my mark on Denmark: I dont wanna miss a thing

Let me tell you a fun story.

We had leadership council in Copenhagen this week,

and Sister Pearson and I headed in to the big city a few hours early to spend our P day there. We'd actually heard that Miley Cyrus was in Copenhagen, so we were keeping our eyes open because we wanted to meet her and give her a Book of Mormon. So we thought "If we were crazy rock stars spending a day in Copenhagen, where would we go?" We decided to take our quest to the huge shopping streets. We didn't find Miley there, but we did find giant ice cream cones! So then we figured that a famous person might want to see some of the neat sights that Denmark has to offer... Everybody needs to see Den Lille Havfrue when they come to Copenhagen, so we ventured on over there.

While we were thus snapping a few candids in front of the famous Little Mermaid statue,

a man with crazy hair and sunglasses caught our eye. He looked oddly familiar. We heard the lady he was with tell him to quickly go stand in front of the statue so they could take a quick picture and slip away before anyone even noticed. We remained all nonchalant as we watched him take off his sunglasses for about 5 seconds to take a pic, and guess who was hiding behind those shades..... STEVEN TYLER.

Turns out Sister P and I are pretty good star chasers after all! We met Steven Tyler! (And by 'met' I mean that we said "Hi" as he wobbled awkwardly on his bicycle, and then he looked at us and smiled and said "Hi" back.)

When we got back to Horsens the next day we found our town plastered with Aerosmith posters.... turns out Steven Tyler came to Denmark to play a concert that was happening within earshot of our own apartment! And I fell asleep that night to the sound of Aerosmith outside my bedroom window.

I don't wanna close my eyes... I don't wanna fall asleep... I don't wanna miss a thing.

Lots of other awesome things have happened this week.

There is a cute family in our ward with adorable 8 year old twin girls, and we get to teach them the lessons before they get baptized next Sunday. I love being in their gospel centered home where you can just feel the love the whole family has for each other. We taught with them about the Restoration, and their 8 year old testimonies of their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ strengthened my own. Then we talked about the Book of Mormon, and their 12 year old brother told us that he had a big testimony of Mormons Bog. He shared with us about the time when we heard his grandfather share his testimony about the Book of Mormon, and how he felt the Spirit touch his heart when he was listening to his grandpa. So that night he kneeled down and asked God if it really was true, because he wanted to have a testimony just like his grandfather's.

As I sat in their home and listened to the testimony that that sweet 12 year old boy shared, I noticed his little sisters looking up at him like he was their hero and his parents looking at him with so much love in their eyes. I felt so blessed to be a part of that beautiful moment. I'm so excited to have my own family like that someday. I'm going to teach my children all about their Savior. I'm going to teach them to love Christ by the way that I love Him and by the way I love them.

After laughing and jumping and bouncing and hopping on the trampoline with the adorable twins, we rode our bikes home into the sunset and I felt so thankful.

I don't know what I did to deserve this. For the past 14 months God has been pouring blessings on me and showering me with miracles and surrounding me with His love. I haven't done enough good things in my life to deserve all these beautiful experiences and blessings.

We brought lunch and ate in the college cafeteria with our friend Ankhaa again this week. As we ate french toast on a cafeteria table we started teaching Ankhaa about the restoration of the gospel. After my companion talked a little bit about Jesus Christ I asked Ankhaa how she feels about Jesus and what He means to her. She didn't know what to say... She said that she couldn't answer because she doesn't actually know anything about Him.

That hit me really hard! Here's this beautiful person that I love and she doesn't know anything about her Savior. So we asked Ankhaa if we could start teaching her about Jesus Christ. She got really excited! She told us that she could see how much we love Jesus and how much He means to us and makes us so happy, and that because of that she wants to learn all about Him. As soon as her classes are over she wants us to teach her everything we know about Jesus.

I am SO excited to teach her about the Son of God. I'm so excited to teach her about her older brother. About her Savior who paid the price for her sins and made it possible for her to live again.

I love Jesus so much. I'm so glad He is a part of my life and a part of who I am.

I don't know what I did to deserve this. For the past 21 years I've been so blessed with knowledge of my Savior. I don't know why I was so blessed while other wonderful people like my best friend Ankhaa have no knowledge of Him at all......

But what I do know is that I've been given an opportunity to share theses things that I've been so blessed with. And I'm going to do everything I can to thank God for the beautiful blessings He never stops giving me. By sharing the gospel with everyone that will listen.

Sister Pearson and I love praying with people on the street. Its on my list of favorite hobbies. (Along with grocery shopping, chasing buses, and knitting with old ladies.) I love stopping and talking with people on the street and telling them about the gospel. And then asking them if we can say a little prayer with them before we go. They ALWAYS say either "yes" "sure" or "why not". Maybe it seems a little awkward, but its actually fantastic. Because when they hear you pray for them they find out that you care about them and that you are glad you met them. It also shows them your relationship with God. And I also think that they can feel a special spirit... Because prayers are how we connect Heaven and earth.

On our way to an appointment yesterday evening Sister Pearson and I were talking about lactose intolerance and other random things. We were speaking in Danish because we've made it a goal to speak the language more. And there was a young man walking close behind us who interrupted our Dansk samtaler and asked us -in English- why all the stores were going to be closed in Denmark tomorrow. He was from Finland, and when he heard us speaking he thought we were Danes. Well we ended up talking with him and getting to know him for a few minutes. He was super nice and had a neat earing and a rad tattoo and a nappy beard and a euro hair cut. We told him we were missionaries and he gave us high fives for being Christian. He wants to learn about our church and he wants to come to our young single adult activities! He's GREAT. And before we left we prayed a prayer with him right there on the street.

On our way home after that appointment the idea popped into my head that we should go stop by our awesome friend Lorenzo. So we took the long way home and headed toward his apartment. And as we were walking down a little street, we saw none other than Lorenzo riding his bicycle straight towards us, on his way to a friends house. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! If we would have been there 2 minutes sooner or 2 minutes later we would have missed him. But he stopped on his bike and we had a nice little chat with him about school and finals and repentance and forgiveness and Jesus Christ. And before we left we prayed a prayer with him right there on the street.

After that we made our way home and sat on the front steps of our castle to report our weekly numbers to our district leader. As I was talking to Elder Ockey about the lessons we'd had throughout the week I saw in my planner that we'd made it a goal to get 10 lessons. And we had only gotten 9. Well when I hung up the phone it was only 8:50 and we had ten minutes left in the week! So we took off down the street to find someone we could share a lesson with. Because when you set a goal you should do EVERYTHING you can to reach it. Only 3 minutes had past when we met a cute Ukranian girl on her way home from the university. We talked with her about her family and about Jesus Christ. Invited her to a church activity. And prayed a prayer right there on the street.

Well I just realized that I rambled about my life for ten years and the only three people who will actually read this whole monstrous thing are my mom and my dad and the future me. Hi mom! Hi dad! Hi future sister rogers who is probably reading this to relive the mission days because she misses Denmark way too much.

Good thing I'm still in Denmark right now though.

Every single day I spend in this country is cram packed with incredible people and beautiful miracles and wonderful blessings.

I don't wanna close my eyes. I don't wanna fall asleep. I don't wanna miss a thing.

Jeg elsker jer.

XOXO