Monday, September 16th, 2013

We have been very blessed this past week with a lot of new investigators, particularly young adults. One story is a referral we received from missionaries in Sweden. They are two sisters who are twenty years old and grew up in a part member family. Their father would not let them be baptized so they have not been yet. They have wonderful testimonies and plan to be baptized in Sweden in about a month, but they will continue to live in Oslo after that. They have started coming to church and institute activities, so we are very excited. That same day we got a call from a man who said that he would be moving to Oslo soon and would like to take the lessons and be baptized. That was a very miraculous days. In other efforts we have also been very blessed. There was one day when we were going to visit an inactive member where we contacted one guy right by the member’s home, we got an appointment with him, taught him and will be meeting with him again. It is undeniable that we are receiving guidance and assistance.

Our focus this past week was to work on doing member work, which we did a lot of, but it was gratifying to see the way Heavenly Father rewarded us with people to teach as we ministered unto his children. There are currently five investigators around twenty years old we are working with who we feel have great potential to become members of the church, which is incredible. It is getting darker and colder, but I have enjoyed wonderful weather for the most part.

I am trying to grow in my devotion to serving Heavenly Father and following Christ. One thing that has struck me recently is the simplicity of what we are asked to do by our Heavenly Father. He loves us and blesses us so much. We show him that we love him by keeping his commandments; studying the wonderful plan he has created for our benefit, following the example of his son who he sent to suffer for our inadequacies, and communicating to him. As we do these things we receive such peace, power and purpose in our lives. The more I am able to do these things, and the more I feel I view the world and people around me the way Heavenly Father and Christ do, the happier I am. The Norwegian word of the week is å lære, which means to learn.

Love,
Elder Ankenman