8/19/2013

Hej Alle!

I hope you all had a wonderful week this week! Mine was pretty crazy with transfers and all that comes with that. Too many train rides with too much stuff!

This week i got transfered to Vejle. I am in another tri with Søster Ripplinger from Brigham city (she served in Odense before and was in my MTC Group) and Søster Orgill from Texas (she served in Vejle and was in the MTC Group right before mine, but came to Denmark one week before). I can tell that we are going to have a wonderful companionship and get a lot of Work done.

Vejle is wonderful! It is absolutely beautiful and a bit more modern that Aalborg. Some parts of it actually remind me of a really green salt lake. The members here are just perfect! They are all so excited for missionary Work! On sunday they all sought us out, introduced themselves and made sure we knew that we were welcome in the Ward. Most of them offered their services in one way or another. It was fantastic! I was just blown away by their support and excitement.

Yesterday i had the oppurtunity of speaking in sacrament meeting along with Søster Ripplinger and an elder that was just transfered here too. They told us 5 min before sacrament meeting started. Agh! And guess WHO was first. THis sister! So, i got up there, not really knowing what to say. But, when i started introducing myself, the Footsteps poem came to my mind. I happen to have a copy of it in Danish from Søster Christensen, so i pulled it out and read it (i just hope everyone could understand). The poem is about this man WHO has a dream that he could look back on his entire life and see that there were two sets of footsteps in the sand through most of his life. Those footsteps were the Savior's footsteps. But, the man noticed that during the hårdest parts of his life, there were only one set of footsteps. The man asks the Savior why this is since the Savior promises to be with us always. The Savior answers and says that during the times when there were only one set of footsteps, the Savior was carrying the man. I've read the poem a million times, in English, because i just love it. But, when i read it just then, in Danish, it hit me harder than ever before. All of a sudden i could look back on my life and realize all those times that were so hard for me and when i felt so alone, I wasn't. The Savior was right there, carrying me through my trials and helping me overcome. There was no way i could have gotten through some of those Things all by myself. The savior was the one helping me, carrying me through when i couldn't on my own. It was a great testimony builder for me to read and understand that.

Vejle has also come with a few interesting experiences. Like all the cute Little frogs we find! We've taken lots of Pictures with frogs :)

One day we got to the door of one of our investigators. We were there for a lesson and we were all ready and confident for this lesson. We knocked on his door and he yelled for us to come in. So, we opened the door and started in, but then we looked up and saw him in his bathroom door. He had just gotten out of the shower and decided to greet us. AGH! So we hurried and shut the door(didn't see anything, just so you know). A few seconds later he opened the door back up, this time in a towel and ushered us in. We just walked in with our eyes to the floor and waited for him to get changed. haha Welcome to Denmark! It was quite the experience! The good thing is, we had a great lesson with him and felt the spirit. He's excited for our lesson NeXT time, and he promises to be fully clothed before our appointment NeXT time-

Sorry about all the random Capitals. THis computer has a Little auto-correct thing that capitalizes and changes the spelling every time it thinks it needs to be changed. Kind of annoying, but nothing i can do about it since everything is in Danish haha

I hope everyone has a great week! Work hard and enjoy your summer!

Kærlighed,

Søster Erin Handley

To start with the questions:

Selina wants to know just how home sick you are?

Honestly, not very much. It's not that i don't miss you all and don't think about you, it's just that i'm here and i need to be here. IT just wouldn't feel right being home right now. Not to mention we are WAY too busy to even think! haha

Have you celebrated any holidays yet?

 We have celebrated Holidays like the 4th of July, but none of the Danish Holidays yet. There have been Danish Holidays while we've been here, but they're all celebrated late at night and may not be entirely missionary appropriate. But, once October-November comes that will change.

Have you been able to see the ocean much?

 We have driven by the ocean quite a bit, but haven't really seen it too much. We're much closer to the ocean here, so if we find a way there, we will definitely visit.

Have you seen many farms?

 There are farms everywhere! Right as you get outside the main city, it turns into farmland. Our Ward covers a lot of farms right now too. It's called the Fredericia Ward. We see lots of lambs and cows everywhere :) I like to tell people that we live on a farm and they love that, but when i say farm they think of a dairy farm or a potato farm, so i tell them it's a for fun farm :)

Do we send letters to a new address?

 I have only sent you the address to the mission office. They take all of the letters you send to there and forward them on to me wherever i am. I figured that is easiest for everyone and it only delays Things by a day.

How do you like your new companions?

 My new companions are great! one is from Brigham City and the other is from Texas. We get along really well and we all cam to the land at the same time, so that is fun. So far we're working together really well and i can tell that we'll get a lot of Work done. Oh, and they both love peanut butter :) This will be a great companionship! :)

Vejle is great. THe Ward is fantastic and they are all pumped up for missionary Work!  We live on the biggest hill in Vejle, and the hill is actually pretty big. Crazy! It's so steep that it is illegal to ride your bike on it haha. A member of the Ward wants to go to legoland with us one p-day. After we buy our bikes i think we're going to do it. She is the only member in her Family so it would be perfect to go with them.

I love you! Have a great week!

Kærlighed,

Erin