Hei!
It was Father's Day on Sunday, right? The thought
just occurred to me that I may be completely off. Haha. Regardless,
happy Father's Day all you awesome fathers out there! Including my own,
as well as my awesome brothers :). You are all great examples to me of
fathers who provide, protect, preside and play with your families. Those
are the 4 P's of fatherhood - don't any of you forget 'em!
Last week after emails we took a little hike up to a
lake near Sognsvann.
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| The lake |
And we found a BAT! It was lying on the ground. It
made me really sad. So I took a picture of it.
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| The bat! |
It reminded me of
Carissa and Tommy's cool stories hiking in the mountain ranges of
Northern Utah studying bats. Quickly after reminiscing a few moments, it
flew right off over the lake. And I was sad no longer. After which we
made it to a nice rock, and set up camp with our one-time grills, hot
dogs and Fantas. Mmm. We even had Doncho join us - our fellow Bulgarian
friend who happens to know Tim Hope from the Meadowview ward back home!
Cool stuff! We had a wonderful time.
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| Our awesome Oslo District - and Doncho :) |
Once we arrived back at the center, Vere (the other
Elders' investigator) told us he was leaving back home for Ecuador. I
really hope Elder Putnam can find him there in Ecuador! He is a man with
a strong testimony of the eternal truths he has found!
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| Godfrey, Vere and I! |
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| Elder Heimdal and I! |
The next day was splits with Skien! Elder Heimdal
from Iceland joined me for a day! We had a simply wonderful time tearin'
up the streets of Oslo. We were even referred to an Icelandic woman to
go and share the gospel with! What a cool experience sharing the
gospel in Icelandic! I could even understand two or three words!
A., our new convert joined us for a rockin' dinner
at a member's home. They are vegans. I never thought cauliflower,
avocado and water soup could taste so good! Dessert consisted of
rhubarb, agave, apples and pears. The dinner reminded me very much of my
Mom's vegetable nights - where we ate nothing except 7 different kinds
of vegetables. Elder Godfrey's bowels suffered, but mine have been
well-seasoned over many years of exposure :D.
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| Knekkebrød and my favorite tie! (Not Vegan) |
Speaking of A. and B., they both brought friends to
church - weeks after they had been baptized! That is how missionary work
is done, my friends! Please follow the example of these awesome people,
and bring friends to church!
On Friday, we had our final Zone Conference with
President Johansen. He shared with us his final, departure interview
advice for missionaries headed home. That was a very powerful talk -
I'll send it to my parents. Everyone else survived through our
presentations - and our provided lunch. Zone Conference turned out
pretty well by the end!
On Saturday we had a baptism for R.. Elder
Vanderhooft (my old District Leader from Bodø!) flew down to baptize
her. She didn't want it to be a big meeting, so we had a small get
together for her baptism. That was one of the most powerful baptismal
meetings I've attended.
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| The small baptismal meeting for R.! |
As she explained it (and I paraphrase): "I was
super nervous, and then I went under the water and it seriously hurt! I
felt like I was under there forever! But then I felt this stream of
electricity rush through the center of my body and I felt lighter than I
ever have in my life. I was so shocked that I walked out of the
baptismal font and just cried because I felt so good. Light, airy and
soft are only a few of the words I can use to describe my feelings. I
didn't expect the baptism to actually affect me physically!" She has a
sound understanding of this gospel, and it was a delight to see her make
that first step on the way back to our Father in Heaven and exaltation.
And then it was church, we planned and slept and now
here I am writing my email to you all. Haha, I feel so strange writing
these emails. I can't describe the feelings that exist while on a
mission - it's just a rush of ups and downs, highs and lows, and every
little color and texture in between. These two years are surely the best
two years for the rest of my life - my life is forever changed and held
in perspective because of the experiences I have had here!
The true gospel of Jesus Christ is restored. Our
Heavenly Father has called the Prophet Thomas S. Monson to lead and
guide this living church under His (God's) own hand, just as He (God)
has done throughout the history of the world. And I get to tell the
country of Norway all about it. I love you, Norway!
-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson
