my mark on Denmark: fireworks pioneers and jews

My mission has been full of unforgettably interesting excitement.

Tornadoes and vikings and hurricanes and stalkers.....

Guess what added itself to the list this week....

Sister Grant and I had just enjoyed a cozy evening eating dinner with our favorite Danish grandparents Hans and Ulla (oh p.s. they said to tell you all hello!) and we were then on our way home. We thought we'd take the shorter route so that we could get to our next appointment on time. So we were in the middle of this sketchyyyy neighborhood when a massive explosion interrupted our pleasant conversation about Christmas traditions and future families, sending the two of us jumping 6 feet into the air! We had no idea what the sound was, all we knew was that we wanted the heck out of there!

30 seconds later.... BOOM!!! another terrifying explosion right across the street from us.

15 seconds later....

FIERY EXPLOSIVE FLYING THROUGH THE AIR straight towards my companion and me!!!

I said a few words I had to repent of as a fire bomb exploded 2 feet behind me and my survival instincts kicked in.

DEAD SPRINT.

007 status DEAD SPRINT.

Those early morning jogs we'd been going on paid off as we BOLTED down the street through what felt like World War 3 as some dumb kids continued to throw fireworks at us. We sought shelter in the grocery store at the end of the block until Tina and Francesco came to our rescue.

Lifelong lesson learned:

Never take the shorter route. Stay on the straight and narrow.

Well aside from illegal fireworks nearly blowing my right leg off, this week has been pretty good!

We got to go to Copenhagen for a big missionary zone conference. Followed by a Christmas feast and a MOVIE NIGHT.

We are so spoiled.

Have you ever seen the movie Ephraim's Rescue? Of course you haven't you're all too busy watching the new Hunger Games movie and Thor 2 and The Grinch who stole Christmas....

Well I may not be the best movie critic, considering the only movie I've watched in the past EIGHT MONTHS is the 25 minute long Restoration film.... but even for all of you non missionary people I think Ephraim's Rescue would be a nice movie to watch if you're ever bored on a Sunday afternoon :) It was soooooo good.

The pioneers are SO inspiring. They suffered and starved and froze and watched each other die as they faithfully trekked to Zion.

And to think that sometimes I feel hungry and cold and want to go back to my cozy apartment early....

Those faithful pioneers inspire me to work harder and be stronger and do better.

Side note:

Oh my heck. There was one part of the movie when the pioneer girl and the cuuuuuuuuuute pioneer boy KISS.

And holy cow the air in that room full of name-tagged missionaries just filled ALL the way up with aca-awkwardness!

Just imagine 60 missionaries watching a kissing scene on a big screen.....

funniest thing ever.

Speaking of awkward. and speaking of cuuuuuute boys.....

Sister Grant and I knocked on a door the other day. And my heart skipped a beat when thee CUTEST Danish man I've ever seen answered the door. I tried to ask him if we could share a Christmas message with him....

In my head I was thinking "oh my heck he is thee CUTEST Danish man I've ever seen I should've put mascara on this morning dang it I hope my hair isn't looking toooo Hermione-ish today..."

and then instead of saying "Christmas message" (Julebudskab) I accidentally said "Jewish message" (Jødebudskab).

Well I guess the cute Danish man didn't want to hear about Hanukkah and menorahs and dreidels, because He told us his dog doesn't like to have guests....

Burn.

We almost got blown off the next few porches and everybody told us we were CRAZY to be out with a HURRICANE on the way. (yes we had another hurricane this week. it blew all the Christmas trees away.)

Well I'm gonna go hit the mall and find myself a warm coat. In case Denmark decides to be colder than St George this week...

it hasn't even snowed here yet!! Lame.

Here's a few lines from The Sound of Music to inspire you all this week...

"A bell is no bell till you ring it,

A song is no song till you sing it,

And love in your heart wasn't put there to stay-

Love isn't love till you give it away."

Jeg elsker jer! Har en dejlig uge.

XOXO

Søster Rog