We don't have a whole lot in the way of investigators right now. We have one girl who loves the church and has started to get a testimony, even a desire to be baptized but her family is dead set against the church. They have a misunderstood view of what we stand for. But it's a major roadblock for her and it's really going to come down to her having the courage to be baptized despite the family challenges. She is old enough to legally make that decision, so that's not what I'm worried about, but we just worry about the effects that it would have in her family relationship.
Other than that, our funnel is kind of empty. It's actually been an issue in Bergen for a couple of months now, we just can't find people to teach. Our mission president was here this weekend and he gave us some really good advice which I think will help alot. We have an awesome district here and some great missionaries. The branch is really starting to warm up to us (which is remarkable for Norwegians to happen so quickly), and we have got a lot of potential. Just need to keep working on being diligent to find people and then we'll see some success.
There is a YSA here who was baptized about 3 years ago. Her mother and father are both inactive members. She has 1 older brother and two younger ones who are not baptized. She has had a tough time of things the last few years but she has really started to see some real blessings with her family as she has stuck with it and been faithful. Her father has asked to be visited by Elder Spencer and me, and just last night her older brother told me that he wanted us to teach him as well. Her younger brother is being taught by another companionship in the district and he has a baptismal date in October, as well as her youngest brother who is being taught by yet another companionship. Her mother was at a branch activity last night with the whole family. All in all, we have begun teaching her family piece by piece and she is shocked and amazed at what has happened the past couple of weeks. Things look positive, so we'll see how it goes.
There's actually a funny story involved in that. We had that branch activity last night, and this YSA's family were all bunched in a corner and not really interacting with people at that point, yet. President Johansen was still there and he comes up and mentions them to me. He "strongly encourages" me to "get in there and get an investigator or two." I didn't have much of a choice haha. So I walk up to their group, which consisted of the oldest brother (who had not at this point asked to be taught) and his friend he brought to the activity, the father and the step mother. My first attempt did not go so well. I've become pretty ok at starting conversations with people, but I have never seen one die quicker than this one last night. One by one, the whole family walked away and I was left there stuttering, trying to think of something to talk about. I reported my failure back to the President and he encouraged me to keep trying. I was really happy to be able to go back at the end of the night and tell him about the older brother wanting to be taught....President gave me a high five. (We had already set up an appointment with the father a couple of weeks ago.)
I have quickly had to learn the art of "working a room" as President Johansen calls it, especially on Sundays. There are just a ton of people here in Bergen Branch (it is the biggest branch in the world!), and missionaries are a sort of celebrity for the church in Norway. I have learned that I have absolutely no desire to be famous....there's just too many people to talk to haha. But I enjoy it a lot...just meeting people and learning about them. Plus, it feels good to be needed here. The tough part is when you are running 4 conversations at once. I can testify that it is very possible, yet difficult haha.
President Johansen told me on Saturday that I will be training a new missionary in November. It's a terrifying prospect to be a senior companion after 6 months in Norway, let alone training someone completely new from the States. I'll just have to work extra hard on the language over the next month and a half to get ready for that one haha. I'm pretty excited though, all the missionaries I've talked to have loved training.
It's been good to receive emails from everyone and hear how you are doing. Time is flying, and I feel like there's a billion and a half stories I just don't have time to write down in emails. I look forward to having the chance to tell them in person....it's better that way anyhow.
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