4/11/26
This week began with Easter Sunday and General Conference. We enjoyed participating in the meetings and we hope you were able to as well. This was our last general conference in Iceland; for October’s conference we will be back in Oregon. For the past four conferences we have joined with the missionaries and some members at the church for the morning sessions. There were a few members there, watching in English or Icelandic, and joining together in our worship.
Just down the hall in the church we have a room full of wonderful Icelandic saints who translate the entire conference for Icelandic speakers. They spend time in advance of the conference translating the talks from English to Icelandic. During the conference Icelandic subtitles are available on screen and they do live Icelandic voiceover for those listening. Greta does all of the Icelandic for the women who speak or pray. The brothers participating rotate between themselves to cover all of the men who speak or pray. It is a massive undertaking and they do a wonderful job. I won’t get to witness this in Oregon! It is amazing to see the effort that goes into making sure that so many languages are available for people to listen to the conference.
Below you will see Jakob Örn Guðnason, Greta Sverrisdottir, Bardur Gunnarsson, Bragi Svavarsson, & Sævar Örn Arason Michelsen.
At the end of every transfer there is a mission wide zoom farewell meeting for all of the missionaries going home. The meeting for this transfer was on Sunday immediately following the first conference session. It was 6:00 pm for us and we set up the zoom meeting at the church to watch together. One of our Iceland missionaries, Elder Nehren, was participating in the meeting. He’s served his final transfer in Denmark so we said our goodbyes to him six weeks ago. It was nice to hear his testimony once more before he returned to his family. We love you, Elder Nehren!
All day Sunday we had been getting weather reports of a massive storm headed to Iceland on Monday. Orange weather alerts were set and the government asked people to stay off the roads during the storm. During orange alerts the wind can blow up to 80 mph and combined with rain or snow it is dangerous to be out. The buses don’t run reliably in that kind of weather and in an effort to follow the guidelines and keep the elders off the roads we canceled our Monday night institute class. Monday was a day indoors without cooking and baking, instead we watched the storm roll through and enjoyed the show from the safety of our apartment.
The picture below is from a fantastic website that shows weather patterns all over the world. This picture is from Sunday and you can see Monday’s storm at the bottom left, approaching Iceland. I love to look at this website and watch the weather in their beautiful graphics. You can find the website here; move the picture around to see anywhere on the globe. And you can change the settings to show you different things about the wind and the ocean. It is fascinating!
One thing stormy weather did not stop was zoom meetings. 🙂 Todd and I had a very fun zoom companion study with Sister Quick and Sister Durrant who are sister missionaries in Denmark. These lovely young women were in our emotional resilience class in the winter and we enjoyed working with them. This week we had a class with them discussing faith in Christ and not in outcomes. This is such an important topic and we enjoyed working and learning together. If you’d like to read more about this topic check out this talk by President Oaks from 2010: Healing the Sick.
The big storm on Monday brought in warmer temperatures and we had loads of rain. Throughout the first half of the week the rain came down and the snow melted quickly. It actually feels like we might have turned the corner into spring?! I’m afraid to hope that could be true, but the high temperatures are climbing into the 40’s and, for now, a lot of the snow has melted. I made it out of the house for a walk and the moss is starting to perk up and is already looking pretty.
I walked through a neighborhood that is built through a lava field. It is very beautiful.
Todd and I did several ministering visits throughout the week. On one of our stops we loved seeing this doorbell in the apartment lobby. We were visiting our friend named Faith. We know where she lives! And her name gives a wonderful message to all the world. Right now Faith’s family is facing some extreme challenges. She is placing her faith in Jesus Christ and hoping for miracles to happen. We are joining our faith and prayers with her. Faith has only been a member of the church for a few months. She is still learning to exercise her faith in Jesus Christ. In this very difficult challenge she is facing, she is choosing to rely upon Christ. She is doing her very best with His help. Elder Anderson said, “Faith in Jesus Christ is a gift from heaven that comes as we choose to believe and as we seek it and hold on to it.” I know I can exercise more faith in Jesus Christ in my life.
And, back to driver’s licenses, because that’s what we do! We took Elder Bredthauer and Elder Jensen to get their pictures taken for their driver’s license application. Fortunately there is a photo booth in the mall that makes this part of the process very easy. We spent a few minutes laughing at their pictures! They look great, but the instructions are that you are not smiling in these photos and they both look very solemn. These are happy, hard working missionaries and a smile is their normal expression! But now we can check photos off the long list of things to do for their driver’s licenses.
On Thursday evening we were invited to dinner at our friend’s Bárður & Perlynda’s home. They are such a terrific family! We loved spending time with them. They fed us a delicious feast and we visited with them and their sons Kiefer & Aron. Kiefer comes to our institute night at the church and we really love him too.
Just like so many other people, this family is experiencing challenges and they are choosing to place their faith in Jesus Christ as they decide how to move forward in their challenges. We discussed Elder Holland’s story about deciding which road to travel and receiving revelation and answers to prayers. It was such a great discussion and we appreciate having this family in our lives. They want to do what is right and they are placing their faith in Christ. You can see a video that shares Elder Holland’s story at the link below.
On Friday we were so excited to welcome the newest missionary to the Iceland zone. We went to Keflavik a bit early to account for traffic and we had time to stop along the coast for a few minutes to enjoy the beautiful views and the welcome sunshine.
Elder Parry showed up all smiles and we are so happy he is here.
Elder Parry will be companions with Elder Moyer. They’re going to have a great time together; Elder Moyer is wonderful and we are sure Elder Parry is too.
Fun fact — last September Elder Parry’s family came for a visit to Iceland. It was just after he had received his mission call and they were excited to see some of the areas he would be serving. If you go back to this post, “Hello September!“, you can see him there! It’s amazing to think that seven months have gone by since then.
Another missionary, Elder Denny, will hopefully make it to Iceland soon. His visa is still in line to be processed and he has been temporarily reassigned to serve in Pittsburg. Currently the visa waiting time is at least six to eight months, sometimes up to ten months. When a missionary gets his call six months before he is to report to his mission it is almost unlikely that his visa will be processed in time for him to come as originally scheduled. Depending on how quickly an elder (or couple) gets his information gathered and submitted he may or may not come straight to Iceland. Because of this issue there will not be a couple ready to replace us when we go home in four months. Immigration certainly keeps things interesting!
Here we are with Elder Bredthauer (zone leader), Elder Parry, Elder Moyer, & Elder Geertsen (zone leader).
These elders all joined us at our apartment for dinner and a new missionary training meeting. It’s great to get to know the new elders a little bit, fill them up with good food, and let them know that we are all here to help and support them as they begin their mission experience in Iceland.
While we were doing a few errands on Saturday afternoon we came across some stainless steel sculptures we haven’t seen before. They are interesting! What do you think of these? The artist is Steinunn Thorarinsdottir.
On Saturday evening we were happy to attend the baptism of Raul Castillo. This is the first baptism of the year in Iceland and we were so glad to support him. Raul has been learning from the missionaries for a while, several members of his family already belong to the church, and he bore a powerful testimony of the witness he has gained that the church is true.
Below you will see Elder Moyer, Elder Gutierrez, Raul, & Elder Monzon
While we were at the baptism a couple came into the building to look around. Rebecca and Steven Downs are just in Iceland for a couple of days. Rebecca has family history connected to the Westman Islands — she has Icelandic blood! I got to spend some time visiting with them and they are a lovely couple! They are also friends with President & Sister Davidson, our mission president. It’s such a small world in the church and it’s always a treat to find common friends with shared faith.
Throughout this week we have had many opportunities to ponder and act on our faith in Jesus Christ. So many of the people we work with are striving to exercise their faith in Jesus Christ. Our children at home our exercising faith in Jesus Christ. We know that as we continue to serve the Lord and strive to do our best as missionaries, even when things are challenging and don’t seem to be working out, our faith in Jesus Christ will lead us in the right way and bring us peace along the way. President Uchtdorf said, “Faith in the Savior taught me that no matter what happened in the past, my story could have a happy ending.” We hope that you are placing your faith in Jesus Christ as you are facing the challenges and trials in your life. There is peace and hope in doing so.
Thanks for joining us for another week of missionary work in Iceland! We will see you again soon!
Check out Todd’s social media pages for more photos and videos. You can find him here:
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