Zone Leader in Trondheim! - November 18, 2013

Hello!

Trondheim (trond- like owned and -heim like time) No complaints whatsoever about this city.

What an insane week. Leaving narvik was exactly as rainy as it was when I came in to the place. I miss that area a lot but I would day I love the city way more. There is so many people here in Trondheim (trond- like owned and -heim like time) and its just so much more fast paced. The dialect here is a little hard to understand but I'll just need a week or so to adjust. Everytime you move its like a different language. I'm comfortable with my language skills but I'm really trying to strech them so I can get a greater variety if things to say and ways to say them. I'm excited for  this area because I finally get to use it a lot more than my last area hardly anyone besides english speakers would talk to us. I love the language and oviously Im not fluent and somedays are just rougher than others but for the most part I feel fine about it. I still do have those humbling moments which just keep pushing me to be better.

So we have this big apartment in the city that we share. There's four of us. I'm with elder Shanklin and he's been here for about 3 months. He's from missouri and we get along great. He's pretty funny and and we're always laughing. Closest match to matt moffitt on this mission. He's a awesome missionary too and I'm just happy I don't have to worry about him and that he can share the responsibilty of this area with me. I don't feel like I have to do it all with him. So grateful. My Zoneleader companion is training. It's kind of confusing. We have an awesome ward but there not doing to hot with working with us at the moments but we've got some plans cooking up. We have no joke the best ward mission leader in Norway if not europe if not the world. He is an absolute perfect example of someone who magnifies his calling. I'm so greatful for him. I love being around other missionaries and members. It feel like a legit army of god.

On a side note, I'm dying over how nasty the apartment is. Probably hasn't been cleaned in years. Its not that bad and I've been slowly doing little things here and there but its pretty bad. I wish I had time to power clean it but I honestly never have time. Its hard enough to get to bed on time. I'm surviving though and trying not to be too stressed out about it, we did some cleaning for a little bit today and then bought groceries. Elder Shanklin cant eat gluten though so we have to buy some things seperately but that was easy. So much more food doen here and it seems to be cheaper and last longer. Christmas is in the air with the julebrus and peperkaker(thin gingerbread cookies). Julebrus is a christmas soda that different breweries from different cities in norway make. Its pretty classic norway. So ya christmas is sneaking in and I'm super excited even though I won't be home with you guys. We'll end up coming together as missionaries at some point in between christmas and new years to have some fun.

Im my area we have two investigators with a baptismal date but I haven't really met with them yet to see how progressed they are. Its funny because for the most part I was just as busy in Narvik as they seem to be here. Hopefully I can start really being busy with appointments and people to baptise before the end of the year. My new job is stressful and eventhough I'm not dealing with the isolation and boringness of Narvik, I would say this new area is harder. I'm still happy though and eventually i'll make the adjustment and realize how much I grew. I just am so new to everything and its kind of overwhelming right now but eventually things will start flowing. Change is always tough but i'll quickly adjust. This city is so awesome though. I don't know a whole lot about this place but It has an amazing cathedral and there's a ton of atheist students here. Plenty of people to talk to at any given timee of day. Perfect. Its still dark but Its a city so its no big deal. I got out of narvik in perfect timing ( i think the sun goes behind the mountain there today, never to be seen until sometime in february or march).

So basically I'm doing great and I know I'll really love this area and time will fly by. I'm happy to hear dad is still shredding the gnar, that's one of the few things i miss but it'll be there for me when I get back. Patrik is a teacher's quorum president? that's way awesome I hope he will really try to get the less active kids to come back, I'm assuming there's a few. With the whole mutual thing can patrik find a good friend to bring along? that will make it more fun for him and give the missionaries some smiles as well. Just my thoughts. If the activities are lame, plan different ones. I remember we always got to pick and if we didn't pick something fun then it was our own fault.

Thanks for the email. I'm really focusing on doing all these things cheerfully even though its tough right now. Its totally a miss stressed out leadership mixed with excitement for being in a cool place with people to baptise. Let me know If you have any specific questions.. Happy thanksgiving! Be thankful for the restored gospel and warmish weather. Love you!

Eldste Skinner

Trondheim! November 11, 2013

Narvik is doing awesome. I'm gonna miss this little place. Mostly because of the incredibly strong members, beautiful nature, and my own personal growth. This area wasn't easy but it also wasn't that hard either. Heavenly father has had my back ever since I got here and its great knowing that I worked hard up here. I got to meet and teach some awesome people and I hope the missionaries after with me will be able to enjoy the fruits of my labors and maybe do even better. Church yesterday had about 9 people and we lost our red cross building for the day so we ended up meeting in an office building behind the hospital. Gotta love it, the spirit was the same. 

This week was epic. We had a zone training meeting in trondheim so we got to fly down there and stay the night. I love trondheim. On the way back, we couldn't land at the airport in Bodø (connection) because the landing strip lights went out and the airport was closed down. So we got stranded in another tiny little airport and had no possibility of getting home to narvik that night. Classic Northern missionary adventure, I was cracking up although president didn't think it was as funny when I called him to tell him the news. So this situation seemed way inconvenient but I think heavenly father just wanted to bless us like crazy. First in the form of free pizza and soda at the airport, then in the form of a free hotel in bodø once we finally were able to land there. This hotel was super nice. It felt like a mini vacation especially with the american style bathtub and free breakfast the next day. It was such a miracle.. kind of hard to describe in just a few sentences. I learned a lot of symbolic lessons from this trip that are worthy of conference talks. (In case you were wondering, I do keep a journal and haven't missed a single day.) I can't wait to just tell people all this stories some day. Emailing them just isn't as fun or effective.

We found a dude this week who used to be a member in africa but now goes to the catholic church. He basically wrote him self out because he doesn't want the lds church to do anything for him. Welfare is just a form of luring people into the church, he says. There might be a little more to it but we're looking to get him back to the straight and narrow that he once found. Satan just pulls people for the weirdest most random things sometimes, its so sad. 

So I found out where I'm going on wednesday and I'm absolutely stoked. I'm going to Trondheim to serve as a Zone Leader and a district leader. Holy moly i'm going to the 3rd largest city in Norway. Dad also told me this is where grandma served most of her mission so that gives me chills. She'll continue to be round about me but in her own old area. Its a dream come true. I'm serving with Elder Jones who is also from southern california. He's from the group before me and been here for a little over a year. I'll actually be serving with elder shanklin though more regularly. The way the mission is set up right now is that we're too young to have the zone leaders serve together full time so we're split up with younger companions to finish training them. I'm really anxious and a little nervous but I know I can do it. I'm mostly nervous because of responsibilty of not only my area but the success of the whole northern zone of the mission. It will be stressful and i'll be super busy but i'm here to work hard and do whatever is needed for heavenly fathers children in this part of the world. I've come to know a lot about myself yes but, I'm still developing and constantly learning. I would say that I need to get better at recognizing my own personal skills and attributes. Maybe you can help me out. 

I'm jealous that you guys are bbqing that late at night in november. Its dark and cold up here. less and less time with sun up and its eventually going to disappear. Luckily I'll be a little warmer but still north enough to see northern lights in Trondheim. I haven't heard about that book by the way but it sounds like you should read it. right now the mission is reading the 4 gospeøs and 3 nephi 11. Focusing on the life of christ with christmas coming up. Have a nice veterans day! Hope patrik keeps shreddin the gnar.. oh how I miss being active. Love you all so much, cant wait to hear from you next week:)

Eldste Niklas Skinner

November 4, 2013

Heiii alle sammen, 

Weeks are flying by right now. I spent wednesday in Oslo for a meeting and then 2 half days in Bodø. Flew a lot this week and barely made some of my flights. Learned some lessos about being on time to the airport. I am super lucky to travel all around and see all these places and meet all sorts of cool people. I am nervous for my next step but I know its going to help me out for future leadership callings in church and in the workforce. I am still a missionary and I really just want to keep doing the Lord's work to the best of my abilities. I still know I've been called here for my growth but more importantly the growth of heavenly fathers kingdom. We've been working hard in this gnarly narvik area, especially in this one area with a  lot of students from around the world who haven't heard about the gospel. We figured we'd go to wherever people will listen to us and we've been able to teach some great lessons. The only bummer is that they are students so they wont neccessarily help out the branch or church here in Norway. They're also busy with studying as well. 

The meeting I had in Oslo was way wierd. Its a totally different type of missionary work and I feel added pressures. I know I'm going to be busy and stressing out with added responsibilities and accountabilty. I also need to find the time to still do missionary work strengthening my investigators I meet as well. My goal is to do all this cheerfully and with a smile on my face. Its still feels unreal that this is happening but I guess its because I care about missionary work and i was ready for it (although historically young). 

Today we went to a war museum here in Narvik. It was pretty neat. Its insane to think about the history of this poor little town and all the warships that have sunk in the fjords here. We bought a new frying pan because ours was just too old and sticky. Going to be able to make some pankakes and and stuff now. Can you maybe send me that lettuja/crepes recipe. I know its simple but I dont know what it is exactly. This last sunday we had fish with President Nyman and I pounded it down like it was nothing and even went for seconds. It was actually good salmon and I was amazed at myself for not flinching when I saw it. 

Halloweeen here was pretty lame. Kids celebrate it here but it wasn't anything relatively close to the states. This week we got our hands on some thin plastic buttsledds. they were like 5 bucks and we used them for the icy downhill neighborhoods. We'd slide from house to house and it was a much more fun and efficient use of time. Way more effecient than a bike or a car. all the ice is now melted though. It was nice while it lasted. So things are going pretty good with me over here. Really happy that Im in this country. Christmas stuff is starting to fill up the stores. Crazyyy. 

Anyways great things are happening up here in Narvik. Elder sperry is going to turn into a legend. Its still cold up here and dark by about 3 or so now. Its quickly getting darker and darker. Its humid cold but at least its not windy. Our investigator came to church and we're working on meeting all these people we teach more than once. The church is true whether people chose to act upon the spirit or not. 

Good job being a good sport and dressing up for halloween. I don't really miss that holiday too much but its always fun to have candy and be with good people. Thanks for being so loving and hard working. This life is the time for men to prepare their labors.. right? have fun, Love you!

Eldste Skinner