Manna from heaven

This week has been full of surprises and tender mercies! It seems like every time that we are starting to get a little bit discouraged, Heavenly Father sends someone to bless our lives in very simple ways. Here is a summary of this past week:

Monday: We went on a hike with the Elders for P-day and then we came home to find everyone in our little neighborhood having a Dugnad. A dugnad is where everyone in the neighborhood decides a day where they all do yard work, clean houses, and paint fences. It is basically like a community spring cleaning. Søster Morris and I were put to work raking leaves and cleaning benches and we got to get to know our neighbors a lot better. This one lady even brought out apple cake and water for everyone. We also met a former investigator there from Pakistan and he invited us over to his house in a couple of weeks to teach his family. 

Tuesday: We kontakted on the street and gave a Book of Mormon to this guy named William. He is very open to learning more and we are excited to meet with him this next week. Then we were able to visit Gunnel Larson from the ward. She told us about her amazing conversion story about how one day the missionaries came over and her mom wasn't interested. Gunnel was interested however and she told the missionaries to come back the next day. They did and the first day she went to church she felt the spirit so strongly and knew that the church was true. 

Wednesday: We had a lot of meetings that day so we ran down to Drammen for distrikt meeting and then back up to Asker. We went banking for the rest of the day and met Radek who is originally from Poland. He has a Catholic background but he said that he would be interested in learning more and took a book of mormon. 

Thursday: We went to Oslo to Celebrate 17 of Mai! I hear that there is a celebration in Salt Lake City that they have every year for all of you that want to experience Norway's national holiday next year. They have a big parade that consists of only children from the surrounding schools. Some of them are marching bands and others just have little flags that they wave. They walk right through the middle of Oslo to the Palace where there they wave at the king, queen, and their Royal Family. It was so cool to be so close to the Palace and the Royal Family during the celebration. We met a couple of different people that were from the United States. One was a member family that is currently living in Italy and the other was this lady from Minnesota that was in Norway on vacation. She came up to us and started a conversation. We were able to talk with her about our mission and about the church. She has a friend who's son is on a mission. It was great to talk to her and to invite her to learn more about the church when she gets back home. There really are no coincidences.  There also is a traditional outfit that the men and women wear called bunads. They are made out of wool and are very finely embroidered. They are only worn at special occasions and all of the different colors and patterns represent a different part of Norway. After the parade, we went to the mission home for a BBQ and to play some games. 

Friday: We had a lesson with Jikun and Ruihua and we taught them the first part of Frelsesplanen. The spirit was so strong especially when we talked about the Atonement. Jikun and Ruihua said that they felt the spirit and we invited them to be baptized. They said that they would pray about it individually and as a family. I know that Heavenly Father is very aware of them and cares a lot about them. I am so excited to hear about their experience with finding an answer.

Saturday: We played fotball with the members, changed and got ready in 15 minutes, then went straight outside to go and kontakt. We met this really nice girl that says that she has been trying to find out if God is really there and she said that it was crazy that at this point in her life that we stopped and talked to her. We taught her a lot about prayer and about Mormons Bok. She was really excited to start reading and praying to get an answer for herself, but didn't think that meeting with us would be necessary. I know that Heavenly Father prepares people in different ways so I pray that she will find an answer and that she will call us. Then we went Banking for 4 hours!!!:) Not a lot of people were home because there is another Holiday today and everyone has school and work off so most people are staying at their cabins for the weekend. One of the first people that answered didn't have time to talk and wasn't interested, but he did give us bread! It was a little tender mercy because after banking for another couple of hours in the hot sun, we got a little hangry and had to take a bread break. It is amazing to see how much Heavenly Father knows us and wants to take care of us. Just the little things like having us bank on the door of someone who has too much bread can make so much of a difference. We kept on Banking and gave out 5 Books of Mormon! The very last house that we knocked on, a cute little old lady from England answered and let us in. She showed us part of the Royal Wedding and took a Book of Mormon. When I asked her if we could come back and teach her about the book she just laughed and said "nei, takk". Regardless, she was very nice and I was thankful for the kindness that she showed us. It was another tender mercy after a long day Banking in the sun. 

Sunday: We went to church and the Relief Society lesson was exactly what I needed to hear. It was based off of Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk this last general conference and we talked how Jesus Christ's Atonement is such a significant part of our lives. 

I encourage all of you to strengthen your relationship with Jesus Christ. There is so much power in his Atonement and he is just waiting to help you. I love you all so very much and I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Søster Starkie​