I Promise We Believe In Jesus Christ-Oslo Week Thirty Nine

his week was awesome and Ia was baptized! Lots of other fun things happened, and we will talk about those but it was really cool to see Ia enter into that covenant with her Heavenly Father, and also to be able to see the change in her from when we first met her to now!

Shout outs!

1. Elder Snow for giving me a shout out for giving him the idea for shout outs! ;)

2. Elder Egan! He got into BYU! (Still working on this whole him being a Utah fan thing)

3. UMBC for being the first team in history to beat a 1 seed as a 16 seed!

Questions

1. How are the Book of Mormon musical events going?

A: Pretty good! Still giving out lots of books, and someone that referred themselves to meet with missionaries, after having seen the musical, has baptismal date! The APs are teaching him!

2. What did we do on Pday?

A: Played Settlers of Katan, I created a sheep monopoly! I still lost, but at least I had the sheep! Am I right or am I right?

3. What is one thing I learned this week?

A: That sometimes you gotta let the book do the talking! (See "You don't believe in Christ paragraph")

Ia's Baptism

It was super awesome! Everything went great and the talks were fantastic! They made some delicious Filipino food! Super delicious! I confirmed her on Sunday and that was an awesome experience! She does go back to the Philippines this wednesday though! For some reason I just can't get any of these people to stay in Norway! Just kidding! 

Baptism Day

Baptismal Luncheon

All the yummy baptism food

Teaching Mission Prep

We have gotten to teach mission prep the past two weeks and teach them how to teach the first lesson! It has been really fun! Makes me realize how much you learn on a mission! These YSAs are going to be amazing missionaries when they go into the field!

Mission Prep Class

"You don't believe in Christ!"

Before I even talk about why this is the title of this paragraph I would like to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon, Alma 7:11-13,

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

That, in my opinion, is the most beautiful description of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that can be found in scripture. I want everyone to know that I KNOW JESUS CHRIST IS THE SAVIOR AND REDEEMER OF THE WORLD!!!! Okay now that that is out of the way let me explain the back story. So we went contacting and had a lot of people telling us we did not believe in Jesus Christ. After trying to explain to each one that we did, they would explain this, paraphrasing here, "No, Jesus Christ suffered for our sins and died on the cross" -Them

"Yeah! We believe that too! Jesus Christ is how we can come back to our Heavenly Father!"-Us

"No, no, no, you do not believe that."-Them

*Open to Alma 7:11-13* "Could you read this?"-Us

"Oh"-Them

We found it about 100 times more effective to just let the book do the talking. We can say whatever we want, but what The Book of Mormon says is 100 times more powerful! Many of these people still told us that we needed to "really" find Jesus. I am not meaning to be offensive or rude to anyone when I make this next statement, but it is the truth. The only way to really find out who Jesus Christ is, and what he did is not the Bible, but with the use of the Bible and The Book of Mormon we understand who Jesus Christ is. He is our Savior, our Redeemer, our Brother, and our Advocate with the Father. He and the Father are two separate individuals with bodies of flesh and bone which are glorified and perfected! That is the ONLY identity of Jesus Christ. No ifs, ands, or buts. That is who Jesus Christ is and any other description of Him will never be able to replace the truth. For those who say "Because you have the Book of Mormon you can't believe in Jesus Christ!" I would like to use the words of Nephi to respond, 2nd Nephi 33:10-11,

10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness.

Don't Knock it til you try it! (With an open heart! Without that reading the Book of Mormon is like reading Harry Potter, good story, but not really gonna help you in the long run)

Duct tape to the rescue.  Fixing the carts that carry all of the
Book of Mormons for the musical

Dream Big

Don't Doubt

Give 'em Heaven!

Eldste Shanklin

Playing Settlers of Catan for Pday