Yo,
Pretty decent week for me, hope it was the same for all of you.
Started off the week with splits (exchanges) with the zone leaders in Bergen as I said last week. But they were really awesome. The highlight of that was the lesson we taught. We taught this guy, I can't remember his name, but he just recently moved to Norway 2 months ago and is from Sudan. There are civil wars going on there which is the reason he had to come here. He was a very successful oral surgeon in Sudan and had multiple practice; both of these got bombed during the wars. He also lost his dad in the war as well. So he has gone through so much in a very short time. The Elder that I was teaching the lesson with told me all of this after we taught the lesson, and I would've never been able to tell that he has experienced all of this. He was smiling the whole lesson and had a great spirit about him. But anyways, the lesson we had was really good. He comes from a Muslim background, but does not practice that anymore. We talked about a lot of things (Godhead, the Holy Ghost, Living Prophets, etc.) and he loved all of it. Anytime we explained a belief that we have he just smiled and agreed. Super cool lesson and I'm really dissapointed that I won't be able to continue teaching him because he is not in our area.
The main highlight of the week was a crazy referral we got this week. It was a self referral, so he had literally searched up on Google how to meet with missionaries, which is pretty rare. His name is Rafael (but he is norwegian) and he is 19. The first time we called him he instantly picked up and we scheduled an appointment. We met at his house, which my companion tells me is pretty uncommon for a first meeting here also. We had no idea what to expect going in because of how rare the situation was all around. When we walked in, after to getting to know him for a bit, we asked why he was interested in meeting with us. He explained to us that him and his family recently moved into a new house, and he discovered an old Book of Mormon from 1978 in the house that the landlord had left. He read a little bit, and then did a bunch of research about the church, "good and bad, but with a completely open mind" as he said. We answered a few questions he had about some principles, and then he literally asked us how membership works in our church😂, literally so crazy. We then taught him a great lesson and then invited him to church on Sunday which he gladly accepted. After church we had another lesson with him. We kind of just discussed any other questions he has. He literally asked us how long it normally takes people to get baptized after meeting with the missionaries. It is crazy how prepared he is. We meet with him again this week and will hopefully put him on date to be baptized because he is super prepared and really wants to be.
We had a few other lessons this week that didn't go too well, but it was still good to get to know the people we had them with and also the lessons with Rafael just outweigh it haha. But I'll just share another random experience that I had that is kind of funny. As I've said, we are really blessed to have a pretty big ward here; with that comes frequent dinners at members houses, which is something that is definitely not a constant in many areas here so we are really lucky. Anyways, on Sunday we had dinner at a family's house. It is a couple with 3 young kids, and they are both originally from Utah but have moved all over because he is in the airforce. They made us spaghetti and it was pretty good, but, I had eaten a really big lunch only like 2 hours earlier because we got stuck at church pretty late, so it was a little bit tough for me to get all of the food down. But it was doable. My friend Ezra especially can attest to this, but me and Cole struggle to eat a lot (clearly). So that's why I mention that. So after we met with them, we had to do some stuff at the church for a little bit, and then we headed to meet with these dudes named Piotr and Ioannis. Piotr has been a member for like 5 months and we are currently meeting with Ioannis. When we got to there house, it had been about 2 hours since we had eaten dinner, and it was 8 oclock. We were not expecting dinner. Buttttt, we sit down and start to talk to them and then Ioannis brings out dinner and it's...spaghetti hahaha. At this point I am already so so full and he served me this giantttt plate. After taking like 2 bites I already felt like I was going to throw up. Everyone else finished there's within minutes, and I had basically a full plate left. And Ioannis, who prepared us the food, literally scraped every last particle of sauce off his plate so I knew I couldn't leave anything. So I just very very very slowly choked all of it down in the midst of praying to myself for help lol. We truly can do all things through Christ😂. This might sound relatively normal, but my friends can tell you that this is not something I am capable of; Like I was literally so proud of myself for finishing it all haha. Anyways, like 10 minutes later I for some reason decided to eat a square of chocolate, which pushed me over the edge, and I proceeded to throw it all up in the bathroom🤦♂️😂. Sorry if that was kind of a random story but I figured at least one of you would find that funny haha.
...
Another thing that I have been thinking about since being in Norway has been finding comfort in discomfort, or, getting used to being uncomfortable. I am faced with constant discomfort while I am here. I am normally a pretty serious and reserved person, and to be completely honest, I think it is really dumb to greet people that you have absolutely no or a shallow relationship with. But obviously, that is necessary as a missionary. And then adding on the fact that I don't even know how to fully express what I want to say, it is definitely uncomfortable, to say the very least. But pushing ourselves beyond our normal boundaries is whe true growth comes. When I was on splits this week, my zone leader Elder Kruger reminded me of the famous saying "there's no growth in the comfort zone", and it really resonated with me because I have been thinking a lot about that. And it really is true. I consider myself someone who normally prefers to learn by example--by watching someone else do it first. And since I've been here, I've realized how much power there is in experiential learning and learning on the fly. We have to push ourselves in ways we aren't used to so we can learn and grow. Elder Uchtdorf relates it perfectly to our journies here on earth in his talk "Your Great Adventure":
"And yet, mortal life has a way of distracting us, doesn't it? We tend to lose sight of our great quest, preferring comfort and ease over growth and progress...The Savior invites us, each day, to set aside our comforts and securities and join Him on the journey of discipleship."
This gospel is definitely not easy, and life is definitely not easy either. And the former is even more evident as I am asking others to commit their lives to it. Choosing to join a brand new faith is definitely not comfortable. And maybe for some of you, it's far out of your comfort zone to make the decision to REcommit to discipleship. But what I've come to know even more on my mission, is that the gospel is true; and it really, truly, blesses our lives. And the I know that as we are disciples in the ways that make us uncomfortable, we will be helped. The Savior promises us this in John 14:18 (one of my favorite scriptures),
"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."
He really does bring us comfort, especially amidst our discomfort.
Lyrics that relate:
"Tryna get over what I'm used to" -Smino
"Rain gon' come, and we pray for that, 'Cause this growth here came from that" -Kota the Friend
Hope everyone has a good week :)
Eldste Winegar
