Á vegamótum (At the crossroads)

I am really quite lucky. I have somehow ended up frequently being at the crossroads of things that happen in the Church in Iceland. I don't know how it has happened over the years.

The newly called young man who will be going to Iceland on his mission in May of this year came by my office again. Remember he is from California. He is coming to the Icelandic class we have on campus two of three days a week that we hold the class. He comes with a friend who is an RM already who served in a Spanish-speaking country. They are trying to catch as much as they can in the class. It's tough since it's a 202 class and the other students are quite a ways along. But it is fun to have them there. Well, when Eric dropped by my office last week, he came with a brother, Dale, his mother, Karen, and the friend he comes to the Icelandic class with, Brandon Cruz. We chatted about Iceland and the great future that is in store for him there.

I then went out to another blog that I am following of a family of Icelanders whose son, Matti, is on a mission just an hour north of me here in Utah. I saw a picture of a former missionary to Iceland who was having dinner with Matti and his companions. The former missionary in this picture is named Greg Larsen who is a dentist in the Salt Lake valley and served in Iceland a few years before me. It was fun to see them together in a picture. Matti's parents, Ólafur and Björg, are in the Reykjavík branch.

Right after seeing Matti's and Greg's picture, I opened up my emails and saw an email from a former missionary named Travis Hoban who I might have mentioned before. Travis is back in town in Provo and we have arranged to have him teach a 211R Icelandic class in the spring at BYU. a 221R class is a conversation class where the students in the class get together and just speak Icelandic on assigned--and sometimes unassigned--topics. Travis has been home for about 9 or 10 years. I am only allowed to teach one class fall and one winter because of my full time responsibilities in the International Admissions Office. So this is perfect for RM's and others who just want a chance to improve their Icelandic speaking abilities in a little more structured setting than they might be getting otherwise. It can be taken for credit or by audit, so perfect for anyone. So get signed up if you are in the area and want to improve your Iceland skills. This last picture is of Travis.

So many great people have taken and are taking part in the work in Iceland. :)