It's a good day to be a missionary! We had a sweet week and have seen a lot of miracles! Sounds like it was an exciting week back home! Dave: congrats on that Obama handshake! Imma one up you and try to get one from the King of Norway :)
B. He has been doing awesome. He works night shifts until 8 am and still finds a way to come to church. DEDICATION! I found out he is a big bball fan too, which has made me happy! I started calling him Kobe and he's calling me Steph Curry, it's great. We are going to try to play some ball on Saturday at the church!
We had a training meeting with the assistants this week about finding. After the Kopischke conference we are really working on refining our skills and making some big changes. For example, with street contacting it had become a habit for missionaries to always begin the same way: "Vi er to misjonærer fra Jesu Kristi Kirke av Siste Dagers Hellige..." Completely abandoning that. Instead, we are working on starting up conversations by talking about people's family, asking questions, etc. Something I started doing is contacting people with dogs. If you are petting their dog they can't go anywhere :)
We have seen some huge miracles as we've been working on conquering the ward list. Just yesterday we were able to teach two part member families...at the same time! Two less active brothers happened to be visiting each other when we dropped by! What made it more awesome is that they remembered Elder Årsnes from when he was a little boy. All mormons in Norway know each other.
One thing I have tried to put a focus on lately is boldness. When elder Kopischke was here he defined boldness as "clarity." I really liked that definition. It keeps becoming more and more apparent to me how over complicated I always tend to make things. It's partly because I am so passionate about this gospel that I want to just tell people everything I know! I'm trying to be more willing to keep things short and simple, even if the person I am teaching wants more. It's the same reason God doesn't reveal things to us until we are ready and able to receive it!
I've also been reflecting a lot lately on my expectations for my mission before I left. I really had no clue what being a missionary was. But, the one thing I was expecting and looking forward to was the opportunity to serve. I think that is one reason I was hoping to go to Africa or some isolated island where people really needed service. I've really come to appreciate how much everyone needs service and how many different ways service can be given. Every conversation we have on the street is an opportunity to invite the light of Christ into somebody's life. Just yesterday, we talked to this awesome American guy from Portland who had a Mormon brother. He was visiting Norway on vacation and was touched that he ran into us. He said that he had just been thinking during his vacation that he needed to start visiting his brother's church more. Simple acts of service like that are really what make your mission.
Excited for a great week! Lots of stuff planned!
Love,
Eldste Parkinson
