6 days and counting!
This week was pretty great! The zone leaders came up last Monday, and left Wednesday morning. It was pretty awesome! I went with Elder Brown, and we had a pretty deep comp. study! We talked about the member-missionary relationship, and the member-member relationship. The branch here is really small, so things work out differently than a traditional ward, at least in the states (that I've experienced so far). But it was awesome! Elder Brown just spat wisdom. The branch is awesome, but being in one so small is such a unique experience! It's made me appreciate just how much work is done to run a branch/ward.
Jónína's still doing amazing! We're gonna visit her tomorrow and bake an apple pie. She's got legendary apple pie, and I love it so much. All the baptism preparations are wrapping up nicely as well! It's gonna be a wonderful experience. Pray for the weather to go well on Saturday though!
I had the opportunity to study Elder Renlund's talk called 'A Framework for Personal Revelation'. It's an amazing talk. Using its principles I was able to have a change in perspectives, and increase my trust in God. It's so amazing, I'm reminded of a story about a man riding a tandem bicycle with Jesus. Everytime the man's in the front seat, things get a little rocky. Apparently steering one of those bad boys is a little difficult. But Jesus was always there, willing to drive, if we were willing to trust him and do our best to pedal. When Jesus drove, things went amazing. They went perfectly! The Master of the world, of course riding a tandem bike is easy. But every so often, the man would ask for the handlebars back, so that he could steer, and every time that happened, things got a little rocky again. Basically, we need to let Jesus steer our lives. (now I can't remember if it's stear or steer or something else... hopefully I'm not talking about a cow right now). When Jesus stears, when we follow his council and live by his principles, things go well. But when we think what we know and what we want is enough, everything gets a little rocky. So I guess we've all got to say 'Jesus take the wheel'. It's been years since I've heard that song.
Another thing that's been weighing on my mind is a chain. 'but why elder? why would you think about a chain?' fantastic question. So, imagine yourself as a chain. Each attribute, good or bad, each talent, each relationship, your testimony, your goals, your dreams, everything is a link on that chain. And all together that makes you. It's easy to look at all of those diverse links, varying in shape and size, in strength and lifting capacity, and to see all the flaws. To see just what would make every single one of those pieces break. It's easy to look at all of that, and get overwhelmed, to not know where to start, to believe that your chain will never be strong enough. With those feelings, you can't get anything done effectively. You can't fix the chain well. (I use 'you' impersonally here). But (brace for the cliche/cringe) even the strongest chains have a weakest link ;). When we can remember that, and focus on the one link that we can strengthen, we work so much more effectively. We come so much closer to Christ. And it feels a lot better too. just a little master oogway style wisdom.
I learned how to solve a rubik's cube this week. Elder Mattson's really good at it.
We taught a really philosophical man named Birkir too. He's really nice.
Also, we got a Book of Mormon request for someone that lives super far away. We called him, and he answered drunk. Drunk Icelandic is very very very very very very very difficult for my 8 months of Icelandic knowledge, but it's not very very very very very very very difficult for the Lord. We made it through the call, but that was really exciting!
My favorite word that I learned this week is 'ófríkka' pronounced 'oh freak ah'. And it means 'to become less pretty'. Pretty legendary. I think that will be critical knowledge during a future lesson.
Thanksgiving is in 3 days. That's so weird.
Elska ykkur!
Öldungur Rasmussen
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