Kjære familie,
This was a good week!!! DENNIS GOT BAPTIZED!!!! Yesterday, him and another man, named Michael, got baptized! The elders from Kongsberg taught Michael who, by coincidence, is also from Uganda! Yesterday we needed to change the clock to an hour later (the worst day of the year for missionaries) ;) I set my clock to an hour later, not knowing that it would do it itself also...so we woke up, I brushed my teeth, and walked out to the family room and Sister Trydal said, "Sister Chapman...I dont know what time it is." We ended up looking at our watches, and realized we woke up 2 hours early instead of 1 hour! So we got 45 more minutes of sleep!!! We walked to the church after getting ready and got everything ready for the baptism :) The ward had had temple week, so Sunday was the best day to hold the baptism. Dennis was so nervous. But everything went so well! When he came up out of the water he was smiling, just a pure simple smile. And it continued as he walked out of the font and into the bathroom to change. I am SO thankful to have taught him! He was found my first day here in Drammen, by sister landry on the bus!!! The rest of the meeting went well. Then we had church and he recieved the gift of the Holy Ghost! (along with 2 others!) The Zone Leaders had a baptism last wednesday. Drammen is a miracle city!!!!! Anyways, also a referral from a member came to church with that member and she wants to be baptized! The elders talked to her and she asked how she can be baptized! Presdient and Sister Evans were at the baptism and in church with us! Presdient taught the 5th Sunday class, so it worked out perfect for them to be there for the baptism :) Also, us missionaries sang for Sacrament Meeting! We sang "Nearer My God to Thee" and it went well. One of the elders was going to sing a solo, but he got sick and so I sang it. I was sick too, but it went well. The ward was so sweet after church complimenting! We ate dinner with the Hansen couple and the Kongsberg elders, and then later had an Open House in the church. I LOVE this ward and the members in it!!!!! I hope I can be here for another transfer after this one.
So now I will start with last Monday. Our plans got cancelled again, so after emailing we went to the church and did some things, then worked on Dennis and Michaels Baptism program! Then we taught Dennis about the covenants he would be making in baptism. He said something like, "I believe this Book Of Mormon is true. I felt something when I read Joseph Smiths testimony. It is so important to have testimonies in here! It affects so many peoples lives." Oh we just LOVE him! Then a member came and we went to a mans house that told us to come back. We had to make a return appointment with him though, because he couldnt meet then. Later in the week he told us he thought about it and doesnt want us to come, but said we could bring a Book Of Mormon :)
On Tuesday we went to Oslo!!! We had Zone Conference with the east (im in the telemark zone) and I got to see Sister Johnson and Sister McArthur!!! The Conference was great, as usual, and it was so good seeing Presdient and Sister Evans and some other missionaries :) We came home, ate some dinner, and knocked on some doors, and called people the rest of the night :)
Wednesday we taught an investigator named Shiri. She is muslim and we are not sure how positive she is. she likes learning, but not sure if she is willing to change. Anyways, we knocked on some doors afterwards, and a woman said the saddest thing to us! She was from the Jehovas Witness church and she said, "I am absolutely not going to heaven." I looked at her and said something like, "That would make me SO sad! We believe Heavenly Father loves us so much that He wants us to come back to Him! All of us!" They believe that those that go to heaven will be able to be like Heavenly Father (which we believe too) but that everyone else will stay on earth, forever. It just broke my heart...that she has already decided that she is NOT going to heaven and doestn want to! After we knocked on some doors we went and ate dinner at a members house and shared a thought. Right afterwards, the elders had a baptism! A lady named Betty was baptized and it was great to be there :) We practiced the song we were going to sing on Sunday and then went home! It was a good day!
On Thursday we had Weekly Planning. Then we taught Melissa :) We were planning on teaching something different, but ended up teaching tithing again, and it went well! She is the CUTEST thing and is going to be baptized next week!!!!! :) Then we taught Dennis with a member named Aman. We taught about Priesthood, callings, prophets, and home teaching! We also went over the program for the baptism. :) We sure do love him!
Friday we met with Betty, the lady that had just gotten baptized, and got to know her a little bit better and shared a thought :) Friday is when I realized I was getting sick also. I have a gross cold :( Hopefully it will go away soon. Anyways, we worked on the program for the baptism some more and did some studies that we hadnt finished, and then we took a bus to visit some less active members! They lived about an hour away, but the bus ride was GORGEOUS!!!! It is always prettier out of the city I think :) TENDER MERCY! We were on our way to the wrong address, but got off the bus early, because we didnt exactly where it was or what we should do...and ended up being a lot closer than we would have if we would have waited to get off at the other stop! We walked to their house from where we got dropped off and shared a thought with them and got to know them. The problem with Norway is that the church is in a lot of cities, but there is SO many small cities or areas that people live that are an hour, two, three, etc. away from the church. The couple we visited were really young, one was a convert, one has been a member her whole life. But they are both sick and live far away without a car. It was koselig visitign them and I we will probably go and visit them again soon :) That night we taught John with Rannveig. We read in the scirptures, but it ended up getting changed to the Word of Wisdom again, becuase that is the problem John has. We will need to work more with him. Something that I really do know is that, if Joseph Smith is a prophet, if this is Jesus Christs church, then everything else that comes from that, IS TRUE! A solid testimony is SO important. Betty, the lady that got baptized agreed right away to give up coffee and tea, etc. Even though she had to have a coffee in the morning, her testimony is so strong that she agreed! She has read all of the Book Of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants in less than 2 or 3 months!!!! Anyways, that morning, I was eating yoghurt and musli...like granola. And this is going to sound super weird. But i had a thought. Each time I would take a bite, i started thinking about the next bite I was going to take. And then when I had my last bite, I thought about that bite before, never thinking about the bite that I actually had in my mouth. And it is the same exact thing with life. If we spend our time worrying about the future, or dwelling on the past, we will NEVER experience the joy in the moment. It will go by and you wont remember how it tasted. I know that is super weird, but it randomly came into my head when I was eating hahaha :) Also, when we were on the bus another thing came into my head. The busdriver had a name tag, with a piece of paper taped over it that said, "Tin-Tin". And he had a little toy tin-tin character taped to the card reader. I was thinking....there are SO many bus drivers that look miserable when they drive. I mean, they just drie people around for their job. People are rude, its loud, they drive huge busses the whole day! They have a good excuse to not be super happy. But this driver tuaght me a lesson. It wasnt the only time I had seen him. Each day, he tapes this tin tin to the card reader and says "Hallo!!!" "Hei!" "Hei du!" To EVERYONE!!! We can choose to make a bad situation good or a bad situation bad. And by making the bad situation good, it turns it into a good situation.
Just some food for thought.
On Saturday I was sooo sick. We made Debby a glass container full of comfort scriptures and a quote and poem that she can read when she needs comfort. She hadnt been able to meet with us that week and hadnt texted us back..things are a little rough right now, so we thoguth it would help. She randomly texted us though and so later we went and dropped it by and talked with her a little bit :) We knocked on some doors of people that told us to come back, in which they told us to come back again :) and knocked on some more doors, then went to the church and ate dinner. Betty was waiting outside for a ride, so we invted her in and ate dinner with her. Then we went to the Kapstads house and taught Dennis about temples, enduring to the end, and eternal marriage! The Kapstads had just been in Sweden at the temple, so it was perfect :) I MISS THE TEMPLE SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!! I wish we could go to Sweden. or Denmark. :)
Anyways, a temple will be in Norway SOON! We need to keep praying for it!!!
Also, I recorded Dads song onto my recorder and have probably listened to it 100 times this week :) I LOVE IT! And Sister Trydal does too. She suggested that we sing that in Sacrament Meeting :)
Anyways, I love you all SO MUCH and miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a great week!!!!!! :)
Klem, Søster Chapman
xoxo
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