Week 15 - IKEA>Disneyland

So have you ever been to IKEA? I have. I went this week. And got lost. It was a way good time. If you ever have the opportunity to go I would highly recommend it. Plus the hot dogs are only 5 kroner (which is like 60 cents). Also, Søster Sorensen said, "Whoever thinks Disneyland is the happiest place on earth has obviously never been to IKEA." So there you go.

This summer has been THE COLDEST summer in 92 years... we had the heater on this week! BUT then the sun came out for like two days and it was the happiest day of my life.

Actually, I lied. The happiest day of my life was when the new mission presidents wife called all the sisters and told us that we weren't required to wear nylons anymore. HAAALLELUJAH :) We took a celebratory no-nylons picture. :)

We have a way rad investigator right now named Jonas. He's going places. Just sayin. 

One of our investigators told us that women are "weaker vessels" and we just don't understand. (Actually, he said "veaker wessels" so it was really funny but also kind of rude.) We dropped him. haahahaha

The highlight of my week was when one of the members from the ward brought us BACON! He drove to Sweden because groceries are way cheaper in Sweden and he bought us soup, bacon, and M&M'S!!! I haven't had m&ms in like... four months. I was so happy. Bless that man.

Heavenly Father is so real and he is so anxious to help us through our trials. Lean on Him in times of need and I promise you that you will find strength that you didn't even know you had!! I have experienced it so many times out here. I love being a missionary! :)

Yeah so that's Trondheim right now!! I love you all!!! 

ha det bra :)

Søster Sims

Week 14 - You Snus, You Lose

Hahaha so snus (sounds like "snooze") is this packed tobacco stuff that you can buy at gas stations with the cigarettes and stuff, and I swear almost every person and their DOG does snus here. We have a lot of investigators that really have struggled getting off of snus... it's basically Satan.

BUT THIS WEEK one of our investigators quit!!!! HE DID IT. That made me so happy. The change I have seen in this mans life in the last month has been incredible. There is nothing like watching someone come closer to Christ. He's been reading Mormons Bok and praying and the other night he got a really direct answer to his prayers. He said he heard a voice ring through his head while he was praying one night and it said, "Jeg tar vare på dine bønner," which means "I take care of/hear your prayers." It was awesome, he's doing amazing! Heavenly Father hears EVERY single prayer!!

Also also alsoooo the yogurt in Norway is like 234975x better. Just thought you might want to know.

My companions are way rad. Three IS a party. We have a really good time.

So, remember Nati who was baptized a couple of weeks ago? Well, he received the priesthood last week and this week he passed the sacrament!!! So crazy! He's amazing, and he has this huge love for the gospel! We've already brought him on some teaches with us, his testimony is amazing! :)

Well, that's actually pretty much it. I'm about to enjoy the rest of my PDay by watching Ice Age in Norwegian... so that's a good time. PS Norwegian is the best language and I want to speak it for the rest of my life.

Also, if anyone is emailing me and I haven't gotten back to you, I AM SO SORRY. I promise I'll get there :) I love you all and I am SO grateful for all the love and support from all of you!

Jeg VET at Jesus Kristus lever og han er vår frelser! Og jeg vet han er alltid med oss. Stole på ham!!

That's all from me this week, ha det bra!!!

Søster Sims :)

Week 12 - TRANSFERS!!

I'M STAYING IN TRONDHEIM :) thank goodness, I love love LOVE Trondheim! I definitely wasn't ready to leave! The ward here is the best and I love my investigators way too much. And it doesn't help that it's so beautiful here!

OKAY wow this week! The sun came out!!! So far, it has been the coldest summer in Norway 92 years. (Of course when I arrive.... hahaha) The sun finally came out and so did every Norwegian in the country.

My beloved companion is leaving me! Søster Leland is one of the greatest people I have ever met and I am so sad to see her go. She has become one of my best friends and I will miss her so much, but she's off to bigger and better things! I am getting not one, but TWO new companions!!! I got stuck in the awkward tripanionship (haha) but for reals, we're going to have such a blast!!! I am way excited to meet them on Wednesday!

The language is coming faster than I ever thought possible. In just one transfer, I'm amazed at how much I can understand and speak. I understand almost everyone on the street (until we run into people with Stavanger dialects... or danish people. Those are crazy).

We had EIGHT investigators in church this week!!! That was awesome! One of our investigators even brought a friend! It was such a good week. Seriously, the amount of prepared people we met this week was incredible. God is placing people in our path left and right. 

Picture explanation -- Søster Leland and I tried making brownies from a Norwegian recipe and we accidentally added 10x the water we were supposed to (who understands the metric system anyway right?) so that was a good time.

Also we went on a hike near a town called Hell today and it was a really good time.

I lauf Norway. It's the best. God is real guys. So so sooo many miracles happen each and every day! He's preparing people all over the world to hear his gospel. Alma 13:24 - For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.

God is preparing his people! The work is moving forward!!

Cool story: We met two people from Eritrea this week on the street that barely spoke Norwegian (their main language is Tiglinidnfgindfig or whatever they speak in Eritrea). Nati, our new convert, also speaks that language, and offered to translate for us so we could teach them the lessons! So that is way exciting. Nati is the man. When we asked him, he said, "Of COURSE! Now that I have this knowledge of this gospel, I need to share it with everyone! Let's go wake these people UP!" haha he was so pumped. He's an example to me!

That's all from me this week. :) I can't believe it's been 12 weeks already... but at the same time, I can't believe it's only been 12 weeks. Hahaha time is a strange thing.

Love you all! :)

Lauf, Kensie

The hike in "Hell." :

(If this is "Hell..." then YES! -Mel :) )

Dåp!!

I can honestly say this has been the most stressful and wonderful week of my entire life! Missionary work is crazy but it is the best and most rewarding thing I have ever done. I absolutely love being a missionary!!

So... Jan and Nati were BAPTIZED on saturday! Holy cow! They did amazing. Jan, the 73 year old sassy Norwegian man who is probably the cutest person on the planet, flew into Trondheim on Friday. He lives four hours away (which is in our ward boundaries) and still flew in to be baptized. He is completely Norwegian and doesn't speak a word of English. He's so cute. He took Søster Leland and I to dinner on Saturday and he took us to the hospital cafeteria because he likes the food there. :) And he speaks Norwegian with this really crazy Northern dialect, and he can tell every time Søster Leland and I don't understand. He'll look at us with this smirk on his face, raise his eyebrows and say, "Forstå du (do you understand)?" Haha it's a good time.

Nati is such a stud. It has been so awesome working with him, and I have been able to be here for Nati's whole process. He was literally a miracle story. I feel like every time we met with him, something incredible happened. Seeing Nati get baptized made me tear up a bit. I have grown to love and care about all these people I meet with, and seeing these two men making this choice to follow Christ was life changing for me. I loved watching how the gospel completely changed their lives. Nati always says, "God sent you two angels to Trondheim to find me, and I am so grateful for that." Yesterday, after they were both confirmed, both Jan and Nati had this new light in their eyes. It was indescribable. I am so grateful that I got to be a part of that experience!!! :)

I had my first crazy drunk person experience. This cute old man sat down next to me on the bus and I asked him where he was headed. Well, he didn't turn out to be a cute old man. He turned to me and started yelling at me in German. (?) and he reeked of alcohol. My companion was sitting across from me and she was busting up laughing. He was so funny.

It's still raining here, but I love it because it makes me enjoy the sunshine more. :) Oh, that's my spiritual thought this week. Learn to enjoy the rainy times and you'll enjoy the sunny days even more. Amen

We're watching Despicable Me in Norwegian and it's great.

Also, have you ever seen what a shrimp looks like before the head and legs are cut off? They aren't cute. A member had us over for dinner tonight and we got to completely "peel" the whole thing. It was way rad.

Okay my real spiritual thought will be my cool story of the week. Okay, so I'll admit, one of my biggest weaknesses as a missionary is bus contacting. It's awkward and difficult and I'm terrible at it. Well, this week we had to take a pretty long bus ride, and when we got on the bus, it was completely empty. I decided I wanted to prove myself to Heavenly Father and show Him that he could trust me to be a good missionary, so I prayed and just said, "Put someone in my path and I promise to do my part. If you give me someone now, I will get their number." Literally two minutes later, a girl gets on the bus and sits next to me. An empty bus! That's unheard of!! So we started talking and I found out she was Christian and she was actually really interested in the Book of Mormon. I got her number, and we're hopefully meeting later this week! :) God is so good. I know that girl was a direct answer to my prayers. 

Trondheim is the best. Norway is the best. I just love being here, and I hope summer comes soon. :)

Love you all! Til vi sees igjen!!

Søster Sims

Week 10 - Dåp is Dope

^Just an explanation... dåp is Norwegian for baptism. :)

Rain rain rain rain RAIN. Lots of rain. Also, I am very pale.

In Norway, people know who the missionaries are. And not all of them love us very much. It's so funny to be walking down the street and have someone see us and literally cross to the other side of the street to avoid us. HAHA but the best one this week was this man who was standing by this building doing nothing, so we decided to go up and talk to him. When we got up to him, we said "Hei" and he literally turn around and RAN into the nearest building. IT WAS HILARIOUS haha and then also this week when I was contacting on the bus, I saw a very friendly looking man and asked if I could sit next to him. Without missing a beat, he (literally) yelled "NEI DU KAN IKKE" (no you cannot) and it was so funny I tried so hard not to laugh.

I love Norway. I absolutely LOVE it and would recommend it to everyone. Especially the food. (Aaaand of course the people)

We have two baptisms this weekend!!! I am so excited! Miracles are happening in Trondheim. I'll begin with the two awesome people that are getting baptized this week: The first one is Jan. He's Norwegian and he's 73 and the cutest person in the world. He took missionary lessons when he was 20 years old, but stopped for some reason. Well, he was recently back in Trondheim to have some cancer treatment done, and he came back to the church looking for missionaries! How cool is that!! So we've been teaching him, he's a stud and he's super sassy and speaks reaaaally crazy Norwegian that we can barely understand. So that's Jan. The other guy is Nati. I love Nati. He's in his 20s and he's from Eritrea :) So the sisters before me were the ones that found him, but they had only had one lesson with him and he stopped answering their calls. My second week here, Søster Leland and I had a really strong feeling we should just go visit Nati. So we did :) turns out, he quit smoking ALL BY HIMSELF (without knowing about the Word of Wisdom) just because he wanted to feel closer to God. We were so happy for him and we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and then about baptism and then committed him to be baptized in that lesson. He has been so excited and he's been working so hard. He was originally supposed to be baptized next week... but he was too excited and asked it to be moved to this Saturday. He's so great. He called us this week and said it was like God sent him angels from Heaven. And then he said, "I think you came to Trondheim just for me." :):) It's amazing to watch the gospel change these peoples lives!!

We are really being helped with finding people to teach lately. The Lord has placed so many people in our path I can't even begin to explain it!! For example, yesterday, we had an appointment fall through so we decided to go contacting. We went downtown and stopped a group of 10 (I was so nervous!) and they ended up all being interested!! They are from the Philippines and they are actually going back soon, but we are giving them all Tagolog Books of Mormon tonight and we are so excited!! Another cool thing from this week was this girl named Tuve that we got to teach. It was our first teach with her, so we met her at a bus stop and she had brought a friend with her!! Søster Leland and I were so happy that we could teach two people... but then we went to sit down with them in this student study place and two of their other friends joined us!!! Crazy! That was one of the most spiritual lessons we have taught yet. :) The Lord is too good.

Also, the ultimate struggle is switching back and forth between Norwegian and English. I'm actually really surprised how naturally Norwegian is coming to me. We taught the plan of salvation in English last Saturday and I was genuinely struggling. I'm interested to see what it will be like in 16 months... hahaha :)

Yesterday we got to hear from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and that was AWESOME. Elder Holland is an incredible speaker. It was a northern European conference, so he was speaking in Scotland and it was broadcasted all over Northern Europe :) it was way cool. He spoke about the Book of Mormon and just bore this hardcore Elder Holland testimony that made me feel so empowered. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith was called as God's prophet to translate it!! While he was bearing his testimony, he said something that really got to me. He said, "I KNOW that these things are true because I have seen things that I can't talk about, that I'm not allowed to talk about. I know Christ lives and that this book is true." Elder Holland is the man.

Last little thing: At the conference, this super cute swedish girl gave a talk. She spoke about a time when she had almost lost all hope -- she felt like there was too much darkness around her, and she wanted to just "give up". She was constantly thinking to herself, "I just can't do this." I think we can all relate to that feeling on some level. After a couple of weeks of fervent prayer, scripture study, and temple visits, she said one night, the feeling lifted. The feeling of fear and doubt was replaced with an overwhelming feeling of love and peace. She said she knew that the feeling she experienced came from Christ, and it came because she had renewed her testimony of Him. I've been studying a lot about faith this week. In Preach My Gospel, it says that "doubt and fear are opposed to faith." When I read that, I thought about all the times I have let my faith falter because I have been gripped with fear, or all the times my doubts have overcome me and I've felt hopeless. I know many times I have experienced the fear of "I just can't do this." But one thing that is so important to remember is where the doubt and fear comes from. It does not come from Christ -- it comes from Satan, who will do anything to see us miserable. We need to cast our doubts and fears away and seek Him. Only through Christ will we find the peace that we are looking for. 

John 14:27 - "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."

I LOVE YOU ALL! Have an awesome week! <3

Til vi sees igjen,

Søster Sims

This is the cutest old lady that we visit. We love her!!

Week 9 Trondheim - lots of pics!

Alright, time is flying. What in the world. Today marks two months that I have been out on my mission... crazy!!!

I have a few things I need to say. 1) I miss chicken nuggets and hamburgers and spam musubis. I would do anything for a burger right now. 2) I miss american peanut butter. The peanut butter in Norway is suuuper healthy and tastes like it, too. 3) I miss Chick-fil-A.  Okay but then Norwegian food is like seriously the best food on the planet so I have no room to complain. Also I love goat cheese and wow I just love Norway. But I think in 16 more months, I'll be ready for some Cafe Rio and Chick-fil-A. I <3 'Murica

Rain, rain, rain. Holy rain. There is so much of it. But it is so wonderful at the same time. There is nothing like walking down the street in the pouring rain with a Book of Mormon in hand and thinking "I'M DOIN THE LORD'S WORK" and yeah it's just great. 

Yesterday I played violin in a concert at church. My companion plays violin and I play viola. We couldn't find a viola, so I got to practice my violin skills last week!! So that was a good time.

OH, cool tender mercy/borderline miracle this week. So one of our investigators is from Tanzania (cool, right??) and this Saturday was our first time meeting with him. We planned on teaching the restoration and just giving him an English Book of Mormon (because we speak English together). Well, during the lesson, he told us his native language was Swahili. I was thinking "Oh, we'll probably have to order that" but I had a feeling to get up and check the shelf. They have this shelf in the church with the BOM in a couple different languages. They had Russian, French, Norwegian, English, Polish, Hungarian... No swahili. Well, I had another feeling to just pull out some books and check behind. Sure enough, there was one single Book of Mormon in the back. I though, "no way" and pulled it out, opened the cover.... Swahili. How cool is that?? The Lord is SO aware of us!! It was awesome!!

Also, Søster Leland and I placed 4 BOMs in an hour this week which was super unreal for Norway. We gained 3 investigators from that. :) The work is moving forward!!

One thing I love about Trondheim is that it's a college town, so it's SUPER crazy diverse. We meet/teach people from all over the world!! For example: we have investigators from Eritrea, Congo, Iran, Iraq, Poland, Nepal, Tanzania, south america, and a ton of random countries I totally can't huske.  But it's rad. Of course, most of our investigators are Norsk. But it's still super cool to see :)

Also this week a guy on the bus asked us to go to the movies with him. When we explained why we couldn't, he asked us if we'd prefer to go bowling. HAHAHA so yeah

My little missionary rant won't be very long today, but I just wanted to let you all know how much I love you and how aware the Lord is of ALL of us!! He knows us all and everything we are going through! One thing I have learned over and over again these past few months is that we shouldn't pray for our trails to be taken from us, but we should pray for the strength and patience to get through them. Check out Alma 14:26, 31:31, and Mosiah 24:14-15. My goal is to be like the people of Alma and "submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." I know that He is always right beside us, anxious to help us "bear up [our] burdens with ease"! He can help you if you let Him -- sometimes it's just a manner of setting aside our pride and turning to Him. I love you all!!

Norway is amazing and I am so happy!! This gospel is true, I have seen it change lives in just three weeks!! I am so happy for the knowledge I have of this gospel and my Savior!

Love!! Have an awesome week!

<3 Søster Sims

Trondheim at 10:30 at night

A town called Hell

(I'm assuming Kensie thought this guys was adorable...and asked to take his pic.  That's my girl!  -Mel)

Mine! Mine! Mine, mine! :)

Week 8 - Trondheim

Whoa has it really been 8 weeks already?? Two months coming up fast!!! :)

Norway is the best. Again, I really just wish I could sit down and write about the food because that is really truly honestly the best part. I loooove the food and I love waking up and eating breakfast and elevensies and lunch and second lunch and middag and night time snacks and then some. I promise I'm not gaining weight. 

So something fun that has hit me this week is a big batch of homesickness. Which, hey, every missionary probably goes through it, but it has been way super tough. I have been praying and praying this week that I can stop thinking about home and the beach and my super rad family. It's hard to make the transition, especially when you have friends and family as good as mine. But hey, I'm here for a reason. :) and I am way excited to keep pushing forward.

So one thing about Trondheim: we're right on the water, and there are SOOOO many seagulls here. Like millions. Billions. Everywhere. The sound of a Seagull's screech will forever remind me of Trondheim. <3 It's de best. Well, with lots of birds come lots of poops. (heheheh) so while we were out on the street contacting, we started talking to this lady and you could tell she wasn't interested or anything and out of nowhere a big poop just plops on her head AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE HAHAHA so I'm trying to hold it together and Sister Leland is like in the middle of bearing a hardcore testimony about the book of mormon and she was losing it too so that was my very favorite part of the week. It was almost like Heavenly Father was trying to tell us she wasn't the one and just to move on. So that was fun.

This week was tough work-wise. We had an investigator (with a baptismal date) that we love so so much say he wanted to stop meeting with us. It was heartbreaking. We tried everything we could, but sometimes it's not up to us. We can teach by the spirit and everything, but it's up to that person to open their hearts to it. So that was a bummer, but I know there are more prepared people out there. ONWARD AND UPWARD :)

Oh but then that same night that our investigator dropped us, we decided to meet with another investigator who we hadn't heard from in a week. When we met with him, he told us that he quit smoking and drinking IN THE LAST WEEK just so he could feel closer to God. This was literally our third lesson with him (I didn't even know he smoked or drank!!) and we hadn't even brought up the word of wisdom!! He did that all on his own. And we talked about how we can come closer to God by being baptized and he said that was something he wanted to do!! WAAAAT. So Heavenly Father rocks.

We have a lot of super awesome investigators. Trondheim is seriously the best!

One cool thing is that I met someone that my teacher from the MTC baptized!! He was one of the first people I met in Norway :) His name is Tore and he rocks.

Also I learned how to knit. I'm basically the happiest person on the planet now. :):) Sister Leland and I seriously knitted on the bus yesterday. It was such a good time.

Also, torrential downpours. It's a thing. Every. Single. Day. But we're still out contacting and doing our best and it's actually so fun. :) But yeah it's basically like a free cold shower every time we leave our apartment. 

Norway is the best!! Hope you all are having a great week, I love hearing from every one of you!! Ha det bra :)

Love,

Søster Sims

ps: Read "Choose to Believe" by Elder L. Whitney Clayton. It's so comforting. My favorite part from it:

"There may be times when we have been hurt, when we are tired, and when our lives seem dark and cold. There may be times when we cannot see any light on the horizon, and we may feel like giving up. If we are willing to believe, if we desire to believe, if we choose to believe, then the Savior’s teachings and example will show us the pathway forward."<3