Week 21

Hello everyone!!!

I love you all so much! I am so excited to be able to email you all today- one of my favorite parts of the week! :)

So how are things? How is everybody doing? What is new? School, work, play? Tell me EVERYTHING!!! Ha ha ha!

Well it is sad, but I don't have ton to say today. I'm not going to lie- this week has been somewhat of a blur... We have been so busy and I LOVE IT!!! So here is the thing- Oslo is like the South America of Norway. We are so booked with people who are interested to learn more that we barely have time to contact! I don't know how we are finding people, but they just keep coming! There are not enough hours in the day to meet with everyone. We have even started getting 2 female members to come with us so that we can go on splits. I love this work! Our baptismal candidates are still doing well. We are worried about 2 of them not making their dates, so we might have to push them out a bit, but they're still progressing in the right direction.

Family, I am SOOOO happy here!!! This is the most rewarding thing I have ever done! I love studying the gospel every morning. I love talking to random people no matter how bad or good my Norwegian is that day. I love watching the Spirit eat people up to the point that they will turn their life around to follow Jesus Christ. This is experience is unlike anything. The funny thing is is that normally when I email you, I get tears in my eyes from missing you, but today, I tear up just thinking about how much I love this work.... Don't get me wrong- I still miss you like crazy! I just KNOW this is where I am supposed to be- not matter my insecurities, my weaknesses, my whatever- Heavenly Father needs me right here, right now and I wouldn't have it any other way! This is making me into a better person and I can't wait to share with you who I hope to become after this experience! :)

Like I said, I don't have a lot of time, but I will tell you about one very very cute young african man we
found this week. We were waiting for an appointment down town in the city so we started talking with people around us while we were waiting. Sister Johnston stopped a black
man who didn't speak much english and tried to communicate with him.She planned a time we could meet again. We met again on Saturday to give him a book of mormon but we
couldn't really teach him because he couldn't understand so we decided we would have to teach him with a member in the ward who could translate. We invited him to church and showed him how to use the public transportation and yesterday he came to all three hours of church. While he was there he handed me a paper that he had written in Italian and told us to translate it. So...that's what we did. We typed it up on Google translate and although it wasn't a perfect translation you get a pretty good idea of what he is talking about. Here is what he wrote:
Solidarity
I think the solidarity and a deposit in a bank that grows more and
more, and that in any moment of our lives and always ready to be
received with great interest. I say this to my life experience, and
also to have found in the word of god. In fact I remember in the few
years that I lived with my mother, her immense generosity in giving
and in giving to others without expecting anything in return. In
reality she was accumulating so that one day that love would be poured
over me. When I became an orphan of both parents I began to travel. To
every place I went I always found that famous bank account ready for
me. love. In short, all the people I have met so far have always
welcomed me with love not even knowing me. It has been as if the love
that my mother has distributed in her short life, has generated so
much love to help me now by myself when I have more needs. So I think
you should always love one another because this love will not be lost,
but will seed for another love that will travel the world, and I hope
other people in the world who suffer from hunger, loneliness, cold ...
can find the same peace that I have found.

This is missionary work- man... Words cannot describe how I feel about the people here. Yeah, they are super rude sometimes. Yeah, I cry and I hurt when things are hard. Yeah, I feel stupid sometimes. Yeah, people look down on us. But, We read this talk on Missionary work and the Atonement, and we learned that right now, we are walking with the Savior because we are doing His work. We are helping people come unto Him and find joy that you just can't find anywhere else. This is heaven on earth! :)

Well, like I said, this is not going to be very long, but I hope you all know how much I love you! You mean the world to me and I really do miss you like crazy! Keep being amazing and try to help the missionaries out as much as possible- it's tough when the members don't help, but it's AMAZING when the members and the missionaries work together! Can't wait to talk to you next week! Have a fantastic week, fam!

Lots and lots of Love,
Sister Jessica Taylor