What's up,
We had a somewhat busy week again last week but for some reason nothing that happened seems very interesting or quality, not sure why. Like the previous week, we were able to actually get some appointments last week, but a lot of them didn't go as perfectly as they did the week before, so that's probably why it doesn't feel like a lot happened.
We had 3 or 4 meetings with people that were really enjoyable because they were with cool people, but weren't very successful in terms of missionary work. One with a guy from the UK that is here because he married a Norwegian lady, one with a 19 year old from Eritrea who we've played volleyball with, one with a super cool Muslim guy who's from Oslo (Norway) but parents are from Bangledesh, and one with a really weird sports psycologist who basically just rambled to us for 40 minutes about random stuff. For some reason it feels like a large majority of the people that I've met here are really weird, so it was refreshing to have some conversations with some very cool and normal people, for the most part.
Outside of a birthday party for cats, the other main thing that happened last week was a really really interesting lesson that we had with these guys that actually reached out to us and asked if we wanted to meet. The guy who reached out to us is actually American, and he asked if we wanted to go and sauna with another american dude that we actually started teaching last week, and then a Norwegian guy as well. We replied saying that we weren't sure that was an effective use of our time as missionaries, to which he replied that the main motive in meeting was to ask us about our beliefs. We asked our mission President, and he surprisingly approved as long as it didn't also include jumping in the ocean (which a lot of people do when they sauna here). Even just walking up and shaking this dude's hand, he has to be one of the interesting guys I've ever met in my life. Which I feel like I've said that about so many people I've met here in Tromsø lol. For some reason he likes to try and speak Norwegian with us when he is American as well (he's only been here since 2019), and let's just say that his Norwegian gives me quite the confidence boost in my Norwegian. This was actually my first time saunaing, so I'm not sure what I was expecting but it was definitely not what happened haha. After we all waited for the sauna to heat up, we all went to go get in, and the other two dudes just completely stripped down right in front of us, and I just turned to my companion and mumbled that there was no way I was doing that. Once again, not sure what I was expecting. But yeah, I think that's enough explanation for how the experience was. The main dude was for some reason sitting right next to me, and felt the need to literally have his leg completely up...with no clothes😃. Brotha also really needs to invest in a razor. Definitely did not think that I'd be teaching the Restoration of the church with male genetilia exposed, that of a weird American guy, but the people in Tromsø just keep surprising me. Definitely a lesson I won't be forgetting lol.
On a more serious note. A talk from general conference a few weeks ago really stood out to me and has been on my mind a lot, the past week especially. That talk being: "Integrity: A Christlike Attribute" by Elder Gerard. Towards the beginning of the talk he shared an experience he had with Elder Uchtdorf,
"A number of years ago, Elder Uchtdorf was assigned to reorganize our stake. During our interview, he asked me a question I have not forgotten: "Has there been anything in your life that, if brought to the attention of the public, would be an embarrassment to you or the Church?""
He went on to explain how much this question made him think, and after listening to this talk again, it made me do the same. I consider myself a pretty conservative person in terms of my actions, but there are still things that I've done that I would definitely not be proud of if they were made public. Maybe not to the point of "be[ing] an embarassment" as Elder Uchtdorf said, but I think we've all done things that, to a certain extent, we are ashamed of. That makes the gift of repentance invaluable. But, looking forward, this question is a great wake up call to strive for integrity in all we do. I really like Elder Gerard's simple explanation of integrity:
"Living a life of integrity requires us to be true to God, to each other, and to our divine identity. Integrity flows from the first great commandment to love God. Because you love God, you are true to Him at all times... Integrity means we do not lower our standards or behavior to impress or to be accepted by others. You "do what is right" and "let the consequence follow."
As a missionary, this has made me specifically think about how I act depending on the situations I'm in and the people I'm around. Do I act the same, and follow all the rules the same, whether I'm by myself or whether I'm around the Mission President? I think the same goes for each of us. Would we have to quickly change our actions if we were around someone we look up to, a church leader, or even Jesus Christ? To me, that is what integrity comes down to. God is intimately aware of everything we do, so why should our actions, and commitment to Him, change if we are around different people or in different scenarios? I believe that if we are striving to always live in a way that represents our commitment to God, and does so clearly, that is when we have integrity. Elder Gerard said similar, "Exercising integrity in our choices is an outward expression of an inner commitment to follow the Savior Jesus Christ."
Lyric-"Integrity matters the most, I gave the hood hope" -Nas
Post a Comment