Monday, March 25, 2013

God Påske! (Happy Easter!)


 Haugesund after nightfall
Hallo!

Elder Schulz and I read in the white handbook this morning, as per tradition, but this time we replaced all of the "you"s with "ye"s and "your"s with "yon"s. Olden day English has never seemed so hysterical in my life.

This week rocked! Last P-day, we had dinner over at K.'s home (who was previously baptized in Stavanger, but is originally from and currently lives in Haugesund). We had a very pleasant time discussing his life, our missionary work and his personal efforts with missionary opportunities. New converts are on fire when it comes to desire to share the gospel! It was very inspiring and uplifting talking with him. For our spiritual thought, he ended up sharing his conversion story, which I'll try to paraphrase as best I can:

K. had been meeting with us for a good number of weeks by now, reading and praying, but not really showing a whole lot of progress. Once we got to the commandments, the Word of Wisdom caught his attention due to his habits of drinking alcohol socially and coffee nearly every morning. K., up to this point, had been suffering from insomnia, as well as some stomach pains for a few years now. Once we shared the Word of Wisdom, he was a little hesitant to try it. "Just try it for a week and see what happens" we encouraged him. A few days later, his work had a little "get-away" where alcohol and coffee was abundant and free of cost. He had nearly forgotten his commitment to hold the Word of Wisdom when right before he left his hotel room, he received a text. "Hey K.! How's it been going this week holding the Word of Wisdom so far?? - Elder Levine and Elder Johnson" In response: "It's been going fine so far - but now I'm off to a work party where there'll be free coffee and alcohol. I'll do my best to hold out - thanks for the reminder!" A few days later we met with him, and he hadn't broken the Word of Wisdom yet. Strangely to him, after a week, it made him feel a lot better than he had before. After two and a half weeks straight of holding the Word of Wisdom, his stomach pains, as well as insomnia had both miraculously disappeared! With such a powerful experience, K. began testifying to us of the divine law of the Word of Wisdom and how Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet in our day. Soon, K. will be married to J. in Stavanger, and they're both looking forward to marriage in the temple and deciding where they'll finally settle down - Haugesund or Stavanger. Very exciting!

One really neat thing about serving in Haugesund is that we take the "Hurtigbåt", or ferry, every week for district meetings down in Stavanger. 5 am boat rides are slightly miserable, but it's definitely worth actually seeing your district face to face (unlike the North). Elder Holden came back to Haugesund with me for splits. He arrived in Elder Schulz's group, so it was cool to see how another new missionary has handled the mission! In companionship study we read Preach my Gospel chapter 9's "Teach when you Find, Find when you Teach", which helped us refocus our methods of contacting and bonking. That night we went from door to door testifying of the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's call to be a prophet - and of God's love for us today through a prophet. Rarely has bonking ever felt so inspiring, despite what others might consider a return home with a "low-result" number-wise. We felt amazing.

Our Mission President has recently encouraged the missionaries to dig their roots deep into the Norwegian culture, and even recommended that we read some Norwegian fairytales. You don't have to tell us twice! Elder Schulz and I have made it a nightly tradition from 10:15-10:25 to read a Norwegian fairytale before bed. Trolls, billy goats, hags, princes, princesses, talking cursed polar bears, giants and rolling talking pancakes have been garnishing our dreams at night ever since. It's fascinating to imagine these characters in the local forests, mountains, bridges and waterfalls in our area. I feel like I am a part of the culture now - it's awesome!
 Prim and proper!
As well earlier this week, Elder Schulz and I took a bus up to the city Stord where a member family lives. Places I would want to live in Norway are 1) Stavanger 2) Bergen 3) Stord. This place was beautifully quaint - with a western-Norwegian feel. I loved it! The family hasn't come to church for a long time now, primarily due to lack of transportational means. The two boys there, in the early teens, really hit it off well with us. You know, from the beginning of your mission you always wonder what different things up to that point in your life has prepared you for your mission. These kids love to jump on the trampoline, do martial arts and play piano. If I could name the top three things I did as a kid, they were those exact three things. Needless to say, we got along extremely well and had a blast showing off/getting to know each other :P. The other hilarious thing was that they were begging their Mom, "Mom, please can we go to church! You promised we would go this year - please Mom!!" We were very excited to meet this family. We'll see how these go with them these upcoming busy weeks.

"Why yes, I do have the captain in me, thank you!"
Speaking of which, it's Easter! Happy Easter everybody. Hope you enjoy the pictures from our hike this morning. Yes, the yellow pants are in commemoration of Easter. Apparently pastelles aren't the color of Easter here in Norway - just yellow.

How blessed we are to know the true reason for the celebration of Easter - the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God be thanked for His Son Jesus Christ, and His triumph over the mortal predicaments of both sin and death.

God Påske!

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

p.s. Don't ever play Clue with people who don't speak your language, or know how to play the game. It just plain doesn't work.


 No snow, but tons of ice!