...and she sighed and smiled and told us it was doctrine for her soul.

Ah guys, I love typing to you so much.

there is the prettiest natural water everywhere!

I feel like such a spoiled missionary cause I get mail from the nicest people! Thank you for your love and support and kindness. It means so much to me.

So.. where to start? Well, last Monday we visited one of our investigators, Romina. She is the funniest lady and she is so sassy and bright and fun to be with! We had shown her the Stephanie Neilson video on mormon.org and it really touched her. There's a scripture at the end from D&C and when we got there on Monday she said she had searched for the video all week and needed us to look it up again and write the scripture down for her. I LOVE when people drink up the scriptures! We wrote it down for her and she sighed and smiled and told us it was doctrine for her soul.

Um... in the past week I have eaten whole, stinky little fish with eyeballs that stare at you on your plate and a bunch of teeny little bones (I thought I was going to die), and prune soup, and fish casserole. My stomach doesn't know what to do. Hopefully I won't always have delicacies like this to enjoy.

Our sweet member, Rannveig took us on another adventure this week! She drove us up and up and up the Norwegian mountains to this beautiful area with water everywhere and so many pine trees and wild flowers. I have never seen anything so beautiful! And then she pulled out this little grill from her trunk and we had hot dogs and coke and a little picnic in the mountains. She is such a faithful, good woman. I am so grateful to have met her.

the water is like blue popsicle blue and FREEZING cause it's straight ice run off! it felt incredible to dip my feet!

Hahahah we had a great surprise this week. Osimeire, one of our investigators has an incredible testimony and she is so faithful! We always joke about how she's bascially like a member. I guess she's been telling the elders that she was baptized in Brazil, but they never really listened or thought it was legit. So, we decided to look up her records. And guess what?? SHE'S A MEMBER!!! We thought it was the funniest thing. I dont' know how that happened, but I'm really glad we figured it out and we know she is a member now. So funny.

my comp gave me this destress face mask. maybe that will help my hair stay in my head..

So my dumb hair... haha it still is coming out like crazy and I bawl every time I have to wash it because it seems to be worse when it's wet. I've been talking to my sweet nurse friend some more and she had her mom come and get me and do blood work this week. All for free, all just a service. I'm telling ya, the Lord loves his missionaries. Everything came back normal, so I guess it really is just stress which is so dumb and frustrating. But I guess I can try to relax a little. While she was taking my blood, I was talking to her like normal and then all the sudden, I passed out! I felt so bad because I freaked her out a little and she sat there and just held my hand and I had never even met the woman before! She kept saying, "I just want to help." These Norwegian people are so good and kind. They have wonderful hearts. You just have to get through to them. I was so grateful for her and her sweet kindness.

this pretty pretty sweater is 100 wool and 100 norwegian. i hope that it can be something that we can pass down for lots of generations! it's a really neat thing to have.

We met with Mo this week. I can't remember if I told you about him. He's from Sweden, but he's in medical school in Poland and he works in Norway as a nurse in the summers. He's so awesome! I think it's funny his name is Mo too because you pronounce it like you would in English, but the place I'm in is pronounced "moo" and I always get them mixed up. He is so positive and energetic and loves to learn.

I got to speak in church again yesterday. We had visitors from Drammen and the lady was wonderful. I cried all through my talk like I always do, which probably made my Norsk even harder to understand, but whatever. She cried with me and after she hugged me and told me I'm beautiful. It meant so much to have a little recognition. Really, these people are wonderful.

I look like a dork cause I'm chewing... but we were on top of the world just eating hot dogs!

Mirella doesn't have a baptismal date anymore. She wants both of her kids here and I guess something went wrong with paper work and they won't be here until November. So... that broke my heart. But at least she still wants to be baptized. She just wants her kids to be here so badly. I don't blame her.

Vikrossy has kinda been avoiding us and we are trying not to bug him too much, but to help him! Ahhh being a missionary is so frustrating sometimes. But you do what you can and what you gotta and keep going.

hamburgers exist in Norway in case you were wondering so... i ate one today.

look at these! wild blueberries grow everywhere and we pick them and eat them as we walk. i know... my life is so hard, right?

Thank you for your prayers and love. I pray my heart out for you. I know that even when things are really difficult, God is near. I know that He lives and He loves His children. What a sweet message this is.

Love,

Mikelle

Sister Pyne's Mom has a new favorite picture from the LDS Facebook page!

We are here to serve her, and yet, just like the Savior, she served us.

GUYS!

My my what a week it's been. I don't even remember all that has happened or how it has all happned. Holy cow. Let's see... where to begin.

on the way to the member's house

So, my hair has been falling out like crazy lately. And my eyelashes. I'm not really sure what's going on, but I've been really stressed about it. We have the sweetest investigator, I think I might have told you about her? She's a nurse and she is the most giving person. I texted her and asked her which doctor I could see that spoke English and she ended up making the appointment for me with her own personal doctor and driving me to it this morning! I can't believe how wonderful she is! I thanked her and thanked her. She also was on her way out of town and she gave us the key to her apartment and told us that we could use her computer for the next couple weeks. Total tender mercies, I'm telling you. As for the hair... the doctor told me it's probably just stress. Um... yeah! Duh. Haha if it keeps happening I'll go see a different one. In the mean time, just pray I don't go bald, please? :)

We got to spend time with our members this week! We love them. One of them is from USA and she has 4 little kids. She married a Norwegian man and they live here. She let us help her lay some flooring at her house and then we made dinner with her and had her neighbor over. Her neighbor is so cute and she has a very cute little family! She likes to hike a lot so we made plans to go hiking with her this week. We plan to talk to her about families and start teaching her!

We also got to visit the Arctic Circle this week. Um.... what?? I've been to the Arctic Circle. That's so weird to say. Basically it was really cold and windy and there wasn't much to see. But... we did see wild reindeer! I got a little too excited probably. Another one of our sweet sweet members drove us there and I was so grateful to her. She would do anything for us and she has some of the strongest faith I have ever seen. She really likes John Bytheway and we listened to him all the way there. It was relaxing to sit in the car and listen to him.

The other night we all the sudden didn't have any running water in our apartment! Haha I guess the whole city didn't have any so we went to the store and bought some water, but when we got home we realized it was sparkling water. Oops. Washing your face with that stuff is fun! Also learning to read Norwegian is fun too! We have running water again, thank goodness.

Our investigator with baptismal date is another completely selfless person. We visited her the other night and she literally took out a bottle of lotion and insisted on rubbing it on our feet. She talked to us about how we walk all day and how we should walk so we don't hurt ourselves. Haha she is the cutest and most amazing woman. And how symbolic. We are here to serve her, and yet, just like the Savior, she served us. She truly understands what it means to follow Him. How I love her and how I love my Savior!

found a pup! he's not as good as my pup, but he's pretty cute.
actually he is a she.

The zone leaders came and visited us for an hour this week. They went knocking with us. It was kinda funny cause we split up on both sides of the street so we could still see each other, but it was a boy and girl missionary together. I learned from Elder Earl though and it was nice to have other missionaries with us! Everyone that comes is surprised by how little and dead Mo i Rana is. Haha amen, people.

Oh yeah! We flew to Trondheim this week too. We got up at 4:15 in the morning to catch our flight and then got home that same night. We had zone leader training and it was really good. It's always nice to be refreshed and get more courage from hearing from President and Sister Evans. They are so wonderful and truly called of God. I am so grateful for them.

Church was interesting yesterday... We have an investigator that likes to be very outwardly obvious with his expressions of faith. Haha during the opening song he basically sobbed on my companions shoulder (I was grateful to be playing the piano) and then during the sacrament he scooted the chair out loudly and knelt on the ground and said, "Holy Jesus!" over and over again in Norwegian. And then my comp gave a talk and he was saying, "AMEN!" and lots of stuff. Finally I whispered, "Du må bli stille!" Haha that means you have to be quiet! I felt like the mother of a rowdy child or something. They don't train you for stuff like that in the MTC. Church is always interesting...

I learned a great recipe this week and look at the pics! They are beautiful pastries! Try it out, people.

3 eggs

1 c. milk

1 c. flour

Blend it until it's super fluffy, put it in muffin tins, and cook for 15-20 minutes @ 450. People will think you're fancy and they don't even have any sugar! You just put the sugar on after with jam or nutella or something. :)

Sorry this is so long this week. I know that this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have the truth restored! How grateful I am for it and for you. Thank you for your love and support. I love you I love you I love you!

Norway is too beautiful for it's own good

Love,

Sis Pyne

Artcic Circle! so cool! a chance of a lifetime!

weird. it reminded me of "the land of desolation" in the scriptures. haha.

everyone builds their own little rock towers... so of course i had to build one! no one knows why they do this.

arctic circle! no way!

real live reindeer!!!

We haven't seen the sun at all this week.

Heeey my wonderful parents!

Thank you thank you for your emails. I look forward to reading them so much!

It's been ridiculous to try and find working computers today and I'm really frustrated cause I only have a few more minutes.

It's so neat that Hunter got to go through the temple this week! I've thought about it a lot. Tell him to read Moses 1-4 cause it helped clarify things for me. I read it this week and wished I had read it earlier.

We haven't seen the sun at all this week. Haha literally. It's rained and rained and rained all week and still is! I don't think I could ever live here. We're going to Trondheim again on Thursday for zone leader training so that will be good I think. I just love riding on those little airplanes.

I have no time... but I'll tell you all the deats from this week in a hand-written one. I am so grateful for you and I love you dearly! I'm praying for you!

Love,

Mikelle

We have been trying to think outside the box

Helloooooo from Mo i Rana the baby city!

Haha thank you for all of the love and kindness. I feel strength from your prayers and words. I know that I couldn't do it without you.

Cutest baby ever and she speaks Norsk better than me!

We met with a lady named Elizabeth this week. She's been friends with the missionaries for ten years and she loves them and oh boy do we love her! When I told her this was my first area she said, "Woah! Mo is your first area? That's so hard!"Haha amen, sista. But I'm learning to love Mo a little more. Elizabeth has had a very difficult life and she has overcome ridiculously difficult things. She is inspiring. She is even a nurse! Guys. We talked for like an hour about nerdy nursing stuff. She is going to go to medical school soon and she will also be engaged soon so... that's happy. I am grateful for her friendship and her warm heart and for all that she is teaching me. I pray that I will be able to help her come to know her Savior and understand God's plan for her.

I hope everyone had a lovely 4th! We celebrated by eating some American food and decorating our journals with American stamps. Hahaha... oh and we listened to motab sing "God Bless America" for us. It was pretty good! I dont't think I can eat hot dogs for another month though.

We have been trying to think outside the box and find stuff that we can do that uses our "womanly qualities" since there haven't been sisters here for 10 years. So... we are having a party on Friday! I pulled out my party organizing skills and we made invitations, and we have been planning and inviting everyone we know. We want it to be a casual bonding time for everyone to be able to relax and get to know each other and see that we aren't weird! Haha I'm excited about it and I know that it will help our little baby branch. Man. They need so much strength.

We taught Sunday school again yesterday like we always do and it was about the gift of the Holy Ghost. I am so grateful for it in my life. We are so blessed beyond belief. Sometimes I just stand in awe at all that God has given me. This mission is almost killing me, but it's teaching me gratitude and patience and helping me to understand God's plan. I am overwhelmed with all of the blessings the Lord has poured out for me and "because I have been given much, I too must give." So. I'm happy to be called Søster Pyne.

Be happy, enjoy some sun, and thank Heavenly Father! Also. Read the Book of Mormon. It's magic!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love,

Norwegians love their jeans with tennis shoes.

Søs P

Families are forever and there is no sweeter joy than knowing that.

My dearest loved ones,

It was so good to hear your voices yesterday! I've been on like cloud 11 because I got to talk to you! I know that grandpa is happy and that he will be helping me with my missionary work and helping you with everything that you need. He can watch over his Pynes from above. Families are forever and there is no sweeter joy than knowing that. Yesterday we were out knocking and we met a young lady with the most adorable blue-eyed baby. We talked to her for a minute about God's plan for his children and how she can be with her family forever. We have an appointment with her on Tuesday! Knocking is like the worst thing to me sometimes. I feel like I'm going to throw up when we leave our apartment. But I know that when I force myself to walk and knock and talk, and if I smile a bunch, the Lord blesses us with sweet people like this lady. You can just tell when you meet someone if their heart is soft, and hers definitely is. Pray that she will accept our message and God's plan for her.

My my this week has been better than the last, thank goodness. Being a missionary is literally a roller coaster. Probs just cause I'm a girl too, but I feel like I'm either way up in the sky or my heart is breaking because people just don't understand. I have some funny stories though!

We walked an hour and a half to a rest home to visit a member. She is blind, and she didn't know we were coming, so she was really scared of us and I felt so bad. She sat in her wheelchair across from us and then she kept backing up and asking who we were and why were came. She couldn't really understand us cause our Norsk is so bad, so finally we just asked if we could sing for her. We sang 2 "I am a Child of God" in English and then she thanked us. But when we asked if we could sing more, she told us no. Haha so we decided that was enough scaring old ladies for one day and we left. We're just going to try to contact the people in charge and ask if we can do music stuff for everyone there next time.

I forgot to tell you this last week, but you know Qrt, our awesome investigator? Last week at the end of our lesson I asked him why he meets with us. He said golden words to a missionary's ears. He told us that we have this light that just surrounds us and he likes our views of the world and families. AH! And also, when I was bearing my testimony to him of families, I said, "I know..." and he said, "See! There's that conviction again! You have so much conviction!" Dude. If he thinks we have light and conviction, then we are definitely going to see miracles! It made my whole day.

Hahahahah we met these Lithuanians on the street on Wednesday and they didn't really speak Norsk or English. But they agreed to meet with us and they gave us their number. We texted them the next day and asked when we could meet. This is the text that I got back: "Well, Lady Pine, it will all depend on how our work will progress. We will notify you of our achievements in that regard. On a semi-related notice,are ya interested to teach 2 non-natives some local languages? Not to mention in general chit-chat with us about world ant stuff." Why not?? I'm not exactly sure where the Lady Pine part came from. Haha I texted them back and told them we would love to help them with Norwegian as well as help them have happier lives and come to know that God lives and loves them. Wish us luck.

This past week our area had the highest numbers in the mission! This was really exciting for me because I just have this burning in my chest. I know that this is Mo i Rana's time. I can just feel it and I know that the Lord is preparing people right and left. I also know that it is through the faith and prayers and my dear loved ones that we are being so blessed. Thank you thank you thank you. I love you and appreciate you so much.

One last thing, we have a sweet member named Rannveig. She was baptized about 10 years ago and her husband really doesn't like anything to do with us or the church so she can't come to church very often. But one night last week she picked us up and drove us to her cabin in the breath-taking Norwegian woods. She made us potatoes and the most lush, juicy, pink, delicious salmon I've ever seen. And then we had strawberries and creme and read the Book of Mormon. It was such a tender mercy. She told us about how one weekend she was able to go to the Stokholm temple and get endowed. She told us the incredible feelings she felt in the Celestial room and how badly she wants to go back. Then she asked my how far away the temple is from my house. I kinda sheepishly told her about 3 minutes. She was speechless. Guys. We ar blessed beyond blessed. GO to the temple as much as possible. Serve and partake of the blessings we are so freely given and thank God.

Also, I haven't been able to watch the mission conference thing that everyone is so excited about, but I can't stress enough how important member missionary work is. I know that in Utah the missionaries aren't assigned to one ward so it's a little different, but do everything you can to help them. Go on splits with them, go with them to teach lessons, feed them, give them people to teach!! That's the most important one. I know that we all have people that we can invite to meet with missionaries and that it will be a rich, spiritual experience. That's my missionary preaching for the day.

My how I love you. My heart is just bursting. Thank you so much for everything. My prayers and love are always with you.

Love,

Your Søster Pyne