Ha det bra så lenge Bergen!

This week has been filled with miracles and cool experiences. Heavenly Father is so aware of the details of our lives! A few of them are:

• We decided to walk a little farther on the road by the Church and ended up meeting a woman from Portugal. She was on her way to look at the sign outside the church building to find out when the service was. We invited her inside for a brief church tour. There is a definite peace inside the chapel. She told us she'd be coming next Sunday!

• T., who we were teaching, told us that she felt like we could use our time elsewhere (aka she dropped us). It was actually a tender mercy, because she was finally open and honest with us and herself. Our deal is that we're going to help her quit smoking (she wants to so bad!), but stop teaching her lessons once she's quit. On Thursday, we started the Church's 7 day program with her. We took all her cigarettes, lighters, and ashtrays, and then threw them away! Her son was there to support her, which was a miracle too. He usually pretends to be asleep when we come over. :)

• On Friday, on splits here in Bergen, we planned to visit someone, but then felt strongly like we needed to go visit someone else. We followed the prompting and were able to get in contact with her family! Not to mention all the members from the ward we saw along the way. We also ran into one of the people we were teaching and were able to help a woman from Salt Lake (not a member of the Church) find her hotel in the city. Just a blessing that Heavenly Father redirected us so that we would be in the path of so many others who needed to feel His love!

• We did start teaching a new person this week! His name is T. We found him by visiting a "returning member" (the new term for a less-active), P. On our way out of P's apartment, we ran into T. and started talking with him! T. is the brother of P's ex-boyfriend. P. and her ex-boyfriend were baptized around the same time a few years ago. Their relationship fell apart and that's one of the reasons she stopped coming to church (embarrassment, feeling judged, etc.). So, we are teaching P. the missionary lessons and now we are also teaching T. the missionary lessons! We are excited. He is SO sincere. He told us at the beginning of the first lesson that "I came to be taught and understand". When missionaries begin to teach someone, the missionaries "HTBT". That's missionary lingo for "How to Begin Teaching". It's like a DTR, or in other words, setting up our expectations for our missionary-person we're teaching relationship. We tell them about things like commitments, that we'll invite them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, come to church, and begin to live the commandments that we teach them, ultimately, towards the end goal of baptism. This way, people aren't shocked when we invite them to be baptized, because we've already told them that's where we're heading.

• Street contacting approach. So often lately, when we talk with and teach people on the street, they'll tell us either they don't believe in God or aren't sure. One of my favorite contacting approaches is to testify of God's promise to all, that if they ask Him in faith, He'll answer. We've given the "Moroni promise" to so many people. It's the key to knowing He's there, that the Book of Mormon is true, and the list goes on!

In our teaching experience in the last three months, we've come up with three criteria that makes a solid person to teach. You might laugh, but we've usually run into getting just two of the three.

1. Speaks English or Norwegian.

2. Is planning to stay in the country.

3. Will keep committments.

There are so many people that immigrate to Norway that we cannot communicate with, are students that move back to their home country, or just "don't want to promise anything". We are grateful, nonetheless, for people to teach. Because so many have moved away, we're also getting really good at giving referrals! ;)

Tomorrow I'll be moving to Asker and serve with Søster Wheeler! I am so sad to close this chapter with Søster Mumford in Bergen, but a new transfer means a new adventure!

Have a great week!

Søster Jessica Brimhall

Pictures:

1. Being goofy in the rain!

2. We invested in some backpack covers because of how much it rains. I call it our "turtle back".

3. The beautiful rainbow in the background! On the way to Dorthe's (a member's) house.

4. The Chinese family we're teaching and helping to participate in the ward.

5. Smoking is bad for you! It's downright gross. We took and threw away T's smoking paraphernalia on Thursday.

6. Søster Livingstone and I (previous companion) on splits!