God Påske! 🌸☀️

 Heia alle sammen!

God Påske! Happy Easter! 🌸🐣Lots of people like to go to their cabins for Easter in Norway, so the streets were a little dead this week. But, that's just kind of how it goes with Easter I guess. But here was the week!

- Easter egg hunt! One of the members this week put together a little mini Easter egg scavenger hunt in the church for us missionaries and it was so fun. I even got some push ups out of it (can't say my form was great haha:). We all then got our own Norwegian Easter egg at the end woot woot!

- Had another lesson with one of our friends that went relatively well. We talked about faith and repentance and used Alma the younger's conversion story. Right now we are trying to help them gain a testimony of Jesus Christ which we thought was perfect with Easter season around! But then she couldn't come to church, which was unfortunate but just how it goes sometimes.

- Exchanges! Got to spend the day with Søster Beck in Oslo which was super fun! Oslo in the spring is so pretty! We did some street contacting by the palace which was fun. I actually met a guy from Spain who has friends that are members and is interested in learning more woot woot! He was just in Norway on visit, but gave him our church information so prayers that all turns out. This week I was studying Sister Runia's talk from General Conference which was really nice while heading into Easter. One thing she says that I had never thought of was how the Lord says, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." She goes on to explain how sometimes that may feel overwhelming and hopeless when we keep messing up. But we need to remember that one of those commandments is to repent as well. Going into Easter this helped me think a lot about the love expressed by our Heavenly Father. He was willing to sacrifice His son and by Jesus Christ laying down everything for us so that we could repent and have to the chance to express our love as well. We were never meant to never mess up, but we were meant to try again. Christ suffered it all so that we could try again and again and again. He was terrified to suffer all that He did but He was even more terrified to see us be lost in this world with no hope. His love for us is what helped give him strength to endure all and it can help us too. Through Christ we can show love by repenting and find hope in trying again.

Glad i dere! Hope you all had a great Easter and will have a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Spring in Oslo

Glasses swap with Søster Beck

Trying to go out and talk to people on empty streets

More empty streets

Trying to talk to people in the forest instead

Morning run with the Lillestrøm sisters

"I don't think we are in [Norway] anymore" 🌪

 Heia alle sammen! 

Ok, crazy last two weeks! Pday also got changed to Wednesday this week because we got to help out at a youth conference on Monday and Tuesday and it was so fun! Anyways here's the update! 

- GENERAL CONFERENCE! It was so fun to watch conference! Had a little bit of a watch party for a session with one of our members and it was a good time. Looking forward to studying all the new talks now:).

- Accidentally drove into Sweden. On pday we decided to go to the Norway-Sweden border and well Google Maps decided to take us a different way and next thing we know we are illegally in Sweden. Luckily, all was good and no one got deported haha. I guess now I can say I've been to Sweden:).

- Baliaden! This is the big Norway youth conference and let's just say it is a party. For the dance, they go all out and get very dressed up. They have a formal dinner and it basically felt like a mini prom with all the guys in suits and girls in formal dresses. I felt very underdressed haha but it was super fun:).

- Met a guy on the street who already had a Book if Mormon and knew quite a bit about the church. So we had a good conversation with him and by the end we were able to invite him to church in Fredrikstad (he was just visiting Moss)!:)

- Our friend came to church again this week but did not faint, woot woot! We also had another lesson with her and a member from the ward which went well:).

Well, this week I wanted to talk about one of my favorite talks from conference. There were a few I really liked and one of them was "Spiritually Whole in Him" by Sister Johnson. I had always heard the phrase, "Thy faith hath made thee whole" but I always had thought about it in a physical and spiritual sense together, not necessarily how she described it as just being spiritually whole. "I can be whole while I wait for healing if I am wholehearted in my relationship with Him." There is a person that we have met recently and they have been struggling to be made whole for a long time. Unfortunately, this "wholeness" may not come in this life and it's heartbreaking. I don't think I've ever prayed more for one person and how we as missionaries can help them because it can be really hard to feel whole when you still struggle in a more physical sense. But luckily Sister Johnson helped give some guidance. "All will be physically and emotionally healed in the Resurrection. But will you choose now to be whole in Him?" That's all it takes. It's always been the simple but powerful principle of faith. We can still find wholeness despite not being all physically put together and that is because of Jesus Christ. He has always been the answer to every question, concern, doubt, fear, etc. No matter how hopeless or complicated things may get, all will be made whole through Him. 

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

District Photo

General Conference kits for the Young Women

The border!

Some rocks-I think they are graves from a reeeeaaalllly long time ago.

Conference Party!

Serving food at Baliaden

"Love is an open door!" ❄️

 Heia alle sammen!

Ok, so it's been a couple weeks so we are just going to get right to business!

- Someone opened the door to the love of Christ!! That was probably a little cheesy, but I will say for the first time this week, I was let in the door! We were out door knocking and there was a family moving a big box of furniture outside their house, so we helped them. Afterwards, we told them we were missionaries and asked if we could share a message and they said we could come back in 30 min! So we did and we ended up having a full lesson and gave them a Book of Mormon and our number woot woot! Doesn't always happen that often but super happy when it does:).

- Got to help film a music video for Easter which was an adventure :).

- Our friend that we met for the first time this week came to church and ended up fainting in the hallway (crazy day at church).

- Saw a giant group of teenage girls dressed up as nuns run through the streets advertising for the Sister Act play haha.

Ok, so lately my comp and I have been asking people how they find peace and comfort in their lives. With many refugees from Ukraine, Middle East, Africa, etc. it has been very interesting to hear some people's responses. one of which I would like to tell about. We were door knocking and a man opens the door and as usual we say that we are missionaries and we ask him this question. The man went very quiet and then said that he couldn't answer. We then said that as missionaries we like to help others find peace through a message of Jesus Christ. Turns out this man had been looking for peace for 4 years and had no hope in finding it and still had very little hope as we talked with him. We ended up giving him the Book of Mormon promising that it will help. He took it and thanked us sincerely. We have not seen him since but I've thought a lot about that interaction. This is was one of the very few times that someone actually had said that they needed help finding peace. As I've been reading in the Book of Mormon and have learned more about Christ, it has helped me know that He really is the Prince of Peace. He suffered all amounts of chaos and contention so that we could have eternal peace. It is through Him that we can always find stillness whether after the storm or during.

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Music video-behind the scenes

Studies at the library

Early morning car service-so breakfast at the grocery store

Out doing member visits

Pretty golden hour

Pretty golden hour

Zone pday

"There you go"

 Heia alle sammen!

Ok, I don't have a whole lot of time so we are going to do a quick version this week!

- Birthday party with a family in the ward who is from Spain and we had quite a crazy time involving Spanish songs karaoke, Just Dance, and Greek dances because another member that was there was from Greece! I just kept thinking of Big Fat Greek Wedding as we all stood in a circle and danced around haha:).

- Zone conference was awesome! President's cousin, Pete, came to teach us more about how we can best interact with people and notice social cues which was super cool. Overall was a great conference!

- Was doing some door knocking and 2 families said we could come back! Woot woot!

Ok, this week I was studying a little bit more on 2 Nephi 9:39 where is says "spiritually minded is life eternal." SMILE:). When we are spiritually minded, it allows us to think of the big picture. It has been said that happier people live longer. Now just regular happiness can add on some years, but celestial joy can add on eternity.  There is power in remembering that everything will and is working out for our eternal joy. Never estimate that power of not just any smile but a smile that allows us to see the hand of Christ in our lives:).

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

"Ok what's the plan what's the plan???" "Ummmm" "You don't have a plan?!?!" 🐉

 Heia alle sammen!

Mushu basically described my life this week (haha) so here's how it all turned out!

- Mirakler skjer! Ok long story we'll try to make short, but basically when we first got to Moss, there was an inactive member in the ward that we were told to visit. Her family had very little contact with her, so we didn't have a whole lot of info other than to go by the spirit:). So we tried visiting her and she wasn't there, so we tried again another day and she was literally sitting right on the porch steps. We ended up talking to her for a little while and by the end she was saying that she would like to come to church, woot woot! So we arranged a ride for her and she came! Apparently, she hadn't been to church in 40 years and members and especially her family were shocked, but so happy to see her:). There was definitely a lot more that went into this miracle, but just know that we got to witness a big one in Moss on Sunday:).

- Exchanges! Got to spend the day with Søster Fischer in Lillestrøm on Friday and it was so fun! We did some spontaneous acts of service on the street and some door knocking in the rain:). I just love Søster Fischer and it was so fun to go on exchanges with her:).

- This week we also got to meet up with a girl we met on the street which was super fun. She asked a lot of questions about what we do as missionaries and thought it was very interesting. We asked if she was religious and she wasn't too much, but is pretty open to other things. We ended up inviting her to church and she said might come sometime so that was good! 

This week, I already mentioned our huge miracle on Sunday.  Like I said, there was a lot more that went into it, but there is one aspect that I wanted to talk about. We really had no idea what we were going to do or say when we went to visit her. The only information/advice we had was to go by the Spirit. It reminded me of when Nephi went to go get the plates from Laban. He had already failed twice and had no idea how things were going to work out now, but he knew that they would turn out. One member at church said that there is a saying in German that essentially means that all things end well and if it's not well, it's not done. From what it sounds like, this lady's family situation has been a little complicated in the past and not always great. But I cannot tell you how happy she and her family were to see each other at church on Sunday. How much do we feel like Nephi where maybe you go into sticky situations not knowing what you're going to do, but at the same time you know you have to do something? The key is to remember that through Christ all things will end well. Hope is never lost because of Christ. Families can and will be united because of Him. We just have to keep taking that step of faith, one at a time, and remember that all will be well. 

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Exchanges with Søster Fischer

It's been really foggy lately

Random pretty spot in Moss

Car wash

"You have to get a hair." "A hair???" "Yeah...an elephant hair." 🐘

 Heia alle sammen!

Well, I did not get an elephant hair like Tarzan but we did find one in Moss this week which was kind of fun haha:). Here's the week!

- This week we had dinner with a family friend, Kjell also known as Eddie! He is in the ward that I serve in now, so it was super fun to see and catch up with him:). I also got to see some more familiar faces at church which was also super fun! The branch president and his wife from Bodø were in Moss and so I got to see them and then also one of the young adults that I served around when I was in Oslo:). So it was a fun week seeing some people again:).

- We were out talking to someone on the street this week and this one guy we started talking to actually had met missionaries a while back and gotten a Book of Mormon from them. We asked him what He thought and he said he hadn't read it in a while, but thought he probably should after meeting us so I guess we'll see how that goes:).

- Got to join a lesson with one of the Elder's friends on Sunday which went really well! She is super sweet and we ended up talking about baptism towards the end and she seemed very open to the idea so I guess we will see what happens at our next lesson:).

This week my comp and I were approached by a man who had some questions about our church. We did our best to answer his questions but by the end he was not convinced of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. I've realized more and more that it's not always easy for people to just simply believe that Joseph was a prophet and that through God's power he was able to translate the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. With that in mind, I was reading in 2 Nephi 31-33 this week and in chapter 33 it mentions so much about Christ and that these are His words. 

"If ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good." (Verse 10) 

When it comes down to it, the only question that matters is if you believe in Christ. If one does, that is what allows us to believe in His words whether they come from one part of the world or the other, nevertheless with both we can know that He is the Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and translated the Book of Mormon through God's power and because of that we can learn even more about Christ.

Glad i dere! Have a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Missionary cars are all very similar

Moose warning sign on our pday hike

Silver elephant we found

Same silver elephant

Another day in Moss!

No one on the street to talk to...

"Blood blood blood blood! And death." 🐰

 Heia alle sammen!

This week I had the pleasure to taste blood pancakes and they were very interesting haha:). They mostly just looked like chocolate crepes but taste salty sooooo fun! And just like that, here's the week!

- I have now officially departed Bodø and I don't think I will be going back this time. There were definitely tears when I said goodbye to Søster Cox, I'm going to miss her so much! I also said goodbye to members which again was hard, but it's just how it goes I guess. Bodø has taught me many things and I'm very grateful for the time I spent there:).

- Now I'm in Moss! I've also got a new companion, Søster Pedersen, and she is amazing! She was just serving in Montana while waiting for her visa so now she's here in Norway! It honestly has been kind of crazy since my comp and I are both new to the area but we're just taking it as it goes:). Sunday was fun and the members were super excited to have sisters in the ward. I also got to see some members that I had known before and that was super fun:). They also let us spontaneously join the musical number in church with the young women haha:).

Not a whole lot has happened this week other than goodbyes and new beginnings, but among it all there is a hymn that has stuck out to me a little extra. It's Come, Come Ye Saints and I just wanted to share what it says:

Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
’Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell—All is well! All is well!

Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
’Tis not so; all is right.
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
Gird up your loins; fresh courage take.
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we’ll have this tale to tell—All is well! All is well!

I love this hymn and the rest of it is amazing as well. But I don't have much more to add other than yes, life (as Norwegians would say) is not always a dance on roses, but no matter what, gird up your loins and endure. He is there enduring it with us. With Christ, all is well!

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Blood pancakes

Apartment decor left from the elders

Flight from Bodø

Beautiful drive to a member's house

Søster Pedersen!

Got to sign the Bodø table again!

"You kind of set off an eternal winter everywhere" 😬❄️

 Heia alle sammen!

So this week I found out that I'm actually getting transfered. I'm going to be heading down to Moss and opening up a new area for sisters, crazy! It's kind of hard to imagine that I finally leaving the north. I absolutely love it here and I'm going to miss being comps with Søster Cox. But, I'm excited for the opportunities in Moss:). So, always a new adventure! Here was the one from this last week:):

- Mo i Rana! This week we drove to Mo i Rana and on the way we passed the Artic Circle center! It literally looked like the artic there and it was so cool! (Definitely eternal winter:) We met up with our whole district in Mo i Rana and that was fun too! Søster Cox and I stayed in a hotel which was the first time in a really long time and we just were cracking up about being there😅. We got to visit some members there and that was really good! One of them said I looked like her grandaughter haha:). 

- Had a lesson with one of our friends who is super fun! She is very outgoing and bubbly which is not the usually how goes with people here so it's always super fun meeting with her:). We actually talked to her about baptism and asked her if that is something she would consider. She essentially said no in a way, but still wants to learn more, soooo we'll take that as a win:).

- Crazy miracle happened where we ran into a guy that I had only met once when I was in Bodø in the summer. I had just been messaging on Facebook trying to invite him to church. There are many details that go into this miracle, but that would take lots of explaining. So, just know that it was a miracle how we ran into him and he recognized me which was also crazy. Definitely a tender mercy there:).

This week I was reading in Doctrine and Covenants and it was in chapter 11 verse 10:

"Behold, thou hast a gift, or thou shalt have a gift if thou wilt desire of me in faith, with an honest heart, believing in the power of Jesus Christ, or in my power which speaketh unto thee;"

It reminded me of Ether 12:27 of how it says that through Christ our weaknesses can become our strengths. Now, we are all born with strengths that just come naturally; however, we are also born with weaknesses that come very naturally as well, unfortunately. But I loved how it said that we have a gift and we can obtain it if we desire it. Our weaknesses don't have to be our downfall but our even more precious gifts in disguise waiting to be discovered. It's the things that we have to work most hard for that are the greatest. Our weaknesses can be our best opportunities to come closer to Christ because it is only through Him that they can become our strengths.

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Pday Hike

Artic Circle

An elder taking a pic of our district

Pday Hike

Arctic Circle

District Photo

Making friends with a cat while knocking doors

"We going on a trip with our favorite airline!" 🛩

 Heia alle sammen!

Ok this week was kind of crazy, so I'm going to just get right into it:).

- Exchanges with Lillestrøm! So fun to have Søster Fischer and Søster Richards here in Bodø especially when they both served here before. I just love those two! While we were on exchanges though, right before we all had to fly to Oslo, Søster Cox accidently dropped her phone in the ocean haha:). Don't worry, she already has a new one actually but that was just the start of a series of unfortunate events. Our flight ended up getting delayed and so we didn't get to Oslo until 12:30am ish and we didn't get our luggage until 2am. At that time we realized that our train does not come for another 3 1/2 hours so what did we do? We brushed our teeth in a bathroom and then slept on the airport bench until our train came. We didn't get to the apartment until like 6:15am and by that time we were dead. Luckily, we did get to sleep a bit extra, but that day was a little rough haha:). And there were no complications on the way back home, so that was good. Just another story for the books:).

- Had a lesson with a guy who only really speaks Spanish, which was interesting. Luckily, one of the Elders in the mission can speak Spanish. So, we called him and he talked with our friend. We ended up giving him a Book of Mormon and having a conversation through Google Translate after the lesson which was kind of funny and interesting:).

This week, Søster Cox and I were reading a talk by Elder Andersen called "Spiritually Defining Memories" and in there he explains how life is not always going to be a walk in the park. We aren't always going to feel 100% confidence in our testimony. That is when we need to remember our spiritually defining moments. When did the Holy Ghost clearly speak truth to you? When did you make a decision that led you to have a even deeper relationship with your Savior? When could you not deny that God knew exactly who you were and what you needed? There's a reason why they use the word remember so much in the scriptures because if we didn't, it would be a lot harder to stay strong in the faith of Christ. We are given experiences, good or bad, to help us spiritually define ourselves and become more like Christ. So, anytime we feel weak, we can rely on those spiritually defining moments where you made the decision to turn to Christ. Because He is the one that will never let us down.

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

-Søster Twede

Hike with members

Hike with members

Visiting our cute neighbor on exchanges

We were tired waiting for our bags

Brushing our teeth in the airport

We just got off our flight in Oslo