#23 "Light the World"

 Hei Hei fra Asker!

This week was another phenomenal week and I literally just love every second of my mission! Plus…Christmas is almost here, and there are lights and decorations everywhere.  We started singing Christmas hymns in church and we have new contacting cards…I’M SO EXCITEDE!!

Monday

So after e-mailing, we walked around H&M and got a little lunch… to kill time before we had to go pick up the Drammen Sisters from the train station so that we could go to the TURKEY BOWL! (Football game)  We drove to Jar which is where the turkey bowl was, and we had missionaries from all over coming to play...well those that were in my zone and in the East zone!  So that was super fun!!  And guess what Dad?! You would be so proud!  One of the elders threw the ball to be and I CAUGHT IT! You should have seen me! So proud of myself:)  It ended up being out of bounds so it didn't count, but the important thing is,  is that the catch was beautiful! :)))So the turkey bowl was a blast!!t and luckily it wasn't as cold as it was supposed to be and we were running around so it was all good! And No injuries!!  Before we dropped the Drammen sisters off at the train station, we had pizza…and then we picked up the Elders to go to Family Home Evening.  We talked about Patriarchal Blessings and then spent the rest of the time talking to people!  It was a lot of fun!   

Tuesday

Today we had District Meeting and had a Web meeting with all the missionaries in the mission about the new Christmas Theme "Light of the World" or as they say here "Lys over Verden" and we watched the new video that came out on mormon.org and IT IS SO GOOD! So everyone go and watch that video and then share it because it is fantastic!  There is also a calendar that talks about service we can do every single day of December. Our District  planned what we can do for December 1st since that's the worldwide day of service and I'm just super excited for the month of December!  It's going to be so much fun!  Then we went and picked up my package and thank you again for that!! We went with two of the elders to visit a family in the ward and they are the coolest people!  We watched a Mormon Message about Thanksgiving and then we sang hymns with them in Riwandic while one of the elders played the ukulele! So cool that no matter what language you are singing the hymns in, the Spirit is still the same!  Then we dropped the Elders off and we went and visited a lady in the ward that I love so much! She is one of my favorite people!  So we went and answered her question about the 12 Tribes of Israel and showed her how to study the tribes in the scriptures!  It was such a good visit and I wish everyone could just sit and listen and learn from her!  I have never met anyone that is more anxious to learn than her and it is phenomenal!  She was so sweet and even gave us cake from the bakery when we walked out the door!

Wednesday

Today we visited one of our investigators and two of the elders came with because she  loves one of the elders!  We just sat and visited with her for a little while and then talked about the foundational commitments of prayer, scripture study, and coming to church.  It was a great lesson!  We shared multiple scriptures, personal experiences and after one of the elders had said the closing prayer, she said that she had  felt so much peace!  These little miracles of missionary work are amazing to me!  Then we went and visited another girl and did Personal Progress with her!!! I haven't done Personal Progress since I was in Young Women's and I was so happy doing it with her!  We read the scriptures, had discussions, and I felt the Spirit so strong!  Ever since I've been on my mission I have just felt the Spirit differently. It's like my whole body just feels like it's overflowing with joy and you literally feel like your body is just filled with happiness and with the love of God!  AHH it's incredible!  Then we went taught another investigator and that was an interesting lesson.  We continued with the foundation principles, but it kept coming back to the Restoration and how he didn't believe that the church had been restored in its fullness.. and that all the churches needed to come together as one to have the right church.  I asked him multiple times why the church would be restored in multiple pieces across the world when it was all in one piece when Christ was on the earth and it's the same church.  So I learned patience in that lesson:))

Thursday

We did Weekly Planning today which took up half of our day and then we went and knocked on a door of a referral that we received from the Senior Couple in Stavanger.  We found this person’s house even though it was a little tricky, and then they said they couldn't talk right then but that we could come back later… so I'll let you all know how that goes!  Then we picked up the Elders and drove to Oslo for the Thanksgiving dinner!  It was the missionaries in my District,  the Oslo missionaries, the senior missionaries in Oslo and Sandvika and President and Sister Hill!  It was so much fun!!! It was fun to be all together and just have Thanksgiving!  The missionaries and senior couples are your family when you are on a mission so it was nice to be with a big huge "family" on Thanksgiving!  We played a game after dinner and we all got Thanksgiving cards from the Hills so that was super sweet!!!  

Friday

Today we met with one of our investigators that we haven’t been able to see in a long time!  I was so excited!  She called us and asked us if we could meet and talk… and so of course we met with her!!!  We talked about faith and then she opened up to us and talked about how she had met the missionaries and just how her life had been in the past few weeks.  The Spirit was so strong and I just want to help her! We talked about how as missionaries we are representatives of Jesus Christ and even though we may only be 19 year old girls, we still want to do all we can to help!! We told her we felt we were in this area so that we could be able to help her and she said that she felt the same way!! We had a great talk with her! After that we went and visited  an elderly widow in our ward. We had some problems finding her house:)))….we literally sat in the car for 15 minutes trying to figure out where she lived when she was literally 40 feet away!  So we finally got to her door and she answered and said, "Her er jeg!" (Here I am!) so we all got a good laugh out of that one!  We had a lamb dish that was good…. but all I kept thinking in my head was "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and well that wasn't exactly helping!  She told us how she met her husband and all these other stories and she is the cutest old lady!  We then later talked about Christ and she had asked us questions too!  Good, good visit!  We even helped her lift some things off of a shelf in the garage and she was so grateful for just a small little thing!  After that visit we went to a dinner appointment with two of the elders and another lady in our ward. The person we had dinner with had been working for Black Friday…so she kept telling us she was over tired and so everything and anything was hilarious!  All of us were laughing so hard we were crying and it was the funniest dinner appointment I have ever been to!!! One of the elders tried to say the closing prayer but he couldn't even do it because we were laughing so hard!  We walked out of there still laughing!  So funny!!!

Saturday

Today we played soccer as usual and then we got ready for the day. We had another Thanksgiving dinner and there was a member there from California! A 19 year old girl…so we were invited so that we could come and meet her! She even mentioned that she wanted to go to UCLA when she was back in the US… and guess how excited I was to hear someone in NORWAY talk about UCLA!?!:)) After dinner we drove to Drammen and went to Jul I toner and I LOVED IT!  I sat next to Mommo and Besse (grandparents) and said hi to many people in the Drammen ward!  The songs were fantastic and it was so much fun for me to recognize the Christmas songs because Mom has been playing them my entire life!  We even got to sing Glade Jul!!! (Silent night) Christmas in Norway is just magical!!!  We drove the Elders home and got McFlurries from McDonalds so that was fun too!  

Sunday

So today I had to give a talk in Sacrament Meeting and I was pretty nervous...I was asked to speak about “how you can gain a testimony of the gospel”…. As a  missionary the answer to that question is super easy:))… but I didn’t just want to go up and say "Prayer, Scripture Study, Church, Amen" :)) So guess what Dad!?  I used your conversion story:))  And it was pretty good if I do say so myself!:))  Lots of people came up to me after and thanked me and one even asked what happened to you dad afterwards…and if you  ever got to play baseball again. He was pretty upset when I told him that you didn't.  But it was a great experience!  Then in Relief Society I translated for a sister and one lady made a comment that I just loved,  "I come to church to feel God's love.  What more could you want?" After church we had dinner at the missionary couple’s house and then went and visited an investigator.  We caught up about what had happened throughout the week and then talked about Christ and His enabling power and it was a great lesson!  Then we went knocking doors and we had a few gospel conversations but there were a good amount that well...were not too happy with what we were going to talk about… but you know, the good conversations make it worth it and then you just have to laugh off the other ones!  

Today

Today we have emailed and had hot chocolate!  We haven't really planned out what we want to do exactly for the rest of the day so we're just playing it by ear:)  

I love you all and miss you all lots!  Go get in the Christmas Spirit and remember why we celebrate this magical holiday...It's all because of Christ which is the greatest message anyone could hear:))

#22 Missionary work is all about the One

Hei Hei and Happy Thanksgiving from Norway!! They don't celebrate Thanksgiving over here, but they do have Black Friday so I'm kind of still crossing my fingers that they suddenly decide to adopt the whole turkey and mashed potatoes thing too:)

Monday

Last week on P-Day we were with our District the whole entire day!  We were at the church and played a little bit of volleyball, basketball, etc. and then just talked!  It was lots of fun and then we had all been invited to the same dinner appointment, so two of the elders took the car, and the rest of us took the bus.  We had our dinner appointment at the Ward Mission Leader’s home and we watched a video called, "A Silent Interview with Christ". It is so good!! I highly recommend it!

Tuesday

Today we had District Meeting and talked about planning and our Area Books. We went and got Kebabs with our entire district and it was fairly good...kind of not.. but it was good enough to eat!  Then we went back to the church because my companion had to work on her BYU application. While she did that... I called every potential in the phone and I got 2 appointments, a possible referral for some elders in Bodø, and then a few people who we need to call back this week!!

Wednesday

Today we went and visited one of our investigators and she wanted to take us to Bærums Verk again. My companion had never seen it so we walked around for a little bit and then we went back to the bakery….and it was delicious!!  It was a great visit and definitely helps our relationship with her!  We talked to her about church and we're not actually sure if the desire to go to church is there or how much she is willing to prioritize, but that's what we're planning on finding out this week!:)  Then we went back to the church so my companion could work on her application. I organized the area book and it looks so much better now… so I'm pretty excited about that:))  We went and picked up two other sister missionaries because we had splits for the rest of the day and tomorrow. We went and  taught an investigator… and it was the greatest lesson I have ever had with him!  We had planned to talk about the priesthood because that's where his concerns were last time, but we had asked him what the foundational principles are… and he was naming things that weren't the basics… so I just felt prompted to talk about those instead, so that's what we did.  We started with faith and worked our way through repentance and baptism.  We talked about how they all connect together and if he felt he had a testimony of those things.  We talked about baptism for probably about 20-30 minutes and we were pretty bold.  We asked him what was holding him back… and if he had a testimony of faith and repentance..then what else was standing in the way. He then referred to a scripture that is always brought up when baptism is taught…so I asked him to explain what the words meant and then bore testimony.  He then said he wanted to follow God's wil..l and I said that baptism is God's will. He asked me multiple questions about if I would follow God's will…that led perfectly into why I was serving a mission!:)  Such a great lesson!  

Thursday

Today we had splits all day and we taught one of our new investigators.  He speaks English and is great!!  He has a great desire to learn about the gospel.  We have to speak pretty slowly so that he understands all our English and I was simplifying what I could. It made me think about how simple this gospel really is.  It's not supposed to be complicated and it should be explained so simply that everyone in this world could understand it.  After all it is for everyone!  We taught about half of the Restoration and then invited him to watch Finding Faith in Christ so that he could become more familiar with Christ and the miracles that he performed while he was here on the earth.  After that  we went and visited my favorite person!! I absolutely love her!  She is literally just like Oldemor (great-grandma), and every time I go and visit her I feel like I'm talking to Oldemor.  There's been a lot of moments on my mission where I wish that Oldemor was still here and that I could've gone and visited her and shared a gospel message… but she knows I'm here in Norway and trying to preach the gospel to the people in her country which is awesome!! We shared a scripture from Alma 26 which is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon… and then we just talked to her.. and she is the greatest!!  At almost 92 years old she is still one of the greatest examples of being a missionary and consistently sharing the gospel with those she comes in contact with.  We then dropped the other sisters back off at the train station and then practiced the songs with our District that we had been asked to sing in the ward dinner on Sunday

Friday

Today our entire District had interviews with President Hill and it was fantastic! We talked about how we need to spend time finding people we can teach and studying from Preach My Gospel every single day in our studies so that we can be more effective missionaries!  Søster Hill made us pumpkin pancakes and cinnamon rolls for  brunch and it was delicious!!!  Then we did weekly planning and  our whole District had an appointment at member family’s house…and that was a lot of fun too!  We go to them just about every single week so we've been able to become really good friends with their family which is a blast!!  Love them!

Saturday

Today we played soccer and I actually got the ball away from the other team a couple of times so I was pretty impressed with myself haha!  Then we got ready for the day and then drove up north to see an investigator.  We had  planned to talk about baptismal interview questions so that we can help her prepare for baptism…but it didn’t go the way we wanted….so I said a quick prayer to help me figure out what else to teach… so we ended up talking about the Sacrament Prayers and went over the things that we are asked to do and what it means.  We shared personal experiences and she shared stories, so it actually turned into an incredible lesson!!  After her visit we went to the church and practiced the two songs that we were asked to sing on Sunday.  We had dinner from Domino's Pizza and it was delicious!

Sunday

Today we had church and it was great!!  After church we had the ward dinner  and we sang the two songs, "Love is Spoken Here" and an accompaniment of "Abide With Me". The first song was a little rough but we did really well with the last one! :) After the ward dinner we decided to go and visit someone  who hadn't been to church for awhile.  We weren't sure if we would actually get in but WE DID!  We came in and talked to this person about all sorts of things and then started talking about church...this person completely opened up to us about reasons why church had been difficult. My companion and I both had personal experiences that went hand in hand with what this person was talking about.  One of them was that some people had caused some problems for her.. and you already know I've been in that position before… but because I had been there I could perfectly relate.  I knew exactly what this person was feeling because I had been there… and I thought back to when I went through the really hard times…. and I thought that maybe I had to go through that just so that on my mission in Norway I would be able to relate to this one person…. and missionary work is all about the one!  So if that's what it had to take to try and help this one come back to church then that's okay!.  It was a big testimony builder to me that every trial that comes our way also has a blessing somewhere hidden in the mix.  Sometimes we won't be able to see that until much later, but it is always there.  It was cool because I was sitting in her living room and thought that this is just one reason why my companion and I needed to be companions here in Asker.  THOSE ARE THE BEST MOMENTS OF MISSIONARY WORK!  We were so excited that we got to talk to this person that we literally just got in the car and screamed!!:)) After that visit we went to the church and taught another new investigator.  We talked to him about his religious background and tried to answer the questions that he had right off the bat… and we will be teaching him the Restoration next time.  FANTASTIC DAY!

Today

Today we are e-mailing and then we have a Turkey Bowl with missionaries from all over and it is going to be so much fun!  We're driving the Drammen Sisters so that will be fun to hang out with them too!  

Happy Thanksgiving!! I love you all and miss you all tons!!

#21 New companion and yummy food!!

Hei Hei fra Asker!  

Just another wonderful week in Norway!  So I'm just going to jump right in and tell you all about it:)

Monday

So we had a really relaxing P-Day this week!  We e-mailed and then we were starving so we actually got McDonalds and we went grocery shopping! We had a dinner appointment at the elders’ landlord and it was such a fancy dinner!  We had steak and mashed potatoes and a few other things!  So that was a lot of fun and we had a good time there. After that we went to President and Sister Hill's house to have dessert because they wanted to say goodbye to Søster Blankmeyer. We had Apple Crisp which was also delicious!!!  So that was our day!

Tuesday

Today was jam packed full of things because we were trying to meet with all the people that Søster Blankmeyer wanted to say goodbye to!  So we started off with going to a member’s house for lunch. I just love visiting her!  She is one of those people that just takes care of us like her own kids and she is really is  engaged in missionary work!  She is constantly telling us that if we need help with anything at all then to just call her!  After that visit we went to see our investigator. We went with her to the little old town in Bærums Verk where they lived in the olden days. Now they're all these cute little shops and it's so cute and I have a thousand pictures from that place! Our investigator absolutely loved taking us down there and telling us all the stories and the history of it all!  She is another one that just treats us like her own kids. We have the greatest relationship with her!  We ate dinner at our apartment and we had a dessert night with the District which was a lot of fun!!

Wednesday

This morning we spent time just getting Søster Blankmeyer ready to go on the train!:( I was really sad to see her go! We have become such great friends!  She left close to noon and my new companion wasn't coming until almost 2… so I was told that I could just go to the grocery store or the apartment until it was time to pick up my new companion. So that's what I did!  Let me just say, no wonder missionaries are weird when they come home...I was by myself for 2 hours and it was like I didn't even know what to do because I was by myself haha!  So anyway… I just cleaned the apartment, had to get something at the store, and then went to pick up my new companion!  We drove to our apartment and we were just asking each other questions to get to know each other!  She is from Colorado and has been out for about 9 months, almost 10 and we get along great!!  We are always laughing and making missionary work a blast!  We have lots of fun singing our Christmas songs in the car and every day is a blast!!  So I let my companion unpack and get settled and then our District decided to have District dinner because there were 2 new elders.. and they didn't have too much food to make a whole meal, so we all contributed!  So now our District consists of me, Søster Etchells, Eldste Sanchez and Eldste Beck (He's from American Fork and actually knows quite a few people that I went to high school with which was pretty fun and he served in Drammen too!), and then Eldste Applegate and then Eldste Kemp (It's his last transfer and is from Idaho...just as musical as Sanchez and Applegate) so it's a way fun District!!

Thursday

So…we have to share the car between our District now… so we've been swapping the car for the bus passes a couple of times. So we walked to sentrum and took the bus to the church to District Meeting today! At the District Meeting we played a get to know you game and then talked about planning and we had district lunch.  After that we went banking in the neighborhood right by the church … there are lots of huge fancy houses there… so we were "banking" by pushing the little button and waiting for them to answer… and the light to appear on the cameras that they had outside so we could talk...you know they weren't that interested but we found a lady that we can go do service for,so that's a success! Then we went to our then year old’s appointment… but her mom had told her the wrong time so she wasn't there. We just talked to the mom about  her daughter’s concerns about baptism.  Then after that we had dinner at the church really fast and then met with another investigator, and we watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration…. and we had a breakthrough!  He was explaining to us that he doesn't think that Joseph Smith has all the priesthood keys and thinks it continued on after the apostles had gone from the earth...so at least we have something that we can actually answer and talk about now! Yeah!!

Friday

Today we went and visited my favorite person…who is one of the  elderly ladies in the ward as I have mentioned before!!  We decided to talk to her about the Plan of Salvation and just listen to her testimony about it and how it's helped her in her life and it turned out really well!  We also ended up reading the scripture that made her decide to join the church so that was really cool!!  After her visit we went and talked to our investigator that took us to Baerums Verk. We talked to her about all sorts of things.  Prayer, Book of Mormon, church, smoking and just what is going on in her life.  She was telling us how all these negative things keep happening in her life and so we spent the rest of the time trying to explain how to find peace in our afflictions and what we can do to help her. We are going to start meeting with her twice a week and have one meeting be a full lesson, and then have the other meeting being more of a visit/building the relationship.. so we'll see how she progresses!  After our visit we went and picked up the Elders to go to a dinner appointment that we had with one of the ladies in the ward. The AP's had also been invited to the appointment so they were the ones sharing the spiritual thought.. and we all shared about how the gospel has been an anchor in our life and it was really good!  Then she had made us kongeboller ( I'm not 100% sure if that's what they're called) but you make boller (sweet rolls) and then put chocolate in the middle with vanilla crème… they were delicious!!! 

Saturday

Today we played soccer as usual and I’m still terrible… but one of the boys in the ward actually got injured while playing and landed on top of his wrist…and you know… I may not be able to play soccer, but I know how to treat an injury:) I told him what he needed to do and he was good to go back and play in about 5 minutes… so I would count that as a success sport day haha! After that  we went and visited an investigator up north. We talked about commitments and church specifically.. because it's such a long drive… and then we were talking about the tea thing...well turns out it's not even black tea, because we were looking at it and it's fruit tea with no caffeine.....so now she'll be making some more progress!:) On our way back, we picked up the elders and went to a member’s house for dinner and that was a fun visit!!  

Sunday

Today we went to church and then had dinner at the missionary couple’s house. That was a lot of fun!!!  I love visiting them every Sunday!!  It's the best!!  They told us the story of how they met and their proposal and it was hilarious!  Then we did weekly planning!

Today

Today we have gone grocery shopping and then now we're e-mailing!  We have a dinner appointment tonight with all the missionaries at the Mission Leaders in the ward!

Love you all and miss you all tons!  Ha en veldig fin uke!

Pictures from Baerum's Verk, chocolate factory, and Kylee's district before it got split

#20 Missionary = Front seat to Miracles!

Hei Hei Alle Sammen!

So this week was super busy, very cold, and snowy!! We also had to wait for Transfer Calls that wasn't coming until Sunday… and we knew for a fact one of us was going! So I'm not going to write about transfers until "Sunday" in my blog:)

Monday

So...the rest of P-day last week resulted in walking around the inside of Asker Sentrum once again because it was pouring rain!  But we did get headbands that were our "costumes" for the Halloween party dinner that we had that evening.  My companion  had the cat ears and I had the princess crown… and you know I forgot to take a picture of it… so that will come next week!  We had lunch at a place called Big Bite and then went grocery shopping!  We picked up the elders in the rain and went to a members house and had our Halloween party!  They were all dressed up and the house was decorated and the food was even made into Halloween themed things! It was great!

Tuesday

Today in District Meeting we talked about hope and watched a video about a girl who had become paralyzed and how she has maintained hope through it all. It was really good!   We had District lunch, called to set up appointments and then off to pick up the elders to go to a members house. This lady’s husband has been in the US for the past couple weeks so it's nice for her to have some visitors and she loves the missionaries!  We showed her a Mormon Message and then we sang "Nearer My God To Thee" with her in Riwandic, which was super cool!  We listened to her sing a few other songs too!  Then we dropped the elders off and went to visit the lady that just got baptized. We had pizza and then taught the Restoration again because now it's new convert lessons!  She is so flink!  She understands so much and is just phenomenal!  

Wednesday

All four of us missionaries are singing at the funeral to the lady that just passed away from cancer…. so we practiced our parts of "How Great Thou Art".  I'm not quite sure why it's assumed that missionaries can sing, but I guess it is!  After our practice we went to visit one of our investigators...and miracles happened!!  We followed up from last time and she said that she had already been smoking less… and that sometimes she will start smoking and then be done after 2 or 3 times because she doesn't want it anymore! How incredible is that!? As a missionary I literally get a front seat to the miracles that God is performing in other people's lives!  This was just incredible to me!  I'm pretty sure my mouth just dropped open!  I've been praying for her and then I hear this!  God KNOWS, God knows us personally, He knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows every little detail of our lives, He knows that she wanted to stop smoking, He knows that I've been praying and then He worked the miracle.  There is no prayer that goes unheard.  He is THERE and He LISTENS! This experience was a massive testimony builder to me and it is a moment on my mission that I will be telling for years and years to come!  I told our investigator that we had been praying for her and she said, "You have?" and then the click came.  The click that was the realization that it was not just yourself, but it was the hand of God.  AMAZING!  I literally can't put into words how incredible this was to me! We then read Ether 12 and talked about the miracles that can occur because of faith! After that appointment, we had a lesson with another investigator and we decided to put him to the test of how much he actually knows.  He knew basically every answer to every question we had created in the game!  But this past week we also found out what might be holding him back so we're moving forward!!!

Thursday

Today we visited my favorite old lady and she is just the sweetest!!!  We shared 1Nephi 17:11 and 1 John 4:19 and so we talked about that but then she said something really key.  She told us that you can't start discussing scripture until you give them the help they need. In other words, you can't start preaching the word until you apply the word. (D&C 11:21) That's so true!  That applies to everyone whether it's the people I serve here or the people you come in contact with at home. The elders had asked us to drive them to an arena that their investigator had a hockey competition at…so we took them there, and then my companion and I  went to our dinner appointment. This couple  are the nicest people!!  We had such a good visit with them and we showed "You Never Know The Good You Do" because they do so, so much to help the missionary work here!  They are phenomenal!  

Friday

Today was the funeral… so we sang our song and people told us we sounded like angels...that was too nice of them probably… but it went really well!  I was expecting to be really sad throughout the funeral but I just felt this great peace!  She was a wonderful person and even though she was battling cancer she was one of the happiest people I know, always offering to serve, and was never seen without a smile on her face!  Then we went and visited a member and her daughter… and showed them the Sharing the Light of Christ Mormon Message. Her daughter said that we can't all do exactly what he did, but we can find our own way of serving.. and contribute in the way that we can, which is great!! After that  we went and visited another member’s house. This lady cracks me up!!!  I'm laughing from the minute I walk in the door until I walk out!!!  She told us about all sorts of things and then she told us about her exercise routine and she starts showing us how to do it!  I can't even do the things that she does and she's 80!!! It started snowing on our way home, to our next appointment.  We had dinner and talked about how music is a language everyone can understand.. and how we can use it to build testimonies!  Such a good visit and our new member was there too!

Saturday

So we ended up getting like 2 feet of snow!!!. The missionary couple came and picked us up and took us to the mission home so they could put the winter tires on our car. While waiting…my companion and I shoveled President and Sister Hill's driveway. Then I had to go and get winter boots and they are fantastic and super warm!  We spent the day driving back and forth, calling people, family history and then later that day we had a lunch appointment with a member family. That was such a fun visit!  We were laughing so hard and it was a blast!  Then we went and had a dinner appointment with some members and I just love that family!!  We had pizza and then watched the  Mormon Message (Can you tell we like those?) about Tyler Haws who played at BYU because those kids love BYU and they love basketball and so it was perfect!  It was a great visit and we just have so much fun with that family!

Sunday

The day you've all been waiting for...but really though…my companion and I lived this whole week trying to guess who would be the one leaving, and it was stressing us out!! So I will be staying in Asker and getting a new companion…one that has been out for awhile.  My companion is going to Kristiansand to be companions with the one that I went to Texas with! We are also getting 2 new Elders... so I'm excited but I'm also super sad to be losing Søster Blankmeyer as a companion!!! So that was that news...we had church and testimony meeting…it was REALLY good!  All meetings were good but Sacrament and Relief Society were my favorites today!  Then we ate dinner at the missionary couples home,  and I felt like I was in America because we had chicken enchiladas!!! They are always so nice, and I love going to their house!!  Then later that evening we went and visited a less active and she was telling story after story and then she started asking me to explain all about the 12 Tribes of Israel… so I'm going to need to study that one up a little bit!  Then we went and planned the week while Søster Blankmeyer packed!

Today

Today we have just e-mailed and that's all...we have a dinner appointment tonight and then we are going to President Hill's house to have dessert so they can say goodbye to Søster Blankmeyer!!!  

Love you all lots and miss you tons!