Gutten min skal til Alta! (My Boy's Leavin' for Alta!)

Kjære alle sammen!

Looking back at the past week, I catch myself thinking "Wow, a whole week went by already." Then 3 minutes later I think "Man, it's only been a week? That was forever ago!" Yet again, the mission throws you a warped sense of time. Ahh, but "sånn er livet!" ("such is life!")

Sunday morning moves call came around - and Elder Schulz and I huddled around our phone in a conference call. Huge changes are happening in the Norway Mission right now - especially by the fact that 17 sisters just barely arrived in addition to only the 14 sisters currently serving. Some sister missionaries who have been out for only 3 weeks are now training the brand new arrivals! It's crazy! But very exciting for the Norway Mission!! Another change was that our mission of usually 3 zones (North, East and West) has now been split into 4 (North, East, West and Telemark, or in other words, Central/Southern). Thank goodness, too. The East zone has had a very unbalanced number of areas to take care of in comparison to the North and West. But there I went digressing about Norwegian mission organization . . . . I think it's cool and exciting. Man, I love this mission. But anyway.

The announcement came that "gutten min" ("my boy") Elder Schulz, who began his mission with me, will be leaving me! His next area of assignment will be the land of the midnight sun - Alta. Yes that's right, Elder Schulz will be the northernmost missionary in the entire world along with his new companion. I have a lot of mixed feelings regarding our transfer ending - I've come to really enjoy serving with him. He's taught me more lessons on being teachable, willing, humble and filled with faith than any other individual I've met on my mission. Not to mention his intensely thorough project on finding and developing every Christ-like attribute and their possible interconnections with one another. Regardless, however, of his questions and concerns, the answer will probably show up in the book of Hebrews (Sorry everyone, inside joke. Every time he gets a super cool idea or revelation - it always seems to stem from the book of Hebrews :P). Elder Schulz, I know you'll be reading this, so at least you'll get a kick out of that :). I'm going to miss him though. And I know it's going to continue to be an epic ride of a mission for him. Luckily for me, I can keep up on his blog oneldsteschulz.com!

As for more projects completed this week, on Friday, May 24th, Elder Schulz and I spoke no English to each other the entire day - 100% Norwegian. I've always wanted to achieve that goal - and it seemed that Elder Schulz was the only one brave enough to truly commit and accomplish it. We felt awesome afterward! Another project completed this week was our donation of multiple language copies of the Book of Mormon to the local library.

This is what happens when we have to go pick up our package of new copies of the Book of Mormon a few miles away. Hello sore shoulders.

Since Norway is such a mixture of cultures and languages from the entire world - making the Book of Mormon available to everyone in their languages will be a valuable resource for sparking interest in these foreigners.

This is what happens when we have to go pick up our package of new copies of the Book of Mormon a few miles away. Hello sore shoulders.

As for spiritual experiences this week, the family that came to church last week met with us. They come from a Buddhist, non-christian background, so approaching their lesson was very different from our usual run-of-the-mill lesson. The mother in the family is particularly spiritually sensitive: "When I read in the Book of Mormon, I feel enlightened as if someone is teaching me." After we explained our basic doctrines regarding God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, she understood that it was the Holy Ghost assisting her to understand the Book of Mormon. We also discussed the doctrine regarding eternal families, and how we can be eternally linked to our forefathers. This struck a deep chord in her as she began to express her closeness to her family and other relatives. I shared an experience about how sometimes I feel my grandfather nearby - who passed away 8 years ago. She turned to us and said "I can tell that your ancestors are helping you - you have a light with you as if someone is helping you." She is certainly a prepared, spiritually sensitive woman. It was also a testimony to me of the role of family history work and the Spirit of Elijah.

We all can feel an added measure of God's Spirit as we come closer to our families (1 Nephi 5:16-17). Try it out for yourself! https://familysearch.org/

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

P.S. Oh yeah, and here in Haugesund, Elder Callister will be joining me. He was in my district back in Oslo, as well as when I served in Tromsø. We go pretty far back - so we're excited to serve together!!