Søster Heywood: Norway Bound!: Tegn språk killed my ASL...‏

Hey family!

Ok, so first of all, I have to tell you about an AWESOME activity we had with the Young Men and Young Women this week. The leaders asked 4 of the 8 missionaries to come help with a mini-mission. All of the kids got a mission call, and were assigned to learn a language. The leaders asked us earlier if any of us knew other languages. One Elder knew Spanish, and I know Sign language. They asked if I could teach them American Sign Language... I said yes, totally convinced that I could still teach a few phrases. Uff da. Have you ever tried speaking one language, then teaching sign language in another language? Harder than it seems. But it was fun! I kept switching over to Norwegian Sign Language on accident... oh well. After we taught them their language, they went to the other half of the MTC where we taught them how to teach the first lesson. Then we headed down to the basement of the church (where all the classrooms are) and knocked on some doors. The leaders played investigators and a few of them played the classic stubborn "Nei takk", but eventually, we got to teach a lesson to one of them. It was so fun, and honestly, I don't think the youth over here will ever cease to amaze me. My "companion" for the hour, who is 14, is practically ready for the MTC!! :)

We taught a super sweet member family this week, and the 8-year old son is going to be baptized in a couple weeks. So the mom asked us to prepare a spiritual thought about baptism. After we ate dinner, we had a competition to see who of all the kids could clean their bowls the best. The rule was that they weren't allowed to use water. Their eyes got big and their jaws dropped. We said GO, and they quickly started licking their bowls clean. The rest of us were laughing so hard. When the time was up, we judged the bowls but of course discovered them to still be pretty gross. Then we had them go to the sink, and use soap and water. They came back a few minutes later with beaming faces and perfectly clean bowls. We talked about baptism and how we can be clean, and how the sacrament makes it possible for us to "wash our bowls" over and over and over again. The kids had this ah ha moment and the mom loved it too. (Though I think it helped that dishes were washed for her :)

Speaking of baptism, we had another 8-year-old get baptized on Saturday. They heard that I play the piano, so they asked me to play for it. They (Some kids and a few adults in his family) did a beautiful arrangement of I am a child of God, and I played the accompaniment for them. Though, throughout the week, I felt guilty every time I sat down to practice. I just wanted to get out and do more missionary work... so the practicing was a little neglected, but it's all good. It turned out fine I think. It was just nice to get to play the piano again. :)

This email is going to be a little short because we're going on a fjord cruise today, but I love you LOTS!!!! I know the church is true! I know God answers prayers. I'm not sure exactly how or why, but I know He does. He loves us so much. We can't possibly begin to understand the how or why. But He does. Yep! The Book of Mormon is true. I'll finish it for the third time this week. I LOVE that book. SO much! This time reading it through, I decided to focus on Jesus Christ and how the Book of Mormon testifies of Him. Spoiler alert! It does. :)

LOVE YOU!!!!!

-Sister Heywood