We love this country and the wonderful people here.
love,
Mom and dad/Gerald and Nancy/grandma and grandpa
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tis the seasons
I thought you might enjoy the following 3 pictures taken from our back deck, showing three seasons in Norway--I am anxious to get one in the spring!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Been to Hell lately?
Yesterday I received a call from the Senior Elder who, with his wife, is serving in the mission office. He said, "Elder Sorensen, have you been to Hell lately?" I said, "yes, in fact in the past few weeks I have been there several times'. (Hell is the town nearest the Trondheim airport). He said, "do you remember getting your picture taken in the tunnel on the way?" "No, I don't" "Well, you did and the letter I received today says you were caught doing 91 in an 80 km/hr zone." He told me "you are probably the only High Priest in the church who got a ticket for speeding on your way to Hell." Norway does not have highway patrol, just periodic cameras along the highway. But they are kind enough to place a picture of a camera on a sign post a few hundred yards before the camera, so you have a chance to slow down. Apparently, I missed that one at 5:30 in the morning. Earlier this week, a parking ticket cost me 300 Kr. (~$50) so I can hardly wait to see what this one will be.
Hope your day is going better than mine. On the other side, we did have a nice visit tonight with a less active man and his non-member wife and 10 year old daughter.
Love,
mom and dad/Gerald and Nancy/Grandma and Grandpa/Nana and Granddad
From Ryan: Why in Hell were you going so fast?!
Merry Christmas!
We had a great Christmas and now we have a beautiful christmas picture of your kids to put on our wallpaper on the computer, so it just got better. We got home from Mo I Rana at about 8 this morning--caught the train at 12:15 a.m. The train was completely full, and it was hard to sleep as good as we do in bed, so we took a shower and went to bed after we got home. It is now noon here and I feel much better. Mom is still enjoying the bed. We look forward to receiving your letter and picture. You can email to us and that works as well--although mom likes to get letters in the mail box.
On Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 9:28 PM, Alison Risenmay <sorenmay@yahoo.com> wrote:
love,
dadOn Sun, Dec 27, 2009 at 9:28 PM, Alison Risenmay <sorenmay@yahoo.com> wrote:
We do have a Christmas letter and picture, but haven't made it to the post office to mail them nor are they printed off - this will have to do for now. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
Love, Alison, Jeff, Lea, Lucas and Abbey
Love, Alison, Jeff, Lea, Lucas and Abbey
Monday, December 28, 2009
Week of Dec 21-27, 2009
WEEK OF DEC 21-27
TRONDHEIM NORWAY
Here it is after Christmas already, where has the fall and winter gone? Before you know it, we will be seeing sunrises early and sunsets late. Right now, we are just happy to see the sun.
We continued to do things related to getting the Elders established in their new apartment, like buying and installing a washing machine.
On Monday we had a good family home evening discussion on service we could recall having participated in which had an impact on us and on others. This was a follow up to a lesson last week in which Nadia challenged all of the young single adults to do at least one item of service each day between that day and Christmas for at least one person. We talked Monday night about some of the things they had done and then talked about service memories.
On Tuesday evening, we thought we were settled in for the evening when Sister Engebretsen called and said she had been talking with Shine and he had been thinking about all that his friend had said and had been looking at a lot of anti-LDS sites on the web and wondered if he had really made the right choice. She said he would like to talk with us, so I called and made arrangements to pick him up and bring him and the sisters to our apt so we could talk in a bit more comfortable setting than his dorm room. We had a good discussion and I gave him a blessing before I took them home. He was feeling better, but still questioning. I told him that most people whom I had seen fall away from the church did so because they forgot to do what brought them a testimony in the first place—read the Book of Mormon, pray and attend church. He agreed to go home and read and pray that night.
On Monday we had bought a washing machine for the elders apt and it was to be delivered between 4 and 9 p.m. on Tuesday, so they stayed home and did their weekly planning that evening, but the delivery did not happen. I went to the store first thing Wednesday morning and talked with a sales clerk and he talked with someone else, apologized and said they would deliver between noon and 1 p.m. today. I gave him my phone number and said to have the driver call when he gets to the apt and I would meet him there. He did and the machine got delivered. I hooked it up and turned it on to check it out only to find that water started coming out from underneath. Fortunately, the washer is in the bath/shower room and the shower area is just a corner of the floor where the floor slopes to a drain. I used a squeegee to push the water to the drain, tipped the washer up so I could look underneath and found a hose that had not been connected. Once I got that connected, it at least did not put water on the floor. A wash cycle here takes about 2 hours so I told the elders that they need to turn it on some morning and let it run through a cycle to make sure it works properly.
Wednesday evening the sisters and Shine had been invited to the home of a couple in the branch for dinner. Shine was not sure he wanted to go, because he thought they had only invited him because the sisters had asked them to do so. I called and talked with him and encouraged him to go with them, told him that this is a couple who would invite him to dinner just because he is a new member. The man (George Jorgensen) is from Australia and works on a ship which goes out for a month at a time, then is home for a month. He has spent some time in Africa and I thought Shine would enjoy visiting with him. He did end up going and got a lot of his questions answered as he talked with George, who is also a convert to the church. Sister Engebrestsen was so excited when she called after they got home on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, sister Molholt used the computer to Skype with her family in Denmark (Denmark, like Norway does most of their celebrating on Christmas eve day). We got her set up and she was excited to visit with her family, as one of her brothers had just returned from a mission to London the day before.
Thursday evening, we along with the elders and Shine had been invited to dinner with Kjell and Margareth Paulsen and their son, Erik and his wife Eli-Christine and their 7-month old daughter, Eli-Johanna. Margareth called on Wednesday evening and asked if Nancy could come and prepare the turkey she planned to bake for Christmas eve dinner. She was not sure how to make stuffing or prepare the bird. We went over around 10 on Thursday morning and stuffed the turkey and got it in the oven, then went to the church to get Sister Molholt set up to talk with her family. When we arrived at dinner time (5 p.m) Thursday, she said the turkey was not yet ready. I went in and checked it and it was not yet done (the little thermometer had not popped out). I put it back in the oven and we all visited for a while. Eric and Eli-Christine were busy preparing ribs (typical Norwegian fare for Christmas). After about 10 minutes I came back in the kitchen and told Eric that if he was ready to put the ribs in the oven, I could take the turkey out and carve some meat off the breast and if needed we could cook the remainder after the ribs were finished. When I took the turkey out and uncovered it, the indicator had popped out, so all worked out well. I carved the turkey while the ribs cooked and we had a very delicious meal.
After dinner, Eric said he had been asked to play Santa to a neighbor family who have 2 young boys (4 and 2) and he asked if any of us wanted to play Santa’s helpers? Most of us went along—his wife, Elders Henshaw and Richardson, Shine and I. The family was quite surprised to see 6 “yule nissens” come through the front door. The 2 boys were very excited!!
After the gifts were delivered, we returned to Kjells home and had dessert, then Kjell put on his jule nissen outfit and brought in a bag of presents for all who were there. The baby got the most presents, but all she wanted to do was eat the ribbons.
We then played some games, ate more dessert and finally went home. The sisters had planned to spend the night at our apt and they had gone to dinner with another family in the branch. When I called as we were taking the elders home to let them know we were on our way, Sister Engebretsen said Sister Molholt was already asleep, so we went home alone.
On Christmas morning, I picked up the elders, sisters and we all had breakfast at our apartment, then they opened presents. We went to the church at 1 p.m. as we had invited all the young adults and several of the missionaries investigators to come there where we could eat and play games for those who did not have anywhere else to be on Christmas day. Since the buses were not running, I ended up playing taxi driver, but we ended up with a good group of investigators there and they all had a good time. After eating, we watched “the Testaments”. One of the elders investigators told them afterward that he really liked that video and said, “don’t tell anyone, but I cried during it”. When I took him home that evening, he asked, “how long does it take before someone can be baptized?” We talked about what is needed to be baptized and he was very interested. The elders will be meeting with him again and he was planning to come to church on Sunday.
Elder Richardson talked with his family by phone and Elder Henshaw and Sister Engebretsen used my computer to Skype with their families.
We got home around 9:30 then had to pack to be ready to travel to Mo I Rana on Saturday morning at 7:40.
The trip to Mo was very relaxing and since it was dark most of the time, I did not take many pictures along the way. Nancy always says “don’t get off the train”. But when I see something worth taking a picture of while we are stopped in a town, it is just too tempting.
We attended Church in Mo on Sunday. Nancy played the piano and gave a talk, I blessed the sacrament and gave a talk. There were only 5 people there other than the branch president and the two of us—a father and mother and 3 young children. After church, we were invited to the family’s home. Bengt and Bonnie Andreasen just moved into a new home in mid November. It is in a beautiful setting, with large windows looking out on the Ranafjord. He still has some things to finish, but it is livable and very beautiful.
All of the return trains to Trondheim were sold out when we made our reservation, except the midnight train, which leaves here at 12:15 a.m., so we are “relaxing” in the hotel lobby from about 5:30 to 11:30. It is now only 8, so we have a ways to go.
We are touched by the faithfulness of the members of the church here in Mo, the branch president, Jan-Erik Granaas, is a single man about 60, never married, and he takes good care of his “little flock”. Most of them are older women, so he calls regularly during the week to check on them, picks them up and takes them home on Sundays and is a true shepherd for them. The members have mostly been coming for years without family. One member, Sister Aasheim lost her husband about 10 years ago. She told us that a year of two ago, she was bringing in a basket full of wood for the stove one afternoon, when she started to lose her balance on the stairs and fall backwards, she knew if she fell, she would sure bang her head on the concrete and be killed. She said she felt like someone put two hands on the back of her shoulders and pushed her forward. She said “there was no one there, but I said ‘takk’ just the same”. When she later related this story to her daughter, the daughter said, “it was probably papa, he did not want you yet.”
What a great blessing it is to be serving the Lord as a missionary during the Christmas season and help people understand the real reason for this wonderful time of year. We send our blessings and wishes for a very good new year to all of you and your families.
Love,
Gerald and Nancy/mom and dad/grandma and grandpa/Elder and Sister Sorensen
TRONDHEIM NORWAY
Here it is after Christmas already, where has the fall and winter gone? Before you know it, we will be seeing sunrises early and sunsets late. Right now, we are just happy to see the sun.
We continued to do things related to getting the Elders established in their new apartment, like buying and installing a washing machine.
On Monday we had a good family home evening discussion on service we could recall having participated in which had an impact on us and on others. This was a follow up to a lesson last week in which Nadia challenged all of the young single adults to do at least one item of service each day between that day and Christmas for at least one person. We talked Monday night about some of the things they had done and then talked about service memories.
On Tuesday evening, we thought we were settled in for the evening when Sister Engebretsen called and said she had been talking with Shine and he had been thinking about all that his friend had said and had been looking at a lot of anti-LDS sites on the web and wondered if he had really made the right choice. She said he would like to talk with us, so I called and made arrangements to pick him up and bring him and the sisters to our apt so we could talk in a bit more comfortable setting than his dorm room. We had a good discussion and I gave him a blessing before I took them home. He was feeling better, but still questioning. I told him that most people whom I had seen fall away from the church did so because they forgot to do what brought them a testimony in the first place—read the Book of Mormon, pray and attend church. He agreed to go home and read and pray that night.
On Monday we had bought a washing machine for the elders apt and it was to be delivered between 4 and 9 p.m. on Tuesday, so they stayed home and did their weekly planning that evening, but the delivery did not happen. I went to the store first thing Wednesday morning and talked with a sales clerk and he talked with someone else, apologized and said they would deliver between noon and 1 p.m. today. I gave him my phone number and said to have the driver call when he gets to the apt and I would meet him there. He did and the machine got delivered. I hooked it up and turned it on to check it out only to find that water started coming out from underneath. Fortunately, the washer is in the bath/shower room and the shower area is just a corner of the floor where the floor slopes to a drain. I used a squeegee to push the water to the drain, tipped the washer up so I could look underneath and found a hose that had not been connected. Once I got that connected, it at least did not put water on the floor. A wash cycle here takes about 2 hours so I told the elders that they need to turn it on some morning and let it run through a cycle to make sure it works properly.
Wednesday evening the sisters and Shine had been invited to the home of a couple in the branch for dinner. Shine was not sure he wanted to go, because he thought they had only invited him because the sisters had asked them to do so. I called and talked with him and encouraged him to go with them, told him that this is a couple who would invite him to dinner just because he is a new member. The man (George Jorgensen) is from Australia and works on a ship which goes out for a month at a time, then is home for a month. He has spent some time in Africa and I thought Shine would enjoy visiting with him. He did end up going and got a lot of his questions answered as he talked with George, who is also a convert to the church. Sister Engebrestsen was so excited when she called after they got home on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, sister Molholt used the computer to Skype with her family in Denmark (Denmark, like Norway does most of their celebrating on Christmas eve day). We got her set up and she was excited to visit with her family, as one of her brothers had just returned from a mission to London the day before.
Thursday evening, we along with the elders and Shine had been invited to dinner with Kjell and Margareth Paulsen and their son, Erik and his wife Eli-Christine and their 7-month old daughter, Eli-Johanna. Margareth called on Wednesday evening and asked if Nancy could come and prepare the turkey she planned to bake for Christmas eve dinner. She was not sure how to make stuffing or prepare the bird. We went over around 10 on Thursday morning and stuffed the turkey and got it in the oven, then went to the church to get Sister Molholt set up to talk with her family. When we arrived at dinner time (5 p.m) Thursday, she said the turkey was not yet ready. I went in and checked it and it was not yet done (the little thermometer had not popped out). I put it back in the oven and we all visited for a while. Eric and Eli-Christine were busy preparing ribs (typical Norwegian fare for Christmas). After about 10 minutes I came back in the kitchen and told Eric that if he was ready to put the ribs in the oven, I could take the turkey out and carve some meat off the breast and if needed we could cook the remainder after the ribs were finished. When I took the turkey out and uncovered it, the indicator had popped out, so all worked out well. I carved the turkey while the ribs cooked and we had a very delicious meal.
After dinner, Eric said he had been asked to play Santa to a neighbor family who have 2 young boys (4 and 2) and he asked if any of us wanted to play Santa’s helpers? Most of us went along—his wife, Elders Henshaw and Richardson, Shine and I. The family was quite surprised to see 6 “yule nissens” come through the front door. The 2 boys were very excited!!
After the gifts were delivered, we returned to Kjells home and had dessert, then Kjell put on his jule nissen outfit and brought in a bag of presents for all who were there. The baby got the most presents, but all she wanted to do was eat the ribbons.
We then played some games, ate more dessert and finally went home. The sisters had planned to spend the night at our apt and they had gone to dinner with another family in the branch. When I called as we were taking the elders home to let them know we were on our way, Sister Engebretsen said Sister Molholt was already asleep, so we went home alone.
On Christmas morning, I picked up the elders, sisters and we all had breakfast at our apartment, then they opened presents. We went to the church at 1 p.m. as we had invited all the young adults and several of the missionaries investigators to come there where we could eat and play games for those who did not have anywhere else to be on Christmas day. Since the buses were not running, I ended up playing taxi driver, but we ended up with a good group of investigators there and they all had a good time. After eating, we watched “the Testaments”. One of the elders investigators told them afterward that he really liked that video and said, “don’t tell anyone, but I cried during it”. When I took him home that evening, he asked, “how long does it take before someone can be baptized?” We talked about what is needed to be baptized and he was very interested. The elders will be meeting with him again and he was planning to come to church on Sunday.
Elder Richardson talked with his family by phone and Elder Henshaw and Sister Engebretsen used my computer to Skype with their families.
We got home around 9:30 then had to pack to be ready to travel to Mo I Rana on Saturday morning at 7:40.
The trip to Mo was very relaxing and since it was dark most of the time, I did not take many pictures along the way. Nancy always says “don’t get off the train”. But when I see something worth taking a picture of while we are stopped in a town, it is just too tempting.
We attended Church in Mo on Sunday. Nancy played the piano and gave a talk, I blessed the sacrament and gave a talk. There were only 5 people there other than the branch president and the two of us—a father and mother and 3 young children. After church, we were invited to the family’s home. Bengt and Bonnie Andreasen just moved into a new home in mid November. It is in a beautiful setting, with large windows looking out on the Ranafjord. He still has some things to finish, but it is livable and very beautiful.
All of the return trains to Trondheim were sold out when we made our reservation, except the midnight train, which leaves here at 12:15 a.m., so we are “relaxing” in the hotel lobby from about 5:30 to 11:30. It is now only 8, so we have a ways to go.
We are touched by the faithfulness of the members of the church here in Mo, the branch president, Jan-Erik Granaas, is a single man about 60, never married, and he takes good care of his “little flock”. Most of them are older women, so he calls regularly during the week to check on them, picks them up and takes them home on Sundays and is a true shepherd for them. The members have mostly been coming for years without family. One member, Sister Aasheim lost her husband about 10 years ago. She told us that a year of two ago, she was bringing in a basket full of wood for the stove one afternoon, when she started to lose her balance on the stairs and fall backwards, she knew if she fell, she would sure bang her head on the concrete and be killed. She said she felt like someone put two hands on the back of her shoulders and pushed her forward. She said “there was no one there, but I said ‘takk’ just the same”. When she later related this story to her daughter, the daughter said, “it was probably papa, he did not want you yet.”
What a great blessing it is to be serving the Lord as a missionary during the Christmas season and help people understand the real reason for this wonderful time of year. We send our blessings and wishes for a very good new year to all of you and your families.
Love,
Gerald and Nancy/mom and dad/grandma and grandpa/Elder and Sister Sorensen
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Trip to Mo I Rana
Thought you would like to see what it is like way north. Here is a photo of mom in downtown Mo I Rana at 4:30 in the afternoon. Also a self photo of the two of us in a restaurant (Rana's) in Mo.
Love,
dad
Friday, December 25, 2009
Christmas in Norway
We have had a great Christmas Eve with the Paulsen's (Kjell and Margareth) and their son, Erik and his wife Eli-Christine and their 7 month old daughter, Eli-Johanna (Eric is the Branch President here). Here are some photos of christmas in Norway.
Hope you all have a Merry Christmas. We love you and miss being with you today.
love,
Mom and dad/grandma and grandpa/Elder and Sister Sorensen
Which one is Gerald?!
Happy Santas
Snow covered streets of Trondheim
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Rise and Shout, the Cougars are out!!!!
(Alison) Ever since I was younger, I can remember watching BYU football during the holidays, (sometimes spring practice and various other times) - usually at the Cartwright's since they had cable and access to the games. This year was no different, except it was at our house and our "family" consisted of our loyal BYU fan friends. BYU played in the Las Vegas Maaco Bowl on Dec 22, 2009 - they've played in this bowl for the last 5 years......This time we (BYU) played OSU (Oregon State Beavers from Corvallis, OR).....our Twin Lakes family. Their family is split among loyalties to Cougars or Beavers. It was a great game!! Mom and Dad asked me to send them an email when the game was over as it would be 6 am in Norway when the game finished.
The report:
BYU wins 44-20. They were down 7-0 to begin, but came back to put up 37 un-answered points. Great game for BYU! :) It was super windy there and the kickers had a horrible time punting, kicking field goals, etc. There were a couple of 6 yard punts.....by both teams.
Fun to watch and very few OSU fans - looked like mostly BYU fans, but it was hard to tell, everyone was so bundled up.
Love ya, alison
Dad's response:
WHAHOO!!! Sounds like a successful party at your house. Rub it in at TL this summer!! Love, Dad
(haha I love it!)
photo courtesy of CBSsportsline.com
The report:
BYU wins 44-20. They were down 7-0 to begin, but came back to put up 37 un-answered points. Great game for BYU! :) It was super windy there and the kickers had a horrible time punting, kicking field goals, etc. There were a couple of 6 yard punts.....by both teams.
Fun to watch and very few OSU fans - looked like mostly BYU fans, but it was hard to tell, everyone was so bundled up.
Love ya, alison
Dad's response:
WHAHOO!!! Sounds like a successful party at your house. Rub it in at TL this summer!! Love, Dad
photo courtesy of CBSsportsline.com
Max Hall - has the most wins of any BYU QB - impressive because he follows a huge QB legacy.
week of Dec 14-20, 2009
We pray that all of you are enjoying this Christmas season. It looks a lot like Christmas here, with snow on the ground and icicles hanging from places where small waterfalls used to be. This has been another delightful week in Norway and we are enjoying our experiences and the people here.
May God bless each of you and your families at this special time of year when we pause to reflect upon the birth of Our Savior.
love,
Gerald and Nancy/mom and dad/grandma and grandpa/Elder and Sister Sorensen
This has been a week of moving. We have made more trips to the airport (Hell) this week than should be allowed.
As we mentioned last week, Sister Johnson and Elder Christensen found out on Sunday that they would be moving on Wednesday—Elder Christensen to Bodø (way north) and Sister Johnson to Oslo. We received two new missionaries on Wednesday, Elder Richardson from Eagle, Idaho and Sister Mølholt from Denmark. Elder Richardson has been out for about a year and Sister Mølholt is brand new, but obviously speaks the language well. More on them later.
The sisters (Engebretsen and Johnson) had told us a few weeks ago that if Sister Johnson was going to be moved, they were going to run up to our apt on Monday morning for breakfast. So they showed up at about 10 a.m. and we enjoyed a good breakfast of scrambled, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast, fruit, juices and milk. It was our “farewell” breakfast with Sister Johnson. After we finished breakfast and it was time for them to go back to their apt to get ready for the day (we did drive them back), they both asked if I would give them a priesthood blessing. Which I was happy to do. We have felt like surrogate grandparents for them. In the evening we had a good group—10—at family home evening and Nadia, one of the Young Single Adults, gave a good lesson on service and challenged all of us to do at least one good thing for someone else every day between then and Christmas. The sisters were teaching an investigator, so they were not with us until later. Everyone stayed around for quite a while afterward playing games and visiting. Just before FHE we met with the owner of the new apartment the Elders will be moving into to pick up keys. The apt was going to be rented unfurnished, but he ended up leaving a fair amount of furniture—an almost new couch (which his girlfriend said does not match the new house), a small table and 2 chairs, coffee table, toaster oven and a small book case. That will make the move easier, as the only big things we will need to provide are bunkbeds and a washing machine. The apt is on the 5th floor of the building, near the center of town and has large windows along one wall, which look down into the small boat harbor and beyond to the fjord. It is a stunning view! I was smitten when we first looked at it a couple of months ago and was able to convince the owner that renting to the church would be the best thing he could do, as his renter would never call and say “my check did not come this week, can I pay a little late?” Every month the mission office will make a deposit to his account on the first. Now will come the fun of moving.
On Tuesday, we began moving the elders. Our ward mission leader has a full size Jeep, so I asked if he could help us get bunk beds from IKEA (the place where every body shops), so we went to IKEA and bought bunk beds. They came in a two box set and it was not clear from the description if each box had the contents for one bed or two, so he asked one of the workers and she said we needed two of each box (one large, one smaller), so be bought the 4 boxes, then the big ones did not fit in the car, so we tied them to his roof rack and transported them to the apt. Elders Henshaw and Christensen were there to help with the unloading (fortunately) and it was then that we discovered the elevator was out of service, so they packed all four boxes up five flights of stairs and stacked them outside the door. I opened one of the smaller boxes first and found 4 sections of springs for the beds—enough to do 2 beds, so decided we probably only needed one set of boxes. Elder Christensen and I set up the beds while Nancy and Elder Henshaw went back to their apt to load up suitcases. IKEA did not have mattresses for the beds, so we brought the mattresses from their old apt so they did not have to sleep on springs. We finally got them situated so they could spend the night there—Elder Christensens first and last. While Nancy and Elder Henshaw were picking up some of the last things from the old apt, Elder Christensen and I walked to the nearest store and bought some food for dinner—lapskaus (the Norwegian equivalent of beef stew) and a couple of cans of peaches. We took these to the church and had dinner there.
On Wednesday it was move day. Elder Christensen had to be to the airport by 6 a.m. for a 7 a.m flight to Bodø, so we were up at 4:15 to get them to the airport. We left the two of them at the airport and returned to pick up the sisters and get Sister Johnson to her 8:30 a.m. flight. After dropping her off and saying our goodbyes, we brought Elder Henshaw and Sister Engebretsen back here and fed them breakfast as we waited for the time when Sister Mølholt would arrive at the airport. We met their flights at around 10 a.m. and we transported their luggage while the 4 of them took the bus back to town, where we met them and got the luggage distributed to their apartments. The elevator in the Elders building still did not work, so they got to carry everything up 5 flights. After getting their things dropped in the apartments, both companionships went off to contact people in town and to appointments. There was no delay in getting the new ones started working.
We had a good lesson in Institute on Wednesday night, taught by Eli-Christine and there was a good group of YSA present, including Shina and Xin who were baptized the past two Saturdays and a young man from Iran whom the elders have been teaching. This was our last institute class until the New Year. Nancy prepared chicken noodle soup for dinner and it was a big hit again and banana bread muffins for dessert.
Thursday morning, Elder Henshaw had to fly to Alesund to do a baptismal interview with a young woman there who is being baptized next Monday, so we were up early to drop him at the airport and pick up Elder Gardner (the companion from Alesund) who will work with Elder Richardson for the day. We brought them back and fed them breakfast before taking them to the Elders apartment. Elder Henshaw will return on Friday morning and Elder Gardner will return to Alesund.
Thursday was Sister Mølholts birthday (22) so I had asked Sister Engebretsen on Wednesday evening if they wanted to go out to lunch to celebrate and if so where. She did not know what sister Mølholt liked, so while we were chatting at institute, I asked her what her favorite food was. The answer: “Crispy chicken sandwich from Burger King” There are two BKs in town, so that will be easy to do. Sister Engebretsen wanted to surprise her, so she suggested that we drive by the street where they used to live at about noon on Thursday and they would be contacting people there. We saw them on the street Thursday at noon, asked if they wanted a ride somewhere and Sis Engebretsen said, “yes, we need to go to the church”. As we were driving down one of the main streets, I saw the BK and asked if they had eaten lunch yet and they replied no, so I said, “here is a BK, how about we stop here?” Sister Mølholt said, “oh that’s my favorite place to eat!” The 3 of them went in while I found a parking place and then I joined them. After ordering, Sis Engebretsen got 4 BK crowns and we took pictures of sister Mølholts first birthday party in Norway. Later in the evening, I emailed the pictures to her parents. Sister Mølholt was an amateur boxer for 12 years before giving it up to come on a mission. She was not just a boxer, but a world champion for 3 years and Danish National champion for several others. She hopes to compete for Denmark in the 2012 Olympics. Here is a Youtube video of her in action. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ7H7hJsDBc She is small, but as you can see packs a large whallop. She fought at 46kg (~101 lb). She is as good a missionary as she was a boxer.
We then went shopping for a number of other things the Elders need to live—like pots and pans, dishtowels, lamps, etc. and then met them at their apt so they could pack it all up. Fortunately, the elevator was now working.
In the evening we went to visit a less active family with the sisters where we met with the mother (Iris) and their 5 children plus a neighbor girl. We showed a short video on Christ and the children were all very attentive during this time. Nancy made a pan full of Rice Krispie treats which Iris and the children had loved when she gave them a few last week and they were delighted to have a full pan of them. We had prayer and then went go drop off a figure from a nativity to a family (the sisters have been doing the “12 days of Christmas” with a nativity set, leaving a piece of the nativity and a small note each night on the door step. This will conclude on Christmas eve with the last piece, the baby Jesus). After we dropped them at the home of a young Chinese man they are teaching and we went home.
On Friday we were at the airport at 8 to send Elder Gardner back to Alesund and pick up Elder Henshaw. He arrived about 45 minutes after Elder Gardner left, so we waited at the airport. Nancy stayed home from this trip to bake banana bread to take to some of the people we visit.
Catharina Bjørnevåg (the owner of the hungry rabbit) told us when we visited last week that she was going to be doing a presentation on Friday of some of her sculptures at her art school in Trondheim, so we told her we would attend. It took a while to find the building—I met a lot of nice people as I was trying to find it. When we arrived, she was doing her presentation, so we stood outside the room (it was small and already full) and listened at the open door as she discussed her project and answered questions from colleagues. After the presentation we spent some time visiting with her and looking at her work. She is talented (for all we know about art). Her desire is to move to NYC and pursue her sculpting dream.
After the presentation, we drove out to Kattem (about 15 minutes) to visit with the Reardons and take them some banana bread. We were on the other side of town from where we would normally drive out there, so decided to see if our “Tom-Tom” (GPS) could find a better route than the way I would have gone. We saw some interesting scenery along the way (or at least would have had it not been dark and snowing). We traveled roads I would have enjoyed in the summer, but wondered about in a snow storm. We finally reached a point where we recognized the surroundings, but it was an interesting journey. We will have to try it again in the summer if we can remember where we were.
Saturday was the baptism of Trond Soligard, a 45 year old Norwegian man who has studied the gospel with missionaries for several years, but never felt the need to give up smoking and commit to join the church. The sister missionaries have been teaching him since we arrived in August and they finally got him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Voila!! He decided to give up smoking and committed to be baptized. Nancy played the piano for the singing and I gave the closing prayer. It was a very spiritual meeting and his wife and daughter were there to catch the spirit of it all.
On Friday evening, Sister Engebretsen said she had talked with Shina, the young man from Nigeria who was baptized two weeks ago, and his best friend from Nigeria (who is now going to school in Stavenger, Norway) came to visit him for a few days and had been really giving him a hard time after hearing that he had joined the church. She wanted to know if I would go and meet with them (Shina and his friend) to try to answer some of his questions. I called Shina, that evening but did not get an answer and did not leave a message. Saturday morning, I was thinking about him and decided to send a text message (I am getting pretty good with those). I got about 2 words written when the phone rang and it was Shina. We talked for a bit and he asked if we could come at 1 p.m. to meet with his friend. He then sent a text to the sisters and asked if they could come also. We picked up the sisters and went to his apartment where we sat and discussed things for about 2 hours. His friend was, in his words, “dogmatic about there cannot be any other book like the Bible”. So no matter what we said, he came back to this point. I told him that that is where he and Shina were different, Shina had listened to what the sisters had taught him about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and had prayed to find out if it was true and the Holy Ghost had testified to him that it was true. Being “dogmatic” would not allow him to even consider asking God if it was true. He had told Shina that if they could not agree on something so fundamental as religion, then he did not know how they could continue their friendship. This hurt Shina deeply, so I tried to explain to him that friendship should not be dependent on agreement on religion or anything else. I used examples of friends I have who are not of our faith, but are still good friends. He did not see how that could be possible for him. We parted on friendly terms, but there had been no movement on his part.
On Sunday morning, Shina called to say that he invited his friend to come to church with him today, but he refused, saying he could not come to a church that believes there could be a book of scripture in addition to the Bible. He was not sure what to do. He was to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be ordained a Priest today, but he did not want to just leave his friend in the apartment. I told him that I would just say, “this is something very important to me and I would like to have you be there to support me, but if you choose not to, I do need to go.” I told him this may be hard and if he wanted, we could come and pick him up. He said he would come on the bus. Just before the start of priesthood (our first meeting), he sent a text and said he needed to reconsider my offer, as he had been talking with his friend and missed the bus. I replied that I would be there in a few minutes and went to pick him up. He came alone and had a good feeling during the meetings. After Sacrament meeting, I conferred the priesthood on him and ordained him a Priest. We had talked about the priesthood offices on the trip back to church and he was anxious to receive the priesthood.
There were 6 investigators at church Sunday. Most of them speak some language other than Norwegian as their mother tongue and very little Norwegian, so all the missionaries translate the meetings—except Nancy, but she played the piano in Relief Society and Sacrament meeting and taught a gospel doctrine class in English, so her talents are well used.
On Saturday afternoon, Jeffrey Stevens had called and told me his wife, Trina, was in the hospital in Orkanger (about 45 km away). She had become dizzy and nauseated on Friday and was admitted to the hospital that afternoon. They had done CAT scans but had not found anything conclusive. They first thought maybe a stroke, then perhaps a small blood clot. I asked if he wanted us to come out that evening and if she would like a blessing. He said he thought there was no need to come out right away, but if we could come tomorrow or Monday, they would appreciate it. So we made plans to travel to Orkanger after church on Sunday. I called after church and he told me she was feeling better today and would appreciate our visit. He would not be there, as he had to get back and go to work this evening. We had a pleasant drive, found the hospital and had a good visit with Trina. Before we left, I asked if she would like a blessing and she said yes. It is wonderful to be able to use the priesthood to help people in times of need.
We returned home and tried to find something for dinner (at 9:30). Missionary life is good, and we especially appreciate this time of year where much of the world pauses to reflect on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We are happy to be here and share His message with the good people of Norway (and many other countries whom we meet here).
Our love and Christmas greetings to all of you.
Gerald and Nancy/mom and dad/grandma and grandpa/Elder and Sister Sorensen
New Missionary in Trondheim
I thought you would be interested in becoming acquainted with the new sister missionary who just arrived in Trondheim. Her name is Sofie Molholt and she comes from Denmark. I think we will give her a lot of respect.
love,
Dad/grandpa/granddad/Elder sorensen
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!
Happy day - hope you enjoyed your 48th!
Kristin
From Dad:
Kristin
From Dad:
We had a great day. We moved the elders from the apt we first lived in to a new apt in town. Picture attached will tell you why I wanted this apartment for them. We bought a set of bunk beds and transported them from IKEA to the apartment and they had to carry them up 5 flights of stairs because the elevator did not work, then we assembled the beds and by the time that was finished, it was time for dinner, which was shared with the elders--3 cans of lapskaus (norwegian beef stew) and two cans of peaches. Then we took the elders to visit some people so Elder Christensen could say good-bye as he left today for Bodo, took them home, then met the sisters at the church to take them to do the "12 days of Christmas" (giving out nativity pieces) to a couple of families and got home around 10 p.m. so we could get up at 4:15 this morning to start making airport runs. Elder Christensen had to be there by 6, so we took he and Elder Henshaw, left Elder Henshaw there, came back and picked up the sisters so Sister Johnson could be at the airport by 7:30, then brought Elder Henshaw and Sister Engebretsen back to our apt and fixed waffles for breakfast, then returned to the airpport to pick up Elder Richardson and Sister Molholt (comes from Denmark) at 10 a.m. We then brought the luggage back to town and they all rode the "flybuss" (ariport bus). We met them at the church, then delivered luggage and have come home now to get ready for institute tonight. We had a great anniversary, we hardly saw each other all day long. It was a good day and we were sad today to say good bye to Sister Johnson and Elder Christensen.
The picture is from the window in the elders new apt--5th floor looking down on the "canal" (small boat harbor). Here is also our farewell to sis. Johnson.
Love,
dad
Week Dec 7th - 13th, 2009
WEEK OF December 7-13 2009
TRONDHEIM, NORWAY
This has been a good week for visiting members. The branch bought poinsettias (called yulestjærne—Christmas stars—in Norwegian) to be given to members by the home and visiting teachers. We got in a fair amount of driving making deliveries to those who live out of town as well as to several of the people the sister missionaries have been visiting.
On Monday evening we had a good attendance at Family Home Evening where I taught a lesson repentance, with a lot of participation from the group. Stian was still having headaches after his experience last Monday, so he was not in attendance. We worry about him, that his injury when he fell and hit his head may have been more serious than he or others thought, but they released him from the hospital last Thursday after doing a lot of tests, so hopefully the headache will soon go away. Afterward, we had refreshments and played some board (bored?) games while visiting with the missionaries and young single adults.
Tuesday was district meeting, led by Elder Henshaw. He does a good job planning the things he wants to discuss in these meetings. The elders in Alesund have a young lady who plans to be baptized before Christmas, so they were pretty excited and we have two baptisms scheduled here before Christmas as well. This is what makes missionaries happy!!. After district meeting, we baked pizzas for lunch while we discussed the status of the young single adults on the branch list with the missionaries to see what we can do to encourage those who are not currently active in the church. Later in the afternoon, we joined the sisters in a lesson with Trond (a Norwegian man who will be baptized on Dec. 19). He has met with missionaries for several years, has read a lot of church literature and intellectually has believed the church is true, but only recently began to seriously pray to know and has now become convinced spiritually that it is true and is desirous of being baptized. He has smoked for many years and has finally been able to quit. He is a teacher in an elementary school and has a wife and two young daughters. His wife has not been interested in the church, so she has not been involved in the teaching the sisters have done with him.
Later in the evening (7p.m.) was choir practice, in preparation for the Christmas concert to be held on Sunday evening (Vi synger julen inn---We sing Christmas in). Nancy sings in the choir because she loves to sing, I sing because I love to be where she is. She knows the notes to sing but not the words. I know the words but not the notes. Some of the older songs are in Swedish, so we both struggle to know meanings. This is also a good opportunity to become better acquainted with the members of the branch and to support them in the things they enjoy doing.
On Wednesday we spent some time looking at things we will need to furnish the new apartment the elders will be moving into next week—things like bunkbeds, book cases, dishes, etc. The apt is unfurnished, but the owner said today that he has some furniture he will leave if we want to use it. We will meet with him on Saturday morning to look at what he has so we can determine what else we will need.
Nancy prepared dinner (sloppy joes-another first for most of the Norwegians) before institute, including a pumpkin cake which was a huge success. Eli-Christine called about 3 in the afternoon to ask if I would teach the lesson tonight, fortunately I had read the lesson earlier in the week and the lesson turned out well. We had two new people there—Confiance, who is 19 and has not been active for the past couple of years and his girl friend, Adama. Confiance originally comes from Burundi and has lived here in Norway for about 7 years. He and his father and older brother joined the church about 4 years ago. He is going to school learning to become an auto mechanic. This was Adama’s first introduction to the Book of Mormon, so we spent a little time before getting too much into the lesson giving a bit of background, so she was not totally in the dark about the things we would be discussing.
On Thursday, Anny had invited all of the missionaries to bruch at her apartment. We picked up the elders on our way and the sisters came by bus. We had a very good (ekte Norsk—authentic Norwegian) breakfast, which consists mainly of open face sandwiches with things like salmon (raw), pickled herring, cheese, pork, jam, caviar, mayonnaise, tomatoes, cold scrambled eggs (to be put on the bread), deviled eggs, etc. Nancy thinks they have things backwards, because what they eat for breakfast looks more like lunch (sandwiches) and they eat things like risengrøt (a rice dish like oatmeal) for dinner. We had an enjoyable time and it has been good to see Anny happy again now that she has decided to be active in the church.
In the afternoon, we loaded the car with poinsettias and took off to places like Jerpstad, Løkken verk, Skaun and Buvika to visit less active members and deliver a Christmas gift from the branch as well as rice Krisie treats or banana bread muffins Nancy had made. Our first stop was Løkken verk, where we visited with Åsta Stevens. Åsta is a young woman who joined the church about 5 years ago when she was 14 or 15. She now has twins who are 2-1/2 years old and very adorable. When we arrived at her home, I pulled all the way up into the driveway close to the front door. We were not sure if she was home from school yet (she is studying to be a teacher) but when I got out of the car, I saw her coming up the hill from the nursery school where her girls stay while she is at school and her boy friend is at work. She had the girls bundled up in snow suits, hats, gloves and boots and was pushing them in a stroller. When she stopped to wave to me, one of the girls got out of the stroller and came running toward me hollering “pappa, pappa”. I picked her up and she gave me a big hug, then got down and ran to Nancy where she also got a hug. Then along came the other one for the same. We went in and visited for a while, leaving her flower and treats for the family. As we were about to leave, I told her that we were going to visit her father who lives about another 30 minutes away and she said he was not home, he had gone to a doctor’s appointment in another town (which we had passed by on the way). As we left, Nancy called her father and spoke with him for a while, he had surgery a year or so ago, and this was just a check up. He said the Dr. told him he was “110%”, which was good to hear. He told her that he and his wife wanted to talk with us and that they should be in Trondheim before Christmas and would call so we could visit. She told him we had left a flower and treats for them at Åstas house and he said he would stop on his way home.
Then it was off to visit Catherina Bjørnevåg. They live quite a ways off the main road, and it seems that every time we go there, it is dark. One day we will go in the daylight so we can enjoy the scenery, but I expect that will not occur until next spring. Catherina is a less active member who joined the church about 7 years ago. She is a sculptor and likes to do “aliens”. There were lights on at the house, but no response to the bell. I knocked loudly, but still no response, so I tried the door and it was unlocked. I was just placing the flower and treats inside the entry when she came downstairs with some modeling clay in her hands. She invited us in, then went back up to put away the project. She came back down and we visited for a while, then her husband and children (3) came home and we had a chance to visit with all for a few minutes before we left. She told us she is doing an art exhibit of her work in Trondheim on Dec. 18, so we will plan to go and support her work. It was at her home where the rabbit nibbled on Nancy’s skirt a few weeks ago, so I had to take a picture of the rabbit to send to Alison as her son, Lucas, thought that was a funny story and wanted to hear it several times.
We next stopped in Buvika at the home of Irene Larsen. She was not home, but we got to meet her 15 year old daughter who was just going out the door to walk the dog. I held the dog while she took the flower and treats back in the house, then we were off to return home, having put a couple of hundred kilometers on the car and enjoyed some nice experiences with good people. We continue to pray that they will see the importance of activity in the church for them and their families.
On Friday we went to Hell to visit with Kurt and Evalina Brandsvikhaug. They are also a less active couple whom missionaries have been meeting for several years in the hope of getting them to become more involved in the gospel.
Saturday was the baptism of Xin Slettjord. Xin’s mother is from China and her step father is Norwegian as you can tell from the name combination. Her family now live in Narvik, which is a few hours north of us. She has been taught by Sisters Engebretsen and Johnson and they have all been looking forward to this day for the past several weeks. Xin’s grandmother passed away a few weeks ago and the sisters promised her when she went to the funeral that she would feel at peace in the service after what she had learned about the purpose of life and what happens after we die. When she returned home, she was so excited to share with them the feelings she had at the funeral. She also met some old friends in Narvik who are members of the church and when they heard that she was meeting with the missionaries, they told her that this was the best decision she would make in her life. Xin was baptized by Robin Andersen, one of our young single adults. Robin is from Trondheim and served a mission in the Ukraine. Nancy played the piano for the service and I translated for Shina. His baptism was all done in English, because he does not speak much Norwegian, but this one was all in Norwegian.
Before the baptism, we stopped at the apartment the elders will be moving into to visit with the owner and look at furniture he said he would not be moving to his new home. It was good furniture, which the missionaries can use, so we were happy to have him leave it. Now all we need to obtain for their apt is a set of bunkbeds and a washing machine.
It was Elder Christensen’s 20th birthday on Saturday, so about 6, we took the elders to dinner at a nice restaurant (EGON) where we all enjoyed a good steak dinner, then they went off to an appointment and we headed home for the evening.
Xin was confirmed in church on Sunday and was as excited as she was on Saturday. We also found out Sunday morning that Elder Christensen will be transferred on Wednesday to Bodø (north of us) and Sister Johnson will be transferred to Oslo. We will be sad to see these two missionaries leave as we have formed great bonds with them. Sister Johnson was here when we arrived, so she spent some time those first few weeks showing us how to find our way around town. Elder Christensen comes from Royal City, WA, not far from the Tri-Cities, so we enjoyed a connection with him. He was also in the MTC group when we were there. But life goes on in spite of changes.
Sunday evening was the branch Christmas concert, with songs from the primary (all 5 children), choir and congregation, plus Elder Christensen sang a solo and Sisters Johnson and Engebretsen sang a duet. Nancy played the piano for the congregational singing and we both (yes, even me) sang in the choir. I told someone that we make a good combination for the choir as Nancy knows the notes but not the words and I know the words but not the notes. We had some of our less active people in attendance for this event, plus several people the missionaries are teaching.
This has been a busy, but satisfying week. We are grateful to be here and to be sharing the Gospel with the good people of Trondheim.
May God bless each of you with the Christmas spirit, the Spirit of Christ, as we remember His birth.
Love,
Gerald and Nancy/mom and dad/grandma and grandpa/Elder and Sister Sorensen
Sister Johnson, Sister Engebretsen, Xin Slettjord, Robin Andersen
TRONDHEIM, NORWAY
This has been a good week for visiting members. The branch bought poinsettias (called yulestjærne—Christmas stars—in Norwegian) to be given to members by the home and visiting teachers. We got in a fair amount of driving making deliveries to those who live out of town as well as to several of the people the sister missionaries have been visiting.
On Monday evening we had a good attendance at Family Home Evening where I taught a lesson repentance, with a lot of participation from the group. Stian was still having headaches after his experience last Monday, so he was not in attendance. We worry about him, that his injury when he fell and hit his head may have been more serious than he or others thought, but they released him from the hospital last Thursday after doing a lot of tests, so hopefully the headache will soon go away. Afterward, we had refreshments and played some board (bored?) games while visiting with the missionaries and young single adults.
Tuesday was district meeting, led by Elder Henshaw. He does a good job planning the things he wants to discuss in these meetings. The elders in Alesund have a young lady who plans to be baptized before Christmas, so they were pretty excited and we have two baptisms scheduled here before Christmas as well. This is what makes missionaries happy!!. After district meeting, we baked pizzas for lunch while we discussed the status of the young single adults on the branch list with the missionaries to see what we can do to encourage those who are not currently active in the church. Later in the afternoon, we joined the sisters in a lesson with Trond (a Norwegian man who will be baptized on Dec. 19). He has met with missionaries for several years, has read a lot of church literature and intellectually has believed the church is true, but only recently began to seriously pray to know and has now become convinced spiritually that it is true and is desirous of being baptized. He has smoked for many years and has finally been able to quit. He is a teacher in an elementary school and has a wife and two young daughters. His wife has not been interested in the church, so she has not been involved in the teaching the sisters have done with him.
Later in the evening (7p.m.) was choir practice, in preparation for the Christmas concert to be held on Sunday evening (Vi synger julen inn---We sing Christmas in). Nancy sings in the choir because she loves to sing, I sing because I love to be where she is. She knows the notes to sing but not the words. I know the words but not the notes. Some of the older songs are in Swedish, so we both struggle to know meanings. This is also a good opportunity to become better acquainted with the members of the branch and to support them in the things they enjoy doing.
On Wednesday we spent some time looking at things we will need to furnish the new apartment the elders will be moving into next week—things like bunkbeds, book cases, dishes, etc. The apt is unfurnished, but the owner said today that he has some furniture he will leave if we want to use it. We will meet with him on Saturday morning to look at what he has so we can determine what else we will need.
Nancy prepared dinner (sloppy joes-another first for most of the Norwegians) before institute, including a pumpkin cake which was a huge success. Eli-Christine called about 3 in the afternoon to ask if I would teach the lesson tonight, fortunately I had read the lesson earlier in the week and the lesson turned out well. We had two new people there—Confiance, who is 19 and has not been active for the past couple of years and his girl friend, Adama. Confiance originally comes from Burundi and has lived here in Norway for about 7 years. He and his father and older brother joined the church about 4 years ago. He is going to school learning to become an auto mechanic. This was Adama’s first introduction to the Book of Mormon, so we spent a little time before getting too much into the lesson giving a bit of background, so she was not totally in the dark about the things we would be discussing.
On Thursday, Anny had invited all of the missionaries to bruch at her apartment. We picked up the elders on our way and the sisters came by bus. We had a very good (ekte Norsk—authentic Norwegian) breakfast, which consists mainly of open face sandwiches with things like salmon (raw), pickled herring, cheese, pork, jam, caviar, mayonnaise, tomatoes, cold scrambled eggs (to be put on the bread), deviled eggs, etc. Nancy thinks they have things backwards, because what they eat for breakfast looks more like lunch (sandwiches) and they eat things like risengrøt (a rice dish like oatmeal) for dinner. We had an enjoyable time and it has been good to see Anny happy again now that she has decided to be active in the church.
In the afternoon, we loaded the car with poinsettias and took off to places like Jerpstad, Løkken verk, Skaun and Buvika to visit less active members and deliver a Christmas gift from the branch as well as rice Krisie treats or banana bread muffins Nancy had made. Our first stop was Løkken verk, where we visited with Åsta Stevens. Åsta is a young woman who joined the church about 5 years ago when she was 14 or 15. She now has twins who are 2-1/2 years old and very adorable. When we arrived at her home, I pulled all the way up into the driveway close to the front door. We were not sure if she was home from school yet (she is studying to be a teacher) but when I got out of the car, I saw her coming up the hill from the nursery school where her girls stay while she is at school and her boy friend is at work. She had the girls bundled up in snow suits, hats, gloves and boots and was pushing them in a stroller. When she stopped to wave to me, one of the girls got out of the stroller and came running toward me hollering “pappa, pappa”. I picked her up and she gave me a big hug, then got down and ran to Nancy where she also got a hug. Then along came the other one for the same. We went in and visited for a while, leaving her flower and treats for the family. As we were about to leave, I told her that we were going to visit her father who lives about another 30 minutes away and she said he was not home, he had gone to a doctor’s appointment in another town (which we had passed by on the way). As we left, Nancy called her father and spoke with him for a while, he had surgery a year or so ago, and this was just a check up. He said the Dr. told him he was “110%”, which was good to hear. He told her that he and his wife wanted to talk with us and that they should be in Trondheim before Christmas and would call so we could visit. She told him we had left a flower and treats for them at Åstas house and he said he would stop on his way home.
Then it was off to visit Catherina Bjørnevåg. They live quite a ways off the main road, and it seems that every time we go there, it is dark. One day we will go in the daylight so we can enjoy the scenery, but I expect that will not occur until next spring. Catherina is a less active member who joined the church about 7 years ago. She is a sculptor and likes to do “aliens”. There were lights on at the house, but no response to the bell. I knocked loudly, but still no response, so I tried the door and it was unlocked. I was just placing the flower and treats inside the entry when she came downstairs with some modeling clay in her hands. She invited us in, then went back up to put away the project. She came back down and we visited for a while, then her husband and children (3) came home and we had a chance to visit with all for a few minutes before we left. She told us she is doing an art exhibit of her work in Trondheim on Dec. 18, so we will plan to go and support her work. It was at her home where the rabbit nibbled on Nancy’s skirt a few weeks ago, so I had to take a picture of the rabbit to send to Alison as her son, Lucas, thought that was a funny story and wanted to hear it several times.
We next stopped in Buvika at the home of Irene Larsen. She was not home, but we got to meet her 15 year old daughter who was just going out the door to walk the dog. I held the dog while she took the flower and treats back in the house, then we were off to return home, having put a couple of hundred kilometers on the car and enjoyed some nice experiences with good people. We continue to pray that they will see the importance of activity in the church for them and their families.
On Friday we went to Hell to visit with Kurt and Evalina Brandsvikhaug. They are also a less active couple whom missionaries have been meeting for several years in the hope of getting them to become more involved in the gospel.
Saturday was the baptism of Xin Slettjord. Xin’s mother is from China and her step father is Norwegian as you can tell from the name combination. Her family now live in Narvik, which is a few hours north of us. She has been taught by Sisters Engebretsen and Johnson and they have all been looking forward to this day for the past several weeks. Xin’s grandmother passed away a few weeks ago and the sisters promised her when she went to the funeral that she would feel at peace in the service after what she had learned about the purpose of life and what happens after we die. When she returned home, she was so excited to share with them the feelings she had at the funeral. She also met some old friends in Narvik who are members of the church and when they heard that she was meeting with the missionaries, they told her that this was the best decision she would make in her life. Xin was baptized by Robin Andersen, one of our young single adults. Robin is from Trondheim and served a mission in the Ukraine. Nancy played the piano for the service and I translated for Shina. His baptism was all done in English, because he does not speak much Norwegian, but this one was all in Norwegian.
Before the baptism, we stopped at the apartment the elders will be moving into to visit with the owner and look at furniture he said he would not be moving to his new home. It was good furniture, which the missionaries can use, so we were happy to have him leave it. Now all we need to obtain for their apt is a set of bunkbeds and a washing machine.
It was Elder Christensen’s 20th birthday on Saturday, so about 6, we took the elders to dinner at a nice restaurant (EGON) where we all enjoyed a good steak dinner, then they went off to an appointment and we headed home for the evening.
Xin was confirmed in church on Sunday and was as excited as she was on Saturday. We also found out Sunday morning that Elder Christensen will be transferred on Wednesday to Bodø (north of us) and Sister Johnson will be transferred to Oslo. We will be sad to see these two missionaries leave as we have formed great bonds with them. Sister Johnson was here when we arrived, so she spent some time those first few weeks showing us how to find our way around town. Elder Christensen comes from Royal City, WA, not far from the Tri-Cities, so we enjoyed a connection with him. He was also in the MTC group when we were there. But life goes on in spite of changes.
Sunday evening was the branch Christmas concert, with songs from the primary (all 5 children), choir and congregation, plus Elder Christensen sang a solo and Sisters Johnson and Engebretsen sang a duet. Nancy played the piano for the congregational singing and we both (yes, even me) sang in the choir. I told someone that we make a good combination for the choir as Nancy knows the notes but not the words and I know the words but not the notes. We had some of our less active people in attendance for this event, plus several people the missionaries are teaching.
This has been a busy, but satisfying week. We are grateful to be here and to be sharing the Gospel with the good people of Trondheim.
May God bless each of you with the Christmas spirit, the Spirit of Christ, as we remember His birth.
Love,
Gerald and Nancy/mom and dad/grandma and grandpa/Elder and Sister Sorensen
Sister Johnson, Sister Engebretsen, Xin Slettjord, Robin Andersen
Dec 1-6, 2009
Attached is our update for the past week. this has been a good week here in Norway and we expect the new week to be equally satisfying.
love,
Gerald and Nancy/mom and dad/elder and Sister Sorensen
Most of Monday was spent returning from Kristiansund to Trondheim and getting the car unloaded. We did arrive home in time to attend Family Home Evening with the young singles (plus the older singles who join us). We enjoyed a good discussion on “faith”. Nancy had prepared some fruit for snacks. I asked one of the young men, Stian, to give the closing prayer. As he stood up to offer the prayer, he grabbed his neck and said “Oh, my neck”, then slowly went to his knees, bowed his head to the floor, then rolled over on his side and lay there unconscious. We were all a bit shocked, I knelt down by him and tried to talk to him, but there was no response. I felt his pulse and it was strong. Harald called the hospital and they sent an ambulance over (it is only a block away). They gave him some oxygen and took vital signs, then loaded him on a stretcher and took him to the hospital. Nadia, one of our young single adult girls and I rode in the ambulance with him. After about an hour at the hospital, he woke up and we were able to visit with him for a while. They kept him in the hospital for 2 days for observation and tests and he was released on Wednesday. He said he has a head ache, but otherwise feels good. It is finals time at school so he missed a final on Tuesday, but should be able to make it up. While he was unconscious, we talked with both his father and mother, both said, “Oh, he has had this happen before, but it is not serious, he will come out of it”. I was not willing to have him laying on the floor for an hour while we waited for him “to come out of it”. Apparently he injured his neck some years ago playing “fotbol” (soccer) and has had episodes like this since—the last one being about 3 years ago according to his father. Anyway, we are glad that Stian is back up and about. We got home Monday night at about midnight, after taking the sister missionaries home earlier, then Nadia when we finally left the hospital.
On Tuesday we tried to catch up on laundry, having been gone on the weekend and Monday, then in the early afternoon met the sisters at the church to join them in teaching Wan Yu about the Priesthood. He is (obviously) from China and has set a date on 16 January to be baptized. He has found great comfort in the gospel and shares it with his wife by phone and email as she is still in China, but will be returning here on December 14. They will then be gone to Germany for a vacation for a few weeks until early January.
After teaching Wan Yu, we took the bus to the airport for our trip to Oslo for zone conference. We were scheduled to have a dinner and Christmas program this evening and then the conference meeting on Wednesday. The North zone includes Trondheim, Ålesund, Alta, Tromsø and Bodø. All except Ålesund are north of us. President Johansen had asked us a couple of weeks ago to plan a program for Friday evening, so Nancy and the sisters got together and planned a program with some games, singing, piano number, and a reading of Luke 2. As we were making assignments, one of the requests was for the Zone leader, Elder Caffrey, to play a piano number. He called back a day or two later and said he had been in a zone leaders conference in Oslo with the president and they had decided that there would not be time for the program, as the missionaries wanted to watch “the Muppets Christmas Carol”, which lasts an hour and 20 minutes. So we dropped the planning, but were not very excited about replacing that with a movie. While we were in Ålesund on Saturday, Sister Johansen called and asked how the program planning was coming, and Nancy told her of the most recent decision by the zone leaders. She was not real happy, talked with Pres. Johansen and soon we had a call from Elder Hunsaker (the other ZL) saying that we should go ahead with the program plans, that the President had said we could be out later because of the late start we would be getting on the evening. So, Nancy called the sisters and we put things back in motion for a program. After dinner on Tuesday night, we put chairs in a circle and played a couple of games to get everyone involved, then went to the relief society room and watched the movie-it was cute, but not worth the time we spent watching it—then I introduced the program for the remainder of the evening—which we shortened somewhat because it was getting late. Elder Caffrey played and sang a song he had composed—he could really “tickle the ivories”. We then did some community singing, I read from Luke 2 about the birth of the Savior, then Elder Christensen sang the first verse of Silent Night and the group joined in on the last 2 verses. President Johansen gave out gifts to all of the missionaries—ties to the elders and scarves for the sisters and we all headed off to the places we would be spending the night. We stayed with the Johansens at the mission home and had a good visit with them. We enjoy being with them and marvel at all that a mission president and wife must do.
On Wednesday, we all arrived at the Romerike chapel for conference to begin at 9 a.m. Nancy had been asked to play the piano for the conference. We enjoyed the teaching that was done by the zone leaders and the assistants to the president. They are a good group of missionaries. One of the APs is elder Gilbert from Walla Walla. He is a good leader and missionary. During the lunch, I sat by Elder Hunsaker, one of the ZL from Tromsø, and he told me that his grandmother lives in Richland. I was not familiar with her name (Faye Bisson), but he said she lives in an assistant living center near the temple, so she is not in the Richland Stake. It turns out that our daughter, Kristin, is her visiting teacher. One of the other elders (Elder Crandall) told us he had heard from his grandmother and the Tingeys had been visiting with her and said they knew us. Turns out that his grandmother is Garth Tingey’s sister. We are amazed at how small the world is.
We returned to Trondheim on a 7:30 p.m. flight from Oslo, arriving back home around 10 p..m, tired but spiritually refreshed. Because all of the missionaries were out of town and Stian was still not feeling well, Eli-Christine had cancelled Institute on Wednesday night.
Thursday morning we tried to catch up on what we had not been able to finish on Tuesday, then Nancy went to the RS Christmas dinner and gift exchange that evening. She and the sisters had been asked to do the decorations for the event, but she told the RS president that they would be out of town Tuesday and Wednesday and besides, they have nothing to use for decorations. The dinner was well attended. We picked up Vibeke (Beke) Reardon, a less active sister, and took her to the event and she had a good time visiting with all of the sisters. Her husband is from Scotland and both have been members for most of their lives, but sometime got out of the habit of coming to church and developed a smoking habit which they are now trying to kick. We visit with them and enjoy their company.
On Friday I had to go to the sister’s apartment to read the water meters. I had been called by the landlord when we were in Ålesund saying that he needed to get the information back to the water company before the 5th. We had fun trying to figure out exactly what was needed and where the meters were, as his English is not very good and I was having a hard time figuring out the Norwegian words he was using. Anyway I called him when I was there and we got it figured out. I cut my finger while putting a panel back over the meters, so the sisters gave me a smiley face bandaid to cover the wound. When I was talking with Kristin, Dallin and Aubrey on Skype later that evening, Aubrey said, “nice bandaid, Grandpa”.
Later in the afternoon, I joined the elders as they taught a lesson to a young Norwegian man (Håkon) whom they had met on the street. He is married with two young children and seemed to be interested in what he was taught.
Shina Elegbede came to the church in the evening to meet with the sisters and I took him down to where the baptismal clothing is to see if we had pants to fit. He found a pair that worked well, so Nancy did not have to do alterations. He is very excited about his baptism tomorrow. Shina is from Nigeria and will be here for 2 years studying at the university (masters program). He has been meeting with the sisters for a couple of months and has joined us for many activities and has been attending church regularly. He is a very humble young man and has commented several times on how the gospel has changed his life.
Saturday we enjoyed some “sports” (basketball) with Elders Henshaw and Christensen and a less active young man (Confiance). He was in town yesterday and met one of the members and told her he wanted to come back to church, but felt like he needed to come to church with someone as he would feel funny just coming in by himself after he had not been for the past couple of years. He asked her to have the missionaries call him, which they did, and they invited him to join us on Saturday for sports. He is a nice young man whose heritage is from Ethiopia, although he has lived most of his 19 years in Norway. He and his father and brother were baptized about 4 years ago.
Shina’s baptism took place on Saturday at 4 p.m. Nancy played the piano and I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. The sisters were so excited, as was Shina. He was baptized by Arne Dahlø and as Arne started to say the prayer, he became very touched by the spirit and had a hard time getting the words out. After he was baptized, Shina stood in the font for close to a minute, hugging Arne and weeping, he was so happy. Xin Slettjord (scheduled to be baptized next Saturday) was there, as were about 4 other investigators. The spirit was strong and all were touched. The event was well supported by the branch members and we all enjoyed each others company and some refreshments afterward before returning home. We had planned on visiting Sister Prestmo and her 2 daughters on Saturday evening. We take the sisters with us on this visit, as they spend time teaching and entertaining the girls while we teach Sister Prestmo. Her husband is not a member, but now at least joins us when we are there for the first few minutes and while we eat whatever she has prepared, then leaves when we begin to talk about the gospel. Sister Engebretsen called as we were leaving town to let her know that we were on the way and she said one of her daughters had been throwing up all day, so it was probably best that we not come out. OK.
We dropped the sisters at Stian’s apartment so they could check on him and visit some other contacts nearby, then we went to the city center to meet Elder Henshaw and Christensen. They were with two young men who have been at a military base a couple of hours out of Trondheim for the past two weeks on some training exercises with the Norwegian air force. They had made contact with elder Henshaw after calling the church and talking with Myhren. One of them (Matt Horrocks) is from Draper, UT and the other (Ken Meister) is from Ottowa, Canada. Matt is in the US Air Force and Ken the Canadian Air Force. They are both stationed in the Netherlands on assignments with NATO. They had come into town earlier in the day with some others from the base and took the elders to dinner (all you can eat pizza) and were looking for a place to stay for the night. They ended up staying on our couch and we enjoyed visiting with them. Matt said he was a missionary about 10 years ago in Austria and I told him we had some friends, Boyd and Marge Newman, who were in Austria at about that time. He said, “I knew them, we worked together in Innsbruk”. I sent an email to Boyd and he replied back that he remembered Elder Horrocks, so I greeted Matt from Boyd and Marge. Today (Monday) I received an email from Boyd with a picture of Elder Horrocks with a couple of other missionaries in Austria. Matt left after church yesterday, but I forwarded the picture to him. Again, we are reminded of how small the world is in the church.
Sunday we took Ken and Matt to church where we attended our missionary coordination meeting with the branch mission leader and others, then it was time for priesthood and relief society. I went down to priesthood meeting in the basement and after a few minutes, I saw Jecon’s younger brother come down the hall going to Primary, so I went upstairs to see if Jecon was there (he is the young man I teach seminary via Skype) I asked the branch president a few weeks ago to call me to teach the Aaronic Priesthood (Jecon is the only young man in the branch) because I had noted that when he was there in time for Priesthood, he usually stayed upstairs doing nothing or when he came in to priesthood, he just sat, not participating (what 15 year old would participate when most of those present are over 60?). I found him and we went into the outreach room and had a priesthood lesson. During Sunday School, I have been teaching a temple preparation class for Sister Kimo (Jecon’s mother) and Sister Prestmo. Sister Prestmo was not present today, so it was just Sister Kimo. I had to leave a little early to pick up Sister DeLeon and two of their children (they have 5 children and their car does not hold the entire family, so we help out). Brother DeLeon was arriving as I left to pick up the remainder of the family. When I returned with the DeLeons, Elder Henshaw and I went to pick up Confiance and bring him to Sacrament meeting. We arrived back at Sacrament meeting a little late and missed Shina’s confirmation. Later in testimony meeting he got up to share his testimony and it made us all weep. He said, among other things, “little did I know when I came to Norway 4 months ago to study at the university that I would find the gospel which would change my whole life and make me so happy.” This was good for all of those present to hear.
After church, Ken and Matt walked to the town center to meet their friends to return to the base. I took Confiance home, then the DeLeons and then we came home for some dinner. In the evening we visited with Sister Hamdard, a less active member of the branch, and her two children. She is a single mother, born and raised in Afganastan who moved back in the early 80’s to Russsia, then to Sweden, where she joined the church and then to Norway about 14 years ago. Her daughter is 12 and son 10 (and mildly autistic). We enjoyed our visit with her and shared some spiritual thoughts about Christmas with them (as well as some banana bread cupcakes Nancy had made) and then returned home.
This has been a very rich and fulfilling week, packed with things missionaries enjoy. We are delighted to be here in Norway among these wonderful people. We marvel at the faith of those who attend faithfully even though they do not have support from family and must travel long distances or overcome other obstacles, to come and join with the members and partake of the sacrament. We are grateful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, and all that he has done for all mankind.
May you all enjoy the spirit of Christ throughout this Christmas season and the coming year.
Love,
Gerald and Nancy/mom and dad/Elder and Sister Sorensen
Here is what happy missionaries look like. This is Sister Engebretsen, Sister Johnson, Xin Slettjord (to be baptized next Saturday) and Shina Eldgbede (after his baptism)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
SEASONAL CONTRASTS
Here are a couple of pictures I took at a place called "Beaverfjord pond". It is on the way to Kristiansund from Trondheim. One picture was taken on our first trip in September and the other was from a trip taken in late November. The pictures are from almost the same place. It is interesting to see the contrast in the seasons.
I told a few weeks ago about the rabbit that nibbled on Nancy's skirt. Lucas thought that was funny, so I am enclosing a picture of the rabbit for him.
love,
Dad
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
TRANSPORTATION IN NORWAY
Norwegians do a lot of traveling by foot, car, bus, "roller skis", and of course, bicycles. Here is a photo of bicycles parked at the hospital where Nancy was hospitalized back in September and October. When it rains, they just put on rain jackets and pants over their normal clothes and ride as though the sun was shining. When it gets snowy and icy on the roads, they don't put up their bicycles, just put studded tires on them and act as though the roads were dry.
We see a lot of small cars being driven around here. They appear to be great for 1 or at the most 2 people, but do not carry any extra baggage. When it comes to parking, they do have a definite advantage over larger cars. This is definitely the way to go for those who do not parallel park very well. Also conserves parking places.
Love,
Dad
Monday, December 7, 2009
DECEMBER already!?
We hope you are getting the month off to a good start. November ended very busy for us and December shows no signs of letting up. We sent christmas packages about a week ago. The ones in Washington all went in a box to Kristin--then I got a letter yesterday from the post office saying I had not included a list of contents or value, so it is being held until they receive a form they sent to me. I emailed the form today, so maybe the package will be liberated soon. The one to AZ went to Alison, so she can let Steve and Rozann know when it arrives. Rustin has no one to share with, so his went straight to his house. Let us know when they arrive. They can be opened upon arrival, as they contain things for use before Christmas.
Love to all,
mom and dad
Where in the world did those packages go!? UPDATE:
Where in the world did those packages go!? UPDATE:
We are glad to hear that it (Alison's) arrived. Now only Kristin's is missing in action. Deeana wrote the other day to say their's had arrived safely. We got a good laugh out of Lucas' interest in the rabbit story.
Love to all,
dad Saturday, December 5, 2009
Thanksgiving update
It has been a while since I posted anything here, so will add a few lines. We had a great thanksgiving--26 people. We had dinner at the church because we outgrew the apartment. The only bad part was that because the turkey was too large to fit in our oven, I had the butcher shop cook it for us--should not be too much thought I--wrong!!! total cost came to $320.00!!! Next year we cook several smaller birds. Photo attached of what a $320.00 turkey looks like.
We made a drive from Alesund to Kristiansund and then back to Trondheim. It was November 29 and 30 when we made the drive and there had been some cold weather along the route since we last drove to and from Kristiansund back in September. Attached is a photo of ice chunks in the river along the highway. Alesund is a pretty coastal town about 450km south and west from Trondheim. We went there to be present for a baptism, as the branch president was out of town. Nancy asked "why are we going, do you have any more authority than the young missionaries that are there?" "No, just more experience." We had a very enjoyable visit in Alesund. We flew down (40 minutes) on Friday morning, then rented a car (VW Passat station wagon) on Saturday and drove to Kristiansund (~200km--3 hours) on Sunday after church, loaded the car with boxes belonging to the church that had been stored in a member's home and in a cabinet ni the building where the branch there used to meet, spent the night in a hotel and then drove home on Monday (another 3-1/2 hours). The weather was cold but there was no snow or rain and the roads were clear, which is what we had prayed for. Our prayers were heard. I was not anxious to give up the rental car when we got home, as it was much more comfortable driving than the small VW Polo we drive. The trip was successful and we got to meet more wonderful people in Alesund. Also attaching a photo of our rental car.
Friday, December 4, 2009
UPDATE Nov 22 - 30, 2009
This has been a busy period of time. I have put the update in a word document to make it easier for me to write it all. If you have difficulty opening the document, let me know and I will paste the text into an email.
We are loving what we do here and the people we are meeting. Service to the Lord is always a pleasure.
love,
mom and dad/Gerald and Nancy/grandma and grandpa/nana and granddad/ Elder and Sister Sorensen
Here it is:( picture of the turkey and the first picture of mom on the previous post were part of this update.)
This week has gone - not sure where, but it has gone - and with it the month of November.
We enjoyed a great family home evening with the young single adults on Monday evening, where we talked about temples in the church—beginning with the Tabernacle of the Children of Israel up to the modern temples and their holy purposes. One young lady the sister missionaries are teaching was present, so it was an opportunity to introduce her to temples and their purposes. She plans to be baptized before Christmas.
On Tuesday we held a good district meeting with the missionaries here and the two elders in Alesund joining us by phone. They were very excited, as they have a man scheduled for baptism on Friday.
Wednesday was institute and a lot of preparation for thanksgiving day. Nancy made a simple dinner for Wednesday evening, as she was busy much of the day with preparation for Thursday’s dinner. She felt some frustration, as it seemed that everything she was preparing she was unable to find at least one ingredient, so was having to figure out substitutions. We had a good lesson from the book of Alma, taught by Eli-Christine, then enjoyed time visiting with her and Nadia (one of 2 young single adult young women in the branch).
On Thursday there were 26 at dinner, including 4 missionaries (6 counting us), 3 YSA from the branch, 6 adult members, and 11 friends and investigators--three of whom have baptismal dates set in December. We had ordered a 26 lb turkey, then I was not sure that would be big enough, so I bought another weighing about 10 lb and one of the members brought one weighing about the same--those two never got used. Nancy made about 40 lb of potatoes, salads, casseroles, etc. The sister missionaries brought 3 desserts and another young woman brought a bunch of small size pumpkin pies. Everyone had plenty to eat and took plates away. One of the men who was there is affiliated with the Salvation Army, so I gave him the turkey I had prepared but did not use so they could use it for a dinner tomorrow. The big turkey was too large for our oven, so I had the butcher shop cook it for me. Kristin asked how much that was going to cost and I told her I did not ask, as I had no other choice at that point. I should have asked--the turkey was about $2.00 per pound (I knew that)--the total bill came to a little over $320. But everyone had a good time and it was worth it to see all the chatter that took place during dinner and the fun people had afterward. However, next year we will do smaller turkeys that fit in the oven. Just in case you wonder what a $320. turkey looks like, here is a photo.
On Friday, we had been asked by the mission president (President Johansen) to travel south to the town of Alesund to attend a baptism of a man there. Alesund is a small town about 450km south and west of Trondheim. It was a 40 minute plane ride and we arrived about 11 a.m. and spent the day with the two missionaries serving there, Elders Jordan Hill and Chaz Liddle, helping them with preparations, visiting some of their investigators and even doing some contacting on the streets in town. The baptism took place Friday evening in a swimming pool at a local school. We met in a classroom at the school for a brief program, then crossed the courtyard to the building housing the pool for the baptism. Nancy played the piano for the baptism, as we were meeting in a music classroom and so there was a piano available. All present were delighted that she could play the piano. She also gave a talk (in English) about the covenants and promises associated with baptism. The elders had done a good job preparing and the members had prepared some good food for enjoyment after the baptism. There were 15 people at the baptism, including 5 investigators the elders are teaching. The new member, Robert Diallo, is a doctor practicing in Alesund. He comes from Senegal and is married to a German woman who is also a doctor. They have 2 sons who are currently living in Germany with their maternal grandmother. Robert is very excited to have found the gospel and looks forward to being with his sons at Christmas time and hopes to be able to baptize them. They will be meeting with the missionaries in Hamburg soon.
After the baptism on Friday evening, the elders asked the counselor in the branch presidency (Lincoln Telford from Logan, UT) if they could take some of the people home, as they would have to make many trips to get everyone home. The Telfords were preparing to leave while the party was still going strong, as he had to go to work at 3 a.m. However, he had two cars in town and said if I wanted to go with them to pick up the other car, we could use that to transport people and then he could get it in the morning. So I went with them to an area about 15 minutes away to pick up the car. I only got lost a couple of times finding my way back to the school, then took Kia and her children home and came back to see who else needed transportation. There were only two women left, Sister Ardal and Sister Sylte. They were both going to go with the elders, but Sister Ardal could not get her feet to bend enough to get into the elder’s small car, so I suggested that we take them home. Sister Sylte lives near where the elders live, so she decided to ride with them to save us some driving and Sister Ardal got in our car. We were driving on the highway toward her house when she said, “I think we missed the turnoff” so I turned around and went back down the highway. It was dark and raining, so it was hard to see landmarks. As I approached each exit, I would read the locations listed for the exit and she would say, “no, I don’t think that is the right one”. Soon I was at the last exit before entering the city center and she still was not certain. At that point, I pulled off to the side of the road, turned on the emergency blinkers and called Elder Liddle and told him of our situation. They came back and led us to her apartment, then we all went home to get some rest (about 10:30 p.m.).
We spent Saturday with Elders Hill and Liddle. They picked us up around 1030 to go to the airport where we picked up a rental car—a VW Passat station wagon—which we will drive to Kristiansund (about 200km north--~ halfway back to Trondheim) on Sunday after church to pick up some materials that have been stored in a member’s home there for some time as well as some things that are stored in a closet in the building they used for meetings when the branch in Kristiansund was active. There are several boxes containing “things” belonging to the church stored in the home of Sister Elsa Sundoy and her health is not good, so her son called President Paulsen in Trondheim and asked if we could move the material out of the house before she passes away and they then have to deal with it in a hurry. Since we were going to be in Alesund, it seemed like an easy solution to have us drive up to Kristiansund and pick up all that we could fit in a car and bring it back to Trondheim. I had hoped for the short 40 minute plane ride back on Sunday afternoon—unfortunately, life is never so simple.
After picking up the car, we took the elders to lunch, then joined them in visiting some of their investigators. We split up for a while because they had 2 appointments at the same time in different locations. Nancy went with Elder Hill and I went with Elder Liddle. We were to meet a young lady at the library at 3 p.m. We arrived about 2:50 and then found that the library closes at 3 on Saturday. The young woman did not show up and did not answer the text message Elder Liddle sent, so we went out on the street and contacted people. The appointment Elder Hill and Nancy went to did not materialize either, so they did some contacting. Nancy said they found a quiet place where they could hold a short prayer and Elder Hill prayed that they “could meet a Norwegian man who could hold the priesthood, as that is what the branch needs”. They finished the prayer, walked out on the street and the first person they talked with was a young Norwegian man. They engaged him in conversation, got his phone number and a commitment for him to meet with the elders next week.
In the evening we visited with Robert and talked about the confirmation and receipt of the Holy Ghost that would occur in Church tomorrow. He is very excited about the path he has entered and looking forward to tomorrow and the future when he will receive the priesthood. After our visit with him, we visited with two investigators, both of whom were at the baptism. Kia is from Burma and has two children, 21 and 14 who were also at the baptism. Her children were not at home tonight, but they both were very interested in the baptism and have been taught by the missionaries over the past few weeks. Donna is from the Philippines, lives here with her father and works as a nurse. She is married and has 2 young children who are home with their father. Her mother is also in the Philippines and helps with care of the children. They all hope that the father and Donna will be able to become secure in their jobs here (he is also a nurse) and soon be able to get the rest of the family to Norway. Both Donna and her father have been meeting with the missionaries and were at Robert’s baptism on Friday. Here is a picture of Nancy with Alesund in the background.
Sunday morning it was snowing and the elders came to our hotel to get us. We split up again, Nancy going with Elder Hill in their car and Elder Liddle going with me so we could pick up people to bring them to church. There were 11 people in church—4 missionaries, Brother and Sister Telford, Sister Ardal, Sister Sylte, Robert, Donna and another young woman the missionaries are teaching (Di Thai) from Thailand. They began with Sunday School and Elder Hill taught a class in English, attended by all except the two Norwegian members and I, and Elder Liddle taught the other one in Norwegian. Nancy attended the English speaking class and said that Donna gave the opening prayer in Tagalog and Di Thai gave the closing prayer in Thai.
In sacrament meeting there was a mixture of English and Norwegian—brother Telford is married to a Norwegian, but has not learned much of the language, so he conducted the meeting in English. Elder Hill confirmed Robert, which was also done in English, because that is the language (other than his mother language) which he understands best. I blessed the sacrament in Norwegian and Sister Sylte gave a talk in Norwegian. Nancy and I were asked to share our testimonies. She spoke English and I spoke Norwegian. After church, we took Sister Ardal to her home (she could recognize landmarks in the daylight and I somewhat knew where I was going), then we began the drive to Kristiansund.
It snowed off and on most of the way (about 3-1/2 hours), but it was a light snow and the roads were mostly clear. When we arrived in Kristiansund, I called a young man who joined the church about a year and a half ago (Robert Huanga). Robert is from Burma. We picked him up at his apartment and he helped load the things from Sister Sundoy’s house into the car. We then visited with the Sundoy’s for a while. He appreciated our visit, as she is getting dementia and he is not able to leave her much, so he appreciates other adult conversation when he can. They are both very good people and we enjoyed our visit. From there we went to the building where they had held church and sorted through things in the storage cabinet, boxing up some things and tossing others and left some things there to be dealt with later. The only thing left of value is a piano, which is better than any of the pianos we have in Trondheim, so we will recommend to Pres. Paulsen that he have it shipped here. Once we were all loaded we returned to our hotel to spend the night and get rest before continuing the drive on Monday.
Monday it was snowing lightly in Kristiansund. We prayed that we would have good weather and clear roads, as we were going to be traveling over some mountains to get back home. The snow continued until we got off the ferry that crossed the fjord about 30 km from Kristiansund. When we left the ferry, we could see blue skies in the direction we were headed. There was no more snow and the roads were clear all the way back to Trondheim. We were grateful that our prayers had been answered.
We had made this drive back in late September, so it was interesting to see it now. Although it was not snowing, it had snowed earlier, so everything along the way was white. It was cold out (we did not pray for heat, just clear weather and roads), so there was frost on all the trees, power lines, etc. making for a beautiful scene.
We arrived home about 12:30 and found the elders at the church, so they helped unload the car, we then returned the rental car and went home to get laundry done to prepare for travel to zone conference in Oslo on Tuesday and Wednesday. That will be another update.
We enjoyed a great family home evening with the young single adults on Monday evening, where we talked about temples in the church—beginning with the Tabernacle of the Children of Israel up to the modern temples and their holy purposes. One young lady the sister missionaries are teaching was present, so it was an opportunity to introduce her to temples and their purposes. She plans to be baptized before Christmas.
On Tuesday we held a good district meeting with the missionaries here and the two elders in Alesund joining us by phone. They were very excited, as they have a man scheduled for baptism on Friday.
Wednesday was institute and a lot of preparation for thanksgiving day. Nancy made a simple dinner for Wednesday evening, as she was busy much of the day with preparation for Thursday’s dinner. She felt some frustration, as it seemed that everything she was preparing she was unable to find at least one ingredient, so was having to figure out substitutions. We had a good lesson from the book of Alma, taught by Eli-Christine, then enjoyed time visiting with her and Nadia (one of 2 young single adult young women in the branch).
On Thursday there were 26 at dinner, including 4 missionaries (6 counting us), 3 YSA from the branch, 6 adult members, and 11 friends and investigators--three of whom have baptismal dates set in December. We had ordered a 26 lb turkey, then I was not sure that would be big enough, so I bought another weighing about 10 lb and one of the members brought one weighing about the same--those two never got used. Nancy made about 40 lb of potatoes, salads, casseroles, etc. The sister missionaries brought 3 desserts and another young woman brought a bunch of small size pumpkin pies. Everyone had plenty to eat and took plates away. One of the men who was there is affiliated with the Salvation Army, so I gave him the turkey I had prepared but did not use so they could use it for a dinner tomorrow. The big turkey was too large for our oven, so I had the butcher shop cook it for me. Kristin asked how much that was going to cost and I told her I did not ask, as I had no other choice at that point. I should have asked--the turkey was about $2.00 per pound (I knew that)--the total bill came to a little over $320. But everyone had a good time and it was worth it to see all the chatter that took place during dinner and the fun people had afterward. However, next year we will do smaller turkeys that fit in the oven. Just in case you wonder what a $320. turkey looks like, here is a photo.
On Friday, we had been asked by the mission president (President Johansen) to travel south to the town of Alesund to attend a baptism of a man there. Alesund is a small town about 450km south and west of Trondheim. It was a 40 minute plane ride and we arrived about 11 a.m. and spent the day with the two missionaries serving there, Elders Jordan Hill and Chaz Liddle, helping them with preparations, visiting some of their investigators and even doing some contacting on the streets in town. The baptism took place Friday evening in a swimming pool at a local school. We met in a classroom at the school for a brief program, then crossed the courtyard to the building housing the pool for the baptism. Nancy played the piano for the baptism, as we were meeting in a music classroom and so there was a piano available. All present were delighted that she could play the piano. She also gave a talk (in English) about the covenants and promises associated with baptism. The elders had done a good job preparing and the members had prepared some good food for enjoyment after the baptism. There were 15 people at the baptism, including 5 investigators the elders are teaching. The new member, Robert Diallo, is a doctor practicing in Alesund. He comes from Senegal and is married to a German woman who is also a doctor. They have 2 sons who are currently living in Germany with their maternal grandmother. Robert is very excited to have found the gospel and looks forward to being with his sons at Christmas time and hopes to be able to baptize them. They will be meeting with the missionaries in Hamburg soon.
After the baptism on Friday evening, the elders asked the counselor in the branch presidency (Lincoln Telford from Logan, UT) if they could take some of the people home, as they would have to make many trips to get everyone home. The Telfords were preparing to leave while the party was still going strong, as he had to go to work at 3 a.m. However, he had two cars in town and said if I wanted to go with them to pick up the other car, we could use that to transport people and then he could get it in the morning. So I went with them to an area about 15 minutes away to pick up the car. I only got lost a couple of times finding my way back to the school, then took Kia and her children home and came back to see who else needed transportation. There were only two women left, Sister Ardal and Sister Sylte. They were both going to go with the elders, but Sister Ardal could not get her feet to bend enough to get into the elder’s small car, so I suggested that we take them home. Sister Sylte lives near where the elders live, so she decided to ride with them to save us some driving and Sister Ardal got in our car. We were driving on the highway toward her house when she said, “I think we missed the turnoff” so I turned around and went back down the highway. It was dark and raining, so it was hard to see landmarks. As I approached each exit, I would read the locations listed for the exit and she would say, “no, I don’t think that is the right one”. Soon I was at the last exit before entering the city center and she still was not certain. At that point, I pulled off to the side of the road, turned on the emergency blinkers and called Elder Liddle and told him of our situation. They came back and led us to her apartment, then we all went home to get some rest (about 10:30 p.m.).
We spent Saturday with Elders Hill and Liddle. They picked us up around 1030 to go to the airport where we picked up a rental car—a VW Passat station wagon—which we will drive to Kristiansund (about 200km north--~ halfway back to Trondheim) on Sunday after church to pick up some materials that have been stored in a member’s home there for some time as well as some things that are stored in a closet in the building they used for meetings when the branch in Kristiansund was active. There are several boxes containing “things” belonging to the church stored in the home of Sister Elsa Sundoy and her health is not good, so her son called President Paulsen in Trondheim and asked if we could move the material out of the house before she passes away and they then have to deal with it in a hurry. Since we were going to be in Alesund, it seemed like an easy solution to have us drive up to Kristiansund and pick up all that we could fit in a car and bring it back to Trondheim. I had hoped for the short 40 minute plane ride back on Sunday afternoon—unfortunately, life is never so simple.
After picking up the car, we took the elders to lunch, then joined them in visiting some of their investigators. We split up for a while because they had 2 appointments at the same time in different locations. Nancy went with Elder Hill and I went with Elder Liddle. We were to meet a young lady at the library at 3 p.m. We arrived about 2:50 and then found that the library closes at 3 on Saturday. The young woman did not show up and did not answer the text message Elder Liddle sent, so we went out on the street and contacted people. The appointment Elder Hill and Nancy went to did not materialize either, so they did some contacting. Nancy said they found a quiet place where they could hold a short prayer and Elder Hill prayed that they “could meet a Norwegian man who could hold the priesthood, as that is what the branch needs”. They finished the prayer, walked out on the street and the first person they talked with was a young Norwegian man. They engaged him in conversation, got his phone number and a commitment for him to meet with the elders next week.
In the evening we visited with Robert and talked about the confirmation and receipt of the Holy Ghost that would occur in Church tomorrow. He is very excited about the path he has entered and looking forward to tomorrow and the future when he will receive the priesthood. After our visit with him, we visited with two investigators, both of whom were at the baptism. Kia is from Burma and has two children, 21 and 14 who were also at the baptism. Her children were not at home tonight, but they both were very interested in the baptism and have been taught by the missionaries over the past few weeks. Donna is from the Philippines, lives here with her father and works as a nurse. She is married and has 2 young children who are home with their father. Her mother is also in the Philippines and helps with care of the children. They all hope that the father and Donna will be able to become secure in their jobs here (he is also a nurse) and soon be able to get the rest of the family to Norway. Both Donna and her father have been meeting with the missionaries and were at Robert’s baptism on Friday. Here is a picture of Nancy with Alesund in the background.
Sunday morning it was snowing and the elders came to our hotel to get us. We split up again, Nancy going with Elder Hill in their car and Elder Liddle going with me so we could pick up people to bring them to church. There were 11 people in church—4 missionaries, Brother and Sister Telford, Sister Ardal, Sister Sylte, Robert, Donna and another young woman the missionaries are teaching (Di Thai) from Thailand. They began with Sunday School and Elder Hill taught a class in English, attended by all except the two Norwegian members and I, and Elder Liddle taught the other one in Norwegian. Nancy attended the English speaking class and said that Donna gave the opening prayer in Tagalog and Di Thai gave the closing prayer in Thai.
In sacrament meeting there was a mixture of English and Norwegian—brother Telford is married to a Norwegian, but has not learned much of the language, so he conducted the meeting in English. Elder Hill confirmed Robert, which was also done in English, because that is the language (other than his mother language) which he understands best. I blessed the sacrament in Norwegian and Sister Sylte gave a talk in Norwegian. Nancy and I were asked to share our testimonies. She spoke English and I spoke Norwegian. After church, we took Sister Ardal to her home (she could recognize landmarks in the daylight and I somewhat knew where I was going), then we began the drive to Kristiansund.
It snowed off and on most of the way (about 3-1/2 hours), but it was a light snow and the roads were mostly clear. When we arrived in Kristiansund, I called a young man who joined the church about a year and a half ago (Robert Huanga). Robert is from Burma. We picked him up at his apartment and he helped load the things from Sister Sundoy’s house into the car. We then visited with the Sundoy’s for a while. He appreciated our visit, as she is getting dementia and he is not able to leave her much, so he appreciates other adult conversation when he can. They are both very good people and we enjoyed our visit. From there we went to the building where they had held church and sorted through things in the storage cabinet, boxing up some things and tossing others and left some things there to be dealt with later. The only thing left of value is a piano, which is better than any of the pianos we have in Trondheim, so we will recommend to Pres. Paulsen that he have it shipped here. Once we were all loaded we returned to our hotel to spend the night and get rest before continuing the drive on Monday.
Monday it was snowing lightly in Kristiansund. We prayed that we would have good weather and clear roads, as we were going to be traveling over some mountains to get back home. The snow continued until we got off the ferry that crossed the fjord about 30 km from Kristiansund. When we left the ferry, we could see blue skies in the direction we were headed. There was no more snow and the roads were clear all the way back to Trondheim. We were grateful that our prayers had been answered.
We had made this drive back in late September, so it was interesting to see it now. Although it was not snowing, it had snowed earlier, so everything along the way was white. It was cold out (we did not pray for heat, just clear weather and roads), so there was frost on all the trees, power lines, etc. making for a beautiful scene.
We arrived home about 12:30 and found the elders at the church, so they helped unload the car, we then returned the rental car and went home to get laundry done to prepare for travel to zone conference in Oslo on Tuesday and Wednesday. That will be another update.
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