Christmas and New Years!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

 well its starts tomorrow but i just wanted to say how great of a year it has been! there has been some incredible things that have happened and not to mention all the good times i have had! there are miracles happening in Norway! i cant say i have not had fun because i have fun everyday and probably to much especially when my companion is always slipping on the ice....that is always a good laugh!;) well this week has actually been pretty laid back with a great time in Romerike for our training meeting with all the missionaries in Norway! i had been looking forward to those three days! having so many of your good friends and yet never getting sleep because you have 8 missionaries in one appartment and you just talk....so little sleep in two days wears on you a ton but it was so spiritual and incredible! well and any other days that we had open we tried to get appointments but if not we were with members and strengthening them! i love the members here in Fredrikstad and i dont think that will ever change!:) you become so close to them and they really have a special place in your heart i would believe! it was great to talk with the family on christmas day and to see how they have all grown so much! i dont even know what to say other than that tears fill your eyes as yousee your loved ones growing right before your eyes! family is so key in this life and i love the family i have!:) well ill keep this one short but i love you all so much and i hope you have a great new years!:)

Eldste Farnsworth

My Last Christmas in Norway

GOD JUL ALLE SAMMEN!!

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!! its crazy that this time of the year is already here! i feel that last year was just ending and i remember what it was like to think...wow only one more chirstmas....and now that time has come! seeing as norway celebrates on the 24th today is christmas for me and we will open presents tonight! i am so blessed to be in a ward that really takes care of the missionaries as good as they did last year!:) i have been so blessed in the time i have been in Fredrikstad! i have seen miracles after miracles and sometimes i dont think i really deserved them but the lord has other plans sometimes right?:) as i look back at this past year i am so greatful for the knowledge i have received from studies and how much i have learned in this time! there is so much to be greatful for as you serve a mission and especially a loving family who support you! thats probably the biggest but like i said i am not going to name everyting! I love norway during christmas time even though it seems that people are even harder in their hearts sometime haha! its so interesting! I LOVE NORWAY! there is just so much difference here that you have to love it! after a 1y 6m i would say that my heart has changed in many ways! i am not a perfect missionary and i could deffinitely work harder but i will say that my heart is in the right place when it comes to helping others and sharing the best messege every! i just want to thank you all for your amazing love and prayers! i love you guys so much! i cant wait to talk to you tomorrow! i hope you all have a great christmas! LOVE YOU ALL!!

eldste Farnsworth!

Snow has come

HEY fam and friends!

 

 well i had a lot written and some how i deleted the whole thing....so i dont really have so much time now....but i will say that my comp has been sick this week and so we took a day for him to recharge his batteries and i was kind of excited to study all day but after 2 and a half hours i was done haha! so i found other ways to entertain myself! he slept all day with out waking up! he woke up at 6 and got ready since we had an appointment! poor guy was so dead tired! well we got about 4 or 5 inches of snow on friday and its been a little warmer than usual! its some what warm today so thats a nice change i believe!:) well i want to say that we are making progress in our area with our once investigator and then still on the search for the others...so slow but surely we are going to find another awesome norwegian to share our incredible messege with! i want you to all know the personal love i have felt and continue to feel during this christmas season! we recieve a challenge to read the 4 gospels and 3rd nephi which i wont finish since i have become a super slow detailed reader on my mission but i have been reading everyday! and to help my comp and i read 3rd nephi in norwegain for studies! the trials of christ resemeble so much of our own trials that we face in this life! we just have to make the connection sometimes! thanks for all the encouragement that you all give me! i love you all so much and i hope you all have a super christmas! i love you!!

 

eldste Farnsworth

A Very Good Week

ITS BEEN A WEEK!!

 weeks are fast and days are slow but my desires are getting higher by the day! ITS CHRISTMAS TIME! the last christmas in norway! we got snow this past week that has stayed since it has been -17 all week so it stuck but it was less that an inch since i am down so low in norway! Its been nice as well not having to travel to oslo once a week and it has made it way easier on our pockets....if you know what i mean! we had a tank of gas last 5 days! first time in over10 weeks! i would say that this week has been a great one for sure! i would have to say that the lord answered my prayers in helping me have a stronger desire to serve! sometimes its not as easy to have the desire but i would say we had a `killer`districtmeeting so it was super great! its crazy to think about the way the lord answers our prayers! i would say that it is truly incredible how it works out! one thing that i have always been strong at on my mission is a desire to pray and to stay close to my father in heaven! its true how they say you pray over 50x aday ona mission and hopefully just as much at home! it is truly a blessing and its a killer on the knees as well haha!:)

 Well this week has been good! we have really made progress with our investigator that came to church this past week and who came this week as well! he is such a humble guy and he told me straight up in church that this is where he belongs! he feels good in church and it was great that we had the stake presidency talk and even though we had to leave and teach the youth during sunday school he stayed there and talked with members and BOY does he actively pay attention and listen! i am always astounded how he listens! we also had a ward dinner after church and i thinkt that was just part of the sealing deal! we talked after and he was like...."so you guys are having church on christmas right" and answered in the affirmative and he was excited! even though we could only meet with him once this past week you can see how he is progressing! he is a REAL STUD!

 We have kept our focus on our less actives and they are doing well! we set a hefty goal of getting three less actives active again and i think it will go well! we have 2 that really want to come but health holds them back and the other is warming up i would say:) Its really just finding the key in each person and the lord knows how to help us find them! but its the wards job of holding them once we get them back and the ward is taking full charge of that which i am so greatful for! Thank you FSTAD! well once sad thing to say is that we have yet to receive the liahona....so thats a sad day but it always takes us forever to get it her in norway! but instead we took sometime and downloaded them in norwegian to listen to in the car! we finished the first session and have listened to our favorites.....the first and greatest commandment by jeffery R Holland....! well i love you guys and i want you know that Norway is doing great and its freezing cold but i still think utah can be colder but the cold is super different! but its cold all year round... so we push forward! i love you so much and have a superduper week everyone!

love Eldste Farnsworth

From the Land of the North

HEIA:)

 well as another week has gone by the weather has now gone into the negatives! its been a cold week with weather in the minus -10-15`s! well its time to bust out the big jacket and not freeze and start using the awesome gloves and hat that a less active gave me:):) home made wool gloves are THE BEST! well this week as the rest have been super busy and we have deffinitly had a hard week as well and been challenging! we have are getting awesome progress with some of our less actives and we even got to perform service this week which was so great! as seeing that norwegians dont like asking for help and even when offered is not always easy for them to accept but we stacked a huge pile of wood for the winter season! talk about good ol fashioned when it comes to wood burning stoves and wood but there are not to many that have electricity that covers the whole house and every house has a wood burning stove and it just makes everything way more cozy!

  well even with progress i guess i dont have to much to say except we got a hold of a person that we contacted a couple weeks ago and we met him for the first time and we took a member and that was such a good idea even though sometimes i flirt with that idea of taking members on the first teach but i would say that strengthened my testimony of taking them along! they connected and even though we didnt finish our lesson he liked what he heard and showed up at church yesterday as well! he was very impressed and to my suprise (even though i have had it before) he loved the lesson on hometeaching and was very impressed with that! he said he had seen people try and only fail in his church and or there were only a few who would do it once a year or so! he even said he wants to bring friends next week!:) so i would say that was a great answer to my prayers of finding a NORWEGIAN that will accept the gospel so i just hope everything continues with him:)

 i cant say that i havent experienced miracles on my mission because that would be a massive lie! sometimes we do have to look at the small helps we get everyday though to realize the other ones! my desire to be better as a missionary becomes stronger everyday and i really am a weak missionary and have so many lessons to learn. all i know is that the lord is on my side helping me and pushing me(especially in this cold weather) to keep pressing forward! i love you all so much and i hope to hear from you all soon! i love you!:):)

 eldste farnsworth

A week of helping the in activies

HEY!!:)

 Well there is not much to say this week! we have been helping the
moss elders alot finding there way around and helping them meet
members since i remember where most of the live:) we have been getting
a lot of appointments with less actives and they are doing super
well!!:) i dont have a lot of time today but i want everyone to know
how happy a mission makes you! the lord loves us so much and truly
wants to bless us! as we search him he is there to comfort us through
any trial that comes our way! he is wanting to perform miracles if we
are willing to do the work! there is a great quote in preach my gospel
that goes like this:


的 have often said one of the greatest
secrets of missionary work is work!
If a missionary works, he will get the
Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will
teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches
by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts
of the people and he will be happy.

i know that this principle is true because i have studied and pondered
and thought this out! i know if we work we WILL BE HAPPY:) thanks for
everything you guys do and for the letters i receive! they are such a
help in hard times! i hope you all have a super week!

love eldste farnsworth!:)

SURPRISE!

HEY EVERYONE!!:)

  This week has been quite the week...and thats really all i can say! as usual we have been so busy! we have really been focusing in on our member teaches and also our less actives. like i have said before...less aktives just put a smile on my face:) especially when you can just connect with them and help them in their dailly lifes! well i really only have one big story which was the MIRACLE of this transfer! if people ever say that suprises dont happen in Norway...well they have got it so so so wrong!

  Well this story begins on thursday since we had our district trainning meeting in Oslo. Well our parking was running out so we went out to go pay for it and as i was putting my shoes on i turned around and there is our investigator studying in the center in Oslo! i was so suprized and i talked to her real quick and said i would talk to her afterwards. well we started talking and she was like guess what?? I quit drinking tea and i would like my interview please:) I was completly shocked out of my mind! it was like she had a complete change over a couple of days! we arranged everything and she got the okay! we then spent that night and friday planning for the baptism! it was so hard to plan because so many people had left to go to the ward temple week so that made it really hard to find people to talk and what not! well after callling a million people we just said ok we are just putting this into the lords hands and wrote the people down on the baptismal program and surely enough those people called us back the day of and said they would LOVE to talk! I had the great oppurtunity of baptizing Roya!  The ward helped us so much and made this spectacular event happen! well a little joke for everyone is that people say that it was a splashing experiance!..... lets just say that i was not going to have to baptize her twice....so i threw her under the water with AUTHORITY!! hahaha the two witnesses got splashed so it was funny!:) She had such a great time and even my convert from moss came along and was with for the baptizm and it was just another great witness to her of how strong the spirit can infuence her in her life! Sunday was great and was confirmed by a member who she really likes. we all ate dinner afterwards and had an incredible time! all i can say is that baptisms are so stressful but they are SO WORTH IT!! we go out and try to find people! but it is best through members! her and her mom are in it together now and its so great to have them in Fredrikstad:) i know that this church is true and that god continues to work among men today and continues in miraculous ways everyday and that is my own witness and i have been out for over a year know! i love being here and it has been great!

  well the last bit of news is that i will be staying in F-Stad for another 2 months with Eldste Morris! i think we will do good! i have really enjoyed F-Stad and i am excited to see what is ahead here. i wasnt done with my own plans here so i am glad i can continue working on the things i want to accomplish here:) i hope you all have a super fantastic week!

 LOVE eldste Farnsworth

Wow It Has Been a Week!

HEY YOU GUYS!!

 

 well what more can i say that it has been another very busy week in norway! there has  been a lot of things happen and its been super stressful! i mission is not just fun and games...especially when you have people to be baptized! baptisms are so rewarding but you truly have to work for them and there is so much to do! no matter how prepared you think you are we always have to expect that there is one thing missing...haha:) well this week has been full of rewarding and frustrating experiances but its been A Great Experiance:) i will also say some awesome news for any one that would in the future like to visit norway! i dont know if you have heard but Norwegian Air has got a hold of the newest aeroplane! you can get from new york to norway and back for under 500usd! so i think it will be important for me as well in the future making it so much easier to get to norway:) well aside from the side note here is the goods:)\\\

 

  well i will have to start out with the best news! we as a mission set a goal to get 100 new investigators! we almost made our goal or i say that we did! we got 98 new investigators in a week thanks to our mission fast which included all the wards in norway! we have a new goal of having 100 new progressing investigators by the 25! so lots to think about plus getting 80 new investigators a week:) what great news to see how norway is growing! as for us we got a couple of those new investigators one of which is a man we got as a referral from a member in moss! he is super positive and he is an honest truth seeker! we had a great first lesson and he was so thankful for us to take the time to drive there and to have a meeting with him! He will be a member! its so incredible to see how the lord is starting to fullfill his promises to the people in europe! we have one of the smallest places of missionaries in europe with a total of 54 missionaries covering only the coasts of norway and not really the inland! we have got 23 people coming in the next 4 months! so we are so excited as a mission! i love being here for one of the most increasing times in norway!

 

  as far as our baptism....its ended up not going through!:( it was a huge heart breaker! she was told that she should wait a week before she got baptized and that was hard for her to take:( as well as us missionaries. sometimes we just have to trust the lord even when we dont understand why she didnt pass completly. the lord puts challenges in our way and will test us to see how we go over these problems! we have had a lot of long teaches these past couple of days to try to help her understand so its been the stressfull part of the week! i think it helped her alot but we dont have another date set just yet!

 

 i would like to tell all of you how awesome you are! how much i love you all! tthanks for all the support you have given me through these past 1y and 4 month or so and i am so grateful for all of you! i know this is the lords church and that he loves us so much! i know prayer works! i love the book of mormon and i love tearing it apart everytime i study it!:) i hope you all have a GREAT WEEK!

 

Eldste Farnsworth!

It's Getting Dark!

HÆLLÆ!!!

  What a great week it has been and how fast they go by! i never feel that i have enough time to get everything done in time before the day is over! we have had a lot of meetings with people this week and have finally got to perform service for people! i loved that! for some reason its so hard to perform service in norway....! well anyway its been a joy filled week and i am pleased to to everyone about it!

 well it starts off with us broke with no money haha since we had driven to oslo atleast 11 times this past month and and covering such a massive area its hard to not use alot of gas ha! we are given 2000km to drive each month and we drive about.....5000 or more...so i will admit its great that we have people feeding us:) so we had to skip out on district meeting but instead of going there we planned a teach with the mother to the iranian family! it went so good and we learned so much about her! she doesnt quite have the belief in christ....or mohammed for that matter either. she said that she has a strong belief in god and that what ever way he tells her to go she will go that way and she took a baptismal commitment! she has already read over 40pgs in the book of mormon and reads more and more from it everyday! she is a star! she couldnt make it to church but she was super sad that she couldnt come!

 I will tell you one things which is that i love visiting less active members! they bring a joy into my life! i really love working with them and especially when they have a love for the church and for random reasons are inactive! i had the great oppurtunity or have been having a great oppurtunity to teach a less active and her daughter who is not a member since i moved her and have established weekly contact and lessons with them! i got to give her daughter a blessing and afterwards she felt incredible and new that the blessing was from god even though i didnt say that much at all! we talked about it and i got the chance to bare my testimony about the priesthood and how powerful it is! she loved it!

 well we are working with quite a few people and its been so great! we had three investigators in church and two of the were just people that we had called and they said they would and we got them rides and turned out they knew the people who picked them up! we had a great lesson withthem in church since some how we are the "new sunday school teachers"? but i have been doing it almost every week and i did it for 6 months in Mo I Rana so its no deal:) its getting darker everyday! it was pitch black before 5 oclock the other day and winter is her or i should say its been here all year but just in a lighter way. its been so great to be here and i love being out here to teach the gosple to the people in norway! i love being a missionary. it goes by way to fast but that why we take advantage of this time:) i hope you all have a FANTASTIC WEEK! love you all!

 eldste farnsworth 

Very Filled and Busy Week

HEY EVERYONE!!

 where to even begin! sometimes i feel as if a write the exact same thing everyweek....well if i do just bare with me:) well this week really has been filled with events and other awesomethings i would have to say! well from last sunday we had stake conferance which i forgot in my last email which was super good! we had a man from finland come from the presidnecy of europe...i dont remember what its called in english haha! he was such a humble guy! and then to follow that we had elder texiere who is the president of europe? not sure but it was so uplifting and he gave us a lot of ideas for new ways to approach the people her in norway haha! his wife as well is such a sweetheart and really put emphasize on contacting people as well! so we have been in Oslo a ton lately! 

 well thats just a little up date but as far as we know everything is still inplace for Amels daughter to be baptized on the 10! she finishing up her exams this week and will be back! its been over a month since we have seen her so it will be great! we have held good contact with her and she loves to talk so we have had some good phone calls:) The people that we are working with are so awesome! and since norway is filled with every person from all over the world we have such a mix of incredible people! we actually have three progressing investigators that come from either iraq or iran and they are so educated in the bible knowledge it is incredible! we had a teach yesterday from a guy that actually stopped us who we have been trying to meet with but he works so much its so hard! he called us up yesterday randomly and said ok come over! we were in moss so we finished our bussiness and left! he brought his mother(who we had met on the street the other day actually:)) and she was very intersted in learning and she had some great input! They are such incredible people!

 well thats basically the update! time is going by faster and faster! this transfer is flying by with no regrets and lots of planning! i have learned quite a lot from my comp! i cant believe we have been together already over 5 weeks! i love being out here! i have learned so much and continue to learn as every day passes! i love Norway and its people! i want you all to know that i love this gospel and i know its true! i love the book of mormon with all my heart and i know of its truthfullness! read it and love it! i would love for you all to take 5 minutes and to find out your own reasons of why you love the gospel and why you are a part of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints!!:) have a great week everyone and i love you all:)

 eldste farnsworth!!

Another Good Week of Rain

hey family and friends!!

 Well i would love to announce that it has yet to rain today....but every other day it has rained like never before!! haha but those are just the random things of norwegian weather:) this past week has been really good! we have seen some great progress this week and our week has been absolutly filled with stuff to do! but what i would like to do is really focus in on the promtings of the spirit! those tiny things that can be hard to decifer if its us or not! well i cant tell you really how to make up your mind other than what it invites you to do:) as it states in moroni 7 if it invites you to do good its of god! so the real question is if we are taking the chance and following that we feel! i can tell you all that i am not the best at listening but i know that if we will that only good things will come out of it! i know that its the spirit of the lord telling us to do that thing and to take a leap of faith and trust in the lord with all our hearts and he will do the rest as we are faithful!!:)

 I LOVE BEING HERE! there is so much to tell and words just dont explain it! days are hard days are the same but yet you have a smile on your face and you have fun during the hard times and laugh when times are just ridiculous! i can not even begin to tell you about making sure you have a good time everyday i mean we have to remember we are serving the lord and we chose to come here so minds well have a great time sharing the things we love:) so advice to everyone....we only have two years todo this....make it worth it!!:)

 I am so greatful for the oppurtunities i have received to be here and to share what i know to be true! i dont really know what else to say? lifes a rollercoaster and its a series of up and downs and loop to loops! the lord throws things that we never see coming and we make it through them because of our love for him! he has made it possible for us and has made the ULTIMATE sacrifice of love to everyone! let us happy and go forth in such a cause! i love you all and sorry for the short letter....haha but sometimes i just dont know what to say.....have a great week!!:)

 eldste farnsworth

Rain All Week!

hey everyone!!

 i love so much to get emails from you and to read through and to see how the family is and everyone else! thanks for them and i truly and deeply appreciate them! This past week has been a good one! sometimes you have to make self evalutions to see where we are in our best efforts....and sometimes we just have to make better changes and thats the best part about this gospel is that it shapes us into better people and puts life into a bigger and better perspective than we didnt even know was possible for us! the mission throws curves, knuckles, and some crazy change ups in ways, like is said, we never thought we could handle or take but then the lord lifts us higher than before! i still feel i have insufficient knowledge and probably will feel that way my whole life but i know i am learning something new everyday! I thank our loving heavenly father for that change!

  This week we had the great oppurtunity to have zone conference! i am used to having it way more often but new rules have come into have it every 3 months...instead of every other month but we also would have specialized training every other month as well so we had something everyweek! its good that i have 16 people in my district right know which is already more than the whole north had when we would meet in trondheim! maybe norway could be expecting more and more missionaries with the new age changes? that would be cool! we only have 55 missionaries in all of norway! i learn so much from these zone conferences and like i said in the other paragrath that they shape me in my mission and show me where i am at and my needs and improvements! we all have areas of improvement and change that needs to be made! so make those changes that are needed to keep yourself on gods straigth and narrow! i can not even start to say all the thingsi have learned on my mission and patience i have gained! god had blessed me more than i know!!

  I will say that our new convert is doing so well! she is a star and the members continue to love her and take her places! she is a true fighter and is already sharing the gospel like a missionary!:) it fills my heart and she fills everone elses heart with joy as well! she taught us how to make arabic pizza the other day! its supergood! i forgot to take my camera but we are going to make REAL kebabs with her tomorrow! i can not thank the ward enough for taking her in as their own! I know that this church is true and i am incedibly thankful for my upbringing in the gospel and for a great family! i know that god is there and truly answers our prayers! i have experianced that so much! i know that joseph smith is a prophet and that we STILL have a prophet on the earth today! i hope you all have a great and fantastic week! dont forget to continue to read in the book of mormon!:) I LOVE YOU!!!

 ELDSTE FARNSWORTH

WOW! What a Week

HEY:):)

 

 what a week it has been! its always the week of the baptism that is always so so stressfull! we had some pretty interesting things happen! well this week has been super busy and has been filled with rain! it has rain almost all day everyday! but on the other hand i guess thats how norway stays so freakin green!! its getting colder every day as we approach winter and we can already feel it sweeping in everyday! but rain or snow we are out and the lord blesses uus day by day!

 

 well i kan say that IT HAPPENED! THE BAPTISM WENT THROUGH AND IT WAS INTENSE!! well a couple weeks ago when we were eating with a family with our newly baptized member(then not baptized) i received a little feeling saying who should baptize her! i asked her if a convert of a year who has had a strong desire to baptize someone could baptize her....she said of course! well he was over extatic when he had received the news and he has been coming on the teaches willlingly ever since! he was with for 4 of the teaches tis past week! he was such a strength especially when i had received a call in wednesday morning from her saying sorry i can not be a member i just cant and hung up the phone! i was heart broken and hit my knees and asking for inspiration on what we were to do! i started to fast and pray all day and gave myself more than ever to the lord that day and just said it will all be fine just do everything today you can for others and when you meet tonight everything will work out fine! well as we went to the teach with two members and sat us down....she said to jon martin(the new convert) are you the one going to baptize me? jon martin said i would love to but when you are ready.....i am ready she said i am just so scared! we gave her comfort and love and she was about in tears of joy. her and jon have become so close and yet the story is not over... on saturday we got everything ready and she was dressed and looked so beautiful in her new white dress! her daughter even showed up and came to church the next day:) i dont know what we would have done with out her.....because as they got in the water amel was so happy and she had tears in her eyes! little did we know how afraid and uncomfortable she was in the water! jon said the prayer and instead up throwing her under he took her slowly down and she forgot to breathe and as he was putting her under she tried to fight and jon just kept going not knowing what to do haha and she was gasping for air and he put her under and she came up out of the water with no air and almost dying and coughing and she started panicing like crazy and she actually didnt go all the way under and still had to go under again and she was not having that!! it took 10 minutes to calm her down and we managed to get her to go one more time(as we prayed we wouldnt have to do it a third time) she went under barely enought that the water covered her!....well probably not the most gracefull baptism but we got it;) haha it was an experiance never to forget! she was SO HAPPY afterwards! she said she couldnt remember what happened or anything we said...looks like those sins were washer from her mind...hahahah and she was happier than ever even though everyone else was in a panic afterwards! she was confirmed a member and she knows the church is true! she thanks us everyday and wont stop baking food for us now....:)

  well that was the good news and ill throw the pictures in with it! i am so thankful for this church. the church of jesus christ of latter day saint! everything that it stands for and the way we are taught to love and become closer to our Lord and Savior! my love for this church goes everly increasing each and everyday! i have a little reading for everyoneand its where i am in the book of mormon now...mosiah ch3! wow its such a great chapter. even though i have read it so many times i have truly felt the reality of it this time! i hope you all have a great week! LOVE YOU!!

 

Eldste Farnsworth

Short But Sweet Letter

WELL HELLO EVERYONE AGAIN!!

 it never ceases to amaze me how fast time goes by! I LOVE BEING HERE! even though summer was a very green winter and winter is already starting to kick in with tempuratures in the night already reaching below 0c sometimes! well Norway is still so beautiful and that will never change! the members here are so helpful and they remind me so much of the ward back home! i love being around them and i love making jokes with them as i would back home as well! its a good thing i dont have a problem getting along with people and ithank our heavenly father for such a great simple talent! i really have no idea what to write in this letter! i have been in OSLO 3 times this week and so that took alot of time!! but we have had some great things happen!

 well....hmmmm i would like to say that as far as i know that baptism is still on and she is doing so well! we were able to meet with her two daughters this past week together but at the same time alone haha it kind of split off with the missionaries teaching the one daughter and the member and the mother talking to the other daughter who is a guess quite agnostic? and we sat and talked to the other daughter who is an HONEST TRUTH SEEKER!! she is so awesome! we ended up going through the baptismal questions since she asked what she HAD to do to be a member and so i told her that these questions would help her know what she would be commiting to:) she is so much more interested than she thinks but she wont admitt it;) haha i love having members on teaches and they make everything go so much smoother!!

 kontakting on the streets lately has not been going very well and its the first time in my mission that its not really producing numbers...but at the same time i try to not be out on the street the whole time either because if there is anything better to be doing ill go for that first! we as missionaries forget that kontakting is not the only thing on the list! sometimes you have to be creative(which i am not) and look for other oppurtunities! well also with getting a new companion we have been doing a lot of planning to help him get familiar with the area and letting him in on all the things going down with our investigators! he also is OCD when it comes to organizing and so he had to organize our appartment and coordinate everything before he could leave.... haha well i will let you know we have a clean and organized flat and he really likes to cook...so i am in luxury of having home cooked REAL meals for every meal time! he is great to be around and a real sincere elder! i think we will get along well and we talk alot and laugh so i think our transfer has high hopes!:)

 well no crazy stories this week but maybs next week!:) i would like to invite you all to read something!:)-- jakob 6:12. its probably one of the shortest scriptures you can read:) but its great! i love you! have a great week everyone!!

 elder farnsworth!

Wow What A Week!

WOW WHAT A WEEK!!

 THis week has been packed and sometimes i feel like i havent really done much? but then i look back from day to day and we have given quite a bit of service this week and it was so fantastik!! we cut wood for hours for a lady at her cabin and explain the church over a lunch visit! we helped a lady inour ward with mowing the lawn and getting her house ready to sell and after got invited to play golf with her and the young men and women! had a great time with them! we have had all in all a great week!

 well pday for us was actually on saturday since we got invited to go do some awesome stuff....PAINTBALLING! it was awesome and getting hit with some paintballs really takes the stress off and puts the sting in to missionwork instead haha:) we are just having a great time here in fredrikstad and our investigators our moving along so well and they are loving coming to church! we havent really been out contacting or knocking on doors becausei have really wanted to focus on less actives but sometimes it just doesnt seem to go anywhere? but i know it will pay off! once is active again:) so that was so awesome to have him be in church a couple times now!! people live so far apart here its insane!! so driving takes up alot of our time! its so great to see how devoted people are when it comes to coming to church! making an hour and a half drive every week or almost every week and taking part in callings! i love how this church works!

 one thing that i really wanted to say is how much my testimony has increased lately! i have seen how much more i know the scriptures and how much i have learned and how much i love studying the gospel! i know that christ died for me and he loves me! i have seen his love especially in hard times and in the good times as well! i know that the the prophet joeseph smith is a prophet of god and that thomas monson is and was called to be our prophet today! he is an amazing man! i love you all so much and i hope you all continue and to be strong! life is a challenge but there is always hope!:) have a great week everyone!!:)

A Great Week!

Well what can i say it really has been a great week! this week we got to have quite a bit of fun in finding and we had a lot of great teaches this week and i had a lot of experiances! well i just want to say that i know the lord is on our side in all that we do as long as we keep our part of the deal! "i the lord am bound when ye do what i say but when ye do not what i say you have no promise"! i believe that this scripture right here shows us a lot especially as i notice in mission work when we do everything possible the lord will bless the people you teach to open their minds and let you into their hearts! As a missionary every experiance you have will strengthen you in some way and help you bring people to him!

   well the people we have been teaching are being blessed more and more and its truely incredible to see the lord working in their life and yet the people dont yet see it. they start to say things that are profound and something they wouldnt say and then you see if they can clarify what they are talking about and it comes across in your mind....so basically your saying you are a member of our church?.... so we are having a baptismal date on... is the feeling that you start to get in your mind and its funny because they start to say this and you ask them more questions to open their mind even further and they are still completly with you and its when you let them think it out and the spirit hits you to ask them to be baptized and to show their faith to follow our lord and savior Jesus Christ! we promise everyone the same blessings of the gospel and we testify of how it will work in their life if they will only test it and try it for themselfs! people dont realize what a small and simple pray and do in their life when they ask with a broken heart and a contrite spirit! its by small and simple things that big things are brought to pass! god knows the whole picture or puzzle that we are working for and as we ask for his strength and advice is when we will truely be blessed!

   well we have been working with a great swedish man and he is such a joy to be around and is a very open and interactive guy! he is very stuborn and very strong sided in putting out an athiest view on everything....which makes it hard to tell him to only excersize faith and these points of view no longer excist they are just questions that dont really make or break what he tries to throw at us it is just an uneeded question for the most part haha! but we asked him if he would prepare himself to prepare for baptizm if he would find out if our gospel was true and he said he would! the smile of joy came across our face because we have commited him to it before and said no many times! he came to conference this weekend well to the sunday morning session and he loved Irying and president Monson he thought they were very powerfull talkes and i prayed so hard the whole time we watched it that he would feel that spirit of trueth and boy do i hope thats what he felt and i am sure thats what he felt! i just hope he can see that that is what he felt!

   well we got to have a really great experiance this week and that was that we got to be interviewed by the newpaper and so he came with us on a days work and got to see how us missionaries live our lives and how it all works! well he met us in the afternoon and i told him our beliefs and i taught him the first lesson while standing there talking while my companion talked to another guy trying to find a JW church for his sister and we found  out he was mormon as well baptized only in febuary and he got to be interviewed a little as well! being an african and proud to have the "holy spirit" and just about shouting it to everyone infront of the state church....which was hilarious! but we had some appointments set up and he came along with us and was very interested as well so it made it even better to have him there! we taught a lesson and had a member with us and the interviewer and just taught like he wasnt even there even though he was taking pictures and writting in his notepad that he bought that day and by the end of the day it was filled with notes! We had to make sure we were carefull of what we said as well to make sure he didnt get the wrong idea and made sure we clarified what we meant and our specific duties as missionaries! he asked us if he could see us in action on the gå gate which is just like a big street that cars cant drive down with stores and what not and we had not planned contacting but turned out to go very well in just one walk down the street we got three teaches which usually doesnt even happen in a day in MOSS! and he almost started to ask us tips! he is a writter that has to go question people on the streets and he knows how hard it is to find people to ask them questions so we exchanged ideas and ways to find! it turned out to go very well! he actually came to fotball the next morning and talked with us for a little bit!

    well conference was great and yes i watched it in english! no other language can do it justice! you just dont get the same messege out of it in a different language and also i just cant understand everything they say so i decided to watch it in english along with half of the ward who would also rather watch it in english! well the way it works to watch conference here is we watch saturday morning on saturday night at six watch P.S the next morning the saturday morning session after then a big dinner and then sunday morning after that so i have not seen the last session yet as we speak but hopefully i will get to watch it soon! in the first session one thing that i have started to do is memorize a scripture a day and Richard G. Scott spoke on that a little and its one thing i am going to work harder on! Jeffery R. Holland spoke in the priesthood session and as we all know he is just an incredible speaker and he had two quotes i really liked

*Sign on and Speak up

*Be on the Team

*Dont dribble out of bounds!

the last talk that really hit me that i loved alot is president Monsons in the morning session on sunday! He hit hard on morality and also depending on prayer and to use it often to excersize your faith in prayer! prayer is something i have loved so much on my mission you pray so much and for so many different things through the day! prayer is our own communication to talk with our heavenly father and i think we talk it for granted more and more! its a truely humbling thing to do! prayer will keep us close to him everyday!

i love it here and the work proceeds to push forward! i know the gospel is true and its why i am here to show my own faith that christ lives and we can live with him again through our sacred covenants with god that we can be with him again! i know my redeemer lives!

Eldste Farnsworth

Busy Week

hallo hallo family and friends! this week has deffinatly been a crazy busy week with teaching all over the place and just time flew by this week especially fast! for those that have served missions and know how hard it is to get member teaches and what not to show a little bit of how much we did this week we had 9 member teaches! three of which happend all in one day! so me and my comp were on our way home yesterday from dropping some people off at the church and we were talking about how much potential moss really has in investigators that really should be baptized and that are basically ready but just not willing to commit quite yet!... we have over 20 people that said they would be baptized... but yet just wont be baptized? its crazy! we dont even have enough time in a week to meet with all of them because no teaching appointment can only last for 15 minutes when investigators have so many questions! its good to see all of these people wanting to hear more and to learn more! as i pray everyday for a better understanding for all of these people you can see the lord bless me and my companion to decern the needs of others! he truely is the key to this work with the holy ghost they are the ones who convert the people not us! As i realize this it only makes me want to understand more and to teach to the needds of everone! its not always easy and at times you may not find the answer right away and have to wait to tell them! but no matter what the case is it will be for the better and people like to see that we dont know everything but we will try as hard as we can to find what they are looking for! as missionaries we are here for them to help and guide that and its great when people realize that we are here to represent the lord in his work to support his children here on earth!

  well i doubt this letter will be to long but a short little experiance happened this week and a great answer to our prayers! as we have been praying for this area outside of moss for awhile now and just trying to find time to get there has been difficult but we finally made it to the great college town of Ås! we actually met a member there and he showed us around and good areas to go knock and so we had a great idea of where we could go to find people in the best ways possible and we asked him to pray for us as we always do and i believe with our prayers and his it just enough payed off for us to have 3 great teaches which both lasted for about an hour and ended up all being in english...Ås is 25% immigration college town so there are many different races there of people and willingly invited us in! so we got three new potential investigators and hopefully we will be going back this week sometime to talk with them and set up other appointments! its very interesting how many lessons i actually teach in english and it jsut amazes me when i think about it! when you think of getting called you think and are told you will not use english but you use it when alot in this case in Moss because its one of the biggest places for imports and the its one of the main places the ferry from denmark comes in! so alot of the southern parts of norway have quite a bit of euthnicity going on, but yet its so great and get a chance to meet people from all over the world!

  speaking of which we met a convert from nigeria who was actually baptized in Drammen,Norway and moved back to italy and now is back with his sister and her family and he introduced us to almost 10 new investigators and we are starting to teach their family when she will give us a time to meet! so hopefully soon everything will start coming together for us and her family to meet! along with his friends he introduced us too!

   well our investigators that have dates for next week were all out of town this whole week....coincedence? must be! but i pray that all will work out with them they are such great people and just need to excersize that faith and they will be more than on their way:)! but like a said this week has been so busy with teaches and yet doesnt seem like much to tell! but just so you are all aware here is another answer to a prayer! so i have been trying to find a coat that wasnt like 500 bucks! we knew a guy who works at a company started in Moss called Helly Hansen which is a super nice outdoor sporting winter store and we had been in there to look at jackets before and we found one that was 3000kr so like 510 dollars and it was marked to 2000kr and we told him that thats the one we wanted and we asked if they would be on sale and he said not really and so we said we would buy it now since we needed coats! he said ok well my price is 500kr.......wo wo wo what... yea we got a 500 dollar jacket for like80 bucks!! its super nice jacket and super warm ill send pictures of it soon!

  well for personal study i have just finished the book of mormon and the peal of great price and starting on the book of mormon agian but going through this time i am making a time line of events and a history chart or geneology chart of people! i am going through it slow and marking my scriptures will "real intent" and its going well 1 nephi 13 is great never new how much was in there and along with 22! but i have been going through plan of salvation this week and have another weekly goal for everyone who reads this! so 2 nephi 2 is all about the fall of adam and eve but it also shows the neccessity of why! my challenge for you is to read 2nep chapter 2 and see what it means for you and why was it all important! i have reallized more and more how important it really is and its so awesome that we have this gospel in our life! i know that god has given us this plan so we can be happy and he gives us weaknesses so we can be humble and his grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before him and have faith in him then will he make weak things become strong unto them! ether 12:27) he gives us weaknesses in this life so we can over come them and thats one part of the atonement the enabling part and we need to remember that we can overcome anything or addiction we have in this life because of jesus christ! he is our lord and savior i know this from my own personal revealation! i know this church is true!

   i hope all have a great week and can overcome any challenges that are here or will come! i love you all have a great week!!

Eldste Farnsworth

Crazy Busy Week!

HEY GUYS!!!!:)

  well this week has been crazy busy!!!! i dont really have much time to write so i promise i will have time next week....sorry i wanted to go to oslo and have a good time so we went there for pday and went to an island and grilled food and played some football:) our main investigator is doing so well and will be getting baptized in the coming weeks if she doesnt leave to denmark for family...! i can not express my love for members and them coming on teaches! if you ever have the chance to go  out with the missionaries, I WOULD GO! its so fun to have members and to hear their side of the story and their conversion since WE ALL HAVE ONE:) so yes i cant explain how great members are! i really have no idea what to write.......its late and i cant focus but i will give you all an incredible letter next week but for now i just want to say how incredible a mission is and how much is entailed in a mission and everything that comes along! its so crazy the blessings that come along with being here and that i mean just by going on a mission you are blessed and then not to mention when you actually start working when you get out in to the field! when you put your faith in god and just talk to everyone (which can be super hard sometimes) and tell them what we have to share, the blessings comes because the lord knows that we are trying to the best of our capabilities! i have said this before but i want to challenge everyone to look for teaching moments or "missionary moments" and if you are not sure.....put you faith in god! dont know how to bring it up? remember that the lord has give us preach my gospel WHICH IS SCRIPTURE by the way as we have been told and it is not only for misisonaries it is a GUIDE TO MISSIONARY SERVICE! USE IT! i love you all so much and miss you! have a great week!!!:)

 HEIA!!:):)

 

 

  OH WHAT A WEEK!! i can not even try to express my feelings of joy for this past week! it has been so filled and sometimes i could hardly even think! it was such a blessing that everything FOR ONCE worked out just how i wanted it!:) THE BAPTISM WAS INCREDIBLE!! everything went out of hand but that is how the lord wanted it haha! well i will get to telling the details in a sec but i just thought i would give you a little anxiety just to hear that they were baptized:) since i know you were all wondering!! we have had such an incredible week but not only because of the baptism but also because of a lady we came into contact with that is SO GOLDEN and ready for the gospel! ok now that i am done expressing the little things i will give you all the good details!'

 

 Well i will start with the golden lady! we actually got her number a a week and a half ago and we had so much to do we forgot to call her....well anyway we talked with her last monday and apologized and we made appointments and then ended up swallowing the lessons whole and just came out on top and just straight out said i believe everything! we are still making sure that she understands baptizm and so she will most likely have a date by middle of this week!!:) plus she has a daughter that we taught that lives in oslo which is so sentralt to everyting and that  is the best place for 18-30 year olds! so we are super excited! we managed to figure out a ride for her to church and she came still knowing we were not going to be there! she met every person at church and i called her after church and she had received so many invitations to dinners and others things that it was such a blessing to her and to hear for us! the ward took her in and ate her whole:) she is from iraq and actually was born christian and she loves it:) she is going to be a great member!

 

 well saturday we woke up at 5 and drove to moss so that we could clean the baptismalfont and get everyting ready and we also had haircuts scheduled thanks to one of the baptismal canidates whose mom cuts hair! well the hair cut ended up being an hour later than expected and then we had a breakfast planned with a member and that had to be delayed and we were filling up the font as well so we were going back and forth to everything and had to express how hard we were trrying to help everyone and follow up on everything but we managed it all by the end and still managed to be 10 minutes late for our baptism.....haha with me running around with all the baptismal clothes in my hands and hoping that they would fit the girls since the ones that they took home to try on didnt fit so we had to get them from our ward and take them with the day of and hope for the best and i even tried them on to make sure they would fit....so yes i was in a baptismal dress hahaha:) we had a great baptism and i had to baptize the one girl twice since her knee came out of the water.... but it worked out:) we ended up spending the day with them and playing volley with them and then ate amazing food with them and the two others elders that came her that had taught them mom when she was baptized in november! it was intense! but to make it even more intense i got the oppurtunity to confure the holy ghost on laticia infront of everyone in the ward and that was so intense the spirit was so strong!!! i could remember everything in norwegian and then my mind went blank when the blessing part came haha....but i managed!! it turned out well and it was super spiritual! it was not easy to plan stuff with a ward that you dont live in but thanks to good friends that i had before i left....they helped in more ways than i can say! THANK YOU!!

 

 well that is my super crazy week and it may not seem so hectic but it was....well ihope you all had an incredible week and i miss you all! LOVE YOU ALL!!

 

 ELDSTE FARNSWORTH

Fredrickstad Report

WHAT A WEEK IT HAS BEEN:))

 

  this week has been a wonderful week! we have been all over the place and have had some great teaches with the members lately! i love having members and that is something i will always be greatful for as a missionary! taking advantage of members is such a strength even with crazy kids running around that does not stop the spirit it from testifying to us about the truths we hear! with real intent and a promising commitment can any truth searcher find what they are looking for:) i am so greatful to be on a mission in one of the best places in the world! i love it here and i would never trade the experiances i have had in the last year!

 

 our three our still on for this saturday and i am so excited for them! we have been with them everyday and the mother has been making incredible brazilain food for us everytime we are there!:) we have been having a lot of activities with them to help strengthen them and to see how great being a member of the church can be! it has been super exciting being with them!

 

  This week again as always we have also put alot of focus on our rollin 5 less actives and we were able to visit them and plus some others and some came to church for the first time in a long time! it truly is like having another baptism to see them coming to church again! god will have everyone come back:) another progressing investigator we have we taught with one of the best families here in fredrikstad and it was a little funny because we hadnt told them what we were going to talk about (yea i know bad planning) but we had planned days in advance what we were going to teach her and it was funny because when they had picked her up they had stopped at a store and the wife ran in and then as they sat in the car him being african turned on some regae and the song was about prayer and he had talked to her a little about prayer and then when we started talking he was amazed and said "NO WAY WES WAS JUST TALKING ABOUT DE":) haha we all laughed and it was just seeing another way of how the lord has answered our prayers and seeing great miracles come into place!:)

 

 if you all would like a little funny story of what happens every once and awhile i will give you a little funny history that may have happened to others on there missions but to be honest it made me smile (way to much) and helped me feel great.........well as we were contacting we were pretty close to the road since we were on a side walk and i saw this man and i stopped him and the first thing he says is.... I HAVE BEEN SAVED....so of course we are like oh that is so awesome how was it?? and he starts going off and basically yelling and then he just stops and is like...GIVE ME YOUR HANDS! so we did and then he just starts going off and praying to jesus.... I ALMOST DIED LAUGHING! it was so funny and not to be disrespectfull but i didnt and just had a massive smile and then he walked off and i couldnt  hold it in anylonger and just laughed for a while:) so a good story to keep us going on the streets:)  This week has turned out so well and i thank the lord for the little miracles we have seen on our way! I love being here and its going by "alt for fort" (way to fast) and i can trying to take enjoyment out of every moment i have:) to see how i have grown in the gospel and to see how i teach is such a big difference in a good way:) i hope you all have an incredible week! hope to hear from you all soon:)

It's been another good week!

hello family and friends!

 

 i will never be able to wrap my hands around the idea or the fact of how fast weeks and even days go past! i am in aww of how fast time does go by and i can never say that to much!! this transfer is almost half way over already! with a good complanion and working and driving like no tomorrow the day just goes by so fast! we have had some great people met on the street this week and alot of great experiances!!

 

 we finally got in contact with a guy that was found knocking months ago and he and his wife are complete opposites and its funny hearing their own stories. she used to be a strong believer and he was into sientifical things....now it is completly different she not being believing and her husband bound looking for the right church. as we explained the book of mormon the wifes interest started to spark seeing that she always thought the bible to be so one sided and only of the people in jeruselem and then finding out that there were others was something she thought was so great! he as well found it to be so great and a first lesson that took so long......turned out to go so well in the end and with a new great friendship in the gospel starting up! they want to come to church since they found out its not the same old boaring church of priests who talk the whole time:) what a blessing from the Lord

 

 as far as meeting people on the street goes we have met some great people and one of which is a man who was never a believer intill recently where he was "SAVED" and turned his life around for his daughter and is trying to do better everyday! he wants to learn and know the trueth and we have seen the Lord bless us in finding such incredible people. he even told us before he left his house that he could meet someone on the street to talk with about religion....well there we were waiting for him:) its a good thing he was patient with us (or ME being the forgetfull one forgot our phone and a pen and paper.....sorry dad i still have a fast forgetting memory:) and tend to loose things sporaticly...) he found a pen and paper and gave us his number:)

 

 The 3 kids are great and turns out we are moving the date back to the 25th since the mom has to go pick up her child in Bodø (3hrs north of Mo I Rana) and she only has three days to go get him and it happens to be three days this week fri, sat, sun! everyting is going so well and they are loving church in MOSS and everything is going better and better with them! they have their interview on tuesday:) we have alot of good potentials and are getting less actives to come to church again:) the work goes on slowly but surely sometimes but there is no other place i would rather be! my time is fllying by and i dont like that at all but trying to live a better day one day at a time:) i love you all and i hope life is only getting better for all of you living your life in the gospel! i have never been so blessed in my life than now and my testimony grows everyday of the truthfullness of the messege we share! i know this church is true:) LOVE YOU ALL:)

 

 ELDSTE FARNSWORTH

Been a very good week!

HEIA FAMILY AND GOOD FRIENDS:)

  wells its funny how my emails usually start with the words.....its been a good week or this week flew by....because i just dont know any other way to put it besides the fact that TIME as a missionary goes by so fast and unbelievably quick! there is not a lot to report but i always seem to manage to write something long and pointless haha:)

  Well we have met with our two brazilian investigators and they have a set date for the 18th:) they are at the perfect age to be able to start living the gospel and being in one of norways BIGGESST wards (MOSS) helps enourmously! so there is nothing i can complain about there! we actually made the drive to moss this past sunday since their mother could not come because of work so we had a member from fredrikstad drive with us so we could pick them up their first time and then now we will just have to count on the ward to pick them up and keep them active:) of course we will still meet with them but we wont be going there so often since our ward needs us TONS as well:) it was very nice to be in moss and as i told everyone in the congregation that it felt like a home coming for me to be back there again and i felt so welcome! how i would like to be a member in moss haha:). but to end the girls really enjoyed it and they are still wanting to come back:)

  we have also been trying to focus on less active members and to help out with them as well:) since we have a car it makes trying to visit others much easier since norway is known to have houses out in the forest miles away from civilization! we were able to get quite a few teaches with less actives and they are starting to get that want to come back to church!:) Basically they are always so nice to us but there are the few who are not....but thats another story:) we are getting to be really accepted by the ward here in fredrikstad and they have grilling every week and that has been good for us and investigators to come and to make friends with the ward:) I LOVE WARDS! they make it so much easier to be a missionary but still have their own challenges:)

 well a little awesome story is that we went knocking on the island cities and in some crazy way we ran into a good guy....we were approching this house and then we hear these pounding footsteps coming to the door and we were like....ahhhhhh great another crazy person or a jw....and yet it was neither!! a guy opens the door and is like Where do you elders come from(nowegian suprisingly) and i was like a small city in utah...he was like where in utah. so i told him and he was like oh awesome i lived in spanish fork in 90- 91 and worked for novell! he was super nice and invited us in and was very hospitable! he is even a guy that explains that we are not polygamists and that we come from THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST and we are not "MORMONS". he said it was quite annoying trying to explain but he says he always tries:) not interested but has a great respect for LDS people! so there are people over the earth that know us and that appreciate us:) well thought i would give a remeinder to those that receive this letter and to check up on your personal reading and testimony of the restoration of the gospel...so ask yourself this question!:) keep working and HOLDING FAST to the iron rod:) i hope you all have a great week! i know i will:)

 eldste farnsworth

HEY EVERYONE:)

 

 well i will say first that being in a car area tends to drain the mission account pretty fast since we have no other missionaries in the area we have all of øst fold to cover (all the east below Oslo)! so we do a lot of driving back and forth and money flies out the window its crazy haha! we have gotten alot of work done in this past week even with the many rainy days and being soaking wet:) which is actually not so bad when its pretty warm out:) but we used our time in other ways as well such as going through and organizing the less active single adults we can visit and gettin numbers and address for them and since sometimes other missionaries didnt clean or did the bare minimun (mom would be proud to learn) we organized and cleaned our appartment because i just couldnt stand to look at it anylonger! SO THE DEED IS DONE!! there is quite a bit to say but we will see what comes out in this email...:)

 

 we had an awesome experiance this sunday which was that we had a suprise visit from the missionpresident and his wife and we also had 5 investigators in church which was awesome:) 2 of which will be baptized in a couple of weeks:) and one was a lady we met on friday from lithuania! we held our investigator class and it went so well with member testimony of two 1 year converts who have fallen in love with the gospel:) its helped so much and i had forgotten what that was like having members testify or in that same manner having them on teaches! it was so incredible to feel that spirit members add to the lesson:)

 

 The member that moved from Mo I Rana called me a couple days ago and after praying for six months for her daughter...she will be getting baptized along with her brother and her best friend and we have been spending a lot of time with them and teaching them as well as playing games with them since they are younger and the mom loves having us to show the example for her kids and we have seen such a change in her life and with her kids as well! she gave the sweetest testimony on sunday and even though it was in english it was so great! i felt the spirit from what she said and the blessings she has received in her life by reading *the mormons bok* haha:)

 

  one of the days when it was pouring rain we were going to go to the church to do some searching for less active single adults and as we were on our way out to the car i turned to my comp in the pouring rain..literally pouring....and said `what do we need to be doing right now`? he said with an unsure voice...ummmm go to the church? i laughed and said `no`and said what SHOULD WE BE DOING? he looked at me and said go kontakting? Jepp! we put our stuff in the car and went out kontacting and there was no so many people out but we walked around for an hour and we said a prayer for guidance and a couple minutes later there was the guy we needed...a guy we had met a couple days ago and talked to him and invited him to church and tried setting up another appointment even though both fell through we found who the lord put in our way:) its the little things that make a difference and help us realize what we are doing and how we can up our perfomance! i love being out here and have been so blessed! there is so much for me here to do in fredrikstad and i am looking forward to staying here!!:) i have really been trying to establish a stronger testimony in jesus christ lately and i have seen me love for my savior sky rocket and appreciate the things in a deeper fashion lately! i challenge any one who reads this to see how you can up your testimony in christ this week:) i love you all and have a great week!!:)

Pictures from Norway

Hiked up the mountain to see the sun rise

Back down by Moss

This is the river that we had one of our first baptism in!

A NEW PLACE IN FREDRIKSTAD!

Hællæ!! hey family and good friends!:)

 

 the first week in fredrikstad has already gone by pretty quick! I will not lie leaving my grounds in Mo I Rana was almost like leaving home! all the people that i knew and contacted multiple times aday and even had little jokes with them and especially the members who i have become closely associated with! i will truly miss all people there and all the good times that i have had there but i didnt know what else todo for that area and its good to come back to civilazation i can say that much! being the only two missionaries and the closest people were over 3 hours away and never saw to many missionaries and i realized as i got to the oslo center how much i had been deprived of missionaries,but that was a good thing as well i learned alot of lessons on doing what ever i could especially under loose watch and trust to do what we are suppose todo! i was truly blessed to have served there and now i am blessed to serve in one of the first places to ever have missionaries! some of the first pioneers came out from fredrikstad in the 1850s and the missionaries who converted them were throwen in jail with many others as well!

 

  Thiss week we started off with our first appointment by meeting with the bishop and talking about what this ward needs most! ge gave us some good tips and we started a good relationship!:) i was able to meet acouple other people and had to set some new expectations with the investigators as well! its so interesting to be back in my area and to be honest at first i didnt know if i could handle it.....but i know this is where the lord needs me and we have already seen miracles with receiving referrals (which doesnt happen to much in norway) that are super positive! Roseanne(the lady that moved from MO) invited us over the other day and had a girl for us to teach and it went super well! plus her children as well are ready to be baptized just waiting for them to come back from vacation!! my companion and i have alot to do here so our work is set up and our obediance is locked on so we can get our people to progress:)

 

  well i will tell you how amazing it was to be in church and to listen to someone else give a lesson for once!:) to listen and to ponder and to UNDERSTAND! it has been so great but i will say that people do not understand the dialect i was picking up so i have had to drop that completly and go back to something boring! haha i have continued my streak of talks though since the bishop asked us to give a talk so that makes it 29 straight weeks of giving a talk!:) hopefully that will end here soon hhaha:) well the ward is great and i am getting along thanks to my humor i have picked up and my easy going personality makes it super easy to talk to everyone:) well thats the week! i hope everyone is doing so great! it was good to get letters and emails from you this week:) i miss you all and have a great week:)

A Crazy Week!

heia alle sammen!!    i want to thank everyone for the emails that i have received this week and it is such a strength to hear from loved ones at home and also those who are on missions!! i love you all so much and i pray for you all! Well another transfer is done and this transfer has literally flown by and i dont seem to remember everything that happened but i know we have done ALOT here! Well i am moving and its deffinately no where i thought i would be goine! I guess its time for me to go back to my stomping grounds? well close enough that is! ill be going to Fredrikstad! which is the closest city below Moss! i have been there and have contacted there many times so it will be interesting to go back to the place of my birth:) since there is no missionaries in moss right now i will be cover moss as well so that will be very weird! guess the first time wasnt good enough hahaha i need to pick up where i was;) and since i can actually speak now that will help:) the biggest news with that is Roseane the lady that lived here but moved lives in between moss and fredrikstad! so i will be able to pick up with her kids and get them baptized:) and i already talked to her and she was screaming in the phone with joy that i was moving right next to them again:)    well this week in thinking of new ways to work we decided to focus on going to our investigators houses even if it meant being there for way to long and to get things rolling again! we met with the brazilian lady and her family and got a date for the 31 of july and we heard her whole experiance of moving to norway and meeting her husband! its was such and crazy story and with her not even knowing norwegian and just a little english, she had crazy circumstances and met her husband and was married a month and a half after!! we also went fishing with them this week on saturday even though i didnt have much luck and it was rainning and cold but still managed to have a great time!    while also meeting with investigators we met with a couple people from the ward and ate with them and did the preach my gospel way and got referrals! if anyone is not using that guide i would strongly suggest using it! IT WAS MADE FOR US MISSIONARIES! it will guide you in all ways of missionary work! we have really been focusing in trying to get less actives to church but since we cant get ahold of them we are going to be even cooler and use snail mail! whats that? well you know its that......mail box infront of your house? well elder davidson is going to keep the work moving well here! the members way be few but they are great members! my last sunday i made a cake for myself and took it and shared it with everyone and had a great time together! even a guy who we usually play basketball who isnt so interested came to church ON TIME before the rest of the members!! it was a great last sunday and now i can actually listen to others give talks and receive revelation and sit and think about the sacrement which is probably one of the biggest things i have missed! MO I RANA is a great place to be! to say the least that is!    well i mission is a sacred time for any person that goes on a mission and one advice for everyone is to use your time effectively! use the lord and bind him with all we have and show him what you want and how hard you will work for it! i love being out here and i have loved everyting so far even when things are so hard and feel like there is nothing more to do its that last part that means the most in pressing forward and continuing onward! i love the lord and our heavenly father and i have learned so much about the both of them and their divinity! i love this church and it truly brings more happiness than anything! for anyone struggling if the church is true think about all the good times you have had in church think of the love you have felt think of all your friends that have witnessed to you that it is true, now go ask and find out yourself!! i love you all and have a fantastic week!!

The Mo Report

halla!!:)

 

 well its been an interesting week and its gone by super fast! but whats new that is quite normal! well moves are next week and we shall find out where we are going! who knows if i will serve another 2 months in mo or go? who knows!? well if i leave it will be a sad day i have really come to love this place and all the drunk people:) but really i do love it here!! well i dont have a lot of time but i will throw out the main events of this week!!:)

 

 on monday we flew to trondheim and we ended up getting delayed because of the weather and the flying strike everyone is on since people need more money in norway? i dont know i thought they made quite a bit already? guess not haha! we got to trondheim and we got to meet our new president! he is way awesome and he is a great man! his wife is very talkative and has already fallen in love with the work and the missionaries already! just what we need as missionaries is a mission mom that loves us right?:) he told us all about his life and it was very interesting! he remembers you mom and dad from when we lived in arizona!!:) well we had a great spiritual time and even got to do a little contacting in the city!! its great to contact there!

 

 we took another trip with one of our members to aldersund (where torstein was baptized) and it is so incredibly pretty in the summer! GREEN GREEN AND MORE GREEN! Rannveig has my pictures since the camera died on the way she let me use her camera and we got some incredible pictures so plan on next week! we planned on having a grill session but it started POURING RAIN!! so we went home but it was so worth it!

 

 we have been meeting with our investigators almost everyday and helping them over come their challenges and its been going well! preach my gospel is so incredible and i thank the lord for what it does for missionaries!! we have been reading the book of mormon and have watched peoples fears or worries melt away! the power of the book of mormon continues!!:) so our investigators are going strong and that is so incredible!

 

 well today we finally got to go on a hike and we went with the girl from the states and had a great time! she has heard alot of the gospel and her concerns are way sosial then anything else but had a great talk with her and she learned alot! as did we! thanks to the great weather of 18c which is great hiking weather!

  as far as everything else goes i am great and the mission is only starting to fly by faster and faster! i love it here and my testimony is growing more and more every week! i love it! i have gained such a strong support from the book of mormon and how it really helps EVERYONE!! so to everyone with struggles remember that the book of mormon solves problems if you will live by what it teaches and trust in the lord! 2nephi 25:29 and Mosiah 4:8-12! put the lord first and serving others is a great way to help us show him what really matters most!! i love you all and have a great week!!

Another Week Flying By!

Hallo familie og venner!!

 

 OHHHH one thing i will never get use to is seeing how fast a mission goes by or even weeks at a time how fast they go by! i hope life really doesnt go by this fast all the time i feel like i cant soak it up fast enough before the next week is gone! the weather here has been off and one and its been great! 17-22c during this past week so it hasnt been super cold but basically the perfect temperture! you can never forget the people that you talk to on a mission and the CRAZY questions you get as a missionary so i recommend to everyone even if you are not a missionary to write questions down that you get! well i believe it was two weeks ago that a bar popped up right in the middle of sentrum(the part of the city) and its an outside bar so we get alot of funny comments! and whistles and what not from drunk people!!:) even though this week has been tough in finding we still always have a great time laughing and holding ourselfs sane when it gets hard!

 

 well the other day we were really having a rough time on the streets and hadnt had a single teach in hours! we then saw our investigator and talked to him and scheduled an appointment and then walked to our prayer spot and prayed and walked back down the gå gata. we saw our investigator again and talked to him again and we saw to girls starring at us, (us thinking oh great pranks are coming since that happens everyonce and a while) so we walked with our investigator and he left and we kept walking the other way and then we hear the sweetest sound ever.....HEY ELDERS..... i turned around with a astounded look and see the same two girls and so we talked to them for about 45 minutes and got an appointment to teach them and go on a hike and invite our other investigator! they both had friends on missions and they are both from the states but not members but are half norwegian and they speak norwegian and come to norway during the summer months to work! i think they could be quite positive actually!!:) the hike was cancelled since its pouring rain right now! but we rescheduled the hike for next week!:) we didnt get alot of teaches this week but we had quality over quantity this week and met some great people that really liked hearing our messege and being around us!!

 

   we had the chance to attend a birthday party with our brazilian family and every person there besides one person were from other lands! its was funny we were all from other countries! we met some incredible people from iraq who had joined the armed forces with the american troops as translators and are helping take down the bad guys!! like i said the people you meet are great! we also had the oppurtunity to do some service to help prepare for the birthday and built a deck for them! i then realized how weak i am haha! i love giving service and serving others, there is such a great achieving feeling and spiritual uplifting feeling that comes from serving others that you cant get from anything else!! well this week has flown by and i would like to share what i have been studying during my studies lately! this past week i have focused on becoming a better teacher! with learning my own purpose as a missionary (pmg ch1) and then building off that and going through other parts in pmg and trying to go over christ like attributes to help my own teaching in relying on the lord! so for you other missionaries that could be something you could consider:) i have seen my own teaching skills go up this week and the solidness of my teaches!!:) i got the ward package and i wanted to thank everyone for the letters and for the snacks! american peanutbutter......i forgot HOW GOOD IT IS! so next package should include more of that!!:) i truly love all the ward members in the 37th ward! stay strong and have a great week!!:)

 

eldste farnsworth