tuttugu ár gamall

Hey guys!

My birthday was on saturday, thank you for all the birthday wishes! One of the members insisted on having a party for me. We managed to get 4 of our friends to come! But long story short, this member insisted on having a bajillion cakes (I think in total, about 7) for the 11 people that came. Diabetes? Most likely. It was amazing though! We had a great time and we were able to strengthen our connection with the branch, and some of our friends. I'm 20 years old. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but sometimes it's hard to believe. My knees (especially when flying) insist that I'm 56, but I definetly feel too inexperienced to be 20.

It snowed on saturday night! Apparently it only snows on saturday nights and sundays. I'm still a heater though. I find myself frequently sweating, but that's probably because I'm not good at judging which jacket to wear because I've never really faced that problem before.

We talked with Sigurbjörn about baptism some more! He's super awesome, but his family doesn't want him to because of the law of tithing, which he's personally accepted. Jónína was also extended a baptismal invite, but she said she had to talk to her daughter first, who's visiting today! Keep them both in your prayers please!

I gave a talk on sunday! It was based off Elder Anderson's talk from this past general conference. I love General Conference! The words of prophets, both ancient and modern help me so much.

This week my love for the icelandic language increased a lot! I broke my language study plans to learn more about icelandic as a whole (like history and context of the language) rather than studying vocabulary or grammar or something. It's a really beautiful language. Insanely complex, but I'm really glad I have the opportunity to learn it. One of the things i looked up was the old runic alphabet (before it got all latinized and stuff) pretty coooool. If I could memorize which ruin equals which letter, I'd be able to read it and understand what I readddd. I definitly am not smart enough to learn this language, especially in such a short amount of time without help from God. A lot of people ask how we learn the language so fast, and they don't really believe us when we say that it's through the power of God, but there's simply no explanation other than that.

One of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon is 2 Nephi 4. (read verses 16-21). I know a lot of people, both in Iceland and the United States, who relate to this chapter. Who have such a great desire to improve or do good, but the flesh is weak. We mess up, we stumble, and we try over and over again, but sometimes it feels like you can't get anywhere. But despite that, our heavenly Father loves us. He's perfectly patient with us, as long as we sincerely try. He lifts us up. He helps us improve. He caries us on his shoulders, even when we feel as though we haven't improved at all. And when we put our trust in him, He will lead us to reach our divine potential. It's really easy to be hard on yourself. In someone as amazing as Nephi was feeling down about himself. But despite all of that, God still loves His children.

Elder Rasmussen

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