the Lord always provides

It has been a great week here in Sandvika and I feel like I'm still on a spiritual high from General Conference. I finally got to listen to the last session on Tuesday in the car on the way to and from the airport. There were so many inspiring talks in that session. I loved the concept of ponderizing from Bishop Durrant's talk and have already started doing that. This weeks scripture is Matthew 6:24 which says, 

 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hatethe one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

I love the idea of using the scriptures in such a simple and focused way! Think of how much you can learn from ponderizing a scripture each week and especially how easy it can become to make the scriptures a part of what we do and think about. 

We had the opportunity to watch the movie "Freetown" with B. and his family this week. It's movie that recently came out about 6 missionaries fleeing from the rebels and war torn Liberia to safety in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1989. It was special to B. and W. because they both experienced making that same journey as 8/10 year old kids. It was very real for them. It was even more special because Freetown is where B. was baptized. And get this! As the movie began W. pointed to one of the missionaries and screamed, "that is my cousin! That is my cousin!!" Turns out the actor of one of the lead missionaries in the movie is her cousin that she grew up with in Freetown! It was cool to share that moment with her and the family. The message of the movie was really powerful and touching for me; 6 missionaries with so much faith and such a strong desire to preach the gospel. The saints in Africa are modern day pioneers. If you haven't yet, go watch that movie!

We were blessed with some awesome surprises on Sunday with quite a few investigators coming to church. The biggest surprise was a man you may remember from before named N. We had stopped teaching him a while back and he moved back to Portugal. On Sunday, out of nowhere, he showed up to church! Apparently he came back to Norway 3 days ago and the church was the first place he wanted to go! 

In continuing the theme of the Freetown movie I've been thinking a lot this week about how the Lord always provides when we have faith in Him and as we earnestly strive to do our part. When things our tough and I feel myself questioning why things happened the way they did I've been trying to ask myself the question, "have you done all that you can do?" I've noticed that as I focus on staying humble and doing my best to work hard and follow the spirit, the blessings and miracles just seem to fall into place. Disappointment seems to naturally cause you to turn inwards and turning inwards always leads to stagnation. As we constantly look to Christ we will naturally look forward to the future with faith in spite of what has happened in the past!

Have a great week!! 

Love, 

Eldste Parkinson