"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

"And at last I see the light!" 🎵☀️

 Heia alle sammen!

Guess what! We saw the sun for the first time in weeks!! Woot woot!! The dark times weren't terrible, they were actually really cool to experience, but I think by the end Søster Cox and I were ready to see the sun again:). And just like that we had a great start to the week!

- Harstad! So we got to take a little road trip to Harstad/Narvik for a visa appointment and the drive was absolutely beautiful. Did I take pictures? Not really, because any time I tried, they looked terrible on my phone and it wasn't even worth it so it just became one of those things I had to embrace and remember. We stayed at a cute member's house who was not home so it kind of felt like an air bnb haha:). But the visa appointment was a success and right before we got back to Bodø we saw the northern lights:).

- Exchanges! The Tromsø sisters, Søster Beck and Søster Kmetz, came down to Bodø for exchanges and it was so fun! I was with Søster Beck and oh my goodness that sister is incredible! We were out talking to people on the street and she ended up talking to this guy and explaining the whole restoration and Book of Mormon and then proceeded to give him the book, woot woot!

- Crazy miracle! So Søster Cox and I are on the bus trying to talk to people and as we are heading back to the city, this girl comes and sits in front of me. At first I thought that it would be way too awkward to get up and go talk to her. But then Søster Cox and I have been experimenting with the idea of 20 seconds of courage. So right then, I decided to get up and I moved seats and started talking to her. Turns out she was from the US living in Bodø! She is half Norwegian and can speak Norweigan fluently. So crazy! We both got so excited and she asked for my number to meet up later, woot woot! 

To kind of continue the thoughts behind that miracle, I really was about to just not go and talk to her and sit for the rest of the ride. I think more and more about if I hadn't and what also helped me have the courage to get up and move. In the scriptures there are many instances of when people take 20 seconds of courage to have faith in the Lord (Ester, stripling warriors, Nephi, Joseph Smith, etc.). Did they know what would happen? Nope! But the courage and confidence that comes from faith in the Lord always outweighs the fear of what could be. It may not always be in the situation of talking to a random person, but it could look like reaching out to a family member or friend, forgiving someone, saying sorry, etc. Christ is the ultimate example of how we can take 20 seconds of courage to share His light. His whole life was 20 seconds of courage on repeat and He did it all for us:). And as we try to follow His example, we will see His light more prominently in our lives.

Glad i dere! 

Hope you have a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Northern Lights

Ferry ride to Harstad

The sun!!!!!!

"Speed I am speed" 🚘

Heia alle sammen! 

Ok, not a lot of time this week, so this is going to be a speed run of an update!

1. Another trip to Oslo! We had a meeting there which went really well and I got to see some of the other missionaries, which is always a party! I got to see Søster Washburn, my old comp and Søster Richards who was also in my mtc group:). 

2. Exchanges with Trondheim sisters! Oh my goodness, it was so fun! We had Søster Nartker and Søster Harmer here in Bodø and it was awesome! It was fun to catch up with them and see how they were doing and how things are in Trondheim:). Søster Harmer and I got to go around talking to people which was so fun, because she has improved so much with Norwegian:).

3. Door knocking on Sunday went a little crazy with a guy trying to bible bash us a little. But, we felt a lot better after a lady's dog was so cute and sweet when we knocked on her door. She wasn't interested, but was just super nice and let us pet her dog:).

This week I read a scripture in 2 Nephi 1 and it was verse 23. Lehi is telling Laman and Lemuel to take off the chains and put on the armour of God instead. It made me think that the armour of God may not be any lighter. Both the chains and armour are heavy, but the difference is that the armour strengthens and protects. It may not always be easy to stand as a witness of God, but nevertheless, it is strengthening and by doing so, He will always protect us:).

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

"Are we there yet?" - "We'll get there when we get there!" 🚙⛴️

 Heia alle sammen!

Another cold week has now passed and now we get to head into another one, yay! Right when I think I'm getting used to the cold, the loving wind of Bodø just decided to blow a little harder and I go back to square one, but it's all super fun:). Anyways, here's another week!

- We met up with a lady this week that had met with missionaries before and that was awesome! We ended up giving her a Book of Mormon and explaining more about where it comes from. She was super cute and bubbly which made it super fun and now we are hoping to start teaching her more from the Book of Mormon:).

- We were out door knocking this week and had not the most fortunate time haha:). This guy who looked like the old guy from Monster House answered, didn't even say a word, but just slammed the door. We think he may have just had a bad day:). Not long after, I slipped while walking on ice haha:). Don't ask why I didn't have my spikes on because I have no idea and no good excuse soooo we live and we learn:).

- We attempted to drive to Narvik this week for Søster Cox's visa appointment and well...we missed the ferry that we did not realize we had to take. Tell you what, there was a lot of laughing in the car once we were pulling up to the ferry and the road just ended 😅. On the bright side, we saw lots of pretty scenery and also had some time to plan out things for the next transfer on the way home:).

This week was probably one of my favorite Sundays in church. Because we have just a small branch here in Bodø, we usually just have one speaker each Sunday. Usually, they try to fill the whole hour, but this time they just let it end early which ended up being 30 min early. As we sang the last hymn, I realized that there is really only one big reason of why we go to church: to take the sacrament. I knew that before, but this week, with the simplicity of the meeting, it helped me realize the importance of it. I'm not saying that we should forgo everything else at church because they are still good to have, but I'm just saying--do we really remember the real reason of why we have church in the first place?  Elder Oaks one said, "The cleansing power of our Savior’s Atonement is renewed for us as we partake of the sacrament." The Sacrament is not a casual piece of bread and a cup of water, but a simple representation of the Savior's power taking part in our life. As the prayer says, "let us always remember Him" as we prepare for and take the sacrament. 

Glad i dere! Have a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming :)

- Søster Twede

"Born and cold and winter air and mountain rain combining!" ❄️⛏️

 Hei alle sammen!

The amount of times I have had to shovel snow and scrape ice this week has been incredible! It was really fun when we one day had to not only scrape the windshield on the outside, but also on the inside haha. But, the first song in "Frozen" just kept playing in my mind every time 😅. 

- Happy New Year's! 🎉🥳🎉 We celebrated by watching a firework show at 6 pm and then visited our cute old lady neighbor 😊 and went to bed at 11:20 because we got too tired to stay up for another 40 minutes 😅. But that sleep felt amazing so it all worked out!

- Got to visit an inactive member this week that actually kind of went preacher mode on us haha. We kind of got stuck there to the point where we had to have the elders call us to give us an excuse to leave haha:). On the bright side, the member is very passionate about her faith so there could be worse things 😁.

- One of the days this week we realized that we needed to grab some groceries so we stopped by the store. After we got done and were walking back to the church we passed by this guy that we just thought we should talk with. Mind you, at this point, I have a box of rice and bags of frozen veggies in my hands and Søster Cox is holding a bag of yogurt haha:). The guy was super cool though! He ended up being Christian and we were able to invite him to church! Despite the awkward beginning we were able to have a good conversation with him :).

In the spirit of the new year, there is a talk that a sister in the zone told us about. It's by Elder Holland and it's one of his BYU speeches. It talks about not New Year's resolutions, but how we can have better faith in the future and what the Lord has in store for us. He uses the story of Lot's wife and how it wasn't necessarily the act of looking back that made her turn into salt, but the fact that she looked back with the desire to go back. She didn't have the faith that the Lord could provide an even better future than the past. He says, "we remember that faith is always pointed toward the future. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives." I had never really thought about it before and I just love how he explained how faith is about us learning from the past, doing all we can today, and having hope for even better things in the future. So whether 2024 was a great year or relatively terrible, have faith that the future will be better because Christ made it so.

Godt nyttår! Glad i dere! Have a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

We got LOTS of snow!

Happy New Year!

My glasses got a little foggy

We got safety vests!

Had to get a picture of the flag

Walk out the door and this is what we see one morning.

"The winds of change" 🌬

 Heia alle sammen!

God Jul og Godt Nytt År! Hope you all had a great Christmas! This week we got snow and then a lot of rain which made a lot of the snow go away, but... let's just say the snow has come back in it's full glory haha. We are going to be getting 2 feet of snow in the next couple days and we've already begun the snow shoveling, so that will be fun:). Anyways here's how the week went!

- Christmas! We got to spend lots of time with members for Christmas Eve and Christmas and that was super fun! I got to try Ribbe which is essentially lamb and that was good. We got to play games and just kind of spend time with them:).

- The day after Christmas was kind of slow because we couldn't go out and talk to people due to the holiday and so we got creative on what to do. We decided to go on a walk which was interesting because we experienced the strongest wind I've ever felt! Almost got knocked over a couple times, but it was a fun time😅.

- Saturday we were reaching out to some people that had contact with missionaries before. One of them was an old Russian/Ukrainian lady. She invited us over to come and visit her that day and it was super fun! We don't think she's interested in learning more, but we did get to have a good conversation about Christ and how He can help us find peace:).

As we were visiting this lady she talked a lot about the war between Russia and Ukraine going on right now. As a missionary, it's easy to kind of forget all the things that are going on right now in the world. But as we talk to people, you see how real it is for them and it's very heartbreaking. All this lady wants is for the war to stop so she can go back home. As we were talking to her, it reminded me of a talk that I had read, "The Peace of Christ Abolishes Enmity". In there, it talks about how we are all different but one thing we do or can have in common is our discipleship of Jesus Christ. He gives multiple examples of people who were different but were still able to get along because "each put his discipleship of the Savior first." After talking to this lady, it was made very apparent that the world does not need more conflict. There is enough of it. Is it easy to be offended, frustrated, angry? Yes! But why does it have to stay that way? It doesn't. Even if you can't avoid it, there's always a way to handle it in a way that reflects the Savior. That is the goal. To do as the Savior would in order to spread His light, love, and peace to those around us.

Glad i dere! Hope you all had a great Christmas and will have a great New Year's!🎉🎊

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

People love skiing

Post member visit pic

Pday activity-Do you wanna build a snowmaaaaan??

Snow angels

MTC Group-one year later-scary how time flies!

"The sky is awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play!"🌌❄️

 Heia alle sammen! 

The sky's awake!! Saw the northern lights for the first time this week and it was magical :). They weren't super strong but it was still super cool! It definitely made for a fun but absolutely crazy week:).

- Exchanges with Søster Haycock! So on Monday, I flew down to Oslo to have exchanges with Søster Haycock in Samdvika and it was so fun! We tried going around talking with people and got some weird looks, but I guess that's how it goes haha. We also got to visit a lady who had a really fancy house and that was quite the adventure:). Basically it was just such a fun time with Søster Haycock!

- Zone Conference! So this conference we combined with one of the other zones and it was so fun! It was great seeing all the missionaries there and we got to do a white elephant exchange at the end which was interesting haha:). It was kind of a crazy long day, but I learned a lot from the presentations and it was a fun time:). 

- Mirakler skjer! So lately Søster Cox and I have been kind of worried about one of our friends who we lost contact with. I knew her from when I was in Bodø before and she is just amazing! We have been praying that we could get in contact with her again, but didn't know how other than text. Well, on Friday, we were at the library for a lesson and as we were walking past a café there, we saw her working! So we went in, kind of terrified because we didn't know how this interaction was going to go, but as soon as she saw us her face lit up! Apparently her Facebook got hacked and couldn't contact us and was praying that she would run into us, mirakler skjer! It was so cool and she ended up coming to church for the first time on Sunday:). 

Speaking of answered prayers, there were few things this week that I had been praying quite a bit about. For a long time, I have loved learning about prayer and how powerful and crucial that line of communication is with our Heavenly Father. This week I had a few very specific thoughts on my mind and I just needed maybe not complete answers but definitely guidance. With that said, this week taught me again how amazing prayer is. He hears you, He listens, and He does answer. He answers in a way that is so personal to you that shows how much He loves and cares for us. The answers don't always come when we want or they aren't always what we want, but they are what we need and they come when we need them most. He cares too much to leave us alone.

Glad i dere! God Jul! Hope you had a wonderful Christmas! 

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede 

Northern Lights!

Northern Lights!

"The boys are back!" 🎵😎

 Heia alle sammen!

Well this week we have had an interesting turn of events so I'm just going to get right into it!

- Emergency Transfer! Yep! On Tuesday, I got a call from President saying I needed to go to Bodø because there is a sister that needed to leave for medical purposes. So less than 24 hours later, I was on a flight back to Bodø and I am now here with Søster Cox! She was in my MTC group, so it's been super fun to catch up and she's just amazing! It was really tough having to leave Trondheim (there were definitely some tears), but I was able to see some people before I left. Søster Nartker and Søster Harmer are just incredible and are already doing great things there . We are all just praying that the sister who had to leave is able to get better soon so she can come back. 

- Bodø! So now I'm back in Bodø. Let's just say it's a little different from when I was here last. Instead of the sun never going down and it being green and relatively warm, it is now dark. The sun comes up for a couple hours but it's behind the mountains so we actually never see it, haha. Basically we are in what is called the dark times (mørketid:)), very snowy and very cold. I will never complain about it being cold in Utah anymore because this is the tundra haha:). So it's been great! It actually has been super fun and just great to see the members here again:). 

- Fika! (It's where you meet up with someone at a café) Ok but before I left Trondheim, we had a really great fika with a girl we found on Facebook. She was super cute and was very interested to learn more about what we believe in, woot woot! It went great so I hope maybe now they are teaching her :).

Ok so with all the craziness this week, I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous and scared and was just trying to feel the Lord with me in all of this. It was a little hard at times. But during my personal study on Thursday, I read this verse in Moroni 8 and it said, "Perfect Love casteth out Fear". Oh my goodness, it was exactly what I needed. I thought about the love that our Father in Heaven has for us. Yes, He gives us hard things but they are never more than we can handle and they are always for our benefit. And then I think about the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He loves us too much to leave us to overcome our trials by ourselves. He suffered so we wouldn't ever be alone even if it felt like we were alone. His love is what casteth out all fear and allows us to find peace and stillness even when the winds and waves are still becoming bigger. However, they will never grow bigger than His infinite, perfect love.

Glad i dere! Have an amazing week! :)

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Trondheim Christmas Market

Back in Bodø with Søster Cox

Dinner movie with the Christ Child video

Bodø is just beautiful (this is about how light it gets)

The wind was so strong, I couldn't open my eyes. Haha!

Goodbyes at the airport 😢

One last picture of the Trondheim Trio 💗

"Hi I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" ☃️

 Heia alle sammen!

What a week! Definitely have had a lot of things happen this week, but I don't remember half the things that happened so thank goodness for journals haha :). Here's the update!

- Book of Mormon stand! Helped out with the Book of Mormon stand this week and it was very cold, but worth it because we gave a Book of Mormon to a girl who was wanting to become more religious, woot woot! 

- Hugs! So we were out street contacting as we were walking to the church today and we were walking past a Norwegian old lady. I said hi and she looked at me and just stopped. She asked me if I knew her and I said no and just wanted to say hi and right then she just lit up and gave me a hug haha:)! That was definitely a first and definitely made my day:).

- Julekonsert! On Sunday, our ward had a Christmas concert and I got to help accompany the choir and it was so fun! We also all sang a couple Norwegian Christmas songs and they were so fun! 

- Julemarked! So Trondheim apparently has one of the biggest Christmas markets in Norway and it started this week! It was so fun to walk around and see all the food and shops! We all tried "gløgg" for the first time which is basically apple cider but better 😋. It is now one of my favorite things from Norway:).

This week during District Council we got on the topic of success on the mission. Now, I remember when I first got called to Norway, I was told that I would not see a whole lot of baptisms and not a lot of people would want to talk to me. The longer I've been here, the more I've seen how that would make sense but... when have any of the Lord's biggest miracles made sense? In Moroni 6:4 it says, "their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God."

It can be very easy to get caught up in the numbers of everything, but one of the many things my parents taught me growing up is that it's not about the numbers, but about the people who those numbers represent. It's about bringing people closer to Christ. We can't control where people are on their path back to come unto Christ, but we can help them along wherever that may be. This week has probably been my favorite week of talking to people on the street and just helping those around me because I felt like I wasn't just trying to preach, but I was just trying to minister and connect with people so they can feel His love. Is faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost important? YES! They are so important! But how are we supposed to obtain those things and endure to the end without that relationship with our Savior? Just like that scripture, we record to remember and so we can nourish them with the word of God and I might add the LOVE of God. I know that as we come closer to Christ and help others come closer to Him, we will find that peace and joy in our lives "at all times, in all things, and in all places." 

Glad i dere! God Jul! Wish you all a great week!

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede 

"Gliiiide and pivot! Gliiiide and pivot!" ⛄️⛸️

 Heia alle sammen!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving this week! We got to have a little Thanksgiving dinner with our district and it was so fun! I am just so grateful for Norway, amazing companions, incredible members, the opportunity I have to be a missionary and help others learn more about Christ:). 

- ICE! Lots of it! Walking is honestly not the most safe mode of transportation and I'm about ready to get a sled or ice skates. My comps and I had a lot of close calls and unfortunately Søster Nartker took one for the team as we try to "walk" down a steep icy driveway...yep she slid down instead haha:).

- NAMSOS! Another road trip up to Namsos where we visited one of our new members and her daughter. It was so fun and definitely just so nice to spend time with them:). Was definitely a highlight when we were saying goodbye and her eleven year old daughter gave me a hug by body slamming me down to the ground . Love that girl:)

- At språkkafé this guy who Søster Nartker and I had talked to on the street came. When we first met him he said that he was athiest and did not believe in God. Well, that was about a week and a half ago... Then he showed up to språkkafé and informed us that he is now Christian! The Lord works in mysterious ways 

Speaking of the Lord's works, I was reading again in Ether this week and chapter 12 is just amazing! I knew that it was good, but I don't think I realized how good. But one of my favorite things was all the examples of faith that are given: Moses, Alma and Almulek, Lehi and Nephi, Ammon, the brother of Jared, etc. 

In verse 19 it says"And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad."

I sometimes don't think we realize how powerful God's power is. All you need is a tiny seed of faith to allow it to work in your life. In the Santa Claus movies with Tim Allen one of the lines is "Seeing isn't believing but believing is seeing." Faith is what allows us to see God's power already working miracles in our lives. The "eye of faith" is what opens the heavens and allows us to experience the joy of Jesus Christ in our lives. 

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

Kia Kaha and just keep swimming:)

- Søster Twede

Winter wonderland drive to Namsos

Ice adventure

Road trip naps!

Practicing my posture at the young adult activity

Pday to Nidarosdomen

Thanksgiving