Christmas in Norway

Hello family and a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

 

  Well i first want to say how awesome it was to talk to you all! i was almost dreading it because i didnt know how hard it was going to be to say goodbye! saying goodbye once was hard enough and doing it more is just hard! as i pushed the call button my heart pounded i was so nervous i almost past out! As i heard all your voices i had tears strolling down my face and could hardly even talk! it was an incredible moment and i start to realize how much i do miss everyone! when you are out here its crazy that i just try not to think about everything at home its just hard and makes you cry everytime you do it! You never know how much you could miss people back at home until you actually see them for the first time in 6 months! i hope everyone had an incredible christmas and that you all had a great time and had the chance to think about your savior and the price he paid for all of us to give us the oppurtunity to receive eternal life! Talking to everyone really made me think about how incredible families are and i am so greatful to have a big family with neices and nephews running around! how i love all of you and how you make my heart swell with joy! i wont lie being away from the family at Christmas time is not easy at all and it made me miss you all so much! you all are so special to me and to be able to see my whole family was a huge blessing for me! i think about all your kids and how much i love spending time with them and how happy they make me! to all my sisters i love all your kids and that is one thing i miss so much about home is having the kids run all over me taking me with them playing with them laughing and going crazy with them! your kids are great always remember how special they are to you no matter how much you want to wrap your hands on their necks sometime!:) i hope everyone had a great Chirstmas and i love all of you so much!!

   well as far as my christmas went i got a ton of chocolate from the members! thats all me and my comp got was food! the best food you can buy in norway that is! we are set with chocolate for the rest of the mission i swear! well for Chirstmas on the 24th we had the great oppurtunity to spend with the family jacobsen and they made us like a thanksgiving dinner well in a way with turkey and some other norwegain food! it was great!! we had another great oppurtunity to go over to an older couple and spend a couple hours with them as well and we ate a little with them and talked with the daughter who just got back from spain or somewhere and we all together sang Christmas hyms and talked about why we are here on our missions and why it was important and it really helped me see my own reasons for being out here because honestly sometimes you forget why you are here! not meaning i dont work as hard but sometimes you just forget your own personal reasons of why we go on missions! we all have or have had our own reasons of why we want to serve! so the questions is for those who are and have served missions....what was your reason? yea we all want to serve the lord and learn and what not but WHATS THE REAL REASON YOU WENT? my challenge to the men that have or did:) being with that family reallly helped me alot in my own purpose and i thank them so much for that:) later that night we spent a couple more hours with another family and watched them open some gifts and play fifa 12 the soccor game and it was a blast to be there and just feel the love for family! The one thing about Christmas here that is so different from Chirstmas in america is how much more family is important! you dont leave your family for almost a week! you are with them constantly and they just enjoy each others company! Family ONLY! its absolutly incredible with the norwegian people they really are so loving:)

  This past week that really helped me to prepare for Christmas was going to mission conference! we had a great oppurtunity to watch a movie i really have wanted to see for the past six months since mom and dad told me about it! 17 miracles! it just happens to be all about levi savage our great great great great grandfather or maybe one more great i have no idea:) but to watch and see how incredibly small my trials are compared to them just makes me want to press on more and more to be a better missionary to work harder everyday! it strengthened my own testimony watching that and seeing all the trials that were gone through for us! i am so greatful to have watched that movie! we learned alot at the Conference but we watched that movie and it strengthened every one and it stuck out especially to me! it made me really stop and think again! well its not a long email but i hope it raised your Christmas spirit and helpled you in your own testimony as you celebrate(d) chirstmas i hope you all have taken a moment and thought of why we are here and how one single person ( the son of God our lord and savior Jesus Christ) has over come all our trials and sicknesses and pains and our sins and has already forgiven you for them! i love our lord and savior Jesus Christ and i have a testimony of this church and i love this amazing plan he has worked out for us inorder to bring us all back to him! i know pray works i have seen it in my own life work! i love being here and it truly is making me a better person and has helped me already so much andi cant even tell you how much i myself have changed! a mission is the best thing for me right know and i love being here and serving our lord and savior Jesus Christ! i know this church is true! pray for me and help me:) i love you all

  elder farnsworth