Monday, January 27th, 2014

For the most part the cold has not impacted what we are doing too much, which has been good. It is a huge blessing to have the car to help us stay warm. We had a visit from the first counselor in the mission presidency at church. I have met him before, and he is a really wonderful guy. After church, we all had a meal together at the church and then had a branch council. We rent out a room at this center every Sunday. This branch wants so much to grow and to share the joy of the gospel. It is very inspiring and humbling to me to see the faithfulness of the members here. They have a love and understanding for the gospel and for everyone that is so important. I came out of the meeting motivated to work harder and do more to help the work go forward and bring the blessings of the gospel into people's lives.

I have seen the northern lights twice. Once it was incredibly weak, but the second time it was quite a bit stronger. It was really cool, but I hope to be able to see them more and a lot stronger. One thing that makes it hard is that we have to be in bed by 10:30, and the lights tend to be strongest later in the night. We will be having our next moves in a week and a half and moves call this coming Sunday, so it will be exciting to see what happens and to try to get everything we can done to help the area be strong for the coming transfer. I doubt that I will be moved, especially since Elder Hurst has been here all of his mission, but it is possible I suppose.

The ice hotel was really cool. It is the northern most ice hotel in the world. There seem to be a lot of northern most claims going on around here. We do have a lot of Sami people around here, but I think almost all of them speak Norwegian so you kind of just have to judge by appearance, unless you are in one of the Sami towns. We do not teach lessons or give talks at church usually. The members do a lot.

We do not have a family history center here, and we actually are trying to figure out how we can get people involved in family history work more. It is all the same redemptive work. I have felt a lot recently simultaneously that I am imperfect and yet a feeling of peace and comfort that I am not supposed to be yet. We are here to learn and grow and as we really do our best we will receive guidance and all will truly be will. That knowledge brings such wonderful peace. Another wonderful thing to know is that repentance is the plan, not the backup plan. The atonement is our only hope, so we should use it. I know that Heavenly Father is watching over all of us. I feel very strongly of His love. Our hope of eternal life is truly an anchor to the soul. We must press forward and be anxiously engaged. The Norwegian word of the week is å gleme, which means to forget.


Love,
Elder Ankenman