Finally Can Email!

October 19, 2015

Hey fam!

Quick fact about this morning.  We had to go to FIVE different libraries in order to get where we could email. uff da. That was ridiculous! But Now I can email! YAY!!!

This week... This week... What even happened this week?... I know it felt long, but let's see... OH! I finished the Book of Mormon for the third time since being on the mission. I'm going to try and finish it one more.  This time around I chose to focus on how The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ (Which I think I mentioned in last weeks email).  Every time someone mentioned Christ, or Christ spoke, I marked it with a red pencil.  I can now flip through and see red on just about every page!  The Book of Mormon is a complete witmess of Christ, who He is, and what His purpose is.  I know the Book of Mormon is true.  I'm not just saying that because it sounds nice.  I'm not saying it because a million people have said it before.  I'm saying that because I have received a witness that The Book is 100% true.  I don't know if it was a warm feeling, or a peaceful thought, but I know it's true.  That stays steady in my mind among all the other doubts and questions.  Every question we have goes back to A. Is the Book of Mormon true? and B. If it's true, what else mst be true? Prophets who live today?  Jesus Christ? Preisthood Authority? All true. 

We had a cool experience yesterday.  We were invited by one of our investigators to visit her church, and I went in thinking... ok,... let's look for what's wrong here.  It was very different from our church, had a band, some really awesome Christian rock, and a really talented pastor.  I surprisingly felt the Holy Ghost a lot during that meeting, and I was a little confused as to why.  Then I realized something.  They had a LOT of truth.   The way they were praising God wasn't wrong, and God was hearing their prayers just as much as He hears mine.  I couldn't find anything wrong in what they were doing.  They were only missing peices.  Some churches have only a couple peices of the puzzle, then add in more peices from a totally different puzzle hoping to make the original picture.  That doesn't work.  But some churches are simply missing peices and doing their best with what they have.  These people last night were really good, but there were truths missing.  They didn't know or care to know what happens after this life or what happened before this life.  They hold to the truth they do have, and they're content with it.  The whole experience strngthened my testimony that this it God's complete true church on the earth today.  He reveals His teachings through His prophets.  

I feel like this week was a strengthening week.  We visited a member on Tuesday and talked about the Atonement.  I think that was one of the most powerful discussions I've been a part of.  One of the reasons Christ went through the Atonement was so that He could really know and understand us.  And He does.  He knows and understands us completely. Those times when we're down and thinking to ourselves, "No one understands how I feel" or "No one has felt this kind of pain before", a quiet something whispers that someone has.  He completed the Atonement so NO ONE ever needs to feel alone.  I learned that lesson 4 years ago, and need to relearn it all the time.

On a lighter note, the fjord cruise last week was AMAZING!!!! and..... the picture uploading isn't working this week so you will all have to sit in suspense for a little bit longer... sorry :) But OH MAN!!! Norway is gorgeous and the Oslo fjord is gorgeous! I won't try to describe it too much with words, but just imagine sitting on a pirate ship, eating a Norwegian Waffle, sailing through islands with fall leaves spotting the coasts.  Yup. I was in pure paradise.  I'm pretty sure that's what the Celestial Kindom will be like ;) haha!

A couple more fun things:

-Our investigator Eystein is getting baptized on Dec 19 in UTAH! It will be in the morningish (over there) so if anyone wants to go, let me know.   He would love it :)

-Norwegians get CRAZY with soccer.  We play with the members every Saturday, and it gets INTENSE!!! I'm getting pretty good. Who knows? maybe I'll give Jaden a run for his money when we're both home ;) haha!

-tunnels.... There are so many tunnels here.  I swear, there are more streets under Oslo than on Oslo.  uff da.

-We teach a Norwegian class twice a week, and I've decided that there is only one thing harder than learning Norwegian-teaching it.  This language has crazy grammar... and it doesn't make sense... but I LOVE IT!

Love you family!!!! Have an awesome week!

Ponderize scripture for the week: Romans 8:28 

Love, Søster Heywood