Brothers Aaron and Sam, despite having to prepare for college finals, invited us over for Sunday dinner.  Here is the ever-handsome Aaron.

Awesome Silje came to help Aaron and Sam with dinner.

We finally received our first snowstorm on December 4th, but not before a rose in front of the church decided to bloom.  Weather has been a little warmer than usual for this time of year.

The awesome Silje came over to help Aaron and
Sam prepare us dinner.

Sister S. and Gjermund try out the new, improved YSA room.  Thanks to the Hansen's and Brother Henden, we now have beautiful new flooring.  As a surprise they did the project during the week we were away at the temple.

Jo-Ann was baptized, taught by Sisters Grass and Brown

Jo-Ann with her good friend, Sister Kimo.

Sister Grass cooking up some famous, delicious Norwegian salmon.  Because of the great downtown location of the church, missionaries eat lunch and dinner at the church.  We enjoy interacting with them every day.

We had Thanksgiving dinner!  Here we are visiting with Mali and Daniel's parents and with Corrie.

Etornam, Aaron, Sister Floyd, and Hande.

Elders Bischoff and Bolt with Mali, Daniel, and investigator. Of the 40 people in attendance at the Thanksgiving dinner we were excited that 14 were not LDS.

Rodrigo, on the left, invited several friends from his homeland of Bolivia.

Thanksgiving dinner spread showing Gjermund, Elder Wilkins, and Myhren, with non-member friend in the background.

Aaron, Sister Floyd, and Hande.

Sam and Silje

Beautiful, delicious Thanksgiving feast.  Very thankful for our blessings.

Thanksgiving kitchen slaves, Robin and Sister Mergens

Our good American friend, Mac, cleaning up the turkey, preparing it for soup.

American and newly-wed, Krystal, cooking up a Thanksgiving storm.

Many hands helped prepare a really nice Thanksgiving dinner.

Kitchen angels, Corrie, Sister S., Audhild, and Krystal

Kitchen policewoman, Audhild, telling Elders Bischoff and Bolt how she wants it done.

Elders Carmichael and Facer came for a visit.  P-Day found it rainy and the missionaries, in this case, Elder Carmichael, were literally climbing the walls trying to entertain themselves.

President Johansen came for a special district meeting.  It had rained so much that Elders Strange and Wilkins' shoes and socks were soaked, causing them to go throughout the day barefoot.  At least they had their suits and ties on, although Elder Strange's suit was also soaking wet because a passing bus on the street sprayed him with a huge puddle of water.  Tough elders!

Despite the fact that they had finals and papers due, brothers Aaron and Sam invited us to their bachelor pad for Sunday dinner.  They're awesome.

We finally got our first real snow on December 4th, but not before this rose outside the church decided to bloom.  It's been delightfully warm.

Our branch had a party, celebrating the near-completion of the building being remodeled.  Here are the awesome Paulsen's.

Elvis is alive!  Linda's dad agreed to come sing some Presley songs at our party.

Daniel and Mali and their parents invited us to their farm.  Wonderful people.

Yes, a lot of people did help Dana after she had her surgery.  But being the independent woman she is she found several ways to do things herself.

Temple trip! We were able to be with nine of our young adults as we attended the Stockholm Temple again.  We arrived at different times.  Here's the crew that came on Wednesday:  Left to right are Audhild, Pelle, Mali, and Torunn.

Stockholm Temple, dedicated in the 1980's; a beautiful, smaller temple.

On Friday those who had arrived toured downtown Stockholm, including the palace.

Stockholm

Taking the 30-minute train ride from the temple to city center.

Preparing to enter the temple Saturday morning.

YSA women preparing for the temple Saturday morning.  Torunn, Sister Springer, Corrie, who arrived Thursday, Audhild, Mali, and Maria, who arrived Friday.

Pelle, baptized last summer, attending the temple for the first time.

Audhild's first temple trip.

Mali's maiden voyage to the Holy Temple

EDITOR'S NOTE:  Several of the old posts were actually put in today or yesterday.  You may want to take a peek at August through November.  

Surgery! Another Baptism! Moves.

Surgery!  Dana's hand had big-time pain and numbness causing great discomfort and loss of sleep.  Nine doctors later, each of whom spent a lot of time with her trying to diagnose and prescribe was an  unpleasant but caring, personal experience.  Total cost: about $200.00.  Surgery was free.  

Acute Carpel Tunnel surgery.  Doc #9 also found fluid in the hand that he had to remove.  They had to do the surgery soon; waiting could have produced nerve damage and loss of feeling in some of her fingers.

Is that pretty or what?  A piece of art.  Surgery seems to have been successful and Dana's on the mend.  Lots of people have been helping her do things like cooking for 30 and cleaning.  Putting on makeup is a challenge, and no, Norm doesn't do it for her.  She would never trust him - for good reason.  One of Dana's biggest frustrations has been that she hasn't been able to cut her own hair as she has done so often.  So she went to a salon and paid the $90. for someone else to give her one.  And there are a lot of missionaries and YSA who are having to go elsewhere for their cuts.

The branch lawn mower is a hovering machine.  No wheels.  Works well on flat ground but the grass belonging to the church lies on a very steep hill, making it very difficult to maneuver.

Hardest lawn he's ever had to cut.

Yonas, our awesome investigator living three hours north of the church, was baptized!  Stian baptized him and he was taught by Elders Linge and Brown.

Dennis, gotta love him.

Mali and her brother, Daniel, two of our very faithful, caring young adults.  Mali was baptized last summer.

Maria, our awesome new YSA Council President, savors a bite of Sister Springer's yummy chocolate cake/brownie.

Sam, our wonderful new YSA Council VP is one of five new YSA we received in August.  Somebody opened the window during FHE so he grabbed a snuggy.

Moves Day!  Otherwise known as transfer day.  Elder Linge, one of our awesome zone leaders, successfully completed his mission and has now returned home.  Having a great sense of humor he is known as a champion of one-liners.

Elder Brown, our other terrific zone leader and solver of all our technology problems was transferred to Romerike to train a new missionary.

Elder Anderson was born in Trondheim four months ago, meaning he came to us as a new missionary.  The fearless hunter has seen a lot of success in Trondheim.  He is moving to Tonsberg  as a senior companion.

How do you turn these pics the right direction?  We'll work on it.  Sister Fredrickson, also born in Trondheim six months ago has earned a reputation for hard work and strict obedience.  Having worn a coat during the entire month of July we can only imagine her situation as she moves to the city of Bergen this winter.

Moves Day, November, 2011.  Sisters Fredrickson, Grass, Springer, Mergens and Floyd.  Elders Brown, Anderson, Springer, Linge, and Bischoff.  A good group.