Monday, May 11th, 2015

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day. I cannot believe how quickly time goes by. I am so grateful for the perspective the gospel gives us and for the assurances we receive as we truly do all we can to follow the Lord. I have thought a lot about grace recently. Without the Savior's grace we would not have hope for anything eternal, incorruptible or godly. There would be no chance for immortality. It would not be possible for us as hard as we may try to overcome the evil around us. But as Abinadi says there are a resurrection and redemption. I know that because of the Savior's Atonement we can do, be and become good in ways that would not otherwise be possible and indeed in ways we cannot comprehend. I know that without the grace of the Lord, it is impossible to get anywhere in an eternal perspective, especially in missionary work. I know that His grace is available to and sufficient to all who humble themselves and truly seek after it. I am grateful for the strength He gives us. I know that He is the vine and intends us as the branches to bring forth much fruit. We must not only be with Him for a season, or have superficial commitment but we must abide in Him. I am grateful for the wonderful examples you have all given me of how we can abide in Him and bring forth fruit.

I will be staying here in Tønsberg with Elder Garrad. So as another missionary put it, we will be having the roommate experience. We have been getting a lot of help from our ward missionary here who was just ordained an elder and was baptized last year. His name is Manny, and he helps us teach a lot. We were able to find four new investigators last week, three of whom were referrals from him. It is amazing to see what happens when we as members and missionaries are equally yoked and are devoted to bring the gospel to as many as we can. We need not fear when we have the Lord on our side. I sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing yesterday in church with Elder Garrard. I thought that the lyrics really illustrated this point. The last verse says “O to grace how great a debtor ever I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart O take and seal it, Seal it for they courts above”. The Norwegian word of the week is tilstrekkelig, which means sufficient.

Love,
Elder Ankenman