Kjære familie og venner
I went even farther north this week! I went on splits to Bodø to do a baptismal interview, so now Bodø is my northernmost travel spot. Only 3 missionary areas are more north than that in Norway, including Alta, which is the northernmost missionary area in the world. Maybe I'll make it up there next transfer...=)
So that was pretty fun. The mountains up there were fantastic, but I had a dumb moment and forgot my camera. Just know I could have gotten some fantastic pictures on the flight in and out.
By the way, that was the 23rd flight I have taken on my mission. Kinda glad I don't have to pay for that portion of my mission.
In other news, Inara has a new baptismal date for the 19th of May! Her life has really taken a 180 recently. She is definitely much happier than she was when I first met her. She's come to some sort of agreement with her father, and she'll be meeting with us in the church for the first time this week. So we're pretty excited for that. After 4 months of working with her in Trondheim, Inara has become another one of those baptisms that I am totally stoked for. I'm excited for everyone who gets baptized, but it's a little more special when you work for a long time with them. I realized just the other day that this transfer ends the 16th of May, and there is a chance I could be transferred before she is baptized. Go figure. But I've been there before with Ane Rebekka, so that would be perfectly alright with me...almost =)
By the way, I saw Ane Rebekka last week at the conference. I'm sure I mentioned this last week, but I'll mention it again. She seems to be doing great, and her countenance is completely changed from before her baptism. It's like she's a new person, no joke. Well, still the same old Ane Rebekka...chewed me out for forgetting to answer one of her texts, but she seems more....full, if that makes sense? Alright, I'll stop trying to explain the abstract ideas shooting around my head.
I wish I had time to write a little bit more. I feel like it's been a while since I did anything more than give an area report and a travel update. At least I didn't make a weather report this time. Count your blessings, right?
vi snakkes neste uka =)
Elder Sessions
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
Kjære familie og venner
It was definitely an historic weekend for Norway. Trondheim Branch has now been made a part of the Oslo Stake, and a second stake was organized in Drammen. Both of my previous areas are now a part of that new stake. We also had a mission conference on Friday and I attached a couple of pictures from that conference. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at breaking out my camera at the right times, so I don't have many pictures of members who I was reunited with from my previous areas. But the pictures I attached are of my trainer and greenie and me, as well as a few with my MTC group, Elder Bekker and Sister Fredrickson. Then a mission picture with Elder Teixeira from the Area Presidency.
I spent 3 whole days in Oslo this weekend, so when we arrived back home last night, it felt as though we had been gone forever. Elder Bekker went up to Alta on splits on Tuesday as well, so our week was extremely short. We did get to meet with Fernanda again though and she's doing pretty well. We took one of her new home teachers with us and helped him teach the home teaching message for this month. It's cool that the church is so occupied with taking care of its members with members visiting their fellow members once a month through the home teaching and visiting teaching programs. It'll be good for Fernanda to be taught by and to get to know other members of the church in that way.
That was about it as far as missionary work this week actually. After the mission conference on Friday, Elder Bekker and I stayed with the Assistants in their apartment, which meant we were working with them in their area on Saturday. We went to a baptism in their ward and talked to a lot of investigators there. Then we got out and did some contacting before we had to leave for the first session of the stake conference. I met a way cool guy, kinda wish he lived in Trondheim actually haha. But the Assistants will be meeting with him tomorrow.
At the stake conference was a majority of the members from all over Norway. So I saw a lot of old friends from Tønsberg and Bergen. It was cool being able to speak with the members from Tønsberg since I definitely was limited in my language ability when I served there. And then, of course, all of the YSA from Bergen were there as well as the family that I lived with. I realized just how many amazing Norwegians there are in this church when they were all stuffed into one room. It was cool to see the Norwegians so excited to get their second stake. It had been 35 years since the Oslo Stake was organized, so it was long overdue. Elder Bekker and I spoke with President Kopishke, the Area President, after the conference and told him we'd call him in about a year to come organize a third haha. Maybe not, but I think the members here are determined to not allow it to take another 35 years.
Now that we are on the other side of that conference, the transfer seems very short. We only have about 3 weeks left, and we're pretty determined to make the best of it. We still have a few people who we need to be able to meet with and commit to working towards baptism, ie Inara, Fernanda's friend, etc, but they all have their specific challenges which are making it difficult. On top of that, we'll be out on the streets this week to keep filling our funnels up with people to teach. It'll be pretty sad to see either Elder Bekker or I leave, but we've now spent 1/4 of our missions in the same district as each other, so I guess that's ok.
It's starting to be spring again. Still waiting for the green to appear, but at least it's been a couple of days since it was below freezing. We get amazing views of the sunsets from our rooftop over the fjord, so I'll send a picture of one of those home. It's a nice change from the weeks without seeing the sun at all!
Hope Spring is warmer over there! =)
Elder Sessions
It was definitely an historic weekend for Norway. Trondheim Branch has now been made a part of the Oslo Stake, and a second stake was organized in Drammen. Both of my previous areas are now a part of that new stake. We also had a mission conference on Friday and I attached a couple of pictures from that conference. Unfortunately, I'm terrible at breaking out my camera at the right times, so I don't have many pictures of members who I was reunited with from my previous areas. But the pictures I attached are of my trainer and greenie and me, as well as a few with my MTC group, Elder Bekker and Sister Fredrickson. Then a mission picture with Elder Teixeira from the Area Presidency.
I spent 3 whole days in Oslo this weekend, so when we arrived back home last night, it felt as though we had been gone forever. Elder Bekker went up to Alta on splits on Tuesday as well, so our week was extremely short. We did get to meet with Fernanda again though and she's doing pretty well. We took one of her new home teachers with us and helped him teach the home teaching message for this month. It's cool that the church is so occupied with taking care of its members with members visiting their fellow members once a month through the home teaching and visiting teaching programs. It'll be good for Fernanda to be taught by and to get to know other members of the church in that way.
That was about it as far as missionary work this week actually. After the mission conference on Friday, Elder Bekker and I stayed with the Assistants in their apartment, which meant we were working with them in their area on Saturday. We went to a baptism in their ward and talked to a lot of investigators there. Then we got out and did some contacting before we had to leave for the first session of the stake conference. I met a way cool guy, kinda wish he lived in Trondheim actually haha. But the Assistants will be meeting with him tomorrow.
At the stake conference was a majority of the members from all over Norway. So I saw a lot of old friends from Tønsberg and Bergen. It was cool being able to speak with the members from Tønsberg since I definitely was limited in my language ability when I served there. And then, of course, all of the YSA from Bergen were there as well as the family that I lived with. I realized just how many amazing Norwegians there are in this church when they were all stuffed into one room. It was cool to see the Norwegians so excited to get their second stake. It had been 35 years since the Oslo Stake was organized, so it was long overdue. Elder Bekker and I spoke with President Kopishke, the Area President, after the conference and told him we'd call him in about a year to come organize a third haha. Maybe not, but I think the members here are determined to not allow it to take another 35 years.
Now that we are on the other side of that conference, the transfer seems very short. We only have about 3 weeks left, and we're pretty determined to make the best of it. We still have a few people who we need to be able to meet with and commit to working towards baptism, ie Inara, Fernanda's friend, etc, but they all have their specific challenges which are making it difficult. On top of that, we'll be out on the streets this week to keep filling our funnels up with people to teach. It'll be pretty sad to see either Elder Bekker or I leave, but we've now spent 1/4 of our missions in the same district as each other, so I guess that's ok.
It's starting to be spring again. Still waiting for the green to appear, but at least it's been a couple of days since it was below freezing. We get amazing views of the sunsets from our rooftop over the fjord, so I'll send a picture of one of those home. It's a nice change from the weeks without seeing the sun at all!
Hope Spring is warmer over there! =)
Elder Sessions
Weekly Letter-16 April 2012
Kjære familie og venner,
Well another week down. I don't dare count how many has gone by, cause there's only 104 weeks in the mission. Give or take, we actually serve a month longer in Norway because of our 9 week transfers, but you get the point. The scary part though is my work permit is about to run out here in Norway. No biggie, I'll just renew it but it's means that I'm getting up there in age. I turn 21 in like 6 and a half months! I saw a wrinkle this morning, and there was a gray hair right next to it! I'm slowly decaying...
Enough of that. The fountain of youth is out there somewhere.
Anyways, this week. Well not too much happened this week. Elder Bekker and I are kind of in finding mode again. Finding is a long process of walking around the streets of Trondheim, talking to peeps, handing out books, getting appointments, teaching people, losing people, dropping people, and repeat. Every once and a while someone will stick. It sounds incredibly tedious and long. It is, but at the same time you also meet all kinds of interesting characters along the way.
Elder Bekker and I may not have a whole lot sticking for us right now, but the rest of our zone is really starting to flourish. I went on visit to one of the northern cities called Mo i Rana this week. Seriously, ugliest and most boring place on the planet. (Also the northernmost place I have ever been in my life!) There's like 20 people there and the missionaries have talked to them all. Haha slight exaggeration, but not much. The missionaries there have worked their heads off though, and right now they've got 6 baptismal dates! It's amazing, and it's cool to see them working so hard and it paying off. The same is happening for the other companionships in Trondheim, Bodø, and Narvik. Elder Bekker and I teach a lot of people and we know it's only a matter of time before we find someone really interested. But along the way, it's always good to see members of your zone have success. Mainly cause President Johansen leaves his sword in the cabinet when we go to zone leader council if we have baptismal dates to report ;)
This weekend is also exciting because for the first time in history, Norway is getting a second stake! The Area Presidency is coming in to organize it. So that's really exciting, and it's been a huge accomplishment for President Johansen. He goes home in July, and the second stake has been his goal the entire time he's been here. Not only that, but on Friday we're going to have another mission conference. Second one in 6 months. That's a little more often than usual, but it's the only way the missionaries would be able to attend the conference. So that will be fun to see all the missionaries again and then to see everyone from my old areas who will be attending the conference on Saturday and Sunday.
The best part is now that the second stake is being organized, we can start to work on a third stake, which is basically a precursor to getting a temple in Norway! It's a ways off, and definitely won't happen in my mission lifetime, but it's still cool to be a part of it. The second stake is a huge step, and it will help members be more involved in missionary work simply because of the better organization that a stake brings.
So that's what's happening now. Mother's day is coming up here in about 3 weeks which means we'll get to skype home again. I joked with Elder Bekker that this is not even the first time I'll be meeting his family, since his parents came to the MTC while we were there. (Long story, don't have time to repeat it) But it's the first time he'll meet mine, so I'm sure he's overly enthused for that one.
Congrats to Mary Kate on getting engaged. ;) had to give you a shout out, huh?
Love you all. Snakkes =)
Elder Sessions
Well another week down. I don't dare count how many has gone by, cause there's only 104 weeks in the mission. Give or take, we actually serve a month longer in Norway because of our 9 week transfers, but you get the point. The scary part though is my work permit is about to run out here in Norway. No biggie, I'll just renew it but it's means that I'm getting up there in age. I turn 21 in like 6 and a half months! I saw a wrinkle this morning, and there was a gray hair right next to it! I'm slowly decaying...
Enough of that. The fountain of youth is out there somewhere.
Anyways, this week. Well not too much happened this week. Elder Bekker and I are kind of in finding mode again. Finding is a long process of walking around the streets of Trondheim, talking to peeps, handing out books, getting appointments, teaching people, losing people, dropping people, and repeat. Every once and a while someone will stick. It sounds incredibly tedious and long. It is, but at the same time you also meet all kinds of interesting characters along the way.
Elder Bekker and I may not have a whole lot sticking for us right now, but the rest of our zone is really starting to flourish. I went on visit to one of the northern cities called Mo i Rana this week. Seriously, ugliest and most boring place on the planet. (Also the northernmost place I have ever been in my life!) There's like 20 people there and the missionaries have talked to them all. Haha slight exaggeration, but not much. The missionaries there have worked their heads off though, and right now they've got 6 baptismal dates! It's amazing, and it's cool to see them working so hard and it paying off. The same is happening for the other companionships in Trondheim, Bodø, and Narvik. Elder Bekker and I teach a lot of people and we know it's only a matter of time before we find someone really interested. But along the way, it's always good to see members of your zone have success. Mainly cause President Johansen leaves his sword in the cabinet when we go to zone leader council if we have baptismal dates to report ;)
This weekend is also exciting because for the first time in history, Norway is getting a second stake! The Area Presidency is coming in to organize it. So that's really exciting, and it's been a huge accomplishment for President Johansen. He goes home in July, and the second stake has been his goal the entire time he's been here. Not only that, but on Friday we're going to have another mission conference. Second one in 6 months. That's a little more often than usual, but it's the only way the missionaries would be able to attend the conference. So that will be fun to see all the missionaries again and then to see everyone from my old areas who will be attending the conference on Saturday and Sunday.
The best part is now that the second stake is being organized, we can start to work on a third stake, which is basically a precursor to getting a temple in Norway! It's a ways off, and definitely won't happen in my mission lifetime, but it's still cool to be a part of it. The second stake is a huge step, and it will help members be more involved in missionary work simply because of the better organization that a stake brings.
So that's what's happening now. Mother's day is coming up here in about 3 weeks which means we'll get to skype home again. I joked with Elder Bekker that this is not even the first time I'll be meeting his family, since his parents came to the MTC while we were there. (Long story, don't have time to repeat it) But it's the first time he'll meet mine, so I'm sure he's overly enthused for that one.
Congrats to Mary Kate on getting engaged. ;) had to give you a shout out, huh?
Love you all. Snakkes =)
Elder Sessions
Monday, April 9, 2012
Elder Sessions' weekly letter
Kjære familie og venner,
Fernanda was contacted by Elder Bekker and his last companion on the street. She invited them back to her house and they began to teach her. I taught her once before transfers because we knew I would be with Elder Bekker. She's gone from being found on the street to inviting friends to church. She invited two of her friends to come to church yesterday and one of them came and liked it. So we'll be meeting with her this next week, and we're pretty excited for that.
Last week was Easter week, and I think I mentioned in my last email that all of Norway leaves Norway during Easter week. So the streets were pretty dead and all of our investigators were pretty much gone. But they'll be coming back this week, so hopefully we can meet with some of the people we contacted a couple of weeks ago.
I actually had a really cool personal study today so I decided I'll type up my journal entry in the email today:
I had a bit of revelation the other day on faith and I thought I would go a little bit more into it for studies today. I was on the bus from sentrum to the church and I just randomly opened the Book of Mormon I was holding. It opened to Ether chapter 3. I read in verses 11-12, which is right before the Lord reveals himself to the brother of Jared. Verse 11 says that the Lord asked him whether or not he would believe the words he should speak. When I read that I thought that this must have been the biggest "duh" question in the history of the world. You've just seen God's finger lighting up some stones and now the voice of God is coming to you out of a cloud asking if you're going to believe what He says. There had to be more to it than that.
First of all, I think the Lord was asking him more than just whether he would believe his words right then and there. He was asking whether the brother of Jared had the faith to allow whatever it was that this Voice out of a cloud was about to tell him, change his life. The brother of Jared had no idea what the Lord was about to say or show him, but he had to show that he had the faith to never forget or slip away from it for the rest of his life, without having heard it first. Imagine the faith it really must have taken for him to reply, "Yeah Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth and canst not lie."
A lot of people could look at that and call it blind faith. At one point, I always condemned blind faith as a mild to medium form of being brainwashed. But something I've realized is that there is no such thing as blind faith. Sure, we may make a decision based only on that which we feel or believe rather than that which we see, but isn't that the essence of any man's faith anyways? And what is that faith then built upon? Faith doesn't pop up out of nowhere; it is the sum of all our experiences with God. Those who have a sincere desire to find Him, will. Then, the seed of faith is planted for them and it will begin to grow. I don't know all of the experiences the brother of Jared must have had to reach that level of faith, but those experiences must have been pretty great. We "receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." (Ether 12:6)
Our faith can never be confirmed unless it is tested. Maybe that's why god doesn't answer our prayers immediately. Do we really believe that He is there and that He can answer our prayers? If we really believe that, we will pray and ask until he answers, no matter how long it takes. Luke 18:1-8 is a parable of the importuning widow. It tells of a widow who appeals to a judge for help in some legal matter. "Avenge me of my adversary," she says. This represents any appeal we could make to our Heavenly Father. The judge was a wicked man, "which feared not God, neither regarded man." He would not grant her appeal for a while, but she humbly and faithfully kept repeating her request. "...afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this woman troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." That, coming from a man who is described in the scriptures as unjust. And who is it we appeal to? Only the most just and merciful Being in this existence. If a wicked judge will answer the appeals of a faithful and humble widow, who believed only that her appeal could be answered, how much more will our Heavenly Father answer the prayers of those who show their faith through unending persistence?
This is something we teach our investigators when they pray to know if God is there or if the Book of Mormon is true. We can't just pray a couple of times, or even many times, and give up before we receive an answer. Just like the brother of Jared, the Lord is testing our faith and sincerity. Will we believe the words He says? More or less could be rewritten as: Do we want to believe the words He says? Having faith in God is hard sometimes because it requires us to act when we can't always see the concrete evidence we want. But that doesn't mean that evidence doesn't exist. As we show our faith in that God cannot lie and the He will only tell us to do that which is best, then will he answer our prayers. When God answers prayers, he does it with the confidence that that person will act on the answer he receives, whether that is being baptized, making some tough changes in our lives, or committing ourselves to a teaching or a church we have found difficult to accept our entire life.
I experienced this myself. I didn't believe in God, but I think that was mostly because I didn't want to. I knew that it would mean I was doing some things I shouldn't be, and I didn't want to give those up. But ever since the day I decided I really wanted to know, and did everything I could to find out, I have received many confirmations of the truth: that God does live and that He does lead his church on the earth today through his prophet and apostles, just as He has always done. It's our job, though, to find out for ourselves.
Fernanda was contacted by Elder Bekker and his last companion on the street. She invited them back to her house and they began to teach her. I taught her once before transfers because we knew I would be with Elder Bekker. She's gone from being found on the street to inviting friends to church. She invited two of her friends to come to church yesterday and one of them came and liked it. So we'll be meeting with her this next week, and we're pretty excited for that.
Last week was Easter week, and I think I mentioned in my last email that all of Norway leaves Norway during Easter week. So the streets were pretty dead and all of our investigators were pretty much gone. But they'll be coming back this week, so hopefully we can meet with some of the people we contacted a couple of weeks ago.
I actually had a really cool personal study today so I decided I'll type up my journal entry in the email today:
I had a bit of revelation the other day on faith and I thought I would go a little bit more into it for studies today. I was on the bus from sentrum to the church and I just randomly opened the Book of Mormon I was holding. It opened to Ether chapter 3. I read in verses 11-12, which is right before the Lord reveals himself to the brother of Jared. Verse 11 says that the Lord asked him whether or not he would believe the words he should speak. When I read that I thought that this must have been the biggest "duh" question in the history of the world. You've just seen God's finger lighting up some stones and now the voice of God is coming to you out of a cloud asking if you're going to believe what He says. There had to be more to it than that.
First of all, I think the Lord was asking him more than just whether he would believe his words right then and there. He was asking whether the brother of Jared had the faith to allow whatever it was that this Voice out of a cloud was about to tell him, change his life. The brother of Jared had no idea what the Lord was about to say or show him, but he had to show that he had the faith to never forget or slip away from it for the rest of his life, without having heard it first. Imagine the faith it really must have taken for him to reply, "Yeah Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth and canst not lie."
A lot of people could look at that and call it blind faith. At one point, I always condemned blind faith as a mild to medium form of being brainwashed. But something I've realized is that there is no such thing as blind faith. Sure, we may make a decision based only on that which we feel or believe rather than that which we see, but isn't that the essence of any man's faith anyways? And what is that faith then built upon? Faith doesn't pop up out of nowhere; it is the sum of all our experiences with God. Those who have a sincere desire to find Him, will. Then, the seed of faith is planted for them and it will begin to grow. I don't know all of the experiences the brother of Jared must have had to reach that level of faith, but those experiences must have been pretty great. We "receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." (Ether 12:6)
Our faith can never be confirmed unless it is tested. Maybe that's why god doesn't answer our prayers immediately. Do we really believe that He is there and that He can answer our prayers? If we really believe that, we will pray and ask until he answers, no matter how long it takes. Luke 18:1-8 is a parable of the importuning widow. It tells of a widow who appeals to a judge for help in some legal matter. "Avenge me of my adversary," she says. This represents any appeal we could make to our Heavenly Father. The judge was a wicked man, "which feared not God, neither regarded man." He would not grant her appeal for a while, but she humbly and faithfully kept repeating her request. "...afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this woman troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." That, coming from a man who is described in the scriptures as unjust. And who is it we appeal to? Only the most just and merciful Being in this existence. If a wicked judge will answer the appeals of a faithful and humble widow, who believed only that her appeal could be answered, how much more will our Heavenly Father answer the prayers of those who show their faith through unending persistence?
This is something we teach our investigators when they pray to know if God is there or if the Book of Mormon is true. We can't just pray a couple of times, or even many times, and give up before we receive an answer. Just like the brother of Jared, the Lord is testing our faith and sincerity. Will we believe the words He says? More or less could be rewritten as: Do we want to believe the words He says? Having faith in God is hard sometimes because it requires us to act when we can't always see the concrete evidence we want. But that doesn't mean that evidence doesn't exist. As we show our faith in that God cannot lie and the He will only tell us to do that which is best, then will he answer our prayers. When God answers prayers, he does it with the confidence that that person will act on the answer he receives, whether that is being baptized, making some tough changes in our lives, or committing ourselves to a teaching or a church we have found difficult to accept our entire life.
I experienced this myself. I didn't believe in God, but I think that was mostly because I didn't want to. I knew that it would mean I was doing some things I shouldn't be, and I didn't want to give those up. But ever since the day I decided I really wanted to know, and did everything I could to find out, I have received many confirmations of the truth: that God does live and that He does lead his church on the earth today through his prophet and apostles, just as He has always done. It's our job, though, to find out for ourselves.
Monday, April 2, 2012
2 April 2012
Ladies and Gentleman
I had a fish named after me this week. It's a tiger barb. I have no idea what that is. But I guess I'm honored.
General Conference was this weekend. You got to hear a prophet speak AND David Archuleta sing, all at once! Well, that settles it, church is true.
Seriously though, if there was a theme at conference this time around, it was strengthening individuals and families for spiritually and temporally challenging times to come. There was almost a sense of foreboding coming from the pulpit, but it was always followed by a reminder that so long as we do our part to be strengthened in the Gospel, and to strengthen those who are around us, we'll make it through the hard times.
I try to ignore the fact that I have, today, 11 months left on my mission and I wrote at least 4 pages of notes from General Authorities about how to raise a family.
I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time pointing out insights and things I got from conference. There's over 20 pages of notes to go through at some point over the next few weeks. But, I will recommend that anyone who hasn't watched all the sessions yet, should do that on the church website. If I, a person who hates handwriting notes (ask any of my high school teachers to confirm that one), can write down 20 pages worth of things I felt were worth remembering, anyone can benefit from it. Makes sense if they really are prophets and apostles, right?
In other news, Fernanda was baptized on Saturday! So that was exciting. I've attached pictures of the baptism as well as some random pictures from around Trondheim and some HAND KNITTED socks that one of these wonderful Norwegians gave me. They're really warm and purple too =)
This week should be interesting. Literally everyone has left the country for Easter vacation. Norwegians take their vacations very seriously, and they don't do it lightly either. When they leave....they LEAVE haha. So from this past Friday to about next Monday, the streets are gonna be kinda empty. Last year, we had a mission conference during this week, simply because missionary work is hard when there is no one around haha. Unfortunately we have our huge Norwegian conference in 3 weeks, including a mission conference, so we won't be having a mission conference this week. We'll just have to get creative I guess.
Well, after Elder Bekker and I were interviewed on the radio, the Trondheim branch here was asked to help clean up the courtyard of the Trondheim cathedral as a service project. It attracted the attention of the exact same national news agency which interviewed Elder Bekker and I, and they actually recorded a news segment live from our service project. There is a flash of me raking some leaves and talking to one of the members during the newscast, so I'll send that link on. The media just can't get enough of me =P
Well, the pictures are about done uploading, and I've gotta go get a haircut. So I think that's all for this week. Can't believe it's already been three weeks into this transfer!
Vi snakkes neste uke!
Elder Sessions
I had a fish named after me this week. It's a tiger barb. I have no idea what that is. But I guess I'm honored.
General Conference was this weekend. You got to hear a prophet speak AND David Archuleta sing, all at once! Well, that settles it, church is true.
Seriously though, if there was a theme at conference this time around, it was strengthening individuals and families for spiritually and temporally challenging times to come. There was almost a sense of foreboding coming from the pulpit, but it was always followed by a reminder that so long as we do our part to be strengthened in the Gospel, and to strengthen those who are around us, we'll make it through the hard times.
I try to ignore the fact that I have, today, 11 months left on my mission and I wrote at least 4 pages of notes from General Authorities about how to raise a family.
I'm not gonna spend a whole lot of time pointing out insights and things I got from conference. There's over 20 pages of notes to go through at some point over the next few weeks. But, I will recommend that anyone who hasn't watched all the sessions yet, should do that on the church website. If I, a person who hates handwriting notes (ask any of my high school teachers to confirm that one), can write down 20 pages worth of things I felt were worth remembering, anyone can benefit from it. Makes sense if they really are prophets and apostles, right?
In other news, Fernanda was baptized on Saturday! So that was exciting. I've attached pictures of the baptism as well as some random pictures from around Trondheim and some HAND KNITTED socks that one of these wonderful Norwegians gave me. They're really warm and purple too =)
This week should be interesting. Literally everyone has left the country for Easter vacation. Norwegians take their vacations very seriously, and they don't do it lightly either. When they leave....they LEAVE haha. So from this past Friday to about next Monday, the streets are gonna be kinda empty. Last year, we had a mission conference during this week, simply because missionary work is hard when there is no one around haha. Unfortunately we have our huge Norwegian conference in 3 weeks, including a mission conference, so we won't be having a mission conference this week. We'll just have to get creative I guess.
Well, after Elder Bekker and I were interviewed on the radio, the Trondheim branch here was asked to help clean up the courtyard of the Trondheim cathedral as a service project. It attracted the attention of the exact same national news agency which interviewed Elder Bekker and I, and they actually recorded a news segment live from our service project. There is a flash of me raking some leaves and talking to one of the members during the newscast, so I'll send that link on. The media just can't get enough of me =P
Well, the pictures are about done uploading, and I've gotta go get a haircut. So I think that's all for this week. Can't believe it's already been three weeks into this transfer!
Vi snakkes neste uke!
Elder Sessions
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