October 7, 2013

Heiii :) 

Ya its tough. But I don't like focusing on that. I'm grateful to serve here and gain these experiences. Thanks for being understanding and supportive. General conference is amazing on the mission. I feel like such a celebrity in the church. All the prayers and talks were focused on Missionary work, Families, and of course the atonement of Jesus Christ. Truly Heavenly father wants us all to have happy families and to be good missionaries. Pretty simple. I hope that you guys are going to follow the promptings and instruction received from Ballard's amazing saturday afternoon talk. Help out the missionaries, pray for opportunities to share the gospel and don't be afraid! I wish I served in a more "ideal" environment for sharing the gospel by working with members. But I'm up here doing the same not as effective thing thats been done for about 160 years. It's pretty difficult and makes for some long days. I know we'll find those who are prepared as we keep following promptings and are working hard and obediently. Its just a little bit of a slower process. We found a totally cool african guy this week and taught him about the restoration and how it can help him come closer to God. He speaks 5 languages and has dreads. He's never heard about the restoration and seems pretty excited about it. He's hopefully been reading the Book of mormon in Swahili. We'll find out this afternoon. 

My greenie is from Pleasant Grove, Utah. Back to back utah kids fresh out of high school. I call them kids because they seem so young but that doesn't mean that they're not awesome. I really ended up liking Elder Gunther so I was sad to see him go even more north (tromsø) just after 6 weeks. Elder Holden is a DL in Alta so we're both the DL's way up here in santa's territory. But we're obviously in different districts and never get to see each other except for weekly skype meetings. We will have zone conference in Trondheim this thursday. I wish I could baptise as much as I fly. So now elder Sperry and I are getting used to each other. We'll get along great. He's a lot more timid and shy. Not very talkative yet, but time will change that hopefully. I need someone to talk to up here or I'll go even more crazy. He worked at subway and was in band in high school. He also played some city baseball. Its a tough responsibility to train especially since they have never lived away from home before. Naturally, most of the work load (from cooking to teaching) ends up on my shoulders. But at the same time he's just as stressed out wondering what the heck he just got himself into up here. So, I'd say i've done a pretty good job at managing stress thanks to prayers. I really just want to help out Elder Sperry. Make him feel comfortable and included, and at the same time work on my personal skills that still need improvement as well. Its stressful and complicated to think about. Basically, I just want to be good and righteous and try to have fun. 

I trying to read the book of mormon in Norwegian in these 6 weeks. The book of mormon is awesome and I get different insights every time I read it. The comfort is always there as well. This week has been frustrating for me because of all this confusion and contention among people regarding religion. I've been frustrated towards churches who prevent people we come into contact to from hearing the truthfulness of the restoration. My testimony of the church has really grown here in Narvik. I know the gospel has been restored and I try to share this in a matter that doesn't add to the confusion. Some people just really don't see the need for a true church and are fine with where they're at now. As I was reading after a frustrating day of dealing with stuff like this, I was finishing up in 1 Nephi which talks about all these churches that will come forth(1nephi22:23). I was almost creeped out about how much the end of that chapter applied to what I faced that day. There is something special about reading the scriptures, especially the book of mormon. I am grateful to be a missionary on the lords errand to gather his sheep. It can be totally frustrating to present "the good news"to His children and have them not even care. I can only imagine how Heavenly Father that must feel to Heavenly Father. All I can do is extend the best invitation I can and let others use their agency. 

Thank you so much for filling me in with the week. Its funny how every week is different but the same at the same time. Same thing goes for me I guess. Thanks for the food Ideas. The recipes email you sent me was just completely blank though, I dont know what happened. I've been dying for more variety with meals. Thanks for asking about the card as well. You can get me a new one if you want but will it still be a free college acct? i don't really know. Take everyday as it comes and make the best to enjoy it. Thanks for being so hard working. I love you and hope everyone has a nice week.