"I'm guessing you haven't had much experience with heat...Nope!" ☃️

 Heia alle sammen!

First of all, I would just like to say thank you so much for all the birthday wishes! It definitely meant a lot to hear from you guys! Thank you so much for all the love and support you all show! :)

With the end of October and start of November winter decided to greet us with hail and snow not necessarily falling down... but sideways. Basically the big coat, hats, gloves, scarfs all came out this week. Super fun but not always the most practical when we had 3 hours of nothing to do but talking to people on the street haha, thank goodness for buses:). But just like that the summer blow out has come to an end and we say hello to the winter department! 

- This week we traveled to Oslo again for another meeting (we love meetings ha ha:). It was actually super fun because we got to see other missionaries! Søster Nartker and I had a little mini reunion with Søster Cox and then I got to see Søster Gundersen again:). The missionaries here are just awesome!

- We got to visit one of our friends who just had her baby! Her baby is so cute! We haven't officially started teaching her but we've told her about what we believe and she's super interested to learning more and is wanting to come to church when she has recovered more:).

- Exchanges with the Tromsø sisters! I finally got the opportunity to meet Søster Hawkins in person and it was just so fun to spend the day with her! We got to visit a member which was super fun. Søster Nartker and I also got to be featured in their Julebrus (Norwegian Christmas soda) rating videos with the Hamar Julebrus so that was a party:).

So this week in "Come Follow Me" we got to read more about Mormon. Now I knew before that Mormon had it rough but after reading about his life again and also watching the Book of Mormon video along with the chapters I have gained a lot more respect for him. He was quite literally the only one who believed in Christ and what is really heartbreaking was that no matter how much he tried to help those around him learn of the joy and peace that comes from following Christ, no one would listen. To be honest, at times it has been very easy to feel like this through the mission. I'm walking along the street, knocking on doors, talking to people on the bus trying to share with them the good news and what great joy and peace one finds through Christ and His restored church but they won't listen. It at these times where I think that maybe Mormon was kept there to help those around him come closer to Christ or maybe he was there to come closer to Christ himself. It's the times where you feel completely alone that you more readily notice the quiet, steady, peaceful presence of your loving Savior stand right next to you. The invitation "Come follow Me" was for everyone and guess what...that includes you. We can't control what other do but we can control what we do and I'm choosing to follow Him.

Glad i dere! Hope y'all have a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Matching scripture cases with Sister Gundersen

Exchanges with Sister Hawkins

Dinner to go on the train

Pizza party!

Getting ready to brave the cold!

Mini reunion with Sister Cox

"Fishy! Fishy!" 🐠

 Heia alle sammen!

Sooooo, I got quite the laugh when one of the elders this week said that I reminded him of the girl, Darla, on Finding Nemo 😅. With much respect he did say that I didn't necessarily look like her but the glasses apparently do help draw the parallel which I still don't understand because she doesn't have glasses haha. Anyways, Happy Halloween y'all! 🎃 Here's our adventure this week!

- Exchanges with Alta sisters! Sister Schneck and Sister Matthews got to come and visit us in Trondheim and it was so fun! I got to spend the day Sister Matthews and we had an interesting member visit (haha), help out with språkkafé, and have dinner out on the streets of Trondheim as we watched the huge ferris wheel in sentrum. I just love the Alta sisters and it was just so fun having them visit:).

- Don't procrastinate! I learned that lesson again this week (yes... again) as I finally, after lots of overthinking, talked to a lady sitting across from me on the bus. She was so cool! She is Christian and so I told her that I was a missionary and then she asked if I wanted her number! I think I almost about died haha:). Obviously, I didn't and we exchanged numbers and are going to try and plan on meeting her again sometime:).

- Got to do a scavenger hunt game with the youth around sentrum and then ward Halloween party where all of us missionaries were... missionaries!! 😅 (Yeaaaah not a whole lot we could do for costumes this year:)

- Sister Nartker and I went door knocking this week and in the meantime saw a full, bright rainbow! We couldn't help but just and stand there and stare at it for a couple minutes it was so cool! We then preceded to knock on a door of a guy who was a professor in biology. So, naturally he asked a lot of questions about evolution and where religion and God ties into everything. Let's just say we weren't exactly able to answer a lot of his questions (haha), but he was a nice guy:).

Speaking of rainbows and biology and just the way of life, it just reminded me a lot of one of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon, Alma 30:44. It says, "all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."

Now when we were talking with this guy and tried explaining a few principles of what we believe in he kept coming back to of how it doesn't make sense to believe in God when we just have science. For those of you who don't know, I love math and I love science:). I love learning how so many different factors can be puzzled together in order to make a solution. And as I've learned more and more about all these factors that make up the world, I have come to know my Heavenly Father and Savior better. I think it's interesting when people say it's either science or religion. For me and just like this verse says, everything there is, everything that has been created, plants, animals, planets, the universe, isn't contradictory to God, but is evidence that He lives. And when we look at all these amazing and incredible creations, the most amazing and incredible one that He made was you. He knows and loves you and that's why He sacrificed His son and that's why Christ sacrificed Himself so that we could be with them again. 

Glad i dere! Hope y'all have a great week! 

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Rainbow

We found a friend

Exchanges with Sister Matthews

Fun little lunch break

It's been raining a lot lately

The party bus 🥳 ...also struggle bus 🥴

 Heia alle sammen!

Well, last we had the magic bus and this week we got the struggle bus. This week we got to celebrate Søster Nartker's 20th birthday!! Gratulerer med dagen!! On this fun exciting day we were on the bus and after a minute Søster Nartker decided to change seats because she realized that there had been beer on the seat . So therefore, we had a little bit of a struggle bus this week:). Anyways, here's the week!

- Exchanges down in Oslo! Yes, I know, another trip to Oslo, but it was super fun! I was with Søster Barker again and it was awesome! We got to do some door knocking and street contacting which was good. We also went to young women and young mens and it was so fun because I got to see some of the members I served with! It was so fun! I just love the members:). 

- Got to do some service for a lady this week who we were just friends with and she is just so sweet! After we helped clean her apartment she asked us some questions about what we believe in and wants to learn more! Woot woot!

- Got to help clean out the church this week and part of that was just throwing stuff into a big dumpster. I can't tell you how satisfying that was haha:)

- Språkkafé was so cool this week because a random Norwegian girl reached out to us on Facebook asking if she could come and help out! Of course we said yes and it was so fun! We got to talk to her afterwards and she just expressed how she just loves helping people and it was so cool! Definitely a little miracle:).

Now this week I was reading in 3 Nephi 26 and it's when Christ is telling the people what the name of the church should be. This week, just like every week, I said the name of the church many times. Every time I knocked on a door, every time someone asked me why I'm here, every time someone wondered which church I was from, I said the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Now a lot of times people don't know what that church is until they ask if we are the Mormons. Now I knew that the name of the church was important but I think I realized it a bit more when I read this chapter in the Book of Mormon. In verse 6 is says "And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day." 

Every week in my email I write "Kia Kaha" and "just keep swimming". For those who don't know, Kia Kaha comes from the movie "Forever Strong" and it means to be "forever strong". What I love about this verse is that it doesn't just say to endure to the end. No, it first says to take upon Christ's name and endure to the end. Kia Kaha, just keep swimming, enduring to the end, it is not possible without Jesus Christ. His name holds power. His is the only name that makes being strong to being forever strong and to not just swim but to keep swimming. He didn't suffer infinitely for us to give up, He did it for us to endure to the end and make it back home. 

Glad i dere! Wish you guys a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede 

Pretty scenery

Pday trip to Hell

Language Class

Abandoned Fortress

We got our Christmas tree!

Pday trip to Hell

The Magic School Bus! 🚌

 Hei alle sammen!

Well, "another one bites the dust", there goes another week! It blows my mind how fast the weeks go especially when sometimes the days feel really long, but time is a relative concept at this point haha :). Anyways, this week I said goodbye to Søster Schneck as she headed up to Alta. It was so sad because she had been here for a while and made such an impact on the people here. As she would say, "absolute girl boss!" :) But her and Søster Matthews will be absolutely amazing in Alta! Now we've got the MTC duo back with Søster Nartker! And just like that another start to another adventure, here we go!

- THE BUS IS MAGICAL! I love the bus! It is just so fun to talk to people on the bus and some of my favorite experiences have been with talking with people on the bus, t-bane, tram, etc. This week I had several experiences where I just had such cool interactions with people on the bus. One of which we were on our way to the Purcells and I met a girl who one of her friends growing up was a member! She was from Drammen and had been to the church there and seen missionaries several times around Norway! She was so cool! And then just to top it off, she asked me if we could exchange numbers! Like I said, the bus is magical!

- We also had a young adult dinner on Wednesday which was so fun! We had a lot of the young adults in the ward there and one of the friends that we invited came with several of her friends and it was just such a fun time!

- Had our hiking group on Saturday and there was snow! Yep, that's right y'all, winter is coming.

- Took a another beautiful trip out to Melhus to visit a member and it was awesome :). I just love the members!

So I've been reading along with the Come Follow Me chapters and I really enjoyed reading the chapters this week. There was one part that I particularly liked and it was in 3 Nephi 18 when Christ instituted the sacrament. After the disciples and the multitude partakes of the sacrament it says, "they had eaten and were filled...they did so and did drink of it and we're filled." Now I don't know about anyone else but when I take the sacrament, a little piece of bread and a tiny cup of water, it isn't exactly "filling". So after reading this I'm sure they weren't filled physically, but on the other hand they were filled spiritually. In Elder Christoffersen's talk from General Conference, he talks about aligning our will with the Lord's and it reminded me of something someone once said that when we do align our will with His, we will never be disappointed because His will will always happen. So when we take the sacrament that is not a way for us to reflect, but it's also a time for us to realign and be filled. Be filled with peace, joy, hope, comfort, etc. Christ gave us this time every week to be consistently filled with His love as we choose to align our will with His. He is truly our hope and strength. 

Glad i dere! 

Hope you guys have a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede 

Sister Nartker!

Hiking Group

Volleyball

I just love Fall!

"I don't like carrots" 🥕

 Hei alle sammen!

Transfers! So kind of crazy, Søster Schneck is heading up to Alta! The last two transfers have flown by and we have had so much fun :). I going to miss Søster Schneck so much, but I know that she will be amazing up north:). As for my new comp, I am going to be reunited with my lovely mtc comp! Yep, Søster Nartker is coming to Trondheim! This transfer will be quite the party haha:). But with that being said, here's how the week went!

- Visited the farm again this week! This time we got to pick carrots and it was so fun! The Hegdal family is the best!

- This week we had a first lesson with a lady that Søster Schneck found on facebook! She has friends who are members in Bergen and decided that she wanted to learn more about what we believe in. So we met up with her and ended up giving her a Book of Mormon! We're hoping to meet up with her again and see where things go :).

-Another trip to Oslo! Yes. I don't know how many flights I have been since coming to Norway but let's just say it's been a lot haha:). Anyways, we had an in person meeting in Oslo so we flew down there Wednesday morning, had the meeting, and flew back to Trondheim that night. Don't we love traveling :). But it was super fun to see the other missionaries, especially my two old comps Søster Bell and Søster Gundersen :)! Sadly, I also had to say goodbye to Søster Bell since that was the last time I would see her before she went home (Glad i deg! :). 

- We had such a great lesson with two of our newly baptized members and it was so fun! I just love those two girls! Every time Søster Schneck and I see them, afterwards we are always just saying how cool they are and how much we love them :). They have been such huge examples to me of having so much faith and willingness to follow Christ. 

-General Conference! Saturday morning session/evening session Norway time we got to join with the other missionaries and the young adults in the ward over at the Purcells apartment and it was so fun! We had a delicious dinner before and then watched conference :). 

Speaking of General Conference, one of my favorite talks given was during that Saturday morning session. It was by Elder Karl D Hirst and he talked a lot about the love of God and the power it has in our lives. I came to conference with a lot of concerns, questions, and just a lot of things on my mind and felt that this talk really helped answer some of those. I loved the part when he said to take a step back and keep taking a step back until you can see the stars and realize the magnificence and power of Him who created it all. For those who don't know, I love space! This reminded me of an experience that I had when my family went camping at Capitol Reef. It has one of the darkest skies in the world and so one night we went stargazing and it was incredible. None of us spoke and if we did, it was a whisper. At first we wondered why we whispered, but then we realized that it was because of how grand and sacred that moment was. It was a testament of the power and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Yes, it was the darkest sky, but the light of stars millions of light years away pierced through it all. That is what love of Jesus Christ does. His light is infinite and reaches us in our darkest moments to give us peace and strength. 

Kjempe glad i dere! Hope y'all have a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming :)

- Søster Twede

The Farm:)

Hiking Group

Sister Bell

Hiking Group

Post Sunday General Conference Party

"Oooooh! We're half way there! Wooooh! Livin' on a prayer!" 🎵🙏🏻

 Heisann alle sammen! 

Hump day! Oh my goodness! It still feels like I'm a greenie, but here we are, we have officially hit 9 months this last week . Yeaaaah still trying to process that, but we'll get there :). Definitely quite the highlight when I got a video of my family dancing to Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi though . Love you guys! Well, just like that time flies so let's not keep dilly dallying around and get going with the week!

- BAPTISM! Our friend got baptized this week! Woot woot! On Saturday we woke up to a nice chilly, rainy day which was quite comical because our friend chose to be baptized outside in the fjord haha. But with lots of faith and prayers the rain did stop for the baptism and we got to see a rainbow! It was such a beautiful day and it was so cool to see her get confirmed on Sunday as well:). She is just so cool and amazing! 

- Zone Conference! I don't know how long we took to plan it, but with many prayers it all turned out! It was great to see everybody and just spend time with the zone:). We also got to take exchanges with the Oslo STLs right after and it was so fun! I was with Søster Barker and we got to go door knocking which was actually super fun! We got talking to an older lady who showed us her garden and told us about her life which was amazing! She is incredible! 

Between the baptism, zone conference, and exchanges we stayed pretty busy this week. Through the week though I've thought more and more about how good people are. I know that as we look at news and media, it makes the world absolutely chaotic. But one of the blessings of not really having access to all that as a missionary is that I get to focus on the people around me. That woman we talked to while door knocking wasn't interested, but wished us luck and hoped that we would find someone that needed our message more than she needed it. We also ran into a guy who also wasn't interested, but expressed a lot of respect for what we do and said that everyone needs hope. A lady I sat next to on the plane was so happy and willing to pick up a ticket that someone had dropped on the ground. And the list goes on. It made me realize more of just how good people are. In Matthew 5:14 it says "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid." Yes we are all human, BUT we are also spiritual sons and daughters of God. We were all born with the Light of Christ within us which means we all have the deep desire to do good. Yes, not everyone chooses good, but that doesn't mean we can't. It ain't rocket science to be able to brighten up someone's day. One day for me, it was just a hello and a wave from someone and I felt immediately better from a not so great day. As we strive to follow Christ's example we can help others feel His love and find hope because He is the source of all light and hope. 

I wish you guys a bright week no matter what happens! Glad i dere!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Baptism

Baptism

Baptism-see the rainbow!

Zone Conference

Flight back from Oslo (first sign of snow)

Airport dinner

Elders left their phone, so naturally, we take photos on it!

"And that's the Gospel Truth!" 🎵

Hei alle sammen!

Hallelujah! What a beautiful, cloudy, cold day! After church yesterday we visited a pentecostal church and it was quite the experience 😅 but so fun! It was amazing to see that even though not everyone worships the same way, we all can still be united in Christ :). With that said, let's give a hallelujah and get started with the week! :)

- FALL! I LOVE FALL! This week has definitely started to get a little bit more chill and the trees are really turning colors and I just love fall! At this point, I'm just trying to enjoy it because before we know it's going to be snowing, haha.

- Exchanges with Bodø sisters! Yep we got to have Søster Washburn and Søster Fischer here in Trondheim this week and it was so fun! I got to be with Søster Fischer and it was just so much fun! We had a lesson with one of our friends that got baptized a couple weeks ago and it was so good! We read a chapter in the Book of Mormon and it has just been so amazing to see how much our friend has progressed in just the last month :). We also got to have Bible study with our new senior couple, Eldste and Søster Purcell, which was awesome! Søster Fischer is just awesome and it was so fun spending the day with her:).

- Guess what! We had another baptism on Saturday! A little boy in the ward got baptized and also our friend (who is eight) also got baptized! She was so cute and so excited to get baptized and it was fun to see people there to support. Her parents aren't members but her and her mom have been meeting with the missionaries for a while. So it has been a little complicated, but let's just say there have been many prayers said and we're ready to see how this girl's desire to be baptized can help her family come closer to Christ as well :).

So this week I got to interact with a lot of people from different beliefs, at least more than usual. And it's just been interesting to see how different people choose to worship/believe in order to find peace. It's made me think a lot about how our Father in Heaven feels when He decides to let us go and experience life without a guarantee of whether or not we will find our way back to Him. Now, I am most certainly not a parent, but I can only imagine that that cannot be in any means easy. He knows the truth, He knows the way, and yet He can't make our decisions for us to bring us back safely. He loves us too much to force us into anything, but He also loves us too much to just leave us hanging. I read in 3 Nephi 7:18 and it says, "He had greater power than they for it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words." In today's world, truth is relative and basically just whatever you want, but what stuck out to me in this scripture was that THE one and only truth was so powerful they couldn't deny it. Without one truth we would be lost, but because of God and His plan, there is truth and hope and a way, and that is all through Jesus Christ. We may not always know the answers but we do know Christ and we can trust Him. Kjempe glad i dere! Hope you guys have a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Pday Hike

Pday Hike

Pday Hike

Språkkafé clean up team

Eimon's Baptism

In person District Council

Exchanges with Bodø

"Corn, corn, corn, nothin' but corn" 🌽🦁

 Hei alle sammen! 

Hey y'all! Well we didn't exactly harvest a ton of corn, but we sure did get lots of potatoes! We got to help out at a member's farm again this week and it was so fun! They are just so cool and it is always so amazing to go to their farm and help them out. With that said, here's how the rest of the week went!

Beautiful view from the farm

Greetings from the cows while picking potatoes

So many potatoes

- GUESS WHAT! (Not chicken butt, Dad:) But lately we've been talking to one of our friends about baptism. She's said that she's wanted to get baptized, but wasn't sure about a couple things. So, at that point, we were just trying to figure out how to support her in building her testimony of Christ...then on Friday, we got a text and she said that she was ready to get baptized!! Woot woot! She then came to church and we were able to talk to her more about it and decided that she will be baptized on September 29th! Woot woot! Det skjer mirakler!

- Exchanges with Søster Matthews! It was so fun! They came here to Trondheim and we walked quite a bit in the rain haha:). But luckily, when the rain calmed down we got to go try and talk to some people on the street. We got talking to a guy who we invited to our bible study class. He couldn't come, but he did end up coming to church on Sunday so that was awesome!

Now looking at the week there were definitely a lot of miracles, but I will say it wasn't the easiest week. Sometimes when I write out these emails, I feel like they make it sound like it's all just sunshine and rainbows when it's not. If anything, when we are experiencing miracles is when Satan is going to be doing all he can to bring us down. There was definitely one day this week where my morale was not the greatest it's been and it was not fun. That 6:30am alarm was not exactly my best buddy, but then I was reading in Alma 36. The verse where Alma says that the joy he felt was as exceeding as his pain felt so real. Of course it's going to get hard. In the movie "League of their Own" Jimmy Dugan says, "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great." Alma turned out to be one of the greatest prophets of all time and performed many miracles. Was it easy to get that point? I'm going to say no. BUT it was worth it. And the only way for us to get to that point and experience that exceeding joy is through Christ. He is the light, the hope, and the way.

Wish you guys all a great week! Glad i dere!Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede 

Bowling with our friends

Golden hour as we walked to our lesson

Det skjer MIRAKLER!! Woot woot!!🥳

 Hei alle sammen!

Woot woot! Yep another crazy, awesome, overwhelming, exciting, hectic, miraculous week that I most certainly can't fully explain but will do my best:). With that said... let's play ball! :)

- Jolly Ann ble døpt!!!! Saturday was just an awesome day! We had Jolly Ann's baptism in the morning and it went so well! She is just incredible! The ward was also just amazing and showed so much love and support which was awesome!

- Søster Schneck and I took on teaching Bible Study this week which we were slightly terrified for, but it actually turned out pretty well :).

- We visited a member which was super fun! We didn't know her super well, so it was good to just sit and get to know her and hear about how she ended up in Norway(she is from the Phillipines). On the other hand, she does live about an hour bus ride away which initially sounded not great but then... it was such a pretty bus ride! The scenery was amazing! 

Now there are more things that happened this week that first I just would not be able to fit all in the email and second I don't think I would be able to do them justice by trying to explain the impact they made on me. So many of the little tender mercies I experience every day (especially on the hard days) just never cease to amaze me on how not only aware the Lord is of the details of our lives, but how involved as well. This week I read this scripture, Helaman 12:2:

"Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people;"

Not every day is necessarily a prosperous day, in a way of speaking. However, every day is day where the Lord is doing everything He can to make us happy and those tender mercies are His way of showing us that He is there, especially on the bad days. He knows us and loves us too much to abandon us and will, therefore, always be there.

Hope you guys have a great week! Glad i dere!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Volleyball

Visiting a member in Melhus

Anyone else get Harry Potter vibes?

Jolly Ann's baptism

Jolly Ann's baptism

Jolly Ann's baptism