A Christmas Eve Norway Tradition

Going backward.  On Christmas Eve Norway has a tradition to put candles on graves at cemeteries when it becomes dark.  At 5:00 pm all the church bells in the country ring.  This shows our friend Elizabeth kneeling at her mother's grave.  He mom died when she was 13.  Candles in graveyards at Christmas. Another nice tradition.

A headstone in Bekkestua showing candles in the background.

Cemetery on Christmas Eve showing local church in the background.

More Christmas

Christmas in Norway lasts a couple of weeks into January. Here on January 8th the Sandvika Ward got together for Julefest where they retired the Christmas tree. As you can see they walk around the tree singing traditional songs.  This is followed by Julenissen (Santa) visiting the kids and missionaries.  Then, of course, they eat. A fun tradition.

Julenissen

Norwegian bunad, traditional dress.  This is Sister Kittlesen and her grandchildren at church just before Christmas.

 

In Norway the national sport is skiing.  All year, but especially during winter when there's lot of ice, many people walk around with ski poles to brace themselves.

Winter from the office window.  Dana's taken pics from the same spot during summer, fall, and winter.  Won't get spring because we're moving to Trondheim.

Tussen takk

On our way to Mo i Rana we stopped in Trondheim on Friday and flew to Mo on Saturday.  While in Trondheim we attended a "welcome back" activity with the young adults in the branch.  These are the kids we will be working with beginning next week.  This pic shows a bunch of missionaries (there are 6 in Trondheim), investigators, and young adults preparing dinner.

In T-heim, making ice cream by shaking it in a baggie.  It works!  If you want details how it's made, ask Dana.  A fun activity and it tastes great.

Sister Berggren eating the ice cream.

Sister Stevens with two of our awesome young adults.  Both these young ladies were baptized last year.

Harald (on left), Elder Gardner, and Adrian.  Harald is the ward clerk and usually attends YA activities, a really neat guy.  Elder Gardner is one of 5 missionaries out of 50 who comes from Springville, Utah, and Adrian returned a couple of months ago from a mission in Salt Lake South.  We also have video of the activity in Trondheim but too much memory.  We'll figure it out and send it later.

Still at Trondheim.  Elder Whitehead, one of our awesome young adults, and two investigators. 

Mo i Rana

Dana's hat and scarf, made by American friend, Becky Carleson in Sandvika area.

Dinner at Stein and Gullaug Pedersen's house in first of Jan, 11.  Seated are the Burton's (Oslo Young Adult Center couple, President Johansen (his wife was in Salt Lake at wedding of their son), and Pedersen's.

Cutting Snorre's hair at Oslo YA center.  Snorre is one of the Y Adults who plans on a mission next summer.

Elder Carr from Murray, Utah.  He'd become one of our "sons" as an AP in the office.  He was being transferred to open the city of Tromso (with a line through the o) located way above the Arctic Circle.

 Mo i Rana.  We are moving to the city of Trondheim on February 8th and will visit Mo once a month when we get there.  Mo is right on the Arctic Circle and their airport is named Arctic Circle International Airport.  We flew there and met our good friends and the couple we will be replacing in Trondheim, the Sorensen's, who will be returning home to the Tri Cities area in Washington.  They had traveled the 8 hours by train from Trondheim.

Mo i Rana Part 2

The wharf at Mo i Rana

Sculpture of women in the fjord at Mo i Rana; waiting for her sailer to return from sea.  Mo is a coastal town on the Norwegian Sea/Arctic Ocean.

We ate dinner with our friends, the Sorensen's Saturday night in Mo i Rana.

We ordered fish on a board, which was salmon cooked on wood, with veggies and surrounded by mashed potatoes.

 Midday in Mo i Rana, middle of January.  There are clouds but even without there would be no sun.  This far north with mountains, they don't see the sun at all in December and January.

Mo i Rana Part 3

Mo i Rana Branch.  3 very small rooms.  Branch includes the Branch President, his wife, 3 young kids, a former branch president, and 2 women.  Cozy.  We had sacrament meeting where we and the Sorensen's spoke (Dana and Norm in English, with Norwegian testimonies).  

Mo i Rana primary (Branch President's 3 kids).

Mo snow

Mo i Rana airport

Sunrise from a prop plane on our way to Mo.  Dana got pretty excited.  We flew out of Mo on Sunday night on another small prop plane during a blizzard.  Norm still has scars in his thigh from Dana's finger nails  It was a topsy turvy, wavy flight.  Everything turned out fine.  We first flew to a city called Bodø, pronounced Boo-duh, which is even further north.  We then flew on a regular plane to Oslo, probably about a 1000 mile trip. 

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.