Well here we are at the halfway point of the MTC experience, and what an experience it has been. Like most things, it's had it's ups and downs but I'm learning to really like it here and although I can't wait to get out to Norway, I'll truly miss all the friends I've made and the experiences I've had here. 

This has been a wild week for sure! We finally got to "Host" this week, which means that we got to escort all the incoming missionaries into the MTC and help them on their way. It was a blast because it got us out of an hour of Norwegian class but it was also crazy. We were given a brief training on where to take the missionaries to get books and their name tags and all that jazz. It was a lot of information to take in but I was pumped and ready to escort the new Sisters into this wonderful world of the MTC. Soon enough, cars started pulling up and we started grabbing suitcases and taking pictures and trying not to cry too when we saw the Mothers start bawling. I was pumped to meet the girl I would be escorting when lo and behold the Brother that trained us pulls me to the next car and tells me to take special care of this one. They were totally related- no pressure though! Lol. He starts to hug everyone that files out of the typical Mormon van (I mean that in the kindest way possible) and starts to watch my every move as I try and remember what I'm supposed to be doing. I grab a couple suitcases, set them to the side, take some pictures of the family, take some more pictures of the Mom hugging her daughter goodbye and then whisk her away to the next checkpoint. All the while, my trainer is watching me like a hawk, but really no pressure or anything. I finally get this girl settled in and on to her classroom and head back to the curb to get another one. As soon as I make it back to the curb I start smelling a fire. THE MTC IS ON FIRE. They start telling everyone to head North and pretty soon it's Soster Hutchings, me and everyone else trying to drop their children off at the MTC all in one massive parking lot. Soster Hutchings and I run into the MTC President and his wife and she gives us a big hug. Literally one of the sweetest ladies ever. She tells us that something caught on fire in the cafeteria but everything turned out alright. The fire was put out and we were to continue our duties as hosts. By this point, most of the incoming missionaries had been dropped off so Soster Hutchings and I decided to take one final Sister together. We grabbed her bags and took her to a building where she would receive her name tag. While Soster Hutchings and I wait outside with this girl's bags, an older lady walks up to us with about 5 new Sister missionaries. She tells us that they need to be escorted to the residence to switch rooms and then they need to be taken to class as well. So here we are with now 6 Sister missionaries, all of whom need their suitcases taken to their rooms, they need to grab their materials, and then we need to take them to class. Easy enough right? Lol. These 5 new sisters actually don't speak English. We smile and wave for them to follow us and we make it all the way to the residence. We get the English speaking missionary on her way and then we are left with a Sister from Argentina and 4 Sisters from Korea. We get the Argentina Sister's luggage from the bottom floor of the residence to the top floor just to find out her new key doesn't work. We stash her suitcases in our room and decide to fix that problem after we have figured out where the Koreans need to go. We follow the Koreans to their temporary room and there is some confusion as to where we need to transport them and their luggage too. They don't speak a bit of English and neither Soster Hutchings nor I speak a bit of Korean. We ultimately just did the best we could with the language barrier and took them to their class. We then had to figure out the Argentina Sister's situation so we had to walk up to the front desk all the way on the other side of campus, and get her a new key. We walked all the way back to the residence and got her into her new room and then finally off to class. What a crazy experience. I was really waiting for the gift of tongues to kick in and I'd be able to communicate to the Koreans but sadly that didn't happen. Get 'em next time I guess. I definitely have some new motivation to at least learn a few Korean words. I'd challenge you all to do the same. You never know when you may need it. 

Another crazy experience this week, we got locked out of our room. We got home from class one night and every night they read off the names of people who need to report to the front desk for various reasons. Well this particular night, my name got called over the loud speaker and I was terrified. I went through every possible scenario in my head and just completely siked myself out the whole way there. I thought maybe I was being reassigned, maybe something terrible had happened to my family, maybe I was in trouble for who knows what, and every other possible scenario. Soster Dransfield and I finally get to the front desk and turns out they just wanted to give me and overnight package my Dad had sent. (Speaking of packages, thanks so much Grandma and Grandpa Blankmeyer for the amazing Easter package. My district has already enjoyed some of the treats inside and the card is taped to our very decorated door.) When Soster Dransfield and I are headed back to the residence with my package we decide we want to trick the other two Sosters and say I got reassigned. We finally get back and I go and talk to the Swedes while Soster Dransfield goes to find the other Sosters. By the time the prank has been delivered and the Sosters find out I just got called up for a package, they also realize that we have been locked out of our room. It was honestly tragic as Soster Hess and Hutchings are already in pajamas with no shoes and ready for bed and we now have to trek all the way across campus back to the glorious front desk where we received a temporary key and a few laughs from the workers up there. It all ended up working out but dang what a night.

Alright last funny story before this post goes spiritual. Soster Hutchings and I found a Happy Birthday banner in one of the Give-Away bins that we decided to grab and add to the classroom. We hung it up right on top of the chalkboard and although we got a few weird looks from Eldste Nelson the banner stayed. Pretty soon it was almost time for Brother Leighton and Sister Isasken to come and teach us Norwegian. We thought to ourselves that someone should pretend it was their birthday just as a funny joke. Soster Hess stepped up and decided it was time for her 20th birthday. When Brother Leighton and Sister Isasken came in and saw the banner they were so excited. We told them it was Soster Hess' birthday and they got so excited! They sang to her the extra long Happy Birthday song in Norwegian and had the biggest smiles on their faces as they sang. We all silently decided that we didn't want to crush their excitement and just played it out the rest of the class. When they ended up leaving, they made sure to wish Soster Hess a Happy 20th and we tried so hard not to burst out in laughter. We do feel a bit guilty and will probably let them know it wasn't actually her birthday at some point before we leave.

Alright onto the spiritual thought. This week was a blast and we had some great experiences, but it was also a week that really stretched me. One of the hardest experiences of the week really helped me to grow and have more faith not only in the Lord but in my ability to reap the blessings of the gift of tongues. Sister Isasken (who is actually a native Norwegian from Oslo) ended up pairing up with me for an activity where we were to go over Jesus Christ's gospel and all the many points in the lesson in under 3 minutes. I thought to myself, if I can give this lesson in Norwegian in under 3 minutes I'll be way impressed. It took me a couple tries but I was finally able to get it. Then we went for two minutes, one minute, and finally 30 seconds. By the time we got down to the 30 second region, I was really struggling. I just could not get this lesson down to 30 seconds, and I kept thinking to myself, "When am I ever going to need to recite this in 30 seconds?" I was getting pretty discouraged and Sister Isaksen told me to say a quick prayer. As soon as I was finished praying I tried one more time and was able to do it! I learned from that one experience so many different things. 

1) That we must have faith in Jesus Christ and his ability to use us.

2)That prayer is real and works

3) The Lord hears and answers our prayers and really wants what's best for us

4) That through Christ and his power, we can do hard things

I am so very grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity that I have to bring that joy to the people of Norway. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend and remember Christ this Sunday. I know he came to this Earth. I know he died for you and for me. I know he was and is the only one to be able to overcome death and I am so grateful for that knowledge. I hope you all stay safe and healthy this week. Pray for missionary opportunities. Share the glorious message of this gospel with those you meet and always remember Christ loves and cares for each and every one of you. 

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Soster Blankmeyer

Blog #2

Heisann Friends and Family,

I just wanted to start off by saying I am so proud of my brother Erik!! I love and miss my family every day but am so glad to hear that the Lord is blessing each and every one of you while I am gone! I pray every day that you will feel of my love for you and will continue to be cared for and watched over during these next 18 months. 

It's crazy how quickly the weeks are going by here at the good old MTC! The Finns have left us, and by this point are out in various parts of Finland bringing this glad message to Finnish people everywhere. We were sad to see them go, but are so happy that they are finally able to go and do what they have been called and set apart to do. We also received some new Finnish Elders and Sisters yesterday and are so excited to get to know them and help them out as much as we can. We love our zone so much and have been blessed with such amazing leaders and we can't wait for the new Finns to feel at home in the zone. 

Every Sunday here at the MTC we are able to sit back for an hour and just enjoy watching what we call "films" or "movies" but what people outside the MTC would just call conference talks or MTC Devotionals. This Sunday we all decided to go and watch Elder Holland's MTC address entitled, "Open Your Mouth." Wow, what a spiritual man Elder Holland is and how grateful I am to be able to reap the benefits of his inspired words. My favorite quote from the film though had to be when he was talking about his experience as presiding over the Scandinavian countries. While he was up in that part of Europe he traveled to none other than Norway and went to the mission at the very top of the country where there are few people and lots of cold weather. He eventually got into contact with some sister missionaries serving up there and asked them how they were able to stay positive in such a difficult part of the country. Their response was, "We just like to think that every time we knock on a door in Norway, someone is being baptized in Chile." How cool is that?? I loved that so much because one of my best friends Kayla Moon is serving in Chile, so now I can think to myself when times are hard and it seems like I'm having no progress, when I try and open my mouth and get shut down at least Kayla is having a baptism in Chile. I love it! 

Alright, lets talk about week 2 at the MTC! It has been super fun and super exhausting all at the same time. We participated in a service activity on Wednesday where I not only learned how to clean a toilet but also cleaned at least 50 on floors 1-5 of building 18. Yes, that includes both men and women restrooms. It was a lot of bathrooms for one day but I was glad for the opportunity to serve. Service brings much happiness, but Chick-fil-a does as well. Let me just tell you of the miracle of week 2. On Monday during lunch I was really craving some Chick-fil-a. I told my companion about this desire to have some Chick-fil-a and it soon spread down the whole table how great Chick-fil-a is and how much we all wanted it. We left lunch praying that someday soon we would be able to have Chick-fil-a again. Well turns out that class following lunch was one of the hardest classes of my experience here at the MTC. By the end I was just physically, emotionally, and mentally drained and thought to myself that dinner could not come soon enough. Finally, class was over and we were headed back to the cafeteria for dinner. I was just excited to be able to go and get some food and promptly ignored the menu on the door, when my companion yells out, "Søster Blankmeyer, look what they are serving tonight!" I turn around and see the wonderful Chick-fil-a sign on the menu. It was an MTC miracle! Basically, the Lord hears and answers our prayers and is watching out for us always. Another miracle this week was receiving a package from the amazing Rachel Hillyard and family. I was also having a pretty tough afternoon that day and actually received the cute little pink slips that tell you to come and pick up a package! I thought to myself, "Who could it be from?" I was so blessed to read the Hillyard name on that box. I love all of my friends so much and am so grateful that I have friends that care enough to write me or send me packages. I can feel of your love for me and I hope you can feel of my love for you all as well. Also another highlight of the week that I just wanted to throw in here was we had a door decorating contest with the Swedes (obviously we won) but we have such a cute door now that includes pictures of my lovely cat and every time we are at our residence we hear people outside our door comment on how cute and how awesome the cat pictures are. #blessed. 

Just wanted to touch on one other portion of a talk we listened to in class this week before signing out. Elder Bednar was recounting an experience he had had with Elder Packer back when Elder Bednar was serving his mission in Germany. He had been assigned the task of picking Elder Packer and his wife up and watching over them for a day before helping them get on their way to Berlin. As an obedient Elder, Elder Bednar and his companion picked up the Packers and took them to the apartment where they would stay for a majority of the day. At this point in his mission, Elder Bednar was really trying to be a "good boy" as he puts it. As he took the Packers to the train that morning he decided that they might get hungry and fearing that they wouldn't have any German currency, he gave them 20 Marks. It wasn't until many years later that Elder Bednar was told of the miracle of those 20 Marks. For the most part, that train ride was fine and the Packers were on their way to Berlin. At that time Western and Eastern Germany were not on good terms and before crossing over from Eastern to Western Germany the trains would be stopped to check for passports. Well, Elder Packer's passport was fine but his wife had a 3 year passport that had been extended to a 5 year passport. The Eastern Germany guard was having a hard time accepting her passport and the situation began to escalate quickly. Fearing they would soon be escorting his wife off the train, Elder Packer reached into his pocket and grabbed the 20 marks. He put the 20 marks in his passport and then handed his passport and his wife's passport to the guard. The guard left the train and after a small amount of time had passed, returned to the train and delivered the passports back to the Packers. The 20 marks was gone and they were back on their way to Berlin. Once in Berlin they were picked up by a member of the church who worked for, I believe it was the CIA. Rather nonchalantly Elder Packer relayed their experience on the train to this member, not realizing the severity of the situation he had been in. The member quickly told the Packers that it was a miracle they had made it to Berlin. The Eastern German government had stopped accepting the 3 year extended passports and were pulling people off the trains and leaving them in Eastern Germany. Elder Packer quickly realized how important those 20 marks had been. Now fast forward to the year 2015. Elder Bednar is just now hearing this story for the first time and how his 20 marks had allowed the Packers to stay together and make it to Berlin. He said and stressed to us that if he had not been obedient and had not been trying his best to be a "good boy" he would not have felt the propting or been given the idea to supply the Packers with 20 marks. What a miracle it was that Elder Bednar was at a place in his life where he could hear the Spirit tell him that this appostle of the Lord would need his 20 marks. I hope and pray that we can all strive to be at this point in our lives as well. I know that the Spirit can help not only ourselves but others as well and that if we are worthy to have the Spirit as our constant companion we can be the Lord's hands here on the Earth. 

Love you all and can't wait to talk to you all next week!

Love always,

Søster Blankmeyer

Week One in MTC

Wow! How crazy this week has been. I have been so blessed and so spiritually enriched in just this short amount of time. The Lord has been working wonders with me as I strive to learn the not-so-easy language of Norwegian. When the Lord promises to help you, it's no joke. I have only been at the MTC for 8 days now and thanks to the gift of tongues, I am able to say prayers, invite investigators to be baptized, teach lessons to investigators, and testify to them the importance of this gospel. I wish everyone was able to feel the powerful spirit that abides here at the MTC! We have learned so much and everyone in my district has changed so much for the better. Speaking of my district, my district contains the 4 Norwegian Sosters (Soster Hess, Soster Hutchings, Soster Dransfield, and myself) and also the three Swedish Sisters. Our zone contains Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, and Finnish Elders and Sisters and I am blessed to know each and every one of them. The Finns leave for Finland next week, but it was amazing to hear them all bear their testimonies last Sunday in Finnish and to see what we all can aspire to be by the end of our stay here at the MTC. Although we didn't understand what the Finns were saying all the time (we can understand the Danes and the Swedes, but not the Finns) you could just tell the Spirit was so strong and that they all will be such amazing missionaries. We will miss the Finns (shout out to all of them for being such great volleyball players), but after 9 weeks at the MTC, they are so ready to get out there! I've only been here one week and I am so excited to get to Norway and teach the lovely people there!

I have been blessed with THE BEST companion in the whole zone!! I can't stress that enough! Soster Dransfield is the most kind hearted girl I know and has been so amazing during this roller coaster of a ride commonly known as the MTC! Soster Dransfield and I share a lot in common which has helped our companionship to grow and to be successful. We have made a companionship goal to only have sugar on P-Days (so this is a glorious day) but regardless of this specific goal, we are really doing well as far as working together and helping each other get where we want to be. The Lord knew who I would need as a first companion and I couldn't be more grateful to him for giving me Soster Dransfield. 

We are so excited today because last night we became the first companionship in our district to commit our investigator to baptism. That was such a spiritual lesson! It is crazy to see how far we have come in just this short amount of time. I remember our second day at the MTC our teachers told us that we would be teaching our first investigator. We were terrified! We had no idea how to speak the language or convey our thoughts and feelings to this investigator, and we thought it would be so hard to talk for fifteen minutes (and it was), but here we are on day 8- we talked with our investigator yesterday with ease for almost an entire hour and committed her to baptism. If that doesn't strengthen your testimony about the gift of tongues and the power of miracles, I don't know what will. 

Although this has been one of the scariest things I have done in my life, I am so grateful for this opportunity to be here and to really become my first convert. I can see my life changing already and I am so happy with the person I am becoming! I miss you all dearly and thank you all so much for all the DearElders and prayers on my behalf. I know that those prayers are what get me through the hard days and I am forever indebted to you all. 

On to happier things, I would challenge you all to make the most of every day! Be grateful for the day you have been given and share that positivity with everyone you come into contact with! Act so that others will see that our actions follow our words! Remember that we are stronger then we give ourselves credit for, and that we can do hard things! Lastly, I would challenge you all to turn out when the natural man would turn in! Choose this week to think of others more then yourself. See what you can do to help someone on there way. This world is hard enough, we need to make sure we are loving and kind and not judgemental and selfish towards others. When we stop thinking about ourselves and start thinking about others we will be much happier in our own lives!

Thank you all again for all the kind DearElders, letters, packages, and prayers said on my behalf! I am forever indebted to you all! I wish you all a fabulous week and can't wait to hear from you all next time!!

Love,

Soster Blankmeyer

First Post at MTC

Hei Hei!

We are here and are doing great! The language is coming along surprisingly well and I'm loving it! My companion is Soster Dransfield and she is just so fantastic! I am the Senior companion and am excited to take on the responsibility! We also have Soster Hess, Soster Hutchings, and Eldste Nelson! He's a solo eldste so he gets to hang out with us all the time! Our P-Days are on Thursday and so you won't be hearing from me until next week but I love you all and am so excited to be a missionary finally! I'm loving the MTC!! I can't wait to progress in the language and get to Norway! We teach our first investigator tomorrow so I'll let you know how that goes next Thursday! I'm sure it'll be very interesting! Our teacher is so sweet and super patient with us and has been a big help in preparing for our lesson tomorrow! We can even say a few things! Jeg elsker deg!! I can't wait to continue this journey in the MTC and tell you all the cool experiences I am yet to have!! Talk to you all soon! 

Love, 

Soster Blankmeyer