All right so we had a really good week last week because it was the week of our zone conference here in the west! Zone conferences have always been a thing I look forward to because for me zone conference is a day where we just get to come together and learn from our wonderful leaders how we can be better, more effective Missionaries. There were a few things this past conference that really hit home for me. And I'm excited to share those with you all. The majority of our conference was focused on The Book of Mormon since our mission has really been putting a major focus on that with the whole Book of Mormon play coming to Oslo, Kristiansand and possibly Bergen this summer/fall. With all the publicity that has come with the play, our name and The Book of Mormon have become a bit more well known here in Norway.
Last transfer we had a mission wide selfie day where we went out and took selfie's with the people on the streets and had them use the #TheBookofMormonOslo when posting to help try and put faces of real Missionaries on social media where the play has been advertising as well. It was actually very successful and all of our selfie's have been calculated to have been seen by thousands of people here in Norway so that's really exciting. We are actually planning to do another selfie day this transfer on July 14th if you all back home want to keep an eye out or even participate this time around. Maybe post a picture of The Book of Mormon and your testimony and use the #ThebookofMormonOslo to help us out. That would be great! You don't even have to wait until July 14, you could do it today and you'd be doing some great missionary work back home and here in Norway. How exciting! It's so easy to be a missionary now days. I love it!
Anyways, so our mission has really been trying to focus on The Book of Mormon and how we can use it better as missionaries and in our missionary work. We have started a Book of Mormon reading chart here in the mission and this past zone conference the Assistants to the Presidents (APs) really focused all of their time on how to present the Book of Mormon and answer those frequently asked questions on The Book of Mormon. It was fantastic. They split us up into different groups and for the most of the time we were practicing how to use the Book of Mormon in our contacting as well as a really good method on how to get return appointments. It was really cool.
After zone conference we went on splits with the sisters from Haugesund and we were able to practice this some more as well as try and put it to practice here in Stavanger. It was really cool to keep the momentum alive after zone conference. Another thing that hit us, as well as the Haugesund sisters, was something that President Hill really briefly touch on and that was the challenge to try and refrain from gossiping about one another. It's crazy how big a problem gossiping is in our society today. It's almost to a point where it's more natural to talk bad rather than good about a person and that's really messed up. In the end we are all brothers and sisters here just trying to do the best we can. His little insert on gossiping reminded me of a talk I have really grown to love. I swear I bring it up all the time now days, but it's so applicable. The talk is entitled "With Hand and Heart" by Thomas S. Monson, from the October 1971 general conference. If there is anything I can commit to you all through this blog post it would be to go and read that talk. This truly changed my life. President Hill's comment reminded me of something I read in that talk. It says, this truth was stated so beautifully on the stage in My Fair Lady. Eliza Doolittle, the flower girl, spoke to one for whom she cared and who later was to lift her from such mediocre status: "you see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (The dressing and the proper way of speaking, and so on) The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, but I know I can be a lady to you because you always treat me as a lady and always will." Eliza Doolittle was but expressing that proven truth: when we treat people as they are, they will remain as they are. When we treat people as if they were what they should be, they will become what they should be." I love that. It's so true. It works the same with gossiping. If we go around saying mean things about others than that is what they will stay to us and to those we gossip too. But if we go around spreading the good than people will want to be good and will aspire to be the best they can be. I have seen this truth manifested in my own life.
We all have such a divine potential that we can reach sometimes we just need to help each other remember that and help them get there. We are all on the same team here just trying to make it through our day to day lives so why not be kind and loving. That is what the rest of that talk is about so I really encourage you all to read it whether you be Mormon or not it's a good talk about how we can be better people. Thank you all for being the wonderful people you already are! I Love you so much!
Klem,
Søster Blankmeyer
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