Chapter VIII: I Am Released From My First Mission

At last I came to the town Vardo in Finmarken, the most distant city in my field, where I remained a few weeks. While there I went out on the ocean and fished. Instead of nets, hooks and lines were used. The whole ocean was so filled with fish that it seemed as if it were a great pot in which fish were boiled. It was a common experience that heavily weighted fish lines could not get past the mass of fish.

On this trip I was arrested for preaching the gospel of Christ and brought by steamer to the city of Hammerfest, where sentence was pronounced on me; and from there, in another steamer to Tromso where I spent ten days in prison on a diet of bread and water. I learned many things from these seasons of imprisonment. I was a young man, healthy and strong, accustomed to moving quickly in my work, and I found that this diet of bread and water did not agree with me; especially as I was given a tiny piece of sour, heavy, dry, coarse bread, about the size of half of my hand, every twenty-four hours. As the days went by in prison, I must confess that I became very hungry and that it caused sleeplessness. I was able to sleep about two hours each night, and would awake weak and tired. I dreamed usually that I was feasting on an abundance of things to eat and drink and then would suddenly awake hungry and weak, dizziness and headache overmastering me. I lay on my hard bed hoping for the arrival of day because I could then divert my thoughts a little better. These seasons of imprisonment tired me severely. None can fully understand it unless he has experienced it himself. It brought to my mind the words of the Prophet Isaiah, "It shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, and behold, he eateth; but he waketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and behold, he drinketh, but he waketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: So shall the multitude of the nations be that fight against Mount Zion." I thought to myself that he who spoke those words had undoubtedly had experience in it.

During the month of July, in 1865, the third summer of my labors in Nordland, I received my release from this mission, from Elder George M. Brown, who then presided over the Norway conference. I wrote to all the Saints in Nordland's branch to meet in the historical place Bjarkoe at a stated time. All of the Saints came to the meeting, as also strangers. My sister in the flesh, Amelia, came there, also, and was baptized. We partook of the sacrament together, and for three or four days we had a most enjoyable time. At last, then, I bade farewell to my brethren, sisters and friends, and to Nordland with its many islands, fjords and great and beautiful mountains, forming a landscape so brilliantly equipped that it does not stand second to any that I have seen. The impressions which became stamped upon my mind during my mission up among the people of northern Norway, in the days of my youth, will never, I believe, leave me, for one might learn more up there than can be learned in a university.

Before I leave this extensive and valuable mission field, I will add my modest judgment of this great and beautiful country, with fjords and sounds, islands and high mountains covered with leafy trees, reaching down to the shore, with the background of high cliffs and barren mountains, covered with patches of trees and moss, where the Laps watch their great herds grazing in the small mountain valleys. All about, are every kind of feathered life, representing the birds of the ocean, among which the eider duck is a prominent feature. It seems as if Nature has here made attempt after attempt to invite wealth and beauty to the children of men. Three months throughout the year the midnight sun shines; the great ocean teems with measureless wealth of food for man. Wherever one turns there is something attractive to behold. Not only is the eye pleased, but the spiritual intelligence is touched as well. To me it was as if, in this rugged nature, a new world of inspiration and introspection came from God, who from the beginning had organized the whole land. No wonder that thousands visit summer after summer this land of the midnight sun, this wonderland.

I took passage homeward in a steamer under Capt. J. S. Green, a friend of mine, and a member of the Church. I was very grateful to the Lord for his fatherly care and protection over me during my honest labors both on land and sea; and though I felt myself a very humble and imperfect messenger of the great and noble work, I also felt that the Lord was satisfied with my work, and that the honor belonged to him. At last I reached Trondhjem and had the joy to greet my dear mother again, together with my brethren, sisters and friends. I remained a few days with the missionaries, who still roomed in my mother's house, and held several meetings. Then I bade my mother farewell again, and began my long walk to Christiania, and again had the opportunity of walking over the Dovre mountain alone. I reached Christiania in due season, about two and a half years after I set out on my mission.

[Image captioned "LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MISSION HOUSE, CHRISTIANA, NORWAY."]