7/26/25
Hello, everybody! Welcome back and thanks for coming to read our mission blog. Let’s do a day by day recap for this post. Here we go:
Sunday:
We attended the Reykjavik 2nd Branch on Sunday morning, as we do each third Sunday of the month. The entire branch presidency was out of town this week so Todd presided and conducted at this meeting. July is vacation time in Iceland and lots of people are out of town. The irony is that many people from other places are on vacation in Iceland while the locals are traveling away! There were many visitors in church and it’s always nice to meet new saints who are traveling here. I love that people take time from their travels to attend church. Often there are those who got off a plane early Sunday morning and then come to church a bit sleepy, but ready to start immersing themselves in Iceland. And why not do that at church?! It’s a great place to be.
After the 2nd Branch sacrament meeting we attended the 1st Branch sacrament meeting and Sunday School. In Sunday School this week we had six new members, six friends (people being taught by the missionaries), five branch members, a few tourists, and several missionaries. The branch is growing quickly and people are eager to learn. It is inspiring.
Sunday evening Todd and I had a zoom meeting with our mission president, President Davidson, and our district council, Gummi, Bettina, & Jakob. We were sitting at our table at home for the meeting so Todd put on a tie from his mission in South Wales when he was a young missionary. Let’s just say it’s a little short to be fashionable now, but it will come on all the missions with us and attend meetings when appropriate! 🙂
Sunday evening I had a two hour video chat with my sisters and I loved it. I loved catching up with these good women so much that I forgot to take a picture of our call! Maybe next time. We don’t talk as often as we should but it was a delight to be with them across oceans and to love and support each other. Shout out to having sisters to love!
Monday:
Monday morning we picked up Elder Monzon & Elder Morales and drove to Hertex — a thrift store that is the Icelandic Salvation Army. We meet Lise & Torben Jensen there who brought Elder Ramos Silva with them. The Jensen’s live in Denmark and they are over the service missionaries in the Europe North Area. They came to town to work with Elder Ramos Silva and attend our zone conference. Elder Ramos Silva speaks Spanish and some English. We brought Elder Monzon & Elder Morales along to make sure everyone could understand all the different languages spoken.
Elder Ramos Silva is starting a regular shift as a volunteer at Hertex. He will work here twice a week for the next two years as a service missionary, sharing his time and talents to help the store run smoothly. We met with my sweet friend Alexandra who runs this store. She is so kind and took Elder Ramos Silva right under her wing. She will be a great mentor for him and they will do well together.
Below, L-R: Elder & Sister Jensen, Elder Ramos Silva, Alexandra
We spent Monday afternoon preparing for our institute class and zone conference. It was a lot of cooking (for me) and reading & lesson prep (for Todd).
Our institute class was very small this week (it’s vacation season!) but we did have a new friend attend, her name is Fortune, she’s from Cameroon and she’s been in Iceland for just a couple of week’s. She came here to go to school and her mother and uncle were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday of this week! Fortune is interested in learning about what her family believes in. We are excited for her.
After our lesson & dinner, Todd played ping pong with the elders. Elder Nehren said he will be glad when he gets home from his mission to say he’s been trained in ping pong by President Richardson! Usually the elders cannot beat Todd in a game, but very occasionally they do! It keeps them coming back to play some more.
Tuesday:
Tuesday was our Iceland Zone Conference. President & Sister Davidson were here and we joined with the elders in the zone to learn and be together. It was a great day of meetings. Here is a bit of a photo overview:
Fresh at 9:00!
Settling into meetings, being taught by our zone leaders, Elder Nehren & Elder Nielsen:
Do you know how to plan a “Jesus” day?!
Elder & Sister Mogenhan plan and implement most of the food for our zone conferences. They filled us up with two types of chili, corn bread, & coleslaw. They worked hard and did a great job!
Elder & Sister Jensen with Elder Ramos Silva:
Not quite so fresh after five hours of sitting in those chairs!
President Davidson started the day out by telling us he was dealing with food poisoning and was very sick. We were all sorry he was sick, he looked like he felt really awful. We prayed for him with faith in Jesus Christ that he would be healed and able to join us. By the second half of the day he was back with us, on his feet, and ready to teach. When he was starting his teaching he brought a chair to the front so he could sit. He ended up standing and teaching with power and authority. We watched him become stronger as he spoke and we could see the Spirit working in him. His words and counsel were inspiring and the miracle of his healing was amazing. We love and support this good man.
President & Sister Davidson, standing strong!
We have two missionaries finishing their missions and going home next week. It is a tradition in Iceland to have a flag of honor walk to wish the departing elders farewell! Elder O’Barr and Elder Fischbeck have done good work in Iceland and we will miss them.
The Iceland Zone —
Back Row L-R: Elder Mijares, Elder O’Barr, Elder Young, Elder Monzon, Elder Morel, Elder Benzley, Elder Nielsen, Elder Morales, Elder Geertsen, Elder Ramos Silva, Elder Moyer, Elder Nehren, Elder Fischbeck
Front Row L-R: Elder & Sister Mogenhan, Sister & President Davidson, Sister & Elder Jensen, & Sister & President Richardson
Wednesday:
Wednesday morning was spent baking cookies to deliver and getting caught up on some administrative work.
We were so happy to see some blue sky coming through the clouds. It’s been a week since the volcano started erupting and the air quality has been terrible. Fortunately, with some changes in the weather the air has improved and wind and rain are our friends.
We spent a few hours in the afternoon downtown delivering cookies. We had such a fun time and found friends as well as some beautiful sights. A sister in our branch, Bára, lives right on Rainbow Street in downtown Reykjavik. The location is amazing, but she told us it’s very loud all the time with tourists. We had a good visit with her and enjoyed discovering some new spots downtown near her apartment. Bára is very sweet and was so happy for our visit.
Street art is a big thing in Iceland and downtown is full of beautiful and interesting work. Walking back to our car we found an alley with these pieces.
We also spent time visiting Ásta & Vicki, as well as a few other friends who live downtown. One of our favorite things to do on our mission is to bring cookies to friends and have a spontaneous visit. We both love spending time together and with these good members.
Thursday:
Thursday morning Todd taught companion study to the elders at the church while I did some piano practicing. Just as we were getting ready to leave we got the word that Elder Geertsen passed his driving test and now has his Icelandic driver’s license. Hooray! One more missionary driving legally! We now get a break from working on driver’s licenses for a couple of months.
We went on a field trip Thursday afternoon. There is a waterfall about an hour and a half north of us off a road we’ve never driven that Todd has been eager to find. We set the map, headed down the road, and I took a nap in the car! The drive was worth it when we got to Hraunfossar, which is described in this way: “The water that forms Hraunfossar comes from underground springs or groundwater streams. These underground rivulets weave through the ancient lava fields, eventually surfacing at Hraunfossar, creating a stunning display of numerous small waterfalls cascading into the Hvítá River”. You can read more about this beautiful site here.
Just a short walk up the trail from Hraunfossar is Barnafoss, a beautiful waterfall that rushes down a steep embankment, through rocks and under a tight arch. There’s an Icelandic myth associated with Barnafoss that two young boys fell into the river here and drowned. You can read the story here. It is sad and I’m sure no one could survive falling into this cold, rushing waterfall.
On our way back home we stopped at Reykholt and visited the Snorrastofa museum. “Snorri Sturluson (born 1179, Hvammur, Iceland—died Sept. 22, 1241, Reykjaholt) was an Icelandic poet, historian, and chieftain”. You can read more about him here. He was a brilliant man, writer, leader, and politician who lived a remarkable adventurous life and is the most well known author in Icelandic history.
We enjoyed the museum dedicated to him.
We also stopped by Snorri’s Pool, or Snorralaug, a hot spring that was used by villagers in Reykholt for centuries. Bathing in the pool is not allowed anymore, but Todd thought it would be too cold to jump into anyway! There is also a tunnel dug into the ground that led back into homes from ages ago so people could come straight to the pool to bathe.
After a gorgeous drive back to the city we met with Christopher at the church. He is the adult Sunday school teacher in our branch and we were helping him with some teacher training. Christopher is a great man. He joined the church 11 months ago and is teaching Sunday School twice a month, bringing people to church every week, and sharing the gospel with fire and passion. We love him!
Friday:
Friday was a super rough day for me. I’ll spare you the details, but I was having a grumpy day in every way and my companion did his best to help me manage all the big feelings. We spent the morning on some administrative work and I made a mistake that cost us time and money. That just added to the bad mood of the day.
Fortunately, we had an afternoon knitting date with Helga. We’ve had a visit with her scheduled for weeks and it was good to get out of the house and spend time with such a fun and loving woman. I told her I was having a rough day and she gave me a hug and a new knitting project. 🙂 I’m starting a scarf and maybe I’ll have it finished in time to wear this winter? Helga was patient, got me started and fixed my mistakes. Until I made a mistake that she couldn’t fix so we had to pull everything out and start over. I’m sure there’s a gospel concept here that we all can learn from! On a grumpy, moody day sometimes we just need to pull it all out and start over.
Todd & Helga left me to knit while they shared pictures they’ve taken over the last several weeks. They are both photographers and our visits have turned into knitting time for me and photo talk for them. We really enjoy being with Helga.
In an effort to avoid more potential for mistakes and tears, Todd took me on a field trip Friday evening. We had a couple of free hours and he’s wanted to get back to the volcano. We drove through pouring rain to where we could park and watch the show. I spent the evening in the car working on my knitting. Todd spent the evening in the rain taking photos and video of the volcano and making friends.
A family from the Netherlands stopped by to see the view from the drone. They were a lovely and had just gotten off a plane to come visit Iceland. Their family and Todd had a great visit while I knit in the car. 🙂
The volcano has built up a large spatter cone. The drone nearly made it there before it’s battery was used up. It is a beautiful sight. How many Friday date nights can we spend knitting and watching a volcano erupt? It was an interesting evening!
Saturday:
If you’ve read clear to the end of this post you are a true friend! It’s been a long week! I started feeling better Saturday, thank goodness. Todd is still the best and sweetest companion. We finished the week with errands and chores around the apartment. I went for a long walk by the ocean and picked some wildflowers. We went downtown and saw this along the city waterfront:
. . . Cruise ships are everywhere all summer, even right downtown. We met Wes & Karen for dinner at Vicki’s Indian restaurant. We’d stopped by here earlier in the week and we couldn’t stay and eat then so we came back Saturday evening for dinner. I thought I’d ordered a mild dish and Todd went for medium heat. Let’s just say, our idea of spicy is not the same as Vicki’s idea of spicy! We were all sweating while we enjoyed this yummy food!
Now you know what we’ve been up too this week. It’s been a good week and it’s been a hard week. Maybe there is a reason why most senior sister missionaries are older and have already gone through perimenopause?! I suppose there are pros and cons to being a younger senior sister missionary. This is one of the cons!
In Come Follow Me this week we read Doctrine & Covenants 81:5. It says, “Wherefore, be faithful; stand in the office which I have appointed unto you; succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” Throughout the week we’ve had daily opportunities to “stand in the office” we’ve been called to. We’ve also had opportunities to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” That is part of the beauty of being missionaries — nearly constant opportunities for ministering.
But in addition to our chances to minister, I have been the recipient of being loved, succored when I am weak, lifted when I am down, and strengthened when I am feeble. That is another part of the beauty of being missionaries. In our efforts to serve we are served. It is a gift and a blessing and while it is sometimes hard, it is always good. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support. We’ll see you back here next week.
Check out Todd’s social media pages for more photos and videos. You can find him here:
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