Back At It Søster Schneck Wk 74

Hallo! im back! Sorry I haven't written in over a month, my bad. For those of you who are new, welcome, this past month has been AMAZING and such a great time for learning and growth. The memories I have made in the past few months have meant EVERYTHING to me and I wouldn't change them for the world. God is so Good and I thank Him everyday for this beautiful life I get to live. 

highlights

☆ I sent my cute companion søster matthews HOME! she is my other half. I love her with my whole heart and feel blessed to have been her comp. I have never cried saying bye to a companion before, but saying goodbye to søster Matthews was SO SAD! cant wait to see all the good she does #reunioninAfrica

☆ I got to spend a few days in Oslo with my 2 MTC comps, Søster Barker and Gundersen! Our past selves would be FREAKING OUT! It was the reunion that God knew I needed! 

☆ God introduced me to a new best friend! SØSTER HAYCOCK! He knew she was the companion I needed in my last transfer. I don't think I've laughed harder IN MY LIFE. We have way too much fun and love doing the Lords work together. 

☆ We have had some of the craziest referral phone calls. People yelling, crying, swearing, speaking Danish, telling us we are in a cult, that they want to commit a crime, or that they want to marry us, are just a few of the things we get to deal with every day. This is my sign to never go into customer service lol 

☆ President Updike came to visit Alta for our branch Conference! He asked if he could do some referrals with us, but because it's Alta, obviously nothing was open at 6pm on a Saturday night lol, so we sat in the boujee hotel connected to the hotel he was staying at. We ended up not doing referrals, but ate reindeer Gnocchi with him and his presidency cHAHA

☆ it's SO cold and dark! The sun doesn't even come up any more so it's 100% dark, 100% of the time. And because of that, the snow and ice never melt, so we get to ice skate home everyday and night 

☆ but because it's dark all the time we get to see the northern lights! 

☆ I was the cause of a small car collision, this is a reminder to where your reflex when it's pitch black at 1pm (if you want the full story ask me later lol) 

☆ had the BEST thanksgiving ever! Our mission president wanted us to enjoy our evening, if we weren't spending it at a members house. So we went out to a nice dinner then made turkey hats and finished the day off with an hour long disco with Geir. CORE MEMORY! PURE JOY!! Geir is the epitome of joy and always puts a smile on my face. God knew I needed discos with geir

☆we had a great lesson with this lady about family history!! 

☆ every week we have a “party” with the Musa kids and their friends and the last few weeks have been AWESOME! We have made a thankful tree of things we are grateful for, a service chain about ways to serve people, and helped them understand the gift of the Holy Ghost. I love these kids and I am grateful that I get to be a small part of their lives.Little do they know how big of a role they play in mine.

☆ it's advent here in Norway! Every Sunday we go to Lennea and geirs house for Grøtt and Lennea has introduced us to the tradition of lighting the candles for advent. For the past 2 Sundays we have lit candles and sung Norwegian Christmas songs in their living room. Memories I will cherish forever. 

☆ we found out our branch president is a secret ROCK STAR and guessed stared in a crazy music video HAHAH he's also a dog sledder and said we can ride his dog sled soon.#mybranchpresidentiscoolerthanyours

☆ after two months of taking on the dark and cold without a car, our boujee mom car came! 

☆ lennea took us all to a Christmas concert yesterday! So many fun Norwegian songs! Our branch president and his wife were in it! #famous 

☆ me and sister haycock NEVER stop laughing. Its actually becoming a problem lol.

☆ MIRACLES HAPPEN!! We have a cute friend who we visited when I first got to Alta in October and we introduced her to the BOM and she loved it! But because of some things in her life, we haven't been able to visit her. But this past week we delivered some brownies to her and a few days later she invited us over! Today we had a great lesson with her and her brother! We read 3 Nephi 11 and the spirit was so strong! 

☆ We got a Christmas tree!! Yay

As I start my last month as a missionary a scripture has been on the forefront of my mind, “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.” My time as a missionary has meant EVERYTHING to me and a big reason for that is because of how I have learned to see people. Whether that be the friends we are teaching, random people on the street, other missionaries or the members, God has allowed me to see them through HIS eyes. I have come to learn that we are ALL His children. When I first got to Alta, I honestly didn't feel like I was accomplishing anything for His work, and sometimes I still feel like that. It was easy for me to look at my past areas or other areas in the mission and see how many people were being taught or how many people were brought to baptism, and it was hard not to compare that to our empty schedule and friend list. But as I have spent more time in Alta with the few, but mighty members and the beautiful musa family, I have come to learn the truthfulness of the statement “ the worth of souls is great in the eyes of God.” He cares for the 4 members that come to church every Sunday, He cares for this family and He cares for me and you. Our worth is great in the eyes of an all knowing, all loving Father. 

Love you guys! 

♡søster Schneck