Oslo

Back in the office, a couple in the office next door was having a knock-out, drag down argument.  Elders Crandall and Dearden got close to the wall, trying to figure out what it was about.

Norm taking his power nap in Dana's office.

This week (last week of January) the mission had Elder and Sister Teixiera visit.  Elder Teixiera (pronounced Too share u) is in the 1st Quorum of Seventy and is a member of the Europe Area Presidency.  This photo was taken on Wednesday in the Oslo Young Adult Center where he spoke with zone and district leaders leaders in the afternoon and young adults in the evening.  This was dinner before the YA meeting.  Zone Conference for the Oslo area was held the following day, Thursday.  Zone and district leaders had been flown in from all over Norway on Wednesday for the 3 hour meeting and half of them flew home right after, only to fly again the following day to the city of Stavanger where Elder Teixiera conducted another zone Conference on Friday.  The distances and flights required to cover this long country are gynormous.  Meetings with the Teixiera's were special moments, never to be forgotten.

Downtown Oslo sunset with cool-looking building in the foreground.

Sisters Mergens and Brown with someone they baptized.

Christmas In Norway

The 8:45 pic we sent on December 21st.  The sun comes up at about 10.We had an early Christmas dinner at the home of Finn and Elaine Engstrom.  Finn is Norwegian and Elaine from England.  In the photo is Elder Burton in the middle with Finn on the right.  40 years ago Finn was a 16 year old investigator and Elder Burton taught him.  They've remained good friends over the years and it's kind of neat for Bob and his wife to come back to Norway.  The Engstroms' Christmas dinner included several types of meats, boiled potatoes,  two kinds of saur kraut, veggies, and 38 candles!  The crew and the Christmas table at the Engstrom's.The first part of December the mission flew us to Trondheim, the city we will be working in beginning February 8th.  While there we met the young adults we will be working with, met the members, visited people in a hospital, and had a great time.  In this pic Corrie, the one in the chair, is having a Janene Brady song performed for her by missionary Sisters Berggren and Stevens.  It was Corrie's birthday and she made dinner for missionaries and young adults.  Corrie was baptized about a year ago and has made wonderful changes in her life.

Christmas and more

Charity was baptized on December 18th.  This shows her with her 3 siblings and several of her friends she invited to attend.  Charity and her family (mom, dad, 21 and 12 year old sisters and teenage brother) were refugees in the country next to Burma (can't remember the name) and moved to Norway 3 years ago.  They are a very spiritual family; I guess grandfather taught them a lot about the Savior.  The AP's found the family and we got to drive the kids and their friends to and from the church a few times in the mission van.  The girls would sing songs and their favorite was a really neat one about the Savior.  We're hoping for the rest of the family to be baptized soon. Elders Carr (left) and Crandall (right).  Carr is from Murray and Crandall from Springville, one of the four missionaries from that little Utah town.  Brother Pedersen, a great member of our ward, baptized and confirmed Charity.The 3 zones had Christmas parties on 3 separate nights so President Johansen and the AP's could fly to different cities to attend all 3. This is the Oslo Zone, the one we attended.  Dana went to buy some honey baked hams for 30 people and couldn't find any.  She found a butcher and he spent 20 minutes helping her find pork tender loins, find just the right cheeses to stuff in the center of the meat, and the bacon to wrap around it.  Then he told her how to cook it.  She did great, the meat was a hit.Elders Bishchoff  (left) and Carmichael decided to wear their Norwegian sweaters to the party.  Carmichael likes to tease Dana about her inability to speak Norwegian.  He will sometimes call the office pretending to be some Norwegian guy and listen to her stutter and stammer through the conversation.  Carmichael will be moving to Trondheim next week so we will get to be with him there.

Christmas time

Elder Whitehead and Sister Stevens playing violin at Corrie's party in Trondheim.Sisters Berggren and Stevens, Corrie, and Elder Gardner.  Gardner is a real funny elder, meaning fun to be around.   He's one of 5 elders who come from Springville, Utah.  Pretty big ratio considering we only have 50 young missionaries.Elder Buckley, very talented piano player.  Also happens to be from Springville.Family Home Evening in the Young Adult Center in Trondheim.  On the right are two investigators.  The YA's in Trondheim do an excellent job fellowshipping.  The girl currently has a baptism date.  Don't know about the guy.

Haircut time

Dana cutting hair - imagine that!  Actually, she's careful not to do it too much.  But it really helps when she can; male haircuts go for about 35 dollars and female 40 to 70 dollars.  Just for a cut, not all the fancy stuff.

Elder Richardson receiving his going-home haircut.  He finished his mission in Trondheim just after our visit.Trondheim.  Yes, This kind of stuff is right in the city.Trondheim

View

High noon in Trondheim.  Actually, we took this pic at about 11:40 am in December.  Sun just peeks over the horizon beginning at about 10 and goes back down at 2.  Trondheim is about 8 hours north of Oslo if one drives, so winters are a little darker and summers a little lighter.

Overlooking Trondheim.  They had just experienced their coldest November on record, about 250 years.The Trondheim fjord, an inlet from the ocean about 10 miles away.A nativity scene at a relief society Christmas party.  Dana liked it.Grandma doing what she does best, Grandma-ing.  This is Vilma.  Her dad is Swedish and her mom is from England, members of our ward in Sandvika, subdivision of Oslo.  Vilma is Conrad's age (as in Springer) so Dana has fun watching Vilma and imagining Conrad at the same stage.

Christmas

Sunday dinner at Kittel Kittelsen's home.  Yep, that's right; Scandinavians have been naming kids like this for generations.  Kittel and his wife, Julie are  a neat couple in our Sandvika Ward.  Kittel, a Norwegian, is ward mission leader and does an excellent job.  Julie is Swedish; her parents originally came from Nigeria.  Julie and Kittel are about the most spiritual couple you could ever meet.  When guests arrive at the Kittelsen home the parents sing a fun, favorite song which always causes the two children to grin and dance.Johnny Kingstone joined us for dinner at the Kittelsen's.  As mentioned in earlier entries Johnny was baptized  in August.  He is now a priest, passes the sacrament regularly, participates in class, and is being assigned as a home teacher.  He has a non-member friend he brought to church last Sunday.  Since he's a Mormon now he felt like he needed to buy a new suit.  He looks so sharp we call him the Bishop.  An awesome guy.  He and his friend are probably coming over Christmas morning for Dana's traditional brunch.Back at the office our mission finance secretary, Sister Springer, shows off some of her Norwegian Kroner.At the mission home on December 15th Dana hosted a dinner for Elder Richardson the night before he went home.  These dinners are usually hosted by Sister Johansen, the mission president's wife, but she was in Salt Lake to attend the wedding of her son.  So Mom stepped in and did a wonderful job.  She will also do the dinner for our 4 new missionaries arriving on the 28th.  Thanks for Jill sending some ingredients she's going to introduce Norway to the famous mandarin orange jello salad.

Tussen Takk!

Dana was in Oslo one day and guess what she was doing?  That's right, cutting missionarie's hair, including Sisters Mergens and Brown (the two on the left - the little one is our friend Elizabeth).  These two sister missionaries have only been out 3 months - they came out together, about the same time as us - and they are companions in Oslo.  Their Norwegian is pretty good and if they don't know what to say the just throw in a little English.  They're doing really well.

Mission president  Johansen enjoying a little brewsky with Elder Springer.  Actually, it's called Jule Brus; drinks saved for the Christmas season in Norway, kind of like the 'nog in the States, only non-alcoholic. 

Oslo has a center where young adults come together for institute, games, family home evenings, and everything else you could think of.  It's located in downtown, about 2 blocks from the palace.   Missionaries in Oslo do a lot of teaching there.  The place is awesome and is typical of centers throughout Europe.  Dana and Norm will be overseeing a young adult center in the city of Trondheim in February.  The center there is located in the church.

Opposite side of YSA Center sign - Norsk

Oslo has a big, beautiful, prominent park called Frogner Park.  Pardon our innocence and lack of culture, but we were shocked when we saw at least, not exaggerating, 500 sculptures - all nudes.  Every piece of art is a nude.  Interesting.  The missionaries affectionately call the place, "Naked Park".  I'm not sure how often they contact in the park.  Anyway, it really is kind of interesting because they all tell a story.



Norway is known for its skiing.  This man-made ski jump is located in the hills above Oslo.  It's under construction right now but is kind of cool to look at.



 Looking at part of Oslo from the ski jump.

Dana's visiting teachers at the mission home.  One of the VT's doesn't own a car and rides two buses to get there to visit Dana and Sister Johansen, the mission president's wife. She does it every month.

The Andersen's are a wonderful family in our Sandvika Ward. This photo shows us with the Andersens following a fireside for new members which they hosted.

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".