I want everyone to have the blessings we have!

My Sweet Family,

Oh my I miss you so much. Last night I was reading in my book about how you all told me advice for family night the Monday before I left and it made me cry. I’m so grateful for you guys! So many people here have no family or they don’t care about their family and I don’t understand. I love how close we are and know that we will always be close. Take care of each other and be kind. Also, traveling always makes me appreciate Utah more. The world (ha, since I’ve been like 3 places) is awesome to see, but I think Utah is best!

My companion is Sister Morris. She’s very good at understanding the language which is so important because I understand nothing. It’s weird because with French I feel like I could understand but couldn’t speak. It opposite with Norsk and it’s so frustrating. Most of the time I just smile and nod and sometimes I say “kan du snakker pa Engelsk, var so snill?” That means, “can you speak English, please?” Most of the time they laugh and say yes. I’m spoiled that most people speak English also. A lot of them will speak Norwegian until they hear your American accent and then they automatically switch to English. Probably too painful for them to hear.

There’s a lady in the branch named Bonnie and her little kids picked some weed flowers for us. I put them in a vase (spaghetti sauce bottle) on the counter. They make me happy. Bonnie, by the way, served a mission in this town and she was the last sister missionary here until us. I guess she married a Norwegian dude and now she has 4 kids and lives in this tiny place. I have to make friends with her. Plus, she’s American, so she speaks English! That’s really nice.

Sister Oldham and I got to sit next to each other on the flight over, such a tender mercy!  And we sat next to this kid going to Germany to study. He was from somewhere in the south and he had lots of questions for us! It was great! We gave him an “I’m a Mormon” card with our email addresses and told him we could be European pen pals. I really hope he emails us.

The next morning is when I met Elder and Sister Thurgood (Valarie Diehl’s parents). They were so so sweet! Oh, forgot! The first 2 things President said to me when I met him were 1. I know you from the Ensign! 2. You have a dinner appointment tomorrow night with a lady who knows you. What? I was so confused. My whole mission knows about me because of your article, mom.

So, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you this in the email, but Sherri, the lady I used to visit teach has an aunt or cousin or something, and she has a daughter who lives here in Norway. She is inactive kinda because she came to Europe for school, met a Norwegian man, got engaged…So she has been super against missionaries coming. Partly because she knows her husband would be very open to it. 

But her mom was going to be in town visiting her in Norway (she even extended her visit to make sure she was here when I was) and she said her daughter was ok with us coming because she knew me! So COOL! So they let us come! Me and my companion and the 2 Oslo sisters that were actually assigned to the area. So we had an awesome dinner and gave them a Family Proclamation to the World and her husband said we could come anytime.

They have the most beautiful little girl. I want them to be sealed! So Sister Evans called me yesterday and said they had been reading her (the little girl) the Proclamation and she said it was her ‘favorite book’. I’ve been praying for them. Please pray too! It’s amazing how the Lord can use you as an instrument. I wish I was still there to love them and be with them. Sister Pitts is in Oslo though and she’ll be awesome for them.

Um…church on Sunday was the weirdest thing ever. The branch is teensy. The President doesn’t speak English, and there was an investigator (5 year investigator) there from Cuba who speaks Spanishy Norsk, and a dude that was high and an old grandma. Luckily they have a little keyboard. It was testimony meeting so we all bore our testimonies and I played the piano. Then the Branch President told my companion, “okay, teach Sunday School.” Poor woman. Haha, she did great! And then church was over. And I was confused and overwhelmed. My companion and I decided we will prepare a “relief societyish” meeting each Sunday for Sunday School. And musical numbers and talks. They need our strength and our love! The Branch President is so tired and worn down. You can tell. I want so badly to give them everything I have. To help them understand God loves them!

There are men with strollers everywhere! I love it. I guess the women are more the career type. I don’t really know why, but I think it’s really cute. And the strollers are very European-looking, of course. All Norwegians in general are either really nice or really rude. And in this tiny town most of them know who we are already so when they know we’re going to talk to them they get this terrified look in their eyes. I think it’s so funny! We have salvation for you, people! We’re not scary!

Oh, another friend. So our first day here we found this kebab place (that’s like a lamb meet gyro and ask me if I liked it. Nei.) But the dude that made them for us is from Iran and he is married to a Russian lady and they have a baby. And she loves him so much! So we went and talked to them for a while and she asked for our phone number so she could make us “something special”. She’s lonely. I want to be her friend so badly too. I want everyone to have the blessings we have! Hopefully she will actually call us.

There was a sweet member named Rannveig that brought us dinner the other night. She doesn’t come ot church very often because her husband hates it. I am worried about her. I hope she is able to come soon.

Also, we just hung out with Helena. She is so so shy and timid and only 18 we found out today! But she is incredible. I think she likes how she feels when she is with us. She’s beautiful. We have another appointment for a lesson on Saturday.  My heart aches for her to know she is a daughter of God. I pray that she will feel God’s love every day. I was so impressed with how she walked around with the 2 of us and the whole city stared. But she didn’t care. And she hugged us! It’s hard for her to be outgoing. I love her.

Oh my. So much stuff and never enough time. Your emails gave me so much sgtrength and reminded me who I am and what I’m doing. They were exactly what I needed. I had to skim most of them, but I’ll read them again. Thank you for your support and love.

Jeg elsker dere! (means you all)

Soster M. Pyne