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| Streets of Oslo! Toward National Theater |
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Norwegian clouds - need I say more??
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Heisann dere!
Whew, it sure has been an interesting week!
It
rained last P-Day, so we borrowed the senior couple's car to go and
check out some outlet malls near Moss. They reminded me of the malls
over in Lake Elsinore. However, I never saw a price tag of 3000 kroner
($600 USD) for a simple rain-jacket back home. Whew! The brands here in
Norway are really cool, but extremely pricey. Bergan's, Norrøna, Moods
of Norway, Helly Hansen - super cool! I got a 10 dollar bright orange
Helly Hansen running coat.
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| Langøyene |
R., since she was baptized, decided to move into a
completely new apartment. We helped her build her bed, chairs, tables
and drawers from Ikea. Ikea's great! It's a lot like building legos back
at home :)
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Streets of Oslo! And the Tram system.
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I saw a wild jellyfish for my first time in my life this week! I just wish I had a net to go jellyfishin' with.
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| A wild jellyfish! |
The
biggest part of this week was St. Han's Aften. To you Americans, it's
the summer solstice. The longest day of daylight of the year. And here
in Norway, it doesn't get dark at all! Us missionaries were allowed to
stay up until past midnight to enjoy the sun :). Yet, of course, we must
wake up at 6:30 am regardless. So this is what we did for St. Han's
Aften!:
The weather was very off and on throughout the day
(as usual in Norway), and so the Elders' Quorum canceled the activity
over at Ekeberg park (quite far from Oslo's center).
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Ekeberg Park and the ever-changing weather!
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However, one member
still wanted to go with us and get as many people as possible. We
brought our one-time grills and grilled some vegetables and meats - and
it turned out nicely! Our member wisely 
turned to us and said "I don't
think anyone's coming. We should check the next time the bus goes by."
So we did, and we only had 3 minutes until the final bus would drive
back to the city center! We sprinted back, cleaned up everything and
barely made the bus :)
turned to us and said "I don't
think anyone's coming. We should check the next time the bus goes by."
So we did, and we only had 3 minutes until the final bus would drive
back to the city center! We sprinted back, cleaned up everything and
barely made the bus :)
For the evening, the sisters and we had a fantastic
idea to take ferries to the islands all night and watch the bonfires
along the beaches.
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On the ferry!
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THAT was a fantastic idea. We were bummed that no one
else could come - because it was beautiful!!
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| Bonfires |
Even extremely late at
night, it was still rather light. I can only imagine how bright it was
up in Mo i Rana! I called them up, and they were hiking a mountain in
full sunlight, at 11 pm! So cool!! Then we took a walk around Oslo in
the height of its night-life on Saturday night. We could probably talk
with more people at night! There were many people out. We even ran into
some exchange students from SDSU, one of them being from Murrieta (next
to my hometown), so we had a nice conversation! "You guys are SO
social." said the sisters. Haha.
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| Bonfires! |
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| Bonfires! |
After all of that excitement, it was rather painful
waking up early on Sunday morning! But Sunday's meetings were uplifting
and refreshing. The Holy Ghost is always available to those who look for
it in our church services. And what a refreshing experience it is. A
wonderful family had all of the missionaries and new converts over for a
barbecue, then Elder Godfrey and I ran an errand up to Hamar!
Up in Hamar, we spent the night and took care of a
few things. I really like that quaint, little town! It's apparently the
coldest city in Norway to serve in, due to how far inland it is located.
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| Stange kebab! |
The legendary "Stange" kebab is located only near Hamar's area, so we
took a little detour over to the best kebab in all of Norway (according
to any missionary who has tried it). I'll be honest, it was fantastic!
Another big part of this week was our final
interviews with President Johansen before he returns home. There was
specific advice for life and future service in the Lord's hands
specifically given to me in that interview. I have been so incredibly
blessed by the example of President Johansen. He has transformed Norway.
The members are now much more motivated to take part in the conversion
process of investigators, our relationships as missionaries and members
are strengthened, and the numbers of those converted have literally
doubled since President Johansen has put forth his efforts into this
mission. He truly received and acted on revelation for this mission. And
this week we'll meet our new mission president: President Evans! We are
ready and excited to see the wonderful miracles, as well as re-transformation, of the Norway Mission these coming months.
One point of doctrine that I would like to make
absolutely clear before I end my letter: the true priesthood authority
of God can only be found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. After Christ and the Apostles died, the priesthood authority was
not able to be passed on to succeeding generations by the laying on of
hands due to many reasons. The presiding priesthood authority was
absent. Revelation ceased, doctrinal misunderstanding arose and led to
corruption. We see great men in history who tried to reform the church,
but none had that authority to restore it anew. That is why our loving
Heavenly Father reached out again by calling, once again, a prophet,
Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith had God's authority given to him by Peter,
James and John - some of Christ's original apostles. Ordained men in the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can trace their authority
back to Joseph Smith, and thus back to Jesus Christ. Therefore, the
authority is conferred upon us. And it is up to us to receive power
within the priesthood by righteous living. http://www.lds.org/
The Lord loves us, and is willing to help us. Through prayer, you can know this too!
-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson
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| Me and the Stortinget which is literally "The Big Thing" but is actually the Parliament building |
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Streets of Oslo! And the King's Castle.
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