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 :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad