This week has been full of UPS and DOWNS. But it started out great!
This week actually included a man opening the door just in his underwear, I had a panic attack but Sister Trydal told me it is normal in Norway especially in the Summer. haha! And this week included an old lady getting the bus door shut on her over and over again. hahaha! So here I go!
On Monday after P-day (sending emails!) we went and taught one of our investigators - Melissa! She is 9 years old and is in a part-member family. The mom is a member (Norsk) and the dad isnt (from England). Anyways, we taught The Gospel of Jesus Christ to her. We we got to talking about baptism (she has a date for the 12th of April) she said something like, "I know lots aobut baptism because I am getting baptized in April!" (in norwegian of course). Haha! It was SO cute! She has a little lisp when she speaks to, so adorable.
Tuesday was a BIG busy day! The beginning of the day was not so great. I just want too happy, I was homesick, etc. Anyways, we went to an investigators house, Rowena. She is from the Philippines an si an au pair for a Norsk family. We taught the third lesson and it went well! She told us how lots of churches want her to join or go to theirs, but only when the sisters had come before, had she felt the goosebumps :) Oh it was such a tender mercy to teach her! Because I really miss Bry and teacher her just...I dont know! I felt closer to Bry, so that helped my day get better :) A little bit later in the day we taught a girl we found walking on a bridge, named Maria. She is from Ukraine! And so we had a recent convert from Ukraine help us! (she has a way cool story too, but I can tell you all that later :) ) Anyways, Maria was so intersted to hear about a living prophet so that was cool! And we will be meeting with her again this week :) Afterwards we went to another potentials house - Mary. She was found by Sister Landry on a bus! She is from Africa and is so sweet :) Anyways, we taught her the first lesson and committed her to a soft dåp and she said yes! It is so interesting and sad sometimes to hear how people percieve God to be. She said something like "He is kind of scary because He is going to judge us." But then it is so great to explain who He REALLY is! Our loving Heavenly Father that will judge us, yes. But wants each of us to come back to Him SO bad. Anyways, later that night we taught Dennis with a member. We committed him to baptism on March 15th and he said YES! :) SO exciting!!! We have only been teaching him since the second day I got to Drammen! SÅ FLOTT! Then we taught Debby with a member. We watched the Restoration which is always good :) BIG DAY!
On Wednesday we had District Meeting. Lots fell through so we did some finding. It was rainy and slushy outside and my feet got completely soaked. Where I could feel water inbetween my toes. It got so bad that my feet hurt to walk on! They actually started turning blue..haha but it was okay! That night we put our shoes on our heated bathroom floor and they are dry now :) haha
But we taught John that night with a member. We talked about a living prophet and showed him "Obedience Brings Blessings" by President Monson. He LOVED it! And he is also getting baptized in March! SUPER EXCITING!!!
On Thursday we did Weekly Planning :) Then we went to dinner at a members house, the Weggersunds. They have TWELVE kids!!! 6 or so still live at home and I think 2 are on missions :) Debby aslo came, so that was koselig! The mom is from Stavanger and it amazes me that sometimes it is easier for me to understand that dialect than the dialect here! haha! Anwyays, that was great :) That night we taught mary again. We taught the Plan and committed her to be baptized on March 29th and she said YES! :) One thing I didnt mention about this week - our zone focused on each companionship hitting 3 - 2 - 1. Which is our mission standard. 3 new investigators, 2 in church, 1 baptismal date. And we got 2 baptismal dates!!! As a total we got 7 or 8 new baptismal dates in our zone this week!!! SO EXCITING! :)
Friday was a bit hard of a day too. This week I really had to rely on the Lord. I kind of made it a theme of this week and it amazes me how aware the Lord is of each of us! He knows how much we can handle, and how he can comfort us. We went and tried to find the whole day, went up to a really pretty neighborhood and knocked on doors for a while. It is so important as a missionary to have the "nothing you do is a waste of time" attitude. Because that could have eastily been put into the category of being a waste of time, because we taught no one and didnt get any numbers. But I had an amazing trainor and have had so many experiences on my mission to know that there really is NO waste of time. I am SO thankful for how I was trained and who have been my companions. Oh man I am just so thankful. Anyways, that night we taught Dennis with the Bishop and his wife! Okay, so guess how old the bishop is? TWENTY NINE! Haha and his wife is 28! But if there was such thing as a Norwegian Trevor, this would be him. Well maybe not completely haha but it was another tender mercy to see the bishop. I will talk more about that later. Anyways, With Dennis we taught the word of wisdom. He told us how he stopped drinking and stuff a while ago because he didnt like how he felt. But that he drinks tea. But he was SO willing to just give it up :) The Bishop expressed how the ward is going to take care of him and help him, and that was sooo great. I dont think I realized how important member missionary work was before my mission, but it is SO important!!!!! Have you all been able to help the missionaries where you are? Anyways, Dennis committed to follow the word of wisdom! :) After Dennis, we taught John at the church. A member named Margrete came and helped. She is from Trondheim and it is soo soo sooo weird, but sometimes it is easier for me to understand her, than people here in Drammen. Oh so weird! Anyways, we taught John about Tithing and Fasting and that went okay :)
Saturday, we found most of the day. All of the day actually haha. Our 2 appointments fell through so we knocked on doors and called people! We did have some people tell us that we could come back, so that was good!!! :) And a man took a Book Of Mormon :) Bringing up the bishop again, we were at the church and they were having some dance practice thing, for I dont know what, but the bishop came to the door to see if his wife was there and walked past me in his sweatpants and hat and just said, "Hei Søster Chapman!" haha it just reminded me so much of Trevor! So fun to have a bishop so young :) Later that night we got dropped by Rowena. Well more of a break. :( So we decdied that we would pray to know what house to knock on. We had some colors of houses pop into our heads, and we went on a search! We didnt teach anyone, but a couple of people had conversations about the gospel with us and were able to give a pamphlet away! It was good :)
Then yesterday was Sunday! We went to church and had 2 investigators there! John and Dennis. We were expecting about 5, but hopefully next week :) Sacrament Meeting was so good. I actually got a little homesick, knowing you all would be there together to hear Brys homecoming talk, but TENDER MERCY! The Bishop spoke and talked about families. It was bitter sweet. Oh I miss you all so bad. Anyways, after church we went to a members house to eat dinner. An old couple :) The old man has some problems and is really old, so it was so funny how much he just adored me. My last name, showing me his cat. At one point, HAHAH! Az will love this! I actually thought of her when it happened. I was writing in a notebook they have all of the missionaries write in and all of a sudden he is right next to me and starts playing his harmonica. Just standing there, in a way showing me how cool it is! Haha and when we were in the car on the way to their house, I dont know, I think we started talking about the sun coming out and he just started singing some old song and didnt stop! hahahaha! It was a lot more funny to have been there. During dinner, the Kongsberg elders were there too, well we had peas, carrots, meat, and potatoes :) And then ice cream and brownies! Anyways, during dinner Roger said that his favorite book was the Book Of Mormon, so Elder Hinton lifted his hand up to give him a high-five, his hand was right next to his face, so he easily saw it, and Roger jsut looked at him. And so Elder HInton felt SO uncomfortable and I just started dieing. Hahaha! I was turning red I was laughing so hard!!! HAHA! Oh it was hilarious. He tried giving me a hug afterwards, but we shook his hand hahaha :) Then we studied language at the church before they had an open house! The theme was Family Home Evening. So a family did a family home evening, which was really good, and then we had an activity in another room (the sentence, then draw a picture, then write a sentence game). Then we had dessert! It was SO koselig! I talked to the Stake Presidents wife, who I found out is related the Steffensen family in Stavanger!! (Mina, on her mission in London, is her niece!) It made me so happy :) And so cool how easy it is for me to understnd that dialect now! (compared to when I first got to Norway hahaha) And some other couple I met told us about their trip to Svalbard! (up up up north!) How they werent allowed to go out and walk around the town unless they had a guide, because bears just roam the city! How cool!!! Last night was definitely one of my favorite nights of the week! It was so koselig and Sister Trydal and I had a fun time walking home from the city :)
Its cool having a Norwegian companion! I am learning so much and helping her with her English. One thing that I am noticing though, how bad my english is. I can speak it fine and write it fine (i think?) but when we are translating a norwegian word to english or if I have to explain what a word means, I forget if we spend to much time on it. hahaha! But I am learning a lot from her! So thats good! :)
When I was in the MTC, Russel M. Nelson and his wife talked about angels. I think it was his wife that talked about how we can pray for angels by name, or by characteristic to be with us that day. And so I did that this week. Angels and the reality of them have been on my mind all of my mission, and that talk helped me understand them more :) Anyways, I prayed this week for different, or the same, people a lot of the days. But one day I prayed specifically for one of our ancestors to be with me. I cant remember her name, Sarah maybe? But the one that I wrote on my Trek Skirt, I am pretty sure she is the same one we saw the grave of. (I think she was left alone with her 3 or 4 children and had to trek alone?) Anyways, I prayed for her to be with me the next day before i went to bed. And in my prayer to open my studies, I prayed again for it, and I felt the sweetest feeling. It is hard to explain, but it was as if I had her personality for a second. I had no bad feelings, just this sweet, loving, feeling in me. I know that she was with me. And I know that she was so strong. Could someone send me her story or stuff about her? I have such a testimony of angels and the reality of them. I had a strong feeeling this week that the veil is so much thinner than we think. We think of it as this huge cloud in front of our faces, but it is really just a sheet thick enough for us not to remember, but thin enough for angels to literally be in our presence. Sit and think about that for a second. Its amazing!
Anyways, today we are going to go to Kongsberg to see a church with our district! I heard it looks like a Disney castle, Ill take pictures and send them next week! :)
Anyways, I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week!!!!!
LOVE, Søster Chapman :)
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