We Have Had Quite The Eventful Last Week!

January 25, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

A sign of the city next to us, Sarpsborg,
that is celebrating their 1,000 year mark.
Yeah,1,000 years, that's a long time.

Warm weather is great... until it creates a slushy mess over the entire city haha!

We have had quite the eventful last week! Elder Arveseth got transferred to Oslo. We miss him, but it will only be a few weeks before we see him again at a Zone Conference. Elder McIntire came to replace Elder Arveseth. I'm still with Elder Mitchell, so that is exciting!

There was a worldwide missionary broadcast which we got to watch this last week. The focus was helping bring people to baptism. One thing that stuck out during the broadcast is that as missionaries, we "teach repentance, and baptize converts". We helped people become converted to Christ. It is after they become converted to Him, that we help them become baptized. One reason baptism is so important is that it allows us to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands. With that, we can have the Holy Ghost with us allows as a comfort and a guide for us in our lives.

We had a really fun experience this week. We met with an older lady this week for a lesson. She is one of the COOLEST people ever. She has practically been everywhere, seen everything, and done next to everything. Super cool lady. Anyways, we sat down to talk and she loves to talk a lot haha. But that's ok. It was really awesome to talk to her and teach her some more about the Christ's gospel. She has a desire to keep learning, so I'm really excited to see what happens!

This week's scripture comes from the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon. In Ether 12:27 it says,

"27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

I really like this scripture because it helps me see why we have our weaknesses, why we have our trials, and why we have our struggles. They help us become humbled. It is only in humility that we can grow and learn. When we think that we have it all figured out and are perfect at it, we quit trying to progress. In humility though, and with faith, what makes us we will become our strengths.

Pictures (sorry for the lack of pictures this week):

Love,

Elder Mickelson