Monday, February 10th, 2014

It has been another good week. It has also been WAY warmer, which has been nice. Elder Reber has been here since Wednesday. He is also from California but from down south. He studied math at BYU for a year before he came and would like to be involved in research. He is a really nice guy. We are both excited about the work we have to do. Elder Reber and I have been talking a lot about things we can do and are hoping to try to start offering a family history course for members and non-members, Elder Reber has had a bit of experience with family history so that is exciting. We are having a training meeting in Bodø this week for the Northern missionaries, so it will be cool to go there. I am doing the best I can to work hard and use time well so that we can help everyone we can. I am of course not perfect, but it is good to know that that is all according to plan for us all. Living the gospel is the plan, and not the backup plan, for each of us.

With Valentine’s Day coming up this week it is particularly important perhaps to consider the concept and characteristic of love, pure love. The pure love of Christ, charity, is described by Paul to be the greatest of the Christ-like attributes, and he is right. Love is what motivates Heavenly Father and Christ in all they do, and it is what should motivate us. When we have this pure love, it leads us to act, to reach out to others, to make others happy, to serve, and to preach the gospel. I want so much to be able to develop that kind of love. As Preach My Gospel says, we cannot develop Christ-like attributes ourselves, they are gifts of God and come as we pray, study and act in faith. My Valentine’s Day wish is that we all may be filled with that love to a greater degree and that we may feel that love from others and from Heavenly Father and Christ. There is no greater gift than that. Make sure that people remember on Valentine’s Day that love is a VERB! When we really have love we show it through our actions. The Norwegian word of the week is et hierte which means a heart.

Love,
Elder Ankenman