This week was FULL of miracles! I feel like this is going to be a long email, so bear with me. :)
I think all of the missionaries and members in Norway were on a spiritual high this week from Elder Bednar. How special is that? To have a disciple of the Lord visit Norway. So amazing!
Last Monday we went to the "palace park" and ate dinner with the other sisters in Oslo. :) Then that nigth we went and banked on doors in Nordstrand. I. LOVE. NORDSTRAND. I have never loved an area so much so fast as I love it here! I dont know what it is...but I love it! It is like the Beverly Hills of Oslo. ;) President Evans had this area opened this year (?) specifically to find families, banking (knocking on doors). So we went banking! And went to a man that Sister Johnson had found while serving here. He couldnt have us come in right then, but hopefully we will be meeting with him and his family this week! Miracles that happened on monday: Sanna (from Drammen) sent me an email (i dont think i told you this last week..sorry if i did!) about how after the Elder Bednar conference a random lady walked up to her and asked her why there were so many people dressed up. She told her why, got her number, told her where the church was and send her number to me! The lady she met wants to find a church! Another miracle is that DAVID (the first man that I helped teach and baptize in Kristiansand) MOVED TO OSLO!!! He has gone less-active, and now I get to work with him again! Isnt that a miracle!? I am so amazed how the Lord gets into the details of our lives!
On Tuesday we had district meeting and then met with an investigator named Elizabeth afterwards. She is from Norway and is so sweet. All had been going great with her in her life, but all of a sudden, everything got worse. Her relationship, health, etc. Since then, we have talked with her more and she is doing better. She just needed that one day to be sad, and now she is a lot better. She is a great example to me of using time well...not focusing to much on something. But looking towards the future. Later in the day we met with a lady named Zahra from the middle east. We gave her the Book Of Mormon and I expressed to her how the Book Of Mormon is one of the most precious things I have in my life. It was a really cool reaction she had to that. It seemed as though she felt honored to be able to have the Book Of Mormon herself. We also taught Marcel. He is from Nigeria. :) Then we had a Relief Society European Broadcast (maybe carli saw it...but I think it was just western europe or scandinavia?) Anyways, Elder Bednar, Elder Ballard, and someone from the 70s were there in Germany and it was broadcasted to us! It was so great to here MORE from men called of God. There were us sister missionaries and 2 members that came to the center. We had pizza, fruit, and dessert during it. :) (it is the best having senior couples! The Rasmussens here in Oslo are so great) :)
Wednesday we met with Elizabeth again! She had this week for vacation, so we got to meet with her twice. :) She was doing a lot better! And we taught about prophets. I could really see during that teach how the Lord blessed us to ask the right questions to get to concerns. Although we could answer questions, in the end, its most important to find out yourself, through prayer and study. We took a train a little bit later and went and ate at a members house! They are a norwegian family, the Karlsens. :) But Brother Karlsen is half Austrian. Him and his wife met eachother at school, in the same city Sound Of Music is in! Cool, huh!? We had fiskeboller. Brookie and Azzie would not like that. haha I really wanted to try it, because I hadnt get and it is really norwegian! But pretty much what it is, is fish rolled into balls, in sauce. It wasnt my absolute favorite norwegian dish, but it was still good. We had it in some cracker like shells, and on the side of course, there was potatoes, carrots, and salad. :) Then had ice cream and brownies for dessert. (Before you all see me so soon and see how I look...in my defence...members almost ALWAYS give us desserts, and the chocolate in Norway is just tooooo good!) ;) That night we had a little party for Sister Harrisons birthday! They had MLC this day and told us that President almost has the entire next tranfer ready. Its like were already gone! :(
On Thurdsday we of course did some weekly planning. Then we had ANOTHER dinner! (im not used to all these dinners!) We ate with a part member family, and had the typical Norwegians "missionary" meal, lasagna. I really believe we eat lasagna more than the missionaries in Italy ;) haha no, but it was delicious! And then for dessert we had homemade chocolate pudding and citron pudding. It was delicous. :) We ended up coming back to Oslo late for our appointment, but he didnt show up. :/ Cecilia was there to help though. I LOVE HER! We taught Marcel again that night! It was so funny. We tried committing him to pray about what we had talked about, and after discussing with him, he said something like, "I have already had dreams with this church in it! I dont need to ask in prayer!" hahaha, so we committed him to baptism! He is oging to get baptized the 30th of October! So exciteing!
On Friday we finished up weekly planning, did some other things that needed to be done on a computer (theres a library pretty close to us, so instead of going to Oslo, we can just stay here!), and then we went out banking. :) We set our numbers pretty high for this week. I think that is one of the best things about going into an area you arent so familiar with...you dont know the "normal" numbers they usually get. So we set them high! And we had faith, and while banking, we got 2 contacted referrals! 1 of which we are going to visit this week!!! It was amazing! We came back for dinner, and then went out again. We found a really cool girl we are going to teach later this week, and it was because Heavenly Father led us to the right spot at the right time! On our way back, we saw a man that we have actually seen quite a few times in the cemetary by our house. I didnt feel comfortable talking to him as he stood there by the grave, to his wife, we think. So we walked out and stood there, seeing what he was going to do. He left and I felt myself wanted to run up to him and give him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet..but I didnt do it. I felt so bad. Because I felt a really strong connection to him...as though I had known him before this life. And that he really needed to know this plan. We walked home and immediately (we had language study) i began writing him a note/letter. So that the next day we could set that and the Book Of Mormon and the pamphlet next to the grave. I opened my heart to that man in that letter.
On Saturday morning we woke up and after studies set it next to the grave. That night, we checked to see if it was still there, and he had taken it. I really hope he calls. Saturday was a day of miracles! We went out to find less actives. The first wasnt there, but the next one we tried, the son was home! So we shared something with him on the porch, he gave us to clementines (are you eating them at home yet? They are so popular here in norway in the fall and winter) and we went on our way to try to find his sister, that he gave as an "in-active referral"! We asked 6 people total to help us find her street, and then to the busstop, because we didnt have lots of time. And because we talked to each of those 6 people, we were led to Vivi-Ann. We were almost to the bus stop and there she was with her daughter. We talked about families, and were so happy that her, being a norwegian, was so interested and kept listening. (Not that norwegains dont listen..just that she was so positve compared to others!) We asked if we could visit her and her family. She told us she lived alone and we asked to visit her. She said yes. We got her number, address, and an appointment. And she wanted something to read before we met. We gave her The Plan of Salvation pamphlet and she said she would read it. She looked like she needed comfort, and I KNOW that we were meant to find her. Oh my goodness I already love her and am so excited to meet with her this week! We then met with a less active named Inger. We sat down to talk with her and we asked how her week had been. She told us she had gone to her husbands funeral. We were shocked! She said that the sadness hadnt really hit her yet, but it probably will. It was so cool, because Sister Buhler had the suggestion that we share about Gods love with her. We did, and that is excatly what she needed. She said she sometimes knows that God loves her. We committed her to pray to feel His love stronger than normal this week. We said we would do it too. She gave us some cake and pop, her son (i think he is inactive or not a member) came also a little later and we talked a little bit with him. We are going to come back tomorrow to her and bring her cookies. :) Afterwards both of our appointments fell through and we got to eat dinner then travel home!
Sunday was the day of HUGE MIRACLES! We had MMK (it took us longer than it could have to get there because the t-bane we took went a different way than expected becasue of construction...so we had to switch a couple times) :), and then church. To welcome me to the ward, I played the piano in the combined RS and Priesthood haha and then I had to go out to get our investigator. There were so many people in the chapel for that hour that I couldnt get Sister Buhler out, and the Stake President was teaching, so I got a member, Sandra, a twin that was baptized last year, to come outside and help me find the investigator. Instead of going to the church, he traveled to the center. So he was a little late. But it went well. :) Then Marcel brought Christian, one of our investigators to church! They were late, but Marcel stayed the rest of the time and Chrstians left after the sacrament. Sacrament meeting was so good too. It is interesting to have been in the two biggest wards in Norway (Oslo and Drammen). There is a big difference between them. After church, sister buhler and I went on splits. I taught Ivan with Emma (the other twin from Sweden) and Sister Buhler taught Marcel, with Cecilia, a YSA from Alta :) (We love these girls!!!) It went well! After they taught Marcel, I asked him how he liked church, he said it was wonderful! That made me happy that he loved it so much. Sister Buhler said that he told them that he could really feel the Spirit during church (he could udnerstand becasue of the translation, so that helped) or something like that :) I love when they love church!!! The Primary also sang in Sacrament Meeting, so that is always a plus :) Later that day we ate dinner at home and went out. We needed 4 new investigators (that was our goal for the week...and the one we had, cancelled her appointment...so we still needed 4 more!) We knew it was possible. We had fasted and prayed for it. So we decided we would have to teach on the busses on our way to a less active. Sister Buhler is awesome and was so bold! We got to a bus stop after sister buhler talked to someone on the bus, and at the busstop, we had a few minutes til the bus came. So we split up and she went to one man standing, and I went to a man on the bench, about 10 feet away from each other. The man I talked to, Tony, didnt speak english, he was from Albania. YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE THIS! That morning, I decided to bring a Book Of Mormon in another language. I grabbed one and it was Albanian! HE SPOKE ALBANIAN!!! I pretty much said that exact thing to him and told him how we have MB in hundreds of languages and I randomly took this one today! (I have met...maybe 2 people that speak albanian on my mission that I can remember) I taught him, said a prayer, commited him to start reading and got a return appointment! MIRACLE! Huh? Sister Buhler had brought a book in Arabic with her, and guess what the man she talked to spoke? ARABIC! He wouldnt take the book, but she got a return appointment with him and his friend (who became a referral!! I was going to talk with him, but instead he crossed the street, talked to the man sister buhler was talking to, and then became a referral from the first man she talked to!) And she taught, prayed and got a return apointment. We still needed one new investigator though. So we kept talking to people. I taught someone, but didnt get a return appointment. Sister Buhler taught someone, got a return appointment, but no prayer. So we went to the less actives, a couple that is so sweet, both served missions, but pretty hard lives, and then we went back out to come home and kept talking to people! I talked to this man at the bus stop and on the bus. Got his number, and he gave us his mom as a referral! And THEN! Well, we still needed a new investigator. It was probably a little after 8 at this point. So we went up to this indian lady, and talked, got on the bus. I gave her the MB, we prayed and I taught her. And having maybe 2 minutes til I needed to get off, I got her number and an appointment. WE REACHED OUR GOAL! Before we went out that night...we had some doubts. But we prayed that the Lord would "help our unbelief" and he did. Yesterday in total, we got 2 member teaches, 4 other teaches, 1 recieved referral, one contacted referral, 4 new investigators, and 1 less active. I know that numbers arent everything, I for sure know that. BUT THE LORD LOVES US SO MUCH! And he LOVES THESE PEOPLE! And we were able to find so many people yesterday because we worked hard, relied on the Lord, had high expectations, and had faith! What a day...what a day... :)
This week I also managed to burn my finger on a burning glass bottle. (its alright though) :) And earlier in the week I had given a spanish Book Of Mormon to a man we found on our way to get someone to teach. And whats so cool about that is that I had put it in my backpack, maybe 4 days before. And then we found him! MIRACLES ARE WAITING TO HAPPEN! It doesnt matter where in Norway you are, or where in the world! There are more people prepared for the gospel than we know!
I dont think I have ever worked harder my whole mission than now. I love being a missionary more than anything in the world. And I LOVE being a missionary in Norway! I love Nordstrand! I just love life!
I hope you all have a great week!
Husk at jeg elsker dere!
Love, Søster Chapman
:)
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Location:MIRACLES
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