This morning at 2:30 a.m. my telephone rang. It was a lady, Erna Skogset, whom I knew when I was a missionary here 50 years ago. We have kept in contact a little over the years, she came to visit with us in Oslo when we were here 5 years ago and she was in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. Her husband (Kare) passed away about 3 years ago and she now lives with her son, Torgeir and his wife, Barbara in a little town of Skjak which is about 4 hours from Trondheim. I talked with her before we came to Norway and told her that we were coming and hoped to visit her sometime. I have called many times since we arrived and the only time I reached her, she said, "I am too sick to talk" and hung up. I have tried many times to get in touch with Torgeir, but never got answered. About 3 weeks ago, I called and he answered. We had a good talk (he was about 3 when I visited the family in Oslo in 1960) he told me her Parkinson's is very bad, that she cannot hold the phone and she has great difficulty hearing, but otherwise is doing OK. After that, I sent her a letter and included a photo of her with mom and I in Oslo 5 years ago. Last week when we were on the way to Mo I Rana, she called, but I could not get reception in the area and so we did not talk. Then this morning when the phone rang, I could not hear anyone on the other end, but could see the call came from her phone. About 7:30, she called again and I talked for several minutes, without hearing anything from her end other than the rustling of the phone as her hands shook. finally her daughter-in-law came and picked up the phone, she asked who was there and apologized that Erna had reached a wrong number. I told her "no, she reached whom she intended to reach" and explained our background. She was very kind and explained a little about Erna's condition. I asked for her email address so I could send email to her and she could let Erna read it, that was at least we could communicate. So she gave me her phone number so I could send her a text and she will send back the email address. We hope to get out to Skjak sometime in March when the snow goes away. When I spoke with Torgeir a few weeks ago, it was -10 here and -30 there, so we want it to warm up a little before we make the trip. Anyway, it was good to finally get some contact and I hope she is still living when the snow melts. These calls remind me of how important people are.
love,
dad
Erma, Gerald and Nancy - 1962. Erma came to California to visit them.
2005 - Trip to Norway
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