Our Christmas Greeting to our family and friends

A view of most of the Christmas cards and letters we have received from many of you. We put them on a wall in our apartment.
Our Christmas tree and the presents we have received and purchased. We will open our presents on Christmas day, not on Christmas eve, as is the custome here in Norway.
Our lease expires on the 31st of December at the building where our branch has been located for the past twelve years and the owners are not renewing it. So we will be moving to a new building in the downtown area of Tromsø. This is Elder Humphrey, Eveymartine Brogan, Elders Holst and Welch helping with the packing up kitchen items to get ready for the move. Sister Brogan is a university student from England who just recently ran into us in downtown Tromsø. She was not aware there was a branch here and was so excited to find us. We are also excited to have another strong member in our Branch.
This picture was taken today, the 22nd of December, 2007 at 3:05 p.m. She is standing on the main street in downtown Tromsø, Storgate. You can see the only American fast food chain found in Tromsø, Burger King, in the background. Also not the open air booth to her right. These booths are open year round in the downtown area.
This picture was taken about 3 p.m. also today. The moon is full and the church is the Tromsø Domekirke (Tromsø Cathederal) of the Luthern State Church.

With Christmas fast approaching, we want to say hello to all of our friends and family and wish each and every one of you the very best Christmas ever. We hope you remember whose birth we are celebrating and his mission here on the earth. If we live as he asked us to live there will be peace on earth. If we love all year long as we do during this time of year, if we think kindly towards those around us, if we serve each other unselfishly all the time we will do our part to have the Love of Christ among all mankind. This is what we hope for each of of us. We want to share with you our testimony, that Jesus Christ is the literal Son of God, that he lives today, that He and God the Eternal Father love each of us individually. They love us so much that they have revealed themselves to a prophet in these latter days to guide and direct us so that we can spend eternity with them by obedience to their laws and ordinances.

Tromsø in the winter (Tromsø i vinteren)

This photo was taken Saturday, December 22, 2007 at about 3:10 p.m. We are on Storgate, the main road in Tromsø. This section is closed to auto traffic, so pedestrians walk along the street. We are looking south from the torv area (an open space, which is the central part of town. In the summer, during the day, there are many booths in the torv selling all kinds of vegetables, flowers, and whatever else you might think of. But this is to show you how dark it is at 3pm. The only period of light we see is between 11am and 1pm. We do not see the sun until around the 21st of January. Otherwise it is this dark.

We don't know what to call this because the sun doesn't come up, so it isn't sunrise or sunset, but the sky is so beautiful that we can't help taking pictures of it. This was taken Dec. 12, 2007 at 11:07 a.m. facing south just ouside of our apartment building.
Downtown Tromsø Dec. 13, 2007 at 12:22 p.m.
Lill Kristoffersen, a member who lives in one of the apartments on the floor above us in the same building as us, and Sister Humphrey during a game of Phase 10 held after a home evening lesson in our apartment.
This is a picture taken from just outside a members apartment in Tromsø, looking across the fjord towards the mainland, taken on Dec. 20, 2007 at 11:54 a.m.
T. Erlend Lunde and the newest member of the Tromsø Branch, his daughter Emmi Linnea, born December 1, 2007. Erlend isn't a proud father, is he?

Tromsø Branch Christmas Party

This photo was taken at 1115 a.m. The sun doesn't come up this time of the year but it was a beautiful pink where there were no clouds and the clouds were a blue-gray color. Very beautiful.
The tables are set up ready for the guests to arrive. We don't have a cultural hall, so the dinner is held in the foyer. The doors to the chapel are behind the tables.
The guests have arrived. Not all can be seen in the picture. We had twenty five in attendance, including two investigaters. Not bad for a branch of thirty two.
Sister Humphrey playing a game (and winning it). People seen in the picture are (l-r): Arvid Hansen, Christine Peterson, Elder Welch, Sister Humphrey and Peter (we can't remember his last name), one of the investigators.
The winner is? Elder Welch and Elder Holst both claim victory in the game of musical chairs.


All of the above photo's were taken on December 8, 2007. Except for the first one they are all of the Tromsø Branch Christmas Party.

Christmas

Elder Humphrey with two cousins whose father and uncle was a leader in the underground during World War II. We met with them and the twin sister of the person sitting on the right (she is the mother of a faithfull member who lives in a city south of us, Bodø) and they told us many stories of growing up in Norway during the war. It was very interesting. They also did as all Norwegians do when you visit them, feed you cakes, open faced sandwitches and warm drinks.
Britannia Lomax, Åshild Ulriksen, and Søster Humphrey wrap-
ing DVD's of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to give out as jule gaver (Christmas presents) down-
town just before Christmas. We handed out close to 100 of them but so far we haven't received any referrals from them.
Britannia Lomax, Åse Svendsen and Søster Humphrey with the DVD's again.
A lighted Coca-Cola truck that was going all over Norway. Santa was with the truck and they sold many different Christmas items.
Sister Humphrey helps at the Red Cross (Røde Kors) immigrants acclamation program once a week for three hours. Here she is with another lady that is the leader of the program, and two of the children.

Thanksgiving and snow in Norway

The day of transfers. Elder Welch arrived to Tromsø from his service in Oslo. He is from Omaha, Nebraska and has four months left in Norway. We served hamburgers and fries to them for dinner. L- r: Elder Welch, Elder Holst, Elder Humphrey, Linda Bennett.
On Nov. 24th a dinner was held for Americans in Tromsø. This photo was taken at the dinner with me, Elders Welch and Holst. Sister Humphrey had a good time because she could speak English all night long without feeling guilty that she couldn't speak Norwegian well. We all enjoyed meeting new people and eating turkey with all the fixings.
Elder Welch showing off his hat that he uses in the cold, snowy weather we have here in Norway.
In the entry way to the hall where the Thanksgiving dinner was held is a stuffed polar bear. We are standing by it with Elder Welch.
This picture was taken from our window at 2:15 pm yesterday, November 26, 2007. That is the moon in the sky. It shows that it is dark enough at that time of day to see the moon shinning brightly. Instead of going higher in the sky it just moved horizonally across the sky and was gone by 8pm. Notice the eight to ten inches of snow that we have. We received more before the night was over. One thing about Tromsø, if you don't like the weather just wait five minutes and it will change. Keven Eubank, eat your heart out.

People in Tromsø

Sister Humphrey volunteers once a week to serve with the Red Cross for three hours at a center for immigrant ladies and their children. They come together to socialize and learn skills that will help them in Norway. Sister Humphrey sits in on the tutoring sessions in the language to help those who speak English. She also works with the children, keeping them occupied with activities that are interesting and instructive. These are two of the adult ladies, one from Somolia and the other from Iran.
Some of the children. Sister Humphrey taught them how to make paper turkeys before Thanksgiving by tracing their hand on a piece of paper, cutting it out and decorating it. This is what they are doing and showing here.
More of the children at the Red Cross program.
We held an open house at our apartment for Linda Bennett, a member of our church who lives two doors away, on her birthday. From l-r: Linda Bennett, Supacorn Phukpo (a member who is originally from Thialand), Elder Olson, and Åse Svendsen, a college student from Kristiansand, in Southern Norway, who is also a member. This photo is taken just two days before Elder Olson is transferred from Tromsø. He was moved to Kristiansand.
This is also at the open house. All are friends of Linda's who are not members of our church. From l-r: Børe With, Linda Bennett, Astrid Tomstad, Sigrid Tomstad (standing), Julie Terning, Dagfinn Terning.

More views of Norway

One of the last views of the sun this year. Looking from Tromsø towards the mainland around Nov. 15th. The last day the sun was seen above the horizon was Nov. 20th. We still receive about four hours of dusk-dawn each day, but that also is decreasing. (Photo by Elder Holst).
Another view of the sunset at about 1:30 pm around the 16th of Nov.
This view is from downtown Tromsø. (Photo by Elder Holst).
The moon seen over the fjord. Taken from Tromsø.
Elder Olson and Elder Holst changing the tires on the car we drive, a VW Polo. We changed the tires to studded snow tires on all four wheels just four days before we received a big snow storm. You really need the studded tires on all four wheels here as the roads don't get plowed down to the pavement and they become very icy. It is amazing how well we get around in this little car. It is great on gas mileage, which is great because gas is $2.38 a liter now (about $9.50 a gallon). So don't complain about your prices in America.
Some wierd statues in Tromsø. They are right in front of a large theater. Our car was being repaired just across the street. (Photo by Elder Holst).

Northern Lights November 2007

All of these photo's are of the Northern Lights seen here in Tromsø. All of these photo's were taken by Elder Jacques Holst, who is more tech. savey than we are. He has the same kind of digital camera as we do and tries to show us how to use it but we forget faster than he can explain it. The Northern lights are active and you can see curtains of them one minute and the next minute they are very faint. Most of them we see here are the green color you see here, but once in a while we get to see other colors. The only trouble is, most nights we have had so far have been cloudy. So we have only seen the N. L. five different nights. We have missed one or two times they were visible because they didn't start until after we were in bed.

November in Norway

Sister Humphrey with baby of a member who lives about two hour drive from Tromsø, Kåre Pedersen. She really enjoyed holding the baby. This photo and the next three on this post are taken by Elder Jacques Holst, who is from Randers, Denmark.
The day we went to visit Kåre Pedersen we also visited other members who lived far from Tromsø. This little cabin is sitting on an island along the coast as we were driving to some of these members. This is looking out towards the Alantic Ocean on our way to the town of Gryllefjord.
This is looking towards the town of Gryllefjord. The lights you see on the coast are the town. This town is about three and a half hours from Tromsø. The member who lives here said she didn't want anything to do with the church. But it was beautiful ride out to see her.

This is Sister Humphrey eating a Kebab (K-bob), a pita bread filled with everything, including the best meat we have eaten in Norway.
Elder Ben Olson, Ante (I don't know his last name) who is one of the Elders investigators, Elder Jacques Holst and me at a teaching appointment. Ante is a Lap-
lander who lives i Tromsø.

Elders Olsen, Gandy, Tessum, and Holst with Sister Humphrey in our apartment for a district meeting. Elders Gandy and Tessum are serving in Alta, a town north of Tromsø.
We took a day trip out to see some members that live a long way from Tromsø. This is near the small town of Gryllefjord, which is on the coast to the North Sea.
Also near Gryllefjord looking out to the North Sea. Very beautiful but cold on this day.
At our branch Halloween party. Elder Humphrey with the only costume he could find, a Santa hat and stocking, telling the green witch, Sister Humphrey, that she could not have any candy.
A beautiful sunset taken November 2, 2007 in Tromsø at around 2:30 in the afternoon. Before the month is over we will be almost all darkness. Now the sun comes up at 9:50 am and sets at 1:40 pm. We are losing almost 15 minutes of light each day.