Reunited and it Feels so Good!

I apologize in advance for that cheesy title. Alright so hopefully some of my 17th of May pictures made it onto the blog but if not I was told Snapchat did a nice little story of the event so hopefully you all tuned in! Lol! That was such a fun day to be serving here in Norway! We were able to attend the parade and see everone in their traditional clothing! We were able to go to a member's house after the parade and watch Brother Bear and Puss in Boots as well. Great movies. It was such a fun and relaxed day and I can't wait for next year when I get to experience it all over again.

MTC companions reunion

classic selfie with Hutchings!

This week has been such a blast. Not only have we hit week 6 of my first transfer, but this was the week of my mini MTC reunion. On Wednesday of this week Søster Bender and I packed up and headed to the Ålesund airport. After a short 40 minutes we arrived in the amazing Oslo airport. The last time I was in that airport I was split up from my first companion, Søster Dransfield, and was on my way to my first area in the country- Ålesund! It was crazy to step foot in the Oslo airport again and brought back a flood of memories which only got me more pumped for the days to come. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the train that would take us to the mission home, or rather the APs who would then take us to the mission home. Søster Bender and I were the first to arrive and were taken to the mission home to wait for the others. Eventually, one by one, my MTC group and their trainers began to arrive. What a cool experience. It was so awesome to not only see my friends and catch up on the past six weeks but see how much we all have grown. We all had the same personalities and for the most part looked the same (with the exception of a haircut which Søster Dransfield may or may not regret) but we all had grown so much spiritually. It's crazy what the mission will do to you and your testimony of this gospel if you just let the Spirit work on you and let these people and these experiences change your life. 

selfie pics with the people.

Everything is turning so green from the snow melt and rain.  Stunning!

beautiful city!

We were able to learn a lot during this conference as well. We were taught from President and Sister Hill and our APs. The Spirit of the conference was so strong and helped me to expand my knowledge of this gospel and how to be a more successful missionary. One of my favorite parts of the conference was actually focused on Family History work. Our mission has been trying to incorporate family history work more and more and I have really grown to appreciate learning about my family history and getting that time to focus on the importance of families. It is way easy to use family history work as a missionary tool and I'm so excited to put that to use this upcoming week here in Ålesund. With this emphasis on family history work is also an added emphasis on temples and the work which we perform there. Unfortunately, Norway does not have a temple of their own at this point in time but for those of you nearby a temple I would plead with you to attend the temple. Elder Russell M. Nelson has said, " if families were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth would be utterly wasted." He goes on to say, "The purposes of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement all converge on the sacred work done in temples" that is a bold statement. This really put the importance of family history and temple work into perspective for me. For those of you reading who are able to attend the temple I would challenge you to attend the temple at least one time before the end of the month. For those of you not able to attend the temple, I would challenge you to research your family hstory. Find out where your family is from, find out what they were like or read some stories about your ancestors. I know this will bring you closer to your family and also closer to your Father in Heaven as you come to realize that families are a central part to His plan and that our families really are a blessing from God. 

The conference was a strong testimony builder for me and it was such an enjoyable time to catch up with old friends and make some new friends as well. I hope you all have a fantastic week and know I love you all so much. Thanks for all you do!

Love,

Søster Blankmeyer

A member gave us some Norwegian food and snickers.

Cheesecake

Trainer and Trainee Hugs!!

Norwegian: Denne uken var en fest!

English: This week was a party!

Norway's independence day!

In Norway the 17 of May is HUGE.

The Squad is Poppin'

Alright I understand that most missionaries would not title their blog post "The Squad is Poppin'" but I promise it relates to missionary work. This has been a way busy week. On Tuesday morning we went and dropped off Søster Ralphs at the airport since she is needed in Tromsø for the next couple of weeks.

Bonding with Bender!

That left Søster Bender and I in charge of Ålesund and all the work that needs to be done here. We worked so hard this week and almost set a record of gospel conversations. Although this was a week filled with a lot of work, we also had a lot of fun. I truly believe you can be an obedient missionary and still enjoy the work. Which brings me to the explanation of my blog title this week. We have befriended quite a lot of people in Ålesund who originally come from the Congo. This past week they invited us over to have some African food called Fufu. Let me tell you, I was definitely not raised in Africa. Søster Bender and I had to relearn how to eat food with our hands. It was crazy. It was also way fun. I have loved meeting people from all over the world and learning about their different cultures. I've been trying to pick up a bit of Swahili and that's definitely something else. While at this fufu "party" Søster Bender and I were throwing out some English phrases for our African friends to learn. One of which was "pop a squat" as in "take a seat." They proceeded to repeat what we were saying and then questioned the meaning of the phrase. One of the guys thought he understood and told his friends, "It means that the squad is poppin' you know?" Way funny for us, but as I write it out I'm starting to think it's one of those "you had to be there" moments. Anyways, we love all of our friends from Africa and all over the world and are grateful to be missionaries where we have the excuse to go up and talk to everyone and make tons of new friends. 

Fufu from our African friends.

Played Skip Bo at a member's house.  Reminds me of good times with Grandma and Grandpa Conger. 

One of our favorite Africans happens to be our newest convert, Ben. Ben traveled the 3 hours or so to our branch president's house this week to receive the Holy Ghost and the Priesthood as our branch president would not be there on Sunday to perform those duties. He also would not be able to lead church seeing as he would be in London, so that left our tiny branch with a big problem. We called Ben after he had gotten home from the branch president's house to see how everything went. He told us what a wonderful experience he had had and that he was just so happy. After discussing his experience, Ben told us that our branch president had asked him to lead church on Sunday! Wild! I am not certain but I think this is probably one of the first times that the newest convert was in charge of welcoming himself into the branch. Ben ended up doing an awesome job though and made everyone so happy to be at church this past Sunday. He's so great. 

Norway is so great. It's such a fun and exciting country to be living in. We have a national holiday tomorrow, which is supposed to be even bigger than Christmas here so I'm way pumped. Our president is allowing us a couple hours on Wednesday to email, so I'll be sure to send some awesome pics. As for the pictures from this week, last PDay the elders in our District asked if we wanted to go on a hike.

 Taking a break halfway up the mountain.

Top of the mountain!

We ended up climbing to the very top of one of Norway's massive mountains and although it was challenging at times, it was way cool when we were standing up on the top. I think that's a lot like life. We are given certain challenges or mountains to climb and sometimes it's very hard and you are on a steep incline while at other times you are simply taking a stroll and it's a gradual path up. By the end of it all though, you are able to look and see all that you have accomplished to reach that top point. I hope and pray that we all are able to get to the top, to climb those "mountains" that are placed in our path. 

Also just had to include some stunning pictures of a Norwegian beach here in Ålesund.

I hope you all enjoy. I love you all and am thinking and praying about you while I'm away. Enjoy your week and can't wait to talk to you all then!

Love,

Søster Blankmeyer

I found myself a Norwegian Molly twin. 

Thanks mom for the Mac n cheese!

A Weekend to Remember!

Wow wow wow. That's all I can say. What a crazy and amazing week this has been. A week I will truly never forget. There are so many things to say and so little time to say it so I think I will focus on the BAPTISM we had on Saturday! Ben was able to be baptized in a cold fjord near his house this past Saturday. What a miracle. 

Where to start. I guess maybe I should just go through the whole day from the beginning. We woke up and started getting things ready for the baptism. We had cleaned the church the other morning so that was all set, but we wanted to get a few extra things to make it extra special. We headed to this cute little flower store nearby the church and picked up some way cute flowers for the chapel. Also (funny story), we headed over to H&M afterwords. You may think to yourself, why on this hectic morning would we go shopping and I would tell you that the answer to that question is quite the story. We were going over everything with Ben a couple days before the baptism day and we told him to make sure to wear white underwear for when he gets baptized. He pretty much told us he didn't have any white underwear to wear. We told him that we would be happy to go and pick some up for him and he quickly shut that down. He said he would not accept any underwear from us so we told him that we would figure something out and either have the branch president or the elders grab him some so (as Ben put it), "the guy stuff can be left to the guys." Anyways, we ultimately ended up being left to grab Ben some underwear the morning of his baptism and did a quick hand off with the Elders so that they could be the ones to give Ben his underwear. Crazy story and Ben still has no idea that we were the ones to purchase his baptism underwear. Lol. Anyways totally random tangent but we got that done the morning of and then headed back to the church to make Ben a card for the little gift we got him and print out some programs. Of course the printer broke halfway through printing the programs and there were some other issues we had to overcome but nevertheless the baptism was still a go. 

Once everyone had arrived we began the program. We sang, Søster Bender gave a talk on baptism, Søster Ralphs and I bore our testimonies and then we were off. We all hopped into cars and drove over to the fjord that Ben had chosen to be baptized in. It was sprinkling on our way over but as soon as we got to the spot, the rain stopped and we were able to take some nice pictures before Ben and Elder Rappeleye got into the water. It was such a spiritual experience to gather around the bank and watch Ben as he was immersed into the freezing cold water of Norway. Ben is such an amazing human being. We had him bear his testimony back at the church and that was one of the most spiritual parts of the entire day. He told us all how much he had been fighting for this day. How much he wanted to change his life and follow Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. He really does have such a strong testimony and such a strong spirit about him. I can't even put it to words. Ben is just an amazing person. The people love him and I have yet to see him be anything but happy. Ben is the type of person that turns outward when most of us would turn inward and through his example, I know he will help bring others to Christ. 

What a special blessing it was to come to Ålesund at this time and to meet Ben and help him get to this special day. I will never forget the Spirit that was felt this weekend and what a testimony builder this whole ride has been. I am so grateful for people like Ben who know what they need to do and are willing to fight to do it. I hope that I can fight just as hard to do what is right even when it may not be easy. I would challenge you all this week to focus on something that is hard for you, whether it be spiritual or temporal, and work little by little to either overcome it or become better at whatever it may be. I know with the Lord's help we can do anything we set our minds to. 

A few other highlights of the week before I have to go. The beginning of this week we flew up to Trondheim for zone conference, (which was a blast and taught me a ton) where a special package was delivered to me. Just wanted to give the Plano 9th ward seminary class and teachers a special shoutout for the card and candy. I love and miss you all so much and make sure to keep your eyes out for a thank you card headed your way! 

Last but definitely not least, HAPPY AMERICAN MOTHER*S DAY MOM! I am so grateful for your wonderful example and it was so nice to be able to Skype you and the rest of the family yesterday. I am so grateful for my amazing family and each member that compiles it. You all have taught me so much and are my favorite people in the whole wide world. I am so thankful for everything my family has brought me and I can't wait to see them again in just a short 16 months, but for now I'm proud to give my time to the Lord. See you all at Christmas time (just a short 230 days away but who's counting). Thanks again for being the best family there ever was.

Love all you friends and family back home and I'll talk to you all next week!!

Sincerely,

Søster Blankmeyer

2 months on the mission

Placing Books of Mormon

Søster Bender was so tired after Ben's Baptism