Julespenning

December 18, 2018

Julespenning

Christmas is so close I can almost feel it! I didn't realize just how close it was until people started ending conversations with God Jul. Another indication has been all of the little square windows disappearing on our advent calendar from a frozen pizza box that we have hanging up on our wall. Classy, I know! Just 3 more hearts and we qualify to win a prize online!

Missionary work is slowing down quite a bit up here and we are eagerly awaiting to meet with the people that said that we could contact them after New Years. I have been really grateful for the pause in the Chaos though because it has allowed me to have more time to think and appreciate my savior Jesus Christ who is our greatest gift and the very reason why we have Christmas.

Søster Neal and I have also had more time to find people and we have seen some amazing miracles from that. Just these past couple of days we have stopped people in the most random places on the streets and they turn out being receptive to our message and eager to learn more. Wotjek, a man from Poland, is really amazing and told us about how he was trying to become a better person and overcome the inner "monkey" in him. There was a certain hope in his eyes as we told him that our message about Jesus Christ would improve his life and we are meeting with him this Saturday.

This past week Søster Neal went banking for her first time and then we went two more times later in the week. She is a natural! I love her amazing attitude of determination and faith that she displays every time that she rings the doorbell and takes the lead on the door approach. Luckily, I remembered to teach her where to find the always-hidden front door in the back of the house, and to stand directly in front of the crack because it is Norwegian culture to open the door only a couple of inches. We gave out 3 books of mormon this past week and they all said that we could come back to teach them more, more success than I have had in a while with banking. I am convinced that it is because of Søster Neal's strong faith, She is teaching me a lot.

Speaking of Søster Neal. Shoutout to her because it was her birthday on Saturday! The Elders were really nice and helped me secretly buy a dragon mug that she liked from the store and they bought her Peacock slippers. The Cooks made her a birthday cake and we all sang her the Norwegian Birthday song!

Now on a more spiritual note, I decided to read President Nelson's talk in the Women's Session again. Lately, I have been getting a little nervous because I decided to accept his invitation to read the entire book of mormon before the New Year. The only problem is that I like taking my time to really ponder and take notes as I read. Add underlining every time Jesus Christ is mentioned, and I am super behind. However, my discouragement was transformed into faith as I read his promise that no matter how busy my life was, that if I accepted this challenge wholeheartedly and with faith, that Heavenly Father would help me to find the time. As I looked forward to the next week and a half I realized that I have more than enough time between my 4 total hours of Zone Conference travel not to mention the time that I have after 9.00 before I go to sleep. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father enables us to act upon the things he asks us to do, securing his blessings and his promises.

I love this work so much and I love my Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for all of the prophets that have testified of him in the Book of Mormon and how they have helped me to strengthen my personal realtionship with him.

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and that you can feel and spread the love of the Savior.

Love, Søster Starkie