June 20, 2016 - Tromsø, Norway

June 20, 2016

Hey everyone!

Thanks for Your love and support. Happy fathers day! I hope you all had a great week.

Things are progressing in Tromsø! This week the Alta elders came for splits which was a lot of fun and also a great success. They flew in on Tuesday and spent the afternoon and evening with us and then spent all day Wednesday with us. We tried to get as many appointments as possible and so we were able to get some and still have time on the streets to find. On Tuesday I was With Eldste Beck. We had several hours so we hit the streets. It was fun and we had some good success as well finding several people who could be interested.

Wednesday we had District Meeting With everyone there. It was on the Lord's Call to open Our mouths. One of the toughest things for me is bus contacting.  Talking to people on the busses because pretty much every bus you go on is silent. It is just not normal to start conversation with people you don't know. More often than not I don't end up doing it. But I do know the Lord blesses his missionaries who have their "Fishing lines in the water".  It was a good reminder and something I need to make more of my daily life. and I think the concept applies to everyone. Many of my most memorable experiences have come from bus contacting and I believe that is because it is something difficult for me. It takes me out of my Comfort zone and shows the Lord that I am willing to put his desires first and not my own. This principle can apply to everyone. Do I put the Lord first and follow his commandments or do I do that only when it is convenient? God loves us and desires for Our success. I recently listened to a talk. It was about the commandments. The speaker described the commandments as this. The "Thou shalt not" commandments are there to protect us from sorrow, misery, and danger. The "Thou shalt" commandments are there for Our happiness. They are Things that when we do them bring joy, Growth, and Learning.

On Wednesday, we also met With --- and --- again, the Family from the Netherlands. We started teaching the commandments and focused on daily prayer and scripture study. we felt that this would really build the Foundation for their faith and Conversion. They are coming to Church and Reading in the book of mormon. It's awesome!

On Thursday we met With ---. We watched a mormon Message on the Saviors atonement and it was powerful. He gave us two referrals of names to contact and told us that he is moving soon to Trondheim. I'll miss him but maybe I'll serve in Trondheim and see him there.

On Friday, we were able to meet with one of the potentials we found with the Alta Elders. His name is --- and he is form Haiti. He is a really honest and good man and I'm looking forward to future Meetings. He said he is busy with work so he never knows his Schedule. Hopefully Things work out! We also were able to skype With ---. It is always one of the Things I look forward to in the week. He bore us his powerful testimony. He lives in Gryllefjord (spelling?) which is a couple hours away and told us that he and a neighbor ask him about the Church. He have him the pamphlets and book of Mormon. Go member missionaries!!!

On Saturday, it was the midnight sun Marathon in Tromsø. There were hundreds of People in the city and a ton of tourist. It is a a huge Marathon that is run during the night. They had booths handing out free smoothies and drinks which was Nice :) That evening we met With --- and ---. --- came again With us. It was a good Meeting. We found out why they are Meeting With us. We are Meeting With them again this week focusing on the restoration.

On Sunday, we had Church and did some finding, planning, and visited ---. He is going to bring a friend to Our branch party coming up in a couple weeks. Go member missionaries!!!!

Have a great week! Love you all! the Church is true.

Elder Witt

June 6 & June 13, 2016

June 6, 2016

Hey Family!

Thanks for all your love and support! We had a great week! It definitely had its ups and Downs but we experienced many special moments. Also the sun doesn't set anymore. It is light 24/7. It is weird but it is cool. It rained a lot this last week and snowed in the Mountains. June in Tromsø :)

First is that --- and ---, the family we are teaching, accepted the invitation to be baptized! There baptism will be August 20. It is truly a tender mercy from the Lord. At the beginning of Our lesson With them we asked them about Church and they said it was "special", and that they loved it. When we asked them about the Book of Mormon, they said, "after we finished Reading the Chapter you assigned us, we wanted more" It is interesting how the spirit Works when we have an open and sincere heart. Like them, often when I feel the spirit, find something New in my gospel study, I get really excited. I just want to tell someone and share it with someone.  The gospel is exciting. There is always something new to be learned, something new to be Applied, and a fountain of lasting love, strength, and Peace to be found.  I'm truly grateful for this opportunity I have to be working With this great family. 

Second, the members in Tromsø are fantastic! --- had us over for dinner. She is a huge help when it comes to Learning Norwegian. She is Our personal tutor. We were able to help --- this week move. He is just moving to another Apartment in the city. --- --- received the Melchezedik priesthood last week which was exciting. One of the members who Works at the grocery store gave us a bunch of Food for free. Anyway I could go on for a long time about the members. They are great.

Our big focus now is just finding New investigators. We spent a lot of time on the streets and knocking on doors and got several potentials and a couple appointments this week so lets just hope for the best.

Working With Elder Braunberger has been great. He is ready and willing to work and learn. He is really talented musically.  We're having a good time.

My thought for the week comes from a mormon Message video "Mountains to Climb". We visited a member sunday night to share the sacrament and the sisters shared this video as their spiritual thought. It really touched me. We all have Our own Mountains to Climb in life. Moments of opposition, Challenges, and doubts that can be really hard but they can also me the times of Our greatest Growth. I heard a quote recently that I really like. "When you're going through hard times and you wondering where is God, just remember; the teacher is always quiet during a test." The teacher however is present in the room, watching over you. I know that as we look for the positive, choose to be happy, and choose to be Grateful that Things will go better!

Have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Witt

June 13, 2016

Hey family!

Thanks for your love and support. I'm sure grateful for all of you. It was another good week in Tromsø. I pulled out my winter coat for the first time in a while. I guess this last week we had strong winds from the north and so the weather was cold and rainy. Other than that We're having fun and making the most of it!

On Tuesday, we met with --- and --- again. They are amazing. We watched the Joseph Smith, prophet of the restoration movie. It went really well, they made the connection that Joseph's life was similar to the Saviors. They told us that the Book of Mormon to them is not like any other book. It carries a power with it. It is amazing to just watch the spirit work in their lives. We also met with --- and ---. We decided to have --- come on the teach with us and it turned out well. It's always good to have a member there who can share personal experiences and testimonies. We are worried that --- and --- view our meetings as more of a sharing of beliefs and views with each other. It helped us uncover some concerns. Next time we meet with them we're going to try to help them understand the basics of our message and our purpose as missionaries and set some expectations.

On Wednesday, we had a day of finding. We went street contacting and Banking. While banking, we tried pack some potentials and didn't have any success so we stopped and said a prayer. We didn't know what we should be doing. After the prayer we both kept thinking that we need to keep knocking on doors. So we kept going and came to a fork in the road. We stopped said a prayer and felt we should go to the right. We said to ourselves that we would keep going until we gave away a book of mormon. Lo and behold on our second house we knocked into this college student. She was really friendly and hadn't heard much about the church. She accepted the book and got her cell number. It was a neat experience to end the day. 

On Thursday, we went to the police station to check Elder Braunberger into the country. After that we went street contacting. While we were out the city was having this big festival so we got some free food and ran into some of the members there. Then we met with --- and after that had skype interviews with the mission president!

On Friday, we started the day with some good old contacting! There was this super friendly woman from southern Norway that was just on a trip, but it was neat talking to her. She had heard about mormons before but only the usual stereotypes. We were able to clear some things up and introduce her to the book of mormon. After that, we went to ---'s and helped him and his brother move some more stuff, then we skyped with ---. 

On Saturday, we had Norwegian with --- again. It's seriously the best. She has helped me understand so much. We went and helped --- finish moving everything. After that we went contacting. We decided this time that we were going to focus on family history. I grabbed my genealogy fan chart to show to people. It was fun. We were able to talk to several people interested in genealogy work. We're trying to mix up our finding techniques and see what we can do!

On Sunday, I gave a talk. I based my talk on the plan of salvation and faith. When we understand our divine nature as Sons and daughters of God along with Gods purpose, which is our success, progress and happiness, it is easier to have faith and show faith when times are tough. We were able to visit with --- and also share the sacrament with ---.

So life is good and I couldn't be happier. I'm confident things will only get better. I know the church is true. The truth has been restored. God continues to give us his word through prophets today. as we follow the prophet we will be lead down the right path. 

Have a fabulous week! 

Elder Witt