Faith to move myself into motion
Ég vona að þið hafið það rosalega gott! Þessi vika var bara að skjóta sig framhjá mér, en hún var mjög góð.
This week was really good, but also really short! I'm not sure where the time went, but many good things happened.
Last tuesday we went to a town called Flúðir to meet someone named Birta who requested a book of Mormon. We went there, gave her the book, and asked if she'd like to hear a message about it! She did, so we taught her the restoration and plan to go back tomorrow. When we asked her why she's interested in the book, she said that she was just looking for the truth. She doesn't know it yet, but she's found it! She has a super cute 3 year old daughter who reminded me of my nieces, shout out to them and my sister.
Please pray for Jóhanna. She's been super hard to get in contact with. She missed her baptismal date goal and feels really bad about it. For a while she wouldn't be in contact with us, but she finally responded to a ditch effort message! Pray specifically that she'll realize how pleased the Lord is with her for her progress and her desire to prepare for baptism. Pray for her to know that struggling is part of the journey.
On thursday we taught Icelandic class. Edwyn (a member from chile who lives in Reykjavík) was here to do some building repairs in the church, so we invited him to share his testimony at the end of the class. He did, and the people loved it. They've recently been having a very difficult time. There's some policies changing for refugees and they're not sure how it will affect them, and they've really been loving the peace that comes from the gospel.
On saturday we went knocking (this is where the title comes from) in a town called Reykholt. We got there and Satan decided to try to stop us. The weather got really poor right when we parked the car. I really didn't want to knock in it, but I knew that it's what the lord wanted so I sucked up my whining and put my shoulder to the wheel. It was cold, but we had several decent conversations, and Elder Pollock and I's spirits were high. Fun fact: Nearly everybody on the first street was romanian. We finished that street and my laziness came back. I was thinking that we could call it quits for the time being, a full street was worth enough. But then I was really impressed with the need to forget my frivolous complaining. So we started a second street. That's where we met Ivan. He's croatian, but the lord was preparing him for us. That's why Satan tried to so hard to deter us. We were speaking with his mom, who wasn't interested, but then he called out from over his shoulder that he had some questions for us. He asked what we did. We said that we helped people come unto christ and God through the gospel of christ. Then he asked 'what do I do next?' We said he could let us in, we could schedule a time to come back, or we could exchange numbers. At the end of the exchange he had a book of mormon, we swapped numbers, and he said he'd potentially come to church on sunday. Since then's he's been in contact with us, has read the introductory materials of the book of mormon, and is in 1 nephi, and is excited to receive the Book of mormon we have in Croatian.
2 Timothy 2:25-25 "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth"
I studied this scripture thinking about how I should improve my conduct as a missionary. It and the verses around it are very insightful. As I reread this verse, the portion about people opposing themselves really stuck out to me. There's so many things we do that are opposite to our progression and happiness. Satan is fixed on redefining what we define as right and wrong, so that we end up doing things that oppose ourselves, thinking we're doing what's right. I do it all the time, especially with food haha. My parents know this and patiently endured my whining. I'll know something will make me feel sick to the stomach, but eat it anyways because I think the taste is more important than the overall effect on my body. It also pressed upon me the delicacy needed when teaching people how to live after "the manner of happiness".
Love you!
Öldungur Rasmussen
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