July 15, 2013

Hey Morami!

I would like to start out by saying...  Preikestolen is totally worth the lack of emails that you get though... so sorry. When we went this time there were two main differences from last time: The first was the scouts.... there were, at least 5 billion scouts on that mountian. So the uncool part is that I don't think there was a single section of the trail we weren't trying to pass up a whole bunch of little kids. so that was annoying. The cool part of that, (thought this isn't point number 2yet) is that that day was the official record for the number of people to hike that mountain in one day :) I'm glad we took the bus, because there was literally nowhere to park! The Cooler part, was that the weather was awesoem! I actually prefer some clouds to give some definition to the sky, but to have a view with a completely blue sky was pretty cool too. :) I'll take that.

Unfortunately I don't really remember anything from last week so I can't really update you about it.... Here. I'll engage the Hukommelse.... OH! Last week was awsesome! I may have mentioned the youth mtc thing that we did but I would like to reiterate how cool that was. We had two hours with all of them to teach them and work with them and it was super cool. Unfortunately becasue me and elder burt were in Oslo last week, and were super busy the rest of the week, we didn't have a whole bunch of time to plan anything. The good news is that missionary work is pretty easy for me to talk about so when they all just stared at me like I was supposed to know what was going on... I just went for it. I guess since i'm such an oldie they all expect me to be able to do that now :) Um... I feel like i'm boring you... What else was exciting... OH! That couple that came last week to church came again! And we went bowling with them this week :) I've definately lsot my bowling skill however... sad day :) Yeah well. Neither of them had bowled before, so after explaining the rules they just went for it. Whats awesome is she's a rather shy person. In fact thats why the missionaries haven't been able to get her to come to church before. But when she started beating all the old guys they were playing with she started exclaiming things in her funny norwegian that were hilaroius. She either fikk masse, eller bare litt. :) Good times. We are teaching them while i'm on splits with a new missionary and going for baptism. Its going to be epic :)

This week we held zone confrences is Stavanger and Bergen, and it actually was pretty cool. its interesting the dynamic of the entire mission right now because it is quickly becoming super SUPER young. Us older missionaries are quickly become those that are supposed to be experts at teaching and at the language. I'll be in the top 10 oldest missionaries in a month.... And i'm only halfway. That's crazy. We played a funny game where we had a funny scavanger hunt around the church, and I got frowned at :) Thursday we were out knocking on doors and we ended up having someone point us to this group of rekkehus, or town houses basically, and this funny guy named Olav answered the door. He was really opptatt with a lot of things, and he doesn't like jdubs. I don't really remember what I was going to say about him... other than it was nice to have someone who despite being against churches whould stop and talk to us about what he believed and why he believed it :) Unfortunately I forgot my happy book so those are most of the things I can pull of the top of my head rigth now.. :)

I also realized if I end up with Elder burt again, which is completely likely since I don't really have anywhere else that he can send me, I will ahve spent half my mission with 2 companions. I love them both though. Yesterday the Sisters got me talking about some of my funny experiences from oslo, and I just went for several minutes... I guess I don't really have anyone I can just talk to like that anymore.... But it was cool to think about my time there. There are some experiences I will always remember very clearly, and the feelings associatied with them. Hmmm good times. :) Sometimes I wonder how I've ended up like I am.

I would say that my midlife crisis is over. Lest I forget it takes a lot out of me to go out and try my absolute best every single day despite all the negative influences around, but somehow you just keep going. I don't know if I never felt stress before my mission or if I just didn't deal with it, but I've definitely learned how to keep myself more balanced, thought that doesnt mean it happens overnight. The beginning of this week was hard. And the decision to completely not care what other people thought about what I was doing was the only thing that took me out of it. I think too many missionaries and people get caught up in impressing people, rather than just becoming that sincerely and not worrying about what they think. I've probalby dealt with different aspects of the same problem a million times so far.  Anyways. wow more ranting. i can't even rant about anything. the more I learn the less I think I know... crazy right?

ANyways. I love you guys. Americans are awesome. ANd so much different. We have a famliy that just moved from america and I think they're crazy. But I think I would have thought they were completely normal a year ago... That's whats weird. They also think we don't get fed tacos... heh. we shouldn't have told them. That would have made it more funny :) Also, can someone tell Elder burt to stop spraying this nasty oily 'good' smelling stuff.... One spray will get me out of the room. He sprayed it straight for like a minute. I had to leave the appt. And when I came back all the floors were covered in oil... 'bleh. 

If anyone needs a boost at any time, go read joseph smith history and the first vision. There is something there that doesn't exist anywhere else.

Have a spendexical Oink!

Love,

Christopher