Week 14

Kære Alle Sammen,

It was great to be able to talk to you all last night. Letters and e-mails are great, but not the same as face-to-face conversation. Everyone looks like they're doing really well.

Between talking to everyone just yesterday and being stuck inside the whole week, I unfortunately don't have much to report. P-Day, Zone Conference, then on quarantine for the rest of the week.

Søster Guesne got sick on Tuesday, so we stayed inside for a bit and went absolutely mad. By Thursday I'd gotten sick too, but by that time we were professional indoor missionaries, so we managed to get a lot of work done and stay sane. A witness of the power of Calling. Most missionaries hate taking that hour or so a few times during the week to call potential and former investigators to try to schedule appointments, but this week we only clocked seven hours of proselyting time, but managed to find FOUR new investigators. If that ratio carried over to street contacting, for every 40 hour week we'd have 22 new investigators. That's almost South America!

There's a running joke that for every door knocked on in Europe, someone is South America gets baptized. Sadly, it's almost true.

We tried to go to church on Sunday, but the members told us we looked like death and needed to just go get back in bed. Gotta love that classic Danish bluntness.

Actually, I do love that bluntness. Søster Olsson made an appointment with a member to give her a Family Mission Plan and as she went to hang up said, "I'm excited to meet with you !" The woman just snapped, " Why should you be? You don't know me." In Danish culture you're considered an invasive freak if you walk up to someone and say, "Hi, how are you?" You only ask someone how they're doing if you've been accepted into their circle of friends and you genuinely care about the answer. They also don't even have a word for "please". Totally foreign concept. I think that straightforwardness is part of the reason why the gospel has amazingly strong roots in Denmark. Once it's accepted, it sticks.

Back during last transfers (about a month ago), Præsident Andersen said there was something he wanted to talk to me privately about. Timing has never worked, and I just found out what it was last Tuesday during Søster Guesne's One Month meeting. He wasn't sure how long I'd stay in Frederiksberg as part of this tripanionship, and if things had gone according to his original plan, I would have been transferred this week. To Odense. On Fynn. Odense's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but I do NOT want to pick of a Fynnsk accent thankyouverymuch. I've come to love Københavnsk (Copenhagenese) - talking a million words a minute and dropping the endings of half of your words. I'm really going to miss Copenhagen when Præsident actually does decide to transfer me. For now though he said he feels like Frederiksberg is where I need to be. I couldn't agree more. I just get the feeling that there's more for me to to in this area before I'm transferred, especially with An. It wasn't even on my radar when I contemplated where I'd be sent on my mission, but the Lord knew what he was doing when he sent me to Denmark. When I saw the Danish flag on the missionary mantle at Dad and Cheryl's I got a little wave of patriotism. Odd, but Denmark has been my home for three months as of today.



Jeg elsker jer!
Søster Morse


Mom - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! I already e-mailed you, but I just wanted to say it again. With you being on Bev's benefits thing, should I expect to see you in Salt Lake or Copenhagen first?

Greg - I am so impressed by how the basement is coming. How's life with Mom jetsetting around the country?

Dad - I loved seeing your Danish flags up in your office. I'll keep asking around to see if anyone knows your companion here. It was so fun to hear you say "Jeg elsker dig". When you texted it to me was my first real experience with Danish. I remember reading it and laughing. Not laughing anymore though.

Cheryl - Sorry your foot was hurting. Have you changed your hair since I left? It looks great! Happy (Step) Mother's Day! I love the missionary mantle with all of the flags (and Denmark represented twice because of Thorvaldsen's Kristus statue). It's inspiring to see the global gospel going forth represented to so visually.

William - I still can't get over the thought of you going to Japan for a year. That's so cool! It also just seems like the right thing to do right now. What a cool opportunity! The library I'm in right now has FMA in Danish. It's on a display stand near the door.

Katie - You've grown up WAY too much in the past 5 months. I command you to cease this instant. I'm glad to hear your AP exam went well though. Do you know when you get the results?

Andrew - You've got a really cool deck put together. How exciting that you're almost out of school! Thank you for showing me the kittens!

Matthew - Your cast is awesome. I wish I could sign it! Seems like it isn't slowing you down though. Can you still practice for baseball with it though? The kittens are so cute!

Supreme Mugwump - It's been almost a month. Everything okay over there in Renton? I'm contemplating holding your next letter hostage. Say hi to your new Hermana for me!