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!
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