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

A Time to Remember Ruth

After a long and hard day of missionary work, Søster Love and I headed home. It was Friday, October 21, a day I will never forget. We had missed a call from President Hill and Søster Love was in the process of calling him back. He told Søster Love that he needed to talk to me and thats when he told me that my 101 year old great grandmother Ruth had just passed away in her sleep. Even though it shouldn't have, the news came as some sort of a shock to me. I wasn't really sure how to take that. I spent the rest of that night writing in my journal and honestly in deep prayer with my Father in Heaven. I needed to be okay, I needed to be able to wake up the next morning and have enough strength and energy to do a previously planned service project at 8:30am. I needed to get up and get going and keep going until the day was over and until I had served those people who relied on my strength. I needed help and that's exactly what I received. I've seen this many times on my mission, with myself and with my fellow missionaries, where we may feel either mentally, physically, or (in this case) emotionally drained, where we feel like we can't take one more step.  I can't continue on with this grueling fight against Satan. It's times like these where I am reminded of the scripture in Matthew 11:28 which reads, "come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. "

After receiving the news about my great grandmother's passing, all I wanted was to be surrounded by my family. To give my mom a hug and to talk with her, and yet here I was thousands of miles away from them.  But, I was not alone. My Father in Heaven and his son Jesus Christ were there for me. They took me in with open arms and much like the Scripture in Matthew, they were inviting me to come unto them. To find divine peace and rest in them. I've been a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints for a little over seven months now and my relationship with my Father in Heaven has never been stronger. I've learned to rely on him, to find refuge in him. All he asked is for us to come unto him and he has promised us that if we do that, He will give us rest. I can testify of the truthfulness of that promise. I was able to find rest. 

Me, Great-Grandma Ruth and Grandpa Dee

I was able to take a step back and take that time to remember Ruth. I was able to remember all the wisdom and knowledge I have gained from her. I was able to remember her kindness and love towards me and others. I was able to remember her truly incredible testimony and the strong spirit that she had with her. I was able to remember her sense of humor, along with her other characteristics and talents. I was even able to remember the many time she would beat me in a game of Skip Bo or phaze 10. She truly was an incredible woman and I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I had to get to know my great grandmother. I recognize that it it was truly a blessing for me to get that opportunity to know her and to learn from her. I will never forget her. The earth has lost another wonderful woman, but heaven has truly gained an angel. I'm so grateful for that knowledge. After getting The news, I began to think back on my last interaction with my great grandmother. I started to ask myself, did I give her a good enough hug? Did I take our time together for granted? Did I let her know that I love her, it's hard leaving your family for 18 months, but almost always you get a chance to come home and see them again.  In this case I won't be coming home to great grandmother Ruth.  Many have pointed out to me, she's here with me now. She's a lot closer to me now than she was before and I can feels of her loving spirit with me here in Norway.  I'm really grateful for that. I'm grateful that I know exactly where she is and I'll see her again. It may not be in 11 months when I come back home, but I'll see her again. I'm truly grateful for that knowledge and for this opportunity that I have to share that knowledge with the people here in Norway. 

I'm so glad that I came to help Norwegians come closer to Christ and Heavenly Father.  To help them find that rest, that refuge. Life is perfect for none of us. We all need that peace, that joy, that only the Savior can bring. We can help by serving and loving one another along the way. Last night we were at a members house sharing a message with them and before we left we had decided to share the Mormon message entitled "lift"

 them, which I would invite you all to see. It tells the story of this woman Kathy who, due to illness, is not able to get herself in bed at night. Members of the church, as well as some of her neighbors, got together and set up a schedule where every night they would come to lift her into bed. In the Mormon message, one of the men who had helped to lift her into bed says, "it's interesting, the dichotomy between healing the body and healing the soul. When we heal the body, it's always an inward effort. We're always paying attention to ourselves. When we heal the soul, turning inward doesn't work. And the triage of the soul is found in turning outward to other people. Every time I've gone to Kathy's home and dealt with her, it feels like it heals a part of my soul."  

I just thought that was absolutely perfect. Being able to go out every day and serve the people here in Norway has help to heal my soul. I would invite you all to take a second this week and watch "LIFT" and then find a way to go out and serve someone in need. Not only will it help them, but it will help you as well. I would just like to end by saying how grateful I am for this gospel and for the opportunities and challenges I have been given in this life to help me draw closer to my Father in Heaven. I'm grateful for my great grandmother Ruth and for the light that she was. I'm grateful that I willl be able to see her again someday. But, until that time...

Gud vær med deg til vi ses igjen!

Love,

Søster Blankmeyer

Contacting, Klems (hugs), Conversion stories and Koselige Fests!

Once again, it's been quite the week for Søster Love and I here in Asker. We started out the week by teaching a family home evening lesson to a family in the ward here. They are one of my absolute favorite's. I love when you can walk into a home and just feel of the love that the family members have for one another. Whenever I walk into this family's home, I feel just that, as well as the spirit that abides there. It's so refreshing to spend time with this family. It was such a fun night for Søster Love and I to get to spend time with a family that is so welcoming and kind to us seeing as we are very far away from our own families. We were able to teach the children exactly what it is like to be a missionary and then we had them all try and be a missionary. It was so fun and the kids were naturals. It was so awesome! It actually wasn't our original plan to teach that lesson but we got there and one of the kids was expressing his worries about his future mission. So we decided to switch it up and man was that lesson just so cool! I loved it! We also got to play the game "Sorry" and even speak a little English afterwards which is always fun. Also this family is BYU cougar fans seeing as the parents attended the wonderful university so needless to say they are just the best.

Family Home Evening

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 We also got to meet with another American from our ward this past week and that was way fun as well. She is from Arizona and is actually in the motherland as we speak. She was kind enough to give us all of her Mac and Cheese before she left and even offered to bring us back something from the U.S. of A.  Thats what I like to call a tender mercy.  She really is such an incredible person and it was a blast for Soster Love and I to get to know her better and to talk with a fellow American. I hope she is enjoying her sonic Dr Pepper drink right now and just living up that American life.

On Wednesday Søster Love and I hit the streets and tried to talk to as many people as we possibly could, but before we did that we got a phone call from Søster Brostrom from the office reminding us to keep checking for mail at our old place. Being the responsible Sister Missionaries that we are, we headed straight to our old apartment and you all would never guess what we found in our mailbox! My dad's conversion story! How cool is that? I was able to read all about how my own father was able to come unto the knowledge of the gospel and eventually be baptized. It was definitely a tender moment for me and I can't wait to be able to share his experience with others here in Norway. It was absolutely perfect and I just want to take this time to give my dad a major shout out for taking the time to write that out for me and for the people here in Norway that will really benefit from hearing your experience. This is something I will definitely never forget and that letter has become one of my most prized possessions out here on my mission so thanks again for that! I would just like to share a little bit of his testimony with you all when he says, "sometimes I am asked about my joining the church or faith. I hope others can realize the true happiness the gospel of Jesus Christ brings in my life every day. While I still have good days and not so good days, I will never deny the blessings of happiness I receive every day from my Heavenly Father. I never really knew "happiness" prior to becoming baptized although, I thought I did. My happiness now is significant as it provides me joy and peace in my life. It guides me in my decisions. My life has never been the same since I joined the faith; my only regret is I didn't join the faith sooner."  Wow there is an anything quite like reading your parents conversion story or testimony. I'm on cloud nine right now. I was also on cloud nine right after reading it for the first time and was ready to go and bring that joy and peace that my dad was talking about to everyone here in Norway. 

Soster Love and I headed out to the Sandvika city center and began to talk to everyone that would listen about the gospel. We once again had the "Nei takks" (no thanks) and even got a new one when some lady said, "Jeg ikke bo her!" That didn't stop us though because we know just how important the message we are bringing is. We were able to stop a few people and had some really cool gospel conversations. After talking with this one man for a little bit he announced, "KLEM!" and went in for a hug. I think he was just happy to have someone actually listen to him and give him the time of day. We were able to share what we believe and share the joy that this gospel brings. 

To end off our week, we were able to attend the ward party. There was music, food, dancing and friends.  Man was it such a blast. I'm so glad that we were able to go. It was also quite a hoot to see Norwegian's throwing down some cha-cha-cha and country line dancing. Not quite like the stuff in Texas, but still such a good and uplifting time. I hope and pray you all have a wonderful week and know that I love you all.   The quote of the week; #IKKESTRESS

KLEM,

Soster Blankmeyer

Our new apartment

Classic middle school selfie!

A week of Repentance and Conversion

Just me and Bond the Norwegian forest cat

To begin the blog post this week, I would like to share with you all a wonderful Norwegian word that will be the focus of this weeks entry. The word is omvendelse and this word can be used two different ways. Omvendelse means repentance, but it also means conversion. I think that it is truly beautiful. I think it's beautiful because both words are dependent on one another. You can't be truly converted if you haven't truly repented and you won't have the desire to repent if you don't have the desire to be converted. You really can't have one without the other. It just doesn't work. 

This past weekend Søster Love and I had the opportunity to drive out to Drammen to go and hear her grandfather give his first talk in church. It was stake conference so there were people from all over Norway and they had asked him to tell his conversion story to the Gospel. He got up there and told everyone how he, after many years, had come to be baptized and converted to this gospel. He talked about his journey and his experiences that eventually brought him to baptism and his strength and his testimony along the way. It was incredible and you could just tell how happy he was to now have the entirety of the gospel in his life and to be able to share his story with others. 

The stake presidency had also asked another recent convert to share her story with the congregation and you'll never guess who that was. It was none other then Alida from Ålesund! 

Alida and her mother had driven the nine hour car ride from Ålesund to Drammen so that Alida could share her amazing conversion story with us. With just a few notes and one or two scripture verses, Alida got up and shared her amazing testimony which brought the spirit so strong. She shared with us how she had grown up in a non-Christian household and how what she was trying to find direction in her life. Much like Joseph Smith, she decided to get down on her knees and pray for help. She said, "God if you are really there, please help me." She got the impression to research a little bit more about the Mormons she ended up on LDS.org, the church website, and began to read and read and read. To make a long story short, she eventually got in contact with the missionaries serving in Ålesund and they were able to teach her about the Book of Mormon and the gospel. Shortly after, Alida was baptized in one of Norways most stunning fjords. Alida is one of the most amazing people I have met during my stay in Norway and I am so beyond grateful for her. At the end of her talk she was able to share a scripture with us from Doctrine and Covenants section 18 verses 14 through 16. I would like to quote it in Norwegian first. It reads,   

14  Derfor er dere kalt til å rope omvendelse til dette folk. 

15  Og om så skjer at dere skulle arbeide alle deres dager med å rope omvendelse til dette folk og bare bringer én sjel til meg, hvor stor skal ikke deres glede være med ham i min Faders rike! 

16  Og nå, hvis deres glede vil bli stor med én sjel som dere har bragt til meg i min Faders rike, hvor stor skal ikke deres glede bli om dere skulle bringe mange sjeler til meg!

In English it reads, 

14 Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.
15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!       
16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!

I thought this scripture was perfect and I specially love it in Norwegian with the double meaning of omvendelse. 

As a missionary in Norway I'm here to cry conversion and repentance, both of which lead to a change in heart. In preach my gospel we read, "our faith in Christ and our love for Him leads us to repent, or to change our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are not in harmony with His will."  The key word there being changed. Elder M. Russell Ballard once said, "True conversion comes through the power of the Spirit. When the spirit touches the heart, hearts are changed."  In both cases, there was a change occurring. A change for the better. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that we have to change, to try and Be better, to try and Do better. In a talk that my amazing brother recently gave on repentance he shared a story from President Thomas S. Monson about a woman and her husband that strayed from the path. He quotes the woman and she says, “How does someone go from being one of the lost sheep and gripped by [sin], to this peace and happiness we now feel? How does that happen? The answer … is because of a perfect gospel, a perfect Son and His sacrifice for me. … Where there was darkness, there is now light. Where there was despair and pain, there is joy and hope." We have been infinitely blessed by the change that can only come through repentance. (I would add conversion) How amazing is it that we have the opportunity to continually repent and continually strengthen our conversion that brings us that joy, that hope.  

I would like to end by quoting my brother when he said, "Throughout our lives we will need to nurture strong testimonies by studying the scriptures and by praying and by pondering the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When firmly planted, our testimony of the gospel, of the Savior, and of our Heavenly Father will influence all that we do."  I would invite you all to do just that.  Study the scriptures, pray, ponder the different aspects of the gospel and then let that testimony that you gain influence all that you do. Share that testimony through your actions so that others can see the joy it has brought to you. Lastly, never forget omvendelse. Our heavenly father has blessed us with the opportunity to change, let us take advantage of that. I love you all and I love this gospel.

Until next time, 

Søster Blankmeyer