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