Happy New Year!

HELLO TO THE WHOLE FAMILY:)

 

  What more can i say than HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Wow its been a crazy year as i look past on everything i have done and what has happened in my life! only six months ago i was at home and at seven peaks everyday getting a luscious tan!! its incredible to think over what we have done this year and the ways that the lord does bless us:) it will be one year ago on the 9th of febuary that i got my mission call which is also the day my best friend Cameron Kramer leaves on his mission! thats crazy! there is alot that i have noticed about how the lord has blessed me in my life in this past year and being able to set my mind towards a mission so i would be able to serve worthily! i am so proud and happy of my own decissions to serve a mission and to show to myself and to the lord that its what i have always wanted to do! even though you can never prepare yourself fully to go on a mission and also no one tells you how hard a mission will be because you cant really explain why its so hard sometimes but you can always explain why its so great to be out here! i love being on a mission and i know my own family and myself are both very blessed and i can only imagine things that are to come to pass in this next incredible year of being a missionary!!:)

 

   well i am guessing everyone wants to know what its like here for the holidays.....well its crazy of course and i dont even want to tell you how expencive fireworks are here!!! i saw a price and almost past out!! 999kr for a pack that would maybe cost about 30 USD in america thats over 130 usd for that package of fireworks!! you cant reallly compare the prices because they make about 3-4x more than we do so it just doesnt work!! Anywho think of fireworks on the fourth of july but now think of those awesome fireworks they have at shows and how loud everything is... well thats norway i took a video of it and they are just everywhere its hard to even understand but everyone buys a huge box of awesome fireworks and sets them off and its just like having a contineous box of morters or roman candles going off everywhere and there is so much smoke you can only see the lights in the sky! its incredible! so thats what the fireworks are like:) well being missionaries we didnt get to start celebrating til about 5....so we had to do something to occupy our time and seeing that no one wants to meet with us on holidays we had to have something to do and so we did some contacting...2 1/2 hours and talked to 2 people teaching wise anyway and talked to about 6-7 other people there was no one out on the streets so we decided after that to just have extra studies since there was no point in being out and just practicled things we could practice:) we did have one investigator that said she could do something so we took her to dinner with a member and celebrated till about 8 oclock and just at and talked and had a lot of good indian curry since the member loves to make pakistanie or just food from those contries and its way good!!!!! afterwards we got to eat with another member....oh i am so full....and spent the rest of the night playing a game i actually have never played! RISK ANYONE? we had 10 people playing and had a bunch of fun and to start it off we decided to give the norwegians a tast of spice so we ran home and got these crazy hot peppers and they thought they could handle them....little did they know how HOT they were! we got a real good laugh at that for awhile:) we played risk for hours and not ever played before and learning it in norwegian was...well lets just say i figured it out:) afterwards we went out side and watched fire works go off for about thirty minutes and almost watched a member get his mouth blown off from putting a firework that is not suppose to blow up in his mouth and ended up blowing up in his mouth...quite funny but stupid!! so we got to stay out til 1230! and had to get up at 8!

 

  well so as far as partying goes it was a way fun experiance and just the way they celebrate is so fun and out of the ordinary:) i am truly blessed to be here in norway to be a missionary nontheless and to serve the people here in norway whom i have grown to love so much in the short time i have been here:) i am so thankful for all the support i get from my friends and family back at home who love me and support me here!! the work moves forward and we have high goals this year! i am so excited and ready to serve more thanever as the new year begins! i know this gospel is true i have put it to the test and it doesnt lie! i know jesus is our savior and i am so thankful for the time i have had to remember him and become closer to him through this holiday season! we are finding people already who are interested adn want to learn! i love you all and hope youall had a great Christmas and a newyears celebration!

 

  My tast or challenge for you back at home is actually something i got after reading Tim Barlows letter! what have you done this past year? how has God blessed you this past year? look back and see what has made you a stronger member than the year before and how can you this year increase your desires to serve the lord? what will strengthen your testimony this year? reflect and write down things that you wanted to do that you didnt get the chance to! make goals for this year that you can achieve but will push you!! i love you all back at home!!!

 

Eldste Farnsworth