So I'm not really sure if I'm on a mission in Norway or Asia, but that's okay!

Good morning to my dear friends!

How is everyone doing? I can't believe it's summer time! It has been beautiful here. Today is sunny again. I think I forgot what real hot is like though because it never gets too warm here. I'm so grateful for that. Heavenly Father knew I would get hot and ornery if I was in a different place. Norway is the place for me!

From Monday to Friday this week we hadn't taught any lessons. It was just finding finding finding. By the end of the week we were so frustrated. Else Marie hasn't answered her phone or door the whole week and Anders has been out of town so we were really feeling the burn.

Earlier in the week we met this cute girl from Thailand. She told us she believes in herself and that she didn't want to talk about religion. We talked to her for a minute more and she said, "You know what? My eight year old daughter believes in God and Jesus Christ. She talks about them all the time. Here's my address. You can come and talk to her." So we went and visited her on Saturday. We weren't sure if anything would really come of it, and when we found her house, she wasn't home. But we walked down the street and there was a lady with her back turned sitting on a bench. There was a little girl running around the park that looked about eight and we walked over there trying to not look creepy so we could see if it was her. And it was! She told us she forgot we were coming but she was really excited to talk. We started asking her about her life and she told us she's 23 and has had a difficult life. She said she just feels empty inside. As we talked to her about how she has a loving Heavenly Father she said, "I can see it in your eyes. When you talk about Him I can see that you know Him. But how can I feel it?" We testified to her of the power of prayer and the Book of Mormon and coming to church. She was so excited that we had a Book of Mormon in Thai and she said, "Okay. So. Where should we meet to go to church tomorrow? It starts at 11? Okay. Then we probably need to meet at 10:30?" She was so eager! She ended up not being able to come because her little girl was sick but we are meeting with her tomorrow. Sister Robbins and I have been praying for a miracle and I think that we found her! It was such an answer to prayer.

After we taught her we walked around the corner and this lady walked past and said, "Hi sisters!" We just said hi and kept walking because we were so excited about what happened and not really paying attention. Then she came running back to us and said, "Hi! I'm from Washington and I'm here on vacation. Can I take you to lunch?" It was the sweetest thing! We felt like tender mercies were falling from the sky all day. And we laughed about being a member of the church is the only way in the world that you would just meet a stranger on the street in a foreign country and then trust them to take you to lunch. We didn't even know her name until the end of our conversation! Haha. We saw two more people after that they said, "Hi sisters!" It's so funny. This place in the summer is filled with tourists. 

We also visited this less active lady this week and helped her clean her house. But she had a dog that was crazy and at first I tried to be his friend, but by the end I was chasing him with the vacuum to make him stay away because he was biting us! He bit Sister Robbins on the bum and both of us on the legs and we have bruises all over now! It was ridiculous. So Sister Robbins would mop the floor while I would use the vacuum to chase him away. That's why you have companions I guess, to protect you against dogs. 

We also met this guy last week named Art. He's from China and he is so funny! He keeps asking us if we have seen God. He is an engineer and he is so smart but so logical. He doesn't base anything off of feelings so he is having a hard time understanding how we know that God is there if we haven't seen Him. We're working on it though. And the other day we got a text from him that said he had gone home from work with a big headache and he started to read from the Book of Mormon. He said, "I don't know what happened but I just felt so much peace and I started having these thoughts that I need to read the Bible too. I think He is there and He is trying to tell me something." YES! I love the Book of Mormon. It does things that we can't do ourselves because it brings the Spirit so strongly. We're going to meet with him tonight again and watch the Restoration movie to give him a visual idea of what happened. And we have to find a Bible in Chinese for him too... Hahaha we'll call the office.

So I'm not really sure if I'm on a mission in Norway or Asia, but that's okay! I am so grateful to have met these people and to be serving here. I think it's amazing how Heavenly Father works. These people wouldn't have had the chance to hear the gospel in their native lands, so they had to come to Norway to hear it! Pray for them and pray that we will be able to get in contact with Else Marie this week! 

I just know that this work is so important. The other day I remembered how my tag was my most favorite thing in the world when I was in the MTC. When I left the MTC I remember walking through the Salt Lake airport and freaking out a little because everyone was staring. It took me a while to get used to the fact that everyone just stares always. But I think it's great now! Stare all you want, people. But you better watch out because if you stare, you're going to get a big smile. It's my favorite thing to wait for them to finish starting and then they make eye contact and I just grin at them. I love my tag!

Have a happy week and enjoy the summer. I am so excited to be with you again! I love you.

Love,

Søster Pyne