Called To Serve: His Hand Is Reaching For Us...We Just Have To Take It-Trondheim Week Fifty Five

Good Mercy this was a crazy week...

For Ryker

My good friend. This week God continued to be a God of miracles. We saw the northern lights. It was crazy. Sadly unless you have like a 3000 dollar camera there is absolutely no point in taking pictures.(The elders actually found a member of the church with a very nice camera who had taken pictures of the Northern Lights) Even in Alta, Narvik, etc where they shine super bright and crazy you can barely take pictures. So we just soaked in the moment. We probably saw them at about a 6 out of 10. Which is way good. Nothing as great as you see on the internet but I feel comfortable now telling people that I have seen the Northern lights. Also Ryker....I highly approve of you being the kicker for the football team. You should totally practice and get good at that. That would be so cool!

Northern Lights

Pictures for Ryker

September 2014

Beyond Words

The Weirdest Day Ever

11:15- Elder Shanklin and Childs are approached by two 16-18 year old norwegian girls while contacting a hobo (they did not realize he was a hobo). The girls confront them and pose the question "can we have a kiss on the cheek". The hobo proceeds to kiss them both on the cheek. Suprisingly they were not satisfied. It was clear they were not actually wanted a kiss from the hobo. Childs and Shanklin stare not sure how to explain the situation. The girls confront the silence with "what...do you two have girls?"....the panicking elders respond with a mumbled blabing of nothingness. They girls continue to press with the comment "are we too ugly"....The missionaries stand in shock. How could one possible come back from such a comment. After attempting to explain the position they hold as representatives of the Lord the two girls storm off claiming that "they don't have time to talk and not get kissed". Fair Enough. Fair Enough.

1:40- The two missionaries have an appointment to reach but attempt to save a few souls on the way. A man with a nice Jesus Piece (a nice big ol cross round his neck) stops and claims to have met with the missionaries before. As he speaks he gets more and more crazy. He protests that the two Elders have in fact been decieved by Satan and are actually angels of the Devil but that he "disciple Anders" can help them. The offer is graciously declined. He proceeds to question the Elders authority, asking them if they have the gift of tounges. The answer was clear considering their above average Norwegian skills. That was clearly not good enough. Anders responded, " I must now tell you both what the Lord has to say to you..." The man then proceeded to bable an unknown language that could not be comprehended. It was clear that he was in that moment speaking in what the pentacostal and other such churches refer to as the gift of tongues. The Elders did there best to control themselves but being 19/20, they eventually busted up laughing and left "disciple Anders" feeling slightly awkward.

3:00- The Elders show up to their appointment with a girl that is solid and will be baptized only a few days later. The teach was going well but comments about a boyfriend led the elders to believe that she may have not been fully informed on the Mormon standard referred to most commonly as the "law of chastity". Elder Childs kindly let Elder Shanklin lay down that law which led to a very not so fun series of comments and concerns. The investigator would eventually get frustrated to the point that she had to leave and think more on her own. There was no baptism in the coming days. The Elders are quoted in saying that such reactions occured when the Word of Wisdom was taught and that she should be back on the radar soon.

4:55-After a frustrating teach the Elders hit the streets. On the way home to grab some papers they contacted an athiest man. Mid conversation a romanian hobo came up and said the following...(due to almost entirely non-comprehendable speech the following is paraphrazed)..."yes..yes...mormon...romania...yes...veldig bra..yes...*romanian words*..mormon....yes, yes, yes....very good...my country, read book, *romanian words*...thank you, Gud bless you!" The athiest walked away mid ramble and the elders eventually got the romanian mans number. They quote that they belive it is possible he has read and loved the book of mormon due to his reaction. They are currently looking for a translator.

Nidaros Cathedral

Trondheim Norway

Elder Shanklin

Looking a little sleepy

Greatness

Overall it's just been go go go this week. I think out of 7 possible dinners we have taken the full alloted dinner hour one time. 3 times we have not had time to eat and the others have been very rushed. Nothing like staying busy though. Trondheim is awesome and it's great to be back. I love it. Ben is still doing amazing work here and it's great to be able to work with him again. I gave a talk in church on Sunday which went fairly well. Overall it feels great to be here and time is just flying by. We are taking a trip to tromsø this week so hopefully that will result in some good pictures and stories. We are putting on a zone leader training up there for the northern cities! I pretty much could not ask for anything better. Things are going great and it really is my home away from my home away from home. Missouri....BYU....Trondheim. Yep. Lots of great miracles, the Lord really does bless us a lot and is looking for opportunities to help. His hand is reaching for us. We just have to take it.