"I will boast of my God" <- Cuz He's AWESOME!‏

Hey Family!!!

Shoutout to Kyle!!! Now he can be old enough to be a dad ;)

Holy Guacamole! Where do I even begin this week...I guess I could sum up the whole week just by saying that it is AWESOME to have a front row seat to Heavenly Father preforming His miracles! Yep! That About sums it up! I'll just end the email here! ;)

Nah, but really, this week was one of those weeks where I'm just so grateful to be a missionary.  I guess I can start with how Silvia is doing.  She has been really sick this last week and not able to meet a whole lot, but when we did meet with her, we felt prompted to talk about preisthood blessings.  Her son got baptized a few months ago and now has the priesthood so she is really interested in learning more about it.  Then we brought up how one of the "jobs" of the priesthood is to heal the sick.  We asked her if she would like a blessing, and she started getting tears in her eyes, and said, "Yes, I KNOW that would help me."  She is so amazing and one of the most faithful people I have ever met in my life.  She is an incredible example of comepletely turning life over to God and His plan.

On Wednesday, we had the sister training leaders come.  I LOVE having them come.  We met some incredible people on the street and now one of them is a new investigator! The next day, after they left, Søster Horner and I were about to go and visit a less active member.  We decided to call to confirm the appointment, and she had forgotten about it, and cancelled.  So with the hour of time that we had, we decided to keep going with our bus contacting idea.  So we said a prayer, got on a random bus, and after a few stops, this lady came and sat down by me.  We got talking and she is from Serbia, and had only been in Norway for three days. I told her a little bit about the church, got her number and she got off a few stops later.  I called the next day to set up an appointment with her, and she told me, "I'll call you when I have time."..... yeeeaaahhh..... that's promising right?? We went back to the apartment later to do some weekly planning for next week, and as soon as we were finished with our prayer to open, she called! It was TOTALLY a "Best Two Years" moment!! haha! She said, "Hi! I'm in Sentrum right now by the pond with my friend.  Can you come find us?"  So we got all of our things together, went back outside and found her and her friend.  We ascked them if they wanted to see our church, and they said yes! So we all got on a bus, went to the church and had a lesson with them both. Her name is Irena btws... :) I had brought a Serbian Book of Mormon for her, and when I showed it to her, she grabbed it and held it against her chest like a treasure! She is SO AWESOME!

Then on Saturday night, we got a text from Arve, our new investigator who has been out of town this week on business.  He is Norwegian, but he sent us this text in English to make sure we would understand, "Sometimes God sends us angels for a reason, anyway, he sent you this time.  I'll pray for you and see you on Tuesday." Our mouths dropped!  We have only met with this guy once, and given him the Book of Mormon. Then he went out of town, and we hadn't heard from him until then. I'm so excited to meet with him again tomorrow! So send some prayers our way family! ;)

On Saturday, we had a baptism in the ward! :) The sisters in Sandes have been teaching Daniel only for about a month and a half.  He is so cool though! I always love seeing people get baptized and seeing their faces when they come up out of the water.  I reminded me of Eirik's baptism back in Ålesund and how I had never seen him smile bigger! AH!! I just love the gospel!!

On a different note, Norway is getting warm fast! well... warmer... :) But the sun now rises before we're even out of bed, and sets right before we go back to bed! It's normal.... and it's weird.  We went outside to the playground to exercise this morning and it was light! But then in a couple months, it will start getting lighter and lighter until the sun starts rising at 3 am then sets after midnight! Norway is weird family... it's just weird... :) haha!!

This morning in personal study, I read about Ammon and the sons of Mosiah and the "end of their mission" (Alma 26) Ammon starts by turning to his brethren and saying, "Did you ever think we'd see this many blessings??" (or something along those lines... ;) haha! It made me think.  Seven months ago, I had no idea how much these strangers out here would change my life.  I had no idea about the miracles I would see or even get to be a part of.  I had no idea how my life would be changed by people I had never met before.  But I can't imagine my life without these people now.  I thank Heavenly Father every day for helping me make the decision to come on a mission, because if I hadn't, I would have never met Casper, or Silvia, or Åse Marie, or Eirik, or any of these people who have changed my life! Isn't that crazy? haha!I guess that's how most missionaries feel, and this probably sounds cliche... haha!

Later in the same chapter, as Ammon is telling of all of the great miracles and things that the Lord has done, his brother Aaron comes up to him and says, "Ammon... buddy... calm down a little, you're bragging a little bit." (Or something like that ;) And Ammon just brushes it off and says, "I'm boasting of my God! Cuz He's awesome!" (or something like that) :) That about sums up how I've been feeling this week.  God is awesome, His work is awesome, and His children are AWESOME!

I sure love you family!! Jeg vet at denne kirken virkelig er Jesu Kristi Gjenopprettet Kirke på jorden.  Jeg vet at Han lever og at han elsker oss og alle sine barn. Uansett hvor vanskelig vi kan ha det, elsker Gud oss.  Han er perfekt.  Planen hans er perfekt.  Når vi prøve vår best å følge Hans sønn Jesus Kristus, kan vi få mer velsignelser enn vi kan tenke om ennå.  Jeg elsker min Frelser. Jeg elsker hans arbeid. :)

Love, Søster Heywood


Translation of last paragraph:

I know that this church really is Jesus Christ Restored Church on earth. I know that He lives and that He loves us and all children. No matter how difficult we can have it, God loves us . He is perfect. His plan is perfect. When we try our best to follow His Son Jesus Christ , we can get more blessings than we can think about yet . I love my Savior. I love his work. :)