A Week Of Firsts

This week the jet lag has finally started to wear off, and I am finally starting to realize what I have gotten myself into!  Haha! But really, this week has been great and it has been full of new experiences. I am so grateful for my district and especially my companion, because without them, I would probably become a crazy hermit witch lady living in an old Norwegian war bunker on a random fjell. 

Last Monday, I went on my FIRST hike in Norway! Hiking is REALLY big in Norway and it is something that is always talked about. They even have a candy bar for hiking called Kvik Lunsj! We hiked up fjellstua and the view was just BEAUTIFUL.

 

Also, I ate my FIRST Kebab on Monday. It is basically a gyro type thing with vegetables and pizza sauce? That is the best I can describe it. I don't even know if the people that are making it know what it really is... Anyways, it was really good! Side note: Kebab is also a verb. It is used when someone blows you off, or in other words, doesn't show up for an appointment. For example, Sister Belus and I got "Kebabed"  two times in one day last week. Luckily, we were able to find out another day that worked better for them and set up another appointment. 

I gave out my FIRST Mormons Bok last week! (all by myself too!) We banked on this door and a boy, probably about my age, answered the door. I explained to him that we were missionaries and asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ. He said yes and so I explained to him that we have a book that is another testament of Christ and asked if we could give it to him. He took the Book of Mormon and we are planning to visit him sometime next week. It is one of the best feelings when you can talk about and testify of Jesus Christ in another language and people understand you. 

I made my FIRST batch of cookies in Norway! They weren't exactly like the ones I make back home because apparently Norwegians don't believe in chocolate chips. Haha! So we had to brake up a Freia chocolate bar instead. We gave them out to a lot of our investigators and even people on the street. 

I got my FIRST new investigator this week! His name is Håkon. He is very friendly and seems like a very genuine person. He agreed to meet with us because he has a friend in Oslo that is Mormon. He used to be in the Army and he told us that he started believing in God because of all of the crazy situations he was in and came out alive. He is very interested to learn about what we believe in and I hope that we can help him develop a relationship with Heavenly Father and turn that desire to learn into a knowledge that what we are telling him about is true. 

I gave my FIRST talk in Sacrament Meeting... IN NORWEGIAN. Giving a 15 minute talk in Norwegian should have been probably one of the most difficult and nerve-racking things that I have ever done in life, But it was significantly easier than any of the talks that I have given in church in Utah. It is amazing to see how much Heavenly Father is helping me with the language and even the little things like calming my fears and helping me feel more confident. The power of prayer is so real, and I have seen this past week just how much Heavenly Father will help me if I ask him to through sincere prayer.

Funny things from this past week:

- I talked to two older people yesterday when we were out banking. It is really hard to understand older people when they speak Norwegian and apparently it is just as hard for them to understand someone who is trying their best to speak Norwegian and is straight out of America. An old man told me (after I said three or four sentences in Norwegian) "I don't speak english". Then an old lady said to me ten minutes later after we banked on her door," jeg forstår ikke" (I don't understand) and shut the door on us.

- We had a party last Saturday at a members house where we all dressed up all wacky and played games. Sister Belus and I went against all sense of fashion and wore all different kinds of patterns and colors that clashed and won the award for dressing up the weirdest.

That is pretty much my week in a nutshell! I love being a missionary and I love working my hardest, taking leaps of faith, and relying more on Heavenly Father everyday. I love you all!

Vi snakkes,

Søster Starkie