12/21/24
Hello, Friends! Are you ready to jump into a busy week?? Here we go! We started with a full Sunday. Todd & I both spoke in the Reykjavik 1st branch. Todd spoke about making sure Jesus Christ is our focus at Christmas time and always. I spoke about keeping the Holy Ghost in our lives, even during the dark winter months. We’ve been here for three months and Todd has spoken in all four branches and I’ve spoken in three. Maybe they’re tired of hearing from us for a while?! After three talks using three different translators I think I’m figuring out how to write a talk that will be translated as I speak. That has been a learning curve for me.
Christmas is just days away and we are feeling the Christmas Spirit. A lot of that has to do with all the Christmas caroling we’ve been doing this week. Because we don’t have young sister missionaries serving in Iceland, caroling with this group is like being part of a really lovely men’s choir! They sing beautifully and we have enjoyed ministering through Christmas music this week. On Sunday evening we took cookies and went out as a group to carol to some members of the branch. Sometimes the songs were in Icelandic and other times they were in English. Some people were home, others were not, but either way we enjoyed fresh snow, beautiful music, and the good feeling that comes from serving others.
At one point we were downtown walking between different addresses. We stopped across the street from Hallgrimskirkja and the men sang a few Christmas carols on the street corner. People stopped to listen and take videos. One woman chatted with the elders for several minutes and shared her love of Christmas carols. It was pretty great!
We’ve had some snow the last few days and we are both grateful for waterproof boots. The city doesn’t keep all the sidewalks and parking lots cleared of snow so you need to be prepared for walking in snow, slush, puddles, and mush wherever you go. We are amazed at how tough Icelanders are! We see people bicycle commuting and walking babies in strollers, no matter the temperature or the road conditions. All over town there are scooters you can rent for transportation. Do you think the snow stops people from using them? I guess not!
We also had a fun waffle night with Elder Fischbeck and Elder Morel. They are serving in Selfoss and they were in Reykjavik this week for our week of service. We were glad for the chance to get to know them better. They are terrific young men who are making a difference on their missions. You might notice in these pictures that the elders don’t always wear a white shirt and tie. Our mission is considered a “blue collar” mission. They only need a suit for church on Sunday, baptisms, zone conferences, and other formal meetings. Otherwise, they can wear a collared white or blue shirt with or without a tie. And, obviously, the Icelandic sweater is always appropriate attire!
Let me tell you about our mission wide week of service. Because Christmas is near, people are very busy and they are spending a lot of time with their families. This is great! But, it makes it hard for the missionaries to do their regular missionary work because people are so focused on other things. Our mission president, President Davidson, called for a mission wide week of service with a goal for every missionary to do 15-20 hours of service. I have spent the last several weeks organizing service activities for the missionaries to do. We’ve had great success. Let me tell you about it!
Sunday: Christmas caroling and cookie deliveries, as already mentioned.
Monday: Preparation day, so no organized service this day.
Tuesday: Each companionship did a two hour shift volunteering at Hertex. Hertex is the same as Salvation Army in the states. They run a thrift shop and help the less fortunate in the community. They are always in need of a few extra hands. The first volunteer shift started at 9:30 and we had the boys rotating through until after 5:00. Close to 30 hours of service were given that day. The boys were sorting electronics and helping organize other parts of the store. We got great feedback from them about the people they talked to. Some even saw people they know from church who haven’t been in a while, as well as people who they have taught in the past and lost touch with. Not only were they serving in the community, they were being representatives of Jesus Christ at the same time. All of the boys want to volunteer for them again soon. I think we’re going to try and make a day volunteering at Hertex into a monthly activity.
Wednesday: Deep clean the Reykjavik church building. Okay, this was a project. Wednesday morning we went to the church and Todd had an online presidency meeting with President Davidson. I join him for these meetings to take minutes and keep an action item list. We sure love President Davidson. He is a good man and doing a wonderful job with the tremendous load he carries as the mission president. Following that meeting we had our weekly district council meeting with the Iceland North district. And following that meeting we did our cleaning service project.
We had 10 young missionaries and 4 senior missionaries working together to clean our little building. The 14 of us worked for about 3 hours to get every surface, inside and out, cleaned. The kitchen, library, offices, classrooms, bathrooms, chapel, YSA room . . . there was plenty of work to do. The elders worked hard and we enjoyed Christmas music, cleaning for the Lord, and a big lunch of Domino’s pizza.
I love this picture of Elder O’Barr dusting Jesus. 🙂
In case you’re wondering who these great looking guys are: Elder Pelissie, Elder Moyer, Elder Morel, Elder Morales, Elder Benzley, Elder Nehren, Elder Mijares, Elder Fischbeck, Elder O’Barr, & Elder Nielsen.
Thursday: Our original plan for service this day was cancelled. So, we decided to do some visits to a few members and friends who live quite a way out of town. Before getting to these homes, we went to the Akranes lighthouse. I had been in contact with Hilmar, the lighthouse keeper. He invited us to come sing carols in the lighthouse. The Akranes lighthouse is famous for its acoustics. Musicians come from far and wide to sing in the lighthouse. We were excited to see what would happen! You can check out their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/Akranesviti
It was cold and snowy when we got to the lighthouse. Hilmar took us to the lighthouse, explained its history and the acoustics and where the best place to sing is. Elder Nielsen sang a few songs for us and then led the group in Christmas hymns in both Icelandic and English. It gave us chills! The lighthouse amplified the sound of the singing and echoed it through the building. It was really an incredibly beautiful and moving experience.
After about a half an hour of carols, we did some exploring on top of, and around the lighthouse before the cold drove us back to the cars.
Hilmar was so happy to have us visit and sing in his lighthouse! He was such a gracious host, accepting a copy of the Book of Mormon and inviting us to come back in the summer when it will be warmer. We will return!
We finished our service this day by caroling to friends and members who were surprised we’d make the effort to come find them. It was a joy to sing and share cookies and we hope they felt of our love.
Friday: For Friday’s service hours, each companionship was responsible to arrange for a two hour service project on their own and report back about what they did. One companionship did two hours of snow shoveling. Another companionship did a shift volunteering at the thrift store. And three companionships took shifts at the soup kitchen in downtown Reykjavik.
I had tried to get organized shifts set up for the boys at the soup kitchen but I had trouble connecting with the director to get something solid planned. However, she sounded like she would be happy for help at any time and would take whatever help we could offer. I gave the information to the boys and they went for it. Later that day when we asked how it went we got hilarious answers. During all three shifts that we had boys there they saw fist fights brake out. There were brawls, fighting, arguing, etc. (not among the missionaries, among the patrons 😉 ) We had reports that one man spent several hours just laying on the floor. One of our new elders was hoping the man was alive — he was. During all of this, our young elders served food, bussed tables, did dishes, and helped out the few workers who were there. Their help was very appreciated. One of the elders said it was like the Mos Eisley cantina in Star Wars! I appreciated this description! They all want to volunteer there again sometime, they had a lot of fun.
Saturday: Saturday was the end of our planned activities for the mission wide week of service. We met at the church in the morning and carpooled to Hveragerði, a town about 45 km from Reykjavik. There, one car with Elder & Sister Allen and two young missionaries did service for our sweet friend and branch member, Bettina.
Another car of missionaries went to the home of Bárður & Perlynda, another family in the Selfoss branch. These elders spent their morning removing snow and ice from Bárður & Perlynda’s driveway.
And our final group of elders spent the morning in Selfoss deep cleaning the rooms where the Selfoss members meet for church each Sunday.
While this was the end of the mission wide week of service, we hope the elders will continue to find meaningful ways to serve those around them in the community while they continue their efforts at sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I’m glad to be to the end of this week! It was a challenge to set up the organized service projects for the missionaries. The goal was 15-20 hours of service for each missionary during the week. I think, if we count travel time, we made that goal for all of our missionaries. I am happy about that. I did learn some lessons through this process, however. And they weren’t all easy to learn! It was challenging to find organized service opportunities this close to Christmas. In the US, it seems like there are service opportunities everywhere. They aren’t as easy to spot here. The social services are handled differently and there aren’t readily available ways to offer support to the less fortunate in the society. We were all very happy to see that both Hertex and the soup kitchen welcome any and all volunteers. We hope the boys will volunteer with them again soon, of their own volition. Serving individuals this close to Christmas was also a challenge. We had a few last minute schedule changes because of the timing with the holidays. Also, our weather makes outdoor service in the winter challenging. But, despite these things, we had a great week together, we enjoyed serving and ministering, and we made a difference in the lives of those around us.
Saturday was also winter solstice. It was the shortest day of the year. Sunrise was at 11:22 am and sunset at 3:29 pm giving us a whopping 4 hours, 7 minutes of daylight! On December 22nd, the sunrise is at 11:22 am and sunset at 3:30 pm giving us 4 hours and 8 minutes of daylight! That extra minute may not sound like much, but it will add up over the next few months, you just wait and see. 🙂 We did enjoyed a little bit of sun today and we look forward to more of it tomorrow.
As we conclude the darkest week of the year, we also conclude a week filled with the love of God we felt through service to others. It’s such a joy to serve with these young missionaries. And, it’s such a joy to know that through small acts we can bring the love of Jesus Christ into the lives of those around us. As you celebrate Christmas this upcoming week, look for ways to serve and uplift those around you. We don’t know what kind of darkness they are facing. But we can offer them some of the light of our Savior Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas and we’ll see you next week.
“But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Matthew 23:11
Check out Todd’s social media for more pictures and videos. You can find them here:
Leave a Reply