Greetings to all from Norway!
Another fun-filled and interesting week in Trondheim is quickly coming to a close. Spring is still very much working its way into the country, as we continue to have temperatures in the mid 40’s to low 50’s. It is amazing what long sunny days do.
On Monday afternoon, we, along with the missionaries were invited by one of the members to workout at a gym near the center of town. Since Monday was “2nd Easter Day” it was still a holiday in Norway and the gym was allowing members to invite those who are not members of the gym to come in free and use the facilities. We enjoyed about an hour on the various exercise machines and did enough that we all felt the effects on Tuesday.
Our Family Home Evening Monday evening was a discussion of conference talks, led by Sister Engebretsen. There was a good group (13) present and it was interesting to see what people got out of the talks. Some picked up on things totally different from others, I assume because those were the things that had greatest meaning to them and applied more to their life situation. For refreshments Corrie had made a lemon cheese cake, which was more like a lemon meringue pie. I told her that after the Mississippi mud pie and apple pie she had made last week and now this, I needed to see if I couldn’t find a grandson who could marry her so I could continue to have her desserts for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, there are none who fit her age (25).
We had some good visits with members and investigators with both the elders and sisters during the week and enjoyed feeling the spirit that influences these people to continue to study and pray about the gospel message. Institute class on Wednesday evening was well attended and Nancy’s beef stew (Stephanie’s recipe) was enjoyed by all.
On Friday evening, the young adults and missionaries all met at the church at 6 p.m. to do some cleanup in and around the building in preparation for the branch conference that would occur on Saturday and Sunday. We had 20 young people there and they were amazing. They cleaned all of the chandeliers (10), taking off the bottom “bowl” from each, washing them, cleaning inside and on top of the fixtures and cleaning the covers on the wall sconces. It had been a long time since cleaning of this nature had been done. We had two large ladders in the chapel, with one person up and another down doing the washing of removed parts. To get the ladders in place, it was necessary to move some of the benches out of the chapel to the cultural hall and move others around to get ladders in the right places. This made it easy to vacuum the carpet in areas where it was otherwise difficult. And since we were moving benches, they were all cleaned thoroughly also. Another group of 8 were outside raking leaves, picking up the debris of winter, cleaning gravel (used to improve footing on sidewalks and driveway) from the winter, pulling weeks, etc. Another group was cleaning the kitchen—stove, top of cupboards, etc. They worked hard for 2 hours and got a lot accomplished, then as pay, we brought in pizzas and pop. Having worked so hard, they were hungry!! We had 8 large pizzas and I think there were only 2 pieces left.
On Saturday morning, there was a group of 10 back to play floor hockey in the cultural hall before the conference meeting began later in the afternoon. We picked up President Johansen at the airport at 9:30 and brought him in to the church so he could join the branch mission leader in visiting with several members in their homes before he started meetings at 4:30. Sister Johansen had to be to a women’s conference in Oslo in the morning, so she did not arrive here until 6p.m. but was present for the last half of the evening meeting which started at 6. We heard good counsel from President Johansen and his 2nd counselor, Pres. Berg as well as the mission Relief Society President. The meeting was well attended by members and investigators and all were spiritually fed.
The Johansen’s spent the night with us and Sister Johansen was not feeling well (flu like symptoms) when they retired for the night. She felt worse when she woke up this morning, but was able to eat some waffles for breakfast before Nancy took her to the airport to return home while Pres. Johansen and I went to a meeting with the missionaries and branch mission leader.
I had suggested to Pres. Johansen that it would probably be good if he could meet with all of the new converts and investigators during Sunday school time, which he agreed to do. There was a large class—27 people in attendance and he led a good discussion. There were 6 young women who were here on a school assignment, to learn about our religion and they enjoyed the whole class, plus the sacrament meeting. There were also 7 investigators in attendance, so he had a good opportunity to encourage those who are investigating the gospel.
We normally have between 50 and 65 people in attendance at Sacrament meeting. Today there were 90. It was impressive to see that the whole chapel was full. Again, we enjoyed good messages from the mission presidency and the branch President, President Paulsen. We feel so blessed to be here with these good people and working with so many fine young people. Corrie has decided to be baptized this next Saturday, so that has made the past few days and the coming week very exciting. She is studying microbiology at the university and wants to be a pathologist. She comes from The Netherlands and is a very sweet young woman (plus being a great cook). It has been exciting to watch her as she has received a testimony of the gospel and has become good friends with others in the branch. We are looking forward to next Saturday!
We are reminded daily of the great love our Father In Heaven has for each of His children. We also have great love for each of our children and grandchildren and are very happy with each of you.
Love,
Mom and dad/Gerald and Nancy/Grandma and Grandpa/Nana and Granddad
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