Tilbake til Vestlandet (Return to the West)

Hallo ja! (Mmm. Oslo dialect.)

Oslo is such a crazy place! Last week we had kind of a downer week - and now this place is absolutely bursting at the seams. Tomorrow we have appointments from 11 am until 8 pm the whole entire day. Can you believe that? And that's in NORWAY. The Lord is doing His part in this work :D. I suppose that's just a part of being in Oslo - missionary work can drastically fluctuate relatively easily!

Last P-Day we took a lunch at TGI Friday's and got a good American burger. Mmm. I remember my

TGI's!

brother Christiaan correcting my childish, unvaried choice of food when we ate out:  "Look, if you're at an Italian restaurant, you get Italian food. If you're at a Mexican restaurant, get Mexican food." Well, sorry bro, but I'm in Norway and I'm eating an American burger. Haha. But that brings me to the point that traditional Norwegian food is really dying out. The only people that make you traditional food would be the older generation. Typically for member dinners we have burritos or lasagne (the all-infamous missionary lasagne dinners :P). And traditional Norwegian food really isn't varied in and of itself: kjøttkaker/kjøttboller, potatoes, tyttebær, and maybe some cauliflower. Then for Christmas you typically have lutefisk, ribber, pinnekjøtt, and a few other meats. There's really not much variation!

Bad advertising.

 

One thing I've noticed about Norwegian advertising - is that it is rather deceiving. I've seen more than a few advertisements for loans or credit cards basically saying: "Hey! You want to enjoy life? Get a loan and party it up!" or "You really want to buy something? Get a credit card today!" Which is extremely dangerous. We've met many people whose lives have been ruined because they did get a loan or a credit card and now they can't pay it back. Not even to mention the interest!                                                    

The Lord has counseled us very much regarding avoiding debt and becoming financial

self-reliant. http://www.lds.org/pages/provident-living?lang=eng Please be very very careful with those kinds of things.

Wow, that was very strange saying please. "Please" does not exist in the Norwegian language.

On Tuesday, our Bulgarian buddy Doncho invited us over for a proper Bulgarian meal! Very salty and very meaty. 

Bulgarian salted meats and strong cheeses!

They even had feta cheese in the salad and I liked it (that one's for you, Mom :P).

Bulgarian salad with delicious feta!

After which, Doncho played the Bulgarian bagpipes for us! Epic stuff! Garrett, you would have been proud! It also came together that bagpipe bags are commonly made out of sheep skins. The head and legs being the openings for the instrument. I had never made that connection before.

The Bulgarian sheep bagpipe

But the greatest part of our whole visit, was his friend A. decided to join us for the lunch, and we were able to hold a spiritual thought - AND receive a new investigator :D. Double win for the Lord!

I was talking with Elder Poulson in our district about molecular biology stuff (he'll be back home studying that in a few short months). Man, I can hardly remember a thing. I got all excited explaining it all, but my memory is failing me. I love it in any case, but investing in the Lord here and now is most worth it :). I wouldn't trade where I am right now for the world!

Let it be known to the ends of the earth that we, here in Oslo, received referrals from Church Headquarters. A family in Idaho had an exchange student attend church with them for 10 months - and we were just the follow up crew once he returned home to continue inviting him :). It turns out his mother is the leader in their local congregation, so we didn't get super far. But that doesn't matter quite as much as just plain inviting to take part of the Restored Gospel :). And boy did we invite to our last parting moment . . . . Another referral we received was to this 23 year old who had been searching for the truth on the internet, and ordered a free Book of Mormon and missionary visit. This man is golden! We are so pumped. The internet is an extremely powerful gospel-sharing tool. Please do your part in making it a force for good :D.

Yesterday was quite a special experience. Our recent convert, A., passed the sacrament for his first time! That was so cool! And the other priests busted out their iPads to show him the routes in the chapel of where to go. Haha, back in MY day we used paper and pencil!

Our rockin' Bishop also invited us over for dinner. Preach My Gospel is completely right when it says that the bishop is your #1 ally. He can give you names of people to go and visit, help and exactly what you can do. He's also very good at suggesting places to find, as well as ways to help warm up others to hear about the gospel. Use your bishop and your members! That's really what I'll be focusing on this next half of my mission.

Moves call came around (6:45 am conference call to all of the missionaries in Norway), and I am being sent to Stavanger this Wednesday! Stavanger is the 3rd largest town in Norway (Oslo, Bergen then Stavanger), and it is really booming with the oil industry. It is quite a ways south of Bergen - but on the West coast nonetheless. It will be wonderful to return to the westland and actually be able to understand them :D. And Stavanger has a gnarly dialect. Elder Torjesen will be replacing me here in Oslo (I love that man!) so he'll be able to take care of the sudden burst of awesomeness we've received here. The Lord is in this work!

Here's my new address:

Smedgate 7

4013 Stavanger

Norway

The things I'll miss most about Oslo will be a few families and converts I've become close with, the contacting paradise, as well as the amount of teaching you can do here.

Our final Oslo District Meeting

One of the best revelations I received this past week was regarding goals. M. Russell Ballard states in Preach My Gospel (paraphrased) that if we do not master the principle of setting, working toward and achieving goals, we can end up at the end of our lives disappointed and unsatisfied at the small amount of your potential you have actually reached. Through goals, you are able to take control of your life and be a force of anti-entropy :D (thank you, chemistry!). So I started brainstorming ideas of different aspects of my life I want to have lifelong, to decade, to yearly, to monthly, to weekly to daily goals. These aspects include, but are not limited to: Spiritual, Relationships, Family, Educational/Professional, Financial, Service, Talents/Gifts, Missionary Work, Physical condition, Free time and stress relief (the Lord knows I need that :P). By regularly setting goals and evaluating them - and applying them to my hour to hour life - I'll be able to achieve some awesome things! The trick is to stick to it. The Lord wants us to succeed - so He'll help us :)

Well! Elder Godfrey and I are going to go get a good kebab - because everyone knows good kebab does not exist outside of Eastern Norway. *sigh* sad but true.

Med mye kjærlighet og vennlig hilsen!

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

The sketchy marketplace in Grønland on Saturday mornings.

The new, gorgeous part of Oslo (just for you, E.!)

Fjerde Juli! (4th of July!)

Hallo!

This week has been filled with so many different things - I think I'll cover them in a chronological order :)

Last Monday after emails we took a bike tour to many different churches found in Oslo. We went to the St. Olav's Catholic Cathedral,

St. Olav's Cathedral!

and tried to visit the Trefoldighets Church, but they're only open on Wednesdays. Bummer!

Trefoldighets Church!

I am so glad we have permission from President to take a few hours off of P-Day so that we can visit these sites when they're actually open. It is extremely common for Norwegian shops to close around 3 or 4 pm. That would be economic suicide in America! On the other hand, it's quite nice because families can be together and at home in the evenings. Build up those families, people! We also visited the National Gallery museum this week. I felt bad for the other missionaries because they took 10 minutes to see everything, whereas I took a whole hour. There were a few pieces of art of the "Ride of the Valkyries" from the Ring Cycle - and another of Leif Erikson (sp?) finding the American continent. "I just don't appreciate art, I guess!" my companion said. Haha. It reminded me of that 8 hour long, semi-excruciating museum trip with Garrett way back when we were 14. Some experiences will never leave my memory banks :P

Ride of the Valkyries! (You tell 'em, Wagner!)

On Tuesday we helped the Isaksen family move from Oslo to Romerike. After giant furniture, book cases and even a piano - we finally made it to the beautiful, rolling-green-hill countryside of Romerike. Big difference from big-city Oslo! Only us two missionaries were there to help pack the truck, and we had 6 total on the unpacking. It was also easier to move everything into the new house than from the old house. These two things made a 2 and a half hour difference of packing/unpacking time! The coolest part was that the Isaksen family had their extended family there, including Bernt - who served with my Dad in Austria in the 70's! Way cool!! He asked all about if my Dad ended up serving in the Air Force and flying planes, etc etc. Yup, that's definitely my father :)

Wednesday was the first Zone Conference with President Evans. Everything was great! Especially because it was the 4th of July! We made sure to provide burgers, watermelon and delicious salads.

Grillin' Burgers with Elder Strange!

Our opening and closing hymns were the national anthem and another patriotic song. I felt bad for our three non-American Elders in our Zone (Torjesen - Norway. Heimdal - Iceland. Chapman - England) - but we celebrated anyway! 

Thursday we received permission to visit a member during her golf tournament. Cecilie is a professional golfer here in Norway - and we had a wonderful time! Unfortunately for me, however, my allergies almost knocked me out. The course was very large and very open (not many trees).

Big, open golf course!

Quite different, and very beautiful. We were able to teach many people who came up to us ("Who are you guys anyway? Jehovah's Witnesses??" "You guys can speak Norwegian!? Whoa!!" etc etc).

Hauger Golf club

That also reminds me of this 15 year old kid that ran up to us yesterday. "Hey! Are you guys Mormons? I watched the south park episode!" For how much we receive that very same comment from people - I think south park has done a quicker job at getting our name out to the world than we missionaries have. Oi. But he mentioned a few things I'd like to share! He said: doesn't your Book of Mormon encourage you to be racist against blacks? I was very pleased to point him directly to a chapter in the Book of Mormon explaining that that was certainly not the case. In the book of Jacob chapters 2-3, the prophet Jacob warns his people, as well as us today, regarding three great and destructive sins. Pride, chastity and racism. In today's modern society we have had a huge issue with these very same three problems. I am very grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who inspires His prophets, ancient and modern, to help us know what to defend ourselves against, as well as what to do in order to achieve peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come! Once I started teaching this kid about chastity he said "are you married?" I said no. "So you've never had sex??" I said "Nope!" "Du aner ikke hva du går glipp av! (You don't know what you're missing out on!)" Haha - what a funny experience. But we testified to him of the promised blessings of lasting happiness by knowing God is there, and following His commandments. 

I've started reading the Book of Mormon in a fashion presented by President Johansen. He said that he reads a little bit of the Book of Mormon every day from a paper-back copy with a certain focus each time through. When he finishes one copy, he picks up a new one, as well as a new focus. He now has a stack of old, beat up paper-back copies of the Book of Mormon for tons of different times through. I want to do that for the rest of my life! 

Another thing I'd like to share is from Henry B. Eyring's "Families Under Covenant". http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/families-under-covenant?lang=eng . I love taking simple promises made by our modern day prophets and apostles and putting them to the test. President Eyring asks us to pray every day to gain and keep a sure witness that the priesthood keys are with the apostles and held by Prophet Thomas S. Monson. The promised blessings he made are very clear: "The answer will come with an increase in determination to lead your family, in your feelings of hope, and with greater happiness in your service. You will be more cheerful and optimistic, a great blessing for your wife and family." What a simple commandment and spectacular promise! Ahh. I love this Church.

I testify that this Church is Christ's Church. He is at the head. We have no reason to fear the future - for Christ is at the helm. He is our Savior and Redeemer from every injustice, and every unfairness (Preach My Gospel pg 52). It is up to us to accept Him, and follow Him.

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

President Evans har ankommet! (President Evans has arrived!)

Heisann dere!

First of all, happy birthday AR! No, I didn't forget. You're only doing a 5k this year? I want to build up for the 10k with you someday :)

Second off, I hope you all don't think we're just taking a 9 week vacation here in Oslo. We are working, I promise! Just reading back over my emails, it sounds like a long vacation to me :). And it's about to get worse:

This week we went to Sandvika to attend the Drammen District meeting to go and strengthen our fellow missionaries! Man, I love being with other missionaries. 6 months in Mo i Rana, with only a companion and 15 members, really helped me appreciate that. We presented particularly regarding goals and delivering baptismal date commitments early. People are not invited to repent and come unto Christ unless we invite them to be baptized! The Spirit witnesses of this holy ordinance as well. Trust in that Spirit to help you! Elder Anderson's presentation on Preach My Gospel chapter 10 relating the importance of listening, and then adapting the gospel according to their needs was absolutely perfect for our lesson with our investigator that night. The Lord certainly inspires us through others!

Then, since we took P-day on a different day, we went to the Oslo museums over on Bygdøynes. Boy is it exhausting to be a tourist for a day! Whew! Here's a short description of what we experienced:

The Maritime Museum covered the Norwegian sea-faring history since medieval times. I saw the oldest Norwegian boat on record!

The Fram Museum was all about the experiences of the ship "Fram" that traveled to both the North and South poles with many different biologists, geologists, chemists, geographers and so forth in order to further the scientific knowledge of our polar caps. The life-size replica of the "Fram" was really neat! To keep them sane, they had a piano. I had to take a picture of it. :).

Piano in the Fram!

By the end, they all died on their way back to a resource depot, frozen and starving to death. Way intense. But way inspiring.

After which, we went to the Kon-Tiki museum which explained the journeys of Thor Heyerdahl and his crew.

The Kon-Tiki raft

His hypothesis was to see if ancient, sea-worthy vessels could travel from Europe and the Middle East to the American continent purely by natural forces of wind and waves. And he proved it not only correct, but very much possible!

Middle East to America

That is a clear evidence that the Jaredites, and Lehi's family from the Book of Mormon traveled to the New World by purely natural forces. Another witness that the Book of Mormon is true! And then he went on to experiment from the American continent traveling to the Hawaiian and Polynesian islands. And he proved that correct as well.

America to Pacific Islands

Hagoth from Alma 63:5-8 could very well be the forefather of the Pacific Islanders. And this was a Norwegian who did all this. Yeeaiah!

Then the Norwegian Folk Museum was amazing with all of the different aspects of their culture: dress, architecture, music, culture, living conditions, and so forth. To be honest, the things that fascinated me most were the bunads, dressing styles and the tale of Christianity in Norway. Norwegians have always dressed very nicely - even since the medieval times. Especially on Sunday, too! Their faith in God was exceedingly great. It is truly neat to tap into the past history of Norway and feel their faith. Now they're on our side to save their children - I love this work! To my uttermost sadness, I didn't notice that there was a Stave Church there in the Folk Museum. Garrett would have killed me for not visiting it. I'll see it before I leave Oslo!

Norwegian Dolls in Hardanger bunads!

And Mom, they had a part of the museum JUST for doll-houses and dolls. I thought you'd like to know that :P. The Sami culture is really neat as well. I want to study so much when I get home . . . Oi!

We unfortunately saved the best for last with the Viking Ship Museum! The largest and best preserved viking ships were there from approximately 900 AD. They were awesome! I love the viking history!

Viking Ship!

After all of that - our good friend John invited us over for dinner. Some of the best indian food I've ever tasted!

John, Elder Godfrey and I :D

It reminded me of my first temple trip last April, after which we went to get some indian food. Tanner

Indian food!

would be proud to know I ate curry and rice like a real Indian!

On Friday, I was asked to hold a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost at a baptism near Lutvannet. That water was gorgeous, and the clouds extremely ominous. I felt extremely viking. Sadly though, we had a meeting that turned out to be earlier that day so I missed the baptism! Sadness! On the other hand, at this meeting we were able to meet our new mission president :)

Don A. and Susan D. Evans

President Evans and Sister Evans are from Mesa Arizona. President Evans taught President Johansen back the LTM way back in prehistoric times. I mean in the 1970's. As we met together, you could feel their love for Norway and for the missionaries of this mission flood the room as we discussed our plans for these coming, transformative months. We are stoked! To express a little difference between the two presidents, President Johansen will basically explode with the spirit and hand it to you, pulsating, while President Evans just kinda smoothly envelopes you with love. President Johansen has truly moved Norway in the progress of missionary work, especially using members to assist us, as well as the creation of the Drammen Stake. These were miracles witnessed by us missionaries and the Norwegian membership! President Evans has some large boots to fill - but I am sure he will create wonders these upcoming 3 years :)

As a little side-note, yesterday we were out contacting near the coast - and it was gorgeous! We even found a little hidden pathway to the new part of Oslo under heavy development. My jaw dropped seeing whole apartment complexes, high-rises and stores, built on the water, all color coordinated and modernly styled. Man, that was stunning! E. (you who now lives in T-ville) would LOVE it there. I'll show you sometime, okay?? My jaw also dropped seeing the price of these apartments. For a 3 bedroom apartment - 30 million kroner - 6 million USD. The most expensive part of the most expensive city in the world - for sure.

This week has been wondrous and exciting! Zone Conference is coming up this Wednesday (4th of July!) We'll be grilling some burgers and providing watermelon and corn to satiate our patriotic thirst :). We take our patriotism seriously. D&C 98:6-10, D&C 101:77-80, 2 Nephi 1:9 Alma 36:1,30. The Constitution was inspired of God in order to bring to pass the Restoration of the fulness of Jesus Christ's Gospel. 

I love my God! And I love my country! (And Norway too - don't worry :)

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

St. Han's Aften (St. Han's Eve)

Streets of Oslo! Toward National Theater

 Norwegian clouds - need I say more??

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.

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 :)

 Streets of Oslo! And the Tram system.

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.

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).

 Ekeberg Park and the ever-changing weather!

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 :)

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.

On the ferry!

Elder Godfrey and I :)

THAT was a fantastic idea. We were bummed that no one else could come - because it was beautiful!!

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.

Bonfires!

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.

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/general-conference/2012/04/the-powers-of-heaven?lang=eng - An Apostle of the Lord can explain it better than I can.

The Lord loves us, and is willing to help us. Through prayer, you can know this too!

-Eldste Bryce Thomas Johnson

Me and the Stortinget which is literally "The Big Thing" but is actually the Parliament building

 Streets of Oslo! And the King's Castle.

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Cruise ship on the Oslo bay :)