Oslo Norway Mission, Called to Serve

Oslo Norway Mission, Called to Serve

Monday, November 30, 2015

Tønsberg, Norway - 11th Week in Norway

Hey Family!

Thanks for all your love and support. My heart is full of love and gratitude for all of you. 

I had another great week in Tønsberg. Today is the start of my 6th week in Tønsberg and it is the last week of the transfer. On Sunday, Dec 6, we will have moves call. It is a huge conference call with all the missionaries where President Hill and the AP's tell us where we are serving for the next transfer. Wednesday, Dec 9 is transfer day, and that is where missionaries travel to their new areas. It is crazy how fast time is flying. I love being a missionary and I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to be in Norway.

On Tuesday, we had district brunch and meeting. The sisters and elders from Porsgrun and Skien came up and we cooked bacon and eggs, and had a great breakfast. It was so fun to be with the district. After that we went over to --- and ---'s house. We helped --- with her Norwegian and --- cooked us dinner. He orignally comes from the Lofoten Islands in Norway so he has a crazy dialect but it is super cool. Lofoten Islands is known for being some of the most beautiful landscape in Norway. They are a really nice family. We invite them to Church every week and they say that they will come but they haven't been for a while. I believe in them and know that as we continue to visit them and serve them they will start to build that desire to come again. --- is not a member and we've talked to him a little about his beliefs but he is not super open and interested. He loves familes so we are giong to share with him the mormon message, Earthly father heavenly Father. It is one of my favorites. I hope it can help him realize his Divine nature. After that we visited a member named ---. We've visited him before and he is the one with the book of mormon with all the missnioaries signatures. He is the nicest guy. He wanted us to come over and sing hymns with him so we sang some christmas songs. It was really nice. After that we drove to the city Drammen for Splits. 

Wednesday, It is Elder Mckell, Beck and I. We are on splits in Drammen. Drammen is a much larger city than Tønsberg. We spent the day contacting in the city which was good. After that we went to a member dinner. It was with a member family and they gave us thanksgiving dinner. It was good. This family is really nice. They have family in America and they have lived there before. 

Thursday, We are back in Tønsberg. In the morning, we went over to ---'s house. We helped her cut onions, celery, smash potatoes, make pumpkin pie in preparation for dinner. She invited us and some other members over for Thanksgiving. Woohoo round two! We also visited --- and his wife ---. He is the professional magician. We read with them the Family Proclomation to the World, because she is about to have a baby. They are really nice. 

On Friday, we spent most of our day street contacting and then we drove to Sandefjord to have Dinner with the ---. I love the ---. They love the missionaries and are so good to us. We had pinna kjøtt which is lamb ribs (i believe). It is a traditional Norwegian dish. They wanted to make sure we liked it because we are going to have that on Christmas with them. it was really good. 

On Saturday, we did a street Stand in the City center. We had a big banner and table. We were able to talk to lots of people but no one who was super interested. Most people were interested in Family History so we are thinking of doing a street stand focusing mostly on Family History. That night a non-member friend we have invited us over to a big thanksgiving party. Woohoo round 3! Her name is ---. Elder Mckell and Elder Orr knocked her door before I came to Tønsberg. Her family is half American. It was awesome! There were about 60 people there at this party and all of them nonmembers. Missionary paridise! Several people came up to us just out of curiousity to learn more about missionaries and our church. It was great!

On Sunday, we had church and afterwards went tracting.  We met 3 potential investigators and set up an appoinment with one of them. It was awesome. After that we met with this guy ---. He is really interested in our message and we had a great lesson with him. Can't wait to meet with him again. 

Missionary work is hard but it is very rewarding. It is tough when those you are working with fail to keep commitments such as coming to church. It can be tough when it is really cold outside, and you are tired and you want to take a break. It is tough to be away from family and friends, but overall, at the end of the day, it is so worth it! I feel like my testimony, my conviction of the reality of God, our Heavenly Father, and the reality of our Savior Jesus Christ has grown so deep. I know they are real and that they love us and know us personally. I know that Christ's Church has been restored. It was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith and it all started because of Joseph's sincere, prayer of faith.  

This week I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting. It was my first talk in Norwegian. Woohoo! I decided to talk on Prayer. Elder Bednar gave a fabulous talk in General Conference several years ago called "Ask in Faith". He talked about how prayer has two parts. We must ask in faith believing that we will receive an answer but we must also ask with real intent. Faith without works is dead. We must be commited to act on the answer we receive. Having meaningful prayers is something I've been trying to work on lately. I'm defintely not perfect at them because it can be easy to get in a routine but I know how important and special prayer is. Prayer is the way by which we can talk to our Heavenly Father. It is a two-way conversation. We just need to listen and say what is in our heart.

I love being a missionary and I'm grateful for all of you and your support to me. 

Have a great week!


Elder Witt





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