Feb 1 - 7, 2010

This has been another of those weeks that when Saturday rolls around, we ask “what happened to the days between Sunday and today?” 

On Monday, the young missionaries wanted to do something different for P-day and suggested that we take the ferry across the fjord to the town of Rørvik (a 25 minute ride).  By the time we all got together and found out ferry schedules, it was about 2 in the afternoon, so we suggested that we do something different today and take the ferry early in the day next Monday. So for “something different” we drove to a ski area just out of town.  There were several people there on a cross country ski trail and a large ski jump that was not being used. That got the attention of the missionaries very quickly. Soon, Elder Henshaw and Sister Engebretsen were walking up the stairs toward the top of the jump. They stopped at the bottom of the jump, walked out on the hill and soon Elder Henshaw was on his back sliding down the hill—followed by Sister Engebretsen. When they arrived at the bottom, they were joined by Elder Richardson and Sister Mølholt for the climb back to the top, then one by one, each slid down the hill. If you picture the hill that ski jumpers land on, you will see that it is not a short hill and quite steep.  By the time they reached the bottom, snow had been flying in their faces and their hair was coated with snow and ice (it was -15C).  The elders were wearing jeans while the sisters were both wearing skirts. After the second time down, they were all ready to go home and get warm before family home evening.  We had a good crowd (14 including 6 missionaries) at FHE. It is fun to see the room full and to hear the discussions that take place between many nationalities all joined by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

While we were at the ski hill, I received a call from Pres. Johansen asking if we could find another apartment in Trondheim. He also asked if we could go to Ålesund on Sunday, February 21 because the branch president is going to be out of town.  When we checked flights from here to there, we found that there are no direct flights on the weekend.  It should be a 45 minute flight, but without direct flights it requires us to fly to Oslo, wait for a couple of hours, then fly to Ålesund.  Because of that we can’t fly down on Sunday morning and be there in time for church, so it would require a Saturday flight and stay overnight.  Mom suggested that I ask the president to consider sending the office couple, the Arnesens.  When I suggested that, he thought that was a wonderful idea and would give them an opportunity to get out of the office for a day and see the workings of a small branch. So now we will not have to be gone from Trondheim 2 weekends in a row (we are going to Mo I Rana this Saturday and Sunday)

Most of the rest of the days were spent looking at apartments for rent.  We have come to know Trondheim quite well as this will be the third apartment we have had to find for missionaries.  On Thursday afternoon, we found a very nice apartment in a fairly new building in one of the nicer areas in downtown Trondheim.  The apartment belongs to a Vietnamese girl who got transferred to Oslo.  When I talked with her, she asked how long we wanted to rent and I responded, “as long as possible, how long do you want to rent it?”  Her answer, “as long as possible.”  Her father met us at the apartment and showed it to us. Afterward, she called to see how we liked it and said that her father liked us and suggested that she should rent to us over the others he had shown it to (we had explained to him that we would not be living there, but it would be 2 American missionaries).  I told her we really liked it, but we had appointments to see a couple of others the next morning, so I would call after we had seen them.  On Friday I called her back and told her that we would like to rent it and gave her Elder Arnesens name and said I would have him call her to put the contract together.  One thing the mission does not do is pay a deposit for an apartment. Instead, they give the owner a “guarantee letter” in which we agree to pay the owner 6 months rent if we terminate the lease early.  This keeps the Church from having lots of money in various deposits around the country and also gives the owner a “bonus” if we should ever break the lease, as normally they are looking for 2 months deposit. After she talked with Elder Arnesen, she called me back and said she had to have a deposit and unless I could convince him to pay a deposit, she would need to look for another renter.  We really wanted this apartment, so I called Elder Arnesen and talked with him. He sent her a copy of several recent letters and gave her names and phone numbers of the landlords. She called a few of them, then called him back and said she was good with the letter.  It is amazing how the Lord works to make it possible for us to have the things we need.  Most apartments here are unfurnished, so now Nancy will get to shop again.  We have found IKEA to be a great place to shop (along with most of Norway).  They have good bunkbeds which I am becoming proficient at putting together with a few simple tools. We know where to get good buys on washing machines and all the other things needed to furnish a missionary apartment.

I finally made contact this week with Erik Sæther.  He is a man who stayed in our home about 20 years ago as a 16 year old traveling with a Norwegian school band group. We had 5 young Norwegians between the ages of 15 and 18 stay with us for a couple of days while they performed in Richland.  We took them all waterskiing the first day they were there and they had a great time. They left us with a post card on which they all wrote their names and addresses. On the front was an aerial view of Trondheim city and harbor.  I brought that with me to see if I could find them here. Todd Merkley had met Erik about 10 years ago when he was here and we have communicated a little before.  We will get together with he and his family sometime this week.

We joined the elders and sisters in teaching a few of their investigators during the week and the sisters joined us in teaching Åsta and Eirik last night. They prepared a delicious turkey dinner and we had a very good visit with them. They have twin daughters who will be 3 on the 13th.  The sisters were smitten by the two young girls.  They are very adorable.  Mom helped Åsta get them ready and put them to bed. She read one of them a book (in Norwegian) and said after she came downstairs, “they will probably never here a story like that again!”  They live about an hour and 15 minutes out of town, so by the time we got back we just got the sisters home for their 9:30 curfew.

On Friday night, the sisters had planned a “sushi night” as a way of getting two fairly new members (Lisa and Xin) involved with other young single adults. They planned to have Lisa and Xin (both from China) demonstrate how to make sushi and had invited one of the Norwegian members.  About Thursday, Sister Engebretsen told us that the party was growing and it looked like there might be 6 of them—“could we do it in your apartment?”  “Sure, why not.” By the time Friday night rolled around, there were 8 young women—2 from China, 2 from Norway, 2 American missionaries, one investigator from Turkey (also blind) and one from Uganda.  They had a wonderful time and we enjoyed the results.

Today in sacrament meeting, I had the opportunity to bless the youngest daughter of Sister Bjørnevåg.  She is 2-1/2 years old and very shy.  It was very heart warming to be able to bless her and have the family all present.  Sometimes we wonder if we are doing any good, then we see someone like Sister Bjørnevåg who has not been active for sometime start coming to church each week with her 4 children and we can see that we are having an impact.

Last week Benildo, a new convert, said that he wanted to learn to play the piano.  I (Nancy) had some simple primary songs that had been put into “C” five finger notes.  Today we practiced a little bit on that.  Elder Richardson drew the piano keys with the names for the five finger exercise and then he drew a staff to show him where the notes were.  I started him on one piece and he asked for the other one—I Am A Child of God.  Benildo is married and his wife and children are still in Mozambique.  Hopefully he will have another skill when he returns to his native country after his studies at the university are finished.

This is our kind of missionary work in Norway.  We are blessed to work with wonderful young missionaries, strong leaders in the branch and great members and investigators.

The past few days the weather has warmed up to as high as 4C.  Today it snowed, rained, sun shined, snowed and rained some more. Things are getting a bit slushy now as the temperature has been on the + side of 0 all day.  Spring must be just around the corner.

We love the gospel and the opportunity to share it with the people here in Norway (no matter where they may come from). 

Love,
Mom and dad/grandma and grandpa/Gerald and Nancy/Elder and Sister Sorensen