever were before.

 One thing that I have really noticed this week is how special prayer is. We have had many opportunities to pray with people as we have contacted on the street and knocked doors. one of the neat experiences we had was when we talked to this greenlandic woman on her doorstep for a while. She wasn't really interested in us coming back, but before we left we said a prayer with her. during the prayer she strated crying and after she gave both of us a big hug and told us to come back anytime. :)

I think sometime I take for grantid how precious prayer really is. Thursday morning I was just kind of feeling a little bit down. We were riding our bikes to the church for district meeting and I wished that I could talk to my parents because I was just really needing some words of encouragement. I then remembered that although I can't call mom or dad right now, I can ALWAYS no matter where or when talk to my Father in Heaven. So while riding my bike I told Heavenly Father how I was feeling. I have never had a district meeting that has been so uplifting. Heavenly Father answered my prayer and provided me with the encouragement that I needed. It was a really neat experience for me. 

Well! I think that's about it. I hope you all know how much I love you and how grateful I am for your prayers. I hope you all have a great whatever holiday it is today and a wonderful rest of the week! I love you! <3 

Love Katherine     

Hallo, Hei, god dag, javell- my norweigan is better than my Danish haha (Letter From Katherine - 01/13/2014)

Hallo familie!

Okay so I told you last week that I was pretty sad that Sister Packard was being transferred. It has been weird not having her here in Esbjerg and I have missed her, but I am absolutely loving Sister Vige. She is so much fun!

Wednesday Sister Packard and I took the train to Frederecia where Sister Packard met up with her new companion and continued on her way to Aalborg. Sister Vige was there waiting for me and we went straight to the zone training. I like zone trainings, it's always fun to see everybody. Our mission has placed emphasis on finding families, so our zone set the goal of being out finding from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm when families our most likely to be home. So Sister Vige and I have been doing a lot of contacting and knocking during those two hours. We have been having a lot of fun with it. Yesterday, we contacted this girl from Romania. There was kind of a language barrior. When we were just about finished talking to her we asked if we could say a prayer with her. She was so confused. After like 5 times of trying to explain prayer she finally said yes! She then gave us both a hug and walked away. hahahah it was funny. I guess prayer and hug are kind of similiar....? But hey, she's meeting us at the church on Tuesday so we can show her around. That is, if she can find the church.  

We were also able to talk to this woman who has had an extremely hard life. She was abused as a child and has been alone her Whole life. You should have seen her face light up when we told her that she has a loving Heavenly Father who loves her and has a plan for her. We tried really hard to get a return appointment with her, but she said she will come to church first. Hopefully!!!

Saturday we went to Odense! After 7 sister missionaries, Isabella was baptized! It was a wonderful baptism. It was fun to be in Odense and see the Ward members. I also finally picked up my bike. It has been in Odense since I transferred because they have bikes here in Esbjerg. I thought I better pick it up though. It's still working great and in really good condition! I also was able to see the remodled Apartment. It looks really good. Better than it ever looked when I lived there. I can't remember if I told you, but after the fire when they were getting the furniture out they moved one of the really big dressers and appearently the wall was covered with Black mold. So the fire actuallyl saved us all from dieing of Black mold.

Abia and Min both recieved the pristhood on Sunday! That was really exciting. Abia was baptized in June and still hadn't recieved the pristhood. I can't believe how big the Ward in Riverton is getting. That's crazy!

I finally saw the ocean since being here in Esbjerg! I also so the four White men statues. I wasn't able to take Pictures though because we were biking to an appointment. I ended up getting us lost. oops. Luckily Sister Vige is super patient with me! She is probably one of the most posotive people I have ever met. It's good for me. Not that i'm negative or anything... haha I'm just a realist! We also have the same Birthday! she is just one year older than me.

Things are going well though. I feel like this past week I have been able to recognize the changes that have taken place within me since I have been on my mission. I am so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I want to be like him and I know that through his atonement we can be like Him. What a wonderful Blessing it is to help others feel of his love. He is hastening his work and it so incredible to be a part of it.

I love you all and am praying for you. Have a great week! Have soooo much fun celebrating Mom's birthday! Love you!

Love Katherine   

Pictures:

1. Isabella's baptism

2. Sister Vige

3. Sister Vige with her helmet on over her bun. hahah

4. The sun was shining yesterday. I actually saw the sun! I had forgotten how great it is. haha and today it's snowing. oh Denmark. 

Sad but blessed week (Letter From Katherine - 01/06/2014)

Hej familie,

It has been kind of a sad week. We found out that Sonia will not be able to be baptized on saturday because of her muslim background. It was pretty discouaging. We have been trying to figure her situation out so we have been on the phone with president kind of  alot. I'm sure he just loves us. haha but one day he called and we just assumed that it was about Sonia. Turns out that Sister Packard will be leaving Esbjerg. I am so sad. Serioiusly, I have always been pretty ready for a change by the time transfers roll around, but not this time. Not even one bit! It's not even real transfers time so we had no idea it was coming. Sister Nuttal will be going home and there is a tri companionship that can be balanced out since she is leaving. So I will be getting Sister Vige. She is from Norway so she can speak Danish very well. I'm excited to have her as a companion, but like i said before I am so sad that I will not be serving with Sister Packard anymore. Remember that lady from fiji I told you about? Her father was baptized 4 years before he died? yeah, well she dropped us. I've had investigators drop us before, but never before has it been so hard for me. I was so excited about her! So there were some pretty big disappointments this week, but one thing that I truly have learned is that trying times are an indication of blessings to come.

Boy, have I seen some amazing blessings this week. Abia (a recent convert who was baptized in July) and Min will both be receiving the priesthood this coming Sunday! this may not seem like big news to you, but for some reason Abia never received the priesthood and he was baptized in July. Sister Packard and I were determined to not let the same thing happen to Min. Well I'm not sure what went down, but bishop told us yesterday that they will both be getting the priesthood on sunday. We are so excited!!!!!!! Bishop also told us about a little girl in the ward who is 9 and hasn't been baptized. He said that her parents wanted her to begin being taught by the missionaries, but they weren't sure if the wanted the elders or the sisters doing the teaching. I had no idea that this little girl had not been baptized yet, and then it dawned one me that Sister Vige knows this little girl because they are both from Norway or something like that. There is some connection with them and being from Norway. So I told Bishop that Sister Vige knows her! and he called the family up right then and there and they were like okay, we will have the sisters teach her. It's just so neat, because the timing is so perfect. The parents of this little girl had no idea that Sister Vige was coming, but they wanted their daughter to begin being taught by the missionaries. It is definitely not a coincidence that Sister Vige will be serving here in Esbjerg at this time.

So a few things that I need to fill you in on. We had our district activity, and yes we did go ice skating. yay!!! some of the elders opted out. lame. but we still had a good time. After ice skating we went to Ribe, which is like the oldest city in Denmark. It was beautiful. Foggy, but beautiful. We went to a really cool church there, and just kind of walked around. We were excited to go to the viking museum, but it was unfortunately closed. It was fun.

New years was super funny. So this man in our ward invited the missionaries to come to his house for new years. We even got to stay out until one. Crazy I know! So this man in our ward, Jens ole Byskov is so cool. I'm exactly sure on the details of this story, but it goes something like this. He loves birds and has been all over the world to see birds. When he was in Napal he met a boy and well, he adopted him. I'm not exactly sure how old the boy was, but he ended up being baptized here in Denmark and then serving a mission in India. ha pretty cool. We had a good time New years eve. They do fireworks like crazy here! The next day we were able to sleep in until 9. yeah, we're living large. and then every missionary in denmark had the opportunity to deep clean their apartment. Holy cow it took forever!

We went to Ana Marie and Min's on monday to do Family home evening with them. They were so so sweet. They found out that members feed us sometimes, so they fed us dinner. It was yummy burmeese and philippino food. I didn't know that the chicken was still on the bones, I thought it was like chicken strips so I put it in my mouth and though wow, this is really crunchy, turns out it was bones. haha since I'm talking about food I will tell you that last night at the BISHOP'S house I accidently ate an alcohol chocolate. The first bit into it I was like oh my gosh this is alcohol and it burned! I panicked so, well I just swallowed it. I didn't want to make a scene but I was like freaking out on the inside. Afterwards I told Sister Packard and she just laughed. it was pretty funny, but also kind of really upsetting. I never would have thought I would be tasting alcohol on my mission! a little bit after I had eaten the chocolate the Bishop's daughter took a few chocolates out of the bowl and threw them away saying that they had alcohol in them. i thought to myself hah, too late :/

 

Sunday in Sacrament meeting Sister Packard and I were able to play one last time toghether, well atleast one last time for now:) We played a song out of the book that Christina sent me. It has been such a huge blessing being able to play with her. I am so grateful. Christina- the book you sent is awesome by the way. thank you!!!  

So yeah, that's pretty much it I think. I hope you all have a wonderful week. You are always in my prayers. I love you!

Love Katherine   

Happy New Year! (Letter From Katherine - 01/04/2014)

Hej!!!

So today I actually don't have much time to e-mail because our p-day has been shortened. But I want to let all of you know that i love you so very much and that it was so wonderful to talk to you and see you on Christmas day, I loved it so so much! Thank you for the gifts, it was so much fun to open them. I would send Pictures home, but I accidentaly left my camera at the Apartment. I will fill you in on all the details when I email NeXT week. Sorry this is so short!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!

Love Katherine

ps. We did go ice skating for our district meeting and it was way fun. We also went to Ribe, the oldest city in denmark. I will send Pictures NeXT week. Love you!

God Jul! (Letter From Katherine - 12/23/2013)

Well hello my dear family,

Can you believe that Christmas is this week! It's amazing how quickly time is flying. So basically Denmark is the coolest mission ever. I feel like I have been able to serve in like every part of the world because of all the people I have met and taught from different parts of the world! On Saturday Sister Packard were on our way back to the apartment to eat lunch. We were contacting as we went and began talking to a woman from Fiji. Her name is Nina. We were able to teach her right then and there on the street and say a prayer with her. We set up an appointment for the following day. Yesterday we had the appointment with her and it went really well. Turns out that four years before her father passed away he was baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. coincidence? I think not! She is wonderful and I am really excited about her. our next appointment with her is on Christmas day:)

Ana Marie and Min are doing great. We asked them how they feel now that they have the gift of the Holy Ghost, and they both said with big smiles on their faces that they are so happy. They also said that their relationship with eachother is a lot stronger now. The Gospel blesses families!!! They are just simply amazing. Sonia is doing great too. She hasn't smoked since we taught her the word of wisdom. yesterday she was talking to Ana Marie and Ana Marie was telling her that she had a cold. Sonia suggested that she drink some hot tea. haha after she said it she was like wait. Don't drink tea! it was funny. 

I feel like I know the ward better now that i have been here in Esbjerg a transfer so that is good. Some of the young adults from odense were in church yesterday because their families are from Esbjerg, so it was fun to see them. Sister Packard and I as well as the elders have been going around caroling to the members. i remember before I left on my mission Robert told me to try and be patient with the elders. I had no idea that it would be this hard. haha seriously though. Last night the elders weren't able to join us as we went caroling, so sister Packard and i just went by ourselves. bad idea. We cannot sing together without laughing. It's not even funny, but we can't help but laugh! The only time we were able to sing and keep it together was at Ana Marie and Min's baptism, but whenever we try and sing a hymn as we visit people we lose it. haha 

i'm probably going to keep this email short because I will be talking to you on Wednesday. Speaking of which, I will be skyping around 6pm Denmark time, so that's like 10am your time i think. I'm so looking forward to it!

I got a call from Sister Hansen in the mission office and she told me that there was a package for me in Copenhagen, but they don't know what they did with it. not sure who it's from or what happened to it. i'm hoping that it turns up. 

This has been a very special Christmas season for me as I have had the opportunity to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no better way to celebrate his birth than by helping others feel of his light and love. The gospel is so good and I am so happy to have it in my life.

I love you all and will talk to you on Wednesday!

Love Katherine

ps. picture=another flat tire haha 

Ana Marie and Min were baptized! (Letter From Katherine - 12/16/2013)

Hello my dear familiy that I love so much!

It has been kind of a crazy week, but so amazing. Ana Marie and Min were baptzied. It was a wonderful experience, and I can't even express to you how grateful I am to know them. It was a little hectic trying to get everything ready for the baptism, but everything worked out just great. Bishop ended the service with some closing remarks, and he shared a very sweet experience he had. He talked about how when he went into Ana Marie and Min's home he felt the spirit strongly and he knew that they were ready to be baptized. He talked about how he had asked Ana Marie and Min to arrive to the church before the baptism started so he could explain how things would be working and for pictures. Well, Ana Marie and Min and their sweet little children Samantha and Mathew got to the church early. Sister Packard and I were in another room getting things ready at this point and Ana and the kids must have been in the bathroom or something, but Bishop walked into the chapel and he saw Min on his knees praying. I can't even get through writing this without crying haha. Biskop talked about how it was such a humbling experience. The spirit was very strong. After the meeting was over min said to me, "We're on our way back." and I said, "You're leaving already? there's refreshments." He then said, " No sister, We have entered the gate, and now we are on the straight and narow. We're on our way back." Ana Marie told us how she felt clean and like it was a new beginning. They both felt very good after the baptism, but they knew that it wasn't complete until they received the gift of the Holy ghost. After being confirmed they were both so happy. Sister Packard and I taught the Gospel principles class and the lesson was on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We asked Ana Marie and Min how they felt. Min said that he knew that Jesus was so happy for him. Ana Marie said that she has just been praying to know which church is true and that she is so happy she found it. They both kept saying how happy they were. They are both just so sweet. I love them! and their kids, oh my goodness their kids! adorable.

The Christmas concert went well, but I was a little bit nervous for it. The song I was playing was kind of tough. Not way hard or anything, but it's not like I have a lot of time to practice as a missionary. Fortunately it went fine. i was glad to have it over with though. The concert was a lot of fun. There is a danish tradition of dancing around the christmas tree. Everyone holds hands and goes around the christmas tree while singing. It's funny, but fun.

Cool experience. So Sister Packard and I had not been invted anywhere for Christmas eve so we were trying to figure out things that we could do. We were trying to think of what we needed to be doing on Christmas eve but nothing felt right. It was weird too, because the elders had an appointment on Christmas eve and we didn't. That never happens. The members just love the sisters more. haha just kidding....kind of;) Well we went to visit the violin couple. Remember them? they are the couple that had the violin on their wall and Sister Packard was able to play it for them. So we went to visit them, and they invited us to spend Christmas eve with them and their children. How cool is that? He is an inactive member and his wife and children are not members, and they invited us over for Christmas eve. It was so kind of them to invite to missionaries that they hardly know to spend christmas eve with them. We will be at our Ward mission leaders house on Christmas and he will have skype set up. I will let you know the details next week.  

President Sederholm has talked about how he still wants us out working on Christmas eve/christmas. Sister Packard and I were thinking it would be a good idea to go to a plejehjem (old folks home) and spend some time there visiting the people that will be alone for christmas. If you have any other ideas I would love to hear them:) 

Funny story. okay well Bishop had sent us a text telling us about a man he was thinking would be Ana Marie and Min's home teacher. He told us to try and take him out teaching with us, but don't say anything about him being their home teacher because it was just a thought at that point. Well we misunderstood the text and called the guy up and said since you're Ana Marie and Min's home teacher would you like to come to a lesson at their house with us. haha well he was like what? I haven't heard anything about that, so we did the best that we could to cover it up, but sure enough the next day we received a not so happy text from bishop asking us why we told the an that he was their home teacher. haha we were really scared of Biskop at that point haha but thank goodness everything worked out just fine. 

Sonia is doing great. Our last lesson with her we taught the word of wisdom. She smokes and drinks, but she said she was going to live the word of wisdeom. She hasn't smoked since our last lesson. She came to church and was able to see Ana Marie and Min be confirmed. She doesn't understand danish, but she told us that she just has a really good feeling when she is at church. She is just so great. 

I'm trying to think of other things that have happened, but I think that is about it. Things are going well here in Esbjerg. I'm super tired! but happy. I so look forward to skyping! I hope you all have a fantastisk week! love you.

Love Katherine  

Letter From Katherine - 12/09/2013

Hello my dear wonderful family!

last week we weren't able to go to the reindeer park because we ran out of time, but we are planning on going sometime this week. I will be sure and say hi to Rudolph for all of you:) I can't remember if I told you, but one of the less active members that we have been working with is amazing when it comes to knitting. She is knitting sweaters for Sister Packard and I, and I am pretty darn excited! last monday we were able to pick out the yarn, so that was kind of fun.

We had exchanges with the sister training leaders this week. Usually we go to their area in horsens, but this time they came to Esbjerg. We had a good time with each other. Wednesday we had the Christmas Relief Society dinner. It was a lot of fun, but i'm not going to lie, I can now say that I have eaten some nasty food. Pretty much everything I have ever eaten here in Denmark has been delicious...until that relief society activity. I don't even know what it was, but it was just bad. haha just thinking about it gives me the heebie jeebies.

Thursday we had our Christmas Zone training in Århus, it was combined with another zone so I got to see some missionaries that i haven't seen since the MTC. For the month's of November and December the mission has been studying Christ like attributes. President asked if I would speak at the training and share the experience I have had as I have tried te become more like the savior. Well before the training I had given the talk some thought, but it wasn't until the train ride to Århus that I actually prepared it. haha we just don't have very much time as missionaries! I felt very blessed though, because as I was preparing it on the train I felt like it just all came together very quickly.

So while we began our Christmas feast at the zone training, we received news that there was a huge storm coming and the trains would be stopping early. So some of the missionaries had to leave right then and there, while the rest of us would be staying in Århus or other nearby areas. I stayed the night in Århus so that was fun. The next morning we got ready for the day and got on the trains as soon as possible. I got the packages!!! thank you so much!!!! carrying them back to Esbjerg was quite the experience:) Sister Packard had her Christmas packages as well, so when we finally did make it back to Esbjerg we had no idea how we were going to get them back to our apartment. So what did we do? We used a grocery cart! Probably not the best idea, but there was no other way. haha The wind was blowing so hard and people were looking at us like we were crazy, but we got the packages to our apartment and of course returned the cart:) We both love the Christmas tree! It makes our apartment 1000 times better! Thank you thank you!  

Later that night there was another really big storm, but this time we were out riding our bikes in it. The wind was blowing so hard that we were pedaling our bikes and not even moving. It was quite the scene i'm sure. We were laughing so hard. So hard that I actually wet my pants. yep. I wet my pants! haha the smart thing to do at that point would have been to go back to the apartment and put on a different skirt. haha but after we pulled it together we just kept on trucking. Well after getting lost in the storm my bike chain fell off. So we walked the rest of the way to the member's house that we had planned to visit. There was a wet spot on my skirt from wetting my pants so I just kept my coat on. hahahah Well after we were done visiting that family we tried to fix my chain, but we just couldn't get it, so we called some other members to come and help us. About a minute before they showed up I fixed the chain! they wouldn't let us ride our bikes home though haha so they gave us a ride back to our apartment. long story short though, I wet my pants! I'm pretty sure I haven't done that since kindergarten. haha It was a crazy day.

Ana Marie and Min are doing great. Every time we meet with them it is just a wonderful experince. They are so ready to be baptized. Samantha and Mathew, their children, loved primary yesterday. They got to try on the nativity clothes. We took Bishop with us to one of the lessons we had with them last week and it was a really good experience. I think Bishop has been kind of hesitant with them because they don't speak Danish, and Min can hardly read English, but in the lessons he said that he could feel the spirit very strongly and that he knows they are ready to be baptized. Ana Marie and Min just radiate the light of Christ. It's hard to even describe. Words cannot even express how grateful I am to help them understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sonia was also in church yesterday for the first time. I think she enjoyed it. Today she texted us and aksed what chapter from the book of mormon we would be talking about next time we met so she could read it in advance. It's not very often that that happens:)

Yesterday our ward mission leader taught the gospel principles class. The lesson was on Jesus Christ and all that he did was show different pictures of the savior and then we would talk about each one. It was such a simple lesson, but the spirit was so strong. Especially when he showed the picture of Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus in the stable. If the spirit was that strong just by showing a picture, I'm sure the live nativity was a very neat experience. What a wonderful time of year we have to really focus on our Savior. I am filled with gratitude for the opportunity I have to help others feel of his light and love.

Thank your for all of your love and support. I love you so much and am looking forward to Christmas day when I can see and talk to you. Stay warm! and have a wonderful week.

Love Katherine

Hej med jer!!!! (Letter From Katherine - 12/02/2013)

Hello Family! 

Well another week has come and gone. I honestly can't believe how fast time is flying! Things are going really good here in Esbjerg. Saturday a man that the elders have been teaching was baptized. It was a very nice baptismal service. Sister Packard and I were able to play a musical number so that was fun. The elders also asked us to bring some refreshments so we made cinnamon rolls. Cinnamon rolls are kind of a process, but it was fun to make them. 

So I'm not sure if you remember my email from last week, but I talked a little bit about going to visit a woman named Josephine. Well Josephine speaks Danish with a really strong african accent so she is really difficult to understand. When I was talking to her on the phone we both just started laughing because it was so hard to communicate. She was trying to give us her address and after about the tenth time of asking her to repeat herself I just did my best to write down what she was saying. Well, it was really cool because last monday night when we were getting ready to go visit Josephine in Varda we were trying to find a street name on the map that was as close to what I had written down. I looked at the map and the very first street I saw was hers. It was spelled completely different than what I had written down, but I knew it was hers. So we began our adventure to Varde. It kind of took a while to find where she lived, and the whole time we were both kind of hesitant that we even had the right street name, but sure enough it was her street and we found her! Josephine's boyfriend who is danish was there, and he helped Josephine better understand what we were saying. Turns out he is interested in learning about the church as well. Josephine is super spunky, but she's fun. 

Ana Marie and Min. oh how i love them! they are just so wonderful. We met with them a few times this week and on one of the days Min told us that he asked Ana Marie if she was getting baptized. She told him yes and then he asked her when she had decided that. She told him that she had decided a long time ago. Min told her that he had just decided the day before that he was going "to baptize." He can hardly understand the Book of Mormon, but he told us he knows it true. I just wish you all could meet them. Words can't even express how wonderful they are. I have had amazing, happy, experiences on my mission so far, but I can't even begin to express the joy I feel that comes from teaching Ana Marie and Min. My heart just swells at seeing them progress and watching their testimonies grow. When I first got here to Esbjerg they were both hesitant about the church, but now they told us that they are both ready to be baptized and that they are so happy. Ana Marie told us that the other day she and her friends were talking about religions and discussing the different religions that they were. Ana Marie told them that she was mormon, and after she told them that she said she just felt so happy. It has been such a neat experience seeing the Lord answer their prayers. He knows their situation so perfectly and he trusts them so much. I just could go on and on forever about them! They will be getting baptized the 14th of December.

Yesterday we at at the Bishop's home. IT was so much fun. We prepared dinner with them, ate, cleaned up together, and then had family home evening with them. Det var så hyggeligt! Bishop's parents are in the ward and his mom is like the danish equivalent of Roberta Young. It's crazy.

Today We are going to feed reindeer! They have a reindeer park here in Esbjerg and you can feed them!!!!!! There is also a less active member that we have been working with who is an amazing knitter. She told us that she would love to make us anything as long as we supplied the yarn, so today we are going to pick out the yarn and run it over to her. That should be fun. 

So yeah. IT has been another great week here in Esbjerg. It totally smells like fish sometimes, haha but it really is a dagligt by! 

Well, that's about it for the week. I'm glad you had a great thanksgiving. For some reason I thought it was last week. haha missionaries are just so out of the loop. I hope you have a wonderful week! I look forward to talking to you on Christmas! Love you!!!!!!!!!

Love Katherine

ps. some of the pictures are from Varde. It's just a little city here. They decorated it with elves. 

Hello my dear family! (Letter From Katherine - 11/25/2013)

It has been another great week here in Esbjerg. We have had some pretty amazing experiences.

We received a referral from the elders and Wednesday we went to contact her. We had the hardest time finding where she lived. I was kind of doubting that we would be able to find it. We had been biking for a good long while when I asked sister Packard if we could stop at the nearby grocery store and get some water. We went in and started looking for the water bottles when Sister Packard just stopped at the pastries. I laughed and thought, oh she wants a pastry. She started talking to a woman when I realzied it was one of our investigators! We had been trying and trying to get a hold of her and her husband but they never answered their phone, and every time we stopped by their house they weren't home. It was crazy because that grocery store was way far away from where they lived. Why they were shopping their I just don't know. We were able to talk to her and her husband for a little bit, so that was good. After buying the water we continued our search to find the referrals home. This time it was easy. She lives in a dorm, and the building is locked, but right when we rode up on our bikes someone else was going in as well so we had no problems with that. We knocked on her door and explained who we were and she was pleasently surprised to see us. She let us and and we talked for a bit. Turns out that she first heard about the church from the tv show south park. She then talked with one of her friends from Australia who is a member about the church. She then went to Copenhagen where a member there talked to her. That member contacted a member in Esbjerg and The member in Esbjerg gave her address to the elders, and the elders gave her address to us. So basically the referral went through a lot of people and it's amazing that it got to us. We set up another appointment with her on friday. Friday came around and We taught her about the restoration. We showed her the Joseph Smith Film, and afterwards asked her how she felt. She told us that it was really good and that she felt like she can really relate to Joseph Smith because he wanted to know which church was true. At the end of the lesson we asked her if she would be baptized Jan. 11th after receiving her answer. Her exact words were, "That is so soon!....Okay I'll do it" haha She said the closing prayer, and when we asked her how she felt. She said she has never felt that way before and that she felt warm all over her body. It was such a neat experience! We are so excited to work with her. By the way her name is Sonia. haha She is actually originally from Iran, grew up in Turkey. Her parents are muslim, but she has never been muslim. She doesn't speak danish.

right now we have 3 people that we are working with that have a baptisimal date and none of them speak danish. I'm pretty sure it's because a few weeks ago when I spoke in sacrament meeting I said, "the gospel is for everyone. people that speak danish, and people that don't speak danish." haha sometimes the danes don't like it when people don't speak their language.

Ana Marie and Min are doing great. They are just the sweetest people. Friday we taught them about tithing. We tried having Bishop Pedersen come with, but he wasn't able to make it because he was going teaching with the elders. We were debating on teaching the law of tithing on a day that he could come with us, but Sister Packard and I both felt like tithing was something that needed to be addressed as soon as possible. Our ward mission leader was able to help us out. When we got to their home and began explaining tithing they told us that they had already talked about tithing with eachother, and that they are planning on paying it. Sister Packard and I, as well as our ward mission leader just all kind of sat there for a second in shock. They are amazing. Seriously, they are just wonderful wonderful people. We talked about how the best way to know if paying tithing works is by actually paying it. Min was about ready to pay it right then and there. haha

So last week we taught a man who is actually from the Congo. (shout out to Christian!) his wife's friend was over and she seemed very interested. She sat and listened and when it was time to leave we gave her a pamphlet with our number one it and invited her to church. She said she would she would come to church, but unfortunately she didn't show up. The whole week we didn't hear anything from her. Usually it's pretty normal to not hear back from people, but for some reason she really just seemed different. Well, Yesterday she called. She said she couldn't come to church but she was wondering if we could go to her home sometime so we could "snakke om Jesus." We were so happy to hear from her! We scheduled and appointment with her and it was probably the funniest phone conversation I have ever had in my life. She speaks Danish, but she has a very strong accent, And I speak kind of danish like an American. So there was one point in the conversaton where we were both just laughing so hard. I'm super excite to meet with her though.

The other day when Sister Packard and I were out contacting we talked to someone, and I can't remember exactly what happened, but whatever it was it caused all of us to laugh. As we continued walking, we were still laughing and an elderly woman in front of us stopped to talk to us. She told us that she loves hearing young people laugh. We were able to have a good conversation with her. Turns out that one of her friends when she was young was a member of the church. She gave us her address and she gladly took a Book of Mormon. I loved that she stopped to talk to us because we were laughing, she recognized that we were happy:)

We had a dinner appointment with Birgitte Ohlsen last week. I met Emil! I really enjoy Birgitte a lot, she is so much fun. She showed us pictures from her mission. 3 of her companions were senior sisters. funny huh? We talked about Suzie's family and she told me how grateful she is for them. She also said that she doesn't think that Sam and Emil's other friends that are members have any idea how much of a good influence they were on Emil. She is the only member in her family and I can't even imagine what that would be like. 

One thing that Sister Packard and I like to do when we visit people is to sing a hymn. Saturday evening we went and visited a member from the bishopric and his wife. We told them that we were doing a musical number the next day in church and he had us do it for him and his wife. The next day in church when he announced that we would be doing a musical number he basically said something along the lines of although their danish is not good, they are really good at music. haha whatevs.

Things are going good here in Esbjerg. I'm having a great time with Sister Packard! The elders and us are planning on going Christmas caroling for the month of december. Fun huh? I can't even believe that it's Christmas time. Crazy.  

So yeah. There you have it. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all very much! 

Love Sister Katherine Murray