January 30 - Romerike

Hey everyone! 

Thanks for your love and support! It is transfers this week and I found out that I will be staying in Romerike. Elder Carver is moving to Stavanger and my new companion will be Elder Richardson. He is from elder Carver's group and is a solid guy. I've met him a couple times at zone conferences  I'm looking forward to the next transfer. This week was really exciting and a lot happen. We were invited in on three separate occasions while just finding and knocking on doors. So that was a record for me! 

Tuesday was a tender mercy. We had district meeting in the morning and then after that we had an appointment in Kløfta. Now this appointment was originally at 5 pm but we changed it to 4 because we thought that a member wanted us to come over for dinner on Tuesday but later we found out it was for Monday so we decided to keep the changed appointment time anyway. Our appointment in Kløfta was with --. He was an investigator who randomly dropped us and so we asked if we could just stop by and talk about it so we did and it went really well. Elder Carver bore his testimony of us being led to him on that christmasy day and the spirit was strong. We taught him about prayer and explained our purpose and invited him to write down the questions he had meet again with us. He was open to it so Im hoping we don't lose him. Because we had extra time we went to Skedsmokorset to try back with a potential. She let us right in and we taught her about the restoration and it was so good! Then we had an appointment with our investigator Jørgen in Fjerdingby. We arrived around 6:30 and our appointment was at 7. we realized we had forgotten to confirm the appointment so we gave Jørgen a call and he asked if we could come at 8 instead of 7.  we said sure and quickly informed the member who was going to be with us on the teach that the appointment was moved to 8. The member told us it worked fine.  We had some extra time so we decided to try back a potential we had in the area. It was the mom we talked to a couple weeks ago who said we could come back. She is the one we talked about family home evening with. We knocked on her door and she let us right in! We taught her the plan of salvation and once again it was awesome. She said we could come back in two weeks. Then after her we had some time so we just knocked on a few doors before we met with Jørgen. It was literally the best day. All of these appointment time changes made it possible for us to meet with new people and it was a lot of fun to be apart of it. 

On Wednesday, we went to an older members house in the morning. She invited us and the sisters over for lunch. Elder Carver is really smart with computers so she asked us if we could come over and help her with some family history work by scanning old pictures she had on to the computer. We imported several pictures for her and she was way happy. She shared with us some cool stories about family history that her deceased husband and parents did. It was neat. There is real power in family history work.  Then we went to Fetsund to try a former and knocked doors in the area. Then we had the worldwide missionary training broadcast. It was so good!  We were able to participate in a "council" that was done by the missionary executive committees. Elder Oaks, Elder Bednar, and Elder Anderson are apart of the committee. They discussed the doctrine of christ and our purpose as missionaries. They also made big policy changes in our daily schedule and key indicators. The whole purpose was to help us be agents unto our selves and use our time more productive. We no longer have set companionship and language study times. They also got rid of nightly planning and instead we plan in the morning. The changes are great and many many people will benefit from them. They also simplified key indicators where we now only report. Baptisms and confirmations, baptismal dates, investigators in church and new investigators. This was  a big change and a needed change to help us focus on our purpose and the doctrine of christ. 

On Thursday, we we did some service in the day and then had our ward mission leader meeting and had a lesson with the new convert. 

On Friday, we had a mission wide video conference to discuss the changes in the new schedule. Then we went to a new area, blystadlia where we had some try backs and while there we knocked into another person who let us in. We taught her the restoration and it went well. She will be busy with school and her new job but said we could try in a month or two.

On Saturday we had splits with the missionaries in Oslo. We went to Strømmen and contacted people on the street and tried back people in the area. One was a woman who we got an apointment with this week who is way positive. Overall a solid day. 

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On Sunday,  I performed a musical number with Sister Gagon. She played the violin while i played the piano. The song was a poor wayfaring man of grief. I was wayyyyyy nervous. but thankfully it went well. 

Those were some of the highlights of this week.  I have a testimony of this church. It is the church of Jesus Christ. I know that as we focus on the Savior, have faith in Him, and Follow his example we will find true hope and peace. Have a great week!

Elder Witt

January 23 - Romerike

Hey everyone!

Thanks for your continual love and support! It was another good week! We had our zone leader training and also splits with the Hamar Elders. We were also able to find several more potential investigators so the work goes forward slowly but surely! 

On Tuesday, we had our zone conference. Elder Carver and I did a presentation on Finding, and how we can keep our fishing lines in the water always. Then a pair  of sisters did a presentation on the importance of members in Finding and working with members. Then after lunch, President and Sister Hill talked about starting our mornings off right. Then the APs, talked about studies specifically language study. So it was a lot of info but went really well. 

After the zone conference we had splits with the Hamar elders. I was with Elder Hall. We were in the same MTC group and it is funny because we have now been on splits together 4 times in all 4 of the zones. Once in Tromsø, Once in Tønsberg, once in Arendal, and once in Romerike. He is a good fun guy and hard worker. So on Wednesday for splits we  had language study with a member here and the sisters, and then we had a lesson with a former investigator. Unfortunately he was really set on his faith and ultimately wasn't interested. Later Wednesday, Elder Carver came back and we had our meeting with our ward mission leader. 

On Thursday, we did weekly planning and worked around the church trying formers, and knocking doors. 

So on Friday, we decided to fast to help us in our efforts to find people to teach and it turned out to be a big success. We picked 3 areas to visit and then went throughout the day talking to people along the way and trying inactives and formers. In one area we talked with a student who was interested in the meaning of life, and wow I love the plan of salvation so much! It answers the questions of the soul. We taught her about that and gave her a pamphlet and she said we could come back! Then in a different area and knocked on a door and a mom answered. We ended up talking to her on her door step for 30 to 40 minutes and gave her a book of mormon and we got a return appointment with her in a week. Solid day, a lot of fun finding people. 

Then on Saturday, we visited a members for lunch, and missed the bus we we knocked some doors in the area and it turned out to be a success and talked to this one Swedish woman for a good 30 minutes. She asked really good questions and once again the plan of salvation does the job! In the evening we tried some potentials by the church and while we were knocking doors one door referred us to a neighbor and so we went and knocked on her door and she was interested and so she told us to come back on Tuesdays so we will try her soon. 

On Sunday we had a great day at church. One of the less actives we are working with came so that was good. I also am going to be doing a musical number in Sacrament next week so I practiced a little piano.

But things are picking up and so it was a good week. I'm grateful to be here in Norway. I know that Jesus Christ is our savior. He is the way the truth and the light. He was chosen from the begining. Have a fabulous week! Love you all!

Elder Witt

January 16 - Romerike

Hey everyone!

Thanks for your love and support! It was a good week! 

On Tuesday, we had district meeting. We talked about the christlike attributes of patience and diligence and how they work together and can apply in our missionary work. Then we practiced finding skills. After that Elder Carver and I did some prep for Zone Conference tomorrow. We will be doing a presentation on Finding. After that we went a town called Auli. We knocked on some doors and then went to the -- for dinner. They live in auli. They are the young family that invited us over for Christmas Eve and they are the best! They asked for any requests for dinner and so guess what I asked.... Hamburgers! Very good :) Then we visited a town Fjerdingby. We had an appointment with a norwegian man whom we knocked on his door the week earlier. He is way cool! We were knocking doors last week and he told us to come back tuesday night. We taught him the restoration and he asked really good questions and had really good insights especially on what it means to pray with a sincere heart and real intent. It was funny. He was like... of course you will get an answer to your prayer if you do that! That makes sense. He invited us back the same time next week and so we are going to bring a member with. We also knocked into a family who said we could come back and show them how to hold a family home evening so we are crossing our fingers as we try them this week!

On Wednesday, We continued planning for zone conference and also had our MMK meeting with our ward misison leader. Unfortunately our appointment with the really cool guy we met before christmas was canceled... We got another one with him this coming week so we are hoping it goes. 

On Thursday, We did weekly planning and then visited the town of Flateby. There we visited a family with the sisters. And later in the day took a train to Fredrikstad!

On Friday, we were on splits in Fredrikstad. My first area. It was good to be back again. Our focus was finding and it was amazing. We experienced several tender mercies. We started the day by identifying different formers and less Actives we would try visiting and then proceeded to contact them. On the way to the first former, we met a man from Burma. He showed interest in coming to church so we invited him and got his info! On the way to the next person we met a man in the city whose step dad is a member. He has gone to church a couple times and likes it. He was interested in meeting and so we got his info. Then we moved on to the next former. The address took us to this massive house with many different apartments. There were probably 13 door bells with no names. so we decided to try a couple. A man answered the door and we told him we were looking for so and so and he said oh yeah she lives upstairs on the door to the right and so we said thanks and then talked to him. We told him we were missionaries and asked him if he believed in God. He then goes on to tell us how he was in prison because of drugs and then had a powerful experience one night and knew God was real. He got out of prison and then overcame his problems and doesn't have a church he associates with. So we invited him to church and invited him to learn about our message. He said yes to both! Then we tried one more that had several door bells with no names and a woman from mongolia answered. She was so nice and showed us which door bells were his and then gave us his phone number and was way helpful. We then talked to her and told her about our message and she was interested and said we could come back. It was seriously so incredible and a huge testimony builder to me about finding along the way. None of the formers or less actives we identified were home but at each area we find someone the Lord is preparing. 

On Saturday we had lessons with two recent converts. 

On Sunday, one of the new converts received her patriachal blessing and so she invited us and some other members for dinner. It was fun to celebrate with her. She is amazing!

Those were the highlights! My thought for the week is centered around an idea. An idea for everyone. that God loves you and needs you on his side. I have a testimony of this great work we are a part of. It is a work of love. A work to heal broken hearts, a work to change individuals and help them fulfill their potential as  children of God and a work to unite and seal families for eternity.  I know that God's kingdom is on the earth. It is lead by a living prophet president Monson. Jesus Christ is our Savior and redeemer and through his Atonement will everything unfair be made fair. Oh how great the pan of our Father!

Have a good week everyone!! Love ya

Elder Witt

January 9 - Romerike

Kjære alle sammen!

Thanks for your love and support! It was a little slower week. Either our investigators were sick or we haven't gotten contact with them since the holidays. But we still got a lot done and were able to find some new people for this coming week! 

First exciting news is our investigator --. He is one that we met just before christmas where we knocked on his door and he let us in. We had an appointment with him this week but he got terribly sick and had to cancel. However in his same message he sent for canceling he set up another appointment for us so that was a good sign! and even better we followed up on his book of mormon reading and he has made it all the way to 2nd nephi now. We have an appoinment with him this wednesday and a member to come with us. We are looking forward to it! :)

The other exciting thing that happened is one day we were contacting people on the street and we met a woman from Africa. She had just barely arrived in Norway and would be visiting for a month. She showed interest in coming to church so we tried to get her phone number but she wasn't interested so we gave her a card and invited her. Then on Sunday morning we got a random phone call. It was her and she was wondering which bus to take to the church building. She came and had a really good time! :) tender mercy

On Wednesday, We went on splits with the APs. I was in Oslo. The missionary I was with is super good with the language and so I wanted to get some tips on language study so it was a good learning experience. We went street contacting, met with a less active, and an investigator who came to dinner at the young single adult center and institute.

On Saturday, One of the new converts here invited us to help do service for some of their friends. They lived way out in Kongsvinger which is close to the swedish border. It turned out to be really good. Some other members came too. Her friends are Dog mushers. They have 11 sled dogs. We helped build a gate, and moved a ton of dog houses. It turned out to be a really positive experience and we got to spend some time with the dogs :)

Those were some of the highlights of the week! We're optimistic that things will start to pick up more. We got 2 new potentials with appointments this coming week. As for a spiritual thought... I taught Elders quorum this week. It was the first lesson from the new book, the teachings of president hinckley. To start the lesson I posed a question for everyone to think about but before that I wanted to highlight some things. First, how blessed we are to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. The gospel is simple. It teaches us our divine nature as childeren of heavenly parents. It provides us with solutions to lifes questions and problems. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, can we grow as we excerise faith, change as we sincerely repent, and press forward as we make and keep covenants with God through ordinances and by living gospel principles. The gospel is the ultimate and true source of peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come. Now with that said, we have the gospel today, BECAUSE of the restoration. It was restored to the prophet joseph smith. Now here is the question... If the restoration of the gospel never happened, where would you be in your life? I was asked this question in the mtc and it cause to me feel deep gratitude for the restoration of the gospel. I know that Jesus is our Savior and his gospel is true. It was restored to the earth.

Have a good week. love you!

Elder Witt

January 2 - Romerike

Happy New Year everyone!

Thank you for your love and support! 

I feel very blessed to have spent the holiday season here in Norway and especially in the Romerike ward. The members took very good care of us and we had a place to visit and have dinner every day this holiday season. I love Norway and Norwegian traditions. Norway has a rich culture where families are very important. We were able to try several different Norwegian, and also Romanian foods :) In Norway you have 2 main Christmas meals, Pinnekjøtt and Ribbe. Both are delicious. Usually pinnekjøtt is eaten on the west coast and ribbe in the east. 

For New years eve, a member family invited us and another family over. This is where we had some traditional Romanian food because the mom is from Romania. We had a good dinner, played some games, and then went outside to watch the fireworks. We had permission to stay up to midnight if we were with members and if the members could drive us directly home afterwards. New Years is a big deal in Norway. I believe it is one of, if not the only day that fireworks are legal. from about 11:45 to 12:15 everyone is lighting of fireworks and it is so cool! 

This week we also had several other good activities. we had a Christmas morningside broadcast with the whole mission. A couple members came and spoke to us sharing conversion stories or mission experiences. President and Sister Hill also did a year in review. It brought back several good memories. 2016 was as a great year and I'm very grateful for the opportunity of missionary service. 

On Wednesday, we had a mission finding day where we were to focus on finding, We had fun wrapping book of mormons and restoration DVD's and handing them out as gifts and we also went caroling in the evening. 

On Friday, it was a mission wide cleaning day, where we were to deep clean our apartments. It was super helpful and a good way to start the new year fresh.

Not much happened with investigators this week so now that the holidays are behind us we are looking forward to anew week and a new year!

Lastly, it was wonderful to finish the holiday by going to Church on Sunday. This Sunday, I really wanted to focus on the sacrament. I'm reminded of a time when I was in the MTC. Elder Oaks came and spoke to us about the spirit in missionary work. He said something along the lines of Every member is a missionary but every missionary is also a member. You need the blessings of the sacrament just as much as everyone else. The sacrament is truly a renewal for the soul. Sister Esplin gave a talk about that. She quotes elder Ballard. “I am a witness,” Elder Ballard said, “that there is a spirit attending the administration of the sacrament that warms the soul from head to foot; you feel the wounds of the spirit being healed, and the load being lifted. Comfort and happiness come to the soul that is worthy and truly desirous of partaking of this spiritual food.”11

Our wounded souls can be healed and renewed not only because the bread and water remind us of the Savior’s sacrifice of His flesh and blood but because the emblems also remind us that He will always be our “bread of life”12 and “living water.”

I know that is true! Christ is our bread of life and living water. In him we can find healing. He is the master healer. I love you all and wish you a good start to a happy year. Love

Elder Witt

December 26 - Romerike

God Jul alle sammen!

Thanks for your love, support and prayers!

Christmas time is the best! I love it so much and I'm especially grateful to be here in Norway as a missionary.  I know that the Savior's gospel has been restored. When we choose Christ and choose to follow his example we will know that we will have made the right and best choice for us. I'm so grateful for His light and mercy. It is real.

Here are the highlights!

On Tuesday, we had a neat miracle. We were in Oslo for MLC and afterwards we had an appointment. During MLC we got a call that our appointment need to be scheduled and around the same time we got a text from a member who needed us to stop by later. So after MLC we made some  plans to stop by this member and then try some potentials in the area.  We decided it would be most efficient if we had the car so we called the sisters who we share the car with to see if we could use it. At around this exact time the sisters were coming back from an appointment and would be in LIllestrøm where we could pick up the car. It worked out well and so we took the car and drove to Kløfta. We stopped by the member and got the things they wanted to give to us and went on our way. We drove to this potentials house, and knocked on the door and some people answered. They told us that they just moved in and that previous owners moved away so we gave the potential a call and it was the wrong number. So we decided to just knock some doors in the area. On our second door we talked with a Norwegian man. We told him we were sharing a christmas message and asked if we could come in and he said sure! We went in and showed him one of the churches christmas videos. He expressed interest in learning more about the church and so we taught him the restoration. He told us that within the last 5 years he had started reading the bible and wondering about spiritual things. He doesn't know yet what he believes in but he was willing to hear out message so we got another appointment set up after new years! It was a tender mercy and another testimony builder to me that this is the Lord's work and we are his children. I'm always amazed to watch how things fall into place and it is the best feeling to be apart of it. Everything worked out how it should. If our appointment hadn't canceled and if we hadn't gotten the text from the member we probably wouldn't have visited that area. And having the car was essential and so if the sisters hadn't been back in lillestrøm at exactly the time they were we woudn't have been able to visit the area where this potential was because there are no busses that go there. And because of all this we were able to find someone who is willing and interested. 

Another highlight is that I'm very blessed to be serving in Romerike. The members here are so supportive and loving and made sure that we had a very merry christmas. 

Christmas eve is Norway's christmas. It is the day that santa comes and the day that families open their christmas gifts. So for chrsitmas eve we were able to visit a member families home and spend it with them. I love all the norwegian traditions! We sang and danced around the christmas tree and sang songs together, played games, enjoyed a good meal and opened gifts. In the morning of christmas eve, we visited a care center with the sisters to see if we could sing carols for the people living there. We did and it was amazing! It was so much fun and the people were so appreciative and kind and funny.  it brought back good memories of choir in highschool and the different performances we would do during december. It was a memorable christmas! 

On christmas day, we had church which was good and then visited another member family for dinner. Det var veldig koselig! Koselig is probably one of my favorite norwegian words. It literally means cozy but is used to describe so many things. such as happy, pleasant, nice, fun, and so on. And then it was way fun to finish the day skyping the fam.

i hope you all have a happy new year and good week. I know that Jesus is the christ. He is our savior and redeemer. As we approach this new year let us remember that with the touch of the master's hand can we succeed, be changed, and reach our potential. Have a good week!

Love Elder Witt