New Year's Eve in the Trondheim Fjord, the beginning of an annual tradition.  Norm challenges his kids, their spouses, and Elder Bischoff to a dip in Utah Lake on January 1st, 2013.  Chicken?

Worst part of the jump in the fjord experience was getting stuck on an icy hill afterward.  Had to get out in wet clothes to try to push the car back on the road.  A Good Norwegian Samaritan came by and pulled us up. Brrrrr.

In December Trondheim experience hurricane-type winds for two or three nights.  This shows a section of the fjord where waves were so strong it forced away the rock and dirt under a Nazi-built track that's been in existence since the 1940's.

No, it's  not the Northern Lights.  They appeared in the northern countries, including Trondheim, 11 days after we left the country.  Would loved to have seen them!

Turid!  Great cook, missionary support, wife, mom, grandma, and friend.  On this occasion she invited us to a Norwegian Christmas Eve dinner.

Beautiful dinner setting Christmas Eve.  Notice the lights and other decorations in the background.

Sister Taylor, Turid's daughter, Este Maria, and two beautiful daughters.  They live in Sweden but were visiting.

Hansen family hosting us Christmas Eve with Sisters Taylor and Grass.

With Torunn, Turid, and Harald

Hande, who is blind, helped prepare Christmas Day dinner at the church.  Dana hosted the dinner for missionaries and many others who had no family in town.

Shouldn't show this pic; Elders Strange, Bolt, Facer, and Bischoff catching a ride home in our VW Polo after Christmas Day celebration.

In December we were invited to dinner with Arne and Vera Dahlo, wonderful members in Trondheim.  Joining us were Rodrigo and his wife who are from Brazil.  Arne and Vera cooked "Rudolf", meaning we had reindeer for supper.  Delicious.

Took a 4-hour December road trip to the island of Smole to visit members.  Snowed the day before.  Nice.

Ahhhhh!

The not-so-humble winners of the games competition.  Sorry, some of them are so new we can't remember their names!  But we're sure Elder Smith, who put teams together, fixed this team to win.  And he still has a temple recommend?

Break time at Mission Conference.  Location for our spiritual learning at the Romerike chapel.

Part of the wonderful Johansen family who attended mission conference.  Sister J, son Andrew, nephew Elder Becker, and President J.  Andrew was on his way home from his mission in Spain and Elder B is serving in Norway. We miss the Johansens!

Elder and Sister Hickman are creating a Center for Young Adults in the city of Kristiansand, located on Norway's southern tip.  A wonderful couple who come from American Fork.

Elder Shigley was Elder S's dad, sort of.  Shigley took Norm contacting his first time and gave him the courage to stop people on the street.  Hey, it's harder than it sounds the first few times!

The beautiful, ever-so-spiritual, hard-working, obedient sisters in Norway.  Front row we have Sisters Ray, Floyd, and Fredrickson.  Back row are Sisters Butterfield, Taylor, and Grass.

Day two of mission conference was held at the Oslo chapel.  Lunchtime while Sister Johansen passes out Christmas gifts.

\Two days of early mornings and late nights at mission conference took its toll for these weary travelers as they awaited their flight back to Trondheim.  Elder Springer, Bolt, Facer, Bishoff, and Strange, a crew never to be forgotten!

And yes, Sisters Grass and Taylor were also weary also.  And yes, these two pics were staged.  But definitely shows how we felt.

Goofus and Doofus, or Elders Facer and Bolt modeling their Norwegian hats.

Wish we could count the number of missionaries and YSA who have played with, braided, stretched, and pony-tailed Gjermund's beard.  He's a good sport.

God jul!/Merry Christmas!  Mutt and Jeff standing on our favorite, Trondheim fjord, just a couple minutes from our apartment.

Corrie, our awesome YSA, made a gingerbread church.  Looks just like Romerike, doesn't it?

Mission Conference!  On December 22 and 23 we had the rare opportunity to get together as a mission in Romerike, near Oslo.  Mighty Ginger Moyes, facing us, won the  competitive ping pong tournament, thanks in part to the training we gave him while he served in Trondheim.

Generous Sister Springer offered Daniel's dad, Jon, 100 crowns if he could get Daniel to wear the bowtie.  It worked and took the family to dinner.  Had a great time with an awesome family!

Trondheim had a great branch choir, led by Vera Dahlo.  Every Christmas they sponsor a musical evening, attended this year by about 100 people.  Loads of fun.

Michael and Sarah, a wonderful, caring couple in Trondheim, had us to dinner.  Michael is from Germany and Sarah from Utah.  They met at the U of U.

Trondheim Branch President's children modeling traditional Norwegian children's hats.  Cute kids! 

Girls' night at Turid Hansen's home; had a wonderful Norwegian dinner.  Front we have Sister Brown, Dana, Torunn.  Back row is Sister Grass, Sister Reardon, Sister Mergens, Turid and her sister, Brit, Sister Floyd.

Moves Day just before Christmas.  Sisters with their smiling faces include Grass, Brown, Mergens, Springer, and Floyd.  Dignified-looking are Springer, Strange, Bolt, Wilkins, and Bischoff.  Wilkins and Floyd were both transferred to Olso; Sisters Brown and Mergens returned home.  An awesome group.

They're really not as snobbish as they appear to be.

Sunrise in late December, taken in front of our apartment at about 11:30 a.m.  

Sunset at about 1:30 p.m., late December in Trondheim.

While visiting our good friend, Catherine, who lives about 40 minutes south of Trondheim, we admired the beautiful lake she and her family see from their home.

Sisters Grass and Floyd had to read their meter in their apartment which required pulling out the washing machine and doing some acrobatics to find it.

Torunn and Faviola helping clean up after our relief society dinner.

Mali, Daniel, Robin, Silje, Maria, and Audhild were some of the YSA present who made Christmas cards for people.  

Of course, we had to serve delicious Norwegian waffles at our Christmas card extravaganza.

Hundreds of chairs in the Center but Sisters Floyd and Brown choose to sit in their favorite spot to eat their Norwegian waffles.

Lots of ice during the winter months in Norway; spikes on the bottom of your shoes helped keep old folks like us from falling.

Benedicte and Camille prepared a wonderful typical Norwegian Christmas dinner for Elders Bischoff and Bolt and us at our not-so-spacious apartment.

Gjermund, the Bearded Viking, hosted a tea for Sisters Mergens and Grass, Hande, and Sister Floyd.  He found several types while on his trip to England.