So Norwegians do this awesome thing when they are agreeing with what you say. Where we would usually just nod, they gasp! So sometimes Sister Randall and I just gasp everything that we say... yep!
Conference!!! OH my goodness! So many prayers and questions were answered this weekend. Some favorites though:
-Ponderize a scripture every week.
-This work is not about me, it is about the Lord and the people who I serve.
-We need women who teach FEARLESSLY
-Focus on what you CAN DO instead of being discouraged by what you CANNOT DO.
-Many are the afflictions of the righteous
-Mortal life is not easy for anyone
-No darkness is stronger than LIGHT.
-We cannot let our family be defined by society
-SIMPLIFY
There's so much more I could add. I'm really excited to get the issue in the Ensign so I can study them more fully. :)
But as far as the rest of the week, it has been filled with some awesome tender mercies. On Monday, we went to the Munch art museum! A lot of the exhibits were closed including The Scream (That was sad) but as we were walking out of the museum, Eline found a little area with some oil crayons an big pieces of paper to draw on. I was in HEAVEN for about a half hour after that. I miss art! MAN! That was real nice. By the end of it my hands were all messy from the oils. YES!
Cool story though! On Tuesday, I went on splits with Sister Hoggard, and we talked to this really cool YSA aged girl on the street. We told her about the Book of Mormon and she asked if we had one on us. OF COURSE! She got really excited as we handed her a copy. I love it when peoples' faces light up becuase of the Book of Mormon. Even if they don't even know what it is yet. She was really cool. We also met this other girl who loves the Bible, and is open to listening, but not at all open to the Book of Mormon yet. We've been meeting with quite a few people lately who have been really stuck on the Bible and unwilling to try to read from the Book of Mormon. They say things like, "I'll read it once you convince me that it's true." Uhmmm..... that's not how the Book of Mormon works. To gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, one has to read from it's pages, and pray to ask God. No missionary can simply convince someone of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. My testimony cannot convince someone else. My testimony can convince me. So many people lately have been asking for us to show them evidence and it's getting a little old... :) Yup! But hey! that's how it is :)
The good news is, one of our investigators who has been gone on vacation came back and told us that she had read in the Book of Mormon, and wanted to meet again, (We had only met with her once before). She asked if we could meet on Sunday and we told her about General Conference. THEN SHE ASKED IF SHE COULD COME! We didn't even get to inviting her yet. But sure enough, she came for the Sunday morning session of conference (which we watched Sunday night) and the whole time, I was praying that she would like it, and that something would touch her. One of the talks quoted Alma 32 which just happened to be the chapter she had read in the Book of Mormon already. She loved the whole conference and all of the inspiring stories! I mean, who wouldn't? :)
On wednesday, ALL of our appointments cancelled clear up until 6 o'clock. It's the WORST!!! We left the apartment not quite knowing what we were going to do. Even our backup plans fell through. We concluded that the best thing to do was to get started in the best way that we knew how. Contacting. Now we had no intention on contacting for 6 hours, but we were running on pure faith that Heavenly Father had a plan for the day. And He did! As we were contacting, we both got the feeling to travel out to an island to visit a less active who we hadn't tried before because it took too much time to get out there. We took a ferry, then a bus for about an hour, and visited this lady. After a few minutes of talking to her, she referred us across the field to her nonmember exhusband. So we went over, and he wants to learn more about the church! Now that we could see it all in perspective, we realized that we had kept putting off going out to the island for a day that we had no plans. But we always had plans. So God in His wisdom, cleared our plans, and gave us a little stress so we could have the time to go to this prepared man. God is awesome. And so smart.
While we were on the island, we found a BEAUTIFUL little lake that was surrounded by yellow, orange, and bright read trees. The water was SO STILL, it was like walking into a little autumn paradise! SO GORGEOUS! (I can't send pictures this week, but I'll send them next week for sure! It was breathtaking!
We had an AMAZING service oppurtunity this week. We went to the poor house here in Oslo, and gave food to people who couldn't afford it themselves. I came expecting to be amazed by the humble people who came through the line, but what I didn't expect was to be humbled by the amazing people who were volunteering their time to be there. These are people who vonunteer there every week. One of the volunteers in particular, had just recently finished a long and rigorous bike race where the prize was 10,000 Kroner. He won, and donated every bit if it to the poor house. When he saw our name tags, he told us that he had prayed that morning to be led to truth! He came with us that night to the center to watch Meet the Mormons with some other YSA. The Oslo sisters are teaching him now. He's my hero. What a champion!
Something I learned about the Atonement this week: The fact that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are two separate beings makes the Atonement even more meaningful. I mean, if it was God giving Himself for us, that would be great and all, but it becomes even more powerful when you realize that He gave His Son. How incredible is that. Of course they are two separate beings. The sacrifice was not God giving himself, but giving His Son. God gave His Son for us to pay the price so that we can return back to Him.
Has the gospel always been this TRUE?? Or could I just not see it before? hmm.
I love you all SO much! remember to Ponderize a scripture this week!
Love,
Sister Heywood
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