Its September First and Sister Hale and I are all ready for the first day of Hogwarts!
Its so good to be back home in Horsens!
Horsens is a magical place. Almost as magical as Hogwarts itself.
The city is quaint and beautiful. The people are friendly and wonderful. The ward members are so loving and welcoming. The missionary work is exciting and busy. I just LOVE being here.
This is EXACTLY where I'm supposed to be. I can feel it in my bones.
The leaves are starting to change and even fall from the trees. The air is starting to get a little colder and crisper. Darkness is starting to sink in earlier and last longer. Its almost Autumn!
I love it when seasons change.
The season of my life is getting ready to change too....
Its safe to say my emotions have been mixed and confused these days! I almost cried myself to sleep the other night......
five weeks.
five glorious Danish weeks. five beautiful weeks to preach the gospel on these cobblestone streets.
I just hope I can fulfill what God sent me here to accomplish.
It was a beautiful almost-autumn week. Sister Hale and I have been working hard and laughing harder. We've been up and down the streets of this whole town just trying to change the world. We've met lots of great people this week! Including an Egyptian. I've never met one of those before! (Its only my life's greatest dream to travel to Egypt and explore the pyramids..... so making a new Egyptian friend was pretty exciting.)
One day we biked through blue skies and warm sunshine up to Anna's house. I love spending time with Anna because she reminds me so much of my Gram. She has a beeeautiful garden and its such a pleasure to do service and work in the yard with her! Garden work might just be my favorite kind of service work. I guess I've got a green thumb. #likemotherlikedaughter
Anna made us a traditional Danish frokost for lunch. (Det vil sige open face sandwiches topped with an assortment of canned and bottled fish......) yum.
One day we woke up early and biked down to the harbor. We did Yoga on the rocky beach while the sun painted the sky gold.
Life doesn't get better than this.
We've met with our friend Lærke a few times this week. I love that girl. She's 20 and just got back from working at an orphanage in Africa for 5 months. She's a vegetarian and she's OBSESSED with Harry Potter.
Soul Sisters??? (I'm not a vegetarian..... but I do love vegetables!!)
Lærke isn't too into interested in the gospel right now. But she's open to talking about it and she has been coming to YSA activities with us. There are SO many youth/YSA here in Denmark who are inactive. Being a Mormon just isn't the easiest thing to do. And its definitely not the popular thing to do. We just have to help them see that its FUN to be Mormon. Even though its not always easy, its TRUE and is WORTH IT. Like Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore said, "there comes a time when we must make the choice between what is right and what is easy."
One night our Italian friend Lorenzo called US and asked if we could meet up. We had a great little lesson about the restoration of the gospel in the lovely garden behind our castle. And he committed to be BAPTIZED. yayyyyyyyyyy!
We've also had a lot of lessons with a few of our atheist friends this week....
The problem with a lot of atheists and skeptics and nonbelievers is that they start at the end instead of the beginning. But you can't start building a sky scraper from the 152nd floor and then work your way down! Kom nu!
I've had a lot of 152nd floor questions and arguments thrown at me this week.
But my faith isn't built clear up there in the sky! My faith is not based on Noah really building an ark and surviving a flood that drowned the whole earth. (I actually don't KNOW if that ever really happened!) My faith is not based on me understanding and accepting and supporting the church's stance on homosexuality. (I don't actually understand it completely and am not even certain how I feel about the whole thing!)
My faith is built on a stronger deeper foundation.
I believe in God.
I believe that He is my Father and that He loves me.
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe that He is my Savior and that He made everything possible for me.
And I believe that Joseph Smith restored the true and everlasting gospel to the earth today.
As I've spent so much time this week (and throughout my whole mission....) with so many people who don't believe in the things I do or don't believe in anything at all, I've been thinking a LOT about what a blessing it is to believe.
I don't know if belief is an inclination or an inherited genealogical trait. I don't know if belief is a gift from God himself or if its simply a choice......
But I'm so thankful that believing is a part of ME.
Whether it is an inclination or its running in my blood, whether its a God-bestowed gift or a choice I either intentionally or unintentionally made, I am SO GLAD that I believe.
I don't know everything. But I know what I believe in.
When you really believe- when you love what you believe and when you live it, it makes all the difference in the world.
It changes the world.
At least, it changes the world from the eyes of the believer.
Hey. I gotta go buy some groceries.
I love you guys.
Have a beautiful week and live what you believe.
med kærlig hilsen,
Søster Breanna Michele
Its important to stop and smell the roses.
(its safe to say we didn't take that saying literally......)
