The Weather Cleared Up

Bodø Sunset

November 21, 2016

Hi Everyone!

After having not seen the sun for a week *cough cough* thanks clouds, the weather cleared up and I saw the sun rising/setting at the same time. I do have to say, it's been really nice here because we still don't have snow, it hasn't been too bitter cold, and the sun still rises every day. So I'm grateful for that.

Speaking of gratitude, this week is Thanksgiving! It's not really a Norwegian holiday, although there are a few people who do celebrate it. We are celebrating it still! I hope we all take a little time to think about how much we have and take that time to appreciate it. It's easy to take some things in life for granted, but it's the little things in life (in addition to the big) that make life so wonderful!

We were walking around this week, talking to different people, and we started talking with a man from Oslo. I recognized his dialect really easily and asked where he was from down there. Well, after the conversation, I turned to Elder Dawes and asked him how much he understood of the conversation. He said that the guy's dialect was really hard to follow. Laughingly, I told him that what he was saying was closest to the Norwegian he learned in the MTC. We both had a pretty good laugh about it.

Now, I hope the No-Christmas-Music-Before-Thanksgiving Mob doesn't get together against me anytime soon. This week a few of us from the church got together and sang a bunch of Norwegian Christmas songs. It was so much fun getting to sing some new ones, and sing some classics that I remember from last year. By the way, if you all want a cool Norwegian Christmas song to listen to, Nordnorsk Julesalme. It's a beautiful northern Norwegian Christmas song!

A few days ago, the Norwegian Navy docked in Bodø and was out and about. Now, I have to say this. It was SOOO fun having them around! They had a tug of war competition with just a bunch of guys from the Navy against different random people from Bodø. It was so fun to watch Navy vs. Bodø. I guess the Navy has a tradition of holding tug of war competitions with the different cities they stop at. Such a great thing in my opinion.

Funny story to end this week's email. This is another flashback to a couple months ago. Back when Elder Dawes had first gotten here, and was hit pretty hard with jet lag, it made him a bit tired. Tired enough that once he was saying a prayer... and the poor guy was so tuckered out, he fell asleep... midsentence haha. It was really hilarious to see. Luckily, the jet lag didn't last very long, but it was funny while it happened.

I hope you all have a great week!

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

"Think to thank" -Thomas S. Monson

Happy Thanksgiving this week!