Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Telemark Zone (Our Largest Zone)

April 17, 2017

Happy Easter everyone!!!

I hope you all had a great vacation and weekend and stuff! Something that is pretty cool here is that in Norway, people celebrate Easter week. So everything from Palm Sunday, to Good Friday and Easter. Even today, being Monday, is the second day of Easter. So, it's different celebrating more than just one day for Easter. I think it's pretty great!

It was quite an eventful week! That's for sure! We helped a member in the ward paint his house, and it's looking pretty good if I do say so myself haha! It was real fun though. I got a bunch of paint on my jeans so we'll see how well it goes trying to get it off. It'll be an adventure nonetheless.

A ton of people from the ward got together to play soccer over Easter break and we went and played with them. There was a couple dozen there. Proper sized teams. Us Americans suck at playing soccer. Luckily, because of my time in Sandvika and here in Drammen, I've gotten better. I'm not completely hopeless. Just somewhat of a lost cause. But no, we did alright haha! (Still lost though, but just barely).

Speaking of soccer, one afternoon we spent the evening with a family, and after dinner us and their kids all headed out to this little soccer field and played soccer. It was a blast, but we still lost to their kids. I'm not that great after all. Oh well.

No weekly email would quite be the same without the train update. Well, the trains are still running, and I'm still catching them. This week I went on splits to Tønsberg. And it was a lot of fun. I was with Elder Rogers again and it was a blast seeing him again. We got to go help an older couple with some yard work too. I can thank my mom for teaching me how to clean out flowerbeds! :) Thanks mom!

We spent Easter yesterday over at the mission home with the mission president and his wife, along with some other senior couples and a bunch of other missionaries. We had a nice dinner (the food was amazing) and we sang a ton of songs together. A really nice way to spend Easter afternoon!

Elder Mickelson is playing the piano

Well we are headed out soon to go climb Norway's biggest ski jump, so that'll be fun!

Hope you all have a great week! Happy 2nd day of Easter!

Sincerely,

Elder Justin Mickelson

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for

his friends." John 15:13

Elder Decker with our super small shopping cart :)

Elder Mickelson and Elder Mitchell spent the morning 

teaching the missionaries how to keep their “line in the water.”

There are wonderful large windows around the top of the Drammen Chapel. They let in lots of light 🙂 We were happy to have a visitor Eivind Top join us for the day!

This Week Was Really Amazing.

Pic from the picnic (me, Elder Mitchell and Elder Decker)

April 3, 2017

Hey Everyone!

This week was really amazing. I don't know why, but each week gets more and more hectic. Maybe eventually I'll get a break. But who really knows?

Monday we spent the afternoon of our P-Day a bit more enjoyably. We decided that we needed to get out of the house, and out into nature... Or at least where the sun's shining. So in our lack of creativity, the sisters thought it'd be a great idea to go have a picnic. And because we couldn't come up with anything better, we said sure. It was really enjoyable and lots of fun. We bought a bunch of fruit, Elder Mitchell and I each got a Coca-Cola, and we went out to a park down by the river. We had our little picnic, tossed around a football (not a

soccer ball), and just had a good time. I even rolled up my pant legs a little bit to catch a little sun. Too bad it didn't do anything though. Still pasty white haha. That's alright, I'll live.

We had a little conference here in Drammen this week too. So that kept us pretty busy getting everything in line for that. But that went real well. It went smoothly so I can't complain any.

Right after the conference we, yes, got on a train, along with the missionaries in Arendal and Kristiansand because we were having splits with the Kristiansand elders. It was SUCH A LONG train ride. 4 hours. That's a long time to sit in one spot. I had to stand up and walk

around a couple times. But the train ride was real good.

Splits in Kristiansand was way nice. One, the city is like one of the most southern cities in Norway, so it's a lot warmer and it's just way cool. It's just a gorgeous place. Plus, I was with Elder Tangen who was in my MTC group, plus we served together in Sandvika, so it was a

blast. And a blast to the past. haha Just a lot of good reminiscing.

After splits, we took the beautiful, yet very rainy train ride the WHOLE 4 HOURS BACK! This time it wasn't so hard. Elder Mitchell and I each bought an 8-pack of boller, and a coke to make the trip. We ended having a way cool conversation with this lady on the train though. Fun story, her great great great something grandma was one of the last

witches burned in Norway. So, I met a descendant of a witch XD haha It was a pretty crazy story. I guess those witch trials weren't JUST in the US.

My lutefisk (sorry, didn't have bacon on this one).

LUTEFISK! Yes, so anyone still reading this finally hit the reason they wanted to read it. Yes, I finally had lutefisk. It was like one of the last foods on my Norwegian food bucket list! Now, for everyone who are turned away from the thought of lutefisk, or fish jello, or whatever you want to call it. It was DELICIOUS. Like, it was . Our landlords had made it, and wow. Good. I really liked it. I had it with some pea stew and potatoes on the side, with some bacon and grilled onions on the top. Boy was that good. If you get the chance, eat it.

This last weekend was General Conference. What a great opportunity to hear so many good talks. I loved it. It was hard to sit still for so long, but I managed! haha We're watching the last session tonight with a member here in Drammen so that'll be way fun. But I highly suggest watching it if you haven't!

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

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

"Walking with the Savior in priesthood service will change the way you look at others." -Pres. Henry B. Eyring

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

Wow! What A Hectic Week!

Me by our apartment

January 23, 2016

Hello Everyone!

Wow! What a hectic week! But such a good one at that. We started out the week on Monday with a way fun activity as a district. Elder Hoopes had gotten the game Bananagrams for Christmas, so we decided to play that as a district. TONS of fun. It was the party edition, so all of a sudden you had to start doing crazy things like only playing with one hand, standing on one leg, or setting the banana case that the tiles go in on top of your head. It was a very silly game, but a lot of fun.

All of us at Zone Leader Training

We had Zone Conference here in Drammen this week (sadly didn't get to travel very far to it, just across to the other side of the river). The day before we were getting different things set in place for it, and out of nowhere we get this call from a member of the church here, letting us know that basically all of the busses had stopped running... It had been raining all day, but it was still cold enough that the rain froze on the ground, and the entire city became just a giant sheet of ice. To put it simply, it became one huge ice skating rink, suddenly with a bunch of cars on the roads. A bunch of accidents happened. Luckily we were taking the busses so we didn't have to worry about driving, we just needed to worry about the busses running still (which they eventually did).

Oslo

That night we had walked over to a house for a lesson, and we were walking up the driveway, which was still a sheet of ice, and it took us about a minute to walk a few feet. One step forward, two slides back.

Oslo

We had Zone Conference, which was blast. I still love getting to see everyone. I realized that I had known most of them for a really long time, and that I had been in the same city with almost half of them at one point or another. It was really enjoyable. Right afterwards, I headed off to Oslo for splits with Elder Bleggi (we came to Norway at the same time). It was great being with him. We got to teach a few different people and it was loads of fun. We were at the mission office which is the same place as the young adult center there in Oslo, and they had seminary that evening, so I walked into the room, and saw several different people I knew, some from here in Drammen, but also some that I knew from other wards I had been in. It was great getting to catch up real quick with friends there.

It was a great week. Really fast-paced, but very enjoyable. I hope you all have a great week. Take care!

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

Alma 37:37 "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day."

I Am Getting Transferred To Drammen

Panoramic pic from the fort (pic by Elder Dawes)

December 12, 2016

Hello from almost the North Pole!

Moves call was yesterday! Unfortunately, I have to move from Bodø!!! NOOOOOOO!!! I love this city way too much! It's this cozy little city and I've come to love it so much. I'm pretty sure a part of my heart will be left up here in the north, in Bodø. But such is life, change. But change can be a good thing. It helps us grow.

Pepperkakebyen bus, 
It has a gingerbread city inside the bus

Anyways, I'm going to Drammen!!! I've visited Drammen before about six or seven months ago, but now I'll be moving there. I'll be with Elder Hoopes. He came out in my group. We actually sat right next to each other the whole six weeks in the MTC learning Norwegian. So this will be way exciting! Looking forward to it! Now all that's left is packing.... That'll be fun. 6 months in a place and you get pretty settled into an apartment, now it's got to work it's way into a few suitcases! haha

We also watched the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. It was a great meeting. If you haven't seen it, you should. It's full of Christmas songs, and a few speakers talking about Christmas and how we can remember Christ during this wonderful time of year.

Mission Conference Group 2

Narvik District

We went back down to Oslo this last week again. This time for Zone Conference. It was soooo awesome! We flew down on Wednesday evening and stayed with the Oslo missionaries (one of which was Elder Mitchell, we served together in Fredrikstad this time last year). It was a blast. After a killer breakfast the next morning, we hopped on a train over to Sandvika (my last area) and went to the church building there for conference.

It was pretty cool being back in the same building I had been in just six months before. Not going to lie, pretty nostalgic. It was nice seeing it all again.

Me and Elder Mitchell

There was a couple different presentations put together there at the conference. One was a series of video clips our parents had sent them of us opening our mission calls. That was way cool to see that. It nearly made me cry! (no tears came, I promise! haha) The other one was one that was pretty much, "Guess that missionary" with a series of pictures our parents sent of us as we had grown up. Both were so much fun and quite memorable.

Elder Dawes and Elder Mickelson

After the conference we had a little talent show. Elder Dawes and I sang a song called "Tracting in a Winter Wonderland" HILARIOUS!

I HAVE NOW EATEN SEAL. I think bolding and underlining will really get some attention. Ya, I totally had seal last night and some whale. It was delicious!!! If I were to describe what it tastes like, hmmm... It tastes like whale, except a little bit more tender. It was amazing. I could eat that a lot and not get sick of it. Great stuff!

Today we walked out to an old fort that was made in the early 1800s to protect the harbor. It was a way cool little fort and we got some great pictures!

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

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson

Isaiah 9:6 "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given ... and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas season!!!

Additional Pics:

Me and Elder Mitchell (picture taken by Elder Dawes)

Elder Tangen and I

Me and Elder Merritt

Elder Mickelson playing some carols for the conference

Senior missionaries getting ready to serve the food

Lunch Time at Zone Conference

Me at the canon

Fort

Fort

Canon's going to get the incoming boat

Middle of the city with a tipi, and the Christmas tree

I Started Off This Week By Flying Down To Trondheim (Again)!

Me and Elder Braunberger (he's a missionary up in Tromsø

September 12, 2016

Hello Everyone!

Normally, I feel like there isn't too many different things to talk about each week. It seems like each week is accompanied by the same events, or at least similar enough that it wouldn't be deemed necessary to mention time and time again. Although, this week was packed full of not so normal things, thus making an email with several topics to write home about.

A view of Trondheim over a river

I started off this week by flying down to Trondheim (again!). This time the trip was for Zone Conference rather than splits. It was a great conference. One thing that I took away from it was the importance of working with others. Within missionary work, the desire and goal is to help bring people to Christ. And the work that we do, doesn't rest entirely upon just our shoulders, but we need to continue working with members in the church to all be inviting others to Christ. One or two people reaching out to help others has its help and purpose, but what would it be if everyone was reaching out to help others, reaching out, willing to help strengthen others. There is a greater impact when there is more than just the missionaries doing that, and you can really see a difference.

Good ol' norwegian chocolate milk

We were on our way back home, so we were chilling in the Trondheim airport, waiting for our flight, and guess what I came across? A piano. Just casually parked in the airport... open for anyone to play it. So I did. I started out by playing Piano Man by Billy Joel, and people started noticing and "casually" sitting down in the vicinity to hear. What was way cool was this guy just came up and started filming me for a couple minutes straight XD haha it must've been good enough to film it haha. But it was a ton of fun. I just sat and played different stuff for a bit.

A couple days ago, President Uchtdorf (one of the church leaders) came to Norway after rededicating the temple in Germany. He spoke down in the southern part of Norway, so I didn't get to go to the meeting, but it was broadcasted so we got to watch it over the internet which was really cool. One thing he said that I really liked was to "share who you are and then live up to it". I thought that was interesting to think about. As people we say what our opinions or beliefs are, or whatever the case may be, but then we should live up to that. We should "practice what we preach" so to speak. Granted, no one is perfect. And we shouldn't expect others to be perfect either, regardless of beliefs or whatever. But we as people should try our best to live up to what we do believe, and try to be the people we aspire to be.

Me with pigs (they were enjoying

their food a lot at the time)

To end I'd like to share a quick little story about the little piggies I walked past. We were headed out to meet some members for dinner. They live out in a farming community (totally reminded me a lot of home) and I walked past a little pig pen, and decided to get a picture. Because it's not everyday you can just go take a picture with some little pigs. So I did.

Well I hope you all have a great week! Take care and thanks for all of your support! Bye!

Sincerely,

Elder Mickelson