Kjære alle,
Haloooo! Right now, I wish I had all of you here to complete my fairy tale of a snow globe world I am living in. It has not stopped snowing since the last time we talked, and the sky is constantly a mysterious gray-purple color with no traces of sun. I am hoping that February will promise some sun, but I heard that I will have to wait until April. We will see I guess! Other than the sunless sky, I am continually amazed at the beauty of this place! It seems so surreal on the most normal of days. Words cannot even describe. I guess you will just have to come see it for yourself!
The beginning of February also means that transfers are soon. Next sunday is 'transfers call' when President Evans tells the whole mission who is moving and to where. I am almost certain that Søster Pyne is getting transferred since she has been in Oslo for 5 months and with me for almost 3! I am so sad about that, but know that we can't be together forever...
Oh, I almost forgot! February first is good ole mama and papa's wedding anniversary. Congratulations you two, you still love each other! Seriously though, thanks everything you both do as parents to us four and especially for me!! Keep doing what you're doing, you got another 50 mortal years to go!
None of our investigators came to church this Sunday, bummer! It is always disappointing when they don't come to church or follow through on their commitments, but I just have to remember that they have their agency too! We have a new investigator named Anton and he is from Iceland! Did you even know people lived there? haha. He is so neat! He is 26 and loves the Bible. He is so interested in the Book of Mormon and just finding the TRUTH! We have not been able to get a hold of Gustav this week which is disappointing, but we will continue to try! Teaching is probably my favorite part of being a missionary. It is so fun to get to konw all kinds of people and teach them about God's plan for them. Watching the fire in their eyes get lit is so rewarding to me.
Last night, we were coming home from an appointment with our investigator Monika and we got on the wrong T-bane (subway). We figured it out quickly and was able to get off and change to the right one. It probably put an extra 10 minutes on our travel, so it was not too bad. Well, once we got to our stop Søster Pyne noticed a man walking right in front of us on the sidewalk and questioned if it was one of our investigators we haven't been able to contact. Sure enough, it was Svein! We caught up to him and starting chatting on the street. He apologized for not being in contact with us and blaimed it on his busy-ness. We asked him where he was headed to and he said the Pentecostal church service, and then he invited us to come with him! Long story short, we went with him, and it was the craziest thing I have ever been to! Good crazy. First of all, their church has a beautiful starbucks-like cafe in it. (who wouldn't go to church?!) Their 'chapel' was more like an auditorium and reminded me of being at byu. The first 30 minutes of the service was a full on concert. Lights, live instruments, and beautiful voices. Not a gospel choir though, it was a bunch of young, hipster Norwegians sinGing about Jesus in a Mumford & Sons kind of way. I was loving it, and was disappointed there wasn't a CD to buy afterward! haha. Having said that, it was more like a social event than church. It was a good experience, and we were able to schedule a meeting with Svein for this week! God works in myserious ways I guess!
Last thing, I was reading President Packer's October conference talk this morning and loved the simple straight forward council he gave. He tells us that the Scriptures are the KEY to spiritual protection. There is so much bad in this world, but amid the evil we have something SO good to learn from and to protect us. In his words, 'The scriptures teach us where to go and what to do. They offer us hope and knowledge. Make scripture reading a part of your regular routine and the blessings with follow. The gospel teaches us to be happy, to have faith rather than fear, to find hope and overcome dispair, to leave darkness and turn toward the light of the everlasting gospel. Peace can be settled in the heart of each who turns to the scriptures and unlocks the promises of protection and redemption that are taught therein.' SO POWERFUL!
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