BELIEVE IT

We have a New investigator! 

It was Nice to finally teach a real lesson after two weeks. It has been rough. 

We spent sometime With some less actives and members this week. It was Nice and we had a game night on Thursday! It was a blast! 

We visited Harda "bestemor" and had a lovely time singing hymns. She showed us her tiger stuffed animal. So cute. 

This is sweet Harda. She has Alzheimers and is a member of the church. She kills me! She named her tiger, "Tiger Gutt" (tiger boy). haha

Me and Sister Hudson taught the New Testament lesson yesterday in Church in Norwegian. It went well! We also had like 5 members show up for Church so everyone had the opportunity to bear their testimony. 

Bodø is difficult, but this week I really felt my testimony grow.  I feel the Power of God and it is an amazing feeling. This Church is Jesus Christ's Church. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored back to the Earth. I know it because I have seen the blessings of living it. I feel the spirit. It is a wonderful feeling. I want others to feel it too and I want them to know how to feel it more often in their lives. There are a lot of People that do not believe it. It is hard to believe if you look for all the reasons not to believe, but when you look for all the reasons to believe... it changes you. So I choose to believe it. Life is sooo much better when I choose to believe it. My faith grows even stronger and I am able to recognize the promptings of the spirit more in my life. I am also able to feel God and know that I am His daughter. So I Guess what I am trying to say is that is soo much better to believe!  

BELIEVE IT! 

Believe in God. Believe that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ. Believe that the Book of Mormon is true and comes from God. Believe that this life isn't the end and there is more to hope for! I am Grateful for the Choice I have to believe. 

Love,

Søster Allen

P-day Fun

At the Beach with the branch

picking blueberries this week

"That is a beautiful religion."

This week has been great! We met With a few investigators (which were great, spiritual, and emotional lessons) and had a lot of teaches out on the street contacting. Everyone is back to School and work this week.. so more People! Yay! That is exciting.

On Saturday we helped Our neighbors With their yard by digging up dirt. They are remodeling their house and yard, so there is a lot of work to do. It was a fun service day. Oh ya and the weather is so warm! Summer finally came.. a little late, but better late than never. :) I hope it stays this way. A lot of People to help, serve, and lift.  

Here is a good story for the week: So we were contacting downtown and Sister Hudson recognized this guy and felt like we needed to talk to him, but he passed and went another direction. We walked around again and this guy was put in Our path again! So we stopped him and starting talking to him. He wasn't too interested at the beginning, but towards the end he agreed to met up. Anyways, after we told him that we were "mormons" he said something I have never heard a Norwegian.. or anyone not of Our faith say. "That is a beautiful religion." I really enjoyed hearing that. Thank you man on the street. :) The point is that God totally put him in Our path twice. God loves his children. God is real. Don't doubt it or forget it. :)

Hope you all have a good week!
Love,
Søster Allen

Good times With Søster Hudson

Two Days Full of Miracles!

Hello! Søster Hudson has arrived and we are killing it here in Bodø. It is so nice that we have already served together because we already know how to work together. It is great! She is from Texas, 20 yrs. old, and has been out on her mission for 11 months. We had one sunny day this week. That was exciting and hot.

The only sunny day we had last week! We contact along this Harbor. Love this Place. :)

Sooo this week..

First, Sister Peterson said her goodbyes so we had a lot of member dinners at the beginning of the week. It was great to spend time With the members and Sister Peterson before she left. Sister Hudson came to Bodø on Wednesday and I felt bad because she came to an area With like no investigators.. so this is where we put Our faith and hard work to the test. Wednesday to Friday was pretty rough. Nothing really happened. We were out contacting, knocking, and calling People and trying to find.. nothing was happening. Everyone was gone. Then comes Saturday and Sunday... two days full of miracles! Are you ready? :)

Ok, so on Saturday we had this appointment with this guy and it fell through.. so we went out contacting. Nothing happened. When I say nothing happened that means we got rejected pretty hard. So, we have dinner and realized that we still needed to make Our goal for 3 other lessons and 2 New investigators.. we had 3 hours left of the day. So we went out with determination. We were able to do it! We taught a lesson to a girl on the street, she wasn't interested in the end, but was Grateful she met us. Then we contacted this guy and taught him a lesson as well. He said that he wasn't sure what the purpose of life was and we told him that we had a book that would help him find those answers. He said he was leaving Bodø on Monday, so we could meet up with him on Sunday. Then that guy who cancelled on us earlier that day called and said he could meet that night. We taught him a lesson and he is actually moving to Drammen, but it was still pretty positive. Such a cool day.

Sunday.. What a day. So we pick up Jørn-Are for Church and we have to give the talks in sacrament Meeting på norsk. Right before sacrament Meeting starts this guy Calls that we invited to Church on the street and says he is here. So we got this random guy in Church. Miracle! After Church we delivered the Book of Mormon to the guy from England and he tells us that he already referred himself to get a copy on mormon.org. We asked him if he wanted the missionaries to come to him in England and he said yes! We said goodbye to him and he said, "there was a reason I met you two." :) Then we went to a member dinner, which was great and Jørn- Are came along. The branch is so good to him! After dinner we prayed on whether we should go contacting or go home and make cookies. Sister Hudson said she felt like we should go home and make cookies.. on the way back to Our Apartment we contact this guy sitting on his stairs. He is was so interested and I was able to recite the 1st vision. He Wonders why there are so many churches. Such a cool contact! After that we made cookies while having Language study. We had an hour left, so we went back out and we weren't getting anyone really positive... until Our last contact. She started out as not very interested, so we just testified.. like missionaries do and I asked her if she wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon. She said yes.. and I was shocked and speechless. Sister Hudson had to take over. What a day!! Such an awesome day.

Thought for the day: Mosiah 5:13. In my paraphrased Words and comments about this scripture: How do you know the Master if you haven't served Him.. He is a stranger to you and far from the thoughts and intents of Your heart. Serve Him and you will come to know Him. Love this.

Håper dokker ha en god uke!
 Love,
Søster Allen

This Place man... I Won't Forget It

I swear the last week of the transfer is always the best. So we got a summer day on Tuesday! We have only had 3 summer days this Whole summer! Wahoo.

We prayed the night before that we would find a service opportunity and we did. :) God answers prayers. Our neighbors are doing some work on their house and they asked us to help! It was so Nice to get to know them better. The guy said, "now I can tell People that 2 mormon missionaries from USA helped build Our house." haha It was funny.

After that we took the bikes out for the first time to go to Løpsmarka, which is on the other side of the mountain. It was sure an adventure. I think Dad would be proud of me. We were able to teach a ton of lessons this week. We had the sister training leaders over on Thursday and when they come miracles happen!

Here is an amazing story: So one of the Sister Training Leaders- Sister Larsen served up here in Bodø the beginning of this year. She had contacted this guy on the street in January and wanted to meet up With him. He never could meet up, so she called him for the last time and he said he would like to meet but he couldn't because he was going to prison the Next day. Sister Larsen told him she had a book for him. She met him at the Train station before he was off to prison and said, "that this book will change your life and you have a lot of time to read." So....a few weeks ago we get this text from this guy! But don't know the story behind him. He says that he is out of prison and wants to meet up. We happened to get an appointment With him on Thurday.... the same day Sister Larsen would be here in Bodø. That doesn't just happen! Me and Sister Larsen skyped him on Thursday (because he was visiting his sister in Oslo). He read the WHOLE BOOK OF MORMON in prison. He has totally changed, mended relationships With his Family, and had a desire to believe in God. He said that while he was Reading the Book of the Mormon in prison he showed it to the other inmates. By the end of the lesson he said he would never give up on finding God and that we made a huge impact on him. MIRACLE.

I loved having Sister House and Sister Larsen With us on Thursday. It's great to get to know other sisters and learn and grow from them. It has been a great week and we have had some really great contacts. Last night, we stopped this girl and were suprised that she believed in God, as she was about to leave Sister Peterson lays Down the restoration and recites the First Vision på norsk. The spirit was so strong. It was the first time I saw a Norwegian cry because of hearing the 1st vision. She was so touched. I am so Grateful for these experiences.

This work is the Lord's work. The spirit is the only way we can accomplish this work. Heavenly Father loves his children and has a plan for each of us. He is in the details of Our lives. I am blown away by this and my faith grows, but it takes Work. It is not easy to believe in God. It takes effort on Our part. When we have a desire to believe we have to be willing to work for it and work at every day of Our lives! This is how we grow and become more Christlike.

Sister Peterson is leaving on Wednesday to Kristiansand and Sister Hudson is coming to Bodø With me. Remember Sister Hudson from Oslo! We were split buddies! So I already know how to work With her! Wahoo!

Happy August!
Love,
Søster Allen

Pictures: 

Yesterday contacting by the shore. :)

Contacting in the rain. No one was outside, 

so I decided to contact a fire hydrant.

Visited a member family in Rognan! 

Gabriel-Nicest guy of my life!

I love Bodø.

I love Pears

This Place man... 

I won't forget it.

Beautiful Bodo and a Baptism

Contacting in the charming town of Bodø. Norway has the most beautiful flowers

Having crepes at Paulina's place. 

She is a recent convert and the cutest! 

She is from Lithuania.

Driving to find a Place for Jørn Are's baptism.

Pictures from the Week

Another Week ...  

 we finally finished this Puzzle after 3 months!! :)

Pretty Bodø 

I Get You Girls

We flew to Trondheim on Tuesday to meet Our New mission president and his wife for the day. It was so good to meet them. They are soo cool and Nice! I am glad they are serving here in Norway.

Jeorn Are is preparing for baptism. He is 23 and Norwegian. We still have a lot to teach him, but his interview is this week and Next saturday he will be baptized in a fjord. I hope it all Works out. This is where a lot of faith and prayers come in. We met With him last night and taught the Word of wisdom.

I had a funny Language moment while teaching him.. I wanted to say "I agree With you" which is "Jeg er enig med deg," but instead I said, "Jeg er evig med deg," which means.. "I am eternally With you." We laughed so hard, especially Sister Peterson.. haha. He also came to Church again and the branch is really loving towards him, so that is good.

We visited Harda again this week (old lady With Alzheimers) and she wanted to say the closing prayer. It was a beautiful norsk prayer and then towards the end she forgot what to say, so she said, "beklager jeg er gammel. ha det bra" (Sorry I am old, good bye). it was so sad, but soo funny. She is a sweetie pie.

We had a ton of goodbye parties for the Storheims With the members. It was Nice to spend some time With them. They leave this Wednesday. It is so sad. They did a lot for the missionaries in Bodø. We will be all alone now.

We had an awesome miracle happen this week. The night before we (Thursday night) we were feeling Down because we weren't finding any new investigators, so we decided to Call Our potentials again in Our phone. We were able to get an appointment With a lady for the Next day. So we met With her and she was super prepared and agreed With like everything we said. She said, "I get you Girls!" By the end she said she was so happy she met With us. I really hope that all goes well With her and we can continue to meet.

On Saturday we decided to sing hymns in front of a Public Place. We had a few People stop and listen. It was a cool experience and to see who stopped to listen to spiritual Music.

It was good week and I am sure this week will be good too! We have a baptism to prepare for, so that will keep us busy.
Love you all!

Love,
Søster Allen

Pictures

With Our District in Trondheim.

With Our gren Family at the Farstads. 

Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim! So amazing!

Having a BBQ at the Farstads for the Storheims

Two Successful Activities

Things are pretty slow here in Bodø. Norway in the summer is a ghost town. So we are trying to be creative and plan fun activities.

We had 2 successful activities this week! We had a "Meet the Mormons" Movie night and had 20 People show up! It was a success! We had a less active show up and it had been 10 years since he had come to the Church building.

We celebrated the 4th of July by having hot dogs, we made home-made rootbeer.. that ended up tasting like beer.. yikes, and we played "baseball." It was fun to teach Norwegians how to play baseball. None of them had ever played before. It was the funniest thing ever. It was a successful party and we had about 30 People there. Members, less actives, and some investigators. So much fun!

4th of July Party

Note from the Storheims: They did such a great job putting this together.  It was a huge success!  

The Storheims leave next Wednesday, so we spent Our P-day With them today. We took a road trip to Kjerringøy and it was a dream!! I will miss them so much!

We have a New mission president. His name is President Hill and we are flying out to Trondheim tomorrow to meet him. So that is exciting!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July! Love you all!
Love,
Søster Allen

Pictures:

Last p-day we went to the top of this hotel With the storheims and it was the prettest view. The other Pictures are from a hike we took With Simon (a member from the branch). So fun!

good times

Visiting the Bodø cathedral for the Norwegian state Church.

my face says it all. I can't help but laugh at this one. haha

Elder Storheim getting a sliver out of Sister Peterson finger.. ha

Road trip to Kjerringøy With the Storheims

This Place was a Norwegian dream.

Fjord life living

Gross fish

We found the "lost sheep"

Note from the Storheims: 

Here are some other photos, too.  We went to Kjerringøy yesterday.  

It was beautiful!  We love and enjoy your daughters!