Hi everyone

Friday evening and just about to go home.  We try to leave each afternoon to go for a walk and then return to work.  Just got back from Sandvika, about 7 minutes away.  It has a harbor at the fjord and is surrounded by parks and shops and stuff like that.  It's a nice place to walk.  Will share photos later - camera cord is at home.

Photo on the left was about a month ago in our apartment.  We'd invited the Johansen's to dinner.  The other person is Elizabeth, who was baptized last January and with her life-changing move now has a new social crowd, namely we in the Church.

Second photo shows Mom with her good friend, Elena, who flew in from headquarters in England to help her with financial stuff at the office.  They're standing in downtown Oslo at an exclusive shopping area. People who live there in not-so-large condos most likely pay up to $1 million.

Third and fourth photos show the palace in downtown Oslo.  The royal family lives there.  Guards, similar to the guards at Windsor Castle in England, stand at attention or walk around the grounds 24 hours a day.  Like in England, they have a changing-of-the guard ceremony each day at 1:30.  I guess that, unlike the guards at Windsor, these guards will talk with you when asked to do so.  Elena couldn't believe tourists were allowed to walk right up to the palace.  Security seems pretty loose.  But then again, reports say that Norway is a really safe place.  If terrorists want to bomb an area Oslo probably won't be their first choice.

Talk with you later.



All the MTC Norwegian-bound missionaries; an awesome group.



This is the place.  Every missionary has to point at this board; it's in the handbook, isn't it?



Our friends, the Thackers - headed to South Dakota as CES directors



Our patient, awesome MTC tutor, Michael Olsen



Yes, believe it or not, we did learn how to turn on the computer.







 





Our friends, the Gronnings, from West Jordan.  They will be office missionaries in Moscow.



Before going any further we need to acknowledge the help of our daughter-in-law, Daiana, in teaching us how to post entries on this blog.  She has willingly dropped what she was doing to patiently repeat what she'd already told us the week before.  Well her instruction is paying off, we are becoming addicts - we almost deserve the title of bloggers.  Thank you, Daiana.  We love you.

At this point we need to apologize for the lack of quality in this blog.  We're (actually, at this point, Norm) rookies, or I guess, greenies since we're missionaries.  Please be patient and don't laugh too loud at our mistakes.  Like all greenies, we will eventually learn what we're supposed to do.

The MTC was a wonderful experience for us.  We stayed ten days; the first week we learned Preach My Gospel and the last three we had office training.  Yes, the food was awesome and so were the teachers.  A couple months before entering the MTC we drove from West Jordan to Provo three times a week to be tutored in Norwegian.  Michael Olsen, a recently returned missionary from Norway, was so patient as he instructed us.  He did an excellent job and challenged us to improve the language once we arrived in Norway.

We gained some new friends in the MTC, mostly other couples, all of whom were an inspiration to us.  We'll never forget them.

We couldn't resist pointing. It's the thing to do.



With friends, the Thackers




Our awesome, PATIENT tutor in Norwegian, Michael Olsen




Hard to believe, but we actually know how to turn on a computer now.



MTC!

These were the other Norway-bound missionaries with us in the MTC.  An awesome group.

Our Our Way to Norway!