January 27, 2013

Hva som skjer folkens,,,

I'm super tired after all we did this week. Elder Stookey and I went extra hard and got a lot of new things going in our area. We've been kind of struggling as of lately dealing with a lot of dissappointments and sketchy investigators who aren't as into the gospel as we want them to be haha. Its been great this week though because we met with some new cool people who seem to be pretty positive. One of them is a total hippy and his house smells like he looks. We have this other way cool Norwegian lady who is extra spiritual and has some sort of connections with spiritual type of stuff. sounds like a 6th sense. We also met this dude from Africa that says he wants to get baptised on March 1st. We're ok with that. OUr buddy from San Fransisco has had some type of stomach surgery so we haven't been able to meet with him yet but he's still texting us every now and then. Tore, who we baptised about a month or two ago passed the sacrament yesterday so that madde me happy. He also is still coming to the activities and making friends with all the members. He brought a table curling game the other day and we got to play with that. It was just like the curling in the olympics. We played finland vs norway and finland won. The best part about this week was involving members on our teaches. There were 3 different people that we taught with three different members and it was an awesome experience. I keep learning and reminding myself that this is the way the work is supposed to be. Best way to strengthen the members and the investigators. It adds a little bit more pressure on us missionaries but its definitely the right way to do it. Hopefully you get invited to teach investigators sometime. Most of our teaches are with people at the church so we just have the members try to come a little early so we can let them know how we can work together and give them kind of a deal as to what our focus and goals are for the teach.

Things are going really good though. We had a miracle here in the Trondheim district. We've been struggling with the investigators that we've had, they've been kind of burning out and fading away I guess. So we had a fast to help us get a fresh batch that we could work with in addtition to the awesome people we already have. We set a goal to have 25 at the end of two weeks. Yesterday, at the end of week one we had a record breaking 20 new investigators. It was a straight up gift from heavenly father. Fasting always works. This is also something we're implementing in our zone as well. So I guess the ultimate lesson is that heavenly father is mindful of what we need. After last week and being a little frustrating and not having too much going, We asked for some extra help and pushed a little harder. The sacrifices payed off and it feels amazing.

I'll be flying to oslo again this week and then probably to Mo i Rana the day after. This week is going to be another crazy week. I'm seriously struggling with keeping with how fast the days are passing.

Happy to hear about things going on at home. Thanks for keeping me posted and working hard. I got my package as well. The tie was perfect, almost too good to wear! Love you!

Eldste Skinner

January 20, 2014

I cant believe i'm 21 either. What the freak is going on? I had a great birthday although it never really felt like it came. We didn't really do anything different but that was alright because everyday is a good day for a missionary in Norway. Thanks for that awesome birthday messsage on sunday. Good thinking. Not really many people knew it was my birthday.. so I was super happy to hear from you:)

This week has been another amazing adventure. Our Zone leader training went really smooth. We split them up so we could do one here in trondheim as well as one up in tromsø. The one here in Trondheim was my district and then a companionship just north and just south flew to us. We had about 11 missionaries plus a senior couple here on tuesday. The meeting was about 3 hours long and my first time training as a Zoneleader. It was a lot of fun and I feel like everyone walked away feeling pumped up to go out and share the gospel. The next day, elder Whetten and I woke up early and flew up way north to Tromsø. That meeting went maybe even smother and had a better flow and spirit to it. We also made some amazing tomatoe pesto grilled cheese for them since they missed out on the senior couple's amazing cooking. We stayed the next day in tromsø for splits so we could get out working with them to see how we could help them out. It was amazing and kinda made me miss the north. People in the north talk alot differently and seem a lot nicer. Instead of walking  right past you, they would stop mostly everyttime. This Tromsø place is absolutely beutiful though. Its basically an island surrounded by water and mountains. Its just above Narvik so it reminded me a lot of that place except tromsø has way more people and a real city feel. I can see why its called Paris of the north. Whetten finally flew out after having an awesome and effective time with the 4 missionaries that live there. We left feeling super good and pumped for that city adn its potential. I feel like the missionaries really enjoyed having us there and hopefully they got just as much out of it as I did.

For my birthday, we made some bomb chicken parmesian and veggie pasta after church and then ended our day with some tastey fajitas. Stookey bought me a lemon cake and we almost burnt the apartment down by making a ghetto candle out of a pass a long card. I felt so loved by the homies. Today We checked out this fort and we all went to eat some pizza on top of Trondheim. It was pretty memorable. I found an amazing deal on slim slacks at h&m. I saw them last week on sale for about 100 crowns but didn't buy them. Today I checked out H&M and the local board shop for fun and finally got myself to buy something. The slacks were now 50 crowns so I bought 2 and a 4 pack of cool norwegian socks especially for me. I'm so happy my gambling of resisting to buy stuff on sale has payed of. When things here in Norway go on sale, they really go on sale. Elder Stookey got a new grey wool suit at H&M for about 35 bucks. Insane!!

Thanks for being so loving! that was a super sweet email and I'm happy to see a picture of us to right before I left. This year will be even faster than my first so prepared to be freaked out when I'm home before you know it. Keep working hard. I'm so grateful that you guys have been blessed. Heavenly father is taking care of us! love you! 

January 13, 2014

Every week I start out saying that it was another fast week. haha Sorry about being repetitive but its totally amazing how time cruises by. We had a lot of cool experiences this week and this coming week will be packed as well. I guess its weird to think that we had such a fun and rewarding week but we did. Elder Stookey is awesome. He came and gave me a huge spark. We're working super hard out in the streets and being real with the people we meet. We have a lot of fun out in the streets together despite the -15 temperature. We 're constantly smiling because we're always laughing. We've noticed this attitude has played a huge part in why we're getting so many people to stop and talk to us. They get sucked in by the positive energy. We're against going the standard boring and ineffective street approaches. We're also excited about working with less actives. Elder Stookey iand I are also good at connecting with the less actives because in a way we were both once there. We're both really grateful for the atonement and the opportunity we have to be out here on this crazy adventure serving the lord. Neither one of us want to go home with regrets. We had a awesome experience finding someone prepared. We actually have experiences like this about everyday but this one was pretty nifty.

We have basically been focusing alot lately on praying throughout the day... really stepping up the frequency and sincerity of our prayers. We were out in this neighborhood trying to meet some less actives. We used some time for some spirit lead door knocking. I haven't knocked on doors hardly at all lately (I usually stick to stopping people on the streets). So we just started praying for crazy miracles that we could find a family or something. Both of us were having good feelings but kept getting let down by uninterested people. It was a little frustrating. We kept stopping and saying specific prayers when no one was around letting heavenly father know how we were feeling and what the situation was. Eventually we end up at this house and a dude with an american flag beanie answered with some pretty good norwegian. He told us we came to the wrong house and that he wasn't interested at all. I knew he was american though so before he closed the door I asked him where he was from. He said that he was from San Francisco and I immediately told him that I was from SD. We switched to english and just had a nice conversation. He was your typical husky, funny, american 27 year old dude that lives with his mom and plays on computers making youtube videos all day. Him and Stookey got talking and he was bringing up all sorts of stuff about what he's read about mormons and all that weird stuff. He was seriously doubting/half mocking the church but we were just trying to be real with him and at least make him feel that the we were "normal people". We kept bearing simple testimonies to him about the church and why we chose to come to norway. He began to be intrigued but still doubtful. He told us that he wanted us to come back to talk about the church but probably wont convert. We will see. Afterwards I felt really great that we were lead to this guy. We felt so impressed afterwards that we were the right companionship to meet him.. maybe others would have scared him off or given up because he was seriously not willing to hear anything at first.

Our new convert Tore who was baptised about a month ago got the aaronic preisthood yesterday. That was special to be a part of. We had a crazy adventure getting our rapper investigator to church. We were sick and tired of him not coming to church so we took the initiative to pick him up and ride the bus with him to sacrament meeting. We ended missing a good part of church for it but he came and liked it. It was funny because it was about -20 as we sat wating at the busstop with him. Once he figured the bus wasn't coming for another 15 minutes he just called a taxi like a true playah. I love this dude, he cracks me up. So we taxied to the church, next time it might be a limo.

This coming week is going to be crazy. We've got some training meetings that we decided to split up so we'll do 2 instead of just one big one. We did it like this so that we can have more personal time with our missionaries. So on wednesday and thursday I'll be up in the so called paris of the north, Tromsø. It'll be a busy week but i'm grateful for the opportunity to serve as a zoneleader because it gives me an opportunity to grow and uplift others. Right now, we're focusing on getting the missionaries pumped for reaching our goals this year and we'll be talking about miracles and expectations. I'm excited for it.

Thanks for all those awesome and funny pictures. Sorry we cant go to Knotts berry farm again on the 19th. I cant believe that was a year ago. I still remember the clothes I wore and the food I ate. Thanks for all the love and birthday wishes.. its freaky to turn 21 but whatever haha. Love you! have a fun warm week.

Eldste Skinner

January 6, 2014

Hope you made it home safely. Sounds like you guys had an awesome week. Melissa sent me some sweet pictures. I love the temple picture and the one with Cesar and then the one with Holdens sister. Not sure how you guys pulled those off though haha..

"Do Norwegians have any New Years celebration traditions?"

hahahahahahaha.

New years eve was the most epic night of my misison. I really can't even explain how fun it was. Lets just say Norwegians know how to do fireworks. Maybe if you looked up some videos on youtube or something you'd get a grasp of how insanly many fireworks go off during the whole night. Literally everyone gets there "mortors" and sets them off for about 20 minutes straight from about 10 til and 10 past midnight. It was way more fireworks than any american 4th of july. Everywhere you would look you could just see fireworks exploding above peoples houses. I can picture it in my head perfectly but its hard to explain. It was wierd though because I had no expectations of anything like that. We spent new years eve with the Mackenzie (americans) and it was a blast to eat taco salad and play games like cherades. Super memorable, I could just go on about it but i'll stop here.

My package came! I had no Idea it was going to be that awesome and loaded of the perfect stuff. Thank you thank you thank you. That was perfect. I love the cologne, deodorants, ctr ring, turtle, slurpee shirt, and all the other cool toys and snacks. Everything i love. Perfect Job! Made me feel super loved.

Our zone christmas new years conference was 2 days later and was a lot of fun. Kind of stressfull for me but not really.We all had a good time together and everyone made it here and returned home on schedule. for the most part. I think we might have had Cafe Rio the same day you guys did. The senior couple here made some and it was awesome. I was so excited. I would say you're attempt a long time ago was more spot on though. I had to conduct our zone talent show and that was pretty funny. We played a lot of fun "minute to win it" type of games together and then ended the night with a two on two floor hockey tournament. No one got hurt or mad at eachother so it was a sucess.

They all stayed the night that night and our poor dirty apartment didn't get any cleaner. Super unfortunate. We did, however, go absolutely hard on cleaning the apartment after studies today. Most intense and NASTIEST cleaning of my life. Also the most rewarding. I can't tell you how good it feels to have a things back to almost brandnew. The fridge, freezer, shower, floors, etc are all deep cleaned and spotless.  I don't want to know how many years of generations of missionaries neglected to do what we just did this morning. The apartment hasn't looked this good since before the first missionaries moves in. I feel so great inside and we treated ourselves to a Kebab!

 I felt bad for the new elders here though. They had to come here to this mess but still took the initiative to clean it up with me. We had some serious bonding from cleaning together. I'm now currently surrounded by 3 elders from utah.

My companion's name is Elder Stookey. He's wayy cool. He's been on his misison for about 6 months now and this is his second area. He just got done with serving with Elder Holden! Stookey's from Provo, Utah and was in the utah air national gaurd before the mission. I've only been with him since friday but I love his energy. He is super funny and doesn't have your typical mormon boy background. Together we're going to be real with people and be a powerful companionship. We're constantly speaking openly and laughing but never slacking around/ not giving it our all. He came to trondheim and gave me a huge energy boost i feel like i needed. Super grateful for that and how everything has worked out. I'm super excited for this fresh new year and new companionship.. not that my last year or last companionship was bad at all. So i'm feeling great right now. We don't have a whole lot going in our area right now but we have a ton of potentional investigators we've been finding and getting excited about. Everyone's back in town and its great to be back on the grind. The holiday season was great and all but i'm ready to get working again. I love missionary work. Its like a fun game of finding, teaching, and baptising with eternal consequences. It continues to be an adventure that's blessing and shaping me. I hope you guys are feeling the blessings of it as well. Love you! Have a fun hardworking week (:

Love,

Eldste Skinner

December 30, 2013

Happy New Years!!

Long time no see :)

That was so cool to see all of you guys on christmas even though its never long enough. It was so weird to see how much everyone has grown. Everyone looked good and healthy! I'm happy to hear you all enjoyed a lot of sunshine. That was one of the things I noticed as we were skyping... how bright the sun was. It was almost hurting my eyes! haha

Trondheim is about to see some big changes with this new year coming. My companion and the other zoneleader are getting transferred after the end of this week. I'm definitely going to miss elder Shanklin and Jones.. they were so awesome and I learned  a lot from them. Great missionaries! The new ones are going to be hardworking as well. I've noticed, however, this pattern of 4 companionships in a row that have lasted 6 weeks or less. I kinda like it but at the same time i've loved all my companions and wouldn't mind being with them for 6 months instead of 6 weeks. Its been a huge blessing to learn from other people and also to try my best to teach and make a positive impact on those I serve with. I'm not perfect though so that's kinda getting in the way. haha.

Christmas was obviously awesome and its still going! never going to forget christmas in Norway thats for sure. I would't say it was necessarily the best christmas i've ever had but it was still great. I'm thinking we always have to try to be together as a family for christmas in the years to come. No place like home for the holidays! Luckily this ward is treating me like family. What a huge blessing of the church. I've been fed like crazy and it was all pretty good food. Nothing was too sketchy except for the bishop bringing non-alcoholic beer and making us try it. Grossest thing i've ever drinken.. no worries about me turning into an alcoholic. I was picturing patrik's and dad's "wooo... BEEER!!" and cracking up. On new year's we'll be with the same members that let me skype. It was nice to get invited and they're even letting us bring our investigators and new converts. We're allowed to stay out until 12 and stuff we as long as we still wake up at 6:30. It will be sweet. We're also going to have the zone fly into trondheim for a christmas zone conference on the second! hopefully everything will go smoothly with that. It will be an all day thing. Presidents going to talk about our goals for next year and it will be awesome and uplifting. there will also be a lot of fun stuff throughout the day and then they'll all stay the night. I'll be a party basically. Can't wait to be with the homies!

Right now we're teaching basically a rap star. Its pretty sweet. He's an interesting dude and keeps things interesting.. kinda reminds me of an skinny african form of quino. The spirits been working pretty hard on him though and we're excited to get him prepped for baptism in January! The one armed bandit should be home soon as well. Hopefully start seeing some progression out of him. When my new companion comes we're going to find a norwegian family of four. that's the dream.

I haven't been sick at all. I thought I was but then I prayerfully took some airborne and dayquil and it went away for good. My package will hopefully be here soon.. sorry its taking so long. those dang norwegians and their vacations. I can't wait to check out the new Bingham house some day, i bet its pretty incredible. Our house is cool too though.

I'm happy you guys had a fun christmas! I'm so grateful for you Mom. We have a pretty sweet family and I love you. Take care of sick dad and enjoy the sunny weather. take advantage of some free time. New years is coming.. nothing like a fresh new start. there's a way good message from Uchdorf.

 http://www.lds.org/liahona/2014/01/the-best-time-to-plant-a-tree?lang=eng

We gotta be our best starting now!! Love you so much!

Snakkes!

Love,

Eldste Niklas Skinner