No Place Like Norway: Week 3: Full of Surprises

Guess who came to speak at our devotional last week? Can you guess? Here's a clue for you: It was one of the twelve apostles.... Ok, it was Dallin H. Oaks. HOW COOL IS THAT? He and Sister Oaks talked about the importance of developing Heavenly Father's love for everyone and serving as Christ would. I would tell you more if I were able to take notes but I wasn't. I was way too absorbed by the talks. And the shock, but mainly how fantastic those talks were.

We have a new investigator along with Marita. His name is Frederik, 26, working on his master's degree in business, and works for an oil company. He used to be Christian but doesn't go to church anymore and he found the missionaries while on vacation and asked to ask with us. Pretty cool right? As we were getting to know him a little better, I felt a connection with him. I don't know why yet, but I feel that the two of us are very similar. I'm really excited to see how he will progress.

We are making some progress with Marita. At first, she struggled to accept the idea that there is a God. She's read the Bible for school and learned about the different religions but religion has never played a role in her life. We shared some scriptures with her about the Book of Mormon while I shared a personal experience with her. Our main goal was to teach her that God lets us know He's there is numerous ways as reminders that He is there. We challenged her to try to pray out loud and she said she would. Here's hoping!

In class... Well, lots of fun things have been going on. The other district's teacher has been sick so we combine the two Norwegian districts together a lot. Brother Bartholomew enjoys teasing the other elders and they enjoy giving him a difficult time. It's quite hilarious to watch. Oh, we also learned a funny story about him. When you say "fireants" when Brother Bartholomew is in the room, he gives you the most evil glare I have ever seen. Since he's such a jolly person it felt so strange to see him that angry. It was like we walked into the Twilight zone for 15 minutes. The longest 15 minutes of my life. Even when all of that happened, it just made me love and appreciate how fun and caring our teachers are. I really do have th greatest teachers ever. They're the best!

We had our first visit to the TRC (Teaching Resource Center). Our two volunteers were fantastic! One was Sister Kelly and she gave us yummy cookies while giving us compliments like a tsunami wave. They just kept on coming (the complimetns. Not the cookies. Sadly.)! The other we call "bestmor" which means grandma. She is from Norway and served a mission in England. She was super sweet. At first, I was so nervous to go into the TRC since I had no idea what to expect. They just told us to prepare a lesson. We never taught our lesson, but we did get to talk in Norwegian which was cool. I keep surprising myself with how fast I'm learning Norwegian. I keep thinking I'm doing so bad, but then I realize, "Hey, I can actually have a conversation!" It's a great feeling.

For those of you who know how much I love Disney, you'll be happy to hear that I'm living up to my Disney guru title. This week the Elders asked me to write down the lyircs for "I'll Make A Man Out Of You," "A Girl Worth Fighting For," and "Part of Your World." Then we all busted out singing into not only Disney but other songs too. We sang some country (Rascal Flatts, Zach Brown Band, Keith Urban, etc.), classics (Journey, Bon Jovi, Queen, etc.) and so on. Sister Robbins hadn't heard of Bohemian Rhapsody before so the elders and I held a mini Queen concert for her. It was pretty fantastic. Also, last night the sisters and I back in our dorms had a pretty awesome Disney karaoke session. Oh yeah!

That about wraps it up for the week. Hope you all have a stupendous day!

Take care,
Sister Buhler