Week 34 Alesund Norway

Ayyye wassup guys?? 

      This week has zoomed by, holy cow I feel like I'm writing these things every two days. Just want to give a shout out to my big bro D and his awesome wife Hannah for getting married this week! Super stoked for them and happy they were sealed in the temple for time and all eternity, cant wait to mob with you guys when I get back. 

      This week was another good one! We were in Stavanger and played volleyball with all the boys all day it was so fun. It was nice being with a big bunch of the boys again. We then had zone conference which was great! We talked a lot about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. Everyone tries to roast our church about these two things and that's why it's so important that we all have a strong testimony on these things! I respect Joseph Smith so much, after reading and studying about him and his life my testimony of him has grown immensely. That man put EVERYTHING on the line to restore the true church of Jesus Christ back on this earth. He was dedicated and determined to do the Lords work and I know without a doubt in my mind that he did see God the Father and his son Jesus Christ in the Sacred Grove almost 200 years ago. That man is a stud and anyone who tries to prove that wrong hasn't studied a thing about him and needs to learn more. Then of course another crazy flight story as we were headed back to Alesund.  We get to our gate and then of course its delayed again and our connecting flight was like 30 minutes after we landed so I'm just already stressing. Finally we get on board and take off and we land 5 minutes after our boarding has started, so as the wheels touch ground I literally stood up and grabbed my stuff out of the over head bin and started walking to the front of the plane while it was moving. Then over the intercom these ladies start roasting me "um sir you have to stay seated, sit, what are you doing sir, please sit down" I didn't even care I wasn't missing our plane! So I said, " I've got a plane that leaves in 10 minutes and I'm NOT missing it".  They just nodded their heads and opened the door and we took off. And OF COURSE our gate is on the opposite side of the airport so again we are sprinting through the Bergen airport and finally pull up to the gate and we are like the last two to get on the flight. I'm just sweating, rolling up my sleeves and dying in the hot plane and then we were about to leave and the plane stopped and was like "sorry we have some special passengers who need to be on this plane so we're waiting". I'm not sure what it takes to be special to get the plane to wait but they always leave the missionaries. Then all the sudden this entire women's hand ball team starts getting on and funny enough they were on our last plane too! They mosey on back through the plane and started laughing at us, which was hilarious, and I was like "we aren't special passengers like you guys we have to run or they leave us" they thought it was sooo funny that we were sprinting. They love women's handball here and I guess Norway's girls team is like the best in the world and all the Norwegian's love it, it's so funny. Next time maybe I'll check for any famous people that can hold the plane for us because we miss it more often than we'd like to because of so many flight delays.  

       We had some sick teaches this week and made a baptismal date with the young girl we've been teaching! She'll be baptized April 18, so I'm stoked for her! She's dope, then we had some good finding sessions and we've been trying to get some new blood but the weather was awful this week. Not kidding it rained and the sun didn't shine for about 5 days straight! It stays like right above freezing so it doesn't snow it's just bitter cold wind and rain which is so miserable to contact in because no one is outside and no one wants to stop and talk. Then the temperature dropped on Sunday and it started snowing like crazy it was great. For any of those who know me know that I love snow so we were knocking doors at the time and we started having a snowball fight in between doors and messing with each other it was great. Snow puts me in the best mood I swear. But some funny stories this week! I was walking down the street and this lady had this massive dog that literally looked like a brown wolf  it was the coolest thing I've ever seen it was like a husky on steroids but with brown hair and I stopped her and tried to pet it and this thing crouched back  and lunged at me and almost bit my hand off! I jumped back and almost punted the thing and the lady was like "oh no no don't pet this one he's a mean one!" And I just started laughing, I was like what the crap who just owns a literal wolf. Only in Norway baby, that thing had canines the size of my thumb it would have bit my hand off clean. But it's really popular to have massive dogs like that but I'd never seen one like that before. Then on Sunday night when we were knocking doors we were like up in these mountains because we had found this guy earlier who lives up there and we wanted to meet back up with him. He wanted to roast us because he thought we were JW's and then he ended up really liking our message but we were walking back in the woods and all the sudden it just got super muddy and I took a step and sunk to my ankle and then I decided to  just start running because I thought it would just dry up in a few feet, nope! Ran through like a 20 yard stretch of wet snowy mud, so that was great just covered In mud the rest of the night. It was funny, all in all a good week! 

Eldste Spaddy!! 

The sun finally came out after 5 days!!!

 Pouring, freezing rain most days!

 Love the recipes my mom sends me...

 This is the tag on a cool brand of suits here in Norway!  "Made with Love by really pretty blonde girls!"  HaHa!

 My Aunt Trisha's homemade roll recipe, I'm getting a little better at  making them. I love these they're so good.

Week 33 Alesund Norway

Ayyye wassup friends and fam! 

       Agh this week was really good we had some sweet teaches and some people who have started progressing, it was great! First off it was so cool because I got to meet up with my boy Wes's (High School buddy serving in Tonga) auntie and got to chat with her and her husband. Momma T sent me a message a while back saying she would love it if we could meet up with her in Bergen. So we flew in for splits and set up an appointment. They were some of the nicest people I've met here, they bought us pizza and we had a great chat. Norway could use a few more people from Tongan that's for sure! So shout out to my boy Wes and his fam for having family everywhere even in Norway! Luv you toko, Ofa Atu ❤ We finished up with splits and headed to the airport to fly home from Bergen and we usually get to the airport with plenty of time to spare because we get there an hour to an hour and a half early just in case something happens.  Man it was lucky we did because it was so packed that day! It took forever getting through security and as soon as we got out we sprinted to our gate just as our boarding group came up it was a miracle! The amount of times I've had to full on sprint through the airport is ridiculous, my early morning runs are to keep me in shape so I don't miss my flights.  I'm sure the airport staff are like, "here come the missionaries".  Haha   

       Friday was such a good day and probably one of the best lesson days I've had here yet! We went over to the families house who was recently baptized and he invited his nephew over to eat with us. Kjell is such a stud doing missionary work himself, I know it's because he loves the gospel so much he just wants everyone around him to experience the joy as well! It's because he knows it's true and puts in the WORK. This man started believing in God about 6 months ago and already has finished the Old and New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price and is now following along with the Come Follow Me Program with the Book of Mormon again. He loves the gospel because he studies it and loves gaining knowledge. I read a talk this week by D. Todd Christofferson and he was talking about the powers of reading the Book of Mormon and he said the people who learn to love studying and who invest time are the ones who will truly love and know the gospel. I have a very strong testimony of that as I have become a big studier of the scriptures. I love it when I read and gain personal insights and things I need to know when we go out and teach. But anyways back to the dope lesson, after I had eaten about 4 or 5 massive calzones we decided to start filling our bodies spiritually haha. So with his nephew there we started going over the first lesson again because recent converts are suppose to be taught the lessons again but instead of him being taught it felt like a member on a teach with us! He was sharing scriptures and insights through the whole lesson. And right at the end when we read in Moroni 10:3-5 Kjell pounded his fist on the table and he said " That statement right there is true! I KNOW it with all my heart, God told me through the power of the Holy Ghost that this book and this gospel are his words and its changed my life!" Wooo it was so sick I felt like Jeffery R. Holland was in the room or something the spirit was just raging. So now his nephew is going to take the lessons and is reading from the Book of Mormon and Kjell took him to church it was so dope. Then the funny part begins, we had scheduled to meet with this super nice Kurdish family who just feeds us all the time. I had tried to get it on separate days because I knew they were going to make us food like every other. So on the way there we started doing the Samoan shuffle, my brother Dillon taught me to do so we could make some room in a stomach that didn't have any room left! We pulled up and said a good prayer before we went in to bless us to have the spirit in the lesson and that the spirit would touch their hearts, we walk up and start chatting with them and I didn't see any food on the table and I felt so relieved, right then she said "are you guys hungry I made some stuff for you!" So we gave the slight umm ya sure. She walks in with food that could have fed the 5000 jeez. I started tripping I didn't know how long I would last before throwing up. But we started and every time I cleared my plate and thought I was chillin she threw a heap of more stuff on my plate. The good thing was the food was amazing so It made it doable but I started sweating I couldn't eat another bite or I would have just exploded. So after 5 calzones, 2 peices of rich chocolate cake, 4 massive helpings of this Kurdish rice chicken stuff 3 helpings of salad and some fruit we decided to start a lesson! So I had coordinated with some of my boys I met in the MTC who were heading to California speaking Farsi a few weeks ago to see if they could skype in with a few of our lessons with this family.  They speak mostly Farsi, Norwegian but struggle with religious words and not any English.  So we called my buddies and they were pretty excited to help me out and  we had a sick lesson with them!  They had so many questions and the spirit was pretty strong even though I couldn't understand a thing it was a good night for sure. 

              Then we had a good turnout on Sunday as well and had 2 of our progressing friends there and some less active members so it was sweet! Now were headed to Zone Conference in Stavanger and we get P day with some other missionaries so that's always so fun. Going to go school some kids in volleyball,l shout out to my boy E dawg and I for playing on that club team in the winter, it came in handy! Always super excited for Zone Conference because not only do we get to see the homies and eat money food, we get to hear President Tew speak. And man let me tell you that guy is a STUD agh he's such a homie and so spiritual I love him and Sister Tew so much and am so lucky to have them leading this mission. Hope you all have a great week! 

Eldste Spaddy! 

Knitting Club!

 The Christmas gift I gave a member displayed in her house! She loved it!

 Valentines package from Grandma and Grandpa!

 Love you guys good luck with the wedding!  I still can't believe my brothers getting married!

Headed to Bergen

Kurdish dinner was so good!

 Reminds me of the mountain where the Grinch lives in Whoville!

Week 32 Alesund Norway

What's up guys! 

      We had a dope week for sure! We had a lot of good lessons and did a lot of finding, knocking and service! I love finding people in different ways so we've been trying to do as many different things as possible, it's nice so things don't get so repetitive. We had some new people we found from that so we will set up appointments with them when we get home from Bergen. We are here for splits and it's been dope. I got a message a couple weeks ago from Mama T, my boy Wesley Tuiasoa's mom, saying she has relatives here in Bergen. We set up an appointment to eat and share  a message of Christ with her so that should be dope! One cool thing that happened this week was when we had just come out of a place to head home, we saw this couple walking down the street and it was pretty late and cold but we decided to get one last contact in before heading in for the night. As we started to walk towards the guy he asked us if we were missionaries and we said yes actually we are have you met with the missionaries before? And he was like yes actually about 5 years ago two young men gave me a book and I read most of it and it was good! Maybe we could meet up sometime and talk more about it? And I was just stoked out of my mind because I had been focusing on being guided by the spirit to find the people who are prepared and for the spirit to guide those people to us! It was just a reminder to me that God does answer our prayers we just have to have faith that they do happen. 

       It's always dope being on splits and being with the boys it's such a good time! One funny story that happened was we had some drunk guys walking past us on the way to an appointment and one of them was just staggering in the back not knowing what was going on. I asked him if he was ok, then he just looked at me and had this awful look on his face and he threw up all over the sidewalk almost right on my shoes, luckily I was light on my feet and dodged it so we chillin. We also went to a Pinsy church this week and that was an experience for sure. Just a true testimony builder that there is only one true church on the earth today and that is the Church of Jesus Christ. Even though it was quite entertaining with all the flashing lights, loud music with the pastor saving people and shouts of amen coming from everywhere at the most random times with people on the ground worshiping and dancing it just didn't feel the same in any way! Still cool to experience though. Last night we played some sport in the church, Jorgen came over, which was sick because I haven't played ball in so long so I was stoked. Come to find out no one likes basketball here so we played soccer. After about a couple games of getting "megged" and made fun of I decided we'd play some b ball and schooled those kids, shout out to the Shamrocks for always grinding. We went on a sick hike today as well which was so fun but it was so windy and snowy but I loved every second of it. The snow is just little blessings coming down from the sky. Then after we came back we ate reindeer hotdogs, and I'm not a big fan of hotdogs in the slightest but man those things were dang good I could have pounded 5 if they weren't so expensive.

      One thing I loved in my personal study this week was in Luke 15 when Christ tells the story of the prodigal son. I think this is one of my favorite parables Christ ever uses because it shows the love that our father in heaven and our brother Jesus Christ has for us. Even though the son went off and wasted away all his father gave him, his father still accepted him and embraced him and threw a feast for him when he came back. This is the same way our father in heaven feels about us when we make mistakes and distance ourselves from him, even though we've messed up no matter what he will always welcome us back into his loving arms. In verse 7 it says " that likewise joy shall be in heaven when even one sinner cometh unto repentance." So God is rooting for us and cheering us on. He's throwing parties for us up in heaven when even one of his children uses the atonement and I'm so glad we do have a Father in Heaven who loves us that much and that I get to be a tool in his hands to spread that message. Hope you all have a great week! 

Eldste Spaddy 

P.S. We met with Nia Tuiasoa's sister and they were so cool and nice and bought us dinner. I really want to start working with them, maybe when I get transferred to Bergen! ;)

A real mink coat, so cool some of the things people have here. Coats and hats are a big deal because it's so cold but people really love to collect them!

We hiked Ulriken in Bergen today, you'll have to look it up it's so beautiful!  It's the highest of the seven mountains that surround Bergen. It's a bit snowy and windy today but such an amazing hike. President Tew says we are living in one of the most beautiful country's in the world so milk your p-days and explore! I am so grateful for this opportunity to be here to serve the Lord and appreciate all that God has created. 

 My first Reindeer hotdog!  I loved it! I hate hot dogs but this one was so good...

Eldste Bennett, McSpadden, Jorgen Berg, Eldste Jaccard and Rasch

  Every time I come to Bergen I call up Jorgen and "I'm like where you at bro? I'm in town and he pulls up, it's fire!"  I can see why my dad and mom love the Bergs, I love this family, they're amazing and I love being around them. (His dad and my dad served in England together) Jorgen's putting his mission papers in soon! I hope I get to serve in Bergen before he leaves, it would be so sick working with Bishop Berg and just being here, it's fire!

Week 31 Alesund Norway

Hey guys hope you all had a good week! 

       It was a pretty good week here, I'm feeling better so that's good.  Eldste Bennett and I have been trying to do a lot of finding this week! It's always good to get some new blood to teach but  we found some pretty cool people which is always good. We had the confirmation of Kjell and Kim Daniel which was a super spiritual experience because you could physically feel the spirits presence enter in the room when the words receive the Holy Ghost were said in the prayer. So thankful I got to be apart of that with those two studs! We had some good lessons this week and we felt the spirit pretty strong, we had one where we talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and what it really is. When we got to baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost I asked him how could having the holy ghost with you at times help you in your life? And he just said, "it would give me direction, hope and happiness". I just felt so much truth ring from that statement from a kid who has never thought about who God is or what Jesus Christ has done for us. Super excited to keep working with him! 

        I was listening to a talk that I love from Jeffery R. Holland called the " First and Great Commandment" this week and I read in the New Testament about when Christ comes back and sees his apostles fishing. When Christ tells them to cast their nets to the right side, they bring in loads of fish. I thought about why Christ did that and what it meant. And I love how Elder Holland explains it, he said, that christ can get any amount of fish or fame or fortune or whatever worldly thing he wanted with ease, he has the power do that, but that's not what he needs. What Christ needs is Dicicples that follow Him because that is the one thing Christ cannot choose for us. We have our free agency to choose so that is why He needs us to go preach the gospel unto all ends of the earth. I loved that and it hit me that this time I have here in Norway is specifically set aside to do exactly that, the Lords work. But being out here has made me realize how important it is to be a missionary wherever and whenever. It's not just the apostles who are called to preach repentance or the missionaries to help bring others to Christ it is everyone's job to help bring Gods children to experience the true and everlasting happiness of this knowledge and to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Love that idea and glad to be in a time of my life where it is set aside to doing that exact thing. 

Love,

Eldste McSpadden