December 16, 2013

This week was full of being sick and sleeping the whole day. Eating advent chocolates everyday. This week was pretty much full of me being sick and my companion doing hardcore studying about  the ark of the covenant in the bathroom.

Miracles

We after an appointment fell through met someone that we had met and received her number before. We scheduled a time to meet with her. We drove to her house and she wasn't home. We went to another potentials house. This is where the miracle happened. We went to her house we had a teach with her. It turns out her sister is in salt lake city and is married to  a man who is Mormon and she goes to church every week.  The lady we were talking to had a bunch of questions about Mormons. She is super positive and is going to church next week. She then invited us to a party she had later that day. We went to the party because it was tons of referrals. It turns out one of her friends is a girl that my companion talked to on the bus when our car was not working. My companion was not able to get any of her contact information. But we met her again at the party and will have another party with her and the Phillipinos in our ward. I know the Lord plans out everything to a t and it is amazing to see the Lords plan fold out while you are on a mission. It is so obvious what He wants to happen and it is amazing to see. I love it!  The way the Lord works is incredible. He just works in such little tiny ways to create a huge picture.

Spiritual Thought

Brethren , our destiny is not determined by the number of times we stumble but by the number of times we rise up, dust ourselves off, and move forward, President Dieter F Uchtdorf

I know that the way we can return to our Heavenly Fathers love is by continuing everyday to be unspotted from the world and obtaining again the knowledge and pureness we had in our first estate with Him.

Sister Shaw

December 2, 2013 - Kjærlighet (Love)

mine kjære søsken, (My dear brothers and sisters,)

Alright this week was a blast. It has been full of listening to the Lower Lights in our car. Driving to a city thirty minutes away from Sweden. Seeing Sweden. Getting free Christmas food at the grocery store. Meeting random golden investigators. Car problems, crazy dogs, and parades through the town of Sarpsborg. The sun starts rising at about 8 and goes down at 4. It is not too bad. The sky is so beautiful and there are amazing star gazing times when we go from door to door banking on peoples doors. Also a person we taught  in Oslo got baptized this week! That was awesome!

The Christmas traditions here are awesome it is a whole town ordeal!

Miracles:

This week as we were on our way to an appointment we stopped and talked to this man. We decided to meet with him later that day. We met with him and went over the plan of salvation. He took a picture of the plan. We told him he would get answers to his questions when he read the Book of Mormon. He said he would read the Book of Mormon. We met with him later this week and he told us he wants to do everything he can to get to the celestial kingdom. He is going on vacation for awhile. We will see him in a month. I know the Lord puts people in our path and there are people with open hearts here.

We could not find a place to park so we went to this completely random place to park. We went contacting on our way to our appointment and told this lady she could be with her husband forever. She started breaking down and crying and we told her we would meet with her. I know that nothing is an accident ever.

We met with our progessor g and she is really close to setting a baptismal date she just wants to know for her self that Joseph Smith is a prophet. That is really cool. She is way cool and is an honest seeker of truth.

Funny moments:

This week we watched the restoration film with one of our investigators, He has a dog that is super loud. So while he was watching it me and my companion were doing a bunch of different things to get him to be quiet. Like we would hold the dog down. We would throw the ball. We would pet the dog. All things possible. It was hilarious and we could not help busting up all the time.

Spiritual thought:

James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.

I know that we can chose fear or faith. Our path will always be secure and safe, it will never be more than we can handle. But we can choose to have faith in the Lord and trust in Him that it will be safe or we can not. We can choose to live in our own state of fear or we can choose to live in reality. In a state of faith.

St John 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in Him.

This week I had an "aha" moment. Where I realized when we partake of the sacrament we literally are taking into us Christs flesh and His blood. To know this is to realize that I literally have the power of Christ within me because I partook of the sacrament this week. It gave a whole different meaning to the sacrament.

I know in the end the most important thing is how our souls interact with each other. In the end the appearance of what we look like will no longer matter and the worldly things we once treasured will become corroded. The thing we will have left is our personal souls relationship with other souls and our souls relationship with the soul of God. This is the most important thing on earth.

With that note, I love you all dearly, I hope you all have an amazing week. Remember how much our Father loves each one of you personally. I forget all the time, and it is easy to forget.  But I love you all.

Sister shaw 

November 25, 2013 - Joint Heirs With Christ

Kjære alle sammen

Ok another amazing week. This week was full of grabbing bread and cheese on the go. Eating kebabs with the sister trining leaders. My companions birthday. Eating cheetos because my companion got a package. Accidentally staying to long at members houses. Not getting weekly planning done  because we are too busy. And hearing what did the fox say at the ward party for the first time. btws the band is from norway and the band name is the band members last names. Everyone in norway is obsessed with this band. 

Miracles.

An incredible miracle took place this week. I was contacting (talking to people on the streets) with one of the sister training leaders this week. As we were walking I saw this bright blue puffy jacket in my head and knewe that when we went around the corener we would see someone with that blue puffy jacket on and they needed this. I told sister landry to come with me as she tried to contact someone else. But then I realized this would happen naturally. So we talked to a couple more people and low and behold. There is a man walking his dog with a bright blue puffy jacket right as we turned around the corner. We started to talk to him and he has had some interesting experiences and really crazy hard trials in his life. We set up an appointment and have met with him a couple times since. He is very cool and seriously needs this message. He buitl a room for his son out of his ownm room. He gave his son a mansion room and for his son and gave himself no room for his own room. He was really proud of that and showed me and my companion. We have had some awesome memebrs on that teach with us. It was really touching. 

Me and my companion had the rellief society lesson and we did not plan at all (we had no time). The lesson was amazing and the spirit guided it the whole time.

spiritual thought

Romans 8:17 And if children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 

I know that life is about happiness. But we also must suffer. We must feel pain on this earth. But it is the way that we can be heirs with Chrsit to suffer even a particle of suffering that the Lord suffered. I f we do not suffer with Christ we can not be glorified with Christ. We can not obtain the glory he has. Sometimes life is just tough, but it is through this toughness and suffering  that we can obtain the glory of God. I know that the times in our life that are the hardest are the times we are growing the closes to Christ and understanding even a bit of what He suffered for us. I love you all and I know the Lord will always be there when you really call upon Him with faith.

Happy thanksgiving!

søster shaw

November 11, 2013

Crazy week! Some highlights

We have a potential that I know I will really love. I am really excited to meet and set up an appointment with her in 2 weeks. Most of our investigators are widowed old ladies. It is a much different group than was in Oslo  It is interesting and I am still trying to get used to it.

The sun starts setting at 4 and doesn't come up fully until 9. It is really cool actually and very mysterious. Especially when we listen to Narnia music. It feels like you can feel the magic of this beautiful land. We have not had snow yet but we have had some thick frost. It got to be negative 1.5 deg celsius today. I am so warm in my cute blue pillow jacket. 

At church I translate for an american family. It is so perfect because I am working on building a strong relationship with them. They are really cool. 

There is a super cool lady with a nonmember daughter in our ward. We have been coming by and saying nightly prayers with there family and it has been amazing to see the change in the daughter. She asked her mom the other day if her skirt was too short. This is a huge step. It has been amazing to be with them  and there family because they are amazing people and I really love them. We got permission to go hiking on Saturday with her daughter so we are both really excited! They invited us for Christmas and we will be spending Christmas with there family so hopefully you all can meet them on Skype  They are so cool and I really do love them.

This week has been awesome I have learned how important charity is. In the end it is the virtue that never faileth. One day we will stand before God and our faith will extinguish and be replaced with knowledge. But our relationships with those around us will never be gone. It will be one of the few things that will be carried on to the next life. I know this is true. I love you all!

Sister Shaw

Birthday Week!

kjære søsken

Thank you so much everyone for the amazing awesome birthday wishes. I love you all.

My birthday was like the best birthday I have ever had it was incredible! Keep this in mind as you read the story.

It began with me talking my companions head off the night before about how scared I was to turn twenty. I didn't realize but it really is a daunting thing it is moving from teenage life to a life of responsibility of working hard and into a world that you have to make your place in. I was still really tough when I woke up.  I woke up and had gluten free crepes with nutella after we worked out. We began doing personal study and I asked Heavenly Father what I could read to comfort me in this scary but exciting new chapter in my life. I was directed to a scripture in d and c. It was amazing and I know the Lord really hears. I finished my studies. Then we had salmon for lunch. We went to a less actives house and she actually was not home. But we were both prompted to visit that sweet old lady that I said Hi to last week who cried. We went to her house and her granddaughter was there she welcomed us in. She gave us swedish candy. We just sat and talked with her and her granddaughter. She ended up giving me two pairs of hand knit wool socks and a thing of swedish candy. Which was like the best candy ever. I know the Lord wanted me to have the best birthday ever. This is why we were prompted to go to her house. After that honestly my day was made and it was all uphill from there. Seriously. I have my own pair of wool socks right now they are so cute too! I am obsessed! After that we met with a Jehovah witness who is not active anymore. But she doesn't practice birthdays. She got me the coolest birthday card ever though! Seriously! A Jehovah witness gave me a birthday present! After that we went to pepes pizza and we ate the best gluten free pizza ever! We ate ice cream too and to use our time productively we did some weekly planning and calls! No time wasted! Then the members in Oslo called me and it was awesome and my zone leader called me and it was awesome! We then went to a members house and they gave me the cutest slippers ever. I told her about my fear of growing up and how I have to act like an adult now she told me to just be yourself. So I have just decided to be myself  and hope that is good enough. We went home and I opened up the best presents ever! I got the coolest byu hat that is so cute and matches my winter jacket. After that me and my companion had a dance party. Also the day before a girl who is our investigator had Cheetos and she gave us a huge bag! we also got peach rings so i GOT  Cheetos and peach rings on my birthday! Best thing ever I was not able to go to Oslo. But I will get my package soon. But it was the best birthday ever! Seriously. Thank you for tuning in . I love you all!

søster shaw

October 28, 2013 - Just Say Hi!

kjære alle sammen,

This week has been crazy some highlights of the week.

This week me and my companion had to go to the mall to get a drink of water. We are really not supposed to proselyte in malls like that so I always just say hi to the people around me. I said hi to this one lady who was older and she stopped and started talking to us, She started crying and saying that no one had ever said hi to her and how alone she felt. We are bringing her cookies this week. It was the coolest experience ever. I know I am making a difference. 

But it was really cool. I know that we are truly doing the work of the Lord. I know that people on earth just need a smile and a wave once in a while it adds a lot to the day when people randomly smile and wave at you. 

I love sarpsborg I love my companion I love the people. Thanks for tuning in and have a great week!

søster shaw

October 21, 2013

Dear Mom,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PACKAGE!!!!!!!!! I am so stoked to recieve that beautiful thing!! I really appreciate the love and care that you have shown me mom and I can not wait to see what is inside. Thank you for helping me make my birthday special!! 

Guess what?  A girl in the mission decided to go home so I am getting emergency transferrred to this little town called serps bårg. I am not even sure if I am spelling that correctly. My new address is Merkurveien 19,  1734 Hafslundsøy  serps bårg (not sure if that is correct spelling maybe look it up) Norway.

 But the thing is, is I have the best zone leaders in the world and they are planning on allowing me to go on splits back in Oslo on my birthday!!! So it is totally fine and I will get my package and everything so absolutely no worries!  In fact a member of the ward in Oslo  has planned on making me a special dinner for me.  To this dinner she is bringing some of her friends who (are not members)  I LOVE. It is planned to be the best day ever! Also my district might have a party for me. We will see. But it is awesome because  I will be spending time with my favorite member in all of Norway and one of the coolest investigators we have! So all is not lost because of my transfer.

My feelings about my transfer. I have been so spoiled here in Oslo. I have had the coolest investigators. Grown tremendously with the language. Btws last week I was speaking with a Swedish girl  for a while and then I told her I was from the us and she said she thought I was from Sweden!!!! Someone from Sweden thought I was from Sweden!! This is huge!!! Also a foreigner who spoke pretty good Norwegian thought I was Norwegian after I had talked to him for a while.  I also currently have the coolest companions.

I know the Lord knows that I can handle this and it is cool that He believes in me so strongly. I also know that I know how to be happy no matter where I am at and enjoy all the faces of life I am in.

Also a cool moment I talked with my zone leaders about the transfer and shared with them what I felt. They said president has really prayed about this and he knew that we needed a really strong missionary to be in serps berg so they sent me! The strong missionary they needed. It was just a cool thing because it was proof to me that I am someone that president and the Lord can rely on for whatever they need. I am also considered a strong missionary by president and that is way cool!

I am moving there today!

Also it is crazy!! I have been on my mission for six months time is flying.

The primary program sounds like it was incredible!! I wish I could have seen little Emily. She is so sweet and she has such a strong spirit. I  am so glad that you and dad got so involved with the Australian mission thing. I have actually thought of dad being a mission president and how awesome dad would be at just being a mission president. Dad is such a great leader because He is just dad. He would help all the elders to feel so loved and validated and he would help them with everything. Not sure if it will ever happen. But dad is just an amazing leader. He lads without even leading it is incredible! I am so glad you found so much joy from the activities going on in the ward. It is awesome that the youth even got to teach people. That is utterly incredible! I love teaching! The activity you guys did seems like it was truly effective!

I am learning everyday to give my will over to the Lord everyday more and more. Including with this transfer. Especially because I got pretty comfortable In Oslo.

I love you all

søster shaw