Chillin in Skien!

preachin to the kittens. he looks like 

he doesn't wanna hear it.

skien has this red brick everywhere.
it's so pretty! the building we live in
looks kinda like this too.

How are my people? I decided it's a good idea to tell you how to pronounce this city. You say it, "shayen" and it's a good place. It's a little like Mo i Rana, actually. It's been weird to come to this little town after being in big cities for a year. You actually have to hunt for people on the streets to talk to! But it's really good too. I like the slower-paced little town stuff. And we have a car that we share with the elders. It's good too, especially when it's this hot all the time! But I also like walking so we can talk to people. I don't know. Just all these little changes.

I have to tell you about my last night in Bergen though. Anders and his family invited us over for dinner and then we sat on their couch and talked for a while. They were showing us pictures and telling us about their lives and it felt like they were my family. We all just cried a bunch too. I told them about how in my setting apart blessing it said I would teach an elect family that would be the future leaders of the kingdom and how I know that it's them. Linn told me that her patriarchal blessings says that she would be married to a worthy priesthood holder and she never knew that it would actually happen. If that doesn't make you cry I don't know what does. 

bergen didn't want us to leave either. 

it was putting on a show for us.

They gave us these little necklaces and they both wrote us notes. Anders' note was the best thing I've ever gotten. I was going to bring it and I forgot... but I'll try to remember next week cause I just have to type it to you so you can read it.  At the end of his note he said, "I can't wait for next year when you are there for us to get sealed in the temple!" I can't wait either. 

They drove us home, but they surprised us on the way and took us to this beautiful part of Bergen. The houses are 400 years old and they are right on the water. I had a minute to just sit and think about everything and I never thought I would find the reason I was supposed to come to Norway, but I found it. Heavenly Father has made it so clear and it has been the biggest tender mercy and blessing to know and love this family. I'm pumped for next year!!

juhlanda and phoenix yes they're both
norwegian :)

ninja turtles with juhlanda (the elder's investigator) 

and her son. we love her and we had to 

say good bye last week. 

I left Wednesday morning and there were only 2 other people on the little plane I took. Norwegians are crazy. So now I'm in Skien with Hartley. She is state of Oregon pole-vaulting champ, grew up on an onion farm, 19,  just got done being trained, and has SO much energy! She's one of those people that's good at everything so she's really fun to be comps with because she's not afraid of anything. I think we'll only be together one transfer because she's been here forever, but we'll enjoy it while it lasts. 

The ward here is awesome. They get it! They're still Norwegians, but they are so willing to help. I'm really excited to get to know them better and see miracles. It will be a good little last area, I think. 

mini coop mini coop really mini coop

Yesterday during church the windows and doors were all open because it's been 90 degrees and crazy humidity and nobody has air conditioning because it's never been needed before. So a guy was saying the opening prayer and the biggest crack of thunder I've ever heard shook the whole room right in the middle of his praying. Thunderstorms never happen in Norway so we were all way excited. It didn't last long enough though. This heat is ridiculous! I'm learning to be not grumpy even though I'm sweating all the time :) Are you proud of me, fam?

come see this place! you'll love it, i promise.

July is like vacation month so we've had some interesting lessons where we don't really speak Norwegian or English... but we use lots of hand motions and the Spirit. I've never met so many people from all over the world before. Our apartment has like 50 different languages of the Book of Mormon. I didn't know it would be like that when I came, but I love it.

last p-day in Bergen

We're knockin and talkin and bearin testimony boldly over here. I feel like I just need to get this message to everyone. We stopped and talked to this lady restoring a really cute old door last night and she told us no, but then we just started talking and she ended up loving what we had to say. We told her to call us to help her restore some more doors. I forgot that people in smaller towns are a little nicer than the city kids. I like the homey feeling. We're running to the finish line! Literally running too-- Hartley has made me get up every morning and run 5 miles in this heat. She's a good trainer. 

I know all of this is true and I'm going to live it forever. I am so grateful to Heavenly Father. He lives! I love you guys so much. That's the best part of the gospel-- that I get to be with you forever!

Love,

Søster Pyne

I'm going to Skien!

9:30-10:30 is always a party at our house. yes. that's 10:00 at night.

Greetings from Bergen!

I'm leaving this place on Wednesday at 7:45 in the morning... and I'm going to Skien with Sister Hartley! Look at it on a map :) It's a little city and we have a car and there are only four missionaries in the ward instead of ten so it's going to be quite the change. But I'm really excited. I've heard Sister Hartley is a dream and she's in the nursing program at BYU and likes to run so I think we'll get along great! I've talked to her on the phone a few times and I love her already. I've heard really good things about the ward there too so I'm excited. But leaving Robbins and Anders and his family is going to be rough. My new address is Lundegaten 4A 3724 Skien.

Yesterday after church we were looking some addresses on the computer and a kid in the ward came and started talking to us. He has really been struggling with deciding to go on a mission. He's going to be 21 soon and he's really good friends with all of the missionaries, but he has a really hard family life and doesn't feel like he has support from anyone. We have all been encouraging him to go on a mission, but he's getting really sick of it, I think. So he came and sat down and starting kind of just telling us how he feels like he can't trust God anymore. We had a big long discussion and ended up reading President Hinckley's "go on a mission" talk. Sister Robbins and I both bore our testimonies as powerfully as we could about the blessings of a mission and how he has a duty to go. I really hope he pays attention and does it. But I can't say it enough. GO. Everyone GO. Missions are so important. It was neat to be able to testify to him of that while I'm wearing a tag.

yes... i'm illegally holding a child on my lap.. 

but he climbed on while we were on the bus 

and i couldn't push him off! he's so cute!

Our area is getting white washed because we have both been here for forever and we are kind of sad about it, but we had interviews with President this week and he said, "It has nothing to do with you guys or how you have been taking care of the area-- it's just because I have to plan ahead." So we've been spending all week trying to get everything perfectly ready especially because it's Sister Pitts that is coming and bringing a new little missionary to train along. It will be good. She'll take care of Anders for us. We're saying good bye to them tomorrow night and I'm going to cry. We have to come back to see them, mom and dad. 

We had a skills training day this week with the AP's. It was a loooong day with so much practicalling and repracticalling. Is that even how you spell that word? And is that a missionary word? I don't know. It means practicing teaching, knocking on doors, talking to people on the street, you know. It was really helpful though and got me really excited again. I'm ready for a new area and a good ward to work with. 

Remember Nivetha? We have contact with her again! She has been reading and she emailed us and said she wanted to meet again. She turns 18 in November (we have the same birthday!) and then she can choose whether she wants to be Christian or Hindi because she has a parent of both religions. So we're going to sick Sister Pitts on her and help her choose Christian. :) She's really sweet and loves reading from the Book of Mormon with us.

our Bergen YW! half of them come by themselves every
week cause their families aren't active. i'm so impressed!

Bergen is getting so touristy it's ridiculous. There are fanny packs and short shorts and visors everywhere. And the Asians. They are always in huge groups taking pictures of things that seem to be invisible to rest of us. Haha but we've been talking to more dudes, and everyone else of course, and trying our little hearts out to build this area. July is the roughest month because everyone is on vacation. Yesterday in church they had missionaries bear testimonies, say the prayers, and I played the organ because no one was there. I'm ready for summer to be over because things just kind of shut down. 

Um... the nostril flaring videos? Fabulous. Thank you so much! I didn't know if you guys would really do it, but I got one from everyone so I'm very pleased. And I can see that it's genetic too because I look exactly like you when I try to do it, Dad and Dallin. Except all the girls can do it so I don't know what's wrong with me. You guys are the best. I was thinking about hugging you all when I see you again the other day and I started crying. I'm so excited to see you!!

it's norwegian raspberry cereal summer again! 

we always find them everywhere we go 

and eat little snacks :)

Things are good here in Norway as a missionary. Pray for me to fit all my crap in my suitcases so I can get on a plane. I love you! 

Love,

Søster Pyne 

Dååååååååp (Baptism)

Hello! 

This has been the most beautiful week! My favorite day of my mission was on Saturday. But we have to start with Monday.

We aren't sure what to do with Else Marie. We were talking to people on Monday night and she came walking over and waited until we finished talking to someone. She asked if we could sit down and talk. She told us she has felt so confused and overwhelmed the past week. Sister Robbins and I were praying so hard to be able to know how to help her and what to say. We boldy testified to her that her next step is baptism and Satan is doing everything he can to confuse her and lead her off the path she is on. I don't think I've ever testified that boldly, but I don't know what else to do to help her. She listened and seemed to understand, but then she didn't come to the baptism on Saturday or church on Sunday... so... we've been praying and we feel that we need to give her a break for now even though it makes me really sad. 

We didn't have very many appointments at all so we planned a lot of finding and decided to set specific goals for the day of a lesson on the spot and giving the Norwegian Book of Mormon we were carrying away to someone. That's a hard thing to do in these parts, but we wanted it so bad! 

Ok so the weather this week has been ridiculous. It feels like Mississippi or something and I am so grateful I got called to Norway because it has been so humid and hot. It's been a nice change, I guess, but not when you're outside all day. So we talked to people for a few hours and didn't have much success. The Book of Mormon was still in my hand and I said, "Heavenly Father, I just want to be able to give this to someone, please." There was a really cute girl coming toward me and I stopped her because I wanted to ask her where she got her shirt. She seemed like she was in a hurry and told us she was on her way to dinner. I don't even remember what we said-- something about the Book of Mormon, I think, but all of the sudden she stopped and held still and said, "I have ten minutes." So we sat on a bench, taught her, and gave her the Book of Mormon. It was so cool!  Heavenly Father always seems to wait until the last second to make sure you have faith and trust Him. 

We also got bored talking to people for so long, so Sister Robbins decided she wanted to talk to all the "dudes" and by "dudes" she means black men with a lot of jewlery and muscle. So Heavenly Father kept setting the dudes in our path too and she would get so excited everytime she saw one! We made a few new friends. I love black people. They're so happy about life.

On Wednesday it was more finding in the hot hot wet. I felt like I was going to die haha I'm such a baby. But we said lots of prayers and asked for more miracles. We met this really cute girl again that said she had been praying to find out how to be closer to God even though she didn't know how and then she met us! She's from Slovakia but she speaks really good English. We got to teach her for a few minutes, but then she had to go. The next day she texted us and said she's not sure she's ready, and she lives an hour and a half away from Bergen. We were so sad! I don't think it's just over with her, but there are so many ups and downs all the time. It was a tender mercy to meet her though because it was really encouraging right when we needed it.

Ahhh I was leaving someone a message the other day (I hate leaving messages) and I started saying, "We hope you have a good day and in the name of Jesus Christ.. a..." and then I realized what I was saying and hurried and said, "Talk to you later! Bye!" I looked over at Sister Robbins and she was just dying. I guess my brain thinks that leaving messages and praying are the same and that's probably a bad thing because I don't want to just leave messages with Heavenly Father. I'll have to work on that this week.

We have an apartment in the city that we teach people at sometimes and it has an elevator. Mostly we just use it when we're going to pee our skirts and we're in the city. So we were coming back down and Sister Robbins got out of the elevator and then I went to walk out and it shut. It wouldn't open and it was so hot and I was freaking out. I don't know why, but Sister Robbins and I call each other "Choncho" so I could hear her on the other side of the door yelling, "Choncho! Choncho!" Haha I pushed all the buttons and told her to stay there. Finally it started going up and then let me out on a random floor and I walked down the stairs. I'm just glad no one came in while she was yelling, "Choncho!" at the elevator door. That would have been a great representation for the church. 

Saturday morning we woke up to go running and we opened the door and there were two drug guys across the street talking really loud. I looked at Sister Robbins and said, "I don't want to deal with this today." I shut the door and they heard it and looked up and started running at us yelling, "Excuse me!" Sister Robbins yelled, "Go back in!" I had to hurry and get the key in the lock and we ran in the door. We were both still half asleep so we just sat there for a minute and stared at each other. Then I opened the door a crack to see if they were gone, and we ran the other way. Haha that night we thought about it and laughed our heads off at how weird it was but we didn't even think about it. 

After we got back from running we texted Anders and told him we were so excited for him and praying for him and we asked if he was nervous. He said he wasn't nervous at all and that he knew it was the right thing for him and his family. We had promised him that when he was baptized he would receive a spiritual confirmation that it was right so all day we just prayed and prayed that the Spirit would communicate to him what he needed to know. He showed up at the church just grinning and asked us if we were nervous. Haha we told him to go try on his pants. He has the funniest sense of humor. They had been on vacation all week and got tan so he came out in all of his white and asked Mina if he looked like a brown angel.

Getting the program took a lot of time and we ended up finding people that we thought would be good, but little did we know how good! The member that talked about baptism talked about how it was just the first step and priesthood, callings, and temple will follow. It was perfect! Then the sisters sang "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" and it was perfect. Anders sat on the front row and just cried. Then he got baptized! I've never felt the Spirit like that at a baptism before. Everyone that was there said there was a really unique, strong Spirit and I think it's because of who Anders is. 

One of the members had just gotten back from Hawaii the night before and he was completely jet-lagged, but he called us on Saturday morning and said he had been thinking of Anders all week and wanted to make sure his talk about the Holy Ghost was really personal. He talked about starting to learn to recognize the Holy Ghost and gave Anders a book to write down impressions. He asked me to write Anders' confirmation blessing on the first page in the book. I was so scared I was going to miss things, especially because it was in Norwegian, but it all worked out great. After his talk he gave him a white envelope that said, "Receive the Holy Ghost" on it with two conference talks about the Holy Ghost inside. I could have kissed that man's feet! Then Anders got confirmed and it was perfect. The blessing was really neat and talked about how he will be an example to other people as he lives the gospel. 

The perfect amount of people were there and just the right people and things couldn't have gone any smoother. Sister Robbins and I smiled all day. After the refreshments I was sitting outside talking to Mina and Anders came and sat down by me and said,"This morning I was thinking about how I was going to be baptized and I wondered what would happen if I didn't feel anything. But Sister, Pyne, I felt it. Especially when I came up out of the water. I felt a feeling-- my back was so warm-- I know that it was the right thing to do." I just grinned at him. I couldn't really say anything. 

We found out later that the day before Linn, his wife, had slipped on water on the aiport floor and hit her head really hard and had a bad migraine. Then, their plane was late and Mina got really sick and had to go to the hospital and by the time they got back to Bergen in the middle of the night, their car wouldn't start. Do you think Satan was trying to stop it? Their family is so powerful and I know that they are going to be future leaders. They are going to get callings as primary teachers soon and they will be perfect! I can't wait for next year when they get to be sealed!

I feel like I forgot a bunch of details and none of this makes sense because I'm trying to type it all really fast. But I know that the gospel is true. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and  that baptism is exactly what we are supposed to do. I love Him. 

As for this week, it's looking about like the last minus the baptism but plus finding out where I'm going next transfer so... send prayers this way! I know we'll see miracles again. I love you guys, of course!

Love,

Søster Pyne

 

Rain, rain, go away!

Hey!!!

TGI Friday, where we're pretending it's America

Actually, the rain is really pretty today. It's super misty and dark and kind of warm. So we're okay with it for now. I'm starting to panic a little bit that it's never gonna go away though.... I love my sun! It sounds like you guys had great 4th of Julys! We had fun too in the rain :) I think it's the first 4th of July ever that I wore tights and a sweater. But we ate lunch at TGI Fridays as a district and played some sports with our investigators that evening and had a barbeque so it felt a little more real. Even though TGI had no idea anything was happening in America. It's okay. I read the quotes from my passport to make me feel patriotic and talked to people on the street about the gospel.

We visited Anders with Elder Nielsen and Taylor this week so he could get interiviewed. He passed! We talked about how this is it and he's so ready to get in that water. I've never been more excited for a baptism before! They are on vacation in Bulgaria all week so we're emailing him and keeping contact and he'll get back on Friday. It means the world that you are sending your prayers and fasting this way for him. He has no idea how much Heavenly Father loves him and is taking care of him. But I am so grateful for it. Thank you!

We spent 3 hours trying to get the program together because Norwegians prioritize vacations over eveything else. It was supposed to be our weekly planning session but we didn't get any weekly planning done because all of our time was eaten by trying to find a few talks and prayers. We kept praying and we saw miracles as we went through the ward list and asked to know who to call. I am so grateful for the people that willingly said, "Yes! I'd love to!" I forgot that that's a normal thing to do in Utah and it was so refreshing to hear it again. He's getting baptized, you guys!!! 

Anne Austenaa, my pal from Oslo came to visit us again. She always takes us to dinner at these crazy places. This time it was this extremely expensive fancy little put a dot on your plate and call it food place. It was the experience of a lifetime, I think and it was really fun! But then after we had to run to catch a bus and we almost threw up our blow fish soup and who knows what else the stuff was on the plate. 

we spend a lot of time waiting for the bybane, the train thingy

On Saturday we went to the city to meet Else Marie. We saw her from a distance with her hood on and an umbrella and she was tallking to these two other people that looked really sketchy. Then we watched as she took a little while thing out of their hands and put it in her mouth. DRUG DEAL. We hurried and backed up by a door and waited for a second and watched. We had no idea what we were going to do. And then she took off her hood and started to walk away and it was a HE. It wasn't Else Marie at all. We felt so awful to thinking it was her! She showed up right after and we were so glad to see her. We read 1 Ne 17 with her and talked about how the Lord has asked her to be baptized in a very personal way and she needs to follow her prompting even though she is nervous. Nephi didn't know how to build a boat either but he still did it. She liked it a lot, but still wouldn't commit to a date. We're not sure what she needs next, but there was progress. 

This month we're all trying to focus on being bold and I feel like the past couple of days I've been really bold. I feel like my testimony is at a point where I just know things are right and I don't have to try and explain them to other people, I just have to testify and let the Spirit teach. I should have been at this point all along, but I feel like it's finally becoming real. So the past couple of days I've really enjoyed being really bold. I think I'm also just tired of saying the same things and watching people go in circles. That's probably how Heavenly Father feels about me too. I need to listen better.

Sunday walks with Laila and the baby. check out their strollers!

We have really been trying to help these inactive people but there are so many we just have to go down the list and call and then show up knowing nothing about them. Last week I talked to this man that was really nice on the phone and told us yes of course we could come. We asked the elders to come with us because we were a little bit unsure. But when we knocked on his door, he got really mad and told us we couldn't come in because he had talked to a very kind nurse on the phone and it was her that was coming. I told him it was me he talked to and he said "No, she was a nurse and you can't come in." I think he's not all the way there, but I almost said, "Well, do you have some rubber gloves? I can be a nurse if you just let us in! We're here to nurse your soul back to health." People people people.

We also saw a grandma across the street pushing her own wheelchair with her feet. She was trying to get to the train station so we crossed and asked if we could help her. She let us push her there and then we started talking with her. Neither of us had any idea what she was saying the whole time but she asked us if we knew this man and we were both just nodding pretending like we knew what was going on. She got so excited that we knew him and told us to give her a hug. And then she kissed us on our cheeks (slobbered kinda) and told us to tell him hello. I felt so bad because I didn't realize what she had said until after. Ah. We're just doing our best, Heavenly Father.

We're trying to find and find and find. Our area really  needs some good people right now. We would really appreciate your prayers this week to  help us be led to people that are ready!

I love you guys and I'm happy to be a missionary! I'm praying for you all the time too.

Love,

Søster Pyne