6/13/26
Welcome back! We’re so glad you’re here to enjoy our week with us. It’s been absolutely packed full of friends, family, miracles, and missionary work. I think we’ll take this post day by day so I don’t miss anything. Go get a snack and settle in!
Sunday:
This week held evidence of those blessings from the very start of the day on Sunday. Our day of worship was so full of friends. We attended both the 1st and the 2nd branch and each meeting was packed with visitors traveling through Iceland. We enjoyed testimonies from members, friends, and visitors in English, Icelandic, and Spanish. The spirit was strong in both meetings and that is just another testimony that all across the world and in every language God speaks to and through His children. It was a wonderful way to start the week.
I had two of my favorite Karen’s with me on Sunday, and I mean that in the best possible way! Karen Mogenhan (below right) is a stellar senior missionary who I love to work with. And Karen Hein (below middle) is an excellent friend and such a fun person to have visiting us in Iceland. Put them both together, add a Pamela, and here you go!
I made a new friend, Jeanie Anderson, who was traveling with her husband in Iceland this week. Jeanie’s niece, Sister Crenshaw, is a young sister missionary in our mission, serving in Denmark. It was fun to take a picture to send to Sister Crenshaw along with our love from her auntie and friend in Iceland.
My sweet friend Victoria had her baby, Eliana, blessed in sacrament meeting. she had many friends attend to support her and her family. They were taking pictures and pulled me into the fun. These are some amazing, strong women! I’m glad to be in their company!
In the picture below you will see Doris (holding Eliana), Faith (in the back), Victoria (in the front), Sister Mogenhan, me, & a new friend who I haven’t even met yet!
Sister Mogenhan is a wonderful ministering sister to so many of the African sisters. In the picture below she is with Faith and her daughter Ella. Faith considers Sister Mogenhan her adopted mom. 🙂
And our lovely friends Rick and Karen who spent the day waiting for Todd and I to do our work and finish all of our meetings. They were troopers and enjoyed seeing what we do on Sundays as missionaries. Don’t they look great in this picture?
With all of the visitors, members, and missionaries we had two wonderful fast and testimony meetings to attend. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be strengthened by other’s testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was an inspiring, uplifting Sunday.
Monday:
Monday started nice and early with a visit to our local District Commissioner’s office, Iceland’s DMV. It’s time to start Elder Jensen’s driver’s license process and that begins with an application. It’s a great way to start your week!
After a morning of work we spent a few hours downtown showing Rick and Karen the sights. We took them to our favorite spots and shops and loved showing off this very cool city.
We began in the bell tower of Hallgrimskirkja and then enjoyed the nave and its matching shapes and structures. It is a lovely building.
While we were walking through the church a young woman walked past me and said, “Hello, Sister!” Only active members of the church ever do that so I stopped to talk with three lovely young women who were traveling together. Camille, Lyndsi, & Megan were super sweet and we had a fun chat. I love the spirit they exude and the happiness and love they shared with me. If you girls are reading this post, Hi from Iceland!
Karen & I had a ball walking and shopping our way through the downtown streets. We found this gorgeous sweater that we did not buy. Check out the price. 🙂
Our supportive husbands waited patiently for us while we chatted and shopped. Can you spot them below?!
Rick & Karen joined us for institute Monday night and we shared dinner at the church with the YSA students. It was a great day!
Tuesday:
We took off on Tuesday for a great adventure along the south coast. If you don’t mind a bit of a drive there are gorgeous waterfalls to enjoy.
Urriðafoss —
Seljalandsfoss —
Karen bought a beanie that was made by the same friend who made Todd & my beanies! Svala does gorgeous work and it was fun to be twiners! Throughout the day Tuesday it was raining on and off and cold. It was nice to have a cute, warm hat to wear!
Írárfoss —
Skógafoss —
We made our way to Dyrhólaey lighthouse to try and see some puffins. They nest in June and we saw a few flying around the cliffs. Two were kind enough to land where we could really see them. Fortunately we had Todd with us and with his camera skills he got some terrific pictures. What do you think?
Don’t worry, no one fell off the cliff trying to get a puffin picture! 🙂
Vík —
That evening we were at Jökulsárlón, a glacier lagoon where the Breiðamerkurjökull Glacier leaves beautiful icebergs for all to admire. It was a such an impressive sight to see.
We met another family here who are members of the church. Tami & Steve Echard and their daughter Taylor are from Atlanta, Georgia and were having the best time traveling through Iceland. It was fun to get to know a little bit about them and share our love of Iceland. One thing is for sure, when you wear that missionary badge, members are so kind to say hello and share love and support! Hi, Echard family! We hope the rest of your trip was great!
We spent the night in a small hotel just past the glacier lagoon. Todd and I had the funniest room! It has not been redecorated since about 1950 and we got a laugh out of the two twin beds and “rustic” decor! After getting to bed and trying to sleep I realized that, while Todd was sleeping peacefully, the midnight sun was keeping me awake! It was not the most restful night, but it was so fun to be traveling along the south coast.
Wednesday:
We made our way back to glacier lagoon on Wednesday morning and spent some time enjoying diamond beach. This lovely stretch of black sand beach is littered with pieces of ice that have come off the glacier. They break off into the lagoon, work their way across the lake and out into the ocean. Then the waves push them back up onto the beach. The sun was out and sparkling on the ice and it was really beautiful.
We took a boat ride across the lagoon to visit some of the icebergs up close and personal. It was so fun! We’re glad there was good weather and good company as we enjoyed the immenseness of the glacier and the beauty of the setting.
We were on a boat just like this one. There were several of these boats moving across the lake at the same time.
Todd made a great video of highlights from the boat ride. You can see it here:
It was quite a drive to get back to the city that afternoon but we had time to stop for a few more views of this spectacular glacier . . .
. . . and an Icelandic hot dog. We could not let Rick & Karen go home without trying one of these specialties!
The Heins spent six wonderful days with us and we were sad to see them go home! Good friends are priceless. They put a lot of time, money, and effort into coming to visit us and we loved having them here and showing off the beauty of this country, its people, and our missionary work.
There is a wonderful story in Alma 17 where Alma meets his friends, the son’s of Mosiah, who he hasn’t seen in a long time. Verse 2 says, “what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord”. Long ago we lived near the Heins in Oregon. For several years we have lived in different states and now different countries. But what adds more to our joy and love is that they are still true to their faith in Jesus Christ, they are working and serving in the kingdom of God, and they are striving to bring the goodness of God into the world around them. These are good people. We love you, Rick & Karen! Soon we will have to go visit them in Texas but I’m pretty sure we will not see any glaciers there. 🙂
Thursday:
Maybe you think that after a week of company and traveling we would take a break. You would be wrong! Thursday started bright and early with our mission wide emotional resilience class reviewing chapter 6, Overcoming Anger. This is such an important topic to learn about and to work on.
We might forget that we can control our anger. The manual makes this point: “It is important to understand the connection between anger and agency. As things happen in our lives, we may feel anger, but we are able to choose how to respond to this feeling: to become angry or to become charitable, kind, and generous.” How do you respond to your feelings of anger? Do you choose to respond with charity, kindness, & generosity? We had the cutest sister missionary, Sister Silva, share how turning to Jesus Christ helps her overcome her anger. I’m impressed with her efforts to improve herself through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
After class we met up with the missionaries in the Iceland zone for a zone P-day driving the Golden Circle. (If you are counting, yes, that’s us going around the Golden Circle twice in one week!)
We had five stops planned around the circle. Todd and I made ride assignments to mix things up throughout the day. After each stop the missionaries would move to new cars to travel to the next stop. It worked great and everyone had a good time. It was made even better by the gorgeous weather! We did the Golden Circle with the Heins last week in the cold rain and this week with the elders in the warm sun! We started the day with Elders Gutierrez & Pedroza in our car.
First stop — Kerið Crater
Below L-R: Curt & Cheryl Hutchings, Elder Nielsen, Elder Monzon, Elder Geertsen, Elder Pedroza, Elder Bredthauer, Elder Denney, Elder Jensen, Elder Gutierrez, Elder Parry, Elder Benzley, Elder Chynoweth, Elder Moyer
Next, the lovely Brúarfoss —
Third stop — Geysir
These guys were right in the middle of the splash zone for the above eruption!
As you know, we only have daughters. We gained four amazing sons-in-law when they each got married, but we never raised boys. Now we are working with twelve wonderful young elders and I am having some experiences with (sort of) being a boy mom. It’s fun and funny!
These guys are posing with Thor.
These guys ARE Thor!
On to Gullfoss —
The picture below, left makes me laugh. These elders are standing at the edge of a massive waterfall. In the picture above at the top left you can see a rock outcropping with people on it. That’s where the elders are. And they are just hanging out, chatting to each other and having a great time . . . backs to the most incredible waterfall! They are so funny! Fun fact — they do talk about girls a lot. 🙂
And the final stop, Faxafoss —
Below L-R: Elder Pedroza, Elder Monzon, Elder Gutierrez, Elder Moyer, Elder Benzley, Elder Chynoweth, Elder Geertsen, Elder Nielsen, Elder Denney, Elder Parry, Elder Jensen, Elder Bredthauer
And the women of the Iceland zone — me with Cheryl Hutchings & Karen Mogenhan
But wait! Thursday was not over yet. We had Elder Benzley & Elder Chynoweth in our car for the drive back to the city. They are both serving in Akureyri right now and we enjoyed the extra time with them.
It’s time for Elder Chynoweth to do his driver’s license application so after that amazing day we went for his application photos. Yes, the fun never stops, does it!
We had a great time with the zone on Thursday. I even got just a little bit of sun and felt the heat in my face for the next day or so. When Iceland does lovely weather it really shines.
Friday:
We had another early start Friday for our zone conference meetings. But before going to the church we picked up Elder Benzley & Elder Chynoweth to go to the District Commissioner’s office to submit Elder Chynoweth’s driver’s license application. These two were the best dressed people in line to get in when they opened!
We spent the first half of the day Friday in meetings at the church. It was wonderful to be taught by President Davidson and our young leaders. The elders also did several in depth role plays to help them hone their teaching skills.
Presenting the Iceland Zone, June 2026
Back row, L-R: Elder Benzley, Elder Jensen, Elder Bredthauer, Elder Parry, Elder Denney, Elder Geertsen, Elder Gutierrez, Elder Moyer, Elder Pedroza, Elder Monzon, Elder Chynoweth, Elder Nielsen
Front row L-R: Elder & Sister Hutchings, Elder & Sister Mogenhan, President & Sister Davidson, & us!
And just in case you don’t have enough pictures of the missionaries, here is each companionship in the zone:
Top: Elders Geertsen & Bredthauer, Elders Pedroza, Silva (service missionary), & Gutierrez, Elders Benzley & Chynoweth
Bottom: Elders Parry & Moyer, Elders Denney & Jensen, Elders Monzon & Nielsen
Sister & President Davidson, The Hutchings, The Mogenhans
After the meetings we went to a park for a barbeque picnic lunch and frisbee golf. We had another day of splendid weather and it was so great to be outside together.
The barbeque area is pretty small and there are two grills there. Our group was taking up most of the space but there was one picnic table and one grill being used by another small group. As we were approaching the end of our meal and the elders were getting ready to play frisbee golf I took some of our cookies to the other table and got chatting with them. I told them who we were and why we are living in Iceland. I explained that we believe in Jesus Christ and we are missionaries sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with the people here. They were very interested. One of the party, Elizabeth, asked me how she can learn more about our church. Another gentlemen, Demetri, said he is also Christian and he would love to learn about our church. I grabbed a couple of our elders before they took off to play and they got names and phone numbers of these good people with hopes to meet up soon for a lesson. We also invited them to church on Sunday and they seemed interested. We will see what happens!
I’m so glad I followed the prompting to talk with them. I’m not sure how we could have twenty missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints all right there and not share the gospel with our neighbors. It was a tender experience.
Saturday:
And now, this absolutely wonderful and exhausting week has come to a close. Saturday was mostly a day to work at home and get caught up on things that had been set aside throughout the week. We did host a fun dinner with the Davidsons and the Mogenhans in the evening. We decided to eat in this time and the crockpot did all of the work. It is a pleasure to visit with more good people who are dedicating their lives to the service of the Lord.
If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this long post you deserve a treat! So I will share with you the greatest blessing of all that came to us this week. On Monday, June 8th, our newest grandbaby was born! Our daughter Kathryn had a daughter and we could not be more thrilled! Mom & baby are doing well, the delivery went as planned, and we now have nine grandchildren! As we’ve gone through the week, seeing beautiful things and feeling the Spirit of the Lord, I’ve been so amazed at the great love that Heavenly Father has for us. I’m sad to be away from home and missing these wonderful events. I’m glad that soon we will be with our family. I’m thrilled at the joy that comes seeing our children’s families grow. Of all the most incredible things in life, family is the pinnacle. It’s even better than Brúarfoss or glacier bay! 😉
I’m pretty sure next week will be less eventful than this week! But you’ll have to come back to find out. Thank you for your love, support, & prayers. We hope you’ve seen the hand of God in your lives throughout the past week. He is there and you will see Him if you look for Him.
Check out Todd’s social media pages for more pictures and videos. You can find him here:
Leave a Reply