Jord's Adventures in Norway

Jord's Adventures in Norway

Monday, August 31, 2015

THE DARKNESS IS BACK

Okay so these past couple of weeks on P-day have been insane!!! So I apologize for the short emails and for those that I haven't been able to email back!  But I do have lots of pictures for this email :)
As you can see from my title, THE DARKNESS IS COMING BACK!!! I feel like it happened over night!! We were going to bed the other night and as we were laying there we go *oh my gosh... it is dark! It is actually dark right now!!** It was a very sad realization because now that the darkness is beginning to happen, it means winter isn't too far away.....
Mandag:
- went on a walk with Brenda and talked about the Plan of Salvation!!!
- met with Kelly! She said I was her best friend(: so glad she is back! She is a hoot!! We asked her if she would pray every day this week and she goes no, not every day!! haha it is a work in progress, but I love her!!(:

Tirsdag:
- Visited with Bianca and she is so good!! She is so cute and has tabs and scripture markers and everything. I love her!!!!
- We have been trying this whole transfer to find and visit a less active named Åshild. Well we had some time so we decided to go try again!  I wasn't paying attention so we missed the bus stop we needed and got off at the next one.... except the next one was like a mile down the road and to get back to where we needed to go we had to walk literally on the side of the freeway with no sidewalk..... Mom you would not have been very happy about that, but we didn't have a choice haha.
Åshild wasn't home, but hopefully we can get in contact with her soon! Since Åshild wasn't home we decided to go back to the guy’s house that lived close by who talked to us last time we went banking and he told us we could come back. Well we went back and he came to the door, I saw him through the glass and he walked away.... rude!!!!!!!

Onsdag:
WE FLEW TO BERGEN!!!!!! We had a general authority come to visit Norway!! Elder Johnson came so we had a two zone Conference in Bergen!! It was the West and the North zone!! It was so fun!! We took our P-day in Bergen with all the other missionaries and it was a blast!! We roamed the city and the senior couples did a BBQ with hotdogs for us! It was so fun to be back in Bergen again!! AND I finally got to see Sister Boud!!! I hadn't seen her since the MTC!!

 
HOUSE, ME, BOUD, AND FIRTH WERE ALL TOGETHER!!! IT WAS A GLORIOUS REUNION!!! Man I love those girls!! For proselyting time they split all the missionaries up with different companions and I was with Sister Boud!! Sister Boud, Elder Dalton, Elder Witbeck and I went to Else's a member who I visited a couple times when I was in Bergen to eat dinner! She made us Norwegian waffles!!! She is so cute and awesome!! She has some amazing insight too!! We gave a spiritual thought about the sacrament and her input was mind-blowing!! Something she said that I loved was: *every week we promise to take upon us the Lord's name and not use his name in vain. Many people think not using his name in vain is not swearing or having unclean language or thoughts, but really not taking the Lord's name in vain is not doing anything that would draw us away from the Lord and it includes our actions as well*.  She is so amazing!!

 
 
Some of us sisters slept at the Bergs house and that family is so awesome and cute!! Their house is like a Pinterest house too!!! They totally gave up their rooms for us and just had mattresses everywhere!! It was so nice of them!! She gave us American candy too!

Funny Story:  So at like three in the morning I heard a noise, but didn't think anything of it, then I heard scratching at our bedroom door and it was the cat and then it started to throw its body against the door!!! I just ignored it and went back to bed.... than the door opens and the cat comes in! Søster Wadley who is on the floor on a mattress flies up and goes guys... there is a cat on my bed! Søster Nielsen hates cats and jumps in the corner of her bed and is yelling at us to get it out! I am dying laughing -  scared to touch the cat, but it walks out by itself... than like 5 minutes later it is back at the door again!!! So I opened it and Søster Wadley and I were huddled on my bed under the sheets scared the cat was going to claw us and Sister Nielsen is freaking out!! Mind you this is all at three in the morning..... Luckily we get the cat out again and it doesn't bug us.... until I go to the bathroom and it corners me in a corner and I am just scared to death waiting for this cat to leave me alone so I can go back into the room! Good times I tell ya!!!

Torsdag:
Elder Johnson blew my mind!! It was an amazing Conference!! Seriously I felt like it was directed right at me! So many questions and prayers I have had especially from last transfer were answered! It was such an amazing experience and I learned so much!!

Fredag:
- Literally felt like I had jet lag all over again!! Bad thing about traveling is you don't get to catch up on the sleep you lost!!!

Lørdag:
- We went back to Gier's house and he was totally home and didn't open for us.... that was a total bummer....
- Met With AJ, and he is really coming along!!! He has been keeping the Reading Challenge we gave him and even could summarize for us what he read instead of making it up! AND he came to Church!! We are really proud of him!
- Met with Anita and brought up baptism...... she doesn't have any desire to change or be baptized and kinda wants to just be a free person and go to whatever church she wants, whenever she wants.... that was a total bummer because we really thought she was progressing!

Søndag:
The Primary Program was today and I had a total of 4 children which are all siblings take part in it.   I was the music leader and it was so fun!! Those kids are so cute!!!

We visited Linda tonight and her countenance was changed!! She was so happy and lit right up when we came inside!!!

So I love being in a trio!! These girls are so much fun and we work hard, but have so much fun at the same time!! This week I have been so exhausted and it was because we came to the realization that we literally work so hard!! We are out all day and are only are sitting down if we are eating or teaching someone. These two sisters have taught me so much and I am so grateful I get to be in a trio!!

Jordan's Tidbits:
·         We were cleaning the apartment and the vacuum has been having issues so we decided to try to see how to clean it out........ Oh my gosh!!! It was the grossest thing in the world!!!! I don't think that thing has ever been cleaned out before!!! It was disgusting!!!!
·         The taxi ride to the airport was quite the experience.  Our bus driver turned on blue glow lights and sang to us!!!
·         People for the love please send me pictures when you email me! Some of you are awesome at it! And some of you I haven't seen or gotten pictures in 12 months....... I love you and want to see you!
·         I am not a fan of stopping men between the ages of 18 and 35, but this week Søster Nielsen and Wadley have been helping me overcome that fear and it has gotten a lot better!
·         I got to see the Whitakers and the Allpins!!! I love them!!

Åndelig Tanker:
Let obedience come naturally, don't let it be a burden!
 
I had an awesome experience this week where I was able to see someone as God sees them! It was the coolest thing ever and I will never forget it(: We were talking to a man who was smoking and drinking and as I got to talking to him, my whole perception of him changed and I saw him as God sees and loves him! It was the coolest thing ever!! Never judge someone or assume. See them and treat them as God would and get to know them first!!

From Henry B Eyring:
When they brought the young man in he was suddenly given an amazing spiritual gift.  He saw, not the young man as he was, but instead he saw this amazing all-in-radiant-white valiant son of God.  He called it the "gift of seeing divine potential."  I have been working on that... trying to see everyone I meet as a person who kept his first estate and is a child of God with divine potential.  It doesn't always work but it has made me a lot less judgmental and a lot more interested in trying to get to know someone.

glad i dere!! ha en fin uke!!!
Xoxo
Søster Peterson

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

BED BUGS, TRIO, LOTS OF LAUGHS, THE MISSIONARY WORK IN TROMSø CONTINUES TO EXPERIENCE MIRACLES!!

**note from Mom
Søster Peterson travelled to Bergen this week, so she didn’t have time to send her “big” email on Monday as her PDay was today.  She still had very limited time, but was able to send out her email today, so here it is.
Okay so I don't have a lot of time, so sorry if this is short and rushed and I know I left out on details.  Next week will be better!

LIFE IS GOOD EVERYONE!

Okay so this week was crazy!!!! We got our new companion Søster Wadley and I love her!! I was a little nervous to be in a trio, but IT IS AWESOME!!!! Søster Nielsen and Wadley are hilarious and awesome missionaries! Søster Wadley is so cute! We all get along so well and work hard, but have so much fun together!
We have been waking up with bumps and bites all over us, so Søster Crabtree thought it might be bed bugs.......... so we have been checking our beds and washing all of our sheets..... So that is fun......

Lately on the street (3 times) someone has said *Hey Sisters* and kept walking!! THEY WERE AMERICAN!! and just walked by and said hey! LIKE HELLO!!! These people don't realize how uncommon that is for us!! But it is way cool that they said hi and recognized us

We were at a bus stop by Lill's waiting for the bus to come home and there was a man on the bench smoking and drinking. He made it very clear he did not want to talk to us about religion, so Søster Wadley, and Nielsen and I made small talk with each other. He randomly turned to us and told us his son had died four years ago and asked us to pray for him. The spirit was immediately so strong! It was awesome! We told him that he could see his son again and we asked him if we could meet with him and he said my house is right there stop by some time!! IT WAS CRAZY!!!! We have stopped by every day this week, but no luck, but then we found out we had been trying the wrong house! So we found the right one and will check again this week!

It was Søster Crabtree's birthday and she didn't even tell us! However we found out and surprised her with the Elders at the church and had ice cream and a little party for her(:
 

Anita is coming along! We are teaching her how to pray and at the end she goes *ha det Jesus* hahaha She came to church again this week!

Freshman initiation for the college in Tromsø was this week..... Of course it is right outside of our apartment so we basically got no sleep this week!! They got into groups and were tied together and had to take a shot from the 21 pubs in town.....

I have found that recently it is so cool how people recognize that I am a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ. So many people recently have asked us to pray for them and I feel so blessed and honored that they ask us to do that.

We were contacting home one night and we had stopped this man and we were talking to him and then there was this guy from across the street I made eye contact with and he kept looking at us and like stalling across the street and then he went into a store and came out and we were still talking to the man and I whisper, *Wadley; I gotta talk to him!!* she says *go!* So I ran away from my companions but I could still see them and basically chased after this man hahaha. He wasn't too positive, but hey you gotta listen to promptings when you get them!

So funny story… We were waiting at a bus stop to go find a formers house and Sister Nielsen was talking to a 21 year old guy and she totally fell backwards and ate it!!! It was the funniest thing ever!!! I was trying not to laugh, but when I saw Wadley laughing I lost it!! We could not control ourselves!! The guy tries not to laugh and goes *gikk det bra?* and then Sister Nielsen just gets up and tries to act like nothing happened and tells the guy she likes his shoes and he has good style which made Søster Wadley and I laugh even harder!!!  I just love these girls!  I love that we can laugh with each other!

Søster Wadley, Nielsen and I acted like cheerleaders for a night before bed and did cheers and my legs were legit bruised and black and blue! These girls are hilarious!!

Elder Hoopes’ birthday was on Sunday so we surprised him and for dinner and we made waffles!!!
Søster Nielsen, Wadley, Lill, and I sang in Church on Sunday! We sang Joseph Smith's First Prayer to the tune of Come Thou Fount! It was fun and Sister Nielsen and I even harmonized!

CEDRIC came back into town!!!! Oh my goodness he is awesome! He came to Sunday school and sacrament! We met with him and he prayed for the first time!!! Søster Wadley was talking to him during the lesson and he blurts out *I just prayed in my head*, we all look at him and our mouths are dropped! We said, “how do you feel!?!?” He said warm(: And just kept on with the lesson! Oh he is the coolest!! Than the next day he texted us and asked us to send him scriptures to read to help him and that he had left his Book of Mormon at the church and texted us and said *I'm coming to the church to get my book before I leave, there ain't no way I'm leaving without my Mormons Bok!!!* HE IS AWESOME!!!!! His favorite word to say is *chill* and he speaks nynorsk so he is way hard to understand haha

Met with a man we contacted on the street named Sonny. He prayed with us and in his prayer he said *please help me find the way because it is like a needle in a haystack:*

We got ice cream of course this week and we were about to get on a bus and food isn't allowed on bus, so Søster Nielsen threw her ice cream into her backpack without even thinking hahaha
 The Elders got sick this week.... they ate expired chicken (that was frozen, but still) poor guys!!

Being in a trio has its perks that's for sure!! We don't have to have someone in the church when we teach men and we can ride in a car with men!

Aj took us to his Soccer game and that was interesting...... It was so weird to drive in a car and the people here are way good at Soccer!
The “one more” attitude has really been pushing me and makes the biggest difference in my day! It is so cool and helps me push myself to be a little better and do a little more everyday.

Åndelig Tanker:
YOU WILL NEVER LOSE YOUR COURAGE UNLESS YOU CHOOSE TO!!!!

ha en fin uke dere!! glad i dere!!!
xoxox fra bergen!!!
Søster Peterson

Sunday, August 23, 2015

CASPER COMES TO TEXAS!!!

**note from MOM:

Mentioned in Jordan's previous post, Casper (her investigator that got baptized last November from Stavanger) came to see us.  For anyone who ever questioned, "Do missionaries make a difference?"  The answer is YES!!!!!  How wonderful it is to see the "fruits of her labor".  So... For all of you who wondered how things went in TEXAS with Casper..... IT WAS FABULOUS!!

I will be honest, I was very nervous about how we would communicate, but I had no reason to be worried.  Casper was so wonderful and easy going!  He was very patient with all of us and we had a great time!  Paige knows ASL, and I was surprised how well she and Casper communicated.  Yes, many of the signs were different than Norwegian Sign Language - but they were able to figure things out.  She taught him new signs and he taught us some signs.  Casper really only spent two full days with us, and they went by WAY too fast!  But - we loved every minute he was here.
We picked him up from the airport on Monday night and headed straight for some Texas BBQ!!  After dinner Rick and the boys took Casper for a drive downtown so he could see the city lights at night.  Once they were home, we discovered Casper likes to play FIFA on the Xbox.  The boys were all about that!!!  In fact, they stayed up until 2:30 in the morning playing!!
 
Tuesday we fit in some time at Top Golf!  Casper did great and actually beat all of us!  Then we went to the park and he showed us his mad soccer skills!  He was very cute trying to help Cody learn new tricks.  Boy were we surprised when Caper whipped out some Parkour on the playground!!  That was awesome!  Yes, things got pretty warm, so the boys cooled of in the pool for a bit and had a good time throwing the football around.  Next it was time for the Rangers game.  We couldn't let Casper head back to Norway without seeing a Rangers game!  We had a great time and it wasn't even too hot!




Wednesday was a great day that started out at the Dallas Temple!  We followed that up with a trip to the LDS bookstore and Casper found a CTR ring that he liked!  Casper wanted to see more of Dallas so we headed down to Reunion Tower and went to the top!  I loved that!  I have lived in Dallas for many years and that was my first time up there.  It was great!  Grandma and Grandpa invited us all over to their house for a BBQ, so we were able to visit with them for awhile with Casper.  Since it was Wednesday the kids had Youth Night at the church.  We were playing Nukem.  Casper jumped right in!  I couldn't believe it!  He was so good at this game!  He is a great competitor and had a great time with the church kids.  Just to fit everything in we possibly could, Rick and Cody took Casper to the gym when we got home!  Cody said, "He is so strong!"  They had a great time working out and enjoying the hot tub afterwards. 





Unfortunately, our fun came to and end too soon and Casper had an early morning flight on Thursday morning.  Our family absolutely loved our visit with Casper!  He is an amazing person, a wonderful example, and so kind and genuine.  We feel a special bond with Casper and can't wait until we see him again!

Saturday, August 22, 2015

ICE CREAM FOR DAYSSSSS!

******* so next week we get like 30 minutes to email, maybe no time at all..... So if I don't respond to you next week that is why!! These past couple of weeks have been crazy and I haven't had a lot of time to email, so sorry if I haven't responded to you!!*****

Wow what a week this was!!!! This week was a great week!!
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!
President called us and said that we are going to be a trio!! Sister Wadley who came with Sister Bender my last companion is coming to be with Sister Nielsen and I on Wednesday!! We have a sister leaving so we are having a mini moves and a couple other sisters are getting moved around too. I am way excited to meet her!! Sister Bender would always talk about her! She sounds awesome and she is coming from Sandnes which is basically Stavanger!!!

Mandag:
Today we introduced Elder Hoopes to softis!!! We also all went on a hike in the woods

We got in contact with a not active member Chilonda!! He is way awesome and Søster Nielsen and I are basically re-teaching him like a new investigator and hoping we can figure out why he left and how to get him to come back! He is so cool and it is a miracle we got in contact with him! He is good friends with John the less active that is becoming active!

We also went on contact splits with the elders!! Elder Hoopes and I got some good laughs in because of how rude and mean the people were to us!

Tirsdag:
Today we tried to find a less active named Åshild with the Elders, but couldn't find her house, so we just decided to bank (knock on doors). It wasn't too bad, no one let us in, but the weather was nice! At one of the houses Søster Nielsen and I banked on, a guy opened the door and when I saw him I almost fell backwards off the porch! He looked exactly no joke like my friend Elder Padgett and I couldn't believe my eyes! His name was Ole and he was pretty nice and talked to us for a bit and said we could come back! So we will have to go back when Søster Wadley is here so that way if he does let us in, we can go in!

While trying to find Åshilds house we thought we found it and actually ended up walking into a strangers house. Like up their stairs and everything!!! Yeah it was pretty awkward..... Luckily no one saw us, but the door was wide open and we thought it was her house!!

So the college in town is starting school this week and this past week was like a party week..... We were on a bus on our way home from the hospital visiting a member and literally 60 college kids get on the bus and never have I smelled so much alcohol before!! They were all so drunk and crazy. To be honest I was a little scared especially being a missionary. One guy threw up everywhere when he got off the bus! AND then there was a huge party right next door to where Søster Nielsen and I live in town...... So needless to say we didn't get a lot of sleep this past week.....I am so grateful for the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity!!!!

Sister Crabtree made her famous brownies for District lunch!! Man oh man those things are to die for!

We had District Meeting and it was way awesome! We talked about how we can focus more on Christ and having him be more a part of Our lives and missionary work.
We took the Elders to visit a member who was in the hospital here in Tromsø. We were waiting for about 2 hours and this nurse showed us to the drinks and food room. As we took some food and were eating another nurse later on came in and yelled at us and said we couldn't eat the food... oops! Oh well!

Onsdag:
We went to Benta's a less active who lives like 2 hours away with the Crabtrees.... ROAD TRIP!!! Søster Nielsen and I came prepared with pillows for the car ride and Søster Crabtree had made cookies!! Benta lives on a lot of land and it is so pretty!! She works so hard there and it made me realize how much work having a farm and land are! We helped her cut and clear branches, feed the chickens, and we got to taste some of her strawberries that were growing in her garden!! She is so sweet! Her mother in law is German and was there and she doesn’t speak English and she was just the cutest thing! They made us dinner with food only from their garden and we had this weed salad that was weeds and what the chickens ate and it was actually pretty good!




Fredag:
We had the Gren Fest on Friday!! (The branch party) It turned out to be nice weather which is good because it was outside!! We had Norwegian hot dogs which are amazing!!!!!!! Way better than American! You put them in this tortilla type thing with Norwegian potato salad, these onion chip things, and some Norwegian sauces. It is to die for!! We all played volleyball and just hung out! It was so fun to be around everyone and have everyone get to know each other. It was especially great because Kelly and John came!! AND Anita and Jackson two of our investigators and Brenda and her husband and two sons came!! It was so fun and an awesome way to get them to meet the Gren and feel comfortable



We taught Emmanuel this week...... He read some anti on the internet..... However we finished the Joseph Smith Movie with him and talked about the Book of Mormon. He is interested in the Book of Mormon and our religion, so we are hoping we will have progress with him and be able to help him!

To all my non-member readers - I hope you all know that if you have any questions or are curious about our church, ask a member of the Church or go to these websites!!! There are so many things on the internet that aren't true or have twisted the truth!

beta.mormon.org
 
We taught Anita again! We met her on the street last week and this is our second time meeting with her. Boy does she love to talk!! She is probably in her 60's, but she is way cool and came to church too!! She wasn't too fond on the topic of baptism, but she has been reading in the Book of Mormon and is interested to keep learning more! We are hoping the more she learns and through the Holy Ghost her heart and mind will be changed.

The Pedersens are back  from their vacation and Dingaan comes back today! It is so great to have them back!!! I missed them!!

On Saturday basically all of our plans fell through or cancelled so for dinner we called the Elders and we got sandwiches and ice cream! We were eating outside across from a pub and a drunk lady was laughing and smiling and taking pictures of us...

Church was a miracle this week!!! Ramy and Anita came to church AND two girls who just moved here from school walked into the church because they saw the sign outside!! WHAT!!!! That doesn’t happen ever!! MIRACLES I TELL YOU!!!!!!!! We talked with them after church and they are from Nepal, going to school, and looking for a Church!! Søster Nielsen and I briefly talked about the Book of Mormon, gave them each one, and got their numbers!! We are so hoping they will want to meet and keep coming to church!! Sundays in Tromsø never cease to amaze me!

We got invited with the Elders to visit an African church, but we got lost......... bummer... maybe next week!

Visited the Reynolds on Sunday with the Elders and wow those kids love the missionaries!! They are pretty crazy, but so cute and fun! The Elders planned this fun game to teach them about prophets. We had someone write a sentence and then one person drew a picture and then covered the sentence and then the next person would have to write a sentence based on the picture and so on.... than at the end we compared the last picture to the first sentence to see how close or wrong it was. It was a great example to teach the kids the important of a prophet to correctly guide and lead us today

Jordan's Tidbits:
- The Elders are in love with the softis here (ice cream) and I mean who wouldn't be so we got it a couple times this week....... Probably going to get sick from all this dairy, but oh well!! You can't say no to Norwegian ice cream!
- The grocery store next to our house is having a huge sale and everything is 10 kr!!! That is way cheap and Søster Nielsen and I are in heaven!!!

- Søster Nielsen has gotten me to like contacting a little more so that is a good thing!!

- Casper my deaf convert from Stavanger will be at my house this week...... So jealous he is there without me!!! Hope my family practiced some Norwegian sign language considering he doesn’t know English or American Sign Language haha

- It blows my mind how open and free the Norwegians here are!! Never in my life have I seen so much nudity.........

- Found out my family knows some of Elder Hoopes family so that is pretty cool!

Åndelig Tanker:
- Always always live worthy to have the priesthood and be able to use it in times of need!! How would you feel if someone was in need of a blessing or needed help and you couldn't give them a blessing because you weren't worthy?? Just something to think about

- ALWAYS have oil on you!! You never know when you will need it

- I would like to invite everyone to do something this week that will help them think about Christ more. You could put a picture on your mirror, or a quote, or read the scriptures more, or pray!! I promise just the littlest things will make the biggest difference!!

ha en fin uke dere!!!
Enjoy your last week or weeks of summer before school starts!!!
xoxo
Søster Peterson

Monday, August 10, 2015

I LOVE TROMSØ and the Elders are BACK!!

HALLO!!!!!
I didn't post my 11 month picture last week, so HERE IT IS!!  Yes, there is  a story behind the picture you will read about later.
Okay I am going to apologize right now... I don't have a lot of time to email today.... so I apologize to those that I didn't get to email!! I will for sure next week!!

On Monday Mimi, (the lady we met on the street and went to her house and they gave us Fish to take home) invited us over to eat Fish cakes since Søster Bender was leaving!! OH MY GOSH THEY WERE SO GOOD!!!! She is the cutest and her husband told us we are his favorite sister missionaries!! That is like way awesome considering he would never talk to missionaries before!!! They are so cute!!

 Søster Bender left me on Wednesday.... sad day!! I'm gonna miss that girl!! As a going away present we gave Sister Crabtree these rotten potatoes we had in our cabinet for like 4 months.... it's an inside joke, but Sister Crabtree got a kick out of it!!

 We got 13 new Elders this transfer to replace the 15 that went home..... However due to flights cancelling, etc... the new greenies didn't get here till Friday, which meant the Elders wouldn't get here till Friday so that messed up Søster Nielsen and I's plans so we ended up contacting.... ALOT these past couple of days...... AND also because everyone is still out of town for summer break. I haven't contacted this hard and long in a long time..... Like for hours straight without stopping....However it wasn't bad at all and Søster Nielsen is a way hard worker and rock star and makes contacting not so terrible! I am really excited to serve with her and I know she will teach me a lot! She has already taught me so much and is such a great example to me.
The weather these past couple days was nice with lots of sunshine so that was really nice, especially since we had to be outside basically all day everyday.

Søster Nielsen and I met old man Frank and he took us out for boller. We got to talk about the Book of Mormon with him and we actually got to talk to him about what we had planned before he went off topic like usual and dominated the conversation.

The Elders came on Friday!!! Man I am so excited to have Elders here!! It is going to be way nice and fun not being the only missionaries in Tromsø! I LOVE THE ELDERS!! It is way fun to be serving with Gingrich again, and his greenie Elder Hoopes is awesome!! He is so fearless and just goes for it! Not gonna lie being around a greenie makes me feel really good about my Norwegian haha!

Going on contacting splits with the Elders is way fun!! It is nice to switch things up a bit and it is fun to work with other missionaries.

Lill Kitty had all four of us over for dinner and Zardasht! It was a koselig time and we shared Alma 7: 11-13 and talked about Christ and his Atonement for us. Props to Elder Hoopes for stepping up to the plate and contributing and sharing his testimony in Norwegian after only being in the land for 1 day!!!

Søster Nielsen and I met with Emmanuel and showed him the Joseph Smith Movie. Man that movie gets me every time!!! The spirit is always so strong and it is such a testimony builder to see how much Joseph Smith went through and the challenges he faced and not once did he waver or give up. I know that Joseph Smith would not have gone through the pains and challenges he did which eventually led to him being killed if the Book of Mormon wasn't more of God's word and if it wasn't true!

We did spark (language study) with Lill like we do every Saturday and we all learned some things that we have been saying wrong our whole missions!! EMBARASSING!! Why hasn't anyone told me this before!! I am very grateful for Lill and for her being willing to help us!

We had a lot of missionary meetings the past couple of days with the three new missionaries and giving them the low down on everyone and the branch. We decided that we really want to focus on the less actives and really helping them come back to church. Many of them live 2 hours away, but now that we have Elders we can go visit some of them! We really want to strengthen this branch! I am way excited for this transfer!

Church was awesome this week!! The primary (the 4 Reynolds kids) are doing a program in 2 weeks and I am leading them in the Music. We got to practice that and they are so cute!!! They are even singing a couple songs in Norwegian and it is so cute because they watch my mouth for the words. These kids are adorable!!

Frenchie (the man that is French and we skyped with Kayleigh) randomly called me and said he was coming to Church!! That was a totally unexpected surprise!!

All four of us went to visit Linda this week. It is fun taking the Elders and Søster Nielsen around the town and showing them everything.  I have also loved taking them to the less actives and members’ homes. I feel like a tour guide!
 Workouts this week have been fun!  We do a district work out in the morning and go running!

On Sunday Sister Nielsen and I went on a walk with Brenda and shared the Family Proclamation to the world. It was very nice to just talk and enjoy the beautiful Norwegian nature. It makes me so grateful that I have the knowledge that we can live with our families after death and that death isn’t the end. I love my family so much and I don't know what I would do if I couldn’t be with them for forever!!

Jordan's Tidbits!!
- Søster Nielsen and I have come to the realization that a mission is preparing us more and more to be better moms and a better wife.

- It amazes me how God answers our prayers! He will never leave us comfortless or alone! I am so grateful that I know I can always count on him to lift me up and that he knows what is best for me and has a plan for me.

- I LOVE TROMSØ!!

- My 11 month pictures this month..... we were in the library and the Elders were like - go under the bookshelf and take the pic! Not thinking I would really do it, I did it!! So enjoy the monthly picture(:
Awkward story of the week..........
Søster Nielsen and I stopped this old man with crutches on the street and began to talk to him about God's love for us. He right away told us that he buys his love..... And we told him that wasn't real love or lasting love and he said it is because I can make it last for as long as I want to, an hour, whatever I want! We then told him that God's love is better and free and talked a little more with him..... Let's just say it was a very interesting conversation and I felt very awkward. Things like this make me grateful for the Law of Chastity and makes me so sad to think about terrible things that are going on in the world today and how sacred things seem to no longer be sacred and seem to be tossed around like it is nothing these days.

Åndelig Tanker:
I am so eternally grateful for Jesus Christ and all that He has done for me. I am so grateful that he knows exactly how I feel and that I can always count on him no matter what! I am so grateful that when all feels hopeless, that he is right by my side cheering me on and giving me the strength to make it through my challenges and trials.

Quote from Hermana Randall that I loved!!! “I just want to say that love heals. Love heals whatever wounds we have. Not just the love that we have for other people or the love that people have for us, but the love of Jesus Christ. His love is so pure and so perfect that no matter how hurt we are or how deep the wound is, His love can fix it.” I am so thankful for my Savior. He has literally saved me, over and over again.

JEG VET AT GUD ELSKER MEG!
Ha en fin uke dere!!! Glad I dere!!!
xoxo
Søster Peterson