On to Haugesund

Just outside of Bergen is an oil rig in the North Sea. This is the main reason that it is so expensive to live in Norway. The government controls the oil fields that are several places in Norwegian territorial waters. They put a large amount of the profits that are earned from oil production into trust funds to use for the development of the country when the oil reserves run out. But the oil has produceded not only high incomes, but also high prices for all commodities. There is a saying that the only way to afford to live in Norway is to work in Norway. Much truth to that.
While on our last ferry ride, between Bergen and Haugesund, we passed several of these salmon farms. These circles are enclosures of net like material that keep salmon in them. The farmers spawn the salmon and feed and harvest them in the cold waters of the fjords. It is easier this way than to catch them in the sea and rivers. You can find theses farms all over Norway, from the north to the south.
Finally after close to two thousand miles of travel we arrived in Haugesund. After receiving the tires we had sent to Haugesund by parcel post one of the first things we did was change the studded four winter tires to summer tires. Here the two young missionaries we are replacing, Elder Brett Jessen from South Ogden and Elder Michael Guttierrez from Fort Worth, Texas are doing the job of switching tires. Of course, Elder Humphrey is stupidvising.
A couple of days after we arrived the Branch Clerk and Elders Quorum President, Gunnar Rustad, came to our appartment and went over several items of branch business with Elder Humphrey. He is 81 years old, his wife is antagonistic against the church as are his children. He works about four or five hours each day on some aspect of church work, home teaching, finance work, geneology or other things. He is an amazing man.
We didn't go in, but had to show that even in Norway there are McDonald's. We didn't have them in Tromsø, only Burger Kings. There are at least two here in Haugesund. It costs about eight dollars for a Big Mac plus extra for fries and a drink, so we don't visit Mc Donald's. While here as a young missionary I never found anyone who knew what hamburgers or pizza were. Now there are several places in each city to buy them.

Between Dombås and Bergen

This is an original Stave Church. The four corners of the church were held up by large poles, made out of tree trunks, called staves, or stakes. These were some of the first churches built after Norway became christian. They are found throughout Norway and several have been built by Norwegians in America. This one is in Lom.
A beautiful view of a fjord and the mountains surrounding it.
We had to cross three different fjords on ferry's. This is Sister Humphrey on one of them.
The Brygen in Bergen. These buildings were originally built in the 1500's by members of the Hansiatic League, a group of merchants that spread originally from Germany to all over Europe. The harbor is just to the left of the photo. The ships would come into the harbor and load and unload their wares. It is now a tourist center with many small shops on the street level .
This is the senior couple missionaries assigned to Bergen, Sister Linda and Elder Allen Wayne Robards, from Cottonwood area of Salt Lake. He served a mission in Norway and they are trying to activate the less active members of the church. We will be having a conference for all six of the senior couple couples serving as missionaries with the mission president and his wife in two weeks in Bergen. It will be good to get to know all of them.

Trondheim and south

This is the third largest city in Norway, Trondheim. It is on a fjord and this is a river that has a "Brygen" or a warehouse district on the harbor. The most famous brygen is in Bergen and will be shown on another post.
The most outstanding building in Trondheim is the Nidaros Cathederal. It is the main church in Norway, where before the Reformation, the Catholic Bishop of Norway served. Now it is where the Luthern Bishop of Norway serves. It is also where each King is crowned when he becomes king. Norway has a government of a constitutional monarchy. The figures on the face of the cathederal are different prophets and apostles from biblical times.
This is a statue of Olav the Holy, Viking and Saint who Christianized Norway. He was converted during a raid to either England or France, I don't remember, and then returned to Norway and told people they could either become christian or loose their head. No question what they choose.
About three hours south of Trondheim, we stayed in the mountain resort town of Dombås. We ate at a cafeteria and just outside of it is this troll house and troll. We were back in snow again, but not as much as in the north.
This is what we saw several places along the road. The snow would melt during the day and drip down the cliffs of the mountains and then freeze. These huge ice formations were all along the road. Some of the cliffs were five or six hundred feet high and the ice formations were very impressive. Most of them were a deep blue color and very clear.

On the way - Between Tromsø and Trondheim

About four hours south of Tromsø is a town of about twenty thousand called Narvik. It is a sea port and railroad terminis for coal and iron from Sweden. Because of the Gulf Stream, it is ice free in the winter so it is used by Sweden to send their abundant coal and iron ore to other countries. There is a small university there and many Chinese go to school there. This is the senior couple, Elder Byron and Sister Dian Merrell from Vernal, who are assigned to this town. They have baptized three of the Chinese people and are working with others. They are a very great missionary couple. They asked us to stop on our way through and have lunch with them. They then gave us a sack of food to eat on our way.
A view along one of the many fjords showing a storm approaching.
The road followed this river for several miles. This area reminded us of the Bitterroot valley in Montana, with its wide river and pine covered hills on either side and many small communities here and there. Each community had signs advertising the good fishing available on the river. I am sure that there is plenty of activity here in warmer weather. However we thought it was great to be out of snow for awhile.
Every small town or group of houses had its own little white church. We passed so many of them that we wanted to stop and get a picture of at least one. We thought it was interesting that the church yard is also the local cemetary. People can live how they want but when they are dead they are close to the church for protection from evil.
Just north of Trondheim, the third largest city in Norway, is a small town, with a train station, which is named Hell. We had to drive to the station to show you that we have been to Hell. It literally freezes in the winter time. By the way, Hell means luck in the Norwegian language. There is a town just outside of Bergen, the second largest city in Norway, that is named Paradis. We drove through it but were so frazzeled after driving ten hours we did not stop to take a photo. So we can say that we have been to Hell and then to Paradise.

Before leaving Tromsø

All of these pictures are from Tromsø. This is looking at our apartment. Our car is to the right and our apartment is just behind that. The pile of snow to the left is from clearing the entrance and drive way. They just send a snow plow out and push it up into several piles. This is one of them. We heard that it snowed about three feet total during the four days after we left Tromsø.
This is a car that some one parked in the fall with the windshield wipers lifted up so that they wouldn't be frozen to the windshield. The snow plow has just pushed snow away from both sides of the car and left the car buried in the snow. This photo was taken on the 10th of April.
We took some time to take a cable tram ride to the top of a mountain in Tromsø. This shows Sister Humphrey and in the background is the south end of the island that is Tromsø. Tromsø means Troms island. Tromsø is the county seat of the county of Troms, one of the counties in Norway.
This shows the north end of Tromsø and the bridge that goes from the island to the main land, which is in the forground.
Elder Michael Olsen, from Boise, Idaho and Elder Guy Watts, from Great Britain, helping us take packages from our apartment to be mailed to Haugesund. They moved into the apartment after we left.