Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Mine familier og venner!
So this week, we decided to take a trip to Give. It is a city about a 30 minute train ride from here. There are not a Whole lot of members there, but we wanted to visit those who were less active or were previous investigators. It is 5 zones away, we have a 5 zone bus pass that gets us to church which is also 5 zones away, so we thought, oh that is perfect! I asked my companion if we should just quickly go double check at the desk if we can use it, but she said she didn't think we needed to, so we hopped on the train. Less than two minutes after being on the train, someone came around to check our passes. And, yep, our passes were only good for the 5 zones between Fredericia and Vejle (according to the numbers along the side which did look like random numbers, ha ha). Super sad! So it ended up costing us each about 20 US dollars for the round trip fare. Could have been worse. Moral of the story, always check just in case! We got there and the city seemed pretty sparse. There were not many people to talk to. The first lady we visited was really close and she said she didn't have time right then, but wanted us to come back next week, so that is good. The next person we went to was an hour and a half walk away. We thought we could talk to people on the way, but there was no one that we passed on the way. Crazy, right? Ha ha. Luckily, we did get to meet this guy who we had planned to see. He had previously taken lessons from the missionaries, but was not interested. He was nice though and we left him with our number in case he changed his mind. Crazy, long day, but it was good.
Oh and we had splits this week. Basically, where two of the Sister Training Leaders come and are our companions for the day. It was really great, I felt like I had lots of insight. We talked to a lot of people that day and set up one appointment to come back. A few hours later, we received a phone call that one of the people we had given a pamplet to, his friend wanted us to come back and teach him more about our beliefs. Pretty neat.
We had one member who came with us to the lesson we taught Kasper this week. That evening, we prayed that we might find more ways to get the members involved in missionary work. At 9:30am the next morning, the member who had come to the lesson called us and said (in Danish) "we forgot to tell Kasper about Jesper's baptism on Saturday!" I told her that she is right, we forgot and that we can call him. Then she said, "I would like to bring him there if he can come." I was way excited when I heard those words. I gave her his number and jumped up and down smiling and screaming. I knew the Lord had answered our prayers. Kasper did not end up getting to go to the baptism, but I knew that we had a ward that was ready to be enlisted in helping with this great and marvelous work.
That evening we had about two hours left before we had to be back at our apartment. We ended up going to a less active's apartment to get his number so we could arrange a time we could come teach him with another sister in our ward. He was home, so that was great. Then, we realized that we had 4 previous investigators in that same area that we had planned to go see the next week, but felt we should that night instead. We did and ALL of them were home which was a miracle. We set up three appointments to come back and the 4th previous investigator didn't want us to meet with her, but she talked about some medical problems she had been having. We had no idea what kind they were, but we told her we would keep her in our prayers and she graciously thanked us. Then, on the way home, we taught someone else on the street. We walked by our apartment and it was 8:56pm. I remembered what you had said about not going in even a minute early, so I relayed that to Sister Hadley. We looked around, we didn't see anyone on the street, we started walking up another street and some people leaning out a window by us started asking us questions about Mormons. We set up an appointment to come back and teach them the next day!
On Sunday, we got to teach the gospel essentials class, it was on work and personal responsibility. It ended up going really well. After that, a lady in our Ward asked me to lead the music in Sacrament meeting. The first song was really rough for me because I had never heard it before and it was fast so it was really hard for me to comprehend the pronunciation quickly :) But, luckily the next three hymns were a little slower and had more familiar melodies. The elders and us were also asked to sing a musical number that day, so we sang "My Heavenly Father Loves Me." Oh and Ældste Swenson played the organ during sacrament meeting, so it seemed like we were starting to take over the ward with all the things we'd been asked to do, ha ha, but it was fun. I'm really excited to teach Young Womens next week :)
Life is good. I hope all is well with all of you!
de kærligste hilsener,
Søster Orgill
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
What matters is that we serve
Mine familier og venner!
This week we had a trainer/trainee training meeting with our zone. We talked about the importance of first gaining knowledge, there being able to feel what we knew and then, if we had the spirit, we could teach.
One of my favorite Things that President Sederholm said was,"the Savior wasn't successful because of numbers, but because he did the will of the Father." It doesn't matter that we get tons of baptisms, what matters is the people we serve and that we give them the opportunity to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We also had media training for our zone this week. We just talked about what it would be like if we were to be interviewed on TV or in a newspaper, that we would have to get permission from the mission president and area church representives first. Then, the area church representatives had practice interviews with us. It was scary because they recorded us and then critiqued how we answered. They asked us really hard questions, but it was good preparation and afterwards they told us that the media probably would not be as harsh as they were ;)
This week we talked to AnneMette and Kim about enduring to the end, family history and the temple. It went really well! They said they would try to set up a time to go with some ward members. Sister Hadley and I showed them our family trees and invited them to do the same on FamilySearch.org. It was really neat. Plus, AnneMette was shocked that my mom was a convert and she thought it was cool to see how all my dad's parents/grandparents were from all Utah and my mom's were from other states.
I like the new layout of FamilySearch.org. Family trees in fan view are really cool. I can't wait to do family history when I get back!
We are learning more Danish, everyday. Still, NO where near fluent, but as my friend, Cameron Benson says, "You were called to preach the gospel, not to learn a language" and that the spirit is a universal language.
Hope everyone is having a spectacular summer :)
de kærligste hilsener,
Søster Orgill
July 15 2013 Pictures
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Definitely reminded me of Jordyn :)
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The city of
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I thought of Grandma Crouch when I saw these :)
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Cool stop lights in Fredericia
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Another of the stop lights
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My tan line on my foot from my shoes
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| Helping AnneMette and Kim with hedging. Way fun! |
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| Repping the world's best pool service company, Aqua Chlor! |
Sunday, July 7, 2013
New Bike...last week before my trainer goes home!
Mine familier og venner!
Here is my week in bullet points... Again :)
-Great news... I finally got a bike that is my size! Luckily, one of the other sisters in the mission still needed a bike, so I sold her mine. Sarah, the amazing sister in our ward, found one online that was just my size that someone was selling in the area! Miraculous! :) When we went to buy it, the guy noticed we were missionaries and he flat out said, well in Danish, "What is your purpose here." So we told him about the church and why we are serving. Pretty cool.
-Kim got baptized this week! Him and his wife are so great! Eleven missionaries came! (Sound familar? Every baptism I have gone to on my mission has had at least 8 missionaries... strange, but cool!)
We sang How Great Thou Art in Danish, "O Store Gud." It was an amazing day! We were all so happy :)
-The lady at the post office this week told me she was impressed with my Danish and was surprised I had only been here a couple weeks. Four days later, I tried talking to a lady on the street in Danish and then she told me she could not speak English. Ha ha.
-We taught a man from Portugal on the train in English, he didn't know Danish. At the end of our conversation he apolized for not introducing himself and then did. I accidently said, "I'm Kelly.... but on the mission I go by Sister Orgill."
-We found an amazing Ice Cream shop! Roberts Is! So good!
-Tons of Danes gratuated high school this week. They wear their hats (which kind of look like a sailor hat) all week long and drive around in the back of a large work truck singing, chanting and celebrating.
-We got to help clean a less active's house and pull weeds at this member family's house this week. The 12 year old son found out I was scared of worms and chased me around the yard. Then, he broke the news to me that he had thrown it on my coat! Gross! Ha ha. Fun times. :)
-We invited our investigator, Kasper, to pray about the Book of Mormon and he said he already knew it was try just by reading two chapters of it!
-I understood a small portion of church. Slow, slow, but the language is coming. I am sure that Sister Hadley and I will really grow over the next 5 weeks without Sister Arbon. Sister Arbon leaves on Wednesday and then I am officially a "trainer." Crazy! But, I have full faith that the Lord will help me and Sister Hadley with the language.
de kærligste hilsener,
Søster Orgill
Here is my week in bullet points... Again :)
-Great news... I finally got a bike that is my size! Luckily, one of the other sisters in the mission still needed a bike, so I sold her mine. Sarah, the amazing sister in our ward, found one online that was just my size that someone was selling in the area! Miraculous! :) When we went to buy it, the guy noticed we were missionaries and he flat out said, well in Danish, "What is your purpose here." So we told him about the church and why we are serving. Pretty cool.
-Kim got baptized this week! Him and his wife are so great! Eleven missionaries came! (Sound familar? Every baptism I have gone to on my mission has had at least 8 missionaries... strange, but cool!)
We sang How Great Thou Art in Danish, "O Store Gud." It was an amazing day! We were all so happy :)
-The lady at the post office this week told me she was impressed with my Danish and was surprised I had only been here a couple weeks. Four days later, I tried talking to a lady on the street in Danish and then she told me she could not speak English. Ha ha.
-We taught a man from Portugal on the train in English, he didn't know Danish. At the end of our conversation he apolized for not introducing himself and then did. I accidently said, "I'm Kelly.... but on the mission I go by Sister Orgill."
-We found an amazing Ice Cream shop! Roberts Is! So good!
-Tons of Danes gratuated high school this week. They wear their hats (which kind of look like a sailor hat) all week long and drive around in the back of a large work truck singing, chanting and celebrating.
-We got to help clean a less active's house and pull weeds at this member family's house this week. The 12 year old son found out I was scared of worms and chased me around the yard. Then, he broke the news to me that he had thrown it on my coat! Gross! Ha ha. Fun times. :)
-We invited our investigator, Kasper, to pray about the Book of Mormon and he said he already knew it was try just by reading two chapters of it!
-I understood a small portion of church. Slow, slow, but the language is coming. I am sure that Sister Hadley and I will really grow over the next 5 weeks without Sister Arbon. Sister Arbon leaves on Wednesday and then I am officially a "trainer." Crazy! But, I have full faith that the Lord will help me and Sister Hadley with the language.
de kærligste hilsener,
Søster Orgill
Denmark=Rain
Mine familier og venner,
Moments of the week:
-We got to do our first planned service project here, pulling weeds and mowing the lawn at Kim and Annemette's! It was way fun using this weed-puller Annemette had. (Kim is getting baptized this week, Annemetta is already a member).
-We were waiting for the bus, turned around and started to look at the huge gross brown slugs that were slimily making their way across the ground. The bus came by (we were like 3 feet from the curb), stopped for a second and then left, the bus driver never even opened the doors. That was the last bus that came in the area for the day. Ha ha.
-Oh and it has rained almost every day the last 2 weeks. Apparently this is what it is really like here. Somehow, my first week here it was really sunny, not much wind or humidity. The wind, humidity and rain has hit, but that's what makes Denmark so green. So, bring on the rain ;)
-We decided we wanted onion rings and I made a batter (without Google) and we fried them for dinner. Fun times.
-At church, instead of members calling the congregation Brothers and Sisters, they just say søskende (which means siblings). Cool, huh?
-Multiple people in the ward have told me that they have heard that there is a sister who is too short for her bike and that it looks like she might die getting off and on it... yep, that's me... Luckily, I am getting a new kid's bike this week and selling mine to another sister here.
-Take away from zone conference this week: Act on promptings, all that is good is from God. We need to train ourselves to listen to those promptings. Just like anything else in our life, we have to condition ourselves to do so.
de kærligste hilsener,
Søster Orgill
Moments of the week:
-We got to do our first planned service project here, pulling weeds and mowing the lawn at Kim and Annemette's! It was way fun using this weed-puller Annemette had. (Kim is getting baptized this week, Annemetta is already a member).
-We were waiting for the bus, turned around and started to look at the huge gross brown slugs that were slimily making their way across the ground. The bus came by (we were like 3 feet from the curb), stopped for a second and then left, the bus driver never even opened the doors. That was the last bus that came in the area for the day. Ha ha.
-Oh and it has rained almost every day the last 2 weeks. Apparently this is what it is really like here. Somehow, my first week here it was really sunny, not much wind or humidity. The wind, humidity and rain has hit, but that's what makes Denmark so green. So, bring on the rain ;)
-We decided we wanted onion rings and I made a batter (without Google) and we fried them for dinner. Fun times.
-At church, instead of members calling the congregation Brothers and Sisters, they just say søskende (which means siblings). Cool, huh?
-Multiple people in the ward have told me that they have heard that there is a sister who is too short for her bike and that it looks like she might die getting off and on it... yep, that's me... Luckily, I am getting a new kid's bike this week and selling mine to another sister here.
-Take away from zone conference this week: Act on promptings, all that is good is from God. We need to train ourselves to listen to those promptings. Just like anything else in our life, we have to condition ourselves to do so.
de kærligste hilsener,
Søster Orgill
Kiddesvej (The street I live on). It is illegal to bike Down it because it is the steepest hill in the city... maybe all of Denmark. Ha ha. But it is dangerous, apparently your breaks will fail if you try it.
A doormat outside a random apartment. Translation "Oh no, not you again!" Ha ha!
New Customs and Investigators
Mine familier og venner,
Things are going well in Vejle. It is pretty windy here and the weather shifts around between being sunny, rainy and cold. The first two days I was here, I wore short sleeves, the rest of the time sweaters and then yesterday I had to pull out my big coat. But I love it, it keeps life exciting :)
Me with my new bike.
Me with our new companion Søster Hadley (in 2 weeks, it will just be the two of us in Vejle!)
Things are going well in Vejle. It is pretty windy here and the weather shifts around between being sunny, rainy and cold. The first two days I was here, I wore short sleeves, the rest of the time sweaters and then yesterday I had to pull out my big coat. But I love it, it keeps life exciting :)
I bought a bike this week... however, I have decided that I am short. It's really hard for me to get on and off the bike even though the seat is lowered all the way down... sad. Ha ha. A man in our ward joked that I needed a hobbit bike ;)
There are lots of fun new customs here:
1. You always take off your shoes as soon as you step into someone's house
2. You eat with your fork in your left hand and knife in your right hand to help scoop things onto your fork and that way you don't have to switch hands. I love it! I'm already converted to that!
3. We sleep with a dyne on our bed (basically a down comforter with a heavy sheet that buttons around it). They do not use flat sheets. Just the one fitted sheet and the dyne. Makes bed making a piece of cake!
4. There is a certain way you lay your silverware to show if you are still planning on eating more or if you are done. I'll take a picture to demonstrate on a future date
So, I'm getting into the Danish culture, it's great!
As far as the language, I am learning and recognizing more every day, but it is still pretty hard.
Church was all in Danish, obviously. I couldn't really understand anything, but I know that I will eventually get it. The bishop asked us to bare our testimonies during sacrament meeting, so we did. I had planned to say how much I love the Danish culture and how I was going to try really hard to understand the language, but when I got up there, I just felt like I should just say I was excited to be there and simply bare my testimony. That's what I did and it seemed like I only struggled on searching two words, but everything else just kind of flowed out of my mouth. A couple people in the word came up to me and told me that they were impressed with my Danish (However, I couldn't really understand what they were saying... but one lady said that it was the gift of tongues).
There are lots of fun new customs here:
1. You always take off your shoes as soon as you step into someone's house
2. You eat with your fork in your left hand and knife in your right hand to help scoop things onto your fork and that way you don't have to switch hands. I love it! I'm already converted to that!
3. We sleep with a dyne on our bed (basically a down comforter with a heavy sheet that buttons around it). They do not use flat sheets. Just the one fitted sheet and the dyne. Makes bed making a piece of cake!
4. There is a certain way you lay your silverware to show if you are still planning on eating more or if you are done. I'll take a picture to demonstrate on a future date
So, I'm getting into the Danish culture, it's great!
As far as the language, I am learning and recognizing more every day, but it is still pretty hard.
Church was all in Danish, obviously. I couldn't really understand anything, but I know that I will eventually get it. The bishop asked us to bare our testimonies during sacrament meeting, so we did. I had planned to say how much I love the Danish culture and how I was going to try really hard to understand the language, but when I got up there, I just felt like I should just say I was excited to be there and simply bare my testimony. That's what I did and it seemed like I only struggled on searching two words, but everything else just kind of flowed out of my mouth. A couple people in the word came up to me and told me that they were impressed with my Danish (However, I couldn't really understand what they were saying... but one lady said that it was the gift of tongues).
I want to share one amazing experience that just barely happened!
Preface- Last week, we were walking back to our apartment and I smiled at this lady who smiled back and then my companion started talking to her about the church. She told us that she was a Jehovah's Witness. We asked if we could share a message with her sometime, but she said she was not interested, but she took The Restoration pamphlet and got our number. She said she would read the pamphlet, but she said she did not want to give us her number since she did not want us to come teach her.
Okay, so just 5 minutes ago, she sees us emailing in the library! She comes up to Sister Arbon and starts talking to her. Apparently she read the pamphlet, has some questions and wants to meet with us sometime this week! Isn't that amazing????? :)
I love and miss you all and hope you are having fantastic weeks!
de kaerligste hisener,
Søster Orgill
Riding the train, wearing the shirt that Sarah hemmed for me. It used to be a dress, but she is super creative and made lampshades from it and then hemmed it into a skirt!
Okay, so just 5 minutes ago, she sees us emailing in the library! She comes up to Sister Arbon and starts talking to her. Apparently she read the pamphlet, has some questions and wants to meet with us sometime this week! Isn't that amazing????? :)
I love and miss you all and hope you are having fantastic weeks!
de kaerligste hisener,
Søster Orgill
Riding the train, wearing the shirt that Sarah hemmed for me. It used to be a dress, but she is super creative and made lampshades from it and then hemmed it into a skirt!
Me with our new companion Søster Hadley (in 2 weeks, it will just be the two of us in Vejle!)
Jeg er i Vejle
Mine familier og venner,
I am in Vejle!
So let me try and sum up my last two weeks. We had a baptism in Tennessee and had all sixteen missionaries in the area at it! The 5 sets in the ward I was in and the 3 sets from the ward building that we had the baptism at. We all sang Called to Serve as a musical number at the baptism. Cool, huh?
Oh and I met with Erik for the last time. In Danish, I recited the articles of faith to him, I bore my testimony and prayed and he said he would be coming to church on Sunday and would continue to meet with the missionaries after I left! Amazing! :)
Oh and we had three brothers watch the film about the restoration and one of them, just after watching it, said he believed that God would still speak to prophets today and that it would be a waste of time for someone to write a book that was not true. He told us he believed the Book of Mormon had to be the words of God and that he would like to be baptized! Really exciting! However, that same day I found out I got my visa and couldn't teach them anymore. Sad! But, as Jeff always, it doesn't matter if we are there or if we participate, what matters is that it happens ;)
Okay, so luckily I got to fly with Elder Earl and Elder Peterson from Tennessee to New York and then we met up with two other elders from the April MTC Danish group. We flew to London. The elders were in front of me and figured out where our gate was supposed to be. I did ask them if we should double check, but one of them said, "We're men. We don't ask for directions." So I told them I would trust them and I wouldn't worry about it. We got to our gate and then the flight attendant told us that we were in the wrong terminal (there were 2 flights to Copenhagen on different airlines) and that we would miss our flight. Ha ha. Crazy, huh? I'm just glad we were all together. We had to go through security again, take a 15 minute bus ride to the other terminal and then get on a different flight. In the end, we made it to Denmark about 2 hours late, but we did make it!
We got here and were so so so excited to be here! There are random things that are really unique here, like the yellow light comes on on traffic lights right before it turns green so you are aware it is going to change, etc.
My trainer finishes her mission in 3 weeks! This week we will get a new sister who just got her visa and then we will only have a trainer for 3 weeks... then I will be the senior companion... scary! I am way nervous since I am OBVIOUSLY not even close to being fluent or being able to even understand much here, but I have full confidence that the Lord will help us.
Oh and the danishes here really are amazing :)
Oh and I love talking to the little kids at church. We got a ride home on Sunday and I sat in the back seat with the kids. They had me read their books and kept asking me if I understood it and would point to the pictures. I can't wait until I am able to understand them one day :)
Life is beautiful.
de kaerligste hisener,
Søster Orgill
I am in Vejle!
So let me try and sum up my last two weeks. We had a baptism in Tennessee and had all sixteen missionaries in the area at it! The 5 sets in the ward I was in and the 3 sets from the ward building that we had the baptism at. We all sang Called to Serve as a musical number at the baptism. Cool, huh?
Oh and I met with Erik for the last time. In Danish, I recited the articles of faith to him, I bore my testimony and prayed and he said he would be coming to church on Sunday and would continue to meet with the missionaries after I left! Amazing! :)
Oh and we had three brothers watch the film about the restoration and one of them, just after watching it, said he believed that God would still speak to prophets today and that it would be a waste of time for someone to write a book that was not true. He told us he believed the Book of Mormon had to be the words of God and that he would like to be baptized! Really exciting! However, that same day I found out I got my visa and couldn't teach them anymore. Sad! But, as Jeff always, it doesn't matter if we are there or if we participate, what matters is that it happens ;)
Okay, so luckily I got to fly with Elder Earl and Elder Peterson from Tennessee to New York and then we met up with two other elders from the April MTC Danish group. We flew to London. The elders were in front of me and figured out where our gate was supposed to be. I did ask them if we should double check, but one of them said, "We're men. We don't ask for directions." So I told them I would trust them and I wouldn't worry about it. We got to our gate and then the flight attendant told us that we were in the wrong terminal (there were 2 flights to Copenhagen on different airlines) and that we would miss our flight. Ha ha. Crazy, huh? I'm just glad we were all together. We had to go through security again, take a 15 minute bus ride to the other terminal and then get on a different flight. In the end, we made it to Denmark about 2 hours late, but we did make it!
We got here and were so so so excited to be here! There are random things that are really unique here, like the yellow light comes on on traffic lights right before it turns green so you are aware it is going to change, etc.
My trainer finishes her mission in 3 weeks! This week we will get a new sister who just got her visa and then we will only have a trainer for 3 weeks... then I will be the senior companion... scary! I am way nervous since I am OBVIOUSLY not even close to being fluent or being able to even understand much here, but I have full confidence that the Lord will help us.
Oh and the danishes here really are amazing :)
Oh and I love talking to the little kids at church. We got a ride home on Sunday and I sat in the back seat with the kids. They had me read their books and kept asking me if I understood it and would point to the pictures. I can't wait until I am able to understand them one day :)
Life is beautiful.
de kaerligste hisener,
Søster Orgill
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