American Gum Makes Friends Anywhere-Halden Week Twenty Eight

CRAZINESS.

Okay really nothing crazy this week. Well kind of. I don't really know. My brain kind of hurts. Let's just talk about some things.

Sleep-over

Okay so on Wednesday we normally travel to Fredrikstad, have a bunch of meetings there and then come back at night. Well this Wednesday we had a meeting that went way over and we missed the last bus back to Halden and all the members left before we could get a ride. Yay for small missions! So what happens...we sleep over with the Fredrikstad elders. You may ask, "But elder shanklin, what about blankets, beds, clothes to sleep in, pillows?". Nope. I toughed it out like a weird south american missionary....ew. So yep it was the worst nights sleep ever. Seriously. It was so cold and yes I did sleep in a white shirt and suit pants. I wore the name tag for added effect. I also used a weight for my pillow. So it was a good time to say the least.

Sleeping in Fredrikstad

Elder Shanklin using a weight for a pillow, sleeping in missionary attire

Party in Church

So Elder Corrigan and I had 3 people in church this week. This alone should convince the world that God exists. A straight up full blown miracle. There's no other way to describe it. It took a master plan, an awesome member in Halden, a kidnapping of an investigator (not really), being 20 minutes late to church, and lots of prayers for everything to work out. I also have been kind of sick so the stress of the day was just eating me alive. So many things to do. It was such a blessing though and it was a testimony to me that God is watching out for us here in Halden.

Somewhere in Norway

Making Freinds

This is the best story of the week. So we went down to Sarpsborg on Saturday night to borrow the Sisters car because we needed it for our master church plan on Sunday. We hadn't ate dinner yet and it was 8 o clock so for our dinner hour we just relaxed and took the only breather of the day while we waited for them. We actually went to buy some soda first and on the way we walked down this....man I don't know how to describe it. Its called a walking street. So like there is like shops on both sides of this street and people walk up and down it and its cobblestone and there's no cars. Probably has a name but I can't think of it. So we walk down this and it's empty except for...a group of 16-18 year old kids. Yes. So these kids are sitting in a circle smoking something that was probably illegal and making weird chants and noises. We walk by and they chant and yell at us to come smoke with them. I held myself back from the rather tempting offer...Sarcasm. So we got our soda and went back to the empty bus terminal and waited for the sisters to come get us. While sitting there I hear the chanting the kids made earlier and think " Was that in my head or was that really" It gets louder and louder and then out of nowhere the kids come in a pack of 15 into the bus station. Yes. I was about to get up and leave when they all came over. We had a great conversation on the following subjects:

-How awesome America is

-How drunk they were

-Why we don't smoke

-If I had 20 kroner

-How old they were

-If we wanted to come to a party

-How it's okay to say the N word in Norway

-One kids addiction to smoking

And much much more. Finally we gave all of our 16 year old drunk friends some hugs (seriously) and bailed out of there. I regret not getting a picture with em but that's probably against some rules. They were harmless though, it was a good time haha.

Elder Shanklin in the bus station on a Saturday Night

Elder Shanklin and Elder Corrigan waiting for the bus

Gum

So I came to the realization this week that gum is the quickest way to friendships. I whip out gum in church and every kid age 5-18 wants to be my best friend. Seriously though. The quote "You can't buy friends" IS A LIE!! They sell friends for $1.15 at walmart. So instead of trying to impress girls when I get home, I'm just going to find girls, sit by them in sacrament and whip out a pack of gum. Quickest way to temporary friendships. Great lessons to be learned on missions my friends.

Looks like we will be sending him some new shoes soon.
One pair gone after 8 months.

Thats all

Okay. Wow. Well I'm just really tired and I'm going to have to call it quits for the day. Hopefully that keeps the readers happy for now. The Legend is getting the mission call this week. Big things are in store. What up! In other news I saw that Jennifer Lawrence is in a movie with like 4 other huge actors. Not sure if it's mormon appropriate but hey, thats a lot of money for a movie so hopefully it's good. Stay happy all my good friends and family.

Elder Shanklin with his favorite soda.  The name of the soda is the same name as
the word "fairytale" in Norwegian.  He says he buys anything with that
name on it because he loves how you say it.

Clear Eyes, Full Heart.

Elder Shanklin