The Week of the Street Stand

Well this past week really has been kind of all over the place. Right before Søster Atanasio left Tromsø we ( us and the elders ) had started to discuss the idea of doing what we called a street stand here in Tromsø. Elder Olsen had told us about the street stand kit that was just hanging out in the library of the church and so we decided to check it out. It looked like a nice enough kit for us to use and so we got to brainstorming about this wonderful street stand plan. Well fast forward a week where we come to find out that both Edste Briggs and Søster Atanasio will be leaving Tromsø and so our wonderful Street stand plan gets put on the back burner as Eldste Wakefield and I help to get our companions packed up and ready to go. Pretty soon we are welcoming Søster Etchells and brand-new straight from the MTC Eldste Critchlow to Tromsø. The streets stand plan begins to be forgotten. Then one day Søster Etchells and I are walking the streets of Tromsø we get to talking and we both suddenly realize that our missions are coming to an end and neither of us have done a street stand. Quickly we start bringing this plan back to life. We call up the elders and get them on board and start figuring out what we need to do in order to make this dream a reality. We talk logistics and start to delegate. Søster Etchells and I get put in charge of talking to the city in order to get a permit. We end up filling out this application form and then wait patiently a few days to hear back from the city regarding our application. We were approved! This street stand was really happening now we had a time, date, and a place as well as a kit and a permit to get things going. Now here's the thing though, none of us knew exactly what we were doing since absolutely none of us had done a street stand before. The closest we had was Eldste Wakefield who, while he was in Bergen decided to roll a ping-pong table out into the middle of the city and challenge people to a game of ping-pong which somehow led to a conversation about the gospel. Cool idea but not quite the same. Either way we were determined to do the street stand thing. It was to be done on Tuesday, April 4. It just so happened that on Tuesday, April 4 our district leader and his companion up in Alta where to fly down to Tromsø to go on splits with the elders here. It also just so happened that on Tuesday April 4 we would be having the sisters down in Oslo flying up to Tromsø so Søster Etchells and I could do our STL splits here basically on Tuesday, April 4 Tromsø would be hit with double the amount of missionaries than it normally has still we only had one sister who had ever done a street stand before so it was bound to be an adventure, and adventure it was. After our district meeting Tuesday morning we all split up to go and grab the needed supplies from our apartments and the church for the street stand. A couple elders grab a big table from the church also Søster Crenshaw and I grab the kit and all the rest of the Missionaries headed back home to grab some books, pamphlets and cards to hand out at our stand. Now we had previously been getting off and on rain and snow storms early that week and early that morning but by the time we set up our street stand we were caught in the middle of a downpour. Some of the worst rain I had seen in my 11 weeks in Tromsø. We had done all this work though and we weren't going to let it all go to waste so we set out and started talking to people Søster Crenshaw and I grabbed Eldste Miller's tablet which had downloaded on it the church Easter initiative video  in Norwegian. We were able to go around and ask people if we could show them a two minute long film on Easter and almost all of them stopped to watch it. It was really cool the first guy we stopped we asked if we could show him a two minute video on Easter and he stopped to watch it and then we got talking to him afterwards. It was actually really cool because as we were talking to this guy I glanced around to see where all the other missionaries work and every single missionary in Tromsø at that moment was in the middle of a conversation about the gospel with another person out in the pouring rain. What a miracle. It may not sound like much but that was a real testimony builder to me that when we do our part, the Lord will provide. We continue talking to the guy about Jesus Christ and the book of Mormon and brought him over to our street stand and eventually got his number to set up another appointment. We ended up getting a few more numbers afterward and were able to share the Easter initiative video with as many as would stop and listen. It was a really cool experience. Totally worth being completely drenched the rest of the day. We ended up having a good rest of our splits and come Wednesday morning the Oslo sisters were back on their way to sunny and warm Oslo. The rest of our week was yet again all over the place. We were able to get some teaching in as well as some ping-pong and movies for our branch activity night and relief society enrichment night. The movie we watched was entitled Ephraim's Rescue which talked about the life of Ephraim and how he was able to use his gift of healing to help the pioneers during some of their most challenging trials. It reminded us all that miracles still happen. We actually had our very own miracle happen here in the Tromsø branch this past Sunday. We've had a family that has been going through some seriously tough times the past couple of months. Yesterday Sunday was the first time in those past couple of months that the entire family was able to be together at church. Not only that but we also had the best attendance at church yesterday that I have seen in my entire time here in Tromsø. All of that coming together made for one of the best fasting and testimony meeting I've ever been a part of. The spirit was so strong. The father of the family that were able to come to church gave one of the most beautiful testimonies and brought the spirit to the meeting from the get go. I was even talking to sister Miller after the meeting who still can't understand everything in Norwegian yet she said that even though she could not understand him Word for Word she was able to feel of the strong spirit that he brought to the meeting. I felt very privileged to be a part of the Tromsø branch that Sunday. Like I mentioned earlier, that week was all over the place and I really didn't even get into detail about that but it ended up being a really good week. I was able to feel the spirit so strong this past week and just such love for the people here in Tromsø and I am grateful that I have had the privilege to get to know them. Norway is just the best! I can't believe my time here is running out but either way I'm just blessed to have this opportunity. I love my life! I love you all and I am once again thankful for all of the love and support. I hope you all have a wonderful week and never forget how much I love you all! Klem, Søster Blankmeyer Mission Leadership Council