MERRY CHRISTMAS

HEYYYYOOOOO How is it going in the hood? I hope you are all doing just dandy.

I have lost my English and I can't really speak Danish so now I use a language termed ''Danglish.'' I'll begin saying something English and then without knowing it, jeg vil begynde at snakke Dansk! Det er virkelig so weird.  People can't really forstår mig.  Men I kan alle sammen understand me, right?

Danish word of the day: tilstrækkelig. Det betyder ''enough/sufficient'' på engelsk. Mormons Bog bruger den ord rigtig meget.

This week was ridiculously radical.  Søstre Esplin og Acosta are READY for Christmas! To get into the spirit, we listened to Christmas music all Tuesday.  Christmas is only 91 days away, so we have to prepare now!! I wore tights again because it was cold outside.  Cold = Snow = CHRISTMAS.  Therefore, Christmas is coming soon.  To really bring forth juletide feelings, we ate flæskestig AGAIN.  I honestly don't know how many times I have eaten flæskestig here.  It doesn't really matter because I do really love it.  It's meaty, carby, and delicious.  

We had a fun district activity this week! We played Uno.  The entire time.  All you youngens preparing for missions should start uping your uno game because you will play it ALL THE TIME.  ALL THE TIME.  I have never played Uno so much in my entire life as I have played it here.  It's not a true missionary day without a good game or two of uno.  I am not actually kidding.  

We had a great eating appointment with a lady in our branch named Bente (pronounced bentuh).  I. Love. Her. So. Much.  She is the cutest woman and I want to be her best friend.  We ate lunch with her and boy did she feed us! Ah, she's the definition of adorable. We then had 2 appointments with our 2 investigators on date.  They are so universally diverse from each other.  One is a super sciency guy who loves to take control of the lesson and talk about evolution and how there can't possibly be a God, and the other has prayed and received answers.  It blows my mind.  It was very eye opening to have those lessons back to back and see the differences.  It helped me realize how unique each of God's children are. We all have the capacity to accept the Gospel, but it might have to be explained in different ways and take different lengths of time for it to be truly believed.  But it can.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone, regardless of age, gender, background, thought process, life experience, and nationality.  Christ is for all.  

God answers prayers.  He really does.  Søster Acosta and I fasted and prayed for our investigator on date to come to church.  We waited and waited for him in the foyer, never losing faith that he would come.  One minute to 10am (when church begins) a little gray car pulls up in the parking lot.  We were so excited.  We tried to contain our optimism to no avail.  The church doors opened and in walked... a married couple from our branch whom we were glad to see, but a little sunken because it wasn't our investigator.  With heads hung low we turned about to follow them into the chapel when lo and behold, our investigator comes up the walkway! We were so happy! He sat right next to us during the meeting and even tried to sing along to the hymns.  The members were super welcoming and he stayed for the whole 2 hours! The Spirit was absolutely there and I know he must have felt it.  

So here is my little Åndelig Tanker of the week... and it actually comes from a movie.  ''All you need is 20 seconds of insane courage, and I promise you something great will come of it.'' I have recently been working on having courage.  I need courage to talk to people, courage to get out of my comfort zone and do the work.  Courage to have charity.  Courage to love everyone around me.  I need courage.  So this week, I'm going to work on my valour.  Deuteronomy 3:6  says, ''Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.''  This week I am going to take the advice of Matt Damon and Moses and be couragous.  I invite you all to do the same and let me know how it goes!! 

Jeg elsker jer så meget og hav en gode uge!

Søster Esplin
raya.esplin@myldsmail.net

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