First Week in Nordstrand!

Hey People!!

It's been..... Well, I can't quite describe how it's been so I'll just go through with what happened throughout the week and hopefully by the end I will have a better idea of what to say:

My last two days in Trondheim were INTENSE. We got a baptismal date with Sharifi and Hem!!! Seriously, boldest moments of my life. Sister Burns and I definitely left our area stronger than when we found it and I am stoked to hear about their baptisms in August!

On Wednesday, I got on the train to head back to the East. It was the exact same train ride I took to get up to Trondheim, just in reverse (of course). When we cut through the Romerike area, I was like, "Holy cow, I contacted on those streets - Hey! I bonked on those houses!" and so forth. It was kind of fun to go through memory lane and see everything in summer time inside of winter time.

As I got off the train, guess who the first person was that greeted me? Nope, that my new companion, but Elder Edwards my MTC brother. Turns out we are in the same district! How fun is that! As we were all walking to get to the institute center, Elder Clarke (he was in Trondheim with me as my zone leader and we both moved to Oslo together) and I were like "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." 

When we got to the center, I saw all the missionaries that are going home! I got to see Sister Knapp (I knew her at BYU!!), Sister Burns again, and all my buddies so that was fun!

So this is the dealio with my new area Nordstrand - We actually live in the other sister's area, we contact in Oslo, and we bonk in our ACTUAL area. We do lots of traveling throughout the day which is really cool to meet people on public transport! 

Also - Sister Olsen and I are like two peas in a pod! It's only been like what, 5 days? And it already feels like we have been best companions since the pre-existence. It's the best! The ward here is pretty great. I've seen some people that moved from the Romerike ward and it was cool to catch up with them. They're some people that I've hit it off with so I'm already super stoked to work with the Oslo ward :)

So we have this super awesome investigator named Jordan. He's a scientist from Africa whose lived in Norway for about 6 years. We taught him about God's plan and the reviewed the restoration with him and he's so spiritually receptive. He's always like, "Everything you guys teach just makes logical sense." He's really intrigued to find out if the Book of Mormon is true and he's committed to be baptized when he gets his answer! 

We found a new investigator named Gabriel from Romania. We saw him smoking by a cemetery and the next thing we know, we're teaching him the restoration! He's really interested in hearing about living prophets and we'll be meeting up with him again tomorrow!

So I guess overall I am feeling really pumped to be back in the east. It feels like I'm getting a second chance from when I served in Romerike and the Lord's getting ready to show me that I am more capable than I realized.

My spiritual thought is brought to you by President Uchtdorf's "The Reflection in the Water." Here's the video link: https://www.lds.org/youth/video/our-true-identity?lang=eng

Just remember when those around you are telling you that you are not good enough, that YOU (yes YOU) are a child with an eternal potential. You're here on earth to grow into the best version of yourself. It'll take time and effort, but it will happen as you remember to reply upon our Savior Jesus Christ and the power of His Atonement. 

I hope you each have a fantastic week!

Love, 

Søster Buhler

And here's my new address!

Breiens Vei 1H

1165 Oslo

Norge

Back East

Hey everyone!!

So my time in Trondheim is coming to an end. I will be leaving for the Nordstrand area this Wednesday! It's outside of Oslo so it'll be fun to be back in that neck of the woods :)

I'm a bit limited for time for writing so here's the quick updates for the week:

-We found Rune who is this really cool artsy guy who is very open to hearing about God!

-Got to meet with Morten who is committed to read in the Book of Mormon everyday and begin praying about it. I love that he's an all in kind of person!

We got to met with Evalina and Lars (the people I met last week). We chatted for a LONG time and I got to know them pretty well. We were able to introduce the Book of Mormon to Lars and he was excited to get his own copy in Norwegian.

-Met Stjerne who is a friend of the elders' investigator Rahel. She went through TONS of bad stuff growing up and she absolutely knows she went through that so she could appreciate the happiness she has today. Way awesome lady!

-On Saturday we had a Chinese Party which was a success! 

-On Sunday the bishopric asked all the departing missionaries (6 of us are leaving! WHOA!) to bear their testimonies. Afterwards, I was honestly surprised how many people came up to say goodbye to me and sincerely told me that I was a help.

Guess that is my spiritual closing thought: You make a bigger difference than you realize. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to meet all the wonderful people I have met, see the miracles I saw, and that the Lord's work is always moving forward!

I don't have my new address now, but I'll be sure to send it out next week. Until then, have a great one!

Love, 

Søster Buhler

Line Upon Line

You know, as I went through this week I was like, "Man this was a super chill week" but now as I'm sitting here REALLY reflecting about it, there have been some incredible things that happened.

On Tuesday we met with Johanna, our less active we work with in this cool little bakery. We had to run some errands to prepare for a fourth of July activity (more on this later, don't worry I won't leave you hanging), and we got on this one bus. Sister Burns sits down and says hi to the man next to her. The next thing I heard was the man saying, "I think we need to meet and talk about God. Could we meet on Thursday?" 

And this is how we met Ali, one of the most prepared people I have ever met. He is from Iran and has lived in Norway for about four years now. His wife and two sons are still in Iran and he's working on moving them to Norway. He's English is a bit rusty because he hasn't used it for over 20 years but man, you can see how much the Spirit works through Him. He's so faithful! 

Wednesday we met with Johnny and he's progressing little by little. It was really cool when we all found out that Sister Jørgensen (the member who came with us on the teach) was a member of Johnny's church so they had some bonding time over that. The more members Johnny meets, the more he is opening up. It's pretty cool to see.

We also said good bye to Hunk, our Chinese investigator. We had a dinner and discussion activity at the church and had a great turn out! We made a little card for Hunk and said a final prayer together. He kept telling us thank you for everything and the nice memories. Such a sweet man!

Now here's the bit that REALLY reflects why I've chosen "line upon line" as this week's title:

So Friday, we finish studies and we both get the idea that we need to check Sister Burns into the city. We go out the door and Johanna calls asking if we can meet. We went.

On the way there, we saw the elders' investigator on the bus and got to chat with him and see what's been up with him.

After Johanna, we go to the office to check Sister Burns into the city and we met another investigator of the elders and her friend. We all go to the bus stop together and chat away as we wait for the bus. We end up getting the friend's number!

On the bus back home, I talk with this one lady. I find out through our conversation that she the former investigator that we tried to look for last week! I got her new number just in time before we had to get on the bus!

And then we had our 4th of July party! SO MANY PEOPLE CAME AND IT WAS AWESOME! We had some sloppy joes among other yummy foods and afterwards I got to teach people some line dancing. Who would have thought I would need my dancing skills on the mission?? :)

My quick little thought about the week: I've begun reading in Joshua and the Lord tells him multiple times, "be strong and of a good courage." I can imagine that Joshua was worried about being as powerful as Moses and worried about people's expectations. But the Lord is letting him know, "Moses was Moses, and you are you. I had Moses' back and I got yours. Just do your best, and I will take care of the rest." The same goes for us - We are all unique with a unique calling while we are on earth. Just rely on the Lord and He will never let you down.

Love you all and I hope you keep on rocking it this week!

Take care,

Søster Buhler

Guess whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??

Hei Folkens!!

This week I hit my halfway mark. SAYETH WHAT?? Yup, I will have been out for 9 months. Crazy how fast the time flies!

So some updates for the week:

-Hunk will not be getting baptized this Thursday. He will be baptized in September. Explanation: He sent us a text saying he wasn't sure about being baptized but he was still willing to meet up to talk about it. He explained that his wife was worried that he would be breaking the law in China by joining the church and just didn't want him to get in trouble. We were able to explain it all and he still very much wants to be baptized but he first wants to go to China to explain to his wife face to face. He also told us that he will be back in Norway for another business trip in September and that he would want to be baptized then. So now, we're helping him to get all the information he needs before he leaves this Saturday. He truly does love the gospel and I'm so honored to have been apart of his learning process.

-We found a family! They are the Subbas from Nepal. Shanti and Hem are still learning Norwegian but they are incredibly quick. Hem and the kids even came to church!! Shanti couldn't due to work, but she will come next week. A FAMILY!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH (In case you couldn't tell, I'm stoked about this).

-Johnny actually came to church too! Holy cow, I was praying so much that he would recognize the Spirit during the meetings. When the sacrament meeting was over, he turned around and I saw this huge smile on his face. I asked how he liked it and he said after a little pause, "It was very nice. I'm glad I could come." I also had my first conversation with Johnny. Seriously, I have no idea why it took so long for me to open my mouth but now I have and I'm loving that I can talk with people!

-Found a new investigator named Josë. He is 35, from El Salvador, has lived in Norway for 4 years, and works in a elementary school. We met him on the street Thursday and we had our first teach with him yesterday. As we taught him the restoration, I could see the spirit working through him. He actually did the spirit squirm! I'm also grateful for how natural it was to talk with Josë and ah, I'm just exploding with Christlike love!

To close, I would like to share a quote from President Eyring's talk "The Priesthood Man" from this last conference. He said, 

"Each of you will be a model of a [disciple of Christ] whether you want to be or not. You became a lighted candle when you accepted the [gospel]. The Lord put you on the candlestick to light the way for everyone who surrounds you... You can be a great model, an average one, or a bad model. You may think it doesn’t matter to you, but it does to the Lord."

I substituted the word priesthood to help liken it to myself. When I read this talk, Heavenly Father reminded me of how much we truly have no idea who is watching us. When we're on the street, knocking on doors, in the store, just going about our day, everyone and anyone is seeing what we do. They watch us because of the bright light of Christ within us. We are walking products of what happens when one beckons to the Savior's call to come unto Him. This was a simple but powerful reminder of how powerful we are as simply being a member of Christ's restored church.

Whoa, that was longer than I had intended. But I hope you still liked the thought!

Thank you everyone for helping me become the person I am today. You all are incredible and I'm blessed to have many wonderful people in my life.

Have a super duper week!

Love, 

Søster Buhler

PS: So my district has dubbed Sister Burns and I "The BB Gun" combo so I decided to draw a little something. Hope you like it :)

Faith Empowers

Hey! 

Sorry that this is a less detailed update. We have a cleaning inspection today so we have some MAJOR deep cleaning to do. Wooo hooo!

So here are the updates:

-Hunk our super awesome Chinese investigator got a baptismal date for July 3rd!

-We found two incredible families, the Hti Shang Wan family (from Burma) and the Subba Family (from Nepal. They had Bollywood music playing. Felt weird to hear that again)

-Found a cool man named Oddbjørn who actually said, "I've been going to different churches for years, but I'm still searching for the right one." Golden right?

Yeah, the details are lacking, but the whole cleanign thing is acalling.

Quick spiritual thought: From Deuteronomy 20:4

4 For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

The Lord is always fighting our enemies all so that we can always have that possibility to return to live with our Heavenly Father. He's always walked beside us and all He asks is to keep walking with Him.

Love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week!

Take care,

Søster Buhler

DÅP aka BAPTISM

Hallo Folkens!

Thank you so much for the emails and letters you all sent my way! I'm sorry that I haven't been så flink to reply quickly, but I'm working on it!

So Omar was baptized last Saturday. It was such a heartwarming experience! Before the baptism, Omar kept saying how he couldn't express how excited he was! It was a nice turn out with the ward and everything went really well. One super quick detail I would like to share: After Ben (our Ward Mission Leader or MMK) said the prayer, Omar said something in his mother tongue (Persian). After he came up from the water, Ben asked Omar what he said. Omar replied that he said, "Now I will follow God." When I heard that, my heart instantly almost exploded with joy. 

I am just so grateful to have had the opportunity to see Omar throughout the entire process. It's been incredible to see how much his faith has grown and I can't wait to see his faith become even more stronger.

And since last week was all focused on making sure Omar's baptism happened, not a whole lot of things happened... Besides Hunk, our Chinese investigator. Yesterday during our teach he told us he wants to be baptized. We just have to coordinate with mission president to figure out what our options are because Hunk goes back to China July 5th. More on this as it develops!

Hope everyone has a lovely week! Remember to always remember the good things in life, both big and small :)

Love, 

Søster Buhler

Nice Solid Week

Gooooooooooooooood Day Gov'nar!

Besides the fact that I'm turning more and more British with every passing day, life has been pretty sweet over here in Norway!

It's been exciting helping Omar prepare for his baptism this Saturday! I can't believe how fast the time and flown and, really, just how much has happened during this short two month period. I am so grateful that I got to a part of the whole process from finding Omar to seeing him be baptized! It's an amazing thing to witness!! 

We did find a great new investigator named Morten. He doesn't have a belief in God but he is very open to learn more about it. One cool thing he said was that people can't close their minds to the idea that there is a God because that forces your brain to be limited. He's a man with great wisdom and it'll be exciting to see where he goes from here.

Johnny's back from vacation!! We got to meet with him yesterday after church. He is still skeptical about the Book of Mormon but even after taking a three week pause from meeting with us, he still has a desire to find out if this is all really true. Fantastic right? It's cool to see how everyone we've met and taught all have incredible potential.

Speaking of potential, not sure if I've talked about Hunk... Hunk is a Chinese man whose here in Trondheim for a business trip. We have met with him three times now and already he believes in God, Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is God's word. HOLY GUACAMOLE. He's the most prepared person I've met!

One cool highlight of the week was visiting a less active named Turid. At some point in our conversation, she talked about how missionaries do the finding and members help with the fellowshipping. Both Sister Burns and I were like, "WHOA. Pause right there (we didn't actually say this of course. This was just the thought that popped into my head at the moment)." We ended up actually having a great discussion about how much members can really do with missionary work. Turid ended up having all these people pop into her head and she got excited! It was so amazing to see that spark ignite so quickly once Turid's mind started to gain a bigger understanding of missionary work. It'll be exciting to continue to help her act on that growing desire to help in the Lord's work.

To close, I came across a scripture in Deuteronomy 6:2-3 which says, 

"That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee... all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, [insert your name], and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee..."

First of all, no the scripture doesn't actually say "[insert your name]" but it's a small thing I like to do to help me apply the scripture in my life. I love how Moses tells the children of Israel here the importance of observing the commandments, or studying them. The more I study in the scriptures, the more I gain the understanding of the WHY we need to do it - To learn and apply God's counsel to our lives. Heavenly Father has promised us if we do this, we will increase. I believe that to mean we increase in fulfilling our divine potential and becoming more like our father.

I do know that both the Bible and Book of Mormon are the word of God. The more we take the time to study them, the more we become in tune with Heavenly Father's "voice." He speaks to us through scripture and His living prophets because He loves us. Every day I am able to feel a little more strongly how much Heavenly Father loves His children here in Norway and also for me personally. He loves you and He never forgets you. Always remember that.

Sorry this update is a bit on the rambling side, but I'm exploding with excitement for Omar's baptism and just love. Hopefully at the end of the day all of this made a bit of sense... But I do thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you have a lovely day and week!

Love, 

Sister Buhler