March 9

For the first time in months, today it feels like spring is in the air. I traveled back to Trondheim this week, and in the process hit 100 flights on my mission. So much traveling. It was amazing to go back and see the people who I have missed since I left and to go to work in the town I love so much.

Henrik isn't back yet from his travels, but we were able to do some work in our area, visited Arve and Jon Axel (who both read in the Book of Mormon and I just pray that they will get their answers) and visited some other people in the ward. I wrote a job description for a travel coordinator so that we can get out of the office and do some work, and we worked on the coming transfer. I translated church this week, and that is always a challenge.

Also, you would be proud of me, because this week I borrowed a sewing machine and fixed a couple of pairs of pants that completely ripped out the entire crotch. I even threaded the top and the bottom all by myself and sewed in straight lines. They look good! Like mamma, like son, huh? Haha so that was good :)

This week Elder Halverson and I have been studying a lot about pride, and I have really started to understand how truly degrading it is to our character and to our spiritual life. Pride is at the base of all sins, and I was stunned to really open my eyes and understand all the ways in which pride is made manifest in our daily lives. Pride is shown in the motives for the things we do, and, unless we consciously manage it, threatens to take over the very core of who we are and the choices which define us. I have never prayed harder to get rid of something in my life than I have this week with my pride. One of my favorite scriptures lately is in D&C 112 and says, "Be thou humble and the Lord they God and give thee answer to thy prayers." May we all strive to embody the characteristic of humility in our lives, and, in so doing, clothe ourselves with the protection of God.

Paulina's baptism is this Saturday, so I am preparing myself for the cold water of the fjord. There will be no better feeling than the contrast of the freezing cold water of the Norwegian fjords and the warmth of the Holy Ghost, flooding through our hearts in confirmation as Paulina goes under the water and comes back up a new person, reborn in the spirit. So I am pretty content. It is good to be alive!