A Day in DENMARK

Dear Family,

Yes, you read that right. We went to Denmark. And yes, we had permission...Actually that's pretty much the only thing that happened this week. We only have 4 investigators and only got to teach one of them this week. Ironically enough, it was Presley...the African. You've probably figured out by now that we can't really rely on Africans, but Presley met with us and HE HASN'T SMOKED IN 8 DAYS!!!! The man's a rockstar. We set a new baptismal date for him because the old one was for this coming Saturday and there's NO WAY he's going to make that. We still have like all of the commandments to teach him. But he's doing really well. He's having a really rough time right now so keep him in your prayers! Anyhoo Friday through Sunday there was a really big YSA activity in Malmö. We didn't get to go on Friday because we taught Presley (no problem with that...I just want to teach people!!!). But Saturday morning was a YSA temple trip as part of the activity and we got to go! Elder and Sister Rade drove us down and it was super nice of them! Copenhagen is actually really close to here. It's about at 45 minute drive. We drive over a very famous bridge, the Öresund bridge. It's SUPER long! We also wanted to go see the Church of Our Lady, which is where the original Christus statue is. We were so excited and then got to the church and they were having a wedding. Pooh. We did get to peek at the Christus and it's HUGE! But I also wanted to see the 12 Apostles...oh well. Guess we'll just have to visit Denmark! The temple in Copenhagen is absolutely GORGEOUS!! It's really small, but so beautiful. The inside is decorated in rich blues and gold. I think it's supposed to be modeled after the temple of Solomon. I'll send pictures. It was so nice of President to let us go! I'm the luckiest sister missionary EVER! And I'll be eternally grateful. Also, there's nothing better for a companionship than going to the temple together. We went hoping to receive answers on what we can do for this area. I didn't have any major revelations, but I do feel really good and peaceful about the rest of this transfer. This is a fantastic area with MAJOR potential. We do have some really positive potential investigators. They just need to have some free time. Please pray that we find people to teach! Anyway after the temple we went to Malmö to catch the rest of the activity. There was a very interesting presentation by a man named Jan Menssen. It was about the geography of the Book of Mormon and it was really cool! He's been working with another man and they have very convincing evidence that the Book of Mormon actually took place mostly in Guatemala and Mexico...not in South America like I always thought. He's been working with a man named Joseph L. Allen who's written a book about this. It's called Exploring the Lands Of the Book of Mormon and I want to read it. That presentation pretty much took the rest of the day on Saturday. Sunday there was a special testimony meeting in Malmö for the YSAs and we were going to go because we wanted Presley and Roshan to be there. But as we were getting in the car we see 3 young guys walk up who we knew weren't members. Turns out they were there for a school project. Good thing we stayed cause they wanted an interview. Also, our investigator, Denzil came to sacrament meeting! After church we went over to the Wiklöfs' (our ward mission leader's family. He's actually a YSA...yeah.) for dinner and turns out brother Menssen was staying with them. We had a great time over there. Brother Menssen is German and super nice! Oh he also came to our ward yesterday and guess who got to translate. yup. Yours truly. I hate translating with a passion. I feel like such an idiot because I can only catch about half of what they say! But it was just for one speaker. It was cool because he talked about when the church was organized here in Sweden. It was first organized in Skåne, which is where the Tietjens came and late joined the church! It was so cool to hear someone talk about my history! I'll be forever grateful to those ancestors of mine. At the time they became members the church was outlawed here. Missionaries were imprisoned and sometimes killed! But they stuck it out and now 147 years later here I am! It sounds like you all had a great week. Joe, I can't believe how good you are at baseball!! 11 strikeouts?! AMAZING!!! Sarah you have to send me prom pictures! I can't believe it's prom time already...time goes so fast! Speaking of fast, I'm so excited for Mothers' Day! I've been lookig forward to it since Christmas! I was thinking about times this morning actually. Maybe I could call at about 10:00 in the morning your time. That way Jake can call first and you can all still have time to get ready for church. Sound good? If that doesn't work out...Swedish Mothers' Day is on May 30 and we may be able to call then too. We'll see. I can't believe Brad's home! I actually knew about the Disneyland scheme. It was brilliant. It's just so weird to think that he's an RM now...And mom, don't worry. I'm not at all worried about things working out when I get home. I know that Heavenly Father will take care of me. I've had that assurance since I decided to go on a mission. Also, tell Kristen that yes, I used dual point needles...5 of them actually. It took waaaay more coordination than I actually have. Sister Hegstrom sure got a kick out of watching me figure that out. She was also impressed that I actually did figure it out...she said I was analytical. That's a word no one has ever used to describe me...go figure. John I'm glad you liked Disney on Ice and I hope you'll come see plays with me when I get home! Well for a week where we literally had nothing to do I managed to come up with quite a bit to say so I'll sign off now. Thank you all for your love and prayers. I'm so grateful for all of you. I'm grateful to be a missionary! I'm grateful for the temple and I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. I love you all!

Love,
Syster Coleman

LOOK MA NO MORE NASTY HANDS