March 2

Happy March! February has always been a short month, but this time it went by unusually quick, probably due to the amount of traveling and craziness that has been in my life. Speaking of traveling, we went up to Alta earlier this week, and it was a lot of fun. Alta is the area with the northernmost missionaries in the world, so we were on top of the world - literally. We went out and worked hard and experienced many mighty miracles. We taught tons of lessons and found a lot of new investigators, but the people who stand out in my mind are named Stian and Amanda. I was working with a brand new missionary, Elder Daly, who got to the country a little over a week ago. The whole time we were together I was praying that we would have good experiences so that he could have a good start to his mission and learn something good. We showed up to our first appointment but it didn't go through, so we didn't have anything to do in the middle of the day in Alta, Norway. Not a very good prospect. The city center wasn't big enough for 4 elders to be contacting there, so we said a prayer and started walking up the streets, trying to find a house where it looked like someone was home. We walked for a while without much success, and then, as we were approaching the center, we saw a couple walking in the distance, and I knew they were our investigators. So I told Elder Daly to contact them and pumped him up for it as we approached them and then we went for it. She was 5 days overdue on her first baby, and they had a thought a lot lately about the meaning of life and what God means for them. It was perfect timing. We asked them if we could come to their apartment with them and bore testimony of the Plan of Salvation and the wonderful ways it can bless them in their lives. They said we could come back and meet the new baby and teach them more next week, so I am excited to hear how it goes. The Lord was definitely watching out for us. It was a huge miracle and I was so grateful.

We came back to Sandvika and didn't have a whole lot of time left, but we still had a great week somehow. We have a lot of appointments coming up next week, and we found some new people to begin working with. Henrik is traveling for the next couple of weeks, so I don't think we will be having very much progress with him, but we met with Jon Axel and Arve and they are both doing well. We committed them both to read every day in the Book of Mormon. I just pray that it will help them gain a testimony of the restored truth.

This week Paulina, my investigator from Narvik, asked me to baptize her as well. I was so excited and honored when she asked me to do it. She will be the first person baptized in Bodø in over 3 years, and I am so grateful to be a part of it. The Lord is truly good to me. 

I don't have anything to complain about. The Lord has blessed me so richly in my life, and I have so much to be grateful for. If you haven't been to Norway, you should come here. It is amazing. I love the people, I love the culture, I love the nature, and I love the church. Life is so good. I know the church is true and nothing can ever make me deny that. Keep the faith, everyone! Have a wonderful week!

My life right now. I feel like I am in the van more often than not most of the time...sometimes I wonder how that thing even fits in parking garages.

Dropping off our buddy, Elder Allen.