Shakira's Arrival in Asker

Hei Hei! Jeg håper at dere er klar for en fantastisk blogidag. Vi begynner med volleyball. Last P day we had a killer sand volleyball game as a district for Eldste Rial's last P day in Norway. It was such a blast and we worked hard and rewarded ourselves with slushes afterwards. Thank goodness for companions who aren't afraid of bees and will fill up your slushy for you when a million bees are swarming around the slushy machine. It was delicious! Tuesday we met up with a 92-year-old lady in the ward who's been the first to question us about our love lives and whether or not we have found ourselves Norwegian boys to marry of course after our missions. Pretty funny conversation to have, but no worries we left her with a spiritual thought and we were on our way. We had planned on hitting the streets for the rest of the day when we got a call from the mission office that they needed us to go and get our car washed and send the pictures so that they could start the process of selling it so that someday soon we can get our new car! What exciting news! We headed off to the nearest car wash, found ourselves some Dr Pepper in the gas station, and enjoyed the universal car wash experience.

it was consumed before i could get a picture

We took some sick pictures of our blueberry of a car and got them sent off to the mission office. The next day was also quite the adventure as we met with one of our new investigators in the city center and continue to be interrupted by Norwegian wasps and bees. We moved all around the city center to avoid those bad boys but they just kept coming. Finally we found a spot and were able to tell this new investigator the story of Joseph Smith without distraction. We then had the chance to teach another one of our investigators with the elders, Elder Sanchez and his brand-new companion straight from America Elder Applegate. It was actually a super solid lesson and the spirit was there so strong as we talked about faith and works. We can't wait to meet with him again. Now comes the most hectic day of them all Thursday we had our district meeting in the morning and then had headed up to start some weekly planning before our dinner appointment late that night. We started calling our investigators and members and trying to set up appointments for the upcoming week when we called one of the ladies in the ward and she broke down to us and told us she had just received news that she had cancer. We dropped everything and told her we were on our way over we had some chocolate and a plethora of church movies and decided we would just try and help her get her mind off of things and just try to help in anyway that we could.  We ended up getting stuck in traffic on the way to her house and we're frantically trying to call our dinner appointment since we knew we would be late after visiting this member. We were able to eat chocolate watch a movie and uplift this member as best we could. By the time we had finished all of that, we were already a half an hour late to our dinner appointment and what else we were stuck in traffic yet again. We continued to try and call our dinner appointment but we could not get a hold of her and things were just all sorts of hectic. Finally we arrive to our dinner appointment and hour late and we felt terrible, but all ended up working out. This member who fed us dinner is very awesome and so funny and agreed to feed us every Thursday. She had invited a nonmember friend who is actually very positive about the church and we were able to teach her the Joseph Smith story as well. We ended up having a blast and some how everyone started calling me sister Shakira and we just laughed and had a great time tonight. We were away pumped to go eat with them again this coming Thursday and can't wait for even more laughs and good times together. Friday was a day of service I even mowed my first lawn, fun! We spent the entire day serving and spreading the gospel as we go. It was awesome! I just love serving the people here in Asker and this opportunity that we have as missionaries to spread the gospel with those we serve I would encourage you all to share your testimony with those around you by doing an act of service. I know by doing so others will reward your kindness and feel Christ love for them through you and that is the best feeling in the world I love you all and hope you all have a fantastic weekend and I can't wait to talk to you all soon!

love,
Søster Blankmeyer

We made a delicious breakfast for dinner.

Hei hei alle sammen! Hvordan går det?  I hope all is well and that you all have had a wonderful week. Things have kind of been a roller coaster over here for us.  However, I'd say overall it was a good week. After finishing emailing last week, we headed over to a dinner appointment which would be the first of many. I absolutely love that Family and they are especially awesome because both of the parents attended BYU.  They have raised their children to love BYU as well. Crazy how even in Norway you can find Norwegian BYU fans! It's awesome and our dinner with them was definitely one of the highlights of the week. 

last pic with Søster Hess my friend from the MTC

The next day we had another amazing district meeting about how the Bible and the book of Mormon support each other. It was a way fun and interesting discussion.  I am more pumped than ever before to dive into my scriptures studies and continue to learn. Lately, I've been reading in a book entitled Jesus the Christ. It kind of expands on the teachings and life of Jesus Christ using examples from The Book of Mormon and the Bible and I've absolutely loved it! I love learning and growing and especially learning about my Savior, Jesus Christ. I have seen my relationship with my Father in Heaven and his son, Jesus Christ grow as I study and learn about them and try my best to emulate their perfect example. I saw this in practice this week, as I'll talk about later on, but just being able to learn and grow and try to be like Jesus (as the primary song teaches us) has blessed my life in so many ways. 

After district meeting we headed to another dinner appointment with another amazing family. We had invited this family to invite a friend over as well and leave it up to those amazing Norwegian members we showed up and they came through. One of the daughters in the family had invited one of her guy friends over for dinner.  He even participated in our lesson afterwards. It was way cool to see the members here participate in missionary work and I would invite you all to have the missionaries over and invite a friend who you think would benefit from the message. After that dinner appointment we headed over to our relief society presidents house and got terribly lost along the way. I think we were driving around Norway for over an hour just trying to find her house. We eventually found it and were able to talk with her about how we can be a better help as missionaries in the ward. We even had a wonderful gospel discussion afterwards. 

Wednesday was quite the fun day for us sisters here in Asker. Our mission president and his wife decided that enough was enough after visiting the Elders in Narvik.  (their apartment was being held together by duct tape and string with only two working lightbulbs) They decided to give all us missionaries an extra P day to clean out and organize our apartments. That ended up taking all of Wednesday for us and I didn't even think our apartment was that bad. We started cleaning though and it was like night and day. We scrub the walls and you could see a line where we had scrubbed versus where we had not scrubbed. By the end of the day though we had a spotless apartment and we're very proud of all the hard work we had put into it. 

the dirty wall..you can see where we cleaned it. 

The next day we got to go and visit another amazing member in the ward and let me tell you, the elders and my fellow sisters and I could not stop laughing. This member was cracking us up. She is such a hoot! She's also a very sweet and very spiritual lady but she knows how to have a good time and loves to laugh as well. She is now one of my favorite members in the ward and I hope we get to visit her again sometime soon. 

After this point in the week all is going fine and dandy, and then we decided to give one of our investigators a call. This is where learning and trying to emulate Christ comes in handy. This specific investigator had gotten onto YouTube and had found some pretty hard-core anti-Mormon material and was not afraid to tell us we were wrong. He had become scared of the Mormon church, and rightfully so as the creators of this anti-Mormon material make us out to be something very frightening and something we are definitely not! It ended up being a very hard phone call and we were all in tears after all was said and done.  I mean, we get rejected and told we are stupid almost every day on the street. But this was about an hour long phone call of just slam after slam from someone who we had grown a relationship with and at one point even considered a miracle story. When we first met him, he was so prepared. He wanted to learn more about God and Jesus Christ.  He was honestly searching for the truth but Satan works in mysterious ways and knew exactly how to get to him. Although it was really tough to hear someone tell me that what I believed in was wrong, it only strengthened my testimony in what I believe. I hope I was able to emulate Christ in that moment as I just tried to show love and just try to do as the Savior would in that situation. Yes it was tough, but we get the opportunity to take that experience and learn and grow and try to be better next time. 

To end on a more happy note, Søster Pederson, Søster Love and I will all be together again for another six weeks and have the chance to make some more fun memories. We had an amazing Sunday and we were able to end the week with a fireside from a BYU professor. He blew us away with all of his knowledge. I am so thankful for all the good and all of the hard experiences I have had thus far on my mission and for all of the chances I have had to learn and grow and try to be better and follow my savior. I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love Søster Blankmeyer 
PS Big shout out to my wonderful grandparents, grandma Carol and grandpa Dick for the outstanding cards! They are beyond perfect and I am way pumped to use them!

Rain or shine!

All right friends and family, I'm just going to take this opportunity to apologize for last weeks blog post and emails. I felt really bad that I wasn't able to provide some quality reading. But I'm hoping this weeks entry will make up for that.   First and foremost I'd love to introduce you all to Søster Love, my one and only "daughter" out here in the mission field.

Søster Love is from Eagle Mountain, Utah and is an avid fan of Kraft macaroni and cheese. I believe I may have mentioned this last week but her mom was born and raised in Drammen and so she grew up speaking Norwegian with her mother. She even lived in Drammen herself when she was younger. Søster Love loves to have fun and loves to laugh and yet is still very spiritual and an outstanding missionary. She makes being a trainer pretty easy and I just love Søster Love, as well as all of my companions that I have had the chance to serve with out here in Norway. I have come to love each and every sister I have met and I am grateful for all of my fellow missionaries here in Norway. They have become my family away from home and have helped me to really enjoy serving care in Norway. So shout out to them. Speaking of shout outs, I just wanted to take this time to send a big thank you home to my family for sending me such an amazing package. Søster Love is grateful for the macaroni and cheese that was included. Anyways thanks a ton and I love you all so much! 

All right, onto the missionary work for the week. To start things off, I was able to have the wonderful experience of a Norwegian driving lesson. I am currently in the process of obtaining my Norwegian drivers license.   So, wow! My little brother Erik is back home learning to drive, I'm over here in Norway doing the same thing. Pretty funny. Hopefully we both end up passing our tests. Lykke til! (Good luck!)  After my driving lesson, we headed to district meeting where we focused on the Book of Mormon. It was probably my most favorite district meeting yet. I just love the Book of Mormon so much and just have such a strong testimony on the power of the Book of Mormon. I would invite you all to take just five minutes of your day and sit and read from the Book of Mormon. I know that by doing so you will come to learn more about our Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ. There is no greater substitute in accomplishing that then by Reading the Book of Mormon. Also, that's why I am here in Norway to help these people come closer to God and Jesus Christ. The majority of our week was spent out on the streets talking to the people of Norway! On Saturdays some people from the church as well as some of the investigators come together with the missionaries and play soccer for a couple hours.

Ready to play soccer!

This past Saturday we woke up to pouring down rain. We had invited a lot of people we had met on the street to come and play so we were hoping the rain would let up. The time came to play and the rain was still pouring but we called the elders and the game was still on. We went and played soccer for two hours in the cold, rain and one of our investigators even showed up! We had the rest of our Saturday open for going out on the street and we had planned some fun activities for missionary work. We were going to go out and talk to people in the center for an hour, then we were going to go to the beach nearby and play the ukulele for people.  After that our plan was to have Søster Petersen play her violin near the shopping center while Søster Love and I talk to the people.  Then we were going to take an object lesson to the street and have people try it out. We were so beyond pumped to hit the streets and yet the rain was still pouring down.  But that didn't stop us!  We spent the whole day on the streets in what we came to find out was the biggest storm in Norway in the past 30 years. We got a lot of glares a lot of "nei takks", and actually a lot of "I'm sorry I've got to play my Pokémon GO" or whatever. It was not a necessarily easy day, but we ended that day by teaching a man on the street about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Missionary work is not always easy. Sometimes we get told we are stupid, sometimes we have to brave through some meals, and sometimes we get put below Pokémon Go and yet we brave it rain or shine because we know how important this work is and that what we are really offering these people of Norway and the world really. Missionary work is not always easy but it is always worth it. We now have two girls with baptismal dates and all of our investigators are taking big steps forward to their Father in Heaven. We are also blessed! 

To end the post for this week I thought I'd share some of the highlights of the week. First off, I hit my five month mark! We have dinner appointments this week which was a blessing since we kind of ran out of food at home. We were able to help one of our investigators who is going through a hard time right now. We got to paint a house!!! That was so fun! My favorite service project thus far!

We made a homemade pizza which turned into a big cheese ball but still turned out being delicious. Søster Love and I found out we had a mutual love for a song called, "Good Friends" on Lds.org.  I recommend it! It's a great song. We also will be performing a song and sacrament meeting next weekend it was way fun to practice and even get to hear else Sanchez play piano with Søster Petersen on her violin. Man I'm just loving serving here in Asker. I miss you all back home and hope all is going well. Keep up the great work and I can't wait to talk to you all next week.

Medvennlighilsen, 

Soster Blankmeyer

Zone leaders and Søster Trainers leadership meeting

Søster Hill and 2 companionships

16 Weeks and Training!

companion fun!!

Alright friends and family! We decided to go on one of the amazing Norwegian hikes that Norway is famous for. However, we ended up taking a lot of our PDay doing that so this will be a very short and probably pretty lame blog post this week... so I'm sorry for that! Like the title says, I am now officially a trainer! Søster Petersen and I will be helping to train Søster Love . We will show her the ropes on how to be a missionary in Norway! We are so pumped! Søster Love used to live here in Drammen, Norway for a bit when she was younger seeing as her mother is a native Norwegian. She grew up speaking Norwegian and so she was only in the MTC for a short 3 weeks before they sent her out to Norway and eventually to Asker with Søster Petersen and I. It's been a really amazing experience being a trainer and even though I've been a trainer for about 3 or 4 days now I can already tell how much of a difference it has made in me as a missionary. Having the responsibility of helping and serving my companions and especially Søster Love has not only been a real privilege but a good testimony builder as well. I have been trying my best to be the best missionary and best companion that I can be and work on myself this past week so that I can be the best trainer I can be. It's really an honor to be trusted so much to be a new missionary's guide to the mission life. Søster Love is absolutely fantastic (as is Søster Petersen) and although I'm sure she could do this all on her own, I'm honored to be one of the missionaries that gets to help her begin this journey.

district

Last night we got home from one of our dinner appointments at President's house and we began to work on the 12 week program that all new missionaries and their trainers are supposed to go through during the first 12 weeks in the land and Søster Petersen and I got to bear our testimonies on how the mission can change you if you let it. I have already seen the change that I have gone through and I am so glad to be able to allow myself to progress. There is nothing better than letting the Lord work with you and help you to be a better person. Okay the library is about to close so I guess this is it as far as this blog post goes but just know that I love you all and pray for you all back home and I promise to write a better post next week! Keep up the great work and enjoy the journey!

Love,

Søster Blankmeyer

Kjaere alle sammen!  I’ve got much to report this week but first I want to give a nice shoutout to Sabrian Humas for the amazing postcards and letter!  I loved it and it was fun to receive my fist letter here in Asker.  Thanks again!  Alright well I wanted to start off with my highlight of the week which happened this past Tuesday.  Søster Petersen and I were able to be reunited with some old companions for a day, which we call splits. Søster Petersen got to work with Søster Smith who she had served with in Trondheim.  I got to be reunited with Søster Bender who was my trainer in Ålesund.  It was not only a way fun experience but also a very spiritual experience.  Both Søster Smith and Søster Bender will be returning back to the states at the end of this transfer and both are very amazing, seasoned missionaries.  We were able to learn a lot from the both of them and just reminisced on old times.  We started out the day with them the same way we start everyday out here in the mission, with studies.  WOW.  These girls have learned a thing or two from 18 months in Norway serving the Lord.  Their spiritual insights and comments made for an amazing discussion about the difference between the Holy Ghost and the Light of Christ (which we would be discussing later on during our district meeting).  I have really come to love those 3 hours every morning where we get to study personally as a companionship, and really dive into the deep discussions on gospel topics and the wonderful language of Norwegian.  I hope to continue to take time everyday to study in the scriptures or inspired text and come closer to my Savior.  After studies we headed to district meeting where we had another wonderful discussion.  We usually end our meetings by practicing a missionary skill and this time we were asked to pick a scripture and apply it to those we teach.  Søster Petersen and I got paired up with Eldste Sanchez and dang was that practically perfect.  He had picked a scripture and taught a principle that I, Søster Blankmeyer, really needed to hear.  Even though I was acting as someone else, the message that was taught really had an impact on me and I was able to ponder what he was saying and even used that message later on with an investigator.  I am so lucky to be in this district and be able to learn from my fellow missionaries.  Søster Bender and I were able to teach one of our new investigators on the power of prayer and that was a fun lesson.  It was fun to be able to teach with Søster Bender again, but this time I was the one leading out the lesson.  The lesson went great and the Spirit was definitely there as our investigator was able to feel te truth of what we were teaching and even began to cry.  I was so thankful for the comments and insights that Søster Bender brought to the lesson and I will never forget our last lesson together in Asker, Norway.  We ended up hitting the streets after our lesson and had planned to meet up at the church and switch companions so that I could have a chance to learn from Soster Smith and Søster Petersen could learn from Søster Bender.  We met up at the church and were planning on switching when a member invited us all over for dinner.  Needless to say, we all ended up heading to the members house together.  She had invited over a couple other members and so we were able to sit and talk and eat some delicious food.  It was very fun.  Søster Smith and I had to come up with a spiritual thought to share with these members before we headed home and quickly had splits review and took these lovely sosters to the train station.  I remembered a passage of scripture that I had read recently in the Book of Mormon on miracles being wrought by faith.  We decided to share that and it ended up being exactly what everyone present needed to hear.  It was actually way cool because the net day we got a text from one of the members thanking usfor the spiritual thought.  She said it really hit her.  Once again just the spirit working thourgh us missionaries.  We had a lot more amazing times this week but my favorite was getting to spend time with my trainer before she heads back home.  She was also very sweet and continued to compliment me on all the progress I had made since my first 6 weeks as a missionary.  That was sweet.  I just wanted to end this post with a simple testimony that I know this church is true.  I know that we have a loving Father in Heaven and that He wants nothgin but the best for us.  I am so grateful for the knowledge I have on my Father in Heaven and my Savior, Jesus Christ, and I hope to share that with all the people here in Norway and all around the world.  I love you all.

Love,

Søster Blankmeyer

The moon the other night

Mc Flurry for Søster Petersen's 6 month anniversary.

a members beautiful cat

Hei hei familie og venner!

Hei hei familie og venner! Jeg er så glad i dere. Jeg bare savner dere og er veldig takknemlig for anledningen jeg har til å snakke med dere gjennom mitt blogg.  A lot has happened since last week's entry and I am happy to report that through lots of hard work we have found 3 more people who are interested in investigating the church.  With the inclusion of these 3 new investigators this week, we have doubled the amount of the investigators here in Asker, Norway and are excited to find some more people to teach. Serving here in Asker has been such a testimony builder for me and I am so lucky to be serving in this area, at this time, with these people.

Last Monday after emailing and a failed attempt of sand volleyball, we (Søster Petersen,  Eldste Rial, Eldste Sanchez and I) were invited over to our mission President's home for food and fun.  Our mission president has a rule at his home that we either share a miracle story that has happened that week or sing a song for food.  Søster Petersen and I were able to share our story of meeting Ali, which I shared in the blog last week, and then after dinner we attempted a song. At the mission home, President and Sister Hill have acquired a few ukuleles and after Eldste Rial and I got them in tune he played and the rest of us sang 'The lava song' from the movie Inside Out. We failed pretty miserably but we have been practicing some new songs for the next time we go back.  It's fun to live so close to the mission home and just another perk of serving here in Asker.  (By the way that's pronounced like the name Oscar)

Me, Søster Petersen, Eldste Daly, Eldste Rial, Eldste Sanchez and Eldste Potter

We met with one of our new investigators on Tuesday and had one of the most amazing lessons I have ever had as a missionary.  The Spirit was so strong. We had been talking about the Godhead and who God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are; when our investigator posed the question to us, "How do you know that God is there?" We sat in silence for a good couple of minutes when we finally spoke up and bore solid testimony to this woman how we had come to know that God is there and that he is real and really knows and loves us each so individually and so perfectly.  I can't even begin to describe the spirit that was in that room as we taught that lesson. As soon as she left, all we could do was fall to our knees and thank our Father in Heaven for allowing us the opportunity to be an instrument in His hands and give is the words and spirit we need to help this investigator come closer to her Heavenly Father.  It really is beyond description how amazing this work is.  That Søster Petersen and I are far from perfect but, God trusts us to be able to teach these Norwegian people, in their own language the most important knowledge we have here on the Earth.  It's incredible!

Something I have been pondering about recently regards something I read during personal study in the book, Jesus the Christ on our need for a Savior.  Talmage gives the analogy of a plant is unable to advance to the animal plane.  That's science, it just makes sense.  Though it should be recognized that the animal kingdom depends on the vegetable kingdom for its sustenance.  Therefore, if the animal were to partake of the plant then in theory it has become part of the animal organism.  The only way for this plant to be associated with this animal though is that for the higher kingdom to come down and associate itself with the plant.  So it is with us and the Savior. We as humans could not reach the higher kingdom where God resides if we didn't have Jesus Christ, who is associated with that higher Kingdom, to come down and show us the way and atone for our sins. We had to have a Savior to help us reach that higher Kingdom.  I don't know, just a thought to ponder for yourselves.

To wrap things up, we concluded this past week by eating dinner together as a district with our amazing senior couple, The Brostroms, here in Sandvika. They are such a blast and I love getting to go there every Sunday night and learn from everyone there.  I have been blessed with one of the best districts here in Norway.  I always leave the Brostrom's apartment ready and excited to do missionary work.  I am so thankful for them and for each and everyone of you back home.  keep up the good work and know you are loved.

Love,
Søster Blankmeyer

Relief Society president

From Ålesund To...

Well friends and family, another week has come and gone and so has my opportunity to serve the people here in Ålesund. It's been a quick two transfers but the Lord needs me elsewhere and although it has been and will be really sad to leave the people here in Ålesund, I am excited to see what this next area will bring. I can't wait to learn and grow and do my best to serve the people of Norway!

First and foremost, I need to give a shout out to my wonderful grandparents! Grandma and Grandpa Blankmeyer thank you so much for your wonderful package and for being smarter than me and not sending actual Dr.Pepper from America to Norway. Way to be creative with the Dr.Pepper candy and Jelly Beans though, it was much needed. Also the Oreos and Mac and Cheese were a great addition as well. My companion and future companion have and will enjoy the treats as well. Thanks a ton!

Also Søster Ralphs and I were walking home from picking up your package when we saw this cute couple and the man happened to be wearing a USC hat. I stopped and asked if they were from California and we talked about the wonderful university that is USC, so that was way fun! I even grabbed a picture with them so I could remember that moment. It's always way fun to see Americans here in Norway. By the way, HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! Enjoy the land of the free and home of the brave for me! Eat lots of hot dogs, hamburgers and watermelon and enjoy the fireworks!! 

Søster Ralphs and I were walking home the other day from an appointment when I saw a man with a Texas A&M sweatshirt on (thank goodness for American college apparel). I stopped and asked him if he was from Texas and you will never believe his response! He said that he and his family are from Texas but they just recently moved to... COLORADO! It's exactly like us! It was a crazy coincidence and way fun to talk to a fellow Texan turned Coloradan. (Not sure if that's how they say that down there, but still cool!)  

Our Dutch friends heading back to the Netherlands!

On Thursday and Friday we helped our Dutch friends pack up and head out of this grand old country of Norway! It was fun to switch things up and use that opportunity to serve in a different way than we normally get the opportunity to do as missionaries. This week has actually been a week full of service! We went over to Ben's house on Tuesday with our Dutch friend and we challenged him to perform a small act of service every day this week. We started our service with helping Ben record some gospel rap, so I think pretty soon Søster Ralphs and I will be famous here in Ålesund; Ben is going to make us stars! Just kidding! Anyways, we would call him every night after planning and follow up on his service and we would tell him what service we had done that day as well. It was fun to do a commitment alongside our most recent convert and really have a focus on service this week. I would challenge you all to perform one small act of kindness a day and do it with a friend or family member and share your service stories. It's actually way fun! 

Anyways, on Friday as I was cleaning the windows and doing some final touches at our Dutch friend's house we got a call from President Hill. We occasionally get calls from him, as Ålesund is the most isolated sisters area. It can get quite tough, but this being so close to transfers we were right in assuming there would be some changes made here in Ålesund. Come to find out that there will once again be a trio in Ålesund and Søster Ralphs will be training a new missionary alongside one of her fellow MTC missionaries. This meaning that my time here in Ålesund has come to an end. President didn't clue me in on where I would be headed until yesterday morning during moves call (a big group phone call where they tell us missionaries where everyone is headed for the next six weeks). I will be transferred to......................................................................Asker, Norway!!! 

My new companion will be Søster Petersen and all I really know about her is that she is very sweet and very musically talented, so I'm excited! I have heard nothing but great things about the area and the ward and I am so excited to go and serve the people in Asker and discover more of this amazing country! 

This past Sunday was our fast and testimony meeting as well as my last Sunday here in Ålesund. We were able to invite a lot of our investigators to church so I could say a last goodbye and snap a couple of pictures as well. One of my favorite investigators Denzel (Like Denzel Washington) ended up coming and that was way cool.  

Me and Denzel

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Denzel's hat which says AUSTIN TEXAS!!!  Way to represent!

For those of you that don't know, fast and testimony meeting is a meeting held every first Sunday of the month where members of the congregation have the opportunity to go up and share their testimony. Testimony meeting started and the Spirit was so strong. I got up and bore my testimony on how much I have come to love Ålesund and how much I really will miss it. Of course, there were tears. I sat back down and noticed Denzel had pushed his seat back a little bit. I thought to myself, he's probably trying to find the right moment to leave the meeting early as he continued to stand up and then sit back down. It only occurred to me as he was walking up to the stand that he was trying to go up and bear his testimony. It was so amazing to hear someone you have been teaching the gospel to, go up and talk about how it's changed their lives, even just a little. What an amazing experience. This work really is worth it! 

It has been really hard saying goodbye to the people I have met here in Ålesund though. It's crazy to me how quickly and how profoundly you come to love the people you serve on your mission. I have only been living here in Ålesund for a few months but I have made some of the best friendships I have ever made in my life in this little town. We were talking to our Venezuelan investigator Maria and saying goodbye before I leave and she said some amazing things about moves and transfers and the friendships we have made here in Ålesund. She said that these friendships that we make as missionaries have real substance because we go out and talk to people about Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. You can go and hang out with friends and talk and talk and talk and it mean absolutely nothing because you spent your time talking about hair and clothes and the latest this and that. I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to wear this nametag and go out and talk to people about what has brought me the most joy in my life- and that is Jesus Christ. I am so thankful for this work and for the opportunity that I have to serve here in Norway. I have grown to love the people and the culture and can't wait to see that love grow these next 14 months!  

This is Maria!

Ha Det John og Helene.  Best couple in Norway!

It's a typical Norwegian desert!

Finally found some American soda!

Alright let's end on a funny note today! Earlier this week Søster Ralphs and I were walking around town talking to different people on the street. Søster Ralphs decided to start up a conversation with this guy who ended up being a Muslim from Syria. He didn't seem very interested in our message so we decided to just give him a mormon.org card which has our number on the back just in case they have any questions. The next day we get a phone call from our Syrian friend and says he would like to meet at 6 outside the bus stop. We show up and find a nearby bench and proceed to do our job as missionaries. We started talking to him about Jesus Christ when all of a sudden he pulls out a ring from his pocket and asks, "Is this real gold?" I put my hand out in a cup shape to take it and see when he grabs my hand, flips it over, slides the ring on, and turns to Søster Ralphs who is sitting in the middle of all of this and says, "We are engaged now, right?" I pulled my hand back and took the ring off and told him that I was sorry but I didn't think it was real gold. He took it back and said, "Only real gold is good enough for you my angel," and then chucked it into the water! Pretty funny but probably good that I'm headed out of here! 

Well, I love you all and hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy your 4th of July holiday today! By this time next week I'll be emailing you from the wonderful city of Asker! Keep up the good work and God bless the USA!

Love,

Søster Blankmeyer