Happy Mother's Day!

Elder Mickelson Sykping on Mother's Day

May 14, 2017

Hey Everyone!

Happy Mother's Day yesterday! Ya!!!! Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there (including my mom!)

It was a pretty great week this week. A bunch of random different things happened so that makes this email just as entertaining for the rest of you!

Topics of discussion for today's email:

A hike (beautiful pictures included)

Elder Mitchell - the grillmaster

An attempt at making our own pinnekjøtt (yes, another picture)

A nerf war (no pictures, sorry)

And to top it all off, last but not least, Mother's Day! (again, no pics, sorry)

Ravine

We went on an incredible hike this week! IT WAS SO INCREDIBLE! Basically, we hiked up a ravine all the way up to a dam. And it was really cool. It looked awesome. It was us missionaries and some of the members in the ward that had gone up there. It was a blast. And then, we had a barbecue up at the top on some one-time use grills. They work great if you're making hot dogs, but not great at defrosting and cooking some hamburgers. It didn't go over so well. We tried thawing out hamburgers over a couple coals.... at the expense of Elder Mitchell's Subway bonus card so we could have a spatula and separate the burgers from each other. It worked out in the end, and we didn't eat them raw, but it made for quite the adventure. Then we walked down a different way down a ski slope and that was a lot of fun. All of the snow was melted off so it looked more like an epic mountain biking path.

Pinnekjøtt and mashed potatoes

We made pinnekjøtt this week. That was something else. It starts out as dried lamb, and then you soak the meat, and then steam it for a few hours. Wow. It was delicious!!! A little dry, but still really good. Although, our whole apartment smelled like that for a few days. I think the smell is gone now? I can't really tell. Oh well. It tasted great so I can't complain.

We had a nerf gun war outside with one of the youth this week. It was really fun. He had several nerf guns, so we went out, split up into teams and had a blast for a little bit. He had a whole bucket of nerf darts and that made it SO much more fun to play because you didn't have to pick up all of the darts after three shots. We had a great

time. We all enjoyed it, and then we had some dessert to top it off. That was a good time!

And to end off my email, we had Mother's Day. So I skyped home yesterday! It was great to see my family and talk with them. It took us forever to get it to work, but after a long enough time, we eventually got it all worked out. So it worked out in the end.

I hope you all have a great week! Take care!

Sincerely,

Elder Justin Mickelson

"The highest and noblest work in this life is that of a mother." -Russel M. Nelson

More of the hike

The Dam

Trying to thaw out the burgers.

A snowmaker

Coming down the ski slope.

Waking up with snow.

Snow melted making a picturesque scene along a path down to a bus stop.

I Hop You All Had A Great Week...Because I Sure Did!

Elder Mitchell and I

April 10, 2017

Hello Everyone!!!

I hope you all had a great week. Because I sure did!

By way of announcement and keeping you all up to date with my weekly adventures, I did take a train. I was THIS *pinching thumb and pointer finger together* close to saying I didn't take a train this week. I was going to be quite impressed with myself for having had something change. But nope!

Me chilling on an elephant

We had ended up going to Sandvika for a meeting one morning, but aside from that, no train trips. This week I will though (of course haha). BUT! While I was walking through the middle of Sandvika, I saw a familiar face! One of my old neighbors I had when I lived there was walking by and I went over and talked with him for a bit. So it was way fun to catch up with him and see how life was going. Always nice to see friends!

I didn't have any really crazy foods, BUT. I did have some homemade chipotle sauce. Wow. Delicious. That's the best way to describe it. Delicious with a kick!

We were headed to over to a family's house for dinner one night this week, and as we drove past a little soccer area, we saw a couple of their sons playing there. And we had a few minutes to spare, so we parked the car and joined the neighborhood kids in soccer. Ya, I schooled like 10 year olds. Not really actually anything impressive, but it was fun at least! haha Everyone had a good time so it worked out well.

Elder Mitchell and I washed the car.

We had splits this week and Elder Mitchell (not the one here in Drammen) came from Oslo. It was a blast. We had visited several people and saw like a million people we knew along the way. So it was a way great time. And I didn't need a train ticket, so lucky me! haha

On Saturday we went out in the middle of Drammen with some tablets showing the new Easter video with people. It was a lot of fun and the sun was shining so there wasn't really anything to complain about. It had just been a blast! The video is just on www.mormon.org it's like the first thing on it. The video is called the Prince of Peace. It's a nice little 2 minute video about Easter. I liked it a lot.

Well I hope you all have a great week! Take care! And Happy Easter!!!

Sincerely,

Elder Justin Mickelson

John 3:17 "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

Countryside outside of Drammen #1

Countryside outside of Drammen #2

Countryside outside of Drammen #3

I'm Back In The Saddle Again!

One of my best games of bowling. A whopping 118!!! Yay for me! I also beat the 
high score at their little arcade thing at the bowling alley. Bumped it up to 111! from like 
80 or something like that up even more! Felt so proud of myself! haha

March 6, 2017

Hello Everyone!

Well, as the title suggests. I'm back in the saddle again! (Song reference anyone?) Actually, I'm still impressed I remember any music lyrics. So good for me I guess. Well, this week was a crazy awesome one, I got to go back to a land of fairy tales and the city that I know and love all so well. Sandvika! I'll talk more about that later, but it was loads of fun and got to see a ton of people I know.

This week, we went to a family's home for dinner, and then we were invited to stay with them for family home evening. They have the most adorable little kids and they're just such a blast. Anyways, it was the funnest little activity we played for it. It basically ended up being scripture charades. Now just imagine playing charades with a few little kids. It's REALLY animated and TONS of fun! I don't know, I might have almost gotten more into it than they did, but I guess that's what happens when you never really grow up huh? (It's a joke, I've kinda grown up. At least I like to think I know what I'm doing and think I'm responsible haha).

Elder Mitchell and I caught a train (Again, I feel like every week I'm taking a train somewhere, oh well, it's great!) to Sandvika for their district meeting. It was wonderful seeing them all and being a part of their meeting. Afterwards, we decided to go to this restaurant called Egon's and get their all you can eat pizza. Boy was I stuffed after eating! I think in total, the six of us downed like 3 or 4 pizzas. I know I had like 7 or 8 pieces. I guess that's what happens when you have like a bunch of younger americans, and you tell them that they can eat AS MUCH AS THEY WANT. At that point you don't just eat until you're not hungry, you eat until you're stuffed. Plus, I wanted my money's worth out of it. Restaurant's aren't too cheap in Norway! haha

A few days later I went back to Sandvika on splits. So I was with Elder Hansen. We had loads of fun! I had already gone on splits with him a couple months ago back when he was in Tønsberg, so it was a lot of fun getting to be with him again.

Being there was great. We even met one guy that had been baptized while I was serving in Sandvika, so it was wonderful getting to see him again.

I even had a chance to meet with our awesome landlords there. It had been a while since I'd seen them, so it was a blast to catch up with them and see how they were doing. They're awesome so we had a lot of fun.

Right before I came back to Drammen, we had all played soccer together. So it was us, a bunch of people from the ward, and a few other friends there. I got to see several of the youth, and reminisce on good times and try to school them in soccer. Sadly, I still get beat. I guess that's what happens when you don't grow up playing soccer a ton. Oh well, but it was great!

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week! Take care!

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

"Sometimes we can learn, study, and know, and sometimes we have to believe, trust, and hope." —M. Russell Ballard

It Was A Great Week Though In General

February 27, 2017

Hello Everyone!

I'm really starting to feel like the beginning of my emails are just turning into "This injury I got from running this week". So last week I wrote about scraping up my knee. That's whatever. I can live with that. In case you're wondering (which you're probably not but I'll tell you anyways) my scraped up knee is fine now. The Jurassic World band-aid made it feel a lot better. The story gets better (I know, how does someone top fun band-aid stories?). Anyways, the next day, I turn a corner on the run (it's EXTREMELY icy, FYI) and both of my legs fly out from under me, I'm parallel to the ground and land on my hip. I thought a scraped up knee wasn't fun, well, it's bruised to say the least. At least I don't feel it anymore. It just looks really gnarly. Way fun though.

We got dragonfruit this week. It tasted delicious. Weird, but good. Plus Elder Mitchell

As for the casual weather report. Norway is still being bipolar when it comes to snow, and sun, and rain, and refreezing. But luckily, spring is right around the corner.

It was a great week though in general. A lot happened. Everything from playing ping pong as a district again, to eating some food that didn't like me as much as I liked it, to trying to hand out free hot dogs.

Well, to start off with food. I first want to say, I haven't eaten a kebab that has completely wrecked me... yet... *knock on wood* But we went to this place with one of the youth in the ward to just see how it was going with him and stuff. He suggested this place, I had heard alright things about it, so we went. I ate it pretty quickly, but man... right as I finished it, I just felt like I had sat on a swing for a while (another FYI, I don't like swings too much. They're fun, just make me not feel so hot). The kebab tasted really good, don't get me wrong, I just didn't feel great the rest of the day. Almost had some kebab regret, but not quite.

Later throughout the week we had Zone Conference in Oslo. We caught the train into the city, and then got onto the Metro which got us to the church. It was a great conference, saw a lot of people because we combined to zones for it, and had a lot of fun. Learned a lot, etc.

Quick funny story from Zone Conference. On the way back, we were chilling at Oslo S, waiting for our train to head home, and one of the other missionaries was waiting there too, waiting for a train, but he had his ukulele in his backpack... Oh ya, we totally jammed out there. I've learned some ukulele while I've been out, but I'm still not very good. Anyways, he starts playing different songs and we're all just singing along. Needless to say, everyone around was just hardcore confused why people were playing and singing in public.

Elder Nelson, me, and Johnson

I don't know if this next story is funny, or just depressing. I guess I'll just kick it off with a quick explanation. So Drammen has been redoing one of their tunnels doing some repairs on the roof or something. Anyways, it happens to be this major tunnel that everyone uses leaving the city headed back home (you know, the commuter life). This tunnel has been open and closed off and on for like a month now, and luckily, we haven't driven TOO much in the ridiculous traffic it's caused. I didn't know how bad traffic actually got during rush hour, usually we're just in a small bit of it... I figured, oh, it should loosen up when we get passed the mall.... nope! So we were headed to a town like 8 or 9 miles away. Not too far. normally, it takes 15 minutes to get there. But knowing there'd be traffic, we gave it 30 minutes instead. Sounds reasonable right? NOPE. AN HOUR AND A HALF. We were basically parked on the road for most of it. It was bumper to bumper traffic the ENTIRE way, and like, not just bumper to bumper going fairly along, no, like snail pace the whole way. Oh, well, such is life, you live and you learn.

Some of us at the street stand trying to 

hand out hot dogs and talk with people

We had a little tent up in the middle of the city on Saturday. It was a lot of fun because we handed out free hot dogs and talked to people about the church. We even had a proper fire too to roast them over. It was cold, but the fire made it lots better!

Well I hope you all have a great week! Take care!

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

"May I share with you a formula that in my judgment will help you and help me to journey well through mortality... First, fill your mind with truth; second, fill your life with service; and third, fill your heart with love." —Thomas S. Monson

As Usual, But Still Worth Noting, I'm Doing Great!

View from above the morning's fog

February 20, 2017

Hello Everyone!

Baked goods in the store (Bakevarer)

As usual, but still worth noting, I'm doing great. This week came and went and who knows where it flew off to. But anyways, I'm chilling here on the computer with a Jurassic World Band-Aid on my knee. I was hoping for a Hello Kitty one, but I can't complain. Anyways, I totally fell on the ice... twice... while running this morning. Scraped it up more than I would like, but oh well. Needless to say, the ice was VERY slick this morning. We had run down to this ice skating rink (in the summer it's a soccer field I think), and back. WAAAAY too much uphill, but such is life.

Epic P-Day Ping Pong

(yes, we put two tables together)

We kicked off the week with an epic game of ping pong as a district. We all got together and played ping pong in the church (there's totally just a couple tables chilling there, so we used them). Proudly, I can say I won a lot, but practically at the expense of being dizzy. We started playing to where you had to spin in a circle every time you hit the ball. It made it REALLY hard. I'm surprised I didn't fall over.

We (Elder Mitchell and I) also bought ourselves a couple train tickets, and hopped on the next train headed down to Tønsberg to be a part of their district meeting. That was really great getting to be with all of the missionaries down there. Elder Mitchell and I parted ways for the next day, he stayed in Tønsberg, and Elder Rogers (one of the missionaries in Tønsberg) came with me back to Drammen for splits.

Elder Rogers and I on splits

Splits was way fun. We spent some good time doing a bit of everything, and walked A TON uphill. I've only been to Bergen once, but it felt like I was ALWAYS walking uphill. That's what it seemed like when he was here in Drammen this last week haha. But it was way fun and it was really enjoyable. We even remembered to get a splits selfie!

A blurry picture of me (all bundled up for the cold)

Wednesday night, we were headed back into town and we got a text if we could start the seminary class before the teacher got there a few minutes later. So we said yes and went. It was really great because we had a chance to teach a little bit and share our experiences a bit at the beginning. One thing I'm very impressed while I've been in Norway is the youth within the church. They are just so awesome. They're an example to me of deciding what your standards are and living them. It was just so prevalent while we were there that evening. They'd talk about different things during the lesson, and I was just blown away by how incredible they are. For them, it seems to just click. So it was a great time.

So I do not know why, but now all of a sudden, I seem to be coming across more people with animal mounts chilling in their living rooms. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind, it just throws me off because I haven't seen too many here in Norway. But we were talking to this lady at her door, and Elder Nelson asks what was on the wall behind her. I was off to the

An emu (imagine a small ostrich)

side so I couldn't see, but I moved a little, and there was this GIANT moose head right at the back of the entryway. I've seen quite a few moose, but this head was like one of the largest I've ever seen! just chilling on the back wall. Anyways, it led to a fun little discussion, but it was just so shocking, just because I haven't seen too many while I've been here. There's a start for everything I guess.

Well I hope you all had a great week! Take care everyone!

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

"Seek forgiveness from those you have wronged. Forgive those who have wronged you. Forgive yourself." —C. Scott Grow

Headed over the bridge in the city (Those were some giant flags)

Me inside the Blueberry (our Opel Corsa)

This Week Has Been Super Crazy!

Drammen in the evening

February 6, 2016

Hey Everyone!

This week has been super crazy! One of the busiest ones I might dare say. Elder Hoopes and Jefferies moved this last week. And, naturally when anyone moves, it involves visiting a lot of people and saying goodbye. It was really good getting to meet with a bunch of people Elder Hoopes had gotten close with, but sad for him saying goodbye. Well, nice thing is that you can still stay in touch after moving!

Elder Nelson (my new companion) got here this last week too. He's from Lehi, UT and actually played some lacrosse! I think he's the second person I've met that played lacrosse. Not too huge of a sport in small towns ya know. But that's what happens when schools and cities and everything is small.

Elder Jefferies, Hoopes, Me, Johnson

Elder Mitchell, who I was with in Fredrikstad, moved here to Drammen too, and that's been a blast. He's also been way fun to have in the apartment. Old inside jokes, and catching up has been so much fun. That and quoting The Other Guys with him has been awesome.

We try working a lot with the youth here in Drammen. So we were at the young men's activity night this week. We got there a little later than we expected but it was no problem. They had it set up like a man cave. The young men had set up a small FIFA tournament, and I tried my hand at beating them at ping pong... My somewhat ping pong skills are rusty to say the least. But that's ok. I still held my own.

We were out visiting a family for dinner, and we hopped on the bus to go out there (mind you, I've been in that area only once before) and we started our little adventure there. We got to where I thought the bus was supposed to turn and go up their road... and it just kept on going forward... even further down the hillside. After a few bus stops I knew we were way past where we needed to be. We were a few minute drive PAST where we were supposed to be. I found out later after so kindly getting picked up that there's two busses, which both go along the same road, and only one of them turned on to their road, and that was the OTHER bus, NOT the one we were on. Well, I won't make that mistake again. Luckily, we weren't too late getting there.

So, as the subject of the email led you all to wonder, working out. So this week I've worked out A LOT. More than usual. We even had an apartment run this morning. It wasn't so bad running downhill, it was run back that sucked. So that, in addition to other work outs, and over 500 squats in one day, and other stuff spread out this week, my body (mainly my legs) has been hating me. But I'm finally feeling good again.

We had sport this Saturday, us missionaries and a few other from the church, we played soccer, and basketball, and indoor hockey (another reason my body was aching). Anyways, because I'm American I'm naturally bad at soccer, and then at basketball, the Norwegians dominated us... (Disappointing, I know), but I didn't do too bad at indoor hockey. I'm much better at it than I thought I was. So that was loads of fun.

Church was really good yesterday. We had a great class on charity and how we can find more opportunities to help others in our daily lives. It was a great class.

Well I hope you all have a great week! Take care!

Sincerely,

Elder Justin Mickelson

"But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him." Moroni 7:47

Wow, 7-Weeks Have Come And Gone!

January 30, 2017

Hi Everyone!

Wow. 7 weeks have come and gone! The transfer is nearly over and it feels like I just moved here!

This week was pretty jam-packed. We had a crazy week with two different splits, a world-wide missionary broadcast with several changes to the standard missionary schedule, and we even had time for a waffle stand!

Last Tuesday, Elder Johnson and I were on splits together. Since we already are in the same apartment it was no problem. It was pretty great, we had visited some different people that day and went out talking to people. It was tons of fun. He really enjoyed it, especially because he hadn't been on splits before on his mission (he's been in Norway for only a few months).

There was a world-wide missionary broadcast this week too. Some adjustments had been made helping us be more effective. Changes were made allowing the previously more standard morning schedule to become flexible. For example, studies could be put wherever we wanted in the day to best fit daily/local needs. So it was made a lot more flexible, leaving it up to us to decide when to do everything. (Plus, we get an extra half hour to get ready for the day!)

I went on splits with Elder Applegate too this week. He's serving in Sandvika, and he came here to Drammen for a day. He's an awesome guy, it was great having him here for the day. He was also here for some of the Waffle Stand that we had put up.

We set up a giant tent, with some tables set up, and handed out free waffles all day! It was pretty great. We got to talk with a TON of people. I'd say it was quite a success. I had done one similar in Bodø, so it was quite fun to go for it Round #2.

So as for moves this week, I'll be getting Elder Nelson and saying bye to Elder Hoopes this week. AND! Elder Mitchell will be coming to Drammen too! I was with him in Fredrikstad so it's going to be a blast!

I hope you all have a great week! Take care!

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

I was given a challenge by a little girl in the ward to write down every day a reason why I believe in God. So #1, I believe in God because I can feel His love for me.

Have a great week everyone!