Hei hei familie!
So this week has been great! (and last week) I went to Trondheim on Monday morning and got home tuesday night. We were planning on emailing then, but got home too late and things didnt work out...and then we couldnt yesterday because we ended up with no time! But Trondheim was GORGEOUS! I have come to figure out that I really love these big cities here in Norway. Knowing that we can step outside and see LOADS of people is so great to me! Here in Ksand its different, not as many people..but thats alright. On monday we were able to have Pday with all the missionaries in the North and West Zones! SO FUN!!! We played sports and I went to the Domkirke (the biggest one in Norway)! and it was GORGEOUS! We just took pics outside becuase it is 70 kr to go in! But then we had dinner, checked into our hotel, and then contacted for a few hours. IT IS GORGEOUS THERE! :) I contacted with sister johnson, and then went on splits with sister clark (my trainer) which was SO FUN! Because trondheim was her first area and so it was fun to go around there with her :) we actually got an appointment for the missionaries there! So that was cool! At our hotel we got free hot chocolate and fruit...kjempe deilig! And I had an amazing sleep! :)
The next day we had a HUGE continental breakfast at the hotel...i feasted hahaha....and then we had Zone Conference....Elder Kearon..the first councelor over Western Europe...spoke to us. It was amazing!!!!!!!! I dont have much time so im writing quick..sorry! But that was great! Afterwards we flew home later that night and got home a little after nine. But man it was so great to see everyone and be there and hear from him and President and Sister Evans! :) But this past week...that you all didnt hear about...was a rollercoaster! On last, last Pday, we had one of our investigators with a baptismal date tell us that he wanted a break because his brother was in the hospital, his aunt died, and his gpa or something died too. But we asked if we could meet once more before he decided. And so we did and we pretty much just had a lesson telling him how much we love and care about him and why we are even here. We all were on the verge of crying and I felt more Love than I have my whole mision i think. He agreed to meeting with us again, and he is still one of our investigators. :) The rest of the week was pretty good! On sunday we had 23 investigators come! One of thems name is Wafaaa and she is from Iraq! I LOVE HER SO MUCH! She can speak a little norsk, not perfect though...but I translated the english class into norsk for her which was way fun! :) And then on Sunday, our investigator, David, got his baptismal interview from one of our elders here. OH! We have elders here now! haha, one that was in sister johnsons mtc group, and the other that has been here a few more months than us. So we have a ksand district now! Anyways, elder cooper interviewed david. To tell this story pretty short....afterwards, we told david that peter, a new convert, could techincally baptize him. and david got all mad ish...saying he wanted a priest to baptize him! So we didnt have lots of time to talk...anyways, all was okay....and then we met with him yesterday and he let us know that he felt bad for how he acted and that ``my spirit told me to just listen to what you both said`` So the baptism is still going to happen and all is good! He is ready and we are so excited!!!!! :) It will be this saturday so I will let you know how that goes!!!!! :) Sorry i have like 10 minutes left!!! Anyways, also, when we were contacting last week the funniest thing happened....sister johsnon stopped a man and he wasnt really interested. But before he left he lifted his hand up next to sister johnsons face and petted it for probably 3 seconds and told us he wasn't interested hahahahahahaha so funny!
Anyways, I love you all so much and ill write to you all again on Monday!!!
Love, Søster Chapman
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Baptisms in NORWAY!!!
Hei alle!!!
So this week was AMAZING!!!!
A HUGE moves call was yesterday morning and Im staying here!! HOORAY! :) We are actually getting elders here WITH us in Kristiansand, so that will be cool!! And They are opening up Sandes (right next to stavanger) for sisters now!! SO Sister Mourik will be serving there and sister clark still in stavanger :)
But wanna know why I am so excited to still stay here?? (besides the fact that I love the ward and the area?) WE HAVE 3 PEOPLE WITH BAPTISMAL DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So last week I told you about David...but this week we met with a lady that the sisters had found before. Her name is Temi and she has 2 daughters and they are also from Nigeria! THey have been on vacation, so we met with them a couple days after. Well, we met with her and one of her daughters was listening a little :) And we taught the Plan of Salvation. She loved loved loved it! And She even asked us how she can get to the Celestial Kingdom :) MIRACLE: That morning we didnt know if we should change our plans and do the 12 week program earlier, or continue to just do it at night, like we had planned. But we felt like we should do it in the morning. So we did, and during it we watched part of the district ... an episode where they do a soft baptismal commitment and a hard, (when you find out that this is true will you be baptised?) and (Will you prepare to be baptised on this date?). So we got that idea. We hadnt talked about a hard date for her before. But during the lesson the spirit was SO strong. So Sister Johnson looked at me and we were thinking the exact thing. So I commited her to a soft baptism. and she said yes! Then sister johnson committed her to a date!!! And the date was the same one i was thinking about during the lesson :) She wasnt able to come to church yesterday though...because she was sick :( BUT, yesterday we talked to david about his baptism and he is just SO precious!! HAHA! We taught him in the room with the baptismal font and he was honestly just giddy because he was SO excited!!! He is so prepared and so excited!!!! So the other mans name is Goran. (pinlig, because we thought it was gordan and then he texted us with that name....our bad!) anyways, sister johsnon and bingham had found him a while ago, he didnt show up to their app and his phone number didnt work! SO Then we were contacting and sister johnson contacted him and was just like...i know you! haha, anyways i think ive told you all that before. But we met with him for second time! And we committed him to a soft, and then to a hard!! SO temi will hopefully be baptized on the 14th of september and Goran hopefully the 15th! They cant be on the same day because she speaks english and he speaks norsk (they are most comfortable in those) Anyways, SOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) So then we also got a call from the branch president in Arendal...elders used to be there, but not anymore. So he told us that there was a boy that they wanted to know if we could teach! We talked to president and that was totally fine! So, the Cressals (senior couple here went to oslo for a couple days so WE HAD THE CAR!!! :)
My first time driving in Norway! He is an ex police officer, and I drove them to the airport...the first time driving here....SCREMMENDE! But it was so fun! :) haha, we drove to arendal, which was 1 hour away. We had had a great week so we were thinking all was great! I thought the lesson went well, he said yes to a soft baptism, if he finds its true, and said he would read and pray, and kanskje come to church. But then I texted him after we got home and was just saying thanks to him and his member friend. And He told us that he just wanted to learn on his own. We tried continuing to text and see if he would meet once more...but that isn't gonna happen right now. He said we could keep in contact with him though, so thats good. But me and sister johnson were just crushed. I honestly put my heart into that. We met him once and we already loved him so much. And then he said he didn't want us to really teach him anymore. But that we were a big help. We were just silent the rest of the night...for the most part. It was so sad and just made us so sad. But we learned a lot. We learned that we need to learn to teach better to the needs of each investigator. But, that was just a roller-coaster day. Anyways, the funny thing about it is that we had temi commit on wednesday, goran commit on thursday, and then met and got dropped by havard on friday. Anyways, then on saturday we drove to Mandal..about 45 minutes to an hour away...to meet with david!! :) That went well!! This was on saturday :) We just listened to christmas music and talked so that was fun! The drive throughout Norway is gorgeous!!! One thing i love about kristiansand is that you can be in the city one minute, and then in the country the next! SO GORGEOUS!!!
Another miraculous story...we were going with AIda, the philippion lady, to visit one of our investiators Wafaa (from iraq). We got to the door and before we knocked aida was getting a call from her. We heard her baby screaming crying but didnt know what was up. Wafaa was telling aida she needed her or something and aida told her we were at the door. We got in and her baby had spilt HOT tea on his chest and his chest and stomach was just raw! So they took them to the hospital (wafaa doesnt have car so aida drove them) and we ran/walked back to the center.
MY CALVES WERE ABOUT TO FALL OFF! Haha, but we also ended up catching a bus!!! SO that was a tender mercy. We wanted elder cressel to give her son a blssing, because her son had had one before. It didnt work out though, so the next day we went and the bishop and aidas husband gave him a blessing. What they told us was that he had to have cold water on his stomach for about 1 hour and a half, then they gave him anesthesia and scraped his stomach (i guess there were blisters?) and wrapped him up, they stayed in the hospital for a couple days...poor boy. anyways, such a miracle that we were at that door at that exact second she needed Aida!!! We talked to her about the Priesthood/blessings yesterday and that gave us more perspective on what we should do with her. We were thinking about how much longer we should each her...because she cant understand arabisk or norsk (reading very well) and there isn't a MB in her language...korisk. But we felt like we should keep teaching her and see how it goes. Anyways, crazy week!!!!!!!!
Goron, Temi, and David are the poeple we were expecting at church and david is the only one that came. Temi was sick and Gorans brother was in the hospital!! Super disappointing, but all will work out.
Anyways, ONE FUNNY THING :)
When I was on the phone with Havards friend (the boy that was on the teach with us) He was spelling havards name...the second a has an o thing over it, but i cant type in norsk right now...anyways, in my planner....i wrote down what i thought he spelt...SUPER EMBARRASING!!!!! hahahah....i thought he spelt KONOHAIB. And we totally would have called him that if he wouldnt have texted us his name later!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHA!!!
Oh! And we also ate at our Ward mission leaders house, who recentely got back from his mission in california. And another girl in the ward and another boy ate with us too. Kjempe koselig! :)
Well I love you all so much!!!!!! And I miss you all too!!! Im not going to have much time to email next week, because IM GONNA BE IN TRONDHEIM!!! For Zone Conference in the North!!! Someone from the 70 is coming! :)
Well, love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeg elsker dere!!!!
Love, Soster Chapman :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
So this week was AMAZING!!!!
A HUGE moves call was yesterday morning and Im staying here!! HOORAY! :) We are actually getting elders here WITH us in Kristiansand, so that will be cool!! And They are opening up Sandes (right next to stavanger) for sisters now!! SO Sister Mourik will be serving there and sister clark still in stavanger :)
But wanna know why I am so excited to still stay here?? (besides the fact that I love the ward and the area?) WE HAVE 3 PEOPLE WITH BAPTISMAL DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So last week I told you about David...but this week we met with a lady that the sisters had found before. Her name is Temi and she has 2 daughters and they are also from Nigeria! THey have been on vacation, so we met with them a couple days after. Well, we met with her and one of her daughters was listening a little :) And we taught the Plan of Salvation. She loved loved loved it! And She even asked us how she can get to the Celestial Kingdom :) MIRACLE: That morning we didnt know if we should change our plans and do the 12 week program earlier, or continue to just do it at night, like we had planned. But we felt like we should do it in the morning. So we did, and during it we watched part of the district ... an episode where they do a soft baptismal commitment and a hard, (when you find out that this is true will you be baptised?) and (Will you prepare to be baptised on this date?). So we got that idea. We hadnt talked about a hard date for her before. But during the lesson the spirit was SO strong. So Sister Johnson looked at me and we were thinking the exact thing. So I commited her to a soft baptism. and she said yes! Then sister johnson committed her to a date!!! And the date was the same one i was thinking about during the lesson :) She wasnt able to come to church yesterday though...because she was sick :( BUT, yesterday we talked to david about his baptism and he is just SO precious!! HAHA! We taught him in the room with the baptismal font and he was honestly just giddy because he was SO excited!!! He is so prepared and so excited!!!! So the other mans name is Goran. (pinlig, because we thought it was gordan and then he texted us with that name....our bad!) anyways, sister johsnon and bingham had found him a while ago, he didnt show up to their app and his phone number didnt work! SO Then we were contacting and sister johnson contacted him and was just like...i know you! haha, anyways i think ive told you all that before. But we met with him for second time! And we committed him to a soft, and then to a hard!! SO temi will hopefully be baptized on the 14th of september and Goran hopefully the 15th! They cant be on the same day because she speaks english and he speaks norsk (they are most comfortable in those) Anyways, SOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) So then we also got a call from the branch president in Arendal...elders used to be there, but not anymore. So he told us that there was a boy that they wanted to know if we could teach! We talked to president and that was totally fine! So, the Cressals (senior couple here went to oslo for a couple days so WE HAD THE CAR!!! :)
My first time driving in Norway! He is an ex police officer, and I drove them to the airport...the first time driving here....SCREMMENDE! But it was so fun! :) haha, we drove to arendal, which was 1 hour away. We had had a great week so we were thinking all was great! I thought the lesson went well, he said yes to a soft baptism, if he finds its true, and said he would read and pray, and kanskje come to church. But then I texted him after we got home and was just saying thanks to him and his member friend. And He told us that he just wanted to learn on his own. We tried continuing to text and see if he would meet once more...but that isn't gonna happen right now. He said we could keep in contact with him though, so thats good. But me and sister johnson were just crushed. I honestly put my heart into that. We met him once and we already loved him so much. And then he said he didn't want us to really teach him anymore. But that we were a big help. We were just silent the rest of the night...for the most part. It was so sad and just made us so sad. But we learned a lot. We learned that we need to learn to teach better to the needs of each investigator. But, that was just a roller-coaster day. Anyways, the funny thing about it is that we had temi commit on wednesday, goran commit on thursday, and then met and got dropped by havard on friday. Anyways, then on saturday we drove to Mandal..about 45 minutes to an hour away...to meet with david!! :) That went well!! This was on saturday :) We just listened to christmas music and talked so that was fun! The drive throughout Norway is gorgeous!!! One thing i love about kristiansand is that you can be in the city one minute, and then in the country the next! SO GORGEOUS!!!
Another miraculous story...we were going with AIda, the philippion lady, to visit one of our investiators Wafaa (from iraq). We got to the door and before we knocked aida was getting a call from her. We heard her baby screaming crying but didnt know what was up. Wafaa was telling aida she needed her or something and aida told her we were at the door. We got in and her baby had spilt HOT tea on his chest and his chest and stomach was just raw! So they took them to the hospital (wafaa doesnt have car so aida drove them) and we ran/walked back to the center.
MY CALVES WERE ABOUT TO FALL OFF! Haha, but we also ended up catching a bus!!! SO that was a tender mercy. We wanted elder cressel to give her son a blssing, because her son had had one before. It didnt work out though, so the next day we went and the bishop and aidas husband gave him a blessing. What they told us was that he had to have cold water on his stomach for about 1 hour and a half, then they gave him anesthesia and scraped his stomach (i guess there were blisters?) and wrapped him up, they stayed in the hospital for a couple days...poor boy. anyways, such a miracle that we were at that door at that exact second she needed Aida!!! We talked to her about the Priesthood/blessings yesterday and that gave us more perspective on what we should do with her. We were thinking about how much longer we should each her...because she cant understand arabisk or norsk (reading very well) and there isn't a MB in her language...korisk. But we felt like we should keep teaching her and see how it goes. Anyways, crazy week!!!!!!!!
Goron, Temi, and David are the poeple we were expecting at church and david is the only one that came. Temi was sick and Gorans brother was in the hospital!! Super disappointing, but all will work out.
Anyways, ONE FUNNY THING :)
When I was on the phone with Havards friend (the boy that was on the teach with us) He was spelling havards name...the second a has an o thing over it, but i cant type in norsk right now...anyways, in my planner....i wrote down what i thought he spelt...SUPER EMBARRASING!!!!! hahahah....i thought he spelt KONOHAIB. And we totally would have called him that if he wouldnt have texted us his name later!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHA!!!
Oh! And we also ate at our Ward mission leaders house, who recentely got back from his mission in california. And another girl in the ward and another boy ate with us too. Kjempe koselig! :)
Well I love you all so much!!!!!! And I miss you all too!!! Im not going to have much time to email next week, because IM GONNA BE IN TRONDHEIM!!! For Zone Conference in the North!!! Someone from the 70 is coming! :)
Well, love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeg elsker dere!!!!
Love, Soster Chapman :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, August 12, 2013
Great Week
Hei hei familie!
Denne uken har vært veldig bra! Vi har gjort mange ting til å oppbygge Guds rike. Selv om ganger er ikke veldig lett, vet jeg at jeg lærer og vokse fra dem.
Anywho, you can all just translate that :)
This week has been great though! Our most progressing investigator, David, is doing great!!! President called us and asked us about him. Then he told us that there is no reason that we shouldnt go out to him...he lives in Mandal, about an hour away...so we did that! We met with him last sunday, wednesday (in kristiansand because he stayed with the new convert peter for a couple days), then in Mandal on friday (?) and then again this sunday!!!! We have one more teach with him before we are finished with the lessons! But we will probably teach him a couple more of the teaches for after baptism to clarify some things and give him more knowledge. His baptismal date is going to be on the 31st of this month!!! So thats WAY exciting! He is hilarious! He is the opposite of a hard investigator....well he is hard, but in another way. He believes EVERYTHING we say to him pretty much! haha, he didnt want to pray to ask if it was true becuase, he knew! ``I one hundred thousand percent believe sisters!! Dont doubt me, cause i believe!!!!`` hahahaha, but we got him to commit to praying last week so that was great :) We also found 2 new investigators last week...well technically just one and we got the other this week...but ill explain in a little bit. Gordon is a man from Croatia, that has lived in norway for around 20 years?, that we found contacting! (speaks pretty perfect norsk) Sister Johnson and Bingham (the sister that just went home) found him, he kebabed (didnt show up), and his number didnt work. So we saw him on the street and sister johnson was like, ``Hei! Vi er misjonærer fra Jesu Kristi Kirke....jeg tror at vi har truffet før!`` haha (Hi! Were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ....I think we have met before!``) and he told her that they had and that he didnt show up because his mom was in the hospital...and then she told him his number didnt work and he was so surprised! So we got it again and met with him this past week!!! We couldnt count him as a new investitgator becuase he didnt know when he could meet again so he said he would text us. We texted him last night and got a return app and so we can count him as a new investigator for this week!!! :) He is like..GOLDEN! And he only lives about 5 minutes from the church! :)
Then we met a man on the street named Lucas. He is from Poland actually, and has a wife and a daughter. He wants to be baptized in the Jehova Witness church in about two months...but we met with him and he was willing to read and pray and meet with us again! His wife and daughter come back from poland in a couple weeks and so we are hoping to also teach his wife! We got 7 teaches with a member with us this week and...3 others without memebers? so that was SO GREAT! OH! ALSO! We got to go to Stavanger this week!!!!!!!! We went on Tuesday and it was like I was home!
The train ride was about 3 hours long...so I slept some of it and practiced the first lesson. But I was just SO happy when we got there. And to see all of the missionaries was just like seeing family. AH man, i just looove love love stavanger. :) We had Zone Leader Training and that was really good :) Then, that night we headed back on the train and got home! Haha, LONG day, but so fun! That was also Søster Johnsons birthday! So that was cool! :) So creepy\funny story. Last p-day, when it was time to proselyte again, we went over to a members house for dinner and to teach her nephew. Speaking of, her name is Aida and she is from the Phillippines. I told her about Bry, and she is acutally going to the phillippines, manilla, for a couple months in november or something like that! She was like, ``I will inbite him ober and he will spis wit me.`` (spis = eat) hahahha or something like that :) She is the cutest and helps us with missionary work SO much! She is reading PMG right now and is actually the ward missionary here. She is just ADORABLE! She buys food for us pretty much every week and is just hilarious.
A couple weeks ago we were at an 8 year olds baptism and we were just putting a bunch of different desserts on our plates. and neither sister johnson or i put fruit on our plate. soshe grabbed it and just layed fruit on both of our plates! hahaha! Thats the kind of person she is! :) So no worries about me mom, she is taking good care of us :) hahaha, anyways, when she goes to the phillippines shes going to contact you Bry! She actually said she is going to talk to the mission president and get all of the missionaries to come together for a partyish thing and she will feed you all :) hahahahahhaha, so watch out for that Bry! hahaha
anyways, yesterday we got a call from the Arendal Branch President! Arendal is a small city about an hour from here.there used to be elders, but not anymore. So we actually got a referral! We have permission (because technically it is our area because we are the closest to it) to go out and teach a man there that they told president, seems really positive!!! Also, President told me last night that this next transfer in a couple weeks, there will be elders here! Itll be weird, but so fun! One thing sister johnson told me is, ``I have already gone as far south as possible! I can only go up from here!`` haha, not sure if i told you that yet, but its true!!! And guess what!? IT IS ALREADY GETTING COLD!!! As of yesterday we realized that it really is. It is starting to get dark earlier. (as in at 10 it is pretty dark) haha, but can you believe that!? I am the most south as i can be here in Norway and it is crazy! I am thinking i will be here for about 5 months. Thats my guess. :)
And I am loving it more and more each day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ward! It is SO koselig and small. It is the cutest thing. Brookie would LOVE the building...but sad thing is, they are going to renovate it a little so in a coupld weeks we are going to have church in a school building or something for a little bit. Anyways, yesterday during church I understood SO much! It was so great, and my norsk is getting a lot better so i am really ahppy about that :) I mean, obviously it is NOT perfect at all...but its coming :)
Oh, so for sister johsnons birthday she got a package from her family and she had asked for christmas music! So we have listened to Christmas music this entire week! It is my favorite :) It makes me miss you all so much but it makes me so happy too!
So when we rode the bus out to Mandal this week I took some pictures, but mom, it is exactly where you would love to live! Or Søgne. Søgne is where most of the members live! It is green and there is SO much room around!! I honestly cannot wait for you all to come see it here :)
Anyways, not too much more to say. I just have such a strong testimony of the Book Of Mormon and the Atonement. I have come to figure out that EVERY little problem or big trial we have in our lives are shaping us into the people we are going to be in the eternities. I know that the Lord knows me so well and He is there waiting for us to grab His hand so He can help us. Being a missionary is so humbling...because we are asking people to do SO much! And in part, we have to do what we ask them to do. We cant be hypocrites! So asking investigators to read, we have to read, to pray, we have to pray, and to be diligent in doing these things, WE DO TO! I mean, its not a burden!!! But there is SO much we have to be doing, we really are concecrating our lives. Sister Johnson brought it up this morning actually. We are living the law of concecration as missionaries. We give up what we wear, what we do each day, when we wake up, when we go to sleep, etc. We strive to live how Christ would. This is the closest I have ever felt to living like Christ in my life and I love it.
Anyways, I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will talk to you all next week!!!!
I pray and fast for you all!
Love, Søster Chapman
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Denne uken har vært veldig bra! Vi har gjort mange ting til å oppbygge Guds rike. Selv om ganger er ikke veldig lett, vet jeg at jeg lærer og vokse fra dem.
Anywho, you can all just translate that :)
This week has been great though! Our most progressing investigator, David, is doing great!!! President called us and asked us about him. Then he told us that there is no reason that we shouldnt go out to him...he lives in Mandal, about an hour away...so we did that! We met with him last sunday, wednesday (in kristiansand because he stayed with the new convert peter for a couple days), then in Mandal on friday (?) and then again this sunday!!!! We have one more teach with him before we are finished with the lessons! But we will probably teach him a couple more of the teaches for after baptism to clarify some things and give him more knowledge. His baptismal date is going to be on the 31st of this month!!! So thats WAY exciting! He is hilarious! He is the opposite of a hard investigator....well he is hard, but in another way. He believes EVERYTHING we say to him pretty much! haha, he didnt want to pray to ask if it was true becuase, he knew! ``I one hundred thousand percent believe sisters!! Dont doubt me, cause i believe!!!!`` hahahaha, but we got him to commit to praying last week so that was great :) We also found 2 new investigators last week...well technically just one and we got the other this week...but ill explain in a little bit. Gordon is a man from Croatia, that has lived in norway for around 20 years?, that we found contacting! (speaks pretty perfect norsk) Sister Johnson and Bingham (the sister that just went home) found him, he kebabed (didnt show up), and his number didnt work. So we saw him on the street and sister johnson was like, ``Hei! Vi er misjonærer fra Jesu Kristi Kirke....jeg tror at vi har truffet før!`` haha (Hi! Were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ....I think we have met before!``) and he told her that they had and that he didnt show up because his mom was in the hospital...and then she told him his number didnt work and he was so surprised! So we got it again and met with him this past week!!! We couldnt count him as a new investitgator becuase he didnt know when he could meet again so he said he would text us. We texted him last night and got a return app and so we can count him as a new investigator for this week!!! :) He is like..GOLDEN! And he only lives about 5 minutes from the church! :)
Then we met a man on the street named Lucas. He is from Poland actually, and has a wife and a daughter. He wants to be baptized in the Jehova Witness church in about two months...but we met with him and he was willing to read and pray and meet with us again! His wife and daughter come back from poland in a couple weeks and so we are hoping to also teach his wife! We got 7 teaches with a member with us this week and...3 others without memebers? so that was SO GREAT! OH! ALSO! We got to go to Stavanger this week!!!!!!!! We went on Tuesday and it was like I was home!
The train ride was about 3 hours long...so I slept some of it and practiced the first lesson. But I was just SO happy when we got there. And to see all of the missionaries was just like seeing family. AH man, i just looove love love stavanger. :) We had Zone Leader Training and that was really good :) Then, that night we headed back on the train and got home! Haha, LONG day, but so fun! That was also Søster Johnsons birthday! So that was cool! :) So creepy\funny story. Last p-day, when it was time to proselyte again, we went over to a members house for dinner and to teach her nephew. Speaking of, her name is Aida and she is from the Phillippines. I told her about Bry, and she is acutally going to the phillippines, manilla, for a couple months in november or something like that! She was like, ``I will inbite him ober and he will spis wit me.`` (spis = eat) hahahha or something like that :) She is the cutest and helps us with missionary work SO much! She is reading PMG right now and is actually the ward missionary here. She is just ADORABLE! She buys food for us pretty much every week and is just hilarious.
A couple weeks ago we were at an 8 year olds baptism and we were just putting a bunch of different desserts on our plates. and neither sister johnson or i put fruit on our plate. soshe grabbed it and just layed fruit on both of our plates! hahaha! Thats the kind of person she is! :) So no worries about me mom, she is taking good care of us :) hahaha, anyways, when she goes to the phillippines shes going to contact you Bry! She actually said she is going to talk to the mission president and get all of the missionaries to come together for a partyish thing and she will feed you all :) hahahahahhaha, so watch out for that Bry! hahaha
anyways, yesterday we got a call from the Arendal Branch President! Arendal is a small city about an hour from here.there used to be elders, but not anymore. So we actually got a referral! We have permission (because technically it is our area because we are the closest to it) to go out and teach a man there that they told president, seems really positive!!! Also, President told me last night that this next transfer in a couple weeks, there will be elders here! Itll be weird, but so fun! One thing sister johnson told me is, ``I have already gone as far south as possible! I can only go up from here!`` haha, not sure if i told you that yet, but its true!!! And guess what!? IT IS ALREADY GETTING COLD!!! As of yesterday we realized that it really is. It is starting to get dark earlier. (as in at 10 it is pretty dark) haha, but can you believe that!? I am the most south as i can be here in Norway and it is crazy! I am thinking i will be here for about 5 months. Thats my guess. :)
And I am loving it more and more each day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ward! It is SO koselig and small. It is the cutest thing. Brookie would LOVE the building...but sad thing is, they are going to renovate it a little so in a coupld weeks we are going to have church in a school building or something for a little bit. Anyways, yesterday during church I understood SO much! It was so great, and my norsk is getting a lot better so i am really ahppy about that :) I mean, obviously it is NOT perfect at all...but its coming :)
Oh, so for sister johsnons birthday she got a package from her family and she had asked for christmas music! So we have listened to Christmas music this entire week! It is my favorite :) It makes me miss you all so much but it makes me so happy too!
So when we rode the bus out to Mandal this week I took some pictures, but mom, it is exactly where you would love to live! Or Søgne. Søgne is where most of the members live! It is green and there is SO much room around!! I honestly cannot wait for you all to come see it here :)
Anyways, not too much more to say. I just have such a strong testimony of the Book Of Mormon and the Atonement. I have come to figure out that EVERY little problem or big trial we have in our lives are shaping us into the people we are going to be in the eternities. I know that the Lord knows me so well and He is there waiting for us to grab His hand so He can help us. Being a missionary is so humbling...because we are asking people to do SO much! And in part, we have to do what we ask them to do. We cant be hypocrites! So asking investigators to read, we have to read, to pray, we have to pray, and to be diligent in doing these things, WE DO TO! I mean, its not a burden!!! But there is SO much we have to be doing, we really are concecrating our lives. Sister Johnson brought it up this morning actually. We are living the law of concecration as missionaries. We give up what we wear, what we do each day, when we wake up, when we go to sleep, etc. We strive to live how Christ would. This is the closest I have ever felt to living like Christ in my life and I love it.
Anyways, I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will talk to you all next week!!!!
I pray and fast for you all!
Love, Søster Chapman
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Saturday, August 10, 2013
" ... on, on to the victory!"
Hei hei! Man I miss you all so much.
This week has actually been really hard\ emotional. ill be okay though! Wanna know something weird? I was actually homesick for Stavanger too! I feel like Stavanger is my second home! After leaving stavanger and being here, i feel like i should be going back home there! Man, i was thinking maybe saying goodbye to all of you scarred me for life, saying goodbye to other people...or its just who i am and who i have always been...saying goodbyes being hard.
Anyways, guess what? Im actually getting tan here!!! haha, i have a tan line from my toms! The beach is right down the road, and we live right by the main part of town! So we walk a lot. Oh another thing, my feet have been so bad here! They have just hurt worse than they have my whole mission! Swollen and hurting, oh well though!
anyways, tomorrow we go to stavanger for Zone leader training, and I am SOOO excited!!!! :) I LOVE it there!
So this week we did A LOT of contacting! We got pretty sick of it, even though I love it. We met with a couple of less actives, and that was good! And we ended up making 2 appointments with formers from the area book! We actually ahve 2 area books...one FULL of formers! And we finished them yesterday. Oh another thing! We are only 45 minutes from denmark by ferry!!! haha, too bad we cant go there for pday. :)
We also had a new member teach. Søster Johnson and her old companion got a baptism a little bit ago, his name is peter and he is from nigeria! anyways, we went to a members house and they taught him a lesson which was cool :) Then guess what? SUPER EXCITING NEWS! :) We had a teach with this man named David yesterday after church. He is a referral from PETER! The new convert! Haha Peter was so funny, becuase he asked, after he had referred david, if that was okay to do that. That although he isnt a missionary like us, he can do missionary work. We were like, YES!!! YOU CAN DO THAT!!! Haha, so the other sisters taught david the first lesson and reviewd it, so yesterday we taught him the second lesson. And guess what!? HE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!! :) He told us before we taught him, and he told a lady in the ward too. He told us, "I KNOW this is the true church! I know it!!!! And if it isnt true, you WONT SEE ME HERE AGAIN! But I KNOW its true!!!" It was so funny, earlier during church he told us flat out that he wants to be baptized! He did some hand motions to show what it was and said thats what he wants! SUPER EXCITING! So We have a date set for August 31st! He is from Nigeria and is such an awesome man! He is hilarious. He told us something like this, "We just pray everywhere! Always thanking God for everything he gives us. Im sorry to say this, Im really sorry to say it, but even when Im in the toilet, i just pray and thank Him for the things I have! I do!" HAHA! Such a nice funny man. Super random, but also, Peter taught us how to say How are you brotha/sista in Ikka, which is his language in nigeria... ANI WENA? :)
So a couple mornings ago, i woke up to sister johnsons alarm and then i heard a roaring noise outside. So I went and looked out the window and it was POURING RAIN! And there was thunder and lightning and I just LOVED it! :) We also went to the bishops sons baptism. It is so cool that whatever language it is in or wherever in the world it is, I feel the same good feeling. When he recieved the Holy Ghost, I felt the same feeling I have my entire life when I am present for a confirmation. It was just so cool :)
Church was GREAT! IT is a tiny tiny tiny ward, but i think i like it better that way! Elder Torjeson, our district leader, is from here...and so i got to meet his family and that was cooL! Haha I already LOVE this ward and am so excited to work with them and get to know them better :) Being here is deefinitely another trial...another thing that is going to make me stronger. But I know it is just making me a better missionary! This past week has definitely been a test of my humility...but that is okay. Itll just help me be better!
SOOO crazy how trials can help make people stronger. I prayed for a better love of the scriptures and what did i get? I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES SO MUCH!!! I prayed to have more sincere prayers and what did I get??? SINCERE PRAYERS! I prayed for so much and Im recieving it through trials. I dont like the trials at all...haha but I know it is going to make me a better mom and missionary and person. It is so cool to think about....everything I am going through, is shaping me into the Godess I can potentially be in eternity. I read a talk this week that was definitely personal revelation. It is a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (of course) and it is called "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence." Theres a paragraph that really stood out to me in it and it says, " After you have gotten the message, after you ahve paid the price to feel His love and hear the word of the Lord, go forward, Don't fear, don't vacillate, don't quibble, don't whine. You may, like Alma going to Ammonihah, have to find a route that leads an unusual way, but that is exactly what the Lord is doing here for the children of ISrael, Nobody had ever crossed the Red Sea this way, but so what? There's always a first time. With the spirit of revelation, dismiss your fears and wade in with both feet. In the words of Joseph Smith, "Bretheren (and sisters), shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!""
Anyways, we are all given our "unique" trials. Sometimes I feel myself wondering WHY ME or WHY THIS TRIAL, and then after reading this I realized. This was my unique path to get the point I will be in the eternities. It is different for all of us. But all of us have the same goal. The same goal to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and our familes for eternity. I might have to go under a bridge then over a hill and through a forest...and mom might have to go around a lake, over a mountain, and through a jungle. But thats what is going to help us individually get there. Going through a jungle wouldnt help shape me into the person I am going to become, but it will shape mom. Going under a bridge might not be a trial to mom, but it would be to me and it would help me become more like Christ. Every challenge we face is the challenge the Lord knows will help us come closer to Him. I read in the scriptures this week how the Lord has control on how much Satan tempts us. It made me realize how...NOT SMART Satan is! He is helping with the plan. Without trials, we wouldnt know the sweet sweet tasee of fruit! Anyways, I hope that made sense!
I really miss you all SO much. I know that we'll see each other soon, but I miss you all.
Your all in my prayers and I think about you all the time.
Love, Søster Chapman
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
This week has actually been really hard\ emotional. ill be okay though! Wanna know something weird? I was actually homesick for Stavanger too! I feel like Stavanger is my second home! After leaving stavanger and being here, i feel like i should be going back home there! Man, i was thinking maybe saying goodbye to all of you scarred me for life, saying goodbye to other people...or its just who i am and who i have always been...saying goodbyes being hard.
Anyways, guess what? Im actually getting tan here!!! haha, i have a tan line from my toms! The beach is right down the road, and we live right by the main part of town! So we walk a lot. Oh another thing, my feet have been so bad here! They have just hurt worse than they have my whole mission! Swollen and hurting, oh well though!
anyways, tomorrow we go to stavanger for Zone leader training, and I am SOOO excited!!!! :) I LOVE it there!
So this week we did A LOT of contacting! We got pretty sick of it, even though I love it. We met with a couple of less actives, and that was good! And we ended up making 2 appointments with formers from the area book! We actually ahve 2 area books...one FULL of formers! And we finished them yesterday. Oh another thing! We are only 45 minutes from denmark by ferry!!! haha, too bad we cant go there for pday. :)
We also had a new member teach. Søster Johnson and her old companion got a baptism a little bit ago, his name is peter and he is from nigeria! anyways, we went to a members house and they taught him a lesson which was cool :) Then guess what? SUPER EXCITING NEWS! :) We had a teach with this man named David yesterday after church. He is a referral from PETER! The new convert! Haha Peter was so funny, becuase he asked, after he had referred david, if that was okay to do that. That although he isnt a missionary like us, he can do missionary work. We were like, YES!!! YOU CAN DO THAT!!! Haha, so the other sisters taught david the first lesson and reviewd it, so yesterday we taught him the second lesson. And guess what!? HE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!! :) He told us before we taught him, and he told a lady in the ward too. He told us, "I KNOW this is the true church! I know it!!!! And if it isnt true, you WONT SEE ME HERE AGAIN! But I KNOW its true!!!" It was so funny, earlier during church he told us flat out that he wants to be baptized! He did some hand motions to show what it was and said thats what he wants! SUPER EXCITING! So We have a date set for August 31st! He is from Nigeria and is such an awesome man! He is hilarious. He told us something like this, "We just pray everywhere! Always thanking God for everything he gives us. Im sorry to say this, Im really sorry to say it, but even when Im in the toilet, i just pray and thank Him for the things I have! I do!" HAHA! Such a nice funny man. Super random, but also, Peter taught us how to say How are you brotha/sista in Ikka, which is his language in nigeria... ANI WENA? :)
So a couple mornings ago, i woke up to sister johnsons alarm and then i heard a roaring noise outside. So I went and looked out the window and it was POURING RAIN! And there was thunder and lightning and I just LOVED it! :) We also went to the bishops sons baptism. It is so cool that whatever language it is in or wherever in the world it is, I feel the same good feeling. When he recieved the Holy Ghost, I felt the same feeling I have my entire life when I am present for a confirmation. It was just so cool :)
Church was GREAT! IT is a tiny tiny tiny ward, but i think i like it better that way! Elder Torjeson, our district leader, is from here...and so i got to meet his family and that was cooL! Haha I already LOVE this ward and am so excited to work with them and get to know them better :) Being here is deefinitely another trial...another thing that is going to make me stronger. But I know it is just making me a better missionary! This past week has definitely been a test of my humility...but that is okay. Itll just help me be better!
SOOO crazy how trials can help make people stronger. I prayed for a better love of the scriptures and what did i get? I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES SO MUCH!!! I prayed to have more sincere prayers and what did I get??? SINCERE PRAYERS! I prayed for so much and Im recieving it through trials. I dont like the trials at all...haha but I know it is going to make me a better mom and missionary and person. It is so cool to think about....everything I am going through, is shaping me into the Godess I can potentially be in eternity. I read a talk this week that was definitely personal revelation. It is a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (of course) and it is called "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence." Theres a paragraph that really stood out to me in it and it says, " After you have gotten the message, after you ahve paid the price to feel His love and hear the word of the Lord, go forward, Don't fear, don't vacillate, don't quibble, don't whine. You may, like Alma going to Ammonihah, have to find a route that leads an unusual way, but that is exactly what the Lord is doing here for the children of ISrael, Nobody had ever crossed the Red Sea this way, but so what? There's always a first time. With the spirit of revelation, dismiss your fears and wade in with both feet. In the words of Joseph Smith, "Bretheren (and sisters), shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!""
Anyways, we are all given our "unique" trials. Sometimes I feel myself wondering WHY ME or WHY THIS TRIAL, and then after reading this I realized. This was my unique path to get the point I will be in the eternities. It is different for all of us. But all of us have the same goal. The same goal to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and our familes for eternity. I might have to go under a bridge then over a hill and through a forest...and mom might have to go around a lake, over a mountain, and through a jungle. But thats what is going to help us individually get there. Going through a jungle wouldnt help shape me into the person I am going to become, but it will shape mom. Going under a bridge might not be a trial to mom, but it would be to me and it would help me become more like Christ. Every challenge we face is the challenge the Lord knows will help us come closer to Him. I read in the scriptures this week how the Lord has control on how much Satan tempts us. It made me realize how...NOT SMART Satan is! He is helping with the plan. Without trials, we wouldnt know the sweet sweet tasee of fruit! Anyways, I hope that made sense!
I really miss you all SO much. I know that we'll see each other soon, but I miss you all.
Your all in my prayers and I think about you all the time.
Love, Søster Chapman
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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