Monday, July 16, 2012

Tilbake til Vestlandet (Return to the West)


Hallo ja! (Mmm. Oslo dialect.)

Oslo is such a crazy place! Last week we had kind of a downer week - and now this place is absolutely bursting at the seams. Tomorrow we have appointments from 11 am until 8 pm the whole entire day. Can you believe that? And that's in NORWAY. The Lord is doing His part in this work :D. I suppose that's just a part of being in Oslo - missionary work can drastically fluctuate relatively easily!

Last P-Day we took a lunch at TGI Friday's and got a good American burger. Mmm. I remember my
TGI's!
brother Christiaan correcting my childish, unvaried choice of food when we ate out:  "Look, if you're at an Italian restaurant, you get Italian food. If you're at a Mexican restaurant, get Mexican food." Well, sorry bro, but I'm in Norway and I'm eating an American burger. Haha. But that brings me to the point that traditional Norwegian food is really dying out. The only people that make you traditional food would be the older generation. Typically for member dinners we have burritos or lasagne (the all-infamous missionary lasagne dinners :P). And traditional Norwegian food really isn't varied in and of itself: kjøttkaker/kjøttboller, potatoes, tyttebær, and maybe some cauliflower. Then for Christmas you typically have lutefisk, ribber, pinnekjøtt, and a few other meats. There's really not much variation!
Bad advertising.
 




One thing I've noticed about Norwegian advertising - is that it is rather deceiving. I've seen more than a few advertisements for loans or credit cards basically saying: "Hey! You want to enjoy life? Get a loan and party it up!" or "You really want to buy something? Get a credit card today!" Which is extremely dangerous. We've met many people whose lives have been ruined because they did get a loan or a credit card and now they can't pay it back. Not even to mention the interest!                                                    
The Lord has counseled us very much regarding avoiding debt and becoming financial
self-reliant. http://www.lds.org/pages/provident-living?lang=eng Please be very very careful with those kinds of things.

Wow, that was very strange saying please. "Please" does not exist in the Norwegian language.














On Tuesday, our Bulgarian buddy Doncho invited us over for a proper Bulgarian meal! Very salty and very meaty. 
Bulgarian salted meats and strong cheeses!
They even had feta cheese in the salad and I liked it (that one's for you, Mom :P).
Bulgarian salad with delicious feta!
After which, Doncho played the Bulgarian bagpipes for us! Epic stuff! Garrett, you would have been proud! It also came together that bagpipe bags are commonly made out of sheep skins. The head and legs being the openings for the instrument. I had never made that connection before.
The Bulgarian sheep bagpipe
But the greatest part of our whole visit, was his friend A. decided to join us for the lunch, and we were able to hold a spiritual thought - AND receive a new investigator :D. Double win for the Lord!

I was talking with Elder Poulson in our district about molecular biology stuff (he'll be back home studying that in a few short months). Man, I can hardly remember a thing. I got all excited explaining it all, but my memory is failing me. I love it in any case, but investing in the Lord here and now is most worth it :). I wouldn't trade where I am right now for the world!

Let it be known to the ends of the earth that we, here in Oslo, received referrals from Church Headquarters. A family in Idaho had an exchange student attend church with them for 10 months - and we were just the follow up crew once he returned home to continue inviting him :). It turns out his mother is the leader in their local congregation, so we didn't get super far. But that doesn't matter quite as much as just plain inviting to take part of the Restored Gospel :). And boy did we invite to our last parting moment . . . . Another referral we received was to this 23 year old who had been searching for the truth on the internet, and ordered a free Book of Mormon and missionary visit. This man is golden! We are so pumped. The internet is an extremely powerful gospel-sharing tool. Please do your part in making it a force for good :D.

Yesterday was quite a special experience. Our recent convert, A., passed the sacrament for his first time! That was so cool! And the other priests busted out their iPads to show him the routes in the chapel of where to go. Haha, back in MY day we used paper and pencil!

Our rockin' Bishop also invited us over for dinner. Preach My Gospel is completely right when it says that the bishop is your #1 ally. He can give you names of people to go and visit, help and exactly what you can do. He's also very good at suggesting places to find, as well as ways to help warm up others to hear about the gospel. Use your bishop and your members! That's really what I'll be focusing on this next half of my mission.

Moves call came around (6:45 am conference call to all of the missionaries in Norway), and I am being sent to Stavanger this Wednesday! Stavanger is the 3rd largest town in Norway (Oslo, Bergen then Stavanger), and it is really booming with the oil industry. It is quite a ways south of Bergen - but on the West coast nonetheless. It will be wonderful to return to the westland and actually be able to understand them :D. And Stavanger has a gnarly dialect. Elder Torjesen will be replacing me here in Oslo (I love that man!) so he'll be able to take care of the sudden burst of awesomeness we've received here. The Lord is in this work!

Here's my new address:

Smedgate 7
4013 Stavanger
Norway


The things I'll miss most about Oslo will be a few families and converts I've become close with, the contacting paradise, as well as the amount of teaching you can do here.
Our final Oslo District Meeting

One of the best revelations I received this past week was regarding goals. M. Russell Ballard states in Preach My Gospel (paraphrased) that if we do not master the principle of setting, working toward and achieving goals, we can end up at the end of our lives disappointed and unsatisfied at the small amount of your potential you have actually reached. Through goals, you are able to take control of your life and be a force of anti-entropy :D (thank you, chemistry!). So I started brainstorming ideas of different aspects of my life I want to have lifelong, to decade, to yearly, to monthly, to weekly to daily goals. These aspects include, but are not limited to: Spiritual, Relationships, Family, Educational/Professional, Financial, Service, Talents/Gifts, Missionary Work, Physical condition, Free time and stress relief (the Lord knows I need that :P). By regularly setting goals and evaluating them - and applying them to my hour to hour life - I'll be able to achieve some awesome things! The trick is to stick to it. The Lord wants us to succeed - so He'll help us :)

Well! Elder Godfrey and I are going to go get a good kebab - because everyone knows good kebab does not exist outside of Eastern Norway. *sigh* sad but true.

Med mye kjærlighet og vennlig hilsen!


-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson
The sketchy marketplace in Grønland on Saturday mornings.

The new, gorgeous part of Oslo (just for you, E.!)

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