January 27

Every time I get an email from home I am always surprised by just how much it is that really happens in the course of just one week. I can't believe that life just keeps moving like it is doing...it is so strange for me. I like what you said about how the things we focus on tend to expand, though....I have noticed that here. There are a lot of missionaries who focus a lot on how hard the work is or about how miserable they are doing it, but the only thing that happens is that it gets harder and they get more miserable. It is my goal to be more like the missionaries who focus on the positive and always just try to be happy. They just get happier and happier and life is good. And life is always good, am I right?

This week a Moroccan family was referred to us from a man in the ward who happens to be their landlord. Malika, the mother, just got divorced from her husband and moved here from Morocco. She has three daughters, and they are Muslim, but the daughters have said that they don't like being Muslim. They needed some help moving and setting up furniture, so Elder Tate and I spent some time doing that for them this week. They said that we can go over there this week to talk about the gospel, so hopefully that will go well for us :) 

Two of Malika's daughters:

 

As for Green, our investigator from Nigeria...nothing is happening with him really. He always just tells us that he is really busy with his dad, who is sick, so we haven't had the chance to meet with him for a while. It is kind of lame, but I am not sure how committed he is to learning about our message anyway, so I suppose it is alright.

The YSA Arctic Party was this weekend, and apparently it was a lot of fun. There were YSA here who came from all over Europe to participate, and they all came to church yesterday to support a girl named Rebecca, who gave her farewell talk. She left today for the England MTC, and then she is going to the Temple Square mission! That is exciting that she is going so close to home, so I think it would be a lot of fun to go find her when I get back and before she goes back to Norway :) We had a few less active YSA come as well, so I think that the party was a success.

When we were at a member's house over Christmas, we ate balut (They are from the Phillipines).  The only problem was that it smelled funny and looked really really gross while we were getting ready to eat it. It actually wasn't bad when you actually eat it, though, and I guess it is a delicacy in the Philippines. It basically just tastes like a boiled egg. So that was really weird, but it was a good experience :) I guess that in the Philippines they make all the new missionaries eat it and the members there think it is really funny to watch the Americans their first time.

It has snowed every day and we are probably getting pretty close to a meter, so it has been a lot of snow. It is really really dry snow, though, so when you walk it kind of just puffs out from under your feet. And it squeaks when you walk...I think I remember you telling me something about how that is what the snow is like in Wyoming... It has been anywhere from -5 to -10 degrees celsius, so it hasn't been that bad :) I can't complain, at least, and I am used to it by now.

I hope that you have a great week! I am doing well, and I appreciate all of your support :)

Eldste Childs :) 

P-day on a cold winter's day in Oslo:  Popcorn and a Disney Movie!