ROLLERCOASTER WEEK

Kjære alle sammen,


This was a rollercoaster week. So many amazingly good things and heartbreaking sad things happened. But we can just start with the good :)
Last Monday we went and taught the Subba family about prayer. It is so hard to teach people that cannot speak english or norwegian that well. They are from Nepal and speak...okay norsk. The mom can barely understand anything. But they are so open and willing. Everyone needs the gospel! We are going to try to use a new convert in Oslo to Skype with us all to translate for them. Afterwards we travelled to Melissas house and taught her and her best friend Tonje. She also made us fårikål! A typical Norwegian dish in the fall. It suited the weather - cold, rainy, and dark. It was such a good time and I just really, really love Melissa!
Tuesday was great also! We had a teach with a man named Håvard in the morning. Im not sure how much I have told you all about him, but I found him my first day at a busstop here in Trondheim. He doesnt look like the religous type. Always wears a hat and sunglasses, dread locks, etc. but he is so great! He had an accident a couple years ago where a steel door fell on his head...he has HORRIBLE headaches everyday. But it depends on the day if he can go out or not. So sad, huh? He is trying to find out where the truth is. His wife is from Thailand and is buddhist, and he has a little son that means the world to him. Odin (norsk name) pågårn (thai name) - is the childs name. Anyways, we taught him the first lesson and showed the Restoration film to him. It went well and he asked to keep the movie! It was awesome!!! then we had District Meeting and later visited a less active. She is an old Norwegian lady named Aud. She is less active because she can barely move around - so sad. She made us smørbrød and herbal tea (it is really norwegian for them to give us a little thing to eat.) this smørbrød had butter, meat, and cheese on it...oh and smørbrød is an open sandwich. Later we skyped with an investigator that is currently living in China, and then we skyped with Mariel! (Melissas mom). This is where my heart just broke. On Sunday she had told us that she would for sure be baptized, because she felt it was right. We started off the skype with "how are you?" osv, and then she looked at us and said, "We have all talked and neither I, Bert, or Melissa, are going to be getting baptized." I was shocked. Sister Oldham thought she was about to say "JUST KIDDING!!!" but that didnt happen. I held in my emotions okay...until sister oldham broke down. After a period of time I had to leave the room to get tissues and literally sobbed. After thinking about it afterwards, it was actually scary. Because we could see and feel that the Spirit was no longer with her. We asked her why and she said that there were things like tithing and fasting (that we hadnt taught them yet) that didnt sit well. Melissa told them about the things we taught her, and the only problem with that was that they probably #1 didnt get the promised blessings and the WHY and #2 probably looked it up on the internett...and that is NOT the place to go. I felt like I had to say something, and asked Sister Oldham to pray that I would stop crying. I opened up my heart about personal things in my life. And Mariel was not very nice. The Spirit was just NOT there, on her end. My heart was broken, and we are sure there is something else that she is not telling us. She told us that she will never say never, but now is not their time. They will keep reading the Book Of Mormon though. So we are REALLY confused. And heart broken. Melissa wouldnt answer her phone or texts from us. It was SO weird and sad, because they were so postive the night before. Sister Oldham and I talked all about it, and we think they might have gotten into and accepted some anti material. Not sure though. Benjamin, our MMK, suggested that we both get blessings so that we can know exactly what to do for them. That night we did. It was a beautiful blessing and Im so so so thankful for the Priesthood. I love free agency and I know that it is necessar in the plan, but it breaks my heart when people use it in the wrong way! Before we got blessings, we visited a man named Rune with Alysha, a member. He has been taught for a while, but this is the first time we met him. It is so interesting how people search for truth. He believes in God, but has pictures of Indians on his walls and had us sit on a mat on his floor. I got a little square styrophom thing to sit on and the others sat on pillows. I also sat right infront of the incense....so by the time we left, I had the smell on me...and it didnt leave my clothes until we washed them! Interesting teach, but I am thankful that Alysha was there! She helped so much with scriptures and teaching.


On Wednesday we had lunch with Majken and discussed and talked about a new convert in this ward. She is so cute and I love her! Later that night we ate dinner with the sisters and a member named Helena Ørndal. Delicious dinner! But BAD idea for Sister Robbins and I to be sitting across from each other! hahaha There was a bowl of white flakes on the table, so ofcourse, thinking it was coconut or something, i put it on my food. Sister Robbins followed my lead and just dumped it on hers. Sister Ørndal then asked, "could you pass the salt?" Sister Robbins kept taking bites of her food and ended up making the funniest face because of the extremely salty chips she ate in her mouth! haha When Sister Ørndal turned around and went into the kitchen all 4 of us started dancing..as I write this it makes us sound super dorky, but it was so funny. You know those times where you want to laugh so hard, but you have to hold it in? this dinner was on eof those, but I laughed out loud at points. We were cleaning off the table and there was a stain from the food next to my place so I decided I would wash it off. I got my napkin, dipped it in the water and started rubbing it. And OF COURSE, the red rose napkins dye stained the white tableclothe red! Oh my goodness I almost had a heartattack and Sister Robbins started laughing. And to make this even better, we decided to sing a song all together for Sister Ørndal...and by the end of the song it was just Sister Roe singing becasue the rest of us were laughing! So funny :) Since the senior couple isnt here yet we have been able to use the car! So we went and tried visiting Sylvie, that I talked about last week, who we banked into, but she wasnt home. We knocked on some other doors and we got a try back! So that was great! we had a Zone Conference call that night and shared the miracle of Sylvie on it.


Thursday after studies, we went to a member, named Jan Erik, to help with service. Majken came with us...but i guess he didnt think we had enough time to help serve him, so we sang songs around the piano, he gave us ice cream and fresh norske strawberries and cookies, and we shared a thought with him. Our MMK has asked us to go around to members and have them fill out a paper with when they are available to help us. So this is a project we are working on now too. :) Afterwards we drove to Melissas house, she hadnt contacted us yet and so we brought her some chocolate and a card. Thought she might be home, but she wasnt. Also dropped off a cute note for a less active, Turid, we cant see right now. We taught Hem and his wife and Inger Helene Jørgensen helped us! We read 2 Nephi 32 with them as they read in Hindi and we read in Norsk. The Book Of Mormon needs to be translated into Nepalese! It would help so much. Then we taught a Norwegian girl named Monja at the church! She is probably about 17 years old, and we met her a couple weeks ago at the bus stop! The teach started off great! My phone started vibrating, but I ignored it, and then Sister Oldham checked hers and Melissa was calling! She had to take it so she did and I taught the rest of the lesson to Monja. It was such a special lesson. I felt led by the Spirit and the things said were what was needed. She said that if she could ask God one question right now, she would asked what has happened to the people who have passed on? I was able to explain that to her and then we watched "Because of Him" (the Easter mormon message) :) It was such a good lesson! Sister Oldham came in for the closing prayer and we got a return appointmetn with her! That night all of us four put on Sister Roes fake mustaches and danced to the Rema 1000 song. I love living with these 3 sisters!
On Friday we did some weekly planning and then went and at lunch with Melissa! Oh! I forgot to tell you how the phone call went. She has changed over night. She isnt sure about it now, more of it not being her time. We went and ate sushi with her in the shopping center and it was so..uncomfortable? I dont know if that would describe it. She is unsure about the Word of Wisdom, but has recieved an answer about this church being right. We are so confused. She tried getting out fast and then we walked her part way to the train station so that she could go to her parents for the weekend. It made me cry, because the Spirit was not with her and she wasnt really the same person! They let fear overcome their faith. I KNOW that we met them for a reason and that this is a chance for them to strengthen their faith to be bigger than their fear. But I also know that all of us have our free agency. It just breaks my heart. The ward is also sad, they love them! After lunch, we had a teach again with Håvard, and Majken helped. He brought his son and told us that he had gotten a few answers from prayer! It was amazing!!! He is acting and showing faith and signs/answers are coming! Thats what it takes!! They had to leave before we were done though, because his son was wanting to leave. haha We taught a Haithan a little later with a member named Wenche and then went out to a Josteins house and taught him. An old sweet norwegian man that seems lonely. But we taught him the first lesson and it went well! He had read the Intro in Mormons Bok and we committed him to read more and he said he might pray! He was glad to hear that we do free service and we would come this week to help :)
Saturday we had sport, and the person that we were waiting to come, didnt show! So we left after an hour (said hed be there between 10 and 12 but didnt come) and it ended. So that was okay. We went and tried visiting Jing, the chinese family, but they werent home either, they told us to come visit later that night. So we weekly planned. That night we drove out to a members house to teach his grandaughter. He wasnt going to say anything, to not influence her, but he ended up sharing his testimony, etc. It was good! And they came to part of church yesterday :) Then we drove to the Hendens, members in the ward, and were planning on just sharing a though, but she made dessert for us! Chocolate mousse and vanille creme with rips berries!!! It was delicious! And they had us eat like...a quarter of the bowl! It was delicious! We all shared miracle stories, and theres is absolutely amazing. He got baptized 25 years after her because of an accident he was in, but ended up living. And then they got permission to travel to england, where their son (who i know in Drammen) had been serving his mission for a month, and he baptized him! it was amazing! We also gave them the Availability forms for the missionaries. It was a good day. :)
Yesterday was a good day in church! We first had MMK, and then church. Håvard came! And Hem, his children, and Rupa came! (to all 3 hours.) Rupa (his mom) cant speak or understand Norsk, but she sat calmly and sweetly and listened to R.S. My heart melted seeing that and that even though she didnt understand, she felt it. Håvard also loved church and how it wasnt just a priest standing up there talking, but members did things! Its how Christ church was, so thats how it is today :) After church we taught the new convert with Majken, named Omar! Then we were supposed to teach Hunk on Skype again, but that fell through...so we ate quickly, and went to a fireside with Clayton M. Christiansen of the 70! (we found out earlier this week he was coming for NTNU (college) to do a presentation about business). It was a great fireside about how to share the gospel! Here are some points he gave on how to do missionary work.
#1 Sometimes they dont have the questions we think they have. Get them to ask THEIR questions.
#2 Many people would be open to the gospel if they could start off by doing service or helping others.
Tonight we are going to go out to dinner with him and his family, and his host from NTNU. The host is going to pay and told us not to look at the prices. They serve reindeer!!! (its like....40 or 50 bucks..) but its going to taste delicious! Im so excited! haha Anyways, then we finished our studies and weekly planning (we were so busy this week!) And then wanted and needed to get a new investigator. So we went out and were walking towards a man we see often. I wave and say hi to him each time we pass. He is a Romanian man, that we think is homeless, that sells flowers on the side of the road. We got to him and he told us to wait. I was having a little bit of a tough hour...and I decided I would try to forget about myself and I knew the Lord would bless me. He came back and handed me flowers from his bucket! It was a tender mercy from the Lord and something I will always hold close to my heart. It has taught me a lot of blessings. Really, a wave, smile, "hi" affects people more than you know. We got to the curch and got a Romanian Book of Mormon, gave it to him, hard to teach becasue of the language, but I could feel the promise that we will be able to discern what they say. he was speaking his language, but for the most part, we kmnew what he was trying to get accross. We will meet with him again tomorrow! I know that the Lord answers prayers. He became a new investigator.


It was a great week!!
I hope your week is great and I love you all so much!
Jeg savner dere!
Love, Søster Chapman :)




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Traveling!

Kjære alle sammen,


Kan dere tro at det er allerede nesten slutten august?! Det var igår at jeg ankommet til Norge...eller, for 16 måneder siden...


Anyways, this week was so good! Even though we werent in our area for 2 days, SO much got done! Last Monday was good. We taught a man named Håvard, that I had contacted while waiting at the busstop for the sisters to get me the first day that I arrived in Trondheim! Later that night we tried contacting a referral, but turns out that both of the people that lived in the house of the referrals were there because they literally were crazy. It is so sad, but he opened the door, made a noise, and walked away with the door wide open. We dropped a card in there and shut the door for him. As a mission, we have been focusing more on using contacting and banking for what they are supposed to be used for. TEACHING. So sister Oldham and I went up to a man and started talking to him, and ended up sitting on his back porch and taught him a lesson. We are going to go back again this week. :) Then we went to Melissas house and taught her and also her parents on Skype. She made delicious apple cake and we taught her parents the first lesson. It went way well!


On Tuesday we didnt have district meeting due to the meetings in Bergen this week. So instead we literally contacted all day. Well, lots of the day. We ended up teaching three lessons on the street and got 1 new investigator from that, who we will be meeting with again on Thursday! We also got a referral and one of the teaches was a member teach, because the wife of a man we saw actually was a member, so she sat down with us and we all talked. Miracles are just waiting to happen!!! That night we had a meeting with the Relief Society President, who has been out of town, and then a meeting with all the missionaries and our MMK.


The next morning we woke up bright and early to catch our flybuss to the airport! Then we traveled to Bergen! Bergen is GORGEOUS! We had a pday with lots of missionaries, playing innebandy, going to Bryggen (the famous area with lots of colored houses), relaxing by the water, etc. Sister Johnson, Sister Robbins, and I went and looked at the houses, went inside a Christmas store, ate some sandwiches and ice cream and relaxed. It was so fun. and so pretty!!! Then we went on splits that night, and tried contacting less/inactive people for the ward. We had cookies to give, but no one we visited lived there anymore. I was with Sister Roe and Sister Hornback. We had made a goal to get 2 teaches.


We were on our way back (none of us have ever served in Bergen) and we decided to split up (still seeing each other, but just so we could contact more people less awkwardly). This week is called Fadder Uka...the week where all the freshman party. It was horrid being in the city. I literally felt so alone and had to get out. I was stressing a little bit, but we ended up finding our way to where we needed to go. Almost to the bybane so that we could get home. We got back together and out of a crowd of people, I stopped one man, and the sisters kept walking. I talked with him and he agreed to sit down and talk, he had the time! So we sat down and I prayed with him and taught pretty much a whole first lesson. He was so nice and open. He had lived in America and told me that he had prayed a lot more there, because of the culture. Anyways, he agreed to take the Book of Mormon and pray about it! And he gave me his number so that the Bergen sisters could call him to meet another day! It was such a miracle! Because I had prayed to Heavenly Father asking for him to help me, I was already scared and weirded out by what was around, and then I got to talk to a REALLY positive person about Heavenly Father and Christ and the truth! Meanwhile, the sisters taught someone too!!!!! It was such a miracle! We reached our goal of two teaches! And what was so special was that earlier, I was thinking of praying again and just asking for 1 teach, but we aksed for 2 anyways and we got it! The Lord is so aware! If you think it and want it, He will give it to you if it is His will. That night 16 sisters slept in the sister appartment! haha, i slept on the floor in the room with the other STLs because we had to get up earlier the next day for a meeting. It was sister mourik, johnson, oldham and I. And I have been comps with all of them, so it was so fun!


On Thursday morning we woke up, got ready, and left. Elder Dyches from the 70s came and talked to the Leaders in the mission. It was SO good. His wife also talked. I love what she said. She talked about how we have so many coaches around us and we need to do our very best.


Anyways, so much to write about it, but it was so good! I loved seeing the Crabtrees again and Sister Frampton and others. It was so great! Then we took a picture all together and had the real meeting with all the missionaries. it was SO good. I love these mission tours. Last year it was Elder Kearon in Trondheim (that is still talked about today) :) Anyways, I love hearing from General Authorities. And we also found out that ALL of us missionaries are going to be going to Oslo for Stake Conference when ELDER BEDNAR comes!!! And then he is having a meeting with us missionaries afterwards! I AM SO EXCITED! It was maybe only going to be the Oslo area and around there, but President got permission for all of us to come! I am SO excited!


Anywho, after the conference we had a delicious dinner and got headed out. (elder årsnes in Tromsø also brought me my things I left in Tromsø, which was way nice) and although Aida sent something for me, it got lost or something and I didnt get it. :( thats alright though. :) There was stress with taxis, but we ended up getting to the airport, and all catching the flight. We flew down to Oslo with the Dyches, President and Sister Evans, and the APs. On that flight, there were so many of us missionaries talkign about the gospel to people. I was going to talk to the man to the right of me, but for some reason, i talked to the younger one on the left. I know why now. There have been very distinct times on my mission when I have felt that I have talked with a person before this life, and promsied them that I would help them find the truth. This was one of those people. I started off talking to him about the language, and it went from a conversation about language to culture, to etc. etc. and to the gospel. I could be myself completely. His name was Kristian and we was 20. Going to Oslo for his girlfriends grandmas funeral. he doesnt believe in God...but it would be nice if he did. At one point after he told me he didnt believe, he looked at me and said, "are you sad?" I dont know what my face looked like, but I believe that it was the Spirit that he felt that made him realize how heartbroken that made me. I hear that people dont belive in God often, but I believe there is a spirit that comes each time someone says that. I said to him, "actually, yes." and then I explained to him that when I need help, or not, I have the Lord with me and my belief. And I wouldnt want anyone to not have that. He didnt want missionaries to visit him at this point in his life, but he took a pamphlet from me, I think the Plan of Salvation, and has my number now. When we got off the plane and sat down waiting for our next, I started crying. Not exactly becasue he didnt accept it now. But because I KNEW I KNEW him and that Iw as supposed to talk to him. I knew how badly he needs this. Ah, it just makes my heart sad.


Afterwards though, we flew up to Trondheim! LONG, GREAT day! We took a train home from the airport and then conked out.


On Friday we did weekly planning and then taught Hem and his wife. We taught them the 3rd lesson with the words in Nepalese from Google Translate. Google translate is not the best...hahaha it was funny, but ended up working well. :) they agreed to be baptized on the 20th of September!!! So exciting!


Then we went contacting...there was no other house we banked on, except for one. It was number 2b. We knocked and a pregnant chinese lady opened with her little son standing next to her. I know we were supposed to knock on their door. We tried going back last night, but are going to go back on Saturday instead, which works better for them. Anyways, it was so led by the Spirit! Then we taught a man Sister Oldham had found from Sudan. Also, earlier in the day, we talked to Melissa! She said, "well before we talk more, my dad had a question. He wants to be BAPTIZED and wants to know if it costs money or anything." WHAT!?!?!??! Ahhh it was so exciting! haha! We explained it to her and she said she would tell him. Such a miracle! And just if you dont know, he was a lot more skeptical last week than the rest of the family...and now he is so much more open! Good day. :)


Saturday was also great! We went to go and visit a referral, who wasnt home. We had some time to bank before the bus came, so did around her neighborhood. We knocked on a door and a norwegian lady came in the middle of eating something, just after getting ready (or in the middle of getting ready haha). We talked with her and she wasnt neutral...but she also wasnt saying no or yes. She agreed with all we said saying that she believed it too. She wouldnt take the Book Of Mormon, but after continuing talking, we asked if we could give her the book and she took it and then asked if we could come back on Wednesday. She didnt give us her number because, "if Im home, im home!" But before we left, as she was trying to shut the door fast, sister oldham asked if we could say a prayer. Sylvie (the lady) started sobbing. She covered her face and just cried. Then said, "bare be." (just pray). So sister oldham prayed and Sylvie said, "I can just feel the positive power." She felt the Spirit and couldnt deny it. Aftwerwards we taught a man named Allen that I had met on the bus. It was interesting becasue it was a week or two ago when I was on the bus, talked to a man sitting next to me, and then had like...30 seconds before I had to get off, felt like I should talk to a man back behind me, and got his number in like...10 seconds. Then we got this apopintment with him! It went well and we are teaching him again this saturday! Then we went to Melissas that night. And got to teach her and her roommate Tonje!








Sunday was also great! We had MMK which was good. It was my turn to play the piano in primary and they asked if we could teach Sharing Time too. She told me the lesson plan right before and I played the piano and taught it! The Lord definitely helped me with that! melissa and her parents came and we taught them after church with Pelle. Bert said he would pray about baptism on the 16th and Mariel said, "I say yes. When I know something is right, I know it." AHHH I LOVE THEM!!! Earlier in Sacrament meeting she leaned over to me and said, "Bert isnt skeptical at all now! It took him one week!" Haha! That night we went out contacting and found a man named Atle. Taught him on the street and got a return apointmetn with him. Then got a come back appointment with the Chinese family, and visited Bestemor. She is adorable and needs to feel love. Thats what were here to do! This week our numbers were OUT OF THE WATER! We got 11 other teaches and 4 recieved referrals and 5 contacted. 4 baptismal dates and so on. We were so blessed! And it wasnt even us! It was the Lord. It is so funny because I feel like I am learnign things now on my mission that I wish so badly I knew at the beginning. But thats just how it goes!


Today we are going to go geo caching with Pelle, Majken, and the missionaries, and teach Melissa and Tonje tonight and eat fårikål with them! It all of a sudden became fall weather here! Not hot anymore, but rainy, dark and cold! I LOVE IT!!!


Anyways, I will send pictures later! I have to go for a little, but Ill send them later.


Love you all so much!!!
Savner dere!
Stor klem,
Søster Chapman

PS: This last picture was taken almost exactly 1 year ago:


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

no pics ... busy week!

Kjære Familie,
Okay, I dont have much time, but I am going to try to write as much as possible about this week!
This week was actually way good!
Last Monday we ate sushi and ice cream with Melissa! It was so fun. It was the first "real" sushi I have had since being in Norway and it was absolutely delicious! (and expensive of course...) We taught Melissa that night, and she brought up the word of wisdom! We committed her to live it and she said yes!
On Tuesday we had district meeting and then met up with a less active at a cafe. We visited Melissa again that night and emptied out all of her beer!!! She is so amazing!!! We have met with her probably almost everyday since we met her!
Bright and early on Wednesday morning we flew to Oslo for Missionary Leadership Counsil that we have each month. Started off with Sister Evans delicious cinnamon rolls and then had a great meeting. :) Elder Bednar is coming to Norway next month!!! (not sure if all the missionaries are going to be able to go yet though...) But thats way exciting! I love being a part of these meetings, talking about how the mission can improve and how it has already improved. Something that we talked about that I believe is so important, is STRICT OBEDIENCE. Sister Oldham and I have been talking about it, and I know that when we strive to be strictly obedient the Lord blesses us with MIRACLES. We flew to Ålesund that night for splits with Sister Shaw and Sister Hornback!
Thursday was full of miracles! One miracle that stood out most was that night (also sister hornbacks birthday)! We were going out to contact, and wanted to both work on power statements. We prayed we would know what to say right whne we opened our mouths and that we could do power statements. There was pretty much no one out...but we followed promptings and til slutt ended up finding a man, teaching him, saying 2 prayers, and getting his number. MIRACLES ARE WAITING TO HAPPEN!!!
Early on Friday morning, sister oldham and I woke up LATE and had 15 minutes to get to the bus that left for us to catch our plane home! We ran, packed our dines in 1 minute, and were out in 8 minutes. Tender mercy: we had 5 extra minutes because the bus left later than expected! We did planning that day, and found out the day before that the bishop got in a bike accident, so insteAD OF our dinner appointment, we made cookies for him and his family and then had game night with lots in the ward.
Saturday we had Sport! And then we taught Melissa afterwards! She is just moving right along! We love her so much!!! We visited the bishops family and brought then the cookies, and taught a lady on a bench on the way. It was a miracle we found her too! because we missed the bus we were in the same place at the right time. We taught Hem and his family that night!
On Sunday we started with MMK, and then church! Melissas parents came and they all fit right in with the ward! It was amazing to see the members take them right in! It was a miracle that in itself, because they live 1 hour and 15 minutes away! We taught them after church and it went well :) We went to a less actives last night, Bestemor, and that was great :)
Well, I have no time, but I love you all so much!!! have a great week and Ill talk to you all next week!!!
LOVE, Søster Chapman :)

Also, we had 2 families in church this sunday! And in Trondheim, total we had 11 in church!!! IT IS AMAZING HOW MANY MIRACLES ARE HAPPENING!!!
love you all!!!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Trondheim Miracles

Min kjære familie,
Denne uka var absolutt vidunderlig. Så mye skjedde! Så mange mektige mirakler!
This week was absolutely amazing! So much happened. So many powerful miracles!
I love Trondheim so much. I love it more and more each moment I experience. Each person I meet, each hard second I encounter, and so on just makes me love it more and more.


Last Monday was so fun. We went to the Domkirke with the other sisters for Olavsfestdagene. It was a big celebration! With sugared almonds, music, booths, etc. It was so fun! Then that night we visited a member named Wenche. (venkeh) We went in to visit her..and plutselig her husband walked around the corner from the kitchen and he was this little Muslin man that looked 15 years younger than her! haha! We were not expecting that. We made it a goal this past thursday to sing to someone everyday this week....so starting on sunday we actually fulfilled this goal! On Monday we sang to Wenche. We sang "Come Unto Christ"...the song for the youth this year. I am so thankful that Sister Oldham likes to sing and make music too. The Spirit is so strong when we can sing instead of say it.


On Tuesday we had our first Distriktsmøte in Trondheim! Later in the day we went to the hospital. Hem, a man from nepal that is going to be baptized, was going to meet with us, but his mom went into the hospital! So we went and sang "Jeg er Guds kjære barn" to them. :)
Wednesday was super good! Remember Melissa? The girl I wrote about last week...when we were knocking on doors and we ended up sitting on the curb with her and the dog and teaching her a lesson? Well we met with her again! She said that she will get baptized when she comes to know it is true. WE LOVE HER! Then a little bit later we taught a man named Hung Dai with a member, and then got to know and shared a spiritual thought with a member couple. We sang "Oh my soul hungered" to them. And shared some scriptures in Enos, which the song is about. I love singing to people! It is awkward when we ask haha but it all goes well. :) We later met with a man named Ahmed on a bench by the river looking out to the domkirke. It seemed as though he has had a hard life...and Im so thankful that we have the opportunity to share the happiest message with him and everyone!


On Thursday we did weekly planning and then went to a park to meet with a man named Mostafa. We werent sure how positive this was going to be, but it ended up being unexpectedly good! He is from Africa and has a strong belief in Christ. The lesson was completely guided by the Spirit :) Later that night we had a teach with a boy named Chris Marco....I think I wrote about him last week too! MMK got cancelled so this gave us more time to teach him! We were waiting around where we told him we would wait...and he wasnt there. He didnt answer his phone and we were about to go back to the church to start splits with the sisters. But I had a prompting..."go look for Chris Marco at the park." I asked Sister Oldham if she thought we should and we didnt really know. I didnt want to walk all the way over there if nothing was going to happen..and I didnt know if it was just me that made up that thought myself. So we prayed. And I still didnt know. So I kept praying to myself and all of a sudden, sister oldham said, "lets just go." So we did. As we crossed the street, the moment we got to the other side, CHRIS MARCO WAS STANDING RIGHT THERE. He wasnt there 2 seconds earlier. The LORD GUIDED US TO HIM. It was such an amazing experience for me to know that the Lord guides us so perfectly. If we follow promptings he performs miracles right in front of us! The lesson we taught at the church was absolutely guided by the Spirit. We taught the second lesson about the Plan of Salvation. He has had some loved ones pass away, and the spirit was so strong as we were able to testify that we will see them again. I hadnt felt so much peace in a long time. You know that feeling you get when you are in a sanna (sp?) and your whole body relaxes? It was a billion times better than that. I felt complete peace and calmness. Angels really were in that room with us. It was also guided by the Lord that MMK would be cancelled! The lesson was SO amazing! It amazes me that a small amount of time can be so important and life changing. After the lesson we sang "Come Unto Christ" to him, and I just smiled as I sang that line...because he really is COMING CLOSER TO CHRIST! And I get to help be a part of his journey closer to Christ. I am so blessed.


I started off on Friday with Sister Robbins on splits. Boy do I love her! We laughed so hard...it was like old times again! haha she is such a good missionary! I cant believe that it was more than 5 months ago that I served with her. We went to find a less active on their list and after searching for a while, we found it! The only problem was that we had to get into the building and didnt know which button was hers to press. So we prayed and pressed random ones. Someone, who we dont know, let us in, and there was the less actives door right infront of us! We tried knocking and she wasnt there. So we wrote a note and ended up running out super fast becasue we heard someone coming down! (we didnt want it to be the person that let us in hahaha) Then we visited one of our less actives. Her name is Turid and her son is named Øyvind. We got in there and asked Øivind what he had done that morning and he told usthat he had been writing and wrote something for us. Okay..it would have been okay to read this outloud with ANYONE else, but if I am with Sister Robbins, we laugh ALL THE TIME! And he handed it to me and of course I asked if he wanted us to read it right then...and he said yes. OH NO! I knew I was about to laugh. So I said I couldnt read right then and handed it to Sister Robbins. She read...and got to about half of the page and i looked over at her and she was about to break! So I said, not thinking...just in panic, WHAT!? ARE YOU CRYING!? hahahaha, oh it was horrible! It was about God and really sweet, so it wasnt because of what it said, just the situation! He wrote a sentence in norsk then translated it to english. Anyways, I got it and as I read it sister Robbins was partially laughing. I had to explain to Øivind that we had been together before and that we laugh all the time together or something. Anyways, that was a disaster. hahaha Turid gave us some norske waffles and then set a branch from her cherry tree on the table and Sister Robbins and I ate a bunch of those! So good! (Mom would have loved them!) Then Sister Robbins and I got some ice cream :) And we switched! With Sister Roe, we contacted!


Then we had lunch, DELICIOUS lamb kebabs, and then went contacting again. :) Then we had a game night and Melissa came! We played Cranium and then went and showed Melissa the "Because of Him" Mormon Message. The one around Easter time. (if you havent seen it, you NEED TO! It is probably my favorite Mormon Message.) Sister Oldham committed her to baptism on August 30th!!! She said, "Jeg vil gjerne" :) YAY!!!!! She is absolutely amazing. She talks to her parents all the time and even got a dutch MB to give to her dad! Her mom wanted her to add us on facebook and they even told her that they think she is on her "right path" or in the right place now! How amazing is that! We found her because we were being obedient and followed promptings! Anyways, she also told us that she was thinking about coming to church on Sunday. She invited herself to church!!!!!!!! WE LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It feels like we have known her for forever. We then sang "Come Unto Christ" to Melissa! We love singing and we love melissa!!!
On Saturday we had some Sport, but our investigator didnt come so we left early. I got a volleyball served at my head and sister robbins had a new convert run up to where she was and take all the times she should have hit the ball hahaha i laughed so hard! Later that day we taught Chris Marco! It was so funny and a miracle...Sister Oldham had just gotten off the phone with the elders asking if they would be at the church at 4 and none of them would, and plutselig the sisters sent us a message asking us if we would be at the church at 4! I thought it was a prank or mistake from sister oldham to me hahaha but we were all there at 4 so we could teach in the church! We talked to Chris Marco about prayer and he ended up committing to pray everyday, which isnt normal for him the way we do it. But we know it will help him so much. He hasnt recieved an answer yet to this being true, but he knows that he needs to just continue. :) That night we went and visited a less active named Inger Jørgensen. (Bestemor) We got in there and she gave both me and Sister Oldham a bag with knitting needles and yarn and then taught us! I love knitting! haha she was so cute! She also showed us her scars and we tried singing "Come Unto Christ" to her and then she thought we were done while Sister Oldham was singing the second verse hahaha, so we just stopped :) I love her so much! She was so sweet and I feel like she just needs love.


Yesterday was a good Sunday! We had MMK over Skype, and then we had church. MELISSA CAME!!! A member thought she was a new missonary and asked us all who moved hahaha She was dressed like a sister missionary pretty much! She loved church. And she loved that it wasnt just one person talking the whole time. Even though some of church was a little bit "deep" she said she liked seeing different peoples perspectives of things :) I was so happy to see members introducing themselves to her! After church she was talking to the bishop and they were talking about working during the summer, which she does, and she said to him, "but next summer im not going to work, but I am going to go and visit these two in America! Ive already decided." (because we had told her earlier in church that we were going home in October.) I LOVE HER! We taught her after church with a member named Pelle! We taught the 2nd lesson and she said that it is happier than what she had grown up learning about. And I think she thinks it makes more sense! It was way good having Pelle on the teach. His conversion story is similar to hers (her story still in the works), but it was way good! In her closing prayer, with all of us kneeling down, she said something like, "I thank thee for these 2 wonderful girls, who are my best friends..." It made my heart grow so much. I LOVE HER! She is truly one of my best friends too. She is so prepared!


A member named Ingrid Jørgensen (a different Ingrid Jørgensen haha) drove us to an appointment about 30 minutes away. It was a GORGEOUS area. Trondheim is beautiful! Sister Oldham told her where to go as I took pictures. And then on the way home, I sat in the front as Sister Oldham took pictures in the back seat :) The teach went well. AWKWARD MOMENT: We got to his house, and saw this huge dog and it started barking. So we all stood there and this man came out. The earlier sisters had taught this man named Morton, so we had no clue what he looked like. And we assumed that this man was him! Sister Oldham asked him if we could come in...and the man said, "...sure..." so we were on the porch petting his dog, doing some small talk, I told him it was us and not the other sisters because they moved...etc. etc. and this man walked by and looked at us and was like, "Im just going to get the mail." We didnt know who that was...and kept talking to this man with the dog. Then the man came back and we shook his hand and he introduced himself. IT WAS MORTON! HAHA! This poor man with the dog had absolute NO idea who we were hahaha! We walked away from the man with the dog without even saying goodbye...it was so awkward! Of course Morton lived around the back of the house on the bottom floor...of course. HAHA! It was a GREAT DAY!
For en FLOTT UKE! :)


Time is flying by so fast. I cannot believe it. I hope you are all having a great August! You know time is flying by when you look outside and you can tell that the days are already getting shorter. Just last week it was way bright outside when we were going to sleep and now, in the past couple nights the street lights are on and do something because of how dark it is getting. I cant believe it! It is going to be fall in no time! (which i am excited about..becauseFall and Winter are my favorite in Norway :)
Anyways, I hope you all have an amazing week!
Next week we are going to Bergen, so we wont have a Pday on Monday. We will just have 30 minutes on Monday to send emails. So I think i am going to spend it writing one family email (most likely not this long...) :) and maybe some short ones to the people that write. Just so you know!
JEG ELSKER DERE!


STOR KLEM,
Søster Chapman


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Min kjære familie!
Det høres ut som alt går kjempe bra hjemme. Jeg har hatt det skikkelig fint her i Trondheim! Selv om det er ganske varmt og fuktig. Det er så mange mirakler som vi må finne!
This week was pretty eventful. On Monday ( I was still in Tromsø with Sister Rupp ) And we went to the Reynolds house and played in the playground with the kids :) Good pday!
On Tuesday we taught Kim and William, the two Ugandans that have baptismal dates! It was fun to teach them and talk about Joseph Smith. I love showing The Restoration, the one part that I love most is when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir starts singing "Oh How Lovely Was the Morning" and he goes out into the grove to pray. Thats the part we showed them. The Spirit can be so strong during that. Then we had the Norwegian class and I learned a few greek words from some of the students :) I love being in Norway because we literally teach the entire world! Then we had Enrichment! We made birthday cards for the primary :) They were so cute. The members in Svalbard, well the wife, taught the lesson over Skype and then we gathered around the computer while making the cards to talk with her as we made them. We also had treats after and there were a good show of people! Janne (eternal investigatr that is pretty much a member but hasnt been baptized), Lil, Sister Reynolds, then us missionaries and Sister Gerez on Skype. :) Tuesday was a good last day in Tromsø! We also had to finish packing later that night and get everything ready to go. Sister Rupp was going home and I was heading to Trondheim!
The next morning we woke up and finished all the last minute things and put our luggage in the Crabtrees car and caught the bus to the airport! Sister Rupp and I both flew to Oslo, then we said goodbye, when she went to the left to stay in Oslo for a day and I turned to the right to get on a connecting flight to Trondheim. I was nervous and kind of stressed about thigns. But I prayed and sure enough the Lord answered my prayers. There was always enough room for my carryon! My bags were exactly the right weight or a little over and they didnt make me pay extra. The bag I had to pay for was 200 kr less than i thought! The Lord really passet på meg.


When I arrived in Trondheim a nice man helped me with my bags to the airplane bus...(flybuss) and then I waited for the sisters at the busstop. They had to go get Sister Oldham from the trainstation first. It was so good to see them all! I living with Sister Robbins now too!!!! IT IS SO FUN! I missed her so much. We contacted to get Sister Oldhams bus card refilled, and contacted more and ate dinner that night. Its crazy becuase we are starting from the basics. Needing to read what the other sisters left us and get to know the town and people. Luckily we have SIster Roe that is Sister Robbins comp that has been here for 2 or so months. We saw a miracle that night. After we got out of the place to refill sister Oldhams bus card, we stood around it talking to people. Those people werent very positive, but it is because we talked to those pepole that the timing was right and we met a girl that the Sisters had visited before that is the sister of an investigator we have that is going to get baptized!!! It was such a miracle! We got an appointment with them later in the week :) It is also such a tender mercy that I was here a couple weeks ago for a few days so that I am a little more familier with the city! It was such a tender mercy to have gone from the airport to the busstop in the city, because I knew what I was doing and wasnt nearly as stressed.


On Thursday we did weekly planning and then went and visted a less active we have on our list. Her name is Turid and her sons name is Øyvind. She made us norske vafler and saft and we sang to them! Sister Oldham and I both love to sing so we made a goal to sing to someone everyday! We havent done it everyday yet...but we are going to try! We visited another less acitve that night and sang the same song "Lord, I would follow Thee" på norsk and then gave her the words because she like them a lot. :) I love singing, and I believe it really brings the Spirit!


We saw SO many miracles! We were in the church and decided that we could either contact or go inside and do more weekly planning. We contacted. With the guidance of the Spirit we turned towards a girl riding a bike...and guess who it was? It was the sister of our investigator we saw the day before!!!!! And I even saw her on Friday too! Afterwards, we saw an investigator that I had tried visiting with Sister Burns when we went on splits! And THEN (really, this is just miracle after miracle after miracle!) we were walking and saw a man and son almost running with a broken suitcase and bag on top of it trying to get home. We helped them home and as soon as they got inside the building, children ran down hugging their dad! It was so cute. Its a language barrier and we are not sure if we will teach them, because we asked if we could come back the next day and did, but the mom didnt seem so interested (mostly the language problem) but we gave them a picture book :) It was such a miracle! AND THEN we were going down the stairs and guess who lives in that exact building? HEM! You dont know who that is..haha, but it is the investigator with the baptismal date, the sibling of the girl we kept seeing. Oh it was such a miracle! He wasnt home so we left a note. :)


On Friday we tried visiting that family, but it didnt really work out very well. We will be bringing a book in their language that we are going to try to make at some point. But then we met with 2 people from Uganda. This teach broke my heart because he was not ready and told us that, and the girl told us that she had seen Joseph Smith movies, etc. but doesnt have time to come to church or meet with us, but she knows he is a true prophet. Oh it hurt my heart...but they will be ready one day! That night we went out and tried visiting a less active, but instead decided to bank. Well, we had to catch a bus to get home by 9, but really wanted a teach. We prayed and decided to show faith that we would get a teach and be home by 9:30. So we went and tried knocking on doors. No one was interested. We were about to go back to the bus to catch the one that came home at 9...but talked to a girl walking a dog first. It took like...5 minutes to get this dog to settle down! It jumped out of its collar and was going crazy. Finally sister oldham was on the ground petting it and the lady was also sitting on the ground. So we talked with her and ended up teaching a lesson right then and there. We are going to meet with her again on Wednesday! IT was such a miracle! She is originally from the Netherlands but has lived her for about 8 years. It was an amazing miracle and she is so prepared!!!


Saturday, we had sport and a family from Stavanger was visiting! So good to see them. :) And then Sister Oldham and i went out banking in kind of the same area as the day before. This was kind of a tough day for me...okay pretty tough. I had people on the street insulting my norwegian and i just got fed up with it...BUT we got 2 referrals from a boy whose house we knocked on! And then we went back to the city and taught a boy Sister Oldham had talked to on the bus the day before. His name is Christ Marco. We went and sat on the grass in a park and taught him. Boy has he had a hard life. But he believes in God and we are going to teach him again this week. It is so special to be able to bring the HAPPIEST message in the world to people! That Jesus is the Christ and our Savior and Redeemer and that the ENTIRE truth is here today!!! We went out contacting that night and I was still having a tough day. Sister Robbins had tossed me a small chocolate bar before going out and I was carrying it. I dont know why I didnt just eat it or put it in my backpack...but there was a reason. We went over to a man surrounded by little children playing around him. (they were all from the Middle East) and we wanted to talk to him, but he didnt really understand. The children did though! I was going to give him a card, but instead all of the children saw the cards I had and wanted one. There were probably 11 or so! And I gave a church card to almost all of them. And then they saw the chocolate bar and they asked me for it! haha, so I gave it to them and the other children told me I was the one that had to break it up for them to share. I opened it and it was starting to melt and one kid grabbed it and started licking it! Hahaha he gave it back and I broke it into pieces and gave a piece to each of the kids. The same kid that licked the chocolate took the wrapper, licked it and gave it back to me...hahaha. I know this doesnt sound like some huge miracle. But it was a huge tender mercy for me. The Lord was watching out for me and it made me feel so happy to see those kids so happy. :)


Sunday was church! My first sunday in a ward for a couple months! Most of the ward is on vacation...becasue that is what they do in Norway haha :) But we were able to meet some of them, and visitors! Out of 8 missionaries, 5 of us were new coming in. So they had all of us bear testimony and introduce ourselves in Sacrament Meeting. :) I already love this ward and this area! Sister Oldham is also so great. I am so glad we get to serve together. I felt before we got here that it was going to be good. :) We have the same goal and the same desire. I am really excited to see how this transfer (or 2) goes!!! It is already FULL of miracles! Aftwer we bore testimony, the man leading (not in the bishopric...they were all gone!) said that we were expecting a lot so they were going to have to keep up that standard! Later in the day we went and visited an investigator named Aref. And then we visited Urmilla (Hems sister) and her mom. Her mom was sick and she also had a friend over. We sang "I am a child of God" to them and taught about the Book Of Mormon. And are going to meet with them all (including the friend) this week. :) It was so funny, this happened a few days ago, but Sister Oldham called a less active couple, and the Spirit definitely guided her to say this, but I thought it was hilarious! They are really musical and she told them that we are practicing a song and we want to sing it so someone so that they can help us with it, and asked them if we could sing it for them! haha, so we will be doing that to go visit some less actives! We printed off some songs last night and to finish comp study practiced those. I love music and it has become more of a way I feel the Spirit since Ive been on my mission. :)


My health is doing better. I am pretty sure it is just stress. I am working on not being as stressed, so dont worry about me! I will be okay. :) The Lord is watching out for me!


I love you all so much and I will send some pictures in a little bit! We live SUPER close to the domkirke (remember the picture I sent last august of me in front of a huge gorgeous church? thats the one!) and right close to the river. :) I have been so blessed to be by water my whole mission! (not like its hard to be in Norway) ;)
jeg elsker dere!!!
xoxo
love, Søster Chapman


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:HAPPY!

GREAT WEEK

Good week! :)
Dear family,





WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE!? (just so you all know, I havent moved to Trondheim yet. I move on Wednesday! I just got to find out early.) But this week has been full of packing, trying to get rid of stuff, and seeing my companion pack for going home. She is done with her mission! And you know what that means? I am in the next group to go home....weird!!! Time is going so fast!
This week was SO good! Miracles happened and we were so blessed!!!
I sent a couple of pictures from last pday, but I will explain more now :) We went up to a Cable Car like thing...called the fjellheis. It takes you up the mountain so that you can see the entire island and around it! (its on the actual land, not island). And it was absolutely gorgeous! The Lord blessed us with perfect weather! We hiked around, took lots of pictures, there was still a patch of ice/snow that I sent a pic of last week! And we hiked around a little bit! The Crabtrees took the fjellheis back down, but we hiked. It was pretty steep but so beautiful! We taught a lesson to an amazing investigator named Taridzo from Zimbabwe! He is so cool and so humble. He believes strongly in the Bible, but is so open to there being another book from God. He sees how it matches up with history and with the things written in it. I really just want everyone to just TRY this. Just TRY THIS EXPERIMENT to see if this is true! It wont hurt! I know that if we try, read, and pray with a sincere heart and real intent, ALL will come to know that IT IS TRUE and that the fulness of the gospel is on earth today! The entire, amazing truth is here!





On Tuesday we had District Meeting on skype with the Alta Elders, and then we ate lunch that Sister Crabtree made afterwards :) We taught a man named Espen, a film producer...or something like that. This was an awkard teach...i really dont like awkwardness...but it happens! That night we were inside doing some weekly planning (preparing for the elders to take over our area) and it started pouring rain. There is also construction going right by our house, so we heard some loud banging and thought it might have come from that, but it was THUNDER AND LIGHTNING! That is not common in Norway! It was so exciting to have a huge storm! (tender mercy for sister rupp in her last week in Norway :) And so we went out and got DRENCHED!





Earlier that day we went out banking. It amazes me how much the Lord directs our paths. We got led to a door on a huge appartment complex (i had read dads story about the ankou family (?) I cant remember the name, but when he knocked on lots of doors and then found this family and baptized them later, to sister rupp this week...and we wanted to go to an appartment complex!) So we knocked on a door and this lady answered it. She just said, "Det er en skikkelig dårlig dag!" (its a horrible day!) and closed the door. She needed something. So we got out a MB, highlighted a couple verses, and wrote a note on a sticky note and left it outside of her door. I know it will help her, and I hope she calls us or gets in contact with the church soon in her life!











SUPER funny story!!! So, during the thunder storm, we didnt really know it was thunder yet, Sister Rupp saw the man that lives across from us. We call him Billy Mac...dont know his name and we have never talked to him. We love him though! Sister Rupp wanted to get a video of him...HAHA! This sounds so awkward. And it is, the story is hilarious! So she was hiding, trying to video him in the corner of the window...and he had left and she was just talking into her camera waiting for him to go to the window again, and all of a sudden, he opened the door and looked right at her!!! HAHA! She got it on tape and we both just died! She said, "I HAVE TO TALK TO HIM!" Because if she didnt it would have been super weird. So she went out on our balcony and asked if it was thunder. ...nice cover up. It was a tender mercy! HAHA! Oh it was so funny!


Wednesday was a super good day too! We went out on a walk on a dock that morning and saw, starfish and fish, and probably some jelly fish too...but we saw OTTERS! One just ran across the dock we were on and we followed it. It looked kind of like a river otter...i dont have that good of a relationship with them...but this one was a weird little otter from the ocean that lives under an old shack at the end of the dock! It was crazy, and of course we didnt have our cameras and havent seen them since. :/ We did weekly planning most of this day. We had to write out all about our investigators and the area for the elders coming in! We had some appointments fall through, and then went out that night and contacted. On Thursday we did some more weekly planning and taught Lena at the church! It was so nice to be able to talk to her once more before we leave. She is so great and we were able to talk to her about families. :) I love her! A little later we talked in the hallway with 2 converts (both from Congo) about missions. They can go on missions now and we committed them to continue praying and to start praying to know if they should go. It was awesome to talk to them about how amazing missions are! We had the Norwegian class, and then met with Taridzo. And then a man named Kim that we had met 2 nights before! He is A MIRACLE! He is from Uganda and we talked with him, he called over his friend (brother) and we got an appointment. He used to be muslim in his land, but wants to know about Christ. He said that the only things that he knows or has heard is that Christ is the Son of God and that He died for us. It was humbling to be able to teach about just WHO Christ is. For the closing prayer I said a few words and he repeated after me, like we do in primary. That is a moment I will never forget. He is coming to know his Savior and I get to be a part of it. :)


Tangent I want to go on: Something that I have learned this transfer is that it is hard to show everyone your love. I feel like my love has grown tremendously on my mission, but I have also realized that some people dont feel it. And the way I show it doesnt mean much to them. That has really made me sad in the past little while. There are some sisters in this zone that I truly LOVE so much and they dont really believe it or feel it and it breaks my heart. I didnt ever really think about that before...but it makes sense. Because Jesus Christ, with PERFECT love, was rejected. People refused to feel His love. It just hurts so bad. I have also thought a lot in this past while about my future family. I am thankful that I will be able to have a family to love and I truly believe that they will be able to feel how much I love them. That is my greatest desire on my mission, to help people feel the Saviors love (and to bring them to Him through baptism of course).


Friday we went out banking. We also were able to get a bag of candy and everytime someone answered their door and we talked to them, we ate a piece of candy :) haha We met with Bari and Marzie aftwerards and Marzie is going to be baptized on August 30th!!!!!!!! SO exciting! Bari is a less active from Afghanistan. They both used to be Muslim. And she believes in Christ as Gods Son now. :) Ahhh I LOVE them! We met again with Espin that night and then with Kim again!!! William came this time and we talked with them about Christs life in more detail, going through pictures and scriptures. They are both going to be baptized on August 30th also!!! Such a MIRACLE! William is Christian and wants to know how to live. It realized a little earlier in the day that Sister Rupp had lost the key card to the church...and we couldnt find it...so after the teach, the Crabtrees drove us to Bari and Marzies so that we could see if she dropped it as we to the bus. The Crabtrees that it was useless, but didnt tell us that, but that is what they were talking about when we got out to look for it...and all of a sudden they saw us both start jumping up and down and waving our arms! We found it! It was a miracle! It was run over and got a little cracked, but it still works! It was so exciting! This was a day of MIRACLES! :)
Saturday we went to Kvaløya and decided to go back to a specific house. It was the preacher from a church called Jesu Kirke. we have met like....3 or 4 of the members (out of 30ish) since Ive been here, so we watned to go back to the lady preacher and talk to her. So we prayed and talked about what we were going to say and although we were nervous...we went there! She was outside gardening and we talked for a second...and asked her about her church. She had us come and sit down on a table in her yard and told us. She didnt grow up learning about Christ as a child, and she wanted other children to be able to learn about Christ. That is how the church came to be. It was a tender story. We were able to talk about things that we believe in too, and I think it showed that we really are here to share the happy message about Christ. We actually believe very similarly! I know someday she will learn more about the gospel. :) Sister Rupp got stung by a bee on her foot as we talked with the preacher lady.





We met AGAIN with Kim and William! And we talked about the Book Of Mormon :) Then we went to Lill Kittys house. it was nice to talk with her and then share a message! She really is SO sweet! I love her! At the busstop, we realized that it was saturday and the busses dont come as often. But another miracle happened. A girl named Elie from France came and we talked. She was super interested inthe Book Of Mormon and I gave her one and asked if we could meet. We got her address and email and I really hope I can meet with her before I leave. Im not sure if thats going to happen though. :/ But I talked with her the whole bus ride back to the city and we believe in so much of the same things! She is so cool and I am so thankful that I was able to meet her! There are so many prepared people in the world! The Lord directs us so that we are in the right place at the right time to meet the right people!!! We taught Joseph, who we havent been able to teach for a while now! Nice to see him and then say goodbye. Im sure Ill have contact though!


Sunday morning was MOVES CALLS! I knew what was happening with me...but not positve about my comp and who I would be living with. (there are four sisters in Theim) And I was praying for the exact thing to happen, that is going to happen. SISTER ROBBINS IS GOING TO BE IN TRONDHEIM TOO!!!! Oh I was SO excited! Sister Oldham (from the MTC with me) is my companion! It is going to be so fun! I am super excited! :) We had Relief Society this week and then I gave a talk. Sister Rupp did too. I had a good idea of what I was talking about, but Sunday morning I didnt think that was right. I tried something else, but I was just not finding what it was I should talk about. Finally it all worked out. I talked about how we can write the Atonement more in our hearts. (a talk by Linda K. Burton in 2012.) There was about 30 people in church, some being visitors, Jannes family came, the Reynolds, John, Ole, Lill, Roger, and Kim! And of course all of us missionaries. :) The elders asked me the night before to sing a musical number with them, a surprise for Sister Rupp. We sang God Be With You Til We Meet Again. I didnt get to practice with them, becasue then Sister Rupp would know...but Az would have laughed so hard. They are great great elders...but it was absolutely a wreck. Hahaha it was not tuned exaclty right. I kept singing, but almost started laughing. I looked at Sister Rupp and I almost died. I hoped that it looked like I was going to cry. Sister Rupp didnt see I was about to laugh, so thats good. But I prayed during the song that I wouldnt laugh and I tried thinking of sad thoughts. Oh it was horrid. haha and kind of embarrassing! But hahhahaa oh it was so funny!





After church we had a potluck and it went really well! We got pictures with people too. I just LOVE this Branch and this city!!! We took a bus to Hamna, left a card with a note on it for a potential family that wasnt home and came back and did some more preparing for the elders (both of which I know)!
This was an amazing week! I LOVE TROMSØ!!!!!!!! And I am going to miss it so bad. I was so amazingly blessed to serve here. Really, SO blessed. I know that this is where I needed to be and now its my time to go to Trondheim!
Have a great week and I will talk to you all next week!


LOVE, Søster Chapman :)



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad