Defender of God

Friends and Family,

So after last weeks letter I am considering throwing down an Eric Carl style letter. One of those "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" books that would take like a minute to read. I couldnt do that to all of you though because I know how enthused you are to gain insight and knowledge from the Lords chosen generation. Thus begins another journey through the life and times of yours truly.

Both of these Elders (Brown and Shanklin) humored their
 mothers and took a picture in front of THE map!

This week was epic and long. My testimony of this gospel and the realness of the work I am doing increases more and more each day. Our district currently has this problem of staying awake and attentive during all of our classes and studies though. Let me be the first to tell you that studying the Book of Mormon at 7 am for two full hours can be an enlightening experience. However staying awake can prove to be a challenge of its own. For example, just the other morning I read the entire Jacob 5 chapter through the osmosis process. Despite what you think I did not learn nearly as much as I had planned. One kid in our district, the one who got a 36 on the ACT, has mastered the art of sleeping like the old guys in church do when they take the sacrament. You just look over at him in the middle of studying time and think, "Wow I dont know if he's pondering scriptures or taking a nap, well done my good man". We truly do love the work though and our district has been commended time and time again for the spirit and enthusiasm we bring to the work. Our district has become a true family. The work here can get very exhausting though so every once in a while you just got to let loose and have fun. The other night Eldste N and I were on the computers watching Mormon messages and such. Our brain surgeon-like attention spans brought us to our LDS page where you can go to interactive google map. Thus began the most entertaining/unproductive 15 minutes of the last week. We searched "Serengheti" (or however its spelled, we had 36 on the ACT to help us), and began hunting for giraffes on google earth. Let me tell ya, here at the MTC you will do just about anything to entertain yourself.

Eldste Shanklin ready for the day!  I think he
looks a little tired!

My companion still loves Norway.  He loves Norway more than I love....dude, to be honest I think he may have more love for Norway than I do for anything on earth. You may be thinking "Elder Shankling, you unrighteous, selfish, unworthy missionary, how on earth could you not love Norway". No no no. I love Norway and am so excited to serve. This kid LOVES Norway. He almost peed his pants when a copy of the Norway national anthem came in the mail for him the other day. I'm just over here opening letters like "please let it be from a girl, please let it be from a girl..." (yes mom that does include you). Point being, our district is a riot. We recently have been having a party because we found out that Norway no longer requires Visas!!!! So on Agust 19th or 20th we will 100% be flying over to the chosen land. Anyways, in our district we have such different personalities and it just makes for stellar time. We stay up at night talking and no matter how many times we say we are going to go to bed at 10:30 we never do. Now to clarify we do follow the rules and get in bed at 10:30, we just have the issue of talking about anything from Disney movies to the second coming. I struggle with these Elders and Sisters sometimes but when I take a step back I wouldn't trade it for the world. Speaking of Sisters, the other day we ran into some sister missionaries who new Elder L. I explained I went to school with him at the Y and that we were super good friends! They responded with "TELL HIM HI FROM THE SISTERS OF CZECH!!!! He is sooo celestial!" All I could think was, wow, even at the MTC. Even at the MTC. Haha, I love you Elder L, much love being sent to Bulgaria. Oh one last thing regarding our district! We love the cafeteria. Dad, I get as many Gluten Free individual wrapped cookies as my little heart desires. The MTC cafeteria is a terribly great place. You walk in and think "Ya know, I should eat less today". Then you sit down, look at your plate and go "wait, how did I end up with two entrees, six cookies and a four glasses of soda. And shoot, im still hungry even though I haven't ate!" Really though.

Eldste Shanklin told me, "This is me practicing Norwegian
on the chalkboard.  I wrote a little synopsis of the first vision."

Another awesome thing that happened this week was that our first investigator became our teacher, like we had guessed. This was probably the greatest thing to happen to our district as of... ever. This guy, Brother Smith, is just the coolest dude I have ever met. I told you all about those "marry your dream girls-accept it" guys. This dude makes those guys look like fish bait. His testimony and teaching style of Norway and the Norwegian language motivates all of us to a whole different level. I will get a picture with him soon but for now just imagine this description of him; a tall, blonde, skinny, white kid. Yep, I know what you're thinking, now you understand why I like him. But really, I can already tell the huge impact his testimony and presence is going to have on me here at the MTC. I really had an eye opening moment the first day he taught us. He got up in front of the class and began talking about having the spirit with us while we teach the gospel in Norway. He ended by saying something along these lines: "In Norway you won't be trying to show how our church is more correct than another. You won't be battling someone regarding verses in the Bible and what their true meaning is. No, instead you're going to have to look someone straight in the eyes and defend God." I am not sure why but that just hit me hard. If it wasn't real before than it became more than real at that moment. Being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ never has, and never will be something easy. Every day you think about the idea of 2 years. Then you stand up and sing the words to "We'll Bring the World his Truth" with thousands of other missionaries, and every doubt you ever had is erased. You look around at the Lords army and realize that you never will be alone. That as long as you're in the battle, you have Jesus Christ standing by your side. Someone to help lift the sword, someone to pick up the shield, someone who never let's you down. Clear eyes, full hearts my dear friends.

Much Love

Eldste Shanklin

Some quick fun facts

-Our whole district is in the Choir

-We have 2 Icelandic Missionaries in our Zone and there are only 8 total. Crazy!

-Our Elder/Sister ratio goes from 2/1 to 4/1 on Wednesday.

-A list of Elders and Sisters I have seen: E. Brown, E. Hill, E. Adams, E. Woodfield, E. Allphin, S. Mitchell. I feel bad if there are more but those ones are in my recent memory!

-I am trying to write everyone back! There is not nearly as much time as you would think so please work with me! There are also so many of you I love hearing from so keep staying in touch!

-We play basketball every gym time. Except monday night when we can't so we have secret mission workouts instead. Don't ask.

-Mom, everyone in our district is considering adopting you as their new mom so that they can get mail haha.