Love Letters from Norway: #4 God is good

Hei Hei!

First of all I got both of the packages that you sent! Thank you very much for sending those and thank you for including all the treats and letters! Those letters were exactly what I needed to hear that day so thank you thank you! The Elders absolutely LOVED their hats! They all put them on immediately and walked around pretending to be gangster in their suit coats! They're all wearing them today and I have pictures that I will be sending! They all told me to tell you thank you and that you are the nicest person in the world...some are writing letters to you that I will send or e-mail later and others are sending Dad personal e-mails!

This week was phenomenal and I just absolutely love being a missionary! (Kylee’s dad wanted to do something nice for the boys that are being so, so nice to Kylee. So he bought them all a hat…a team from the state they are going to be serving in)

Saturday

We practiced teaching the Restoration in a specific time limit and if someone was on the bus and was getting off at the next stop and we only have 2 minutes to teach the Restoration, what would we say? It was so much fun and we got it down to 30 seconds! It definitely helped me learning what order to teach it in and the main points for each one! I'm still working on my Norwegian and all the gospel lingo, but it's coming and I know the Lord will help me make up the rest as I continue to study! Funny Story for the Day: Elder Jeong was always telling me how much he "loved" my last name and how everything is either lovely or not lovely so we were going back to our residence after zone prayer and he yelled down the hall and said, "Bye Sister Lovely" and then immediately covered his face and repeated that that wasn't what he ment but we all got a good laugh out of it!

Sunday

TODAY WAS THE BEST SUNDAY EVER! It was awesome! We had sacrament meeting and I didn't get called on to speak, so that was exciting, but the other speakers were awesome. The senior missionaries were talking about how our investigators will thank us and how we will become an important part of their lives so of course I was crying, but welcome to missionary work! Crying just comes with it...it's like a package deal! But one of the things that he said was, "It isn't luck that you are a member of the church, it is not by chance that you are on a mission" and I thought that was so cool and really struck me! We then went on a temple walk and I will send you pictures from that as well! Then we went to choir practice and there are probably 700 missionaries all singing at once so no one can even tell that I can’t sing to save my life! But we found out the Nashville Tribute Band is coming on July 24th and we'll be singing back up for them so that's exciting! Afterwards we had a devotional about charity and that was phenomenal! It was given by the MTC Administrator here and it was really good! I learned a lot and charity is definitely one attribute that I'm constantly striving towards! Then we had "movie time' so we decided to go watch a talk by Elder Holland and then Sister Kim and I had to go to the bathroom so we left...but then we walked back into what we thought was the right room and it was a different movie, different seating and we couldn't see our companions and so then we kept walking into different rooms but the majority of the movies had been switched so we didn't even find them until the end! Sister Kim and I were laughing so hard so that was quite the experience...still a clutz as usual! :)

Monday

Today I had my first TRC appointment and I teach with Elder Janotti and Elder Aybar and we taught him (Theo) about the Plan of Salvation and the Spirit was so strong in the entire lesson! It was so cool to actually be able to teach a real lesson instead of just role play and it's helping me learn and grow as a missionary! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE TRC! Later we went to dinner and guess what they had?! CHICK FIL A!! I was so happy I thought I was going to cry! It was like eating a piece of heaven! Later I had my second TRC appointment and we taught her (Lin) about the Restoration...she thinks everything sounds cool and great but isnt sure if she believes it is true so we're working with her on building her testimony and teaching her how to receive answers through prayer! Sister Casalino was leaving on Tuesday and she still had all this money on her card so we went to the vending machine and bought just about everything in there and had a little going away party!

Tuesday

Today we had our next lesson with Theo in TRC and we asked him if he had read the Book of Mormon because we invited him to read it last time, and he hadnt so that was a little frustrating, but we taught him about the Restoration and invited him to read 3 Nephi 17 and then as the lesson continued we invited him to pray to close our lesson, and he waited and then said that he didn't want to because he didn't feel comfortable, so I said it, but we were all a little discouraged after that lesson. But our teacher prayed for each of us individually before we ended class after TRC and that lifted our spirits! I literally have the greatest teachers in the entire world! I also memorized the First Vision, Baptismal Invitations in English and am working on it in Norwegian! I have the first part of it! Or at least I think I do! Today was the day that I got my packages and then we had our Tuesday Devotional with Bruce C. Hafen from the Seventy and he talked about how we need to "Cowboy Up!" in our missionary work and then began talking about how we need to come to know Christ! It was the best devotional ever! He then talked about the pioneers and then quoted them and said, "We came to know Him in our extremities. The price we had to pay was a privilege" and that's exactly how missionary work is! I invite you to think about how you can come to know Christ and what price you would be willing to pay to know Him. Maybe it's extra study time, or paying a little bit more in fast offering, or taking time to serve:)

Wednesday

WEEK MARK! Sister Casalino is gone and Sister Rupper got transferred to the French District and I GOT A COMPANION! I'm no longer a solo sister! My companions name is Sister Temakei and she is going to Guam! We get along great and its been a lot of fun having someone I get to hang out with all day and someone to do companion study with! I also had TRC with Theo and HE READ 3 NEPHI 17 and then asked specific questions and referred to specific verses which means that he not only read but pondered! He also said the closing prayer at the end of the lesson and prayed when he was at home! I was so excited and happy I could barely contain it all! There is no greater happiness than seeing someone come closer to Christ! I then taught Diane (my teacher) about the Restoration by myself and I kept feeling prompted to ask her to be baptized so I did and she said she would!! I was still so excited about it even thought it's in role play but role play or not our whole purpose as missionaries is to invite people to come unto Christ! I then moved rooms later today so now I'm with 4 other sisters (Sister Koon, Sister Temakei, Sister Yoshida, and Sister Sigaran) we all get along really well and we have so much fun and our constantly laughing! Its a blast! We also got the new missionaries in our zone and there are 12 of them! There are 6 elders and 3 sisters so we're trying to get to know them, they're a little quiet, but they'll come around! That's what a mission will do to you! You talk to anyone and everyone! I meet new people every single day. They become my friends at the end of our conversation and we say hi whenever we see each other in the MTC! I just love it here! Oh and Elder Perreira says he is going to give his hat to his son when he goes on a mission so that it can become a tradition!

Thursday

We practiced teaching the Restoration in our mission languages with our district so I heard it taught in Spanish, Portuguese and German! It was so cool! Sister Temakei and I also made goals for the next day. Each day in our planning we decided we wanted to serve someone and we thought about the new missionaries but we weren’t sure, but then Brother Pearson (Branch Presidency) told our zone to embrace them and love them so we are now thinking of a way to serve them today since we have extra time on our p-day. INSPIRATION! (Best Two Years Reference...just laugh)

Today we are going to the Provo Temple because it is finally open! Oh and since I'm a missionary and every member a missionary I want to invite you all to do something this week! I've learned a lot about the Book of Mormon this week and how it is key to not only teaching, but to gaining our own testimony and knowing how to learn and continually progress and essentially endure to the end. So I would invite you all to really study the Book of Mormon this week...start with a prayer and then study for however long (10 minutes, one chapter, 2 pages, etc.) and then ask yourself how what you read applies to your own life and then make a goal for the day and then record how it blessed your life! I promise that you will be blessed by our Heavenly Father and that you will learn and grow quicker than you ever thought possible! You will gain a greater testimony of the Book of Mormon! And then of course...SHARE! Share your testimony about the Book of Mormon however you would like to do it! But let people know what it means to you! I love it here and missionary work is the greatest thing in the entire world! Love you lots and miss you guys a ton! I pray for you all every day! Send e-mails and letters!

I can't believe that I even forgot to put this in my e-mail! But I LEAVE FOR NORWAY ON JULY 26TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway I'm pumped but I'm enjoying my time here at the MTC while I have it!

Pictures:

1. The elders and their hats