First off, speedy recovery to David! It looks like you balled a little to hard! And, Good luck in Budapest to the other Elder Parkinson! The other elders here in Olso just started teaching this awesome man from Budapest. I'll see if I can milk out some referrals for you.
It's been a busy week! We have another awesome investigator from Africa! He's from The Congo, speaks pretty good English, but his native language is French. We watched the 20 minute Restoration movie the other day (in French) and it blew him away! Right when it was finished he said "That was clear as water!" He was able to explain it all right back to us and was stoked! It's funny because he said he lived pretty close to a Mormon Church in The Congo, but had no idea what it was all about. And then in Norway of all places, on a several month work trip, we find him in a park! It's been fun trying to re-learn some of my French since we started teaching him, which has been difficult. Norwegian replaced everything. Just yesterday we were about to cross a street and I turned around and contacted this guy from Senegal and he only spoke French! I started out speaking this awful blending of English, Norwegian, and French. I was able to pull the French together enough to teach him about the Book of Mormon and get an appointment set up for this evening with him and his buddy! Miss that language!
We had the opportunity to attend the funeral this week for a man in the ward that recently passed away after a fight with cancer. It was the same man that I played chess with right around Christmas time. He has an unbelievable story. He was a long time member of the church, wrote himself out, and recently decided to come back not to long ago. He was re-baptized, received the priesthood, and just a few weeks ago, against doctors orders, drove with a member to Stockholm to receive his endowment in the temple. Whenever we would visit with him he would always talk about soon being in Åndeverden (the Spirit world). Knowing him and being at the funeral really strengthened my testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I remember all those lessons back home with Bishop Stephens when we would go through this plan and draw it out on the whiteboard. I had the diagram down! It's been cool to see this plan in action on my mission and to understand more than just what it is, but what it means. The hope, the comfort, and the love it can give to both a cancer stricken old man and a 19 year old missionary. How blessed I am to be able to share this Plan of Happiness with others!
We played basketball on Saturday with B. and a member! We are going to start doing it every Saturday morning and will try and involve more investigators! My favorite king of prostelyting activity :)
Elder Årsnes and I have been having a blast here in Oslo! So many prepared people and so many cool experiences each and every day! i'll try and attach some photos today! I hope you guys have a great week!
Love always,
Eldste Parkinson
