love,
mom and dad/Gerald and Nancy
Spring has come to Norway!!! And with it, we received
a visit from the first of our family to make the journey to this beautiful
country.
Monday was a beautiful day and the weather showed strong
signs of spring. We had a good group at
Family Home Evening this evening and a good lesson by Robin, one of our young
single adults—a returned missionary from the Ukraine.
On Tuesday, we visited with the Husby’s, an older couple in
the branch who live about 25 km south of town in a place called Hommelvik. They
are just one block above the fjord and have a wonderful view out to the fjord
from the front porch area. Målfrid is a
member of the church, but Ivar is not. They are both in their mid 80’s and
enjoy having us visit so they can use their English. He lived and worked in
Eastern Canada for many years before they married and she lived in Salt Lake City for many
years. They spend the winters in Spain and have
been back now since mid-March. Although
they live some distance from the church, they are both present every Sunday
that health permits.
Wednesday was spent mainly preparing for company and getting
things for Institute dinner in the evening. Nancy made a good beef stew, which is always
a favorite of the young people. This was
followed by a very good Institute lesson on chapters 1-6 in the Book of Moroni
by Nadia, as Oscar—the regular instructor—had gone to Stockholm to the temple
for the week along with a few other members of the branch.
We originally had a
mission conference scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, but that was
cancelled, so we were here to greet Caryn, Jim, Shayla, Marissa and Trenton when they arrived
at about 12:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon. We had told them that they would
need to take the bus in to town and that Nadia would meet them there and get
them to our apartment and let them in where they could nap until we returned
home about 10 p.m. from the conference in Oslo. Since the conference got
cancelled (now it will be next Wednesday and Thursday—19th and 20th)
we were here to meet them. They were a
bit surprised to see us standing there as they came out of the hall from
customs. Even though we were there with
the car, most of them still had to take the bus to town as the car was filled
with their luggage. I took Jim and Trenton with
me in the car and Nancy
took the girls on the bus. We took the
luggage home, packed it up the 3 flights of stairs to the apartment and then
Jim and Trenton
laid down to nap while I went to pick up the others. They were at the church when I got there, so
we were all soon home. After visiting for a while, Caryn, Shayla and Marissa
soon joined Jim and Trenton
in slumberland. After they awoke, we
went downtown—some by bus, some by car and took a walk around the cathedral,
down to the river and around some of the older parts of town, then down to the
canal and back up to the main bus stops where Jim and I caught the bus home
while the others drove in the car with Nancy.
After having had a nap, they were ready to stay up and see what time it
got dark at night. We were in town until about 10 p.m. and it looked like mid
afternoon. Nancy had prepared Chicken noodle soup
earlier in the day, which we ate before going to the city in the afternoon, so
there was nothing to do when we returned in the evening but eat some ice cream.
On Friday we had made
arrangements for Trenton
to join Elders Henshaw and Tedrow in being a “missionary for a day” beginning
at noon and finished at 3 p.m. The girls joined Sisters West and Molholt for
the same time and went out contacting on the streets with them. At the end of the day, they had all had good
experiences. The elders were impressed
with Trenton’s
testimony that he shared with a woman they met and brought to the church to
teach the first discussion. The girls
also joined the sisters in a couple of “teaches” and enjoyed the opportunity to
share their testimonies.
After picking up the young’uns, Caryn and Nancy took the bus
back to the apartment while Jim and I along with the kids went to get Kebabs
for dinner. Kebabs are new in Norway
since I was here 50 years ago (what isn’t?). I believe they originally come
from Turkey but are popular
all over Europe now. Sesam has the reputation
of being the best in Trondheim and many
missionaries say the best in Norway. They consist of meat (we like the “mix” of
beef, chicken and lamb), corn, onions, peppers, lettuce with a special sauce
and spices in a pita bread pocket. We
figured they had to experience a kebab while they were here, even though it is
not an authentic Norsk meal. It is certainly an authentic missionary and
student meal. Somewhere along the way,
we picked up some dry ice to make homemade root beer for the evenings young
adult music activity. Caryn and Jim
brought RB extract so we were able to have RB floats for treats at the
activity.
Jim and Nancy worked with the young people on some singing
tips while Caryn played the piano. The kids joined with the young people in the
activity and had an enjoyable time meeting the young people here in Trondheim.
The best we had to make RB in was a 10 gallon plastic
bucket. We quickly decided it is not as good as an old fashioned 10 gallon
metal milk can, as the lid would “blow off” or deform long before the RB had
time to be sufficiently pressurized to get the CO-2 gas in the mixture. However, it still had RB flavor and tasted
good with ice cream. Our grandkids made
sure I knew that it was not on a par with “uncle Bud’s” homemade RB.
After the activity was over, the volleyball net went up and many stayed to play
volleyball for the next hour or two before we all headed home—still in the
daylight.
On Saturday, the kids joined the missionaries and young
adults for sports in the church cultural hall—basketball and volleyball. At
noon, we met Inger Jørgensen for a trip out to her old family farm in Selbu,
about an hour drive from Trondheim.
On the way, we passed through the town of Hell
(means Luck in Norsk) where we had to take pictures to show that they have been
there and back. Inger’s farm has been in
the family since the 1700’s and has several out buildings that contain old
tools, clothing and farm equipment. Jim had a good time with his camera. While there, Trenton made a fire in the old wood stove so
we had some warmth, as the place has been closed up since the start of winter. We had a lunch of “trønder Sodd” which is a
soup of sorts containing vegetables, beef or mutton and small meat balls. On the way home, we traveled a different
route than we had taken out and traveled along two large lakes, Selbu sea
and Jonsvatnet. Nancy and I had been to Jonsvatnet last fall and I had some
pictures of the lake, but I thought what I saw at the time was all there was to
it. It turns out that we saw only a very small part of the lake. It is
beautiful and very picturesque. Clear water
and on the day we were driving very calm and flat. However, it turns out that it is the drinking
water source for Trondheim, so there is no boating or swimming allowed—except
rowboats (and maybe sailboats?)
On the way home, Inger had called a bakery to ask about some
Selbu Lefse (a moist flat bread). The
owner said they were closed, but he would be working around outside so just
stop by and he would open up for us. We
have eaten lefse quite a bit before, but this was better than most of what we
buy in the grocery stores. Jim and Caryn
also enjoyed lefse.
Nancy has introduced the
family to Norway
vanilla sauce, which I thoroughly enjoyed as a young missionary on ripsbær (red
currents). Nancy has found it is enjoyable on just about
anything. When we eat canned peaches,
she has vanilla sauce, I use the juice.
If we have fresh strawberries or any other fresh fruits, they get
vanilla sauce. I think she has even tried vanilla sauce on vanilla sauce and
enjoyed it. Anyway, Caryn now asks for vanilla sauce on whatever we are serving
for dessert.
We have also introduced them to “risengrøt”, a kind of rice
pudding/cereal. It is best when served
warm with sugar and cinnamon. However, Norwegians also like it cold with a red
sauce on it. The warm variety is our regular breakfast, but I take a break on
Saturdays and have eggs and hash browns.
Sunday (today) we enjoyed a good day in church and Jim,
Caryn, Shayla, Marissa and Trenton
sang in Sacrament meeting. They sang “love is spoken here” and did a very good
job. After church we returned home and
most “crashed” for a couple of hours after dinner. Nancy made an authentic Norsk dinner of
meatballs, boiled potatoes and red cabbage.
We managed to get in a little missionary work along the way
before the family showed up, but after that it was pretty much vacation except
when we had activities with the young adults.
We are grateful to be here and now some of the family has
gained a bit of a glimpse of why we enjoy it so much.
Tomorrow is May 17, which is Norway’s Constitution Day (1814).
It is a very big celebration throughout the country. Both men and women dress
in their national dress and every school child marches in parades. After the children parades, the drum and
bugle corps from various organizations march and on and on. It is a great day
for celebrating Norwegian freedom. We
cherish our freedoms and pray that we will continue to enjoy these freedoms.
Love,
Mom and dad/Gerald and Nancy/grandma and grandpa/Nana and
granddad
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