This has been another of those “2-day” weeks in which the time between Monday and the next Sunday is a blur. We are sure we did something, but without looking at the calendar, would have a hard time remembering what happened yesterday.
To begin with, we were able to pick up the key to the new missionary apartment on Friday the 12th before leaving on Saturday to spend the weekend in Mo I Rana. We had gone to IKEA that Friday afternoon to make sure they had the bunk beds and table we wanted for the apartment—they did not have the bunkbeds, but said they would have some on Saturday.
Monday morning I (Gerald) went to IKEA as soon as they opened to see if they still had the bunkbeds—they did. I bought the beds and called our Branch mission leader (Ole Petter Gjevik) to have him come meet me so he could put the beds on his car rack (he has a Jeep Cherokee), as there was no way I could carry them in or on the Polo. I also called the Elders to have them meet us at the new apartment so they could carry the beds to the elevator and into the room. We got that all done and put the beds together, then it was back to IKEA to buy the table (it fit in the Polo). We had purchased mattresses and pads a week ago as the last time they did not have the mattresses we wanted for the bunkbeds, so we bought them when they were available and had them in our apartment for a week.
Since this would be Elder Richardson’s last Monday in Trondheim, we had told the missionaries we would take them all to EGON for lunch (EGON is a nice restaurant which has an all you can eat pizza and salad bar lunch for “only” 99 kroner--~$15.00), so we dropped the table on the floor of the apartment (still in the box) and headed to meet the missionaries. After lunch we went back to purchase other things needed for the apartment and after dropping those off, it was time to meet one of the members at the church so he could show me how to get the projector which is mounted on the ceiling in the YSA room to work with a laptop. When we finished that, it was time for family home evening and then home to bed.
On Tuesday, our public affairs director (Inger Jørgensen) had made arrangements to have 2 groups of school students (~15 year olds) come to the church to tour the building and find out “what is a Mormon”. In the public schools, they teach a little about religions of the world, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Inger is friends with several teachers, so one day she asked some of them why they did not just bring their classes to the church to find out what we believe, rather than try to explain it themselves. So this year, a few of them took her offer. We had 2 groups of about 20 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning. Each group was with us for about 90 minutes. The first groups started at 9, so we were there at 8:15 and finished at about 1 p.m.
The school groups were interesting. For most of them, the girls all sat on one side of the chapel and the boys on the other. For most of the groups, the girls asked the majority of the questions. Two questions were common for all groups—what do you think about sex before marriage? How about same sex marriage? The young missionaries did most of the presentations and they handled questions very well. At the beginning, they would ask; “How many of you believe in God?” (usually only 3 or 4 hands). “How many believe that there is no God?” (2 or 3 hands). “How many are not sure?” (the remainder). We gave them tours of the building, beginning with the chapel, then the cultural hall, the YSA Institute room, the primary room and baptismal font and finished in the family history center. Most groups were very well mannered and asked good questions all along the way.
After the groups were finished on Tuesday, it was back to shopping for the essentials for a missionary apartment—clothes drying rack, dish towels, ironing board, iron, etc. In the evening, we made phone calls to less active members to invite them to a branch party that would occur on Friday night and see if we could get appointments with some of them.
Wednesday was transfer day. I picked up the two new elders—Elder Torvald Johnson (from Lincoln, Nebraska) and Elder Travis Spencer (from Riverton, UT)—at the airport at 9 a.m. Elder Johnson has been in Norway for about 10 months and came here from Skien (near Oslo). Elder Spencer came from the MTC. Nancy does not accompany me on these runs, as two elders and their luggage take up all the available space in the car. We dropped their luggage at the apartment and then I took them to the church so they could get a taste of missionary work right away. There was a group just starting when we arrived, so Elder Henshaw had the two new missionaries join him (Elder Richardson left on a 6 a.m. flight to Oslo and his new companion would not be in until 5 p.m) and the sisters in front of the group where he did introductions. He told the group that Elder Spencer had just arrived in Norway yesterday with 9 weeks of Norwegian language training before arrival, so he asked Elder Spencer to introduce himself—på Norsk. He did a good job and the kids were impressed. After this group finished, I went to get Nancy, left her at the church and went to set up the table in the new apartment. I parked the car, and then saw a parking place closer to the building so went to move the car and it would not start. After several vain attempts, I called the VW dealer and they told me to call “Viking tow service”, which I did. After about an hour the tow truck showed up. While waiting, I realized that I would not be going anywhere for a while and I was supposed to pick up two senior sister missionaries from Germany at the airport at 4 p.m. I called Elder Henshaw and asked if he could catch the bus to the airport (he was going to ride out with me and wait for his new companion) and meet the two sisters. They were coming to do some training of us and the Heers (a senior couple from Tromsø) on the YSA Outreach Program. The Heers would be arriving on Thursday morning. The tow truck showed up and the driver asked me what the problem was. I told him it seemed to be a fuel problem, as the battery was strong and the car seemed like it wanted to start, but was not getting enough gas. He listened while I cranked it for a while, then checked all the fuses, looked at the owner’s manual, fussed with a few things under the hood, then said “try it now”. I did and it started! I left the car running, got out and asked him “what did you do?” He replied, “I don’t know.” We both had a good laugh, he filled out his paper work and we each went on our way. Now it was time to meet Sister Gutherie and Sister Hansen when they got off the bus downtown, so the table had to wait. I met them, took them to their hotel, then we went to the church where Nancy was preparing dinner for Institute which would begin at 6 p.m. We had a good group at dinner and Nancy made “olive garden” soup, which was a big hit. She made waaaay too much, so the missionaries had lunch for the next few days. After institute, we took Sisters Gutherie and Hansen on a bit of a tour of Trondheim before returning them to their hotel.
On Thursday morning we were at the church at 9 for the school groups, then I went to pick up sisters Gutherie and Hansen at the hotel. I parked on the sidewalk in front of the hotel, they got in and the car would not start!! Same problem as yesterday. We were only about 4 blocks from the church and it was only -10, so we walked to the church, while I called the tow service and the VW dealer. Since I was only going to be gone for a few minutes, I had not bothered to wear my overcoat---bad decision, it was a cold walk! I then walked back to the car to wait for the tow truck. This time, I told him that it was best to just tow it to the dealer and see if I can get it fixed for good. The Heers arrived about the time I got back from the hotel the 2nd time, we visited for a while, then the 6 of us went across the street to a café for lunch before starting a training meeting at 1 p.m. We finished the meeting at about 3:15 and the dealer called to tell me that the car was ready. They have a shuttle van that came to the hospital across the street about that time, so I caught the shuttle and went to get the car. I asked the service rep what the problem was and he said they replaced a coolant temperature sensor and updated some information in the computer. I asked how that fixed a fuel problem and did not get a very comforting answer—but the car started when I got in it. We took the sisters to do some shopping for things from Norway, then took them home and went to IKEA to buy some lamps for the apartment. The elders had put the table together on Wednesday night, but the only light in the apartment was in the bathroom, so we bought two floor lamps and took them to the apartment and set them up so they had light when they returned home that night.
On Friday, we picked up Sisters Gutherie and Hansen at 10 and took them to the airport, then met sisters Engebretsen and Molholt to teach one of their investigators (a young student from Ghana). We then went to the church to begin preparing fruit plates for the branch party that evening. We got a call on Tuesday afternoon asking if we could prepare the fruit plates. One of the counselors in the branch presidency had procured the fruit—a box of grapes, box of apples, box of pears, box of grapes, box of bananas and a box of oranges. We enlisted the help of some of the YSA and began peeling and cutting fruit. We had most of the oranges, apples and pears cut up when Cory Dam (a young student investigator from Holland) and Torunn Hansen (a Norsk member) showed up. Nancy asked if they could put the fruit plates. Cory was amazing! She made the fruit look so appealing.
The branch party started at 6 and began with salads, bread and cold cuts. The fruit was dessert. There were about 50 people present, including several investigators and everyone had plenty to eat and a good time.
On Saturday at 11 a.m., we had our weekly district meeting, as things were hectic on Tuesday. We were at the church until about 2:30 p.m. and when we got ready to leave, the car would not start—same problem! So I called the dealership only to find that they closed at 2 on Saturday. They did have an after hours number—in Oslo—which I called and the lady said she would call Viking (we are getting to be good friends). After about an hour the truck showed up and we both rode with him to the dealership, where we were met by a cab which took us to the airport to pick up a rental car. Things work differently here in Norway. Since our maintenance was all done on schedule with the dealer, the dealership will pay for the rental car (deduct it from the bill), as well as our $100.00 cab ride to the airport. All arranged by the towing company.
On Friday, we had been contacted by Matt Horrocks, a young man who is in the US Air Force stationed in Germany. He was here back in November and spent a night with us so he could go to church on Sunday. Matt was a missionary in Austria several years ago and served with Boyd and Marge Newman. It is amazing how small the world is. He comes to Norway for training with a NATO group he is assigned to and they are stationed a couple of hours out of Trondheim. He was coming to Trondheim on Saturday to snowboard and attend church. We met him in town after picking up the rental car Saturday night and we came to our apartment for ice-cream and some games before retiring for the night. He slept well, as he had been snowboarding for all day on Saturday.
Sunday was a good day—the car started! I dropped Nancy and Matt at church early, then went to pick up one of the new members (Victor) and an investigator (Lenacat). Victor is from Nigeria and Lenacat is from Afghanistan. We had a good group of investigators at church today, at least 6. The three young men who have joined the church since December—Shina, Victor and Benildo (the first two from Nigeria, the latter from Mozambique) all passed the sacrament in church today. It was a wonderful sight to see the three of them in their white shirts and ties taking care of their priesthood duties. Nancy has begun teaching Benildo to play the piano and today Shina said he wanted to learn as well, so she will soon have a full schedule of piano lessons.
Elder Spencer was asked to bear his testimony in Sacrament meeting today and he did a good job. He is anxious to learn the language and speaks it every time he has a chance. Elder Johnson was asked to say the closing prayer at the end of sacrament meeting and when we finished singing the intermediate hymn, he walked up to the podium and got in front of the microphone before the branch president told him “that was the intermediate hymn.” He was asked to speak in church next Sunday, so he will have a chance to be in front of the mike again.
Nancy played the organ in Sacrament meeting and I taught a Temple preparation class in Sunday School. We are enjoying the people here in Trondheim, it is a wonderful town and great people. The missionaries are hard working and they are finding some great young people to teach. We decided we should have some kind of activity for the young singles on the last Friday night of each month. In January it was an International Night and this coming Friday it will be a ping-pong tournament. Next Saturday, Cory, the young woman from Holland will be in a swimming meet in Hommelvik (about 15 km out of town), so we plan to go watch her compete. She is a lovely young lady and enjoys coming to church and meeting with the young singles. Her family is opposed to her joining the church, so she is torn as to what to do.
We have zone conference this week and it will be held in Stavanger, so I am anxious to go there, as this is where I spent 18 months of my mission 50 years ago. We were back in Stavanger in 2005, but have not been there at all since arriving here this time. I’m not sure why I am so excited, as we never have time to do anything but travel from the airport to the church, hold the meetings and return to the airport. Anyway, it will be good to set foot on Stavanger cobblestones again.
We catch the headlines occasionally in the stores and see that Norway is doing well in the winter Olympics in Vancouver.
We are grateful for the opportunity to be here in Norway at this time, serving the Lord among the people in this beautiful land. We pray for each of you.
Love,
Mom and dad/Gerald and Nancy/Grandma and grandpa/Elder and Sister Sørensen
