Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Haugesund, Kjerag og Mye Til (and much more)

Raspberries and Åkrefjorden!
Me and Åkrefjorden
Heleisen alle dere!

To start off, I will express my gratitude for the direction of our modern-day prophets to have us be a record-keeping people. With everything that has happened the past two weeks, I would hardly be able to recall only a handful of things if it had not been for the records that have been kept. On the other hand, we have a dilemma of time and me writing this email. We'll see how far I can get :D.

Us Elders here in Stavanger cover the Haugesund area. Haugesund usually has missionaries, but for reasons not reasonably explainable, they do not at this time. Elder Williams and I took a ferry, and enjoyed the scenic view :).
View off of the bridge in Haugesund
The western part of Norway is really the most scenic in my opinion. We even had a few minutes to think to and from Haugesund. It was also where my MTC companion served as a new missionary - there's just a whole bunch of connections I have to this place. It was beautiful and a wonderful experience!

We strengthened the members there as best we could by driving around with the Branch President to some less-active families. It is tough to be a member in Norway - particularly because of the distances people live away from each other. The Branch President here is a rock-solid member from Finland. I am blown away at his example and faithfulness despite the trials set before him. That is a testimony to me of the importance of daily and family prayer, scripture study and church attendance! His whole family was really sweet too :). After visiting with him, we took a member out to dinner at Egon's (a common pizza restaurant in Norway). We all had a blast!


On Sunday, we administered the sacrament and gave talks in Church. Ahh, it brought back memories of Mo i Rana all over again. And yet, the members are faithful through and through just like Mo. After our meeting, we had some time before our return ferry back to Stavanger, so our Branch President wanted to talk over a few things and drive us to a waterfall in the area.

A 7.4 km tunnel to Langfossen
Elder Williams and I at Langfossen :)
Langfossen is the widest and most beautiful waterfall I've ever seen! Wild raspberries were also
Raspberries and Åkrefjorden!

around the waterfall. Yes, they were delicious.



P-Day came around, and we decided to hike Kjerag.Many people told us it was closed; other people (and the weather) said it would rain. But we took the 2 hour drive anyway, listening to General Conference in Norwegian (personal, companionship, and language study all in one!! ;). We also seriously prayed that it would not rain while we were there. Once we arrived, the clouds were large and ominous. The view off of Øygardstøl (a viewpoint, and trailhead for Kjerag) down the Lysefjord was stunning.


The hike was 10k round-trip and worth every step - chain railings and all!
The trail up Kjerag
We even had a snowy trail at the very top, protected by the shadows of the cracks of the mountain.
Snowy trail!
The Stavanger District (the sisters couldn't make it :( )
Avast! A sheep!
That's Øygardstøl (the look off point we were at).
It was an absolutely extraordinary experience! Once we arrived back at our car, we had to drive the 27 hairpin road
The 27 hairpin turns
The 27 hairpin turns on our GPS :P

                                                                                 down to the bottom of Lysefjorden, just to say the we did it. And we were extremely grateful we did -because the feeling of being at the very bottom of a gigantic fjord with jutting mountain-sides thousands of meters above you is one irreplaceable feeling :D. After the drive home, we were so exhausted and out of time for emails, we could only take a few minutes to write a quick note. That's why we couldn't email last week.
Lysefjorden. Pictures don't do justice. Period.

During the next week we had a meeting with the Mission President regarding how the whole mission will be trained. From the Mission President down to the individual companionship is a monthly theme that we will focus on - general enough for the whole mission, but will be boiled down and specific enough down to the individual companionship. We're super excited for it - the only trick is to implement it. A mission has so many different facets to it. And each facet can be experienced in so many different ways - I feel like the past two months I've learned from more facets than I have my whole mission. From leadership experience, to getting along with your companion. From finding people on the street, to building strong relationships with members. And now we're going through this transformative phase with our new Mission President - we are in for an experience that is completely unprecedented! I am so grateful to be a part of this, despite the daily rough patches. Looking back, I hardly remember the rough parts. The good parts are packaged away to be relived again and again :). Two years serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and our fellow brothers and sisters is truly the best gift God can give to a 19 year old kid. It's tougher than everything else I've experienced, but it is more valuable to me than anything I could possibly possess.

Our Lord and Savior lives. He redeemed us from the terrible effects of sin and weakness. We can take advantage of this redemption by remembering the Christ. Alma 33:20-22 (thank you for the reference, Mom!). Remember that it is by small and simple things that the salvation of souls is brought to pass. Alma 37:5-7. There are no big decisions in life. By focusing on the small, everyday decisions, the big decisions are either taken care of, or our Heavenly Father will see us through it. It is up to us to counsel with Him regarding His will and plan for us by reading the scriptures, praying and attending church. And this plan is the key to true happiness. I've tried it myself.

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson



P.S. Thank you Tanner and Christine for your emails - I am extremely appreciative despite my inability to respond or express myself!