Thanks for your continual love and support. I'm now in the beautiful city of Arendal and I'm excited to be here!
It was really hard saying goodbye to Tromsø. I'm so grateful that I was able to serve in Tromsø and meet so many inspiring and loving people. It was an amazing experience that I won't ever forget. But thankfully, Arendal is looking like it is going to be just as good :)
On Wednesday, I took a plane from Tromsø to Trondheim. It is like a 2 hour flight. I had a layover in Trondheim for another two hours and then took a plane from Trondheim to Kristiansand. It was like an hour long flight. Then the senior couple in K-sand picked me up at the airport and drove me into the city to meet the k-sand elders and my new companion Elder Dial. We stayed the night in Kristiansand because we were going to have district meeting the next morning. Our district consists of a companionship of elders, sisters, and a senior couple in Kristiansand and then us, a companionship of elders in Arendal. The landscape down here is so different than Tromsø! There are no mountains just hills, islands, and fjords everywhere. It is also very humid and tropical so it is very green with a lot of trees and plants. It is very beautiful. The weather is warmer and it has rained almost every day.
My new companion is Elder Dial and he is a stud. He is hardworking and obedient! He is also really good with the language. I am so impressed. he has only been in norway 2 transfers so about 3 months and he is well on his way! He is from Idaho and is into cycling. He did a race with his friends and family that I think was from Seattle to Portland.
The branch down here is strong. There are about 30 -40 members in church and a lot of young families.
So on Thursday after district meeting and lunch we took a bus from K-sand to Arendal. It is about an hour and a half bus ride. Upon arriving, we dropped off our bags and took a bus to meet with our investigator named Judy. She has been investigating for quite a long time and is friends with one of the recent converts here in the branch. I'll tell you more about our investigators next week when I get to know them better.
On Friday, we went and did service for this woman named --. She was a referral from one of the members in the branch for us to go and do service. We go and mow her lawn. It's cool because she will ask us questions about the church when we come. We also went and tried back a potential. We stopped by and she was really friendly and open to our message. We gave her a book of mormon and she invited us to come by another time. Then we did a little banking in the area and met this older man working outside. He told us that he knew our branch president and learned about our family history program but wasn't interested. Later that day while on the street we talked to this woman from Taiwan named -- who said that she was very much involved with the church when she was younger. They new the missionaries because her parents were taking the discussions. She said that she has seen the missionaries before in Norway but they have never talked to her. We got her number and got an appointment for this week!
On Saturday, we visited a less active member here who works at a haircutting store (frisør) who has just recently been coming back to church. She is hilarious, reminds me of Ms. Farr, the ap european teacher. after lunch, we went to this area called Fevik, to try back another potential and on the bus there was this couple speaking english so we asked them where they were from and they were from England. They were viisting some grandparents. They told us that they had just recently watched a documentary on mormon missionaries in England. We ended up having like a 20 minute conversation. It was awesome! We tried back this house and unfortunately they were busy but said we could come back. So we finished by going banking in the area in the pouring rain :)
On Sunday, we had church. Stake leaders from Drammen were visiting. The stake young womens president spoke on Elder Hollands talk "Lord I believe" which is one of my favorites. Faith is a principle of power. We receive added strength in our life as we trust in the Lord and his timing. Joy is always guarrenteed to the faithful. It turns out the branch down here was in need of a piano player and so they were happy that I came. Thanks mom :) After church we went on a search for some inactive members on the list. We found 1 of the 3 who said we could come back another day, and we also banked into another potential that said we could come back. That evening we were out on the street contacting and there was almost no one out and we weren't having any success so we were debating whether we should do something else but we felt like we should keep going and I'm so glad we did! We talked to this man, whose daughter did an exchange in the US and stayed with amormon family and just had the best experience, We also talked to another man, name marcus. Long story short is that he was way friendly and cool, and we gave him a book of mormon. Later we saw him waiting for the bus and he was totally reading it! We got his number and should be meeting with him this week.
So a lot of cool things happened this week. It was a testimony to me of the Lord's hands in our lives and also in the lives of those around us. We can share the gospel by being an example and a light to those around us. When Elder Kearon visited the mission he told us to BE the message, live the gospel, and they will see it in us and gain a desire. As we live the message we will help The lord in preparing his people to receive the gospel We will plant seeds and help those around us receive this message. It was really neat that we were able to meet so many people who are being prepared. It is always the best to meet someone who has had a positive experience with the church and its members.
I know the church is true. I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!
Elder Witt
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