2/28/26
This week’s post starts a lot like last week’s post with a young missionary giving a talk in sacrament meeting. This week Elder Chynoweth spoke in the 1st branch sacrament meeting, giving his talk in Icelandic and doing a really great job. He has been in Iceland for two months and he was able to deliver his message and testimony in a new language. These young elders are so inspiring and we really love working with them and watching them grow.
There were a few other notable things in our branch this week. In addition to Elder Chynoweth, Elder Nehren was working hard. He played the organ for our congregational hymns and he translated the two Icelandic talks into English for those of us needing translation. Elder Nehren is amazing and we will talk more about him a bit further down in the post.
We had relief society this week and it was so tender. When I walked into the room I saw this lovely little display on a chair. You know how when you walk into a relief society room almost anywhere in the world you will see a table with a picture or statue of the Savior and a floral arrangement? Our room may not be fancy, but a counselor in our relief society presidency put up this small display. It made me smile and is a good reminder that the church is the same everywhere and women like to make things look pretty. 🙂
Our class was a small but good representation of the the nationality of the 1st branch. Below you will see me, from the US, Johanna, from Iceland, Nohemy, from Venezuela, and Faith & Doris, both from Nigeria.
Now, let’s talk about Elder Nehren. He has one transfer left on his mission and he has served valiantly and made a difference in the mission and membership in Iceland. On Monday we got the transfer letter letting all the missionaries know where they will be living and working for the next six weeks. All of the elders in Iceland stay in Iceland during their missions, but they often get transferred to new apartments to work in new areas. With this transfer letter, for the first time that we know of, Elder Nehren was transferred to Denmark to work as an assistant to President Davidson. He will spend the last six weeks of his mission living, working, and serving in Denmark. We are so happy for him and for the honor and responsibility this gives him! But we are sad to say goodbye to him six weeks earlier than we had expected to. We’ve had eleven elders in Iceland with three of them in a trio. With Elder Nehren leaving we now have an even ten over five companionships.
We thought we’d have a few days for him to prepare to leave and say his goodbye’s but quickly following Monday’s transfer email Todd received Elder Nehren’s flight information that had him leaving Iceland on Tuesday. We invited all the elders who were available to come to institute on Monday night. We had class and dinner with Elder Nehren for the final time. And the tender hugs goodbye began.
In the Iceland zone there is a traditional flag walk at a missionary’s final zone conference. We wave our flags in honor of their work and we send them off as they head home. At our last zone conference we didn’t know it was Elder Nehren’s final time. We didn’t want him to miss out on his flag walk of honor so after institute we did a flag walk for him. The missionaries in Iceland who are not in town joined on a zoom call so we could have the whole zone cheering on our AP, Elder Nehren! It was sweet.
And on Tuesday afternoon Todd and I picked him up to take him to the airport to send him on his way to Copenhagen. The city elders were all together for a final goodbye. Below you will see L-R: Elder Geertsen, Elder Moyer, Elder Chynoweth, Elder Gutierrez, Elder Nehren, Elder Monzon, & Elder Jensen.
While we will still work with him just a bit in his role as an AP, this was our goodbye and it tugged at our heart strings. Elder Nehren told us that we are his mission mom & dad and he knows we really care about him and the other missionaries. He is right. He is going to do great things in his life.
When we left the airport we took a detour before going home to visit the Garður lighthouses. There is an old lighthouse and a new lighthouse and we enjoy them both! The wind was doing its Icelandic thing and it was cold and gusty! But so beautiful. Here is the old lighthouse:
And here is the new lighthouse:
You can go inside the new lighthouse so we bought tickets and were given the key. You just let yourself in and go exploring! We had it to ourselves and had a great time climbing to the top and looking around the overlook. The wind was really blowing and it was beautiful and hilarious to be up there! Todd made a great video to give you a tour. Check it out and let me know what you think!
We had dinner in a beautiful little restaurant called Röstin Restaurant – The Old Lighthouse Café that is right near the new lighthouse. We were early enough that we had it to ourselves as well. The food was great! And the view was stunning. We had such a fun afternoon exploring together.
Todd also had a delicious vanilla snúður this week. It is one of our very favorite Icelandic treats. Only one bakery chain makes these and they are the best. The rule is that we can buy one snúður a month. This was the February purchase! It did not disappoint.
We enjoyed a few other beautiful views this week before the winter weather decided to make an appearance. The first picture in this post is Kermóafoss. It’s a lovely waterfall that’s not far from our apartment in a park right in the middle of town. And the picture below is along the inlet. There are so many beautiful things to see just down the road from where we live. It is amazing.
Winter did decide to make an appearance during the second half of the week. Wednesday afternoon and evening we had heavy snow and Thursday afternoon we had snow with wind over 25 mph. The snow continued on and off until the end of the week. We’ve had such a dry winter, the change is welcome, but it is not fun to be out in this weather. Maybe instead of spring March will bring all the snow we’ve missed over the last several months?!
The picture below is not a dirty window, it is snowing sideways!
We did find ways to entertain ourselves while waiting out the bad weather. We play so many games of Kings in the Corner that we’ve worn out the deck of cards we brought with us on our mission. We’ve been on a lookout for a new deck of cards and Todd picked up this beautiful set at the thrift store. It makes the games more interesting because we have to hold on to those giant cards at the same time as trying to win the game!
I am making progress on my knitting. For now the body is set aside and I’m working on a sleeve. So far it’s going well! Once I get this sleeve done, I’ll make another one because a sweater needs two sleeves. Here’s where I’m at . . . don’t look too closely or you’ll see the mistakes! The clips on the left are stitch markers that mark every eighth row so I know when to add stitches to make the sleeve grow as I work my way up the arm.
And, of course we had some zoom meetings this week! Because it was transfers we had fewer meetings than usual, but Todd did a training meeting with our young missionary leaders in Iceland and I had a driver’s license meeting with the Hutchings. March is their month to do all of their testing! They are going to do great.
On Saturday Todd and I had to drive out to Selfoss and deliver some supplies to their church building. Fortunately the day’s snow storm didn’t start until mid afternoon so we had time to enjoy the beautiful, snowy, frozen land. We stopped for a visit to Urriðafoss. We love this waterfall! It looks different in every season. On this wintery day the water is mostly covered with very thick layers of ice and snow. You almost can’t see the waterfall under all of that winter.
Just so you can see the difference, the picture below on the left was taken in August and the one on the right was taken today, the last day of February. If you look at the hills in the background you can see that the pictures are taken from about the same spot. That is a lot of snow and ice!
Fortunately, Todd took the drone up for a flyover so we get to see this beautiful sight from the sky. Check out his video and let us know what you think!
We drove along the coast to get back to the city and stopped at a small handwork shop in one of the coastal towns. We found the next project I need to knit once my sweater is done. Do you think I can do it?! 🙂
And we saw Knarrarós Lighthouse looking gorgeous in this stormy light.
We finished our week and our month with a nice dinner out with Wes & Karen. We sure love the Mogenhan’s and we really appreciate all of the work that they do.
So that’s a wrap for February. It’s hard to believe another month has flown by. Thank you for joining us this week and for your love and support. We can feel your love and prayers for us and our family and they sustain us. Now, let’s see what March has in store! See you next week.
Check out Todd’s social media pages for more pictures and videos. You can find him here:
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