A week of whale

My second week here in Kristiansand has been one for the books, and that may have something to do with the title but I'll get to that later. As far as teaching investigators in Kristiansand, things have been a little slow. We have spent most of my time here hitting the streets trying to find people to teach and when we're not out on the streets we're "banking" knocking doors. It's been quite the adventure. We spend long days out in the dark and cold with the occasional rain or snow or even hail. Now, you read that last sentence and you may be thinking to yourself that that doesn't sound like the most fun or exciting thing to do here in Norway. I will admit that this Texas girl prefers the sun, but I am so thankful for this opportunity to be a missionary and sometimes that's exactly what missionary work is. We wake up early in the morning and don't get back home until nine at night. We walk and we walk and we walk all day long, all over the city to try and find those people who want to learn more about this happy message. Some days no one is interested and some days we get a few people to listen but no matter what we wake up every morning and we go out to find those people in search of the Gospel. 

The other day we went out to our usual path that we walk and I remember saying a silent prayer to my heavenly father asking him to put someone in our path that was ready to hear the gospel. We were actually on our way to go knock on some doors but decided to walk to "The neighborhood" and talk to some people along the way. We had stopped a few people, and although they were all very kind, none of them were really ready or that interested in what we had to say.  But of course we just kept going. We had just crossed through this tunnel when I saw a man walking in our direction. I stopped him and asked our go to question, "what is something that makes you happy?" His response being, "to see that others around me are happy." Now I have asked this question to pretty much all of Kristiansand and this was the first time I had ever heard an answer like that. For the most part people would say their families and their friends make them happy. We did get an occasional answer of food or even a couple Pokémon Go's.  But this was the first time I had heard this answer and I just thought that was beautiful. How completely unselfish, how kind of this man to find joy in other people's happiness. I was obviously pretty excited about this new opinion and told the man how I had asked this question about a million times but this was possibly my favorite answer. 

His answer told us a lot about the person he was and quite frankly taught me a little bit more about the type of person I want to become. I was so excited and we promptly began to share with him what makes us happy and that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We asked him if he would be interested to learn more and he said, and his exact words, "actually yes!" He told us that he was a bit busy with soccer training.  But that we could send a text and see what we could do. We have since texted him and set up an appointment with him for Tuesday this next week.  We are so excited and honestly so thankful that our Heavenly Father put him in our path.

With Thanksgiving being this upcoming week, I just can't help but think of all the wonderful things I am grateful for this year. I am first and foremost grateful for my Father in heaven, his son Jesus Christ, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. These three members of the Godhead have brought such hope, peace, and direction to my life and I really don't know where I would be if I lacked the knowledge of them and their existence. I am also so very thankful for my family. Erik, Rhoberta, Sophia, Eliza, and Erik jr as well as grandma and grandpa Blankmeyer and Conger and the rest of my extended family. Thank you all for shaping me into the person I am today and for continuing to love and except me no matter what. I am so very thankful for all of my friends and all of those I have been able to associate and learn from. I am thankful for this church and I am truly thankful for the happiness it has brought into my life. I am thankful for prayer, and scriptures, and all the many resources we have been given to help us through this life here on earth. I am thankful for this time I have right now to be a missionary and just share this message with the people of Norway. I am thankful for all the members, less actives, investigators, companions, and all the Norwegians that I have come to know and love. I am thankful for my weakness and for the fact that I am not perfect but can continue to be better every day. I'm thankful for my talents and everything I have been given. Jeg Er bare så takknemlig!

I'm thankful that we could learn about being thankful in the Scriptures and I just would like to share a couple with you all the first comes from Alma 26:8 which says, "blessed be the name of our God let us sing to his praise, yeah, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever." The other comes from doctrine and covenants section 59 verse 7 which says, "thou shall thank the Lord the God in all things." Short and sweet but always a good reminder. 

I'm also very thankful for the package I received from grandma and grandpa Conger! What a fun surprise! Last but not least, I am thankful that I could serve here in Norway and that one of our YSA's gave us the chance to eat a whale steak #Blessed. Even though everyone else was saying that it tasted like liver, it was quite the experience and I am glad that I can now say I've tried whale  Crazy things go down in Kristiansand. I hope you all have a wonderful week and a wonderful Thanksgiving break and that you all can remember everything you are grateful for and keep the spirit of Thanksgiving alive throughout the week.   Thank you all again for all that you do for me and for others and thank you for taking the time to read my blog. You all are the best.

Klem,
Søster Blankmeyer 

Velkommen to Kristiansand

Saying goodbye to one of my favorite Norwegian Forest cats

Wow! Det har vært en uke! My first few days here in Kristiansand have been quite crazy, but they have been a blast as well. I am really excited to be able to serve in this area with Søster Davis and help Heavenly Father's children here in Kristiansand come closer to Him as well as his son, Jesus Christ. Before I give you all the lowdown of the week I just wanted to wish my cat Molly a happy 12th birthday! (Yes, I know I'm a bit crazy) 

Happy Birthday Molly!

Anyways, so Monday and Tuesday were full of goodbyes and packing down in Asker. Monday night, we were able to have a delicious meal with the Elder's landlord. They are really amazing people and are also the owners of my two favorite Norwegian Forest cats in the Asker Sandvika area, Hunter and Bond. We ended up having a very nice meal and then I was able to go hold and pet the cats (dream come true!) before heading off to President and Sister Hill's house. 

We arrive to the Mission home safely where Sister Hill had made an amazing dessert for us and we all just sat around the kitchen table and talked. It was perfect. Man do I just love President and Sister Hill! It's going to be hard not living just a 15 minute drive away but it's OK because I know how to use the phone down here in Kristiansand. 

Tuesday was truly a day of goodbyes with members, investigators, and the good ol' district. One of our investigators lives in this beautiful town called Bærums Verk which has an adorable history site of the old town. We went over to her house to say goodbye and next thing we know she's giving us the grand tour of the old Bærens Verk. Some of the houses have been there since the 1700s and almost all of them have been transformed into tourist and shopping stores. Talk about incredible. The views in the little houses are beautiful and if I had been alive in the 1700s I think Bærms Verk, Norway would have been a beautiful place to live. 

Tuesday night was spent with Søster Love and the Elders who would also be helping me out with luggage and travel Wednesday morning I would be traveling here to Kristiansand alone via a four hour train ride. The train ride was just stunning and I probably took way too many pictures but Norway is just a breath taking country. After four hours on the train I finally made it safe and sound to Kristiansand. Søster Davis was at the train station ready to pick me up and get going. Let me tell you all a little bit about Søster Davis, at least a few things that I know after being her companion for a few days now. She is from Holiday, Utah and is the fifth child of eight children. She studied for a year at the University of Utah before coming to Norway to serve a mission. Søster Davis is really amazing at dance and did ballet for a good portion of her high school career. Her dream is to one day become a high school math teacher and help those highschooler's not only pass math class, but actually understand it too. She really loves teaching which makes her such a solid missionary. I have seen in just a few days that I've served with her how her passion for teaching drives her. Søster Davis is a really hard worker. It's really amazing to see where she has come just after a short 12 weeks and I'm really excited to get to serve with her here in Kristiansand. I arrived in Kristiansand at 4:00 PM on Wednesday. Søster Davis and Elder Torgeson, one of the senior couples here in Kristiansand were at the train station to pick me up and drive me and all my bags to my new home. Søster Davis gave me the grand tour and then said she could make us dinner while I unpacked a little bit. 

We didn't make it too far before I was asking Søster Davis a million questions about the area: How many investigators do we have? What are their names? What are their stories? How are the members here? Who's in the ward? What is it like serving in Kristiansand? What do you normally do? Poor Søster Davis was being hit with question after question. It's a good thing she likes to teach. After I had taken in all the information she had just given me, and I began to unpack a little bit. Søster Davis was able to make some dinner after about an hour.  

We were off and we only had an hour or two left until we had to be back home and so we decided to hit the streets and see if anyone was interested in our message. I'll never forget the first man I talked to in Kristiansand. I had been told a little bit about the Kristiansand dialect but not much. It's safe to say I wasn't really prepared. My very first area in Norway, Ålesund, had some of the northern dialect influence and then I was sent to Asker where they spoke the same Norwegian that we had learned in the Missionary Training Center. Now I was here in the deep South with a completely southern dialect. With Denmark only being a three hour boat ride away the Norwegians here have more of a Danish sound to their Norwegian, not to mention the first talk I heard in church here was given in danish. It took a little getting used to but I think I've got the hang of it now, for the most part. 

Thursday was another day full of contacting and I have literally never talked so much my entire mission. I've actually been really blessed to have a car not only in Ålesund but in Asker as well but here in Kristiansand we walk and take the bus. We walked all over town and Søster Davis was even kind enough to show me an adorable little place in Kristiansand that I quickly snapped a few pictures of. 

Glass Artist

Friday we had district meeting in the one and only Arendal! Just like the city in Disney's Frozen! It was gorgeous and district meeting was a blast. The district consists of the Arendal Elders as well as the Kristiansand Elders and Søsters. Our district leaders got to Arendal the same day I got to Kristiansand his name is Elder McIntyre and he is companions with Elder Hadley. Then we have the Kristiansand Elders which consist of Elder Stephen and he is now training Elder Rogers who is now on his fifth day in Norway. 

The district is pretty cool and district meeting was a blast. We also had Institute on Friday night with all the young single adults. Where we learned more about the temple it was awesome. We have some really fun young single adults here the highlight of Saturday was dinner with a member and almost missing our bus twice and hearing Elder Rogers scream, "I am wearing leather shoes!" as we ran through the snow and mud to catch them. Sunday was great getting to meet some of the members here was such fun and Elder Rogers and I were able to share our testimonies as well. I know he was totally nervous but for being in Norway for four days, he did a solid job. We then had dinner at the institute teacher and his wife's house which was a blast and then headed over to teach with a couple of our investigators. 

All in all it was a pretty hectic but fun week and I'm excited to see what my time here in Kristiansand will bring. I love missionary work! Så strålende Kallet mitter!

Klem, 
Søster Blankmeyer 

Snowy with the Chance of Transfers

Let me just start out by saying that Norway is beautiful and especially when it's been sprinkled with snow. This past Friday night to Saturday morning Asker got hit with tons of snow and everything has been magical since then. Sunday morning, as in yesterday, we had our moves called to see where everyone will be spending their next five weeks (if not more). Of course Søster Love and I knew this was coming up but we had absolutely no idea which one of us would be moving. We decided to make a list of all the people we would want to say goodbye to and then started making some phone calls. We were able to set up appointments with almost everyone and so the crazy, hectic, possible last week in Asker began. 

8 months to go

Monday night we were able to go to a Halloween dinner with a family in the ward that all four of us Missionaries (Sandvika Elders and Asker Sisters) have gotten really close to. It's really just a blast to go and visit this family and a Halloween dinner was absolutely perfect. Tuesday we were able to visit the African couple in the ward. The wife reminds me a lot of Ben from Ålesund and also shares his love for music. It's really cool. The wife was able to teach us Missionaries how to sing "Nearer my God to Thee" in her native language of Rwandic. It was a really awesome experience and if I haven't mentioned it yet, I'm a really big fan of the African culture. 

Sandvika Elders and Asker Sisters

Vilmeia

From there, Søster Love and I went to go and visit our convert Andrea. Like I said in last weeks blog, Andrea is really incredible. She understands so much about her Father in Heaven and she's another one of those people that I just learned so much from. I was able to cuddle with one of her cats while teaching her the restoration again and I was definitely in missionary heaven after that. 

Ana

Claudia and her mom

Cora

Cutie Alexander

Wednesday we went to go and say goodbye to one of our investigators named Vigdis. She is truly incredible as well and has been another mother figure just lost her love and I hear. She didn't want to say goodbye just yet so we are actually going to visit her this upcoming Tuesday as well. After Vigdis, we came back to the church to practice a musical number with the elders that we would be singing for our good friend Mariam's funeral that Friday. Once we were done with that we met up with another one of our investigators and played some Mormon jeopardy to test his knowledge. Man was he smart! Granted he has been investigating the church for the past 10 years, but he really does understand the doctrine. 

Martha

Thursday we went and said goodbye to the AMAZING Martha. Martha is a member in the ward here that organizes the missionary meals on top of feeding us and inviting us over to her home a few times a month. I have really grown to love this lady and so saying goodbye to her was a hard one for me. We also were able to go and have dinner with the first counselor in the bishopric here and his wife. They are really wonderful as well. The husband served his mission in Dallas Texas so he is already awesome and his wife is one of the strongest human beings I've met here in Norway. It was really a hoot to get to talk some Texas and hang out with the fun couple. 

Texas Magnus

Finally we are onto Friday and we start the day off by attending Mariam's funeral. Let me just take a second to tell you all about Mariam  We were able to visit with Mariam about once a week so we got to know her really well. Mariam quickly became one of four best friends out here and is the primary reason that Søster Pederson, Søster Love, and I are able to knit. She was only 46 years old but I know she's in a better place now. She is sharing her beautiful smile and her amazing strength with others now and that gives me peace to know. At the end of the funeral as they drove Mariam away it began to snow. It was perfect. 

Søster Pederson

The rest of our day we had planned to take the hour and a half drive to Hønefoss and say goodbye to the faithful members there. We said goodbye to the Pedersons and then to another one of my best friends in the ward, Liv. She's a hoot let me tell you all! For 80 years old she's got more energy than I do and always leaves us with a good laugh. She calls me Søster Abigail and we've become good friends. I am really thankful for Liv. After Liv, the snow started to pick up and we still had to drive over an hour to our next dinner appointment with our summer tires. Thankfully Søster Love is a born and raised Utahn and was able to drive us through the blizzard to our next appointment. 

Liv

The next appointment was with the lady in the ward that calls me Søster Shakira and also is best friends with Andrea. Andrea and Vilmeia are such a blast. We always have tons of fun with them. We were able to make it back home safe and sound and woke up Saturday morning to tons of snow. The Brostrom's called us up in the middle of studies and said they would change our summer tires for us if we drove over to the Mission home. While Elder Brostrom changed our tires, Søster Love and I shoveled President and Sister Hill's driveway and had a blast taking some snow selfies. 

Søster Brostrom

For the rest of our Saturday we went and said goodbye to the family we shared Halloween with and also another one of my favorite families in the ward. My wonderful mother had sent me a package this past week which also included some Tootsie Roll's to share with this last family we were going to say goodbye to before actually finding out which one of us was leaving. Man I just love this family they are just so much fun and both parents attended BYU so the whole family are big cougar fans which is fantastic. They were definitely very hard to say goodbye to. 

Me and my fellow cougar fans with american tootsie rolls

Sunday morning at 7 AM, after saying goodbye to everyone already we finally found out that ...Søster Blankmeyer will be heading to Kristiansand! How exciting! As pumped as I was to hear the news it's always hard for me to say goodbye, so we got to church and the tears just started flowing. There are so many wonderful people here and I will miss them all dearly. I am so beyond grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve here in the Asker area and for all the wonderful and fun memories that Søster Love and I have had together. These past 18 weeks have been quite the roller coaster but, I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I'm excited to see what the next transfer will bring and I'm really excited to meet and serve the people in Kristiansand. I hope you all have a wonderful week and iykke til med alt!

Søster Blankmeyer

PS. Special shoutout to Grandma and Grandpa Conger for the beautiful card. I love you!