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We have been trying to spend time with lots of different members
so they feel comfortable with us and we aren't just "another
missionary" to them. So... what we're really trying to do is win over
their hearts. Haha but this week we had family home evening with this cute
little Norwegian family. We put pieces of paper on the floor that said
different parts of the Plan of Salvation and then had them stand on them as a
family and then take turns hopping to the next one. When they got to the
Celestial Kingdom we gave them cookies and told them to enjoy them with their
family. I hope that's what the Celestial Kingdom is like. :) Then we talked
about how their friends don't know about this plan and their little
seven-year-old said, "I need to give a Book of Mormon to my teacher."
And his parents asked him who had told him to do that and he said, "No
one. I just need to do it." So we told him we would get him one at the
activity on Thursday and he walked in the church that night and went straight to
Sister Olsen and said, "Where's the book?" We were so proud of him!
We are going to help these Norwegian members understand the importance of doing
missionary work through the example of their children and youth.
On Tuesday night we got to visit another family in the ward that lives on a
little island called Sandøya. It's right by the ocean. We drove and then took a
ferry across the water. I LOVE BOATS. Their view was incredible and they fed us
fresh fish and told us their conversion stories. The wife is Finnish and the
husband is Norwegian and they both have very individual and personal conversion
stories. Heavenly Father loves His children and He prepares them for years and
years. The husband didn't even believe in God and was a rough sea man living on
boats and then he fell and broke his back and a man in the hospital gave him a
little New Testament. He put it away and didn't think anything of it until lots
of years later when he heard a voice that said, "Read that book." He
didn't do it, and it told him again a different time. It's so amazing to me how
that works. It was dark when we took the ferry back to our car and the stars
were out and I could smell the ocean and we were the only people on it so we
stood by the edge and took it all in. It made my heart so happy to have the
ocean and a boat and the stars all in one place.
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ferrrryyyy
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Thursday night at the ward activity the Bishop came up to me and said,
"I have a friend here named Torill. We're going to go in my office and
teach her. I don't know exactly how this is going to go." Haha I was so
scared! But we watched "Mountains to Climb" and then talked about how
our message is to help with anything and everything in life. She told us that
she had had a dream where the sentence, "God has a plan for you" kept
going through her mind. Then she said, "But I don't know what that plan
is!" Sister Olsen told her that the night before she had prayed to be led
to someone that was prepared and tears rolled down Torill's cheeks. We
testified to her that she has a loving Heavenly Father and she said she felt so
relieved and calm. It was one of the most powerful lessons I have been a part
of on my mission.
We've spent a lot of time with Sara again this week. I'm going
to miss her so much. This morning she called us and said, "Can you guys
come over tomorrow and help me look at BYU's website? I want to apply." WHAT?
YES! We got to eat dinner with her family twice this past week. Her dad is an
incredible cook-- we ate fresh salmon one night and then last night it was
fresh lamb and mushrooms that he literally said, "I went to the forrest
earlier today and picked them." It was incredible! Although her dad and
two brothers are Atheist, we talked about families around the dinner table and
I can see that these are the beginnings of the Lord starting to weave the
Gospel into their lives. Sara told us last night that she wants to discuss
baptism again at our meeting on Friday.
She's coming. :)
All week I've been trying to study desires and how the desires
of our hearts work with God's will. I feel like I don't understand that very
well at all. I was reading in the Old Testament this morning and I was thinking
about how neat it is that in God's plan, ultimately we receive our greatest
desires. We act in accordance to the things that we want most. That's why
Heavenly Father looks on our hearts because our actions may not always portray
what other people think our desires are even though we may be trying our best
to act in accordance with what we desire most. Also keeping your heart soft
means experiencing pain because your heart is vulnerable. But that is the only
way we can grow in understanding of each other, the Gospel, and ourselves. It's
how our relationships with each other and Heavenly Father become something
bigger.
I know that Jesus Christ lives and I know that the Gospel is
true. I've thought a lot about what my greatest desire is-- and it's what
everyone else's greatest desire is too-- to be a sealed family in the Celestial
Kingdom. All the little details before that are taken care of through living
the Gospel.
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| check out this pup! he's a norwegian fox and his name is "Nasty" haha except you don't say it like that in Norwegian |
You guys mean the world to me. I love you. We're gonna make
it.
Love,
Søster Pyne
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