How great shall be their JOY

This week, our investigator, Joy, accepted to be baptized on May 26! This is her story, as written by Søster Crossley: Miracles happen when you least expect them. This is how we met Joy. Traveling from a lesson to a middag, I hadn't quite finished packing up my materials as we climbed on the bus. I held two copies of the Book of Mormon: one in Norwegian and the other was my personal English edition. I sat down quickly, across from this young Filipino woman. We smiled politely at each other. She looked at me, at my stack of books, then at my name tag. Her eyes shifted through the cycle once more. Then she spoke, "Do you have an extra copy that I could have?" I hope the astonishment and shock didn't create too long of a pause before I replied with an "of course!" I reached into my backpack and pulled out an extra English copy, according to her request. We inquired how she knew about the Book of Mormon. Joy answered that her husband is a life-long member. As we got to know her better, Søster Brimhall invited her to come with us to the middag. We knew the couple who had invited us well, and that they would be more than willing to help in our efforts. We sent them a quick text message, then escort Joy there. Where the family we were visiting was also Filipino, they enveloped her with kindness and familiarity. Throughout this whole encounter with Joy, she kept telling us that she had been taught by the missionaries in the Philippines, but never really listened. She say now she wants to know for herself about the Gospel. Throughout our first lesson with her, she expressed over and over this desire to change and become better, to be like her husband, to be like Christ. When we extended the invitation to baptism, without any form of hesitation, Joy replied, "Of course." The sound of Doctrine & Covenants 18:15 ringed in our ears the whole way home. "...how great shall be your joy (no pun intended) with [her] in the kingdom of my Father!" Joy's story is a story of miracles. We were so blessed to be in the right place, at the right time. There wasn't anything special that we did or that we said. The Lord had been preparing Joy to make this commitment. It was Him that placed us in her path and her in ours. We are so grateful for the members' faithfulness and willingness to help. It was tender mercy after tender mercy. As Søster Brimhall says nearly every day as we walk out the door, "Miracles are going to happen. I can feel it." This week:

A gold nugget I learned from the scriptures this week is thinking about the English-Norwegian translation of a few scriptures. Nephi, in 2 Nephi 31:20, tells us to "feast upon the words of Christ". In Norwegian it says "nyter Kristi ord". Å nyte, means to enjoy. In the sacramental prayers the bread is sanctified "for alle deres sjeler som nyter av det". Again, to enjoy. I love those translations! Do we truly enjoy feasting upon the words of Christ and partaking of the sacrament? I have reflected how much I do enjoy pouring over the scriptures and partaking of the holy emblems in the sacrament. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior lives, and He must be our foundation and source of strength. He is the only one who will not and cannot fail. As we follow His example and the exhortation of His ordained prophet, President Nelson, to minister to the one, we become more like Him. With each day, each step, of dedicated discipleship, we come one step closer to Him. Love, Søster Brimhall Pictures: The bridge outside of our house, the sunset on a ferry ride to Bergen (for our last Zone Conference), the Stavanger ektepar (senior couple) that visited Haugesund for the weekend!

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