4/19/25
Hello, Friends! Happy Easter. We’ve had a holy week as we have prepared for this Easter Sunday. We hope your week has been holy too. Thanks for joining us as we serve the Lord in Iceland where, honestly, every week is holy and wonderful in its own way. But this week is especially holy as we remember and revere the resurrection of our beloved Savior Jesus Christ. For Him, we are trying to be more holy.
On Palm Sunday we participated in a mission wide effort to spread the gospel and the joy of Holy Week through music and an Easter message. I was given the assignment to put together a missionary Easter concert and I’ve been working on it for the last several weeks. I didn’t know if anyone would even come! We ended up with a great turn out, around 65 people were there. And the Holy Ghost was there too, which was the most important part. The only disappointment in the concert was that our zoom audio didn’t work well. I was so excited to share the concert on zoom, but it really only had video and so those watching couldn’t enjoy the music. Other than that, success!
Jakob, Todd, & Elder Morales were our narrators. They did each section in Icelandic, English, & Spanish.
The full missionary choir sang “Gethsemane”. It was moving. You can see a video of this song (not the elders, but a professional video) here.
And a missionary quintet sang “The Miracle”. You can see a video of this song (again, not the elders!) here.
Jakob played a piano solo of “He Is Risen” representing the 1st branch. And Bettina, Valla, & Jakob sang “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” in Icelandic representing the Selfoss Branch.
The 2nd branch choir sang “He Died! The Great Redeemer Died!” in Spanish.
Elder Nielsen sang two beautiful solos. “O Savior Thou Who Wears a Crown” and “Hail the Day that Sees Him Rise“. He has a gorgeous voice and it was moving to hear him sing these hymns.
It was really special to gather as saints & friends in Iceland to worship our Savior together. We were happy with how the evening turned out.
On Monday during some errands we drove past a cathedral we haven’t been to before. It seemed like a good time to stop and see this place of worship. It’s the Cathedral of Christ the King, built in 1929. The majority of churches in Iceland are Lutheran and it was interesting to explore a sacred Catholic space.
Below, left picture looks to the front, right picture looks to the rear.
Many of the congregations here had Holy Week events and many businesses closed for Good Friday and Easter Sunday. It’s nice to know that so many people are observing the Easter holiday in their own way.
One of our celebrations was YSA Monday night! We’ve mixed things up a little bit and we’re now having games along with our dinner and a short lesson each Monday. Below you will see how seriously Audrius & Jakob are taking their chess match! Todd is playing a dice game with some other students. And Elder Nehren & Ólafur Jónas played a wild game of ping pong! It was a fun night.
I made it out for an early walk around the inlet Tuesday morning. Of course, I have to share my pictures because it was gorgeous. I can’t believe we live just a few steps from here!
One of my favorite little beaches was under water at high tide. And, the lupines are starting to grow! These ones were frosty in the morning, but soon we’ll have flowers everywhere and you better believe you’ll be seeing pictures of them!
Wes & Karen Mogenhan are continuing to settle in to their new roles as missionaries here. Each week there are a few more things to do to help them get everything set up. We were working on their electronic IDs with our friend Christian and I had to get this photo. Christian is helping us with young missionaries and with us older ones as well! He’s so kind and is walking us through this process when we aren’t sure we know what’s going on. He got Wes & Karen all set up so they are now even a little bit more official in Iceland! We’re getting there!
On Wednesday Todd spent his morning working with our new friend Karlheinz from Germany. Karlheinz works for the church and manages the vehicles and transportation needs in the Europe North Area. He was in Iceland this week to install the Tiwi driving monitors on all of the cars here. This device monitors the driver and sends an email to the mission president if the driver is speeding, aggressively driving, or doing other things the program considers dangerous or careless. If a missionary is reported too many times for inappropriate driving the mission president will take away his driving privileges. We’ll see how everyone does! The boys are good drivers and, as we continue to work towards Icelandic licenses, they are getting even better.
In addition to installing the monitors on the cars, Karlheinz was picking up & delivering two new cars to our zone. Todd & I get one of the new cars and the other one goes to Elder & Sister Mogenhan. We’ve never owned a brand new car in our lives! And, while we don’t own this one (the church is the owner) we get to drive it for the next year and a half. In case you’re wondering, we pay $150 a month to use a church car, in addition to our monthly mission payment. When Todd drove it off the lot it had 13 kilometers on it. It will be driven carefully so the Tiwi monitor won’t need to send President Davidson any emails about us! 🙂
And, how nice of the car lot to give us some Icelandic chocolate to go along with our new car. I made quick work of the chocolate! It was dark chocolate with nuts & licorice. An Icelandic specialty. 🙂
On Thursday we had zone conference. President & Sister Davidson came from Denmark to join us. We also had the mission president’s assistants come for this conference. It is always enjoyable to gather for these meetings and it’s a privilege to serve with these good people. There is also a lot of food prep that goes into zone conference. It kept me busy this week! I am so grateful for our trusty wagon. In the picture below it is carrying everything for a baked potato bar, tossed salad, rolls, desserts, and all the snacks needed to keep 22 people happy for 6 hours of meetings.
Our day was full of good teaching by our young leaders, not so young leaders, and the Holy Ghost.
President Davidson —
AP’s & DL’s —
And here are the women of the Iceland Zone with our favorite sister leader, Sister Davidson. Me, Sister Mogenhan, Sister Tolley, & Sister Davidson —
This was the final zone conference for Elder Peliesse. He goes home in a couple of weeks and did the walk of honor through our Icelandic flags! It’s such a fun way to honor our faithful missionaries who have served here. In about 16 months Todd and I will get to do this walk!
Iceland Zone: Back row — Elder Nehren, Elder Jeppsen (AP), Elder Kim (AP), Elder Moyer, Elder Geertsen, Elder Young, Elder Peliesse, Elder O’Barr, Elder Nielsen, Elder Morel, Elder Fischbeck, Elder Morales, Elder Mijares, Elder Benzley
Front row — Elder & Sister Mogenhan, President & Sister Davidson, Sister & Elder Tolley, & us!
On Thursday evening we stayed up late and went out searching for the aurora. It’s getting so light at night that the aurora season is almost over. There was a good chance to see the lights so we drove out of town to find some dark sky. We didn’t end up seeing the northern lights but we did stay up until nearly midnight after watching this sunset finish around 11 pm!
We took a field trip on Friday to Þingvellir National Park. This beautiful place is less than an hour drive from our apartment. It is one of the places in Iceland where you can see the divide between the North American and the Eurasian tectonic plates. It also plays a prominent role in the history of Iceland. The original Icelandic government met here for generations starting in the year 930. The history and beauty make this a wonderful place to visit. You can read more about Þingvellir here.
We had dinner Friday night with President & Sister Davidson and Elder & Sister Mogenhan. It was great to meet and visit with these good people while enjoying a quirky restaurant in Reykjavik.
We finished our week with a special family tradition Todd and I have enjoyed for decades. Let me tell you about it! When we had been married for just a year and we were expecting our first baby, Todd’s mom Judy passed away from ovarian cancer; she was only 52. We were sad to know that our children would grow up without knowing their grandma Judy. In an effort to help our children understand the atonement and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ and to help them understand the eternal nature of life and families, we started a new tradition when our girls were very young.
On the Saturday before Easter Sunday we would take our girls to visit a cemetery. If we lived where we could visit family member’s graves, we would go there. If not, we would find a cemetery to visit and enjoy, knowing that someone loved the people who are buried in that cemetery. While in the cemetery we read the story of the first Easter when Jesus Christ suffered and died for our sins. We read about how three days later He was literally resurrected and lives again. We talk about what a joy it is to know that all those we love will also be resurrected and that we will see them again. We marvel at the goodness of the plan of salvation and we joy in the knowledge that our Heavenly Father planned for us to return to our families and loved ones and Him through the gift of our Savior Jesus Christ! We spend time learning, singing, and praying while in a sacred cemetery. One day the ground will open up and all those buried in every cemetery will come forth, out of the ground, their spirits and their bodies reunited! Won’t that be a sight to behold?!
Alma 11:43 says, “The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt.”
Since we started this tradition, we have visited cemeteries on Easter Saturday every year. We’ve been in many different states, had lots of different weather, and felt the Spirit testify to us every single time that this is true doctrine. The resurrection is real and our Savior is alive today!
Two years ago at Easter I went to the cemetery with my mom and my brother Scott, just about a week after we’d buried my dad who died of esophageal cancer. Todd’s mom died almost 32 years ago and we have visited her grave to celebrate Easter. (Enjoy some throwback pictures below. 🙂 )There are countless other loved ones who we mourn and who will all be resurrected one day! What more important message can there be to share with the world?! Christ is risen and because of that we will also rise again and be reunited, body and soul, to stand before our God! I want to shout it all over Iceland! If you would like to read more about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, click here.
This Easter Saturday Todd and I visited Hólavallagarður cemetery in Reykjavik. We enjoyed visiting those who are buried there and we had our lesson, discussion, and songs together. Thanks to our daughter’s tech help, we have a digital version of the Easter book we’ve read each year at home so we could read it again in Iceland. Every cemetery is sacred and we felt the Spirit witness to us that even those who have been long buried in the frozen north will one day be resurrected. This is a truth we love and it was a joyous Easter Saturday activity.
At the end of this Holy Week we share our testimonies with you that we know Jesus Christ lives and that He is our Savior and Redeemer. We treasure this knowledge and rejoice in it and share it, gladly, with all who will hear. It is an honor to serve Him as missionaries and we are blessed with His Spirit in the work we are doing. On this Easter weekend, despite the sorrow and worry in the world, all is well because of Him. “God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son.” The Living Christ
We’ll see you next week for more Richardson Mission adventures! Check out Todd’s pages linked below for more pictures and videos. And, Happy Easter!
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