Tromsø
Jim and I, along with Eldste og Søster Whitaker, decided to take
a chance to see the Aurora Borealis, so we flew way up
north to beautiful Tromsø for a couple of days.
Being it was almost mid January, the polar
nights were coming to an end. The sun still
hadn't made it over the horizon but it was close.
It's a beautiful city in the dark too.
Søsters Larsen and Wadley met us at the
airport and helped us get to the hotel. It was so
fun to see two of our favorite søster missionaries!
Eldste og Søster Olsen serve in Tromsø. He is the
acting branch president in a very small branch.
We sure appreciated their hospitality in showing us
around their city and fixing us a wonderful dinner!
Lil lives in Tromsø. She was my "language buddy",
when I was studying Norwegian before we came on our
mission. It was so fun to meet up with her.
******************
We decided that our best chance to see the "lights",
would be to go with a tour group that really does
"chase" them - well they chase to find the right
conditions to see the lights. We went with
Arctic Explorers and they were great!
First we all got outfitted in "polar gear" -
thermal suits, boots and gloves. This was put
on top of our wool underwear, sweaters,
socks and hats. It did get down to -21degrees
celsius so we were grateful for our gear!
With all that on, we felt like arctic explorers!
We were ready!
And we saw them!
We saw spires, arches, dancing curtains...
Hour after hour...
... we watched in awesome wonder!
Aurore, our guide, (yes, that is her real name),
couldn't believe how lucky we were.
Both evenings, Aurore built a fire on
the snow, served us hot chocolate, fed us
a hot dish like reindeer stew, roasted marshmallows
and provided mats where we could lie down
and gaze up to the sky.
For two nights, we were entertained by
these amazing lights!
On the last night, we were treated with an
Aurora Borealis Corona - the lights, straight
over our heads, filling up the whole sky.
We felt very lucky but also so very blessed to
experience these amazing creations of our
Heavenly Father!
In our hearts, we humbly shouted out,
"How Great Thou Art"!
