October 1947

CRW called on Mission to Norway by Elder Henry D. Moyle, an apostle, who said to me that he had grown up with my father and that his wife’s whose name is Alberta is my mother’s best friend, so he said, “Where do you want to go on your mission”? I responded by saying that I would like to go to Norway to which he responded by saying that he had England in mind. As it turned out I was called to serve in the Norwegian Mission and left for there in October of 1947.

Ralph Hardy and Elder Moyle spoke at my mission farewell held in the Ensign Ward in Salt Lake City. Elder Moyle remarked in his talk that my grandfather, Thomas Allen Williams, had called him on Elder Moyle’s mission to Germany when he was a young Elder in the Church.

The old Stavangerfjord Oceanliner

I traveled to Norway on the old Stavangerfjord Oceanliner. I took us about 9 days to reach Oslo from New York City. I met the mission president, President A. Richard Petersen and his wife, and was immediately assigned to labor in the city of Moss with our residence being on the island of Jeloy where I met my first companion, Elder Don Schow, and we took up residence in the Rummelhof home who had provided an upstairs room as housing for the missionaries for many months. The Rummelhof daughter, Elizabeth (Tullen) played the piano very well and we heard Beethoven’s Pathetique played often by her and it became my favorite symphony number.

Elder Schow and I proceeded to tract and learn the Gospel together. We did not find many new investigators, but I had a few months there to learn the Norwegian language and to learn the principles of the Gospel which I did not know before beginning my studies of the scriptures and Gospel books while in Moss.

We did, however, have many, many friends who were either members of the Church or their family members. Those lovely people treated us royally, welcoming us in to their homes every few days and evenings for very loving visiting and singing Norwegian songs which they taught to us, and also, feeding us delicious Norwegian meals which food I liked a lot. The names of these people are Ragnar and Ellik Samuelsen (their children Roy and Turid), sisters Samuelsen (Rangnar’s mother) and sister Evensen (Ellik’s mother), the Amundsen family including sister Amundsen and her children who were often at that home for visiting and singing and eating. What warm welcome for me to find loving people who treated me like I was one of their children. I was very blessed to have this kind of an experience while I was learning the language and learning the Gospel.