I Cried Like a Mom.

Dragi Drago got baptized on Saturday! It was such a good day!! Ah the spirit was so strong and 4 different languages were spoken at his baptism. We had the meeting conducted in English, we had a talk on baptism given by a member in Croatia via skype (the whole ward in Croatia skyped in!!), I sang, "I Need Thee Every Hour," the baptism prayer was given in Russian, and a lady spoke on the Gift of the Holy Ghost in Russian. We had a testimony meeting too and so of course some Norwegian was spoken. It was an amazing experience and Drago is soo happy! He was confirmed yesterday in church. What a guy! I cried like a mom.

Our investigator, Leif, came to the baptism and church! He is the best! He texts us all the time to tell us about daylight savings, and tells us to have a good weekend. Such a hyggelig man! 

We had a huge blizzard on Thursday! It was nuts! We had to take the Trykk(train) and it took 2 hours to get to the center when it normally takes 30 minutes! It was fun, though! That night me and Søster Robbins went out shoveling for people and we had a good time. 

Søster Robbins leaves on Wednesday. This has been an awesome transfer! We have been so busy! I will miss her! We are going to make today a good P-day! 

My new companion comes in Wednesday night. Her name is Søster Hartley! She was companions with Søster Leland in Trondheim! I have meet her before and he is awesome. She also a Sister Training Leader, so I will be on splits with another Søster every week for at least two days. The other søster that is coming is Søster Gates! She was just ahead of me in the MTC. She is awesome as well! I am feel like Heavenly Father is taking good care of me and I feel lucky to work with such amazing missionaries! 

I just found out that I can't send pictures at the center because it creates viruses on the computers! Ah! So I will have to go to a library next p-day to send pics. I have soo many good pictures! Of the baptism and the blizzard.. ah man! Next week!

This week I encourage you all to watch #becausehelives on lds.org. Also, to watch General Conference!! It is Easter week and we get to hear from a living prophet and apostles this weekend! I am sooo stoked! We will be watching conference at the center this weekend. We are so lucky! The church is true! I know that my Savior and Redeemer Lives!

Love you all!

Love,

Søster Allen

Farewell Dinner for 4 of our wonderful missionaries

Missions are Good - People are Good

Hei sann!

First off, I just heard some sad news from Sister Mulivai in Texas.. Stacy, my investigator with the baptismal date passed away two weeks ago.  I am so sad, but I know he is at peace and his testimony of the gospel was strong. He had such a submissive, willing, and loving heart. The Lord has a plan for him and he will continue to do so much good. Oh Stacy, I hope to see him again.

So Drago is getting baptized! :) He is getting baptized this Saturday! Søster Robbins and I are preparing the program and we cleaned the font last week. It is so exciting. The Croatian missionaries are going to skype in with us for the baptism. Drago ended up on the same Trykk as all the missionaries going to church yesterday and said, "it is a special time." haha what a guy! 

We have an awesome new investigator. His name is Leif, norwegian, and he is 80 yrs. old! Ah good story to how we met. We found him outside of the center about two weeks ago. He agreed to meet again. Our first meeting with him he brought us chocolates and brought the book, "A Marvelous Work and A Wonder" given to him by a mormon lady. So he has already had contact with members of the church. He said that it is crazy how we met because he never takes that way home and he recognized it as a miracle from God. He is sooo good! He loves reading and loves the Book of Mormon. He feels he needs time to prepare for baptism though. We will continue to meet with him! We already love him!

I wanted to talk you about my favorite Norwegian.. Astrid. :)


She is 94 yrs. old! People! She is as sharp as a tact! She has taught me so much and is a perfect example of how to Endure to the End well. We help her organize her house because she is almost blind. She told us that she plans out her day the night before. The first thing she does when she wakes up is checks to see if everything is in its place, greets and talks to the plants, and then it is time to exercise! She exercises on a little bike pedal thing. She is the cutest, happiest, flink lady ever! She can speaks so many different languages and plays the piano by memory. She told me one time, "Never say you can't do something-- you can do whatever you want if you keep trying everyday." What a great attitude! She is my inspiration on how to live life! She truly finds joy in the simple things!

Oh missions are so good and people are so good! Søster Robbins is leaving in like a week.. I am sad for her to go! She is awesome and has taught me so much. The language is coming.. I just need patience. I feel I am improving and then some days I don't. I will just have to remember the wise words from Astrid. Keep Trying! You can do it!

Hope you are all doing well! Remember to enjoy the simple and little things in life!

Love you all!

Love,

Søster Allen

Can I stay forever? I might.

Hey! How is it going? Things are going great here. :) 

We have three new investigators and they are awesome! Most of them were stoked to hear about the Book of Mormon. That is key to knowing and discovering the truth. We hope that all the people we meet grow to love the Book of Mormon. That will nurture and keep their testimony strong. 

We still have a baptismal date with the Croatian man, but we might have to postpone his baptism for complicated reasons.. Me and Søster Robbins are super bummed about it, but it is important that he has people he can turn to in the ward and understand. Fellow shipping and member work is just as important. He is solid though and knows the message of the restored gospel is true. He showed up at church looking so fly in a suit and tie! We are so proud of him! haha

We had the privilege of eating a Norwegian meal this week... It was lamb and stuff that looked like mashed potatoes, but was something else. Good stuff.. It was a funny experience and we were grateful we were full the whole day. :) 

Last p-day we were able to go walk around the city with our whole district. We went to a Fort that was built during Renaissance times. It was beautiful and the view on top was Phenomenal! 

I am so grateful to be a missionary. I am truly am. I feel God and know he is real. The experiences I am having are worth every minute of my time. Can I stay forever? I might. 

Søster Robbins leaves in two weeks and I am freaking out. I have so much to learn and know. Ah.. This is where my faith comes in. It always works out though. I don't know why I stress about it so much.

(this was taken on our way to church)

I love it here so much! It is the best!

I love you all!

Love,

Søster Allen

This is where I live.. cutest little white house in Nordstrand.

 The view from the church. The city of Oslo!

Our most recent Pday - we went to see a Fort

A beautiful view at the top of the fort 

Walking by the water

Dinner at Astrids  

Serve the Lord with Gladness

Wow, you have lots of Questions so I will try to answer them all.

Church was good we had two investigators come to church yesterday.

It is a lot different here in Norway compared to Texas. In Texas we had dinner appointments almost every night. We never have dinner appointments here in Norway. I eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.. haha the chocolate is amazing here! We cook our own meals. They don't eat much here. You can't just go out to eat because it is so expensive. I noticed they eat a lot of sweets. I bought a sushi tray the other day at the grocery store. I miss so many food that they don't have here in Norway. They don't have much. haha So I am losing weight. Shoot. I must eat more chocolate I guess. ;) They have a H&M on like ever corner in Oslo. It is kind of hilarious. We joke and say where is H&M? They have like 10 stores. I have a washer in my apartment and a rack to dry my clothes. Hopefully, I answered all of your questions.

This week was great! Norway is da best! Oslo is beautiful. We have a solid investigator with a baptismal date. He is from Croatia, so we skype with Croatian missionaries. Like I said in past emails.. Oslo is a melting pot. There are people from all over the world who live here.. so I hear so many different languages. I don't think that is helping with my Norwegian. haha.

Tangent:

I had Norwegian waffles this week for Søster Hudson's birthday. All you put on the waffles is Brown cheese and jam. It is amazing!

I had some amazing experiences street contacting this week. I believe it was Friday.. I contacted this German man that wasn't very nice and he kind of hurt my feelings, but I kept the faith! I knew because of that experience a good experience was in store.. Later that day we contacted all nice people! Not one of them was rude or mean. Out of the people we talk to we got two new investigators. One of the guys we talked to was agonist and Norwegian. We asked him if he ever prayed before. He said he had not in a long time and he forgot how. We taught him how and he was up for doing it. While he was saying the prayer I felt the spirit so strong! Ah! Afterwards we asked him how he felt. He said he felt good and he had the biggest smile on his face. We told him that what he was feeling was the Holy Ghost. I testified in norsk that it feels warm and powerful. He agreed that that was what he felt. It was awesome!

The next day we visited a norwegian member and told her about our miracle experiences. While I was telling her about my experience in HORRIBLE norsk.. she started to bawl! I thought it was because my norsk was so bad, but I guess it was because the spirit was so strong. I am so grateful for those experiences because it truly testifies to me that you don't have to be perfect in the language. All that matters is what the spirit testifies. I have to put in a lot of faith into speaking norsk and somehow it is effective. God is real.

Last night, Søster Robbins and I went street contacting and we only talked to nice people! We were able to get three numbers! It was amazing! Ah missionary work is the best! I have found this scripture to be true and how missionary work should be done: Psalms 100:2 "Serve the Lord with gladness." That is what it is all about!

It is so great to be a missionary in Norway! Spring is around the corner! God is good.

I love you all and all your uplifting messages to me! Ha en fin uke!

Love,

Søster Allen

For Pday we went to forest that looked like Harry Potter! Elder Forsberg & Elder Hurst My Swedish friend, Sandra and Elder Crump in the back Here is my awesome district and the Swedish Twins- Sandra and Emma!  I love my district! Dinner with the Rasmussens

God Loves Each One of His Children, Individually.

Hei Hei!

So much happens in just one week as a missionary! 

Tons of people we meet, teach, and contact! 

We are still working with the 2 Croatian guys and they have a baptismal date for the end of this month. We are teaching them tonight with the other Croatian missionaries through Skype. 

We got a new investigator this past week and she is Norwegian! She has a friend who is Mormon and he brought her in to the center a few weeks ago and she wants to be baptized. We taught her and set a baptismal date. She is a super cute girl.. about in her mid 20s and has a huge desire to learn more and help people. So solid. 

We visit a 94 yr old Norwegian lady every week and help her move her stuff. She is the most happiest, oldest woman I have ever met. So funny too. I will have to get a picture with her sometime. 

Last night, Søster Robbins and I went on splits with Elder Forsberg (native norwegian missionary) and Elder Crump (just came out same time i did). We set a goal that we would find 2 new investigators. We were out for 2 hours and were able to find 2 new investigators and get 3 numbers from other people! So amazing and so fun to teach with an Elder. Elder Crump and I have only been out for almost two weeks and we were able to contact in Norwegian on the streets and people listened.. enough though our norsk was terrible! haha It was amazing! We said Hi and started asking a question to a guy on a bike going in the opposite direction and we said he wont get off his bike and come talk to us.....We spoke too soon! The guy got off his bike, turned around and walked up to us to talk to us! He was so interested and we gave him a Book of Mormon! 

Sometimes, we even as missionaries lack faith or doubt things wont happen. Well God likes to prove us wrong! Because He knows best, and has a plan for each one of His children. That is something I have learned so strongly on my mission... how much God loves each one of His children, individually. We do have to experience the bitter before we taste the sweet. The sweet becomes that much sweeter because we have gone through the bitter. 

Norway is so beautiful and the people are beautiful! Even though I don't know the language nor can I understand it, I feel love for the people. There are some good people here. 

Try to recognize God's hand in your life everyday even when it is hard. 

Love you all!

Love,

Søster Allen

City Life in Oslo

Palace of Norwegian