4th Quarter Miracles

Another transfer in the books! Elder Allen and I will be staying together for another transfer here in Sandvika! Looking back on everything it has been quite the eventful/memorable transfer. We had the craziness of the 14 elders arriving, the moving of the office, the visit from Elder Johnson, finding B. and his family, etc. A lot of unique experiences that I know I will remember long beyond the mission. So grateful!!

This week was a week of traveling. We went on splits 3 times this past week and got to work with a bunch of awesome missionaries in a bunch of cool areas! On Monday I switched places with a missionary up in Oslo for the evening of prostelyting and had a blast! We found some cool people and it was cool to spend the night in the same apartment that I lived in for 4 months. On Tuesday we headed up to Narvik, which is a small town way up north (not to far away from Tromsø). It was my first time being north of Trondheim since I left Tromsø and it was awesome to be back! The area is small enough that they have to walk long distances to get to places that haven't been banked already or to try back/visit people they are teaching. And by long walk I mean 1.5 hours each way with not much in between (there are no buses and biking isn't safe with the snow). It was good reminder to me of the sacrifice and hard work that can be required in missionary work and I was lifted from being able to work with such dedicated missionaries.

Thursday, we headed up to Trondheim and worked with Elders Corrigan and Arnold for a day. We had some cool finding experiences that followed the typical format: not much success in the beginning and an outpouring of blessings at the end. "4th quarter miracles" (Which, according to what I've heard, describes the way BYU has been playing lately :). At the end of night I went to dinner at a member's house who just happened to be Elder Årsnes' brother!! It was way awesome to talk to him and we ended up teaching his friend that he referred after dinner!

Come Saturday, we were finally back in our own area and had quite the eventful day that seemed to be characterized by changing our clothes in the car. We went to sport in afternoon and then we had to go straight to a 8 year old baptism in the ward (car change number 1). Right after the baptism we headed to the Minnesota member's home to dig up some more roots in her yard for about an hour (Car change number 2). Then, we booked it to an appointment with a potential investigator that we had found earlier in the week and taught an awesome Norwegian couple (change number 3). To end the day we visited B. and the fam and ate some of his delicious food, while having a good conversation about how we can best help them. It was a busy high paced day and I'm pretty sure we didn't smell very good by the end of the day, but it was quite the fulfilling feeling to have the opportunity to serve so many different people in so many different ways.

I've been reading a lot in the Doctrine and Covenants this week and especially loved chapter 10 about the Lord's wisdom being "greater than the cunning of the devil."God's great plan and ways of accomplishing his goals is something that can be so hard to comprehend from our limited perspective and experience. But, we do have the opportunity throughout this life to see this principle as we experience trials, difficulties, and mistakes that turn into blessings as we keep pushing forward and relying on Him. It's our faith in Christ that allows for us to continue forward with out seeing and understanding the whole picture. In Mosiah 4 it says, "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has allwisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

Thanks for your support and prayers! Make it a great week!

Love,
Eldste Parkinson