Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Telemark Zone (Our Largest Zone)

April 17, 2017

Happy Easter everyone!!!

I hope you all had a great vacation and weekend and stuff! Something that is pretty cool here is that in Norway, people celebrate Easter week. So everything from Palm Sunday, to Good Friday and Easter. Even today, being Monday, is the second day of Easter. So, it's different celebrating more than just one day for Easter. I think it's pretty great!

It was quite an eventful week! That's for sure! We helped a member in the ward paint his house, and it's looking pretty good if I do say so myself haha! It was real fun though. I got a bunch of paint on my jeans so we'll see how well it goes trying to get it off. It'll be an adventure nonetheless.

A ton of people from the ward got together to play soccer over Easter break and we went and played with them. There was a couple dozen there. Proper sized teams. Us Americans suck at playing soccer. Luckily, because of my time in Sandvika and here in Drammen, I've gotten better. I'm not completely hopeless. Just somewhat of a lost cause. But no, we did alright haha! (Still lost though, but just barely).

Speaking of soccer, one afternoon we spent the evening with a family, and after dinner us and their kids all headed out to this little soccer field and played soccer. It was a blast, but we still lost to their kids. I'm not that great after all. Oh well.

No weekly email would quite be the same without the train update. Well, the trains are still running, and I'm still catching them. This week I went on splits to Tønsberg. And it was a lot of fun. I was with Elder Rogers again and it was a blast seeing him again. We got to go help an older couple with some yard work too. I can thank my mom for teaching me how to clean out flowerbeds! :) Thanks mom!

We spent Easter yesterday over at the mission home with the mission president and his wife, along with some other senior couples and a bunch of other missionaries. We had a nice dinner (the food was amazing) and we sang a ton of songs together. A really nice way to spend Easter afternoon!

Elder Mickelson is playing the piano

Well we are headed out soon to go climb Norway's biggest ski jump, so that'll be fun!

Hope you all have a great week! Happy 2nd day of Easter!

Sincerely,

Elder Justin Mickelson

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for

his friends." John 15:13

Elder Decker with our super small shopping cart :)

Elder Mickelson and Elder Mitchell spent the morning 

teaching the missionaries how to keep their “line in the water.”

There are wonderful large windows around the top of the Drammen Chapel. They let in lots of light 🙂 We were happy to have a visitor Eivind Top join us for the day!

This Week We Celebrated Easter

Elder Mickelson and Elder Kemp

March 29, 2016

Hello everyone!

This week we celebrated Påske (Easter). It went really well. We weren't able to work as much this week because of it being Easter weekend. One great opportunity that we did have because of it, was that we were able to think more about Christ and what he means for us personally. Obviously we can do that all year long, but when times like Christmas and Easter come around, it helps all of us ponder more about Christ than we normally do. It has been very interesting seeing other people's thoughts on Christ and Easter.

For me, Easter was a great time to take a step back and just spend some extra time reflecting on the life of Christ and his Atonement for all of us. I definitely believe that one of the focuses that Easter brings is Christ's Atonement. Because of Christ's Atonement, all of us will be resurrected when Christ comes again. We all will be resurrected with perfect bodies. But that is only just one part of Christ's Atonement. We will also be able to be cleansed from our sins if we accept Christ's Atonement through sincere repentance and turn to Christ. Through that, we will be able to become better people, obviously not overnight, but with time.

I really like this scripture, I probably have shared it before, but considering it's Easter, it's definitely appropriate.

John 3:16-17

Another picture of me

"16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

We had Zone Leader Training in Drammen this past week. So we went there for the conference and I learned a lot. Much of the focus that we had was centered around why we do what we do as missionaries. In other words, why do we as missionaries go out to share our message with those we come in contact with? It really comes down to our testimonies. We know that this message is true, that it has blessed not only our lives, but others' lives, and we know that it can bless everyone else's' also. It was a great conference to help remind us why we decided to come share such a beautiful message with the world.

We were very lucky this week, and because of the Easter season, we had some very delicious dinners. We had been over to some different members' homes for dinner and the food was definitely better than anything I could make, so that made me quite happy! This week has been full of fun, and now it's getting back into the swing of things.

I hope you all had a great Easter and I hope you all have a great week! Bye!

Sincerely,

Eldste Mickelson

We Got To Teach Some Of Our Progressing Investigators

Elder's Mickelson and Kemp

March 21, 2016

Hello everyone!

This week has been really good. We got to teach some of our progressing investigators. They are really cool people! The weather has been really nice lately, and that helps because it makes people happier, and happier people like to talk!

I think it is very interesting how different everyone really is. We all have very different personalities, different likes and dislikes, different opinions, different spiritual needs, and different questions. But through these differences, is what makes us all unique and special. They make us more than just creatures. For me, it is something that reminds me that we all are sons or daughters of a loving Heavenly Father, that wants the best for us. Because he wants the best for us, he sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world so that we could be saved. Through Christ and His atonement, his sacrifice in the last days of his life, we can be saved from everything. Through Him, we can be saved physically, being able to overcome physical death when we are all resurrected like He was. We also can be saved spiritually. Without Christ, we could not possibly return to our Heavenly Father because we are imperfect, but with Christ, we can become perfected, we can be better people, and we can learn and grow. Christ paid the price for our sins, it's left up to us whether or not we choose to accept his sacrifice on our behalf and follow him.

Elder Kemp

Here's a link to a new website with a new Easter video and a link to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Handel's Messiah with others that sent in videos! www.mormon.org/easter

This week is Easter week, which is really exciting. We won't be able to contact people as much when Easter gets closer, but it'll be awesome getting to celebrate with everyone!

This week, I hope that we all spend some time thinking of the reason we have Easter. We celebrate new life, but not only new life because it's springtime, but new life in Christ. He is the hope that we have in our lives. He is the reason we have purpose in life. I hope that as we celebrate this week, we enjoy one another's company, spend some time pondering Christ's life, and what he means for us.

Have a great week everyone!

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

The Fjord