3/29/25
Here we are again! Another week and another blog post. Thanks for joining us! We’ve had a great week.
We had a busy Sunday, starting with attending church in the Selfoss branch. Each month we attend church in Selfoss on the fourth Sunday and they always welcome us with open arms. This week was no exception. Todd & I both spoke in sacrament meeting. I talked about the resurrection of our Savior and Todd talked about the principle “If you want to know anything, you will have to do something.” (This is from a talk given by Rebecca Craven. You can read the whole talk here.) In between our talks there was a musical number by Elder & Sister Allen, Davíð Sigurðsson, & Valla Knútsdóttir, Elder Benzley accompanied as they sang “How Great Thou Art”.
Tracy and Lisea Allen are finishing their mission service and headed home. After church they were given a fond farewell by the Selfoss branch and we were glad to be able to share in their goodbye’s. They were given crowns, an apron signed by the members, and a potluck lunch with tears and well wishes.
Selfoss Relief Society Sisters:
Selfoss Branch:
On our way back to Reykjavik from Selfoss we took the scenic route and drove home on a road we haven’t traveled before. I think we need to travel this road more often because the views were spectacular!
Monday night we had Institute and I have a new toy I got to play with. Each week we prepare a dinner to have with our institute class. While the class is sometimes smaller and sometimes bigger, we always need a meal that’s ready to feed an unknown number of people! Every week we are lugging full crockpots, bowls, bags of food and other things up and down from our apartment to our car then into the church. At the end of the night we are doing this in reverse, except it’s not quite so heavy coming home since the food has been eaten!
For months we’ve been looking for a collapsible wagon to help with all the food transport. Todd found one at Costco and nabbed it for me! This is my overjoyed face at making just one trip down to the garage from the apartment with: a crockpot full of chicken alfredo, a grocery bag with four loaves of garlic bread and two bottles of salad dressing, a green salad, & Todd’s bag with his books and computer. We stopped to pick up the cheesecake from our basement storage room fridge and added it on top of the salad. And we didn’t even break a sweat getting everything to the car! This wagon is going to get some serious milage.
On Tuesday I needed to run some errands downtown. Between the parking garage and the shops is a statue we haven’t visited before so we took a few minutes to see and learn about Ingólfur Arnarson. He was the first settler in Iceland, landing here in the year 874 AD. He named the settlement Reykjavik which means Smoke Cove because of the steam from the hot springs. (You can read more about him here.) I’d say he picked a great spot!
I’m not sure that tourist season every actually ends in Iceland — I’m pretty sure it’s tourist season 365 days a year! But it was fun to go downtown and see so many people enjoying the city. I love the view up the rainbow road to the Hallgrimskirkja . And, just all the people! I would imagine as the weather improves we will have more and more visitors to Iceland. Maybe you’ll be one of them?!
Two more exciting things that happened on Tuesday: First, we had four young elders pass the written driving exam. We’ve been working on driver’s licenses for months now and this is a huge accomplishment! Now that they’ve passed the written test they have to do some driving lessons and then a driving test. We may soon have young elders with Icelandic driver’s licenses! They got donuts to celebrate and they deserved them! Below is Elder Moyer (not driving yet), Elder Nielsen & Elder Young (tests passed!) Elder Fischbeck (going home at the end of the summer so he isn’t getting a license) and Elder Morales & Elder Nehren (tests passed!) Way to go, elders!!
And, we cooked lamb for the first time. It was good! We typically eat chicken & pork with the occasional beef, so lamb is new to us and it was fun to give it a try!
Mid-week we had meetings and lots of admin work. In our Iceland North District Council Todd and I watched the elders teach each other a gospel principle in Icelandic. We think they did a great job, but it’s hard to be sure when they are rattling on in Icelandic. It sounds great to us!
Todd and I spent plenty of time working at home as well. Our Iceland office couple, the Allen’s, are headed home and we don’t get their replacements, the Moganhan’s, until a week later. There are things to be done during that in between time and things we need to keep a handle on while the Moganhan’s settle in and start to learn about their responsibilities in the mission. The office couple does so much work! They deal with immigration, apartments, cars, bus passes, finances, and so much more. It is a big job and we love the couples who fill these roles! For the next little while Todd and I need to keep a handle on these things as well as our regular work and our brains are full.
Our friend Ásta is keeping us in the loop about things in Iceland we should not miss. She let’s us know when there are holidays and special events, including delicious food that we should be eating! This week she texted that a local bakery, Brauð & Co, is having it’s 9th birthday and to celebrate, they’re offering a daily buy one get one free special. Each day of the week has been a different delicious baked good. On Wednesday we finally made it in for the pastry of the day, a Snúðar, and it did not disappoint. It is like a cinnamon roll but better. 🙂 There are several flavors to choose from and we went with cinnamon and vanilla. The vanilla won but they were both delicious. It made for an amazing lunch/dessert/both! Yum.
Recently our relief society started holding a knitting circle twice a month. I’ve been out of town and unable to attend until this week and I was excited to join the sisters. We had 15 women come for dinner and knitting, five of whom are not members of the church. I’m the only one there who doesn’t knit! I brought my sewing project but by the end of the meeting I was lined up to start knitting lessons at the next meeting. I wonder how I will do?!
At the end of the week we had the chance to visit with some new friends from Utah. My mom (hi, mom!) has several friends in her neighborhood who are coming to Iceland this year on vacation. The first couple to come were Duane & Wendy Bates.
Some time ago they let us know they were coming and asked if we needed anything from the states. Todd, as a matter of fact, was in desperate need of lotion. Not just any lotion will do for this fresh faced 60 year old . . . the secret to his youthful skin is Curel, Daily Healing! He brought this magic lotion with us when we came but his supply has dwindled away and Curel is not sold here in Iceland. My mom & Duane & Wendy came to the rescue! Mom bought the Curel, Duane & Wendy brought the Curel, and the circle was complete! We’re calling it the miracle of the Curel — that little bottle of lotion just kept on giving until the new 20 oz. bottle made it here!
Mom also included her homemade English toffee and a selection of dark chocolate. Chocolate for me and lotion for Todd! What a sweet delivery!
We took the Bates for a walk through Reykjavik while we visited. We managed to get lost a couple of times, it started snowing, and the walk was twice as long as we planned. But, we got them to the rainbow street and did a bit of shopping! Fortunately for them, their regular tour guide will get them safely on their way home this weekend. We’re very grateful they were kind enough to bring us some goodies from home and share their time and love with us. Thank you, Duane & Wendy!
We took a field trip on Saturday to Hafnarfjörður. It’s a lovely town along the coast just barely south of where our church is. We’re not usually in that part of town and decided for an outing and a walk we’d go exploring.
We stumbled upon the Hafnarfjörður Museum. We saw the building with an open sign on the door and thought we’d see what it was. Low and behold, it was a terrific little museum that details the history of Hafnarfjörður, it’s importance as a port, and its development over the last 1,000 years! We had a good time exploring.
We strolled along the water and enjoyed the sunshine and the views. This is a lovely town and we only made it around part of it — we’ll be back another day for another walk in the sunshine.
We finished the week with the “last supper” with our friends and fellow senior missionaries, Tracy & Lisea. We’ve gone out to eat with them almost weekly since we came to Iceland and we appreciate their kindness to us and their efforts to help us and the members here in Iceland. We know their family will be glad to get them home Monday night and we wish them a fond farewell. (Yes, I had a plate of French fries for dinner. They were delicious!)
As we say goodbye for this week we also say thank you for the love and support you are offering to us and our family as we serve our mission. We feel your love, prayers, and support. And we know God will bless you as He is blessing us. As Easter approaches and the sunshine increases, our love for Him and for you also grows. Have a wonderful week and we’ll see you again next Saturday!
Don’t forget to check out Todd’s social media pages for more pictures and videos from our week. You can find him here:
Leave a Reply