No Place Like Norway: Keeps on Getting Better

Hallo Mennesker!!

It's been a pretty good week with some amazing things that occured here and there.

Tuesday instead of doing an hour and a half of contacting like we had planned, we ended up contacting for four hours. WHOA. But it didn't feel long probably because it was super fun. We talked with all kinds of people. Almost right off the bat we met these two guys from Amnesty International (supports human rights) named Robert and Jo... (He's from Portugal and I couldn't catch the last bit). We had a great discussion with them about how we were sent to Norway and what we do as missionaries. They both are going to be moving sometime next month, but it was still fun talking with them. We saw them throughout the day and we'd wave hello as we passed each other.
Some of the people we met:
- Robin Williams (Not, but this guy's laugh and personality totally reminded me of Robin Williams. He had a lot of questions about what happens after this life and Søster Johnson was having a great discussion with him. Sadly though he didn't want to give us his number so we gave him ours in case he still wants to know)
-Rudolph (Not really his name, but he wore a bright red coat and was super cheerful. He didn't have a whole lot of time but he apparently likes missionaries and we gave him our contact card)
-Ole (a young man who is interested in knwoing what this life is about and how he can improve his life. We exchanged numbers (oh yeah!) but were not able to schedule a time with him. Bummer. But don't you fret because we shall find a time to meet with him!)
-This one old man... This is just a funny story. So we're walking and this old man is walking towards us. I stop him and say that we're talking with people about Christmas and he gets super happy. Then Søster J starts talking and the old man starts saying words I have no idea what they meant and Søster J's eyes pop out. She quickly bid him farewell and I asked what just happened. She said that the old man was like, "I'd love to have you come over for Christmas. You're very pretty girls and I would like to get cozy with you." WHOA. WHOA. WHOA...whoa. Not happening. But it's still pretty funny.
There were many other people we got to talk with but that was a lot of writing. Sorry, but I want to be able to include more of what happened this week.
I also had the chance to meet Paola who is a less-active that the sisters have been working with. She is from Chile and has a two year old son named Adrian. She's super sweet and welcoming. She cooked us dinner after we had dinner with the Biskop. So two dinners one hour apart. It was brutal but worth it.

Wednesday an epic battle almost happened. We had two appointments fall through so we went to work on our Family History ad at the church. An hour later we are getting ready to leave and it's dark (it gets dark by 3:30pm now). We see two dark figures by the doors and we are FREAKED OUT. We were frozen with fear of not knowing what to do because there was two people INSIDE the church building. I seriuosly almost went ninja but then I realized it was the elders. As they walked towards us we all were like, "I think we were all ready to go ninja." Good times.

Thursday something kind of cool happened. We all (the elders included) had dinner with the Jacobsen family. Brother and Sister Jacobsen are active members but their kids don't want anything to do with the church. The last dinner we had with them, the kids did not want to eat with us. But something different happened this time. When we got there, the eldest son, Aldan, answered the door. He said both his parents were still out but would be there soon. We go into the living room to wait and Aldan calls down his brother Alexander. We ended up having a conversation about where we are from and where they have been in the states. When Brother Jacobsen came in with dinner (it was pizza. Never thought I would have that but OH MAH GOODNESS IT WAS DELICIOUS) both Aldan and Alexander wanted to still talk with us so we all ate together. Later on, the daughter comes home (I wasn't able to catch her name) but she just joins us and starts talking with Søster J. It was a fun and surprising evening.

Friday we had a wonderful lesson with Serge our try-back. When we got there we forgot that there might not be a lady when we arrived and we said a little prayer that there would be a wife so this could still be a lesson. We go up to the door and Serge's wife answers. HALLELUJAH! We had a great Restoration lesson with Serge and his wife (never caught her name). When we handed them each a Book of Mormon (we brought one Russian and one in Norwegian since Serge said that He's Russian last time we saw him) and the wife started looking through it and reading the title page and introduction. Serge has some concerns because he thinks the Book of Mormon conflicts with the Bible. We did our best to explain but he still had them. He still wants us to come back again though because he enjoys talking with us. We were able to schedule for the 27th and get his number!

On Saturday we had a lesson with Semhar. It was so wonderful!! We had Maria Borge come with us on the teach. She and Semhar hit it off so well. We also learned that Maria was an orthadox before she joined the church. Semhar is an orthadox. It was super awesome that they have that connection. We had planned to tech about the Atonement but it ended up becoming a lesson about the power of the Book of Mormon. Semhar has been reading but she struggled to see how it could apply to her. Both Maria and I shared personal experiences about how the Book of Mormon helped us in our lives and Sister Johnson taught how the Book o fMormon helps us to strengthen our relationship with God. At the end of the lesson Semhar was excited to read in the Book of Mormon! Also, we invited her to church and she said she would come!

Sunday morning was the longest. Well not really, but waiting for Semhar felt long. Relief Society was starting but she hadn't come yet. We waited by the doors for the longest 15 minutes of my life. We sent Semhar a text asking if she was still coming and she replied Yes with a smiley face. Good sign of course. AND IT CAME TO PASS that Semhar arrived. The members were wonderful with introducing themselves to Semhar throughout church and overall Semhar enjoyed how she felt. She had a lot of questions but she just knew she had to soak in all in. She's golden. After sacrament was over, she had to run but we gave her hugs and said we'll meet up this week.MY FIRST INVESTIGATOR AT CHURCH!!! So exciting!!!

And quick little story for a spiritual thought: Last Monday I went to exchange my coat because the one I had bought wasn't warm. It was more rain coat than winter coat. I picked a warmer coat that was 2000 Kroner and when I went up to the lady who was helping me exhange, she said that the tag was wrong and the coat was actually 3000 kroner. Instead of just saying, "tough luck/too bad" the lady takes off 1000 kroner from the price so I only have to pay 700 kroner. She was super kind to be that understanding for me. This huge act of kindess reminded me of how merciful Jesus Christ is. We often expect life to be fun and easy but then something happens that demands much more from us than we thought. We feel panic and stress. But Jesus Christ comes to us and helps us receive the strength we need through His atoning sacrifice. He paid the price of sin so all that we have to do is be willing to turn back towards Him and repent.

That's all for now folks. Have a fantastic week!!

Got some yummy Norwegian goods!!!