Greetings from 1527!

Hi People!

OK, so I forgot to mention last week that my P-Day was moved to today (Wednesday). My apologizes for lack of communication :(

The reason why our PDay moved because we went to the Freia Chocolate Factory! It's the Norwegian Willy Wonka Factory and it was FANTASTIC! I would say that I am a bit sick from all the chocolate samples we got to eat, but let's be real nobody can have too much chocolate right?? And the reason why the subject line says, "Greetings from 1527" is because on the tour we went back in time to 1527 BUT we never got back on the time machine to go back to 2014... So I'm not quite sure which time I'm in so I'm going with the last year I was told I was in... yeah.

Anyhoo, here's a quick review of last week:

- Met with a less active named Gullveig Smeby

- Our investigator Elizabeth got a baptismal date for September 27th!!!!!!!!!

- Had an incredible conference with Elder Dyches from the Seventy

- Had a mini Romerike reunion on Sunday

- Miracle Story: We needed a member to come with us on a teach and...

Gullveig is such an incredible person! She hasn't been to church due to health problems but man, when I walked into her home, the spirit was like WHAM! None of her family are members and they have not been supportive at all, but she truly does have a strong testimony. Her grandson lives with her now and she's been trying to find ways to help him develop a desire to learn about the gospel. Ahh!! I just love her so much!

So Elizabeth. Can I just say that I love her so much!! We taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and when baptism came up she was like, "So what do I need to do to be baptized?" After we talked about it, we asked her "when would you like to be baptized?" Then she picked the date. Afterwards, she said the closing prayer to confirm the date and the spirit was there so strongly. 

It truly is incredible to see how much Elizabeth has grown since we began teaching her. It's also been so cool to see the difference between receiving a referral and finding on our own. Referrals really do have an immediate support system and while we're not meeting with Elizabeth, she talks with her friend Are and he helps give her even more support. AAHHH!! I really do just love Elizabeth!

Last Friday we had a Zone Conference with Elder Dyches. He actually gave one of my favorite talks from the last October conference, "Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?" (If you haven't read that talk, HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT). When I shook his hand, he told me he was a mission president for the Portland Oregon Mission which was awesome! It was a phenomenal opportunity to hear from him, his wife, and the Stake Presidents. To share what I learned I will share a parable that Elder Dyches shared with us. It's called "The Parable of the Oranges":

Justin worked at this one company for about three years. He was always on time, never had a sick day, was an effective worker, did everything he was supposed to do. One day, on the board there was a posting about an opening to be the boss' assistants. Everyone told Justin he should apply for it and that he deserved it. Justin applied for the job and a few weeks later he was denied the job. After hearing this, Justin went up to see the boss and asked him why he didn't get the job. "Well, the best way to explain why you didn't get the job is by asking you to do one thing, " said his boss. "My wife needs oranges for a dessert she's making for a party tonight. Could you get some oranges?" "Oh yeah, I can do that," replied Justin. He runs down to the store, gets two bags of oranges, and comes back in 15 minutes. The boss tells Justin to take a seat and he calls in Jeremy, who got the position. "Jeremy, my wife needs oranges for a dessert she's making for a party tonight. Could you get some oranges please?" "Sure thing," replied Jeremy, and he left. Thirty minutes go by and Jeremy returns with four bags of oranges. "Now Jeremy," said the boss, with Justin listening, "Can you tell me what happened in the last thirty minutes?"

"Well, I went down to the grocery store and not knowing a thing about oranges, I went over to the produce manager. He asked what kind of oranges did I need, and I said I had no clue. So I called your wife to ask what the dessert was supposed to taste like. She said it was a sweet with a bit of tang taste. I then asked her how many she needed and she says the recipe calls for one and a half oranges per person and there will be thirty people at the party. So the produce manager helped me pick out the oranges I need and I got the 45 that was needed for the recipe. There was also a deal on the oranges as well so I got a 15% discount. I got a good deal and I hope I did well boss."

"Thank you Jeremy," says the boss. "You did good."

Pretty good story right? The conference overall was about focusing on how to use our tools more effectively to help us get the best results possible with teaches and with our investigators. 

On Sunday, I ended up seeing a lot of members who moved from Romerike (my first area) to the Oslo ward I'm in now. It was really cool to not only see them again, but I could have a legit Norsk conversation with them!

And for the miracle story of the week: On Sunday, I called a potential we had and got an appointment with him an hour after church. Sister Olsen and I had not been able to get a member to come on a teach with us all week so we said a prayer asking for help and asked people after church was over. No one could come and we had to go in order to get to our meeting place on time. We get off the trikk and start walking. As we get on the street, we run into two members that were out for a walk. We ask if they could be with for our teach right then and they said yes! It was a 10 minute teach, but it was a solid one about how faith in Christ helps strengthen our families. Really is true when we do our best, the Lord takes care of the rest!

So that was last week! Since this Pday is in the middle of this week, I'm saving all the good stuff that's happened so far from this week for next PDay (hopefully you could understand that last sentence...). 

I hope you all have a super duper day and again, I'm sorry for throwing off the Monday Email pattern... Breaking the mold! Just for today, you'll hear from me next Monday :)

Have a great week you wonderful people!

Love,

Søster Buhler