We had a Special Week.

God Påske!

We had a special week.  Our mission president took the car away because Ålesund needs to more than us, so we became bus missionaries! It was a little stressful, but it is kind of nice not having to worry about a car and all of my other areas have been bus areas. We have no idea how to use the buses, so it is kind of fun getting lost.

Spring is in the air and it feels so good to be outside. We had a visit from the sister training leaders this week. Sister Randall from the MTC was one of them and I was soo happy to spend a day with her. She is one my best friends in the mission. Love her!

Sister Randall got to come on splits with us in Drammen. 

It was the first time I got to do missionary work with her and spend a day with her since the MTC. 

Love her so much!

We also learned how to knit from Norwegian ladies! Dreams do come true! So I have been knitting during our lunch break and after we plan at night. It is addicting.

We taught this lovely girl on a bench on Thursday and it was all in norwegian and I just sitting there thinking.. wow I can have a 2 hours conversation all in Norwegian. It was a good moment. She was super cool. I want to be her best friend.

One of my sweet friends, from Trondheim and then she moved her to Drammen right before I got transferred here, lost her mother last week. So we spent some time with her on Friday. She is a huge example to me of strength. It was tender for me to share time with her that night.

Saturday, we met with one of our awesome investigators. I love her and I love seeing her faith grow! I am really impressed by her courage to meet with the missionaries. It is not a normal thing to do here in Norway. She doesn't really have any support.

I have already probably talked about this, but I love the old lady members in Norway! They are so wise and I have learned so much from them! They are strong in the faith. It has been a gift to be able to hear their stories.

If you haven't seen this yet watch it.. https://www.mormon.org/easter

Also, if you want to get in the Easter mood read "The Living Christ." I read it today and felt the spirit so strong. Jesus is the Christ. He lives! He is King. He is the Light, Life, and Hope of the world. He is coming soon.

Love,
 Søster Allen

Last p-day we celebrated Elder Hadley's birthday by eating pizza on the top of the mountain. 

My cute companion!

 Sunny days!

The Gospel Causes JOY in my Heart

Hallo fra Drammen!

This is the first area I have served in where everyone speaks norwegian... like everyone.. I haven't taught one lesson in english yet. It will definitely help my language skills, but I am needing a lot prayers for the gift of tongues. haha ya.. Thankfully, the dialect here is the cleanest.

Mandag: We visited two members! I have enjoyed getting to know the members here in Drammen! There are so many!! It may take some time to feel comfortable, but I am getting there.

Tirsdag: We went contacting for a long time and talked to a ton of people! Since we are in a trio sometimes we split up and go on our own.. scary, but whatever. After being a missionary for so long you just get used to it. Then, later that night we had a member visit and she gave us makeovers.. haha it was way weird to see myself with a ton of makeup on again. I felt pretty and old.

getting my makeup done

Onsdag: Sister Firth was sick, so me and Sister House did weekly planning and went through the phones and area book! We got a ton of appointments scheduled because of that!

Torsdag: Sister Firth left for Bergen! She is going there to build up the area for the new sisters that are coming. She will be back in two weeks. Sister House and I went to an investigator appointment and bore testimony of the Book of Mormon. We invited them to church and they came!!

Fredag: Sister House and I went knocking on doors and contacting. Later that night we had another investigator appointment. The spirit was soo strong!! I started crying. I was kind of embarrassed, but what do you ya do. I told her that Jesus Christ loved her and bawled. Ah man you just had to be there.

Lørdag: We had an investigator appointment, went contacting, and banking! Most of our appointments cancelled this week. We had some fun times though! Interesting people we came in contact with that day.. probably the weirdest day of the week. The streets and everywhere is covered in ice! We were slidding into people's drive-ways to knock on their doors. #goodtimeswithsøsterhouse

Søndag: Kirke! It was good! I got to talk to some more members and a ton of them invited us over this week! #blessed. We had a dinner appointment with a member after church! We read in Alma 30 about Korihor (the anti-christ) and Alma's powerful testimony! I loved it and the spirit was so strong. I really love the part in the chapter when Alma is testifying to Korihor and he says,

"Then why sayest thou that we preach unto this people to get gain, 

when thou, of thyself, knowest that we receive no gain? 

And now, believest thou that we deceive this people, 

that causes such joy in their hearts?" 

I love that!! This gospel causes joy in my heart!! Life is so much better when you believe! God is real. This is His church. The Book of Mormon is true! Ah! I am so grateful for this gospel and all that I have learned on my mission! My life is definitely more enriched and fulfilled because of my faith and what I know to be true.

Glad i dere! Ha en varm uke!

Love,
Søster Allen

sunrise this morning and very icy roads

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

God exists! I Know it & I'm Not Afraid to Tell People

I love Sister Hartley! She is the bomb. We got 4 new investigators this week. So that was pretty sweet. 

We are meeting with Leif tonight and hope we can meet with him again this week. I still feel inadequate about the language, but yesterday in church was the first time I felt like I understood what they were saying in norsk .. it was awesome! 

Drago came to church and will be receiving the Aaronic priesthood next week. What a guy. 

So one of the new investigators we found was actually a street contact right in front of our house in Nordstrand. She was walking her dog and said that she was taught the missionary lessons when she was 13 in Chile. So we met with her twice last week. We will see her again this week. So that's pretty sweet. 

We contacted another girl in the city and she came with two other friends to the lesson. They all became new investigators and we were able to give them all Book of Mormons in Spanish, Russian, and Ukrainian. It is a melting pot here, I tell ya! It is rare to teach a Norwegian in Oslo. 

Another cool story..

At the beginning of last week me and Sister Hartley were taking the Trykk home and a 17 year old norwegian boy comes and sits right across from me and starts talking to me. He asked me what it was like to be a missionary in Norway. He was soo interested in what I do and why I believe in God and how I find out there is a God. It was soo cool. I asked him for his number, but he said he wanted mine.. ah man! I hope so badly he calls. It was such a sweet experience. I have never been approached by a norwegian.

I love being a missionary. I care about the people we find and teach. I study for them in the morning and hope I can be able to help them come unto Christ in some way. It truly brings me so much happiness. I love and hate when we talk on the streets to people who do NOT believe in God and then God always shows me a sign that he is real. Like last night.. we were getting "you are crazy to believe in God" and then we contacted a lady that was once a member of the church. That doesn't just happen! God puts certain people in our life for a reason! The world is beautiful! We have a prophet! We have the Book of Mormon! We have families! Why not believe! Why not hope!? Why doubt?! Why live with no purpose? I don't get it. I know that God exists! I know it and I am not afraid to tell people and make them realize it through my eyes.

Norway is the bomb and we hiked a pretty sweet mountain today. I saw all of Oslo and some other cities at the top.

Love you all and I appreciate all the support and prayers!

Love,

Sister Allen

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