6/7/25
Look what blew into Iceland!!!
Get ready for family overload, lots of gorgeous sights, and tons of missionary work. It’s been a crazy fun week and we are exhausted and happy. Before telling you about Erika & Bridger there is something else very important from the start of the week! On Sunday Daníel Viborg was baptized and joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Daníel is just a little bit older than the missionaries, he is Icelandic, and he has been learning from the elders for some time. He has a beautiful testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and it was a joy to witness his baptism. Below you will see Elder Fischbeck, Daníel, Ólafur Einarsson who baptized Daníel, & Elder Young.
Okay! Now let’s talk about our kids! 🙂 Early Tuesday morning we drove to the airport to pick up our youngest daughter and her husband, Erika & Bridger Cook. They live in Oregon and are in Iceland to visit and explore for a couple of weeks. It was SO wonderful to get them here, give them hugs, and cry a few happy tears! Iceland was so happy to have them come that it gave us a yellow warning with wind speeds up to 40 mph. It was quite the welcome in every way!
We left the airport and did a bit of cold and windy sightseeing on the peninsula. We went to one of our favorite lighthouses in Garður, not only to show them the area but to enjoy the wind. It did not disappoint!
We made several other stops, but kept them short. It was cold and very windy. Hopefully we didn’t scare the kids too much!
Hvalsneskirkja –
A view of Stafnesviti –
The Bridge Between Continents (we were actually blowing between the continents!) & Brimketill lava rock pool –
Fresh lava in Grindavik & the Seltún Geothermal Area –
It was quite a start to their Iceland trip. All these locations are within less than an hour of Reykjavik. We got to show off the beauty and the wild weather and nature in Iceland from the moment they stepped out of the airport. It was such a fun way to start the week!
We finished their first day with a visit to Nova — our disco phone store. We just love this place so much that we have to take all of our visitors there! I’m joking! Todd and I had to do some business with the church account and we brought the kids along. You have to admit, the disco wall is an exciting feature in Iceland!
We took Erika & Bridger out on Wednesday to see some of the sights in downtown Reykjavik. On our way into town we saw this navy ship coming into port. It was flying both French and Icelandic flags and we’re not sure what it was doing, but it was an impressive sight!
Our first stop in town was at Hallgrímskirkja. It is always an impressive sight.
Our wind storm continued to accompany us throughout the day and it made a trip to the bell tower even more exciting!
The wind was intense blowing through the tower. It was cold and loud and so fun to experience! The views from the top are beautiful, especially on this cloudy day. And the bells chiming the hour were loud and fun to hear.
While we were waiting for the elevator to take us back down from the tower a couple approached us and asked if we are missionaries here. Our name badges are easily identifiable to members of the church and it’s fun when people approach us to know more about our mission work in Iceland. The are the Huffakers from upstate New York and members of the church in Iceland to visit the Westman Islands. Sister Huffaker’s ancestors were early members of the church in Iceland who left the Westman Islands in the mid-1800’s to immigrate to Utah with the saints. They enjoyed seeing the church’s exhibit about the saints and she found the names of her family members, the Johnson’s. It is wonderful they were here this week with our Westman Islands event on Saturday. They weren’t staying for that, but we made a tender connection with them and enjoyed our short visit together.
Of course we wandered through the wind along the rainbow street.
And we made sure to sample some delicious Icelandic cuisine!
We finished this fun day with a visit to Urriðafoss. The lupines are gorgeous, the wind was brisk, and there weren’t any crowds. It is an impressive sight.
It was so much fun to have a few days to show off the beauty of Iceland to our kids. We were fortunate to have time for a break in some of our regular work to do some exploring and family is a blessing.
We had a couple of hours Thursday morning to do some work. Two of our elders in Akureyri were supposed to fly to Reykjavik on Wednesday but the wind storm caused the airlines to move their flight to Thursday. But then that flight was cancelled! We had to scramble and look at options about how to get them to the city. Fortunately the airlines got them onto another flight that wasn’t cancelled and they made it safely. A 35 minute flight is easier than a seven hour bus ride! We also attended our weekly zoom meeting with the Denmark missionaries. It’s always interesting to see how everyone is looking over zoom!
We took Erika and Bridger for a walk to our waterfalls after our morning work was completed. The wind storm had finished and the sun was making an appearance between the clouds. It was a lovely walk in a beautiful place, just steps from our apartment.
We came across a painting class at one of our small waterfalls. It was a lovely setting and looked like an interesting challenge! In the picture some of them are leaning down to dip their paper in the water. I have no idea why they were doing this! Maybe Icelandic painting requires a cold bath?!
Early Friday morning Erika & Bridger picked up a rental camper and took off down the south coast of Iceland for six days of camping and hiking. They’ll be back with us next week for several days before going home. We got them settled in for the next leg of their trip and we headed to the church for our Iceland Zone conference.
President and Sister Davidson are in town and we spent the morning in meetings learning from them and our young mission leaders. Zone conference is always a good experience.
Learning from President & Sister Davidson —
And a great lesson from our zone leaders, Elder Nielsen & Elder Nehren —
Steve & Tammy Tolley finish their two year mission in Iceland this week. On Sunday they fly back to the US and family. They have served in Akureyri for their entire mission and taken great care of the branch there. It has been a pleasure to get to know them and we hope for all the best as they return home. They got a traditional Icelandic Zone flag send off!
After our meetings we went downtown to a park for a barbecue. Wes & Karen Mogenhan were in charge of the meal and they did a fantastic job. Wes managed the grill and we all feasted on burgers, hot dogs, and Karen’s delicious salads & dessert. We really appreciate all of their hard work.
President & Sister Davidson’s daughter, Ellen, is staying with them for the summer. She joined our afternoon activity and it was fun to get to know her a little bit. Here she is with her mom. Adorable!
And, it’s a pleasure to work with Karen & Tammy. Do you like our summer barbecue outfits?! Half of the boys were in shorts and we were all bundled up against the cold wind! I think Karen looks like a movie star!
Below are happy, well fed missionaries! Starting at the front and going clockwise: Elder Nehren, Elder Geertsen, Elder Moyer, Elder Fischbeck, Elder Nielsen, Elder Morales, Elder Young, Elder Benzley, Elder Ramos, Elder Morel, Elder Mijares, Elder Monzon, & Elder O’Barr.
After lunch the boys played frisbee golf and we took care of the clean up and several other errands to finish a great day. It’s wonderful to be in the Iceland Zone.
Below — Back row: Elder Benzley, Elder Morel, Elder Young, Elder Ramos, Sister Mogenhan, Elder Mogenhan, Sister Tolley, Elder Tolley, President Davidson, Sister Davidson, Ellen Davidson, me & Todd.
Front row: Elder Mijares, Elder Geertsen, Elder Morales, Elder Nehren, Elder Nielsen, Elder O’Barr, Elder Fischbeck, Elder Moyer, & Elder Monzon.
My alarm went off Saturday morning at 3:30 am to start a very full day on the Westman Islands. It is now 11:00 pm Saturday night, we’ve just gotten home and we are ready for bed! So this week’s report will be continued . . . in a few days. On the Westman Islands we were celebrating the history of the Church in Iceland as well as 50 years since the calling of missionaries to officially serve here. It was a wonderful day and it will take an entire post to tell you all about it and share all the pictures we took. After I get some rest, in a day or two, we’ll put up a special post about this event in addition to our regular weekly post. Watch your email and you’ll see it there!
For now, enjoy this picture of our midnight sun! Well, it’s not quite midnight, but it still looks pretty good, don’t you think? Thank you for joining us this week! Stay tuned for more adventures!
Check out Todd’s social media pages for more pictures and videos. You can find him here:
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