Soster Blankmeyer: Reunited and it Feels so Good!

I apologize in advance for that cheesy title. Alright so hopefully some of my 17th of May pictures made it onto the blog but if not I was told Snapchat did a nice little story of the event so hopefully you all tuned in! Lol! That was such a fun day to be serving here in Norway! We were able to attend the parade and see everone in their traditional clothing! We were able to go to a member's house after the parade and watch Brother Bear and Puss in Boots as well. Great movies. It was such a fun and relaxed day and I can't wait for next year when I get to experience it all over again.

MTC companions reunion

classic selfie with Hutchings!

This week has been such a blast. Not only have we hit week 6 of my first transfer, but this was the week of my mini MTC reunion. On Wednesday of this week Søster Bender and I packed up and headed to the Ålesund airport. After a short 40 minutes we arrived in the amazing Oslo airport. The last time I was in that airport I was split up from my first companion, Søster Dransfield, and was on my way to my first area in the country- Ålesund! It was crazy to step foot in the Oslo airport again and brought back a flood of memories which only got me more pumped for the days to come. We grabbed our luggage and headed to the train that would take us to the mission home, or rather the APs who would then take us to the mission home. Søster Bender and I were the first to arrive and were taken to the mission home to wait for the others. Eventually, one by one, my MTC group and their trainers began to arrive. What a cool experience. It was so awesome to not only see my friends and catch up on the past six weeks but see how much we all have grown. We all had the same personalities and for the most part looked the same (with the exception of a haircut which Søster Dransfield may or may not regret) but we all had grown so much spiritually. It's crazy what the mission will do to you and your testimony of this gospel if you just let the Spirit work on you and let these people and these experiences change your life.

selfie pics with the people.

Everything is turning so green from the snow melt and rain. Stunning!

beautiful city!

We were able to learn a lot during this conference as well. We were taught from President and Sister Hill and our APs. The Spirit of the conference was so strong and helped me to expand my knowledge of this gospel and how to be a more successful missionary. One of my favorite parts of the conference was actually focused on Family History work. Our mission has been trying to incorporate family history work more and more and I have really grown to appreciate learning about my family history and getting that time to focus on the importance of families. It is way easy to use family history work as a missionary tool and I'm so excited to put that to use this upcoming week here in Ålesund. With this emphasis on family history work is also an added emphasis on temples and the work which we perform there. Unfortunately, Norway does not have a temple of their own at this point in time but for those of you nearby a temple I would plead with you to attend the temple. Elder Russell M. Nelson has said, " if families were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth would be utterly wasted." He goes on to say, "The purposes of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement all converge on the sacred work done in temples" that is a bold statement. This really put the importance of family history and temple work into perspective for me. For those of you reading who are able to attend the temple I would challenge you to attend the temple at least one time before the end of the month. For those of you not able to attend the temple, I would challenge you to research your family hstory. Find out where your family is from, find out what they were like or read some stories about your ancestors. I know this will bring you closer to your family and also closer to your Father in Heaven as you come to realize that families are a central part to His plan and that our families really are a blessing from God.

The conference was a strong testimony builder for me and it was such an enjoyable time to catch up with old friends and make some new friends as well. I hope you all have a fantastic week and know I love you all so much. Thanks for all you do!

Love,

Søster Blankmeyer