December 19 - Romerike

Merry Christmas!! 

Thank you all for your love and support. 

This last week, several exciting things happened in our area! So here is an update on --, she is a new investigator that I told you all about last week. We met with her Monday night and it was a miracle. She is the one that contacted us after we had talked to a former on the phone while going through the area book. It turns out there is more to the story :) So we were going through the area book and called a former investigator. He wasn't interested and so we said goodbye and hung up but then a minute later he called us back and ended up giving the phone to this woman, Irene. She asked about who we are wanted to meet! and so we got an appointment. Then on Monday night we brought a member with us and visited her. It turned out that this same exact day we called her friend she was having thoughts about coming back to church (christianity) and to go with that she told us about how her great grandfather's house flooded one time and the only thing that survived was his bible. She now has that bible and showed it to us. She then expressed to us how she wants to change her life and how she believes that God's hand was in us meeting her. It was amazing and a tender mercy. We taught her the restoration and she was determined to read the Book of Mormon. We were even texting her later in the week and she told us how she had gotten color pencils and that she was ready to begin. :)

On Tuesday, we met with a recent convert in the area. We also taught a former investigator we contacted, finally met with Sofie, and then ended the day knocking on doors! It had been weeks since we met with --. She is 100% sure yet on what she wants to do. She has 2 churches she is deciding between. Our lesson focused on the savior and the importance of prayer, scripture study and coming to church as we seek answers. 

Another cool thing that happened this week was on Wednesday. Some students from the high-school in Bjørkelangen contacted us and wanted help on a presentation they were doing on mormons. They were there when we gave a presentation at their school and they thought mormonism sounded interesting so on Wednesday we went with a member, and answered their questions they had prepared for their presentation. 

On Thursday, we visited -- to try back some potentials, and then we came back to Lillestrøm for weekly planning. After planning we worked in Lillestrøm to try back another former but he had moved. But as we were walking there we talked with this awesome person! she was at first super skeptic about who we were but after clarifying things she left with a better view of us.

On Friday, we had district meeting and then worked around the church for a little bit. We got in contact with one former who said we could come after new years. and then we went with the sisters to visit some members who live farther away for dinner. 

oN Saturday, we had an open day and worked in Skedsmokorset, the area where the church is. We would go from former to former working in the different areas and finished the day talking to his awesome guy who was interested in meeting! 

On Sunday, we had wonderful church meetings. The members here in Romerike are stellar. One thing that stood out to me was an invitation from one of the talks in sacrament meeting to take time for peace and reflection. It is so important that we take time to pray, think, and ponder over the scriptures in silence. Even if it is just 5 minutes where you can go to your room and close the door. We need time like this to grow spiritually.

I love you all. I hope you have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. :)

Elder Witt

December 12 - Romerike

Hey Everyone! 

So just some quick exciting news. This morning, with the sisters we visited an older widow in the ward. We helped her carry some Christmas decorations from the storage to her apartment and as a treat she made Carmelitas!! She told us she makes them every Christmas and loves them. One time she was in the States and had them at someones house and then had to get the recipe. I never thought I would get carmelitas from people in Norway. The carmelita love is spreading around the world :)  

but, Thank you all for your love and support. I'm happy, healthy( besides the cold I got this last week), and enjoying it here in Romerike.  It is marvelous to be apart of this great work and to see God's blessings and miracles in the lives of his children. 

On Tuesday, we took a train to Fetsund. A small beautiful town in the country side. We went there to try visiting an inactive member and some potentials and also knocked some doors. Then we took the train back to Lillestrøm, grabbed some food and then drove to our appointment in the evening. It was with a less active. He is really positive towards the church and so we are excited to work with him. A really nice and smart guy. 

on Wednesday, because Elder carver and I both weren't feeling good we took some time to stay in and organize an old area book which turned out to be a big success. Then we went to Strømmen a nearby city to try some former investigators and knock some doors. After that it was the relief society Christmas dinner and we helped serve the food with some other men in the ward. :)

On Thursday, we had our Christmas zone conference!! it was so amazingly inspiring and fun and just a good time. For the first block we had a conference with president, sister hill and the assistants. President asked us to read the talk "what lack i yet" and come prepared to talk about that. His remarks focused on "what lack we yet" as a mission and how we can continually improve and be better. His commitments were to identify one or two things to be more obedient, to prioritize 1 to 2 hours for finding each day and to study in preach my gospel daily. Really good ideas and i think exactly what we needed. Sister hill talked about music and using it. hymns are so powerful and really are prayers from the heart. Hymns can invite the spirit into our lives.The other block of zone conference was a talent show. Elder Carver and I played jingle bells on the piano. It was a fun boogie duet. They also had several fun videos and slideshows of missionaries opening their calls and so on.  After that we had a lesson with the new convert here. 

On Friday, we visited a city called Flateby. There we tried a former investigator who let us in! We shared with him the Christmas message. He loves mormon tabernacle choir and turned it on while we were there. He is pretty positive so we are hoping things can go forward with him. Also on Friday, we met with --. We taught her the plan of salvation and it went well!! She committed to pray. We followed up the next day and she totally prayed! and she said she would pray every night this week! so we were excited about that. She also came to the relief society dinner which was huge.

On Saturday, we did weekly planning, ran some errands in the sentrum, and then visited a member for dinner. Overall good day.

On Sunday, it was moves call! kind of crazy the transfer is coming to an end. Because Christmas is so soon, this last transfer was only 5 weeks and the next one will be 7 weeks. so Elder Carver and I will continue being companions here in Romerike :)  Then we had a good day at church. After that we took a train to Kløfte to work in the area there. We felt like we should go there and it turned out to be a huge success. We found an old potential investigator list and found a woman who has a family and who was interested 2 or 3 years ago. There wasn't any follow up info so we decided to visit her. We knocked on her door and her husband answered. He let us in and get his wife. She was really happy to see us and we ended up chatting with her, sharing her the Christmas message and explaining to her our purpose and she wants us back to teach her the lessons! She has lots of young kids and wants to teach them about Jesus. So we testified how we were grateful to be raised in the church and to have the knowledge and testimonies we have today. Really cool. 

And to go with that here is another cool miracle story. After having gone through the area book. We called some of the records. One was this older Norwegian man. He answered and was very friendly but wasn't interested. Then after we hung up he called us back all of a sudden. And this time there was a women who was visiting him at the time we called. She asked us who were are and what we do and She was super interested in meeting and learning about the message and so she gave us her address and number and we will be meeting with her tonight! 

So this upcoming week we got several possibilities opening up for us. We are really excited. My thoughts this week are about the Book of Mormon. On Lds.org it had some news about Elder Christoffersen speaking at the library of congress on the book of mormon. It was really interesting so I listened to his speech. in the speech he lists several names or titles given to the book such as "another testament of Jesus Christ, A safety for the soul, the mormon bible, the most correct of any book, the word of god, the iron rod, and so on. I would just like to add my testimony that I know the Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of God. The more and more I read i come to understand how complex and beautiful the record really is. The prophets of the book of mormon are real people. They walked on the earth as we do. They poured their hearts into their writings knowing that it would be of great worth some they. It is a safety for the soul.

Have a great week. Love you all

Elder Witt :)

December 5 - Romerike

Hey everyone! Happy December. Tis the season to be jolly. Thanks for all your love and support. Here are some highlights of the week! 

First is that we were able to hold a presentation at a local highschool. A member here who's calling is the church's public relations coordinator is awesome and she has gotten us several gigs at different highschools. This time however the presentation was 45 minutes instead of an hour and a half which we did last time so we had to cut it down and do some planning. It consisted of a short slide show where we gave some basic facts about the church and then we gave them a short and clear version of the life of Jesus Christ to the apostacy to the restoration of the gospel. Then we asked them Why is this important and what does it mean to us. and then we continued to give them a short outline of the plan of salvation and answered their questions using the plan. Once again the questions were good and I think it was a good experience for everyone. And now we got ideas on how we can improve it for next time. :)

Another thing that happened this week is that I was able to go back to my starting area on splits. It is weird to think that it had been over a year since I had lived there. But it was good to be back and brought back many sweet memories. While there we tried with some potentials that Elder Nelson and I knocked into and one showed interested in meeting in the future so that was exciting. We also had dinner at bishops house and so it was fun to see and be with the family. 

Third is that this last sunday they had the annual Jul i Toner concert. It is a huge local christmas concert that members aroudn the oslo fjord create and organize. It is a great opportunity for members, families, neighbors to come and share the gospel with others through music. It was held at the Romerike church building so there were a lot of people here this week!

As for our investigators. We once again weren't able to meet with -- or --. -- canceled on us this week and -- was still under the weather. Then we had another investigator Hans randomly text us saying he would be in town and so he was planning on coming to Jul I toner but canceled last minute. It was a little disappointing but what can you do. For this upcoming week we have 2 new appointments with potentials that we are looking forward to so It is going to be a great week! 

My spiritual thought/encouragement this week is to keep an eternal perspective. Much of the grief, hardache, doubts, and burdens we have can be eased as we slow down and look at our life with a greater perspective. We are first spiritual beings having a mortal experience on earth. In that mortal experience is oppositition. I believe when we remember who we are, Children of a loving and all knowing father in heaven, and why we are here, To experience mortal life, progress and be tested, then we find greater happiness and purpose in life. Our Heavenly Father has a plan and knows what will bring us happiness and success in our life. As we obey his plan we will gain understanding and peace. With this greater understanding we can develop the faith and hope to overcome our trials. And all of this is made possible and meaningful because of our Savior. :)

Have a great week!!! Love ya!

Elder Witt

November 28 - Romerike

Hey everyone!

Thanks for your love and support. I'm grateful to be a missionary and I'm grateful to be here in beautiful Norway. I always look forward to the christmas season. I love the christmas cheer, the gifts, the snow, family, friends, and all the many festivities. I have also come to learn how to make all of the above more meaningful and that is when we include christ in christmas. We can share christ's light and love as we give of ourselves and worry about others and not ourselves as we go through the christmas season.  it is a time and good opportunity to know the savior by following his example. And this year the church has done another initiative called #lighttheworld It is on Mormon.org and is wonderful. I suggest all of you to go check it out and share it with others! 

We had a good week here in Romerike. On tuesday, we had district meeting in the morning and after that I went up with elder burgoyne to Hamar for splits. It was awesome. Hamar is beautiful and actually close the area where some of my ancesters come from. While up in Hamar, we tried contacting former investigators and actually got in contact with all 3 of them we tried. We had some extra time and went knocking on doors in the different areas. One house was an older woman who talked with us about family history for a while. she was really nice and friendly and help us with our norwegian. 

On Wednesday, I came back to romerike and we met with a member here to plan for another highschool presentation we are doing. It is going to be this thursday at the lillestrøm vidergående skole. I think it will be good. Later in the day we had a meeting with our ward mission leader and then tried a less active and knocked on doors in the area.  

On Thursday, it was thanksgiving! We had a lesson with a recent convert,  Then, we tried a former investigator and he let us in. It had been several years since missionaries had tried to make contact.  He has his own church and didn't want to change but we did give him a new book of mormon. He  had the old translation which is really really hard to understand because it uses really old norwegian. He said that was why he never got into reading the book of mormon because he never could understand it so hopefully this new one helps. Then we went to a member family's house for thanksgiving dinner. the dad is an american and so we had a real american thanksgiving. It was delicious. Good turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, rolls, vegetebles and even pumpkin pie to finish. After that we took a train to oslo to trade for splits with the AP's.

On friday, I was in Oslo with elder daly. It was an awesome day. To kick off the christmas initiative all the oslo missionaries put together a street stand for carl johans gate. The famous street through oslo downtown where thousands of people go everyday. We had book of mormons wrapped, an ipad to play the video and a christmas tree decoarated with lights. We were there for several hours and It was a success. Several new investigators came from it. 

on Saturday, we met with --. She was super nice and made us norwegian waffles and we ended up reading in the book of mormon with her. It turned out good. Praying and reading scriptures is a new concept to her so it is something we will have to work on but that is okay! After that we took a train back to lillestrøm and had some time so we went contacting in the city. Then we went with the sisters to a member family that lives far away for dinner. And afterwards we randomly tried another member to lives out there and she let us in. She is an older woman and was very very grateful that we came by. 

On sunday, I gave a talk in church. It was on spiritual gifts and went well. The ward is so kind here. After that we did some planning for the week :) Sadly, we weren't able to meet with sophie marie this week. She was super sick and didn't come to church either. -- had plans and wasn't able to make it to church. We are still working on finding new people.

It has been a lot of fun sharing the christmas message with people. It is a very easy message to share with people because the majority celebrate christmas. Our focus this week will be to invite people to church so I hope that goes well. Anyway, I know that the work we are apart of is our Savior's work. The church has been restored. It is a living church, led by revelation and a living prophet. God lives and he still speaks today. I know that is true. I love you all and wish you a good week! 

Elder Witt

November 21 - Romerike

Hey family. Happy thanksgiving! I'm grateful for all of you and love you all so much. Thanks for your continual support and  encouragement. 

So I don't have a ton of time this week. We are having a turkey bowl in Oslo with other missionaries in the zone and so we will be needing to a take a train here soon. (one awesomething about this area is that public transport is super cheap! We buy a monthly card and we have unlimited trains and busses around the oslo area so we get to take a lot of trains! )  

But it was a good week! Things are really picking up here.

We met with -- this week and she is doing pretty good. we taught word of wisdom and she has no problems with that. And we also talked about baptism and she wants to change the date and so we could be having a baptism on New Years eve! Unfortunately she didn't come to church. We had talked with her and she was planning on coming but she told us last minute she wasn't. But other than that she is a really good person and is progressing slowly but surely. 

On Wednesday, we had Mission leadership council. It was really fun to see Elder Osguthorpe again and the other missionaries. I love president and sister hill. They are amazing leaders. We talked about many different things, including our mission's culture, the mission's training plan, and also the new christmas initiative that starts this week. Many interesting ideas were brought up. We watched training from the new mission presidents training with Elder Andersen. 

One of the things president Hill is focusing on again is our call as missionaries to teach repentance and baptize. And with that finding. I've been thinking a lot about the importance of faith in the work we do. Whether that is church callings, service, daily life. Faith is so important. especially when finding in missionary work. We must trust that God is preparing his children and then have faith that as we work hard we will find those that are prepared and with that we should expect miracles as we trust the spirit. And this weekend we saw a TON of miracles. It was incredible. 

One in particular is a woman named --. I was with Elder MItchell on splits as we were in a town called Aurskog. Our focus was to find along the way. So talking with as many people as possible. And after we had tried back some formers and less actives in the area we were on our way to the bus stop and boom there is this woman. We talk with her and get an appointment for the next day. So the next day we meet with her and we brought a member with us on the teach and then she wants to come to church. So the member volunteered to drive her to church. It was perfect and we will be meeting with her again this week. 

I'm grateful for the savior and fr his love, example, and goodness. I'm grateful for his atonement. I know it is real.

Have a good thanksgiving. Love you!

Elder Witt