I'm Getting Transferred To Fredrikstad!

December 7, 2015

New Address:

Dalkleven 11

1671 Kråkerøy

Norway

Dear Family & Friends,

So this week went really well. Moves call was on Sunday morning and I found out that I'm getting transferred to Fredrikstad! It's way down South and next to Sweden. So from what I've heard, their dialect in Fredrikstad is very similar to those in Southern Sweden (I guess that makes sense considering that it's only a border that is between them). I'll be serving with Elder Mitchell. We were in the MTC at the same time. I'm really excited to go there. I've heard that the Ward there is really awesome! I'm really excited to go serve there.

But with every transfer, we have to say goodbye. These last few days have been full of goodbyes. I've made some really amazing friends here in Alta. I guess if you're in a city for three months you are bound to. So up until I leave, I'll be making my rounds saying bye. I'd really like to come back one day to visit all of them. They have been the best, and I can't really express how much I've appreciated them.

So I got asked what the food is like in Norway. So food here is pretty much like the United States. Traditional food in Norway is basically farm food, which, by the way, tastes amazing. Although, I do have to say, beef here in Norway is not like beef in the U.S. You can still buy it here, just not in great amounts and it's hard to find just slabs of beef. As a whole though, Norway's food selection is really similar. The only difference is that it's really hard to buy anything in bulk here. There's no Walmart here! It's okay though. I only have to feed myself, not an entire family so that works. Oh, and you can't buy milk in huge containers. Milk in gallon jugs don't exist as far as I know. Only 1 liter and 1.75 liter cartons. That's why I just buy a lot of cartons of milk a week! I hope that was a little bit of insight into Norwegian food/selections/stores.

One thing I've been thinking about this week has been what Christmas time means for us. Here in Norway, Christmas is a time for families to come together. It is a time for us to reflect on great times and look forward to the future. It is a time for us to enjoy what we have and enjoy one another's company. As Christmas comes closer, I'd hope all of you think about what Christmas means to you. Think about families and how we can use the Christmas season to help strengthen our family bonds. As always, think of the reason we have Christmas. It's a time for us to reflect on Christ also. Keep these thoughts in mind this week.

Ice Hotel under construction

So Alta has this really "cool" ice hotel! Sorry for the pun. We went and visited it. They're building it still, so I didn't get to go inside and see it. That was sad. But I can say I've been there! They have to rebuild it every year because it's not always cold up here! Every Winter they bring in huge construction machines and rebuild the hotel out of the fresh snow. It was pretty awesome still.

The Northern Lights Cathedral

There's a church here called Nordlyskatedralen (The Northern Lights Cathedral). It's the famous church of Alta. I've been here for four months and had never seen the inside. So we decided to go tour it before I left! It was a really nice church. It's a more abstract style, but still pretty cool.

Love,

Elder Mickelson