Week 2 at the MTC

Greetings folks!

So what I have finally been able to accept this week. The MTC blows your mind. From what you learn in classes, from fellow missionaries, even from random quotes on the projection screen, it blows my mind. I just hope my mind will be able to reassemble itself before I go out into the field. That would help me out a lot.

I have been able to see lots of people in the cafeteria I used to work with! It's always fun to see a familiar face. And I'm still trying really hard to not always go into work zone when I enter the cafeteria. Last Thursday, I started to stalk chairs. It's bad. Habits die hard people.

We finished teaching Annette last week. Our last lesson with here was PHENOMENAL. We asked her to pray about being baptized. She said she wasn't sure because she was scared she would lose her friends and family if she got baptized. We all bore our testimonies and shared experiences of how having the gospel in our lives helped us greatly. The spirit was just overflowing. It was AWESOME. After that, Annette said she would be baptized!! Oh my goodness, it felt amazing to hear her say that!

And guess what? The next day, Annette becomes our teacher for the afternoons. At first it was so weird because we established a missionary/investigator bond and now we are working to create a student/teacher bond. We're all slowly adjusting to it.

In class we have two new investigators. One is Marita, she's 19, in her last year of high school, and has heard a lot about the church and wants to cut through the rumors and find out what is the truth. The another is Frederik, 26, was a Christian, knew a Mormon in high school, working and studying business, and met the missionaries while on vacation. We have only taught Marita so far. Yeah, that was a rough first lesson. We all were getting different promptings from the spirit with which direction to take the lesson from and somehow managed to bring it all together. It was bad. Luckily, we have those to help[ us improve so now we know how to prepare ourselves for the next lesson and also for Frederik!

In the mornings during gym time, we usually play volleyball. It's always so hilarious. The elders are so funny to watch as they tease each other. I keep diving for the ball (when we're not allowed to dive) so I try to cover it by going into a dance pose. Yeah, I got the moves like Jagger. Not. But we have a blast while getting in a workout.

The Dutch missionaries, Sister Frampton, Elder Bodine, and Elder Reber all left this week. It was both sad but exciting to see them all head out to the field. We exchanged emails to keep in touch which is nice. Crazy to think that will be me in a few weeks. But I still have lots to learn before then.

One last thing, so when we have spare moments, the elders and us sisters like to doodle on the chalkboards. The elders saw my doodles of the sisters and asked me to draw them. So next week, you'll be able to see the finished product. I'm pretty excited about it!

Well, that about sums up this week.

Till next time!

 Soster Frampton and I matching!

 The Elders!

The Sosters!

Hallo Folk!

Greetings from the Missionary Training Center (MTC)! How has everybody been? Did you all watch conference this past weekend? It was absolutely wonderful, I loved it so much. If you haven't watched it, you really should. It will change your life in one way or another.

Where to begin? Guess I'll start with my first day here. I was dropped off my old roomies at BYU (go cougs!), dropped my luggage off at my dorm, picked up my books, and was sent to a computer lab to do this welcome orientation. Afterwards I went into my new classroom with my teacher speaking Norwegian to us. Peculiar thing, I was not freaking out that he was just speaking Norwegian to us. Guess I have a Japanese classes to thank you that. Plus our teacher is so animated and plays charades with us so it makes it fun to learn!

We were off to dinner and I saw five people that I knew as soon as I entered in the cafeteria. So awesome!

After dinner, all the new missionaries wend to a teaching experience where we taught three investigators. Yeah, they really do have you going right off the bat. Intense. But it was a big eye opener to just everything the MTC and the mission are about for me. When we sang "We Are As The Army of Helaman" the original line in the chorus is "And we will be the Lord's missionaries" but was changed to "And we ARE NOW the Lord's missionaries" Singing that line made everything official for me. Since then, I have been feeling wonderful.

Our schedule for last week was pretty fun. We worked out in the morning, we're the last group to eat meals so the cafeteria is pretty empty by the time we get there, we're teaching an investigator named Annette. and we've had workshops and of course, General Conference. I met my zone and branch (same thing pretty much). Really, we are all so different from one another but somehow we all just click. It's so amusingly amazing!

The Norwegian is coming along. Slowly but surely. I can give the first lesson briefly, bear my testimony, and pray. My companions think it's crazy how many languages I've learned and keep telling people, "Yeah, Norwegian is her twelfth language." It's not FYI. It's my seventh technically. Yeah.

As mentioned earlier, my companions and I have been teaching an investigator names Annette. She grew up atheist but recently discovered Christ and wants to become a better person. The fist time we saw her, we gave her a brief explanation about how the Book of Mormon helps us come closer to Christ which she really liked. She asked about who Joesph Smith was and we told her that we would answer her question next time.

The second time we saw her, we talked about Christ's Ministry, The Great Apostasy, and mainly the First Vision for the restoration. It was a bit more crazy this time because we tried asking Annette more questions and allowing her to talk more when we still don't completely understand Norwegian. She asked how do we know that Joesph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I started to say that I prayed then suddenly, WHAM. The spirit hit me so strongly. I told her I prayed and the Holy Ghost came into my heart and confirmed it. It was powerfully simple.

Well that's all for now. Till next time and remember:

Life is good when you let Christ in.

Soster Buhler

                                             Companions and Norway flag!!!

 Me with my missionary tag!!! It's Official!!!

Soster Robbins, Soster Campbell, and I

 Me, Soster Henderson, Soster Frampton (our trainer), Soster Campbell, and Soster Robbins

 Charise (Sister Jensen) and I

 Studying... with a photo bomb :P

 Eldste Reber, Soster Frampton, and Aldeste Bodine (going to Sweden)

 Studying oh so hard..... Yeah

They stole my camera... That's our district leader and his companion.

Hana updated her address at MTC:

Sister Maria Anne Hana Buhler
NOV11 NOR-OSL
2011 N. 900 E. Unit 250
Provo, UT 84602

Please write to her and ALL the missionaries you know!

Thank you so much!
from Hana's mom

The time has come!

I'm currently amazed by two things: 1) It's already October and 2) today is my report day. Whoa.

Also GENERAL CONFERENCE is this weekend. You all should listen to it, it truly is wonderful. You can watch it on tv, online at lds.org, listen to it on the radio, you've got options so take advantage of them :)

I really have been on an excited high since I got on the plane yesterday. So excited I had to take melatonin to help me go to sleep last night. Thank you inventor of melatonin, you rock.

As my last day in the outside world before I go into the MTC, I get to hang out with my old roomies before they drop me off. I'm so joyful to have been able to see their beautiful faces again!

After today I will become limited to updating once a week but I shall do my best to actually update once a week for you fantastic people.

Have a wonderful day!

Here was a view from the plane. I thought it was pretty so I took a picture. Sunsets are amazing.

One week left!

Hello Everybody!

Time is definitely flying by. hard to believe that four months have already gone by since I opened my mission call. Back then, I really dreaded how long I had to wait for my report date. But I've learned something over the last month:

REPORT DATES ARE ALSO INSPIRED.

Yes. It is true. My family has had so many things happened to them. It was a great blessing for my dad, aunt, and grandma that I was still around to help them in their time of need.

Now that things have calmed down, I'm NOW getting everything I need. Granted I've done some shopping here and there so it wouldn't be overwhelming by the time I got to this point. Planning ahead is a great thing!

Till next time!

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Farewell Talk

Due to me going all over the place and my home ward moving fast Sunday to the last Sunday in September  I will be giving my farewell talk this Sunday (9/15).

For those of you who don't know about Fast Sundays, usually we have Fast Sunday the first Sunday of every month. But in October, the first Saturday and Sunday are General Conference. The wonderful opportunity we all have to hear from the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson and other church authorities. You all should check it out! It will be broadcasted on BYUtv, on lds.org, and on the radio (I don't know the name of the station). Basically, you have options on how to watch General Conference. Take advantage of this amazing opportunity!

Anyways, I thought I would post my farewell talk on here. Hope you like it!

Good Afternoon my dear brothers and sisters,

I’m thankful to have this opportunity to speak with you today. It’s amazing to me that two months have already passed since my brother Zach was standing right here giving his own farewell talk. Who knows, maybe someone will give their own farewell talk in two months.

Since I got my call way back in May, there are two questions I get asked the most:

How did you decide to serve a mission? What was your reaction to being called to Norway?

I thought I would answer these two questions for you all today.

How I came to decide to serve is a rather fun story:

Both my parents served missions in their youth and loved their experience. As I came closer to the age requirement of 21, I was about 70% sure that I would serve a mission. Then in the last October session of General Conference, President Thomas S. Monson announced that women could serve at the age of 19. All of a sudden the decision to serve or not was thrown right into my face.

For a while the mission was on my mind A LOT. I was having crazy dreams about me serving in Paris and converting the Phantom of the Opera, many women from my young adult wards were getting calls, lots of excitement was happening.

I worked in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) cafeteria and got to talk with many of the missionaries. While it was fun talking with them and sort of experiencing part of the mission in the MTC, I wanted to make sure that I chose to serve because it was what I wanted to do. Not just because everyone around me was swept by the excitement.

A few months passed and the craze calmed down. Then that fateful day occurred.

It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very, bad day. Everything that could’ve gone wrong went wrong. Because of an accident with my bicycle, I had to walk to work. I cried my eyes out. I said a prayer in my heart to my God, “Please. Please let me know whether I’m suppose to serve or not. Even if you won’t give me an answer now, just please give me the strength to smile at work.”

When I arrived, I put on a smile and managed to get through the shift alright. But my fake smile didn’t fool everyone. While my crew was cleaning up, a coworker of mine told me I was requested by a group of missionaries. When I walked towards their table, I didn’t recognize any of their faces. Confusion hit me. I smiled and asked, “Can I help you with something?”

Then they all started cheering and clapping. More confusion hit me. One elder spoke up, “We just wanted to thank you for working so hard. We’ve all loved how kind and helpful you are and we just wanted to thank you before we leave tomorrow.”

They gave my a little napkin card that they made and all signed. The card read:

Dear Hana,

I don’t know what is troubling you but I feel horrible that you are troubled. Just remember that no matter what you choose to do throughout your life, trust Jesus Christ. He’ll help you through anything.

Best of luck and remember to smile!

It was the perfect way to end a day. When I got back home, I got down on my knees and prayed. Thanking God for those missionaries that comforted me. When I was about to end, I suddenly said, “I want to serve. I will leave for my mission.”

I closed my prayer and heard a quiet voice say, “Good. I will be with you.” An overwhelming feeling of joy filled my heart. And I slept incredibly well that night.

When my mission papers were submitted a few weeks later, everybody was guessing what Japan mission I would go to (Because my mom is from Japan and I’ve studied Japanese for two years). As much as I loved the idea to serve in Japan, I just felt that wasn’t where I would go.

Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t get a whole lot of mail from the prophet. And it came to pass that  one day in the month of May, he sent me a letter.

When my call arrived, I was coming back from a long double shift at the cafeteria. My mom sent me a picture message of a white envelope with the caption: It’s here!!!. For a moment I was like what? I zoomed in on the return address. When you read “Office of the First Presidency” on the return address, it causes several biological changes in your system. You get the chills, your heart races, and you hands shake with anticipation. I ran into my apartment shouting, “MY CALL ARRIVED” and my roommates freaked out along with me.

We waited for everyone to get home and we had a skype and phone conference session. As I read “The Norway Oslo Mission” on the computer screen, I started crying. Everyone went silent. “What? Could you repeat that please Hana” my grandma asked on the phone. “I’ve been called to Norway grandma!” Then everyone started cheering.

When I read “Norway Oslo Mission” I was like, “Whoa that’s random.” Then I got to thinking…. It wasn’t.

Joseph Smith said, “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was. I suppose that I was ordained to this very office in that Grand Council.”

President Monson shares an experience he had with President Kimball:

On one occasion I remember having read the detail on a particular missionary candidate, and President Kimball indicated that the young man would go to, I believe, London, England. Then he said, “No. That is not correct. Send the young man to the Denmark Copenhagen Mission.” I looked on the form and noticed that I had overlooked reading a very important statement from the stake president. I said, “President Kimball, have you ever seen this form before?” “No,” he replied. “Look at what the stake president has written,” I continued. “The grandfather of this missionary candidate is an immigrant from the land of Denmark. He is our stake patriarch. The missionary was promised in his patriarchal blessing that if he lived true and faithful he would return to the land of his forebears, that he might preach the gospel in that particular land.” President Kimball nodded his approval and said, “The Lord’s will has been made known today.”

My ancestors do not come from Norway, but somehow I have a spiritual connection to Norway. Growing up I loved watching the movie, “The Polar Bear King.” I learned that this story is a famous folktale from Norway. My favorite author, Shannon Hale, expanded the fairytale “The Goose Girl” into the Books of Bayern series. This fairy tale also comes from Norway.

But the strongest link I have with Norway is through letters. I used to have pen pals in elementary school and missed the experience so I thought I would try finding another pen pal. I came to a website called “pen pals now,” filled out an ad application, and waited. A few days later, a girl named Amanda from Norway responded to my ad. This past July marked our fourth year of writing to each other. And last summer I got to visit her in Norway. None of this information was written in my mission papers.

Was my call inspired? I know it was.

Friends, family, and all you wonderful ward members, this is the true church. I wouldn’t be going on a mission to another country if it were not so. I owe my life to this gospel. Without it, I would be in a dark place, lost and miserable. As Sister Henry said in the Saturday session of stake conference, “Tribulation is mandatory but misery is optional.” This is a gospel of optimism. No matter what the adversary throws our way, we can always find a silver lining and we have the greatest strength you could ever need. Jesus Christ. Once you obtain this blessed knowledge, you really do become happy. I’m thankful that Zach and I both have the wonderful opportunity to share this gospel and the joy we receive from it.

In Alma 29:9 it reads:

“I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.”

In closing I would like to share some lyrics from a Disney song called “I’m A Happy-Go-Lucky Fellow” which shares my philosophy of the gospel:

Everyone keeps asking me

My recipe for livin'

It's simple as the ABC's

And hardly seems worth givin'

I've tried it out in every way

It always sees me through

It's made me what I am today

That's why I'm tellin' you

I'm a happy-go-lucky fellow

Full of fun and fancy-free

You can make the whole world seem mellow

If you take it in your stride like me

Don't cross a bridge or peek 'round the corner until you're there

Just learn to smile and in a while

You'll find trouble's a bubble of air

Get a happy-go-lucky feelin'

Keep it and I guarantee

That you'll find you'll end up livin' in the sun

Full of fun and fancy-free.

I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. They love and know each of us individually. I know that Joseph Smith saw them in the sacred grove. I am deeply grateful for Joseph Smith's endurance so that we could have the gospel on this earth today. Thomas S. Monson is the true, living prophet of God today. He is inspired by God and will never lead this church astray. I'm thankful for our ward and stake leaders as well as our general authorities. I'm thankful for their love and service to each of us. I know that as long as we are commanded to do, and remember our abc 123s; read at least 3 pages from the scriptures, say our prayers twice a day, and attended our church meetings once a week, we can all return to live with our Heavenly Father in the Sun (or Celestial Kingdom). 

I say these things in the name of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Missionary Moment: First of Many!

On Monday, September 2, I rode the train from Portland, OR to Tri-Cities, WA. When the train arrived in Vancouver, WA a guy came abroad and sat next to me. He introduced himself as Mike and I introduced myself. We ended up chatting the entire time I was on the train (4 hours).

When I told him that I study at Brigham Young Univeristy, he asked if I was Mormon. I replied yes, and was sincerely surprised how happy he was to find that out. I told him the basics of what serving a mission means, the apostasy, a little bit about the restoration, and how the Mormons moved out to Utah. In exchange, he told me stories he had his encounters with Mormons in the marines/army (I can't remember which. My bad).

Not only was that the most fun train ride I've ever had, it was also a humbly experience for me to act as a missionary for Mike. I sadly didn't have a Book of Mormon on me to give him, but I know that I at least helped plant a seed in his heart for future missionaries to find him.

This experience as proved yet again that life really is good when you know that the church is true.