Velkommen to Kristiansand

Saying goodbye to one of my favorite Norwegian Forest cats

Wow! Det har vært en uke! My first few days here in Kristiansand have been quite crazy, but they have been a blast as well. I am really excited to be able to serve in this area with Søster Davis and help Heavenly Father's children here in Kristiansand come closer to Him as well as his son, Jesus Christ. Before I give you all the lowdown of the week I just wanted to wish my cat Molly a happy 12th birthday! (Yes, I know I'm a bit crazy) 

Happy Birthday Molly!

Anyways, so Monday and Tuesday were full of goodbyes and packing down in Asker. Monday night, we were able to have a delicious meal with the Elder's landlord. They are really amazing people and are also the owners of my two favorite Norwegian Forest cats in the Asker Sandvika area, Hunter and Bond. We ended up having a very nice meal and then I was able to go hold and pet the cats (dream come true!) before heading off to President and Sister Hill's house. 

We arrive to the Mission home safely where Sister Hill had made an amazing dessert for us and we all just sat around the kitchen table and talked. It was perfect. Man do I just love President and Sister Hill! It's going to be hard not living just a 15 minute drive away but it's OK because I know how to use the phone down here in Kristiansand. 

Tuesday was truly a day of goodbyes with members, investigators, and the good ol' district. One of our investigators lives in this beautiful town called Bærums Verk which has an adorable history site of the old town. We went over to her house to say goodbye and next thing we know she's giving us the grand tour of the old Bærens Verk. Some of the houses have been there since the 1700s and almost all of them have been transformed into tourist and shopping stores. Talk about incredible. The views in the little houses are beautiful and if I had been alive in the 1700s I think Bærms Verk, Norway would have been a beautiful place to live. 

Tuesday night was spent with Søster Love and the Elders who would also be helping me out with luggage and travel Wednesday morning I would be traveling here to Kristiansand alone via a four hour train ride. The train ride was just stunning and I probably took way too many pictures but Norway is just a breath taking country. After four hours on the train I finally made it safe and sound to Kristiansand. Søster Davis was at the train station ready to pick me up and get going. Let me tell you all a little bit about Søster Davis, at least a few things that I know after being her companion for a few days now. She is from Holiday, Utah and is the fifth child of eight children. She studied for a year at the University of Utah before coming to Norway to serve a mission. Søster Davis is really amazing at dance and did ballet for a good portion of her high school career. Her dream is to one day become a high school math teacher and help those highschooler's not only pass math class, but actually understand it too. She really loves teaching which makes her such a solid missionary. I have seen in just a few days that I've served with her how her passion for teaching drives her. Søster Davis is a really hard worker. It's really amazing to see where she has come just after a short 12 weeks and I'm really excited to get to serve with her here in Kristiansand. I arrived in Kristiansand at 4:00 PM on Wednesday. Søster Davis and Elder Torgeson, one of the senior couples here in Kristiansand were at the train station to pick me up and drive me and all my bags to my new home. Søster Davis gave me the grand tour and then said she could make us dinner while I unpacked a little bit. 

We didn't make it too far before I was asking Søster Davis a million questions about the area: How many investigators do we have? What are their names? What are their stories? How are the members here? Who's in the ward? What is it like serving in Kristiansand? What do you normally do? Poor Søster Davis was being hit with question after question. It's a good thing she likes to teach. After I had taken in all the information she had just given me, and I began to unpack a little bit. Søster Davis was able to make some dinner after about an hour.  

We were off and we only had an hour or two left until we had to be back home and so we decided to hit the streets and see if anyone was interested in our message. I'll never forget the first man I talked to in Kristiansand. I had been told a little bit about the Kristiansand dialect but not much. It's safe to say I wasn't really prepared. My very first area in Norway, Ålesund, had some of the northern dialect influence and then I was sent to Asker where they spoke the same Norwegian that we had learned in the Missionary Training Center. Now I was here in the deep South with a completely southern dialect. With Denmark only being a three hour boat ride away the Norwegians here have more of a Danish sound to their Norwegian, not to mention the first talk I heard in church here was given in danish. It took a little getting used to but I think I've got the hang of it now, for the most part. 

Thursday was another day full of contacting and I have literally never talked so much my entire mission. I've actually been really blessed to have a car not only in Ålesund but in Asker as well but here in Kristiansand we walk and take the bus. We walked all over town and Søster Davis was even kind enough to show me an adorable little place in Kristiansand that I quickly snapped a few pictures of. 

Glass Artist

Friday we had district meeting in the one and only Arendal! Just like the city in Disney's Frozen! It was gorgeous and district meeting was a blast. The district consists of the Arendal Elders as well as the Kristiansand Elders and Søsters. Our district leaders got to Arendal the same day I got to Kristiansand his name is Elder McIntyre and he is companions with Elder Hadley. Then we have the Kristiansand Elders which consist of Elder Stephen and he is now training Elder Rogers who is now on his fifth day in Norway. 

The district is pretty cool and district meeting was a blast. We also had Institute on Friday night with all the young single adults. Where we learned more about the temple it was awesome. We have some really fun young single adults here the highlight of Saturday was dinner with a member and almost missing our bus twice and hearing Elder Rogers scream, "I am wearing leather shoes!" as we ran through the snow and mud to catch them. Sunday was great getting to meet some of the members here was such fun and Elder Rogers and I were able to share our testimonies as well. I know he was totally nervous but for being in Norway for four days, he did a solid job. We then had dinner at the institute teacher and his wife's house which was a blast and then headed over to teach with a couple of our investigators. 

All in all it was a pretty hectic but fun week and I'm excited to see what my time here in Kristiansand will bring. I love missionary work! Så strålende Kallet mitter!

Klem, 
Søster Blankmeyer 

Snowy with the Chance of Transfers

Let me just start out by saying that Norway is beautiful and especially when it's been sprinkled with snow. This past Friday night to Saturday morning Asker got hit with tons of snow and everything has been magical since then. Sunday morning, as in yesterday, we had our moves called to see where everyone will be spending their next five weeks (if not more). Of course Søster Love and I knew this was coming up but we had absolutely no idea which one of us would be moving. We decided to make a list of all the people we would want to say goodbye to and then started making some phone calls. We were able to set up appointments with almost everyone and so the crazy, hectic, possible last week in Asker began. 

8 months to go

Monday night we were able to go to a Halloween dinner with a family in the ward that all four of us Missionaries (Sandvika Elders and Asker Sisters) have gotten really close to. It's really just a blast to go and visit this family and a Halloween dinner was absolutely perfect. Tuesday we were able to visit the African couple in the ward. The wife reminds me a lot of Ben from Ålesund and also shares his love for music. It's really cool. The wife was able to teach us Missionaries how to sing "Nearer my God to Thee" in her native language of Rwandic. It was a really awesome experience and if I haven't mentioned it yet, I'm a really big fan of the African culture. 

Sandvika Elders and Asker Sisters

Vilmeia

From there, Søster Love and I went to go and visit our convert Andrea. Like I said in last weeks blog, Andrea is really incredible. She understands so much about her Father in Heaven and she's another one of those people that I just learned so much from. I was able to cuddle with one of her cats while teaching her the restoration again and I was definitely in missionary heaven after that. 

Ana

Claudia and her mom

Cora

Cutie Alexander

Wednesday we went to go and say goodbye to one of our investigators named Vigdis. She is truly incredible as well and has been another mother figure just lost her love and I hear. She didn't want to say goodbye just yet so we are actually going to visit her this upcoming Tuesday as well. After Vigdis, we came back to the church to practice a musical number with the elders that we would be singing for our good friend Mariam's funeral that Friday. Once we were done with that we met up with another one of our investigators and played some Mormon jeopardy to test his knowledge. Man was he smart! Granted he has been investigating the church for the past 10 years, but he really does understand the doctrine. 

Martha

Thursday we went and said goodbye to the AMAZING Martha. Martha is a member in the ward here that organizes the missionary meals on top of feeding us and inviting us over to her home a few times a month. I have really grown to love this lady and so saying goodbye to her was a hard one for me. We also were able to go and have dinner with the first counselor in the bishopric here and his wife. They are really wonderful as well. The husband served his mission in Dallas Texas so he is already awesome and his wife is one of the strongest human beings I've met here in Norway. It was really a hoot to get to talk some Texas and hang out with the fun couple. 

Texas Magnus

Finally we are onto Friday and we start the day off by attending Mariam's funeral. Let me just take a second to tell you all about Mariam  We were able to visit with Mariam about once a week so we got to know her really well. Mariam quickly became one of four best friends out here and is the primary reason that Søster Pederson, Søster Love, and I are able to knit. She was only 46 years old but I know she's in a better place now. She is sharing her beautiful smile and her amazing strength with others now and that gives me peace to know. At the end of the funeral as they drove Mariam away it began to snow. It was perfect. 

Søster Pederson

The rest of our day we had planned to take the hour and a half drive to Hønefoss and say goodbye to the faithful members there. We said goodbye to the Pedersons and then to another one of my best friends in the ward, Liv. She's a hoot let me tell you all! For 80 years old she's got more energy than I do and always leaves us with a good laugh. She calls me Søster Abigail and we've become good friends. I am really thankful for Liv. After Liv, the snow started to pick up and we still had to drive over an hour to our next dinner appointment with our summer tires. Thankfully Søster Love is a born and raised Utahn and was able to drive us through the blizzard to our next appointment. 

Liv

The next appointment was with the lady in the ward that calls me Søster Shakira and also is best friends with Andrea. Andrea and Vilmeia are such a blast. We always have tons of fun with them. We were able to make it back home safe and sound and woke up Saturday morning to tons of snow. The Brostrom's called us up in the middle of studies and said they would change our summer tires for us if we drove over to the Mission home. While Elder Brostrom changed our tires, Søster Love and I shoveled President and Sister Hill's driveway and had a blast taking some snow selfies. 

Søster Brostrom

For the rest of our Saturday we went and said goodbye to the family we shared Halloween with and also another one of my favorite families in the ward. My wonderful mother had sent me a package this past week which also included some Tootsie Roll's to share with this last family we were going to say goodbye to before actually finding out which one of us was leaving. Man I just love this family they are just so much fun and both parents attended BYU so the whole family are big cougar fans which is fantastic. They were definitely very hard to say goodbye to. 

Me and my fellow cougar fans with american tootsie rolls

Sunday morning at 7 AM, after saying goodbye to everyone already we finally found out that ...Søster Blankmeyer will be heading to Kristiansand! How exciting! As pumped as I was to hear the news it's always hard for me to say goodbye, so we got to church and the tears just started flowing. There are so many wonderful people here and I will miss them all dearly. I am so beyond grateful for the opportunity that I have had to serve here in the Asker area and for all the wonderful and fun memories that Søster Love and I have had together. These past 18 weeks have been quite the roller coaster but, I wouldn't change any of it for the world. I'm excited to see what the next transfer will bring and I'm really excited to meet and serve the people in Kristiansand. I hope you all have a wonderful week and iykke til med alt!

Søster Blankmeyer

PS. Special shoutout to Grandma and Grandpa Conger for the beautiful card. I love you!

Rainbow after the Storm

Miracles happen! This week Søster Love and I were able to be a part of the wonderful Andrea Sathler's baptism..definitely the highlight of the week.  But, many wonderful things happened earlier this week that I would like to share as well.

This past Tuesday and Wednesday all of the Søsters in Norway Oslo mission were brought together for an absolutely fantastic sisters conference.  President Hill kept joking that it was girls camp all over again, and in a way it did feel like girls camp, but so much better! First of all, I was able to be reunited with my amazing MTC group. The girls I started this journey with Søster Dransfield, Søster Hess, and Søster Hutchins. Man am I grateful for them. They have become my Little family away from home. I was truly blessed with each and everyone of them. Love you sisters! This mission really has been blessed with some amazing sisters. It was cool to see each and everyone of them and just think of the difference they are making in this country, Søster Hill included. Sister Hill put together sisters conference for us which just shows how incredible she is. Sister Hill really is the best and has been there for me through the good and bad days. She was able to share, at Sister conference, in her opening talk an experience that we shared together and it was really touching to hear how that made an impact on her life. Norway is lucky to have her as well as all of the other absolutely amazing Sister Missionaries.  A lot of sisters conference was listening to talks and presentations given by the senior sisters and sisters living here in Norway.  All of which, I believe served missions and are strong, faithful members of the church today. Man it was just incredible. I was able to learn so much from every single person. Sister Hill really found some outstanding speakers for us. I was absolutely blown away by the knowledge and spirit that they brought to us. It's really just indescribable. Norway is full of some smart and strong women. I hope to be as learned and wise as they are one day. We were able to learn so much. We were taught how to be more successful Missionaries, how to get along with companions, how to work through the hard times, how to cook, how to exercise, how important it is not to compare ourselves with others, amongst many other important mission, but also life, lessons. I am really grateful for the opportunity that all of us sisters Missionaries had to go and be a part of that wonderful conference. Pretty soon the best girls camp was over and we were all headed back to our areas.

The Elders bought us Dr Pepper and Mac and Cheese to help with the stress.

Here Søster Love and I were at the conference until Wednesday night, knowing that there was a solid chance of a baptism on Saturday and STL's (trainers) coming for Wednesday night through Thursday. Talk about hectic. We keep looking back on this past week and we honestly are not sure how we ended up getting everything done. Like I really don't know how the missionaries in Mexico handle approximately 50 baptisms a week.

We met with Andrea every day from Wednesday up to her baptismal day.  We taught her all of the lessons while planning her baptismal service simultaneously.  Thank goodness that she was such a prepared person. We would go into teach her a lesson and she would already know exactly what we were going to say about it. That made teaching her really easy and having her baptism on Saturday possible. It's interesting to think back on Andrea's teaching experience and the miracle that it was.   Seeing as, many people were telling us to push her baptism to the following Saturday. Of course we gave her the option, but Andrea was ready to be baptized.  And so we did everything in our power to make it happen and make it the best experience for her. We scheduled the time, called all the ward members, schedule talks and a musical number, got a member of the bishopric to be present. We made the program, figured out how to get the Kristiansund Elders Skype in, wrote our talk, got a gift for Andrea and somehow got every thing done in just a couple of days. It was truly a miracle, but it all came together and ended up being an amazing day. Andrea was glowing when she showed up at the church for her baptism. She kept telling us this was one of her most favorite days of her life and how she was excited to begin her new life.  After taking a few pictures, we helped Andrea get going and in her baptismal jumpsuit. We took a couple of pictures of her and Elder Sanchez who would be baptizing her and then we headed in to the chapel to begin the program. We sang "Kom na all, store, små " which talks about coming into the waters of baptism. After Søster Love gave the prayer she and I were able to give a 5 minute talk on baptism and then Elder Sanchez and Elder Applegate gave a beautiful musical number where Elder Applegate was able to sing in Portuguese for her. It brought her to tears.  Then it was time for the baptism. Søster Love and I lead her to the bathroom and she just broke down and told us how happy she was right then. Next we led her to the font.

Andrea's baptism and the preparation had been a bit hectic, but the spirit and peace that was in the room during her baptism was just perfect. You could tell that she knew what she was doing and what it meant and that alone brought such a strong spirit. I'm so grateful for the chance that I had to serve here in Asker and Andrea coming to Christ. It's days like those, moments like those, that makes all the hard days worth it. After a tough week last week, I was truly able to see the rainbow after the storm. Andrea's baptism will be something I will never forget. Being a missionary here in Norway has been one of the most for filling experiences I have had. Thank you all for all the support. Shout out to grandma and grandpa Blankmeyer, Sabrina, and Rebecca Dover for the sweet cards as well.  Love you all!

Søster Blankmeyer