October 6, 2014

Started the week off with some scary hording experiences and then ended it with a spiritual pump up by my main man Elder Bednar! We stayed up late just to watch him. I cant tell if Elder Bednar is my number 1 favorite but he's way good. I love his boldness and his ability to teach clearly and powerfully. I'm trying to teach like him. Sometimes I feel like our teaches are super strong and powerful, but other times I end up feeling like a greeny again. Its kinda interesting. I've noticed that its the investigators sincerity and willingness to learn that makes all the difference. We're going to be doing another ZLT this week and we'll be focusing in on teaching. Hopefully we can all start teaching with the power of the spirit like the apostles... or at least be improving. It makes me sad to think about how little time I have left but I know the growing doesn't stop when I'm released. Missionary work is fun!

Back to the hording experience. Poor poor bishop and elders quorum president. I don't think they knew what they were getting in to and it makes me sad to see them being the ones doing everything. We helped them out on Monday. This lady in the ward moved and we ended up spending way too much time loading bags of junk into a trailer rather than the dumpster. Once again, organization is the key to success... cleanliness is next to godliness. Simplicity, minimalism, etc.

We had a fun experience this week going to Kongsberg for some splits action. We really wanted to find someone who owned a van so that they could drive themselves, as well as other investigators to church (Kongsberg is about 40 minutes away from drammen). We ended up teaching some pretty positive people including a cool guy from Liberia who knows James (who we baptized a while back). He really seemed to be looking for truth. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and he really seemed sincerely interested to read and pray to ask god for some guidance. Its amazing to see the difference in interest level for people. 100 percent of the people who are really looking for truth and showing faith through praying, reading, and coming to church get answers. The trick is just finding people who are open and hungry to know. At the end of the day we were totally led to this couple from palestine. The woman was really interested in learning when we knocked on the door but we couldn't come in because she was home alone. After briefly teaching her a little bit about the Book of Mormon she became more and more interested and accepted a return appointment for the next day when her boyfriend would be home. As we were leaving we saw this palestinian dude who was in fact her boyfriend driving up the hill in a red volkswagen van! We were stoked. 

One of our rare and hard to come by norwegian investigators has been getting pounded by the spirit lately. We've seen some amazing progress and its interesting to see his facial and body expressions during and after teaches. He's currently in the faze where he know's it true and its starting to make him feel uncomfortable because of the change ahead. He's a super cool and funny dude that uses bigger english words than I do.  We've also had some great experiences bringing our investigators to dinner appointments. The work continues to go forward.

Halvy cut my hair and it's chopped up.. not looking too good but I'm just telling the kids its hipster. Yesterday I went out contacting and saw 3 kids with the exact same haircut. Speaking of which, it was super insane to see all the thick americans and their crazy wierd hairdoes on tv. Yikes... I think I'll stay here. Maybe I'll ask President for the "3 month find-a-wife extension pack".

Anyways, I'm enjoying my last couple of breaths here in Drammen. I've had some pretty interesting interviews lately and I'm not too excited to leave after next week. Hope you guys have an awesome week. Apply what you learned from general conference... we all need to be personally converted to face what lies ahead.  

Jeg elsker dere!

Eldste Skinner

September 29, 2014

What's up guys!?

I'm happy and not too stressed out. Elder Bednar told us that if we're not having fun doing the work, then we need to repent about the way we're doing the work. I'm having a lot of fun despite the upsets and frustrations that occasionally come. We had a big surprise this week when one of the elders in our apartment randomly decided to go home after being out for over a year. It was sad and out of no where but its put us into a trio here in Drammen. So now we are cruising around in 3. Its pretty awkward sometimes but we quickly realized the advantages that it has. We've been able to do several different things at once that we could never do before. Like contact people on the streets and call up members and investigators at the same time. So ya, now I have 2 companions.. Homeboy Halverson and now the new homie Elder Taylor. Everyday has just been a sun up sun down, no track of time, so busy, freak fest but as I look over the week there were some cool things that happened.

Here in our zone, we had a huge focus on inviting people to be baptized and we hit our goal right at the last minute last night. Its fun to see what we can accomplish as missionaries when we're passionate, having fun and focused. Last night we taught this Norwegian girl and it was cool to see how open she was even though her friends weren't at all. She's looking to be baptized in November and seemed pretty committed to pray about it last night. I'm grateful for the night and day difference between those who live the gospel and those who don't. Mosiah 2:41.

On Saturday we were invited to a wedding! It was one of our reactivated members and his non member wife. I don't really know them all that well but they are a super cool couple and it was awesome to see our homie get married even though its not the popular choice to make here in Norway. His wife is really sweet and has been learning about the church. After things start settling down, we're going to give them a call because I want to get to know them. I feel like I'm going to move in about to weeks. In my interview with president I could feel it but of course he didn't tell me where. Oh well, I'll just keep grinding here in Drammen and find out what's next in a week or two. Its going to be a tough transition to leave D-city but I'm excited to see where God needs me next.

Our building in Drammen is getting cleaned up a bit, I wouldn't exactly call it remodeling but at any rate, its closed. So yesterday we had church in Sandvika. All the members and our investigators drove about 20 minutes towards Oslo to meet in the church building there. Not as many people were there but it was an awesome sacrament meeting. Our new Convert James gave a talk on tithing and he got passionate. The bishopric was trying to hold back the giggles the whole time. It was so good and not boring at all. Straight from the heart. I can see him as a future bishop in the drammen 2nd ward in a couple of years. It feels good to see him still going strong. Makes me feel like I'm making a difference.

I'll be heading to mission leadership counsel again on wednesday so I'm always excited to  go to the mission home to counsel it up and eat some good food prepped by sister Evans. I'm also stoked out of my mind to hear from Elder Bednar and the other giants this weekend at general conference. Lots a fun things to do this week and cool people to teach. I can't say that there's enough time in the week to do everything I would like but I guess that's better than being bored and wondering what I can do. Please know that I love you and am super grateful for all your love back. I can feel it. Have a great week!

Snakkes neste uke,

Eldste Skinner

September 20, 2014

hello!!

I'm so happy to hear about all the good things going on at home. Sounds like you guys are working really hard but still giving yourselves some time to have fun. Its so hard to find the balance but for mental and physical health reasons its crucial to make the decision to take it easy when needed. This week has been nuts. Never before have I been so busy with teaching. Heavenly Father blessed us so much this week and I'm grateful that I'm only a little bit sick after all the work this week. I need to get better at sleeping and eating so that will be on the to do list for the week. 

Our meeting in Tønsberg was pretty sweet. We reviewed a lot of all these golden nuggets we got from the conferences with Elder Dyches and Elder Bednar. I realized how crucial it is for us to be converted unto the lord. Heavenly Father looks on the heart and know's when we're really doing our best to be dedicated to sharing his gospel. It's frustrating to make mistakes and still have an imperfect performance even after you desire with all your heart to do good and have no desire to do evil. I would love to see what we as a church could do if we were all truly converted and anxiously engaged in this work. The lord is hastening it.. we just need to do our part to keep up with it. Its exciting to be a part of the "new generation".. big things will happen as we put our faith into action with some energy. At the meeting we also really tried to focus on teaching by the spirit. We worked on simplifying, verifying, asking inspired questions and testifying as part of this and later went on to have one of the most insane weeks of teaching in our zone. So there's some good energy right now in Telemark. The only complaint about the meeting was that I had a sore throat and body aches the whole time. This is partly due to the fact that we had the AP's visit us the day before on tuesday. So Holden and I were reunited and all four of us absolutely tore it up in the city. We had a lot of fun. It was good to come back at the end of the day to see all that we had accomplished. This work is fun but sometimes it takes a toll on my body. My week was better than planned though. 

We're also having some incredible experiences with one of our 18 year old investigators. He's been getting invited over to dinner from this topnotch family in the ward who happens to come from the same country as him. We had some solid teaches and he want's to find the truth so badly its hurts. When we met him he was catholic turned atheist and now he's telling us about how badly he want's to repent and be "holy". It almost seems like he's messing with us because he's that positive. He's been super prepared by Heavenly Father and is just begging for commandments to start living. He's already accepted living the law of chastity. all he wants is some direction. Amazing to see how mature and thoughtful he is. Its also cool to see how quick he is to realize that what the world views as happiness isn't happiness at all. He says he want's to be like us and have that true joy that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm super grateful for the restored gospel and that I've been blessed enough to have accepted it. It kills me to see people totally understand what we have to offer but then just see them shut it down or turn it away. I think sometimes its too obvious that this church is Christ's church and maybe it causes people to think that its too good to be true. Like dad would say "[others]can't find truth even if it was stapled to their forehead". This work sure is a fun and frustrating adventure. I'm loving it. Hope you all have an awesome week:) 

Love you,

Eldste Skinner

September 15, 2014

I know my mission is fun because P-day is never my favorite day of the week. I am super grateful for all the wonderful emails I get every week! I love my friends and family and am happy to hear that you're all doing so well. Righteous living brings blessings and happiness every time.

This week was really special. We had our friend Eladi (Safari) get baptized on Saturday. Elder Holden got to come back and  baptize him. We were the ones that found him through a New convert in the ward way back in June I think. Its amazing to see how prideful and not positive he was in the beginning haha. He came up to me after the baptism and told me that "I won". I told him it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the Spirit. Then he said, "true.. but it was the spirit through you." That was really touching to hear. Eladi is a man of faith a great example to me of someone who trusts in the Lord and waits for his "arm to be revealed". Without getting too personal he's been waiting on some government support for over three months now. Its been something he's brought up at just about every lesson we had with him. We felt bad for the homie but there wasn't much we could do other than invite him to fast and pray and keep the commandments. We promised him over and over again that if he put the kingdom of god first that everything would work out. Uncoincidentally, the second he comes home from his baptism, he checks his mailbox and gets exactly what he's been waiting for. I know that the promises found in Matthew 6 and 3 Nephi 13 really are true, every time. If we "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all things shall be added unto [us]"

We also had a super great week of finding and have found two more new people who want to get baptized in October. Its amazing to see no shortage of blessings or miracles as I continue to be passionate with the work here. I'm constantly trying my best and not trying to beat myself up too much when I'm not as perfect as I wish. I'm having a lot of fun trying to improve my abilities to teach with the spirit so that I can help others find this strait and narrow path. 

Hope you all have a nice week this week! We'll be doing some training this week in Tønsberg based on what we've be blessed to learn this past couple weeks from Elder Bednar and Elder Dyches. We'll hopefully be prompted by the spirit during our discussions to come up with some concrete principles we can start applying in the zone! It'll be another  fun week:) Love you!

Eldste Skinner

September 8, 2014

HELLO!

Another incredible week over here in Norway. Elder Bednar was passionate and pulling at my heart strings all day yesterday. Never in my life have I been so spiritually edified in my life. It was a life changing sort of day. We drove up to Oslo early sunday morning and had a 2 hour double stake (whole country) conference. It was awesome to see all the members I've served around before and obviously hear Bednar speak. The spirit was so thick I could taste it.. even tried to take pictures but everything was blurry. But for real there was nothing else that could get the members here in norway more pumped up to do missionary work. It was cool because he made missionary work seem so simple and easy (like it is) and I'm personally pretty stoked to see the growth that was promised here in Norway. He talked about the churches in Africa and how there's been complaints that theirs not enough time for any sort of talks during sacrament meeting because of all the confirmations and priesthood ordinations. Elder Bednar thinks that's awesome and he said that he'll come back to norway in no later than 5 years and see the same things happening here in this country. It's insane to be able to be a part of this.. really wish I could do this forever. Elder Bednar also met with us a missionaries in the Oslo stake center. The whole entire mission was gathered from all over the country and we got to get 3 special hours with an Apostle of the Lord. I will never forget how amazing that was, I woke up this morning thinking it was a dream. I'm so happy I have my notes of impressions as well as the whole thing recorded. Elder Bednar is my favorite and I really learned a lot from the way he taught and asked inspired questions (letting the spirit teach). Wish I could start the mission over again and have this sort of skill. 

Anyways, this week was also incredible with finding some more positive people. I'm really stoked about this baptism we'll be having this weekend. So we got quite a bit to do and effective planning is going to be crucial as always. I'm grateful for the true joy that comes from really living the gospel and being "engaged in a good cause". Have an awesome week with the non norwegain fall weather. We have to go buy a new washer today and take care of some other not so fun stuff. Talk to you later.. Love you!

Eldste Skinner

September 1, 2014

Yo Yo Yo.

Elder Bednar is coming to Oslo on Sunday so we're getting stoked out of our minds here in Norway. The work is seriously hastening here in Norway. This past week went pretty well here in our area. We had an awesome member teach with this family. We brought a youth on the teach and he seemed like he liked it. We taught the Pan of Salvation and invited them to be baptized. They haven't yet gotten a for sure answer if Joseph Smith is a prophet yet but they are willing to be baptized on the 20th of September if they get an answer before then. I know they will because they have openly stated that they are "truth seekers". Nuts! I don't know how we're getting so blessed here. I've really liked the quote that Melissa sent last week... "Pray like everything depends on The Lord, work like everything depends on you." This is super true and its something I can say that I've lived by without even hearing this quote before. There is power in prayer. If we need to receive guidance or answers, all we need to do is "ask, seek, and knock". I know Heavenly Father answers sincere prayers and that he can immediately help us through any sort of trials or worries we have.

Right now i'm pretty worried about the zone and the mission. We are having pretty decent weeks and cool things are happening. The only problem though is that we all can't seem to find people who are legit. People who really have a desire to make appointment and progress towards baptism. Its a never ending problem here in Norway and its drives me crazy sometimes. Us as missionaries though know what it is that we need to do (work with the members) we just need to do it. We can't just keep doing the same things and start expecting different results. We're way short of our yearly baptismal goal and time is running out. Sometimes I feel like one of a select few who are actually concerned about this. Anyways, Heavenly Father knows my concerns and I'm sure everything is going to work out. I have know doubt that miracles can happen when I really dedicate myself to this work. I've already been seeing it and have been doing my best to help others "catch the vision" as well.  

I'm super grateful for you guys. I love all the things I hear about the happs at home. I'm hoping you are all enjoying life at school or at work. Thank you mom (and dad) for being such good examples of hard workers. I know working doesn't sound too fun when you're chillin at home or just waking up but as soon as you pray and get up and going it really can be a lot of fun if you let it. Once you get started it can be hard to stop though so try your best to schedule time that can give you a good balance. I'm grateful for all the planning and organizing skills I learn as a missionary. I'm grateful for the gospel and the opportunity I have to lose myself. It gives me an opportunity to see what the Lord will do with me each day. Everyday is a different crazy adventure. 

Eldste Skinner

August 25, 2014

Another Crazy week here in D-city. I love being here in Drammen and I feel at home here. I'm grateful that I was needed to come here. This ward never gets old and the cities big enough for me to keep exploring and finding people. This definitely is the place to be on the mission. Yesterday there were a lot of changes made and our bishopric got even younger. Our homie Daniel got called to be the second counselor and he's like 24 years old. Heavenly Father is hastening his work and I'm grateful to be in a ward that's completely on board to help us out here. 

My mission leader asked me this week if I could do some service this week. He needed me to be a starting pitcher on Tuesday. That was pretty fun and a lot of good missionary opportunities came out of that. It was funny because I ended up just wearing some ghetto nikes, some sweat pants and a snap back. Brought some heat. It was fun. But not as much fun as teaching and being led by the spirit.  

One of the highlights form this week was meeting with James, who was baptized earlier this month. I was blown away with how solid this guy is! He's loving life and really wants to share the gospel with others. We read a little bit from Preach My Gospel chapter 1 about how hard Satan is trying to destroy the family. Its something that is so easy to see in this world today. I'm grateful that the gospel has helped us stay happy and together. 

We had our workshop in Tønsberg this week and I think it went pretty well. I really got a lot out of it and I've improved a lot in my abilities to set goals and make plans to make more things happen. The day after the meeting, Elder Halvorsen and I had one of our most productive planning sessions ever. Consequently, we'll be way busy this week and we're getting excited to see our friends progress closer and closer to baptism. We got another baptismal date with one of our investigators and he came to church. The portuguese speaking mom is still looking good for her baptismal date. We also had a really awesome teach with this family of four as well. So we ended up having a bunch in church this week. Its so awesome to see hard work pay off. We've been going like crazy to stay organized and on top of things. 

Elder Halvorsen and I went crazy this weekend. There was a huge river festival so we pretty much were contacting people in a carnival/swapmeet type of environment. Lot of distractions but we were led to all sorts of people we needed to find. Our ward also had its own stand, so we got to have some people come up to us with some questions although most of the people came for the free waffles we were making. 

It's sad to see summer go but I'm sure fall will be a lot of fun as well. Hope you guys have an awesome week with work and school and what not. Love you!

Eldste Skinner

August 18, 2014

Had some pretty gnarly experineces this week! We had that incredible teach on monday and the week continued getting better. We only had like 3 real days in our area so it was a little wierd and took me our of my groove but it was still way good and we were able to have some solid teaches this week. We also had a beastly planning session that helped is keep track of all our peeps. Its tough though because the only definite thing with planning as a missionary is that it wont go according to plans. Its all good though because the spirit has helps us out and keeps us doing the lord's will. I love be a missionary still. This week was incredible because we took a Pday in Oslo. It was unfortunately a little rainy but we still had a good time playing all sorts of different sports form ultimate frisbee to capture the flag. There was a ton of missionaries so it was a little tough for us to get every one on the same page but I hope they all had a good time. My favorite part of the day though was getting to cruise around oslo. I didn't end up buying anything but I saw alot of cool suits and clothes. I was looking for some amazing deals but I didn't find anything. I'm pretty good at resisting unlike Elder Halvorsen. So the Pday in Oslo was pretty sweet.

 I ended up staying the night in Sandvika in Elder Holdens apartment. We were also working in the evening time so we got to go on splits. I worked with Elder Crook from oregon and we had some good experiences finding and teaching 2 people that night. We were in a competition of who could teach most in an hour and so we won some american Lucky Charms.. (why did I ever think that stuff was good??) Its super fun to go all over Norway and work with different missionaries and be constantly guided to people to share the gospel with no matter what city your in.

 I was super pumped for the conference with Elder Dyches the next day. He had two different meetings and they were super spiritual. The first was focused on responsibility and leadership. I'd say the second one was more broad and all over the place but there were all sorts of important principles of planning and teaching that were really helpful. He was a mission president in oregon and so he had all sorts of insights as to how we could improve as a mission. I got all sorts of good stuff lot out of those meetings and i'm excited to start applying what I learned so that I can keep getting better and better as a missionary.

On saturday we drove down to Porsgrunn for some splits there and to do a baptismal interview for one of their investigators. It was a lot of fun being down there. Elder Cheney is from las Vegas and is incredible at beatboxing, he's also played a computer game called Runescape for a total elapsed time of a year and a half. Thats a lot of hours. Kids these days... I'm super happy he's on a mission, hopefully he and elder Ankenman had some fun with us and learned alot. 

Cool story of the week. We were knocking on doors and almost done with the day. As we were walking back to the car I felt prompted to knock on one more door as we passed it. So we turned around and ended up talking to this skeptical norwegian guy at his doorstep. I was really bold and persistant with him (what we were focusing on) and he eventually begin to be curious and really didn't have a reason to not learn... so he let us in. I thought it was going to be one of those miracle stories you read about in the ensign but the dude's wife kicked us out in about 15 seconds. Not cool. Funny story though.

This week we're going to be doing a training meeting again in Tønsberg. So I'll be leading a lot of discussion on how we can change the game here in Norway and keep going forward.  We're constantly refining and adjusting. The training meeting will be like 6 hours long with a split focus on planning and working with members. We'll try to make it fun and spiritually uplifting. Sorry you guys aren't missionaries here in Norway getting to be a part of this. Anyways, I'm sure my life sounds super boring to you guys right now but.. its not. Always good things happening, make sure to ask me about them when I get back. haha. Love you guys. Keep working hard, have fun at work and school.

Here's a picture of me and Elder Matti Jouttenus.. he knows the Friströms:)

Eldste Skinner

August 11, 2014

HELLO SWEET FAM!

We didn't get a P-day today because of this conference we got coming up on friday. We'll be on Oslo and we're going to take the opportunity to gather up two zones for a joined preparation day over there. I'm way excited for this conference coming up though. Elder Dyches from the area presidency will be coming to crack the whip on us (I HOPE). So... sorry this email wont be too intense or interesting but then again none of them really are that cool. I'm sure you know the painful it is to think about what to write. (insert sentence that talks about how fast time goes by here).

My week was great, we had a lot of awesome opportunities to work with members and of course to find. We've been absolute insane here in Drammen. Just planning and organizing everything has been the biggest beast. You learn a lot of skills on the mission.

We had a way sweet day even though it was relatively disappointing compared to what we had planned. Still had some amazing member teaches. We met with one of our investigators from Angola and she is insanely positive! She speaks Portuguese and we brought a Spanish speaking RM on the teach along with her husband. All I heard was a lot of "aqui.. la casa.. burrito..si.. iglesia.. " I think the only thing I said the entire lesson was "Will you get baptized on August 30th?" She said yes. Drammen's turning into the Brazil of Europe.

Have a great week! I'm loving it here in Norway. No complaints!

Love you!

Eldste Skinner

August 4, 2014

Well... it only took me 18 months to realize that my baptismal pants haven't been hemed.

This week has been way fun. We did end up baptizing James on saturday and it was really cool because I was the one that got to baptize. Wasn't really expected but I'm super grateful that I got the opportunity. It was super intense to be in that baptismal font and obviously the spirit was super strong. All the prayers and fasting were answered and James was excited and ready to be baptized. I'm super stoked for this guy and the opportunity that he's getting to start fresh. If we ever get jealous of this people with fresh starts just remember repentance and the importance of the sacrament. Jame's going to be a great member and will help a lot of other people come into the church as well. 

I'm hoping to have plenty of more opportunities before I come home. This week has just been full of blessings that just keep coming my way. My hard work is paying off. This past week also ended up being an incredible week of finding here in our area. I'm super grateful that elder Halvorsen is patient with my tendencies to work maybe even too hard at times. Today was an incredible day. This ward here in Drammen is just loving us. Today we got hooked up with so much protein and stuff for working out so I'm going to try to get yoked and get baptisms at the same time. We got it from the 2nd counselor who works with health and fitness stuff. It was literally like Christmas with all the stuff he gave us. 

Today, we also went bowling with bishop. He's been sick of us doing "lame" things on Pday like taking hikes. I personally don't mind the awesome hikes here but he says that hiking is for 60 year old men. I was pretty impressed about how well i bowled. Not sure where the skill came from but I was getting strikes and spares pretty consistantly. 

I learned that the trick to consistently bowling strikes comes from realizing how your doing it in the first place and then constantly replicating the same motions. If necessary you can make some minor adjustments. This compares a lot to missionary work and life for me right here in drammen. I've been pretty consistent with my ability to find and teach and I'm realizing what it is that is making me have some success. The work doesn't always go the way I want but I feel pretty really pumped up that Im getting a lot out of my mission as a result of putting a lot into it. 

Glad that everything went well for sweet sweet annie. Have a nice week!! Love you guys..

Eldste Skinner

July 28, 2014

To start out this email i'm going to first address this whole summer weather situation. It sucked. There is a reason why i'm not in brazil or one of the hot areas around the world. I'm not sure if there were any records set but this is definitely an abnormal summer here in drammen at least. I'm getting the sickest tan lines you could imagine though. Been taking advantage of the tasty Norwegian water and produce. Yesterday at sacrament meeting we had some gnarly thunder storms and lightning strikes literally right outside the church. It was interesting because the second the primary kids went up to sing, it stopped completely and then immediately resumed afterwards for the next speaker. Weather is fun and keeps things interesting. 

Its been a pretty tough week though around the mission. Hopefully people will start coming back from vacation so we can build up some more momentum that we've been trying so hard to hang on to.

 Focusing on the positives though, We had one of our investigators decide they wanted to get baptized in September. So as of right now, we have 4 who are lined up to get baptized in august and September. We're really blessed and working on getting more but we really need to do our best to help these people who are committed to be fully ready for it. We'll be having a baptism this Saturday (assuming everything works out) with our liberian guy. He's a humble, sincere and honest guy and he really appreciated the help moving this week. We're stressing a little because we're not able to meet with him as much as we'd like to because of his busy work schedule. We'll have to wait until the day before the baptism before we find out if its actually going to happen. So we'll just be praying like crazy that all the planning we're going to have to put into the baptismal meeting will make for a solid baptismal meeting with him actually being baptized. Fun stuff! I have faith that everything will work out.

Homeboy Holden is gone and so its been a pain to get adjusted to the change. The good thing though is that Elder Halvorsen and I work equally as hard. Hopefully we'll get to see the same sort of dream team magic here in Drammen and the Telemark zone. Halvorsen and I are way too much a like though, its almost like we're brothers. Always thinking the same thoughts. I like working with him because we can joke around with each other even when we're stressed out of our minds wondering why in the world nobody wants to listen to us! 

I'm so happy to hear about all the cool things going on at home.  Sounds like a lot of friends and family are having really cool missionary experiences and I hope you guys are too. Did you invite the cholos over yet? haha. Great to hear that you're getting that new job-opp! You'll do great but if you're anything like me then you're probably questioning and doubting that haha. Just pray sincerely and constantly and even on your knees when you can. I promise you'll know what you have to do and then be blessed with the focus and energy to do it. Create a vision and then some plans on how you can achieve it. Short term and long term goals and all that good stuff. Its exciting to have change come around so that you can repent and start new habits. Missionary work really isn't all that different from any other type of work. Instead of money though you get some sort of weird satisfaction and joy that isn't explainable yet far better. Love you! have a great week! snakkes neste uke

Eldste Skinner

July 21, 2014

Hey!

Sounds like you guys had a fun week! Its super fun to hang out with extended family. One of the downsides to the mission but its worth the temporary sacrifice. Sorry to hear that Annika lost her hamster... If it makes you guys feel any better i'm losing elder Holden. He's out of here on Wednesday. Heading to the office for some general authority training haha. Holden is a legit missionary and its been way fun to absolutely tear it up here in Drammen. We've put everything we had into this area for the past two transfers and have not experienced any sort of loss in energy or determination. The older we're getting on the mission, the more passionate we get for the work here. We are eternal homies. d oyou think they do bro-sealings in the temple?? 

I'm stoked for this next transfer though because of the hard work thats been put in and the fact that I still get to be a part of this incredible ward. This area is totally shaping me. My next comp is someone who I already love and I've probably mentioned to you guys before. His name is Elder Halvorsen. His grandpa and Grandma Joyce served in norway at the same time. He was my District leader in Trondheim. We get along way well and he's super fun to be around and he loves to work hard like I do. I'm still expecting to see some amazing things here. Heavenly Father never has stopped blessing me because I've never stopped showing my faith through my actions. Key principle in life that gets pounded in my head over and over again. Halversen and I will do our best here in the Telemark Zone to keep the momentum going. We need to start baptizing like crazy this next couple of months if we want to reach our yearly goal. Families are the key and it makes me so happy to here that one family like the Jacobson can fill up four rows in church! I hope I can start teaching a family that can replicate that here in Drammen. 

Its been another week with a lot of teaching situations. Obviously not everyone's interested but its fun to know that I'm fulfilling my purpose to invite others to come unto Christ and recieve the restored gospel. We did find quite a lot of people again. Had some interesting experienced with some full blown muslims. They're everywhere here. We talked to about 8 at a time one night this week. This muslim Moses dude with a beautiful white long beard tried to convert us to islam. He spoke english in book of mormon language saying things like "and remember my son," and "Wo unto them.." Took it as another sign that the Book of Mormon is true. They also offered me a 2 month trial of the quaran and the islamic religion. "just try it for two months and it will change you!" I quickly responded, "I've been doing this missionary work thing in the name of Christ for 18 months and its changed me forever." I love this work and all the awesome lessons I learn. Its a lot of fun and definitely a cultural experience as well. I'm taking full advantage of all the berries and fruits to keep me going throughout the day and drinking a bunch of water. I don't remember it being this hot last summer but I'm not going to complain about it. Its not fun to be hot or cold so you kinda just have to be grateful and take advantage of the circumstances you're in. 

We have lots of plans for this next week that i'm excited about! We've been working with the elders quorum to try and help our investigator move stressfree. He's stilll coming to church and looking to get baptized on the 2nd. The highlight of the week was teaching his 18 year old daughter about the restoration and then inviting her to be baptized as well. She is planning on being baptized 2 weeks after her father if she gets an answer from god that its true. I love people who are sincere and prepared by heavenly father. I can't control who's ready to receive the gospel but I can do my best to invite everyone and its all worth it when you find the ones who are ready. We had a buzzer beater like find yesterday. We were about to go home but we figured that we'd just finish the day off in the streets even though they were pretty dead due to summer. At 8:50 we contacted this norwegain kid who quickly opened up to us that he really believes in god but isn't too sure about what to do about it. He's experienced miracles that have kept him alive from certain sicknesses growing up. We shared a quick lesson with him about Joseph Smith and invited him to read a pamphlet and pray to know that the things we're sharing are true. We'll be meeting with him Saturday to teach him more about Christ's  original church and that its been restored today. As we were teaching him on the street, I felt super strongly that we really needed to talk to this kid so I'm glad we stayed dedicated until that last minute. Relentlessness!

We were also on a desperate hunt to come into contact with this lady we taught last week. She randomly disappeared and we were praying that we'd find her. So we obviously began with a prayer and then after about thirty minutes or so we found her house with her name on the doorbell. Heavenly Father knows when we need his help. He taught me again that he always has my back especially when I'm humbled enough to admit it.Another cool experience this week also happened yesterday. We planned on having a dinner with a member about an hour after church. It was so cool because they also asked us if there were any investigators we could bring with. It was awesome becasue they aren't your average super missionary member family. We ended up taking one of our investigators from Burundi and a new convert from Uganda with us. IN no way whatsoever would you think that this sweet norwegain family history lady and her son mix with these two homies of ours, but it ended up being incredible. It was a fun dinner and afterwards our investigator started expressing that he wants to be baptized sooner rather than later. Members and missionaries need to do stuff like this more often. Invite the missionaries in R-town to bring some of their cholo investigators over for dinner!! (take pictures too please) Easy and fun way to help out with missionary work! Do it!

All sorts of amazing things happen each week. Sorry I can't share them all. Its a beautiful day here in Drammen and its our last P-day together so we'll probably go on a district hike or something. Have an awesome week. I'll try to send some pictures later on! Love you!

Eldste Skinner

July 14, 2014

I'm so exhausted my eye's been twitching since I woke up this morning. We had an unreal week last week. Pretty sure mission records were broken. We were super blessed this week and obviously a lot happened that i'm now not even able to remember. Ended up teaching a lot of new people who couldn't say know to our boldness and confidence in the message and the spirit that came with. 

What made this week intense was the amount out lessons we were able to teach and the new investigators we were able to find. We slightly changed the way we went out to go talk with people on their doors and in the streets and it made a pretty drastic difference. Our fine tuning was mostly sparked by some of the thoughts we had at president house in the beginning of the month and then this whole training meeting we did on the 4th of july. We've really started applying these things in our area and we've been blessed with some crazy results. Its satisfying to see that some other areas in the zone have as well. The frustrating thing is that not everyone is applying what they learned from the meeting into their areas and so they're just chilling. I can't tell you how annoying that can be. We were all a part of that same training meeting.  We were all taking notes specifically on the principles learned as well as the promptings recieved from the spirit. Its clear as day who's applying and not applying the principles into their own area. I'll admit that I get worked up sometimes about the decisions of other people. Nothing wrecks me more than Idleness and and wasted time. But I know that's dumb and I should personally just try my best, make sure that I'm doing all the right things, then be a positive christlike example for others.

This week has strengthened my testimony of the importance of faith and works. I know and have experienced over and over again that Heavenly Father will find people for me to teach as long as I'm trying to build up this area in the way that He wants it built up. Our balanced attack of helping the members get involved and using the extra time to find on our own has proven to be the way to go. I know that Heavenly Father is blessing me with the spirit because He "looks upon my heart" and knows that I'm here to WORK. Consequently he keeps putting all these people in our path. I'm trying my best to show charity to everyone I meet so that then can recognize us as servants for Christ and not just robots hungry to force christianity down some throats. Charity is crucial for this work and its the only thing that will empower me overcome my disappointments and frustrations. I'm super grateful that Holden and I are equally as passionate for the work here. Its nice to be able to cruise around in the car from appointment to appointment and just vent if we need to. We're not perfect but I can honestly say we couldn't be more satisfied with the efforts we're putting in right now. We had a great experience with one of our investigators from Liberia. We've had a baptismal date with him before but certain challenges popped up. We've never stopped meeting with him though and his testimony has been getting stronger and stronger. He's a beast and getting guidance from God simply because he's prays sincerely, he reads the Book of Mormon and he comes to church. He's been having a stressful time with family, work and finding a new place to live so its been hard for him to get baptized and make those necessary covenants.  We fasted and prayed with him to help him find out when he should be  baptized. We went into his house with a member on tuesday and he whipped out piece of paper and wrote down three dates: July 30, August 8, and August 2. He then explained.. I'm moving just down the road on the 30th, my birthday is on the 8th and I'm getting baptized on the 2nd. We were pumped that everything just worked out that easily for him. He's ready to start his new life. It was also pretty cool because his 18 year old daughter and her friend were there to and they wanted to learn about the church. Our investigator then helped us teach and the daughter came to church this week. She loved it. All sorts of cool things are happening over here in drammen and we're still seeing some growth towards this areas full potential. Its great to be a part of it event though it leaves me exhausted spiritually and physically. It will all be worth the peace of mind later on in life and the eternities.  I seriously appreciate all the awesome members here who are helping us out in the work.

Please have a fun and exciting week and be grateful in your circumstances! 

Love,

Eldste Niklas Skinner

June 7, 2014

For the 4th of July here in Norway was legit.. actually it wasn't all that different from any other day. good thing every day is awesome on the mission because we make it awesome. We spent the majority of the day friday in an intense training meeting with the zone. We hit on various skills needed to be able to find and teach people. We've noticed that this mission is still young and we still need to pound on some basic skills in order for us to be able to fulfill our purpose with a greater number of people. We're trying to get the missionaries to be bold and christlike teachers. Sometimes we may feel hesitant to teach people right away and really get this message out to people; giving them an opportunity to chose for themselves and act on it. With this training we did, I feel like we'll be more urgent and excited to open up our mouths and teach people about the restored gospel.

During the training meeting we were also being pulled aside by president and sister evans for interviews. They went prettty good and it was fun to talk with them one on one. Helps me to know if I'm on the right track. I'm way pleased with the way things have been going and I feel comfortable saying that I'm putting my heart into this work. I'm super grateful for all the little miracles that happen every day here in this awesome country. It's impossible for me to deny that God loves his children and he guides us to people who are prepared. Something I've been thinking of lately is how many things happen each day and throughout the course of the week. I just don't think I 'll ever be able to really vocalize these events. Its kind of frusrating because I know people will want to hear all these amazing stories about serving in Norway but i'm not sure if I'll be able to come up with a specific story that would be interesting for anyone to hear. No one likes that guy that goes blabbing on and on about the mission anyways, right? All I can say is that this mission is super challenging but super rewarding and fun at the same time. I'm learning a lot about myself and how Heavenly Father works. I'm solidifying my testimony of the gospel. I'm super grateful that I've been sent to where I've been sent. 

When we were out the other day we set apart some time to go visit some members that we didn't have too much information about. We kinda just wanted to stop by and visit them if they still lived there( at the very least and see if they had moved). We also are passionate about finding on the way so we figured we talk to people outside and  knock on some random doors as we went from one place to the other. For the second time this week, the very first door we knock on let us in to teach them. The first time this happened was on Monday night with this guy who seemed pretty prepared to learn about the book of mormon and its ability to answer questions. This time it was a family who had never heard about the Book of Mormon or what the Mormons believed. Both of these first lessons we were able to teach were a direct result of Elder Holden and I showing our faith and acting on what we've been practicing and thinking about lately. We have a desire to work with members, so we go try to visit them. We want to teach the gospel so we stop and talk to everyone, making things happen right then and there. We know this message is true and we need to do our best to show this conviction by our urgency and boldness. We also have to be an example to other missionaries. I can just go on for days but I'm sure none of this is that interesting to read. 

I love serving as a missionary. I love getting things done in an efficient organized manner. I love to work on skills and and then see the difference adjustments can make. I love to see people be affected by the spirit as we stop them, introduce ourselves, and then introduce the message of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm grateful that I've chosen to be dedicated and passionate, its been super fun. I just pray that I can help more people to get baptized. I'm expecting some amazing things to keep happening here in drammen. Don't think the "dream team" has too much time left but the passion will never stop. Have an awesome week! Work hard and have fun:)

Love, 

Eldste Skinner 

June 30, 2014

Yo Yo Yo!

Another crazy week! We had an awesome zone conference totally focused on the Book of Mormon and how much of a role it plays in our work. Anyone that wants to deny the fact of the church being true and the gospel being restored has to somehow get around the fact that the book is the word of god. The reason why the Book of Mormon and the Bible are used in our church is because they both were written by inspired men for the purpose of teaching us the truth of the relationship between us and God. Questions can be answered and concerns can easily be resolved because of the book of mormon. I started reading it again form the beginning and am highlighting all the references to Christ and His nature and the different things He promised and said. Its blown my mind how much the book witnesses of the Savior. No one can  just say that farmer boy Joe Smith just made that book up and started a church that perfectly matches Christ's original church as explained in the Bible. Especially a church that exists and grows today. I get completely fired up the more I study the gospel and recognize how plain and precious and clear it is. The best part of the day is knowing that at the very least Elder Holden and I are on the same page about the Church being true. The gospel is obviously true too.. if you have any questions, again, just go out and people watch. Its pretty obvious for me at least. I understand the need for me to live up to my potential and be an example at all times. 

We had a magical day yesterday. We had this family come as well as some others. It was a huge blessing to have 6 investigators in church! We've been on fire lately but its sad to see that this fire isn't spreading too far. I know we have some great missionaries here and that our success is in no way contributed to the fact that we're more skilled or better looking or whatever than anyone else. Our secess is coming from on high. We're simply putting our faith into action and being absolutely as relentless as possible. This is the Lord's work and we need to make a difference here our part of the "vineyard". I wish I could plant dedication and passion and desire to succeed in every single person but I know that's not possible. So right now I'm really just trying to live up to my potential and figure out how I can be a better teacher. We've been using members on our teaches and I've been blown away at how well some of the leaders here can teach the gospel. Bishop is insane and so now I have this burning desire to understand the gospel and teach it in the way that he can but with (my own little style on it of course). I'm grateful for all the awesome examples around me that help me to realize that I can be so much better. It gives me a nice healthy push and I feels great when I'm in the right direction. 

More specifically this week we've been blessed to get a referall from this member. we immediately taught this guy from Iran who is really interested in religion and the english language. He's never heard about the restoration but he seemed super curious when we kind of summarized it as we ate some fruit and nuts that his wife gave us. when we finally share the message of the restoration and the plan of salvation, his mind will be blown. People from the middle east are the nicest whenever it comes to hospitality. Best hosts ever, they never fail to serve you. We also had this awesome experience helping this philipino lady move her stuff from her friends house to her new apartment in drammen. It was so simple for us to drive here stuff from one house to another in our sweet little opel. She was so grateful though and after were finished and started talking to her she was in tears super grateful for how much heavenly father has blessed her lately. It was amazing to see that love of god working through us. I love serving others and making their little annoying problems (like how in the world am I going to get my belongings across the city alone and with out a car?) go away in a matter of an hour. She is just one of our many new investigators from the past couple of weeks. All these people we're meeting are so awesome and I just want them so badly to experience the happiness that comes from living the gospel. We also find this sweet couple who's expecting a baby in November. They're getting ready for their baptismal date and we're hoping we can find more who will have real intent to act when the spirit confirms for them that this is the truth. I'm loving the misison and especially the summer time. I'm getting more familiar with the youth here and I think they're all awesome. Everyone's crazy about the World Cup though so that's kinda lame but at least markus is down to talk about snowboarding and watches and kebabs. Hope you are all enjoying summer and being grateful for all the amazing things that we get to experience during our lives. 

Love you all! 

Eldste Skinner

June 23, 2014

Sorry. coming at you guys a little late. Yesterday was the mid summer holiday and so my Pday was packed.  We helped a member move all of stuff out of her apartment including refrigerators, ovens washing machine, all that fun stuff. I'm determined to be a minimalist. I hate junk. Not just with houses but with anything including my area's that I serve in. I like to be organized and in control of everyone i'm teaching, can be teaching, who I should stop teaching, etc. Obviously its not that fun and requires some time to sit down and think and plan but it feels great afterwards knowing that you have more control of what's going on, especially in a city like drammen where we have a lot going on. We also played some softball yesterday with our mission leaders family. His wife just had a baby but they still invited us to grill and play with them. It was basically 4 on 4 or something like that and only about 3 and a half of us knew how to play. It was kinda frustrating but luckily it was just for fun so i kept it pretty cool. I learned that there is a major difference between playing softball and just being in the game. Likewise, there is a difference between being a missionary and just going on a mission. I don't want to see other missionaries just go on missions and never actually become missionaries. Its equally as frustrating as being on a softball team without anyone who really has the needed skills (or even knows the rules). It does get me pretty stoked though to go on splits or have training meetings or just talk with other missionaries to try and help them with their missionary work. I'm learning all sorts of ways to be a missionary and I think that's because I need to use them and share these ideas with everyone else. 

  We got a lot of work done this past week and saw some cool little miracles happen. Its always weird to look back on the week and think about what I can write you guys about. So much happens in a week and, of course, time flies by. When you are effectively planning out your schedule its amazing to see how much you can do with your time. Making time count is way more fun and worth while than counting time. This especially applies with missionary work. This is my mission and my chance to give it my all and I'm super grateful for all cool things that went down. 

We went to Porsgrunn this week to go on splits and follow up on how things are going in the district down there. We're still trying to be persistent with this whole hastening the work with the members. Summer's is trying to stop us though but we'll keep at that and here in Drammen I feel like we really need to do some solid activities with the youth as a way to build them up and it will also be  great way for them to come and invite their friends. It will also be fun so its a win, win, win. We found this awesome family this week from Lithuania and they seem super excited to come to church this week. We're going back to teach them this week on thursday with a member who can speak some russian. So we've just been really blessed with investigators and we should hopefully be baptizing in these next couple of weeks. The more we try to work hard and get things done the more we realize how hard it is for us to have full control over everything. I guess that's why we just need to lose ourselves in this work and trust in the grace of heavenly father and pray that His will happens. 

Thanks for the email! have a great week:)

Love you!

Eldste Skinner

June 16, 2014

Hello hello!

Its been an insane week. We've officially initiated some hastening the work plans here in the zone and so we'll see what can happen in the upcoming weeks in the zone. Our training meeting went great on wednesday and I really feel that that was  the direction we needed to take here in the zone. We've been blessed with some great weather which is obviously not something that lasts too long in Norway so we're making it count. Last Pday we went on a sweet hike and I'll make sure to attach some pictures of it. Today We got haircuts at our local muslim chop shop, ate a kebab with this sweet kid in the ward. He showed us the best place to get a kebab, all we had to do was pick him up from school. This kid is an exact copy of matt moffitt but he likes to snowboard and that's pretty much it. hates on everything else.. its pretty funny. Him and I share a lot of the same interests so its pretty fun to talk with him. He fills me in on the snowboarding. We also had a sweet little grill with our district at the top of this mountain here in Drammen. Afterwards we had a meeting with our mission leader at his nice house. He's the one we play baseball with whenever we have time on tuesday nights. He said he tried to send you guys some videos, hopefully you got to see them. 

Obviously the most fun thing going on right noe is the work. Its been pretty crazy and we were on the verge of baptizing on saturday but long story short we were overstrict on some rules I guess and thought that we had to wait a little longer. We've been super blessed with positive people who are taking the gospel seriously so its great to see that every once in a while. I hope that  the spirit can continue to convert those that we teach. I've really thought a lot lately about how I always need to work on becoming a better teacher. Its definitely something i've gotten better at on the mission but its nothing I feel like I can master. Its fun to teach people but its not always easy for me to explain exactly what I think in feel in a way that others can understand where I'm coming from. Sometimes I wish I could just transplant my thoughts and testimony into other peoples minds but I guess its not supposed to work that way. As we work on ways to teach the gospel, the Lord gives us different opportunities to learn the gospel and strengthen our understanding and commitment to the gospel. Sometimes I imagine how the prophet Nephi felt after the Lord showed him all sorts of amazing things that would happen to his decendants. Obviously he must've been pretty bummed to see them all be destoroyed by 400 but the lord also show him us, right here right now in these latter days. We're super lucky to be able to have the gospel restored here on the earth today, that we have all the ordinances and teachings we need to make it back to heavenly father. Nephi must have been stoked to see that some day, christ church would be on the earth in its fullness before the second coming on christ. Imagine being able to see all of that in Nephi's time and then having to describe it. One way he did it was by reciting some of the writings of Isaiah. Then he just goes off trying to encourage everyone they could to do their part; to have faith, repent, remain righteous, etc. Thats basically all I can do too sometimes. I know jesus christ really is our savior and that he can help us overcome the effects of the Fall. Living his teachings is the way we come unto him. His teachings, the gospel, are restored here in the church of jesus christ of latter day saints after hundreds of years being lost . anyone who wants to know that this is true can pray to their father in heaven and ask him. 

I'm stoked you guys had a fun time at girls camp. Have a great week this week too. Sorry this email is kinda short and choppy. Didn't have very much time so I basically started just freeestyling. take it for what its worth and know that I'm working hard and loving the mission and that I love you all!

Eldste Skinner

June 9, 2014

Well, I didn't wreck my car or lock myself in my apartment this week.There were quite a bit of frustrating cancelations this week but nothing is really getting us down at all here in Drammen. We're still tearing it up and pressing forward with that "perfect brightness of hope". A lot of great things happened this week that are getting me even more pumped to be here in Norway.

The week started off pretty rough. We had some appointments fall through that led us to our back up plans.  Luckily on Monday night we tried one of our  investigators and shared the Book of Mormon with him. He was muslim so I'm not too sure about how interested he is in changing but he agreed to read a little. He was a nice dude from pakistan and he also made is some legit food.. No idea what it was called or even made of. classic. On tuesday we were super determined to get 2 new investigators before the week started flying by on us. We ended up resorting to do some finding in the park and we were really praying to find someone that we could teach right then and there and  then get a return appointment so that we could get some of the members (young men) involved. We ended up spotting this women sitting in the shade on a bench. We felt prompted that we needed to go out of our way to talk to her. As we started talking to her, her husband also came and started talking with us. We shared the plan of salvation with them. There was a great spirit there and she told us straight up that she's been thinking about God and the meaning of life quite a bit lately. It was a cool experience because we recognized that she had been prepared and that we were guided to her by the spirit. I also learned how important is it for us to teach on the spot, rather than just set up appointments to teach later. We need to help others feel the spirit and recognize the truth. Right after that we were led to a lady who already had the book of mormon and has read it a handful of times. People are out there. We just sometimes have to show a sincere desire to find them by being guided by the spirit. Being guided by the spirit sometimes means doing things out of the ordinary to avoid getting stuck in routines. 

I stepped up my grilling to another level this week. The hotdogs and burgers were great but the pork was insanely good. Elder Holden was crying about it though because he saw blood and burped up a spice that made his throat burn. I also pitched this week to the baseball team here in drammen. It was super fun, one of those things I never expected to do as a missionary here. Our misison leader is on tthe team and there open to having us and our investigators come and practice with them on tuesday nights. Elder holden and I now have some borrowed gloves so we usually run and play catch every morning for exercise. Living the dream.

We've stepped up the "sense of urgency" here in our zone and mission have gained a lot of momentum. things are starting to happen. Its great to work with Elder Holden because we're the #1 haters of wasting time. Finding on the streets is usually a waste of time. Far too many missionaries are filling time with contacting in the streets and knocking on doors... I feel bad for them because its torturous, a huge waste of time and not necessarily the way the Lord wants us to do His work.  We have heard about this whole "Hastening the Work" thing for about a year now and we've decided that its time for us to step it up and actually start doing it. 

We walked into our monthly Mission Leader Council on wednesday prepared to share some ideas on what we could do with the momentum in each of our zones. Elder Holden and I really pushed on how crucial it is for  all mssionaries to take this momentum we have and carry it over to our members. Here in our zone, we're blessed with some great wards (drammen is the best in Norway) but we're not yet taking advantage of using them as our greatest tool for real growth here in norway. As missionaries, we all know and have felt several promptings that the secret to missionary work is working with the members. Not just from eating dinner with them or bringing them on teaches, but by helping them in their own missionary work and consistantly following up with them and encouraging them along the process of inviting their friends. All members have a desire to contribute to the work but are hesitant to start for a variety of reasons. Its our job as missionaries to build their faith. I want to see every member here in norway (starting here in telemark zone) replace their fears and doubts, with true faith when it come to sharing the gospel. We are the key to getting things going here and seeing any sort of real progress here in Norway. Elder Holden and I really pushed for this last wednesday and president felt like it something for the whole mission to focus on. So we'll be training the zone this wednesday to help them feel the passion and devolop an idea on how to actually go about making it work. We're going to be persistant and follow up on this so this isn't just another one of those things we talk about but never actually do. Actions speak louder than words, faith without works is dead. Elder Holden and I really feel the potential of unreal growth here in Norway as a result of encouraging all members and missionaries to put faith into action.

I know that this work is true. Never felt more converte in my life and I know that I need to make the best of my time here on the mission and my life on earth. I'm grateful for the joys that come from sharing the gospel and progressing the lord's work forward. I came on the mission to really make a difference. By no means do I just want to go through the motions of being a missionary simply because I have a tag on. Have an awesome week in Utah! Thanks for your example and support! Love you guys! 

Eldste Skinner

June 2, 2014

The gospel is true and means everything to me. Heavenly Father taught me alot this week. It seem like he wants me to learn a lot about how I can be happy and successful not just in the mission but in real life. I witnessed a lot of dumb things this week but I really appreciate the oppoturtunity god gives me to not just learn forom the good examples around me, but the bad ones too. I love reading in the scriptures about Nephi and his amazing leadership qualities. Nephi is amazing and I've studied alot about how he takes initiative and responsibilty. He's accountable and quickly recognizes how much the Lord and his family is relying upon him. Sometimes I feel like Nephi, expected to find food but breaking my bow, expected to build a ship but having no clue how to actually do it. I'm learning about how important it is to just pray for guidance and then take initiative. If there's a problem, then we supposed to  fix it. We can't just sit back and moan. Laman and lemuel were bums. they had  potential like Nephi but they used their agency to become my favorite losers in the Book of Mormon. I guess someone had to do it but in no way do I feel like they were born to fail.

This week was great! We taught a whole lot of people. we had some frustrations that come from dealing with some sketchy people but other than that we had all sorts of great spiritual experiences. As we were teaching one of our investigators with a baptismal date, we also were led to one of his brothahhhs who is an inactive member from bergen who has seemingly fallen off the face of the earth. Heavenly father knows how to lead his servants to his children.  It was cool to be led to this guy. He tried to hide the fact that he wasn't a member but he totally blew his cover after we were finished teaching the Law of Chastity. He apparently used to be a way solid member in bergen, know's everything about the missionaries, and even considered going on one as well. Not really sure as to what happened yet but know he lives here and drammen and is a preacher in another church. He's a smart dude and a smooth talker and we knew this dude still couldn't deny that the lds church is true. Its nice because all we have to do is go back to the book of Mormon which is evidence that the restoration of christ true gospel really did happen. He doesn't read the book of mormon anymore and now he's a completely diffferent course. Sad to see, but fortunately Elder Holden and I know the converting power that comes from the Book of Mormon, as well as the guidelines that were set for christ's church in the bible. I love how fired up I can get inside about the truthfulness of the gospel. I know that this work I'm doing is God's work, it hurts to see people turn away from it, especially when they don't even give it a chance. 

It was great to get the experience to use the priesthood this week to give a man a blessing. He's smoked his whole life and is now paying the price. He was referred to us by a member and he ended up being a really nice guy. He pretty religious and seemed to understand the whole idea of the priesthood and the responibilty to serve others. We called him yesterday and he seemed very happy with the changes in his health. He says he's had a lot more energy. We asked if we could come and teach him this week and he said yes! we're stoked to be teaching a norwegian dude who believes in god and already has see the power of the priesthood. Going over there with another member. I think you guys should go teach with the missionaries sometime. I want to know what you guys think about it. I know it'll be a great experience and the missionaries will appreciate it a lot. try it out. 

On a lighter note. Grill sesh round 2 was way better than one. I made the necessary improvements and the we had some amazing burgers. Becoming a self made grill master! Elder Holden also got the chance to play some baseball on tuesday evening. We were tearing it up and i couldn't notice any sort of loss in skill even though I haven't practiced in over 2 years. It was super fun and super weird. Happy to say it didn't even compare to the joys of being a missionary. This zone is my team and we're just trying to go hard and set the standard over here in this awesome mission. Thanks for all the love and support! have an awesome week. 

Love,

Eldste Skinner

Heyyyy!

The dream team has been guaranteed another 8 weeks at least together. We started an new transfer and we're happy about all the momentum we've been blessed with. Over and over again in the scriptures its says that Heavenly Father will reward us and strengthen us according to our faith. We still have the faith and expectations that bigs things will happen and they're aready happening. makes it easier to make things continue to happen. In our area right now we have 4 investigators with baptismal dates next month and thats only scratching the surface of what we're capable of. Elder Holden and I are alike in many ways but one thing that helps us be a dream time is that we never settle. There's always one more family to be found, one more person to fit into our schedule, one more person that can come to church. Maybe its being greedy but I'd call it relentlessness. We can always do better and go even harder. Going through the motions and having just average results isn't enough for us. There is no time to waste, we 're in the business of helping people come unto christ which is the only way to true peace and exhaltation. We can't just settle with one or two people to work with. Heavenly Father has given us this hunger and we got to feed it.  We've been super blessed with opportunities to teach people and help them feel the spirit. I 've never been in a companionship with more energy and unity. Although, we're not perfect at all, we teach with power and its awesome to see how people can change when the open up their hearts to the spirit. I am definitely convinced that its not just Elder Holden and I who are just good at finding and convincing people to believe in the message of the restoration. The spirit is doing it all. We're just trying to see what the Lord can do through us. He has called us to the work and I'm just grateful that He has put this trust in us. Its a two way deal; He needs us and we need Him. Luckily we're promised his guidance as we put our hearts into the work, refrain from idleness, and engage ourselves in this great cause. The spirit keeps me pumped up. No need to hold back and try to conserve energy, president encourages me to put the pedal to the metal so I'm going for it. I'll probably be coming home on a stretcher. Have an oxygen tank ready for me at the airport. takk!

So happy that its summer time. I discovered a grill in our attic so I've taken it upon myself to become a grillmaster. We made some homemade jalepeno burgers the other week and they weren't bad, but I know how to make them better next time. I'm kinda teaching myself as I go but its kind of hard when you don't have youtube or enough time in the day (we'd rather be doing bigger and better things).

Super stoked that we have such a great zone. Last week we went on splits twice which kept us from our own area for a little bit but it was all worth it. I want to see every companionship enjoying their mission as much as I am. Its fun to work hard and make things happen. I wish we could all chose to be this happy and enjoy this awesome adventure in this incredible country. this life is "our four minutes" and our missions are even shorter than that. I'm not going to let my four minutes suck.

I'm happy that you guys are all doing well at home. I know that the gospel truly does bless our family. Super grateful that you and dad are faithful members of the church  and such great examples of hard work and endurance. Keep it up! Once we get in motion, we tend to stay in motion. Its like inertia... "look it up on eBay or something" haha:)

Love you!!

Eldste Skinner

May 19, 2014

I'm sunburnt and exhausted from that sweet birthday party we had for norway on Saturday. The weather was absolutley perfect. best weather this year so far and and its staying really nice. So on saturday we spent norways bicentennial in its capital city (Oslo). Its was insane. I am super bless to experience it again in oslo. this time was even crazier than last time. Way more people and way more flags. I had a way fun time because I like people watching and being out in the sun so it was sweet. I got to chill right outside of the kings palace but I spent most of my time roaming the streets of oslo with Elder Weaver and Holden. It was pretty sad because it was my second and last syttende mai on the mission. trying to figure out how I can still keep coming back... 

After the parades and partying we tooked the packed trolly to the mission home. We had to zones there so there was about 30 or so missionaries barbequeing and playing games at the mission home. We ate some hotdogs and sloppy joes and potatoe salad and all that classic stuff. We started a game of dodgeball between the east and telemark zones and of course our telemark zone dominated. It was a lot of fun and president chilled on the patio and watched us basically destroy his backyard. I'm sure he was pretty amazed to see us in a non missionary environment. Elder Holden and I had a lot of fun playing around with other missionaries. It was a way cool way to build up friendships and get to know eachother a little better. Everyone here on the mission is awesome and its fun to do normal things with them.  

So that was fun to be able to have that whole day to do things besides just missionary work. By the end of the day we were missing the work and ready to get back at it. Although it was fun to run around in the sun and destroy other elders with a dodgeball, it didn't compare to the joys we've been experiencing with the work here in drammen.

We had another great week with finding some prepared people and we're having plenty of things to do. We're being smart with our time and really trying to not waste any of it. We've been seeing some great blessings and that have come according to our faith and works. I know that Heavenly father is pleased with us and blessing us with the energy we need to stay pumped. We're being dedicated to finding families and those who have been prepared for us. I love weach morning when I can wake up and dive into the book of mormon for a part of my studies and just get a huge energy boost from the spirit. I like the promise that the lord gave to oliver cowdery in doctrine and covenants section 24. "And at all times, and in all places, he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump, both day and night. And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men." I know that the spirit has been keeping me pumped. I heard in the last conference that if we need energy we can plug into the spiritual power of prayer and scripture study. Sounds like Patrik could tell you which talk that was haha but its something that I've learned is true. 

its been a great week and i'm grateful that you guys are still writing me even though melissa's more new and probably more exciting. Have an awesome week! ha det godt :)

Love,

Eldste Skinner

Drammen! - May 5, 2014

Holyyyyyy...

my life has been changed. Still can't really describe how much new energy and stokedness has been poured upon me. I feel like Ive been prepared my whole mission to serve here in Drammen. Elder Holden and I are expecting amazing things to happen here and they already have. I took a forever long train ride that became even longer because of alll the delays. Had to keep borrowing peoples phones so that I could let the elders know I needed to be picked up late. Ended up getting off the train in Drammen about 2 hours behind schedule. Elder Gunther and Holden were waiting for me at the train station. Once we loaded up all my belongings into the car (I'm driving again!) and started driving home we could finally feel that this transfer call wasn't just a dream. I hasn't felt real at all and it still doesn't.

HAd my first sunday here yesterday and this ward is straight up huge. I'd say bigger than the ramona oaks ward but maybe not. Tons of families and a bunch of legit youth. I've never actually had youth to work to be around. I met this one chill kid who's 15 and likes to shred and also got to run into some kid I knew from fredrikstad. The ward mission leader is a beast. His wife from california and ended up living there for a couple of years. He moved back to norway to build up the church.  He loves baseball. His team is the angels and yesterday I heard how badly the padres are sucking. We play baseball every tuesday so I'm super excited for that. What are the chances of that happening? the bishop here is 29 and is also legit! We were with both of them to meet up with the ysa to have a missionary work "kick off". These guys are great examples for me and get me even more pumped to be out here.

Elder Holden and I are straight feeling like we've been prepared from the spirit world to come out here and tear it up together. Never have I ever been more full of faith and energy to go out and share the gospel. We have some unreal energy and excitement that we're trying to spread through the whole zone.

Anyways, I can just keep blabbing on about how sweet missionary work is. Something I can feel super passionate about and convey to others when I talk to them and work with them but its tough to type into words. All we're doing right now is focusing on being urgent, following the spirit as find and teach, and being bold and self assured in the message that we 're sharing. Its something that I've been trying to focus my scripture study on. This is literally the dream team united in the heart of the missionary work in Norway. I don't know what could be better. I'll definitely look back on this time as the highlight of my life so I'm just soaking it in.

Sorry about a rough week. It'll just help you enjoy this week which will be way better. Love you! See you on Sunday:)

Eldste Skinner

April 29, 2014

Yes I'm alive.

Sorry about the delay. Yesterday I didn't really have a pday. Yesterday, we had a way sweet opportunity to do some service for a new convert's parents. We helped ripp down a patio. It was a lot of fun getting a chance to do service especially because it gave us a great opportunity to meet some non members. They were super sweet and this is the first time they've had any sort of contact with the missionaries. Their son joined our church about a year ago and he's getting married in the the oregon temple in July. Looks like a lot of seeds are being planted and maybe after some time they'll be ready to learn about the restored gospel. Today I don't really have a pday either, but I wanted to just take some time to write you and let you know about the week. I wish you could feel how stoked I am right now but since your just reading, you'll just have to imagine it. 

So I was talking with president on saturday letting him know how our little trip up to tromsø went. He was also trying to work our our next zone training up here in trondheim so that he could arrrange to come and interview all the missionaries. After getting everything figured out he adds his " oh and one more thing... pack your bags!" and then leaves me squirming for the whole day on saturday. So then "moves call" comes around the next morning. We all call into a phone conference and then I found out where I'm going next. Drammen. 

So tomorrow I'll be taking a long train ride down to Drammen to be a zone leader down there. There's a million reasons why i'm way pumped to go there:

1. the dialect is sweet

2. its the biggest and most missionary minded ward in Norway

3. I'll be serving with Elder Holden!!

ok so that was just three but I'm sure you can imagine how excited I am. I totally have weird mixed feelings because I wouldn't mind to stay in trondheim for 5 more months. this place has been awesome but I guess I've learned what I've needed to. I feel like I really have done what I was supposed to. Our area and zone are rolling finally so I do feel like I've left the place better than I found it so thats a nice feeling.  

Words cant describe how stoked elder holden and I are to finally work together and tear it up! We've been talking about serving together forever and now its finally time to actually do it. feels like a dream. We're definitely going to work like crazy and I feel strongly that big things will happen. 

Don't have much more on my mind besides that. Trondheim was asewome and Drammen will be insane! Its fun to be as passionate about missionary work as I was about baseball or water polo or surfing or all the other "normal things" I love to do. The church is true, I really do hope that you're all feeling as happy and blessed as I am. Life is a test and yes, you and I are competitive! 

Love you,

Eldste Skinner