In Spite of the Rain

It has been another really fast week, and I can't believe it's another one gone. The work is going really well, and I really don't have any complaints there- our district is killing it, and Trondheim is the place to be. I hope you all get a chance to come and visit one day, because it really is a beautiful city. Sometimes I have moments when I take a step back and realize how crazy life is. I think to myself, wow, I am living in Norway, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. It is almost as if I come up for air from the rushing river of missionary life that I live in, look around and take in the scenery, and then plunge back down into the depths and hold on as life surges forward. It's really pretty nice. 

Unfortunately, Piotr didn't get baptized on Saturday. He told his parents about the baptism and they got really mad, so he randomly decided to fly out to Poland and I am not really sure when he will get back. I guess he promised his family that he wouldn't do anything with our church, because they are really strict about that in Poland, so I am not really sure what is going to happen next. I am expecting him to get baptized, but that is a really tough situation, and it takes a strong individual to be able to make the right choice. I will do everything I can to get him baptized, but we will have to see. 

What's more positive is that Evelyn is doing great. She believes in Jesus Christ now (she used to be Muslim) and she is coming to church every week. She is just getting used to having a belief in Christ for now, but I think that the time for her to be baptized is going to come really soon. I don't know if I told you or not, but she is someone that I contacted on the street towards the beginning of my time in Trondheim, and I think she is so cool. Miracles really do happen!

Some news that is  also very exciting is that the area presidency approved all of the Norwegian missionaries traveling to Oslo on the 7th of September for the Elder Bednar conference, so I will get to be there! I love Oslo and I love Elder Bednar, so this is going to be great. It will be 5 hours together with an apostle, so what could be better than that? Probably not a whole lot of things. :)

It's a rainy day in Trondheim today, but you know what? That is quite alright. One of the biggest things I have learned on my mission is the importance of creating your own weather. There are a lot of things that we can't control out there- the price of milk, that guy that cut in front of us in traffic, or the pessimistic co-worker to name a few- so it is important to learn to focus on the things that we can control. Our own attitude toward life and the challenges we face is a strong indicator of our personal progress towards becoming a dedicated disciple of Christ. When life's storms come along, and they will, just look up into the rain and smile, because we can all be our own sunshine today. I love you all, have a great week!

August 11, 2014

So today isn't a pday, which means that we only get a half hour to email, so I don't have time to say a lot. We are going to be traveling to Bergen and will be there on Wednesday and Thursday for a joint pday and two zone conference. We will be visited by a member of the area presidency, so that will be really good I am sure. I will take lots of pictures while I am there, because it is beautiful and I have always wanted to go to Bergen. Who knows if I will ever get there again! 

We had a really good week. One of the better weeks of my mission, and I have been trying so hard to get things going in our area so we could be a good example for the other missionaries. It was really good to see that the numbers for the zone really went up this week from where they have been, but the bad news was that it was basically ours and one other area that carried the entire zone.... so there are still issues. But we are getting there. I found a Russian girl named Evelyn this week, and she is awesome. She is probably my favorite investigator that I have had on my mission. She just barely moved here to get away from Russia and she is really cool and positive toward the church. I am excited to continue to teach her and she was in church yesterday, along with Piotr. Life is good. And Piotr will be getting baptized on Saturday, so that is exciting as well. It is going to be a really good week!

That Our Eyes May Be Opened

Another week has come and gone, and it is going FAST! Life is great here in Trondheim, and I really don't have any complaints. We have successfully made it through the drought of summer vacation, and we have all been looking forward to the fact that people are coming back to the city this week. We are on a fast-paced missionary schedule right now, and between all the traveling we are doing, trying to keep track of the zone, and also doing everything we need to in order to keep our area going, I have hardly had time to breathe, let alone think about anything else. I love it. I love being a missionary and being able to focus full-time on the Lord. It is an amazing thing.

We traveled back to Narvik this week to help them get back on their feet after the transfers, and I am really stressed about them there. They are having a rough time. But it was really good to be back and I saw Kikka and a lot of the investigators there and Narvik is beautiful, so that's always good. We also taught a few other people, visited a less-active man named Audie who we are helping to get the priesthood, and I translated in church for a guy from Layton, Utah. So it has been exciting. I am just one big ball of stress all the time because of the zone, but that is alright, I think it is a part of the job.

We have 26 missionaries in our zone, and it is going pretty well with them. The end of the summer was kind of tough for the mission, but we have been able to survive it pretty well. It has been a little bit difficult to find new investigators, but we are hopefully going to make progress with that this week. We have a meeting with the district leaders tonight and we are going to commit the zone to do something this week to show their faith that we can find, and then really hold the district leaders accountable for the results. Fun stuff!

The atonement of Jesus Christ is a real thing. We have an investigator named Trond, who really was not in a good place in his life when we found him. He had no relationship with God in his life, and he was bitter because of a lot of the things he was going through, both because of his own choices and because of circumstance. When we began to teach him, I wondered whether there was a way that this man was going to accept our message. Yet despite everything, every time we go back over there, I notice a little more light. One more smile, or more peace in his life. He reads the Book of Mormon and he doesn't necessarily understand all the things he reads, but I can see the atonement working in his life and it is such a beautiful thing. Trond is going to be baptized, and that is the wonder of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As a spiritual thought this week, I have been pondering a lot about a scripture that is found in 2 Kings chapter 6:

14 Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.

 15 And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?

16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses andchariots of fire round about Elisha.

There are so many times in our lives that we feel exactly the same way as Elisha's servant. We wake up in the morning, and for some reason, the only things we manage to see are the horses and chariots which surround us. We see the bad influences in the world and the things that are going against us, and despite all our better knowledge, we sometimes wonder if all hope is lost. But hope is never lost. I have seen this so many times on my mission with so many missionaries who, despite the miracles they have seen so often during the course of their mission, become discouraged and lose some degree of faith and hope. It doesn't have to be that way for them and it doesn't have to be that way for us. God has given us our leaders and so many other resources in life so that our eyes may be opened and we might be able to see the heavenly hosts which fill the mountains around us. There is no reason to lose hope, and there is no need to fear. When the dark days to come- and they will- it is our decision to open our eyes and choose to see the help that our Heavenly Father sends to us. Remember the words of Elisha: Fear not- for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. The Lord will never leave us, I know that's true.

Love you all!

Trondheim

We have been painting a house/touring Trondheim for most of the day (since 8 this morning), so I don't have a ton of time to write, but it has been a good week. Everything went well with transfers, and I love it here in Trondheim. It is just as good as it looks in the pictures, and it has a really great feel in the city. I could definitely live here if I were to live in Norway. I got here and it is so strange to be in a big city again. The ward has around 200 people in it, so it is a lot bigger, but there are still a ton of people that are on vacation at the moment. So it is going to feel even bigger in about a week when everyone gets back. The church building in Trondheim is the oldest one in Norway, and it was built in the early 1960s or something like that.  It is good to be back in a church building, and it is good to be back in a ward. The work is going really well, we taught several lessons, have baptismal dates with a guy named Trond and a guy named Piotr.

Trond is a Norwegian guy who has had a pretty rough life and has found a faith in Jesus Christ. He smokes a lot and has trouble breathing because of it, but we are helping him with that and it is cool to see the atonement in his life. He lives alone here. Piotr is a Polish guy who is here working, and he is just great as well. There is a slight language barrier, but it is cool to be able to teach him and help him to understand the church and the commandments. It will be fun to continue to work with them. We haven't been on any splits yet, but that will be happening soon. I got to Trondheim and instantly ran out of time. I have been crazy busy this whole week, and I think that it is just going to keep going that way into the future. But it has been good, and I am enjoying being a zone leader up in the north.

Man, life is crazy and I feel like a lot has happened, but I will leave it there for this week.

Love, Elder Childs

Nidaros dommen. The biggest and one of the only cathedrals in Norway.

Painting a house for p day :) We were lucky and had some old clothes lent to us so we didn't get paint all over our nice ones.

My new city :)

Transfer Time!

Hey there, it's been another week, and it has been a great one! We have seen miracles upon miracles, and it is all coming right when I am leaving the area. But it's all the same work, right? I am so happy that the Lord sees fit to bless us even in our weakness and to teach us even when we are the most unwilling to learn.

My Mom asked about Norwegian gardens:  one guy showed us his garden last week, and he had raspberries, currant berries, black currant berries, blackberries, some tomatoes, and some rhubarb. In the mountains here, blueberries, raspberries, and cranberries grow wild and just cover the mountainside during different times of the year, so that is really cool. Norwegians love their berries, and I think it is great.

Transfers time has rolled around again, and this week I found out I will be moving to Trondheim on Wednesday and I will be serving there as a new zone leader. It's all pretty overwhelming, but I am really excited, because Trondheim is one of my favorite cities in Norway. The only problem is they sound almost like they are speaking some Asian language there.... gotta love Norway and all of its crazy dialects. But I am really excited to go and emerge from the far north and have some human interaction again. Trondheim is a big city, it's beautiful, and I love the feeling there. Out of the places I've been so far, I would say that if I came back to live in Norway, I would probably live in Trondheim :) I will probably be traveling about the same amount that I have been now, and so that will be fun. My companion's name is Elder Hill, and he has been one of the zone leaders for the north for the past 2 transfers, so I know him pretty well. It should be fun to get to know him better and to work with him in Trondheim.For those of you who want it, my new address will be:

Elder Dallin Childs
Olav Tryggvassons Gate 30
7011 Trondheim
Norway

This week we found new investigators, taught lessons, and had people in church, plus several of our investigators came back from vacation this week---all things that are pretty rare in these little northern towns in the summer.  Kikka was in church and gave a really great talk this week. It was one of the sweeter moments of my mission to sit there and listen to her speak about the blessings the gospel has brought into her life and how grateful she is for it. That was cool. So I got up and talked about how great she is in my talk as well :) We exchanged emails, and we will be keeping in touch. She is great. so I am so grateful and so amazed at the way that the Lord's hand is in the work. He always blesses us every time when we keep the commandments and do what He says. I know that's true.

Pictures to come of the greatness that is about to hit Trondheim! I hope you all have a wonderful week, and remember that I am sending my love from Norway!

Halfway There -- Living on a Prayer

Well, it's been one more week, and this week was a special one, because it was my Hump Day this week! Pretty exciting stuff. The day included waking up at 2:45 a.m. to catch an early bus to get on a plane that was hopefully going to get us to our connection in Bodø on time to go to a zone meeting, but that's a story for a different day. Let's just leave it with the fact that it is really difficult to travel in and out of Narvik sometimes. We had a good meeting, I saw some of my friends, ate a really great Kebab, and then got back on a plane to go home. It was a pretty great day. But one year. That is a crazy thought. One year is a long time and it is a short time. So much has happened and I have learned so many things, but at the same time, I feel like it has gone too quickly; that I have too much to do and too little time. One year of being a full-time servant of the Lord. One year of learning who I am and how to overcome that. One year of being a crazy, stressed-out, fun-loving missionary in Norway. It has been the toughest year of my life by far, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I love my mission and I love everything about serving the Lord. There is nothing like it. If any of you are considering it, do it. I can guarantee you won't regret it.

We have been helping this American lady named Kelly to learn the language lately, and this week we had our last visit with her. She is from Texas and moved here to live with her boyfriend. He had noticed that the missionaries learned the language really fast, so he called us and asked if we could help. We accepted and it has been a lot of fun to get to know them and be of service. They aren't super interested in the gospel, but we have been able to make a good impression on them about the church and I have enjoyed doing it. They are now visiting Texas and after that they will move to a different part of the country, so who knows if I will see them again.

My hump day! We didn't do anything all that big, but the night before, we bought ice cream and ate it while we watched the best two years. It was fun and good to be able to think about the last year and how good it really has been.

Traveling to Trondheim. We had a zone meeting during which the assistants talked about missionary skills and how we can improve them and practice them. It was a good meeting and it lasted the entire day, and it was good to see the other missionaries and have a chance to really practice things. President was conducting interviews during the meeting, and when it was my turn, he called me to be a zone leader this next transfer. He wouldn't tell me where I will be serving, but I am moving on the 23rd, and I am excited for the opportunity to be able to serve more missionaries and hopefully help them to be better and come closer to Christ. It is a wonderful opportunity and I am excited to serve. I will find out on Sunday where I will be serving.

In church yesterday, we only had 3 members from our branch, but we had 25 people in church. There were a lot of members from other parts of the country visiting and it was really good to see them all. We even had a family from Finland, and they had 8 kids who all looked like they were between the ages of 1-8. It was good to have so many people, but it caused a slight problem for us because we didn't have enough space for everyone! It was even worse because the main room at the Red Cross building where we meet is being renovated, so we meet now in a room upstairs which is pretty tight. We brought in a lot of extra chairs, but we still had people sitting out in the hall, and it was really tight. Everyone is out of town right now, so I conducted and presided at sacrament meeting, and also gave the talk, and Elder Forsberg taught Sunday School and blessed the sacrament. I hope the members aren't sick of hearing from us yet! It's a lot of fun :)

We were finally able to visit Inge and Gro again last night, and it was a good lesson. We recommitted Gro to pray about the Book of Mormon, so I am expecting her to get an answer about it this week. She already believes strongly in answer to prayer, so that is a really great start. As we were leaving, they invited us to drive to Lofoten with them, which is arguably the most beautiful place in Norway, and I was going to say yes, but unfortunately president said no when we called to ask. I was really close to getting there at least.... I will have to go after I get back :)

We kind of had a rough week because literally everyone is on vacation right now, but we are working our hardest and seeing miracles. We find people when I am ready to believe there is no one to find. We teach lessons at the very moment before I give up and say, Let's go back for the night. It's always that "one more door," or "one more time." Sometimes in life, I think that God lets us walk to the very edge of our ability and our understanding--or maybe even a little bit into the fringe of darkness surrounding us--before He opens the windows of heaven to lighten our way. It is easy to get frustrated when we feel neglected or left to our own devices, but really it is a divine stroke of brilliance. God lets us walk according to our own understanding because that is how we learn; that is the only way we can grow. Even though it is hard and our fears lurk in the darkness, it is only by walking with faith that dawn will follow the darkness that we can learn to trust in His light. Sometimes we are called upon to hold our candle for the world even though the wind blows and the world does everything it can to extinguish our flame. But God will never let that happen. If we rely on Him, we will find that He will always be there to give us a little extra fuel, or to show us the next few steps of the way. I have had to rely on the Lord to do everything I have been asked to do for the last year, but that is why I have learned so much. No one ever learned anything because they had it easy.

To all of you who feel like the darkness is almost too much to handle, hang in there, the Lord is on the other side, calling us gently to Him. I know it, I hear His voice. I love you all, just keep on keeping on, because in life, every day is a battle, but every night is a victory. I love you!

We went and hiked around in the mountains this morning and found a little lake in the middle of nowhere! It was pretty cool, so we decided to take some pictures :)

 Elder Halvorsen and I on our Hump Day in Trondheim.

The district for our final district picture before we get transferred. Sad day! 

Norway from the air :) 

Month of Boldness

It has been really hot this weekend in Narvik. Well, at least hot for Narvik. It's been up at 90 degrees, which isn't too bad, but when you are in church clothes and walking all day, it gets to be a lot. And it would be alright, except for Norway doesn't have air conditioning! For some reason, it just doesn't exist, and the sun never goes down, so it is ALWAYS hot. We walk into our apartment every night and it is also hovering around 85 degrees, and I have no idea how to cool it down. So I just feel like I live in a furnace, which makes it slightly difficult to sleep at night, but hey, I just think cool thoughts :) 

This week we traveled to Bodø and back for splits, and it was really great to be there and see the other elders, but on the way back, our plane got delayed two hours, which made me miss a meeting, but it was okay because they gave us 20 dollars each to get some food at the airport and we got some good study time in :) I feel like I am always traveling, but it is fun.

Some other exciting news is that I found out this week that Elder Bednar is going to be coming to Norway on September 7! Cool, right? So I will get to meet him and he will speak to the missionaries, and it is pretty exciting. 

Our less-active family came to church again, and it was really good to see them there. They showed up right before I was about to bless the sacrament, but it was good to have them anyway because sacrament meeting would have been pretty empty if they weren't there. It was time to start church, and we had Elder Forsberg and I, and then one more member, and that was it. So crazy, right? Everyone is still out of town, including the branch president now, so we are in charge of running church. It is weird. But we ended up getting some visitors from down south who were vacationing up here, so it turned out to be a decent meeting after all. I have taught sunday school/ priesthood for the past several weeks, and this week I played the piano, but I had to have the pedal on my knee and move my leg up to press it against the bottom of the table (if that makes sense) because the cord was too short to reach the floor. And then I was also blessing the sacrament, so there was some awkward time after them hymn during which I prepared the sacrament, but it all went okay in the end. Church in the north :)

Kikka, Kai, and the Fransens are all still out of town. Well, I am assuming that Kikka is still gone, because she wasn't in church yesterday and we called her and she didn't answer. Kai doesn't get back until the end of July, and I am not exactly sure what the Fransens' plan is. It is definitely a little frustrating, but I am sure that it is fun for them to travel. 

Happy late 4th of July! I wasn't quite sure what to do to celebrate as a missionary, but I wanted to do something, so I landed on just buying some meet and making my own hamburgers. We didn't have a grill or anything, so I just did them on the stove, but they actually turned out pretty good, and it was good to remember all the barbecues we always had. It could have been great with some sparklers or something, but it was still a lot of fun :)  I hope you all enjoyed the celebrations, and especially the fireworks. I hope you loved the fireworks. There is something so special about gathering together to celebrate the independence which has made our lives the beautiful way they are. The freedom which allows us to worship the true and living God in the way that we choose and the opportunity which this country, born of a desire for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, allowed for the Church of Jesus Christ to be restored to the earth through the boy prophet. What an amazing opportunity we have each year to thank the courageous men who risked everything so that those who came after, their children, would have the religious freedom which means everything to us today. I love America, and I love the 4th of July.

In the Norway Oslo mission, July has been titled the month of boldness. I think it's great for missionary work, but I have been thinking a lot about what boldness really means and how it should play a role in our lives as members of the church as well. To me, being bold is having the courage to tell it how it is without a fear of the consequences or opinion of others. Boldness is being willing to follow through with the will of God without hesitation or second thought. And in the world today, we could all use a little more boldness. The standards of the world are moving steadily away from God's standards, and with that shift comes a temptation to hide our standards from the view of the world in an effort to not offend or to fit in with the crowd. But God needs members who will keep His commandments with exactness and with boldness. President Uchtdorf said that if we are bold because of love, then it can never become over-bearance, and I know that one of the best ways to help others come unto Christ is by living in a way that others will see our example and ask. They become curious about the happiness that comes into our lives and their hearts are opened to the message of the restoration. Let us all be a little more bold in our faith and live valiantly for the truth and for God. Love you all!