April 20

It's been another great week :) Lots and lots of sun and a lot of great people we have met and things we have done. We just keep trying to build the work, and hopefully it will be better when we leave than when we came. One of the highlights of the week was when we were out contacting on Thursday. No one was really interested in talking to us and it seemed that everyone was really busy. I don't know why in the world today everyone thinks they don't have time for anything. I can't imagine Jesus Christ or God rushing around. But that's a side note :) It seems that lately God always blesses us with a miracle just after the point when I begin to doubt and have to make the decision to continue on in faith. He forces us  to stretch to our limits and then gives us His grace so that we can accomplish the work which He has sent us here to do. And that was exactly the case on Thursday.

We were walking by the pond in the middle of Stavanger and the sun was shining. It was great. We walked around the corner and I saw a kid sitting on a bench with his hood up, and I knew immediately that we needed to talk to him. I wish I could say that we ran right over to him and struck up a conversation, but I have to admit that I fought the prompting a little bit. There were a lot of people sitting on either side of him and I knew it would be a little awkward to walk up and start talking about the gospel in the crowd. So we talked to a few more people, but I couldn't shake the feeling, and if there is one thing I have learned on my mission, it's that when a prompting comes, I need to follow it. Always. So I told Elder Broadbent and we walked over and began to talk. As soon as we got there he scooted over to let us sit down, almost as though he had been waiting for us to come talk to him the whole time. We began to talk and the conversation moved quickly over to the gospel (as it tends to do with missionaries :). It turns out that he feels that there is no meaning in life and doesn't see the purpose in living. We were able to bear testimony to him of the Plan of Salvation and the reason we are here on the earth, and he wanted to hear more. He wants that joy in his life which we promised we could give him, and he was so prepared to accept our message. His name is Jason and I can't wait to meet with him again next week.

Life is really good, that's all I can say. I am sure you are all pretty sick of hearing about it, but I love the mission. Go on missions, people. It's the best. Thanks for all your support and we will talk to you next week!

Our hike to "sverd i fjell" or sword in the mountains.