GOD JUL!! (Merry Christmas)

****I don't have a lot of time to email this week since I am SKYPING MY FAMILY TOMORROW!!! So I apologize if I don't get to respond to everyone!! I will do my best to get caught up next week!!***

So this week has been crazy and so awesome!! I just love the holidays here!!!

Monday: 

All the missionaries went over to the Steffenson family and had a koselig evening!!! So fun!! Yummy food and we watched a Christmas movie!! I love that family!! They are so sweet and awesome!!! (koselig means cozy or relaxed – such a nice evening!)

Wednesday: 

Sister Gates birthday!!! All the missionaries went and got kebabs!!! So yummy!!! 

The whole mission had a conference call with President Evans!! He told us who is going to be the new President when his time is up the first of July!! It is going to be President Hill!! He was my mission president in the MTC!!! I am so excited!! He is so awesome!!!

Friday: 

We met with a guy we contacted on the street named Allen!! We gave him a Book of Mormon! I think he could be a pretty positive contact! It went really well!! 

Saturday: 

We had sport!! I love playing volleyball!! Søster Frampton and I ate at a cute American family's house, the Yates!! They are so awesome!! 

Sunday: 

Christmas Sunday!!! So the ward here is basically amazing and wonderful!! So musically talented!! Like professionals!! It was so awesome to hear everyone sing and perform!! So spiritual and uplifting!! We got to carol at an old folks home!! That was so fun!! I am learning all the Christmas songs in Norsk and getting the hang of it!

Monday: 

After today the darkness will slowly go away and eventually it will be light all day and night!! Søster Frampton and I went to the Gulbrandsen's to decorate the Christmas tree and help bake for Wednesday!! 

YES I BAKED!!!! Pretty proud of myself!! 

I was also given my very own Norwegian mittens, socks, and hat!!! Hand knitted!! I am so excited!! I love that family!!!

"Official Norsk gear from the Gulbrandsen's"

Tuesday: 

Lille Juleaften!! Went to the Ballew Family for a Christmas breakfast!! We had German pancakes!! So yummy!! That family is so sweet!!! They are from Texas so I especially loved being with them!! That night we went with Eldste Gunther and Gingrich to the Sande family for dinner!! They are very Norwegian so the food was total Norwegian traditional food!!! It was good, but interesting haha. We had this meat that is popular for the holidays and it is basically all bone and little to no meat. That was interesting.... it is called pine kjøtt!

Wednesday: 

Today Søster Frampton, Eldste Gunther and Gingrich are going over to celebrate Juleaften with the Gulbrandsen's!! I am so excited!! It is going to be so fun!!!

Jordan's Tidbits:

• Everyone asks if I am Svensk (Swedish) because my last name is Swedish except they spell it like Petterssen or Pettersen and pronounce it differently too. I am about to just start saying yes! Haha 
• The members here are so awesome! They are all so sweet about making sure the missionaries have places to go for Christmas and Christmas activities!!
• So Norwegians basically celebrate Christmas from the 23rd till the 26th!! The 23rd is called Lille Juleaften than the 24th is Juleaften and the 25th is Jul and the 26th is Boxing Day! The Norwegians open their gifts on the 24th!! Santa comes to their house and they do their main festivities and Christmas on the 24th!!
• Everything shuts down basically the whole week, the buses, the stores, everything!!!
• The Christmas food here is incredible!!! 

This is a drink called Gløgg.  It is kind of like cider, but a little different.  It is SO Good!!

Fixin's for sandwiches... really good!!

•       I am so grateful for all of my wonderful friendships I have made here!!!

I am grateful for the opportunity I have not to worry about the hustle and bustle of Christmas and be caught up in the materialistic things of it.  It is weird, but so awesome that I can really only focus on why I am here, helping others, and remembering the whole reason we have Christmas.... JESUS!!!!

***Thank you, thank you, thank you so much to everyone that has sent me letters, packages, and Christmas cards!! Seriously the best ever!!! I love it and appreciate it so much!!***

INVITATION FOR THE WEEK!!!!

**Do an act of service on Christmas!! It can be something little!!

GOD JUL DERE!!!!

xoxoxox

Søster Peterson

Søster Peterson takes a tumble!

This week I don't have too much to report!! Around the holidays missionary work kinda slows down.  We have been mostly contacting this week.  We did have a lot of success sharing "The Gift.”  We have pass along cards with “The Gift” advertised on them.

So, yesterday was kind of a rough day... Missionary work is the best thing and my decision to come on a mission was the best decision I have ever made, but also the hardest thing I have ever done.  You don't realize what hard means until you are on a mission yourself.  As a missionary, sometimes you are kinda broken down and then built back up by relying on the Lord to help you and realize who you are and what you are to be and become. 

With that being said, I try to stay positive and look at the good I am doing.  Eldste Clark left to go home!! It is so weird that he is done and will be home for the holidays!!!  Søster Frampton got her travel plans to fly home!! Bittersweet!!!

 

I was in Sandnes again this week while Søster Frampton traveled and Søster Nielsen fell off of the top bunk (it has no railing) flat on her back on the floor!!! hahahah it was so funny!! She was trying to reach the lights and lost her balance!!

Church was the best on Sunday!!! Søster Frampton gave an amazing talk and Casper got to pass the sacrament!! Søster Frampton and I wanted to cry!! Such an amazing thing to see that he is where he is today because of us!! Casper bought a new suit for church!! He is just so awesome!! He also gave me my official sign name!!!

The weather this week was insane!!! I have never seen so much rain - like pouring rain in my life!!! It rained so hard every day and hailed!!! It even snowed a tiny bit, but it didn't stick!  My umbrella has seen better days!!!

THE ENGLISH FAST IS OVER! I survived the week long English fast!! It was so hard and the apartment was for sure quieter than usual, but it did help me a lot!! I did learn so much from it!  I carried a dictionary around with me, but also learned many new words and phrases.  I feel like I got better at Norwegian!

We watched the Grinch at a church activity with Norwegian subtitles!! That was way cool!!

My challenge to write down one thing each day that you are grateful for is really helping me!! It is neat for me to think back on the day when I write in my journal and to see the things that I write down!!

So about my headline... 

Søster Frampton and I were running to catch the bus (we tend to run a lot through the city haha) and I started running the wrong way. She looked back and yelled at me and I went to run down these steps/stairs and totally lost my balanced!! I stumbled down the stairs, caught myself, than tripped and fell and landed in a puddle of water.... Søster Frampton's face was priceless!! We were both laughing so hard we could barely breathe!!  This happened right in the middle of town!! So I am sure that the people around were like what the heck is going on!

We had a zone conference this week.  My zone covers 4 cities and we meet in Stavanger.  We did investigator training with the zone leaders and look who our investigator was!!!  Justin Bieber!!  haha

 

Jordan's Tidbits:

- It is definately getting cold!! My thermal tights are a life saver!!!

- Norwegians have so many yummy treats and sweets it kills me!!!! The holidays are the best here!!!

- “Jeg har ingen peiling” means I have no idea or no clue

Love this little girl!  Her name is Emilie 

The Mead Family

 

- Christmas here is celebrated on Dec 24^th.  Santa comes to their house and they open presents.  After dinner they eat a huge dinner and they dress up

- They decorate their trees here outside so differently they don’t wrap them in lights they throw the lights up so they are vertical

- Thank you thank you thank you to those that have been sending me letters and cards!! Seriously I can't express how grateful I am!!

- Remember the true meaning of Christmas!! Find out what it means to you!!

****My P Day next week is being changed to Dec 24th!!!

INVITATION:

***This week go ONE FULL day without social media!! No facebook, no instagram, no twitter, etc... You can do it!!!!

Happy Holidays!!!!

xoxo

Søster Peterson

LET THE CHRISTMAS SEASON BEGIN!!

This week I hit my 3rd month mark of my mission!! Time is flying by!! 

Norway basically invented Christmas!! It is so beautiful here and I am so excited for the holidays!!! 

Christmas time for missionaries in Norway is very bitter sweet.  Missionary work gets slow around the holidays.   Many people don't have time to meet, don't want to, or are out of town.... So that's a bummer!!

I was with Sandnes Søsters for a couple days this week because Søster Frampton had to go visit other sisters. I was with Søster Gates (greenie) and Søster Nielsen!! They are so awesome!! I love them!!

This week a guy named David who is in the ward, taught all the missionaries self-defense!! It was so fun!! 

David was in the Scottish military and is very serious and intense about this stuff!  He showed us how to defend ourselves against a knife and gun!

The sister missionaries went over to the Redfords and made Pepperkaker cookies!!!! Pepperkaker is like gingerbread! I just love that family.  Moa is the little girl, she showed us how it is done!!

Another family that I love is the Gulbrandsens.  We go to their house every Tuesday and we also do Family Home Evening with them.

 

 Miriam loves to braid my hair!!

I love Eddel

 

On Saturday the ward had a Christmas concert!! All of the missionaries sang The First Noel in Norwegian! It was pretty good if I do say so myself haha.  The Christmas concert was amazing!! So many people invited nonmembers and it was awesome!! Also our ward is like amazingly musically talented!!! 

 The children in our ward are so cute!

 So much talent here!!

Ingrid - LOVE HER!!

So this Sunday was the first Sunday of the month which means fast Sunday!! Like I said before, I promised myself I would bare my testimony in front of the congregation every fast Sunday on my mission!! So I had the girl from last time, Eddel do it with me again! I am so proud of her!! She did awesome!!! I wasn't as nervous this time, but it was still pretty scary!! I wouldn't be so scared if I could speak English and do it. My Norwegian is coming along and getting better!!  Oh my gosh!! Casper bore his testimony!! YES CASPER!!! Like hello!!!! He had Søster Frampton translate while he signed!! I totally started tearing up and crying!! He laughed at me like he always does.  He is just so awesome and amazing!!! Not many people get up and bear their testimony and it was just so cool that he did it!!! 

Things are going slow with our investigators... We aren't having much progress right now, but that tends to happen after a baptism because we had been spending all of our time and effort on Casper to help him and prepare him.  

We had an experience this week where we met with a guy and he was so awesome!! The Spirit was so strong and he was so positive and excited to learn more!! Later that night he called us and said he wasn't interested anymore and dropped us!! We were so confused! Turns out he had gotten on the internet to look up more and found information and things that were NOT TRUE!! and anti-Mormon!! Don't believe everything you read on the internet people!! So sad! We tried to explain to him the things he saw and read wasn't true!! If you are ever curious or have questions check out the websites I posted below!! Those are 100% true!!!!

ENGELSK FAST!!! So this week the entire mission is doing an English fast for the whole week!!! I am going to die!!! No English allowed at all for the whole week!!! This is going to be very interesting hahaha. I am basically carrying my dictionary around with me everywhere I go!  I have a feeling my Norwegian is going to be improved greatly after this week hahaha

Jordan's Tidbits:

- Norway is the capital of Christmas!!!

- It is starting to get cold!!!! No snow yet though!!

- American money is useless here

- Schools here are very different from America... They don't do sports!! If you want to play sports you do like club or select teams.  Schools here aren't like normal American schools. You don't go to the closest school that you live by.  You go to the school that has your profession you want to focus on or study.  All the schools have different subjects that they focus on, it isn't all the subjects at one school like in America.

- Chocolate went on sale here!!! The chocolate here is soo good and the bars are like huge!!!  Søster Frampton stocked up before she goes home!!

- I love Søster Frampton!! She is such a blessing and great example and role model to me!!!

 

-Exploring Ruins of an old church

-Where I live!!! 



*Do not become discouraged! Discouragement will weaken your faith. If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken, and you will have a greater difficulty following the spirit!!*

INVITATION FOR THE WEEK!!! 

***Remember to do the grateful challenge for December!! It isn't too late to start now!!

***Share The Gift on social media*****

This week I would like to invite everyone to do one thing that is out of their comfort zone!!

Jeg er glade i deg!! Thank you for all your love and support!!!

xoxo

Søster Peterson

check out beta.mormon.org and christmas.mormon.org

Jeg elsker å være en misjonær!!​!!!

What a week it has been!! I don't even know where to start!! Ahh!!!

(I am giving a small recap on what happened in the week...

this is not all the details sorry!!)

Monday: Missionary Thanksgiving!! Today we did a missionary thanksgiving feast!! It was so awesome!! Everyone made food and brought it and it was so fun to hang out and talk with the missionaries!! We all shared things we were grateful for, I introduced gumdrop turkeys to them, and we talked about traditions that our families do!!

 

That night we also had a Young Single Adult Activity.  We made Gingerbread houses and then donated them to charity.

Thursday: THANKSGIVING!!! Søster Frampton and I ate at a members house for Thanksgiving!! It was so good!!

After dinner we went out to bank (knock on doors) and while we were heading back home, a black van that I had seen going up and down the streets passed us then suddenly turned around and drove in front of us and stopped!! I saw a man getting out of the car!! Søster Frampton and I immediately turned around and started walking the other way!! My heart was pounding and I seriously thought we were about to get kidnapped!! I may or may not have had tears forming in my eyes hahahah. Luckily it was nothing, but it sure did give us both a heart attack!

I have had my fair share of Thanksgiving food!! I am good to go till next year haha

Friday: we ate dinner at a member's house and she literally kept putting food on my plate and shoving cookies in my mouth!!! I kept saying nei takk (no thanks) but she just kept doing it!!! Søster Frampton was trying so hard not to laugh!

Saturday: Our ward had Super Saturday!!! Søster Frampton and I got to attend with the ladies of the ward!!! It was so fun!! A couple people brought nonmember friends so we were able to talk and visit with them!! I am not one who really likes crafts and doing crafts that take longer than 10 minutes.. haha however on my mission I am learning to be more crafty and creative! Who would have thought?!! 

We also had a lesson with Casper and he brought Søster Frampton and I sushi to eat!!! I have never tried sushi before!! I LOVE IT!!! Who would have thought that I would come to Norway to find out I love Sushi!!  Eddel was with us.. she did NOT like it!

Sunday:  CASPER'S DÅP (baptism)!!!! Casper's baptism was unbelievable!! Words cannot describe!! Baptizing people doesn't define a missionary's success on his/her mission, however baptisms are definitely rewarding and make missionary work so worth it!! I am so grateful and blessed I was able to teach and be a part of Casper’s baptism!! The baptism went so great!! Many people came and even his mom and sister who are deaf came as well!! His family wasn't really supportive so it was a big deal that his mom and sister came!!

Casper doesn't have an interpreter when he comes to church or when we teach him so we are all on our own. Søster Frampton is a boss at signing!!! For the baptism I signed the baptism prayer!!! Yes me!!! Oh my gosh, I was so nervous!! I practiced so much the night before!! It went great!! Elder Gunther baptized Casper and Casper watched me sign while they were in the water so he knew when Elder Gunther was going to put him under the water!! When Casper came up out of the water he was smiling so big!! He hugged Elder Gunther and when he looked at Søster Frampton and I he had tears in his eyes and the biggest smile!! Of course Søster Frampton and I were crying!!! It seriously was the best day of my life!! The Spirit was so strong and many people there were crying!! Casper's mom was even crying!!! I wanted to hug Casper so bad, but sadly I couldn't due to the missionary rule... AHH!! It was just such a great day!!! We also had the youth that Casper knew and all the missionaries in church get up and sing I am a child of God in Norwegian of course and then we sang it again except we signed it!!! Seeing everyone's reactions and Casper's face was priceless!! Many people started crying and I even started to tear up!! It was so beautiful!!! I have so much to say, but don't even know how to express it!!

 

I am so grateful to be a missionary!! I wouldn't trade it for anything!!! Yes there are hard days and it is hard, but it is so worth it!! I am so lucky to be able to be here in Norway learning and becoming truly converted myself as I am teaching and sharing the Gospel!

 

Jordan's Tidbits:

·         Norwegian is coming along!! This week was a lot better!!!

·         As I am writing -  it is pitch black outside and it is 4:45 in the afternoon....

·         The new greenies (new missionaries) fresh from the MTC came in this week!! So I am no longer the new greenie! I have two new ones in my area!!! Søster Gates and Eldste Gingrich. (His name is hard to pronounce so when I get to know him better I will call him Green Grinch… hahaha I hope he doesn't mind). 

·         When Norwegians hug they touch their cheek to yours and do it on both sides

·         Norwegians do not have carpet in their houses

·         When Norwegians make sandwiches they have both pieces of bread apart and eat each slice of bread one at a time with toppings on each slice

·         Norwegians love having jam and cheese on bread or a roll, I tried it and it is so good!! The cheese here is way different than American cheese; Norwegians do not have cheddar cheese or really any cheese that is in America

·         Norwegians love hearts!! They have hearts everywhere!! On their doors, decorations, and in the trees!!

·         If you haven't heard the song Glorious by David Archuleta go listen to it!!!!

INVITATION FOR THE WEEK!!!!!

Watch and share The Gift!!! It is an awesome video that the church came out with for Christmas!! Share on social media and with friends and family!!

http://www.mormon.org/christmas

Starting today December 1st write down one thing you are grateful for everyday!! Put it in a journal, in your phone, etc..

Check out this website!!! www.mormon.org

Jeg er glad i dere!! 

xoxo

Søster Peterson