This week is a English fast for the whole mission, which means that we will only speak Norwegian for this week.... I let ya know how that goes :) We have seen so many miracles here in Ålesund this week! I guess that's why they like to call this place Miracle-sund :) On Wednesday, we met with Yan again (I know i know... I told you his name was Yen... but it's Yan). Before meeting, we looked through his progress record since he was a previous investigator and it said that the missionaries had stopped meeting with him because he worked all day every Sunday and couldn't progress if he didn't come to church. So we decided that for this lesson with him, we were going to address that. We asked him about coming to church, expecting a little bit of a fight, but instead he said that he couldn't make it this week, and he leaves Tuesday for Shanghai, but as soon as he comes back, he's going to stop working on sundays so he can come to church!! It was so cool! He then told us that he has read in the Book of Mormon every day since meeting with us last, and he has read the Restoration pamplet over and over again. He's so incredible! He leaves for Shanghai on Tuesday, but we will be in touch doing skype lessons with him while he's gone.
Saturday was FULL TO THE BRIM of miracles!!! Around noon, we got a text from a girl we had given a pass along card to and she said "Hey this is Taylor, that girl you met on the bus a few weeks ago. How are you?" She is from Canada and works here in Ålesund. We give cards to lots of people so it took me a second to remember who it was, but we got an appointment with her and hopefully all will go well with that.
We were contacting on the street, and I kid you not, EVERYONE was listening to us. We had a lot of really cool conversations with people. We met one man from Morocco, who was a tourist from one of the cruise ships that come in almost everyday, he was going to be leaving, but we got his number and email and asked if our friends could visit him when he gets home. He told us that he would love that! After about that half hour of contacting, we decided that we would try to visit one of our members named Øystein who we haven't been able to get contact with. I have only met him once and it was shortly after I came to Ålesund. He has really severe depression and will rarely come out of his apartment. So for the last couple months we have been leaving notes, and general conference talks in his mailbox and just praying for him. But Saturday, we tried going to his apartment to visit him and none of the doorbells were working, and the door to the building was locked... We waited there a few seconds longer that we normally would have, then headed back up the street to go somewhere else. As we were walking up the street, a man came walking the other direction and I thought...Wait, is that him? I couldn't remember very well what he looked like, but Søster Buhler and I decided to go creeper status and follow this guy back to the apartment building. It ended up being Øystein, and he smiled when he saw us and we got to talk to him for a little while! He told us that in the last two months he has read the Book of Mormon 2 and a half times!! and that he was excited to come back to church when he gets his emotions back under control. It was SUCH a miracle!!!
After about ten minutes, he went inside, and we immediately got a text from Arthur, a guy we met about a week ago at a bus stop, saying that he was in Ålesund city and he had about 25 minutes that he could meet with us if we wanted to. He comes from Latvia, so we ran from Øystiens apartment to ours to get a Latvian Book of Mormon for him, then we ran to meet him at the bus terminal. Since he didn't have much time, we met right there inside the terminal with lots of people around. We showed him the Book of Mormon and explained that we wanted to tell him more about it. So we taught him about the Restoration and about Joseph Smith. And even though we were in a crowded bus terminal, we could all feel the Spirit so strong! We asked him if he would commit to reading the Book of Mormon every day, and he said "Yeah, I'll definitely do that" Then we asked him if he would pray to find out if Joseph Smith was really a prophet of God, and he said, "I can promise you that". He is SO COOL!!! Afterward, he even taught us how to read Latvian! :)
So that was all within about 4 hours on Saturday... just miracle after miracle. Then on Sunday, Eirik received the priesthood!!!!!!!! :) It was incredible to see! He is doing so well and is one of our most active members!
So just to answer some questions: The word "Koselig" is that word that Eline told us about and it is what all Norwegians search for! It's so funny. Here in Norway, is doesn't matter how big your house is... it matters how koselig it is! the cozier the better! :) We love describing to people that that is what the spirit feels like. I'm not sure when exactly we'll be skyping on Christmas... or even where I will be for Christmas. We might go up to Trondheim on Christmas day, since we have a Christmas conference up the on the 26th anyway... I wouldn't know how to do google hangout, but if Steve or someone can figure it out, I'm all for that! :) I'll keep ya posted on time though... it will probably be in the morning time for you guys and night time for me :) Søster Buhler is INCREDIBLE!! And we are so similar!! We work really well together and I am just so grateful for her everyday! :) I love my companion, I love Ålesund and I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!! :)
I love you all SO much! thanks for keeping me updated on everybodies mission calls, christmas trees... and uh... MY SISTER GETTING TO SING FOR APOSTALES!!???What? and meeting president Uctdorf?? So cool! I hope she never forgets that! Have an awesome week family! Vi snakkes!!!
-Søster Heywood
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