Søster Heywood: Norway Bound!: So Sore!

*Hey FAM!!

Okay, let's just start this one out with a little confession. So you know how missionaries should exercise every morning from 6:30 to 7:00? Yeah, let's just say that that area has been slackin over the last few months. (Ya know... rain and other excuses) BUT! Sister Firth and I want to be better at that so we have been running... a TON! Like the entire half hour without stopping! I know that to a lot of people reading this that isn't too bad, but just throw Norwegian fog and rain on top of it :) It's a downright blast!! haha! But seeing as it had been a few months since any REAL exercise had happened, we have been so sore! It's nice. We played soccer with some members on Saturday and after that... we were just dead. Uff da. But hey! It's better than the stretches and "crunches" that we were doing before :)

As far as the actual missionary work side of things... Asker is awesome, and the Sandvika ward is SPECTACULAR! I have never felt more welcome in a new ward before. Sometimes when you are a new missionary in the ward it feels like you're running for President, constantly trying to earn trust and get members to like you. I didn't have to do that here. Every member I made eye contact with came up to me, shook my hand, and said, "Er du ny?" It was so nice. It's definitely a smaller ward, in fact I would say it's the smallest ward I've served in. (Other than Ålesund of course). There's about 80-100 people that come every week. It's nice though. That way we can work a little more personally instead of just trying to remember the names of 300 people.

Also, President and Sister Hill and the office couple, the Brostrums are in our ward! So that's rad! They are all so good with the members!

Our investigators are great. (at least the ones I've met so far). We are teaching a couple from China who have the cutest little 3 year old girl! We watched Finding Faith in Christ with them and had an awesome talk afterwards. We are also teaching a lady named Karimatu who has such a strong desire to know if this is true. She kept saying, "I just want to understand". I wish more people would realize like she does that that is why we're here. We're here as missionaries to invite people to come unto Christ and find truth. We aren't here to increase the church membership or trick people into the water. We have found something that gives real peace and happiness, and we just invite people to try and see if it does the same for them. We invite people to experiment.

Sister Firth and I had a rough contacting night last night. Here's the thing. Asker city is smaller than Oslo city. By a long shot. And there just aren't too many people on the streets at 7 in the evening. But we felt like we should be there, so we kept going through the almost empty streets (All 5 of them!). We stopped everyone we saw and usually before we could say much, they turn and walk away. Sånn er det. Finally, we decided that we would talk to one more person, then call it a night. We talked to a girl who wasn't sure if God existed or not. She opened up a little to us and told us that her best friend had just passed away 5 days ago. We told her about the
Plan of Salvation and that she would see her friend again. She put her hands over her heart and said a sincere thank you. She had to leave, and she said she wasn't ready to meet and talk more, so we gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, and a card with our number. Who knows if she'll call, but I know that she needed to hear that.

As far as other fun facts about Asker and Sister Firth:

-Sister Firth went to Wasatch High School and knows Sister Horner (2nd wasp companion...What am I gonna do with these girls...? ;)

- Our house is on this long stretch of road that kinda has a Morgan Valley Drive feel to it... Lots of farmland..except like... with the ocean :)

- In Asker sentrum there is a giant statue of a reindeer kneeling like a human... it's weird and big... Pictures to come next week :)

- There are 6 missionaries total in the ward, 4 Elders, and us.

- The drive to Sandvika is about 15 minutes so it's kinda like a Morgan/Mountain Green deal going on... except bigger

- Our study area is huge and we already have a Christmas tree in the apartment!

- There is a barnehage (preschool) in a teepee in a field across our house. I want to go to preschool in a Teepee!!!

- Sister Firth had 120 stitches in her finger! And was the captain of her soccer team in high school.

Yup! That's about all the random facts I've got for you today. I love you all so much. The church is true, and even more than that, the gospel is! This world is absolutely crazy, but there is a way to find real peace. That's awesome.

Ha det godt!!!

-Søster Heywood

*Teepee preschool!

*My adorable companion!