July 29, 2013

You see Wuthmer,

It is actually quite a specific art that of the norwegian language :) Because thou canst speak jo the normal Norwegian  but the googler doesn't quite have its puny brain wrapped around the awesomeness of DIALECT!!!! JK.  I'll try not to type in dialect if I do end up saying anything in norwegian. The problem is that I often just throw in one word that's norwegian and there is so many meanings for the word noe, that any translator who wasn't a real person who could speak norwegian and english would get completely owned. Like for example ødelagt. Dos that even come up as anything normal? Its the past tense of destroy. Æ ska' ødelegge Dæ!!! jk. that was dialect :) sorry :) Anyways. that's one challenge with norwegian is that you have tons of different dialects that all have different ways of saying really basic words. It takes a long time to learn and get used to :) BAsically I have to be your translator... :) so just ask me! I apologize however for my unintentional norwegain words that have become common to my språk. 

I'm glad you liked his email. :) Its honestly pretty hard to email every single week. Especially here. There is so many crazy things that happen if I went into all the details that I would If I were just talking... I would be writing all day. I don't have the patience or the time for that. :) But I'll try to be better. Sorry for crappy emails! Not neccessarily a strong point of mine, however I have seen/read much worse :) And you are right mom :) And Fred is wrong! He's still awesome though... :)

This week was actually a really fun week. It started out pretty crazy on monday where we taught some phillipino's norwegian, and then about the gospel, and then showed them how to get around stavanger :) They are all super new so we were just kinda helping them around :) it was super fun. Then they all came to FHE on monday night, where Elder Burt and I took the lesson :) IT was actually super cool. We sat down to plan the lesson like 15 minutes before it started because we had been running around like crazy people all day and found out that planning a 20 minute lesson when you are used to doing 3-4 meetings takes about 30 seconds :) So that was fun. After our missionary oriented lesson to all the YSA we played skit in a bag and I have some funny videos of that. :) One of the investigators that came is a profesional actor and it was super funny. I just hit Holden with noodles :) That was my job! I don't know if any of you are familiar with Philippinos and kareoke but they love it. We had a little kareoke party afterwords and that was super funny. You just had to be there though. There were a few people that were A: amazing at singing, and B: Were getting really into it. I think I almost died laughing :) 

Middle of the week we had a bunch of time with no appointments, so we hit the streets hard this week. It was pretty fun too actually. We ended up setting up 3 appointments right in a row for wednesday but when we went not a single person showed up... bummer. Sånn er livet. (such is life)... sort of :) Wednesday was also the start of the Glad Mat Festival, which translated directly and indeirectly means the Happy Food Festival :) Basically there were thousands of people going and the streets were either empty or had just streams of people going to that.... We walked through it once and had a drunk guy go crazy on us :) It was a funny experience. He ended up hitting his glasses off his face and straight yelling at us in the middle of thousands of people. Burt gave him a little pat on the arm and we walked off, him screaming the whole way... Good one dude. I officially knocked on a door in a hotel, and had crazy birdfeeding man come up and talk to us. :) ACtually we've been having run ins with drunk dudes a lot this week... walking home there were like 4 in a row that one after the other kept yelling after us... :) yeah well. 

What am I even talking about? The best part of the week was the end where we taught this American lady named sarah. She's probably the nicest person I've ever taught on my whole mission. Ok, well one of the coolest anyways :) America is awesome. ANd for your information I don't deny the fact that i'm ever coming home. I'm just not allowed to think about that very much. We talked with her for like 2 hours and it was super cool. Yay for people that actually believe in God!!!! Really. You have no idea how nice it is to talk to someone who doesn't question that God answers prayers. We taught the coolest muslim I've ever met too. Most of them just tell you to DU Må lese kuranen Forstår du?!?!? and its irritating :) On that day we had 0 time to contact but I stopped one dude and we ended up getting an appt with him for the next day. HE was Super cool! He's from cuba but I feel like he's from jamacia. :) Super chill kid. 

We also got stopped by some Christian Youth Missionaries this week. We were just chilling waiting for our jamacian dude to show up and these two girls and a dude came over and talked to us. We actually noticed them a long time before that becasue they were dressed modestly and here that stuck out a ton.... LIke you have no idea. It caught our attention... med en gang?... uh sorry :) But they just came over and asked if they could pray for us. It was interesting becasue they were just dresssed in normal clothes but it was still pretty cool. I actually felt like they were on our team :) For funsies I opened up a personal dialog at the same time as they were praying, and was able to see the situatioin the way God saw it. I think I have become much more at peace with how much God really does love all of us, despite the clear infuence of Satan. 

ANyways. We did some more stuff. but i'm kinda out of time. to answer your questions really quick I use a plane like every week and half to two weeks... depends on whats' going on :) I like it though. That is one dream that will never die. I wish I could fly sooo badly :) i love it :) Especially when its just a one day I don't have to pack all my greier sort of thing :) but it is tiring. I'm sure you know :P I'll probably let you know more about what's happening at transfers next week.. the end of this 12 week one is in 3 weeks. WE just had a mini transfer where they took one of our sisters away which was super sad. We actually have gotten pretty close. Much crying happened when she left. I'm so sick of goodbye's. :) oh well. I honestly have no idea what is going to happen to me, but we'll see :) Itll be fun :) To answer your question, I love life. And I'm super happy despite how hard it is :) ANd I love you all to pieces. :D Sorry I can't join you all this year but I'll be back before you know it :) 

Thank you so much Funmommie!!!! :)  I really like that :) 

love,

Christopher

August 12, 2013

OK FunMomsicle,

I should tell you the new fad that we've adopted here in Stavanger: The Care Face. Apparently its a normal thing for Norwegian kids to do but its basically a face you give when you would say 'really?'. yup. its pretty fun. you basically just pull down on your eyelid with one finger and stare at them with an expressionless face. Yup. THen you have staring contests like that to see who laughs first. its like a staring contest on steroids :) 

Don't ask me why I shared that :) 

There really isn't too much to say about this week. I think I might have said a little bit too much last week and I don't have very much time so I'm going to have to keep this one shorter. And on top of that our Zone Training and me getting the flu took most of the week. The things that did happen were straight miracles that fell from heaven right into our laps... So there isn't a whole lot to say :)

We had a way cool training about Goal setting and planning with a focus on Christ. It was kinda weird how a 3 hour meeting about that ended up being the best on yet. One of the practicals that Elder Burt and I showed in front of everyone was a Comp study practical where we practicaled inside a practical. Basically my point with this is that I was teaching a plan of salvation teach and he said he believed in reincarnation and wanted to be a lion. I started laughing so hard I started crying and physically couldn't continue with with the practical. KO. Good one bro :) it was super good though.

So that was basically monday planning for it, tuesday giving it and helping the sisters out. Wednesday we went on contacting splits with the sisters around the pond which was super fun, and went super well cause we set some goals that actually worked! Woot! Go team :) Sister Mourik was concerned that the only people she can stop are muslims so I explained that sometimes people have a certain knack for stopping certain people and the only people I ever talk to are Atheists. :) So as a bonus to her, we got her an appt with a cool atheist girl. She was extatic :) That night was super funny. I think I've told you that our MMK here is the former LEADER of the most elite special forces group in all of Europe. More or less or mission leader is one of the most deadly assasins in the world. Yup. That's not a joke either. and he doesn't like being late... so when he got a call from us asking him why he forgot he had some ... funny exclamations :) It was a funny night. I hope this huge talent show that we are doing next week goes well. To bad I won't be here anymore.... that kindof really sucks a lot. 

Thursday morning I got a call that I was being released as a zone leader and I'm going to Bergen to be the District Leader and as a Trainer. Right before I go to Bergen. So that was funny. THis is interesting because I was put in so young and I feel like i'm being released right when President doesn't have anyone to replace me with. In a way I almost felt like I had failed but I honestly don't really feel that way. I*m just needed somewhere else :) This next transfer has 14 new elders so even the zone leaders here in stavanger will be training. So tons of chiz is going down next week. ANd I'm going to go live life peacefully in Bergen and work my brains off :) I'll say more later but I'm super excited. Bergen is a suupper cool place. that is what the world goes to when they think of Norway :) Tons of famoous things are there. And i'm excited to be in a big city again. BAsically the funnest thing ever. check out this webstie that has a sick video that shows what bergen is like: BergenWeekend.co.nf ps. I will be there for this... :)

yeah so then we flew to bergen and it was the prettiest flight I've ever been on. The pilot slowed down a bit and flew lower just so we could see the spectacularness of HardangerFjord. It was ammmmazing. The we flew back and dinner with Chris and Chelsea hill. :) They are soooo cool. 

Friday and Saturday I was sick with the flu. Call me retarded but we went out anyways. for as long as I could without throwiing up, and instead of getting nothing we kept running into investigators and teaching them on benches on the streets. That LITERALLY was all the time we had this week so that was ssuper cool. Having the flu sucks. But actually we ended this week more positive than ever before in Stavanger. We have 5 people we are going to commit to baptism this week. Most of whom fell from the sky ie. just showed up at church and said she wanted to be a member.... uh... or a dude who contacted us in bergen and looked up the churhc, and downloaded the bom on vacation and has read almost the whole thing and really wants to meet withus this week... uhhh.... ok :) 

Yestereday was awesome. We had constantin and Generosa in church again, along with guy we met a few weeks ago and this way cool lady. After church and running around like crazy people we went to the Steffonsons with CandG for dinner. It was a barbecue on the back porch and it was the funnest thing ever. We sang more songs, and taught them about christ. It was super cool and now Generosa just needs to get herself DØPT already!!!!! :) 

ok. too long of an email already :) But I love you all so much. Needless to say I have felt the prayers in my behalf. My testimony was and is being tested to the very core. But the farther I go the closer I feel to Him and the more I feel like my true confidence in myself, and my self worth is unbreakable. one year ago, getting released as a zone leader would have been hard. If you account it at all to numbers I would feel like I have failed. Burts dad said: a leader feels success when his zone succeeds. Well... My zone has been struggling under my watch, but that hasn't made me feel like a failure. IT's just forced me to find out where the spirit works with me. ANd it just keeps comming. :) THat's alright. It doesn't bother me too much :) I love you all soooo much :) I'm just kinda giddy to move forward. ANd i'm super pumped to train :) 

I told this to Lauren but when all is said and done Satan blinds people. I dare you to find meaning in life without Jesus Christ. You can be happy without him, but you will never be full. Or at least when I looked at myself I couldn't get there without it :)   

Love, 

Your son,

E. Christopher Wheten

ps. I'll get on later and answer back to your eamil ok? ;) VannKrig!!!! 

Life is Epic. 

August 5, 2013

Hey MinneMomma!

(that means my mom in english, and memory momma in norwegian :) )

Sounds like you guys had a super fun week. :) According to Lauren you all are 'vacationed out' :) sounds fun. I'm also very grateful that our poor car made it one last time :) For some reason it seems like that little van will survive just about anything :) Just as a random question, how much would it cost to actually buy a couple of kayaks? I don't feel like they would be super expensive but maybe I'm wrong :) 

I'm going to have to be honest however this last week was good, but it was really hard. I'm almost at a complete loss of what to say about it. .. :/ This is one of those times, that just being able to talk to you would be about a million times more effective than trying to write it down in an email. In terms of cool events, i had a funny experience on tuesday. It was the day of my driving test and I have to give a little backround so that you know why I was a little bit stressed about it. When I got here Anderson told me that I needed to take the test in an automatic car because a manual is a lot harder. (if you want to drive manuals, you have to get a specific license for it) I didn't reallyt know why because I had always driven a manual at home but I figured that he was probably right. When my driving instructor showed up though, she had a manual car and not an automatic. Fast forward a little bit she was kind of less nice, and told me that unless I spent money out my ears I wouldn't be ready to pass the test, but I told her to stuff it and that I was going to take the test anyway. so thats what happened. I was a little stressed out about it because the difference between the cars is that manual transmissions here you hit the brake first and not the clutch. I had to switch around my whole way of doing things and if I messed up once, I would fail. but at the actual test it went awesome. :) He told me I passed before we were even back at the vegvesen again :) so that was cool! Yay for being able to drive anywwhere in europe for forever and get cheaper insurance! Go team. what was funny is that I ended up wandering around Forus by myself for like 40 minutes before I decided to give up trying to find a bus and just call Elder Haugen (the senior couple here) :) He is a funny guy :) Ps. dad, the 600 kr. or 100 dollars ish I pulled out was to cover a little extra on my drivers license. So that is all money i now have back in cash... it didn't go anywhere :) I don't really know wehre I was going with that story, but I might as well just let you read it and not erase it :) 

Wednesday we flew to oslo again (we are going to be flying every week for the next 7 weeks... crazy!) and had a good time there. The highlight was talking to Elder Abrams about some of the funny things that happen in Stavanger..... Stavanger is pretty much the best area ever :) Yesterday's testimony meeting involved all of the youth and ysa getting up and bearing testiomony about how awesome it is to be out with the missionaries :) Thats been one of the coolest things here is taking them all out all the time. Our mission leaders stepson is actually leaving for utah this week for exchange school! woot! that means Andrè will be leaving soon! aww.... but yay! 

THursday we taught one american family with 3 little boys and there ended up being another american family who just moved here with 3 more little kids there too... it was a madhouse. :) That was the family that I skyped from if you remember their little kids :) IT was a crazy house. Nei takk to teaching primary :) It was fun though. We had Emil the bishops son with us and hes pretty much the chillest coolest kid ever. Myklebustveien man.... we ended up wandering around the countryside for like an hour trying to find this one house in the middle of nowhere, and when we finally found it this kid in his boxers answered the door and said the dude we were looking for wasnt home.... wah wah waaaaa... oh well. We taugh Generosa again and that was super funny. She ended up draggin constantin to an activity on friday with her. she is super cool. Other than that I don't have a whole lot to say.... unless you want to hear about when my Mission president took all the senior couples to a pub for dinner :) 

I love you all so much. I had a dream that rachelle and Fred and you and dad came as missionary couples to norway and were in my zone.... :) it was funny :) I can't wait to be home and go chill in the Idaho house with you. Unfortunately for me I know the second I'm sitting there doing nothing I will want to come back so badly it will hurt, so I'm going to try my very best to enjoy this despite how long and hard the road seems sometimes. :) thank you for always always listening to me mom. It means the world to me. Nothing can quite compare with your parents no matter how hard it may try :)

Love the son that will be yours forever and ever and ever some more,

Christopher :)