"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

"The sky's awake Svenn!"🦌🌌

 Heia alle sammen!

The Northern Lights greeted us again this week! And we decided to name our car Svenn:). So here's the week!

- Zone Conference! As always, zone conference was super fun! It's always great seeing all the other missionaries and learning from things presented. We had zone pday the day before and went on a little hike which was super fun:). It was a little slick because of the snow, so on the way down we decided to just slide down on our butts haha:). I miss sledding!

- Church! So our friend that we met on the bus last week came to church! We decided to invite her and it was awesome because all the members bore amazing testimonies and she stayed for both hours plus the ligger longer afterwards and seemed to really enjoy it:), woot woot!

- Fauske! Well... we tried to go visit this little town about an hour away in our area and I think that will be the last time for a while. What started as a fun trip turned into just a weird one. We tried talking to people and knocking on doors, but no one answered despite being home. And when we tried to talk to people, they did not want to. Maybe it was a weird day, but I guess that's how it goes sometimes.

This week at church we got to help out and teach Sunday school so my comp and I got to study Doctrine and Covenants 3-5 this week. One of my big takeaways was when the Lord said in D&C 3 that his work cannot be disturbed. There have definitely been many times where I mess up (many times) and I give myself way too much credit for messing up the whole spiritual progression of others. Obviously, that's not the case and in verse 1 and 3 it clearly states that His will will be done no matter what. One girl in a town in northern Norway is not going to mess that up. However, that doesn't mean that what we do doesn't matter. It does, but what matters even more is how we choose to react when we make mistakes. Christ suffered eternally for a reason, it was so no matter what there would always be a way back for everyone. He is why the work will never be disturbed and He will always be there to cheer us on to the end.

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede