Week 47 Trondheim Norway

This week was awesome!

      Things are getting better with the virus and we can do a lot more things which is nice. But this week we did a lot of service! We went to our bishops farm and helped plant potatoes and dig more planting beds for his garden so that was a good time and then they fed us hotdogs, and if you guys know me I HATE hotdogs. It's probably the only food that I would say I don't like and I use to always hear of people eating crazy food  on their missions and how it was nasty. The hardest thing for me has been to eat is Hotdogs haha but I'm getting use to them they're not as bad as I remember. Just had a couple really bad ones that ruined it for me when I was younger and they've always made me puke. Another thing that was fun this week was cross some kids up in a couple basketball games! There's a court next to our house and we sometimes drop by and just ask these Norwegian guys to play and just school them. But this time it was a whole different story, we pulled up and you woulda thought we were in the west side of Compton. We live in the ghetto part of town (which isn't very ghetto because Norway is like the safest place on earth) but these dudes were all playing ball and we decided to take em on. We had just gotten done with a lesson and headed back to the flat so we had our white shirts and ties on but we didn't care. We set our stuff down and I went and asked these boys if we could join and he kinda laughed and said ok if you want! And me and Elder Templeton had no mercy on these boys it was awesome. My comp played ball for Brighton and is just money at shooting, I on the other hand haven't shot a ball since rec ball season back with the Shamrocks when we won the championship. So I was just driving to the hoop and euro stepping the crap outta these guys and my comp was just wet from the 3. He hit like 5 in a row and the dudes were like "Gaurd him dangit! The kids deadly bro!" And me and him were dying, they had some good players tho and one of them had hops and actually played for a team here and could throw it down. I locked him down most the game but then this dude who was playing with us switched and that drive the kid came down and just hammered it on this kid it was hilarious! But the cool part of the story is during the 2-3 games we played this one kid kept looking at our name tags so after we went and talked with him and he said he had met with missionaries before and had been to church! So we got his number and he said he wanted to meet with us. So that was a little miracle that happened and now we've got some swaggy friends who call up "the Americans" when someone good comes to play them on the court. We got a call from him like 3 days later and he said, "hey bro these guys are trying to play against us and they are good we need you boys" but we were about to have a teach so we had to decline but they call us up now for help which is so dope. 

       We did some more service on Monday and helped this older guy by moving a closet thing up to his 2nd floor and we helped him clean out this renovation house that he was flipping. I jumped out of the van we were in and didn't see a nail that was sticking out of a board and landed right on it. Thank goodness the nail wasn't to long but it went right through my shoe and sock and pricked me a bit but I was ight. I have a picture of the board stuck to my foot too so that was funny. Then we had a lesson with an inactive member who was a homie to us and started reading Come Follow Me and has been watching the online church meeting, it was great!  We then helped him remove this massive tree trunk that has been stuck in his yard for 5 years. This thing was the biggest tree trunk I've ever seen, it was huge but we got it with some tow ropes and pushing. Then he invited us over for dinner to try Sri Lankan food because that's where he's from. 

        Another funny thing was we were filming this trick shot  for my companions Facebook and this little 10 year old kid walked up and said "are you guys making a tic toc?" And I said,  "what's that 😂" he then showed me some and I was like oh yeh my sisters do those all the time that's funny but no we aren't. Then he goes well can I make one with you guys? And we were like sure why not! So then we made a video of us doing an alleyoop train and he was so stoked about it then he said, "so do you guys teach people about Jesus?" And we were like yeh man we do are you Christian? And he said yes so we asked him if we could come share a message with him and his family and he said he'd ask his parents! Super cool kid and even cuter, so watch out for my tic toc I'mma be viral! Then the last cool miracle was a guy who saw my Facebook ad and messaged me to learn more about our church. We actually did a video chat and told him a little and then he invited us to come over to tell him more. So we did and it went super well! He had so many questions and we just pulled up answers from the Book of Mormon and we gave him one and he was like " this book has all the answers, I'm going to read this whole thing and take my family to your church!" Haha I felt like I was in a dream because that never happens. After everything we taught him from the restoration to baptism he believed it! It was super cool and he's got a wife with 5 ADORABLE  little kids, they've come from the Congo so it was a blessing to have a solid family who wants to learn more because that's what Norway needs! So it was a great week for sure, and the weather is getting better and the sun comes up earlier and earlier every week and goes down later and later which is nice! 

Have a good week every one and send me an email or message me on Facebook it makes my day! 

Eldste Spaddy

 Statue of Leif Eriksen, he's a Viking who sailed to America and then settled there. He was the first known European to have set foot in North America before Christopher Columbus. The statue was built for his 1000 year anniversary and he's from Trondheim!!

Week 46 Trondheim Norway (2020 Quarantine)

Heyyy wassup everyone! 

       Hope you guys are doing good, don't really know who reads these or If anyone does but momma Spaddy told me I had to write one every week and write in my journal every day so I'm doing it anyways! This week was pretty good, we've been able to meet with more people and get out more which has been super nice but it's still so weird with everything that's going on. We've been able to go out and contact people on the street a little which was sweet we met some dope guys and have set up some times to meet which is great. It's super weird though everyone is like on edge and super trippy or you get these people who don't give two hoots about it and start wanting to give hugs and shaking hands. We've been picking up a lot of the online work too! I have this ad the church has paid for that's up on Facebook and it pops up on people's feed and they can click on it and it sends you a message! And we've had tons of people clicking on it and commenting which is sick! Not all of them were super solid and some of them were even roasting me about playing "American football" but they're just missing out! We had one dude click on it and he started chatting with us and the next thing we know he sent us a video and me and my comp were laughing so hard. This guy starts speaking in super Norwegian accented English and says " Hello guys this is Plåt here, I actually have a guest room that I built for my ex wife who left me for the JW church, you guys could come stay here and preach the good news to people here in the area . You know we have actually never had Mormon missionaries here before so it would be interesting!" Then he goes "what do you say Laura should we have the Mormons stay with us?" And this little goat walks in the doors and starts baaaing. Now think of that said in a sing song voice it was hilarious. Then later in the week we were just going around the city talking with people and he texts us and says "hey i see you guys come to this pizza place and I buy pizza" and we were like sweet ok. We show up there and this dude tells us his life story and how his family and wife have shunned him and won't talk to him because be left the JWs and now he's an anti JW and has a YouTube channel to help people " leave the cult". Dude doesn't believe in God anymore and doesn't have a desire to learn more but he complimented us and said we do it a lot better then other churches. So that was funny! 

       Sunday it was Norway's National Day and it's usually like crazy, the entire country is bumping and going crazy but everything got canceled this year so it was pretty mild. Still way fun though, we saw some small parades and everyone was dressed up super nice in their Norwegian costumes and it was the one day we didn't look like weirdos walking around in suits because everyone else was! It's super funny too because all the high school graduates party so hard from the 1st of May to the 17 and they wear these jump suit things and buy buses and drive around breaking all the commandments it's pretty awful but hilarious to watch. We walked passed this group of guys on a balcony and they were just hammered and I started talking with them and they were like hey boys you guys doing anything fun today? Come up and party with us! And I was like nah its ight but I bet you guys couldn't shotgun those beers and they tipped em back it was so funny. I would have destroyed them though ( with a throwback mountain dew of course ). But other than that nothing to much, the sun here refuses to go down and it's so easy to wake up now so that's nice. We get about 20 hours of sunlight a day, it's nice. But the weather has been trash it's so weird, we get snow one day and sunny the next. Place is wack but I love it! Me and my comp are homies so it's super fun, we work hard and are always laughing so it's a good time. The mission is so dope and you change so much! 

Hope you all have a good week! 

Eldste Spaddy

Norway's National Day!!!

Wacky weather...

Week 45 Trondheim Norway (2020 Quarantine)

Hey everyone hope you all had a great week and an awesome Mothers day! 

     Mothers are amazing and never get appreciated as much as they should, shout out to all the awesome moms out there, but a special shout out to my mom! She's such an angel and is always looking outward. She is such a Christ like example to everyone around her and I'm glad I got lucky to be her son! She's put up with me for 19 years now and I still don't know how she does. Your the real MVP momma Spaddy! 

       Anyways, this week was good we've been doing things a little differently which is great! With all this crazy stuff going on President Tew has asked us to start looking to serve others more and using that as a tool to not only find but just get these people to open up. So we did tons of service this week and are trying to find people in more natural ways. We went and did service for the bishop here and it was so fun! He's this young dude who was baptized about 8 years ago and lives on this dope farm up on top of a mountain. So we dug some planting beds for him and pulled up some potatoes and hauled firewood into his barn. We got all muddy and wet but they fed us a yummy dinner so it was awesome. We also balled some dudes up on this court by our flat and it was awesome. We walked by and I said, "we have to go play them man" to my comp so we did. I set up my phone to see if we could get any sick footy of us crossing them up but my angle was horrible so I didn't catch most of it. But it was cool  and they now want to make a group and play more once this thing blows over. Then the police came and kicked us all off which was frustrating because they've opened all the malls and all the bars and everything is normal but they won't let a couple guys play some ball? 

       The next day we decided we were going to get to know all of our neighbors and bake them a loaf of bread. So we went to town and made some yummy bread and delivered it to them and memorized all their names and we've decided were just going to do a weekly baking session and make stuff for them so we can ease them up a little. In the movie, "The Fighting Preacher" William Bean is the man who moves into the Smith family home. He realizes in order to buy the hill Cumorah he needs the people to trust him and like him. All the people hated him and he tries so hard to get them to like him, he then realizes he may need to switch up his methods. So he starts going around and fixing fences and baking pies for everyone and they end up liking him because he was so stinking nice and some of them end up joining the church. It has inspired me to switch things up and serve my neighbors more. I really regret telling my mom to turn off all of the church history stuff she would turn on while driving in the car. The pioneers and the stories of the members of the church in the olden days are so stinking cool. But other than that nothing to much! We are going to this WWII bunker today so that'll be fire. It's got all these under ground tunnels and turrets and stuff with stories about it, so I'm stoked. Then I'll probably get my rod and head back to the ocean to see if I can catch something bigger, one of the elders here caught a shark 2 weeks ago so I'm going to see what I can get. Hope you all have a great week! 

Eldste McSpadden

Week 44 Trondheim Norway (2020 Quarantine)

Ayyye this week was FIRE! 

       The rules have been easing up and we got permission to have in person lessons with people who are healthy and keep a distance, and to contact a little on the streets so that was a huge blessing! Over 50 days of quarantine was way to much but its ight I learned a lot from it and I learned how to do a ton of new things.                 Saturday we were just packed with lessons, service and a member dinner. We started off the day by helping this guy with his yard work. We helped put in some stairs to a balcony and put in some mulch around the garden areas to make it look nice. Except, I don't think these guys realized how steep the hill was and that all the bark was going to slide down in a day. I mentioned it to them and they were like,  "oh ok" so they went and bought some stuff and we rigged something up and made her look pretty. After that we had planned to go on a walk with this lady we are teaching, we decided to ask the sister missionaries to come with, they did. It went really well and she ended up bringing a friend, we talked about life and how the book of Mormon has helped her. She pretty much gave us a referral and now we will be teaching them both which was awesome. Then we hurried and ran home to catch an online appointment with this guy who lives out in the boonies of Norway and it went super well. He started off by telling us he knows "a lot" about our church and the history of it. After he was all done he brought up the good ol Revelation scripture that every one and their dog uses to denote the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. And it made me think of a quote by Bruce R McConkie... it says

 "If an occasion arises where an Elder cannot in honor refuse a debate, then it may be proper for them to engage in the discussion. In such instances they will always come off victorious, the truth is with the saints and will stand of it's own self." 

So I opened up the Book of Mormom and Bible and showed this guy in a kind loving manner the truths that stand in these two books. His response was pretty surprising as he said,  "Well I've never thought of it in a way like that. I've met a lot of missionaries and they've never discussed that with me. Now can I write those scriptures down and study them again? " It was great! After that lesson we did some service for a member here and then they fed us salmon, salad and potatoes.  I'm not really fond of Norwegian food most the time because they seem to just get everything out of a bag but man when they do cook the fish here is so good it was delicious!

     After that we came home and had a lesson with our good friend who's had a lot of progress. He started off with some questions about the gold plates and different things so we opened up and read the accounts of the witnesses. The spirit was super strong and you could tell he was feeling it. He then goes, "look guys I have felt the spirit and I think I can say I know the Book of Mormon is true, I really hope it is. I look at the life of an LDS member and it looks so happy. They just have it good, their lives are in order, they have good morals and it doesn't matter their economic status they all love and help each other and no one is above someone else."  I then said, "well does that sound like something you'd like in your life because I can testify to you that those things are true!" He then proceeded to open up to us about all the things going on in his life and how difficult it would be to make the necessary changes. So I opened up to Nephi's story when he had the same feelings. We read chapter 3 in 1 Nephi verse 7. And we told him God doesn't give us a commandment we can't handle and that he WILL provide a way for us to do the necessary things for Salvation. You just have to trust him man! The spirit was super strong and he said, "well before I make my decision I need to attend a sacrament meeting in person not just online." So we said that sounds great. I'm stoked for him and looking forward to when we can go with him. Just a testimony to me that prayer works and that the most powerful tool is bearing testimony of truths that stand in the Book of Mormon. 

      Pretty solid week for sure and it ended even better! Today we went out fishing again... the amount of times I have tried to catch a monster here is uncountable. But today was my lucky day, we set our stuff down, and after Elder Templeton took a hard fall off the rocks and basically went swimming, I got my line in the water. First cast I got her stuck in some seaweed and was ticked because I thought it was deeper at that spot. But next cast I through it farther and it landed right where I wanted it. I started reeling it in and then bam I thought I snagged another rock or something, after pulling and tugging I realized this things moving. I start pulling and reeling and realized this things a tank. All of the sudden the tail flipped out of the water and she was a big mama. After fighting this thing for quite a while I pulled her right in! My adrenaline was pumping because I didn't want to lose it. Pulled her right up and took some pics. The thing was heavy, had to have been at least 10 pounds and it was exactly what I hoped for. Norwegian Cod baby! I was stoked, I gutted her out and walked home with this hunk of fish hanging off my backpack and all the people we walked by were like, "wow you got a nice dinner there" ha it was great. I filleted her up and made some proper fish n chips for the sister missionaries, Elder and Sister Jackson and Elder Templeton and I. It was a hoot for sure! Super dope week hope you all are staying safe! 

Eldste Spaddy