This week...

Dear Fam,

It has been an awesome week! With all the stuff that has been going on, it was nice to have the whole week in our own area and we were blessed with a lot of new people to start teaching!

The weather has gotten really nice the last couple days and we had a great turnout for football on Saturday! A bunch of members and a few non member friends came out. Benjamin and Michael both came as well and it was way intense! I even managed this pretty sick header goal off a corner kick that belonged on Sportscenter top 10.

I think I mentioned that we found this awesome young Norwegian guy last week that we have started teaching, and we were able to meet with him again this past week. He is the easiest guy to teach because he asks such good questions and thinks and ponders about everything we tell him. He was asking a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation and we talked a lot about how the plan is like a 3 part play (I think it was Packer who said that?). We all showed up for the second act of the play and cannot remember anything from before. Yet, we have faith that this is not the last act; there is something more. To be honest, when you look at the world as a one act play a lot of things don't really make sense. The suffering, the pain, why things happen. Knowing that there is a 3rd act doesn't necessarily give me all the "why's," but I think once we get to act three we will be able to look back and recognize that "all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things."

I am so excited for General Conference! This is going to be my last one in Norway (at least as a missionary :) and that is a weird feeling! I have spent a lot of time reviewing the talks from last conference and trying to get prepared for this weekend. I think I have mentioned in the past how much more I have come to appreciate General Conference since I have been in Norway. It's almost like a spiritual Thanksgiving. I feel this thirst after to hear the word of the Apostles and prophets.

It's like the verse in John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

One last cool finding story. It was Monday night at about 8 o'clock. We had visited a guy that wasn't home and banked some doors with out much success. We were both feeling a little fatigued and thinking about heading back to make some phone calls, but decided against it and headed into Asker sentrum giving us about thirty minuted to street contact with out many people on the streets. Right after praying and getting out of the car we saw two men standing about 20 meters apart from each other. We split up and contacted the two guys and got two separate 30 minute teaches. I talked to this awesome Norwegian business man. Our conversation began as small talk as he told me about his daughter being married this week and showed me pictures on his phone. I eventually pulled out a pamphlet and taught him about the restoration and he was blown away by it! Elder Allen had a similarly cool experience with a young Norwegian college student. The biggest lesson that I learned from that was the power those kind of experiences have and the burning energy that comes as a result! That experience set the tone for our whole week.

Thanks for the love and support! I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Eldste Parkinson