"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

"The unexpected play at the unexpected time." ⚾️

 Heisann alle sammen!

Not much to say other than holy cow! What a week! So let's just get going🤠

- This week we took another (and our last) road trip with the Bjerkøes up to Namsos. The Bjerkøes' last day was on Sunday so we drove with them up to Namsos to say goodbye to some members. Let me just say it was absolutely incredible to see the impact that they have had here in Norway. When they do something, they give it their all and they care so much for the people here you cannot even put words to it. So it was fun to visit and really sad to see them say goodbye. But, they are excited for what they have ahead now:). Love and miss you guys tons! 

- We also got to meet up with a girl from Stavanger who was visiting Trondheim for a bit and she is so cool! She is very religious and likes learning about other churches so we had a little bible study with her and then gave her a Book of Mormon which was awesome! She also came to church right before she went back to Stavanger which was so fun and now she's wanting to go to church there too! Woot woot!

- Now, this week we also had a very pleasant unexpected surprise. On Wednesday we had our bible study class which was awesome! And then we had our young adult dinner right after which was also just so great! Several of our friends came to both and they had such a good time. Now after the dinner and right as Søster Schneck and I got home, we got a text from one of our friends who had been at both activities that evening and guess what... (pause for effect)... she said that she wanted to get baptized!!! Woot woot!!! Det skjer mirakler!!! It was so cool and then through the week we've been able to meet with her and she came to church on Sunday and is just so excited and so ready and we are just really really happy for her right now:). 

There is a quote by President Benson that says, "Truly, faith is the power that enables the unlikely to accomplish the impossible." Now with our friend that wants to get baptized, I'm going to be honest, I did not expect that at all. She didn't know a whole lot and hadn't been progressing very much. So, when we got that text we were very surprised. There have definitely been quite a few times on my mission where the miracle I receive is definitely not the one I was looking for and definitely not when I expected (hence "the unexpected play at the unexpected time" from The Perfect Game:). However, that is why it is so important to not only have faith, but to show it at ALL times. You never know when someone is going to be ready, you never know when the timing is going to be right, you never know where the right place is going to be, etc. But we continue to just do what we know is right and expect miracles. That is when the smallest amount of faith makes all the difference. Faith in Christ is what changes it from impossible to possible. 

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Moose

Volleyball Activity

Drive to Namsos (I love Norway!)

Road Trip to Namsos