August

MARCH 2010
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
At zone conference we discussed the importance of living our lives in such a way that the Holy Ghost cannot
be constrained to be our constant companion. It is not just a good thing to have,
it is the only way to do missionary work.

The formula for missionary work is really quite simple. In PMG pg. 89-90 we read, “God loves you…He is
anxious to support you in your practical and specific challenges. You have been promised inspiration to know
what to do and have been given the power to do it…He will guide you to people who will receive the
message of the Restoration. He will give you power to deliver the message and to testify of Christ and his
gospel. He will shower blessings upon you through the gift of the Holy Ghost. He asks that you remain
worthy of this gift and that you ask, seek, and knock.”
This is one of the most important paragraphs in PMG.

It says: God loves you.

God is anxious to help you in your specific challenges.
You will receive inspiration to know what to do.
You have been given the power to do what you need to do.
God will lead you to people who will receive the message of the Restoration.
God will give you the power to deliver the message and to testify of Christ.
God will shower blessings upon you through the gift of the Holy Ghost.

For such great blessings God asks: Obedience - That we remain worthy of this gift
Seek - That we knock and ask.

In short, every missionary has been promised that he/she will receive the inspiration to know what to do,
have the power to do it, be led to those who will receive the message and be given the power to deliver the
message. What more could we want?

Because of this promise, no missionary should ever view a lack of accomplishment as acceptable. We all
experience those times when nothing seems to go right, when no one will hear our message or even stop to
talk. When this happens it is easy to blame it on the Norwegians and say we have a hard mission when
perhaps we should look in the mirror and see if this isn’t a time to evaluate our performance to see if we are
not only worthy of the gift, but if we have the faith necessary to receive the gift. PMG says, “Seek to
strengthen your faith, that God is preparing His children to receive the message of the Restoration. As you

March 2010
do all you can under the guidance of the Holy Ghost to find people to teach, the Lord will place such people
in your path.”

As missionaries, we cannot be satisfied when we simply fulfill our roles according to the letter. We must
have as our objective to live by the Spirit, to be guided by the Spirit, to act by the Spirit, to find by the Spirit,
and to teach by the Spirit. Then we cannot fail. CONTINUED ON
 Message from the Assistants

Dear Elders and Sisters,

It has been wonderful to see the dramatic steps we have been taking to fill up the teaching pools
with fresh new investigators. As we have focused on finding, we have seen the mission respond with
enthusiasm and success. Goals have been set and goals have been achieved. Finding will always be a major
part of our work. As missionaries, we must always focus our efforts on finding new people to teach. To
keep a balanced effort, however, we must not forget the steps that come after. It now becomes our task to
make sure that as we increase input, we lose nothing along the way. It becomes our responsibility to see
that an increase in finding results in an increase in teaching which results in baptisms. This can be done by
remembering the importance of the commitment pattern.
We would like to challenge all of the missionaries to take some time and study chapter 11 from
PMG so that you, as a companionship, can better guide people through the teaching process and on to
baptism. Pay close attention to the bullet points on pg. 196 The first three explain, why we extend
commitments. The following seven give us some great practical principles to follow.
Investigators must make and keep commitments in order to be converted. We must be confident,
simple, direct and bold when inviting people to make commitments. "Teaching without inviting, is teaching
done in vain". Effective ways to invite: identify the presence of the spirit and help them feel it too. Invite
the investigator by asking a "will you" question. Obtain the commitment and confirm it with the
investigator. Remember you always give encouragement and promise blessings. Always extend an
invitation to act upon the principles taught at every appointment, whether it is an investigator, less
Message from the President
active or member. Continued from front page
Following up on commitments is essential to guiding investigators through the conversion progress.
How can
Effectiveweways
be worthy
to follow ofup:
suchKeep
a gifta list
as the Holy Ghost
of people you are as working
our companion? Surely
with and their obedience to(weekly
commitments the
commandments and the
planning is a great timemission
to thinkhandbook
about andisupdatethe foundation of worthiness.
this list). When you followAupcareful
on thesereading of itthe
people, will
handbook may reveal
communicate to thema missed point. keeping
how deeply There are those that say
commitments I am to
means obedient,
you andI am
to the doing
Lord.everything askedthe
If they kept
of me. To those give
commitment, of you whopraise.
them say thisIf and
theystill
havenothing
not kept is happening as you go
the commitment, out all
"with each theday, remember
dignity of your what
calling,
thethrow
Lord requires for the miracle to occur; to be completely obedient we must
a fit". Remember not to let more than a few days go by without some sort of follow up! ask in faith for the gift. We
must expect the miracle, not just keep the commandments. As a matter of fact we have been commanded
to expect Please take time
the miracle. to work
If we studywithout
chapter faith,
10. Learn to develop
without believing these
thatskills
the and apply
miracle willthem to our
occur, everyday
we are not
proselyting routine will increase results in Finding,
completely obedient. Sometimes the Lord is trying to stretch us. Teaching, and Baptisms. The second to last bullet point
on the back page of PMG (the one that President pointed out to us last zone conference) says. Help
everyone
Unless thereyouis ateach make commitments
willingness to extend ourselvesthat willand bring
our about repentance
faith, the Holy Ghostandcannot
it will strengthen
be effectivetheir
in ourfaith
lives. When we are on a spiritual plateau, it is necessary for us to understand we cannot go beyond thatthe
in the Savior. This is part of the recipe that can help us all become the missionaries we want to be and
Lord needs
plateau until weus to be, Weour
increase would
levellike to thank and
of sacrifice all offaith.
you Elders and Sisters for the wonderful job you are doing
and the example that you are. Keep up the good work!!!
Love,

Elder Miller and Elder Gilbert

Palm Size Norwegian Bible NOW IN STOCK BOM Language

With Black Leather Zipper Case Number 67
SUPER NICE!!! Just a little large than
the March 2010
As our success as a mission increases we get more of the attention of the Adversary. We have no need to
BOM Military Edition Pricey! But
fear if we have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion. As we make Nowa sacrifice to the Lord and prove to
Nice! To be purchased with personal
Him how serious we are, He will perform miracles.
What’s New from the Office
Love,

President Armand D Johansen and Sister Johansen

 Our Miracle Column
Miracles come in all degrees, shapes, sizes, locations, days and moments. Some seem
to be just a typical contacting moment. Other are clearly answers to our prayers.
Sometimes He places people in our paths that we cannot ignore. Our miracles, no
matter the size big or small testify to us that the Lord is watching Norway!
∞∞∞
One of the young women from the branch wanted to go contacting with us after our
sports activity on Saturday. We were very excited about it. The first person we talked to
was a young women who, though very quiet, said she would come to church so we could
get out of the rain and talk. We taught Lesson 0 and some other principles that she had
questions about, gave her a Book of Mormon with a reading assignment, invited her to
church,
D&C and askedgives
121:45-46 her touspray with us
an often – which she
forgotten key did! The next the
to receiving day Holy
she came
Ghost to church
as our
45 minutes early. Using the time wisely, we taught her another
constant companion, it states, “Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men…andlesson, where she
revealed
let that shethy
virtue garnish hadthoughts
prayed unceasingly…”
for help and understanding
So in additionjust a few completely
to being days ago. obedient
to the missionary handbook, we are to love∞∞∞ the Norwegian people and to let virtue fill our
On Friday
thoughts at all my companion
times. and I made
As we remember to doa goal
this, to get 46
verse 3 potential investigators
states, “The Holy Ghostwhile shall we
be
were
thy contacting.
constant We went out and found one potential, but struggled to find anyone else.
companion…”
Then we decided to say a prayer specifically to find two more potentials. We started
contacting again and about 10 minutes later found two more! It is great to know that the
Lord really answers our prayers. Once again my testimony of prayer was strengthened.
∞∞∞
It was a quiet, dark Monday evening. There were not many people out. We had just
left the church and were contacting our way towards the university. We went out of our
way to contact a man going in the opposite direction. We started talking a little about
prayer when he told us thatBhe didn’tReported
aptisms feel he could pray at9 this22point
in February YTDin as hisoflife.
2/28His life
in the past three years Baptism
was filled Confirmation
with imperfect choices. He felt that prayer now would
be merely
Name begging to God, Datebecause his
Datelife was soLocation
bad. We told him we wanted to share
Missionaries
a message
Nelson, with him about
Jesuraj 12 FebGod and12His Febplan of salvation
Bergen Missionfor him. AnWest/Johnson
Sisters appointment to
teachHeiblut
Moo, was set up and 13 weFeb
meet the next
14 Feb night. Oslo
We had Stakea very good lesson
Elders about Christ
Gutierrez/Knudson
and our relationship
Acheampong, Prince with
13 FebGod. He14liked
Feb the Oslo concept
Stakeof modern prophets
Elders and more
Carlson/Hill
scripture
Li, Yizu and agreed to 14 meet
Feb again.14As Feb I talked to him Mission
Stavanger it was apparent for me that the
Elders Severson/Jones
Lord has been
Bjørnsdottir, Svav preparing him. His experiences
20 Feb 21 Feb have helped
Arendal Missionhim Elders
see a need
Grover/forMathews
God and
Jesus Christ
Alemayohu, in his life.20 Feb
Orion 21 Feb Hamar ∞∞∞ Elders Smith/Facer
Benjamin,
We have Sandra 27 Feb
twice and 28 Febtimes he
Bergen
has Mission Sisters out
West/Johnson/
taught this man
March 2010
both said “if he found if the church
Berggren
and Book of Mormon were true, he would be baptized”. On our third lesson, he didn’t
Cardoso, Maria
come and we were a bit27worried
Feb and28 Feb Drammen
disappointed. We hadStake
plannedElders Dearden/Griffin
on committing him
Thapa, Raj 27 Feb 28 Feb Oslo Stake Sisters Wallace/Emery
to baptism on a specific date. We ran into him on the street. He was with a friend. We
set up an appointment for two days later and his friend said she would like to come as
well. They also had another friend who wanted to come. This was a powerful witness to
me that we receive blessings after the trial of our faith, but also that the Lord leads us, if