It
all started with a 9 hour flight. When I looked out the window of the
airplane and got my first view of Copenhagen from 30 thousand miles up
in the air, I was just dyyyyying inside. Remember when you were ten
years old and you were on your way to Disneyland for the very first
time? and you were so excited to finally go to that magical kingdom that
you'd been dreaming about your whole life, that your tiny little heart
couldn't even handle it? Yep. Thats exactly what it felt like. x1200. I
was sooo excited to finally be in Denmark! To finally be in that magical
kingdom that I've been dreaming about since December 28th. And let me tell you, it is so much better than I ever even imagined.
When we got to the mission home that night, an
incredible Danish feast was waiting for us. Oh man. I don't even know
what half the food was... but it was all better than anything I've ever
had in my life. After we had dinner and got all ready for bed, it was
past ten o'clock but it looked like noon outside! Weirdest thing ever. I slept like a rock though. Until 3 am. When the sun came right back up and it looked like noon again.
The next day was a fairytale. After enjoying a
traditional Danish breakfast of fresh bread with jam and cheese (try it,
its WAY good) we drove across rolling hills of green fields dotted with
millions of tiny wildflowers and down cobblestone streets under a
perfect sky that makes you feel like you're inside of a snow globe. IT IS
SO BEAUTIFUL HERE. I feel like I just walked inside of a story book!
Especially when we arrived at Frederiksborg CASTLE. We wandered through
the beautiful gardens and up through the gorgeous castle and at one
point I kind of just stood back for a second and realized that I was in
EUROPE. Inside an ancient CASTLE. Where Kings and Queens once lived. It
was the coolest thing of my life.
We had a picnic lunch down on the castle
grounds before heading into downtown Copenhagen. My mouth literally hung
open as I sat and stared out the window from the back seat. Everything
that I've been hearing about and everything that I've been looking at
pictures of for the past six months was suddenly REAL. And Copenhagen is
so much better than the pictures! And I've never seen so many bikes in
my life! Google wasn't even kidding when it told me that bikes outnumber
cars here!!
So next we went to the Danske Kirke where we got to
see the original Christus statue and the statues of all the apostles,
and then to walk around the temple. After that I got to go out with one
of the trainer sisters to street contact. So here I was, walking down a
cobblestone street in the middle of Copenhagen. Talking to strangers
about Jesus Christ. In Danish. It was scary and super intimidating, but I
was surprised at how much I could actually understand! They taught us
the right language in the MTC after all :) And we placed two Book of
Mormons!
The next morning was transfer meeting, where I found
out I would be serving in Slagelse with Søster Hays (my wonderful new
trainer) and Søster PETERSON!!!! (my best friend from the MTC who was in
the group of missionaries right before me, but stayed with my group at
the MTC for the first 2 weeks because she had mono.) So yeah. I was
STOKED. Slagelse is a city on the west side of Sjæland (the same island
as Copenhagen) and our area covers the whole left third of the island.
The AP's drove me there on Thursday
afternoon to meet up with my companions and move into my new apartment.
Our tiny little apartment was definitely not meant to house 3 people!
We share one little closet and one little dresser and I'm pretty sure I
could brush my teeth and take a shower and use the toilet all at the
same time in our tiny little bathroom. But I haven't felt more at home
since I left St George 9 weeks ago than I do here. Despite the street
signs that I can't pronounce and despite all the foreign mysterious food
and despite the strange money in my pocket and despite the fact that
I'm millions of miles away from my family, I feel so at home.
That very first night I taught my very first Danish
lesson. We're working with a 12 year old Peruvian boy who is going to be
baptized this Saturday.
He's so cool! And he totally reminds me of my favorite 12 year old boy
from back home. (I Love you Kolbster!!) That's the craziest thing, is
hearing KIDS speak Danish. Especially little ones! Like 4 year olds. It's the cutest thing ever!
So the rest of the week was spent walking down
quaint little streets and knocking on doors and teaching lessons and
talking to people and eating the best food of my life and
accidentally falling asleep at all the wrong times because my body is so
confused about this whole 8 hour time difference. Going to church
yesterday was such a crazy experience!! And such a huge testimony
builder to me. The church is true no matter what language its in. Even
if you can hardly understand anything. Its still true! They had me bare
my testimony in sacrament meeting since I was a new missionary in the
ward, and WOW that was intimidating!! Seriously, this whole mission
thing is the hardest thing I have ever done. Especially now that I'm in a
different country trying to speak a different language. I love talking
to people and I love connecting with people and getting to know them and
just finding ways to make people smile. And its so frustrating and so
depressing when I can't do that! The language barrier is rough. Its so
so so hard. But I am so so so happy. I'm so happy to be here in this
beautiful country, sharing the beautiful message of the gospel. There is
no where else on earth I'd rather be and nothing else in the world I
would rather be doing. Don't be afraid to share the gospel! You have a
voice. So USE it. Tell people about what makes you so happy. And I
promise it will make you even happier too. And you can even do it
in English :)
I love you all and pray for you every day! Pray for
missionary opportunities of your own. Because being a missionary really
is the best thing ever.
Jeg elsker jer! TTYL.
xoxo,
Søster Rogers