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!
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| 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/
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| Gloppedalsura! |
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| Gloppedalsura stone!! |
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| Elder Levine in the Gloppedalsura forest! |
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| Gloppedalsura fjord |
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Elder Bitner the mountain lion! (Or gazelle, that works too)
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We also took a trip up Preikestolen with a group of YSA.
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| The group on top of cloudy Preikestolen! |
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| Cloudy cloudy cloudy. |
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| Epic, right? |
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| 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
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| 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.
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| 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.
"Then we need to establish the discipline to live faithful to our covenants, fully using the weekly gift of the sacrament. Many of us are not being regularly changed by its cleansing power because of our lack of reverence for this holy ordinance." - http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/converted- to-his-gospel-through-his- church?lang=eng
Elder Bitner and I then held splits again over the
weekend for a trip to Haugesund. Ah I love that
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| 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?
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| Ferry ride back from Preikestolen! |
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| Those Norwegian skies - I tell ya. |
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| Ferries - another method of transportation in Norway! |
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| Levitating ties to boot! (or Elder Levine's caption "Levitating tie smacks unsuspecting missionary in the face!" |
-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson
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