Tuesday, August 28, 2012

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. 

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