First things first. JEG ELSKER JER!!
E-mail works two ways, like a telephone. I know it's easiest to just dearelder me, but my poor district leader AEldste Swenson is getting sick of going to the post office three times a day to get all my letters. Maybe e-mail will help him save his shoes. Usually we can print the e-mails out in the morning, read them, then take the remaining 28 minutes to answer, so don't worry about taking up my precious 30 minutes on the computer. I love hearing from you however I can.
P-Days are beautiful. Today we accidentally (sorry, Danish is killing my spelling. Blame Scandinavia. I do. Every day.) slept in until EIGHT!! It was insane and beautiful. The one person who heard an alarm (we have four, so I don't know how this happened) decided to lie in until Zuster Stout turned on the light. Then Sister Campbell came and knocked on the door to see if we were done with breakfast and ready for laundry. How embarrassingly wonderful.
So, my district. I've told you the names of my AEsdster (plural of AEldste), but I haven't told you much about them. This is a pity, since they're absolutely hilarious. Every last one of them. And my Sostre. Last night Soster Arbon came in from the bathroom with a new Scripture Mastery memorized (we have a goal to do 2 a week). When she went to recite it to Sister Arbon, she started off "Second Nephi ... something." Soster Arbon had just taken a drink and totally lost it. She sprayed all over Soster Taylor, who started jumping around and shrieking, looking for a towel. Soster Arbon was laughing so hard she literally peed her pants a little. I saw the whole thing while reading my scriptures (or as Soster Taylor would say, my scrippy-scrappys). We've been laughing about it ever since.
One of our teachers instituted a policy that if you're late to class, you have to contact to get in. If your introduction and mini presentation is good enough, you can come in. If not, you're mocked and sent back outside to try again. We've adopted this policy to get into our dorm too. The best was when all four AEldstre were late with our more strict teacher, Bror Stacey. I'll write it in English, but bear in mind that this all took place in terribly broken Danish.
*knock*
B. Stacey opens the door - "What do you want?"
AEldste Christiansen - "Hi, we're missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of the ... uh ..." *looks down at his name tag*
B. Stacey closes the door.
*knock*
B. Stacey opens the door - "What?"
AEldste Swenson - "Uh ..."
B. Stacey closes the door.
*knock*
B. Stacey opens the door - "What?"
AE. C. - "Hej hej!"
S. - "If you say so." (Hej means hello, but saying it twice means good bye)
B. Stacey closes the door.
*knock*
B. Stacey opens the door - "What?"
AE. Petersen - "Hi, we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day -"
AE. S. - "Did anyone order a pizza?"
B. Stacey closes the door.
*knock*
B. Stacey opens the door - "What?"
AE. C leaning on doorframe seductively - "Why hello there."
Eventually AEldste Holyoak got in with Swenson, but it took another try for Petersen to get Christiansen in. We were dying the whole time. Then they had to sing "As Sisters in Zion" in Danish. And when Bror Stacey laughs, he squeaks. He looks like a brunette version of the giraffe in Madagascar. And that's not being mean, he told us that's what he's always compared to. I would almost say he's my favorite teacher, but Bror Pullan and Bror Birk are amazing. They all teach so differently and so well. I can understand how missionaries come out of here nearly fluent in Danish.
Oh! And fantastic news! I said the prayer yesterday and Bror Birk (a native Dane from Odense) said he couldn't hear my French accent at all! I've been working really hard on that, parroting the teachers whenever possible and reading my Danish Book of Mormon aloud every night. I'm still in Nefis Forste Bog, and I understand about every fifteenth word. Mostly because every thirtieth word is a form of God. Bror Stacey said my teaching is coming along very well. When we have to practice contacting them to gain pretend investigators it seems like I have no trouble with the language. It's odd, because Soster Taylor and Soster Arbon are better at Danish in the classroom than I am (I'm so distracted trying to get the accent that I tend to forget word order), but it comes to me so naturally during lessons.
Yesterday we had a workshop here that explained in concrete terms the change in my Danish fluency over the last week. We were to ask a question, study a few passages about revelation, then pray to receive our own answers to the questions. I asked how I can be a more effective teacher, despite the linguistic limitations. The answers/promptings I got were to:
1. Love the Lord and the people, then let that love show in everything I do.
2. Search the stories of Paul in Acts.
3. See how the Savior taught and study his teachings in the Gospels for the method, not the message.
4. NEVER forget that the Lord is the one who is really teaching. I realized that I'd asked the wrong question, but He was answering the one I should have asked. "How can I step back from it all and let the Savior teach more?"5. Don't even worry about the language. Just keep working on it steadily. Regardless of language, the people you're teaching are all God's children and the Spirit will teach them without words. I also felt that this revelation came last for a reason. It's true. When I focus on what I know or how to say it all in Danish, I lose that fluency and confidence and the lesson dies. When I focus on the investigator and try to puzzle out what they need to hear most, the language just comes. I've read all the phrases and vocab before, but I need to teach by the Spirit (not by Danish) in order for the Lord to "bring all things to my remembrance."
It hasn't always been easy, but the MTC has really changed how I view missionary work and the gospel.
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