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