Monday, January 26, 2015

The Spirit of God Like a Fire is Burning

Hei Dokker!

It's been a B-E-A-UTIFUL week here in Ålesund! Today, the sun is shining (which is good for you reptiles) and I'm just feeling like a... HAPPY SNOWMAN!! 
Ok all movie references aside, it really was a solid week with many little miracles :)

-Root Beer!
-New Investigators: Miloud, Åsman, and Paul
-Less Active Visits
-Ingeborg
-Spiritual thought: Psalms 56:3-4

Yes the root beer was random but it was still greatly appreciated! My sweet companion Søster Neilson asked her mom to send some root beer because I mentioned how much I miss it. Bless her sweet little heart!

We were blessed to find some new investigators this week! We met Miloud on the last Sunday, got an appointment with him on Tuesday, and he brought his friend Åsman with him. They both have a Muslim background and so we many talked to see how much they want to learn and if it would be safe for them to continue to meet with us which it is! They both have a lot of questions about what happens after we die and why so many people believe in Christ as someone more than a prophet. Excited to see where it goes from here!
Paul we met on the street and had a good street lesson with him about Jesus Christ. He's from the Congo originally and he's been in Norway for a couple of years now. We were able to meet with him again and teach him about the restoration. At first, you could see he was like, "Whoa! This is a lot to take it" but after we discussed about it he believes it is possible and wants to find out if it is really true! 

We are experiencing more and more less actives/inactives whose hearts are being softened and allowing us to come visit them! We were able to visit with Winnie again. She still is kind of hesitant around us but you can see that she's opening up herself a little more each time we visit :)

Liv was good but she is going through a hard time right now... her dad passed away two weeks ago and when we visited her on Wednesday, she told us that she found out her cousin died that morning. But then she was teaching US the importance of choosing to see things from a positive perspective and to rely on the Lord when we don't know the answers. She is so incredible!

We were able to visit a lady named Inger Aredall. She is super sweet and she fed us yummy soup because she saw it was super windy outside and thought we needed someting to warm us back up. Bless her sweet soul! She is still really positive and we'll be visiting her again! I feel that she's not letting us know about something... but that is what the spirit is for! Helping to discern people's needs!

We got to visit Simon who is a new convert on the less active side. He fed us some odd yet delicious food and he gave us food to go! People have been spoiling us with food! He doesn't come to church because it's not as high of a priority for him because he likes to hang out with his friends... but we had a really good discussion about how he can invite friends to come to church and who the Spirit helps us to know what to say :) 

We got contact with this one less active named Sara (back when Søster Heywood was still here) and she's back from her vacation! We saw her yesterday and are going to be meeting with her tomorrow! AND she's bringing a friend!!! WHAT!!!! So good!

So with Ingeborg:
She is Åse Marie's daughter and she hasn't been very positive about the church for a LONG time. We usually see her every Friday and say hi. This last Friday we got to have lunch together and she's opening up a lot more to us! Søster Neilson is just a sweetheart and Ingeborg gave us her number so we can text once in awhile! Åse Marie was so happy to hear how her daughter is starting to trust in us! The Lord is really helping to soften and prepare the hearts of people :)

Spiritual Thought!
This week I was reading about David in 1 Samuel. In Chapter 29, David and his fellow soliders learn that their people had been taken captive by their enemies. All of David's fellow soldiers begin to murmur and say it's hopeless. Inside of going with what his peers are doing, David motivates himself to turn to the Lord. Since I have began serving here in Ålesund, I've had to REALLY learn fast to do this myself because it is just my companion and I. We have other missionaries we can call for pump-ups but daily, it's just us. As I was thinking about this, I found this scripture in the cross references (Pslams 56:3-4): "In time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. In God I will praise His word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me."
Fear is the absence of faith. With everything and anything that happens to us, we are presented with a choice- do we increase our faith or our fear?
When we choose to put out trust in God, despite our doubts, we will prevail because God ALWAYS prevails.

Love you all and I hope you have a super duper week!!

Take care,
Søster Buhler

We made snow angels. Couldn't resist!

Just another beautiful view here in Ålesund!

This is Peaches. She's our friendly neighborhood pet
About to open my eyes to the best surprise ever! (It was Eirik's first root beer!!)
This is Åse Marie. She's the best :)


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