#17 Building friendships

Hei Hei fra Asker!

This week was another great week!  It was a little bit slower because not as many of our investigators were able to meet this week, but I still got lots of experiences and good things to share! 

Monday

So we went and played Ping Pong with our District after we walked through Sandvika Sentrum, and that was the most hilarious game of Ping Pong I have ever played!  I couldn't even explain to you why it was even that funny, but it just was and it was great!  After that we went shopping for food, and had our Family Home Evening appointment with a great family!  I absolutely love visiting them!  The boys in the family had started talking about missions and when it would be time to go on their missions, so my companion and I talked about life as a missionary and what we do every single day, and then we decided to do a little practice!  So one of the boys was the missionary and I told him to introduce himself as an Elder and then talk about the Book of Mormon:) He came back into the room and introduced himself as an Elder to my companion and he did such a great job introducing the Book of Mormon!  The little girl got to wear my companion’s tag for a little bit and it was such a good lesson!  Then we played the game Sorry with them and had brownies. It was a great visit!!

Tuesday

We had District Meeting and we talked about our areas and how we can help them...we have a lot of stuff going on in our area...lots of investigators, 2 baptisms on the same day, and lots of different situations with investigators. It’s always nice to help each other on how we can work with our investigators and those who are in the ward as well!  We then talked about asking inspired questions and how that can help in our teaching!  We had District Lunch, called a few people who said we could call them back, and then we went to Asker Sentrum to go and meet with an investigator. Unfortunately she never showed up, but we have an appointment with her next week, so that will be good.  Later we went to our dinner appointment …someone from the US…they had made pulled pork sandwiches and we had so much fun with them!  We shared a video about Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk about Happily Ever After and it was great!  It was also their daughter's birthday the day before and she was turning 5, so we gave her a princess crown and some treats:)  She loved that!

Wednesday

Today was a day filled with contacting! Contacting is always fun because you meet all kinds of people! One person we talked to told us that we needed to go home and read the Bible...when we said that we do read the Bible she said that we really needed to go home and really read it:))), Haha…we just had to laugh!  We did find one potential that gave us their telephone number,  and we are going to deliver a Book of Mormon in Chinese which is super exciting! We contacted for awhile…we had someone ask us if we could turn up the temperature outside, we had another one that just responded with, I don’t live here… and then walked away really fast and then we had another that was talking to us and then suddenly said, "Klem"  (Hug) so my companion and I turned our backs and ended up getting a side hug from a stranger on the street...life of a missionary I guess!:)) But we have been referring to this stuff all week and we just laugh!  We have our ups and downs while contacting but it is  so much fun!  After dinner we went to visit one of our investigators,  which was a blast!  We read in Ether 12 and then taught her a line dance to one of our EFY songs and she absolutely loved it!  It was a testimony builder to me that you really do need connections before conversions...we've finally built that friendship that she needs, so that when we invite her to come to church, read the Book of Mormon, etc.  it's not just some other missionaries extending an invitation, but friends out of love and concern.

Thursday

Today we had weekly planning which took us into the afternoon, had an early dinner, and then went to visti our 10 year old!  She had been keeping her commitment of praying but had forgotten what pages we had asked her to read:)) But we gave her  the chocolate and she was so excited!  We then talked about the Word of Wisdom and played soccer with her behind her house. She had loved that too!  Another testimony builder about connections before conversions!  It was so much fun and it's those moments that I think, "This is why I'm on a mission...to love the people and invite them to come unto Christ"...it's the greatest work we could be doing!  After that visit we went to teach another investigator with the Elders, and we each shared our favorite stories about Christ.  I shared about when Christ calmed the sea.. and this story was one that never really stuck out to me before my mission, but ever since my mission I have just loved it!  I just love when the disciples say, "What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" That story applies to so many different things and I absolutely love it!!  Go read it when you have the chance and see how it can apply to you!  It was a great discussion, many great stories, and what better way to invite someone to come unto Christ than by talking about Christ!

Friday

Today we went to the church to call potentials and we actually found a few people who may be interested and even made an appointment with one!  Then we went to teach one of my favorite investigators. The elders came along and our investigator absolutely loved that!  Both of her kids are away studying at college so she loved that so many people were able to come and visit her!  We taught her about faith, repentance, baptism,  receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end.  It was a great lesson and she had asked questions that all of us were able to give her insight on!  I love visiting this person and it's one of the greatest things to see someone progressing in the gospel! After that we went to a dinner appointment..this family invite us over every week now (all of us missionaries) and we have so much fun with them!  They love it when we can come and visit them because they feel missionaries don't have much time for members...so it was great to be able to just sit and talk with them!  They were asking about our life back home, what it's like in the US, and it was so much fun!  Friendships building all around!  

Saturday

As usual we played soccer this morning, and as usual I still can't play soccer..but you know what's new? Maybe one day...or maybe not I'll be good!  But it was fun none the less!  We went to our old apartment and made that all clean and spiffy with the the missionary couple’s help, so they can rent it out to someone else!  So the majority of our day was cleaning and then we had the ward party!  We got cake, they taught the ward a dance, and several people performed. My companion and I were asked to go do the dishes so we missed the line dancing part of the ward party, but we were serving!!  

Sunday

We had church and some person that had texted us a couple of weeks ago just decided to come to church and stayed for all 3 meetings which was awesome! This person is not sure about having lessons, but to come to church is a start!! After church we had stake choir practice and then went to our dinner appointment. We had  lasagna and brownies and it was delicious!  Then we went and did our språk studium, watched a couple of Mormon Messages, becasue we share them literally every single day, and then went and called all our investigators to make appointments and potentials. We have our week filed with appointments and 3 dinner appointments too! so this week is bound to be a good one!!

Monday

Today we went and got my permit because now I have to go to driving school to get my license here. We also went grocery shopping and one of the workers talked to us for about 20 minutes! He talked about how we need to just be good people, no matter what religion we are... we need to treat people like human beings and be nice and good people, and if we are that, then we can be the best of whatever religion we are. He had a really amazing story and was one of the most inspiring people I have met on my mission...he just said, "I just need your prayers and you guys are doing a great job" which was the coolest thing!  Then here we are emailing and then we are off to the tour shop in Oslo!

I love you all lots and lots, and miss you tons!! Thank you to all who write me…It means more to me than you’ll ever know!

Part of Kylee's new apartment
Forgot to post these last week...the missionaries are making dinner!