Faith to Find

HEY

This week has been a blast! God blessed us with quite a few new investigators this week! The cool thing was that a lot of them were found as back up plans! Appointments would fall through, we'd show faith that there was someone else we were supposed to find, and God would always bless us with a miracle! I thought I just share a couple cool finding experiences we had:

On a bitter cold day last Monday, we had all our appointments fall through in the evening and decided to go out and try some less-active members! Most of them were not home, but we made a focus of contacting and finding people on the way. I stopped this lady and asked her what God meant to her. She said it meant everything and proceeded to tell us about how her faith has helped her and her son through very hard times. Elder Årsnes asked how old her son was and she just started crying as she told us 7 and a half. We started bearing testimony of the power the restored gospel has to bless families and she told us that she had prayed earlier that day for God to send someone to her that could help her family. We said a prayer with her right there on the street and she took a pamphlet to read. She has since told us that she needs some time to process things, which doesn't bother me at all considering how delicate and precious of a soul that she is. That was a way powerful experience for me. 

During the week we were out street contacting at a very busy time right in the center of Oslo. It was weird because nobody was even looking at us when we tried to stop them. Elder Årsnes would keep pinching me to make sure I wasn't wearing an invisibility cloak. I suggested that it might be the new deodrant I got. There came a point that We both felt strongly that we needed to get out of there. I suggested we just get on a TBane and we felt good about going to a place called Tøyen. After a few minutes of contacting we stopped a guy who is totally prepared, from Bolivia, has a family, looking for a church, and we got tons of spanish members! Now we're teaching the guy!

One last one. Yesterday we were on our way to a middag appointment and we were crossing a street. I felt this urge to talk with a certain guy and stopped him right in the middle of the street. Turns out he is a new member that moved here a few months ago from Italy, but hadn't yet found the church here in Oslo! He had just been through the temple for the first time right before he left! He even lives with a non-member cousin that he is going to introduce to us today!!

I was thinking about what Mom said about Ministering angels and how people are being prepared from both sides of the veil! This week testified to me that this is true! This is God's work to save HIS children. By living worthy of the spirit we can be led to those that are prepared to receive the restored gospel and take the next steps towards eternal life! What's so cool is that we all have the opportunity to have these kind of finding experiences and spread those ripples of goodness throughout the world. 

On Thursday I hit the one year mark! I didn't burn anything, but I may need to throw away some white shirts pretty soon. I talked to the Crabtree's on the phone the other day and Tromsø is on fire right now! I'm always reminded that there is nowhere I would rather be serving a mission than right here in Norway!

Love,

Eldste Parkinson

"We visited this old fort" -- some pictures

parlez-vous francais?

FAM!

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

A good day to be a missionary

DEAR FAM,

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 

A visit from Elder Kopischke

Our mission was blessed this week with a visit from another General Authority: Elder Kopischke. BLOWN AWAY. We had a 6 hour meeting with him as missionaries that was basically a question and answer session. One thing that impressed me is that after every question he would first open to the scriptures and share a verse that would give a direct answer. It was inspiring how he knew his scriptures so well! One phrase that he kept using over and over again is "raise your vision!" As I get close to my year mark it is a good time to really reestablish my vision for the rest of my mission. It can be easy to get discouraged and lower your expectations, but as Elder Kopischke said, "never bury your dreams!" The missionary work in Norway is prime for take off and I know with the missionaries, members, and a little patience real growth is going to start like never before!

The same day as the Missionary conference he had a fireside for the young adults at the Institute center. We had an investigator that came so we were able to be with. It was powerful. One question that was asked was how you don't 'burn out' in the church when it demands so much of you. I have thought a lot about this as a missionary. He shared a scripture from Mosiah 4:26-27 that I really liked which helped to answer the question! A lot of it comes down to our weekly cleansing though the sacrament. 

Our best investigator at the moment is my man, the guy that jumped off the trikk and followed us to church! We have established a great relationship and he has made lots of friends in the ward! He asks great questions and really recognizes the promptings of the spirit. 

Another cool experience: a couple weeks ago Elder Christensen and I were helping a family move. We took longer than we thought and almost missed our T-Bane going back to town. I ran probably my fastest 800 meter of my life. One the T-Bane I sat next to this guy that I began talking to. He is originally from Uganda, but studying at a university in Stockholm. He said he spontaneously decided to come to Norway for a day to see some sights. I eventually started talking to him about the Book of Mormon and he agreed to walk to the institute center to receive a copy. We taught him quickly, the spirit was strong, and I got his contact info to send on to Sweden. When I checked my email I got this awesome response from him:

"Hi Thomas,

Thank You for the email.  Am doing quite fine and enjoyed my final day in Oslo and hoping to return there in the near future as i feel there was still alot to discover in Oslo.

I have been reading through the precious gift from you 'Book of Mormon' and have to admit each chapter has been a revelation i had no prior knowledge about, am yet to contact the local church to meet someone to i can further share with but hope to do so with in the coming days.

I once again wish to appreciate your missionary work and having spared your time for a chat with me in Oslo.

My Best wishes"

It's the best when you find awesome people like that!

Have a great week! 

Love, 

Eldste Parkinson

P Day  ~ snowy, blustery day...just staying in today!

From Tromsø to Oslo

Heisann! 

Well, Elder Årsnes and I are back together for round two! It's been fun reflecting on our time in Tromsø and it makes me realize how much I miss that place! Elder Årsnes grew up in the ward just north of Oslo, so he already knows the Oslo ward better than me! 

We have set a district goal this transfer to conquer the ward list. One of the problems with the Oslo ward is that it is so big. 750 members! And only 180 that come every Sunday. It can be intimidating for new missionaries to come here and face the impossible task of getting to know the ward, and the even harder task of doing reactivation work. During this six weeks we have committed to identify all 750 members and then record a little about them so future missionaries don't need to waste time trying back members that have moved or are 'ikke interessert.' Oslo is a ward with so much missionary potential! I know once it gets that strong foundation things are going to take off!

We rarely do banking here in Oslo because we spend so much time in the city, but yesterday Elder Årsnes and I had some fun banking on some apartments. It made me think of Erik because there are no houses, just block apartments like Erik describes in his letters. It was interesting because we were on our way to try back this family from Rwanda and I happened to sit by one of their sons on the T-Bane ride over there! It was cool to share a Book of Mormon with their family and to see how God watches out for the people that we teach. We found a couple other families that night that we were able share a message with as well. Nothing better than finding those that are willing to listen with open ears/hearts!

I had a a bit of a sore throat that I am recovering from this week. It was a little frustrating with street contacting not being able to speak very loud and having my voice crack a lot. I actually scared a few people haha. 

I'm doing great and loving it out here! Got a bunch of snow this week! Someone in the ward said it was -45 in Minnesota? Dang! We have a zone conference with Elder Kopischke on Friday! Group Pday on Thursday, but we got a little time to write today!

Love,

Eldste Parkinson

Godt nyttår!

Hey FAM! 

i wrote half the email before I remembered that yesterday was...MOVES CALL. I'm staying in Oslo and Elder Christensen is taking off to Hamar. Puts an end to the potato connection. My new comp is Elder Årsnes! That's right, round 2! I'm excited to be working with him again!

It was a fun experience being in Oslo for the new year! Fireworks are a big thing up here and almost every single house in the whole city was setting off some pretty legit fireworks. Unfortunately, there was a bunch of fog, which made it hard to see them. We spent New Years Eve with an awesome family from England! 4 young kids. It brought back memories of having the missionaries over on New Years eve back in Minnesota. I think this was my first time not seeing the ball drop! 

It has been a busy week of ups and downs. It has been tough losing kontact with some investigators over the holidays and we have put a big focus on finding new investigators. it has also been good to thing to focus on goal setting with the New Year! i have been comparing it to a maze. Having no goals is like a maze with no exit. You may be stoked to share the gospel and full of energy, but you won't be very effective and will spend most of your times running in to walls and dead ends. Goals/Planning allow you to have direction as well as the companionship of the Holy Ghost. One thing I have been getting passionate about is finding on the way. I have stopped doing contacting stints where you just walk aimlessly around the city talking to everyone with a pulse. Instead, we always try to have a "point B" (a less active, former investigator, potential, active member) that we can visit and then have the faith that god will place people in our paths that our ready to receive the message! 

We will be getting another visit from the 70 in a couple weeks: Elder Kopichke! Looking forward to an awesome transfer!!

Love,

Eldste Parkinson