Short Big email :)‏

Hey family!!! 

So I know I just talked to you all, but I know there are a few people that read my emails too so I'll fill ya all in!

I'm getting transferred!!!! I kept telling Sister Horner all week that we have too much going on in this area for me to be transferred out.  Our teaching pool is bigger than it has ever been and we have one investigator getting baptized on the 7th of June!! But I'll hopefully be able to skype into that :) I'll be transferred to Drammen! Which is quite a bit closer to my beautiful sister, Eline!!! :) So hopefully I'll get to see her a few times while I'm there!

We had dinner at Remus's house this week.  He and Tamara, (his girlfriend who is a member) had set the table all perfectly and lit candles and everything.  Then they brought out hot dog buns and hamburgers.... :) It was really good though! They are both SO sweet! I'm gonna miss those two.

We had a missionary homecoming in the Stavanger Ward today!!! She had served her mission in England and her talk was INCREDIBLE!!! She invited a LOT of her nonmember friends as well and then made sure the missionaries knew who they were.  She is incredible!  During her talk, she had both me and Casper crying.... and about half of the congregation.  There were actually a LOT of people from Drammen there, because a lot of her family is from Drammen.  So I'll be right at home!! :)  

I don't have my address for Drammen quite yet, but when I do, I'll let ya'll know :) 

This email is super short, I know, but we have a member taking us to look at some Norwegian handpainted....things today :) and then I gotta get packin'!!

I love you SOOO much family!! It was awesome to see all of your silly faces yesterday!!! 

Vi snakkes!

Søster Heywood

p.s. Our investigator Tsigereda(who is getting baptized) and her daughter Naomi.  

Gift of Hands, Part 3

Hey family!!!!!!

I know I know, I need to get more creative with my email titles, but this week there  was a lot of Sign Language! Seriously, I took two years of ASL and there was no way I could communicate what I wanted.  It HAS to be the gift of tongues! (or hands), I'm just not that good.  But the Spirit is awesome.... and knows Norwegian Sign Language :)

On Thursday we went to lunch with Casper at a member's house.  A lot of the members are really wanting to learn at least basic signs so it's not only the missionaries (Hallelujah!)  We talked about what we all liked from Stake Conference , then got on the topic of journal writing.... family... I have a confession to make... I've been SO bad at journal writing! I did great in the MTC, ok in Ålesund, but I think I've writen a total of 7 times since coming to Stavanger. And I've been here 4 and a half months... it's bad!! But! That's why I'm telling you all, so you can hold me accountable.  Because this mission and the little everyday things are too awesome to forget!  Anyway, the lesson with Casper ended up with a commitment for all of us to write in our journals a little every day.

Then on Friday, we went with Casper to the Deaf Center here in Stavanger to meet some of his friends.  There were about 40 people there and they were from all over Norway. (May 1st is a holiday in Norway, so they all came to Stavnger for a party.)  All of them were deaf, and they all had different dialects of sign language.  That's right... DIALECTS!! Even within Norway, the sign language is different based on where you live! How crazy is that?? haha! But we did our best to talk to them all, and I was able to hold conversations with each person that I talked to. So therefore..... gift of hands is real :)

One of the Young Women, Edel and I have a deal that we will bear our testimonies every fast Sunday.  She is so sweet, but so shy, and it has been incredible to see how bearing her testimony has strengthened her.  I was translating for Casper as usual, and she gave me the look to let me know that she was ready.  I signed to Casper that I'd be right back, just like I do every fast Sunday.  Then he signed to me that he wanted to go up too.I thought, OH BOY and the three of us walked up to the stand.  Casper went first, so he signed to me, and I spoke for him.  It was INSANE!!!! My voice was shaking so bad.  He told a story of how he grew up near the church and walked past it almost every day. He always felt special walking by it, more so than when he walked by the big fancy Norwegian State churches.  Then he went on to tell his whole conversion story.  He was really excited and signing really fast, so hopefully I got the message accross to the congregation for him.  He started tearing up as he signed "Jeg vet at denne kirken er sann, fordi jeg kan føle Ånden hver gang jeg er her" (I know that this church is true because I can feel the Spirit every time I'm here.) I started tearing up just translating! But that's not really a surprise is it?  After he was finished, I walked past Edel, and she looks up at me like, "You're not done". haha! So she bore her testimony, then I got up (again) after and bore mine.  It was kind of a crazy day. :) But after Edel, more and more of the youth came up and bore their testimonies.  These youth are SO STRONG! It amazes me every single week.  These kids have to be so stron here in Norway because there are so few of them.  They are incredible!

We met with Tsigereda again, and taught her about the Plan of Salvation.  She absolutely loved it and agreed to be baptized!!!!!! :) :) He baptism date will be the 6th of June! She is a miracle. Every time we meet with her, she brings her little two year old daughter.  It's one of those times on the mission that I wish I could hold little kids because she is ADORABLE!!! But she loves giving us hugs, so we can do that :)  We had given Tsigereda Alma 32 to read before meeting again, and when she came back this time, she had it all marked and had made notes in the margins.  We read her a scripture about the nature of God in the Bible, and she says, "Wait! That reminds me of something from the Book of Mormon!" Then she pulls out Alma 26 where it talks about the strength of the Lord and how we can do all things through Him (I think it's verse 12).  Our jaws dropped! This is only our second time meeting with her, and she is showing US scriptures from the Book of Mormon! #golden! :)

Other than those miracles,  every single other of our appointments cancelled this week... Gotta love the ups and downs of missionary work eh??? But hey! Whenever there is miracles, there is opposition trying to convince you otherwise.  DON'T EVER FORGET IT!  I love being a missionary in Norway and the time is going by way too fast!!

I'm so excited to talk to you all next week.  I'm not sure on the details or the times or anything, but I will let you all know as soon as I do! I love you all SO much and I miss you like crazy!  Keep being missionaries.  Keep praying for missionary oppurtunities, because even in Morgan, Utah, there is a BIG need for missionary work!! Keep the faith!

Love, Søster Heywood

Miracles!

Hi Family!!

So this week for pday, we went out and roasted hot dogs by a lake, so now my fingers are freezing and won't type very fast... so excuse the typos :)

This week the Drammen Stake had Stake Conference, so most of the members travelled down to that.  Even Casper got to go, because there is a lady there that could translate for him. He loved it.  There were two talks given from people who were in the Stavanger ward. #represent! One of them is Jørgen, an 18 year old kid who talked about preparing for a mission, the other was Simen Bjerga, who was inactive for a long time, but just recently came back to the church.  His mom told me that for Mother's day, he told her that he would be going through the temple!  Now he has a calling in the Young Mens and is just incredible!!

We met with Louis this week and invited him (again) to be baptized! He accepted, like he always does, but this time, he was open to a date! So we set the date for June 15th.  Hopefully I'll still be here by then.  It's SO exciting! 

On Wednesday, we went with the Gulbrandsen family to help them clear out the yard by their cabin.  Lot's of work, and quite a few trips to the dump, but it was awesome!  It was good to do some service, and see some BEAUTIFUL Norwegian countryside! 

We met with Sister Mead's friend, Anita, this week, at Sister Mead's house (the BEST way to have lessons.) The spirit was so strong and she is so prepared to hear this message.  I loved seeing Sister Mead's face light up whenever she bore her testimony.  We have another appointment with her this week, and we're so excited for it.  She is just a sweetheart!

Another member, Karl Petter, told us about a coworker that he has who was interested in hearing about the church.  Her name is Tsigereda and she is from Ethiopia!!  We met with her and she has SUCH a strong faith in Christ it's kinda unbelievable! She brought her little 2 year old daughter Naomi, and we just fell in love!  She is SOO cute, and already speaks 4 languages!! (though, I don't think she knows it..) They stayed after to the adult session of Stake Conference, and Tsigereda loved it!  

Remus is still doing great, just plugging away at the Book of Mormon. :) Silvia gets back this week from her vacation, and we have 5 new investigators that we're meeting with as well! I never thought I would be so busy in Norway!  But it just goes to show that people here are ready, prepared and waiting to hear the gospel.  It is life changing and I'm so thankful that I get to be a part of it!!

I love you family!!! Have another awesome week!!!! (Sorry, the emails a little short..... like I said... cold hands.... what can ya do?)

Love,

Søster Heywood

"So... What's the difference between you guys and nuns?"‏

Hey Family!

So... let's see here! This week we had so many miracles and it just reminds me how lucky I am to be here and to be a part of this!  It's INCREDIBLE! I feel like I had someone tapping me on the shoulder every so often saying, "Hey, look at that! That was a miracle!" "Look at where you are right now! You're so lucky!"  I have no idea what I did to deserve an experience like this.  We were eating dinner with one of the families in the ward and in the middle of the conversation I got like a WAVE of emotion.  I can't imagine my life without the people I have met here.  They've completely changed me and showed me what being a member of this church really means.  Man! These members here are so dedicated! The youth are so strong! I mean, they have to be.  It's a little different from living in Morgan where all of my friends pretty much had my same values.  These kids are called on to defend their faith all the time!  And they do! They are SO amazing!

On Monday, we visited Silvia for the last time before she left on her trip. She'll be gone for about two weeks and when she comes back, it won't be too long before her son comes!  He's going to add so much to the ward! We had one of our members, Sister Mead, with us to teach her and they found out they both have 8 year old sons that love to play soccer! It was so fun to see them connect so well! I love it when the members and investigators become friends.  It is VITAL! Later that night, we met with two guys that we met on the bus. and uh... I think they thought it was a double date... Even though we told them before that we would be sharing more about the church.... So that was weird... So during the lesson, when I was explaining the Book of Mormon, one of them interrupted me and said, "So what's the difference between you guys and nuns?"... It was hilarious!... later that night... in the moment, not so hilarious.  Long story short, we're not exactly meeting with them anymore unless they contact us, but hey! It was a fun story right? Søster Horner and I went back to the apartment and when we got in she goes, "What is the difference between us and nuns?" and then we just laughed for the next hour about it!

We met with Alma this week too, and she is AWESOME! She is from Sweden and only speaks Swedish, but the amazing this is, we can understand her WAY better than half of the people we meet on the streets! That's Stavanger for ya! But yes! Alma is the SWEETEST! She smiled no matter what we were explaining to her.  She told us that she really likes Biology, which is AWESOME, because we had planned to read from Alma 32 with her. (Ya'know, about planting a seed of faith in your heart) Umm... has there even been a person more prepared to hear that chapter? I think not! :) haha! She is about our same age and I can see the three of us being friends for a LONG time :)

Sophia, the girl from Germany, began the lesson this week by sharing with us her experience of getting her answer that the Book of Mormon is not true... which was hard.  She has had a lot of really good experiences with prayer and she felt like God answered that the Book of Mormon wasn't true... but we know that can't be right.  We asked if she had read it, and she said no, so we explained more about it, read Moroni 10:4-5 with her, then asked her again if she would READ the Book of Mormon, then ponder on it, then pray to ask God if it is true.  We showed her Alma 7 which is all about Christ and his life, and she told us that she would read it.  So fingers crossed!

On Saturday, we felt prompted to go out to the town of Tananger, visit a member family, and knock on some doors.  So we called the family, got it all arranged, and headed out. The bus there only leaves every hour, and the one coming back only comes every hour. On the way to the bus stop, we felt like we needed to talk to this girl. So we talked to her.... not interested... but because of that.. we missed the bus.  So we were feeling really bad and really down on ourselves because we wouldn't be able to get out there soon enough to really get anywhere with the tracking.  So we sat there for a minute, felt like failures, asked a lady if that was the bus we were supposed to take, she said yea, then we just felt worse.  We thought about contacting with that hour of extra time, but it just didn't feel right.  so after about a half hour, the other bus came. the one that we thought was coming back from Tananger.  But we thought, let's ask the bus driver if he's going out there just in case.  So we asked, and he said yes! So, long story short, if we hadn't have talked to that girl that said no, we would have been on the wrong bus headed in the opposite direction from where we needed to go!  And to make the story even better, while we were on the bus, a man sat next to me, saw my nametag and started bearing his testimony of Jesus Christ! So I pulled out a Book of Mormon, and showed him how it witnesses of Jesus Christ.  He asked if he could borrow it (that is THE BEST part of missionary work) So I told him that he could have it and that I'd like to explain more about it another day.  So we're REALLY glad we got on that bus!

After that, we went to the Meads, the member family, ate some yummy dinner, and shared a spiritual thought.  Sister Mead started to tell us about her neighbor who might be ready to hear the message of the gospel.  So we went next door, met Anita, and now we have an appointment for next week to teach her in the Mead's home ^_^ It was a complete miracle!!  When we told Sister Mead that she was open to meeting, she started to tear up! Then of course, ya'll know me, I started tearing up too! This is why I love missionary work. 

This was crazy long family! Sorry bout that! I loved hearing all about life in Morgan and what's going on there! Tell Jared Congrats for me! ACT is hard and getting a 36 is AMAZING!! I still want to hear all about Heather's choir tour! I cannot BELIEVE that it has been two years since we went together! WOAH! time flies eh??? I love you all SOOO much!!!

Love, Søster Heywood

p.s. so... I chopped my hair again... 

That was the fun part :)

Hei Hei Familie!! :)

This week was a little crazy! On Monday, we went to go to FHE and had NO IDEA that they had cancelled it for Easter, (even though Easter was the day before.... psh! Norway!) But unfortunately... we weren't smart enough to make back up plans... (insert bad missionary point here) But hey! we decided we would go back to the city center and contact a little.  So we got on a bus, tried to contact there and.... nothing... we were feeling pretty bad when we got off the bus, but talked to the first girl we sw when we got off.  She is from Germany, and she was on her way home from CHURCH! So when we stopped her and wanted to talk to her about Jesus Christ, she was all for it. We got her number and set an appointment for the next day.  When we met with her the next day, we gave her a German Book of Mormon and told her a little bit of background (what it's about, Joseph Smith, how we use it to support the Bible), then we asked her to commit to read it and pray about it. She sent us a text the next day saying that she had prayed about it but hadn't read it.  She felt like she had gotten an answer that only the Bible was from God.  Søster Horner and I were sitting there thinking, "How in the world can you know if you don't read it?" But she's open to continuing to meet, so we have another appointment set up for tomorrow. *fingers crossed and prayers said*

But back to Monday night... after we talked to the girl from Germany, we walked a little further and stopped a girl from the Phillipines.  She is AWESOME!we had a lesson there on the street and said a prayer with her as well.  We have yet to meet with her but I'll keep ya updated :)  Those two girls were the first of 4 new investigators we got this week!I'm pretty positive that is the most I've gotten in one week on my whole mission :) We have been so blessed here in Stavanger!

WE also had another baptism Sunday morning right before church. The Zone leaders had only taught this guy for about 6 weeks! He's so good and so humble! He makes the third baptism in Stavanger ward in the last two months. Do you want to know the secret? MEMBERS!! Having members come with us to teach, having members invite investigators to dinners, member sitting with investigators in church. It's ALL the members! All we do is teach the doctrine.  I'm so excited to be "just" a member again someday ;) Really though! It makes a HUGE difference!

Stavanger is warming up more and more (when it's not raining...) haha! The sun rises at about 6 now and goes down at about 10pm... so now we're getting to the downswing where the sun NEVER goes down.  (Much happier if you ask me) But then again, I can sleep when it's light.  Søster Horner and I have been humming the song "Spring, Spring, Spring" from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers all week long.  Did I tell ya'll that? Søster Horner loves musicals (like the old ones) almost as much as I do! haha! She's the best! So we get to talk about Doris Day, and Howard Keel all the time :) (Just a random side note...)

Remus is doing great! We cracked down this week and asked him to be baptized again, and he said yes! Then we tried to set a date, and he told us that he made a promise to read the whole Book of Mormon before he joins the church.  So since he has had the lessons about three times each, we've decided to read the Book of Mormon with him every time that we meet with him :) He's so funny. At one point in the lesson, he was talking about how girls don't like being called fat.  He told us a story about when he called a girl fat the ended it with, "But she knew it. That was the fun part." haha! I guess it doesn't sound as funny now that I'm typing it out... but add in a Romanian accent + Remus's personality and it was pretty hilarious.  I don't think he knew it was an insult... haha!

We had a Zone Leader Training on Saturday, then afterwards got to FINALLY watch the General Women's Meeting.  One of the new converts, Brightess, had brought her friend, Joy, to watch, so when President Eyring told the story about Joy and how Joy always follows trials, she really liked it. :) President and Sister Evans stayed to church the next day and gave talks in Sacrament meeting. President talked about how their mission is ending in June and how he had served a part of his mission in the Stavanger Ward (then the Stavanger Branch).  It's so sad to see them coming to the end of their mission! They are so amazing!!

We've been meeting with our upstairs neighbor in the last little bit *(the one we met in the laundry room) and have taught her almost all of the lessons.  She moved back to the Philippines on Saturday :( The three of us had become REALLY good friends and it was so sad to see her go.  When we checked our mail Saturday night, she had put a sweet note in our mailbox telling us how much she appreciated two young girls who were so dedicated to God and Jesus Christ.  It was such a tender mercy! I'll be holding onto that note for a LONG time :)

OOH! One more thing! One of our new investigators' name is Alma! She is awesome! When we asked her what her name was, I got a surprised look and told her about the prophet Alma and that he was one of the Book of Mormon prophets.  That sparked her interest and now she wants to learn more.  She wasn't too interested until this point.  I'm pretty sure her parents were following inspiration when they named her that, because she probably wouldn't have been interested otherwise... haha! :) Fun to think about huh?

Welp! I'll sign off now family, but I love you all SOOO much! I want to hear all about Little Collins and how she is doing! I want to hear how Kayli and Steve are liking Eagle. I want to hear all about Heather's Choir Tour, and Hayden's drumline, and Sarah's... everything ;) I feel so greedy! But I just love you all and miss you all!

Jeg er såå glad i dette evangelium.  Jeg vet at på grunn av Jesus Kristus kan vi alle overvinne våre svakheter som vi alle har i dette livet.  Jeg vet at Mormons Bok er sann.  Jeg VET at Gud elsker alle sine barn! Jeg kan føle det hver gang jeg snakke med dem. Denne kirken virkelig er Jesu Kristi kirke.  Jeg er så UTROLIG takknemlig at jeg kan dele dette budskapet om glede med folket har i Norge. Jeg ELSKER Norge! Jeg Elsker min Himmelske Fader, og jeg ELSKER å være en misjonær!!!!! <3 

Google Translation: 

I am soo happy in this gospel. I know that because of Jesus Christ , we can all overcome our weaknesses that we all have in this life. I know that Mormonism is true. I KNOW that God loves all His children ! I can feel it every time I talk to them. This church really is the church of Jesus Christ . I am so grateful that I can share this AMAZING message of joy with people in Norway. I LOVE Norway ! I Love my Heavenly Father, and I LOVE being a missionary !!!!!

Elsker dere!

-Søster Heywood

pics-                                                          Cold, wet, and OH SO HAPPY!

                                       Our apartment, lovingly called "The Hobbitt Hole"

                                    Yes, we decorated Easter Eggs!

                                  My side of our study room/eating room

God Påske!!!‏

April 6, 2015

Hei familie!!

Ok, so I have to apologize again because this week is gonna be a short one.  Here in Norway, EVERYTHING shuts down for Easter... including the library where we usually email.  So now us 8 missionaries here in Stavanger are waiting for our turns on the computer at the church... :) Fun times for sure!

General Conference was AMAZING! I love watching as a missionary, because for the first time, I'm thinking 100% of how the talks apply to my investigators.  Søster Horner and I found ourselves looking at each other thinking, "This would be perfect for Silvia!" or "I'm so glad Remus is watching!".  It was incredible! I especially LOVED th talk about how music is the spirit, and dancing is the motions that we go through in the church.  the dancing is pointless with out the music to dance to. . Sometimes people see us dance, and make fun of us because they can't hear the music, but that does not mean that we should stop dancing! :) Yup! I'm still a musical nerd!! LOVED that analogy. We watched general conference at the church and even got special permission to watch the Sunday afternoon session from ten o'clock til midnight... And we are SOOO tired! haha! Yup! still had to be up at 6:30 this morning. :)

We had transfers this week as well, and we have three new missionaries in our district.  Two of them are right out of the MTC, Søster Wadley, and Eldste Broadbent, and they are doing SO well already.  The third is Elder Childs, who was my first Zone leader, then went to be an assistant to President, and is now my District leader! So that's super awesome! Ah man family, this transfer is going to be SO awesome! Stavanger just better get ready for it :)

Cool story for the week: we went upstairs in our apartment building to do our laundry one night, and a girl came in to switch out hers.  She is from the Phillipines, and aparently lives in the same building as us... yeah, totally didn't know anyone else lived there... I'ved lived here three months and never seen anyone come in or out except for us.  But yeah! we got talking to her about where we were from, and what we wre doing there, then asked if we could come visit her another time.  So we visited her and taught her a couple days later only to find out that she is moving this week... so that's a bummer.  But is taught Søster Horner and I that we are missionaries 24-7. In or out of the apartment.

Well, family, I know this was super short and lame, but I want you to all know how much I love think about and pray about you every day!!! I love you SO much!! Keep praying for missionary oppurtunities, because God places people in our path EVERY DAY who we need to talk to! :)

Ha en fin uke!! Glad i dere!

Søster Heywood

Phenomenal Cosmic Power!!...*(itty bitty living space)

Hei Family!!

So we went on a hike to Preikestolen today, so the email is gonna be a little bit shorter... and late... sorry! But it was super fun! It was just so foggy today, but hopefully we'll be going in the next couple weeks again when it's warmer.  But ya'll should google Preikestolen. It's gorgeous :)

This week has been a little all over the place.  We had Zone Conference on Thursday and for the first time, I didn't have to fly there! It was held at Stavanger! Phew! There are definitely perks to living in bigger cities.  The conference was focused a lot on how we can raise our vision, and have a better hope for the work.  It was incredible! President Evans is so inspired and a lot of my prayers and questions were answered.

After the conference, we met with Arve and he is doing so good.  We talked to him about the Plan of Salvation and he said it was different, but he really liked it.  Earlier in the lesson he had told us that he knew that God was there, but he wanted to be better at showing it.  He told us of different experiences that he had in his life that had strengthened his testimony, and how he had prayed before to find answers.  Arve is so cool!!

That reminds me, we did have moves call this week, and luckily, Søster Horner and I will be staying in Stavanger! I'm SO relieved!! I could not imagine leaving now! I love these people way too much! :)

Casper is a champion as usual, and translating for him on Sundays is getting better and better! I'm loving Norwegian sign language... I just need to figure out how I'm going to use it after the mission... or Norwegian for that matter... haha!! I'll just have to skype a lot with Casper that's all :)

We met with Silvia this week, and it went SO well!!!! She has been keeping the Word of Wisdom! Or at least trying her best, since we actually haven't even taught her that yet... I guess her son, the one that just got baptized, got after her one day for drinking wine, and told her that she needed to repent... haha! Go Frank! So she asked us to explain it a little more and to help her look through her tea to see which kind she could and couldn't drink.  She is INCREDIBLE!!! She has become one of my best friends out here. I just LOVE Silvia! :)

So random fact about Norway... Easter is a HUGE deal here... and I'm not sure why.... because they don't really place Christ as the reason for it all. :) But it is so important that all of the stores close for a week, the kids are out the whole week of school, and every one leaves to go skiing! haha!! :)

Well Family! I love you! Sorry today was short, but I gotta run!! I love you all SOOO much!!!

Love, Søster Heywood