September 23, 2017

Downtown Porsgrunn

Oslo Fjord Zone/ Drammen

Zone Conference

Elders in the Oslo Fjord Zone/ Drammen

Package from home

Taking a Ferry

Hi Mom - I might buy my winter coat today.  The coats are a lot cheaper than they say but I will probably buy my coat today and then maybe an ATM withdrawal and maybe some other small clothing items.  My goal is to spend as little as possible.  

I got the candy package on Monday after I emailed you. Thank you for that. The beef jerky was the best part.  And I don't have to pay anything to get them. If they are small enough they just put it in my mailbox but if not they put a slip in the mailbox and then I just go and pick it up.  I have not gotten any others yet so hopefully nothing went wrong.

I head to Oslo today, it is not a fun train ride because it takes forever. But I am lucky enough to get to stay in the mission home.  I leave Oslo Wednesday afternoon and I couldn't be more excited to see Eldste Hansen and Welch.  

Most weird thing I’ve eaten here is probably this lamb and cabbage stew.(just make sure you don't bite the bones) We eat a lot of lamb here. It's pretty good!  I just miss having the pantry and fridge that was so filled at home.  That's probably the food thing I miss.  Best food I have had was this Salmon soup! It was so good!

I have a lot of respect for Jake, 9 weeks learning a language in the MTC will be the longest thing he has ever done.  It never ends!  Let me put it this way. While you are in the MTC, it is not fun, but when you leave the MTC, you look back and it was so fun and amazing.  I didn't like the MTC so much while I was there but now I look back I am so grateful for the experience!

I do get to watch conference next weekend.  We only watch the Saturday morning session on Saturday night and then a ton of it on Sunday and then finish the rest another time.  

It feels like Alaska here but with a little more of a city feel when you are in the towns.  I am having a hard time of remembering everything that happened this week.  

First great thing was Zone Conference up in Drammen.  It was so fun to see President and Sister Hill and to be around all of the other missionaries. 

Next big thing is that I got let into someone’s house for the first time this week!  It was someone we gave a Mormons Bok to a week earlier and he said we could come back. We talked with him for about an hour and it was great.  We are going back this week and we are planning on teaching the first lesson!

Another fun thing was getting to teach Sunday school yesterday.  Once again the members here are so amazing.  I love getting to have dinner with some of them throughout the week.  

Finished up 3rd Nephi this week.  It is an amazing part of the Book of Mormon.  

The language is coming slow, but I learned that my English is getting worse as we were bonking yesterday and a guy opened the door who was from Turkey and he could only speak English and whatever other language he speaks.  We started trying to explain the Book of Mormon in English and it was almost harder than Norwegian.

I head up to Oslo tonight and will be there until Wednesday.  I am so excited to see my MTC group and to just be in Oslo.  It's a long train ride but I'm way excited.

Have a great week everyone! -               Eldste Egan