Week 2!

Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 13:11:55 +0200
Subject: Week 2
From: jeremy.sessions@myldsmail.net
To: dlovesjds@hotmail.com

Dear Family,

I think it's a great idea to talk to the neighbours. With that much contact with the church, chances are they have at least a curiousity in what it's all about. Inviting them over to learn more from the missionaries and dinner of course, is a non invasive way you can introduce them to it. Most people understand that the missionaries spend their days explaining the church in simple terms to other people, so they wouldn't feel too put off by simply learning about the beliefs. They could then make their own decision to hear more of the lessons.

That's funny about Elder Robbins actually. He spoke to us in the MTC while I was there. A couple of times, in fact. He had some really interesting talks, so that was always good.

We had a sort of down week this week. With Daniel and Robin, Robin was definitely the more interested of the two. Daniel never really wanted to talk with us, but his was the only number we had. We tried to get Robin's but it never worked out. When we called them on Friday, Daniel said he'd call when he was ready to meet. Which in translation means, "Don't count on it." We're not sure if that's coming from both of them or just Daniel but we'll stop by when we're in their village on Saturday to see if they have time to talk.

As for Joy, we were a little late to our appointment with her because we had district meeting that morning two hours away. So when we got there, she was too busy to meet. Plus she told us that she didn't believe in the Book of Mormon so if we meet with her, we aren't allowed to share scripture from it. She quoted that Revelations scripture at us that says we shouldn't add anything after it. It's interesting because Revelations was actually written before some of the other letters in the New Testament, and then later placed at the end of the Bible. So that scripture is saying we shouldn't add unauthorized scripture to the book of Revelations. There is also another scripture in the BEGINNING of the Bible that says the same thing, but most people ignore that one. But we've got another appointment with her this Saturday, so maybe we can change her mind.

Marie's baptism date was moved to the 28th, which we kinda figured would happen. She had been sick for a couple of weeks and missed church, so she hasn't been there three times yet, which is the minimum for convert baptisms. She went to church yesterday though, and really enjoyed it. It was branch conference and so the stake presidency was here from Oslo and they spoke to us. She also met with a lot of the members, and told everyone who talked to her about her baptism on the 28th haha. So she's pretty excited.

The Icelandic family hasn't really gone anywhere this week. We've gone over there a couple of times but we really didn't make much progress with them. The 13-year-old did say that she wanted to be baptized, but she has to ask her father who is still in Iceland first. Rosa, the mom, is still smoking and she actually seemed to be avoiding our lessons. So we'll see.

That's pretty much it. Joaquim didn't show up for our appointment with him. And our numbers went down this week. They are still higher then they have been in the past in Tonsberg but we are hoping for more, definitely. We're pretty sure we're going to have a better week this week.

But that's all folks. Hope everything is still good there. I didn't get an email from Darien or Sami this week. Just a side note, anyone can email me, even non family members. The only ones I can reply to are family though.

BLOG:
Title: Week 2!

The theme scripture for this week has definitely been Ether 12:6. It talks about how we "receive no witness until after the trial of our faith." I'm not really looking for a witness or a testimony, so much as we're looking for just some people to teach! Haha it's been way fun, I've never been told by so many random people that I need to read the Bible more and be saved. It's been harder this week, but me and Elder Davis have talked a lot about how we just need to keep on keeping on and things will get better. And we know they will because we know this stuff works. We've seen how the truth has blessed a lot of people's lives, and it's just a matter of inviting as many as we can to find out for themselves too.

That's the best part about missionary work. We can't force anyone to do anything, and we don't want to. All we can and should do is tell others as much as we can about HOW to find out whether this church is true or not, and then invite them to do it by reading the Book of Mormon and praying to ask if it's true. Beyond that, it's up to them. It's definitely disappointing for us when they choose not to even try, but that really is their choice.

I hope I can keep that perspective my whole mission. It makes things a lot easier. But like everyone else, I tend to lose sight of it sometimes, especially when things are hard haha. But you learn and move on I guess :)

Ok so here's the week:

Tuesday (May 11): Today, we spent a lot of time in the city finding people to teach. We found a couple of people who we taught right there on the street, but I don't know if they were all that interested. At least they listened! Later that night, we went to visit with Asdis who was baptized in March. We taught a lesson to her and talked for a while. She's way strong in her testimony. She managed to get a hold of one of our missionary handbooks at some point she she's taken to quoting rules at us when she feels we aren't following them exactly haha. It's always good to have someone keeping you on your toes.

Wenesday (May 12): Today we had an appointment with someone who is an inactive member that we're trying to help come back to church. She is way nice and she really wants to come back, but she has a smoking problem. We talked with her about how the Atonement really can help her get rid of her addiction. It went pretty well and she came to church on Sunday so that was good. We also stopped by a kebab shop in Horton. There's a Greek man who runs it and he was way fun. It's really great the reactions that we get just from the badges we wear. People talk to us about the craziest things! I didn't understand too much...it was sort of a mixture of Greek and really bad Norwegian, but at one point I think he said we are all nothing but a group of really smart animals. So that was fun haha. He was a nice guy, and he makes a heck of a kebab.

Thursday (May 12): My companion had to go to Oslo for some leadership training, so I was in a city called Drammen today, on splits with another missionary. It was a lot of fun, because Drammen is a semi-major city in Norway which is definitely quite a bit bigger then little old Tønsberg haha. It was fun to contact people in a big city like that. After a day in Drammen, though, Elder Davis was back and we were back in Tønsberg that night. It still amazes me how busy we stay ha.

Friday (May 13): We helped to move one of the member families in Tønsberg this morning. It was kind of sad, there were about 8 members of the family which is about a third of the branch that comes to church! Haha but we'll just have to find a family to replace them. Later that night, the branch had a Talentaften, which is a Talent Show. They wanted the missionaries to do a 5 minute thing. They asked before I was in Tønsberg so I actually had no say in the manner haha. Elder Davis and I did a purposely bad translation from English to Norwegian of a letter. It turned out pretty funny. We were a little worried about that haha. To say that you are full after eating in Norwegian, you say jeg er mett. However, you can also say jeg er full, but that means I am drunk haha. Many a missionary has made that mistake. But that was probably the highlight of our translation.

Saturday (May 14): We had a district meeting with a couple of other missionaries in a town called Skien today. It's about a two hour drive away, so the night before we drove over there and stayed the night in their apartment. After the district meeting we came back to Tønsberg. By the time we got back, we had missed an appointment with Joy, who we met one of my first days here. She was too busy to meet with us on Saturday, but she did invite us back next Saturday. She wasn't as positive as she was the last time we met, but we're glad we are still able to teach her. We met with Marie later that night who will be baptized this month! We had to move the baptismal date to the 28th instead of next Saturday because she's had a lot going on, but she is still way excited, and so are we :)

Sunday (May 15): Marie came to church! That was fun and she really seemed to enjoy it. The members were really nice to her and she told everyone she spoke to about her baptism on the 28th. Haha it was pretty funny. After church we met with a member named Kjell who was actually taught by one of my teachers in the MTC. It was pretty cool, he had me sign this Book of Mormon which has been signed by every missionary who has ever taught him and one of the first names on there was Elder Burns. I knew him as Brother Burns in the MTC haha. It's cool cause I'm pretty sure his first area on his mission was Tønsberg too. So everyone here knows him lol. But in case he reads this....Kjell says Hallo haha

And that's the week! Anyone who wants to can email me at jeremy.sessions@myldsmail.net
I can't actually reply to anyone but family, but it is better then having to wait to hear from everyone for the letters to get all the ways to Norway lol.

Hope everyone had a good week!
Elder Sessions