Its beginnning to look a lot like Christmas!

Kjare alle,

Hello from Oslo! Can you believe it is Decemeber? Wow that just means so many great things. The city of Oslo is like a fairy tale... Every window display, every street, every person is just beautiful. All they need is snow now. I love Norwegians for so many reasons but one of them is becuase they love Christmas so much. They take counting down to Christmas VERY SERIOUS! Norsk children get a gift everyday until Christmas comes! ITS SO FUN!

Well we had TWO baptisms on Saturday. Søster Pyne and I were running around like crazy all week getting everything and everyone ready. But, once Saturday came it was just a perfect day. If you dont remember they are 20 year old twins from Sweden. They had to wait until they were old enough to move out so they could be baptized on their own, and not by their parents word. They have an incredible story. Emma and Sandra were so prepared and ready to be baptized! They were smiling ear to ear ALL weekend. After they were baptized, they both kept commenting how happy and light they felt. It was awesome! Miracle stories like that make all of the hard times worth it.

We have some Philippines members here in this ward and they invited all of the missionaries over for dinner one night last week. (Oh yes, there are 10 misisonaries in this word) Well, they made us a Philippine delicacy.... it is called Balut. Let me tell you what it is. Well it is a half developed duck fetus that you boil in its shell still. So its kind of like a hard boiled egg but with a duck fetus as the yolk. Yum. When the member was cracking the egg open and showing us how to eat them I felt sick and I kindly refused. But, everyone except my companion ATE THEM! I will send pictures and it will make the experience come to life. It was crazzzzyyy.

Last Tuesday we met an African man on the trikk (trax type public transportation). We set an appointment for Thursday, and told him we would meet him at a really central place in Oslo. Well, on Thursday night 20 minutes goes by and he didnt show up. Instead of just walking back home, we decided to try talking to people. I said a silent prayer to help us find someone that is ready to hear our message. A few seconds later, I spotted David and said to my companion "thats who we are talking to." David is from Barcelona but has lived in Norway for 10 years. He is about 30 and works for the Red Cross. Well, we actually got talking about how our church helps the Red Cross significantly. He was very interested in learning more about what we believe in, so we scheduled a time for yesterday! We met with David last night for our first lesson and brought a member with us that speaks spanish. It was amazing. I wish I could put my feelings into words. We had a great discussion, and commited him to pray and beginning reading the Book of Mormon. He said the closing prayer which was his first one in about 12 years, and it was perfect! The spirit was so strong, and he commented on the feeling he felt during our lesson. I am so excited to continue to meet with him and teach him the gospel!

Last thing, I will need your prayers because I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting in a few weeks. Ahhhhh! Yes, in Norwegian. I am freaking out a little bit, but all will be good. I hope all of you are doing well and are excited for Christmas. I am actually looking forward to focusing solely on Christ instead of presents this year. It is interesting to me that Norwegians love Christmas so much, but they have forgotten why it is even a holiday. I hope all of you will take a few minutes each day and think about Jesus Christ. As we focus on him everyday, we become more like him!

I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do for me.

Have a good week,

Søster Frampton