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Welcome to Aylee's Norway Newsletter

  Velkommen (Welcome)! My name is Aylee Andersen and I'm a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  If you are looking at this post, that means you have stumbled across my "Aylee's Norway Newsletter" blog! The purpose of this blog is to keep people in the loop on my adventures in Norway. I will post pictures, share experiences, and hopefully help you get a glimpse of what life is like for a missionary in Norway. If you have questions for me or just want to connect, feel free to reach out to me at  https://forms.gle/S6C4wbXBk13zfUnd9 . I only have certain times a week that I am able to email, but I will respond as soon as I can. I'd love to hear from you! Who am I and why am I in Norway? As a bit of background, I grew up as the oldest of 6 kids in a small town in Idaho. If you have heard anything about Idaho, you probably know that it is famous for its potatoes. The town I was raised in is no exception! My high school's mascot is a potat...
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God Jul 🎄

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  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! It's hard to believe that I've already been in Norway for 6 months. This time next year I'll be back in the US, sipping my hot cocoa and listening to Bing Crosby's Christmas album. Where does the time go? Last you heard from me, I was living in Tromsø, way up in the arctic circle. I was able to catch the first few days of mørketid (the dark time) up north before being reassigned down south to Fredrikstad. Tromsø and Fredrikstad are night and day different...literally! We have about 6 hours of sunlight here as opposed to the 0 we had in Tromsø. It's also not a tourist destination, so the city is much quieter. The giant mountains and glaciers of the north have been replaced with rolling green hills and farmland. It has been fun to see the contrast! Before leaving Tromsø, I had the opportunity to fly up to an arctic island called Svalbard to visit some members of our church that live there. Svalbard is basically an arctic tundra. I...
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My First Month in Norway

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Hello Everyone! I apologize for not getting a post out sooner, as I know you have all been on the edge of your seats the past couple months 😉 I knew I would be busy here but I didn't realize how busy it would actually be! I'm grateful though. Being busy is much better for me than being bored. The first 6 weeks of my mission were spent in Utah at the Missionary Training Center (MTC). At the MTC, our days were filled with classes and studies. We had religious classes, classes on how to teach, and language classes. There were 9 of us in the Norway group. It was great to have such a small, personal environment for our classes. I'm grateful for the time I had there and for the friendships and connections I made with the other missionaries! I learned a lot in those 6 weeks that will apply to not only my mission, but my personal and professional life as well. Once I got to Norway, I was assigned to the Tromsø area. I LOVE it here. Tromsø is located above the arctic cirlce, which ...
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