June 5 - Sandvika

Hey everyone!

Thanks for your love and support. The weather is gorgeous today and the sky is blue and sunny. I am not used to the warm weather haha because last year in Tromso it never got this warm. I am grateful for Norway, and for the Norwegian people. You come to appreciate the differences, uniqueness of each of us over the world.  It is transfers this week and I will be staying in Sandvika with Elder Briggs! I'm happy about that. 

It was a great week! We were visited by an area authority 70 for mission conference. Elder Herland, who actually is Norwegian, served his mission in Norway, served as a bishop and stake president in Norway. If there is anyone who understands missionary work in Norway it would be him. He was very personable and gave great encouragement, counsel, and instruction. 

Mission conference was on Wednesday with us and we were combined with the West Zone. It was fun seeing old companions. Sister Hill shared with us thoughts on the Christlike attribute of Hope. She shared stories from the lives and missions of her 3 sons. President Hill shared with us thoughts on "our missionary adventure". He shared a quote from Elder Ballard that I love "Adverstity becomes adventure in the service of the Lord" . He also shared a cool story about gratitude form church history. Lastly, Elder Herland taught us about obedience, and based many of his remarks on the recent conference talk "stand up inside and be all in" He shared his life story and taught us about the change in his life and about repentance and invited us to join "the club". We all have our own problems, weaknesses and challenges. The issue is not our problems, but the real question and issue is are we all in? Are wededicated disciples or are we rationalizing behavior that needs change or are we holding anything back. He shared a strong testimony of God's love and that No effort in the service of the Lord is wasted. 

Also this week we met again with Justo. He is such a optimistic guy and has a strong faith in God and Jesus Christ. We began talking about the plan of salvation and focused on the spirit and temples. Without us evening saying anything, he taught us about Jesus Christ organizing missionary work i the spirit world after he died on the cross and before his resurrection. It is interesting how well he understands the Bible, especially the old testiment and all the truths taught by the restoration. We invited him to baptism but he dodged the question and explained to us that his quest is to know god. He isn't really looking for anything else. But he is still positive and wants to learn more. 

We also met with  Samad, the man who lived over by the robinsons. We gave him the Book of Mormon in Persian. We will see what happens.

On Thursday, the other two zones had mission conference and afterwards the Missionaries in Narvik and alesund were staying at the mission home but their flights didn't leave until the next day so they went on splits with us. It was so fun going on splits with Elder Osguthorpe.! Wow it had been almost a year but it was like the good old times contacting in Tromso. 

My thought this week is from this short video 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-03-059-god-helps-ordinary-people?lang=eng

The story of Gideon is inspiring. It is an example of God's pattern in taking ordinary people and making them extraordinary.  Doing the unlikely to accomplish the impossible. Gideon and a small army of 300 men defeat the mideonites with a ratio of 1 of them to 500. Blessings will flow into your life as you "stand up inside and be all in" in your discipleship to our Savior Jesus Christ. Love you all and have a good week.

Elder Witt