November 2009

August
D&C 101:63-4 . . . I say unto you, I will show unto you wisdom in me concerning all the churches, in as much as
they are willing to be guided in a right and proper way for their salvation--- that the work of the gathering
together of my saints may continue . . . for the time of harvest is come, and my word must needs be fulfilled.

Message from the President

Dear Elders and Sisters,

We were greatly blessed to have Elder Caussé visit our mission. His assessment of the mission is that we
are a mission of great potential, but we are undertrained. This is an accurate assessment. For our part
Sister Johansen and I were thrilled and grateful for all of the information and counsel Elder Caussé was able
to give to us. We have committed ourselves to implementing his counsel and being 100% obedient in an
effort to be more effective missionaries.
In an attempt to ensure that we get the most from our recent zone conference with Elder Causse´, we are
devoting this issue of the Harvester to the counsel Elder Caussé gave to us so that we may be better able to
increase our abilities as missionaries. This article will be a summary of many of the things he taught us.
“In this mission we BAPTIZE CONVERTS.”
“You will learn from the Holy Ghost. He will whisper to you. Focus on your personal and individual needs.”
“Being a member of this church is to be a missionary.”
“Love is an irresistible force, the love of Christ.”
“There is an urgency with this work. You only have two years to serve your mission. The Lord doesn’t need
us, if we don’t do the work the Lord will get someone else to do it. The urgency is that there are people
who are prepared and need to be found. We are called to bring about the elect of the Lord. The elect
people are prepared people.”
“A bold missionary is a missionary who is motivated by a love for the people and a love of the Gospel. A
bold missionary is loving and humble, confident in the Lord.”
“When you go to the members you are there to help them.”
“Baptism is an event, conversion is a process.”
“In finding the elect, your goal is to find an entry point. You should not be mechanical. Be natural and
honest. If you say you are missionaries and they reject you, they are rejecting you. If you teach a principle
and they reject you they are rejecting the principle. To get an entry point, teach a principle. Ask a
question. Testify. The companion then testifies. The companion then teaches them a second principle.
You need to practice every day. Role play every day. You have to practice in companionship study. It
needs to be automatic so you don’t focus on yourself and can focus on the message. Every investigator
deserves to have a message that is individualized for him. You need to expose them to the gospel.”
“You are finding people, not doing finding,”
“You are teaching people, not doing teaching.”
 November 2009
Message from the President
Continued from page one

“Planning is finding the will of the Lord and making it a part of your day. We are not
working on our plans but the Lord’s plans. Planning is the key in all you do. The Holy
Ghost loves planning. During the 9:00-9:30pm planning session – no phone calls. We need
to have very specific planning sessions, who, where, when, how, why and what. Why plan
in the evening? Sleep on the plan when you wake up you will have additional ideas in
personal study. The companionships need to role play the situation. Even with planning it
can fall through. Nephi went out not knowing beforehand what to do, but he went out
anyway.”

Lesson 0. Ask a few simple questions. Get to know the investigator. Have a prayer. Give
an overview of the first three lessons. Give an overview of the program – 3x3x30 for four
weeks. Give them a baptismal date. Finish by inviting them to experiment making
commitments, to read pamphlets, come to church make appointments ask for referrals.
Do you know…. Finish with the investigator praying.”

Baptismal calendar. After working it out with the investigator, give the calendar to the
ward mission leader. He will give it to the ward council so the ward council can use it as a
blueprint to know what they need to do to help in the conversion process. Add an extra
week for after baptism where home teachers and visiting teachers will be assigned, after
baptism discussions taught, and a calling given. If the convert is a man add receiving the
Aaronic Priesthood.”

“Envision the work in Norway with your spiritual eyes.”

“We don’t have enough missionaries to teach all those who are prepared to receive the
gospel in Norway.”

We are asking missionaries in their weekly email to the president to comment on the
principles they are working on and share any miracles or spiritual experiences associated
with implementing these principles.

Elder Causse´s assessment of our mission was we have excellent missionaries but we are a
young mission and as a mission we need to become better trained. We need to use our
study time both individual and companion to sharpen our skills so we can focus on the
message and not ourselves.

With Love,

President Armand D Johansen and Sister Johansen

 MISSION TOUR with
Elder Gérald Caussé
Of the Seventy

OSLO ZONE CONFERENCE

28. Okt. 2009 Hekkvein menighet
MISSION TOUR
Elder Gérald Caussé Of the Seventy

NORTH & SOUTH ZONE CONFERENCE

29. Okt. 2009 Romerike menighet
MISSION TOUR
Elder Gérald Caussé Of the Seventy

Notes from the Mail Room

Soon to arrive is the October Conference Edition of the Liahona. Baptismal calendar
forms and a copy of the DEICATORY PRAYER FOR NORWAY will be included in these
mail pouches!

FYI Elder and Sister

 November 2009

Notes from the Office Arriving Missionary

3 November 2009

Steven Jens Linge

Orem , Utah

Eldste Linge was born in Tønsberg, Norway

Departing Missionary for Yekaterinburg Russia Mission

2 November 2009

Elder Joseph Hyrum Stoops

Stavanger, Norway
Eldste Stoops was on temporary assignment awaiting his visa to the Yekaterinburg Russia Mission
November 2009

November 2009
Message from the Assistants
Elders and Sisters,

SYL. Funny that we haven’t heard or thought about that too much since the MTC, except the
guilty wrench in your stomach when you breeze past chapter 7 in Preach My Gospel. Let’s just take a
few quotes from that often overlooked chapter.
“Use your mission language at every opportunity.”
“Speak the language with your companion as much as possible throughout the day.”
“Pray in the language privately and publicly.”
“One of the greatest things you can do to gain people’s trust and love is to embrace their
culture.”
We want you to take a minute and think of the culture of our mission. Do we have a culture
of speaking our mission language? Are we obedient to this rule? (See White Handbook P. 16) How
many of you when coming to Norway were apprehensive, yet excited to be surrounded by
Norwegian, but upon arrival realized, “Oh, we speak English here.” This “relieving” realization is not
only a disappointment to new missionaries, but is also a hindrance to the work and to fulfilling our
potential as the Lord’s servants. One of the worst things you can do for your companion’s Norwegian
is speaking to him or her all the time in English. Non-perfect Norwegian is MUCH better than none at
all.
You have been called to speak Norwegian. Heavenly Father has invested a LOT of time and
money into you, and has given you an amazing opportunity to learn valuable lessons, and acquire
valuable skills that HE will utilize for the rest of your life. Neglecting to live up to this part of our
calling is disobedient. This mission is to have a culture of obedience, diligence, and faithful service.
Our goal is that when new missionaries arrive in this mission, they are brought into an environment
which allows them to quickly progress to their full potential. This is not simply in a companionship;
it’s something that needs to be present throughout the mission.
There are common concerns such as “Well, I don’t want to have this meeting/study in
Norwegian because I can’t convey the Spirit as powerfully.” HALLO!!! We TEACH in Norwegian
daily!!! If we can’t convey the Spirit, we’ve got some work to do! We would much rather have people
practicing this with missionaries than on people who are investigating the gospel. Don’t let the
sacred environment of an investigator teach be your training ground for conveying the Spirit.
This is why Elder Caussé said that we need to do role playing daily. This is the reason there is
an entire chapter in Preach My Gospel completely dedicated to “Learning the Language”. Let us
work together in creating the Norwegian atmosphere we need in order to enhance our missionary
skills. Let us each strive to set the example for those with whom we serve. Let us be accountable to
the Lord in all that we do, and show Him that we are willing to accept our call. We love you all, and
are excited to see the progress of this mission.

Med Vennlig Hilsen,

APENE

Baptisms Reported in October 56 YTD as of 10/31 Goal year 84

Baptism Confirmation
Name Date Date Location Missionaries
Cruz Olivares, Flora Edith 3 Oct 3 Oct Stavanger Mission Pratt/Severson
Olsen, Carina 11 Oct 11 Oct Romerike Stake Bishop/Maxwell/Carr
Yeboah, Jennifer 9 Oct 11 Oct Fredrike Stake Jaffa/Richardson
Thapa, Hem Bahadur 17 Oct 18 Oct Oslo Stake Wallace/ Glosova
Hansen, Kristine 24 Oct 25 Oct Tromsø Mission Caffery/Gilbert/ Bryan
Nyemah, Lawrence 24 Oct 25 Oct Bergen Mission Miller/Millard/Buckley
Stormark, Ronny 24 Oct 25 Oct Bergen Mission Miller/Millard/Buckley
 November 2009
Our Miracle Column
Lesson 0 comments

I really enjoyed hearing from Elder Caussè. He had some great insights and ideas. I really felt like he was
inspired on being bold and showed very specifically how to be bold, which was good for me. Lesson 0 was
a really shocking idea! We think it will be a tool that could help us to stay focused on baptism. It’ll be a
challenge, but I’m sure as we learn to push people to the limit, it will allow the Spirit to do a lot of
miracles for us. I think it will really help me be

I also liked the idea of planning for specific people and really thinking of who they are. We have started
to do it and it really adds purpose and excitement to finding as we try to find the people we have
spiritually discerned.

∞∞∞
My companion and I have been doing role plays in our companionship study. I now feel more comfortable
while contacting and I am very confident in the situations we are in while we are on the street. I feel that
all this is a blessing from practicing Lesson 0 and what Elder Caussé

∞∞∞
I really wanted Caussé’s Mission Tour to help me be a better missionary. Instead of just going to a zone
conference and thinking that it is nice without really applying it, I follow up every night. I do an
accounting of what Elder Caussé taught and make plans for the next day

∞∞∞
We especially like the feature in Lesson Zero about asking the investigator to list some of their own
personal questions that we can answer for them. This opens up opportunities to really study for
investigators during personal study. We will master the Lesson Zero through practicals in companionship
study and through practice with ward members. Speaking of practicals, we decided to try a new teach to
find during our contacting last Saturday. We talked to people about smoking – what their opinions were.
Surprisingly enough, almost everyone we asked was willing to talk. We got two potential investigators out
of it! It is cool how you can connect almost anything back to the ……………..