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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