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