Monday, December 2nd, 2013

It has been another good week. We have now had baptisms two weeks in a row in Oslo. They were not investigators who I was teaching at the time, but that really is unimportant. What matters is that people are coming unto Christ. As we had Thanksgiving this week, I think I have been reminded more and more of my countless blessings. I have felt Heavenly Father watching over and guiding me as he continues to help us to do this work. It is truly such a blessing for me to be able to serve a mission. What an opportunity I have to serve my Heavenly Father who has provided me with everything and never ceases to show me His love; what a blessing it is to be able to help others take advantage of the gift of the atonement that our Savior has given us; and what a gift it is to be able to focus one's life on representing Christ and Heavenly Father in this wonderful work and to be able to show others their love. I am so very blessed to receive such support from you all. I do not have to worry about anything besides the work in which I am engaged, which is a great blessing.

As missionaries, we do walk a fair amount, especially when contacting, but in Oslo there are four main forms of public transportation: trikk (tram), T-Bane (Subway), Bus, and Tog (train), which is for longer distances. We buy a monthly card pass that gets us unlimited distance on all of them, which is really cool. We ride the T-Bane in and out of the city every day to work since we do not live in Oslo: we actually live in a whole other zone than the one we work in. Technically it has snowed, but the snow has not stayed. There are already Christmas trees set up. Norway also has a lot of special Christmas food, which I have tried a little. There are some meats that are only available at Christmas, and they are really good.

There are certainly challenging aspects of missionary service, but I feel that they really do not matter in the big picture when one truly reflects on the blessings that those challenges really do provide us. It is such a comfort to me to know that Heavenly Father is there and that he is actively engaged in and interested in each of our lives. I hope to become more and more grateful for Heavenly Father’s love and all that He has done for us all. I am so thankful to all of you for your love, for your examples, for your faith and for simply being yourselves. May you all remember Heavenly Father’s love and the blessings he gives us so freely. The Norwegian word of the week is takknemelig, which means grateful.


Love,
Elder Ankenman