December 15

Hey everyone, I hope you all are doing well. I am just sitting here in my office, enjoying a jule brus (which means Christmas soda and is delicious. It is a Norwegian specialty, and it is amazing), and looking out the window at the green grass on the ground. What? I thought I was in Norway, but this winter has been even more mild than the last one. Weird stuff. But it's a good life, it really is. I don't have a whole lot of time, so I am going to give you the events of the week bullet-point style this time. So here we go.

• We went in to get a rock chip in the windshield of the van fixed only to find out that we actually need to get the entire windshield replaced because it is that deep. Looks like we will be spending some time in the shop.
• We had a "burny" pday with an elder who finished his mission on Thursday. We did all the cool things that can be done in Oslo all in one day, and it was great fun.
• We made the hour-long trip to the airport four times during the week, so we had a lot of time to listen to great talks. We have been listening to the mission presidents' seminar lately, and it is so good. The apostles really care about this work.
• We went to the annual Jul i toner (Christmas in tones, or notes...that's a bad translation, but you get the point :) concert and it was so good. I was reminded of how much I love music and I can't wait to get involved in that again.
• I got a lot of packages and letters from people, and you all had such clever ideas. A special thank you to everyone who has been sending me Christmas tree ornaments. You are the best! 
• We worked hard to share "He is the Gift" with everyone that we met. I listened to a talk this week that really changed the way I look at missionary work. I want to spend the next 6 months of my life finding people in the Lord's way and being the best missionary I can possibly be. I love this work. 
• Our apartment is starting to feel more like a home and less like a warehouse, so that feels nice. We even went to IKEA to get a few things this week, and in the process discovered that IKEA food is so cheap and so good. Too bad it's Swedish. We got a used exercise bike from someone and we are getting settled in.

In short, it's been a great week, and I can't even begin to tell you all about it, but I guess that's why I have 60 years after I come home to talk about it, right? I hope you all have a wonderful week and always pray to have eyes to see the unseen opportunities to share the gospel. The Lord leads us to people or people to us all the time- all we have to do is look for them. Go make a difference! I love you all!

This is me being burny with Elder Clarke back at Holmenkollen. So weird that I was there one year ago....

the office grind....

We went to a viking museum and it was the best. The vikings were so cool! They found tons of ships buried in a place called Tønsberg in Norway, and I drove there last week. It was pretty cool.