We have the go ahead to begin our family history course. We really do feel like it will be a wonderful opportunity to help and reactivate members and to find investigators. I am really excited about that. We have been out a lot again this week trying to find people to teach, and it has been really warm still, which has been nice. It is so wonderful to feel the Spirit testify to us of the truthfulness of the gospel and its restoration as we teach and testify.
We had a particularly cool experience with a man we taught this week who really was not open to change. Even though he was not and still is not willing to sincerely consider our message, I felt an incredible sense of peace and joy as we taught and testified about the restoration. It certainly strengthened me. It really is the small things in life, or the often-overlooked tender mercies of the Lord that can keep us going. By small things, great things come to pass. We will be having our next moves a week from Wednesday. It will be interesting to see what happens. We will also be in Tromsø for a couple of days this week for splits and a zone leader-training meeting. I am really excited to be able to do missionary work there since Elder Badger has told me so much about it.
There are these really awesome things called båller that are really common in Norway that Linnea taught us how to make a couple of weeks ago. They will probably be among my first baking attempts when I come home. Norwegian baked goods are really good, and we have everything we need to make båller in the U.S. Another thing we have a lot is grøtt, which we have every Sunday after church with Linnea and Geir. It is kind of like oatmeal but with rice instead of oats. We do not have the right kind of rice to make it though in the U.S. unfortunately. Norwegians also really love to ski. Geir is out skiing a lot. Elder Reber, my companion, is a really good guy. He has eight siblings and is the youngest. He went to BYU for a year before his mission and studied math. He wants to do applied mathematics as his career.
We also saw the start of the second largest dog sled race in the world during our lunch on Friday. It begins in Alta and is second only to a longer race in Alaska. It has been so warm recently that a lot of the snow is melting so I feel sorry for those poor dogs. They are also having a winter festival in Alta right now with a lot of ice sculptures, which is really cool. We are doing the best we can to keep the work going forward. It is such a blessing to have the gospel in our lives. There is no greater feeling than feeling Heavenly Father’s love. The Norwegian word of the week is å fortsette, which means to continue.
Love,
Elder Ankenman
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