MIDNIGHT SUN

Kjære alle sammen!
I hope you all had a great week! This week was a little more rough than others. I am not doing so well with my health. I told mom and dad, but when I get more information Ill let you know. Nothing to be worried about, just been sick pretty much my whole mission and its really annoying! But Ill be going to the doctor this week hopefully and getting some medicine. (norwegian doctors are not very good...) But it will be better than nothing!
Anyways, last p-day we went on a little hike with the Crabtrees. We went up to the Ski-jumps, saw the reindeer that the university is studying, and then went and fed the ducks at a lake. It snowed that day, like I said! So it was REALLY weird weather! But I loved it!


Tuesday we had district meeting and we at a delicious lunch afterwards that Sister Crabtree made. It was a super cold blustery day, and she made homemade breadsticks and chicken noodle soup. Oh it was perfect. Afterwards, we contacted in the cold weather and found a man named Rahim and brought him back to the church. He is from Iran(?) and we were able to talk to him for a little while about the church. He said the closing prayer and afterwards he just started crying. He told us how his dad had passed away 2 years ago, and he is the best man he knows. I love being able to tell people that they will see their family again. He believed it before, but there is a power in saying it to someone else that strengthened my testimony. We had language study that night and it of course went well :)


On Wednesday we met again with an investigator named Livia, from Romania! Sister Crabtree came and we talked to her about Gods nature. She has an adorable 5 year old daughter that cant speak norwegian or english, so we communicate through actions, a couple romanian words we know, and faces :) She is so cute! Then we studied Norwegian with an investigator named Karoline. She is 18 years old and is from Tromsø. So she has this strong dialect! She helped us with our norwegian, the dialect here, etc. And then we had a teach with her. I dont know if I have ever been so flat out bold in a lesson. I didnt know her too well...even though I did know things about her, I asked questions. I asked her why she thinks us missionaries ask so many of the same questions about her. And she didnt really answer it. I told her it is becasue we love her and care about her. We want the best for her. Her main concern is her friends and social life. That if she stops drinking, etc. she wont have her friends. I questioned if they were really her friends that they would support her. And she said it just wouldnt be the same. Things that came out of our mouths, didnt come from us that teach. We talked to her about progression. That she could move backwards, plateau, or move forwards. And she needed to pray and figure out her next step. She agreed to meet with us more often. I love her so much!!! She just needs to feel love! And I truly believe that there are sisters up here now because there are a lot of people with HUGE potential that dont just need a buddy and to be taught, but someone that loves them and shows that love. Anyways, it was an amazing teach and the Spirit was so strong that a knife could cut through it. Later that night we taught Tidros, a man from Eritrea! We taught him almost an entire first lesson in Norwegian, and then he told us he would just read the book and come back afterwards because he couldnt really understand a lot. We werent going to let that happen! haha, so we spoke in english to him and he spoke in norsk to us.We taught it from the beginning again! haha and it went a lot better. Oh! I just rememberede something that happened on Wednesday. We had a couple of hours, so we went to Kvaløya to go and visit a potential and see if we could teach them. We were walking there from the busstop and stopped this lady. She was so mean. She went off on how she believes in the "Norwegian God" and all of this stuff against us. How we think were doing good but were not is how I felt her comments were headed towards. Anyways, she said MEAN things. Afterwards we bore our testimonies to her and we walked away, towards the potentials house, and i broke down. I just started crying. Sister Rupp and I went from talking about how rude that was, to how Jesus Christ felt that times a billion. That we, as missionaries, feel them not reject us, but reject Christ. It broke our hearts that she was flat out rejecting Him as we talked to her. I have realized that when these people are rude, I shouldnt be sad for how they treated me, but that they gave up their chance to accept Jesus Christs FULL GOSPEL. I am thankful that I can be a missionary and share what I know with people so that they can recieve eternal joy.





Anyways, thursday was weekly planning day.We met with Rahim again and then later that night had language class and MMK! Not much about thursday.
Friday we had a lot of time to contact! 3 of our appointments fell through, but that night we met with Lil, a less active member, and then waited in the FREEZING weather for a bus to come! We were about 20 minutes from our house, and it felt a lot colder there!
TOURISTS ARE EVERYWHERE!!!!! The Midnight Sun Marathon was on Saturday, so there wree people here from all over! Adding to that, there were people from the cruise ships! (I saw a man with a "Holland" cruise ship umbrella and it brought me back to playing for the tourists in Sitka) :) Anyways, Saturday we tried doing some contacting, and then had a teach with a girl named Yvonne. We found her on the street and got an appointment with her. She is norwegian and is SO AMAZING. We were planning on doing a first lesson, but with how the conversation went, we taught mostly about God and the plan of salvation. She doestn believe in God, but wants to. The Spirit was SO strong. She has had a hard life, and I know a belief in God would help her. I told her that if she prayed tonight she would get an answer. And she asked me how I knew that. Sister Rupp talked a little bit, and the whole time she was talking, I was just thinking, we have to tell her she will get an answer. I know she will! We shared Moroni 10:4-5. And I told her that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, and I felt strongly that we needed to promise her that if she prayed tonight, with a sincere heart, willing to act on her answer, she would get an answer that He is there. It was SO cool! She told us about an experience she had where it was the description of the Holy Ghost. But at the time, she didnt knwo what it was. She committed to praying that night and was happy to recieve the Book Of Mormon for free. She also said she would come to church on Sunday! WE. WERE. SO. HAPPY!!!! It was one of my favorite teaches, because I did nothing. The Spirit used me and spoke through me and Sister Rupp. Oh it was amazing! THAT is why I love being a missionary!


Yesterday I slept in forever. As I said, my health isnt that good. But it will be okay. :) We had Branch Council, then primary with the little kids! Then in sacrament meeting Sister Rupp and I sang "Abide with me! Fast falls the eventide" We had dinner after church and I started feeling more pain in my stomach, so we called Sister Evans and she told me to take it easy and end the day early. So we did and first taught a man named Desale from Eritrea (there are so mnay people from Eritrea here!) and then we stayed in the church and did things we dont usually take time to do, but would like to do. Because we needed to take it easy, we stared recording songs in Norwegian for the primary children to have! We only have a "sound recorder" on these computers, so we used that. Not the best quality, but still fun! And sister Rupp made a coloring book for the kids for Sacrament Meeting. :)
It was a rough, but good week! I hope you all had a great week! Again, dont worry about my health!! Im taken care of and will be okay :)
LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week! :)
Love, Søster Chapman :)





p.s. I forgot to tell this story! We were contacting in the rain and Sister Rupp wanted to go one way, and I wanted to go the other. Usually one of us will agree with the other, but this time I was just like, "lets split" So we did! i went my way to talk to the person I wanted to talk to and Sister Rupp did the same. Neither of these people wanted to talk to us, so I crossed the street to go over to Sister Rupp. We talked to someone, and were about to go the other way, but we saw a man coming. So we turned around and talked to him. He was from Spain and said to us, "how can i come to your meetings?" ha! He wanted contact with us, didnt have his number or phone or something, but gave us his email address! It was a miracle that we found him! If we wouldnt have split, then the time wouldnt have worked out to find him! The Lords timing is perfect!












Another story about the Lords timing! We were going to go out and contact, but went back and printed somthing out, then went back out. As we were walking we stopped a norwegian girl. Sister Rupp told her who we were, etc, and then asked her if she believed in God. She said, "I dont, but I would love to." Sister Rupps reaction was great. That isnt usually the answer we get, so sister rupp went blank. She was speechless. So I started talking and realized how special this was, so payed extra attention! She agreed to giving us her number and we would find another time to meet with her, bcause she might be out of town for a little bit. IT WAS A MIRACLE! THE LORDS TIMING REALLY IS BEST! I think we can relate that to our lives too. That sometimes we dont know why we make mistakes, or things happen, or even dont happen. But it is because the Lords timing is BEST! He knows what will bring us MIRACLES! So we just need to rely on Him and the miracles, better than we will imagine, will come! "TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL THINE HEART....IN THY THY WAYS ACKNOWLEDGE HIM AND HE WILL DIRECT THY PATHS."












LOVE YOU ALL!!!
xoxo


p.s.s. TODAY IS THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR! So we are staying up until midnight to see the midnight sun! Ill send pics next week :)


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Is it JUNE or JANUARY?!?

Kjære Familie,
Well, its June 16th and we woke up to it...SNOWING!


Can you believe it!? Yesterday we got DRENCHED in the rain, but today it was snowing! not enough or cold enough to stick, but it was still snowing! haha! It was so exciting/crazy! So while you are burning in the HOT Nevada sun, I will enjoy the snow/hail/rain/sun all night here in Tromsø :)
This week was really good. MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING IN NORWAY! Especially in the North! :)


Last Monday we went with the elders to an area in Tromsø called Sydspissen (the south point on the island) where we explored and dug for seaglass and cool shells! People that dont come from Alaska dont know what seaglass is, so I have had to explain and show quite a few missionaries what it is ;) No, but there was SO MUCH and it was GORGEOUS! I loved it. After pday we taught a man named Ingvald that we had found contacting. The eternal investigator, Janne, was our "member present"! haha there arent many members, so we used her! She was GREAT! Bore amazing testimony and helped a lot. I hope so much she gets baptized while Im here! After Ingvald, we took a bus to Lenas house (another investigator) and taught her a quick Plan of Salvation. It was amazing how the Spirit guided that lesson and how the Spirit really did tell us what to say.


On Tuesday we had a couple of lessons that went really well. We taught Pedros, who now has a baptismal date for the 2nd of August! And then taught Joseph! We have AMAZING investigators right now! WE ARE SO BLESSED! We had the language class later that night and shared the spiritual thought, which is always nice to share with the people that come. :) Also, we decided to do a Book Of Mormon contacting day. So we took specific languages and put them in our backpacks! Almost back to the church, we stopped a lady from Brazil. I had a portuguese MB! And we pushed so much to give it to her! I knew it was for her! But she wouldnt take it and it just broke my heart. Sister Rupp and I have been talking a little bit about this, well its been a theme for a while, that I just dont understand why people dont "try the cake." If I had a huge entire chocolate cake and said, "THIS IS THE BEST CAKE I HAVE EVER HAD!!!! You try it!" Wouldnt you try it?! Atleast try? Not that you have to eat it all or that you cant give it back, but just a taste? Sometimes people will say, "well, i have a piece of it already!" (I have happiness already, I am happy enough, I already believe in God, etc.) But why not, if the whole cake is going to be better than just one piece, why not take it all? It baffles me.


Well on wednesday, all the missionaries above the arctic circle came here for Zone Leader Training! Since it is so expensive to fly here, our zone has 2 Zone Leader Trainings. One in Trondheim for those in the north zone under the arctic circle, and one up here. ZLT was so good and a good pump up for everyone to realize that Miracles are happening! Sister Rupp and I also go to share something, with all the missionaries - who were actually all elders! We are the only sisters! It was so weird not having any other sisters here, ja vel! There will be 6 when we have Zone Conference in Trondheim next week! In the evening, we did not know what to do. To go home and call people in our phones, or to go out contacting. So I said a prayer that if we needed to find somenoe, they would be right outside the church on our way home but if not, we would go home and call. Because we could NOT make a decision! So we went outside, did a round about way home, and saw a man coming down the hill. We talked to him and we brought him intlo the church and taught him a short lesson! THE LORD ANSWERS PRAYERS!!! He is now a new investigator :)


I also think on wednesday...well I cant remember which day, but we were contacting and people were just not happy. I was amazed with how grouchy people could be! They were not nice. But we prayed a lot. MANY MANY TIMES! And in one of the last prayers we said, we told Heavenly Father that we knew that we were going to find a miracle. Someone that would listen to the gospel. And the last or second to last person we talked to in that contacting period, was at a busstop. We decided to talk to her. She is from Romania and had a sweet little daughter with her. We got an appointment, her number and address and we knew that she was our miracle. It is worth it to talk to a billion rude grouchy people, and then to find one, MIRACLE! It really was a miracle!
On Thursday we had weekly planning and then taught Pedros again at the church! But this time we had a man that recently got baptized in Skien, who is from Eritrea (where Pedros is from) on skype! the sisters were there too and Pedros and Senai were able to talk! (pedros cant speak great english and not really any norwegian. Anyways, it was nice to be able to get real understanding. haha from what Senai said, Pedros wants to be baptized, but first wants to keep learning! Language class was that night again and went well like always :)


Friday we met with Livia! (the romanian girl at the busstop) We went to her house and taught her, one of us teaching and the other keeping her daughter distracted :) We love her and are going to meet again with her this week!!! We met with a man named Million later in the day. The first thing he did was show us his baptismal certificate and other certificates that he has gotten in church related things. Then he wanted to know a lot, but never really let us talk enough to answer! haha we will meet with him again this week :) We think it will go better next time. Then we taught Tidros! (the miracle that we found walking home). We taught almost the entire first lesson in Norwegian, and then he told us - I think that I will just read it and get back to you because I cant understand you that well. So we taught him (the lesson again) in english and it went better :)


Saturday we taught a man named Simon from Kenya. Elder Crabtree knows history so well and so we took him on this teach to help. The rest of our plans fell through so we went banking!


Then it was sunday :) We had our first Relief Society in this branch! 4 americans, 2 norwegians, and a chilean that lives in Svalbard on skype :) It was SO nice to have R.S. though :) Then in Sacrament Meeting, I played the piano and spoke! I know there were less than 30 people there, but I could see my heart pounding through my skirt, Yes my SKIRT! I was nervous. haha Rose and Janne came to church and that man that we talked to on Saturday when we were contacting came!!! He left during my talk though...oh well :) My talk was about Standing up for what we believe in and it went well! Sister Rupp and I are doing a musical number next week, and ill make sure to record it before hand so that i can try to send do you all on dropbox. By the way, did you look at that video that i posted on it a couple of weeks ago?


Anyways, there was SO much mingling afterwards! That is when I just felt the LOVE for these people here. I love Tromsø! Rose, or referral from a referral, hit it right off with a member! It was SO GREAT! We then met with her and Sister Crabtree helped :) You will never believe it...SHE LISTED TO THE ENTIRE BOOK OF MORMON IN FRENCH ON YOUTUBE IN THE PAST WEEK!!!!!!!!! INSANE huh!? She is amazing and I am sure she is going to be baptized soon! Her question was, "Where are the three Nephites?" haha! She is great! :)


Then last night we went contacting. We were going to go knocking but didnt feel good about it. We got DRENCHED.


After we said some prayers we decided, after not deciding to do this once or twice, to go an talk with a boy in the military that stood next to the mall to stay out of the rain. It was direct revelation from Heavnely Father to talk to him. He doestn live here, but we gave him a Book Of Mormon and our contact info. I realy hope he ctontacts us. The things that were said were exactly what he needed. He was going to try to say things like, knowing God is there wouldnt really help him, but as he thought he askwered truthfully. AHHH I just love him! One day he will accept the gospel. He said if he lived here he would have "tried the experiment of reading, praying, meeting with us, church, etc. But I know that he will accept the gospel at some point.


And later that night we got 2 appointments! The Lord really blessed us. We also talked to Joseph that we saw walking! The Lords timing really is perfect.
All in all this was a great week! It is snowing golfballs outside now, Im living the life!!!


LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!
Have a great week!!! :)
LOVE, Søster Chapman :)








p.s. one extra story. I think on friday we were contacting, again in the rain. We didnt have an umbrella but we were fine :) We talked to a norwegian man for a while about the gospel and then he said, "I have another question. Are you two doing ok? Do you have money? I have tlaked to missionaries before that are away from home and its hard on them...etc. etc." haha YES WE HAVE MONEY WE JUST DONT HAVE AN UMBRELLA! ;) This was the same man that came to church!


LOVE YOU!


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1st Week Above the Arctic Circle!!!

Hello from Tromsø!!!
IM IN TROMSØ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love it SO SO SO much! It looks a lot like Alaska actually. It is an island of about 60,000 people! So its way populated with lots of people :)


There is a branch, one American family...OH! I hope Trev is reading this, because the American families dad, WAS TREVS MTC TEACHER!!! Rob Reynolds! I told his wife that Trev served in the Russia Samara mission, and he did too! Then yesterday at church he said he had taught a couple of Chapmans and said that Trev was really outgoing and energetic, and I showed him a picture and he recognized him right away!!!! How cool huh? He is studying here/teaching Russian. Cool, huh!? I got so excited! Anyways, the senior couple is the Branch President and RS president! The most theyve had on Sunday is 36. So this is a lot different than Drammen, the biggest ward in Norway! haha


A couple of days ago we wore our winter coats too, because it was so cold!!! There are also reindeer here!!! I didnt see any yesterday, but we were in that area where they ahve seen them before. Also, IT IS ALWAYS BRIGHT HERE! literally. when i go to be and wake up it is completely bright. I dont know about the middle of the night, but soon it will be the longest day of the year and we will see the Midnight Sun!!!!!!!!! Pray that there wont be any clouds! haha ;)
Anyways, last Monday I was in Drammen! After emailing we went and visited a family to say goodbye to them. The Fromgrens, I think I have told you all about them before. They made us food and we took some pictures :) Oh I love them so much.


Then we went to Debbys and also ate with her! We had pizza and the Kongsberg elders came! She did a "going away" dinner for us. I said goodbye to debby, ahhh i just love her!!! She has really changed my life. We said goodbye to our MMK and his family, then we went to the Bishops house for a meeting. I love the bishop so much in that ward, and it was so good to say goodbye to him also. Then I packed. I packed and packed FOREVER!!!! I didnt sleep much either. But when we woke up the Elders came and picked us up and I got on a train to Oslo with Elder Hinton! He was heading up to Bodø, north of the arctic circle, but south of Tromsø. It was so nice to be able to sit on the Flytog for an hour or so. Then we got to the airport in Oslo and got checked in ( i had to pay extras for baggage. One the church pays for, but the other I have to,...about 60 bucks :/)


My thoughts are that I wont get transferred again (i hope!) and that i will just get rid of most of my stuff here so that I can bring home other things instead of skirts that i wont wear again, etc. Anyways, another elder was coming up here, so we got on our plane and headed up here! It was almost a 2 hour plane ride (can you imagine, in ONE country with only 5 million people you can be that long on a plane?) I sat by two old people from Tromsø. And they let me sit in the window seat half way through the plane ride so I could look out the window. I was starved and they just stopped feeding us on the plane a little while ago. So I took my mind off of that looking at the snowy mountains!


They pointed things out to me, the 7 Mountains, Lofoten (by Narvik), etc. Then, we were finally there!!!!! :) The senior couple drove me to the Sisters Appartment, we said goodbye to Sister Mourik, headed to Bergen, and went into the appartment! It is so cute! You go through some doors, until you are in the area to go through another door, to get to our door on the second story haha :) We did some contacting and I thought I would be fine without a coat...jokes on me! Although it was blue sky, i needed a coat. We tuahgt a man on the street and got him as a new investigator and then later had a language class to teach foreigners Norwegian! There is alot of contacting and knocking on doors done here, WE NEED TO FIND A FAMILY! It was a good first day in Tromsø :)


On Wednesday we went with Sister Crabtree (senior couple) and Sister Reynolds to a less actives house, becasue they cant speak Norsk and Åshild cant really speak english so well. So we translated :) Then we went to the doctor for Sister Rupp, OH! I need to tell you about Sister Rupp! She is adorable! She goes home this next transfer, so is 3 months older than me. She is a great missionary from Cincinnati Ohio! Its weird being with a sister older than me, but way fun too :) That night we met with a lady named Lena and taught her a lesson on her porch. We were facing the ocean, about 7:30 that night, and we had to wear her sunglasses the sun was shining so bright reflecting off the water and the snowcapped mountains. :) We got kebabed 2 times that day, but thats alright, we filled it in with finding!


Thursday was also a good day (everyday is good in Tromsø :) ) We had district meeting, and our district leader, that came in my group, is in Alta! So they skype in! haha it was way fun and then we had a district lunch ( i love having senior couples ) Ive had a senior couple in each area, but Drammen! The language class was again and we shared the thought about church! And invtied them all to come :) Then we had a surprise phone call from a romanian investigator named Florin. We met with him and taught him over Google Translate. He is so great, with such a sweet heart. We dont htink he is a beggar, but he does not have a home, he collects bottles to get money, and paints for a job...about 27 years old. It breaks my heart, but he seems just so sweet!


So part of the Sister Training Leader calling is to travel to different areas in your zone and visit and go on splits with the Sisters. So we are going to Oslo this week for a meeting (MLC) then we are going to Ålesund to visit the sisters!!! Then in a couple of weeks we are going to Trondheim. Im so excited!


Friday, we did some weekly planning! And that night met with 2 less active members. They are so cute. Two ladies, Linda and Lill. Sister Rupp told me that Lills name is Lill Kitty. haha! One grandma is Lill and the other is Kitty, so thats why she has that name, cute huh? :) She is a sweet quiet middle aged lady! I think it was on Friday that we were contacting and talked to a man, he wasnt so interested, but we tried so hard! There wasnt a good reason for him not trying this "experiment" but he just wouldnt. SOme friends came up to him at one point and when we asked for referrals he told us one of the friends. He said we could just talk to him on the street sometime. I really wanted to find him again. Sister Rupp even prayed about it in one of her prayers! So we were hopeing to see him again. Dennis gave me a referral before I came her for one of his friends in Tromsø, so we called him, Joseph, and got an appointment the next day with him! It is amazing the success, miracles, that have been happening here! We got so many numbers this week!!! and teaches we werent expecting!


Saturday we taught a referral named Mahbob. She was a referral from before I got here, but we were able to contact and meet with her! She is Muslim, but feel like she and her family could become positive :) Then we met with a part member family, Bari and Marzi. They are from Afghanistan. He is a member, and she has been taught for a little while now. They are so sweet. There is a language barrier, but the SPirit talks to everyone :) They ahve 3 little girls that were playing with our hair as we tuaght their parents, so cute!


Later that night we taught Joseph! It was gorgeous outside the first couple days I was here, then it started getting cloudy and a little rainy. This was a day we thought we would need to teach outside...but only needed to teach one and were able to teach in the mall. This was Joseph! We were waiting outside the church (an office building, second floor, next to a dentist office) (im actually emailing in the chapel/sunday school room right now) :) and we saw the man that we wanted to talk to from a couple of days ago! (he was an african man wearing the same hat as a couple of days ago (the friend of the man that we had contacted) and it was Joseph!!!!!! The teach went great and we are going to be teaching him tonight!!! I really think he will be baptized! He is from Rwanda! :) It was awesome to teach him and we know that it was the Lords will that we saw him before. He is prepared!


Then yesterday was church! It was Mission Conference...we arent in a stake or a district up here, but a mission. So in Bodø, they had mission conference and we were told the night before that we were going to just have regular Sacrament Meeting and not Skype in. But then that morning right before church was a bout to start, we got told we were skyping in! So we did and it was great :) A greek girl from our norsk class came to church!!! We were way excited and are going to be teaching her this week hopefully! :) After church we ate and then went knocking on doors on an area called...translated, "whale island" (this is the area with reindeer!) I didnt see any, but hopefully I will soon. :) We said hi to an eternal investigator, tried some come backs, and then went banking! These are some of the gorgeous pictures I sent to you :) We knocked on a door and an old lady opened and let us in! We sat on the floor and taught her a little bit. Found out she is 92, her husband, son, and friends have passed away and her daughter lives close. I told her that she can see them again, and she looked at me with the most innocent sweet face and repeated me or something like that, then said, "Kanskje det..." "maybe.." It was so precious. She has a pet bird that just flies around in her house :) it was adorable. I love her!! her name is elli and we are going to visit her again next sunday! :)





I love being her in Tromsø. It is adorable! We saw a couple of days ago a big truck with a sign that said, "Fersk Hval Biff" (fresh whale beef) I am going to NEED to buy some to try it!!!








Well, I hope you all have a great day!!! Dont forget to check that video on dropbox.com !
JEG ER SÅ GLAD I DERE OG SAVNER DERE!!!!!
XOXO
Søster Chapman :)






p.s. Here is my mailing address!

Storgata 12B
9008 Tromsø
Norway



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