"Snow! It had to be snow" ❄️

 Heia alle sammen!

Soooooo y'all remember that part in Frozen where Anna is hiking through the thigh deep snow in her dress??? Yep! We were walking through a neighborhood this week and we weren't quite thigh deep, but let's say there was lots of snow. On the other hand our hike today, THAT was thigh deep and it was an adventure . We love winter! Anyways, here's the week:).

- Søster Harmer has arrived!! This week we got a new addition to the Trondheim sister crew and she is awesome! She just came to Norway and has seriously just jumped in with both feet. The three of us had lots of fun learning Norwegian, trying not to fall on ice, driving and walking through lots of snow, getting accidentally lost and separated (don't worry we found each other again haha), and just doing the work! We are all super excited for the transfer!

- We had a Thanksgiving ward party and there was so much food! It was so fun and quite a few of our friends came and it was awesome! The members are absolutely amazing and it was just so fun spending time with them:).

- We also had a lesson with one of our newly baptized members and her mom and it went just really well. We got talking about the Holy Ghost and it was just a very simple, tender lesson that just made me so happy:).

- Did just laugh at myself when I stood too close to the road to be splashed by muddy slush by a bus... it was a day.  

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would just want to express gratitude for Jesus Christ and His gospel which has brought so much joy to my life and so many others. Lately, I've been studying more about the Priesthood and how I can better access God's power in my life. I have lots of thoughts, but too many to share all of them so here is one thing that has been a constant take away: covenants. The covenants we make hold so much power and so much more than I realized. It's our covenants that not only bind us to our Lord and Savior but they are key to accessing His power in our lives. There is specifically one covenant that we make that especially plays a big role in that and that is our first: baptismal. When we are baptized and as we take the sacrament, we enter into a promise with the Lord that allows us to have the Spirit with us always. How else does the Spirit guide, protect, comfort, and strengthen us if it isn't through the power of God? It doesn't matter who you are, if you make AND keep covenants with the Lord you WILL have the Spirit with you and therefore have access to God's power in your life. The Savior said He would not leave us comfortless and the more I see His power in my life the more thankful I am for Him and His sacrifice that made it possible for His power to work in my everyday life. I know He and His power will allow us to overcome all.

I am so grateful for you all and wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Pday hike

Pday hike

Pday hike

Snow angel

More trips in the snow!

"I'mmmmmmm the leader, I'llllllllll say what it was... it was just a lil' ol' cricket bug."🐶

 Hei alle sammen!

It was a fun week so we are just going to get right into it!

- Transfer news! I'm staying in Trondheim! Woot woot! I was really hoping that I would be staying. I was very happy to get the news that I would not only be getting another transfer here in Trondheim but also be staying with Søster Nartker too! We are also super excited because we are actually going to be training a new missionary. So, we will have three sisters in Trondheim. Crazy! So this morning we got to rearrange the whole apartment to try and fit three, because it's not the biggest apartment but I think it has turned out really nice:).

- Trip up to Namsos! We got to drive three hours this week up to Namsos and visit a new member and her daughter which was so fun! We got to help the Namsos elders teach the daughter about the creation and it was awesome! It was funny because her daughter kept saying, "jeg er sjefen" (I'm the boss) and so we had to follow and listen to what she said (hence subject line from the Aristocrats). It was also so good to spend time with the member in person because usually we just call her on facetime, so this was much better.

- Exchanges with Bodø! Bodø sisters got to come down to Trondheim which was so fun! I got to be with the one and only Søster Berg! I just love that girl! I used to see her a little bit when I was in Oslo so it was super fun to catch up with her. We got to go knock on doors in the rain which was actually a lot more fun than it sounds haha :). We also visited a member and we listened to their story of how they found the church and it was just awesome:).

This week as I was reading in Ether about how the Brother of Jared (knowing his real name-no wonder we just call him the Brother of Jared:) was preparing to travel across the ocean to the promised land. I had a lot of different thoughts as I was reading through chapter 2 but one of them was with verses 24 and 25 when the Lord says,"winds have gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have I sent forth...I prepare you against these things".

I thought a lot about how it is the Lord who sent the winds, waves, rains, and floods. Sometimes (maybe more like a lot of times) we see the winds, waves, rains, and floods as these terrible trials that come into our lives that are highly inconvenient which can be and is true. So why would the Lord be the one to send them? In this story, it is the very wind, waves, rains, and floods the Lord sends that gets them to the promised land. Yes, the trials in our lives come and make us feel broken, but it's those very trials, when overcome, what get us to where the Lord intends us to be and that is ultimately with Him. And what really brings hope and peace is that He has prepared the way. These aren't just trials, but the very things in our lives that give us the opportunity to have a personal experience with the Savior and become closer to Him. 

Glad i dere! Have a great week and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

Søster Twede

Rearranging the apartment

Prelude for church on Sunday

Christmas lights are going up

We love snowy cars

Exchanges with Sister Berg!

"We're going on [some] trips [with] our favorite [airline], zooming through the skies, [tired missionaries]!" 🎵✈️

(Sorry that didn't rhyme in the end but you get what I mean haha:)

Heia alle sammen!

So 4 flights, 5 trains, 3 busses, 2 very early mornings, and 1 road trip later... we are safely residing back again in Trondheim with...drumroll🥁... my Norwegian driver's license!!!! Woot woot!!! Definitely the most expensive (regarding time and money) souvenir I will have from Norway, but you know I guess it will be worth it:). With that said, here was the week!

- This week consisted of 1 trip to Oslo and 2 trips to Fredrikstad. In Fredrikstad I had to take my driving practice and test which went well:). Also a little fun surprise is that when we were in Fredrikstad the first time, so was Søster Washburn and Søster Haycock for the driving practice! It was so fun seeing them! 

- Zone conference!! Oh my goodness it was so fun! First of all, we had President Emily Belle Freeman and her husband and a member of the Area presidency come and visit Norway. So we got to combine with the west zone for zone conference! It was so fun seeing everyone! I got to see most of all my MTC district, mission companions, missionary senior couples and just a ton of mission buddies:). The missionaries are awesome! It was also amazing to hear from the church leaders! We got to ask them a bunch of questions and it was amazing to hear their insights and just learn so much from them. 

- We also had a lesson with one of our newly baptized members and it was awesome! We're trying to help her get more and more familiar with the Book of Mormon. So we started using the Book of Mormon videos and it was so fun! We also got to explain more about temples and it so fun to see how eager she is to learn more and more:).

Speaking of learning, zone conference was awesome! Like I said, we got to ask church leaders questions and I learned so much. I can't really share everything, but there were a few things that were shared that reminded me of something I heard once: "When you are on the Lord's errand, you are entitled to his help."

I think it is has been very easy to feel at times alone in the work, like the spiritual well-being of all these people is on your shoulders (I'm being a little dramatic but you get the point:). However, President Freeman talked about how we can better call upon the power of God in our lives and that it quite simply requires us making covenants and then keeping them. That's it. Simple yes, easy not always, BUT always worth it. A lot of times we forget how almighty and all-knowing the Lord is. He knows what's going on and wants to help, but can't unless we let Him. Or maybe we do ask but don't necessarily have the faith that the miracle is really going to happen. In Moroni 7:33 it says, 

"And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."

We can't put limits on the Lord. The whole point of His ultimate sacrifice was that it was infinite, limitless, and all encompassing. When it comes to His will, it will be done. 

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede 

Zone Conference

Mini companionship reunion

Good morning sunrise! (This is when I wish I had a better camera.)

Plane #, who knows! But, pretty view!

Pday hike

"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