::disclamer- this email will be a little rushed- we're on a tight schedule!!::
The week started off fantastic! (don't worry, the entire thing was fantastic!). I met up with my 2 new companions after Sister Moseley- Sisters Lyman and Floyd :)
Monday and Tuesday passed by full of joy and happiness- we went caroling and enjoyed an amazing District Meeting about Christmas :) We also hijacked the Elder's Christmas Presents at the Mission Office in Copenhagen in order to create an ''Operation Santa Clause'' later in the week :) We had a goal of making this Christmas the best Christmas in the Elders' lives :)
Wednesday comes up, and we get a surprise phone call from the Mission President, President O'Bryant. This is how that conversation played out-
::phone rings::
::Sister Floyd answers the phone::
-Hi, this is Sister Floyd :)
-Hi Sister Floyd, this is President O'Bryant
-Hi President O'Bryant! What can we do for you
::at this point, all three of us are looking around at each other. We don't usually get phone calls from the Mission President::
-Well, I would actually like to talk to Sister Soelberg; does she have a moment
-Sure thing!
::the phone gets handed over to me::
-Hi! this is Sister Soelberg!
-Hi Sister Soelberg, President speaking. Do you know Sister ________?
-Well, I've only met her once or twice. I don't know her too well.
-Well, Sister Soelberg, sister _______ has gotten sick and is heading home tomorrow, just in time for Christmas. I need to you take her place down in Slagelse. Be prepared to head out tonight or tomorrow morning. I would recommend getting your bags packed by 17:00 this evening.
::we all have blank faces::
-Yes, President, I can do that, of course!
-Thank you Sister Soelberg. Merry Christmas!!
::phone call ends::
........
so, long story short, I got ''EMERGENCY TRANSFERED-'' we went about our day, said goodbye to the elders and a few of the members/investigators that we saw that day, went home, packed my bags, and took the train out to Slagelse the next morning. And by the next morning, that means the 24th of December.
Some of you may remember me saying that the 24th is the day that Danes Celebrate Christmas, which it is! The 25th is also celebrated, just not as much. But with that said, this is the biggest holiday of the year in Denmark, which means that nothing is open, and no one is outside! This is important information for what is coming up next-------- be prepared.
I get into Slagelse and have just enough time for our Gudstjenste (church service on Christmas), and then we head out with the elders to go to our Christmas appointment- well, the GPS ends up freaking out, and we end up on a dirt road, which leads to this---->
We got the car stuck. We can actually make this into a perfect lesson though, and it's a Christmas I will never forget :)
We got ourselves into quite a Sticky situation, complete with muddy clay and a good hour'r worth of hard work trying to get ourselves un-stuck! We eventually had to have a Member come and try to get us out, but that didn't work, so in the morning (on the 25th), the elders called the towing company and had help getting out.
Later that day, on the 25th, we all had another appointment together, so they came to pick us up, and we stopped by the carwarsh on the way there. The car was having difficulty driving correctly with all of the dried mud and clay underneath. Well, here we were, our car covered in Mud- we got to the carwash, and after a struggle-fest figuring out how to get it to work, we drive in and prepare for a nice clean-up. Our nerves were all pretty high-strung at this point, as we were already running late.
Well, while parking the car inside the wash, I look up on to the machine that will soon save our lives (or at least just make it so our car looks and runs better), and this is what I see--->
We all just looked up, flabbergasted. And then we started laughing! And then we appreciated everything that we had been going through :)
Compared to our own lives, this funny Christmas story is very applicable, and very much a parallel!
Sometimes we drive ourselves down wrong roads and get into a sticky situation. A situation that we ourselves are powerless to overcome without the help of another! We spend quite a bit of time in frustration and failure, and eventually make the choice to call for help. When we turn to the greatest source of help, Our Father in Heaven, we will always come out of the struggle, but we don't just stop there- there are more lessons to be learned, and God knows that!
Even after getting out of the trouble area, our lives are still greatly affected by what we have gone through- we still have the messy mud and clay weighing us down and causing some difficulty as we continue along down the road of life. We need to be cleansed of all of this mess- and that's where Christ comes in :)
Because of Christ, we have the chance to be completely clean again! After doing all that we can to make our situation better (like us removing the large chunks of clay from around the tires and under the car), we can receive a total cleansing through Christ.
This was a pretty funny thing to experience on Christmas day- one that none of us expected to happen! But all four of us came away from it feeling uplifted and our testimonies strengthened.
Despite the stressful situations, we did have a wonderful Christmas :) I spent my first night in Slagelse with a wonderful couple- Tina and Francesco! Tina is half Danish, half Italian, and Francesco is Italian, and hardly speaks any Danish (so it was funny trying to explain what happened and know what to do when he came to try and pull our car out of the mud). So our Christmas eve was a lovely blend of cultures :) haha
and of course, Christmas day came around and was absolutely lovely :) It was great to be able to skype home and enjoy speaking face to face with my family <3 It feels really weird that this is already my 2nd Christmas here in Denmark! Time flies by so fast!!
I hope you all have a fantastic week, and that you are all prepared for the New Year! I have already started writing my new list of resolutions, and I'm excited to see what the next year will bring :)
I'll talk to you all again next year! :D
merry Christmas! Complete with really tiny Italian breadsticks!!
-Søster Morgan B Soelberg
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