This week, like others here, has gone too fast. I ended up with a sore throat on Thursday night last week and by the time Monday rolled around, it had turned to a head cold, so we did not do a lot of visiting as most of the people we visit are older and we did not want to contaminate them.
On Monday evening we had a good Family Home Evening with the missionaries and young single adults. We talked about each of the modern day prophets since Joseph Smith and things we remembered about their lives and the things that occurred during their service as Prophet. It was fun to see the little detais that people remembered from the stories they had heard and things they had read. The executive secretary in the branch (Harald Myhren) is a 62 year old man, never married and his life is in the church. He is the director of the family history center in the basement of the building, counselor in the Elders Quorum presidency and branch executive secretary/branch clerk. He joins with us for our FHE as well as institute and whatever else we may be doing at the church. He joined the church in the early 70's and reads a lot. I am always amazed at the details he has. One of the missionaries, Elder Henshaw, has begun to encourage Harald to take a trip to America and attend general conference. He says, "I would like to go, but NOT alone. There are too many bad things that can happen to one who does not speak the language if he is by himself." He understands English well, but is hesitant to speak it. After the lesson, we played some table games for a while before everyone headed home.
We took the sisters shopping earlier in the day and enjoyed spending time with them.
On Tuesday we had our district meeting with the young misisonaries. Elder Henshaw is our district leader and the district includes those of us in Trondheim plus Elders Lyttle and Hill in Alesund (about a 7 hour drive south and west). The Elders in Alesund have a man who is preparing to be baptized next week end and there are 3 others here in Trondheim who are scheduled to be baptized in December. We are very excited to see the growth of the church here in Norway (although 2 of those scheduled in Trondheim are students from other countries). One from China and one from Nigeria. It is becoming clear that when the time comes that China is open for missionary work, there will already be a lot of chinese members because of the chinese students who are joining the church in other countries. We always buy pizzas for lunch after the district meetings.
We took the sisters (Engebretsen and Johnson) to the airport Tuesday afternoon so they could travel to Oslo for a "sisters conference". There are only 6 sister missionaries in the mission, to President and Sister Johansen decided it would be good to bring them together for a day and have some training specifically for them. They were excited to get together with the other sisters. 5 of the 6 entered the mission at the same time last April. Sister Engebretsen came about 6 months earlier, so they enjoy getting together. They were scheduled to have some social time and a testimony meeting on Tuesday evening, then some cooking (norwegian christmas goodies) lessons, language lessons and discussions on being effective missionaries. They are all very effective missionarie already.
On Wednesday Nancy prepared dinner for Institute class--chicken and dumplings--it was a new thing for the norwegians but a big hit. She is getting to try lots of recipes here and usually has to substitute a few things because she cannot find everything that is available in the states. Sister Paulsen (Eli-Christine) taught the institute lesson and we had a very good discussion. We are now reading in the first part of the Book of Alma in the Book of Mormon. The sisters returned home about the time we were finishing institute. Elder Caffrey (our zone leader) had been here for the day visiting with Elder Henshaw, so Elder Christensen went to Tromso to spend the day working with his companion (Elder Hunsaker). We picked Elder Christensen up at the airport at 1030 in the evening and took he and Elder Henshaw back to their apartment then were able to come home and go to bed. So much for missionaries being in by 930.
On Thursday afternoon, we visited with a less active couple, Jim and Becky Reardon, he is from Scotland and tshe is from Norway. they lived in Scotland for several years before moving to Norway. They have been members of the church since their youth, but became less active many years ago and are now trying to give up smoking and get back in the habit of coming to church. Later that afternoon, we joined the sisters in a meeting with one of the young chinese students they are teaching. His wife is still in China as she had some health issues that they wanted to deal with there. She is expected to return to Norway in mid-December. He has scheduled to be baptized the end of December and has been sharing what he has been learning with her by email, so hopefully she will be able to join the church soon after.
Friday we took some time to clean and do things we have not been able to do earlier in the week. Somehow with all else that goes on there does not seem to be time for the mundane things like washing clothes, ironing, vacuuming, etc. Norwegians use dynes (comforters) on their beds--not sheets and blankets. They use a bottom sheet and a cover on the dyne, so regularly they hand the dyne out to "air out". We have an area on the back deck with clothes lines, so I hang the dyne out there at least once a week and we wash the cover. It is always fresh smelling and cold when we bring it in. Norwegians do not normally use electric or gas clothes dryers, they use drying racks set up in the house, or hang clothes outside on lines (or fences if they don't have clothes lines). Since it rains here quite a bit, the indoor racks get used a lot. We have a clothes dryer which we routinely use. Clothes dryers are interesting, as they are not vented to the outside world as we do in the US. The dryer has a plastic container which (on ours) holds 4 liters (about 1 gallon) of water, as the clothes spin, the water is captured in the tank, which must be emptied after each load, as it does will up with water during the drying cycle. The first time we used the washer here, they had turned the water off at the tap, so I opened the tap, then looked for the other tap--there is only one. The washer is connected only to the cold water source and has an internal heater to bring the water to whatever temperature the wash cycle is set for. Interesting things you learn along the way.
On Saturday we enjoyed some sports with the missionaries, young single adults and some investigators. We played "bump" (or "speed" or any of several other names we have found it is called in various parts of the US), then divided into 3 3-man (and a couple of women) teams and played basketball for a while. After that some played ping-pong while I tried to get my legs back. We provide snacks (usually fruit and cookies or cake) after the sports days. The young people enjoy getting together for these activities and of course, the food afterward. Elder Henshaw went to Alesund on Friday to intervies the man scheduled for baptism next week, so Elder Hill came from Alesund to be with Elder Christensen for the weekend. Elder Hill was in the MTC group with Elder Christensen and they were both there when we were, so we enjoyed getting to see Elder Hill again. There were 8 missionaries in the MTC heading to Norway when we were there--they had been there for 2 months learing norsk. We should have traveled with them to Norway, but our visas were delayed so we traveled 3 days after them, arriving in Norway on Friday instead of Tuesday. Trondheim is larger than Alesund, so Elder Hill was enjoying being here with more members, missionaries and people.
On Saturday evening we scheduled to visit a couple in the branch who live not far from us (this is a switch, as we usually travel long distances). He (Brother Orndal) has heart problems and is on oxygen all the time. He had been in the hospital earlier in the week, but because of my cold, we did not go visit. We had a very enjoyable visit with them. They have been members for most of their married life (50 years)--although it took him about 13 years after her to decide to get baptized. They served for 2 years in the Stockholm temple before his health got bad and they had to return home a few years ago.
After our visit with the Orndals, we decided to visit a lady who lives in the next stariwell of the apt building.She (Anny) joined the church about a year and a half ago, then a couple of months ago decided she was not happy and said she was going to have her name removed from the church records. We rang her bell at about 9p.m. and she let us in. When we sat down and started talking, she said, "I miss the church and the people". So I said, "then come back". She was concerned about what people would say and we assured her that everyone would say, "its good to see you, Anny". She agreed to come to church on Sunday. Later that night I received a text message from her thanking us for the visit. On Sunday morning I got a message saying she was concerned about how people might react, so could she sit with us? We assured her that she could sit with us and that she would be welcomed back by all. She did come to church and was extremely happy to be there, and everyone did welcome her. Last night I sent her a text message saying how good it was to have her in church. She responded saying that it felt so good to be in church again, she really felt happy and comfortable. Later (when I was about asleep) I got another text saying she had just been reading some scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants and how good they made her feel.--Good night.
On Sunday we began with our missionary coordiation meeting, then the other regular sunday meetings. I had been asked to speak in Sacrament meeting today and Nancy was asked (just before meeting) if she would say the opening prayer. She was not sure she could get it all done in norwegian, so she said the prayer in English. I was to speak on Service--as a senior missionary couple. That was a good topic which did not take a lot of preparation. I used a quote from Elder Nelson's talk in general conference in Octobe 2004 where he talked about senior missionary couples and said, "they even tolerate comments from children who change President Kimballs request to 'lenghten your stride' to 'shuffle faster'. As I sat on the stand, I looked at the people in the congregation and thought, 3 months ago we did not know any of these people, now we love them all and they have become an important part of our lives. I looked at the 7 investigators who were there and thought of the times we have met them and heard them say what a blessing it has been to have the missionaries teach them the gospel and how it is changing their lives. This is what this work is all about and we are truly enjoying it. Sister Engebretsen also talked about being a full time missionary and brother Carlsen, an older member in the branch talked about service in the temple. The young missionaries (including Elder Hill) sang a song and did a wonderful job. It was easy to feel the Spirit through their music.
We are making plans for a large thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, I think the number is about 23 and counting. We have decided we will need to have dinner at the church, as we have outgrown our apt. The turkey, I discovered is too big to fit in the oven, so the butcher shop will cook it for us and I will pick it up at noon on Thursday. Turkey is a little over $2.00 per pound, so we are looking at about $60 for the turkey. I have not yet asked what it will cost to cook it, since I knew I needed it. I am about ready to order a second one, as I am worried that there may not be enough.
We send our love to all of you..
Gerald and Nancy/Mom and Dad/Elder and Sister Sorensen
