HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) ( I wont be able to write again until after, so sorry this is early :) )
This week has been a fantastic week :) Lets see, Monday, as I said, I couldnt really move. My back was HORRIBLE! But the rest of the week it healed really fast. We ended up watching Hercules in Norwegian which was fun!
Then on Tuesday we had District Meeting! That is always fun. Later that night for dinner, we really almost had no food to make...we had corn on the cob, eggs, and toast. haha! Delicous, huh? :)
On Wednesday...oh! Oh! That morning, right before we started studies, we got a text from the Elders. They said, "Your wish came true, look outside!" And it was snowing!!!!!!!!!! It only snowed a little bit that morning, then later that night in Mandal! Earlier in the day we went and visited a less active member. Her name is Mony and she is from Cambodia. She cant understand Norwegian very well and doesnt understand English either. We showed her a talk in Cambodian about Gratitude and then after she said this, "Det var ikke mitt språk" or something like that...that means, "that wasnt my language." I was like...WHAT!?!?! WHY DIDNT YOU TELL US! She then went on to tell us that the man translating was speaking Cambodian but he wasnt from there and it wasnt perfect. hahaha, so funny :) That night we went out to Mandal and taught David and then knocked on doors, then ate at a members house! We had Thanksgiving Dinner, Norwegian Style. It was absolutely delicious! Astrid, the members mom (not a member), told us that she had to go and ask for a turkey, becuase they didnt have any out. I think she said they asked her why and she said, Thanksgiving! So they went to the back and found her one of the few they had! That was so fun :) Speaking of, THANKSGIVING IS THIS WEEK!!!! I cant wait! We are eating a Thanksgiving meal with the missioanries in this area (the ones in Arendal are coming too!) and then on Friday we are going to an American/Norwegian families house and celebrating :) So fun!
Anyways, then on Thursday we had Weekly Planning. We went and visited our investigator, Mouyy, that will be baptized next month! SO EXCITING! :)
Friday, we went and visited Bestemor (sweet older lady in the ward)! This day was such a miracle day! Later, we had a member, Hannah Torjesen (who is one of my favorite people, she is a 16 year old and just SO perfect!) help us on a teach. Last week we were contacting and prayed to find a miracle. A person to meet and their number (or something like that). We also prayed that Sister Robbins would be able to understand everything said to us or the idea of what was going on. And so we found this boy named Yared. He believes in God, but not that Christ is His Son, and agreed to meet with us! We met with him on Friday and he brought a friend!!! She believes in Jesus Christ, but that Christ and God are the same person. Hannah helped so much to bring the Spirit into the lesson. Oh man, it was just amazing. They both said YES to when they know its true, being baptized! SO exciting! :) Then later that night we met in the train station with another miracle! Later that night last week, we kept asking for miracles after we would get one. This man is from Holland, and his name is Serge. He believes in God, but didnt really grow up with a belief...so is a little bit unsure. As I said, we met with him in the trainstation, and the lesson went amazing! He said yes to a soft baptismal committment, and I felt prompted to ask him for a date. He told us he wanted to read the book and see the people at church first. Even though he said that, he is almost GOLDEN! Oh man do we love him. Ill tell you a little bit more about him later in the email :)
On Saturday we did some contacting and knocking on doors! That was fun :) That night we taught our investigator Abdulla, and afterwards had to say goodbye to Aida Ibanez. She is going to the Phillippines (well now is gone) for Christmas for 5 weeks. It was absolutely heart breaking. She dropped us off at our appartment, we hugged her and said goodbye, then we waited and then went up to our appartment and watched to see when she was going to go. We watched her just sob in her car. She was waiting there for maybe 10 or 15 minutes just crying. We went back down and gave her a note, hugged her again, and went back inside. I am pretty sure we will see her when she comes back, because I feel like I will be here until the beginning of February! But later that night she texted me and said, "I love you a lot. And I cant forget my favorite daughter , "Sierra Chapman" you always in my mind. Love you much. Aida" Oh man do I just love and miss her. Speaking of, she WILL FIND Bry in the Phillippines! She is set on it, so I gave her your email Bry (she isnt in your area, she is in Manilla) So, I HOPE SO BAD you see her!!!! :)
Sunday was an AMAZING day! A member picked up Serge and drove him to the Center (becuase we had Ward Council before church). Towards the end of Ward Council we got a telephone call. The second time they called, I answered it, and an investigator told us her and her family (who we hadnt taught) were on their way!!! So Serge rode with the same family to church. And we waited for them. We missed the first hour (Relief Society) but made it to the rest. When we waited for the bus, we taught the family about the Book Of Mormon. The hard thing though, is that only 2 of the family members (this wasnt even the whole family that came...there are 13 kids!!!!) anyways, only 2 of the family members really understand and can speak engilsh (well, who we there) So the boy translated into Swahili for them to undrestand. They are from the Congo in Africa! COOL, huh!? They taught us how to say "Hi! How are you?" and "Good morning!" Anyways, we had 2 investigators at church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) SO AWESOME! After church we taught Serge. We went into a restaurant, where he bought coffee, and we just taught :) We taught the Plan of Salvation, which is always so good :) We ate dinner after that, and then did some studies we hadnt had the chance to do yet. We were able to contact a little bit last night and go home and finish up studies!
Anyways, my life is just good. I had a really cool experience when I was praying a couple nights ago. I started thanking Heavenly Father for things I am thankful for, and then I just felt a surge of HOLY COW! I AM SO BLESSED!!!!!!! I felt SO thankful! I have the best family in the world. And I am not just saying that. I really feel like I am the most blessed person. Can you imagine being in any other family? I cant and dont want to! Oh my goodness we are so blessed! AH! SO blessed! haha! It just makes me want to laugh how happy it makes me! :)
Life is just good though. Sister Robbins is absolutely amazing! I was telling some of you about our companionship in personal emails, but I feel like we are SO much alike. That is so fun. I dont think I have laughed so hard my whole mission. We are on the floor laughing SO much, becuase of random funny things! hahahahaha, oh my goodness!
One of the days we were contacting we saw two men videoing people, so I told sister Robbins to show her tag, we want people to know who we are!!! So we walked past them the second time and they stopped us and asked us to do a couple things. Sister Robbins had no idea what was going on, so I was just doing what they asked...they were making a birthday thing for their friends, so asked me to describe some pictures of people, and then say Happy Birthday Martin! In Norwegian. So i did, and then they asked Sister Robbins to say Happy Birthday Anne in Norsk! Hahahah she ended up saying "Gratulerer med daden Anne!" (supposed to be gratulerer med dagen!") Afterwards she asked me what she said, and I joked around telling her she said something totally different, then jsut started laughing. hahaha it was so funny!
Anyways, I hope you all have an amazing week! I love you with all of my heart and miss you all!!!!!
Vær trygg! Jeg savner dere og elsker dere!!!! :)
Love, Søster Chapman
p.s. dont forget to send pictures of Thanksgiving!!!! :)
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