October 21, 2013

K. . .

WEll I gotta go. Like it 4 minutes. 

So I'll try and write more later.

But if not. We slept on the floor in stavanger and had zone conference, where I learned that i'm suuuuper old in the mission. Like not just in writing but firsthand as we saw all the other missionaries. It was super fun. OUr plane had a hydrolic leak so we couldnt take off so we spent the night at the airport and ended up eating playing lots of games, getting way close with everyone and getting home the next day :) (like in the early nightime so we ended up sleeping at home.) 

We taught Max a ton this week. He's officially been taught everything he needs for baptism, and we are moving his baptism up to next saturday. LIke. holy smokes. Its super cool. He continues to be the light of our life and miracle max. Other than that it was kinda a rough week though. WE need a good week this week. So were shooting for that :)

I hope everything is going awesome at home! Sorry. An hour for emails really just isnt enough. 

I love you so much mom! 

lvoe,

Christopher

October 14, 2013

I have 11 minutes before I have to leave to meet our invs. max. We are hiking a mountain with him today :) Sorry. I spent my time on other people this week. But. this was a good week. to say the least. 

I'll answer your questions. I unfortunatley am in the same boat as my wayward bretheren. :) I mostly just dont have the room or the need for anything. The only thing I can come up with is a laundry hamper like the kind that you fold into nothing but that can stand up.... and... yup. Thats it. You really dont use or need much on your mission. If you send chocolate dont send plain chocolate. I cant stand normal hersheys anymore. like. It wont be eaten, because we will get so much other milk chocolate that will own its face off. Dark is delicious and doesnt find here, neither does reses or snickers or anything like that. So reses are good. :) But dont go too overboard either since I havent said anything else. :) Skittles are also delicious. :D

4 minutes left. 

I'll try and write later but if not, I love bergen. Elder newey is super chill. Kinda quiet like every other dude ive trained but its been really fun. We have probably commited more people to baptism in one week than ive ever done before in a month :) The coolest one is max. He really wants to get baptized but he goes back to america in 2 months so we told him it might be better to go home and do it but he'd said he'd pray and give us an answer. In one day he read all of mosiah and when he got to chapter 18, he said he just felt like he really wants to do this here. So its happening in a fjord. in a couple weeks. He came to church and loved it. There is a possibility that he will be my new roommate at byu next year. and... yup. just a sweet, humble, ready guy. He loved the plan of salvation about temples. and He said it just feels like something that he had been missing. I cant express my feelings about him. Max literally converted himself. We didnt do anything at all. It was him that wanted to meet like 5 times last week, watch more genearl conference, come to sport eat dinner with us. WE took him to ther Grove family for dinner yesterday and taught the gospel of jesus christ and he loved it. I dont know whky. I told dad this but all my experience makes me appreciate how much we dont do. God leads us to these people. And he leads them to us. quote from max: most people like come to norway to party and stuff, but I came here and ended up reading the gospel. Its kinda funny'... yes max. it is pretty funny. and cool. He knows now why he came. :) ANyways. it literally was just to bless me. Max could have met missionaries anywhere and loved it. He came here for me. So thank you. 

4 minutes overtime. 

There were other way cool things. Our teach with magnus and sissel was amazing. even though magnus is straight atheist, just in meeting with him i can see the cahnge and feel him become just a little less hostile and much more accepting. his girlfriend is doing a good job on him :) 

There were definately hard times. But The good is just smashing the bad into oblivion. Go team. I hope I answered all your question mom :) I love you. 

Your letters are the ones i look forward to the most. SAying bosslike and using 3s for e's is not a requirement for love :) 

Have a great week! yes i did get all your letters! thankn you soooo much! :D

bye!

Christopher

October 7, 2013

Hey Mouayma!

Another week. gone. Theyre flying now people. :) Christmas is in.... like 2 and half months!!! AH! woot! We had another good week with its own fair share of miracles and struggles along with it. The switch was harder than I expected though in a way I think they always are. Especially when things are going well, its hard to try and switch over to something else. Especially with training, just because you give it your all to figure out how to help them get adjusted as fast as possible, whilst still trying to stay on top of all the other things that you have going on at the same time almost by yourself. 

I stink way bad right now. We jsut played dodgeball with some of the young men for p day so i'm soaked through all my clothes with sweat... its pretty bad. I'm not a boy anymore. i'm like.... almost a man now. its weird. heh. good one right? :) i'm like 20 and half and I think i'm cool enough to be called a man. .. in the least, I feel quite much owned into oldness. ... :) 

Pday last week was awesome. After emails we hiked up Fløyen just with me and Garrard. We didn't really know the way so we just kinda picked our way up. The crazy thing is, there are people that live like 20 meters from the top. Like.... on cliffs. I have some crazy pictures of houses on the straight cliffside. anyways. it was way cool. We had a way chill hike to the top and then when we got there had a transfer review one the most beautiful clear warm day that can possibly exsist during this time in Bergen. It was amazing. And incredibly warming for the heart. After a good while we decided to go ask a woman to take our picture and immediately following I just sat down and starting talking to her. We ended up teaching her for an hour overlooking the entire city of bergen. About 3 minutes in she started crying... Me and Garrard didn't know waht to do. Really. As we talked to her she had felt the spirit really strongly and greatly appreciated the chance to actuallytalk to those weird mormon boys she had always seen. She has seen them around for over 50 years (yeah she was old, but she rode a tram to the top :) and has never talked to them. When she actually heard what we did and why we did it she cried. She cried at several points as we talked with her and it was the coolest unexpected epic mountain teach ever. 

My note with this is that despite how cool it was that didn't mean she was willing to change her faith or try something different. When I walked back and all one visiting missionary could say was, well when is she getting baptized? I was almost disturbed. Our efforts to baptize and convert people are meant well. And this does not in any way take away from the saviors command to baptize as so well put in General Conference, but it goes so much deeper than that. The love and joy that I felt for that woman was 0% contigent on her choice. It was for her, and for the fact that we had been able to give it to her in a beautiffully simple way. It did not matter what she chose.

To continue on, Tuesday was an incredible day with tons of cool things. We had packed it full to the brim with teaching and Kbabs with the district, and fun :) Forget dinner and most of studies. It was his last day and we were going to make it worth it. :) First we ran into max, who has become the boss of the world. since last sunday, he has read over 100 pages in the book of mormon. He loved General Conference too. on tuesday he came up and said uh... yeah i LOVE that book you gave me. its really interesting. I almost died. WHat? Then he asked if it was possible for him to come to church... of course man. he also showed up at the church to watch the last session with us this morning. (we decided to watch it for studies as a district this morning) so cool. Then we met rose. In the little english she speaks she told us that she loved this book. How the bible and this book... the same. :) You need give me 5 or 6 of this book, and i will give it to preachers in dubai. They need this book. ....

Rose. I don't think you understand. no one else believes in this book but us. We have a prophet rose. hmm. yes i know that you have prophets back in dubai... erm. ... yup. Thats how teaching her goes. She believes we have a prophet just not the prophet. :) yeah well. We had a miracle meeting with her on saturday too where we saw her and her 3 little kids on the bybane and had a way good chat. She has a testimony of the book of mormon, and no idea what to do with it :) 

  

Then we taught Adal in a lightless church along with Knut Andreas. So in complete darkness. He recommited to baptism and we just had a waaay good teach with him. Helped go over his questions, and really he just loved it. He asked us to meet the next day. 

I'm running out of friends. And time.... But when our greenies got here, they went straight to teaching language class and then we all taught adal with a whole bunch of electric candles for light. It was sooo cool. :) 

Next day we visited our MMK at night and you will just have to look at the picture. This place is so amazing. And then I legitamately went in a circle and got lost trying to find our street. ... it was embarrasing :) Friday we taught IngerTheresa the coolest laday ever. Her childhood faith is mormonism and really wants to find out if its true. So thats exactly what she's going to do :) Way humble and just good teach. 

General Conference was incredible. I really don't have a whole lot to say about it other than it was exactly what I needed. By the time the next one roles around, I will be different again. I will be able to look back and look at the leaps and bounds i've taken just as I have done these past two times. Only... I really only have this last period where I feel like life will be normal. By next GC I will be on death row. And I don't know how i'll feel. So i'm just not going to worry about it. :) 

It was a beutiful week here, and I just pray things can continue on like they have been going. I hope you guys feel just as we do in my determination that 'we can do this'. Because we will not forget the Lord our God. Thats my spiritual message to you guys this week :) 

I hope you know my eamils are probably more powerful and more thourgouh than my own journal :S'

ya well

Loves!!