1/17/26
On Sunday morning this week Todd and I drove to Selfoss to attend their church meetings. As we were coming over the mountain we were greeted by this beautiful sunrise at about 10:30 am. Isn’t this a lovely sight to start out a new week? The beautiful views continued when we got to church and were warmly greeted by our friends in the Selfoss branch. Valla, Greta, and I had all chosen to wear green and black! We needed to commemorate our good taste with a picture. These women are so warm and welcoming. It is always a pleasure to see them.
Greta also makes jewelry and she surprised me with a custom made pair of Greta original earrings! Aren’t they great! I love them and will treasure them. I’m so flattered she thought of me and made me such a lovely gift.
We enjoyed meeting with the Selfoss saints and we joined them after church for a potluck meal and visiting.
As we drove back to the city after church later in the day we enjoyed the view of the sun headed back down towards the horizon at about 2:30 in the afternoon! The days are still short but starting to get a bit longer.
At the beginning of each year we have a zone wide meeting during which the elders set goals for the upcoming year. The senior missionaries are mostly just observers and cheerleaders for these meetings and it is great to recap the past year and look forward to the new year. In January of 2025 the Iceland Zone set a goal to have 18 baptisms in the year. At the time that goal was set I thought it was completely out of reach and unrealistic. Boy was I wrong! In 2025 there were 19 baptisms in Iceland! The elders set of goal for 25 baptisms in 2026. This year, I believe they can do it!
We ended our Sabbath day by enjoying another amazing display of the northern lights. It wasn’t quite as dramatic as Saturday night’s display, but it was still spectacular! Mother nature has been putting on a show in Iceland this winter!
We had one open day early in the week to do some exploring. We headed downtown to go to the photography museum only to find they are closed this week preparing a new exhibit. We will go back there another time so we decided to see what other adventures we could find on a cold January day in Reykjavik.
The Reykjavik Museum of Photography shares a building with the city library and the city archives. We spent a few minutes exploring the stacks and the charm of the library.
The city library had a place with many pieces of art on display and you can pay a monthly fee to rent them for your space or you can buy them to own. Isn’t that a great feature to add to a public library?
There were also free herbs to take home, grow, and use. Isn’t that a wonderful idea to have in a library?
Continuing our theme of literature and art in Reykjavik, we walked up through the chilly streets to the Einar Jónsson sculpture garden. Einar Jónsson was an Icelandic artist and sculptor who produced hundreds of beautiful works. Many of them are on display in the museum and sculpture garden in Reykjavik. (You can read more about Einar Jónsson here.) Below are a few of his sculptures.
That evening we had a dinner meeting downtown with a very interesting group of people. We had three visitors in Iceland this week. They all work for the facilities/building department of the church and they came to inspect some of the church buildings & apartments that are here. Michael Nielsen lives in Denmark. Joe Hull lives in England. And David Boyd lives in North Ireland. We had dinner with them & with Ásta, who manages all of the billing and accounts for the church and the mission in Iceland. It was a wonderful evening. Below you will see Todd & me with Ásta, Joe, Michael, & David.
Funny side story — Michael served a young mission for the church in the Eugene, Oregon mission decades ago. We were talking about places we have in common in Oregon and mentioned that we have two sons-in-law from Dallas, Oregon. We we shared family names we were all surprised to find that Michael knows our son-in-law, Isaac Short’s family and remembers his dad very well! Scott Short was the ward mission leader when Michael was serving there and they worked together. What a small world! 🙂
Another fun topic of dinner conversation was Todd’s young mission in South Wales. He served in many places that both Joe & David are familiar with, including buildings Todd worked in that these brothers have served and worked in. They bonded over baptismal fonts and interesting building features! It was a great evening.
Here is what I had for dinner, in case you’re wondering. Lobster tacos and grilled cod. Yummy!
We spent the entire day on Wednesday working with Michael, Joe, & David. Our job was to open buildings, lock buildings, provide opinions when asked, and do a little bit of tour guiding! We started in Selfoss at a building the church is renovating into a new space for the Selfoss branch to meet. They are not building a church, they are just renovating rooms to give them more space than their previous building has. These men are the ones who will make this a reality. The owners of the building joined us as did the architect. We spent a few hours going through the building, looking at plans, discussing possible changes, and considering the next steps. It was a really fascinating process to observe. There are still permits waiting for approval before the work can begin. But they are hopeful it will be done before Todd and I leave Iceland in August. I would love to see it completed and the branch meeting in this bigger space!
Let me tell you about Hasina, she and her husband own the building. I spent some time visiting with her and I asked her if she has ever heard of the Book of Mormon or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She had not. I figured since we will be their tenants maybe they would like to know more about who we are and what we believe. We had an Icelandic Book of Mormon in the car that I gave to her along with a little bit of information about how the Church was restored in the latter days and is the same church that Jesus Christ established on the earth. I showed her where, in 3 Nephi, Jesus himself ministers in the Americas. She turned down the corner of the page and said she will start reading there because it sounds like the best part! It was a sweet experience. I hope I will see her again as the building project progresses and that, maybe, she and her husband will want to learn a little bit more about just who these new tenants are. Below you see Todd with the architect and the owners of the building.
These men know their job! It is interesting to hear what they plan to do and how they can make a space ready to be a sacred meeting place for our members. We look forward to watching the work progress.
Before leaving Selfoss we stopped for Icelandic hot dogs for our friends. They gave me permission to quote their reviews of the hot dogs. “The best hot dog I have ever eaten!” David Boyd. “Agreed!” Joe Hull. 🙂
These were deep fried hot dogs and they were good? Let’s put it this way, they were hot dogs, just a bit crispier because they were fried. Todd and I ordered two, a Dorito hot dog and a French fry hot dog so we could try both. Let’s just say I don’t need to eat any more hot dogs. Ever. But the men folk were satisfied and happy to have this Icelandic delicacy!
We took the long way from Selfoss to Reykjavik so our guests could see the lava flows and aftermath from the eruptions in Grindavik. They were amazed, as anyone would be, at the scale of the lava and its affect on the city. We ended the day walking through the church owned apartments and doing a full inspection at the chapel in Garðabær.
While they left town with a long list of work that needs to be done in Iceland, they also expressed their appreciation for how well the missionaries are caring for their apartments. I’m flattered that they repeatedly asked for thoughts and opinions from Todd and I about the spaces they were reviewing and the needs of the missionaries and the members. It was a wonderful experience to watch them work, learn about their departments in church facilitates and management, and to just enjoy their personalities. And their accents! An ongoing conversation with a Dane, Brit, & Irishman! It was wonderful! I hope one day we can see these brothers again.
I spent the first half of the day Friday preparing a meal for some of our elders. The crockpots were out, the bread and brownies were made, and I made sure there were roasted vegetables & meat on the menu, along with the other goodies.
That afternoon we went to the airport to pick up the two newest missionaries in the Iceland Zone. We’re so happy they are here! Below, L-R: Elder Moyer, Elder Monzon, Elder Gutierrez, Elder Pedroza, Elder Benzley.
Elder Pedroza has been serving his mission in Idaho for two transfers already, waiting for his Icelandic visa to be approved. The approval came through a few weeks ago and he was scheduled to travel here this week with the transfer schedule. He and his trainer, Elder Benzley, will be serving in Selfoss.
Elder Gutierrez just finished his MTC training at the beginning of this week. Before Monday his Icelandic visa approval had not been given and he was prepared to serve somewhere else as a visa waiter. Monday evening his approval came through and our mission president, along with the mission department in SLC, did the work necessary to get him here this week. We are so glad! Elder Gutierrez will be serving in Kopavogur in a trio with our zone leaders who are his trainers, Elder Monzon & Elder Moyer.
We went from the airport to the church for dinner and a training meeting. There is a lot to do to get new elders oriented and set up in Iceland. There will be more work with government details next week, but for their first night we made sure they were fed and safely moved into their apartments.
It’s so much fun to welcome new missionaries to Iceland. The Icelandic visa approval process has gotten so long that it makes it difficult to know when to expect the elders to be arriving. Todd and I go home from our mission in seven months. (I can’t believe it is coming so quickly!) As of writing this post, our replacement spot is still open and available. With how long visa approval is taking we are starting to wonder if a replacement missionary couple will be able to come when we leave. It’s looking questionable. Are any of you interested in a mission in Iceland?! Our mission president is aware of this issue and he told us that senior couple missionary applications are down. We know the Lord will provide who is needed and when they are needed here. It is an act of faith to serve a mission, and to go home as well!
I have a few odds & ends I want to remember from this week so I’ll finish up with them.
While we’ve lived here I’ve made friends with Alexandra. She is a lovely woman who is Romanian, living in Iceland with her family. She runs Hertex, the Salvation Army thrift shop, here in town. We’ve done several service projects with her and we’ve become friends in the process. Every year her mother, Valeria, spends December & January here with Alexandra. Valeria is Romanian but she lives in Italy. She and I have become friends as we’ve seen each other on and off the last two winters when she has visited. She doesn’t speak much English, but she’s told me in the past that she has seen missionaries from our church in Italy and she knows our missionaries do good things.
Valeria goes back to Italy at the end of January and we go home in August so I know I won’t see her again. Todd and I went by for a visit this week and I took her a copy of the Book of Mormon in Romanian. (I actually took several copies so she could choose the one she would be most comfortable reading: English, Icelandic, Italian, & Romanian!) With Alexandra translating I explained what the Book of Mormon is, why is it so precious to me, how much I appreciated both of them, and why I wanted her to have the Book of Mormon to read. She was happy to accept it and we are both so glad to be friends. Alexandra already has her own copy of the Book of Mormon. I don’t know if either of these women will read it, but the Spirit was there as we met and visited, and it was good. This was actually my first mission goodbye. I can see how, as the end of our mission draws closer, it will be hard to say goodbye to the people we have grown to love here. I am grateful I can share my faith in Christ with them as well as my appreciation for their goodness before God.
Another fun thing from this week: on one day we got five Christmas cards!! We almost never get mail and it was thrilling to get five letters at the same time! Shout out to the McQuivey’s, the Rasmussen’s, the Hein’s, the Richardson’s, & the Vance’s! You made our week! Now I have a letter to write back to my pen pal, Anna. 🙂
And, for those of you who are wondering, here is this week’s knitting update. I am making progress! But, as Helga tells me, this is the easiest part. Just knit, and knit, and knit 168 stitches around until I get to 35 cm. If you see any mistakes, don’t point them out! Just let me be happy that we are getting stitches put together. (To be completely honest, I did two rows backwards before realizing I was on the wrong side. I pulled them out and fixed it and I will not make that mistake again!)
We’ve had a good, busy week. We finished it up with a walk around Tjörnin, a beautiful lake downtown in Reykjavik. Bad weather is forecast for the next week and we needed to get outside before the rain begins. It is a beautiful place for a stroll. We were happily surprised to find a large portion of the lake frozen. It was magical!
Families were walking and ice skating and we saw this gentleman ice kiting. I’ve never seen this before!
Initially it was a little bit nerve-wracking to step out on the ice. But it was frozen several inches deep and we walked straight across it and then all around it. It was beautiful! A few times we heard the ice cracking and letting up a beautiful sounds from below the surface. I’m so glad we took time to go walk around the lake because we ended up walking across the lake!
Swans, ducks, & geese congregated on the edge of the lake where is is not frozen. Someone had left out food for them and they were happily spending their afternoon paddling around the ice and eating their lunch.
There are sculptures by Icelandic artists all around the lake that we admired before ending our walk. We hadn’t planned to see more sculptures this week but they are lovely and tied right into our unanticipated art theme of the week! Which statue best represents your mood today?!
Thank you for spending another week with us. We really appreciate your support and your prayers. We enjoyed the surprises we experienced this week in the beauty that Iceland offers through art in its many forms. And we hope you enjoyed viewing them through our pictures and experiences. We’ll see you again next week where more adventures await!
Check out Todd’s social media pages for more pictures and videos. You can find him here:
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