Week 28- Sven Baptism🤑

What's up,

Hope everyone's alright.

Last Wednesday morning we had probably my most unenjoyable meeting with someone since I've been out. We met up with a guy that invited us to a concert a few weeks ago at a small lake nearby. He told us that he invited one of his friends as well, so when we got there we waited for a little while for his friend to get there. Once the friend got there, he basically just rambled to us for the next hour and half, telling us about all these insane spiritual experiences he has had, including Jesus appearing to him in a dream. We were thinking it was going pretty well. My companion tried to bring up the Book of Mormon, and the whole vibe kind of just shifted. They weren't openly against it, but you could tell they were just kinda resistant to it. Well, to end the meeting, they asked if they could say a prayer with us. They wanted to huddle in a circle and repeat what they said. During the prayer, the dude saying it literally was like, "Guys, I just got it, the Holy Spirit just told me these guys are believing in lies". We already looked like idiots huddling in the middle of a path so that was just the last straw haha. Took a lot of restraint to not say anything disrespectful lol, but didn't really have words after that appointment. 

Even though I tried to not let it, that appointment kinda just changed my mood for the whole rest of the day unfortunately. But that night we had a meeting with a dude that is probably one of the most normal people that I've met with on my entire mission. I'm not saying it's bad, because anyone who is interested in the gospel I'm excited to talk to, but I feel like it's mostly really interesting individuals who are interested. So it was really refreshing to walk in and it just be a really normal, young guy. He apparently lived with a family in Oregon a few years ago that were members, and that is what made him interested. Not sure how interested he is, but enjoyed meeting with him nonetheless. 

Saturday I had 2 more appointments that were good for the same reason. They are probably two of my favorite lessons that I've had my whole mission honestly. They are both guys that I was able to find on Facebook. One is named Stephen from Nigeria, and one is Henry from Ghana. When I talked with them on facebook, I didn't really have much of a spiritual conversation with either of them outside of saying I was a missionary for my church. But both of them were super open to talking about the gospel, even asking questions. They both already attend churches here, so not super sure if we'll end up teaching them a lot more, but I'm super grateful that I just got to spend time with them and meet them.

The main thing that happened last week was Sven's baptism :). In typical Sven fashion, he was basically an hour early haha. He was happy the morning of, but didn't seem overly nervous, he seemed excited but in a composed way which was cool to see. The baptismal meeting itself was good. I don't feel like I played much of a role in helping Sven choose to be baptized, but I was super lucky to be able to do the baptism. I told him before where to grab on my arm, how to bend his knees, etc. When we got in the baptismal tank he definitely did not remember any of that as he did not bend his knees at all, I just had to keep on lowering his head farther and farther down haha. When we were changing back into our regular clothes, after laughing a bit, I just asked him how he felt. After pausing for a second, he just replied "lettere", which means lighter or easier in Norwegian. He described how before he just felt so much pressure and weight, and that now everything just went away. I thought that was really simple but super cool. 

After that really frustrating meet-up on Wednesday, as I said, I was pretty frustrated. We had a long bus ride to our next destination, so I had a lot of time to just sit there and think about what had happened, and try and defuse my anger 😃. I couldn't help to have some frustrations on how it is possible for the gospel in it's fullness be so blatantly rejected. My first companion said that his biggest question in the church has always been: If the church is true, and the only true church, why are there not more members? Why is it not growing faster and easier? I was having some of those same thoughts. It made me think of all the other people that are just like these dudes we met with, and think why so many opposers of the church exist. I've been reading in Mormon this week, and there were a few verses that I really liked in relation to this. 

9:26-And now, behold, who can stand against the works of the Lord? Who can deny his sayings? Who will rise up against the almighty power of the Lord? Who will despise the works of the Lord? Who will despise the children of Christ? Behold, all ye who are despisers of the works of the Lord, for ye shall wonder and perish

8:22- For the eternal purposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled

I think it's pretty obvious how these verses are comforting to me as a missionary, but I think they can give each of us comfort in our individual faith journeys. Living in a world that opposes everything we believe in so strongly, it's super easy to doubt our trust in the Lord, and in the meaning of the actions we take to follow Him. I think these verses powerfully remind us that no matter what those around us say, Jesus Christ's glory still stands, and is something we are expected to exercise faith in. And as we excercise that faith--oftentimes despite or among doubts-- "all his promises shall be fulfilled". 

Lyric-

"Don't be discouraged, just go with the plan

Gotta have faith in God's grace over the land"