One of my companions that I had served with in Ålesund. Søster Ralphs is actually serving in Trondheim right now and so we were able to catch up a little bit and then the Ålesund sisters were kind enough to answer all of our questions about the Ålesund branch and the people there that we had grown to love. It was great. I have such a love for the city of Ålesund and all the other wonderful cities I have had the opportunity to serve in. Shout out to the Ålesund Elders for letting me talk to the Ålesund peeps off their phone by the way also #Blessed That Søster Ralphs and I got to call our convert Ben. Literally blessed. I've ended up having a really good zone conference and, like I mentioned earlier, we discussed the new missionary schedule and our experience with that these past few weeks. It made for some good discussion and actually started the thought process for what I could possibly write this week in our blog. After the conference was over and President Hill was done interviewing everyone we went on zone splits and everyone went out and did some form of missionary work in Trondheim, I got to go out contacting enjoying time with my old companion Søster Ralphs and I kid you not, almost everyone we stopped on the street was from Ålesund or the surrounding area. It was just like old times. Trondheim is a University City and so we stopped a bunch of students. The first person we stop was a girl from Ålesund studying at the University in Trondheim. Shortly after that we stop the guy from Molde which is where we would go for district meeting in Ålesund so that was crazy. We ended up finding them a pretty cool potential while contacting and sister Ralphs was kind enough to let me grab a few pics of Trondheim before heading back up north to Tromsø.
Once back in transit, we proceeded on with the normal missionary work up here. Since Søster Atanasio and I basically white washed this area the elders have been helping us get to know the area and learn how to most effectively work up here. They had previously devided the area up into 8 different zones depending on the buses and where they go so we have been working in our area and finding out which zone all of our former investigators are in so that we can hit one or two in an area at a time. This project has us working on the computer for an hour or two a day what is going to make a lot of future Søster Missionaries here in Tromsø a lot more effective. At the past zone conference President Hill gave us Missionaries permission to log onto our emails and read them throughout the week if we were already at a computer or it wasn't taking up too much of our time. Thanks to this project that we are working on here in Tromsø I had a couple opportunities to check my email and finally take the time to read a few of my fellow missionaries weekly emails which I consider a real blessing this week. I was able to read my friend Kayla's blog post where she informed all of her readers that she would be coming home early and arriving this next week from Chile.
From previous experience with family and friends I know you're coming home early from your mission is no walk in the park and so with that in mind I knew what I should focus on this week in my blog and that is having faith in the Lord's timing and his plan. That's something I have really been trying to work on myself throughout my mission. I have had many experiences here in Norway that have helped to grow my faith in that fact that God knows me personally and all of his children personally as well and that literally He truly has a plan for each of us. Part of that plan is for us to experience hardships and part of that plan is for us to experience joy. We are here to have these experiences to help us learn and grow and I would even add to help us come closer to God, Jesus Christ and our fellow man.
But sometimes it can be difficult to put our trust in the Lord's plan or the Lords timing. Right before moving up here to Tromsø I got a call from one of my previous companions. She told me of how a member we had both worked with and come to love was really struggling with her testimony. Apparently she had talk to the bishop and wanted nothing more to do with the church. That hit me hard. I had seen this woman change her life and receive the blessings of the Gospel. I had seen her cry bearing her testimony to us and get emotional during her prayers. She knew her Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and their gospel and loved it and now she wanted nothing more to do with it. I just couldn't understand with my companion who had informed me about the situation, we decided to pray and fast for this lady. There really wasn't much more we could do especially myself all the way up here in Tromsø. We truly had to leave it up to God's plan and his timing. That was hard. All I wanted to do was go and visit this lady one more time and see if I couldn't bring back that spark, that testimony that was once there. Most of all though, I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her I loved her, but that wasn't in the plan for her or for me. This was a situation where the Lord needed me to put all my trust in Him. I had to leave it up to His plan and His timing and I'll be honest it was hard and still is.
The elders shared a really great scripture this past week that I think I needed as much as the member they were sharing it with and it's found in D&C 123:17 which says, " Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." We can do all that we can do and Heavenly Father will take care of the rest. After all, he knows the plan. You can't see the entire picture and he knows exactly what we need to experience or endure in order to help us in this life and the life to come. I'm grateful for the knowledge of the gospel that I have and I'm grateful for the opportunity that I have to share it with the people here. Although it is not always easy, it is worth it. I send my love to all of you back home and thank you again for your love and support. Søster Atanasio and I are working hard but it is good. I'm hoping to see some miracle soon. Have a great week you all. I Love you!
Klem,
Søster Blankmeyer
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