Uke 46: A Koselig Little Town

Last P-day we did a cool hike in Talvik, the nearest "town" outside of Alta. We almost got blown off the mountain by the wind but the view was beautiful! Last week I mentioned that our car was having some issues so we have been using the busses. The hike took longer than we expected and we missed our bus back and got to wait 2 hours for the next one (: we're taking the car in to get it fixed tomorrow so that will be nice 

One thing that has been nice about our bus card we got is that it covers all the busses and some boats up here so we got to take a boat ride up the fjord to Hammerfest! So that was awesome and I can now say I have been to the northernmost city in the world. We checked out the museum there and saw lots of stuffed polar bears and stuff like that, and my companion joined a cult called the Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society. We had a couple people up there we wanted to visit, but we ended up just getting to visit Stig, a bro from the Netherlands. He took us to Peppe's Pizza and said he would come to church soon! Hammerfest was a koselig little town

We didn't have much else super exciting happen this week, we had a few people to teach but mostly we just spent a lot of time calling and trying to set up appointments with people. But here's one last highlight: I had the littest disko party of my life this week! Geir wrote a song about hiking his favorite mountain, and it was actually pretty lit and we were all super pumped and Geir tried to kick a football out of his window into the pond!

Alta is the best! I hope yall are having a good time wherever you are, HA DET BRA DOKKER!

Uke 45: Summer snow

Another awesome week on top of the world!

This week was exciting because we got to travel to Trondheim for a zone conference! The conference was awesome and we got to have interviews and be inspired by our new mission president and his wife, who are amazing! Everyone in the zone outside of Trondheim had to travel by plane to get there so all 12 of us spent a night in the Trondheim Elders' apartment on the floor and couches and it was really fun! The next morning we got our exercise by playing a big soccer game at a nearby field! At the zone conference we focused on talking about how to involve members of the church in missionary work. That's a little difficult here in Alta because we only have 4 active members not including us. So Elder Memmott and I are focusing on inactive member work this week.

Last p-day we went on a hike with Geir! We hiked a mountain called Haldde which is the biggest mountain in the area. It took a long time and it was cold but beautiful! We saw some reindeer and glaciers on the way up and there people with a little cabin at the summit welcoming in all the hikers and giving us waffles. Norwegians are so hyggelig when they're in their cabins up in the mountains  

We had 2 car issues this week. First, somebody scratched our car and broke a light when we were parked at the church on day. We had no idea, but luckily they left a note. A couple days after, we were driving our car and suddenly it started rumbling loudly and vibrating and not accelerating very well, so we took it to the shop and we have a serious problem with the engine that requires replacing a part that has to be sent here from another place in Norway. So we get to be back on busses for a few weeks maybe. It's nice having a car but I haven't taken busses since I was in Arendal and I actually missed it a little bit.

That's pretty much all that happened this week that is worthy of being written about. It was a good week! Alta is the best!

Uke 44: A Proper Viking

My first full week in Alta was pretty good! It's really different being up in this tiny little town in the North but it's pretty awesome! It's colder and there aren't as many to people to talk to but it's beautiful and people have been pretty nice and I love it here!

One highlight was that this week, we had our first lesson since I've been here. We met with a total bro named Knut who lived on Svalbard for a while learning to be a guide and how to survive in the arctic and deal with polar bears and stuff, so that was cool meeting a proper Norwegian viking.

Also this week we went on a cool hike on p-day called Skoddevarre. Other than that, we banked on a lot of doors. I don't have very much to write about, because not much else happened that was super interesting.

I'm coming home a year from tomorrow! Vi ses snart doker  Also my new address is Mardalsveien 30 if yall want to send me stuff.

Uke 43: Top-of-the-World Disco Party

GI MEG GI MEG GI MEG EN SKIKKELIG DISKO!

I found out I would be moving on monday so I spent some time saying goodbye to some of my favorite people in Hamar! On Tuesday, we had lunch Åse and Knut, a super old and koselig couple in the church, and then we played soccer for the rest of the day with David and the Stenbæk boys! It was hard leaving Hamar and all the awesome people I met there but I'm up on top here in Alta now! This place is amazing! We live in the attic of the members' house. I say the members' house because all 5 of the active members in Alta live there. It's pretty chill, very koselig.

For our morning exercise one day this week, we woke up a little early and hiked a nearby mountain. There are a lot of mountains here, and that is a nice change from Hamar. I loved it there but this is pretty henting awesome. And it hasn't gotten too cold yet either. Its definitely colder and rainier than Hamar was but I havent had to break out the coat yet.

My new companion is Elder Memmott from Utah, we have been getting along super well so far, it's been fun, and we both love being in Alta!

One of the biggest highlights of Alta is Geir! We had our first disko this morning and it was a party! Geir is autistic but he loves 70s music and having disko parties. He wrote a song to the tune of the Swedish song "Öppna din dör" about him hiking his favorite mountain. He calls the song "Opp på mitt fjell" After that, we sang his version of ABBA's gimme gimme gimme which is about having a fun disko party with the missionaries. Missionaries have been living in Linnea's attic for longer than I have been alive so Geir is pretty tight with the missionaries.

Alta is awesome! I hope yall have a good week, ha det bra!

Pictures:

David's baptism (from last week)

The view of Alta from our morning hike

Nordlyskatedralen - The northern lights cathedral

Geir

same^