No Place Like Norway: That moment when your life becomes a seminary movie...

Hello Everyone!

So this week... In two words was hilarious and miraculous. Much like a seminary movie right?

Monday, we had some finding time and we went out with the goal to find a new investigator. About 30 minutes later, we pass an Irish pub and see this guy walking around. We stop to talk with him and he asks if we speak English. We learned that he came from France that day to help with a research project. We walked around with him as we talked about the restoration, what we do as missionaries, how we like Norway, and other small talk topics. We asked this guy for an appointment but he wanted to keep talking and find some place to get out of the rain. So we go into TGI Fridays. And we talked about the plan of salvation, his research project, and more small talk topics. When 9:30 came, we said we had to run. The man (finally found out his name at the end of the night. It was super French and I have no idea how to spell it so he dubbed himself as "Lawrence") asked if we could meet the next day and paid for our food. We booked it back through the huge rain storm back to our apartment, laughing the entire way.

Tuesday we cooked dinner with Lawrence at the church. We tried to keep the conversation about the Gospel in some way while Lawrence wanted to talk about other things. After we gave a brief explanation about the Book of Mormon, he was really confused with why we are so willingly to go out every day to face so much rejection. Sister Hornback and I bore our testimonies that we do this because we know it's true and want others to receive the joy we have received from it. He was still confused and we finally got it to him that in order for him to understand why we do what we do, you have to read the Book of Mormon. Right after that I could see that something just clicked in Lawrence's mind and he nodded in agreement.

After we cleaned up, it was about 9:00 so we had to go home but Lawrence wanted us to go with him to a bar. Yup, a bar. We just kept saying, no we have a curfew and we don't drink and Lawrence was like, "Oh come on, you can just drink water. You're only in Norway for a few more months." This went on for another 15 minutes and then finally we said our goodbyes. The whole time though I was holding back from laughing because I just kept thinking, "Holy cow this is something from a seminary video." Life really can have movie moments.

And one more story: So Sister Hornback taught me this theory for when we go tracting. In Norway they LOVE hearts and decorating their homes with them. The theory is: The more hearts a house has in the front, the more mean they will be. Usually we see like 2-4 hearts and people are generally polite but not interested. Friday we came to a house with 8 hearts. SIster Hornback was like, "Oh boy, brace yourself Sister Buhler" and I was just laughing along. I knock on the door, the lady opens the door, I say where we're from, and - I kid you not - she angrily sighs and slams the door. Sister Hornback and I (after saying "have a nice day" and walked away from the door) busted out laughing.

For the miraculous part for the week, we also found two new investigators Jonas and Bjørn. Both of them are agnostic but are wanting to find out if God really does exist. We met them on the street after a LONG day of people not being home and "nei takk" (no thanks). Jonas we met on Wednesday night and Jonas last night (Sunday). We will be meeting with them both this week and all of our investigators are coming back from Påske Feire!!

For the spiritual thought:

It combines things I got from studying both the scriptures and PMG this week. With it being Easter on Sunday, I chose to focus on the Atonement. As I was reading in John 20 when Mary and the apostles find the empty tomb, verse 7 stuck out to me: "And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself." This scripture reminded me of a talk that I heard a missionary give about Easter. He shared that in Israelite etiquette, when the master would throw his napkin on the table, that told the servant boy he could clean the table. But when the master folded or wrapped his napkin and placed it to the side, that told the servant boy that the master would return.

This tiny detail always touches me because it is a simple reminder that the Lord send us tiny messages to each of us to answer prayers, give guidance, and simply to let us know that He loves us.

I hope you were able to have a wonderful Easter Sunday, celebrating an event that really did change the world.

Have a great week!

Take care,

Søster Buhler

1 - a easter egg Torunn (a member) gave me!

2- The Bradfords (The Senior Missionary Couple)

3- Made easter goody bags for the members :)