Hei,
Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.
It was definitely really weird to be in another country for Thanksgiving, it just felt like a regular day for most of the day. But before our institute/seminary class every week, which is on Thursdays, we have a dinner that the senior missionaries make, and they are from the states so they made us and all of the young adults in our ward a nice Thanksgiving dinner which was really nice. We normally get around 10 people to our institute dinners, and we got 22 this week, including 8 people that us or the sisters are currently teaching, so that was really awesome. One of the American families in our ward also had us over for another Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday as well so we were very blessed. A funny thing about that dinner: I for some reason took way too much food, and was struggling after like 2 bites. When both of the parents stood up my companion hurried and took some of my food and put it on his plate 😂😂. I really struggled through the meal but I got the whole meal down…and didn't throw it up this time.
My favorite part of my week was probably when we went to this old folks home here to visit a member that lives there. My companion had visited her after searching the whole facility with his last companion, and he doesn't know how long he's going to be here, so he wanted to show me and our senior couple missionaries how to find her. Her name is Gudrun and she is 96. Anyways, we walked in and my companion walked up and said, "Hallo!! Gudrun, husker du meg?" (Do you remember me). She stared up at him for a second and then smiled really big and held his hand and said she did. We waited for her to eat and then went in her room and had a nice conversation with us. She is really funny and we had a great conversation. One funny thing she said when we stood up to walk her back into the eating area was, "Du er to av meg" (you are two of me, because of how tall I am) 😂😂😂.
On Sunday we had a new person who we are going to start teaching come to church. We met him through our weekly language cafe classes. His name is Gzregorz and he is from Poland. After his first time coming to language cafe he came to church!! And the next week he came to language cafe he brought a cake that said Mormons Bok (Book of Mormon) on it!! So he is really cool. We taught a short lesson with him today, but there is a bit of a language barrier because he doesn't speak much English or Norwegian, so we plan to have future lessons with our good friend Piotr, who is also from Poland and was baptized earlier this year.
I mentioned last week or two weeks ago that I played with a kid at our weekly basketball that was also a twin, and he brought his twin with him, so that was really fun to talk with them a bit. We were on the same team the whole time too which was fun. They are actually 15 but as you can see in the picture below they are really small lol.
Yesterday for P-day we did one of the more famous hikes in Norway, as far as I'm aware. It is normally about a 5 hour hike, which for someone who doesn't like hiking is pretty long; There is no snow near our house, and for some reason it didn't cross my mind that there would be snow where the hike was, so we were all very underdressed. They also make everyone who goes on the hike rent spikes to put on the bottom of their shoes, which is good because I was literally wearing some Nike shoes that are definitely not meant for hiking haha. My feet were completely numb within minutes of hiking, which was honestly kind of a good thing because then my feet were in pain the whole time. It was a really really cool view at the top, but also one of the coldest times in my life probably. When we were at the top, my nose was literally dripping uncontrollably because of how cold it was, and then the snot that fell onto my jacket literally froze in like 30 seconds. Soooo I'm glad I did it because I knew I had to do it at some point while I'm in stavanger, but it was a little bit miserable. My pictures aren't great because my hands were literally in pain but if you look up pictures on Google it's a really cool hike, it's called Pulpit Rock.
Last thing to say from this week is we got ANOTHER referral this week; the online referrals are apparently doing really well in our mission right now. We called the guy and he said he wanted a Book of Mormon, so last night we went and gave it to him in a city about 20 minutes from ours. His name is Yonas and he is from Eritrea (a small country in Africa). He had to catch us a bus very quickly after we got there because we were running late, but he was a super super happy guy, and was really nice. He seemed very interested in the Book of Mormon as well, so we plan to meet with him within the next few days.
Even though we are quite busy and I find moments of happiness here and there, I'm still trying to find how to truly be happy while being a missionary and through missionary work. It seems like it'd be easy, right? It's easy to find joy while you are sharing a gospel of joy? I would think that too, but I've found that missions come with ups and downs just like every aspect of life, obviously. I listened to a talk this week that I was really able to draw strength from, Just Keep Going–With Faith, by Elder Carl Cook. Would definitely recommend giving it a listen. He talks about how we should continue to exercise faith and courage when we come upon things that seem too difficult to accomplish or bear. In the talk he shares a few stories of people persevering with faith and their gratitude that they didn't give up. I really like this quote, "Do you know what I am grateful for? That I didn't give up—or resist. If I had given in to my desperate desire to escape… I would have missed an opportunity to increase my faith and receive a rich outpouring of love and support from my Heavenly Father. I learned of His mercy, the miraculous enabling power of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and the powerful influence of the Holy Ghost. In spite of my weakness, I learned that I can serve; I can contribute when the Lord is by my side if I just keep going—with faith." Perseverance is one of the qualities that I admire most in others and strive to have myself. When I think of those in my life who have preserved, I first think of two of the people who have influenced me most: my grandma Whipple and my mom. My grandma has experienced things that are without a doubt unfair. A doctor butchered a surgery and she has never lived a day without pain since—yet she never, ever, stopped persevering in faith and making the most out of the hand she has been dealt. My mom has also experienced—and overcame— things that are far from easy. After going through a divorce, instead of giving up, she put herself through nursing school all while caring for her kids (and her mom at times) as a single mom. She created something out of nothing; she is a precise example of persevering through faith. This thought is pretty long, but I want to share one more thing. As I'm sure many do, I love the verses in D&C 121 that shows the Lord's response to Joseph Smith when he was stuck in liberty jail. Within his time of distress, Joseph Smith expresses his frustration with the Lord, "3 Yea, O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened toward them, and thy bowels be moved with compassion toward them?" The Lord's reply to Joseph Smith is so powerful: "7 My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; 8 And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." As Joseph was experiencing trials that seemed unconquerable, the Lord promised that if he endured—with faith—he would be blessed. That is so applicable to our lives.
Lyric:
The storm will come, well, best believe,
The sun will shine
So if we put up a fight
Everything will be just fine, aye
We go through the ups and downs and in and outs
But if we put up a fight...
We're gonna be just fine
-Noname
Much love,
Eldste Winegar
