First Week In Norway - Nordstrand

Hi Family and Friends!

I have been in Norway for almost a week now! Norway is a dream! It is as beautiful as everyone says. It reminds me a lot of Park City, Utah.  

I am in Nordstrand, which is a suburb of Oslo. We drive into the city of Oslo everyday.They have an young single adult center in Oslo and it is soo amazing because we teach lessons and do missionary work here.

Driving into Oslo - Beautiful

Cutest house in Nordstrand

My companion and trainer is Sister Robbins, from Farmington, UT, and 20 yrs. old. This is her last transfer, so she is leaving in a few weeks. She is a good missionary and really knows how to get the work done here in Norway. Norwegian is hard!

First time eating Brown Cheese

I don't understand anyone and I can barely talk in norsk.. yikes.. That is troubling me the most. 

Backing up to my first day here is Norway,  I didn't get to my companion until Wednesday night, so I just hung out with the Mission President and his wife. They are such nice people! I taught my first lesson in norsk Thursday night, but most of the people we teach are not from Norway. It is a melting pot here. 

We have two progressing investigators from Croatia, so we skype with croatian missionaries. Last night we committed them to a baptismal date and they accepted! They came to church yesterday and another investigator of ours from Poland came to church as well. 

They have me drive here because I don't need a norwegian license for another 3 months. It is crazy! I drive all over Oslo! I drive in the city and in Nordstrand, which is in the trees and mountains. We contact people on the Trikk (like Trax in Utah) and on the streets right in front of the palace of the King and Queen of Norway! It is seriously like a dream! It is definitely the city life here. Kind of reminds me of New York and D.C. Then Nordstrand reminds me of Park City.

Yesterday was my first day at church and it was in norsk.. I understood a couple of words.. I just smile at people and then when they ask me a question I don't understand so I just smile. It is kind of ridiculous. I need help big time! I was saying all the words I learned in the MTC wrong. The norsk they speak here is not what I learned. Haha... 

The people here to like to keep to themselves, but if you do talk to them they are super nice and considerate. 

We went contacting for the first time I spoke in very broken norsk and a person said, you are not from here.. yikes.

I read a scripture today that brought me a lot of peace and comfort. It was 3 Nephi 18:31 "i know my sheep, and they are numbered" I immediately felt God's love. I really needed to read that this morning. I have been feeling very lost in this new country and new language. I must press forward and keep the faith! There are people to meet and find in Norway! 

Thank you to all of those who have written me! I love you all! It truly helps me!

Love,

Søster Allen

Address: 

Breiens Vei 19

1165 Oslo

Norway

First P-day

Safe & Sound

Flying to London

Dear Parents

Your missionaries arrived last evening.  Everyone is in good health and good spirits.  We have attached a picture for proof!  We look forward to serving with them.  Here are the assignments (name in brackets is companion):

Allen:  Oslo (Robbins)

Horner:  Stavanger (Heywood) 

Smith:  Drammen (Hoggard)

Ulrich:  Skien (Boud)

Crump:  Oslo (Forsburg)

Daly:  Alta (Abril)

Johnnson:  Tromso (Tate)

Kemp:  Fredrikstad (Crook)

Potter:  Kristiansand (Drage)

You should be receiving an email from then on Monday.

Sincerely

President and Sister Evans

And She's Off

And She's off.... 

Jess leaveTexas at 8:45 pm today. 

She's headed to Norway!

I am all ready to go! :) 

I am so exctied, but sad to leave Texas. 

I truly am blessed to have met the people I have met here in Texas. I will never forget it. 

This our Finnish little boyfriend. The cutest kid!

Me and sister Thornton with mustaches. obviously. 

This is our investigator Stacy! 

I am going to miss him. 

I told him I was leaving at this lesson and he said, 

"What are we going to do without Sister Allen?" 

Most humble and submissive man!

This is my Cecily! 

I love her soo much and I am going to miss her. 

She gave me her favorite teddy bear to remember her by. ;)

Booney! Ah Booney. 

He is so awesome and one of our recent converts! 

We made me a wooden carved shape of Texas.

Chris and Rose! 

Love them! 

Chris has been reactivated into the church! 

He is so solid. 

So happy for him and and his new sweet family!

Niki! 

Niki, feeds us every week! 

She is the greatest! 

She served a mission in England!

Here are some of our other investigators... just kidding.. 

Elder Dean and Elder Dillon. 

Such great missionaries! 

I will miss them. 

They served in the Humble ward with us.

I will probably miss this lady and her husband the most. 

My mama Elzinga.:) 

She and her husband are the NICEST people I have ever met. 

They LOVE missionaries and they have truly changed my life. 

I understand charity better because of them. 

Sister Elzinga and companions

I had an amazing last week in T.H.E. Mission :)  I got a blessing last week and in the blessing the Elder said that I would experience miracles my last week in Humble, Texas! Wow, that blessing sure came true!

We got a new investigator on Monday and he is really promising. He feels that the lesson on the Restoration is just what he needed in his life at this time. :)

As a zone we had a goal to flood Kingwood with Book of Mormons this week. Our companionship handed out 21 BOMS! Miracle! We accomplished our goal and so many miracles were involved in handed them out. I prayed at the beginning of the week for the confidence to  contact and hand our BOMs. God truly answered my prayer because I am was able to do it with power and authority.

We had an amazing Hour of Power Thursday night. We prayed that we would be able to pass out 6 BOMS that night.. and we did! With doing that we taught 5 lessons and got 3 return appointments. We taught this teenage boy who is agnostic and had never really thought about religion or God much. He was truly touched by our message. I encouraged him to pray to his Heavenly Father and include God in his life. I told him that God loved him and that he is a child of God. I bore testimony of the BOM and told him that this book changes lives. He was so happy we came by to give him a BOM.

We taught another young women about the BOM and she was truly touched by our message as well. This scripture came to life for me while talking to her: 1 Nephi 4:6 "And I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do." I was talking to her and started asking her a question. I didn't know the question I was going to ask her and I was totally led by the spirit. I asked, "Have you ever wondered what the purpose of life is?" She said, Yes I want to know!  It was so amazing to experience that.

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day! We gave out Jesus cards and said Happy Valentines day to everyone. haha There was a lot of love in the air..

Yesterday was my last Sunday at the Humble Ward and it topped off the week with a cherry on top... our investigator that we have been working with all transfer came to church!! 3 of our less actives came as well! It was such a bitter sweet day. We said our goodbyes to everyone.

What I have learned in Texas about missionary work is if we truly put the Lord first and have charity for others we cannot fail. The Lord blesses us and love is reciprocated. I am so grateful to be able to be a representative of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know He lives and I see His hand in my life and in the life of others. This gospel is true! It has been restored in its fullness. We truly have to show our obedience and appreciation for our Master. He suffered for us because He loves us. We are here on earth to learn and grow, so we can be more prepared for the life to come. Love the Savior, Love the Gospel, Love Each Other!

I love you!
Love,
Sister Allen

Twins

I WILL BE LEAVING FOR NORWAY 

NEXT MONDAY!

Me and Sister Casas went on exchanges this week and we were wearing the same thing! 

haha it was the cutest and NOT planned!

This is me and Sister Thornton at zone training. 

The zone leaders and the STL dressed up as book of mormon characters. 

Hour of Power

I just found out..

 I will be leaving for Norway Februray 16th!!! 

Wahoo! I am sooo thrilled!!! :):):):):)

Funny stories for the week:
We went to lunch with an investigator who is from Slovakia and afterwards he asked us if we could go to the movies sometime. haha I thought it was hilarious.

Hour of Power:
We have hour of power every Thursday, which means that the church presidency prays for the missionaries in the temple at 6:00pm and that means that missionaries pray for a miracle.

We saw this guy and girl sitting on blanket outside of their house and they called out to us and said: 

"Hi!" (people are very friendly here in Texas).

We went over to them and told them that we were missionaries. They said, "you are mormons, right?" (it was so nice to hear that because everyone else thinks we are Jehovah witnesses). 

So we taught them the Plan of Salvation.. by the way they are smoking during this lesson.. and all of sudden the girl says, "I haven't been baptized yet, but I would like to be."  The best part was what the guy said afterwards (said like a black guy would say) he said, "Well, you have got to change your life and repent!" (while smoking) It was so funny. Anyway, it was a fun hour of power miracle.

We got in with a lot of less actives again and we had some awesome lessons with them. :) We had two less actives show up to church on Sunday. It was soo great!

The sad part about the week is that we had to drop an investigator. She wasn't progressing and wanting to make changes. It broke my heart, but we left on very good terms.

Things are going great! I love my companions and I love Texas, but I am ready to go to the mission I was called to. :)

Have a good week!
Love you!
-Sister Allen

We went to lunch together after district meeting. So fun!