Tunnels between Skien and Oslo, Norway
Beautiful Norway countryside
Farming country in the hills of Norway
Rex and Vicky by a beautiful waterfall on drive from Skien to Oslo, Norway
Rex braved a roadway for a snapshot of a lake in the background. Rainy day weather.
Double steeple church in Skien, Norway
Mormon Helping Hands people passing out flyers at Kungstradgarden
The Royal Palace in Stockholm
Gardens of flowers in the Kungstradgarden with Vicky in the background
The Opera House in Stockholm
Rex with his shades on and the flowers of Kungstradgarden
Beautiful tulip gardens surround one of many statues in StockholmToday is Mother’s Day and I feel so grateful and blessed to have such a wonderful family. Being a Mother is the ultimate in happiness and blessings. I heard from everyone of my children and loved talking with them.
This week was such fun filled with the excitement of sharing a meal with the elders and sisters since transfers are next week. We have seen many miracles within the mission these past few months. My dear friend Birgitta came to our apartment for another lesson Tuesday. She has become such a dear friend. It will be difficult to say good-bye to her in a few months. We worked at the temple all day Wednesday and then had our Key City Council meeting Wednesday night. This is a busy month for Key City with plans for a UN Family Day, Mormon Helping Hands projects, and a Neighbor Day in the works. Rex and I are busy traveling around to support the BYU Young Ambassador tour and VIP receptions, helping where needed.
We went to Norway on Thursday morning and met Gabi, our Europe Area Director. She had us rent a car and the three of us traveled to Skien, about 2 ½ hours south of Oslo for a performance and VIP reception. It was the most amazing experience as the organizer of the tour in Skien went to the local high school and got 240 of the students involved helping arrange for everything. The students had to apply for the positions to help. When BYU arrived at their school, their band played The Star Spangled Banner and they had printed up t-shirts that had “Young Ambassadors” printed on the front. There was a day of workshops and interaction with the BYU students and the high school students. The VIP Reception was held with the Mayor in attendance and a special award was given to a community member who exemplifies a good volunteer. The man was presented with a beautiful statue created by the students. The city plans to make this a yearly award and the church will have a member sitting on the committee to determine the recipient. The town has already published two 2-page articles in the local paper about the show. A video of the performance is being made by the students to be sold to raise money for volunteer organizations. A famous opera star sang two intro numbers and the Mayor presented Ed Blaser, BYU Performing Arts Manager, with a beautiful porcelain plate of Skien. The evening was just “off the charts” in creativity, bridge building, etc. I am so happy we were there. The Ward Mission Leader is the person who was in charge of the evening and he said this is a ward mission leader’s dream come true. WOW! What an evening!
The next morning we drove through the gorgeous Norway countryside to Oslo. Norway is such a beautiful country. The show in Oslo was held at the Oslo Concert Hall and all 1400 seats were full. The VIP reception hosted some important people and friends of BYU. Erlend Peterson, International VP at BYU, was there and had invited many friends he had made as a mission president in Norway in the 80’s. He has been Knighted by the Norwegian Parliament as they think so highly of him. The show was absolutely fantastic!!
When we were on our flight home from Oslo on Saturday, a fellow sat beside us and we began a conversation with him talking about what each of us does. We told him about the Young Ambassadors and the tour. He then began reading the local newspaper and stated that he was a journalist and this paper was his competitor. As the pane landed he handed us his card and said that he was interested in what we had said and asked if we could get him some additional information. On Saturday afternoon at the MHH project we showed the card to Per Akebrand and asked him if the paper that he represented was a good paper that we would want to be associated with. He stated it was the #2 paper in Stockholm and was more conservative than #1 and was a great lead. Per had read several of his articles and said he was one of the top journalist for the paper.
Today we went to his office and gave him 5 pass outs and a press release and two tickets to the performance and invited him to the VIP/Media reception. He stated that he would like to come. What are the chances????
This week was such fun filled with the excitement of sharing a meal with the elders and sisters since transfers are next week. We have seen many miracles within the mission these past few months. My dear friend Birgitta came to our apartment for another lesson Tuesday. She has become such a dear friend. It will be difficult to say good-bye to her in a few months. We worked at the temple all day Wednesday and then had our Key City Council meeting Wednesday night. This is a busy month for Key City with plans for a UN Family Day, Mormon Helping Hands projects, and a Neighbor Day in the works. Rex and I are busy traveling around to support the BYU Young Ambassador tour and VIP receptions, helping where needed.
We went to Norway on Thursday morning and met Gabi, our Europe Area Director. She had us rent a car and the three of us traveled to Skien, about 2 ½ hours south of Oslo for a performance and VIP reception. It was the most amazing experience as the organizer of the tour in Skien went to the local high school and got 240 of the students involved helping arrange for everything. The students had to apply for the positions to help. When BYU arrived at their school, their band played The Star Spangled Banner and they had printed up t-shirts that had “Young Ambassadors” printed on the front. There was a day of workshops and interaction with the BYU students and the high school students. The VIP Reception was held with the Mayor in attendance and a special award was given to a community member who exemplifies a good volunteer. The man was presented with a beautiful statue created by the students. The city plans to make this a yearly award and the church will have a member sitting on the committee to determine the recipient. The town has already published two 2-page articles in the local paper about the show. A video of the performance is being made by the students to be sold to raise money for volunteer organizations. A famous opera star sang two intro numbers and the Mayor presented Ed Blaser, BYU Performing Arts Manager, with a beautiful porcelain plate of Skien. The evening was just “off the charts” in creativity, bridge building, etc. I am so happy we were there. The Ward Mission Leader is the person who was in charge of the evening and he said this is a ward mission leader’s dream come true. WOW! What an evening!
The next morning we drove through the gorgeous Norway countryside to Oslo. Norway is such a beautiful country. The show in Oslo was held at the Oslo Concert Hall and all 1400 seats were full. The VIP reception hosted some important people and friends of BYU. Erlend Peterson, International VP at BYU, was there and had invited many friends he had made as a mission president in Norway in the 80’s. He has been Knighted by the Norwegian Parliament as they think so highly of him. The show was absolutely fantastic!!
When we were on our flight home from Oslo on Saturday, a fellow sat beside us and we began a conversation with him talking about what each of us does. We told him about the Young Ambassadors and the tour. He then began reading the local newspaper and stated that he was a journalist and this paper was his competitor. As the pane landed he handed us his card and said that he was interested in what we had said and asked if we could get him some additional information. On Saturday afternoon at the MHH project we showed the card to Per Akebrand and asked him if the paper that he represented was a good paper that we would want to be associated with. He stated it was the #2 paper in Stockholm and was more conservative than #1 and was a great lead. Per had read several of his articles and said he was one of the top journalist for the paper.
Today we went to his office and gave him 5 pass outs and a press release and two tickets to the performance and invited him to the VIP/Media reception. He stated that he would like to come. What are the chances????
After arriving home we went to Kungsträdgården (a huge park in downtown Stockholm where much activity is going on) and help pass out flyers for a Mormon Helping Hands project Key City is doing. We are collecting baby blankets to be given to a hospital in South Africa where mothers have babies and nothing to take them home in. Some use brown paper bags or old newspapers, whatever. Also, we are making white blankets for the mothers whose babies die, so they have a white blanket in which to bury their baby. Next Saturday we have a tent set up at UN Family Day to gather the blankets. Our goal is to collect 500 blankets. The wards and branches are all making them in RS and YW.
Our friends and fellow PA team in Frankfurt shared this information with us:
We just got a report on the meeting with the Cardinal in Italy (it happened on Tues. May 5th). We talked with Pres. Robert Oaks last night at the BYU Management Society Europe Leadership Conference. He said the meeting was “Spectacular!” He said when they first met that the Cardinal said to Pres. Caussé “You come from Bordeaux?” He answered “We!” and the Cardinal said “Good!” They got along so well that the meeting was conducted in French. It went, as Pres. Oaks said, better than they could have hoped. He said it was another indication of “Help from above” in the work here.
Here is a follow-up report on the Mormon Film Festival in Belgium in April. Claude Bernard, the Brussels Key City chairman, wrote the following:
I think that everyone who was present on the day of the screening not only enjoyed the film but felt the spirit as well. We’ve had some interesting responses as a direct consequence of the films- from the non-member student in journalism who is writing a piece on Mormonism who said he could understand what missionary work is all about (Errand of Angles) and what being a bishop entails (Father in Israel) after seeing the Christian Vuissa films - to the member couple who had been inactive for some time and came, felt the spirit and has been coming back to the church ever since - from the investigator who came with the missionaries and loved the film “Errand of Angles” and wants to continue being taught - and to all the members present who felt legitimate pride in the work done by fellow (artist) members and who are now ready to invite friends and family to come to see other films in the future. A corollary to all this is that I have been asked to screen the films in Luxembourg, Paris and other francophone cities in Belgium.
We spoke with some friends from South Africa on Skype this past week. They told us of a group of 4,000 people in Sudan who had found a Book of Mormon and are waiting for someone to come baptize them. The Church is not recognized in Sudan so we don’t know when this will happen. Almost a year ago, we got an email from Bob and Renae that there were 2500 in Sudan waiting for baptism, but now the number is up to 4,000. Can you imagine being the missionary called to Sudan and having the privilege of baptizing 4,000 people? That is more than a stake! We are praying for a miracle so these people can be baptized soon.
Our friends and fellow PA team in Frankfurt shared this information with us:
We just got a report on the meeting with the Cardinal in Italy (it happened on Tues. May 5th). We talked with Pres. Robert Oaks last night at the BYU Management Society Europe Leadership Conference. He said the meeting was “Spectacular!” He said when they first met that the Cardinal said to Pres. Caussé “You come from Bordeaux?” He answered “We!” and the Cardinal said “Good!” They got along so well that the meeting was conducted in French. It went, as Pres. Oaks said, better than they could have hoped. He said it was another indication of “Help from above” in the work here.
Here is a follow-up report on the Mormon Film Festival in Belgium in April. Claude Bernard, the Brussels Key City chairman, wrote the following:
I think that everyone who was present on the day of the screening not only enjoyed the film but felt the spirit as well. We’ve had some interesting responses as a direct consequence of the films- from the non-member student in journalism who is writing a piece on Mormonism who said he could understand what missionary work is all about (Errand of Angles) and what being a bishop entails (Father in Israel) after seeing the Christian Vuissa films - to the member couple who had been inactive for some time and came, felt the spirit and has been coming back to the church ever since - from the investigator who came with the missionaries and loved the film “Errand of Angles” and wants to continue being taught - and to all the members present who felt legitimate pride in the work done by fellow (artist) members and who are now ready to invite friends and family to come to see other films in the future. A corollary to all this is that I have been asked to screen the films in Luxembourg, Paris and other francophone cities in Belgium.
We spoke with some friends from South Africa on Skype this past week. They told us of a group of 4,000 people in Sudan who had found a Book of Mormon and are waiting for someone to come baptize them. The Church is not recognized in Sudan so we don’t know when this will happen. Almost a year ago, we got an email from Bob and Renae that there were 2500 in Sudan waiting for baptism, but now the number is up to 4,000. Can you imagine being the missionary called to Sudan and having the privilege of baptizing 4,000 people? That is more than a stake! We are praying for a miracle so these people can be baptized soon.
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