Gloppedalsura, Splits, Preikestolen, NRK, og Haugesund

Mine kjære!

Another extraordinary week in Stavanger. Man, I don't think this place could be any better for young 20 year olds to learn the role and effects of the gospel in a world-saturated environment. The Lord has taught us so very much this week!

Ahh, Agent Bitner staring off into the distance . . .

Early this week, a shipment of mini Preach My Gospels arrived - perfect for us to take in our backpacks for traveling-study time as well as for sit-down lessons. Preach My Gospel, in my opinion, is nigh unto the fifth standard work. It uses scriptural language, has been written and approved by apostles and prophets, and condenses and stream-lines the principles of the gospel so finely that it is basically condensed scripture. Before my mission; I'll be honest; it was a boring book to read through. I never got through a few pages, from the best I can remember. However. Just like scripture, it must be approached with prayer, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and read with real intent (meaning that you are willing to act on the revelation you WILL receive). Our Mission President paraphrased Elder Boyd K. Packer: "That book was written on the other side of the veil, and published on this side of the veil." (I really need a reference on that quote, sorry!). By doing those things, you will receive revelation to strengthen your testimony, and strengthen the testimonies of those around you. Remember, the best way to strengthen your testimony is to share it. Start missionary work NOW - and the fruits and joys of the gospel will come to you afresh.

We had a miracle happen recently! While sitting on a bus, one of the missionaries in our district felt like he should sit down next to this man. This man had a friend who was a member of the church, and was receptive to the invitation to learn the gospel, as well as attend our free Norwegian language classes. Since then, his family has begun investigating the church and they are well on their way to baptism in September! It is such a wonderful thing to have the Spirit slightly prompt you to sit next to and speak with someone. By opening our mouths, we can perform miracles http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/we-are-all-enlisted?lang=eng. 

Gloppedalsura!

Last P-day we took a little trip out to Gloppedalsura. 

Gloppedalsura stone!!

It was a large open area covered in giant rocks larger than houses!

Elder Levine in the Gloppedalsura forest!

God uses glaciers to make the most breathtaking landscapes.

Gloppedalsura fjord

We climbed up, down and all around in our proselyting clothes. It also happened to be a historical area where a face-off with the Nazis back in WWII happened. Anyway, WAY cool place. Elder Bitner's the mountain lion of the group. :P

Elder Bitner the mountain lion! (Or gazelle, that works too)

VALLEYS!!

We also took a trip up Preikestolen with a group of YSA.

The group on top of cloudy Preikestolen!

It should be called "people-stolen" because there's so many people. But it really is one of the most breathtaking views in all of Norway.Unfortunately, it was cloudy, rainy and windy on the top.

Cloudy cloudy cloudy.

So no view for us :(. We'll go up again in a few weeks on a sunny day :D

Epic, right?

G. and I :P   That nut.

After which we had another miracle! On our way back from Preikestolen, we had an appointment 10 minutes away. We made our way over there, hoping that the woman we had an appointment with remembered we were coming (for some strange reason she never picked up the phone . . . .). Once we got there, she was super pleasant and very willing to talk with us, she had just forgotten our appointment and didn't have time to invite us in then. Divinely inspired Elder Levine, then checked to see if the number we had for her really was hers. It was off by one digit. If we had not taken the time to go all the way out there, and meet with her, we probably would have never seen her again! Now we have an appointment set up in the city, and with good contact. Whew, the Lord works in wonderful, mysterious ways. And then get this: we bonked around her area for a while - and 3 out of the 5 houses we bonked into were positive and wanted us to come back again! Whoaa!! Honestly, Elder Levine and I ask ourselves frequently what we do to deserve these unexpected blessings. Stavanger is just an amazing place!

Elder Bitner and I went on splits this week. He's been out for a month, so we had a blast out in the

On the streets of Haugie - Mo style!

field with that "greenie-fire" he still has from the MTC. No seriously, people were stopping every few minutes to chat with us. That doesn't usually happen. We also are using the 12-week program, so we got to practical a LOT (Thank you Elder Passey, my trainer, for your many many hours of practicals to improve my stopping, and street-teaching skills!). We worked HARD that day. And found a lot of people willing to meet with us (miraculously, FAMILIES.)

Elder Linge, from Bergen, also came on splits with me this week! That was one of the best splits I've ever had - the craziest things seemed to happen the whole entire day. To start off, in the morning we were out contacting and then a man from NRK (the Norwegian BBC) was walking around talking with people from the street with a microphone. "Hey, Mormons, stop for a sec" "uhh Ok." And he began interviewing us all about how long we've been out, why we were here in Norway (of all places :P), and asked general questions regarding what life is like in the day of a missionary. We counted our blessings A LOT. The Lord really supported us during that interview and helped us speak the language and share the message to the country of Norway. The interviewer asked me at the end "OK, tell me a story about when you were out finding." Perfect. I told a story that actually happened many times in Mo i Rana when it was super dark, and no body was answering any doors. "After a good 2-3 hours of bonking on doors, sometimes you get discouraged. So I prayed to God that I would have the motivation, desire and strength to continue inviting His children to learn about the gospel. After closing my prayer, such a strong, warm feeling entered into my heart, granting patience, peace and love, I couldn't help but keep going!" I'm not sure when this will be aired on NRK - but when I find out I'll let you all know. However . . . none of you can speak Norwegian. Haha, oh well.

The Haugie sentrum - it was some holiday because the flags were up.

Another crazy thing that happened on that splits was when we bonked into a woman. She expressedconcerns about "how horrible the world was." and "How can God just leave us in this state of decay and not do anything" etc etc while also sharing her experiences with the Bible and so forth. A more perfect opportunity to share the message of the Restored Gospel, how God has re-established His church upon the earth through a living prophet, could not be more apparent! As we began sharing this wonderful news with her, she immediately said "well we have the Bible. That's enough." Confused at her logic we asked her "Do you believe that God could send another prophet to help us today?" "He sent Jesus Christ, and that's enough." We became very saddened because she had just expressed desire for God to reach out to us today, and when it was offered to her, she denied it! "All we do is invite others to find out for themselves by reading the Book of Mormon and praying to God to know if it's true." "No! I will not touch that book, and I mean it." "Have you read in this book, or even heard anything about it?" "No, now stop offering me that book." Elder Linge and I became so saddened at the state of this woman because she wouldn't even pray to God to know if this was a good thing. You can only learn spiritual truths by prayer. We had no idea what more to do to help her. We left, with the Spirit burning strongly in our hearts, but our spirits extremely saddened that she wouldn't even try.

Another way cool thing happened that night when, on our way home, we ran into this group of 5 Norwegian guys around 20 years old. "Hey! Come over here!" We both thought they were looking for trouble, but we were in the mood for some variation. They began asking us what we were doing, how long we had learned Norwegian. All norwegians are extremely impressed if you can speak their language. These guys were particularly flattering. This was an opportunity of a lifetime. So we asked them how we could improve our language to the point where we don't sound like Americans anymore. Right now, it's the "r". Oohf. The Norwegian "r" is very tricky for us Americans. Thankfully, I've got another year left to work on the "r". I'm hoping that by the end I can fool some Norwegians that I'm a Norwegian ;). I mean if the Lord's investing this much in me to help me learn a language, might as well take it all the way right? PMG Chapter 7 is some good stuff.

None of you remember those two kids in Mo i Rana who were almost baptized, right? Right. Well! Ireceived a call on Saturday that they had finally entered into the waters of baptism! I got to talk with them, and they said that they felt amazing. The ordinance of baptism opens the doors to heaven! This covenant provides us so much strength and peace, we cannot help but feel incredible. The Lord promises us remission of sins, a spiritual rebirth (a process for most, mind you), and His Spirit as long as we are worthy, if we take His name upon us, always remember Him and keep His commandments. Every law has a blessing attached to it - and these kids were being showered in blessings that day. I was almost jealous, but then I remembered that we can take the sacrament every week, renewing those covenants to fill us with spiritual, transformative power according to our reverence. 

"Then we need to establish the discipline to live faithful to our covenants, fully using the weekly gift of the sacrament. Many of us are not being regularly changed by its cleansing power because of our lack of reverence for this holy ordinance." - http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/converted-to-his-gospel-through-his-church?lang=eng

Elder Bitner and I then held splits again over the weekend for a trip to Haugesund. Ah I love that

The Haugesund church building. Very quaint and cozy :)

place. The members are gold. The people are kind, and the town so quaint. That branch really deserves to have full-time missionaries. We need more missionaries so that Haugesund can get full-time missionaries there! I am beginning to feel that burning desire for more missionaries that Elder Holland has been telling us about from the recent general conferences. We NEED more missionaries. The time to start preparing is NOW.

At the end of our splits, Elder Bitner stopped this way cool girl from Finn-Mark (hello nordkapp!). Recently I've been praying for the Christ-like attributes listed in D&C 4 (Ask and ye shall receive - the Lord is begging you to ask Him for these blessings!!), particularly charity. As we began talking with this girl, a Christ-like love entered into my heart and really desired to help her understand the joy, happiness and blessings that come from the gospel. Despite any testimony born, or Spirit felt, she said she felt comfortable and had no need to find God yet. "Don't you think if God has always existed, does and always will exist, it would be important to find Him??" "Nah, I don't really see any need." I wanted to crumble inside. "By reading, praying and coming to church you can find Him. You can receive answers from God for your life and daily struggles." She walked away with only a card in her hand, with the mormon.org website just begging to be looked up. I hope she finds her answers. I also hope I can serve in Alta so I can go and talk with her again. 

This is exactly how Christ is with each one of us. He begs for us to pray, be obedient and apply His atonement. The price of our weaknesses, pains and sins have already been paid for. But are we willing to humble ourselves enough and apply that atonement so that our hearts will be changed, prepared to enter into God's presence? 

I know my answer, but do you want to come, too?

Ferry ride back from Preikestolen!

Those Norwegian skies - I tell ya.

Ferries - another method of transportation in Norway!

Levitating ties to boot! (or Elder Levine's caption "Levitating
tie smacks unsuspecting missionary in the face!"

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

Månafossen, Kristiansand & Kontakting!

A project I do at every one of my areas.

This is a project I do at every one of my areas. Since Norway is a very international country, I find the local library's other language sections, and provide copies of the Book of Mormon in each language for that library. And of course tape in a pass-along card in the back. Consider Mo i Rana and Stavanger taken care of!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heisann alle dere!!

Man, I feel like I'm on top of the world right now. Life is awesome! The gospel works! And God makes everything possible! All we usually need is a big reality and perspective check. Thank goodness for the Holy Ghost - that's exactly His job!

Well, last week after emails we drove out to Månafossen.Apparently it's one of the largest waterfalls in Norway, but don't quote me on that. What defines what a large waterfall is anyway? Amount of water? Width? Heighth? I don't know. But regardless, the trip was fun, the hike short and intense (classic Norway!), and the waterfall gorgeous.

Månafossen!

On the way up to Månafossen. Gotta love me some Norwegian valleys.

The Månafossen trail!

Blue Steel and Månafossen ;)

Rainbow! It reminds me of Rainbow Falls in Mammoth :)

My hot companion Elder Levine :P

Throughout the week we had a few dinners at a few families' homes. Stavanger ward has the greatest amount of American families in it out of all the wards in Norway. So we get fed. And we get fed well. One family made us her mission-wide famous Cafe Rio pulled pork. MMM. 

A funny experience at the other family's home began when we arrived a little too early, so dinner wasn't quite ready. So we decided to go out and bonk on some doors. After 3 blanks, we finally ran into this nice Norwegian guy around our age. After explaining the Book of Mormon to him he said "yeah sure! Come on in." After teaching him for a few minutes, he was blown away at the fact that we believe in a living prophet. "Really? A prophet? Alive today??" "Yup, and he speaks in behalf of God for the whole entire world." "I don't believe it." he said. "Well, we'll prove it." was our reply. He soon gave us the keyboard to his giant home theater/computer set-up. Before he knew it, we were listening to President Thomas S. Monson's Sunday morning address "The Race of Life" http://www.lds.org/generalconference/2012/04/

the-race-of-life?lang=eng&media=video. The Spirit filled the room, and we discussed the importance of a living prophet. What a great experience! I also highly recommend having President Monson as a teaching companion :P. But unfortunately, we arrived at our previous dinner appointment quite a bit later than expected. Woops!

On Friday we held splits with Kristiansand - and boy was that amazing! I learned an exCEEDINGLY great amount from Elder Bird! Just different ways to study as a companionship, apply practicals to our studies as well as studying the language. And also organizing an apartment, but that's another story for later.

Train-ride to Kristiansand. Gorgeous!

Can you imagine living in one of these houses with the mountainous regious about you? AH!

Kristiansand is a town built for missionary work. It's not too big, so that people still aren't in a rush and will openly talk with you. And it's not too small, so there's still plenty of people to talk to throughout the day, even until 8 pm! Did I mention the Kristiansand dialect is delicious? The southern dialect is so smooth, squishy and lovable. I even ran into a few fellow Danes (thank you, family heritage!). Our focus on the splits was on teaching people, not lessons and delivering good, applicable commitments. Man, I learned a ton. As well, the 3 hour train ride is some great time to write in your journal and think (of course, after trying to speak to your local Norwegian sitting right next to you. But, to be honest, that's not very common early in the mornings.).

Sadly, the train-ride back was really rainy and cloudy. But you have to have some rain for the beauty, y'know?

As of a week ago we've finally begun trying some experimental contacting. The Book of Mormon 5 minute teach has been hit over the head for over a year now, and people are just turned off by the book right away. Especially in Stavanger (we've had some very good, skilled missionaries at contacting here in Stavanger). So we've decided to take a different approach. Instead, we are contacting people with "Finding Faith in Christ" and "The Restoration" DVDs. They work very well, mainly because the victim isn't having a blue book shoved down their throat. Even better, halfway through the DVD contact, we mention and explain the Book of Mormon anyway, so we get the best of both worlds! Always make contacting light and fun. Some of my favorite contacts are "Hey, have you heard of Jesus Christ?" "Uhh, of course." "Well do you have faith in Him?" "No!" "Well, why not??" and take it from there. Or stopping random people with musical instruments asking them to play for me right then and there. I've realized how much Garrett has gotten into me :P. My all-time favorite, though, is "Do you pray?" and depending on the answer I usually follow up with "Well do you get answers?" and blatantly respond with an exasperated "Why not??" and begin explaining how God loves us, His children, so very much that He wants to answer our prayers. But He won't answer us unless we're willing to listen, and willing to act on the answer ("sincere heart and desire" Moroni 10:3-5). Why else would God have His most-likely favorite phrase scattered throughout our Standard Works? "Ask and ye shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened unto you." 

Do you really believe He MEANT that when He inspired His prophets to write that down?

Of course He did. 

God DOES answer prayers. And He loves us so much that He doesn't always give us the answer right away. Sometimes we grow more; sometimes what WE desire isn't always the most important; and sometimes the Lord's plan is so fine and wonderful we can't comprehend it quite yet. Just be patient, with an open ear and heart. 

We're all walking an agency-based pathway to something far greater and incomprehensibly extraordinary than we can possibly conceive. 

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

Locally picked lettuce and apple. Jarlsberg Norwegian cheese. And some lunchmeat. mmmm. Why didn't I go to weekly saturday farmer's markets before??

Nye Opplæringsmøter, Dalsnuten og Perfeksjonisme (New Training Meetings, Dalsnuten and Perfectionism :P)

God dag!

Well! This past week was crazy for a few reasons.

Due to the new training program initiated by our new mission president this month, we had two different training meetings to attend this week. One in Stavanger, and another in Bergen (my ol' greenie romping grounds!)! The training theme for this month is "Our Purpose as Missionaries" from Preach My Gospel chapter one. The training put on by the Zone Leaders consisted of the "Power and Authority of Our Call" which went into great detail regarding how through hope (a vision) and faith (belief and action), we can teach with power and authority. Jacob 4:6-7, Helaman 10:4-5 and Alma 17:2-3 were shared, along with some spiritual application. The best part, however, was the three new converts (in each area respectively) who shared their testimonies of missionary work and how their missionaries taught with power and authority. It was a powerful meeting! A practical where the missionaries taught the new converts soon followed, which turned out wonderfully. The missionary couple in Bergen provided some snacks for us all. Oh how I forget how spoiled us missionaries were in Bergen :D. I also forgot how mountainous and beautiful that city is.

Funny story: after the little training meeting, we took some time out on the streets. We took the city tram (Bybane) into the city, and my new missionary thoughts and feelings rushed back to me seeing the familiar streets, sounds and smells go by. My adrenaline was pumping by the end of the track, because I knew we'd start getting on the streets to talk with people! Except this time, I can understand them! Haha. What a trip down memory lane!

One Wednesday, we met up with some investigators who wanted to take us on a hike. So we hiked up Dalsnuten, a cute little hike that is short but intense (that seems to be the pattern here in Norway, short but intense).

The group!

On the way to the top of Dalsnuten

Our group at the first resting point *whew!*

Dalsnuten is the highest point in the Stavanger and Sandnes region. It was SO pretty at the top! You could see past the cities, on toward the ocean on the other side.

Our resting camp on the top!

View from the top of Dalsnuten

Our resting camp on the top!

Sandnes kebab

We had such a great time with investigators, new converts and a group of missionaries :]. We are so spoiled here in the west!! After the hike we got a Sandnes kebab. It's good for the west, but that's not saying much.

On Friday we took a new convert with us on contacting splits, getting tips and pointers as to stop people and really help them feel comfortable (because for some reason a white shirt, tie, tag and blue book scares the hay out of people!). It was way helpful. After which, we went bonking, and Elder Williams and I bonked on three doors in a row and got three teaches in a row! What a miracle! The Lord does prepare people to hear the message :D.

Speaking of Elder Williams, he left on Saturday night for Sandvika. So for lunch that day a new convert made us real burmese food. Oh my goodness, I haven't had spicy food for a long long time (Norwegians can't take any amount of spicy). The sisters warned us to take a heart-burn pill before hand. But it was SOO good! And cleaned out my sinuses and everything!

Spicy Burmese food and my bulging belly ;)

Elder Williams sure got close with the members here in Stavanger, so him leaving is a blow to the ward :(. We'll miss him, that's for sure.

Since then, we've started rebalancing how to work in a twosome instead of a threesome. You can never fully appreciate somebody, but an absence of somebody sure makes you appreciate them more! We planned, reevaluated and rebalanced how we want to perform the Lord's will while here in Stavanger. There are so many good things that we can do, but the prioritization of these good things is rather tricky. I want to be able to perform the work here perfectly, but I'm not sure if that's possible with all of the things we could be doing! *sigh*. Our weaknesses and difficulties are great, but we know that the Lord is on our side. We'll work our smartest and hardest, and He'll make up the difference!

One thing that we've been working on as a mission is turning street contacts and investigators into progressing investigators. That's something I've been thinking about a lot, and Preach My Gospel explains how we, as missionaries, must know take into account what an investigator must know, feel and do because of our teaching. That is a difficult job, but by the power of the Holy Ghost we can know the truthfulness of all things (Moroni 10:5). The Holy Ghost IS the source to lead us to all truth. And it is by baptism that we can receive the extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost.

This gospel changes lives - and mine every day!

These first three pictures are of an RM from England who cut his hair in the popular Scandinavian style.

Look how hot it is!

I love bein' a goof-ball once in a while, what can I say

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

Haugesund, Kjerag og Mye Til (and much more)

Raspberries and Åkrefjorden!

Me and Åkrefjorden

Heleisen alle dere!

To start off, I will express my gratitude for the direction of our modern-day prophets to have us be a record-keeping people. With everything that has happened the past two weeks, I would hardly be able to recall only a handful of things if it had not been for the records that have been kept. On the other hand, we have a dilemma of time and me writing this email. We'll see how far I can get :D.

Us Elders here in Stavanger cover the Haugesund area. Haugesund usually has missionaries, but for reasons not reasonably explainable, they do not at this time. Elder Williams and I took a ferry, and enjoyed the scenic view :).

View off of the bridge in Haugesund

The western part of Norway is really the most scenic in my opinion. We even had a few minutes to think to and from Haugesund. It was also where my MTC companion served as a new missionary - there's just a whole bunch of connections I have to this place. It was beautiful and a wonderful experience!

We strengthened the members there as best we could by driving around with the Branch President to some less-active families. It is tough to be a member in Norway - particularly because of the distances people live away from each other. The Branch President here is a rock-solid member from Finland. I am blown away at his example and faithfulness despite the trials set before him. That is a testimony to me of the importance of daily and family prayer, scripture study and church attendance! His whole family was really sweet too :). After visiting with him, we took a member out to dinner at Egon's (a common pizza restaurant in Norway). We all had a blast!

On Sunday, we administered the sacrament and gave talks in Church. Ahh, it brought back memories of Mo i Rana all over again. And yet, the members are faithful through and through just like Mo. After our meeting, we had some time before our return ferry back to Stavanger, so our Branch President wanted to talk over a few things and drive us to a waterfall in the area.

A 7.4 km tunnel to Langfossen

Elder Williams and I at Langfossen :)

Langfossen is the widest and most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen! Wild raspberries were also

Raspberries and Åkrefjorden!

around the waterfall. Yes, they were delicious.

P-Day came around, and we decided to hike Kjerag.Many people told us it was closed; other people (and the weather) said it would rain. But we took the 2 hour drive anyway, listening to General Conference in Norwegian (personal, companionship, and language study all in one!! ;). We also seriously prayed that it would not rain while we were there. Once we arrived, the clouds were large and ominous. The view off of Øygardstøl (a viewpoint, and trailhead for Kjerag) down the Lysefjord was stunning.

The hike was 10k round-trip and worth every step - chain railings and all!

The trail up Kjerag

We even had a snowy trail at the very top, protected by the shadows of the cracks of the mountain.

Snowy trail!

The Stavanger District (the sisters couldn't make it :( )

Avast! A sheep!

That's Øygardstøl (the look off point we were at).

It was an absolutely extraordinary experience! Once we arrived back at our car, we had to drive the 27 hairpin road

The 27 hairpin turns

The 27 hairpin turns on our GPS :P

                                                                                 down to the bottom of Lysefjorden, just to say the we did it. And we were extremely grateful we did -because the feeling of being at the very bottom of a gigantic fjord with jutting mountain-sides thousands of meters above you is one irreplaceable feeling :D. After the drive home, we were so exhausted and out of time for emails, we could only take a few minutes to write a quick note. That's why we couldn't email last week.

Lysefjorden. Pictures don't do justice. Period.

During the next week we had a meeting with the Mission President regarding how the whole mission will be trained. From the Mission President down to the individual companionship is a monthly theme that we will focus on - general enough for the whole mission, but will be boiled down and specific enough down to the individual companionship. We're super excited for it - the only trick is to implement it. A mission has so many different facets to it. And each facet can be experienced in so many different ways - I feel like the past two months I've learned from more facets than I have my whole mission. From leadership experience, to getting along with your companion. From finding people on the street, to building strong relationships with members. And now we're going through this transformative phase with our new Mission President - we are in for an experience that is completely unprecedented! I am so grateful to be a part of this, despite the daily rough patches. Looking back, I hardly remember the rough parts. The good parts are packaged away to be relived again and again :). Two years serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and our fellow brothers and sisters is truly the best gift God can give to a 19 year old kid. It's tougher than everything else I've experienced, but it is more valuable to me than anything I could possibly possess.

Our Lord and Savior lives. He redeemed us from the terrible effects of sin and weakness. We can take advantage of this redemption by remembering the Christ. Alma 33:20-22 (thank you for the reference, Mom!). Remember that it is by small and simple things that the salvation of souls is brought to pass. Alma 37:5-7. There are no big decisions in life. By focusing on the small, everyday decisions, the big decisions are either taken care of, or our Heavenly Father will see us through it. It is up to us to counsel with Him regarding His will and plan for us by reading the scriptures, praying and attending church. And this plan is the key to true happiness. I've tried it myself.

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

P.S. Thank you Tanner and Christine for your emails - I am extremely appreciative despite my inability to respond or express myself!