Monday, September 22, 2008

Ward Newsletter Message!!

A message from Soster Fox to the members of Highland 5th Ward!!

Greetings from Norway!! I am in the beautiful city of Trondheim, Norway! This is truly a breathtaking city...... so beautiful! It is situated right in the middle of a fjord, and so it is very green with lots of water and just plain gorgeous. We love the city! I moved here about 8 weeks ago, and I can honestly say that it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen! It is a University town, so we have an Institute Center, which my companion, Sister Hansen, and I are assigned to. We love working with the Young Single Adults! It has been a joy, and we are so grateful for the opportunity to serve here.
We recently had the opportunity to hear from a member of the Quorum of the 70, Elder Steven Kerr, at a Mission Conference that was held in Trondheim. He had some wonderful words of wisdom, and it was so refreshing to hear from him. The thing that stuck out to me the most came from the talk he gave at the Saturday night session of Conference. He spoke about how we need to love people into the gospel, and how that is the only way we will ever truly be Christlike. This really struck a chord with me because that is probably the biggest thing I have learned while serving a mission. It has not always been easy to love the people that I work with, often times it is very frustrating. But I have seen that when I truly love those that I work with, everything seems to fall into place. When we love someone, we are in a much better place to be able to help them. And a great bonus of learning to love is also learning patience! We develop great amounts of patience when loving people. I know that this has helped me so much in my work here in Norway, and I am grateful that our Heavenly Father has given me the opportunity to learn things that will help me the rest of my life. The best part of Mission Conference, though, was when Elder Kerr stood up in the middle of the meeting and asked ME to bear my testimony to everyone! I won't lie, my heart was racing, but it was an amazing opportunity that I am so grateful for. The Spirit was so strong, and my testimony was strengthened. It was my privilege to testify of the love our Savior has for us and the truth of the restoration of the gospel through the prophet, Joseph Smith. I love serving the people of Norway and will never forget the many amazing experiences I am having here.
Thank you for your love and support! The work in Norway is moving forward, and in large part due to the prayers of the members of the Church. I am so grateful for blessing it is to be a missionary, and especially here in Norway. I love these people, and I know that the work the missionaries do is of great significance! I hope everything is going well for you all! May our Heavenly Father continue to bless you!

Friday, August 15, 2008

NEW ADDRESS!!

OOPS, forgot to post Carrie's new address!!

Soster Carrie Fox
Osttunveien 16
7023 Trondheim
Norway

I know everyone is busy, but Carrie would LOVE to hear from you!!

Too Long!!!

OK, I must apologize for not posting anything new on Carrie's blog for so long!! Mike just got married last Friday and it has taken much of my time and energy!! But things for Carrie have continued to move forward. She has been transferred to Trondheim which is in the northern part of Norway. Carrie LOVES it there!! Here is bit from her first letter after arriving there:

I finally made it north of Oslo. I arrived in the beautiful city of Trondheim on Wednesday! This is truly a breathtaking city...... so beautiful! It is situated right in the middle of a fjord, and so it is soooo green and lots of water and just plain gorgeous. So we love the city! And it is a fairly big city, so there is a lot of good shopping and lots of people. It is a University town, so there is a lot of young people here. Half the branch is young single adults. President said that is why he sent me here, because I do well with youth. So that is kinda cool. They all come back in a week, so I am excited for that. Our apartment sucks. It is like living at girls camp. The bathroom drain is above the ground, so you literally have to scoop the water into the drain, and the floor is wet all freaking day long. And there is mold, and it stinks. We don't have a real kitchen, just two burners and a half fridge. Forget an oven or real freezer...... And it is like a million years old and a half an hour from town. So we called President on our second day, and he was like, ummm yeah I expected this phone call, just go find yourselves a new apartment! So we have been apartment hunting all week. We have like 5 showings today, and then we will decide tonight what we want. We have looked at some really nice ones, so that is good. You are right, we are kinda in the middle of Norway. But we are in the North Zone, which is something that Sisters haven't been in for a LONG time! So, we are pretty proud! The branch is smaller than Stavanger, but bigger than F-stad. It will get a little big bigger when all the students come back, though, so that is good! We have Zone leaders here, so that is good. They are really awesome, they cooked us dinner on our first night here! So cute! So we really like them. Sister Hansen is wonderful, we have fun together! But I really think that we are going to be ok....... The dialect has been kinda rough. It sounds like Chinese! But it is not horrible, so I am surviving! I haven't had too much trouble yet! I am becoming the dialect queen! :)

The following are some pictures Carrie sent a few weeks ago.....not of the area she is in now. I thought everyone would still enjoy them!!



Beautiful Soster Fox in Stavanger (I think!!)




Easter Egg hunting in the snow!!


Can someone help me out with where this is??



I think this is called Pinnacle Rock.....maybe my Norway friends can help me out and I will edit the posts!! Carrie is good about sending pictures, but not always good about writing on the back of them!!









Monday, May 26, 2008

New Address!!

Here is Carrie's new address:

Daklaven 11
1671 Krakeroy
Norway

(Ok, but the a in Krakeroy has the little dot over it, and the o has a slash through it, but I am at the Phipps house, and they have an english keyboard!


I know Carrie would love to hear from you!!

My Time In Stavanger........

In today's email, Carrie shared a few thoughts about her time in Stavanger:

Well, about my time in Stavanger. I love it here. I am going to miss it soooooo much. It has just been an amazing time of growth and learning. I love the members here, and we have been able to get a lot of the youth back in church, so hopefully they will keep going. It has been so cool to see the gospel work in their lives, and it has helped me a lot. My own testimony has been so strengthened just by trying to help them get a testimony. I feel like I have had so many wonderful experiences, and lots of hard one's too, that have helped me to figure out some things. Mostly, I think that Stavanger has such a special spirit here, and I have never felt the love of Heavenly Father so much as I have here. I think it helps that I have learned to recognize it a little more... But mostly I will miss the people. I have become really close with the members here, and with our investigators. It was cute, because in Sacrament meeting, they sang "Each Life That Touches Ours for Good," and two of the youth here looked back at me, and just pointed at me and were like, "This one's for you!". SO of course that made me cry more, but it was just a good feeling to see the good that has come out of me being here. So, overall, it was a wonderful place with lots of good experiences, a place that I will never forget. So that is the short version of how I feel about my time in Stavanger..... :)

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Leaving Stavanger :(

We just got word that Carrie is leaving Stavanger and going to Fredrikstad. She will be transferred this Wednesday morning. She will be riding a bike and her companion is a Finnish sister. Carrie is so sad to be leaving the people she has loved so much in Stavanger! We can only trust that Heavenly Father has a great need for a wonderful young woman like Soster Fox in Fredrikstad! :) I will post more information as soon as I know it. Please keep Soster Fox in your prayers as she faces this new challenge! Love to all!!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Syttende Mai (Norway's National Day)

Another Holiday In Norway!!


Today is May 17 which is Norway's National Day. A day like the 4th of July in the US. It is celebrated nationwide with children's parades and lots of festivities! A great chance for the missionaries to get out among the people and mingle. A friend in the branch Carries serves sent these pictures of some of the flag waving at the parade in Stavanger!! Tusen takk, Julie!!


Looks like it was a sunny day there, probably not too warm, though! Carrie is still wearing her coat. I don't think she had any idea how much she would wear that coat!! She is going to want to burn it when she gets home!! :)

Carrie with her good friend, Julie Phipps. Carrie looks like a a real Norwegian girl these days!! :)