What a week! It has been really hard and really good all at the same time. Met some cool people. Making lots of friends. Was asked on a date. Recognized a lot of things I need to work on as a person. Cried a few times. Felt the power of the Atonement strengthen me. Ate fish for the first time. Yes, I ate fish. And I liked it. :) So we have a member who just moved here not to long ago from Provo, but he's originally from Taiwan, and he invited us to dinner. Oh my goodness!!! Chinese heaven! We ate with Chop sticks and he made 5 or 6 different dishes and one of them was fish. we didn't know what kind because he doesn't speak Norwegian yet. IT WAS DELICIOUS! ha ha! that is the gift of tongues! :)
Something scary is happening here... winter is on its way. That days are getting shorter and it's getting colder and colder.... AHHHH! I'm nervous! Good thing there are about 12 big coats in our apartment. We are prepared! It has been raining a lot. But not normal rain. Like down pour, rain. That's lots of fun.
I won't be getting hit by trikks this month because they're re-doing their tracks. So it's just buses for now. I'm safe! :)
So I have to say, this week has been one of many miracles! What I will tell you will blow your minds! (well, maybe not. we'll see. he he!) Well it was Sister Johnston and my first week together as companions, and we TORE OSLO UP!!! We don't really have time to contact, because we are in teaches all day, everyday. We are meeting with some really prepared people and it has been incredible to see their progress! Ready for the big news? We got 5, yes FIVE baptismal commitments this week! That is nuts!!! I will tell you about these amazingly prepared people:
1. Rachel- she is from Taiwan and has lived in Norway for a few years. I met her with Sister Stevens. She speaks English which is nice for me and she speaks mandarin so we gave her the book in Chinese. She didn't have a specific belief in God when we met her, but she is beginning to form a relationship with Him. When we taught her the Plan of Salvation, she was so excited about the Premortal Life and when we talked about the purpose of life and that we need to follow Christ, she was all for it. She has the goal to be baptized on October 24.
2. Piter- He is a Norwegian and is so funny! He talks so fast so sometimes I have a hard time understanding, but he is so cool! He is not very religious, but he wants to find the truth. The funniest part about him is that he has only read 2 books all the way through in his whole life, but now he is going on 3 with the Book of Mormon. He is awesome! He has the goal to be baptized on October 15.
3. Ugo- He is from Nigeria and had met with the missionaries 8 months ago, but he was never baptized. It was so funny because he always comes to the center to play on the computers and for family home evening so we just always thought he was a member. Well one day Sister J was talking to him and realized that he was not baptized. She asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said 'Sure!' So now we are teaching him all over again. The cool thing with him is that he already has a testimony, he just didn't understand why he needed to be baptized. So we are working on it. He will be baptized on October 8.
4. Collins- He is from Africa as well. The cool thing about him is that Sister Steven taught him before I came, but he wasn't interested. So right before she left, she invited him to come to the center and meet because it would be her last time to see him. (She guilted him into coming ;) he he!) The coolest part was that the teach we had was so strong and he just needed that spiritual push. Now he is reading in the Book of Mormon and he always comes with good questions and his testimony is growing. He had the goal to be baptized on the 8th of October.
5. Charlie- I met him the first week I was here. He is also from Africa. He was really flaky at first, so we dropped him. Yesterday, on my way to church he called me. He had seen us walking and decided to say hi. So I told him I would call him back later. Well I did and we met last night. He really wants a stronger relationship with God and he wants to know if Joseph Smith really was a prophet, so we invited him to begin reading in the Book of Mormon again. He is so cool :) He has a goal to be baptized on the 8th as well.
WOW!!! I love these people! I love all the people we are working with! It just makes me so happy. :) We are also teaching some really cool people who, if they just keep trucking along, will have baptismal dates as well. I won't bore you with all of my stories and profiles on people. :)
I will tell you this cool story though. So at 9pm , we always take 30 minutes plan for the next day. Well on Friday night, we looked wt our planners, and we had 0 appointments. Ouch. A full week to nothing.... We began with a prayer, of course. (We need Heavenly Father to guide everything we do, or we would never get anything done!) well as we planned, we were calling people and sending texts and trying to figure out what we could do to fill it up. By 9:30, our day was completely filled with appointments. We had someone booked for a teach every hour the whole day. It was so cool!!! I love little miracles. :)
So we set up a new activity for ward members and investigators. We play soccer on Saturday mornings. We did it for the first time on Saturday and it was a blast! It was the prefect day- sunny, nice breeze- perfect!
Mia, the girl in the wheel chair who just got baptized, gave her first talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday! I was so proud of her. She did a great job! She spoke about her experience with finding the church and bore her sweet testimony. I think she is going to come out contacting with us soon!
I love being a missionary!
I've learned lots this week as far as scripture study goes. I read Jacob 4 which is an incredible chapter in the Book of Mormon! I also read in Enos. Wow- now that is a great book! It amazed me most how his thought process led his prayer. As soon as he received a remission of his sins, he immediately thought of his bretheren, the Nephites and their salvation. Then the Lamanites. Then the records of his people. Because of his faith, the Lord covenanted with Enos that He would take care of things. Oh man! I wish I had that kind of faith! I will work on it. :)
Well family, I keep trying to think of things to tell you, but I'm out of stories. Sorry... :( I love you all so much and I am so grateful for everything you do! Keep being amazing!
Lots of love,
Sister Jessica Taylor
No comments:
Post a Comment