Jeg elsker Norge!!!

Hallo Folk!!

So I'm in Norway now. Not gonna lie, it is the BEST place ever. So it's been pretty crazy the last week but lots of fun stuff has been happening as well.

Last Monday was when we took off to Norway. We took the Frontrunner to the airport and I sat next to a man named Jose. He's a member and we had a lovely conversation about his kids and job, my BYU life, and how Spanish has affectionate names (Jose's is Pépé). We made it to the airport safely, got checked in and taken care of. The flight from SLC to Dalles was good.
The Dalles Airport is so cool. IT'S LIKE DISNEYLAND!! There was this little train we took from our terminal to get to our transfer terminal. Happy music was playing the entire time as well. You just cannot go wrong with happy music on rides.
The plane we flew on from Dalles to London was FANCY. There was a personal screen for each seat and the elders discovered we could chat with each other on them. We many quoted movies and talked about... random things. I tried to catch some z's but I think the excitement of going to Norway kept me up.
London was a brief stop. Well, by brief like a 3-4 hour layover. So not enough time to go sightseeing much, but we were all pretty tired to move.
When we arrived in Norway, everyone kept saying, "Guess what? We're in Norway." It was so cool to see Norway as we were flying over it!!
We went to go pick up our luggage and... mine didn't come. Two other elders (Elder Taylor and Elder Reber) each had a bag missing. they got left behind in London. BUT I was prepared in my carry-on and our luggage flew over for us to get them the next morning. But man, that was kinda scary not having all my luggage there and not knowing what was happening.
We arrived at the mission home. Two words: It's adorable!! My mission president, President Evans, and his wife greeted us, we ate our first home cooked meal in ages, and we had a little testimony meeting. We found out where our first areas are and who our new companions are! Don't worry, I'll get there. We got our bedding which is AMAZING. I love it. It's truly wonderful. Really, I kid you not.
The next morning (11/13) we ate breakfast, had our orientation, President Evans interviewed each of us, ate lunch, and were off to our areas. It was a bittersweet moment to say goodbye to my MTC district. Lots of meaningful handshakes were given and us sisters gave out tons of hugs.

So my first area is called Romerike. It's just east of Oslo. When President Evans interviewed me he said that I'm one of the first sisters to come here. This area hasn't had a baptism for a really long time (and you best believe that's gonna change!) and that the best resource I have here is to work with the members to find people. The Romerike ward puts on this HUGE Christmas concert every year and apparently lots of non-members attend it. I'm excited for that!
My new companion and trainer is Søster Johnson. Oh mah goodness, she is just fantastic!! She's super energetic, loves to smile, and you can feel her love for this work. I'm so excited and grateful that she is my trainer!!
After we dropped off my luggage at the apartment (super nice by the way), we went contacting. On the street. In Norwegian. Good stuff. I was able to say, "Hi, excuse me. We two come from the Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" and then Søster Johnson would take over. Not much luck, but we did have some nice conversations with some people. We spent the rest of the night helping the elders get to their new apartment.

The Romerike ward is so wonderful! They welcomed the new missionaries so warmly and kept saying how excited they were to have us. I'm excited to get to know this ward better and to work with them.

So letting you all know I've arrived safely in Norway, and I've hit the ground running.

Life truly is good and the churh is true!

Last MTC supper

Sister Larsen and Sister Larsen! They were in my BYU freshman ward

Chocolate my companion got for me

My new study area

 my apartment (living room)

My trainer, Søster Johnson and the Elders (Elder Nielson and Elder Garrard)