Transfers
This Sunday we had our moves call. Turns out I will be leaving! I actually found out on Saturday night because President was at the center and pulled me aside to tell me. I'll let you make your guesses family! I attached a mission layout so you can see the different areas! I'll put the answer in a different email...
Miracle Gone South
This story will be the bulk of my email. It's a good one though. So this week on Tuesday we had a teach with our positive investigator named Levi who we played tennis with. He showed up at 3:45 but since he was a little early he left to go grab a bite to eat. He never came back. We figure something must have come up but we weren't too worried. On Wednesday he came and told us that his 14000 kr bike had been stolen and so he was dealing with that. That being the reason he didn't come back to our appointment. So it's friday now. We have a huge institute grand opening. Tons of kids. Great night. Lovely spirit. Saturday morning I wake up and mid prayer I get a call from our senior couple. We exchange greetings and i ask him how he is, he responds that, "well at least we are alive". I laugh assuming that he is referring to the madness of having 100 youth to watch over but he then says "our boy levi robbed us last night". He then recounts the following to me...at 12:40 all the youth had gone home and the senior couple was cleaning the center alone getting ready to go home when Levi showed up to the door. He had had several conversations with the senior couple before and knew them on a friendly basis. He told them that he was having a rough time and would like to talk with them if that was okay. Being the saints they are they of course let him in and spoke with him. Elder R spoke with him for about 30 or so minutes. Sister R came back from cleaning and they all said a prayer together. When the prayer ended Levi slammed the light switch off. The couple was confused and he then watched as he pulled out a good sized switch blade, saying in vulgar fashion "sit down, I'm here to rob you, don't try anything stupid". I won't go into detail but he took a good sum of money. In our eyes though it definitely was not enough to commit armed robbery for. He was definitely expecting more. He said quote "I know mormons are rich, you have to have more". He was surprised to hear that the couple doesn't actually live here, they live in the states, so they don't actually have that much money or stuff stored here. He then put them in the bathroom saying that he was going to go check the cards at the ATM and if they didn't work he was going to come back and they would have a problem. Elder R told me in our conversation, "I was standing there in the bathroom Elder Shanklin, holding her, embracing my wife, and in that moment I said to her 'well we'll never forget this one honey...happy anniversary', Elder Shanklin at that moment I just couldn't help but giggle a little bit". Talk about an anniversary. They are such great people and they handled it so well. It was a little rough to understand. Of course we really don't understand. We mostly struggled with trust. How could we possibly trust people after that event? Our mission president encouraged us to keep trusting. He explained how trust is the foundation of our interactions and that we can't let one event skew our view of everyone. The world needs trust and everyone should have our trust until they show otherwise. The event doesn't really have words to be put to it. I'm totally fine, I worry more for our senior couple and obviously send love and prayers their way as they continue to work hard. As Elder R said, "Our boy Levi isn't so golden Elder Shanklin, he has a long ways to go before he can be baptized haha". (I feel okay using his name in this because I highly doubt it is his name) If you have questions just ask, that was a brief summary!
I'm Comin Home
That's right boys and girls. I'm going back to Trondheim next Sunday night. I've got nothing else to say. I'm stoked out of my mind! It's pretty much like I'm starting over haha except now I can speak the language! It's going to be awesome. Elder Childs is my companion and we will be the zone leaders for the north. This means I get to go on splits with missionaries in Alta, Bodø, and Kristiansund. SICK! It is possible I could see the northern lights but only time will tell. It would have to work out perfectly! Either way though, it's going to be a sweet experience, I am so excited. The address will be the same as before. Let's Go!!!
I'll Show You
This week we saw two motivational clips. One is called "the death crawl" from the movie Facing the Giants. I highly recommend you watch it. Very motivational. The second was a clip from Muhammad Ali's interview before a fight with Joe Frazier. It's fairly well known but I found it inspiring, he says,
"This kid’s gonna be the best kid in the world. This kid’s gonna be somebody better than somebody that I ever knew.
Imma show you how great I am!
Don’t ever let somebody tell you, “you can’t do something.” You got a dream? You got to protect it. If people can’t do something themselves, they gonna tell you, “you can’t do it.” If you want something, go get it. Period.
Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that’s what you have, tonight. That’s what you've earned here tonight.
I have wrestled with an alligator. That’s right; I have wrestled with an alligator. I have tussled with a whale. I have handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail. That’s bad. Only last week I murdered a rock; injured a stone; hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean I make medicine sick…. Fast, fast, fast, last night I cut the light off in the bedroom, hit the switch and hit the bed before the room was dark. Fast. All of you chumps are going to bow when I whoop him. I know you got him picked. But when the man is in trouble – “Imma show you how great I am!”
That's my goal as a missionary. That through God and Jesus Christ we can change the world one person at a time, because we are great. So let it be the motto of every missionary, let it be the way we serve, that we go out everyday giving 100%. That when I leave my apartment everyday...I will show everyone how great I am.
Clear Eyes
Full Heart
Elder Shanklin
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