The adventures began ONE year ago TODAY!…Week 38

ONE year ago TODAY, Haylee opened her mission call and found out she was going to serve the Lord and the people of NORWAY!…

OSLO NORWAY Mission!

Report to the Provo MTC on September 3rd, 2014

Tears of JOY!

Spreading the EXCITING news!

Soster Neilson was CRAZY busy today so we didn't get a very long mass email but here are a few excerpts from the email she sent to me (mom)…

"I seriously talk about my family ALL the time to EVERYONE!"

Regarding her 17 year old brother, Jared…

"What a stud! I just want to buy him some Froyo and take him to Disneyland!"

"Soster Gates is adorable and I love her to death! Her family is sooooo good and has so much goodness! I have never met them but I can just tell! :)"

"The Lord really wants us to do our best but he doesn't ask us to run faster than we have strength! :)"

-Soster Neilson

Syttende Mai…Week 37

Kjære søsken, (Dear Brothers and Sisters)

Helloooooooo! I’m sorry I have been such a slacker! It’s so hard to find time to email! UGH! Pdays are just full of adventure and cleaning! Hehehe ;) I am doing so well here in Norway! The weather is getting warmer and the sun is starting to never set! haha ;) I’m not in the land of the midnight sun because I'm not far enough North but I am in the land of the "its still light outside at mid night!" haha ;)

HOLY COW! THIS WEEK WAS AMAZING! I got a New Companion this week. She is absolutely ADORABLE and he name is Søster Gates! She is such a sweet pea! She is from Provo Utah. She has 7 siblings. She has beautiful red hair and she also plays the violin! She is such a wonderful missionary! I am so grateful to have her as my companion! :)

So this week was the 17th of May or Constitution Day which is like America’s 4th of July only BIGGER! I had the amazing opportunity to spend the day in the Capital of Norway, Oslo, where the Royal Family lives. My mission President and his wife got tickets for all of us missionaries to go to the palace to celebrate! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! It was amazing! We got to be in the court yard of the palace and see the King, Queen, their children and grandchildren! They were  far away but it was still really cool! Norway is such a peaceful little country! I love it! I swear there is way more protection for Obama than for the King of Norway! Everyone here adores the Royal Family! We were right outside the palace and it was beautiful! A big parade was going on the whole time and everyone was singing and dancing. EVERYONE is dressed in old Norwegian dresses and suits! It’s so fun! I took many pictures with complete strangers! It was a beautiful thing! :) 

I got to see so many missionaries that I haven’t seen in months and that just warmed my heart! :) I miss all of them so much! We walked around a lot looking at all the people and marching bands. Everyone eats as much ice cream and hot dogs as they can. We then went to an hour of Church which was awesome! This sweet old Norwegian man got up and gave a talk about freedom and agency. He was so proud of his country and it rubbed off on me. I started to become very emotional! I am so proud to be a missionary in Norway! This is my second home. I love everything about this wonderful country ESPECIALLY the wonderful people! After church we had an after party at the Mission president’s home.  We ate a ton of hot dogs and ice cream! It was so nice to be all together as a mission family! I am so grateful to be a missionary in this country! Ja, jeg elsker dette land! (Yes, I love this country!) that is the Norwegian national anthem! :)

We are home now safe and sound and very tired!  I know that God loves his children and wants us to try our best! Turn to your Father in Heaven in prayer. He loves you and he wants to bless you! Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen!

-Søster Neilson!

Celebrating 17th of May in Oslo!

Happy Hearts!

Soster Neilson and Soster Gates

Eldste Kemp and Eldste Phipps

Soster Gates and Soster Neilson

in the Royal Courtyard waiting for the Royal Family!

The old Trondheim District reunited! :)

Beautiful authentic Norwegian bunad dresses!

Soster Hoggard! Her companion from the MTC. :)

Soster Hartley was her trainer in Trondheim! :)

Soster Heywood! :)

The parade WAY up the street! WONDERFUL

celebrations for Norway!

Happy Birthday Norway!

"My second home! I LOVE this country and

I ESPECIALLY love her people!"

-Soster Neilson 17 May 2015

Photos! Photos! Photos!…Week 36

Hey!
I loved seeing you guys yesterday! It charged my missionary battery! Sorry there's no weekly email for the blog, it's Sister Gs last p-day! BUT I'm sending you TONS of photos! Enjoy! I love you!
-Søster Neilson


3 weeks of photos….

She had to apply for a Norwegian Driver's License.

They made her surrender her California Driver's License.

MOOSE(N) ;)

Dedicated to INGEBORG! :)

"The three things I'm allergic to on the back of a bus! Hahaha!"

The sunsets around 11:00PM

Filipino Dinner! :)

"Fuzzy socks make me happy!"

District Roadtrip!

Wenche and her adorable muchkins came to visit family

in Sarpsborg from Trondheim and surprised Soster Neilson!

They look like puppies! ;)

"LOOK! The sheep from How to Train Your Dragon!" :D

"Robinhood and Little John skipping through the forest…"

Not really! It's a p-day hike! :)

Beautiful view! Beautiful day!

Before the storm!

After the storm!

Made a new friend while teaching a family!

They sure do love this Bosnian Momma! 

 A portrait of her drawn by a friend!

He even drew her darling crooked smile!

Happy Hearts! 

She's sure going to miss Soster Grubaugh! 

Highlights from Our Mother's Day Skype Call! Woo Hoo!

Here are a few highlights form our Skype call with Søster Neilson! She sounded SO happy!...

• There is a lady in their ward from Sweden. Søster Neilson has thought for weeks that she speaks in a Norwegian dialect. This is what she found out, "I asked her about her dialect on Sunday and she laughed and told me that she doesn't speak Norwegian! She only knows Swedish! I was so excited that I could understand everything she says!" Walt then told Haylee that's a good thing so she can make sure we don't get lost when we go visit Gothenburg and Stockholm. His Swedish is a little bit rusty! :)
• Mora and Auntie Hays made a million silly faces at each other! It was adorable to see them interact as if they've never been apart.
• Dad and Haylee spoke a lot of Swedish and Norwegian with each other. Warmed my heart!
• We asked her how much time we got to talk with her. She told us 45 minutes. We all huffed and puffed. She just smiled and said, "The Lord sees all INCLUDING time." Hahaha!
• She told us that the sunsets around 11:30PM right now. She is definitely in the land of the "midnight sun"! 
• We asked her about the family she lives with, the Olsen's. This was her response with great enthusiasm, "I love then! Don't EVEN get me started! I LOVE them!" <3 We had the chance to say hello to a few of the kids!
• We were able to get Zack on the phone and he talked to her for a few minutes on speakerphone. He's being deployed with the Navy this week so he was on duty. She had some sweet, tearful advice for him, "I think about you guys a lot Zack. Trust in the Lord. Stay strong and you'll come out stronger. In Norwegian we say...stå på…it means 'stand upon'. You need to stand upon HIM and let Him hold you up!"
• We were reflecting on the next time we talk to her at Christmas and she shouted, "Oh my goodness! The next time we Skype, I'm going to have a new niece!!!!" Zack chuckled and told her they'll send her LOTS of photos when Brooklyn makes her debut in September. :)
• She shared a scripture with us in Norwegian and English: John 14:26-27 "(26)But the comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (27) Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
• Søster Neilson and Søster Grubaugh sang the hymn "Abide With Me" in Norwegian. I cried like a baby! It was so beautiful! 
• Our call ended after 58:32 minutes. We are a bad influence on her desire to be obedient! We need to repent! ;) 
• Technology is AMAZING! It's such a tender mercy to be able to see her face and silly, cheerful, joyful facial expressions! Our hearts were so full! 
• Keep doing the Good Work Søster Neilson! We LOVE you! God be with you till we meet again!

The many Faces of Søster Neilson! (note: the connection as poor so please excuse the grainy photos. You can still see her JOY regardless of the quality.)

Happy Heart in Norway! <3

Nah nah nah nah nah nah I LOVE YOU!!!…Week 35

HEEEEELLLLLLOOOOOO!!!!!

Hello people on planet America! How is life? How is the sun? Its getting a little warmer here. The sun sets around 9:30 at night and I can still see the sun glow out my window at 10:30! Its crazy! So I had EVERYTHING I wanted to share written out on a piece of paper and left it at home...haha oh well! So we are not allowed to send pictures from the church computers which means we need to run to the library to send pictures but we may not have time today so I am sorry if pictures don’t happen this week! But I do have many though so be PREPARED! 

Holy cow you guys! Life is just a whirl wind! So much has happened! I hit my official 8 month mark yesterday which means I am almost half way done with this incredible adventure. I try not to think too much about it because my heart really is in Norway and with these people. They have forever been engraved upon my heart and soul!

     

Sarpsborg is a wonderful area! So many people are prepared and ready to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I am so impressed with all of my investigators. They understand that they don’t know everything right now BUT they are relying on faith and earnestly seeking after truth! They read and pray and listen to their promptings! What amazing people! I feel like they are my little children and I am watching them learn and grow! (Even though most of them are old enough to be my parents, grandparents and GREAT grandparents! Hahaha Norwegians live forever!) There is a Norwegian saying here "Frisk som en fisk!" (Healthy like a fish!) Hahaha...every time an old Norwegian tells me how old they are they say they are healthy because they eat fish! Hahaha...I like fish! ;) 

     

So my companion got a phone call from this woman’s daughter randomly this week who wanted to feed us dinner! Both of us had never met her and we didn’t know who she was! We get to the house and I see these two little kids pop there heads out of the door... they looked REALLY familiar... and then the door opened all the way and it was WENCHE! (Pronounced like Vencka). Wenche is a member from my first area in Trondheim! I haven’t seen her in like 5 months! I was shocked! She started crying and then I couldn’t stop hugging her! Turns out she grew up in Sarpsborg and was down visiting her mother and knew I was serving here! Hahahaha...it was so good to see her again! Her kids just ran around like crazy while I took pictures...I ADORE them! :) 

     

We went and visited an American family named the Hoopers this week! They are so hilarious! Brother Hooper is from Texas and Sister Hooper is from Norway! They have like a ton of kids! They are so awesome! :) While we were there Sister G and I were jumping on the trampoline with their daughters and sister Hooper comes over and asks, "Do you guys want to see a moose?" UHHHH...YES PLEASE! So we run over and there are these 4 moose running around! SOOOOOO cute! Then the Hooper boys started joking around about how good moose tastes... No thank you! Hahaha ;) They are so American. Its a beautiful thing. I love it!!!

     

MIRACLES!!! So this week we set a specific time to go......... FAITH FINDING!!! We began in this small neighborhood a few minutes walk from our home. We saw this woman out on her porch watering her flowers. We began talking to her and she seemed very interested. She could not speak much Norwegian or English so she asked us to come back in about an hour when her daughter would be home. We continued walking and knocking on some doors. We met an older man named Frank. He invited us to come back later that week. He was very kind and welcoming. We then visited this woman we met on the street the week before. She was SO kind! She invited us into her home even though she did not have much time. She gave us juice and peanuts and asked us if we had eaten dinner. She was so sweet! We shared a short spiritual thought and then made a return dinner appointment!  As we were leaving she ran over to us and gave us both scarfs from Morocco! We are VERY excited to visit her and her family again! She is married with 3 sons. Next, we went back and visited the woman on the porch and taught her and her 3 kids! We found and taught 2 families! Wahoo! It was amazing and the Spirit was very strong! 

     

So cool! Well my peeps, I love you and I hope all is well in America! 

Gud vaær med dere til vi sees igjen!  

-Søster Neilson

Photo Note: Apparently she didn't make it to the library to upload and send photos. I bet we will receive a boat load of photos next week! :)

Norwegian Moose and a Little Nisse! :)