Dance In The Rain

Happy Birthday dad! I hope you have a wonderful day! You're the best and I love you so much! My commitment to anyone reading is to give my dad, Erik Blankmeyer, a birthday shout out if you get a chance. It's crazy because this time last year I was living in Ålesund, Norway and was still a pretty new missionary and here I am a year later in Stavanger finishing up my mission. It's literally so crazy to me how much time flies. I think it actually dawned on me this week just how much time flies and how we need to learn to enjoy the "now" no matter what.  

It was once again a pretty crazy week in the life of a sister missionary here in Stavanger. Yesterday we were asked to sub in and teach one of the primary classes at church last minute. The class happened to be right after sacrament meeting and so we had absolutely no time to prepare the lesson. Instead we ended up doing something we had done earlier that week with one of the member families that we visit. We had the kids in the class pretend to be Missionaries while we were the investigators. First up we had two of the Norwegian boys give it a shot. They knocked on the door we let them in they taught us a little about The Book of Mormon and that was that. After they were done the American boy asked if that's usually how it goes down. We told him no considering we opened up and let them in on the first try. We asked if they would like to see how we usually do it and they all said yes. We told the boys they could be as difficult as they wanted and so they really took that opportunity. Got to love sassy 10 and 11-year-old boys. They slammed the door in our face after a few times before giving us the opportunity to properly introduce ourselves and why we were knocking on their door. Finally they let us in and we were able to teach them a little about The Book of Mormon as well. It was as we were teaching these "investigators" that I realized what a cool opportunity it is to be a sister missionary. Although it's not always the easiest thing it's such a cool experience and no matter how many doors get slammed on our face. I really should be enjoying the "now" because before I know it this adventure will be over. Last Monday for family home evening FHE we took a walk over to the botanical gardens here in Stavanger and for a straight hour got to just enjoy the beauty of the nature here in Norway and enjoy the good company. It was very literally a breath of fresh air. We were able to just enjoy God's creation and not worry so much about the every day worries that life throws our way. Needless to say I really enjoyed it and it was much needed for me.  

Later this past week we were out knocking on doors a ways away from home and as we were out we decided to take a little break and run down to the ocean. On our way down, it started pouring down rain. Like pouring. One of the worst storms I had seen in a long while. Like the type of rain storm where there are major puddles in the streets and the cars driving by our splashing all the water up on the sidewalk. I still have yet to see or hear thunder or lightning here in Norway but I bet the storm would have been as close as I would get to those. Anyways here we were at some random little beach in Stavanger in the pouring rain and I was just soaking every last minute of it up without a care in the world. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want us to be happy and to enjoy the blessings that are raining down on us from heaven. I invite you all to take a second and watch the Mormon message entitled, "Shower of Heavenly Blessings" I know that the blessings are there if we just take the time to enjoy the "now". For a second we can forget about all the trials and challenges and worries of every day life and we can stop and smell the roses and 'dance in the rain' too. I'm grateful for the opportunities and blessings I have received in my life and for my new found appreciation to live in the now and except and acknowledge the blessings in my life. And once again grateful for you all and for all of the support I received. Also shout out to Mary Jordan for the wonderful letter! Also another big shout out to my dad, another one of the major blessings in my life. I love you all and hope you can all take the time to dance in the rain this week!

Klem,

Søster Blankmeyer