Monday, October 2 2017

Min Kjære Familie,
This week has been a dream and a half. Of course it has still been hard, but I have kind of accepted that (or at least have been trying to accept it).
I wake up every morning at 6:28 (TWO MINUTES BEFORE MY ALARM :( ) and am in complete shock that i am still on a mission. I shed a tear or two, get down on my knees, pray for help, and get on my way. It has been interesting to see how my prayers have changed from 1- Heavenly father please let me get out of this to 2- Please let me go home, but if not then please help me get through the day to 3- okay i am here, please help me to love it and learn. And loving it and learning has been the case of this past week. 
1- On monday we knocked on doors. I had a migraine and the last thing I wanted to be doing was knocking on doors.
We did not even know where to knock. We got off the bus, knocked on like four doors before we came to THE ONE. Okay, deep breath, knock, wait. He opened the door. It was my turn to start talking. "Hei Hei vi to er misjonærer og vi er ut idag å snakke med folk om gud og hans plan for oss som hans barn. (crap what should I tesitfy about?!) Noe som vi vet er at Gud ønsker oss å være lykkelige i dette livet. Er det.." He interrupted, said we could come in because I talked about how God wants us to be happy. We taught him the whole first lesson! We have a return appointment. He promised to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Wow. The spirit not only cured my migraine that night, but it helped to cure this mans broken heart.
2- We met this lady on the bus a long time ago. We met her again this week. She is kind of like a hippy motherly figure to me..she always asks about my happiness and peace of mind. She said something that really hit me, "Be proud of yourself! You are helping people to feel like they are a part of the existence!" Even if people are not interested in what I have to say, at least I am helping them feel like they are noticed and a part of the world.
3- I met a lady on the bus two weeks ago. She said that she had been praying for a friend and when she saw me she was so excited because I smiled at her.
She sat down next to me and began talking about Jesus. WHAT. She told me all about how she is alone in Norway with her daughter and how it is hard. Last week she called us and invited us over for dinner. It was so special. She served us a buffet of iretrean food. It was so yummy. Her little daughter is so cute. It was so fun to connect with her and play. We were only able to share a spiritual thought but it was so fun.
4- We were at the church (which is getting repainted) and this worker came over to us and offered us blueberry muffins. TENDER MERCY. We literally were just talking about how hungry we were. and then we went out contacting the next day and this man was not interested at all in what we had to say, but he offered to give us some boller (WAY YUMMY ROLLS) and sent us on our way. That was another little treat.
5- On the bus I sat next to this older man. He looked pretty professional so I was a little scared to talk to him. I decided to just compliment his suit jacket. He did not understand what I was saying. I immediately felt more relaxed. I asked him where he was from and he responded in english that he was from turkey. He asked where I was from in Norway, laughing I told him that I was from the US. He could not believe it. I asked him why?
He told me, "I have worked for the corps in the US while they were at battle in Iraq. It was my job to pacify the prisoners because I could speak arabic and they trusted me. You are not like Americans. You are like the sunshine." WOW. I AM LIKE THE SUNSHINE? He went on to tell me how he thought it was God who put us on the same path. He was not planning on going to the city that night, but his friend randomly called him and asked him to hop on the bus. I told him about the Book of Mormon. He asked if we could meet and if I could give him one to read in Turkish. I love five minute bus friends, but I have a feeling this will be an eternal friend.
6- Something we have been trying to do is make little goals every time before we proselyte. The other day we only had twenty minutes between things. We prayed and decided that we wanted to find one potential investigator even though we only had twenty minutes. We went out, stopped as many people as we could, gave out two books of mormon and got TWO potentials. Goal setting is a very useful tool in life.
7- We had two gren members get married this weekend. It was so fun. We got to the wedding place a few minutes late. I was so stressed. We walked in, no one knew where the bride was. Or the groom. We waited and waited and waited. One of the gren members brought in the birthday cake she made for her daughter. An hour passed, finally the groom came in dressed in a baseball cap and jeans. He walked into a room, did not come back out. Another hour passed and the bride finally showed up. The wedding began. It was super cool. Our branch president said that all you need to do is read togher, pray together, and pray alone in order for a marriage to work. The food was incredible. Me and Søster Earl MCd the wedding and we sang Our Saviors Love during the ceremony. HAHA. I went to a phillipinno wedding in NORWAY. What. I also tried wine ( non alcohol). It was so gross haha. we are not missing out on anything!
8- General conference was cool. It is a lot different watching it in Norway. We watched it live at 6 pm on saturday night at our branch presidents house. It was fun, but the internet was weak so we did not get to finish it. (we watch it in english). Then we woke up the next morning and watched saturday evenings session at noon (which we did not get to finish either). We  hopped on the bus to Stavanger and watched sunday mornings session live at the Gormleys house with all of the missionaries at 6 pm. We had a way yummy dinner before. I still have not seen sunday afternoons session yet either. Crazy. Not the same. Still uplifting though!
9- We got a phone call from president this morning telling us that we deserved a shout out for all of our awesome work. That was fun. 
10- Søster Gormley turned to me after general conference and asked if I had bought any new clothes yet. I told her that I hadnt. She looked at me and with a very concerned look on her face she offered to give me some money so that I could feel cuter. HAHA. She promised that shopping would help me feel better. I am not so sure about it. Maybe I will try it out. Dont worry though, i refused her money. SHe is so nice.
General Conference was good. I felt like every single talk was talking about returning to our heavenly home. At first I was very bitter because I am just trying to get home to my earthly home! Søster Gormley said, "Wow. How would you live if you did not know this was true?" I thought to myself, "Why would you want to live if you KNEW that this was true?" It then hit me that maybe even beyond the realm of my mission, we are on earth not for ourselves. Maybe living is a very selfless thing in and of itself. Maybe we are here to help everyone else make it back to their heavenly home. It would be so much easier and nicer to not even have to experience this earthly life and merely return into the arms of our father, but it is not about us. I wish I could actually realize this. I have been thinking a lot about how you make peace with a lion. In my case, my lion is my mission. It has been really hard for me. Every day has been a battle. I have been praying for the mission to get easier and for me to love it more, but maybe in order to make peace with a lion, it is not just the lion that has to become a vegetarian, but the lamb has to stop running away. I do not know. It is easy to be unsatisfied when you have everything. I have always had everything. The only thing I do not have right now is my family. But in losing them, I have gained so much more. There is comfort in knowing that as I am working back to my eternal home, returning to my earthly home is in the plan. Even though it seems like a long and hard time away, there is hope on the path. 
I hope you all have a good week. I hope you all understand how much I love you and miss you. I love hearing from you all. I love learning about what is happening on the homeland. I cannot wait until we can all kos us and eat and chat. 
Love you love you love you,
Søster Horrocks

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