Gleðilegt Nýtt Ár!

Hello people of the earth!

I hate to flex, but I've been in 2023 for 5-6 hours longer than most of you...

This week felt really long.

A little context to what happens next: So, the members and other people in Akureyri love to give us food, and it's awesome! (for everything except my waistline.......) And in the holiday season, they were extra generous, and we recieved so much food. Before the influx of food giving, i had made a bunch of taco meat so that I could eat it quickly later if needed, but as it would turn out, it wasn't needed for a week, or 2, or 3. So, this past tuseday I finally cracked open the taco stuff again, and it smelled just fine, looked just fine, and tasted just fine (other than the fact that I microwaved it). But at hertex I started feeling really nauseous (is it nauseous or nausious?). I thought it might've just been the air. Lots of cigarette smoke.... But then it didn't get better. I fought feelings of illness all day, but that night I lost. The double dragon emerged from its slumber at 4:30am, and I had a very short night's rest. After I accepted defeat, I was able to get a little sleep though. I woke up wednesday morning at around 8:30am. Two hours over the alarm. We were supposed to go to the church for a meeting, but I felt pretty ill still. I took my temperature and had a fever of 101.0. Miraculously, the meeting got canceled, but we had to cancel our trip to Reykjavik which was later that day. I took some medicine, and the senior couple brought over some soup. After a few naps, I wasn't feeling to bad.

Thursday morning I was feeling almost 100%, which was really good. We went over to the senior couple's house to watch the meeting we were supposed to be in Reykjavik for on zoom. Then we got some food from leirunesti. I got a chicken sandwich that probably took 5 years off of my life.

Friday, Elder Mattson got a bloody nose. I totally followed the spirit and told elder Mattson to talk to somebody on the bus. It went really well. Though we didn't get a contact with him as a potential friend, you could tell that the conversation lighted his day.

Saturday, New years eve. We weren't allowed to go contacting or knocking, so we went to the church and did facebook pretty much all day. We got subway though, it was pretty good. When we got to our apartment, I was having some super deep thoughts about myself and new years resolutions and stuff.

Sunday, I gave a talk about goals, eternal progression and being 'therefore perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect'. There's an amazing talk by Elder Holland from October 2017 called "Be ye therefore perfect - eventually" You guys should give it a read! We also had a farewell mission divotional for Elder Brown. He goes home tomorrow.

I've been studying the beginning of Alma this week, and one thing that was interesting to me was the first Chapter verses 21-26. Apparently, there's several members at the time that liked to pick on or judge other members, and it crippled the church. I've heard stories, and witnessed first hand the spiritual damage that can come from an inner church feud. It's not pretty.

To address this, Alma put a strict law for no persecution (verse 21). But what sticks out to me is the indirect solution in verse 26. When the people got together to learn, there wasn't hierarchy or superiority,

"26 And when the priests left their labor to impart the word of God unto the people, the people also left their labors to hear the word of God. And when the priest had imparted unto them the word of God they all returned again diligently unto their labors; and the priest, not esteeming himself above his hearers, for the preacher was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; and thus they were all equal, and they did all labor, every man according to his strength"

They were all equal, it didn't matter that the priest was leading the lessons, they were all there for the same purpose. They all recieved the same but personalized message.

To personalize it, I've got to tell you guys about Elder Mattson beating the crap out of me in chess. He's a lot better than me. He wipes the floor with me. It kind of sucks, but we still have fun because we play to have fun. We don't play to see who's the best (me ;)). It doesn't matter. It's the same with church, or at least it should be. I don't go to church to prove my scriptural knowledge, or to show everyone how much of a good sameritan I am, I go because the Lord wants me to, and because it gives me spiritual strength. Each person has a calling to fulfill with their own individual strengths, but that doesn't make one member better than the other. It doesn't make Young men better than young women. We don't go to church for the world to see us better, we got to church so that we can see God better.

I guess my invitation to you guys is to reevaluate why you're doing this, to make sure your heart is set on the treasures in Heaven, not the empty promises of the earth.

Love you guys!

Happy new year!

Elder Rasmussen