Asker, Norge: A letter home dated Thursday, August 8, 1963, said "The past week and a half Elder Hibbard and I have been working hard towards a baptism, and last night it came about. We baptized a really wonderful lady by the name of Edny Vassbund. She and her family (husband, daughter, and son) have been talking to the missionaries now for a year, but it has been just within the last month and a half that she has taken it all seriously. She stopped using the things contrary to the Word of Wisdom in a week’s time and then asked for baptism about two weeks later. 'The Lord moves in mysterious ways . . ..' She will be a good member, and the rest of her family will be coming before long, I am sure. Her husband, Paul, still has trouble with the Word of Wisdom, but I know that she now will be able to help him. She has a determined attitude towards it all now." Sister Vassbund turned out to be a real gem of a lady. With very little formal schooling, she latched on the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ with full embrace. She would go on to get her two children into the Church, but her husband died from lung cancer before he could convert. She served two Temple Missions, one to the London Temple as the first Norwegian to do so, and one to the Stockholm Temple, and was a completely stalwart lady the rest of her life – she never looked back once. She was pretty tough and boisterous before her conversion, and there was at least one local neighbor lady who told us, if we could get Sis Vassbund, she would come along too. Sis Vassbund’s miraculous conversion came as quit the surprise to a lot of her neighbors, but no one could see the need after that. Sis Vassbund changed almost over night from her loud, boisterous ways to a soft-spoken, gentle, kind lady.
When I went to Asker, Elder Fallis told me they didn’t have any serious investigators, just some passive “call backs.” After I had been in the area for some 2 or 3 weeks, Elder Fallis mentioned a lady out of town on the main road to Slemmestad, where there was a large cement factory and the area’s largest employer. He told me she and her family had taken the missionary discussions three or four times in about a year’s time, of which he was aware, but that she just liked to have the missionaries drop by when they were in the neighborhood. Slemmestad was the farthest south along the Oslo Fjord our own district extended, and so we tracted it out and worked our way back along the highway and off-shooting roads along the way before we finally came to Vassbunds' home. Sis Vassbund greeted us very warmly, and, knowing Elder Fallis for almost the last year, she took to him readily. Elder Fallis had worked with the Vassbund family before, but under at least three previous Seniors. His immediately previous Senior, in fact, had tried ever so hard, down to even force I was told, to baptize their daughter. That had scared the daughter away with quit a lot of reticence and fear, and even some perceived animosity, towards us. We learned to step lightly around her for the first few month’s worth of visits. During one of our early visits there, we found out what Sis Vassbund had learned through all the lessons they had taken before, and decided to get her reading the Book of Mormon daily. We would read ahead and prepare some rather easy questions for her to answer while she read. She soon caught the vision, and started into reading it in earnest ahead of where we would have questions for her. This went on for about 2 weeks or so, during which time we helped them dig out their cellar under their house, and then came the time when they had vacation. Their plans were to camp down by the Oslo Fiord at a beach not more than 2 miles from their home. Sis Vassbund even invited us to come camping with them, but, since it was against mission rules, at least visit them during the 2 weeks while they were going to be there. We told her “No” because that should be family time for them to share. She was quite saddened by that answer, but promised to take her Book of Mormon with her to the beach and read it there at times. A day or so after they came home, we dropped by to see how it went, and she greeted us with open arms. This is the story that she told us, as nearly as I can remember at this time: Early after getting their camp set up, she was sitting there near the camp fire reading while Paul was fishing and their children were playing in the water near by. Out of force of habit, she reached in her pocket and grabbed her pouch of tobacco to start rolling a cigarette, all the time continuing to read the Book of Mormon. When she went to lick the paper to close the cigarette, she looked at that as she bought it to her lips, and having just read King Benjamin’s sermon, realized that was the dirtiest thing she could be doing at that time. Right there and then, she threw all her cigarette materials into the fire and didn’t touch alcohol from that time until she next saw us. She was a completely changed woman when she came home from their vacation, and, almost immediately, asked for baptism in the Church. She had finished the Book of Mormon and had a few questions that we were able to readily answer to her satisfaction. From that point her life made a complete turn from one of boisterousness and forcefulness to one of gentleness, meekness, and submissiveness. Her first calling in the Kingdom of God on Earth was as a teacher in a children’s Primary class we helped the local members organize in Asker. A letter home dated Sunday, December 8, 1963, said: "I received a Christmas card from Sister Vassbund over in Oslo, and she told me that her son (Jan Peter Vassbund) was baptized. He was baptized along with a lady and her son (the Liens) who live just a few hundred yards away from Vassbunds. We started working with her last Spring, as her son (the one who is now baptized) came to the Primary we started in Asker, and we contacted her as a result of that. I knew that she and her family would be members pretty soon, and that is one of the big reasons I hated to leave Asker. She had already quit her smoking and bad habits before I left. The Elder who took over after me had to take it a little slower that I could have taken it, because she really took a liking to Elder Hibbard and me, and would probably have been baptized sooner had we stayed there longer. But Elder Williams had to form new ties before he could really work closely with her. She has two beautiful daughters who should be coming before long. It’s a gold mine over there! Of course, it’s one wherever there are people!" Following the first version of this sweet conversion story to which I have made some resulting and needed corrections, Turid E. V. Gardner wrote in an October 25, 2005 email, (with her permission): “Dear Elder Oak, Reading your story of my mothers conversion today was a strange experience. I had just spent most of the night thinking about my mother’s life and the importance of her example to me. I spent a couple of hours yesterday talking with two nurses at the nursing home that is now her home. And they tried in their own loving way to inform me about the turn her illness now has taken. My mom has Alzheimers. She was diagnozed 10 years ago, and has continued to be of good influence on her family despite her illness. We have in turn learned to love her in her weakness - this is SO new. She is now nearing the end of her life. I am hoping she will hold on until our son returns from his mission in 2007. But she longs for the other side, and no longer has her famous "spark." I feel to make a couple of changes to your story. Firstly, Paul, my dad, died from lung cancer. He was not a heavy drinker, and did not abuse alcohol. He had many severe reactions to alcohol that scared him, but like most Norwegians drank on special occasions with his family or friends. I would hate for you or anyone else to remember him as a drinker. He died from lung cancer, maybe from smoking, maybe from working many years in the cement plant you described. The plant was later closed, and many lawsuits followed, as labourers kept getting cancer. My dad was the first to die, and my mom was the first to receive a settlement - we feel (mom and I) due to her faithfulness to the Law of Tithing. My dad was not baptized, but baptism was done for him a year or so after he died. He and mom had a ‘turbulent’ relationship and she wasn't sure if she wanted to be sealed to him. Just before she went to the temple, Sis. Gaarder (from Slemmestad) told mom that my dad had appeared to her in a dream. He wanted her to tell my mom that he was doing missionary work. Upon hearing that, my mom felt that my dad had accepted the Gospel and that their marriage could be an eternal one. They are sealed together, and Jan Petter and I are sealed to them. The second correction I would like you to make is about myself. When I withdrew from the elders teaching me, it was not so much that I was scared in the sense that I read in your story. It was that I had felt the presence of the Spirit, and, even in my youth I knew that to continue would mean changing my life. I was not ready and did not have the courage. There was also the relationship between our family and Elder Fallis. He was like a member of the family and I did not want my baptizm to be for him. I knew, even in my youthful ignorance that this was bigger than that - I had to be sure it was my testimony. I was baptized on February 21, 1965. In 1969, I went to New York and Utah. I went to some of the church historical sites and attended general conference. Upon my visit I also had occasion to be in Manti and seeing the temple was a strong spiritual experience. I knew that this temple would have significance in my life. In 1973, Doug and I got married in that temple, and, 13 years later, had our first adopted child sealed to us in that same temple; his name is Paul, named after my dad. Andrea, our daughter was sealed to us in Manti in 1989. Paul is currently serving a mission in New York. You mentioned in your story that mom went on two missions. That is correct. She was the first Norwegian missionary to serve in the London temple. She later served in the Stockholm temple. She loves the temple! In your story, it sounds like my mom had a personality change as she joined the church. NOT SO! True, she is loving and kind, always has been, even before joining the church. She has served and cared for people all her life. But, let me tell you, this stake is littered with Priesthood leaders who have received plenty of tongue lashings from Sis. Vassbund. Even now, although she has not attended church meetings for years, priesthood leaders will come up to me and tell me how they respected my mom’s opinions. No one can make people sit up straight in their chairs like Edny Vassbund. We all love and respect her so much! I thank you for sharing your memories of that time." “Hilsen, Turid Vassbund Gardner” |
