Uke 29: Satisfying Work

Not too much has happened since i sent the last email on Wednesday. We did a LOT of finding and banking on doors. One highlight of that was that 3 out out of the 4 potential investigators we have gotten since then are named Anders. One is a teenager, one is a father of 4 kids, and one is a man who is "soon 84 years old". Also we gave out our last Norwegian book of mormon this week!

Because we didn't have much going on this week we looked for some service opportunities and we found one! A former investigator named Earnest called and asked if we could help him "move some firewood". We drove out to the place he wanted us to meet him and we didn't see any firewood, just a forest. That was when he told us we were going to chop up some fallen trees with a chainsaw he brought. It was definitely an adventure. Earnest is a funny guy. It was really satisfying work and it was really fun actually, it almost made me want to be a lumberjack. He was very grateful for the help and he asked if he could somehow return the favor, so we told him if he came to church on Sunday we could call it good. He didn't come haha, he said he will next week though. Vi får se...

That was pretty much it. The only pictures i got were of some tanks that rolled up in front of the church one day    enjoy!

 

 

Uke 28: So Many Mormons in One Place!

YEET

We had Stake Conference this week and then splits with the Zone leaders right after so our mission president suggested we move P-day to today because we wouldnt be in Hamar until now. So thats why im writing today. On Sunday morning a member in our branch drove us down to Oslo for conference. Stake conference is a big deal in Norway because there are only two stakes, so half of the members in all of Norway come to Oslo to meet together. It was weird seeing that many mormons in one place... its been a while. It was super fun though seeing all those members and other missionaries.

After the conference we started splits so i went back to Lillestrøm with Elder Rumsey and it was a party! We spent a lot of time talking to people on the street and banking on doors. We met several awesome nice people who wanted to learn more, and a lady who told us we were satan and asked why we weren't wearing our "mormon hats". Narko-people always give you the best stories (:

After district meeting on Tuesday Elder Sadler and i drove up to Hamar, except we took a longer route so we could drive through Gran, which is where Elder Sadlers ancestors lived before moving to America. It was a really pretty place! And we found the church where his great great great something grandfather was baptized as an infant in the 1800s. We also checked out some other really old churches and found a viking gravestone.

Everything is going awesome here in Norway! I hope all of you are also having a lit time over there. HA DET BRA!!!!

Pictures:

767: Søsterkirkene I Gran

748: My companion in front of Gamle Tingelstad Kirke

770: Viking Gravestone (i dont speak that language but it says something along the lines of rest in peace, Aufi)

 

 

Uke 27: Amazing people!

Skal mi sjå!!

We almost had a investigator in church yesterday! We'll get him next time... Josef is definitely our most positive investigator right now. I cant remember if i have mentioned him before but hes a 17 year old boy from Eritrea. Hes super chill and has met with us a few times since Elder Sadler and i found him about a month ago. He has started reading the Book of Mormon and he likes it, and he tried to come to church yesterday but he has transportation issues. Its ok though we got time... We cant baptize him until the lake is unfrozen, anyway. JK were not getting our hopes up yet, but it is looking good with Josef, especially since we somehow found one of his friends while banking on doors this week and he was also interested in the church!

We had zone conference this week in Oslo which was awesome!!! Half of my MTC group was there so it was nice to see them again, along with many other awesome people that i have become friends with since I have come to Norway. I am thankful to be surrounded by such amazing people!!

Heres a picture of me with my MTC companion!

Have a great week yall! 

Uke 26: A Super Fanastic Week!

P-day: Elder Sadler and I discovered cross country sledding! We bought some cheap butt-sleds (I dont know if those are a thing in america, but you should try to get one for next winter because they are the best) and went to the nearby nature reserve. We walked along some little trails and found cool hills to sled down and it was quite rad. Also we went to Lillehammer which is a very koselig town an hour north of us where the winter Olympics were held in 1994. It was cool even though we got a parking ticket.

The rest of the week was awesome for missionary work! We met with Therese, a cool lady from Africa. Also we met with Anand, a bro from Nepal who is hindu but believes in Jesus. He told us about his belief that when Jesus was about 13-29 he lived in Tibet and studied with Buddhist monks and learned yoga. His theory isn't very well supported haha but I guess there's no doctrine against it that i know of, so I'm ok with it for now. Especially because he made us some amazing lentil soup. So we gained 2 new investigators this week and as a mission we got 35 this week which hasn't been done in over 3 years! 

Also on Saturday we drove to Snertingdal, which is up in the mountains 30 mins away from civilization. We visited the Nordli family there and it was awesome! We threw snowballs and talked and chilled for a long time. Their son in law was there visiting from Stavanger. He has the coolest dialect ever! It is a little like the one in Arendal but more rough sounding. I want to serve there at some point during my mission so i can learn the dialect!

Hope yall had a super fantastisk week! Ha det bra!

Uke 25: Happy Easter!

This week was awesome and very chill because it was Påske week! This means that all the Norwegians have the week off from work and they go spend it in their cabins out in the wilderness and go skiing! We dont get a vacation week as missionaries, but the fact there there was nobody left in town to talk to made it a very low key easy going week. We had lots of time on our hands, which we used to clean the apartment, organize records, get caught up on everything, and så videre.

We tried talking to people on the street on day but nobody was there. So we walked down by the beach and found that all the people who were not out of town for the week were chillin and walking and cross country skiing on the lake, because it was a beautiful sunny day. So Elder Sadler and I were inspired to join them. We wanted to walk across all the way to the big island in the middle but the occasional ice cracking sounds and rumbling under our feet made us decide to go back after we got about halfway there. We did not die. Blessings come to those who use some amount of good judgement (:

We had the opportunity to watch a few sessions of general conference in Norwegian yesterday and the day before! It was a great experience! Last time i watched general conference, it was at the MTC in a big room full of thousands of other missionaries. This time it was in a little room with 3 other awesome elderly Norwegian members who are very kind and grandparenty. Those 2 experiences so far in my life have been the best ways to watch conference! If you get the chance, i recommend it.

​​​​​​​Jit!

Uke 24: Festen På Mjøsis

GOD MORGEN DU!

Last p-day was 10/10. We had an appointment in Gjøvik (1.5 hour drive away) with a boy in high school named Trym. He was doing a school project on mormons and wanted to get his info from a credible source, so he referred himself to us from mormon.org. So we met him at the high school and taught him and answered questions for 1 or 2 hours and it was super chill. We were bros with him by the end. It was super fun but it reminded me that I'm glad to not be in high school anymore.  After that, we stopped by a 768 year old church on the way back, and i got to test drive the Nimbus 1250.

The rest of the week was awesome because it was sunny and the snow started melting! Nothing too exciting happened though.

The 3rd picture down below  is "Festen På Mjøsis". Having a festival with ice skating, cross country skiing, ice fishing, and food, on a huge frozen lake is very Norwegian so i wanted to share it with yall.

Ha det bra, og god påske!