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