Kjære alle sammen (Dear all, together)

Kjære alle sammen,

Oh my. Do I have some things to tell you! First of all, every baptism I am involved in seems to not go so well. Hahah Tonje didn't get baptized on Saturday. She still will, don't worry, but she called us at 10 the night before and said she wasn't ready. And then Sister Pitts and I layed (laid?) in our beds and just laughed and said, "Heavenly Father? What do you want us to do?"

The whole story goes like this:

Tonje got interviewed by Elder Badger, our district leader and he felt that she was ready and she passed! It was exciting!

We met with our ward mission leader and we thought we were going to plan the baptism, but instead, he told us that he and the bishop didn't think she was ready and they had all these concerns. Oslo ward and missionaries have had a not so good relationship in the past and our district has really worked to repair friendships and we have seen great success! It was a little discouraging, but we told him we understood his concerns and we would talk to Tonje about them.

President Evans decided he needed to interview her himself, so he came and met with her. But... Tonje called us an hour before and said she didn't feel like meeting. Sister Pitts and I have spent about half our week on our knees I'm pretty sure. So we told her she had to come or she couldn't get baptized and she came and met with him. The interview went well and he said she passed and was ready to be baptized.

Then. The ward mission leader texted us Thursday night and said he had to work and wouldn't be able to baptize her. Tonje loves him and she had prayed about everyone she wanted to participate in the program. As you can imagine... we were just a little frustrated. We were battling Satan like never before.

So we spent the whole day Friday calling people trying to find someone Tonje would feel comfortable with. But everyone kept saying no! We were about ready to call our dads and fly them in to baptize her. Finally, we found someone that could come and meet with her that night. She told us she would have to pray about it and let us know if she felt he was right.

And... then... Saturday came and we didn't have a baptism. But Saturday morning, Sister Pitts and I woke up with the most beautiful peace that reminded me of the temple and it stayed with us the whole day. We fasted and prayed and prayed and prayed and had such an exhausting week but we saw lots of miracles in the meantime.

Our district is really unique becaue we see each other every day so we are really close. We are always in and out of the YSA center because we teach a lot of lessons there. We are getting split up though, and so Saturday we had a really neat meeting. I love these missionaries so much. It's incredible what being a servant of the Lord does. It makes hearts so close. We all just cried a bunch and talked about what we have accomplished this transfer.

So speaking of transfers... I'm going to be training a new missionary! She is the only sister coming and I have no idea what Heavenly Father is thinking because there are so many sisters who are much more qualified than me. I'm excited though. I'm going to need lots of prayers. Sister Pitts and I are really sad to be leaving each other. She's leaving me in Oslo and oh boy am I going to miss her. We'll always have our friendship though. Also, the new sister doesn't have her visa yet so I will be in a three-some for a little while with the other sisters here. It will be real fun cause I love them so much!

We met a boy named Adrian on the trikk this week. He told Sister Pitts that people don't just talk to each other in Norway like we do, but it's good and he likes it. He said he has looked for God, but didn't find Him. Then he said, "I guess I'm still looking." Adrian is only 16, people. So when we met him for our appointment, he didn't say a word. We kept asking him what was going on and if he was sick or if it was a school project but he wouldn't talk! When we got to the center, he wrote on a piece of paper that he had a pain inside that he wasn't ready to let go of and that's why he wasn't talking. We decided we were just going to have write back and forth for our lesson. I have never felt the spirit like I did writing back and forth with him. I know that God is so aware of him and that he loves him. He wrote, "How I felt when we talked is what really made me come here. It doesn't get along with my logic." AH MAN! Does it get better than that? He came to church with us yesterday and he liked it and wants to come next week. Now we just need to help him talk... But I know that he is so prepared. We feel like Heavenly Father just dropped a miracle in our laps.

We also visited Ida the other night. We were both really tired and could have stayed in our apartment to make calls instead, but we felt like we needed to go. We talked about modesty and family history and the lesson was kind of all over the place and I didn't feel like it was too successful. We asked her to say the closing prayer and she said, "Thank you for these two sweet girls who came at a time of need." You can't help but cry in moments like that. Heavenly Father knows His children.

Sorry that some weeks I just talk your ear off and I am all over the place. One last thing... if you haven't read the article in the March 2013 Liahona about raising resilient children, do it. Even if you don't have children.

Thank you so much for your love! Sister Bowen and Grandma Sue and Justine I love you and I am so grateful for your letters! Mail is magic. It fixes everything and I really appreciate it.

Have a wonderful week! The gospel just makes sense. It's safe and warm and happy. I love you!

Love,

Søster Pyne

So grateful for nice people! Thank you Tammy and Emily!

Love these Sister missionaries! Søster Pitts & Søster Pyne!

We had the best time with these two Søster's. Søster Pyne & Søster Pitts.

We had lunch with Søster Pyne & Søster Pitts today. They are the best! Such a great time spending a few hours with them. I was able to give them hugs from home & tell them how much their Mom's & families love them. 

and she said, "You know, Jesus has changed my life."

Hey guys!

I made an almond cake for a less active birthday
party. Look at it! It has little blueberry and
almond flowers on it! Cute, right?

I miss you and love you!
Ah man this has been quite a week. Sister Pitts left me for a day to go on splits. It was a really good experience cause I got to be with the sister training leader, Sister Landry. She is awesome! I learned a lot from her and just listened to her Norwegian cause she is a seasoned, full of wisdom missionary. When Sister Pitts came back we both cried cause we were so happy to see each other. Haha we love each other. She is changing my world and I am so blessed to get to serve with her.

Tonje is getting baptized on Saturday!! (Happy birthday, Hunter. I don't know if there's a better birthday present out there than your sister baptizing someone! Hahah) We have been stressing about all the little details and everything that is going on in her life because she is just SO busy! So Sister Pitts and I have also been sick this week with some sort of influenza or something... but we don't have time to rest! Last night we were trying to finish weekly planning and we were just laying on the floor talking about plans for the baptism. I think we're feeling a little better today though. Yesterday afternoon we had a really
 neat experience with Tonje. We were just talking with her and she said, "You know, Jesus has changed my life." She said before she found Him everything her life was dark. She talked about how she feels like He is taking care of her and guiding here. She is so excited to follow His example and then
 to get the Holy Ghost too! We thanked her for the privilege of being able to watch her as she has given her heart to Jesus Christ and we cried a bunch with each other. We love our Tonje!

then look what happened to it!

We also got to go to this class called qigong.... Oh man. We wished we could have had a camera hidden in the bushes. We have this awesome member named Snorre and he gave us his mom to teach! We were delighted but also scared cause, well, it's his mom. She is so kind and in the best shape I have ever seen! So we go to this qigong class and we have to make sure we aren't looking at each other because if we do, we will just die laughing. I closed my eyes a bunch and breathed in and out like they told us too and stretched my arms to the sky and all that. And actually, it was quite effective to relieve all the stress! We are going to invite Frigg and all of her qigong friends to the baptism and then invite them to partake of the blessings of the gospel!

we went to a relief society activity and had a
fire and hot chocolate and boller (really good
rolls with chocolate in them) and look at that
moon! we are really developing good friendships
with the ward members here and it is exciting
because member missionary work is so important!

We have been meeting with an awesome man named Anton. He is from Iceland and he is the most kind-hearted, truth-seeking man. The thing is... he knows the Book of Mormon is true, but he keeps waiting for evidence. He told us last time that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and then he kinda contradicted himself and went in circles and we were dying! Ah. I think the answer has come to him in more of a logical sense than it does for a lot of people, but we are kinda stuck on what we do next. We have been praying that he will be able to recognize his answer and we asked him to pray and ask if the Book of Mormon is not true and to be able to recognize his answer. He's coming. I'm learning patience in ways I've never learned it before.

I feel so spoiled because the nature here is unbelievable. This morning we ran to our fjordy spot that we always take pictures at and the sky was pink and the clouds were-- well. It was just so beautiful. And then we decided we wanted to study in the woods. So we took t-bane 6 all the way to the end to Sognsvann and we took our scripture stuff and read in the woods. It was so beautiful. Then our district met us and we grilled some hot dogs and put potato salad and honey mustard on them in a tortilla thingy and then played capture the flag in the woods. It was great! P-days are important break days.

Thank you for everything. I love you and I am so grateful for you! Pray for Tonje, pray for Anton, pray to know how much Heavenly Father loves you!

Love,
Søster Pyne

these are a couple months old

Embrace it and take it all in!

Sunny Fall day!

Guys! We have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! We are the most blessed people. I know, I say that all the time and you hear that all the time. But it means we have the answers and the solution to everything. It means that no matter what we know that there is peace and joy and hope. It means that we never have to feel alone. Embrace it and take it all in!

Look at my cute comp!

This week we have been going member crazy. But we are seeing results! We have been handing out this little red cards and telling people alright, we're gonna come back and we're gonna talk about how we can help you share the gospel with these names that you have written on your cards. Basically the whole ward knows about Pyne and Pitts' red cards now and they know they need to watch out! Haha but... last night we met with the Isaksen family and I almost cried because they took us seriously and prayed and pondered about who they could share the gospel with. We had a really good conversation as we brainstormed ways and talked about how we can work together. I just know. This is the way to do missionary work!

We made friends with this guy on the boat. that's Elder Childs
and Elder Badger too. Elder Childs is Hunter's friend from AF!

We also got to take a ferry to a member's house and help her stack wood for the winter. The whole experience was heaven because she lives on this island so we got to ride a boat! Then it was a beautiful, crispy fall day and we got to smell this fresh wood and work with our hands and help and it was fantastic! I was so grateful.

Tonje is the cutest!

We went baptism dress shopping with Tonje on Saturday and figured out a way to alter it so that it will be modest. Then we went to a Chinese restaurant and had a 2 hour conversation about agency and God's plan for us. It was really intense and really neat. She understands so much and she is so ready! We are so excited for her. She has too many dance concerts on the 21st so we moved it to the 28th. I am so impressed with her desire to do what is right. She wants to be pure and clean so badly.

I think maybe I told you about Ida last week? She's a lady that we met one morning on our run in the city at like 6:50. She has let us come over twice and this week we brought Sunniva, the sweetest member with us. She served a mission in England. The lesson was kind of frustrating and Sister Pitts and I left feeling discouraged. We got on the trik at like 9:15 and there were drunk crazies singing and yelling everywhere and we wanted to hide in our beds. But then the next morning, Ida showed up at church! We had been in the basement with the primary cause I played the piano for them and we came up and there she was talking with members! So awesome. Pray for Ida. She needs the gospel.

I feel like whenever we contact lately the only interested people are girls in their mid 20's. It's really interesting! But we find some really nice people. Also some really mean ones that yell at you and tell you that's nice you believe in God but I don't. Haha I have a hard time not laughing sometimes at how pathetic excuses are or how scared they are of us. We are just trying to give you THE BEST THING OF YOUR LIFE!! It's okay. Someday they'll know. Winter is coming. The rain and the dark and the cold are creeping up. A Norwegian winter? What? It's gonna be fun!

I love you and I am so grateful for your examples and testimonies. It's true, I know it's true! And even if you don't know, cling to it like you do, and pretty soon you'll find it's true too!
Love,
Mikelle

Ice cream on a ferry!

 

Videos from the Arctic Circle

Kjære familie,

Jeg er så takknemlig for dere og jeg elsker dere. Every day we teach people about these things that make our family so happy and bring so much joy. The more I talk with people, the more I realize that I have lived in a fairy-tale my whole life and will continue to do so as long as I am steadfast to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It IS the way, people! Good heavens. I promise it is what brings the most happiness. President Uchtdorf says, "Happiness is the destination, but it is also the path."

We have a lot of adorable less active ladies that are in their 20's that we have been visiting. They are all incredible and I'm obsessed with them! Sister Pitts and I felt that starting personal progress was important because they are converts and have never done it so we have been doing that this week and seeing miracles! We went to Gro's (she's adorable and our close close friend-- she loves BYU so she's gonna come visit us all the time when we are back) house and Unnur came and we sat and ate naughty Norwegian chocolate and did personal progress. I have such a testimony of personal progress. Seeing these women do things that give them confidence and self worth is life changing. Norway has a social law that says no one can be better than anyone at anything and no one should stand out. And it takes a huge blow to these teenage girls' confidence. Sister Pitts and I feel like we are running all over the place trying to help these girls understand how important they are! Our favorite thing to tell them is that they are daughters of God. Sometimes they laugh at us, but then they realize we are serious. It's SO true!!

what a pretty little place. we ate dinner with a member in a little
city called Kolbotn

I am doing personal progress again too. This morning during my studies I was reading in Proverbs 31. "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. She ariseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night. She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the staff. She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with scarlet. She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come. She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates." This is the kind of woman I want to be and I am so grateful to be a missionary right now because I know that it is what will prepare me to be like this.

ah man. these cows. look at that picture! i even caught him mooing!
haha they make all the milk that i drink and i love them.

Last p-day we visited COWS!!!! Oh man. Cows in Norway? It doesn't get better than that. I died.

Also, I was sitting on the t-bane and this pretty little classy European lady leans over to me and says, "Excuse me." Uh.... what? My face must have looked like I died because no one EVER talks to you and I'm always the ones doing the excuse me's. But I looked at her and she told me she like my clothes and asked me where I got them. I said, "America." Haha as I wore my Walmart shirt and your black skirt, mom! It's from like the 70's isn't it? Anyway.... I talked to her for a minute and she was incredible. She had to get off real quick, but I gave her a card and bore my testimony to her that she is a daughter of God. It's funny how the Lord provides you with opportunities to talk to people.

this is on the way to cat lady's house

Sister Pitts and I always want 3 new investigators every single week. It's the standard of excellence. This week we have struggled though... we have a lot of potentials, but no one answers their phones! So, we got one new one, a lady that we met while running in the morning. Shehas too  many cats but she makes a mean carrot cake! Oh man. Anyway...
we walked out on the street and guess what? We found 2 guys from Africa and brought them to teach them at the center. BTW, the center is for the YSA but we use it to teach all the time cause it's right by our apartment and the church is like 20 minutes away. So we taught them the first lesson. However... in order to count them as new investigators, we needed a specific return appointment. They were very interested, but they just started school and didn't know their schedules for the week yet. So... we didn't get 2 more investigators. But I learned that the Lord has His timing and it's always more important to care about the people than the numbers, of course.

looks at this cat lady's family tree! i'm obsessed! i don't know how
you make something like that. she knew so many cool stories too. she's
definitely prepared :)

ah man. this is what running looks like every morning

I led the music in church yesterday and the closing song was, "I Believe in Christ." I just cried as I realized that I'm in Norway and I was leading a Norwegian congregation in Norwegian singing about our Savior. Oh man. I am so blessed.








Tonje is doing fantastic! She is so ready to be baptized and all she wants to do when she is with us is read Mormons Bok. I feel like she
begs us like a little girl or something and I love it. We have a few other investigators that are incredible too. These people here! You either have to know it, or you don't cause being a member here is hard. I love them!

Well, now that I've talked your ear off, I think I'll go. But first here's a delicious recipe for almond cake. JEG ELKSER DERE!!

Love,
Søster Pyne

  

don't really know what this is supposed to mean....

In large pan heat
1 c. butter
1 c. water

Take off heat and add
1/2 c. sour cream
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp almond extract
2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1 tsp salt

Mix well and pour into sheet pan, cook for 20 min @ 375 F

Frosting
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. milk
1/2 tsp almond extract
32 oz. powdered sugar

he's from China and he makes incredible sushi. oh my.

Oslo, you have my heart!

My dear friends,

I think this was like my 2nd day in Oslo?
all the days are all squished together.
Oslo is almost always sunny though! it's magical.

I can't even begin to tell you how lovely Oslo is. I feel so blessed to be able to be here and meet incredible people. I feel like my life is constantly being enriched and my testimony is growing all the time. It's always interesting to me how the Lord works. He never has only one motive. His ways always benefit more than just one person. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father!

Elder Patrick Kearon from the 70 came this week and we had a mission conference. It was incredible! He is such a Christlike servant of the Lord. He asked that we bring our area books to the conference and we were a little scared he was going to go through them. But what he actually ended up doing was asking us to open them and look at former investigators and pray about who the Lord wanted us to get in contact with. Sister Pitts and I had a really neat experience. We said a prayer and then she said, "I already know who it is." She told me it was the family that I visited my second day in Oslo. Remember them? I got to Norway and Sister Evans told me that I had a dinner appointment the next night and it was with them! Then I went to Mo i Rana and the sisters in Oslo didn't have any contact with them. When Sister Pitts told me it was them, the spirit was SO strong and I felt just a wave of confirmation come over me. I know it's them. We called them and told us we are welcome to come so we will visit them this week! I am so excited. Heavenly Father loves all of His children so much.

look at my ADORABLE comp and our cute investigator from Czech.

Elder Kearon sat across from me at lunch and asked me all about my family and why I decided to serve a mission. Then after the conference he asked to just speak to the sisters. He thanked us especially and told us not to let Satan tell us that we aren't qualified. The spirit was so strong and I am so grateful for living apostles! What a cool thing to be a part of!

Oh man. Tonje. Have I told you about her? She's our cute little Norwegian hip hop dancer and she's getting baptized September 21st! She is unbelievable at dancing so the other night she taught Sister Pitts and I some moves. It was so much fun and mostly I was awful at it, but I loved it so much. She is so light and lovely and so much fun to be with and you can tell that her heart truly loves God. I love her and I cannot wait for her to partake of this blessing!

last p-day. we hiked and found this dock and it was so cute!
 all i wanted to do was swim!

Unnur is another adorable little lady that we met with. She just got baptized in April and we are finishing up lessons with her. Oh my goodness she is amazing. She's basically given up everything her life for the gospel just because she knows it's true. She told us that her family never talked about God when she was little but she prayed as a little girl just because she felt it was right. When the missionaries found her, they taught her the Plan of Salvation and she said she believed it right away and knew it was true. She was actually just in Utah and she got to go do baptisms for the first time! She said on the way home she was really sad to be leaving. She was waiting in the SLC airport and all of the sudden like 30 missionaries came in and it made her so happy! She prayed that one of them could sit by her on her flight, but none of them were on it. On her next flight, the man sitting next to her said, "Oh! Are you Mormon?" (she had a BYU shirt on) and he told her that he was just coming home from a mission! He was the only missionary on the plane and his seat had been somewhere else, but he felt he should move and sit by her. WHAT? Unnur has such a strong testimony and she knows that God loves her. She strengthens my testimony so much.

I met Athena at church in our home ward one time when 

she was there with Kamryn Walker and now look! Here she is! 

It was the coolest thing ever to see her again! 

She is going to start coming to church and I know that 

the good people in our community influenced her life. 

She says she loves the Mormons. Guys. Good work! 

Especially Kamryn. I told her she's my next 

door neighbor and she said, "Kamryn is my best friend!!" 

I am having such neat experiences being able to teach these people. We see miracles every day. Guys. We are going member-missionary CRAZY. The Oslo ward isn't very familiar with each other or with us, so we are doing all we can do help them. And we are seeing amazing things already! Member-missionary work is the answer to everything and it's exactly what the apostles have told us to do over and over again lately. I know that it's the best way to be doing missionary work and it means we need to be doing all we can. Help those missionaries, people! Together we are building the kingdom for when Christ will come.

Haha I sound like a crazy missionary. I just know that all this stuff is true.The man next to me in the library is blasting his gross music way too loud in his headphones, so I think I'm done, but I love you and I know the gospel meets all needs. It has all the answers! Share it. Thank you for your examples and your love. I feel so blessed to know such amazing people.

Love,

Mikelle 

good morning, Oslo! Oslo, you have my heart

sushi in Oslo. i'm starting to have a bad addiction to it.
who would have ever thought?

look at that salmon. it's not very expensive and it's the most lucious, 

divine stuff I've ever tasted. sometimes i feel like a spoiled 

little bum to be here. i promise i'm working my bum off too! ;)

hahah we take way too many pictures while we're running

this morning on our run. this is on the roof of the Oslo Opera House. google it! it's freaking sweet!