Week 26

Heisann,

Pretty busy week for me.

We started off our week in Bergen (city 4 hours north). Last P-day we spent our day driving up there for a mission conference we had on Wednesday. When we first got there on Tuesday I got to play some basketball with some of the other missionaries because Bergen has a hoop, so that was fun even though I was in my dress clothes. The rest of Tuesday was mostly just spent walking around downtown in Bergen. Which I really like Bergen so it was good. So basically the whole reason we made the trip is because we had a mission conference as I mentioned, which was because we had Elder Phillips of the Seventy visiting. He spoke in last conference; I recommend everyone go watch his talk even if you've seen it, called "God Knows and Loves You". He spoke to us for probably 3 hours, which probably sounds really boring but it was actually really enjoyable; it is probably one of my favorite experiences of my mission so far. He is just a super down to earth and funny guy, to the point where he just seems like a regular guy rather than someone in the Seventy. 

On Friday we met with the old guy that walked into our zone conference a few weeks ago. He is the one who is Ukrainian and doesn't speak any English or Norwegian but was telling me to fix my posture haha. We met with him to help him sign up for an English class that our senior missionaries have been volunteering at. He taught me an my companion some Ukrainian handshake that he said young people do in Ukrain that starts with a regular handshake and then ends with making a butterfly with you hands up to the sky lol.

Saturday was probably the busiest day of my whole mission thus far but it was a really good day. We started with our regular soccer activity, and then quickly changed and headed to the church for a family history activity that a lady in the ward put together. They asked us to help the old people in the ward sign into an app, which I have seasoned experience in after helping my grandparents haha. I felt bad because the lady put a lot into the day and didn't get a great turnout, but it was still good. We then went straight from that to a Christian concert that some guy that came to our game night invited us to, called "Norway for Jesus". We were expecting it to be a Norwegian concert, but we went and it was a concert of all African people and it was awesome. I'll try and include a video, but it was definitely another highlight of the last few months at least. The most I've smiled in a while haha. We had to leave that early to make another lesson with our friend from Peru, which overlapped with our lesson with Rafael (just baptized), but Rafael has been learning Spanish so we had him join in on the lesson as well and it went really well. 

We had a lesson with our recent friend Sven after church on Sunday. I talked about him a lot last week, but he is the one that started as someone we were going to meet with to talk about the Bible. He has been progressing crazy fast. Some of the stuff he says in our lessons reminds me of the process when we were teaching Rafael a few months ago. But basically this week we slightly mentioned baptism, and then he literally just asked us what he needs to do to get baptized in this church, which was really surprising. We just explained to him the nessecary steps, and then he said that he is going to start thinking and praying about it. We also offered to show him the baptismal font which he was very interested to see. He could very well be on baptismal date very soon, but I also said that about Grzegorz and then things seemed to slow down a bit so we'll see what happens. 

Elder Phillips talked about a lot of things, but the overarching theme was 2 things: the truth that God loves ALL of His children, and how essential it is to build our foundation on faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Additionally, how important it is to know Jesus Christ on a personal level and have a relationship with him. I left the conference with a strong motivation to come to know Jesus Christ, but also unsure how to actually do that. Having a personal relationship with Jesus is a big focus in my mission, so it is something that I've already thought about, but after hearing from Elder Phillips I have pondered on it more and felt more of an urgency to do so. Coming to know Jesus is a difficult thing--we don't physically see Him or physically talk to Him, so how can we come to know Him? The main answer is an obvious one-- to meaningfully study Him, His teachings, and stories of Him. But I've pondered a lot on other things we can do to come to know the Savior. Right away I thought of what Jesus Christ said to Joseph Smith in the First Vision when referring to other churches: "they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." It's essential that rather than just speaking of Christ, we draw our hearts near to Him. I think the way we do that is by seeking Him. This scripture is powerful in relation to that, "And now, I would commend you to seek this Jesus of whom the prophets and apostles have written (Ether 12:41)". The footnote on "seek" in that scripture takes you to D&C 88:63, which says, "Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me..." So, I think seeking Him is being diligent in our efforts to draw near unto Him, which again brings the question of how we do that. Ultimately, I think that we do that through trying to be like Him. I really like what it says in Preach My Gospel about trying to become like Christ: "Becoming more like the Savior is a gradual, lifelong process...improve one decision at a time...As you strive to become like Christ...You will experience joy, peace, and spiritual growth as His attributes become part of your character. You will establish a foundation...to follow Him throughout your life." The foundation that quote talks about is the reason we strive to be like Christ and come to know him. Elder Phillips spoke much of that foundation. He spent a lot of time on the famous verse in the Book of Mormon,

"12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall (Helaman 5:12)".

One of the last things Elder Phillips said was, "This is your time to build that sure foundation". That really stood out to me. Obviously while I'm on a mission, it's a great opportunity to build my testimony of Christ and my foundation on Him, but now is the perfect time for each of us to build our foundation. 

Lyric-"Embrace the Saviour, they're thinking of ways to slay the king"

-Kofi Stone