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.