Hei hei familie!
So this week has been great! (and last week) I went to Trondheim on Monday morning and got home tuesday night. We were planning on emailing then, but got home too late and things didnt work out...and then we couldnt yesterday because we ended up with no time! But Trondheim was GORGEOUS! I have come to figure out that I really love these big cities here in Norway. Knowing that we can step outside and see LOADS of people is so great to me! Here in Ksand its different, not as many people..but thats alright. On monday we were able to have Pday with all the missionaries in the North and West Zones! SO FUN!!! We played sports and I went to the Domkirke (the biggest one in Norway)! and it was GORGEOUS! We just took pics outside becuase it is 70 kr to go in! But then we had dinner, checked into our hotel, and then contacted for a few hours. IT IS GORGEOUS THERE! :) I contacted with sister johnson, and then went on splits with sister clark (my trainer) which was SO FUN! Because trondheim was her first area and so it was fun to go around there with her :) we actually got an appointment for the missionaries there! So that was cool! At our hotel we got free hot chocolate and fruit...kjempe deilig! And I had an amazing sleep! :)
The next day we had a HUGE continental breakfast at the hotel...i feasted hahaha....and then we had Zone Conference....Elder Kearon..the first councelor over Western Europe...spoke to us. It was amazing!!!!!!!! I dont have much time so im writing quick..sorry! But that was great! Afterwards we flew home later that night and got home a little after nine. But man it was so great to see everyone and be there and hear from him and President and Sister Evans! :) But this past week...that you all didnt hear about...was a rollercoaster! On last, last Pday, we had one of our investigators with a baptismal date tell us that he wanted a break because his brother was in the hospital, his aunt died, and his gpa or something died too. But we asked if we could meet once more before he decided. And so we did and we pretty much just had a lesson telling him how much we love and care about him and why we are even here. We all were on the verge of crying and I felt more Love than I have my whole mision i think. He agreed to meeting with us again, and he is still one of our investigators. :) The rest of the week was pretty good! On sunday we had 23 investigators come! One of thems name is Wafaaa and she is from Iraq! I LOVE HER SO MUCH! She can speak a little norsk, not perfect though...but I translated the english class into norsk for her which was way fun! :) And then on Sunday, our investigator, David, got his baptismal interview from one of our elders here. OH! We have elders here now! haha, one that was in sister johnsons mtc group, and the other that has been here a few more months than us. So we have a ksand district now! Anyways, elder cooper interviewed david. To tell this story pretty short....afterwards, we told david that peter, a new convert, could techincally baptize him. and david got all mad ish...saying he wanted a priest to baptize him! So we didnt have lots of time to talk...anyways, all was okay....and then we met with him yesterday and he let us know that he felt bad for how he acted and that ``my spirit told me to just listen to what you both said`` So the baptism is still going to happen and all is good! He is ready and we are so excited!!!!! :) It will be this saturday so I will let you know how that goes!!!!! :) Sorry i have like 10 minutes left!!! Anyways, also, when we were contacting last week the funniest thing happened....sister johsnon stopped a man and he wasnt really interested. But before he left he lifted his hand up next to sister johnsons face and petted it for probably 3 seconds and told us he wasn't interested hahahahahahaha so funny!
Anyways, I love you all so much and ill write to you all again on Monday!!!
Love, Søster Chapman
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Baptisms in NORWAY!!!
Hei alle!!!
So this week was AMAZING!!!!
A HUGE moves call was yesterday morning and Im staying here!! HOORAY! :) We are actually getting elders here WITH us in Kristiansand, so that will be cool!! And They are opening up Sandes (right next to stavanger) for sisters now!! SO Sister Mourik will be serving there and sister clark still in stavanger :)
But wanna know why I am so excited to still stay here?? (besides the fact that I love the ward and the area?) WE HAVE 3 PEOPLE WITH BAPTISMAL DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So last week I told you about David...but this week we met with a lady that the sisters had found before. Her name is Temi and she has 2 daughters and they are also from Nigeria! THey have been on vacation, so we met with them a couple days after. Well, we met with her and one of her daughters was listening a little :) And we taught the Plan of Salvation. She loved loved loved it! And She even asked us how she can get to the Celestial Kingdom :) MIRACLE: That morning we didnt know if we should change our plans and do the 12 week program earlier, or continue to just do it at night, like we had planned. But we felt like we should do it in the morning. So we did, and during it we watched part of the district ... an episode where they do a soft baptismal commitment and a hard, (when you find out that this is true will you be baptised?) and (Will you prepare to be baptised on this date?). So we got that idea. We hadnt talked about a hard date for her before. But during the lesson the spirit was SO strong. So Sister Johnson looked at me and we were thinking the exact thing. So I commited her to a soft baptism. and she said yes! Then sister johnson committed her to a date!!! And the date was the same one i was thinking about during the lesson :) She wasnt able to come to church yesterday though...because she was sick :( BUT, yesterday we talked to david about his baptism and he is just SO precious!! HAHA! We taught him in the room with the baptismal font and he was honestly just giddy because he was SO excited!!! He is so prepared and so excited!!!! So the other mans name is Goran. (pinlig, because we thought it was gordan and then he texted us with that name....our bad!) anyways, sister johsnon and bingham had found him a while ago, he didnt show up to their app and his phone number didnt work! SO Then we were contacting and sister johnson contacted him and was just like...i know you! haha, anyways i think ive told you all that before. But we met with him for second time! And we committed him to a soft, and then to a hard!! SO temi will hopefully be baptized on the 14th of september and Goran hopefully the 15th! They cant be on the same day because she speaks english and he speaks norsk (they are most comfortable in those) Anyways, SOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) So then we also got a call from the branch president in Arendal...elders used to be there, but not anymore. So he told us that there was a boy that they wanted to know if we could teach! We talked to president and that was totally fine! So, the Cressals (senior couple here went to oslo for a couple days so WE HAD THE CAR!!! :)
My first time driving in Norway! He is an ex police officer, and I drove them to the airport...the first time driving here....SCREMMENDE! But it was so fun! :) haha, we drove to arendal, which was 1 hour away. We had had a great week so we were thinking all was great! I thought the lesson went well, he said yes to a soft baptism, if he finds its true, and said he would read and pray, and kanskje come to church. But then I texted him after we got home and was just saying thanks to him and his member friend. And He told us that he just wanted to learn on his own. We tried continuing to text and see if he would meet once more...but that isn't gonna happen right now. He said we could keep in contact with him though, so thats good. But me and sister johnson were just crushed. I honestly put my heart into that. We met him once and we already loved him so much. And then he said he didn't want us to really teach him anymore. But that we were a big help. We were just silent the rest of the night...for the most part. It was so sad and just made us so sad. But we learned a lot. We learned that we need to learn to teach better to the needs of each investigator. But, that was just a roller-coaster day. Anyways, the funny thing about it is that we had temi commit on wednesday, goran commit on thursday, and then met and got dropped by havard on friday. Anyways, then on saturday we drove to Mandal..about 45 minutes to an hour away...to meet with david!! :) That went well!! This was on saturday :) We just listened to christmas music and talked so that was fun! The drive throughout Norway is gorgeous!!! One thing i love about kristiansand is that you can be in the city one minute, and then in the country the next! SO GORGEOUS!!!
Another miraculous story...we were going with AIda, the philippion lady, to visit one of our investiators Wafaa (from iraq). We got to the door and before we knocked aida was getting a call from her. We heard her baby screaming crying but didnt know what was up. Wafaa was telling aida she needed her or something and aida told her we were at the door. We got in and her baby had spilt HOT tea on his chest and his chest and stomach was just raw! So they took them to the hospital (wafaa doesnt have car so aida drove them) and we ran/walked back to the center.
MY CALVES WERE ABOUT TO FALL OFF! Haha, but we also ended up catching a bus!!! SO that was a tender mercy. We wanted elder cressel to give her son a blssing, because her son had had one before. It didnt work out though, so the next day we went and the bishop and aidas husband gave him a blessing. What they told us was that he had to have cold water on his stomach for about 1 hour and a half, then they gave him anesthesia and scraped his stomach (i guess there were blisters?) and wrapped him up, they stayed in the hospital for a couple days...poor boy. anyways, such a miracle that we were at that door at that exact second she needed Aida!!! We talked to her about the Priesthood/blessings yesterday and that gave us more perspective on what we should do with her. We were thinking about how much longer we should each her...because she cant understand arabisk or norsk (reading very well) and there isn't a MB in her language...korisk. But we felt like we should keep teaching her and see how it goes. Anyways, crazy week!!!!!!!!
Goron, Temi, and David are the poeple we were expecting at church and david is the only one that came. Temi was sick and Gorans brother was in the hospital!! Super disappointing, but all will work out.
Anyways, ONE FUNNY THING :)
When I was on the phone with Havards friend (the boy that was on the teach with us) He was spelling havards name...the second a has an o thing over it, but i cant type in norsk right now...anyways, in my planner....i wrote down what i thought he spelt...SUPER EMBARRASING!!!!! hahahah....i thought he spelt KONOHAIB. And we totally would have called him that if he wouldnt have texted us his name later!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHA!!!
Oh! And we also ate at our Ward mission leaders house, who recentely got back from his mission in california. And another girl in the ward and another boy ate with us too. Kjempe koselig! :)
Well I love you all so much!!!!!! And I miss you all too!!! Im not going to have much time to email next week, because IM GONNA BE IN TRONDHEIM!!! For Zone Conference in the North!!! Someone from the 70 is coming! :)
Well, love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeg elsker dere!!!!
Love, Soster Chapman :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
So this week was AMAZING!!!!
A HUGE moves call was yesterday morning and Im staying here!! HOORAY! :) We are actually getting elders here WITH us in Kristiansand, so that will be cool!! And They are opening up Sandes (right next to stavanger) for sisters now!! SO Sister Mourik will be serving there and sister clark still in stavanger :)
But wanna know why I am so excited to still stay here?? (besides the fact that I love the ward and the area?) WE HAVE 3 PEOPLE WITH BAPTISMAL DATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So last week I told you about David...but this week we met with a lady that the sisters had found before. Her name is Temi and she has 2 daughters and they are also from Nigeria! THey have been on vacation, so we met with them a couple days after. Well, we met with her and one of her daughters was listening a little :) And we taught the Plan of Salvation. She loved loved loved it! And She even asked us how she can get to the Celestial Kingdom :) MIRACLE: That morning we didnt know if we should change our plans and do the 12 week program earlier, or continue to just do it at night, like we had planned. But we felt like we should do it in the morning. So we did, and during it we watched part of the district ... an episode where they do a soft baptismal commitment and a hard, (when you find out that this is true will you be baptised?) and (Will you prepare to be baptised on this date?). So we got that idea. We hadnt talked about a hard date for her before. But during the lesson the spirit was SO strong. So Sister Johnson looked at me and we were thinking the exact thing. So I commited her to a soft baptism. and she said yes! Then sister johnson committed her to a date!!! And the date was the same one i was thinking about during the lesson :) She wasnt able to come to church yesterday though...because she was sick :( BUT, yesterday we talked to david about his baptism and he is just SO precious!! HAHA! We taught him in the room with the baptismal font and he was honestly just giddy because he was SO excited!!! He is so prepared and so excited!!!! So the other mans name is Goran. (pinlig, because we thought it was gordan and then he texted us with that name....our bad!) anyways, sister johsnon and bingham had found him a while ago, he didnt show up to their app and his phone number didnt work! SO Then we were contacting and sister johnson contacted him and was just like...i know you! haha, anyways i think ive told you all that before. But we met with him for second time! And we committed him to a soft, and then to a hard!! SO temi will hopefully be baptized on the 14th of september and Goran hopefully the 15th! They cant be on the same day because she speaks english and he speaks norsk (they are most comfortable in those) Anyways, SOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) So then we also got a call from the branch president in Arendal...elders used to be there, but not anymore. So he told us that there was a boy that they wanted to know if we could teach! We talked to president and that was totally fine! So, the Cressals (senior couple here went to oslo for a couple days so WE HAD THE CAR!!! :)
My first time driving in Norway! He is an ex police officer, and I drove them to the airport...the first time driving here....SCREMMENDE! But it was so fun! :) haha, we drove to arendal, which was 1 hour away. We had had a great week so we were thinking all was great! I thought the lesson went well, he said yes to a soft baptism, if he finds its true, and said he would read and pray, and kanskje come to church. But then I texted him after we got home and was just saying thanks to him and his member friend. And He told us that he just wanted to learn on his own. We tried continuing to text and see if he would meet once more...but that isn't gonna happen right now. He said we could keep in contact with him though, so thats good. But me and sister johnson were just crushed. I honestly put my heart into that. We met him once and we already loved him so much. And then he said he didn't want us to really teach him anymore. But that we were a big help. We were just silent the rest of the night...for the most part. It was so sad and just made us so sad. But we learned a lot. We learned that we need to learn to teach better to the needs of each investigator. But, that was just a roller-coaster day. Anyways, the funny thing about it is that we had temi commit on wednesday, goran commit on thursday, and then met and got dropped by havard on friday. Anyways, then on saturday we drove to Mandal..about 45 minutes to an hour away...to meet with david!! :) That went well!! This was on saturday :) We just listened to christmas music and talked so that was fun! The drive throughout Norway is gorgeous!!! One thing i love about kristiansand is that you can be in the city one minute, and then in the country the next! SO GORGEOUS!!!
Another miraculous story...we were going with AIda, the philippion lady, to visit one of our investiators Wafaa (from iraq). We got to the door and before we knocked aida was getting a call from her. We heard her baby screaming crying but didnt know what was up. Wafaa was telling aida she needed her or something and aida told her we were at the door. We got in and her baby had spilt HOT tea on his chest and his chest and stomach was just raw! So they took them to the hospital (wafaa doesnt have car so aida drove them) and we ran/walked back to the center.
MY CALVES WERE ABOUT TO FALL OFF! Haha, but we also ended up catching a bus!!! SO that was a tender mercy. We wanted elder cressel to give her son a blssing, because her son had had one before. It didnt work out though, so the next day we went and the bishop and aidas husband gave him a blessing. What they told us was that he had to have cold water on his stomach for about 1 hour and a half, then they gave him anesthesia and scraped his stomach (i guess there were blisters?) and wrapped him up, they stayed in the hospital for a couple days...poor boy. anyways, such a miracle that we were at that door at that exact second she needed Aida!!! We talked to her about the Priesthood/blessings yesterday and that gave us more perspective on what we should do with her. We were thinking about how much longer we should each her...because she cant understand arabisk or norsk (reading very well) and there isn't a MB in her language...korisk. But we felt like we should keep teaching her and see how it goes. Anyways, crazy week!!!!!!!!
Goron, Temi, and David are the poeple we were expecting at church and david is the only one that came. Temi was sick and Gorans brother was in the hospital!! Super disappointing, but all will work out.
Anyways, ONE FUNNY THING :)
When I was on the phone with Havards friend (the boy that was on the teach with us) He was spelling havards name...the second a has an o thing over it, but i cant type in norsk right now...anyways, in my planner....i wrote down what i thought he spelt...SUPER EMBARRASING!!!!! hahahah....i thought he spelt KONOHAIB. And we totally would have called him that if he wouldnt have texted us his name later!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHA!!!
Oh! And we also ate at our Ward mission leaders house, who recentely got back from his mission in california. And another girl in the ward and another boy ate with us too. Kjempe koselig! :)
Well I love you all so much!!!!!! And I miss you all too!!! Im not going to have much time to email next week, because IM GONNA BE IN TRONDHEIM!!! For Zone Conference in the North!!! Someone from the 70 is coming! :)
Well, love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!
Jeg elsker dere!!!!
Love, Soster Chapman :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Monday, August 12, 2013
Great Week
Hei hei familie!
Denne uken har vært veldig bra! Vi har gjort mange ting til å oppbygge Guds rike. Selv om ganger er ikke veldig lett, vet jeg at jeg lærer og vokse fra dem.
Anywho, you can all just translate that :)
This week has been great though! Our most progressing investigator, David, is doing great!!! President called us and asked us about him. Then he told us that there is no reason that we shouldnt go out to him...he lives in Mandal, about an hour away...so we did that! We met with him last sunday, wednesday (in kristiansand because he stayed with the new convert peter for a couple days), then in Mandal on friday (?) and then again this sunday!!!! We have one more teach with him before we are finished with the lessons! But we will probably teach him a couple more of the teaches for after baptism to clarify some things and give him more knowledge. His baptismal date is going to be on the 31st of this month!!! So thats WAY exciting! He is hilarious! He is the opposite of a hard investigator....well he is hard, but in another way. He believes EVERYTHING we say to him pretty much! haha, he didnt want to pray to ask if it was true becuase, he knew! ``I one hundred thousand percent believe sisters!! Dont doubt me, cause i believe!!!!`` hahahaha, but we got him to commit to praying last week so that was great :) We also found 2 new investigators last week...well technically just one and we got the other this week...but ill explain in a little bit. Gordon is a man from Croatia, that has lived in norway for around 20 years?, that we found contacting! (speaks pretty perfect norsk) Sister Johnson and Bingham (the sister that just went home) found him, he kebabed (didnt show up), and his number didnt work. So we saw him on the street and sister johnson was like, ``Hei! Vi er misjonærer fra Jesu Kristi Kirke....jeg tror at vi har truffet før!`` haha (Hi! Were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ....I think we have met before!``) and he told her that they had and that he didnt show up because his mom was in the hospital...and then she told him his number didnt work and he was so surprised! So we got it again and met with him this past week!!! We couldnt count him as a new investitgator becuase he didnt know when he could meet again so he said he would text us. We texted him last night and got a return app and so we can count him as a new investigator for this week!!! :) He is like..GOLDEN! And he only lives about 5 minutes from the church! :)
Then we met a man on the street named Lucas. He is from Poland actually, and has a wife and a daughter. He wants to be baptized in the Jehova Witness church in about two months...but we met with him and he was willing to read and pray and meet with us again! His wife and daughter come back from poland in a couple weeks and so we are hoping to also teach his wife! We got 7 teaches with a member with us this week and...3 others without memebers? so that was SO GREAT! OH! ALSO! We got to go to Stavanger this week!!!!!!!! We went on Tuesday and it was like I was home!
The train ride was about 3 hours long...so I slept some of it and practiced the first lesson. But I was just SO happy when we got there. And to see all of the missionaries was just like seeing family. AH man, i just looove love love stavanger. :) We had Zone Leader Training and that was really good :) Then, that night we headed back on the train and got home! Haha, LONG day, but so fun! That was also Søster Johnsons birthday! So that was cool! :) So creepy\funny story. Last p-day, when it was time to proselyte again, we went over to a members house for dinner and to teach her nephew. Speaking of, her name is Aida and she is from the Phillippines. I told her about Bry, and she is acutally going to the phillippines, manilla, for a couple months in november or something like that! She was like, ``I will inbite him ober and he will spis wit me.`` (spis = eat) hahahha or something like that :) She is the cutest and helps us with missionary work SO much! She is reading PMG right now and is actually the ward missionary here. She is just ADORABLE! She buys food for us pretty much every week and is just hilarious.
A couple weeks ago we were at an 8 year olds baptism and we were just putting a bunch of different desserts on our plates. and neither sister johnson or i put fruit on our plate. soshe grabbed it and just layed fruit on both of our plates! hahaha! Thats the kind of person she is! :) So no worries about me mom, she is taking good care of us :) hahaha, anyways, when she goes to the phillippines shes going to contact you Bry! She actually said she is going to talk to the mission president and get all of the missionaries to come together for a partyish thing and she will feed you all :) hahahahahhaha, so watch out for that Bry! hahaha
anyways, yesterday we got a call from the Arendal Branch President! Arendal is a small city about an hour from here.there used to be elders, but not anymore. So we actually got a referral! We have permission (because technically it is our area because we are the closest to it) to go out and teach a man there that they told president, seems really positive!!! Also, President told me last night that this next transfer in a couple weeks, there will be elders here! Itll be weird, but so fun! One thing sister johnson told me is, ``I have already gone as far south as possible! I can only go up from here!`` haha, not sure if i told you that yet, but its true!!! And guess what!? IT IS ALREADY GETTING COLD!!! As of yesterday we realized that it really is. It is starting to get dark earlier. (as in at 10 it is pretty dark) haha, but can you believe that!? I am the most south as i can be here in Norway and it is crazy! I am thinking i will be here for about 5 months. Thats my guess. :)
And I am loving it more and more each day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ward! It is SO koselig and small. It is the cutest thing. Brookie would LOVE the building...but sad thing is, they are going to renovate it a little so in a coupld weeks we are going to have church in a school building or something for a little bit. Anyways, yesterday during church I understood SO much! It was so great, and my norsk is getting a lot better so i am really ahppy about that :) I mean, obviously it is NOT perfect at all...but its coming :)
Oh, so for sister johsnons birthday she got a package from her family and she had asked for christmas music! So we have listened to Christmas music this entire week! It is my favorite :) It makes me miss you all so much but it makes me so happy too!
So when we rode the bus out to Mandal this week I took some pictures, but mom, it is exactly where you would love to live! Or Søgne. Søgne is where most of the members live! It is green and there is SO much room around!! I honestly cannot wait for you all to come see it here :)
Anyways, not too much more to say. I just have such a strong testimony of the Book Of Mormon and the Atonement. I have come to figure out that EVERY little problem or big trial we have in our lives are shaping us into the people we are going to be in the eternities. I know that the Lord knows me so well and He is there waiting for us to grab His hand so He can help us. Being a missionary is so humbling...because we are asking people to do SO much! And in part, we have to do what we ask them to do. We cant be hypocrites! So asking investigators to read, we have to read, to pray, we have to pray, and to be diligent in doing these things, WE DO TO! I mean, its not a burden!!! But there is SO much we have to be doing, we really are concecrating our lives. Sister Johnson brought it up this morning actually. We are living the law of concecration as missionaries. We give up what we wear, what we do each day, when we wake up, when we go to sleep, etc. We strive to live how Christ would. This is the closest I have ever felt to living like Christ in my life and I love it.
Anyways, I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will talk to you all next week!!!!
I pray and fast for you all!
Love, Søster Chapman
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Denne uken har vært veldig bra! Vi har gjort mange ting til å oppbygge Guds rike. Selv om ganger er ikke veldig lett, vet jeg at jeg lærer og vokse fra dem.
Anywho, you can all just translate that :)
This week has been great though! Our most progressing investigator, David, is doing great!!! President called us and asked us about him. Then he told us that there is no reason that we shouldnt go out to him...he lives in Mandal, about an hour away...so we did that! We met with him last sunday, wednesday (in kristiansand because he stayed with the new convert peter for a couple days), then in Mandal on friday (?) and then again this sunday!!!! We have one more teach with him before we are finished with the lessons! But we will probably teach him a couple more of the teaches for after baptism to clarify some things and give him more knowledge. His baptismal date is going to be on the 31st of this month!!! So thats WAY exciting! He is hilarious! He is the opposite of a hard investigator....well he is hard, but in another way. He believes EVERYTHING we say to him pretty much! haha, he didnt want to pray to ask if it was true becuase, he knew! ``I one hundred thousand percent believe sisters!! Dont doubt me, cause i believe!!!!`` hahahaha, but we got him to commit to praying last week so that was great :) We also found 2 new investigators last week...well technically just one and we got the other this week...but ill explain in a little bit. Gordon is a man from Croatia, that has lived in norway for around 20 years?, that we found contacting! (speaks pretty perfect norsk) Sister Johnson and Bingham (the sister that just went home) found him, he kebabed (didnt show up), and his number didnt work. So we saw him on the street and sister johnson was like, ``Hei! Vi er misjonærer fra Jesu Kristi Kirke....jeg tror at vi har truffet før!`` haha (Hi! Were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ....I think we have met before!``) and he told her that they had and that he didnt show up because his mom was in the hospital...and then she told him his number didnt work and he was so surprised! So we got it again and met with him this past week!!! We couldnt count him as a new investitgator becuase he didnt know when he could meet again so he said he would text us. We texted him last night and got a return app and so we can count him as a new investigator for this week!!! :) He is like..GOLDEN! And he only lives about 5 minutes from the church! :)
Then we met a man on the street named Lucas. He is from Poland actually, and has a wife and a daughter. He wants to be baptized in the Jehova Witness church in about two months...but we met with him and he was willing to read and pray and meet with us again! His wife and daughter come back from poland in a couple weeks and so we are hoping to also teach his wife! We got 7 teaches with a member with us this week and...3 others without memebers? so that was SO GREAT! OH! ALSO! We got to go to Stavanger this week!!!!!!!! We went on Tuesday and it was like I was home!
The train ride was about 3 hours long...so I slept some of it and practiced the first lesson. But I was just SO happy when we got there. And to see all of the missionaries was just like seeing family. AH man, i just looove love love stavanger. :) We had Zone Leader Training and that was really good :) Then, that night we headed back on the train and got home! Haha, LONG day, but so fun! That was also Søster Johnsons birthday! So that was cool! :) So creepy\funny story. Last p-day, when it was time to proselyte again, we went over to a members house for dinner and to teach her nephew. Speaking of, her name is Aida and she is from the Phillippines. I told her about Bry, and she is acutally going to the phillippines, manilla, for a couple months in november or something like that! She was like, ``I will inbite him ober and he will spis wit me.`` (spis = eat) hahahha or something like that :) She is the cutest and helps us with missionary work SO much! She is reading PMG right now and is actually the ward missionary here. She is just ADORABLE! She buys food for us pretty much every week and is just hilarious.
A couple weeks ago we were at an 8 year olds baptism and we were just putting a bunch of different desserts on our plates. and neither sister johnson or i put fruit on our plate. soshe grabbed it and just layed fruit on both of our plates! hahaha! Thats the kind of person she is! :) So no worries about me mom, she is taking good care of us :) hahaha, anyways, when she goes to the phillippines shes going to contact you Bry! She actually said she is going to talk to the mission president and get all of the missionaries to come together for a partyish thing and she will feed you all :) hahahahahhaha, so watch out for that Bry! hahaha
anyways, yesterday we got a call from the Arendal Branch President! Arendal is a small city about an hour from here.there used to be elders, but not anymore. So we actually got a referral! We have permission (because technically it is our area because we are the closest to it) to go out and teach a man there that they told president, seems really positive!!! Also, President told me last night that this next transfer in a couple weeks, there will be elders here! Itll be weird, but so fun! One thing sister johnson told me is, ``I have already gone as far south as possible! I can only go up from here!`` haha, not sure if i told you that yet, but its true!!! And guess what!? IT IS ALREADY GETTING COLD!!! As of yesterday we realized that it really is. It is starting to get dark earlier. (as in at 10 it is pretty dark) haha, but can you believe that!? I am the most south as i can be here in Norway and it is crazy! I am thinking i will be here for about 5 months. Thats my guess. :)
And I am loving it more and more each day. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the ward! It is SO koselig and small. It is the cutest thing. Brookie would LOVE the building...but sad thing is, they are going to renovate it a little so in a coupld weeks we are going to have church in a school building or something for a little bit. Anyways, yesterday during church I understood SO much! It was so great, and my norsk is getting a lot better so i am really ahppy about that :) I mean, obviously it is NOT perfect at all...but its coming :)
Oh, so for sister johsnons birthday she got a package from her family and she had asked for christmas music! So we have listened to Christmas music this entire week! It is my favorite :) It makes me miss you all so much but it makes me so happy too!
So when we rode the bus out to Mandal this week I took some pictures, but mom, it is exactly where you would love to live! Or Søgne. Søgne is where most of the members live! It is green and there is SO much room around!! I honestly cannot wait for you all to come see it here :)
Anyways, not too much more to say. I just have such a strong testimony of the Book Of Mormon and the Atonement. I have come to figure out that EVERY little problem or big trial we have in our lives are shaping us into the people we are going to be in the eternities. I know that the Lord knows me so well and He is there waiting for us to grab His hand so He can help us. Being a missionary is so humbling...because we are asking people to do SO much! And in part, we have to do what we ask them to do. We cant be hypocrites! So asking investigators to read, we have to read, to pray, we have to pray, and to be diligent in doing these things, WE DO TO! I mean, its not a burden!!! But there is SO much we have to be doing, we really are concecrating our lives. Sister Johnson brought it up this morning actually. We are living the law of concecration as missionaries. We give up what we wear, what we do each day, when we wake up, when we go to sleep, etc. We strive to live how Christ would. This is the closest I have ever felt to living like Christ in my life and I love it.
Anyways, I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will talk to you all next week!!!!
I pray and fast for you all!
Love, Søster Chapman
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Saturday, August 10, 2013
" ... on, on to the victory!"
Hei hei! Man I miss you all so much.
This week has actually been really hard\ emotional. ill be okay though! Wanna know something weird? I was actually homesick for Stavanger too! I feel like Stavanger is my second home! After leaving stavanger and being here, i feel like i should be going back home there! Man, i was thinking maybe saying goodbye to all of you scarred me for life, saying goodbye to other people...or its just who i am and who i have always been...saying goodbyes being hard.
Anyways, guess what? Im actually getting tan here!!! haha, i have a tan line from my toms! The beach is right down the road, and we live right by the main part of town! So we walk a lot. Oh another thing, my feet have been so bad here! They have just hurt worse than they have my whole mission! Swollen and hurting, oh well though!
anyways, tomorrow we go to stavanger for Zone leader training, and I am SOOO excited!!!! :) I LOVE it there!
So this week we did A LOT of contacting! We got pretty sick of it, even though I love it. We met with a couple of less actives, and that was good! And we ended up making 2 appointments with formers from the area book! We actually ahve 2 area books...one FULL of formers! And we finished them yesterday. Oh another thing! We are only 45 minutes from denmark by ferry!!! haha, too bad we cant go there for pday. :)
We also had a new member teach. Søster Johnson and her old companion got a baptism a little bit ago, his name is peter and he is from nigeria! anyways, we went to a members house and they taught him a lesson which was cool :) Then guess what? SUPER EXCITING NEWS! :) We had a teach with this man named David yesterday after church. He is a referral from PETER! The new convert! Haha Peter was so funny, becuase he asked, after he had referred david, if that was okay to do that. That although he isnt a missionary like us, he can do missionary work. We were like, YES!!! YOU CAN DO THAT!!! Haha, so the other sisters taught david the first lesson and reviewd it, so yesterday we taught him the second lesson. And guess what!? HE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!! :) He told us before we taught him, and he told a lady in the ward too. He told us, "I KNOW this is the true church! I know it!!!! And if it isnt true, you WONT SEE ME HERE AGAIN! But I KNOW its true!!!" It was so funny, earlier during church he told us flat out that he wants to be baptized! He did some hand motions to show what it was and said thats what he wants! SUPER EXCITING! So We have a date set for August 31st! He is from Nigeria and is such an awesome man! He is hilarious. He told us something like this, "We just pray everywhere! Always thanking God for everything he gives us. Im sorry to say this, Im really sorry to say it, but even when Im in the toilet, i just pray and thank Him for the things I have! I do!" HAHA! Such a nice funny man. Super random, but also, Peter taught us how to say How are you brotha/sista in Ikka, which is his language in nigeria... ANI WENA? :)
So a couple mornings ago, i woke up to sister johnsons alarm and then i heard a roaring noise outside. So I went and looked out the window and it was POURING RAIN! And there was thunder and lightning and I just LOVED it! :) We also went to the bishops sons baptism. It is so cool that whatever language it is in or wherever in the world it is, I feel the same good feeling. When he recieved the Holy Ghost, I felt the same feeling I have my entire life when I am present for a confirmation. It was just so cool :)
Church was GREAT! IT is a tiny tiny tiny ward, but i think i like it better that way! Elder Torjeson, our district leader, is from here...and so i got to meet his family and that was cooL! Haha I already LOVE this ward and am so excited to work with them and get to know them better :) Being here is deefinitely another trial...another thing that is going to make me stronger. But I know it is just making me a better missionary! This past week has definitely been a test of my humility...but that is okay. Itll just help me be better!
SOOO crazy how trials can help make people stronger. I prayed for a better love of the scriptures and what did i get? I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES SO MUCH!!! I prayed to have more sincere prayers and what did I get??? SINCERE PRAYERS! I prayed for so much and Im recieving it through trials. I dont like the trials at all...haha but I know it is going to make me a better mom and missionary and person. It is so cool to think about....everything I am going through, is shaping me into the Godess I can potentially be in eternity. I read a talk this week that was definitely personal revelation. It is a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (of course) and it is called "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence." Theres a paragraph that really stood out to me in it and it says, " After you have gotten the message, after you ahve paid the price to feel His love and hear the word of the Lord, go forward, Don't fear, don't vacillate, don't quibble, don't whine. You may, like Alma going to Ammonihah, have to find a route that leads an unusual way, but that is exactly what the Lord is doing here for the children of ISrael, Nobody had ever crossed the Red Sea this way, but so what? There's always a first time. With the spirit of revelation, dismiss your fears and wade in with both feet. In the words of Joseph Smith, "Bretheren (and sisters), shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!""
Anyways, we are all given our "unique" trials. Sometimes I feel myself wondering WHY ME or WHY THIS TRIAL, and then after reading this I realized. This was my unique path to get the point I will be in the eternities. It is different for all of us. But all of us have the same goal. The same goal to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and our familes for eternity. I might have to go under a bridge then over a hill and through a forest...and mom might have to go around a lake, over a mountain, and through a jungle. But thats what is going to help us individually get there. Going through a jungle wouldnt help shape me into the person I am going to become, but it will shape mom. Going under a bridge might not be a trial to mom, but it would be to me and it would help me become more like Christ. Every challenge we face is the challenge the Lord knows will help us come closer to Him. I read in the scriptures this week how the Lord has control on how much Satan tempts us. It made me realize how...NOT SMART Satan is! He is helping with the plan. Without trials, we wouldnt know the sweet sweet tasee of fruit! Anyways, I hope that made sense!
I really miss you all SO much. I know that we'll see each other soon, but I miss you all.
Your all in my prayers and I think about you all the time.
Love, Søster Chapman
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This week has actually been really hard\ emotional. ill be okay though! Wanna know something weird? I was actually homesick for Stavanger too! I feel like Stavanger is my second home! After leaving stavanger and being here, i feel like i should be going back home there! Man, i was thinking maybe saying goodbye to all of you scarred me for life, saying goodbye to other people...or its just who i am and who i have always been...saying goodbyes being hard.
Anyways, guess what? Im actually getting tan here!!! haha, i have a tan line from my toms! The beach is right down the road, and we live right by the main part of town! So we walk a lot. Oh another thing, my feet have been so bad here! They have just hurt worse than they have my whole mission! Swollen and hurting, oh well though!
anyways, tomorrow we go to stavanger for Zone leader training, and I am SOOO excited!!!! :) I LOVE it there!
So this week we did A LOT of contacting! We got pretty sick of it, even though I love it. We met with a couple of less actives, and that was good! And we ended up making 2 appointments with formers from the area book! We actually ahve 2 area books...one FULL of formers! And we finished them yesterday. Oh another thing! We are only 45 minutes from denmark by ferry!!! haha, too bad we cant go there for pday. :)
We also had a new member teach. Søster Johnson and her old companion got a baptism a little bit ago, his name is peter and he is from nigeria! anyways, we went to a members house and they taught him a lesson which was cool :) Then guess what? SUPER EXCITING NEWS! :) We had a teach with this man named David yesterday after church. He is a referral from PETER! The new convert! Haha Peter was so funny, becuase he asked, after he had referred david, if that was okay to do that. That although he isnt a missionary like us, he can do missionary work. We were like, YES!!! YOU CAN DO THAT!!! Haha, so the other sisters taught david the first lesson and reviewd it, so yesterday we taught him the second lesson. And guess what!? HE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED!!!!! :) He told us before we taught him, and he told a lady in the ward too. He told us, "I KNOW this is the true church! I know it!!!! And if it isnt true, you WONT SEE ME HERE AGAIN! But I KNOW its true!!!" It was so funny, earlier during church he told us flat out that he wants to be baptized! He did some hand motions to show what it was and said thats what he wants! SUPER EXCITING! So We have a date set for August 31st! He is from Nigeria and is such an awesome man! He is hilarious. He told us something like this, "We just pray everywhere! Always thanking God for everything he gives us. Im sorry to say this, Im really sorry to say it, but even when Im in the toilet, i just pray and thank Him for the things I have! I do!" HAHA! Such a nice funny man. Super random, but also, Peter taught us how to say How are you brotha/sista in Ikka, which is his language in nigeria... ANI WENA? :)
So a couple mornings ago, i woke up to sister johnsons alarm and then i heard a roaring noise outside. So I went and looked out the window and it was POURING RAIN! And there was thunder and lightning and I just LOVED it! :) We also went to the bishops sons baptism. It is so cool that whatever language it is in or wherever in the world it is, I feel the same good feeling. When he recieved the Holy Ghost, I felt the same feeling I have my entire life when I am present for a confirmation. It was just so cool :)
Church was GREAT! IT is a tiny tiny tiny ward, but i think i like it better that way! Elder Torjeson, our district leader, is from here...and so i got to meet his family and that was cooL! Haha I already LOVE this ward and am so excited to work with them and get to know them better :) Being here is deefinitely another trial...another thing that is going to make me stronger. But I know it is just making me a better missionary! This past week has definitely been a test of my humility...but that is okay. Itll just help me be better!
SOOO crazy how trials can help make people stronger. I prayed for a better love of the scriptures and what did i get? I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES SO MUCH!!! I prayed to have more sincere prayers and what did I get??? SINCERE PRAYERS! I prayed for so much and Im recieving it through trials. I dont like the trials at all...haha but I know it is going to make me a better mom and missionary and person. It is so cool to think about....everything I am going through, is shaping me into the Godess I can potentially be in eternity. I read a talk this week that was definitely personal revelation. It is a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (of course) and it is called "Cast Not Away Therefore Your Confidence." Theres a paragraph that really stood out to me in it and it says, " After you have gotten the message, after you ahve paid the price to feel His love and hear the word of the Lord, go forward, Don't fear, don't vacillate, don't quibble, don't whine. You may, like Alma going to Ammonihah, have to find a route that leads an unusual way, but that is exactly what the Lord is doing here for the children of ISrael, Nobody had ever crossed the Red Sea this way, but so what? There's always a first time. With the spirit of revelation, dismiss your fears and wade in with both feet. In the words of Joseph Smith, "Bretheren (and sisters), shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory!""
Anyways, we are all given our "unique" trials. Sometimes I feel myself wondering WHY ME or WHY THIS TRIAL, and then after reading this I realized. This was my unique path to get the point I will be in the eternities. It is different for all of us. But all of us have the same goal. The same goal to live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and our familes for eternity. I might have to go under a bridge then over a hill and through a forest...and mom might have to go around a lake, over a mountain, and through a jungle. But thats what is going to help us individually get there. Going through a jungle wouldnt help shape me into the person I am going to become, but it will shape mom. Going under a bridge might not be a trial to mom, but it would be to me and it would help me become more like Christ. Every challenge we face is the challenge the Lord knows will help us come closer to Him. I read in the scriptures this week how the Lord has control on how much Satan tempts us. It made me realize how...NOT SMART Satan is! He is helping with the plan. Without trials, we wouldnt know the sweet sweet tasee of fruit! Anyways, I hope that made sense!
I really miss you all SO much. I know that we'll see each other soon, but I miss you all.
Your all in my prayers and I think about you all the time.
Love, Søster Chapman
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Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Transferred!
hei famile!
guess what!? I got transferred!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am in the California of Norway! KRISTIANSAND! It is the southest area for missionaries, and it is just a sisters area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is actually a senior couple here too, but no elders! And the senior companion in our companionship is Søster Johnson, she was in the MTC with me - in the other district! WAY cool that were together! :)
There are 3 companionships that are like this now, 2 of us greenies together, and were one of them! :) So I found out on Friday morning and left last night, by myself, on a train! It was a little scary, because I was alone and had my whole life in 3 heavy suitcases, but it all worked out!
Søster johnsons last companion is actually on her way HOME now! Crazy huh!? Well I am SO excited to be here!!!!! Kristiansand is where everyone wants to go, i heard :) It is green and the dialect is pretty! And what makes this cool too is that I am still in the same district! They closed an area, that used to be in K-sands district, so now were in stavangers district! So we will travel to Stavanager for Zone Leader Training...oh and Zone Conference is combined with the North Zone next month...and so were all meeting up north in trondheim!!! Im way excited!!!! :)
This week in Stavanger was way cool! We met with a girl, Mina`s friend, named veronica, who we ahve wanted to meet with for a while now! We actually taught her 2 lessons!!! And so now shes an investigator! The work is just going to take off now, because we also got a man to church that walked up to us at the busstop!!!
I am really going to miss stavanger. Last night before I took off, 5 yw came to the train station to see me off.
Annett, the one that i sent a pic of me and her to and said az would love her, made cookies for me and gave them to me :) And Mina Steffonson told us yesterday at the train station that she is starting her papers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She started them yesterday after I left :) She is 22 and had gone on contacting splits with us. I just love her so much and I am SO glad she is going!
It was soooo sad to say goodbye to those yw yesteday, then to the elders, and to my companions.
Ughhh i just cried and cried. okay, not sobbing, but it was really sad. Ingrid, Mina, Trina, Lin, and Annett came. And Minas, trinas, and lins mom was waiting in the car becasue she couldnt park it so i went ou thtere and said goodbye to her. ther efamily, minus mina, had gotten home from the ward temple trip a few hours earlier and still came to say goodbye. I LOVE that family! Anita, there mom, was totallly like my mom here. When we all come to visit norway we are going to come to stavanger and you will all just love them. Anyways, although it was SO sad to leave, I am SUPER glad to be in Kristiansand! Elder Torjeson, our district leader, is actually from here and I love his dialect! and I can understand him easier than people from stavanger . So Im really excited :)
It sounds lik eyou are all doing great! I pray for you all all of the time and I am so thankful to have you all as my family.
Let me think if there is anything else...OH! Su, a new convert as of a little more than a year ago, is so sweet! She gave the other sisters things for there birthdays, but berfore i left, she gave me earrings for my birthday haha and she gave us all matching pins. She is the one from berma! Ah i just love Stavager. But even though I have only been in Kristiansand for a few hours, i think im goin gto love it! The apartment is SUPER cute and modern! (NOTHING LIKE THE STAVANGER ONE haha) And there is only 2 of us :) Ill send pictures next week, i havent taken any yet! But also, there is a Center here in sentrum! Which is SO GOOD! And our apartment is super central. Unlike stavanger. Im just gonna love it here :)
Anyways, i love you all so much! I hope you are all doin ggreat!!!!!!!!!
BTW, here is my new address!!!!
Festningsgata 47 #210
4612 Kristiansand
Norway
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guess what!? I got transferred!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am in the California of Norway! KRISTIANSAND! It is the southest area for missionaries, and it is just a sisters area!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is actually a senior couple here too, but no elders! And the senior companion in our companionship is Søster Johnson, she was in the MTC with me - in the other district! WAY cool that were together! :)
There are 3 companionships that are like this now, 2 of us greenies together, and were one of them! :) So I found out on Friday morning and left last night, by myself, on a train! It was a little scary, because I was alone and had my whole life in 3 heavy suitcases, but it all worked out!
Søster johnsons last companion is actually on her way HOME now! Crazy huh!? Well I am SO excited to be here!!!!! Kristiansand is where everyone wants to go, i heard :) It is green and the dialect is pretty! And what makes this cool too is that I am still in the same district! They closed an area, that used to be in K-sands district, so now were in stavangers district! So we will travel to Stavanager for Zone Leader Training...oh and Zone Conference is combined with the North Zone next month...and so were all meeting up north in trondheim!!! Im way excited!!!! :)
This week in Stavanger was way cool! We met with a girl, Mina`s friend, named veronica, who we ahve wanted to meet with for a while now! We actually taught her 2 lessons!!! And so now shes an investigator! The work is just going to take off now, because we also got a man to church that walked up to us at the busstop!!!
I am really going to miss stavanger. Last night before I took off, 5 yw came to the train station to see me off.
Annett, the one that i sent a pic of me and her to and said az would love her, made cookies for me and gave them to me :) And Mina Steffonson told us yesterday at the train station that she is starting her papers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She started them yesterday after I left :) She is 22 and had gone on contacting splits with us. I just love her so much and I am SO glad she is going!
It was soooo sad to say goodbye to those yw yesteday, then to the elders, and to my companions.
Ughhh i just cried and cried. okay, not sobbing, but it was really sad. Ingrid, Mina, Trina, Lin, and Annett came. And Minas, trinas, and lins mom was waiting in the car becasue she couldnt park it so i went ou thtere and said goodbye to her. ther efamily, minus mina, had gotten home from the ward temple trip a few hours earlier and still came to say goodbye. I LOVE that family! Anita, there mom, was totallly like my mom here. When we all come to visit norway we are going to come to stavanger and you will all just love them. Anyways, although it was SO sad to leave, I am SUPER glad to be in Kristiansand! Elder Torjeson, our district leader, is actually from here and I love his dialect! and I can understand him easier than people from stavanger . So Im really excited :)
It sounds lik eyou are all doing great! I pray for you all all of the time and I am so thankful to have you all as my family.
Let me think if there is anything else...OH! Su, a new convert as of a little more than a year ago, is so sweet! She gave the other sisters things for there birthdays, but berfore i left, she gave me earrings for my birthday haha and she gave us all matching pins. She is the one from berma! Ah i just love Stavager. But even though I have only been in Kristiansand for a few hours, i think im goin gto love it! The apartment is SUPER cute and modern! (NOTHING LIKE THE STAVANGER ONE haha) And there is only 2 of us :) Ill send pictures next week, i havent taken any yet! But also, there is a Center here in sentrum! Which is SO GOOD! And our apartment is super central. Unlike stavanger. Im just gonna love it here :)
Anyways, i love you all so much! I hope you are all doin ggreat!!!!!!!!!
BTW, here is my new address!!!!
Festningsgata 47 #210
4612 Kristiansand
Norway
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Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Hei familie!
So this week was just full of miracles! This week could potentially be my last week in Stavanger, but we will see :) transfers are next monday!!! Super crazy!
But lets see what I want to start with. So last monday, once pday was over, we decided to go contacting instead of to FHE with the YSA. I told mom the first story, but i'll shorten it for you all, so that i have time to send pictures, etc. But we were talking to a man, who wasnt that intersted, and a little african walked up to us and asked if we were mormon, and then flat out said, "can i have your book?" Were going to hopefully meet with him this week! haha! He had talked to missionaries in trondheim, so thats cool! So that is what started our miracles! We wanted 2 appointments, and that is exactly what SIster mourik and i got, before even walking around the pond once! hmm...either two apps or 2 numbers...i dont remember exactly what the goal was, but we got it! :) (didnt get all of the apps to really happen, because they didnt all show up, but we still made the appointments with them) but Then Sister Clark and I talked to two 25ish year old men, and they ended up meeting with us this week! Holy cow it was crazy! :)
So then the next day sister mourik, sister clark and I were wating for a bus. We didnt know this at the time, but we were actually waiting for the wrong bus. But that makes this story that much more cool! We were waiting and all of a sudden this man walks up to us and asks if we remember him, we said yes (i didnt really...kinda recognized...but i thought he was actually someone else kanskje haha) But he started talking about how he showed up to the appointment and no one was there, becuase he had the wrong time and day! But something happened with his phone so we couldnt get in contact. So we rescheduled and ended up meetin with him on saturday! He is man from kazachstan who speaks english and russian. He decided that it was time for him to figure out if God is real, etc. So were meeting with him again this coming saturday! :) WAY cool! So, we also took some girls in the ward out contacting, one of them is 22 and LOVED it! Funny story. We started talking to a man on the bench and he was just in love with Mina. He was saying in broken norwegian, "So..if I liked you (poingin to mina)........or you. (pointing to me...tyring to not make it obvious that he liked mina) could we get married, since you are mormon and i am islam?" HAHA! It was so funny. I tried calling him on saturday to remind him to come to church annnndddd he hung up on me. Haha, oh well :\ Hes just not completely prepared!
So also this week, we got kebabed (what they call it if someone doesnt show up, because missionaries would go get a kebab when it happened haha) by someone. We were on our way home and i saw a man sitting somewhat close to our house. So i contacted him, and he said we could jsut teach him right then! We taught him the first lesson right there, sitting on the ground\grass and got an annen appointment with him! We met with him again, saturday morning at his house. It was all smoky in there, but what a sweet guy. Hes probably in his 60s, lives alone, and is from Iran or something like that. He has lived in norway since the 70s? But he told us he doesnt want to join any religion. Were still going to work with him though :) I guess lots of people say they just want to learn and then end up getting baptized, so well see how it goes! He was going through cigarette withdrawals or something during our lesson though, cuz he was chewing on his finger. Poor guy.
But that was a miracle, because our goal was to get one teach that day, and that person kebabed us, but we still got a teach!!!!!!!!! :) The Lord is so aware of us!
Sister Mourika nd I also talked to some people...super awkward about the Law of Chastity, but we were supposed to meet with them and they didnt come, and then we called again and they are having problems (bf and gf) so were still gonna try to meet with the guy, Magne this week. Also, a man that kebabed us a few weeks ago, called us and told us the reason he didnt come was because he didnt have minutes on his phone to cancel. but still wanted to meet! So we met like....40 minutes later at the libraray! and we got a soft baptismal commitment out of him! (if he knows its true he will be baptized) SO COOL! He said, Nei Takk to get baptized at a specific date at this point, but ill let you know what happens with him :)
So then I got to go to a party! haha
well, a member, who hasnt been coming to church often invited us to her bday party, and then kinda made us feel bad if we didnt come, so i went with the senior couple (splits with sister haugen) and the two other sisters went an app we had, that didnt end up working out. But guess what?? it was a PHILIPPINO PARTY! SO I had delicious philippino food! haha! :) I could not be sent to the phillipines, i would get so fat!!!!!!! But it was cool!
My langauge is coming along, i just LOVE norwegian and Norway is my favorite place!
Anyways, like...no one was at church on sunday because it was a stake temple trip (ward maybe?) in sweden. So it was pretty small :) Anyways, I should go so that I can send pics and stuff. But I love you all so much!!!!!!!!
Have a gerat week! I pray for you all all the time :)
Love, Søster Chapman :)
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Sunday, July 7, 2013
a little late ... but last week's letter & pics! tons of pics!
Hei!!!!
So this week we gave ourselves 2 hours to email because last week was just too short! But oh my goodness. I have such a list to write to you all!!!
This week was THE hardest week of my mission. And I know why. haha Its because i thought of myselft the entire week. I am the biggest most annoying problem of overthinking, and it just went on steroids. I started thinking, ah my family would think down on me if they knew i thought this, or im such a bad person, or oh no is something wrong with me!? And it was honestly just EATING at me! Satan was just KILLING me this week. I dont think i have ever cried more in a week. I fasted twice, and pretty much never stopped praying...well this was part of last week too. Anyways, Satan just knows exactly where to push my buttons! But last night we watched the missionary broadcast - speaking of, they're going to start having missionaries use facebook now and get ipads in some places..cool huh?! - but after the broadcast I was talking to one of our zone leaders named elder burt. He had been having a hard week\couple days too. So we were just talking and he said the exact thing that i needed to hear, adding on to the exact thing that i needed to hear in the conference. In the broadcast one of the apostles said that the greatest most powerful teacher is the mother. Which relates back to my Patriarchal Blessing, how reading the scriptures will help me be a good mother, and so much more about being a mom. And then Elder Burt said something like this, "When we're going through trials we need to step back and look at why were on our missions. And then step back even farther and look at why we are on earth." It hit me right then. I am here on earth so that I can have my own family, and live with them forever. My children are on the other side of the veil cheering me on and crying when im sad and being my guardian angels. Satan tries to blur our purpose. He tries to make us focus on one silly little thing that doesnt matter. But when we step out of the corner of the picture and see the whole thing, Satan has no power. He cant tell us that our purpose is different. Anyways, still trying to get over this overthinking problem. But that is something that really touched me.
I also came to know the Atonement better this week. It is so insane how the Lord works, I had been praying for charity, humility, patience, a deeper love for the scriptures, and more sincere prayer. And guess what I got? Those exact things from this past week! I have never jumped into the scriptures so much, or begged Heavenly Father so much. I have never had so much patience with a trial. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord gives us the things that we are asking for. He will do it in a way that will break us til we are almost at rock bottom, and then will build us back up as better people. It is also so interesting how the Lord puts other people in our lives to answer our prayers. Actually, Elder Burt told me that I said something that he needed to hear too. And we were just talking...not trying to really help eachother, but just discussing. This week I have recieved answers to my prayers through my companions and others and I love that. Also, I came to realize that I wasnt even using the Atonement properly. I was asking for Heavenly Father to take away this problem. Then I realized, I need to ask him to give me the strentgth to overcome this. In Mosiah 25 (?) it talks om the burdens were lighter on the shoulders, and then on the morrow it was taken away. We need to pray for the strength to overcome things. We cant just be acted upon, we need to act.
Last week was cool!!! We had the Midnight Sun thing where we got to stay out til midnight! Well we couldnt the actual night of it because it was sunday but we got to the night before, saturday. We went to a members house, the steffonsons - who i love SO MUCH! And we got permission to watch tangled. So we did and ate candy and played games!!! Ahhh it was so fun!! Then the next day, we went to a ward bbq thing at a beach to celebrate it. we didnt stay the whole time but it was fun :)
We also hiked Preikestolen last week!!!!
AHHHHH!
You will all LOVE that hike when you all come here! it was hard, but the coolest thing ever! Im going to send lots of pictures, cant wait for you to see them! :)
Oh, also last last week I fell of my bunk bed. hahahahaa
I was getting down one morning, half asleep and i tripped off my ladder, tried catching myself with my other foot on the couch, slipped, tried catching myself with my hand, and then hit my head HARD on the hard part of the couch. Anyways, my hand was wrapped for a couple days and my head kinda hurt like a headache in that area at times. But i was ok! haha my hand was bruised, but I know that there were angels there that helped me not get as hurt! My comp Sister Clark describes it as in tangled when flynn rider falls out of the cabnet right on his face..hahaha yeah that was me! I was honestly so out of it, because it was like....630ish and i just laid there, stradling the arm with my head on the couch saying, "sister mourik i hit my head, i hit my head sister mourik, ahhh i hit my head." hahahahhaa anyways, im good now! (:
We also went to the HIlls, an american couple, for dinner last week! SHe dated zach buchanon ahahhahaa anyways, they made our choice of something were missing and guess what we had!? CHICKEN POT PIE! haha and salad and fruit! super deilig! heres a hilarious joke for you all that we told there:
I was like, "why did the monkey fall out of the tree?"
"because its dead!"
and brother hill was like "why did the squirrel fall out of the tree?"
"because it was stapled to the monkey!" HAHAHAHAHA! sorry if you dont think thats funny. I almost died it was so hilarious though! hahahahaha
Another thing that was super funny. I was sitting int he back of the bus by someone i didnt know and my comps found seats together so were sitting togethre. we were about to get off the bus when this old guy started talking to them saying, "Praise the Lord" and stuff like that. He was talking really loud and was drunk kanske??? maybe? haha and so i was just sitting there almost bursting out in laughter because he had his arms around the chair around sister mourik! hahahahaha so then they get off and he sees me coming. He looks at my badge and says, "Jesu Kristi?!" and starts saying the same kind of stuff to me! really loud on the bus!!! hahaha so then he continues to talk to me and asked where im from so i get off the bus with him and hes talking to me and my comps. then he screams "praise the lord! praise Jesus Christ!" again and then STARTS BOWING TO US!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA! I almost died laughing!!!! We left like right after that and had to sit on a bench and laugh for a minute or two. ahhh man it was SO funny! The day that we went to the hills for dinner, earlier in the day sister clark had us all contact alone. So i went up to this older guy and ended up getting his number and an appointment with him! I couldnt understand lots of what he said, but anyways got the app with him! so later before we go into the hills, sister clark is talking to him on the phone and i guess he started going off on how impressed he was with me, that he knew i couldnt understand him very well, but that he was so impressed that i was on the street speaking norwegian doing this! hahah and he said that he would meet with us but if he didnt like the gospel he would take me out for lunch! hahahaha sister clark was just on the phone saying, "yeah, shes a good example." it was funny haha
Oh! also last week a recent convert, su from berma, made us sushi! so we sat on the harbor and at it...ahh it was yummy :) anyways, now that ive written a novel haha OH! wait! last last week we met with a less active named juni. the day berfore we met with her or something, our plans were messed up or something so we went through our area book calling people. We foudn a girl named mai, her sister was a memnb3er but she wasnt so we called. WE got ahold of her, but she said oh yeah, heres my sister! so we made an app with juni. when we were meeting with her she told us a story, that sister clark hd to tell us later cuz we didnt exaclty understand during it hahaha, but she had been talking with her sister about how she wanted to start to go to churhc again...baptist, muslim, or mormon. or something like that. and after she said that, the phone ringed. and guess who it was? US! Everyhting is so inspired by the Lord. Not sure if it was exactly when they were talking, but soon after we called her. Ah, we love Juni.
I am loving it more and more every day here in stavanger. IT is just BREATHTAKING here! Everyday i feel like I thikn about how much brookie would love to live here. our family would fit in perfectly! In a little mustard house with flowers by the windows, just walking to sentrum and buying our delicous food from the grocery store, and eating a chocolate bar on the way home. hahaha i miss you all so much! Just so you know mom, this week I read your letters SO much! ugh this week was hard. anyways, I love you all so much! Life is amazing!
Oh one more thing, sister pace, one of the sister training leaders who travels to see us and go on splits came and that was a great experience! anywhooo, i pray for you all daily, actually like...everytime a pray which is a lot! haha
OH! wait! also, i got sick last last week too. My stomach was just all gross so I had to lay down and sleep for a little :\ my companions made me! haha anyways, im good now. I love you all so much!
Jeg vet at Gud er her for hver av oss. Han elsker oss. Jeg vet at vi kan bo med hver andre igjen, for evig! Og jeg er skjempe takknemlig for det. Vi er her på jorden slik at vi kan komme nærmer til Kristus og bli som Ham. Og jeg er veldig takknemlig at jeg er en misjoner i Norge. jeg er glad i menneskene her!
Jeg elsker doker!
Love, Søster Chapman
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
So this week we gave ourselves 2 hours to email because last week was just too short! But oh my goodness. I have such a list to write to you all!!!
This week was THE hardest week of my mission. And I know why. haha Its because i thought of myselft the entire week. I am the biggest most annoying problem of overthinking, and it just went on steroids. I started thinking, ah my family would think down on me if they knew i thought this, or im such a bad person, or oh no is something wrong with me!? And it was honestly just EATING at me! Satan was just KILLING me this week. I dont think i have ever cried more in a week. I fasted twice, and pretty much never stopped praying...well this was part of last week too. Anyways, Satan just knows exactly where to push my buttons! But last night we watched the missionary broadcast - speaking of, they're going to start having missionaries use facebook now and get ipads in some places..cool huh?! - but after the broadcast I was talking to one of our zone leaders named elder burt. He had been having a hard week\couple days too. So we were just talking and he said the exact thing that i needed to hear, adding on to the exact thing that i needed to hear in the conference. In the broadcast one of the apostles said that the greatest most powerful teacher is the mother. Which relates back to my Patriarchal Blessing, how reading the scriptures will help me be a good mother, and so much more about being a mom. And then Elder Burt said something like this, "When we're going through trials we need to step back and look at why were on our missions. And then step back even farther and look at why we are on earth." It hit me right then. I am here on earth so that I can have my own family, and live with them forever. My children are on the other side of the veil cheering me on and crying when im sad and being my guardian angels. Satan tries to blur our purpose. He tries to make us focus on one silly little thing that doesnt matter. But when we step out of the corner of the picture and see the whole thing, Satan has no power. He cant tell us that our purpose is different. Anyways, still trying to get over this overthinking problem. But that is something that really touched me.
I also came to know the Atonement better this week. It is so insane how the Lord works, I had been praying for charity, humility, patience, a deeper love for the scriptures, and more sincere prayer. And guess what I got? Those exact things from this past week! I have never jumped into the scriptures so much, or begged Heavenly Father so much. I have never had so much patience with a trial. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the Lord gives us the things that we are asking for. He will do it in a way that will break us til we are almost at rock bottom, and then will build us back up as better people. It is also so interesting how the Lord puts other people in our lives to answer our prayers. Actually, Elder Burt told me that I said something that he needed to hear too. And we were just talking...not trying to really help eachother, but just discussing. This week I have recieved answers to my prayers through my companions and others and I love that. Also, I came to realize that I wasnt even using the Atonement properly. I was asking for Heavenly Father to take away this problem. Then I realized, I need to ask him to give me the strentgth to overcome this. In Mosiah 25 (?) it talks om the burdens were lighter on the shoulders, and then on the morrow it was taken away. We need to pray for the strength to overcome things. We cant just be acted upon, we need to act.
Last week was cool!!! We had the Midnight Sun thing where we got to stay out til midnight! Well we couldnt the actual night of it because it was sunday but we got to the night before, saturday. We went to a members house, the steffonsons - who i love SO MUCH! And we got permission to watch tangled. So we did and ate candy and played games!!! Ahhh it was so fun!! Then the next day, we went to a ward bbq thing at a beach to celebrate it. we didnt stay the whole time but it was fun :)
We also hiked Preikestolen last week!!!!
AHHHHH!
You will all LOVE that hike when you all come here! it was hard, but the coolest thing ever! Im going to send lots of pictures, cant wait for you to see them! :)
Oh, also last last week I fell of my bunk bed. hahahahaa
I was getting down one morning, half asleep and i tripped off my ladder, tried catching myself with my other foot on the couch, slipped, tried catching myself with my hand, and then hit my head HARD on the hard part of the couch. Anyways, my hand was wrapped for a couple days and my head kinda hurt like a headache in that area at times. But i was ok! haha my hand was bruised, but I know that there were angels there that helped me not get as hurt! My comp Sister Clark describes it as in tangled when flynn rider falls out of the cabnet right on his face..hahaha yeah that was me! I was honestly so out of it, because it was like....630ish and i just laid there, stradling the arm with my head on the couch saying, "sister mourik i hit my head, i hit my head sister mourik, ahhh i hit my head." hahahahhaa anyways, im good now! (:
We also went to the HIlls, an american couple, for dinner last week! SHe dated zach buchanon ahahhahaa anyways, they made our choice of something were missing and guess what we had!? CHICKEN POT PIE! haha and salad and fruit! super deilig! heres a hilarious joke for you all that we told there:
I was like, "why did the monkey fall out of the tree?"
"because its dead!"
and brother hill was like "why did the squirrel fall out of the tree?"
"because it was stapled to the monkey!" HAHAHAHAHA! sorry if you dont think thats funny. I almost died it was so hilarious though! hahahahaha
Another thing that was super funny. I was sitting int he back of the bus by someone i didnt know and my comps found seats together so were sitting togethre. we were about to get off the bus when this old guy started talking to them saying, "Praise the Lord" and stuff like that. He was talking really loud and was drunk kanske??? maybe? haha and so i was just sitting there almost bursting out in laughter because he had his arms around the chair around sister mourik! hahahahaha so then they get off and he sees me coming. He looks at my badge and says, "Jesu Kristi?!" and starts saying the same kind of stuff to me! really loud on the bus!!! hahaha so then he continues to talk to me and asked where im from so i get off the bus with him and hes talking to me and my comps. then he screams "praise the lord! praise Jesus Christ!" again and then STARTS BOWING TO US!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA! I almost died laughing!!!! We left like right after that and had to sit on a bench and laugh for a minute or two. ahhh man it was SO funny! The day that we went to the hills for dinner, earlier in the day sister clark had us all contact alone. So i went up to this older guy and ended up getting his number and an appointment with him! I couldnt understand lots of what he said, but anyways got the app with him! so later before we go into the hills, sister clark is talking to him on the phone and i guess he started going off on how impressed he was with me, that he knew i couldnt understand him very well, but that he was so impressed that i was on the street speaking norwegian doing this! hahah and he said that he would meet with us but if he didnt like the gospel he would take me out for lunch! hahahaha sister clark was just on the phone saying, "yeah, shes a good example." it was funny haha
Oh! also last week a recent convert, su from berma, made us sushi! so we sat on the harbor and at it...ahh it was yummy :) anyways, now that ive written a novel haha OH! wait! last last week we met with a less active named juni. the day berfore we met with her or something, our plans were messed up or something so we went through our area book calling people. We foudn a girl named mai, her sister was a memnb3er but she wasnt so we called. WE got ahold of her, but she said oh yeah, heres my sister! so we made an app with juni. when we were meeting with her she told us a story, that sister clark hd to tell us later cuz we didnt exaclty understand during it hahaha, but she had been talking with her sister about how she wanted to start to go to churhc again...baptist, muslim, or mormon. or something like that. and after she said that, the phone ringed. and guess who it was? US! Everyhting is so inspired by the Lord. Not sure if it was exactly when they were talking, but soon after we called her. Ah, we love Juni.
I am loving it more and more every day here in stavanger. IT is just BREATHTAKING here! Everyday i feel like I thikn about how much brookie would love to live here. our family would fit in perfectly! In a little mustard house with flowers by the windows, just walking to sentrum and buying our delicous food from the grocery store, and eating a chocolate bar on the way home. hahaha i miss you all so much! Just so you know mom, this week I read your letters SO much! ugh this week was hard. anyways, I love you all so much! Life is amazing!
Oh one more thing, sister pace, one of the sister training leaders who travels to see us and go on splits came and that was a great experience! anywhooo, i pray for you all daily, actually like...everytime a pray which is a lot! haha
OH! wait! also, i got sick last last week too. My stomach was just all gross so I had to lay down and sleep for a little :\ my companions made me! haha anyways, im good now. I love you all so much!
Jeg vet at Gud er her for hver av oss. Han elsker oss. Jeg vet at vi kan bo med hver andre igjen, for evig! Og jeg er skjempe takknemlig for det. Vi er her på jorden slik at vi kan komme nærmer til Kristus og bli som Ham. Og jeg er veldig takknemlig at jeg er en misjoner i Norge. jeg er glad i menneskene her!
Jeg elsker doker!
Love, Søster Chapman
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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