4/25/26
This hill is just outside the main window in our apartment. We look at it everyday, several times a day. I think it is incredibly beautiful. If you look at it closely you will see basalt columns and other remnants of an ancient lava flow. You will see moss and plants that are just starting to wake up with new life and growth. And you will see a sense of strength and solidity that is reassuring and comforting. Throughout our entire mission I’ve loved this hillside and I’ve told Todd I need a good picture of this particular outcropping to remember this view when we don’t live here anymore. This week I finally got my picture. 🙂
Each morning when I read my scriptures I sit on the couch and this hill is just outside the window. In the winter, when it’s dark and the curtains are drawn, I can’t see it but I know it is there. In the summer months when it is light all the time, the curtains are up and I can enjoy the view of my hillside while I study the word of God. It is a reminder to me that “it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that [we] must build [our] foundation” (Helaman 5:12) Jesus Christ, our Rock and our Redeemer “is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”
As we continue to work and serve as missionaries in Iceland we are so grateful to know that Jesus Christ is our foundation. Missions are wonderful and missions are hard. Everything we do is for Him! We need no other reason to serve than our love for our Savior and our desire to answer His call. He is our Rock.
On Sunday we were thrilled to participate in two more baptisms in the Reykjavik 2nd branch. Prosper & Ebima both joined the church and made covenants with our Heavenly Father through the ordinance of baptism. These men have become friends as they have learned the gospel. They each have families who, they hope, will one day join them on the covenant path. They came to Iceland for school and work and while they are here they found the gospel. Prosper is from Ghana and Ebima is from Nigeria. They both bore powerful testimonies of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon following their baptisms. They are building their faith on the Rock of Christ.
Below you will see L-R: Elder Bredthauer (he baptized Prosper), Prosper, Christopher (he baptized Ebima), & Ebima
Elder Jensen, below right, also helped teach these brothers and he confirmed Prosper a member of the church and Christopher confirmed Ebima.
And for a quick return and report, just in case you’re wondering, I did survive playing the piano for two sacrament meetings. The first meeting was rough — Choose the Right really suffered! But during the second meeting I did much better. Todd spoke in both meetings (Matti translated from English to Icelandic for him in the 1st branch), and I bore my testimony in the 2nd branch. Apparently I was supposed to speak along with Todd but no one remembered to tell me to prepare a talk! But I do have a testimony and I’m always happy to share it. We are always kept busy during our Sunday meetings.
Speaking of rocks, Todd and I spent a couple of hours early this week exploring a very unique geological feature at a place just outside the city called Rauðhólar which is filled with pseudocraters.
This website explains pseudocraters this way: “They are formed when 1,100°C molten lava flows over ponds and swamps, causing the water to boil. The pressure of the steam from the boiling water then causes explosions, which in turn create the pseudocraters.” So, exploding lava solidifies into these spectacular rock formations! It was such a cool place to explore.
We also drove up to the ski resort to see some of the final skiers of the season. They looked like they were having a good time! It was a beautiful day to watch them flying down the mountain.
Thursday was the first day of summer! No, it’s not June 21st. In Iceland the first day of summer happens on the first Thursday after April 18th. This year that put the first day of summer on April 23rd. The old Icelandic calendar had six months of short days and six months of nightless days. So it is now summer! Traditionally children get gifts on the first day of summer. They are usually things the children can play with outside like a bike or bubbles or sidewalk chalk. It was fun to look at the displays in the stores full of things our grandchildren at home would love! (Although, it is much warmer at home than here in Reykjavik right now!)
We had a very busy first day of summer. We started the day with our mission wide zoom class, this week on scripture study. We are teaching scripture study classes, rotating with emotional resilience refreshers, every other Thursday morning. For this week’s class we talked about how to structure your time during personal scripture study. Did you know the missionaries have one hour of scheduled scripture study every day? Do you study your scriptures that long every day?! No wonder they are filled with the Spirit! Todd also taught them how to find a principle in a verse of scripture. 30 minutes goes by quickly and we felt the class went well. Next week we’re on to another chapter in the Emotional Resilience manual. Todd and I are both really enjoying this assignment and we love working on it together.
At the end of our class the missionaries stay together for a short training meeting from some of the young missionaries followed by baptism reports from the previous weekend. Elder Bredthauer shared about the baptisms in Reykjavik of Propser and Ebima. It was a wonderful way to start the day.
Each Thursday, after the mission meeting, Todd and I spend the rest of the morning doing our lesson prep for the next week’s class. It’s good we have this time scheduled to plan and prepare. It’s more work than you would think to get these classes ready to go. While we were working this week we had a quick visit from our wonderful senior couple, Elder & Sister Mogenhan, along with their daughter and granddaughter, Jackie & Ella Borget who are visiting Iceland. Ella recently finished her mission in North Carolina and she has a brother who is currently serving in South Africa! Talk about a family of missionaries! We love the Mogenhans.
Continuing our first day of summer celebrations, Todd and I went to a birthday party for our lovely friend Greta. She is in the Selfoss branch and she serves the members and the community with an open heart and selfless service. I’m so grateful to be her friend!
We were honored with an invite to her birthday party and we really enjoyed visiting with those who were there, some who we know from church and others who became new friends. Todd and Greta’s dad Sverrir had a great chat and we were laughing about how similar they look! Maybe Todd is secretly Icelandic?!
Todd spoiled me with a long detour after the party to go to some of my favorite places. We had plenty of time that evening and sunset isn’t until about 9:30 pm these days so we had plenty of daylight as well. I had time for a long walk on a quiet black sand beach. There were seals popping their heads up to say hello and birds flying around; but no other people.
Our next stop was at the Krýsuvíkurberg Cliffs. I love this place! It is wild and secluded and a little bit nerve wracking. The cliffs are about 230 feet high with a straight drop down to the rocks and ocean below. Right now the kittiwakes are nesting there. Todd and I spent some time sitting watching and listening to the birds who were all over the cliffs. It is a magnificent sight. The pictures don’t do it justice.
Our final stop of the evening was at Eldborg next to Geitahlíð, a pair of volcanic craters that were formed in a fissure eruption long, long ago. These are spatter cones that are formed from lava cooling on the edges and building up around a central crater. We’ve driven by these before but this was our first time to stop for a look. In the picture below you can see the path the lava took as it flowed out of the crater.
I was too tired and cold to hike to the rim so instead Todd took the drone up for a flight! Throughout our first day of summer adventures he flew the drone a few different times. Look at the video below for a bird’s eye view of some of the beautiful places we saw throughout our day. Iceland is truly spectacular.
We definitely can’t spend every minute seeing gorgeous sights in the wilderness. On Friday we met with the city elders for a service project. This weekend is a big trash cleanup project around town. We wanted to contribute so we spent about two hours picking up garbage along the highway near the church. It was a dusty, dirty job! There were nine of us working, five on one side of the road and four on the other. I hoped we might fill one bag of trash each. We filled over 20 bags with garbage. Some of the most interesting finds: 2500 KR (about $20.00), a saw and a shovel, various pieces from vehicles, endless vapes and tobacco containers, and possibly some illegal drugs?! As one of the elders said, “All the things Satan uses to tempt people end up as garbage on the side of the road.” By the end of the project we were all filthy and happy that we could help clean up a small part of the city.
I was happy we had helping hands vests in the church. They are outdated (Mormon helping hands) but they are bright! It made everyone very visible on the side of the road. I was totally in mom mode because I kept looking across the street to count the five yellow vests. They were always there, working hard! We did start the project with a mom lecture about rough housing, goofing off, and – generally – acting like boys. Fortunately they all behaved and we completed the project with zero problems.
We finished the week with an early start on Saturday morning. Mid-day there was a finance training meeting at the church for branch leaders and clerks. I had been asked to provide a lunch and Todd was running the zoom and tech needs for the meeting. I had to get lunch in the crockpot at 6 am so it would be ready on time. Fortunately, I have loads of experience making meals for groups at the church! I made this amazing pasta recipe that I make for YSA often. (It is delicious and super easy to make. You can find the recipe here.)
Brother Fredrickson from Denmark had flown into Iceland just to do this training. He landed here in the morning, came to the church for about 3 1/2 hours to give his training, and then flew back to Denmark. He was very kind and he gave a great training to our leaders in the district. And he loved the chocolate crinkles so much! I packed up the cookies that were left at the end of the day and he slipped them in his bag to enjoy on the plane ride home. We both promised not to tell anyone how many cookies he ate! I think the lunch was a success as well as the meeting.
And that, my friends, is how we spent the first week of summer. We’ve had beautiful weather this week and so much sunlight that you can’t help but feel the joy that comes with summer. It’s hard to believe we are nearing the end of another month as well. Time flies when you’re having fun . . . and really busy.
We know that the Lord is with us in this work. We can see His hand in our lives and in our the lives of our family. We hope you can see His hand in your life as well. In the beauty that comes with a new season and in the physical world around us we are reminded of the beauty of God’s great plan. And how wonderful is it to serve Him in beautiful Iceland!
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