Oh man. I could think of like a thousand really awesome titles for this weeks letter....but I'll just let my mom pick one. Moms do know best...
If there's one thing that Elder Shanklin loves then it has to be order. I can't handle when people just think life is going to work out because we stand still and watch the grass grow.
Talk doesn't cook rice! Let me explain....the baptisms got me a little stressed because everything was not super in place. We did an awesome job preparing but a few small things were out of line. Long story short everything ended up working out. It always tends to work that way. Elder Shanklin stresses and stresses and stresses and then everything goes as smooth as butter. Funny stories from the baptism...
-We were watching bible videos during the break and one of them was the baptism of Jesus. Of course the sound is not working...super awkward. I don't know what to do because everything is set up how it should be. Randomly the sound starts to work on like volume 4 billion as God says "Behold, this is my beloved son". I think more than one person had a heart attack. The timing was awesome though.
-President Evans came! That's not really super exciting but it's always nice to have him with us!
-Elder Naumu was sick for like 2 days and so we pretty much prayed and prayed he would be well enough to baptize Johanna. She came up to me and was like, "Elder Shanklin, what's plan B if Elder Naumu can't do it". To which I responded, "Johanna, in the mormon church, we consider it a blessing when everyone shows up for plan A. Let's just pray". She laughed and her prayers were answered as Elder Naumu baptized her later the next night.
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| Zofia and Johanna's Baptism |
Sickness
So the Assistants came on splits with us this week and of course the day they show up Elder Naumu starts throwing up like a mad man. He tried to convince us it was alright in the beginning but by lunch time it was decided that Elder Shanklin was going to get personal training from both assistants while Elder Nielson cleaned the apartment and took care of Elder Naumu. Elder Childs and Halverson are both from my MTC group so pretty much we just went ham for 6 hours. It was way fun. They're good guys and we got some great work done. We were able to find a few new investigators in just a short time period on the street. This week was just awesome for finding people. By the end of the week we had reached double digits for new investigators which has never happened on my mission. Not to mention that we were hardly on the streets at all with the baptism, Naumu being sick, and our ZLT meeting. The Lord is raining blessings down on us here in Drammen. It's truly incredible to be a part of.
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| Happy Valentines Day |
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| From Elder Shanklin, Elder Nielson and Elder Naumu |
ZLT
Elder Shanklin prides himself in his Zone Leader Training meetings. If you left thinking "oh man, I hate meetings". Then I have failed. I thought this training we did this week was really good. We set up a life sized candy land style game and divided up into teams. The board was labeled with different challenges and activities that ranged from practicing different missionary skills, to interteam challenges based on the square you landed on. A lot of the squares were missionary work based but to spice things up we had different contests including; do you know your Zone Leaders? Bubble gum chewing. Western shootouts. And other good stuff. It was a really fun activity. I think the missionaries enjoyed it. The best part of the day was another glimpse into the life of Chef Shanklin. My future wife can rest well tonight because not only do I braid hair, paint nails, change diapers, and have good hair, but I also can cook meals for 20 people. I made what is possibly the worlds largest pot of spaghetti on planet earth and it was delicious. It was kind of a mess making it but yeah....mad skillz. Check the pics. It was awesome.
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| "The" Pot of Spaghetti |
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| Elders enjoying the meal. |
Final Thoughts
Things are going extremely well here in Drammen. As I say each week. I can't complain. We had transfer calls yesterday and both Elder Nielson and I will be staying in Drammen. Elder Naumu is also staying but he will no longer be a part of our threesom. He is getting a new companion. Elder Nielson and I imagine that president will start releasing us from being Zone Leaders sooner than later to help get new people experience but who knows. Time will tell. This morning I was reading in the book of Jacob and to be honest I just felt a lot of power coming through his words. I get the strongest feeling that Jacob spoke with a lot of power and boldness as he preached to the people. I love his advice to, "lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever". It has been amazing to see the hand of Lord in our work as we go through different challenges and struggles. It has been a testimony to me that the Love of God is available to everyone who is willing to sacrifice and humble themselves.
Clear Eyes
Full Heart
Elder Shanklin
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