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| Flowers outside the domkirke commemorating July 22. |
So much has happened since last week. Chronological tactics to the rescue!
I
can't believe it, but it was a week ago that the Oslo Elders got
together to clean up the church. It was a great opportunity to serve our
members while all of them are gone on vacation! That is part of the
Norwegian culture - gone for the whole summer to their cabin/other parts
of the country/and even trips to other countries like America and
Italy. Norwegians LOVE to travel.
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| City Bikes - mode 1 of transportation in Oslo |
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Trikken (the tram) - mode 2 of transportation in Oslo
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That next day was our day filled with appointments
from 11am until 8:30 pm. The day started off wonderfully by running into
two scantily clad young Norwegians outside of the YSA Center's gate
handing us copies of the "Vakttårn". Got to love our fellow
on-the-street Jehovah's Witness missionaries! Apparently they had never
heard of our Church, or the Book of Mormon, so we told them all about
it! Our referral showed up around this time (who happened to be a
younger girl as well), so we invited them all into the Center to give
them the grand tour! We showed them around, and they met a few of the
other missionaries, and ended up discussing basic doctrines. Yes, we DO
believe in an after-life, because of Jesus Christ's wonderful gift of
the resurrection performed for all of us, regardless of what we have
done in this life. As well, we also believe that the Bible is not
perfect as we have it today. It was perfect as it was written by the
hands of the prophets and apostles onto their letters and books; since
then, the Bible has been compiled without inspiration (Constantine and the Council of Nicea in 325 AD), and has been translated and copied over
and over again by hand until the basic printing press came out in 1450
AD. Thereby, many mistakes and misinterpretations have seeped into the
Bible we have today. It is not perfect. God didn't take away man's
choice by forcing man to perfectly preserve the Bible. Otherwise, in 1
Chronicles 29:29 why didn't God protect these books of other famous and
well-known prophets?
I hate Bible bashing - but if people ask, I cannot hold myself from explaining.
The
A. family had us over for dinner, yet another time :). I became really
close with that family - I love 'em so much! Don't worry, I used this
picture with permission. Notice Brother A. and his hands - he was
emphasizing the fact that the blueberries in our dessert were
HAND-PICKED by THESE HANDS. Hehe - I am so excited to meet up with them
again in the future :)
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| The A. family *used with permission!* |
After that exhausting, yet amazing full day of
lessons, we held transfers on Wednesday. We got 6 new missionaries, 4
Elders and 2 Sisters. I took Elder Burt out on his first contacting
session in the big city of Oslo. I am so impressed with these new
missionaries! They can speak the language extremely well - get the
message across and commit them to act on it. It really got the new
missionary fire back into me - just in time to move to Stavanger.
On the way to Stavanger, I got to chat with a few of
the new missionaries, and even take one with me on the plane to the
west! Elder Bitner is here with us in our cozy 5 man apartment being
trained by Elder Earl. They're working in the city just south of
Stavanger, Sandnes. Half of our members are from Sandnes - so they were
ecstatic to have their own missionaries! Elder Bitner and I chatted, and
I gave him his first raisin bolle in Norway. Ahh, such honors for a
fellow missionary buddy :P!
As I said, we're in a 5 man apartment. The Sandnes
Elders I've already described, so that means that I am now in a
threesome for the next three weeks :D. Elders Williams (from my MTC
group) and Levine are with me here in Stavanger. I can't believe I
haven't gotten a threesome picture yet - but there will be plenty soon
enough.
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| Elder Williams and I by Breiavatnet (right by our apartment). I'll get a threesome pic soon, I promise! |
Working in a threesome is pretty great for contacting and
cleaning up area books (and boy do we need help with that). However,
teaching in a threesome is quite difficult because we are all trying to
adapt to two different teaching styles instead of just one other
teaching style. We're workin' it though.
On top of us 5, we also have 2 sister missionaries
with us. That makes a total of 7 missionaries for theStavanger ward.
That sure surprised and motivated to get missionary work fired up here
in the west. So awesome!
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| My previous District Leader Elder Vanderhooft was in the Stavanger apartment, and was writing up different miracles that happened in his mission. I was a part of one of them :P |
Our area book has been neglected for the past year,
and hardly any records since then. Wow. Note to all missionaries and
future missionaries: how can you expect the Lord to bless you with
contacts, investigators and converts if you're not giving your full-out
best in the area you're serving in?? Your potential is extremely limited
if you do not use your area book wisely. We'll be organizing and
calling through all the formers and making the book nice and pretty for
the next set of missionaries who come here. Missionary work covers
aspects of quite a few jobs: secretary, telemarketer, street salesman,
therapist, etc etc :P
Stavanger is amazing! I have not been so warmly
welcomed into a ward than I have been here - it makes me feel like a
million bucks!
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| The view out of a member's window! |
My mind was bursting at the seams trying to remember
everyone's names on the first day. Good thing I wrote them all down.
Whew - it ain't easy bein' a missionary. We've also basically got our
own Filipino branch here - we love them to death! They are such
rock-stars - especially when it comes to missionary work. One filipino
is also a huge dancer. I have a feeling my years of folk dancing and
ballroom will be coming in handy there . . ..
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| Our awesome Filipinos :D |
We also cover the town Haugesund while we're here in
Stavanger. We don't have enough missionaries to hold that town open, so
we're covering it. Just a two hour ferry ride away. I'm so excited to
see the members there where my MTC companion Elder Knudson was trained.
As a threesome we're also able to plan extremely
thoroughly. We have our P-days planned for the next 4 weeks, weather
permitting. It rains a lot here, a bit less than Bergen. Prekkestuen,
Kjerag, Trolltunga, Hardanger Fjord - we have many many hikes and
museums on our horizon. I'm so STOKED!
That phrase was extremely American. Speaking of
which, we have many American families here in our ward. One of them had
us over for dinner. Haha, I forgot how Americans act. That was a rush of
memories for sure.
I'm running out of time on my library time limit, so I'll end with this:
I
have set a goal to finish every personal and companionship activity in
Preach My Gospel before the end of my mission. That book is amazingly
inspired by our Heavenly Father. It can bring the Spirit quickly and
powerfully when used correctly. Those study ideas I highly recommend for
everyone in their personal study (in or outside the mission).
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| Outside companionship studies :D |
Do it,
you won't regret it and you'll learn amazing things while you're at it.
The Holy Ghost truly is the best teacher!.
I love you all!
-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson
P.S. Please send EFY 2012 as soon as possible!
P.S.S.
Garrett, I got your letter the day before I left for Stavanger. Rest at
ease, buddy ol' pal. I'll respond in due time (probably next week
because today's crammed full)
P.S.S.S. Eric, I'm writing yours too, don't worry :P.
