The 17th of May- Independence Day!

This past week we celebrated Norwegian Independence Day and it was such a blast. This was my second time celebrating 17 May here in Norway and I really just love it so much this is going to be something that I Aill miss very much next year when I'm back in America. There's just something so special about celebrating Norway and I think I've been really blessed to have experienced it twice now. Last year I celebrated Independence Day in Ålesund with my companion and a couple of my friends there.  We woke up that morning and got ready to go and see the parade with our friends. We walked to the spot we had pre-determined and watched the parade. It took a few hours and then the entire parade was over. In Ålesund after the parade they had some races and tents set up to see and buy your little trinkets from. After all of that we went to a members house and watched an approved movie, played some games and had a great night. That was my first independence day experience and obviously my second was spent here. It was a very different experience this time around in Stavanger.  Ålesund is a small enough city that they can get through all the different aspects of the parade within a few hours and call it good, but here in Stavanger they split it up into three different parades.

This past 17th May we woke up, got dressed, took a bus to meet up with the elders, and then walked to the city where we would watch the first parade with all of our fellow missionaries and some of the board members as well. We had a pretty good sized group as we stood and watched the "kidparade" of the students from all the different schools marched by and chanted or marching bands played some music for our entertainment.  It was so cute to see all the little children dressed up in their traditional costumes and waving their Norwegian flags. We had a few members from the ward in this first parade and so it was fun to hear the whole group cheer them on as they walked past the group of Mormons at the parade. After that was over we worked our way over to a members house to eat and hang out before the next parade.   We had some good food and then it was time to go and see the "Russ" parade.  The "Russ" parade is held by all the seniors in high school and they all wear their russ pants overalls and hand out there Russ cards to all the little kids/elders at the parade. That one was a rather quick parade and so we were back at the members house in time for the cake and dessert to be served. We ate some more, played some games and then we were off to watch the final parade of the day. The last parade included all the sports dance teams and everything else in between. It was a great way to finish out the day and it ended up being a great Independence Day in Norway yet again.

It was cool looking back on it all and seeing that even though they were very different experiences they were both celebrating the same incident and they were the same where it really counts.  In both places you could see the love and respect other people had for Norway and for its history and traditions and for their fellow citizens. I have never seen so many happy Norwegians in my life then on 17 May here in Norway. It's truly incredible. I hope you all enjoy the pictures from all the different parades and from my last independence day here in Norway. It was such a blast and I loved it so much and it will be an experience I will never forget. To end off, it's tradition to sing Norway's national song.  I hope you all enjoy. Have a great week!

"Ja, vi elsker dette landet", in English, "Yes, we love this country" is the Norwegian national anthem.

It is commonly referred to as only "Ja, vi elsker", "Yes, we love". The lyrics were written by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, and melody by his cousin, Rikard Nordraak.

The first verse goes like this:

"Ja, vi elsker dette landet,som det stiger frem,furet, værbitt over vannet,med de tusen hjem,elsker, elsker det og tenker,på vår far og mor,på den saganatt som senker,drømmer på vår jord,på den saganatt som senker,senker drømmer på vår jord."

Roughly translated to English:

"Yes, we love this country,as it rises forth,wrinkled, weather-beaten over the water,with the thousand homes,loving it, loving it and thinking,of our father and mother,of the saga night that lowers,dreams upon our earth,of the saga night that lowers,lowers dreams upon our earth."

Klem,

Søster Blankmeyer 

Preikestolen

Wow on Monday the district decided that we all wanted to go and hike Preikestolen. I seriously recommend that you all go and Google Preikestolen. I guarantee that it won't have the same affect as if you had hiked it yourself. But it'll give you all a little more background. In order to make this adventure happen and still have time to email home, some serious planning had to be done. Luckily our district leader is a champ and got right on that. He, with help from the district, was able to find buses, figure our times and who to invite and so on. We got it approved by President Hill, since it's a rather intense hike up to a major cliff and we were good to go. 

We woke up rather early Monday morning in order to get ready and send an email or two before meeting up at the docks by 7:30-ish in the morning. We would have to take a ferry and a bus to get there. We met at the docks at 7:30am, got our tickets, and were off. With our P-day ending at 6 PM we knew we would half to get up and down this mountain pretty quickly. I believe we gave ourselves the average  two hours to get up, 30 or so minutes at the top and two hours to get back down. This was pretty good time to hike up and down Preikestolen, About the average actually, but everything had been planned perfectly so that we could grab the right bus back to the ferry which would put us back in Stavanger with just enough time to email home. 

One thing you all need to know about the Stravanger area is that it rains quite a bit. The forecast had said only in 11% chance of rain on P-Day and so we figured that was pretty good chances for us to have a nice, rain free hike up Preikestolen. We got off the ferry and onto the bus and everything was perfect, but as we neared Preikestolen we started to see some raindrops on the windows and some rain clouds in the distance. It was all a bit of a bummer, but we didn't let that get us down. Heck, we were in beautiful Norway about to hike one of God's beautiful creation that people come from all over the world to see. How amazing is that? 

The bus finally dropped us off at the bottom of the mountain in our group.  We said a quick prayer and laid a few ground rules to ensure a safe and fun hike up to the top and then we were off. We had a couple of avid runner's in our group and so they kind of took off as the rest of the group, for the most part, worked their way up the mountain together. It was actually a really cool experience. I have never experienced anything quite like it. It was not the easiest thing I've ever done, but I would gladly do it again. There's something about being out in nature, in God's wonderful and majestic creations, that makes you think and ponder. 

I've been reading a book entitled "Light in the Wilderness- Explorations in the Spiritual Life," by M. Catherine Thomas and in this book she has an entire chapter devoted to 'Nature's Holy Plan: Nature Wakens Man From the Dream.'  In the beginning she quotes William Woodsworth and his poem "Lines Written in Early Spring." She goes on to talk about nature and the purpose there of. She says something that I have grown to love. She writes,"... I have been brought to tears by the love shining through it all. And more then enlivened, I have known that I was alive in Christ; I have known that I was beholding life expressing it's joy in the "midst of the power of God" and that I was witnessing "God moving in his majesty and power" (D&C 88: 45-47).  I have begun to understand the purpose of the spirit in nature. She goes on to say that, "natures role is to arrest man's attention so that he can hear that voice from heaven."  I truly believe that is why God gave us such beautiful nature here on the earth. 

While I was on the top of that cliff, I thought to myself how beautiful and grand this mountain and the waters beneath are and how God took the time to create such beauty for us because he loves us. And if he is willing to take that time in order to give us a beautiful place to live, how much time and love did he put into making us the beautiful spirits and people that we can be. At the end of her chapter on nature Thomas says, "the purest beauty is always moral. Wordsworth had noticed what Lussegran did - that the light in man and nature were the same light, we're of one piece, and flourished only in love and moral goodness. Wordsworth writes that he had come to recognize the nature "The anchor of my purest thoughts, The soul of all my moral being." Nature stairs us so deeply precisely because it's spirit is continuous with the soul of our moral being; it addresses an aspiration in us. The divinity in Nature calls to the Divinity in Man to awaken to that beauty in himself if which is "a thousand times more beautiful than the earth on which he dwells," even as he must wade through the turmoil and pollutions of the earthly life; for man's essence is "of quality and fabric...divine."  We find man placed in Nature's lap so as to delight him, enliven him, and awaken him to his divinity." That is what nature is truly about. 

God gave us this nature and this beautiful world to remind us of our very own beauty and help us to remember our divine nature. I realized as I sat at the top of Preikestolen that life is not always easy, and neither was that hike, but that our reward is truly beautiful. That we are all sons and daughters of the living God and that even though we may feel small in comparison to all of his creations, we are precious and he loves us more than we can ever come to comprehend in this life. I'm grateful for the opportunity that we had to go and hike Preikestolen and for the knowledge that I gained from nap experience. I am thankful for not only the beautiful nature all around me, but, most importantly, the beautiful people that surround me. I love you all!

Klem

Søster Blankmeyer 

Magic of Musikk

All right, well I know that this blog post is coming a week late but I've never missed a blog post yet and I figured better late than never. I wanted to share with you all my highlights of my first full week as a missionary in Stavanger. On Monday, April 24, we were able to participate in family home evening with the young single adults. This particular family home evening was held at a members home who just so happens to have a plethora of musical instruments. We were to have a night where we would all gather together and sing songs and enjoy the beauty of music. It honestly ended up being one of my absolute favorite family home evenings that I have attended here in Norway. 


This particular member is part of a band and quite honestly a musical genius and had found some songs for us that were easy enough to sing and play along with. It was awesome and afterwards we were all done singing and playing we all had some fantastic Norwegian waffles. That was my introduction to family home evening here in Stavanger as well as my introduction to a lot of the young single adults here who are truly awesome. That family home evening ended up being the highlight of my week and got me thinking a little bit more about music and honestly the joy that it brings into my life and the lives of others. I didn't see a single frown at that activity. Everybody at the activity was smiling and laughing and having a good time and enjoying the music.  

As a missionary I don't have access to different types of studies but I know there have been many studies on the effect that music has on us as humans. I can testify that music really does have an effect on us and I think that is so beautiful. Coming together for a family home evening activity with all of the young single adults brought a lot of joy to a lot of people including me. I really do have such a love for music. Anyone that truly knows me knows that I have such a love for music I have always been that person that listens to music as I get ready for the day. As I go throughout my day and honestly up until the very end of the day. I am also not really that biased to different genres of music either. In my personal opinion, I think that if a song makes you happy that you should listen to it. Everyone has a different taste in music but I think it's safe to say that everyone has at least one song that makes them happy. Music in general just makes me happy. I've spent pretty much my whole life listening to music and learning how to replicate and create my own music through varying instruments and I've seen the difference it can make in peoples lives. 

I've actually seen the effects of music all the time while out here on my mission. I've been lucky enough in my last couple of areas to have had someone leave behind a ukulele that I could use to play and sing with my companions and it's honestly been a major blessing. It's maybe a little bit weird to think that playing an instrument and singing some songs could relieve so much stress and create some much joy, but it really truly does. 

There's something about the fact that music is a form of art and creating something so beautiful can bring so much joy that it is so cool to me. No wonder God gave us the gift of music here on earth. What a blessing that truly is. It also a blessing to be musical. I think if we are blessed with the talent of music, that we should share it with others. That may sound very hypocritical of me seeing as sometimes I myself am shy about my music, but I've seen how sharing my music with others has brought a lot of joy and peace. I'm literally so grateful for music and for the blessing it has been in my own life and the lives of others. Music is magical and it truly makes a difference. 

I had another really cool experience with music this past week during my first full Sunday here in Stavanger. I'd love to share it with you all before I go. During sacrament meeting on Sunday The relief society aged women all got up and saying a musical number "Ostore Gus" Or "How Great Thou Art" in English and that was such a cool experience for me. It was one of the most beautiful musical numbers I have ever heard. I was sitting out there in the audience not really knowing any of those women who were up there singing and yet I was able to feel so strongly of their spirit and testimonies. It was really beautiful singing and music but what was honestly more beautiful where the singers and then musicians it was a really cool experience for me to sit in the audience and truly say to myself, "Wow! what an absolutely beautiful musical number." I didn't know any of those women personally, but I knew they all had a story and had all gone through life's ups and downs and throughout that journey had chosen to put their faith in God and that is really what that musical number was all about. It wasn't about the practices or anything else really. It was about why they were singing that song and how it applied to their stories and lives and all of that combined brought the spirit so strong which is what made that beautiful. 

I guess my challenge for you all this week it's just share your musical talents or testimony or something that you find beautiful with someone you care about. I know if you do this it will bring peace and comfort to the both of you. I'm so grateful for the gift of music and for the opportunity that we have to share that with others. I'm grateful for this week for reminding me of the blessing of music and for reminding me most my many blessings in general. I love this gospel and I love you all so much make it a great week!

Klem,
Søster Blankmeyer