This weekend was such a sacred experience.

all my comps at the conference. i LOVE these girls!

Mine kjære venner,

This weekend was such a sacred experience. I'm so grateful to be a missionary.

We woke up super early on Saturday morning to take the train to Oslo. Did I tell you that Sara just so happened to be in Oslo the same time Elder Bednar was coming so she got to come?? And she just so happened to be scheduled to take the same train as us even though it left at 6:30 in the morning. So we rode the train there with her. It was all a miracle! We had a sisters conference all day Saturdayat the mission home. It was fantastic. I got to see all of my girls that I haven't seen in so long including Sister Frampton!! We cried when we saw each other. Haha I love that woman. We talked about good things and ate good food and loved being with each other for the whole day. It was in preparation for the new group of 11 sisters coming next transfer because everyone will be training but it was also the last time my whole group of 17 sisters will be together because some of them are extending. It was a really good day. 

my 17 girls and the last time we'll all be together as missionaries

Sunday morning we went to stake conference with Elder Bednar and both stakes in Norway and all the 

missionaries. The building was packed and the Spirit was so strong. I got to see so many of the people that I love so much from my whole mission and my face hurt from smiling so much. Sara was really nervous and a little overhwhelmed, but she came by herself and sat with us. I was so impressed. When Elder Bednar got up to speak he said, "I would like to do something a little different today. I would like to speak to those of who are not members of our faith about why our church is called what it is."  I looked at Sister Hartley and we both had tears in our eyes. Sara immediately felt comfortable and at home instead of like an outsider. Then Elder Bednar did the coolest thing ever. He taught the first lesson in the most beautiful way I have ever heard. It was flawless. And then he talked about every single one of Sara's concerns. Alchohol, social norms, families. It was unbelievable. Afterward she was so happy. Elder Bednar was so personable and hilarious! 

I didn't expect him to be like that because he is a doctrinal giant. But he was so human too. He told us, "Now you're thinking oh great, Elder Bednar is going to preach to us about how we need to do missionary work. I'm not. Just live the gospel. And you'll be weird. And people will ask you why you're weird. And you'll tell them." He said very clearly very many times that missionary work is the biproduct of conversion and if you're not doing missionary work then you aren't truly converted. And then he said, "I invoke the blessing on you that the influence through you to this country will shine and your fear will be cast away and you will never hesitate to share the reason of hope that is in you." It was SO powerful.

all the Bergen girls and Anisha

After that we ran to the trikk to go to the church in Oslo so we could have our own personal missonary conference with Elder Bednar. We were so spoiled. We started by talking about things we had learned from the way he taught the first lesson. And he would ask follow up questions to individuals after they shared what they learned. He created this environment where all we were doing was learning from the Spirit and he did it through asking inspired questions. It was ridiculous. And then he said, "Okay. Who has questions for me? This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so take advantage." And people started asking him really good questions. I had thought of what I might ask him, but I didn't feel like any of them were quite right. What I didn't realize was that I had a bunch of things in my heart that I wanted to know but hadn't conciously thought about very much. As the meeting went on and more questions were asked I got so many answers to things I have been thinking about for a long time. I think they were more confirmations and reassurances. By the end I was so exhausted. I felt like the Nephites when Christ visited them and told them to go rest for a while but they begged Him for more. 

I think the biggest reassurance I got was about God's love. Someone asked the question, "I know that God's love is there, but what do I do with it?" He answered it through a personal experience. He said he was at a Q and A mission conference and a girl on the front row looked super grumpy the whole time. After the conference he asked the President what was wrong with the girl and told him that he felt like she had a question still that she didn't get to him. Elder Bednar told the President to have her at another member meeting that was going to be later in the week and to have her sit near the front so she could ask her question. She ended up being late to the meeting and was heading toward the back when someone randomly grabbed her and her companion and told them to sit on the very front row. So there she was, right in front of Elder Bednar and when he opened it up for questions she said, "How do I know it's the Holy Ghost?" Elder Bednar told us, "Now I have no idea why I said this because I had never answered this question like this before. But I told her when it's something you don't want to do you know it's the Holy Ghost." When he got back to Salt Lake he had gotten an email from the girl's uncle that said that Elder Bednar was the hero of their family because the girl had been wanting to leave her mission early but she had decided to stay because of his answer. When the girl got home from her mission she went to see Elder Bednar to tell him she had completed her mission and tell him more of the story. She had decided to go home and told her mission President. They tried to schedule tickets but for some reason couldn't get any available flights for a week, so she had to wait a week. And then Elder Bednar was coming the next week so her President told her she might as well stay. So she was at that conference and had been struggling to know if she was even supposed to be there. And then Elder Bednar answered her question like that and she stayed. 

we love the fields of Skien at sunset

His whole point of the story was that God loves us one by one. He said, "So let me tell you something about the love of God. He sends the 15 of us, His representatives, around the world. But not for conferences, not to give talks, but to find the one. And on that trip, that girl was the one. Will God send an Apostle half way across the world for one? Yes. He will. That is always the way He works." He told us to find the 6 times in the Book of Mormon that it says "one by one" and read them in context and really study them. I loved it because I get overwhelmed by all the people I need to love. But it's done one by one and singular, personal realtionships are what matter most. God's love is individual and personal and He will go to every end to help us feel His love. 

I'm just touching the surface with all the things I learned but it was an incredible weekend! I brought Sister Oslen back to Skien with me last night and we collapsed in our beds. I'm excited to be with her though. She's a really cute girl with an amazing story. 

I know that we have living Apostles today. I felt like I was getting taught by the Savior Himself at some points yesterday. I know that Heavenly Father loves us and it's not a conditional love. It's real. This Gospel is the best thing that could happen to any of us!

Be happy and enjoy your week. I'm coming to you in a few!

Love,

Søster Pyne

Our whoooolllle mission