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