4/12/25
We started our week with General Conference Sunday. With the six hour time difference from Utah to Iceland, we have a different schedule for watching conference. On Sunday we met at the church with many different members in the Iceland district. From 12-2 we watched the Saturday evening conference session which had shown live here 12 hours earlier, at midnight! Since we’d slept through the live showing, we gathered to watch it together on Sunday.
It is wonderful to gather as saints and hear from our general leaders, prophets and apostles of God! If you would like to know what was taught in general conference, click here.
The Sunday morning session of conference didn’t begin in Iceland until 4:00 pm. So between watching the Saturday evening session at noon and starting the Sunday morning session, we had a district potluck dinner. There were a lot of people there! The international make up of our district was on display with the members who are from all over the world and the delicious food people brought to share. It was great to eat and visit with so many good people. During the potluck Todd was able to do four temple recommend interviews for some of our district members who were ready to renew their recommends. We’re so glad he has the opportunity to serve in this way.
Below we’re enjoying the potluck and I got a picture of three of our best guys! Elder Peliesse, Ólafur Jónas, & Audrius, just chilling and waiting for lunch. 🙂
After the potluck we watched the Sunday morning session from 4-6 pm at the church. We all went home and watched the final conference session in our apartments from 8-10 pm. It was a tiring day but full of inspiring messages and the power of the Holy Ghost. President Nelson’s talk was especially inspiring. You can read it here. We’re grateful for General Conference.
In addition to general conference to start off a great week, we were able to welcome our new senior missionary couple to Iceland on Tuesday morning.
Wes & Karen Mogenhan have joined us to serve for two years as senior missionaries. They will be serving as the office couple in Iceland and we are so grateful they are here! There is so much important work the office couple does and we are happy to have them by our sides as we support the members, leaders, and missionaries in Iceland. They flew overnight and made it here Tuesday morning worn out but with smiles on their faces. Don’t they look great?!
We brought Elder Nielsen & Elder Fischbeck to the airport with us to wrangle the luggage and greet the Mogenhan’s.
For the last few months Todd has been wanting a bicycle. I like to go for long walks, especially by the ocean near our apartment. He’s not so keen on the walking but wants to be with me outside. He’s wanted a bike to ride while I am walking and we’ve been keeping an eye out for a used one. Some time ago we noticed a place near our home with piles of old bicycles. We could never figure out what it was and no people were ever there to ask. One evening as we drove past there was a light on inside so we stopped to see what is up with all those bicycles. It turns out that it is a project that accepts old bicycles, fixes them up, and donates them back to the community members. Todd asked what he needed to do to qualify to get a donated bike. The answer was, “You just have to want a bike!” The man happened to have a bike fixed up and ready to go. He wheeled it out and gave it to Todd! It’s a bit small for him, but it works and just needed a little tweaking. So just like that, Todd has a bike and we can enjoy being out together this summer while I walk and he rides. Heavenly Father gave us this little miracle and we are happy about it.
Below is the good looking missionary on his bicycle and a view of the container ships across the bay from our neighborhood.
It wouldn’t be a full week if we didn’t make it to the district commissioner’s office for some driver’s license work, now would it? Elder Benzley needed a one month temporary license to extend his application period until he (hopefully) passes his driving test at the end of April. (Yes, the process is that detailed and complicated.) It’s a quick process to get the one month extension, but they only get one! Hopefully that will be enough! It also happened to be Elder Mijares’s birthday so we got to celebrate with him at this appointment! Happy birthday to Elder Mijares (left) and happy temporary driver’s license to Elder Benzley (right).
After all that celebrating with the elders we stopped for a breakfast pastry at a bakery in town. We’re enjoying trying out different bakeries and their offerings! I’ll be sure to keep you posted on what we find. 😉 Todd had a breakfast sandwich and I tried a kleina . It’s an Icelandic donut that tasted to me like a delicious cake donut. It didn’t have any extra flavoring on the outside, which I preferred — it was less sweet than an American donut. It was a yummy treat!
We continued our work with the Mogenhan’s with a meeting at the church and a trip to Nova. We can’t have missionaries here who don’t go to the disco (phone store)! It is quite the process to get all the ground work in place for new missionaries when they come to Iceland. Usually, the office couple is in charge of all this work. Since the Allen’s went home (the previous office couple) and the Mogenhan’s are just arriving (the new office couple) we have to do all the work! It helps us appreciate them even more. Each day this week there is more for us to do to help them get established to be here legally for the next two years.
On Wednesday afternoon we visited our sweet friend Margrét. She is a lovely member of our branch who has some very difficult health challenges, but despite this she always welcomes us with open arms and prepares us food when we come to visit her. For this visit she made us a traditional Icelandic dish of thin sliced, smoked lamb, Hangikjöt, on flat bread. We enjoyed the lamb and had a good visit with Margrét and her daughter Emily. They are pretty sweet ladies and we are glad for their friendship.
Thursday was busy. Let me tell you all about it! We picked up Wes & Karen in the morning and drove with them to Selfoss. As usual, the drive was gorgeous.
We took them to take care of some of their immigration details at the government office in Selfoss. The main office is in Reykjavik, but it is very busy, crowded and stressful. When we moved here we were taken to Selfoss to avoid the stress of the city office and we did this with Wes & Karen as well. It was well worth the extra time to stop right in, get excellent service, and see the sights throughout the day as well.
We made it into one of the many wool shops in Iceland that sell Icelandic wool and incredible handmade lopapeysas. Wes & Karen found their first sweaters here and we had fun watching them shop in the glory of these beautiful creations! Todd resisted and did not buy another sweater today. But his collection does continue to grow and he had one of his handmade sweaters on throughout this full day.
We were also excited to show off Urriðafoss. We’ve been here many times and we will return many times! It’s such an impressive waterfall, we really love it. The last time we were here it was covered in snow and ice!
Thursday evening I was back at the knitting circle with our relief society sisters and friends. These are good women!
I even did my first ever knitting stitches! My teacher, Helga, helped me cast stitches on to the needle and then showed me how to “go into the boat, catch the fish, put the fish in the boat, and take it off the needle”! She is currently teaching her granddaughter how to knit and she is helping me with the same imagery. It’s kind of like making bunny ears to learn to tie your shoes! Different kinds of knots with different kinds of tools. I practiced for a while and she kept fixing my mistakes! Who knows what will come of it, but I appreciate her patience and desire to help me learn to knit. I have a year and a half left here, maybe I will be able to come home with a scarf I knit for myself?! Mission goals! 🙂
The sun is rising earlier and earlier every day. Saturday morning the sunrise was at 6:08 am. I have always been an early riser and for years have enjoyed going out for very early walks. Well, here in Iceland through the winter months with the darkness and the weather that hasn’t been an option. But Saturday morning the sky was blue and the sun was almost up when I woke up around 5:30 and decided to head out on a solo walk. I love being out early when it’s still and quiet — except for the noise of all the morning birdsong! It was lovely.
I walked from our apartment to a park that cuts under the freeway and through the middle of the city. We’ve been through this area before, but I haven’t walked here from home. This morning I did a full loop, almost five miles, and here is what I found:
Sjávarfoss — Our waterfall under the freeway! 🙂
The Old Central Heating Line — These pylons used to hold pipes that carried hot water to the city.
Búrfoss —
Some magical sights in the woods —
Kermóafoss —
It made for a great start to the day!
Later Saturday we visited the Kolaport Flea Market in Reykjavik. It’s a fun place to roam, shop, and people watch. And, to look for the perfect peysa! How can you choose from all these beautiful options?!
We end our week so happy to have new friends, the Mogenhan’s. We know they are going to be wonderful missionaries and a great asset to the church in Iceland. We are also preparing for our missionary Easter concert that is tomorrow (Sunday) night! April 13th at 6 pm Iceland time. If you’d like to join us by zoom you can find it at this link: https://tinyurl.com/32ujucyh
The cookies and brownies are ready, the program is copied, the missionaries have been practicing their music . . . hopefully it will be a great to start off our week of Easter celebrations with the right spirit. In next week’s post I’ll let you know how it goes! In the meantime, thank you for your love and support and thank you for your friendship. Sending love from Iceland!
Check out Todd’s social media pages for more pictures and videos. You can find him here:
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