Heisann!

Heisann!
 

Alrighty, well, to start off the email take a look at this beautiful companion of mine! Not to mention the Norwegian countryside behind her. We're just the luckiest!

I'm gonna be honest and say this week was a blur! I gotta organize my thoughts so I'll give ya some highlights:
Monday: Solberg family came to celebrate my birthday with me! Aksel and Martine had never heard me speak Norwegian before, and I've never spoken Norwegian to them.  It was AWESOME! They took us out to lunch (first time in a Norwegian restaurant), then we walked to the church to show them around.  They couldn't believe how small the chapel was in comparison with the ones in Utah.  And yet we have 250ish that come every week.... we need a new building :)
Tuesday:  Søster Trydal, a missionary who just went home came to visit and go on splits with us. (She is Norwegian so she is only a couple hours away)  She had been companions with Søster Larsen earlier this year, so that was a fun reunion for the two of them.  We walked over the bridge in the city to do some contacting and we decided it would be a little intimidating if there were three of us stopping these people, so I went on one side of the bridge to contact, and they went contacting on the other side.  I was glad to get my companion back afterwards because contacting by yourself is HARD!  "Can we meet with you another day?"  "Who is we?" "um... I mean.... I'm schizophrenic..." Just awkward... haha :)
Wednesday: We went out to visit a less active member, and Sister Larsen cut her thumb on something, so I made her a band-aid while we were sitting at the bus stop. Gotta do what ya gotta do eh?
Thursday: We met with Møyfrid, one of our investigators. She really wants an answer about whether or not this church is God's church.  She has been a member of the State Church here and doesn't really see anything wrong with it.  We promised her that the way to find out for sure is to read in the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true.  We brought one of the new converts, Zofia, to help us and she bore solid testimony about how she found out that the church was true.  
Friday: Åse Marie came to Drammen to go on splits!! Man, I have missed that lady! The three of us started the day by going to the church to help a member clean it and get it ready for Sunday.  We thought it would take one hour and it ended up taking almost 3! (Maybe we don't need a bigger building...) We ate lunch at McDonalds afterwards (Which may be cheap in America but CERTAINLY IS NOT HERE!)  It still doesn't taste great, but it isn't cheap either!  But I remember back in Ålesund days when Åse would take us out to get McFlurries on hard days, so we just had to eat at McDonalds :) She helped us with a few other lessons, then she popped back on the train to go back home. LOVE HER!

​Saturday: We had Zone Conference in Tønsberg and we got to finally meet President and Sister Hill.  We actually rode with them to the conference.  They are SO awesome and President Hill's Norwegian is already so good! We had interviews with him, and he spoke Norwegian almost the whole time! He said, "Why should I expect my missionaries to speak it if I don't?" He's so good! And Sister Hill is a sweetheart! She said the hardest thing for her to leave was her grandkids and even got a little emotional talking about them :') They are just so sweet! 
And guess who else I got to see at the conference! None other than my adorable daughter, SISTER HORNER! She has grown so much and it's only been a transfer and a half since I last saw her. Still a CHAMP and SWEETHEART!
After The conference, we met with an investigator named Ricardo.  He already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, but he is just struggling to actually come to church.  I don't know whether he is scared to come what, but we gave him a tour of the church, then had a lesson with him in the chapel.  It was really powerful and we were both able to bear testimony of how coming to church has strengthened us. He told us he would try to come to church, but didn't end up coming... We'll see what more we can do for him, but ultimately, he's got his agency. BOO!! ;)

Sunday: We went over to dinner at a member's house.  They have two teenage daughters who...are classic teeanagers.  Really hard to get them to interact in lessons.  So we decided to play the game with them where we open up to a random scripture and have to come up with a spiritual thought.  It got really funny and we had both of them laughing by the end of it -> SUCCESS! :)

See? I told you this week was a blur!  I usually don't go day by day, but there ya go!

Random add-ons:

-Go to the temple this week, NO MATTER WHAT!

-Don't ever fall asleep on the way to Zone Conference or Sister Hill will take a picture of you. :)

-You know you're a missionary when you get a tanline where your watch goes.

-Norwegian slugs are huge... and all over the place!

​Jeg vet at Gud elsker oss.  Jeg vet at dette er Herrens arbeid.  Jeg vet Mormons Bok er sann.  Jeg vet at vi har jo en profet som lever idag.

I love you family!! Keep being amazing, read your scriptures, pray, go to the temple, eat Otter Pops, sing campfire songs, and most importantly remember that I LOVE YOU!!!!

-Søster Heywood

Here are some more photos...from Monday, July 6, with the Solbergs: