This was a rollercoaster week. So many amazingly good things and heartbreaking sad things happened. But we can just start with the good :)
Last Monday we went and taught the Subba family about prayer. It is so hard to teach people that cannot speak english or norwegian that well. They are from Nepal and speak...okay norsk. The mom can barely understand anything. But they are so open and willing. Everyone needs the gospel! We are going to try to use a new convert in Oslo to Skype with us all to translate for them. Afterwards we travelled to Melissas house and taught her and her best friend Tonje. She also made us fårikål! A typical Norwegian dish in the fall. It suited the weather - cold, rainy, and dark. It was such a good time and I just really, really love Melissa!
Tuesday was great also! We had a teach with a man named Håvard in the morning. Im not sure how much I have told you all about him, but I found him my first day at a busstop here in Trondheim. He doesnt look like the religous type. Always wears a hat and sunglasses, dread locks, etc. but he is so great! He had an accident a couple years ago where a steel door fell on his head...he has HORRIBLE headaches everyday. But it depends on the day if he can go out or not. So sad, huh? He is trying to find out where the truth is. His wife is from Thailand and is buddhist, and he has a little son that means the world to him. Odin (norsk name) pågårn (thai name) - is the childs name. Anyways, we taught him the first lesson and showed the Restoration film to him. It went well and he asked to keep the movie! It was awesome!!! then we had District Meeting and later visited a less active. She is an old Norwegian lady named Aud. She is less active because she can barely move around - so sad. She made us smørbrød and herbal tea (it is really norwegian for them to give us a little thing to eat.) this smørbrød had butter, meat, and cheese on it...oh and smørbrød is an open sandwich. Later we skyped with an investigator that is currently living in China, and then we skyped with Mariel! (Melissas mom). This is where my heart just broke. On Sunday she had told us that she would for sure be baptized, because she felt it was right. We started off the skype with "how are you?" osv, and then she looked at us and said, "We have all talked and neither I, Bert, or Melissa, are going to be getting baptized." I was shocked. Sister Oldham thought she was about to say "JUST KIDDING!!!" but that didnt happen. I held in my emotions okay...until sister oldham broke down. After a period of time I had to leave the room to get tissues and literally sobbed. After thinking about it afterwards, it was actually scary. Because we could see and feel that the Spirit was no longer with her. We asked her why and she said that there were things like tithing and fasting (that we hadnt taught them yet) that didnt sit well. Melissa told them about the things we taught her, and the only problem with that was that they probably #1 didnt get the promised blessings and the WHY and #2 probably looked it up on the internett...and that is NOT the place to go. I felt like I had to say something, and asked Sister Oldham to pray that I would stop crying. I opened up my heart about personal things in my life. And Mariel was not very nice. The Spirit was just NOT there, on her end. My heart was broken, and we are sure there is something else that she is not telling us. She told us that she will never say never, but now is not their time. They will keep reading the Book Of Mormon though. So we are REALLY confused. And heart broken. Melissa wouldnt answer her phone or texts from us. It was SO weird and sad, because they were so postive the night before. Sister Oldham and I talked all about it, and we think they might have gotten into and accepted some anti material. Not sure though. Benjamin, our MMK, suggested that we both get blessings so that we can know exactly what to do for them. That night we did. It was a beautiful blessing and Im so so so thankful for the Priesthood. I love free agency and I know that it is necessar in the plan, but it breaks my heart when people use it in the wrong way! Before we got blessings, we visited a man named Rune with Alysha, a member. He has been taught for a while, but this is the first time we met him. It is so interesting how people search for truth. He believes in God, but has pictures of Indians on his walls and had us sit on a mat on his floor. I got a little square styrophom thing to sit on and the others sat on pillows. I also sat right infront of the incense....so by the time we left, I had the smell on me...and it didnt leave my clothes until we washed them! Interesting teach, but I am thankful that Alysha was there! She helped so much with scriptures and teaching.
On Wednesday we had lunch with Majken and discussed and talked about a new convert in this ward. She is so cute and I love her! Later that night we ate dinner with the sisters and a member named Helena Ørndal. Delicious dinner! But BAD idea for Sister Robbins and I to be sitting across from each other! hahaha There was a bowl of white flakes on the table, so ofcourse, thinking it was coconut or something, i put it on my food. Sister Robbins followed my lead and just dumped it on hers. Sister Ørndal then asked, "could you pass the salt?" Sister Robbins kept taking bites of her food and ended up making the funniest face because of the extremely salty chips she ate in her mouth! haha When Sister Ørndal turned around and went into the kitchen all 4 of us started dancing..as I write this it makes us sound super dorky, but it was so funny. You know those times where you want to laugh so hard, but you have to hold it in? this dinner was on eof those, but I laughed out loud at points. We were cleaning off the table and there was a stain from the food next to my place so I decided I would wash it off. I got my napkin, dipped it in the water and started rubbing it. And OF COURSE, the red rose napkins dye stained the white tableclothe red! Oh my goodness I almost had a heartattack and Sister Robbins started laughing. And to make this even better, we decided to sing a song all together for Sister Ørndal...and by the end of the song it was just Sister Roe singing becasue the rest of us were laughing! So funny :) Since the senior couple isnt here yet we have been able to use the car! So we went and tried visiting Sylvie, that I talked about last week, who we banked into, but she wasnt home. We knocked on some other doors and we got a try back! So that was great! we had a Zone Conference call that night and shared the miracle of Sylvie on it.
Thursday after studies, we went to a member, named Jan Erik, to help with service. Majken came with us...but i guess he didnt think we had enough time to help serve him, so we sang songs around the piano, he gave us ice cream and fresh norske strawberries and cookies, and we shared a thought with him. Our MMK has asked us to go around to members and have them fill out a paper with when they are available to help us. So this is a project we are working on now too. :) Afterwards we drove to Melissas house, she hadnt contacted us yet and so we brought her some chocolate and a card. Thought she might be home, but she wasnt. Also dropped off a cute note for a less active, Turid, we cant see right now. We taught Hem and his wife and Inger Helene Jørgensen helped us! We read 2 Nephi 32 with them as they read in Hindi and we read in Norsk. The Book Of Mormon needs to be translated into Nepalese! It would help so much. Then we taught a Norwegian girl named Monja at the church! She is probably about 17 years old, and we met her a couple weeks ago at the bus stop! The teach started off great! My phone started vibrating, but I ignored it, and then Sister Oldham checked hers and Melissa was calling! She had to take it so she did and I taught the rest of the lesson to Monja. It was such a special lesson. I felt led by the Spirit and the things said were what was needed. She said that if she could ask God one question right now, she would asked what has happened to the people who have passed on? I was able to explain that to her and then we watched "Because of Him" (the Easter mormon message) :) It was such a good lesson! Sister Oldham came in for the closing prayer and we got a return appointmetn with her! That night all of us four put on Sister Roes fake mustaches and danced to the Rema 1000 song. I love living with these 3 sisters!
On Friday we did some weekly planning and then went and at lunch with Melissa! Oh! I forgot to tell you how the phone call went. She has changed over night. She isnt sure about it now, more of it not being her time. We went and ate sushi with her in the shopping center and it was so..uncomfortable? I dont know if that would describe it. She is unsure about the Word of Wisdom, but has recieved an answer about this church being right. We are so confused. She tried getting out fast and then we walked her part way to the train station so that she could go to her parents for the weekend. It made me cry, because the Spirit was not with her and she wasnt really the same person! They let fear overcome their faith. I KNOW that we met them for a reason and that this is a chance for them to strengthen their faith to be bigger than their fear. But I also know that all of us have our free agency. It just breaks my heart. The ward is also sad, they love them! After lunch, we had a teach again with Håvard, and Majken helped. He brought his son and told us that he had gotten a few answers from prayer! It was amazing!!! He is acting and showing faith and signs/answers are coming! Thats what it takes!! They had to leave before we were done though, because his son was wanting to leave. haha We taught a Haithan a little later with a member named Wenche and then went out to a Josteins house and taught him. An old sweet norwegian man that seems lonely. But we taught him the first lesson and it went well! He had read the Intro in Mormons Bok and we committed him to read more and he said he might pray! He was glad to hear that we do free service and we would come this week to help :)
Saturday we had sport, and the person that we were waiting to come, didnt show! So we left after an hour (said hed be there between 10 and 12 but didnt come) and it ended. So that was okay. We went and tried visiting Jing, the chinese family, but they werent home either, they told us to come visit later that night. So we weekly planned. That night we drove out to a members house to teach his grandaughter. He wasnt going to say anything, to not influence her, but he ended up sharing his testimony, etc. It was good! And they came to part of church yesterday :) Then we drove to the Hendens, members in the ward, and were planning on just sharing a though, but she made dessert for us! Chocolate mousse and vanille creme with rips berries!!! It was delicious! And they had us eat like...a quarter of the bowl! It was delicious! We all shared miracle stories, and theres is absolutely amazing. He got baptized 25 years after her because of an accident he was in, but ended up living. And then they got permission to travel to england, where their son (who i know in Drammen) had been serving his mission for a month, and he baptized him! it was amazing! We also gave them the Availability forms for the missionaries. It was a good day. :)
Yesterday was a good day in church! We first had MMK, and then church. Håvard came! And Hem, his children, and Rupa came! (to all 3 hours.) Rupa (his mom) cant speak or understand Norsk, but she sat calmly and sweetly and listened to R.S. My heart melted seeing that and that even though she didnt understand, she felt it. Håvard also loved church and how it wasnt just a priest standing up there talking, but members did things! Its how Christ church was, so thats how it is today :) After church we taught the new convert with Majken, named Omar! Then we were supposed to teach Hunk on Skype again, but that fell through...so we ate quickly, and went to a fireside with Clayton M. Christiansen of the 70! (we found out earlier this week he was coming for NTNU (college) to do a presentation about business). It was a great fireside about how to share the gospel! Here are some points he gave on how to do missionary work.
#1 Sometimes they dont have the questions we think they have. Get them to ask THEIR questions.
#2 Many people would be open to the gospel if they could start off by doing service or helping others.
Tonight we are going to go out to dinner with him and his family, and his host from NTNU. The host is going to pay and told us not to look at the prices. They serve reindeer!!! (its like....40 or 50 bucks..) but its going to taste delicious! Im so excited! haha Anyways, then we finished our studies and weekly planning (we were so busy this week!) And then wanted and needed to get a new investigator. So we went out and were walking towards a man we see often. I wave and say hi to him each time we pass. He is a Romanian man, that we think is homeless, that sells flowers on the side of the road. We got to him and he told us to wait. I was having a little bit of a tough hour...and I decided I would try to forget about myself and I knew the Lord would bless me. He came back and handed me flowers from his bucket! It was a tender mercy from the Lord and something I will always hold close to my heart. It has taught me a lot of blessings. Really, a wave, smile, "hi" affects people more than you know. We got to the curch and got a Romanian Book of Mormon, gave it to him, hard to teach becasue of the language, but I could feel the promise that we will be able to discern what they say. he was speaking his language, but for the most part, we kmnew what he was trying to get accross. We will meet with him again tomorrow! I know that the Lord answers prayers. He became a new investigator.
It was a great week!!
I hope your week is great and I love you all so much!
Jeg savner dere!
Love, Søster Chapman :)
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