I Know In Whom I've Trusted-Drammen Week Seventy Seven

If I was going to compare this week on my mission to a 15 second movie scene...it would probably be the very short scene in Batman the Dark Knight when he's just chilling in his arm chair contemplating the past days events and Alfred brings him the tray of food. I know, not nearly as exciting as you were probably hoping but I'm sure those free fall-crash through a window-get picked up by an airplane-kill the joker-days will come sooner than later.

Meetings Galore

This is definitely the main reason for the billionaire deep thinking style of the past week. We had a visit from a General Authority and that led to quite a few meetings. These meetings actually came during a really ideal time. I had a lot of questions and things circulating through my mind that needed some attention. It was quite the intense experience but it was definitely helpful beyond words. My mind is stilling trying to take on all of the different ideas and things that were said and felt. I was talking to Elder Nilsson at MLC and told him about how after the conference my mind was going at 132 mph. When it came time to pray that night I thought about life for a solid 20 minutes, or more, before praying "help me". The most profound 2 word prayer you've probably ever heard. One could probably create another piece of classic american literature based on the 3 billion thoughts behind those two words. On a more secular note, with all the travel expenses we might be living off the snow and grass in our backyard. We hope it rains mana from heaven and that we get our car back. 4 weeks to fix a car, only in Norway.

Investies on Investies

I'm not really sure how to tackle this one. I could either try and outdo all 7 Harry Potter books in both length and complexity or I could just ease the feeble mind (my own) and keep it simple. We'll try it Hannah Montana style and see if we can get the best of both worlds. 

How about a miracle? On Tuesday night Elder Naumu got a text message from a former investigator saying "I want to get baptized". No, we did not get transfered to Argentina. Yes, apparently such things do happen in Norway. Very beautifully stated we met up with her and she's preparing from a baptism on the 14th of February. Yesterday she was in church and she invited like half the ward to her baptism on her own accord. She's a wonderful older polish lady and we feel super blessed to be able and teach her! Along with her we have quite a few other investigators who are doing well. This is sounding so stereotypical missionary right now so I'm just going to move on....just know that the work in Drammen is going forward like nobodies business. We taught over 14 times this week and have 3 baptismal dates who all came to church! It's the spirit and the Lord though. We're just 3 awkward 6'4" guys that sometimes get mistaken for being the police.

Ukeleles

Can we just first acknowledge the spelling difficulty of that word. Most likely it is not even correct. Anyways, so this is like the really non missionary related section of this letter that is just entertaining to mention. We went and visited this really awesome lady who was referred to us by a friend in the US. Pretty much it was one of the coziest (a real word?) visits of my entire mission. An awesome Norwegian brunch awaited us upon arrival. After a great gospel conversation and much testimony we had to go catch our train back. As we were leaving she was showing and telling us about teaching the Ukelele. We all commented on how fun it would be to learn the ukelele. Before we new it we were all headed back to Drammen with brand new QUALITY ukeleles and carrying cases. She is a total angel. Do we play well? Uhm yeah. Prodigy status. I play the same 4 chords over and over again but it soothes my soul, so no complaints.

Until Next Week

This week was a crazy week. Lots of great insights about life and missionary work. I feel extremely blessed for the things I have learned. It does not necessarily mean that they have been easy for me to apply but I know they will be valuable for the rest of my life. Yesterday we were watching Elder Bednars first ever conference talk. It was powerful. I could definitely relate to him as he spoke about being the weakest of the weak and the feeling of inadequacy as he accepted his call. I love the words of Nephi as he talks about his own weaknesses and struggles. His boldness in declaring, "but I know in whom I've trusted" is one that reminds me of the power and help we recieve at the hand of the Lord. 

Clear Eyes

Full Heart

Elder Shanklin