Søster Esplin

Mom Note:   This is Raya's last email as a missionary.  She comes home on November 27th!  Her Homecoming will be Sunday, December 9th at 9am.  Please come hear her report and then join us at our home afterwards for some yummy food and to give Raya a big welcome home hug.  Thanks for supporting her in this work! November 19, 2018 Wow this has been the best adventure of my life.  I am forever grateful for your support and love and prayers.  They have been needed and they have been felt for these last 18 months.  I love you all more than words have the ability to describe.  Thanks for it all. Danish Word of the Week:  Vi ses.  See you. Danish Fun Fact: Denmark is the best country ever.  that's a fact. I have had the most incredible week.  I don't have time to write about the various events, but it was one for the books.  This is my last email as a missionary, and I just want to express how this has changed...

November 12, 2018 Danish Word of the Week: Syg.  Sick Danish Fun Fact: Christmas begins nov 1 in Denmark WOW what a week.  So much happened.  Too much.  This is going to be short because I have 0 time, but we're going to see how much I can get done.  I woke up on Tuesday and felt pretty sick (still), so we took the day easy.  Had some planning to do, had a few lessons, but we laid low.  We had a wonderfully hyggeligt eating appointment with one of the members in our branch.  She taught us how to make Frikadeller and showed us one of the most famous danish flute songs (taagen letter by Carl Nielsen), and it was so fun.  Food and flute, my 2 favorite things.  On Wednesday we went out to a little bitty town north of Viborg called Aalestrup because we received a self referral!! He is a really cool person.  He wants a change in his life and thinks that this could be it.  Super positive!! We also met with T, which went re...

October 29, 2018 Danish word of the Week: mål - goal Danish Fun Fact: the high this week is 7 degrees. What a week.  We had so much happen this week that I don't know if I will be able to adequately put to words the events and emotions that transpired in the past 7 days. We had some pretty intense appointments.  One of them was with C.  C has a really really strong testimony.  We taught her the word of wisdom this week, and that was a little hard for her to accept.  She does have some issues with that, so she asked if she could think it over.  When we came back a few days later, she told us that if God doesn't accept her as she is, with all of her flaws, then she can't accept Him.  We told her that God accepts us exactly as we are, and that these commandments are here to help us be safe and become better.  She knows that God loves her, and she knows that everything is true.  We need a lot of prayers for her, so that she can find the d...

Oct 22, 2018 Danish word of the week: Ubetinget Kærlighed = unconditional love Danish Fun Fact:  Most churches here close at 3.  Don't make the mistake we did today and show p at 2:59.  They will kick you out. I love Viborg.  It is the cutest little city and has a lot of people very ready for the gospel.  I also love Søster Van Wagenen.  We have a shared love of classical music, so that makes me really happy.  This is going to be a good 6 weeks :) This week was great! I many of the amazing people we are working with and my testimony has grown so much.  One of the great people I met this week is Connie.  Connie met the missionaries about a month and a half ago and absolutely did not believe in God.  Her dad had died a few months before and she wanted nothing to do with religion.  However, for some odd reason, she let the sisters in.  When I met her this week, she told me that she 100% believes that there is a God.  ...

October 15, 2018 Danish Word of the Week: Flødeskum.  Whipped Cream Danish Fun Fact: Everything is cute and adorable here. We had a marvelous week.  Only a few bike problems got in the way of the power companionship of Søster Esplin and Søster Calame.  We brought our mission president's wife to an appointment.  She and our friend really got along and the Spirit was strong.  We had to walk all the way to that appointment thanks to our wonderful, yet incapable bikes, but Søster Olsen gave us a ride home, which was a big tender mercy. One of the fun happenings of the week was an appointment with a part member family.  We played a game called ''pie face,'' which is where one puts a large and daunting amount of whipped cream on a plastic hand, and the two players compete to see who can push a button faster.  The loser gets a slap of whipped cream in the face. I don't think that i've ever laughed more in my life.  Our dear friend and her 4 child...