Stavanger Part 2

   Stavanger

Stavanger in the rain.  Hotel umbrellas.

Monument of "The Swords in the Rock Monument"  At least that's what I think they're called.  Taken on the coast.  Site of a viking battle which culminated in the unifying of the country. Our taxi driver, who took the picture, reminded us that as glamorous as the Vikings sound, many of their battles included the raping and killing of villagers.

"Burnies", or the three elders going home on October 27th.  Elders Young, Harris, and Fish.  This was final dinner at the President's home.

Elder Harris, or, "Brannick".

Stavanger

Third week of October the mission flew us and 4 other couples to a conference in Stavanger, a beautiful city on the southwest coast.  Stavanger is Seattle-ish with lots of rain and not much snow.  This shot was taken in front of the Thon Hotel where we stayed.  This is downtown Stavanger in the old section of town.  

Stavanger at night.

While walking downtown we ran into Elders Smith and Hill

Elders Smith and Hill



 Stavanger

Friends Elder and Sister Burton, who toured with us in Stavanger

Stavanger

Walk

A favorite walk around the lake

Autumn Leaves Of October

Back at the office this is the view outside Dana's window.  The hill in the background has several trails going through it and is like hiking through the High Uintah's in Utah.  Strange thing is that you're never more than a couple hundred yards from civilization.

At the office.  This is Norwegian liquid soap.  It works so don't knock it.

Our apartment

Our cool little VW Polo.  Come on, everybody regrets not having photos of vehicles they've driven.  They're family!The autumn leaves of October Autumn at a lake we like to walk around

Opera

Back in August we attended an outdoor concert at the opera house in Oslo.  We went with President and Sister Johansen, the Burton's, the couple that was in the MTC with us and who oversee the Young Adult Center in Oslo, Elisabeth, Hege, and Francis.  Francis is currently investigating the Church, Hega was baptized soon after this concert, and Elisabeth was baptized last January.  The opera house is located right on the Oslo Fjord.  The cement of the house goes right down into the fjord.  The outdoor stage for the orchestra is located in the fjord.  It was a neat experience.

Before attending the opera house concert we ate at a Thai restaurant and then walked to the opera house.  These bikes are for public transportation and bikes like these are stationed throughout the city.  People wanting to ride them pay a monthly fee and ride them whenever they want, picking one up at one location and leaving it at another.

Sitting on the cement of the opera house watching the orchestra who are located on a stage in the water.

The opera house.

Still at the opera house; pictures of boats in the Oslo Fjord.

Opera House - Dana at dusk.  A hotel in the background

Working Hard

Hi, we've been under criticism lately from those who read our blog; they claim we're not on a mission but a vacation because all our pics show us in our non-missionary clothing touring a beautiful place.  Well the first pic is proof that we're not all fun and no work.  This is our mission finance secretary, Sister Springer, as she pours over that latest bills to pay from vendors (most written in Norwegian), reimburses missionaries for expenses, fills out lots of reports, buys new cars, approves car repairs, and allocates money for the young missionaries' base pay. Just to name a few things.  Vacation?  Come on!  She's at the office 11-12 hours a day.

This is our apartment complex.  The photo is taken from our deck.  We live in a suburb of Oslo named Bekkestua (spit that one out) - about the same distance as Salt Lake to Murray.  The place we live is nothing like downtown Oslo - not a lot of cool historical buildings and fountains and palaces - more like a suburb.  How's that?  Anyway, we like where we live and are only about 7 minutes from the office.

This is Elder Harris, one of the AP's in the office.  Harris went home just last week.  It's becoming really tough to say goodbye to people you get to know.

Here is the cute office secretary, Elder Springer.  He answers mail, does some correspondence for the president, orders everything (Book of Mormon copies, pass-a-longs, office supplies, etc, and spends quite a bit of the day mailing these supplies out to missionaries.  He also prepares for incoming and outgoing missionaries, does the monthly newsletter, takes his 15-minute power naps on the floor, prepares missionary work permits, and a bunch of other stuff cute office secretaries do.  Actually, Dana and Norm have violated the long-tested stereotype that men are the only people qualified to do math and women are alone in the skills requiring typing skills. People who call us and don't know us typically ask Norm questions involving money and Dana questions about things like typing a letter.  

This is us in the office conference room eating lunch with President and Sister Johansen ( I think - won't let me enlarge the pic), Elizabeth, a new convert, and the AP's.

Fort

Hei, hei.  Still at the fort.  Mom insists we show some shots with me.  Duh. 

Cannon.  How bout dat?

At the end of a tunnel.



Overlooking the fjord from the fort.



Inside the corridor of the fort standing next to Norwegian symbol.  The fort dates back to the 1700's, I think.

Favorite Lake

A series of pictures taken with Mom and her friends while on a walk around our favorite lake



Another sunset over the Oslo fjord (!)

 

Another.  How bout that show?



 Little cars this size are all over.  We need to show you one, sometime, that is even smaller and runs on sidewalks!



Statues everywhere, of course, because this is Europe.  Cool, huh?  The statue was about 10 feet high.



Oslo Part 3

 Who wudda thought Rick Manzanares worked at a Thai restaurant in downtown Oslo?  It actually looked more like him before he smiled

Sunday dinner last week was at this apartment/condo.  Halvor is Norwegian and Sally is English, very English, as in, Birmingham.  She and her kids have the most awesome Birmingham accents you've ever heard.  Imagine a little girl saying, "Motha, I have a question.  When are we going to have some of that lovely cake?"  Sally and hubby met while both missionaries in England.  Both have really neat conversion stories, I mean their own conversions.



More Sally's house.



We had a zone conference in Oslo.  Awesome missionaries.