I'm gonna try something new this week and outline each of my days individually. That way I think I'll cover more ground
Thursday (14 April):
We taught our progressing investigator named Kristopher today. The lesson went really well. He wanted to read the whole Book of Mormon before he prayed to find out if it was true. It sounded like he was going to look for something he felt was wrong with it and use it as an excuse to stop reading. He believes in the Bible so we asked him if he had read the whole thing. He said no, but he knows it's true. I asked him how he knows and he said that it's because he prayed about it. I told him it is the same with the Book of Mormon. You don't have to read the whole thing to know it's true. I'll be honest, I had no idea what to say when he said he wouldn't pray until he read the whole thing. But I found myself asking a question which I don't remember personally thinking of. That was definitely a prompting telling me what was the best thing to say at that point.
Friday (15 April):
It was pretty much a normal Friday for us. A lot of studying and stuff, but at night we had a great talk with one of our teachers, Brother Jaffa. We talked about a lot of things with Norway, and the Norwegian people. It was really great to see how excited he got when talking about the people, and it's obvious he misses being there teaching them. I hope we can come to love the people like that.
Saturday (16 April):
The sister missionaries in our district were teaching their investigator named Anders. My companion and I were observing and I was actually concentrating on reading a book at that point. For the first part of their lesson, it was pretty easy for me to concentrate on what I was doing. But then, they started talking about Joseph Smith and relating the First Vision. The Spirit was SO strong in the room. I suddenly found myself unable to read anymore, I was so spiritually interested in what was happening. I felt like I was trying to read a book while on the sideline of the Super Bowl. They asked Anders if he believed that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. He was silent for literally 2 minutes, and the whole time the Spirit was as thick as a bowl of butter in the room. He finally says, yes I believe. He had no other reason to beleive that other then the testimony of the missionaries and the Spirit.
Sunday (17 April):
My companion and I gave a lesson in our district meeting today. We talked about the importance of service as missionaries. We decided as a district by the end of the lesson that service should be the method of how we find people to teach, rather then contacting people on the street. We thought about how when Christ was here, you don't read in the Bible about him walking up to random people and start teaching them. While it works for many missionaries, and I'm sure we will do a lot of that in Norway, I think our focus should mainly be serving the people, just like the Saviour did.
Monday (18 April):
There has been a cold going around the zone. I finally managed to catch it on Monday. I've been feeling a little bit more tired then usual, but other then that I'm doing pretty good. I'm hoping it will be cleared up by the time we leave.
Tuesday (19 April):
Ok so here's the big day. Yesterday, Elder Richard G Scott came to speak at the MTC. He's been called as an apostle of Jesus Christ, just like Peter, James, and John in the Bible, for those who haven't heard of him. So it's a pretty big deal to have him speak to us. My companion and I were lucky enough to get some pretty darn good seats for his talk and you could feel the power of his words as he spoke. He talked about a lot of different things, but the biggest thing was his testimony at the end. He said:
"I don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world and that he lives. I KNOW that he is. I don't believe that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God. I KNOW that he was"
When he said those words, I KNEW without a shadow of a doubt that he was called as an apostle by God. I KNOW that he KNOWS, and because of that it strengthened my testimony of the truthfulness and importance of our message for everyone in the world. Every single person who has ever lived on this Earth deserves and needs the message of the Gospel.
I definitely liked this a lot better. I feel like I was able to talk about a lot more. I'll be keeping this format for the rest of my emails, I think. We're down to 12 days before we leave to Norway! Next week, I'll make sure I talk about the address that my mail will have to be sent to from now on. Every couple of months, there will be a chance that I'll move apartments so I'll have to update my mailing address as that happens
Miss you all! Talk to you next week
Elder Sessions
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
19 more days= gdbye MTC; Hello Norway!!! :)
We're down to 19 days left in the MTC! We're all super stoked. Our language and teaching is good enough now that we feel like we'd be ready if we left tomorrow. Luckily though, they're given us a couple of more weeks to prepare even more.
I got a letter from my aunt yesterday with some information about our ancestors in Norway. It wasn't a lot, and I had to take some liberties with the spelling (it obviously doesn't translate well from Norwegian to English), but I was able to locate the village where they were from. Luckily, it was on the map haha. One of the other sisters in my district here has family from Norway and it took her a couple of weeks to find the tiny village on the obscure island off the coast of Norway. It was a little easier than that for me. The village where my ancestors lived is a part of the Stavanger Branch. It isn't part of the Oslo stake in Norway, but it's one of the areas where missionaries serve so I hope I have the chance to go there at some point. The village where my ancestor was born is within our tracting area and it would be an easy thing to go there at some point.
My companion and I now have three progressing "investigators." Those are the ones that our teachers role play as someone they taught on their mission, and we have to contact them and teach them as though they were real investigators. We've had one guy that we've been teaching for about two weeks now, and I think we'll teach him tomorrow again. We had another, named Steiner, who we knocked on his door but he wasn't really interested. He did give us his brother's address though and when we went to visit his brother, Frederick, he let us in and we taught him. The lessons that we've taught have gone really well, and by the way, everything is done in Norwegian. We're still holding out hope that Steiner will let us in eventually, since he told us he'd be interested in talking with us....he just didn't want to be preached to.
So, Elder Bekker and I have been Zone Leaders for almost two weeks now. Sometimes, it's kind of a headache since we have to worry about 20 other missionaries beyond ourselves. But it's a great blessing too, since the missionaries look up to us for an example and come to us with questions and looking for advice. I've definitely learned a lot about being a leader, and just how much I DON'T know about doing that.
I think that's something that you learn a lot when you study the gospel. The more you study, the more you realize you have a lot to learn. Fortunately, the stuff that is really essential for all of us is SO simple, and the more you study, the easier it gets to understand the other stuff.
Don't take this the wrong way, but I honestly don't miss home too much. I thought it would be really hard to leave for two years, but while I think about my friends and family a lot, I know that it's important that I'm here now and that makes it easier. It did hit me the other day though just how long two years really is. I try not to think about that though. Gordon B. Hinckley's (one of our modern day prophets) father really knew what he was saying to him on his mission when he told him to "Lose yourself and get to work."
One of these days I'm going to have to remember to bring my camera with me to do emails so I can attach some pictures with it. I'll definitely do that when I get to Norway. All the pictures I've seen are absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to see it for myself.
My mom will be happy to hear I've managed to stay healthy the whole time I've been here. A couple of other missionaries in our zone have gotten sick but I've got the immune system of....something with a really strong immune system haha. So I'm fine.
I hope everything is going great out there. I'm still amazed at how isolated we are here in the MTC, sometimes I forget we are in the middle of Utah. I miss everyone and just make sure after May 2nd you check the new address on my blog cause my MTC one won't be good anymore.
Love,
Elder Sessions
I got a letter from my aunt yesterday with some information about our ancestors in Norway. It wasn't a lot, and I had to take some liberties with the spelling (it obviously doesn't translate well from Norwegian to English), but I was able to locate the village where they were from. Luckily, it was on the map haha. One of the other sisters in my district here has family from Norway and it took her a couple of weeks to find the tiny village on the obscure island off the coast of Norway. It was a little easier than that for me. The village where my ancestors lived is a part of the Stavanger Branch. It isn't part of the Oslo stake in Norway, but it's one of the areas where missionaries serve so I hope I have the chance to go there at some point. The village where my ancestor was born is within our tracting area and it would be an easy thing to go there at some point.
My companion and I now have three progressing "investigators." Those are the ones that our teachers role play as someone they taught on their mission, and we have to contact them and teach them as though they were real investigators. We've had one guy that we've been teaching for about two weeks now, and I think we'll teach him tomorrow again. We had another, named Steiner, who we knocked on his door but he wasn't really interested. He did give us his brother's address though and when we went to visit his brother, Frederick, he let us in and we taught him. The lessons that we've taught have gone really well, and by the way, everything is done in Norwegian. We're still holding out hope that Steiner will let us in eventually, since he told us he'd be interested in talking with us....he just didn't want to be preached to.
So, Elder Bekker and I have been Zone Leaders for almost two weeks now. Sometimes, it's kind of a headache since we have to worry about 20 other missionaries beyond ourselves. But it's a great blessing too, since the missionaries look up to us for an example and come to us with questions and looking for advice. I've definitely learned a lot about being a leader, and just how much I DON'T know about doing that.
I think that's something that you learn a lot when you study the gospel. The more you study, the more you realize you have a lot to learn. Fortunately, the stuff that is really essential for all of us is SO simple, and the more you study, the easier it gets to understand the other stuff.
Don't take this the wrong way, but I honestly don't miss home too much. I thought it would be really hard to leave for two years, but while I think about my friends and family a lot, I know that it's important that I'm here now and that makes it easier. It did hit me the other day though just how long two years really is. I try not to think about that though. Gordon B. Hinckley's (one of our modern day prophets) father really knew what he was saying to him on his mission when he told him to "Lose yourself and get to work."
One of these days I'm going to have to remember to bring my camera with me to do emails so I can attach some pictures with it. I'll definitely do that when I get to Norway. All the pictures I've seen are absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to see it for myself.
My mom will be happy to hear I've managed to stay healthy the whole time I've been here. A couple of other missionaries in our zone have gotten sick but I've got the immune system of....something with a really strong immune system haha. So I'm fine.
I hope everything is going great out there. I'm still amazed at how isolated we are here in the MTC, sometimes I forget we are in the middle of Utah. I miss everyone and just make sure after May 2nd you check the new address on my blog cause my MTC one won't be good anymore.
Love,
Elder Sessions
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Vi er ikke Jehovahs Vitner!
BLOG:
Title: Vi er ikke Jehovahs Vitner!
So, Yul says that my blog posts are not entertaining enough. I was going to send some pictures to put in a slideshow that could help him be entertained but I forgot my camera. So you'll just have to suffer bud, haha.
The title of my blog translates to "We are not Jehovah's Witnesses!" It comes from a story one of our teachers told us about his mission. He and his companion were out knocking on doors once and they kept having the door slammed in their faces before they could say a word. Halfway down the street, the person who answered saw the two of them in their suits and nametags and went to slam the door. Our teacher, in frustration, just yelled in Norwegian as the door was closing: "We are not Jehovah's Witnesses!" The person stopped the door, and opened it back up. He said, "Oh sorry, we just get tired of hearing from them sometimes. Who are you?" They told them they were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they were able to teach a lesson to him. I thought that was a really funny story and when we were practicing door contacts later that day, our teacher decided he was going to slam the door on us. He did, and I said, "Vi er ikke Jehovahs Vitner!" He was laughing so hard we had to take a break after that. I dunno, maybe you just had to be there haha. It's hard to make something seem funny in an email ha
So General Conference was this past weekend, how cool was that!? Pretty darned cool. I had never before in my life been excited for Conference, but things are a little bit different when you're a missionary. It's really good to hear the voice of a prophet, especially when you know that the things he's saying are exactly what Heavenly Father wants us to hear.
My companion and I have been called as Zone Leaders. That basically means that we are responsible for a group of about 20 or so missionaries here in the MTC, whom we go to church with on Sundays and stuff, called a zone. It's a pretty big responsibility, so on top of our studies we've got that goin on. So pretty much, we're really busy. Ha not much else to say than that.
We had an English Fast last Friday. 100% Norwegian for 24 hours. It went really really well. The best part was, I don't think we talked any less then we usually do haha. We'll be doing that again this upcoming Friday, and next week we'll probably extend it to two or three days with no English.
On that same note, we taught a lesson in Norwegian on Monday. Also went really well. We taught two people, one who was a Norwegian transfer student here in the United States and one who was a returned missionary from Norway. They volunteer to come in once a week and act as investigators, I think I've explained before. But they said our improvement in Norwegian has been amazing. They usually use words like "amazing, incredible, astonishing" when they describe our progress. It's pretty great to go once a week and have our heads expanded hahaha. But I'm being humble, so we've still got a ways to go.
We had an awesome speaker come this past Sunday to the MTC. His name is Vai Sikahema (and I totally butchered that spelling) and he's a former BYU and NFL player. He played on the Philadelphia Eagles back in the 90's and now he works as a sports newscaster for NBC in Philly. He came to talk to us about the many opportunities he's had in his jobs to share the gospel with other people. He also told us a little bit about his mission and one of the people he baptized was there with him. It was really interesting to hear the conversion story from the perspective of the investigator, to hear how he felt and why he had a desire to be baptized. I think sometimes we make the mistake of thinking of investigators as people we just want to get baptized. But we need to think of them as people with real problems and real needs. Everyone needs the message of the restoration of the fullness of Christ's church in their lives, even if they don't realize it at the time. Once they start to listen, they'll receive that witness that it's true and they realize the huge amount of happiness it will bring them. It applies to everyone, even someone who thinks they have everything.
I just want to add in here a little note to Megan. Mainly cause the letters take a while to get from here to England. But I just wanna let you know that I got your letter and it made me super happy. My companion and the two sister missionaries in my district are rooting for ya :)
Till next week!
Elder Sessions
Title: Vi er ikke Jehovahs Vitner!
So, Yul says that my blog posts are not entertaining enough. I was going to send some pictures to put in a slideshow that could help him be entertained but I forgot my camera. So you'll just have to suffer bud, haha.
The title of my blog translates to "We are not Jehovah's Witnesses!" It comes from a story one of our teachers told us about his mission. He and his companion were out knocking on doors once and they kept having the door slammed in their faces before they could say a word. Halfway down the street, the person who answered saw the two of them in their suits and nametags and went to slam the door. Our teacher, in frustration, just yelled in Norwegian as the door was closing: "We are not Jehovah's Witnesses!" The person stopped the door, and opened it back up. He said, "Oh sorry, we just get tired of hearing from them sometimes. Who are you?" They told them they were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they were able to teach a lesson to him. I thought that was a really funny story and when we were practicing door contacts later that day, our teacher decided he was going to slam the door on us. He did, and I said, "Vi er ikke Jehovahs Vitner!" He was laughing so hard we had to take a break after that. I dunno, maybe you just had to be there haha. It's hard to make something seem funny in an email ha
So General Conference was this past weekend, how cool was that!? Pretty darned cool. I had never before in my life been excited for Conference, but things are a little bit different when you're a missionary. It's really good to hear the voice of a prophet, especially when you know that the things he's saying are exactly what Heavenly Father wants us to hear.
My companion and I have been called as Zone Leaders. That basically means that we are responsible for a group of about 20 or so missionaries here in the MTC, whom we go to church with on Sundays and stuff, called a zone. It's a pretty big responsibility, so on top of our studies we've got that goin on. So pretty much, we're really busy. Ha not much else to say than that.
We had an English Fast last Friday. 100% Norwegian for 24 hours. It went really really well. The best part was, I don't think we talked any less then we usually do haha. We'll be doing that again this upcoming Friday, and next week we'll probably extend it to two or three days with no English.
On that same note, we taught a lesson in Norwegian on Monday. Also went really well. We taught two people, one who was a Norwegian transfer student here in the United States and one who was a returned missionary from Norway. They volunteer to come in once a week and act as investigators, I think I've explained before. But they said our improvement in Norwegian has been amazing. They usually use words like "amazing, incredible, astonishing" when they describe our progress. It's pretty great to go once a week and have our heads expanded hahaha. But I'm being humble, so we've still got a ways to go.
We had an awesome speaker come this past Sunday to the MTC. His name is Vai Sikahema (and I totally butchered that spelling) and he's a former BYU and NFL player. He played on the Philadelphia Eagles back in the 90's and now he works as a sports newscaster for NBC in Philly. He came to talk to us about the many opportunities he's had in his jobs to share the gospel with other people. He also told us a little bit about his mission and one of the people he baptized was there with him. It was really interesting to hear the conversion story from the perspective of the investigator, to hear how he felt and why he had a desire to be baptized. I think sometimes we make the mistake of thinking of investigators as people we just want to get baptized. But we need to think of them as people with real problems and real needs. Everyone needs the message of the restoration of the fullness of Christ's church in their lives, even if they don't realize it at the time. Once they start to listen, they'll receive that witness that it's true and they realize the huge amount of happiness it will bring them. It applies to everyone, even someone who thinks they have everything.
I just want to add in here a little note to Megan. Mainly cause the letters take a while to get from here to England. But I just wanna let you know that I got your letter and it made me super happy. My companion and the two sister missionaries in my district are rooting for ya :)
Till next week!
Elder Sessions
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