Første Dag af den Nye Forflyttelse

Hey all :) <3 today officially marks the first day of transfer number 8!! Crazy! I can't believe it's here already!! But the happy news is that I'm staying in Roskilde for a third transfer, and I'm staying with Sister Landvatter for a second :D <3 She's such a babe, and I'm so thankful for all that she does and says!! :) It's been great with her!

I had a fun time with the camera, and got this great shot of her magnificence (på dansk = pragt) !! :)

Alright, and before I can properly begin this new week's email, I promised a picture of Rigmor's baptism (Dåb på dansk!)

​It was absolutely amazing, and It was wonderful to be back in Fredericia and see Sister Woster again :) 

Rigmor is such a champ, and so absolutely happy and wonderful!! <3 I will always remember her sweet spirit, and the happiness we shared together as she was baptized :)

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I'm actually lame and forgot my old planner at the appartment, because it's a new transfer with a new planner! So I'll try to remember as much as possible

Mandag:

In order to end the final week as a district together with a bang (by doing a district activity), we all took an ''essentials'' pday - this entailed us all doing normal missionary work except for the special ''essential'' pday activities like buying food and emailing. Sister Landvatter and I spent a good chunk of time helping an elderly Norwegian woman in the ward named Rigmor get rid old things from her storage, because she's moving back up to Norway in a bit :) She's so sweet, and gave Sister Landvatter and I some pretty great things, like an old letter-opener, really old cassette tapes, Norwgian hand knitted socks, some great fancy Royal Copenhagen plates, and other gems :) It was really great! We worked the rest of the day doing normal Missionary work, trying to find the elect :) the day flew by, and we actually didn't get a chance to do our ''essential'' activities...... 

Tirsdag:

.......So we did them on Tuesday :) We started the day emailing and buying food, after which we had some great lessons and worked hard on finding people. But alas, no crazy story to tell came from this adventure.

Onsdag:

Same with Wednesday.....Exciting life, I know ;)

Torsdag:

Thursday rolls around, my friends, and boy did we have a blast :) We had a fantastic District Meeting, and afterwards headed to the Viking Ship Museum here in Roskilde. If you want to look up a bunch of awesome information about Vikings and the old ships they found here in the fjord, I'm sure you can find great stuff on google - But there were some new Vikings in town on this day, and it was a hoot!! :D

Elder McDougall, Elder Williams, Elder Curtis, Me, Elder Reber, and Sister Landvatter

​Talk about really becoming Viking Warriors!! 

​The people here in Roskilde have an ''old car show'' just about every week, and this was my first time in 12 weeks actually being able to check it out! This bad boy is a German Jeep from WWII, with artifacts from the war inside of it- pretty neat!

We then had some more great lessons with less-actives and investigators.

Fredag:

This day began with some good old weekly planning, but we were unable to finish all of it before we headed to an appointment with some members. They're really amazing, and are growing so strong in the Gospel :) they were reactivated earlier in the year, and are an absolute joy to be around :) We did some garden work for them and had a wonderful traditional Danish dinner, which was very similar to the traditional Christmas dinner (It turns out this was PERFECT because it was ''Jul i Juli!!'' which translates to ''Christmas in July'')

Lørdag:

Finished weekly planning, and then headed over to do some service for a Less-Active member. We were able to help her help a friend, who's mother passed away earlier this week. It was great to see the great faith and trust that our friend has in the Lord, and her faith that she can help her own friend come to know the same love that she feels for the Savior. The work we do here is real, and it's exciting :)

Søndag:

We had an amazing day at Church, and afterward headed over to a late-lunch/early-dinner with a Less-Active member. I may or may not have converted her to be a lover of Josh Groban ;) anything I can do to spread happiness and joy, I guess :D ahaha

Afterwards, we stopped by a previous investigator whom I have not had the chance to meet - until now! She's really sweet, and still welcome to visits, but is extremely busy, and will actually be headed to the USA to work on her thesis. But she is still very open to the Church and to hear more from missionaries during that time, and then after :)

And here we are to today :) We just had an amazing lesson with an investigator, and we are so excited to continue to help him progress and learn more about the Gospel.

I Know that this Church is true, and that it blesses lives :) I am so thankful for the opportunity to be here as a missionary, and to meet so many amazing people! I'm excited to continue working with Sister Landvatter!! Although we haven't had very much ''success'' in finding new investigators, we have learned and grown so much from each other! This transfer will be full of miracles, and we're already seeing them :)

I hope you all have a splendid week!! I love you all hver især!!!

I give a special shoutout to McKenzie - tillykke med fødselsdagen! Jeg elsker dig så meget, og jeg håber at du vil fortsætte med at lære, hvor meget Gud elsker dig og vil hjælpe dig med alt, du går i gennem!! 

The same goes to all of you :) <3

Have a fantastic week!

-Søster MBSølberg

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Jesus Christ - Our Prince of Peace

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2015/07/youth/jesus-christ-our-prince-of-peace?cid=HP_TH_7-16-2015_dPTH_fLHNA_xLIDyL1-C_&lang=eng

Ode to Sister Aubrey Landvatter

Because she's such a babe, and really SpiderMan in real life

 

Fjord!

Mustaches!




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The Tree

​Sticking the Book into the tree :)

How Sweet the Taste

Good day all my lovely friends and family :) I hope you have all had a fantastic week <3

It has been a great little while here in Roskilde, Denmark :) The weather is beautiful, the people are kind, and the work is moving forward! Yesterday, we had a man come to church who we had never met before! We had spoken with him via mobile (he was a 'referral' from a pair of Elders in our District), and while he didn't sound very positive on the phone, he was very kind and sweet in person. He wasn't able to stay for the whole 3 hours of church, but he enjoyed Sacrament Meeting, and expressed a willingness to meet up again and actually have a lesson! It was great :)

The non-member mother of a less-active man also came to Church this past Sunday! We had a lesson with the two of them last week, and she expressed her thankfullness for the Gospel in her son's life. She told us, and him, that she had noticed a difference in his life, and thus her own, when he was an active member of the Church, and how she could tell it was something with a positive influence on her son. And she looked so happy herself, being there in Church :)

The greatest miracle of last week was going to Rigmor's baptism all the way in Fredericia!! :) It was a 2½ hour train ride, with standing room only, so that wasn't so fun, but the joy of being there was trully magnificent!! :) Rigmor was so happy and wonderful, and I am so proud of her :) It was also really great to see Sister Woster again, along with other missionaries I've been blessed to serve with! Sadly, I don't have any pictures, because my camera died right before, and I'm still waiting on other missionaries to send me the photos, but I'll definitely have one for you all next week :)

Sister Landvatter and I had a fun experience just the other day - right outside the library here is a gorgeous park, and right in the beginning of that park is a ''book-tree,'' where people can place books for other people to read, and keep on giving :) Well, I though it would be great to write my testimony in the inside cover of a copy of Mormons Bog and leave it in the tree. We haven't had a chance to pass by the tree check if it is still there or not, but I'm hoping someone saw it and was interested :) We'll just have to see!!

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It's a wonderful feeling to be able to feel a prompting of the Holy Spirit and to act on it! Sister Landvatter and I have been discussing the topic quite a bit the past few weeks, and we are just totally overwhelmed with hapiness at the thought that we are able to receive Divine Guidance to help our fellow children of God here on the earth, all around us :) We are excited to work with the people we know, and to find more people here in this little Viking City who are ready and prepared to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ into their lives!

We heard an amazing quote from Elder David A Bednar this morning, where he says that we must ''Have faith; faith in the Lord, faith in Yourself, [and] faith in the Future.'' Life is a bit bumpy and rough, but that's the way it's supposed to be. As we look forward in faith, we will be able to overcome the paralyzing fears that bombard us every day, and to ''work mighty miracles,...[becoming] a great benefit to [our] fellow beings'' (Mosiah 8:18).

I hope you all have a great day :) I love you all, and you are always in my prayers! <3

More miracles to come next week!!! 😄

-Søster Soelberg

Halfway!!

It's so insane! I hit my 9 month half-way mark last wednesday!!! 

To celebrate, We did a lot of yard service for members in the ward! Biking out through the Danish countryside is always such a wonderful experience :)

It's always just so serene and calming, even though you're biking over giant hills with the wind always pushing you back down! haha, but lucky for you all, I'll just show you pictures of the scenery instead of you having to experience it first hand!! hahaha

It's been a pretty good week, though :) We had really great lessons with our investigators, and we're still trying to find new people to teach! We've got great lessons lined up for this week, and a baptism to go to on Saturday all the way back in the Fredericia Ward!! My dear friend Rigmor is finally getting baptized, and she wants me to be there :) I feel so happy and honored <3 I'll let you all know how that goes :)

I hope you all have a fantastic week, and that you remember how much I love each and every one of you :) You are all amazing, and I love hearing back from you all about your own adventures all over the world :)

Med kærlig hilsen,

Søster Soelberg

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ps - while doing some yard work this week, I got attacked by an angry plant :( My arms are a little bit battle-wounded as a result, but thankfully, they're better now than they looked in this picture

It left my arms and legs blistered and sad :( hahaha, but they're doing better now!! 

Vi Ses!! :) <3
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Det Gaar!!

I hope you have all had a great week, og at det har gaaet (also spelled gået) godt!! Sister Landvatter and I have had a busy one full of contacting and working hard! Sister Landvatter is such a champ, and a joy to work with!

We're both working hard to find new investigators, and as a part of that, we're getting creative in our methods of contacting people! This past week, the city has been full of people here to enjoy Roskilde Fest, a huge music festival held just outside of the city. The music has been so loud that we can hear it from pretty much anywhere. This photo was taken while the tunes of Muse was gracing us through the air -

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We spent some time out there along the borders of the festival before and after the music, talking to people and having a great time with a little ukulele I picked up in Vejle- people seem to be much more cheerful and happy when the uke is brought into the scene

 
​Roskilde really is the ''Dream City'' for music lovers during the Fest!!

We talked with some really great people, and found a few to refer to the missionaries in other parts of Denmark. The Elders out in Taastrup came out to contact the remnants of the festival with us last night, and they experienced a wonderful miracle with a man from Poland. You just never know where/how/when you will find people who are ready to accept the Gospel of Christ into their lives!

This morning during our studies, I was reading through the latest edition of the Ensign magazine, and read the article ''Of Lambs and Shepherds'' from President James E Faust (https://www.lds.org/ensign/2015/07/of-lambs-and-shepherds?lang=eng). To shorten the story, President Faust speaks to us about an experience he had as a lad, where on one occasion he learned just how important it is to be a true shepherd for those whom we have responsibility over. In his account, he failed to properly protect a beloved lamb, who had been a dear friend in his childhood, and who as a result of the neglect was killed by another animal. 

Sister Landvatter and I thought over this story and likened it to our relationship with our Beloved Savior and Shepherd, Jesus Christ. In moments of distress and fear, as we are crying out in the stormy night for succor and support, the Savior is always running to our side to sustain us and help us through our trials. In President Faust's story, he (pres Faust) failed to run to the aid of his lamb all because he did not want to leave his warm, safe, and dry bed, despite the cries of the lamb and the worsening  of the storm outside. When we imagine what the Savior has done for us in relation to this example in the story, we realize that our Savior will really put everything on hold, every comfort to the side, and every selfish desire on the back-burner, in order to give us the comfort and protection and guidance we are in need of. We are reminded of this Great Sacrifice in the Book of Nephi, chapter 19 verse 9 : ''And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge [Christ] to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.''

I am eternally grateful for the love that Christ has for me, and for all of these my brothers and sisters around me in this strange but beautiful land called Denmark. I am thankful for the opportunity I have to learn more about the Savior and His sacrifice, and to spread the good news of His gospel to others. And I know that as I work my hardest and do my best, I will be worthy and qualified to have His Spirit to be with me, and to recieve the guidance and support to accomplish the work that is, and always has been, His.

This Onsdag (wednesday) marks my 9 month ''halfway'' mark for my mission. It has been an amazing experience thus far, and I am excited to see what else comes my way :) I have learned so much more than I thought I ever could in such a short period of time, and I have seen the Gospel work miracles in the lives of those around me. I love this work, and I love this people :)

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As a bit of a side-note, we now have a new Mission President!! President and Sister O'Bryant have officially arrived in The Land! A big shout-out and welcome to them :) It's going to be great getting to know them and working along side them in this great work <3

Med Kærlig Hilsen,

Søster Morgan B Soelberg

​the bus almost spelled it right - just change the H to an E ;) but to give it credit, it's not a Danish bus

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