Chillin' With My Gnomies in Norway

Monday, August 3, 2015

Miracles in Sarpsborg!…Week 48

Hello Family and Friends!

Something VERY amazing happened this week... THE RAVNENGS GOT BAPTIZED!!! AHHH!!! It was such an amazing day and they were just BEAMING! The day in of itself was a little bit stressful but when the baptism came around, it was so peaceful! The spirit was so strong! The Ravnenegs are SO sweet! What a wonderful day! :) Tonight they are making dinner for Eldste Kirk before he goes home and then having the WHOLE ward over for a BBQ on Saturday... THESE PEOPLE ARE AMAZING! I feel so blessed to have met them and have them in my life! Eternal friends for sure!

This week was so crazy! My District Leader, Eldste Kirk, leaves in 2 days and that will be a sad day! Today is his last Pday and we are going to party! We are going to this really cool, old Norwegian thing... hahaha that was not very specific because everything is cool and Norwegian and old here! ;) So I do not have much time to write out a very descriptive email but hey I sent some pictures and a picture says a thousand words! I sent like 15 so var så god!

We had an epic BBQ this week and it was way fun! It was at our house...hahaha...actually the Olsen Family’s house! We live in their back apartment! So fun! So many people came and it was wonderful to have some of Our investigators there! :)

I’m sorry this is not very detailed but please know miracles are happening! :) I guess this just means I will have amazing stories to tell when I come home! :) Hahaha! I love you guys!

Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen!

-Soster Neilson

A day full of JOY!

Sometimes you just have to take a bathroom

mirror selfie when your heart is HAPPY!

A baptism is a PERFECT reason to celebrate! <3

This little cutie pie calls Soster Neilson…

"Beste Venn!" (Best Friend)

Hearts set to serve!…

SO COOL! Soster Neilson has one foot in

Sweden and the other foot in Norway!

Eldste Phipps is like the Guy Piped Piper of children!

Soster Neilson is the Girl Piped Piper of children!

Darling Swedish sisters! <3

Smorgasbord! YUM!

She saw a horse while driving by, pulled over,

and ran across the street without shoes (no surprise there!)

to snap a photo!

Aww! Ward Summer BBQ every Saturday night!

California…represent! ;)

Sticky Finger FACE! :D

Happy Hearts! <3

Missionary THUG life! ;)

Best part of the WHOLE week…HANDS DOWN!

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Viking Festival!

Søster Neilson and Søster Gates were fortunate to attend a Viking Festival last Saturday. Here is Haylee's photo journal of the festival. SO cool! ENJOY!…

"You know…a Viking girl with a few of her Viking boys!"

"There were tons of tents with Viking wares to see!"

"The forest is BEAUTIFUL!"

"Ragnar Lothbrok?!"

"A VERY talented wood carver!"

"This box he carved looked like a self portrait to me!"

"VIKINGS!"

"A cozy little Viking home!"

"The King and Queen arriving on their PONIES!"

"Blacksmiths!"

"Getting ready for the battle!"

"Shields UP! Children climb! It's a Viking dog pile!

Super cool and FUN!"

"Such an AWESOME experience!
So grateful I got to be there!"

Monday, July 27, 2015

Oh My Goodness!…Week 47

Hello my wonderful family and friends!!!

How are you all doing?! Oh my goodness, life here in Norway is CAZY! Hahaha I feel like I say that every week but it is so true! CRAZY BUSY! We had a baptism on Saturday with the wonderful and beautiful Beatrice! The elders have been teaching her. We all have such a good relationship with this amazing girl! She is so incredible! She was so nervous but after she was baptized, she felt nothing but PEACE!...AHHH! Just so good! :)

Two days from now, our little Norwegian family is being baptized! There are six members of their family but only three are old enough to be baptized. :) Holy cow! We are so excited! WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE! What an INCREDIBLE family! They are so good! They have just been prepared from day one. The Lord really does have a plan for His children and He has a plan for the Ravneng family! I am so excited for the day that they will be sealed together as a family forever! :) GO TEAM RAVNENG!!! :)))))))) So we have been super busy planning for this amazing baptism and it has been so much fun! We have gotten to spend so much time with this amazing family and I know that we are supposed to be teaching them but I feel like they teach me! They are such wonderful examples of love and patience! They are always so loving and patient with their kids and they just laugh at the things that can easily make us grumpy! WHAT EXAMPLES! :) I will be taking LOTS of pictures on their baptism day... LOTS!!!

We have been really focusing on being obedient and really helping others come unto Christ. President and Søster Hill came down to visit and interview the Ravneng family on Friday and then they came over to out apartment to just see how we were doing! :) I love them with all my heart! They are also going to be coming down for the baptism on Wednesday which we are looking forward to with much joy!! :)

So on Saturday at Beatrice's baptism we were there early to help Beatrice get dressed and just help out in any way we could and she was SO nervous! We tried to calm her down but nothing was working! We then began to walk down the stairs in the church and then... SØSTER GATES FALLS DOWN THE STAIR CASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She twisted her ankle, busted up her foot and broke a nail. Oh my goodness! She started crying and then laughing! She was okay!!! And that actually relieved a lot of nervousness from Beatrice so thank you Søster Gates! ;) Haha...she really is okay everyone! Don't worry!

The week is kind of a blur of miracles and I don't even know what to write! I love my life. I love my investigators. I love the Ravneng Family! I am so glad to be here in Norway! I love you all so much!

Gud vær med deg til vi sees igjen!

-Søster Neilson