Week 59

Hva skjer,

My days and weeks are starting to show little signs of picking up in this area, which I am grateful for, and I'm hoping it continues to trend in that direction. We had a pretty solid week though. We weren't able to drive this week, which restricts a lot what we can do in this area because of how big our area is, so were expecting it to be a bit of a rough week, but it ended up being probably the best since I have been here. Hope all of you are good though and enjoyed conference if you watched it. 

This week for me was mostly just filled with a lot of small wins. But with how the last few weeks have been and how this area is they felt big. Because of how missionary work naturally works, I personally try and not get too excited about most of the things that are of the magnitude of this last week for me, because they often fall through, but they still made the week itself more enjoyable nonetheless and gives us some things to hope for. Here are some of the wins of the week for me though:

-About a week and a half ago, after walking out of a lesson, we were waiting in the bus station in order to take a bus to go and knock some doors. While we were waiting, my companion got up and went to the bathroom, and while he was in the bathroom, what looked like a couple and their daughter came in. I heard them speaking a different language so I asked what it was and we got started talking. I quickly figured that they weren't married to each other but each had their own spouse and family with a lot of kids here. We gave them both Book of Mormons and got both of their numbers, and they both said that we could come back for a visit. 

-After knocking doors basically every day for the last 5 weeks, we were finally able to get into someone's house to teach them a little bit. It was a brazilian couple that has lived here in this city for 5 years. They were not really at all interested, but were super respectful and let us share the entire message we wanted to share, and even asked genuine questions. They also gave us homemade apple juice, beef jerky (from the US cause it's not here), and some brazilian candy as we left. Not anything that is going to affect our future weeks here or get anyone baptized or anything, but was a really genuine conversation and visit I really enjoyed.

-The language cafe we go to in the library here every week is always one of the highlights of my week to just be able to talk with the nice old norwegian ladies that run it. But to add onto that, this week we were able to talk with 2 people that were interested in talking with us more about the gospel at the language cafe. Since then it doesn't seem either are incredibly interested, but it was a good win in the moment. 

-Random interaction I had while street contacting. I still do a lot of work on Facebook trying to meet new people as I have my whole mission. Because I'm a random person just messaging people, it's not incredibly uncommon for me to get blocked, which makes total sense and I don't blame anyone that does. Well, this week I ran into a guy on the street that had blocked me after a short conversation on facebook. I just walked up to him and said that I had messaged him on Facebook, and he instantly recognized me and pretty earlier into the conversation apologized for blocking me. He is a very very nice guy from Nigeria though, and we had a really long conversation on the street, and he is interested in meeting with us again. 

We had some more time consuming stuff that we did with members or previously taught friends this week, but the things that I just listed were for sure the highlights and the things that brought the most joy into my week. As well as watching conference :).

After having basically a month of a lot of work that seems like it is a waste of time or isn't doing anything, this last week with a lot of smaller wins, many of which were spontanious, made me realize that our successes in life, especially as a missionary, have very little to do with what we do and everything to do with the Lord and His will. Our job is to do everything we can to live righteously and help those around us, and then to trust the Lord, even if what happens is not what we had hoped, planned, or expected. I really really loved Elder Soares's talk from last week about this topic. Aligning our will with God's is one of if not the biggest challenge and journey of life. I loved many parts of the talk but I especially liked when he said, "One of the most glorious moments of mortality occurs when we discover the joy that comes when doing always those things that "work for and please the Lord" and "what works for us" become one and the same!" Not only does aligning our own will to God make him happy, but it also gives us joy beyond anything else. I have also felt that it brings a peace that can't be attained otherwise. When we trust in God and His plan so immensely, our worries about our own wants fade and we are blessed with a strong sense of peace. 

"We must not question the Good Lord

Have faith in God and trust his word...

That's how the Good Lord works"

-Sunday Service Choir