Happy Norwegian Mother's Day! (And Valentines Day) :)‏

Kjære Fam,

Yup! Mother's day here in Norway is on the second sunday of February, so that means that this year, it fell on Valentines day!  SO HAPPY Mother's day Mom!!!

Let's see... this week... OOH! We had an awesome day on Wednesday.  Like, literally it was the day that every missionary dreams about.  No cancelled appointments, members on teaches, every hour has something productive to do, and you just feel BUSY!  It was the best! We met with Magni in the morning and just kinda had a "okay here's the dealio" type lesson with her which ended with her committing to praying about the Book of Mormon specifically! She has never said a solid YES to that commitment so it's coming for her slowly but surely.  After we taught her, we went and picked up our ward mission leader's wife, Evelyn to come with us to teach Bjørn Ivar.  Evelyn is hilarious! And so pregnant! haha! We taught Bjørn Ivar and I think it's going to be a slow process for him too.  I think right now he is just really into comparing our church with other churches numberwise.  So I mean, that's pretty lame. BUT!  Right after his lesson we went to pick up the elders and drive to the Karlssons house for dinner.  They are arguably one of the absolute cutest member families here.  (And if you listen to conference talks in Norwegian, it's usually the dad's voice).  They used to live in Utah, and the kids LOVE speaking English with us. We asked the boys where they would want to go on their missions and one of them said ,"OREM UTAH!!" haha! 

We took the elders back to the city, and drove out to Nesøya, an island pretty close to Sandvika, to contact a referral.  Her name is Charlene, and she is from Brazil.  GET THIS.  She met the elders a few months ago, and at the time she was married to a Norwegian man, who didn't believe in God and didn't like that she believed.  Later, and for other reasons too I'm sure, they got divorced and the elders happened to call her up again asking if she was interested right after it happened.  So when we called her, she said, "Are you bringing me that book?? I NEED that book!" So of course we told her that we had The Book of Mormon and would bring it to her.  We came to her house Wednesday night and taught her about the Restoration.  Her face lit up as we showed her a picture of Alma baptizing in the waters of Mormon.  She said, "You guys do baptism like that??? I want to be baptized like that!!"  So we helped her set a baptismal date for the 26th of March.  She is so prepared!

On Sunday we had a lesson about adversity and how it is necessary for our eternal progression.  One sister expressed a concern about her sister who had some kind of mental illness and could hardly think for herself.  She said, "What is she supposed to learn from her trial? She can't learn from it."  For some reason, my mind went to my little cousin Emma, and I thought to myself, "What is she supposed to learn?" hmm... Then I had another thought: Maybe it's not her that needs the lesson.  Emma has taught everyone in our family a little bit about Christlike love.  We needed that.  We don't know all the answers to all of the whys, but we can choose to take a lesson from any situation.  Anyway, just some thoughts going around in my head.  I'm excited to see that sweet little girl again :)

On Thursday, we got a call from a number that niether of us had.  She said that she needed help.  We tried to get more information, but she just gave us her address and said that she needed help.  So, we got in the car, and headed to the address she gave us.  We walked into her already open front door into the most disgusting place I have ever been.  There were cigarrette butts and piles of black gunk everywhere.  There was a closet practically falling apart with bags of garbage inside of it, and there was a scary one-eyed cat that had a nasty habit of spreading it's food all over the apartment.  I looked around the room, and saw a lady sitting on her couch (if you could call it a couch).  She looked relieved that we came and asked us if we could take her to the pharmacy to pick up some medicine.  Unfortunately, there is a missionary rule that says we can't do that, so she decided to call a taxi instead.  We ended up staying for an hour or so and cleaning her apartment.  (Mom, I'll have you know, I can handle ANY mess now :) I think that year and a half of CNA work helped a little too).  I did her dishes, then went to put them away and realized that every dish she owned had food on it.  So I washed them.  ÆSJ.  Yup! Still had no idea who this lady was, but I took a pause from cleaning and leaned down to talk to her for a little while.  Apparently, she had met missionaries a year ago, and still had their number.  When she was looking through her phone for someone to come and help her, the saw the missionaries' number and thought, "I KNOW they'll help!".  Then she went on to express her thanks and how much it meant to her that we came.  then we told her about the Word of Wisdom. So moral of the story: 1. Don't smoke.  It's gross.  2. Be the type of person that other people will say, "I know they will help." about.

Some other fun things:

-The reason I'm late emailing today is because the elders needed haircuts.  So guess who cut their hair #AuntCatieWouldBeSoProud!

-We had a mix up on Saturday and ended up eating two dinners in a row.  I was literally in pain! haha!

-We found a giant chair today and sat on it :)

How about a quote to end on?  Our district meeting this week was about the Atonement and it was SO good!! I've been wondering about certain ways the atonement applies to missionary work, and I asked the question, "Does the Atonement still work if you feel like you make the same stupid mistake every day?"  And one of the missionaries, Elder Rolfsen, said something awesome.  "The thing about a mission is that you push as hard as you can, and it is NEVER enough.  And that's humbling.  THAT is where the Atonement comes in."  It was definitely food for thought.  I'm still trying to fully understand the Atonement, and I have a feeling it will be a lifelong process to figure it out.  I'm so thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know He lives.  I know he loves us.  He loves us so much. 

D&C 122:7-9
7 And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire againstthee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouthwide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good.

 8 The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?

 9 Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore,fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.

Love ya Fam!!!!

Vi snakkes!

Søster Heywood

  Some late night contacting

Giant Chair!