We did it! We found the farm where Nancy’s grandfather who immigrated to America was born and grew up (see photo). His father was the “husman” (indentured servant) on the Nervig farm just a bit northeast of Trondheim in the Selbu Kommune – and why we made this pilgrimage here. It took longer than we expected to drive to it, as we didn’t know it’s exact location and the farm doesn’t go by the Nervig name anymore. We stopped at several places to ask for additional information and finally we hit upon a wonderful guy that “happened” to have a map of all the old farm names in the area so then we could pinpoint its location. We were a bit disappointed that the owners of the farm weren’t home at the time, but we didn’t let that stop us from having a picnic on their property. Nancy had goose bumps the whole time and was a bit teary eyed. It was a sweet moment and we took lots of photos. Whew. We were worried the sun might go down before we hit the jackpot, but God lead the way. And before the sun DID go down, we got the directions to the nearest church (built in 1150AD) and walked through the graveyard looking for any sign of her great-grandparent’s grave. We didn’t find them, but we found a lot of possible relatives with that name, (it was still fun to look.) That church is where her ancestors have been married and buried for several generations. Oh what a day.
We started the day off in church as well – getting a tour of the old Cathedral here in Trondheim – also built over 900 years ago. We had a wonderful history lesson while there on Norway’s conversion to Christianity by “Holy Ole” (Saint Olav). He is buried under the massive cathedral in Trondheim – which is considered the most religious site in all of Scandinavia. As the story goes, Olav was a vicious viking king who tortured many people, so when he converted to Christianity, he used the same vicious tactics to get the attention of his fellow countrymen -- “Convert or die” was his motto. He wasn’t too popular of a fellow in his day, but upon his death, the legend goes, people who visited his grave started getting miraculously healed. After one year and five days in the ground, they dug him up to move his body in order to build a church over it - and his body was still completely preserved, right down to his rosy cheeks. "Healing" water sprang up where his grave had been, so pilgrimages to this area soon became the norm. For hundreds of years, people from all over Scandinavia and Europe came to his burial place to receive miracles and this city became the religious center for Northern Europe. Kings have been coronated here for centuries and it's still the place for passing the royal baton, as it were. After the Reformation in the 1500s the cathedral went into ruin for several hundred years but slowly emerged from the ashes, and has become the grand spectacle that it is to this day.
We walked around the core of downtown Trondheim for a little while and ran into people we know from Aalesund! Man, Norway is a small country! Our little neighbor girl Sabina and her mom were in town for a dance recital she had today (and they are staying at the same hotel we are), and we also saw a couple that is on the worship team at Agape Church – up for the weekend to show a friend the Cathedral and to do some shopping at Ikea. Too funny. We also found ourselves as a “loppemarket” (flea market) where we hit the mother lode of cheap items. We were able to buy skis, poles, ski boots and ice skates all for five dollars each. We also got a bunad (the traditional Norwegian costume) for Kaleb and a bunch of kitchen items I really needed – all at incredibly cheap prices. Woo hoo. There was a sign by where we parked the van that said not to leave valuables in the car so I suggested we bring our haul into our hotel room. Kaleb said, “I wouldn’t exactly call these ‘valuables’.” And Kory thought it was funny that we paid more for parking than we did for the items we bought.
We started the day off in church as well – getting a tour of the old Cathedral here in Trondheim – also built over 900 years ago. We had a wonderful history lesson while there on Norway’s conversion to Christianity by “Holy Ole” (Saint Olav). He is buried under the massive cathedral in Trondheim – which is considered the most religious site in all of Scandinavia. As the story goes, Olav was a vicious viking king who tortured many people, so when he converted to Christianity, he used the same vicious tactics to get the attention of his fellow countrymen -- “Convert or die” was his motto. He wasn’t too popular of a fellow in his day, but upon his death, the legend goes, people who visited his grave started getting miraculously healed. After one year and five days in the ground, they dug him up to move his body in order to build a church over it - and his body was still completely preserved, right down to his rosy cheeks. "Healing" water sprang up where his grave had been, so pilgrimages to this area soon became the norm. For hundreds of years, people from all over Scandinavia and Europe came to his burial place to receive miracles and this city became the religious center for Northern Europe. Kings have been coronated here for centuries and it's still the place for passing the royal baton, as it were. After the Reformation in the 1500s the cathedral went into ruin for several hundred years but slowly emerged from the ashes, and has become the grand spectacle that it is to this day.
We walked around the core of downtown Trondheim for a little while and ran into people we know from Aalesund! Man, Norway is a small country! Our little neighbor girl Sabina and her mom were in town for a dance recital she had today (and they are staying at the same hotel we are), and we also saw a couple that is on the worship team at Agape Church – up for the weekend to show a friend the Cathedral and to do some shopping at Ikea. Too funny. We also found ourselves as a “loppemarket” (flea market) where we hit the mother lode of cheap items. We were able to buy skis, poles, ski boots and ice skates all for five dollars each. We also got a bunad (the traditional Norwegian costume) for Kaleb and a bunch of kitchen items I really needed – all at incredibly cheap prices. Woo hoo. There was a sign by where we parked the van that said not to leave valuables in the car so I suggested we bring our haul into our hotel room. Kaleb said, “I wouldn’t exactly call these ‘valuables’.” And Kory thought it was funny that we paid more for parking than we did for the items we bought.
