Chillin' With My Gnomies in Norway: Christmas Video Conference Highlights!….Week 17

What an INCREDIBLE blessing it was to see our sweet missionary's face and hear her laugh! We talked to her for 45 minutes on the dot! She wanted to be 100% obedient! :) Here are a few highlights from our chat....

Søster Neilson: "I have a picture of you guys in my scriptures and every time I teach someone the Plan of Salvation, I always show them the picture of my family. I recently showed it to a girl named Ingrid. She was looking at it and she was like, "Oh! That is so cute! Your family is REALLY American!" Haha...I answered, "Yeah! They really are!" Haha! :)

Søster Neilson: "So apparently I speak with a Tronners' dialect. I didn't even realize it until someone pointed it out the other day."
Mom: "Is that a good thing?"
Søster Neilson: "Haha...uh...it's not the language I learned but yeah! It's good! It's the language of my people!" ;)

She sang "I am a Child of God" for us in Norwegian! <3

Søster Neilson: "I have to tell you about my Christmas! OH MY HECK! OKAY...So...so...last night, there's a girl here named Mali. She's a student here in Trondheim. There's a huge university here. It's kind of like Provo but not Mormon. ;) I met Mali my first week in Norway. She's the only member in her family. She had been less active but now she's come back to church. I love this girl! She and I have become great friends! Her mother invited Søster Williams and I to spend Christmas Eve with their family!
Mali picked us up and we picked her brother up along the way. Their parents live about an hour from our apartment. We like to joke about the town they live next to. The English translation is Hell. So basically they live just past Hell...hehe. ;)
We got there and saw their beautiful Christmas tree with tons of Christmas presents beneath it! You see, every member of their family hot presents for Søster Williams and me! I was like, 'Holy Cow! These people don't even know us and the got us presents?!?! Wow! So sweet!'
We sit down and have this huge bowl of risgrøt. It's basically rice pudding with tons of butter, heaps of sugar and cinnamon. So they hide a whole almond in one of the bowls. The person who gets the almond has to hide it in their cheek until everyone is done. :) Søster Williams got the almond! So fun! After that we decorated a HUGE gingerbread house! Way FUN!
While we were decorating, Mali's dad announces, 'My brother lives just down the street. We want you girls to dress up as the Julennissen (Norwegian equivalent to Santa Claus), walk in their front door, and deliver presents to his grankids!' We looked so creepy! OH MY GOSH! We delivered the presents and the kids were like, 'We didn't know Julennissen were girls and Americans who speak Norwegian!' Haha! SO funny!
We went back to Mali's and knitted for a couple of hours. :) I loved it! I was sitting their with a cat in my lap, knitting, and just loving life! Next, we had a HUGE meal! It consisted of like five kinds of meats and potatoes. It was so great! Then we opened gifts, are cake for what seemed like forever, and had a BLAST! What a great family! Mali drove us home around 11. Curfew is usually 9:30 but we had special permission to stay out later on Christmas Eve! :)
AND THEN....
My zone leader, Elder Shanklin, who is the COOLEST person alive, got permission from President to let us attend midnight mass at Nidarosdomen Cathedral! It's the oldest cathedral in all of Europe. It was open to everyone Christmas Eve. SO WE GOT TO GO TO MIDNIGHT MASS AT THE NIDAROSDOMEN CATHEDRAL ON CHRISTMAS EVE!!! We sang Christmas songs and I was crying the whole time I was thinking, "How am I so fortunate and blessed to be here right now? Heavenly Father has truly guided my life! I am so grateful!'"

Next she sang "We'll Bring the World His Truth: Army of Helaman" in Norwegian. Of course we all cried. She couldn't even look at us because she was too emotional. <3

She left us with a beautiful gift...her testimony.

Søster Neilson: "I love that song. I feel so proud to be a missionary here every time I sing it. I'm not going to lie, I get really homesick sometimes. BUT I'm so grateful to be here in Norway! I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world! I love you guys a lot. Sometimes I feel bad that I'm away from you but I know that this is where I need to be right now because I know my mission is molding me into the woman and future mother I'm supposed to be. I feel that every time I pray and bear my testimony. I feel myself growing closer to my Savior. I am so grateful for my mission. I really love you guys a lot! Merry Christmas! God Jul!"

Dad offered a prayer and after a tearful farewell, she pushed 'end call'.

Our hearts are full of gratitude for this sweet daughter, sister, auntie, and friend! Best Christmas present EVER! :)