Chillin' With My Gnomies in Norway: Farewell Sarpsborg and Hello Skien!…Week 55

Hei Sann!

How is everyone doing in the world of Norway and America!? I hope well! So, as you know, I have moved to the wonderful city of Skien! It was hard to leave Sarpsborg and the people I love so much there BUT life is FULL of new journeys! I will never forget the friendships I made in Sarpsbrog. Those friendships are eternal and I am so grateful I was able to serve in Sarpsborg. I am also grateful for technology so that I can ALWAYS keep in contact with these people even after I go home. I LOVE NORWAY!!!!

Well, before I left Sarpsborg, we spent some time in Sweden at the Isaksen’s home. :) It was WAY fun! The elders where helping build the upstairs of the house with Daniel (the husband) and Søster Rogers and I helped his wife Ankie make Swedish meatballs! It was so fun to learn! We had such a good time and just laughed and ate and laughed some more. I love Ankie! She is such a doll!

We visited an older lady named Dagney Kultorp. She is a legend! She is so dedicated to Family History Work! She is such an amazing woman, I am not exactly how old she is but I am pretty sure she is 90?! Maybe a little bit older. ANYWAYS, we visited her and she was so sad to hear that I was leaving. She is such a sweet woman. She told me that she would never forget me and that she wishes we were related so I could keep up her family history work. Hahaha! I love that woman so much! She said, "I am so happy because of you. You are such a wonderful missionary. I will never forget you and because of you this area will never be the same!” I love her! She is so kind and every time we are with her she talks about how excited she is to die so that she can see her husband and daughter again...so sweet! What a wonderful woman! I will miss her a lot!

AND THEN IT WAS WEDNESDAY! The day I had to say goodbye to the Ravneng Family...HEART BREAKING! They had been sick the whole week before with the stomach flu (awful)! So I already had not seen them in a while but we went over on Wednesday anyways! They were all feeling a lot better and Izzy was there too! I was so excited to see all of them! We sat and ate waffles together and just talked! It was so good to just be with them! I gave them a couple of pictures, a note and one of my name tags... Anne Marie just starts crying! Of course I start to cry! And then we just sat there holding each other crying! It was so sad! Hahaha...she looked and me and said "It doesn't help that I’m pregnant!" WHAT?!?! SO exciting! Hahaha...poor dear. I love her so much! When it was time to go I was on the couch with Tilje not wanting to leave! By the time I was walking out the door all 4 of the girls were crying and upset... not because I was leaving... but because they wanted to play with the iPad and needed to go to bed. Hahahahahahahaha! So I got a couple goodbye hugs and a lot of tears... for the iPad. ;) Hahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that family so much! I cannot wait to be with them again in July.

So Thursday I woke up at around 5 am (ugh) because I had to go take my behind the wheel driving test at the government office...SCARY! I was a little nervous but I had a practice drive with my driving teacher right before and I she actually ended up raising her voice at me when I was trying to back up because I kept doing it wrong...I started busting up laughing because as a missionary your companion MUST back you up. Its a big rule. SO I was not very good at backing up... she thought I was crazy when I started laughing but I just looked at her and said,"Ok! Ok! I can do this!" Hahaha...she thought I was a nut case! After that I took my test...ahhhh! My driving instructor was SO nice! He was super funny and kept making jokes about America and LA because he visited there one time. He kept saying how he was always afraid for his life in LA! Hahaha...the coolest thing was we only talked about the church my entire test! THATS AN HOUR! He had a lot of questions and comments haha he was talking about it and randomly said,"I want to become mormon! How many wives do I get?!" and he started to giggle and then there was silence! I said, "Only 3!"...hahahahaha!!! He BUSTED up laughing! (Just as a side note MORMONS DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN PLURAL MARRIAGE! IT IS MARRIAGE BETWEEN A MAN AND ONE WOMAN! ONE WIFE EVERYONE!) Hahaha!!! He was a really nice guy and really like a lot about the church. It was cool to be able to talk about the Gospel the whole time. It made me feel way more comfortable! :) I loved it! So we

get to the end of the test and I have to back into a parking spot...and I did it!!! He talked a lot about my driving in big long Norwegian words that I could not understand... and then he said... I PASSED! WAHOO!!!!!!!! I now have a European license! Wahoo! I am so stoked! These things don't expire for like 70 years! I’m stoked! :) So we jumped in the car and drove to a place called Tønsberg! We met my new companion there (Søster Horner) and then drove another 2 hours home! Now I am in Skien! It is beautiful here!

So in my pictures that are below Skien had a HUGE flood! There were houses almost under water! It was crazy! Its all doing better now but it was really insane!

Well my peeps...I love you all so much! Not much to share this week! Just trying to find my way around Skien and get to know people. The ward is great! The weather is cold which is a bit of a problem when your winter coat was stolen 5 months ago! (Oh yeah, sorry I forgot to tell you Mom...my coat was stolen out of our car because the back lock is broken! Hope the person who took it needed it more than me and I hope it keeps them WARM this winter! Hahaha!) I love you guys! MUAH!

Gud værmed deg til vi sees igjen!

-Søster Neilson