First Full Week in Trondheim

Like the title says, I just spent my first full week here in beautiful Trondheim and am loving it! I can see why people call this area the "Promised land for contacting." I'm shocked everytime I get an appointment right on the street!

One cool story that happened on Tuesday. We had an appointment in a shopping mall, but we were kebabed (meaning the person was a no-show). As we were walking back to the church, we stopped a man named Johannes. He agreed to meet with us later that same day! He was impressed that we love our belief so much and he wanted to learn how he could learn to love God and Jesus Christ as much as we do. He was so excited when we told him he can do that by reading and praying about the Book of Mormon! He's one fantastic person!

Another quick story: On Friday we went to try a try-back. On our way there, we missed our bus stop somehow and ended up at the end of the bus line. What was meant to be a 10 minute journey to the house turned into a 3 hour adventure. When we finally found the try-back's street, we met a man named Johny whose Christian. He asked a lot of good questions about what happens after this life and also about the Book of Mormon. He exchange our numbers and got an appointment with him on Saturday. When we taught him, he really lightened up as the Spirit was teaching Him that what the Book of Mormon really was. We got another appointment with him for tomorrow!

It's just really cool that these two days we had planned to teach adn new investigators and we ended up doing that, but not in the way we had originally planned! Also, maybe this is the time for all the Johns to become interested in investigating in the Chruch! Who knows!

Anyways, on Thursday we had a zone conference. I got to see my MTC companion Søster Campbell!! Oh boy that was a joyful reunion! I also got to see Eldste Garrard from my early Romerike days! Plus it was really wonderful to meet more of the fellow missionaries serving in the North. This zone conference focused on what we can do to help the members trust us so we can help get the member missionary work going. The one major thing I got out of conference was the importance of Charity. When we have that deep love for others, it gives us that strong drive to do all we can to help them. We lose ourselves in doing service and also find ourselves there.

Which leads me to my little spiritual thought: Service. Many of us enjoy being able to do service for others because we understand when we serve others we serve God (Mosiah 2:17). But one big act of service that we often forget is ASKING for service. People tend to believe that if you have to ask others for help that means you are weak. That's not true at all. When you ask others for service, you are being smart. We all depend on each other to live! This has been something I have personally struggled with. I didn't like asking for help because I didn't want to be a burden to others. When I started opening myself up and aksing members here for help with Norwegian, they were all so excited to help me out! That's how people are - they're eager to help others but they need the opportunities to do so. So this week I would like to challenge everyone to ask for some kind of service. Do service by asking others for service.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and thank you for being your fantastic selves!

Take care,

Søster Buhler

Goodbyes and Hellos

This week all the following happened:

1) Said good-bye to Romerike after an incredible four months

2) Took a train through Norway 

3) Arrived in my new area: TRONDHEIM

Yeah, it doesn't sound like a whole lot but I can promise you that really a lot did happen!

From Sunday to Tuesday Sister Johnson and I were packing, cleaning, and saying our good-byes to the members here. At church I was actually surprised how sad people were that not only Sister Johnson was leaving but that I was also leaving. See, I was fairly quiet because I wasn't so confident in my Norwegian for most of my time here so I was worried that I was like a ghost here in the ward. But I was indeed wrong and I am quite happy that I was wrong! 

When people found out I was going to Trondheim, they all said something along the lines of, "Oh you will love it up there! It's warming up and you will get to learn Norwegian all over again!"

(Quick clarification: In Norway there's something called dialects. Depending on where in Norway, the people change some words and pronounce things differently. Similar to an accent, but really like another language. It's a bit similar to how Spanish and Italian are similar but not the same.)

On Monday last week, it was a district P-Day with the Hamar elders and Anna, a less-active the Hamar elders work with. She took all of us to a Norsk Skogsmuseum (a Norwegian forest museum). It was super cool! It was the history of everything that goes down in the woods (types of animals, how they lumbered (lumberjacked?), hunting, and so forth. 

Wednesday morning was when I took the train from Lillestrøm to Trondheim. It was a seven hour train ride and OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. I was so absorbed by the gorgeous scenery that I kind of (OK just completely) forgot to take pictures. 

When I arrived at the station, I got a bit lost but I was able to find my companion (Sister Hornback) and the senior couple (The Bradfords) fairly quickly. After we dropped off my things, Sister Hornback told me about the two investigators we currently have, Sharifi and Mats.

Sharifi is from Afghanistan and has been meeting with the missionaries for a few months now. He's come to church several times now and really likes it. He reads the Book of Mormon and prays frequently. He had a baptismal date but freaked out saying that he needed time to get his answer about the Book of Mormon. Very shy but once he gets to know you he opens up. 

Mats is a newer investigator that the sister found when tracting. He grew up atheist but is open to talk about religion. He was taught the Plan of Salvation and he really liked it because it made sense. He is spiritually receptive but he has a hard time recognizing that he is feeling the spirit. 

When we met with Sharifi, Sister Hornback took the lead to talk about prayer as a commandment. He really likes that with prayer, it's a conversation with someone. He said that he's had some dreams that have helped him know that what we're teaching him is good but he didn't want to tell us what he dreamed about. He will be traveling out of town for a week, but we will meet with him this Friday!

With Mats, we had planned to teach the Restoration but we ended up talking about prayer and some questions Mats had. Last time the sisters asked him to try to pray and he did. He says he didn't really feel anything as he prayed but he still liked the idea he was talking with someone. He asked about why the Book of Mormon is important and we were out of time so we gave a short answer and told him we would go over that next week. 

The rest of this week has mainly been finding and getting adjusted to the area. Ben, our MMK, is very excited and dedicated to his calling which is awesome. He has lots of cool ideas and is really wanting to discuss and work with the missionaries. This ward is very focused on member missionary work and I'm very excited to work with them!

Quick spiritual thought: John 13:15-17. I actually found this one on accident. I was trying to write down the reference for "If ye love me, keep my commandments" but wrote the wrong chapter. Out of curiosity I looked up the reference and found, "For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them."

I especially like verse seventeen, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." The gospel is very focused on having faith and doing works. With faith we know things and we take it a step further by acting on it. When we act on our faith, we not only strengthen it but also receive happiness.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and thank you all again for your support :)

Take care,

Søster Buhler

1- Trondheim, the new area!

2 - Me and Morin, the less active we were working with

3- Me, Karoline Rapp, and Emma Rapp.

1- Me and The Borge Family

2- The Harris Family, Amy (standing), Irene, and Emily

3 - Fun at the Skogs Museum!

1- Sawing with some viewers in the window...

2- Johnson, Vause, and Jensen modeling the picture frame!

3 - Me having fun with machinery 

New Beginnings

OK. Først og fremst, I am so sorry everyone for my lack in emailing. Yes I am a horrible person who has some repenting to do. BUT I have some pretty exciting news to share with you all!

So we had moves call yester-morning. I will be leaving Romerike after serving here for four months and will be going up to Trondheim with Sister Hornback as my new companion. I'm going north!! And Sister Johnson (my current companion/trainer) will be going to Sandefjord. We will be white washed (both replaced) by Elder Palmer and Elder Edwards (yes, another one of my MTC brother-elders). That will be very fun!

On the other hand, it has been a pretty chill week. Lots of contacting on the streets of Lillestrøm and tracting. We had a nice lesson with Mariann reading in Alma 32 together. If you haven't read that chapter recently, I would highly recommend it.

We did have a nice Zone Leader Training last Thursday. We had Norsk Olympics!!! We played different games based on the language (verbs, nouns, reciting things på Norsk, ect), it was super fun! And I got to carry the torch away during the closing ceremonies. Good times, good times. 

So yes it was a week filled with much finding but it was still a great learning week. That is one thing that I really appreciate about life in general: We are always learning from ourselves and others. It's the circle of life! Romerike has taught me many things. It has been difficult but I have grown closer with my Savior. I am forever grateful for the people I have met and the experiences that have refined me here.

My spiritual thought for the week: Mosiah 4:27 "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and ^aorder; for it is not requisite that a man should run ^bfaster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order.

I have really come to love this scripture very much over the course of this transfer. The Lord never requires us to go beyond what we are capable of, but He still asks us to DO what He ASKS of us.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and remember that you are truly wonderful yourself :)

Take care,

Søster Buhler

Here's my new address:

Eirik Jaris Gate 4

7030 Trondheim

Norge

No update this week...

Sorry, I learned to do Norwegian knitting so that took up lots of time... but I will work on getting a good blog update in next week!

Love you lots!

Soster Buhler

Super Short Update

Hello Everyone,

I'm sorry that I won't be able to write very much for this week. Next week I promise I will give a longer update to make up for this week. SO I won't be able to write a whole lot due to our fantastic P-Day we have planned. WE will be doing some actual sightseeing with the Hamar Elders (District P-Day!!!!) and we will be watching Frozen. THat's right FROZEN. You have no idea how excited I am.

Super quick thought: Even the smallest wishes do come true. SO don't give up on them even when you think they don't matter. Because God is our loving Heavenly Father, He cares about what we care about. YOu matter to Him :)

Thank you every for the love and support you give me. THank you for the lovely emails and I'm sorry I don't have a whole lot of time this week to read them. I'll read them next week!

Take care and may the schwartz be with you!