May 25

We hiked up Preikestolen today, so we don't have a ton of time, but I am doing so well :) 

Elisabeth committed to be baptized on the 21st of June this week, and committed to stop smoking by the 14th, so now it is time to rally the troops! Please keep her in her prayers, because she is going to need all the help she can get, but I believe that she can do it, and it is going to be awesome. We are just going to involve her tons with all of the members and meet with her lots and steal all of her cigarettes. We also moved Erlend's baptism to the 21st for convenience sake, so there will be two baptisms on my last Sunday. That will be nice :) 

Erlend is doing well. He is Norwegian, and has lived in Sandnes for his whole life. He is married and has two kids, but the government isn't allowing him to see them because they wanted to give him some kind of pills because they said he needed them and he refused to take them so they deemed him not able to be a father. Interesting story, but to make it short, he isn't very happy about it. He has always had some views that he hasn't found in any church and was able to find in talking with Daniel, his friend who is a member. He is also really struggling with the family situation and needs help, and he is finding it in God and Christ. It's awesome. He was in Kristiansand this week and he still went to church there. He is awesome.  

We haven't been able to meet with Hanna this week because everyone was really busy, but hopefully we will be able to next week.

Here are some pictures of our hike today:

These pictures look even more epic because of the fog and rain. Good times!  Preikestolen is the best thing ever :)

Chillin with my best buddy Elder Gunther. Isn't it incredible???

Linn Steffensen, one of the Steffensens, came with us on the hike. I love that family so much, and we are going over there tonight with Elisabeth. It is going to be the best :)

May 18

What an awesome week. Always. I am starting to realize that I don't really get to write that very many more times, and that is a scary thought. But Norway is great and this week was especially good because we celebrated the country's birthday on the 17th! And if you remember from last year, that is a pretty big deal for Norwegians. The awkward part of the whole thing is that the holiday was on a Sunday this year, which made life a little bit interesting, but the Norwegians have a tenacious history when it comes to their national day celebrations and this year, true to form, church was shortened to an hour and moved to 6 pm, and we were all free to enjoy the parades, rain or shine. Turns out we had a little of both.

There was a children's parade, live music, a citizen's parade in which everyone was welcome to participate, the main parade, and a lot of street vendors. I am proud to say that we didn't spend a dime yesterday :) Or a crown... We were, however, able to enjoy the day thoroughly, and I am grateful to have been able to have the experience. There seemed to be a bit more happening here than there was last year in Narvik :) 

One other thing jumps out to me when I think of the highlights of the week, and that is the fact that we were able to get a baptismal date with a guy named Erlend. He is amazing and a lot of fun to talk to, and it is so fun to see the desire that he has to come closer to Christ and be baptized. It is amazing when we don't have to force things on people; when they are the driving force. I literally live to teach out here in Norway. When we are teaching life is amazing. I don't have a care in the world other than the investigator sitting in front of me and the Spirit. And quite frankly, that's the way I prefer it. I like being consecrated, and I am hooked on the feeling that comes when the Spirit flows through me as a tool in God's hands to touch the open heart of investigator. There is nothing like it.

Erlend has been to church three times already, and he is preparing to be baptized on the 19th of June. That is going to be a wonderful day for the church in Stavanger. 

On a slightly less spiritual note, there was a cruise ship in Stavanger today carrying tons of Nu Skin employees who are members from Utah, so if you know someone who is on that cruise to Norway, I probably met them today and they probably told me to tell you hello. So hello everybody! :) There's my mass shout-out. It was a lot of fun to see so many members in the city and to be able to be recognized by so many. I feel like I got a little taste of what it is like to be a missionary in Utah. 

Missions are so good and Christ is so good. Listen to his promises, because He never lies. Thanks for all the support and have an amazing week!

We had a lot of fun on the 17th!  This is me and a lot of Norwegians in their Bunads. It's the traditional dress of the country and I think it is really awesome :) 

Me and Elder Allen by the Flag.

Me and some Russ girls who somehow randomly knew who the Mormons were. I think one of them lived in Utah or something. I thought you would like to see what Russ is (Norwegian graduation celebration that is celebrated on and around the 17th of May).

Why Not?

May 11

Hey everyone, I have the best family ever! If you don't know them, you should get to know them, because they are amazing :) It was wonderful talking to everyone and it's so good to know that they are all still real :) Still there in Utah, right where I left them. Sometimes out here on a mission I forget there is a life outside of Norway, so it is good to get a little reminder. I am not going to spend a lot of time emailing today, but I love being a missionary! There is nothing like it. There is nothing like being able to focus on helping other people 24/7; nothing like waking up every morning to change and improve yourself; and there is nothing to compare with the joy that comes with being a missionary. Helping other people is the best thing I've ever done and I am so grateful for the opportunity to do it.

I am moving into my last transfer now, and that is a weird feeling and I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. The dominant one for now, however, is an overwhelming desire to keep the focus and work harder than ever. I want to run to the finishline, finish strong, and return with honor. Despite everything that has happened over the course of the last two years and all the growth I have seen, I still feeling like I am climbing frantically to the climax of my mission. I feel like the peak is just on the horizon and that if I could only climb faster, jump higher, I could reach the top. There is so much to do and not enough time, so I am going to give it everything I've got. I'm committed to that :) It reminds me of the scripture in Alma 34:33:

"And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had somany witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; forafter this day of life, which is given us to prepare foreternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while inthis life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein therecan be no labor performed."

And that's not to say that I feel like I have any great repenting to do, but we are given this time to improve ourselves, ot prepare and to constantly grow. I am not going to waste it now or ever. I am so grateful for the opportunity we have each day to be a better person than we were yesterday. To stand a little taller and smile a little bigger. To reach out to one more person and to think about ourselves a little less. The gospel is amazing. If we live it, we become the product of day after day, year after year, of being put through the refiner's fire, and we come out on the other side as perfect, glorified individuals. I think that's amazing.

I love you all, and to all you mothers, Happy Mother's Day!

Elder Nielson came to visit and it was great fun :)

May 4

I guess you could say it's been the week of splits this week. We had splits with the ward on Tuesday, I went to Haugesund on Wednesday and Thursday, and we had Elder Stookey from Bergen visiting on Friday. So it's been pretty crazy,a but we survived and it was a really great week. Here are some highlights:

• On Monday we went to lake a ways away from the city to hang out and grill hot dogs and I was able to pet a swan. I literally thought it was going to try to kill me for a minute there, but it turns out he was nice and we became really good friends :) In Stavanger there are swans, ducks, and pidgeons all over the place, and the city always feels really alive because of it. Except for not the pidgeons. Pidgeons are basically just like rats here. Sometimes people, usually foreigners, will walk over to the pond and dump a loaf of bread or something in the water, and the seagulls go crazy. They all rush on that bread and become savages. At times like those I usually wish that I had an umbrella for fear of getting a nice present from a bird flying overhead... but now I am side-tracked
• On Friday we went out to Hanna's house at Tau with the Icelandice family and she made us really delicious food then we were able to talk about the scriptures and the gospel. She is so nice and so sincere and I know she is going to love our church. Unfortunately she wasn't able to come this week, but we will get her there next week.
• Elisabeth (updated spelling) came to Family History Night this week at the church, and she LOVED it. They took such great care of her there. She was able to find one of her great-grandmothers who was a member and went really far back on her line. The spirit of Elijah is real and Elisabeth is feeling it. She is also going to come to church and it is going to be amazing.
• I took a 2 hour bus trip to Haugesund and it was a lot of fun. That was one of the areas that I hadn't been to yet, so it was exciting to see new places and have some miracles over there. It's a beautiful city, and for those of you who are into heavy metal, they had a huuuge concert while we were there. That made missionary work a bit interesting :) 

The work is going really well in Stavanger and we see miracles every single day. We are having so much success setting goals and working to reach them, and I am convinced of the power of goals and planning. So many times this week we have gone out with the intent of reaching our goals and we have felt specific promptings from the spirit, leading us to that one person who was prepared to be a new investigator. I have been thinking a lot about the scripture in Alma 37:6-7 6: 

"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls."

I suppose at this late stage in my mission I could be considered "wise," but day after day I continue to be amazed at the way the Lord works for the blessing of His children here in Norway. Sometimes I even get promptings which lead to absolutely nothing and it turns out that was only timing. But I have to follow them or the miracles that happened later could never have happened. That probably doesn't make any sense, but there is no way for us to know what God's plan is in our life, and I don't think that is an accident. It is a part of the process by which we develop faith, and I know that as soon as we realize and trust that God has a good plan for us in our lives, we will be able to meet the challenges that come our way and follow our own personal promptings with fearlessness - something we should all strive to do. I know that God loves us and will not forsake us as we go through this life, so please: come unto Him. There is nothing that has blessed me more than putting God first in my life.

Thank you for all your support and we will talk next week!

Elder Stookey came to visit this week and we made a cake for Elder Nilsson's bday :)

A swan because why not?

we made steak this week in our matching aprons :)

April 27

It's been a good week for me this week :) The district did well again, and that always makes me happy. There is so much suspense leading up to the numbers report every week, but this was a good one, and I was grateful for that. We just need to get people to church and baptize them! As missionaries, life goes in 6 week cycles, but the rest of the world doesn't work that way, so sometimes it is hard when things don't happen as quickly as we want them to. But we have good things that are happening.

The two most positive people Elder Broadbent and I are working with at the moment are Lisabeth and Hanna. We have been working with Lisabeth for a few weeks now, and she is doing great. We take members over to her house 3 times a week and tonight we are going to bring her to the Steffensens' (my favorite family in Stavanger) house to have a kosekveld together (and no, for those of you who just looked that up on google translate, it doesn't mean snuggle evening). Koselig is such a hard word to explain, but it just means it will be... uh.... pleasant. Wow, I am gagging a bit because of the way that sounds in English. Haha it will be a nice night :) We are going to play some music together first, probably some arrangements of hymns on the piano, guitar, and mandolin with some singing in there too, then we will have some food and a lesson. It is going to be great, and I think Lisabeth is going to love it. Our goal is to get her in church this week, and I think we've got her now.

We are also teaching Hanna and she is great. She is that lady from Ethiopia who we got referred to us a couple of weeks ago from the new converts in Iceland. She came to church yesterday with Kristjana and had so many great questions about our church. She asked us if we could come visit her this week (if you've been a missionary, you know that's significant) and she asked if we could have more time than last time. I can't wait to go teach her again and help her receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. Watching people change their lives is the best part about being a missionary.

Two months are left, and I don't even know what that means anymore. I am lost in time and I don't really know what is going on, all I know is that at some point it is going to spit me out, rather confused, back home. And I know that is going to be pretty soon. But other than that, it just seems like life as usual and I am grateful for the opportunity to work hard and save some souls out here in Norway. It's an amazing place, just look at the pictures. 

One scripture which really hit me this week is 1 Corinthians 10:13. It says. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation prepare a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it."

That is huge! God is so merciful, and I am so grateful for the knowledge that in a world filled with temptations, we are stronger than all of them. God will never let us fall if we have faith in Him. That's a promise that I have learned to rely on.

Just wanted to give a huge shout-out to my little brother Alex who is headed on his mission July 22nd to the Philippines!!! He is going to be one heck of a missionary. Good luck, little bro!

I love you all and hope you have a great week :)

We went and saw one of the two original Christus statues in the world. It is in the church literally right across the street from my apartment! So cool! Also, we took some pictures on the boat to Tau :) 

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.

Spring Fever

This has been my first full week in Stavanger, and I am going to start this weeks blog post with a really bold statement: I have never been happier on my mission. Ever! There are probably a lot of reasons, but I am in love with life and spring has entered full-force into Norway. I have joy and life is so good :) I don't fully understand why I have this feeling, but I do know there are at least a few reasons. Reason number one: the work is going so well right now. Literally Stavanger is doing amazing at the moment. Actually, my whole district is on fire and it is so much fun. All of the missionaries have so much energy and we see miracles every single day. I have never been in a better district and I have never seen the Lord pour out His mercy upon us to bless us like He is doing now. We have done a lot to try to work more completely with the ward and for weeks and weeks now I have prayed that we will be able to find people to baptize so that we can be obedient to the Lord's challenge to us through His prophet to work together as members and missionaries. There are so many prepared people in Stavanger and they are being led to us.

One of the biggest miracles we saw this week happened when we were at a place called Tau, visiting some of our recent converts. They are a family from Iceland and are absolutely wonderful. They have the cutest kids and are so nice and really fun to be around. While we were talking with them, the wife mentioned that she had been talking to one of her neighbors about the gospel and that she wanted to come to church next week. We were, of course, really excited to hear the good news and committed her to give the invitation and follow up so she actually came. When we left, we were running late to catch our boat, so I had kind of a "last chopper out of Vietnam" kind of feeling. We did not want to get stuck out on Tau, so we were rushing back when we heard a voice above us say (in Norwegian), "Hey, wait! Was it you who just visited my neighbor?" We answered yes and she asked, "Would you be able to teach me about your church as well?" My jaw dropped. She turned out to be that same neighbor who we had talked about earlier, and she is so positive. We arranged to visit her next time we were in Tau and then sprinted all the way back to the boat, but I didn't care, because the Lord had blessed us with yet another miracle.

Reason number two: exact obedience. I have a testimony that the power and peace that come into our lives through obedience to the commandments of God (and by extension His servants) cannot be matched by anything else we do. I am so blessed to be surrounded by missionaries right now who also want to be obedient. And not only just not do anything bad, but truly strive to keep every rule and meet and exceed every expectation the Lord has for us. And of course we don't always succeed, but I believe the power is found in the trying.

Reason number three: The Sun! It is so incredible. I have never truly appreciated the sun and the warmth in my life until I came to Norway and lived through 2 Norwegian winters. It isn't as much the cold that bites, but the darkness. The sun being gone all the time is really really hard. And the contrast between that and the sun now is incredible. I love to walk out of the apartment and feel the sun on my face and know that the world is alive and happy around me. People are more willing to talk, friendlier to each other and just all-around more pleasant with the change in seasons.

To close I would like to quote from a General Conference talk by Mark E. Peterson a long time ago. He expresses the wonder and miracle of spring in a beautiful and inspiring way.

"The spring of the year is a most welcome season. It is then that all life seems to renew itself, when the promise of the future appears brightest and hope rises to its zenith. Indeed it is a time of reawakened courage and confidence.
Spring! A time of renewal, a revival in nature of the life that is all about us, but especially a reaffirmation of the divine promise of life everlasting! It was spring when the Savior made it all possible by his atoning sacrifice and his resurrection. It was in the spring when Jesus gathered his disciples about him and instituted the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as a constant reminder of his crucifixion. It was in the spring when he prayed so humbly in the garden as he set the divine example by saying, “Not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). . . We [speak] of spring, that time of resurgence of life and hope and joy. It was on a beautiful spring day in 1820 when the Almighty shattered the seal which had closed the heavens for centuries. He descended to the earth in the state of New York and called a modern prophet, a youth as pure and unspoiled and as promising as the spring day itself. This boy became a modern spokesman for God. Through him were all things restored as Peter said. And who was he? Joseph Smith, Jr., the seer and revelator of modern times. He labored humbly and completely under the direction of the Savior himself."

I too know that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God on that glorious spring day in 1820. He restored all things to the earth, including the power which can seal our families together for eternity. And that is reason number four :) I love this gospel and there is nothing I would rather do than share it with God's children who do not yet have the blessings, comfort, and joy which the knowledge of the restoration brings. I will forever be grateful for my call as His servant in these latter days.