We have had a wonderful Easter and enjoyed General Conference this weekend. Love to all
Spring has started arriving in Trondheim this week. The snow is mostly gone (except the huge piles and shaded areas). I use the hill behind our apartment as a gauge for spring and the top portion for about 150 feet is brown now instead of white. We have had temperatures up in the mid 40’s which is making everyone shed the winter coats, hats, gloves, boots, etc. The days are longer now—sunrise is about 5:30 a.m. and sunset around 8:30 p..m. It is still fairly light until about 9 p.m.
The best thing about this week is the ending—Easter Sunday today. We have shared the message of the first Easter with most of those we have visited this week. It is amazing to think of how confused and excited the followers of Christ must have been on that first Easter morning. The scriptures tell us that the apostles did not believe Mary when she came and told them that she had seen Christ. Nor did they believe the two whom He walked with on the road to Emmaus. Although He had told them many times that He would rise on the third day, it was still a hard concept for them to understand and only when He actually appeared to them did they finally believe. We are glad that we have the testimonies of all who have seen Him and we have received the witness of The Spirit that He truly does live!
Easter Sunday in Trondheim is starting out as a beautiful day. The sun is shining and the sky is clear blue. We will have the opportunity today to watch some of General Conference. We are 9 hour ahead of the West Coast of the US, so yesterday we watched the Saturday morning session live at 6 p.m. then came home to catch a little bit of the Saturday afternoon session on the computer starting at 10 p.m., before we got too tired and went to bed. We did hear in that session that Brad Risenmay, former stake president in Othello, WA has been called to be an Area Seventy. We were glad to hear that news and ask that those who know Brad express our congratulations to him.
Before the conference session yesterday, one of the members, Harald Myhren, had invited all of the missionaries to join him for “middag” (mid-day meal) at 5 p.m. He cooked the meal at the church and we ate in the cultural hall. It was also Elder Henshaw’s birthday, so Nancy baked a birthday cake (delicious chocolate) and we brought ice cream for dessert. There were a couple of members there early to get the church set up for conference, so they joined us, as did Corrie Dam, a young woman from The Netherlands who has been meeting with the sister missionaries for the past couple of months. Harald gave Elder Henshaw a printed “Happy Birthday” banner, Nancy put three (2 + 1=21) small battery powered candles on the cake and we all sang happy birthday. I gave Elder Henshaw a can of A&W root beer to enjoy with his meal. We found root beer in a store here in town a few weeks ago and bought a few cans to savor at the right moment. They were a real bargain at $5/can.
There is a group of students studying film production at the college who visited the church a few weeks ago and wanted to do a documentary on missionary life. They were present on Monday evening and filmed our Family Home Evening. I was “fortunate” enough to have been assigned the lesson for the night before we knew they wanted to come. It was hard to ignore them, as they had bright lights on in the room and a large boom mike that was moved over those who were responding. However, it was a good experience and everyone pretty well participated as normal and the film crew got a good lesson on the importance of “inquiring of the Lord” when we have decisions to make in life.
On Tuesday we drove out to visit with the Husby’s in a place called Hommelvik. They have just returned from winter in Spain, so we were anxious to visit with them again. Ivar, who is not a member of the church, is about 85 and is starting to have signs of memory loss. Malfried is 82 and still very sharp. Although not a member, Ivar attends church with his wife every week that they are able. I asked him one day why he has not been baptized and he said “I am afraid of the water”.
On Wednesday morning I got a call from the VW dealer saying that our car was ready and as they would be closing at 1:00 p.m. (everything shuts down for Easter week, beginning at 1 on Wednesday for most businesses and will be closed until Tuesday morning) could I come over before then to pick it up. When I got there, I asked what they had done and was told that they replaced the fuel pump—something I had been suggesting as the problem from the first time. Since it had taken so long to get this right, they only charged their cost for the fuel pump, no labor and paid for our rental car. I think we are through with car failures. Our new car is supposed to be in Oslo the end of this month, so we will drive to Oslo sometime toward the end of April to pick it up and drive back. On the way down or back, we plan to stop in the small town of Skjåk to visit with Erna Skogset, a woman I knew in Oslo when I was a missionary there in 1960. We visited with her in Oslo when we were here 5 years ago on vacation and we have talked a few times since. She lives with her son and daughter-in-law and has Parkinson’s disease, does not hear well and has a hard time talking, but otherwise, she is doing well. Occasionally I get a phone call from her but cannot hear anything from her end. But we are glad that she is thinking of us.
We had been invited to lunch on Wednesday with one of the members, Inger Jorgensen. Her husband, George, works on a boat and is gone for a month or two at a time. When we arrived, Nancy said something to her about being lonely. She replied, “I am often alone, but never lonely.” I thought that was a good reply and truly fits her, she is always involved with several things and does not have time to be lonely. She chairs an inter faith council here in Trondheim, which is a huge step as in the past Mormons would not even have been invited to sit with such councils.
As it is Easter break we did not have institute class on Wednesday night, but we still got together with the young adults for dinner followed by an activity. I put together the pictures and videos I had taken of the snow activity last Friday evening and we watched that, then played a game (balloon hockey) until everyone was exhausted, then they just sat and visited for an hour or so. It was a good evening. I had met with Sister Molholt earlier in the evening as she was teaching Corrie and at one point, Corrie expressed some concerns and I told her that whenever she felt a need to talk, she could call the sisters. She said, yes, but these problems usually come up after 11 p.m. I said well, they should be asleep at that time, but we (Nancy and I) are usually still up and if not, I keep the cell phone by the bed and will answer whenever, so I gave her our phone number. At about 11:15, I looked at the phone and saw that I had missed a call at 10:57, when we were in the kitchen and the phone was in the bedroom, I did not recognize the number so was going to ignore it until the morning, then I remembered my conversation with Corrie earlier in the evening and something told me I had better reply. So I called the number and sure enough, it was Corrie. She had been working late at the laboratory where she is doing a project for school. When she looked outside at a little before 11, it had gotten very dark and there was no one out and about because of the Easter holiday. She felt worried about her safety in walking home and since she did not know where else to turn, she decided to take me up on my offer. We went to her lab and picked her up and took her home.
We have enjoyed General Conference, although it is a different experience. On Saturday at 4 p.m. we watched a rebroadcast of the Young Women broadcast from a week ago, then we had the dinner with Harald and the missionaries. That was followed by a live broadcast of the Saturday morning session of conference at 6 p.m.
Today, Sunday, we returned to church at 11 a.m. to watch a rebroadcast of the Priesthood session from last night. At 2 p.m. we watched a rebroadcast of the Saturday afternoon session. We had dinner with the young adults at 4:30 (tacos for Easter dinner??). Corrie made a “Mississippi mud pie” and an apple pie for dessert—both delicious. I told her if I was 50 years younger and single, she would be on the top of my list. At 5:30 p.m. we watched Music and the Spoken Word, followed by the Sunday morning session (live). The missionaries had asked the president if they could stay at the church to watch the Sunday afternoon session (which started at 10 p.m.), so we watched that until it ended at midnight, then took Corrie and some of the missionaries home and it is now only 1:30 a.m.
We are grateful to be here engaged in the Lord’s work among some wonderful people. We are especially mindful today of the sacrifice of the Savior for each of us and are grateful to Him.
May God bless each of you and your families with health and the peace that He brings.
Love,
Mom and dad/Gerald and Nancy/grandma and grandpa/Elder and Sister Sorensen
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