Adventures in Hovden (skiing)

Time is flying by.  We are starting to near the end of our stay in Norway.  Jake and I both spoke in Sacrament meeting as our farewell talks since next week is the Easter Holiday so they expect many of the members to be out of town and then the weekend before we leave is general conference.  It was fun because we both spoke about the atonement, a very fitting message for the Easter season.  I spoke about how the atonement, or Christ’s sacrifice for us, can help us during trials in life.  I explained what the atonement is and read lots of promises from the scriptures of how Christ suffered not only for our sins, but our pains, sorrows, difficulties, etc.  My point was the true question is not what can the atonement do for me in hard times but how can I let the atonement help me.  It rains on the good and the bad, meaning in life we will all have hard times, but the question is, will you open up your umbrella.  The atonement is available for everyone but we do have to do a little work to open the umbrella or work to open our hearts to allow the spirit to heal it or to comfort us, or to give us hope, etc.  Jake talked about the blessings of the atonement and how we can help share them with others.  It was a great talk about how the members, in different phases of life can help others to receive the blessings we receive from the atonement.



The Beautiful View



This weekend we went to Hovden and stayed in a cabin with my supervisor and his family.  It was so much fun. Hovden is a nice ski resort.  It is about a 3 hour drive so it is like going to McCall for us in Idaho.  The ski resort is only 10 minutes from his cabin and it is just beautiful out there.  We ate delicious food all weekend and Jake got to try Reindeer.  It is really pretty good.  While we were skiing, for lunch we had hot dogs.  Those are pretty big here in Europe but they are different than American hot dogs.  The cool part is they bought a disposable grill.  It is a disposable metal pan, about a 9x 13 size.  It is filled with coals, cardboard, and lighter fluid.  So they cleared away some snow, put down two ski poles to make a flat surface, lit the grill, and cooked hot dogs.  Then you just throw away the remains.  I thought it was a genius idea.



Disposable Grill



Friday we arrived late because of the drive and it took us a while to find the cabin.  Once we got there we ate a great chicken curry soup and stayed up talking.  Saturday we went skiing and it was so much fun.  It is freezing up north.  We were only 3 hours north but it was -20 C which is about -4 F.  I am trying to think if I have been in that cold of weather before.  IT was also windy at the top of the lift, like always.  They were supper nice and lent me a wool sweater, to wear with all of my other layers.  I just don’t have thick enough layers to keep me warm.  I don’t think I have ever worn so much skiing but I didn’t get hot or cold.  Okay well after lunch my hands and toes were frozen.  I had to go and warm up my hands and toes.



We tested our process for the last two weeks and so far we have had positive results.  Which is good, this means our work here has been successful.  We go live April 8th so it will be interesting to see how that goes.  It has been fun working with a startup group where there are many decisions to be made, but obviously you make a big difference.  So work is going well, and my supervisor likes to remind me that I only have 11 more working days before I return to the states, including today (Monday).  Crazy how fast time has flown by.  Especially because the weather is almost entirely the same as when we arrived so you don’t feel much progression in that sense.  We have had a tremendous amount of progress with the hours of daylight.  It gets light so much earlier than when we arrived and dark so much later.
Thursday Jake went to volunteer with a youth group and I went to visit Emily.  She is one of my friends.  She is from Canada and she is very very pregnant.  She is due 2 days before we return to the states.  It is always fun to visit with her.  We had dinner there and she taught me how to make a basic white sauce.  I am excited for all the possibilities for cooking that have now opened up.  I am afraid though that it might not be the healthiest thing and right now we are trying to eat healthier.



Monday was a fun and relaxing day.  I gave the FHE lesson and for the activity we worked on planning our Denmark trip.  It was fun to get excited about our upcoming adventure as Jake found us a good hotel and I found... duh duh dun... castles and fortresses for us to see.  I think they will be different than the castles in Spain but I am super excited.  I think castles are so interesting.



Jake with some of Arnt's family