Let the Lord Help You‏

Hey everybody!

Do you all have your Christmas decorations up yet? We do! Hopefully you all can see the picture I've

The extent of our Christmas decorations :)

included. Norwegian Christmas decorating is as follows: green leafy shrubs and trees covered in big white lights, garnished with little red gnomes. It's quite beautiful, really! They also all have these Hanukkah-looking lights that they have in their windowsills. I'm really grateful because it makes late-night bonking rather entertaining :).

Earlier this week I was able to take a train northward up to Bodø on splits! To describe the mid-journey scenery in one word: Hoth (the planet from Star Wars). Except darker. However Bodø was a very pleasant place! I was able to work with Elders Isaksen and Tedrow and really improve my abilities talking to people and having fun while working! Elder Isaksen is heading down to Puerto Rico pretty soon, so I was very grateful to work with a true Norwegian for a day! Especially the first Norwegian Elder to go and serve Spanish-speaking!

Johnson & Olsen, Mo i Rana's missionaries! yeeaiah!

This past week I've really learned that it is absolutely essential to have fun while you are on your mission. Whether it's walking in a really straight line, telling crazy life stories to your companion or just laughing about otherwise strange occurrences, all are necessary to work better in your mission. So don't forget to have fun! And chocolate helps. I have finally figured out why Norwegian chocolate is so good: because what else is going to keep them going when it's so dark?!

One interesting thing I learned this past week was from Elder Vanderhooft. He quotes C.S. Lewis pretty much every week, and I love it. C.S. Lewis is one of my heroes. The quote was about repentance. When we repent, are we facing up to the fact that we sinned and we're giving that over to the Lord, or are we trying to rationalize the sin and make excuses so it seems not as bad as it was? Because honestly, making rationalizations and excuses is really a waste of time. Instead, clearly admitting and restituting the sin and giving it to the Lord is repentance. And therefore, once we have done all we can (rationalizations and excuses aside), the Lord forgives us and is willing to comfort us. And then a thought struck me: "But are we allowing ourselves to be forgiven and comforted?" Many times we make mistakes and hold ourselves to them "oh look, I made a mistake, I'm a bad person." But after you repent, the Lord remembers it no more, and we cannot allow that mistake to bother us in terms of our goodness and worthiness. You are whole again! The quote really opened up my mind on how much the Lord is willing to comfort us if we just open our hearts and minds to Him. C.S. Lewis is the man!

Andrew and I in his hybel!

Investigators: My Mom requested I include more information regarding my investigators. I will do my best! We have been teaching Andrew - he is the man! I've never met anyone, especially this young, especially in Norway of all places, have so much faith in Jesus Christ. It's astounding to me! He's a wonderful guy who just ate up the Book of Mormon. That was a really neat experience. We're continuing to meet up with him and bring him closer to Christ through the message of the Restoration! We have also been teaching Elizabeth who has always been friends with the missionaries. Only very recently has Mo i Rana been opened up to missionaries again, so we found her and she is interested in learning more. The Lord has blessed us enormously here in Mo i Rana :D.

So everything is going great here! The Lord is building us immensely here, as well as building the church here in Mo i Rana! I hope you're all doing great as well. Take some time to study the Christmas stories from the scriptures - that is where the true Spirit of Christmas can be felt. I love you all, keep up the good work!

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson