Message from Sami: He didn't have as much time to write during December, he was too busy exploring :). So the two from December are the only two he sent us...Onto his January 2nd letter!
Kjære familie og venner
Godt nyttår! I've wondered for the last 12 years when we're gonna start calling it "twenty-twelve" instead of "two thousand twelve." I heard "two thousand twelve" on a member's tv last night, so I guess it's not yet.
As fun as the holiday has been here, I'm so glad it's over. Missionary work is tough when everyone's drunk. No joke. Also doesn't help when all of your investigators ditch town for Christmas haha. But we'll start seeing some peeps again this week so it should be good.
Since we haven't had any investigators in town recently, and finding stinks over the holidays, Elder Bird and I have been doing a lot with the members. We came up with a new member plan where we visit them and share a short spiritual thought which we have prayed about, and then asking them for any suggestions they have for us in missionary work. It's actually kinda cool how this idea came about.
We were at mission conference, and one of the zone leaders made a presentation on how successful his work with members has been. At that point, I was dead stinkin tired of talking to people on the street and getting nothing, so I was willing to try anything. The more I thought about it though, the more it made sense. I think sometimes in our mission there is a stigma that the missionaries have their part of missionary work, the members have theirs, and occasionally we'll come together to get a baptism. But I've realized that the members can and should be involved every step of the way.
The other problem is, members know why missionaries come over. We want referrals. And they're tired of getting asked for them. So I decided we weren't going to ask for referrals. We're gonna ask for places we could contact. Any ideas that they have which could get more people involved in the missionary work. If there is anything WE can do to help THEM in their missionary efforts. And then, we ask the member to pray for us as we go out and knock on doors in their area.
It's worked extremely well so far. All of the spiritual thoughts we've given have been spot on, and the new approach allows the members to be much more open with us, without being afraid that we're going to be barging into their friends' homes. It strengthens the members spiritually, and it has given us some opportunities to talk to new people. It's a work in process, and we haven't seen any new investigators from it yet, but the members are starting to trust us more and I think they'll be more willing to come to us in the future when their friends are ready to meet the missionaries. Last week we had 4 dinner appointments (more than I had had my entire time in Bergen so far), and this next week we have 3 planned with a couple more in the works. So we're being well fed on top of everything else =)
Ane Rebekka gets back to Bergen on Friday. As far as I know she hasn't talked to her family yet about her baptism, that's something she wanted to wait until after the holidays to do. But we'll found out how it goes soon. We dropped Marie. She wasn't interested in anything more than comparing doctrines. And Helene has been in Drammen for 3 weeks now, so hopefully we can meet with her when she gets back. If she's been reading and praying, things could go very well for her when she gets back, because she is also planning on coming to church last we heard.
Well, this may be my last email where I'm confident that I'll be in Bergen for another transfer. We have moves call this Sunday morning. I'm pretty sure I'm staying, but for the first time, I actually don't know for sure haha. If I end up leaving, I'll be pretty bummed, Bergen is definitely the best area in Norway. Plus it would be nice to be here for Ane Rebekka's baptism in February. We'll find out soon!
I wanted to write some other stuff, but I don't have time this week. So I'll save it for next week. It'll be good though ;)
Good week!
Elder Sessions
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
My Norwegian Mission Has Begun! (12/12/11)
Kjære familie og venner!
I spent this week trudging through snow and ice with my handy dandy snow boots. When a missionary going to Norway opens his mission call (or, in my case, hears his call read over the phone), the first thing that runs through his mind is despite being awake for about 30% of geography class freshman year, he doesn't know exactly where Norway actually is. (Go figure.) When said missionary takes a look at a map, globe, etc. and realizes just how high up on the map Norway actually is, a wintry tundra being blasted by a blizzard is what flashes through his mind. Throw in the fact that my dear MTC teachers delighted in telling me stories of wiping frozen tears from their eyes, and you've got some pretty darn cold expectations.
My first 4 months here were anything but cold. I wrote home begging for short-sleeved shirts, cause I was melting like 12 year old girls at a Beiber concert. However, September hit and suddenly things started getting cooler....and cooler and cooler and colder and colder, until I thought it couldn't get much colder. Finally, the snow came last week. I mentioned that in my email. Mother Nature wasn't quite finished though. Despite the reports that Bergen didn't get a ton of snow, I woke up the next morning with about 6 inches on the ground. Norwegians have a twisted sense of how much snow is "a lot." Or maybe that's the part of me that lived in New Mexico, Texas, and Mississippi talking =P
It's not quite a wintry tundra and a blizzard, but trudging with my boots certainly fits my slightly less ambitious conceptions of serving in Norway. I mentioned to Elder Bird that I felt like my mission has finally begun, frozen tears and all. He agreed, as he carefully navigated the sidewalk which was frozen solid. The imagery was perfect haha
I may have mentioned before the news reporter who was following me and the district leader around. Well yesterday, Elder Perry and I were the main features in a 3 page spread in the Sunday Edition of Bergen Tidende (The Bergen Times). I've asked the reporter to send me the PDF file so that I could send it home for everyone, but he hasn't done it yet. So I'll send that along later. It's in Norwegian of course, so it'd be tough for ya'll to read, but at least you can look at the massive pictures! Or you could always Google translate the whole thing haha. It wasn't a bad article at all, and he only misquoted us once. So it wasn't too bad.
Norwegians definitely know how to celebrate Christmas. We had a massive Christmas concert and dinner on Saturday at the church. I sang in the choir (my parents' jaws just dropped there), and joined with the other missionaries in playing waiter for the dinner. It was a ton of fun, and we had a huge turnout. President Johansen flew in for the whole thing, and he got to see Jan, Kent, and Ane Rebekka in their element, which was really good. He was so impressed by the changes that can be seen in those three that he mentioned them in the mission wide phone call later that night. He used them as an example of how the Gospel literally changes lives. It's humbling to be a part of that. As a missionary, you don't see the gratification of your work until someone actually makes the changes themselves. But when it happens, it makes everything else worth it, and you realize that the little things you do have a huge effect on those around you.
The Gospel works. The Book of Mormon is true and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints literally is God's church on the earth today. That is our message. How anyone can disregard that, I don't understand. I don't understand how I ever disregarded it. NO ONE is born with a faith. We gain that through trying to find it. That doesn't mean we pray and ask God and that he'll suddenly light our lungs on fire. It doesn't always work like that. In fact, 95% of the time, it doesn't. We're supposed to find out for ourselves, and that does NOT mean that God is just gonna give us the answer. We commit ourselves to living the way that we're supposed to, and IF we are reading the scriptures and praying, THEN we'll get our answer. You can't expect to pray in the morning, go out and live completely contrary to the guidance of the scriptures and then expect to be told that it's true! You're lying to yourself and you're lying to God. But it's different for everyone. To me, stuff just makes sense, and I don't feel like an idiot while I'm explaining it or trying to understand it for myself. It may be hard to describe because of the varieties of ways in which our Father in Heaven speaks to us, but that doesn't make each individual person's answer any less real. A man is a fool if he denies the effect the Gospel has had on Ane Rebekka, Jan, Kent, me and millions of others. Something that good doesn't come from nothing. I don't know what I'll be going through for the rest of my life, but one thing is for certain, so long as I remember the good things that come of this Gospel, I won't need to worry about what a cherubim is, or the size of God's shoe. It's still true.
Elder Bird and I have been trying to encourage the people we're working with to keep their commitments. That's probably the biggest problem we're having right now. People can't progress without reading and praying and coming to church. That's probably why we ask them to do it =P It's been a busy time for our investigators with exams and things for school. This is the last week of that though, so hopefully after this we can start to work with them a bit more closely.
Christmas Week is gonna be a little odd. We're having a Mission Conference for two days over in Oslo, and then we'll come back the night before Christmas Eve. We'll be skyping home to our families and spending a lot of time eating pinekjøtt, classic Norwegian Christmas food. It's gonna be a pretty fun time, and I'm so looking forward to my first Norwegian Christmas. After that, there's only a week and a half left in the transfer! Time flies too quickly.
Hope everyone has had a good week and God Jul!
Elder Sessions
I spent this week trudging through snow and ice with my handy dandy snow boots. When a missionary going to Norway opens his mission call (or, in my case, hears his call read over the phone), the first thing that runs through his mind is despite being awake for about 30% of geography class freshman year, he doesn't know exactly where Norway actually is. (Go figure.) When said missionary takes a look at a map, globe, etc. and realizes just how high up on the map Norway actually is, a wintry tundra being blasted by a blizzard is what flashes through his mind. Throw in the fact that my dear MTC teachers delighted in telling me stories of wiping frozen tears from their eyes, and you've got some pretty darn cold expectations.
My first 4 months here were anything but cold. I wrote home begging for short-sleeved shirts, cause I was melting like 12 year old girls at a Beiber concert. However, September hit and suddenly things started getting cooler....and cooler and cooler and colder and colder, until I thought it couldn't get much colder. Finally, the snow came last week. I mentioned that in my email. Mother Nature wasn't quite finished though. Despite the reports that Bergen didn't get a ton of snow, I woke up the next morning with about 6 inches on the ground. Norwegians have a twisted sense of how much snow is "a lot." Or maybe that's the part of me that lived in New Mexico, Texas, and Mississippi talking =P
It's not quite a wintry tundra and a blizzard, but trudging with my boots certainly fits my slightly less ambitious conceptions of serving in Norway. I mentioned to Elder Bird that I felt like my mission has finally begun, frozen tears and all. He agreed, as he carefully navigated the sidewalk which was frozen solid. The imagery was perfect haha
I may have mentioned before the news reporter who was following me and the district leader around. Well yesterday, Elder Perry and I were the main features in a 3 page spread in the Sunday Edition of Bergen Tidende (The Bergen Times). I've asked the reporter to send me the PDF file so that I could send it home for everyone, but he hasn't done it yet. So I'll send that along later. It's in Norwegian of course, so it'd be tough for ya'll to read, but at least you can look at the massive pictures! Or you could always Google translate the whole thing haha. It wasn't a bad article at all, and he only misquoted us once. So it wasn't too bad.
Norwegians definitely know how to celebrate Christmas. We had a massive Christmas concert and dinner on Saturday at the church. I sang in the choir (my parents' jaws just dropped there), and joined with the other missionaries in playing waiter for the dinner. It was a ton of fun, and we had a huge turnout. President Johansen flew in for the whole thing, and he got to see Jan, Kent, and Ane Rebekka in their element, which was really good. He was so impressed by the changes that can be seen in those three that he mentioned them in the mission wide phone call later that night. He used them as an example of how the Gospel literally changes lives. It's humbling to be a part of that. As a missionary, you don't see the gratification of your work until someone actually makes the changes themselves. But when it happens, it makes everything else worth it, and you realize that the little things you do have a huge effect on those around you.
The Gospel works. The Book of Mormon is true and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints literally is God's church on the earth today. That is our message. How anyone can disregard that, I don't understand. I don't understand how I ever disregarded it. NO ONE is born with a faith. We gain that through trying to find it. That doesn't mean we pray and ask God and that he'll suddenly light our lungs on fire. It doesn't always work like that. In fact, 95% of the time, it doesn't. We're supposed to find out for ourselves, and that does NOT mean that God is just gonna give us the answer. We commit ourselves to living the way that we're supposed to, and IF we are reading the scriptures and praying, THEN we'll get our answer. You can't expect to pray in the morning, go out and live completely contrary to the guidance of the scriptures and then expect to be told that it's true! You're lying to yourself and you're lying to God. But it's different for everyone. To me, stuff just makes sense, and I don't feel like an idiot while I'm explaining it or trying to understand it for myself. It may be hard to describe because of the varieties of ways in which our Father in Heaven speaks to us, but that doesn't make each individual person's answer any less real. A man is a fool if he denies the effect the Gospel has had on Ane Rebekka, Jan, Kent, me and millions of others. Something that good doesn't come from nothing. I don't know what I'll be going through for the rest of my life, but one thing is for certain, so long as I remember the good things that come of this Gospel, I won't need to worry about what a cherubim is, or the size of God's shoe. It's still true.
Elder Bird and I have been trying to encourage the people we're working with to keep their commitments. That's probably the biggest problem we're having right now. People can't progress without reading and praying and coming to church. That's probably why we ask them to do it =P It's been a busy time for our investigators with exams and things for school. This is the last week of that though, so hopefully after this we can start to work with them a bit more closely.
Christmas Week is gonna be a little odd. We're having a Mission Conference for two days over in Oslo, and then we'll come back the night before Christmas Eve. We'll be skyping home to our families and spending a lot of time eating pinekjøtt, classic Norwegian Christmas food. It's gonna be a pretty fun time, and I'm so looking forward to my first Norwegian Christmas. After that, there's only a week and a half left in the transfer! Time flies too quickly.
Hope everyone has had a good week and God Jul!
Elder Sessions
December 5, 2011
Kjære familie og venner
Well, we don't have a whole ton of time tonight. Mainly because of our awesome P-Day activity. We hiked up a stormy, snowy mountain. It was pretty intense, but a lot of fun. I have to get pictures from some of the other missionaries, and then I can email those home next week. (Just kidding I got them! haha)
Not a whole lot has happened this week. Ane Rebeka is a girl that I've been teaching since I came to Bergen, first with Elder Spencer and now with Elder Bird. She's had some family issues which have kept her from setting a baptismal date before now. We just recently got a baptismal date with her for February, so we're pretty excited about that. But yesterday, in sacrament meeting she bore her testimony, and it was really cool to see. Jan and Kent also helped in blessing and passing the sacrament. That was a lot of fun too, and Kent looks like a beast in a suit.
I've actually got to write my email to President Johansen, so unfortunately I don't have time to write more. Basically this week was more of the same. We've got a lot of potential investigators, but no one who's really showing a lot of progress. Just gotta keep plowing forward, eventually it'll click. It also started snowing this week, which was fun for me. I feel like I've finally started a mission in Norway, since a snowy wasteland is basically what I pictured when I opened my mission call...almost 1 year ago in fact!!! Which means a one year anniversary congratulations to Heather and Trevor would also be in order =]
With that said, hope you guys had a great week! I promise I'll send something more next week!
Elder Sessions
Well, we don't have a whole ton of time tonight. Mainly because of our awesome P-Day activity. We hiked up a stormy, snowy mountain. It was pretty intense, but a lot of fun. I have to get pictures from some of the other missionaries, and then I can email those home next week. (Just kidding I got them! haha)
Not a whole lot has happened this week. Ane Rebeka is a girl that I've been teaching since I came to Bergen, first with Elder Spencer and now with Elder Bird. She's had some family issues which have kept her from setting a baptismal date before now. We just recently got a baptismal date with her for February, so we're pretty excited about that. But yesterday, in sacrament meeting she bore her testimony, and it was really cool to see. Jan and Kent also helped in blessing and passing the sacrament. That was a lot of fun too, and Kent looks like a beast in a suit.
I've actually got to write my email to President Johansen, so unfortunately I don't have time to write more. Basically this week was more of the same. We've got a lot of potential investigators, but no one who's really showing a lot of progress. Just gotta keep plowing forward, eventually it'll click. It also started snowing this week, which was fun for me. I feel like I've finally started a mission in Norway, since a snowy wasteland is basically what I pictured when I opened my mission call...almost 1 year ago in fact!!! Which means a one year anniversary congratulations to Heather and Trevor would also be in order =]
With that said, hope you guys had a great week! I promise I'll send something more next week!
Elder Sessions
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