Wed 11/11 - traveling and visiting

Kristin sent mom and dad a package this past week and I wanted to know if they received it and how long it took. Caryn was able to send it via FedEx.

From Alison: Did you get Kristin's package? Just wondering how long it took to get there to you. We're enjoying Veterans day today with a little time off from school for Lea. We took a long bike/scooter/stroller walk around our neighborhood and played at the park, had a picnic and came home for naps. It was a pretty eventful morning. Lea worked on a project during nap time and we're now at the 4:30 limbo time - to early for dinner, etc. We're working on Lea's spelling list for the week.

Have a great day!
love ya, alison, lea, lucas, abbey and Jeff

Dad wrote:

We received the package on Monday this week-November 9.  It took only 3 days, because Caryn sent it FedEx (she gets a discount through her airport job). It was like having Christmas in November. We now have our family waterski picture to show to everyone. We took it to FHE on Monday night and everyone was impressed. 

People do the same around here (go for walks, etc) but they are all bundled up in coats, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. We see mothers pushing baby carriages around all the time, doesn't matter if it is cold, raining or whatever. The babies are all bundled up and all you see are rosy red cheeks and bright eyes.

We had a good day yesterday, mom made Stephanies's "carrot chowder" for institute dinner and I gave the lesson in institute (Mosiah 9-24). We had a good discussion, then a couple of the members hung around afterward (a YSA girl and a 62 year old man) and the 4 of us played "golf". It was the first time for them, so they found it interesting. We have fun here and I think we are doing some good.  The young girl (Nadia) was kind of reserved when we arrived a few months ago and did not often socialize with us or the others. Since we had our breakfast last month and mom did some mending of a couple of skirts for her, she has really come around. Last night she said, "I'm really glad that you were sent here."  That made us feel good.

Today we are going to visit some less active members in the towns of Steinkjaer and Levanger. It is about a 2 hour drive to Steinkjaer and about an hour to Levanger, so we are starting in Steinkjaer and will catch Levanger on the way home. There are some members there who come to church once a month, as that is about all they can afford. The less actives we have never met, so we are looking forward to the visits. 

Give our love to your family. We have missed seeing you all on Skype the last few weeks, hope to catch you this week. What time do you go to church?  It is now 7:30 a.m. here so I need to go get ready, we will start our drive at 8:30.

Love,

dad and mom

Wednesday - 11/11 another quick email and update on their travels: 

How was your drive and visiting to Steinkjaer and Levanger?
We go to church at 1 pm. So we can catch you on skype in our morning hours - just set a time and we'll get there. The kids have been getting up EARLY - around 6:30 every morning, so I'm not up then because Jeff is, but I'm up later when he's leaving.
Posted some pictures on our blog of Lea's first pulled tooth - she's very excited! Much love, alison

Our trip was very good. On Wednesday night, I received a text message from the woman we had planned to meet with at noon saying she was sick and would not be able to meet with us.  So we met at 11 with a member who is as active as she can be from 2 hours away, she comes to church about everyother week. She catches the train at 7:30, arriving in Trondheim at about 9:30--plenty early for the 11:00 start of church. She then catches the train back home at 3p.m. arriving home at 5.  We had a chance to get better acquainted with her. She has 4 children-3 sons and 1 daughter. Two of her sons served missions, one in Texas and one in Norway, and her daughter served in England. One of these boys and the daughter have married in the temple, the other son is still single. The youngest son (19) is attending school in Trondheim, but wants nothing to do with the church. Her husband is a good man, but has no interest in the church, so I would say that she has done a remarkable job with raising her children in the church by herself. 

After this visit, we went to a mall in Steinkjaer where we had a sandwich and called everyone else who lives there to see if we could get some visits--no luck. Most did not answer the phone and those who did said they were not available today, but said to call when we come again--so that was good.

We then drove to Levanger (about 1 hr) where we had an appointment with a lady at 4 p.m. We arrived early, so we found the address I had written down, went to town to see what Levanger looks like and then returned at 4. We rang the bell and a lady answered the door. Mom asked if she was Synnove and she said, "no", then turned around and hollered "Kamron, there are some people here to visit you."  A man soon appeared at the door and invited us in. As we sat and talked, I realized it was a member who I had called, but got no answer. He joined the church about 4 years ago in Munich Germany. He is from Iraq and lives in the house wiht his parents and siblings. He is 48 and has been in Norway for about a year. He is going to school in Levanger to learnNorwegian (there is a law in Norway that all immigrants must take 300 hours of Norwegian language study and pass a series of tests within the first 3 years they are in the country before they will be considered for citizenship.  We need a law like that in the US.  Realizing that we still had a 4 p.m. appointment we were late for, we did not stay long, read a little from the Book of Mormon and had prayer with him, exchanged email addresses and encouraged him to come to Trondheim to church as often as he can. 

Then we left and called our appointment to say that we were on the way, albeit a little late. She was very gracious when we arrived. She said, "you met my son yesterday". I could not recall who we met that might be her son, so I asked his name and she told me. I remembered the elders saying that they had met a less active young man yesterday by that name, so I told her that it was the young elders who had met him and they were encouraged by the conversation they had.  She was married to a man from Tanzania and lived there for 23 years.  They are now divorced and 4 of their 5 children live in Norway.  The fifth lives elsewhere, but I forgot. Only one of them was baptized in the church--that is the one the elders met. We had a good visit with her, shared some scriptures and encouraged her to come to church as often as she can. She said she works 6 days per week, so it is difficult. Also she has no car.  We got back on the road home around 6 p.m. and had a good drive (in the dark). Our trips go much faster when I am not able to stop and take photos. 

We enjoyed looking at your blog. We are surprised at how big all of your children are getting. Lea looks old with her tooth out. Did the tooth fairy pay off handsomely?  give our love to all.

love,

mom and dad