My Bear Story

February 13, 2017

Hello Everyone!

Well, the snow's packed on the ground, and after a few weeks of little to no sun, the sky has cleared up, and the big bright thing in the sky (not the moon) is shining its rays down on the city of Drammen. It's been pretty consistent snow for the last week, and it's been pretty cold. Lucky for us, it's not Canada and a million degrees below zero.

I had this REALLY cool experience this last week. Elder Nelson and I decided one evening we would go knock some doors. As we walked up to the first door, I could see this silhouette through the giant frosted windows. It was a large bear. So I knock on the door, and this older gentleman answers the door. After about a minute, and the conversation came to a close, I asked him, "Is that your bear?" pointing towards the corner of the entryway. Looking behind the guy, I just see this giant room, with antlers and different mounts. I knew immediately that he was DEFINITELY a hunter. He said yes and asked If I wanted to see it. Naturally, I said yes and we went in and started talking with him. Needless to say, he's one of the coolest people I've met in Norway. It was fun getting to talk about hunting and outdoor things like that for a bit. As we were about to leave, he commented that if we had a camera we could get a picture with the bear. So I did. IT WAS SO COOL!!!!!!! It's amazing to meet just so many different kinds of people throughout the world.

We went and were with the young men for their activity this week. They played some different sports. I got schooled in soccer. Again. Ehh, but such is life. If anything, I'm much better now than I was back in the States. Improvement. That's for sure. But we did do pretty good in basketball. Perks of playing basketball during gym time back in school!

There is one of the nicest guys in the ward here in Drammen. We got a call this week if we'd be able to help move some flooring into his home and move some furniture around so new flooring could get put in. It was really interesting because I didn't know who he was at first. Then after getting to know him, I recognized him immediately in church yesterday. He's always been there, I just hadn't gotten to know him. It just made me realize that helping people out is a wonderful way to get to meet people you don't know. Sometimes it is just that little thing that helps you make a new friend.

A few days ago, we held a little film evening and invited a bunch people to watch Meet the Mormons. There was tons of food (snacks really, but you know), and it was really enjoyable. It didn't turn out half bad.

Overall, it was a really great week. I'm looking forward to this one! It'll be loads of fun! I hope you all have a great week!

Sincerely,

Elder Justin Mickelson

"God's ultimate purpose is our progress." -D. Todd Christofferson