Its been kind of a rough week over here in Denmark. But I've learned a lot of good things along the way.......
We
had a zone training to go to in Copenhagen this week. Sister Peterson
and I- being our adventurous greenie selves- decided to take our bikes
on the train with us so we could bike into the city for our meeting.
Long story short... we missed the street, biked 30 minutes too far, and
got hopelessly lost in a huge European city. The APs had to come rescue
us and we were late for zone training.
On our way back home that night guess what happened? We
got on the wrong train and ended up on the opposite end of Denmark. It
was the longest day everrrrrrrr. And when I finally got home that night
all I wanted more than anything was one of my dad's big bear hugs. Or to
sit on the laundry room counter and talk to my mom for an hour or two.
Or to make cookie dough and watch a few episodes of Friends until 2 am
with Amanda. Because that's what you do when you have a long hard day.
But instead I climbed into my creaky little twin sized bunk bed and went
to sleep hoping the next day would be better.
It wasn't. The rest of the week was full of
spontaneous downpours of rain. (I mean that both literally and
metaphorically.) The bike I just bought broke. All of our appointments
canceled on us. Half of our plans fell through. I had a door literally slammed in my face.....
It was the last week of the transfer, so on Saturday
Sister Peterson and I sat down to go over our goals and talk about the
past six weeks and how everything has been. We were being really hard on
ourselves and feeling pretty down. Our numbers weren't very high and we
still have soooo much to learn and soooo much to work on and soooo much
we can improve.
Right in the middle of that companionship inventory,
we decided to say a prayer. When Søster Peterson and I knelt down on
the hard wood floor of our little apartment, a huge wave of gratitude
swept over me. And I realized that despite all the many challenges, I
have SO much to be thankful for. God has blessed me SO much these past 4
months! He has blessed me sooooo much throughout my whole life. Even
though I'm no where near perfect. I've made so many mistakes in my life
and I've fallen short again and again and again and again. But God has never fallen short. He constantly
blesses me and shows me that He loves me, despite all of my faults and
imperfections. So I'll just keep trying a little harder to be a little
better every day.
When things go wrong or I'm having a hard time, I've
started listing things that I'm thankful for. Sometimes the list goes
on and on. But sometimes when my heart is feeling particularly heavy,
the list ends after the only thing i can think of is that "the sun is
shining." But the truth is, we always have SOOOOO much to be thankful for!
Today I'm thankful that the holes in the bottom of my shoes are still smaller than a nickel.
I'm thankful for the fresh vegetables from my neighbors garden that I get to eat for lunch today.
I'm thankful for the amazing members here in Denmark that treat me like their family.
I'm thankful for the wonderful package my mom sent that still found me even with the wrong address!
I'm thankful that I have a filtered water bottle now.
I'm
thankful for my incredible companion/sister/best friend Søster
Peterson, and that when I get lost in Denmark at least I'm not alone.
I'm thankful for the name tag Heavenly Father lets me wear with His Son's name on it.
And
I'm thankful that I can pray. I can't have one of my dad's big bear
hugs when I'm feeling down, but every time I pray, my Heavenly Father
"encircles me about in the arms of his love." The sun is shining.
So when things go wrong or you feel like you've
fallen short or when you're having a bad day, just take two minutes to
look around and think of a few things you are thankful for.
Happy Monday everybody! Make it a good one.
XOXO
Søster Rogers
