#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!!