Its been another week and hasn't gone by too slow.
We're really trying to stay busy and we were blessed to find some people
who were at least willing to hear our message. We had a pretty cool
experience while we were out knocking on Tuesday. I though to try this
student housing place just to check it out and felt like it was worth a
shot. We were starting to get pretty tired from walking around all day
and it was almost time for dinner. We knocked on a this random door and
to my amazement we were invited in after about 30 seconds of introducing
ourselves. She was a younger woman from Ghana here studying some type
of engineering (there's a college here). She says she's totally new to
christianity and being a muslim didn't feel right to her. She goes to a
local jesus freak church here in Narvik and has been thinking alot about
baptism lately. We taught her the restoration and she said it seemed to
make sense. The Book of Mormon is something she's hopefully reading
right now to find out if what we are telling her is true. She accepted
what we call a "soft" baptismal commitment when we asked her if she'd be
baptised after she found out that our church is the true church of
Jesus Christ. She said of course. The spirit was so strong and Elder
Gunther and I were so blown away with how much the spirit was guiding
and helping us out. Its moments like that when you walk away from the
appointment filled with true joy. I love being lead to people who are
actually prepared. We walked home feeling so happy and I found a cherry
coke to celebrate with. Unfortunately not every hour of our day is like
that though. I have really focused on the principle that happiness is a
choice. although I'm not in a super fun area I'm looking for happiness
while serving here, not just waiting for the happiness that I think will
come when I leave. You've gotta enjoy and live up everyday.. especially
on the mission. We only have 2 years and I'm nearly a third of the way
done already. Scary.
So this week I also had the opportunity to drive a new dream car of
mine. Have you seen the new new Mazda 6's!?! I got to drive one! Don't
be too jealous. Oh my goodness, I was in heaven as I was taking my
practice driving test. My new snack right now is yogurt with a bunch of
granola(musli) mixed in it. For some reason milk is always hurting my
stomach so I just use some way good yogurts instead.
Yesterday I branch had a stake(mission) conference down in Bodø. We
were left to fend for ourselves because we didn't have church to go to.
We thought it would be fun to go to the catholic church because
apparently the preacher has met the missionaries before. We also have a
friend/investigator who sings in the choir. What a freaking cultural
experience that was. I don't want to say anything bad about the Catholic
church. It was "different" and made me really appreciate the The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The preacher and a couple people
were totally nice and friendly to us and I'm sure the rest of the people
were just wondering what in the world was going on. Later on yesterday
we ate with these two girls who are members here going to school. They
are originally from Thailand.. Yikes. Needless to say I had fish. It
turned out to not be too bad though.. they did a good job covering up
the fishiness of it. I tried everything and i'm pretty sure they had
some time of grinded up fish scales with chili powder as well as
shrimp/bugs. I ate it all although It felt like I was on FearFactor. We
also had this weird asian fruit.. Durians?? I didn't know asia had
completely different types of fruits. This one we had wasn't good at all
but it was fun to try out.
We had our first district meeting this week. It was over the phone
but next week we're trying to do it on skype instead because It was
pretty difficult and frustrating. All sorts of weird things happen as a
missionary in the north. It honestly feels like we're not even part of
the mission any more. For real. Its insane.. elder Gunther and I talk
about it all the time.. we feel so out of contact with not only the rest
of the world, but the rest of the mission. Its a blessing though
because we feel so strongly that we are the Lord's missionaries and
solely reporting to him.
Thats cool that you got to go on a nice long road trip. I
swear I was just in Melissa's situation. That was two years ago to give
you an idea of how fast 2 years flies by. I think Utah is a cool place
but I wouldn't complain if you and dad stayed in San Diego (not
necessarily Ramona but that's cool too). I want us to all live close
together in the future. If I have to end up living in Utah or Idaho, I
still want to be able to come back to San Diego as much as possible.
Poor wyatt's about to die. Make sure to take pictures to remember our
buddy. Thats a funny story about Michael. Did
you see the tons of pictures I put on Dropbox? They're all super random
but I figured it'd be nice for you to look at. Pyry and Pamela sent me a
package of chocolate and a drawing from jakob:) So sweet. Jakob was
literally just born when I saw him last. I'll make sure to send them a
letter back as soon as possible. Try to enjoy your week of work without
dying in that ridiculous heat.
Love you!
Eldste Skinner
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