Sigur eða ósigur? (Victory or Defeat?)

A friend of mine, Þorbergur Sigurjónsson (pictured at left with his daughter), came to visit me today in my office at BYU. He lives in Utah with his American wife, Amy, and their three daughters, the most recent of whom was just born two months or so ago (this picture is a little older. Jóhannes his brother is also in the picture). He is getting back into BYU to finish up his computer science degree. He took a few semesters off while he was working heavily but now wants to finish up.

Þorbergur always speaks Icelandic to me when he visits or calls (which I really appreciate). Since I had been so involved with the Icelandic Men's Handball team games during the Olympics recently, I asked him what his family back in Iceland and everyone else thought about the team making it to the gold-medal game. He said everyone in the whole country stopped everything to watch the game and cheer on the boys. He said even the Icelandic stock market closed--probably since no one would be trading or paying attention to their stocks during that time anyway. What a great thing to have your whole country behind you as you defeat one opponent after another.

Everyone was heartbroken when the team didn't beat France, but in the end, how could the Icelanders not be happy with the team's performance. They only lost to South Korea early on (a fluke) and to France finally. So in the end, winning the silver is really a "glass is half full" kind of thing instead of the opposite. The head coach Guðmundur Guðmundsson and the team did so well that winning the silver was as exciting as winning the gold for such a small country. And they were a blast to watch. Way to go guys!

Nokkrar trúboðamyndir í viðbót (Just a few additional missionary pictures)

I have just received the following three pictures from former missionaries and an Icelandic member or two who went through their photo albums for me. In this entry I thought it would be fun to name all the people. So in this first one from a 1980 zone conference in Iceland we have on the top from left to right: Bret Leifson, Court Skabelund and Mike DeYoung. On the middle row L-R: Danish AP, Curt Hutchings, Orell Anderson, Kevin Barton, Ted Davis, another Danish AP and President Jensen from Denmark. Bottom row L-R: Grant Grow, Arthur Hansen, Bob Farris and Bryan Beck. Bryan is one of only two missionaries (of the 163) who has passed away since the mission opened in 1975. He died of cancer some time ago. The other who died was David Chadwell, who I taught in the MTC, who also died some time ago a few years after he was married.

This next picture was taken in early 1993. On the top from L-R: Danish AP, Chris Smith, Eric Ball, Mark Patey, Andre Geurts, Thomas Eastmond, Joe Staker. On the bottom L-R: Ben Johnson, Kristján Mathieson, Phillip Papenfuss and Nathan Taylor.

This last one I really like. It is from May 1980. From left to right on a great day of baptisms in Iceland: Snorri Einhversson (ha ha), Bryan Beck, Jóhann Karlsson, Gerhard Guðnason, three Icelandic girls, the little one named Halla, Bret Leifson and Ýrr Bertelsdóttir, the mother of Halla. I remember Snorri, Jóhann, Gerhard and Ýrr from my mission from 1984 to 1986. All together, a good looking bunch of Icelanders and faithful servants.

Gamlar myndir út í sveit (Old pictures from the country)

Rural life in Iceland has changed dramatically from what it was even 20 years ago. Environmental concerns are taking hold in the minds of Icelanders like never before. But sometimes it's important to stop...to think about yesterday...and then to consider what is most important in life.

Tilfinningavekjandi Myndir (Emotion-causing Pictures)

Why is it that some pictures cause such strong feelings or emotions when we look at them? Is it because our minds and heart can do such a good job of "filling in the blanks" when a really powerful picture is taken and we place ourselves there?

This first picture looks like it could have been taken with black and white film. It wasn't though. For me it is extremely easy to imagine being there. The mist. The wind. The freezing water and air. The desire to take it all in, while at the same time wanting to head for shelter. This picture was taken on the southern coast of Iceland a few years ago. The original Vikings would be out in open boats on the open seas in weather like this and not think anything of it.

I've been reading Egill's Saga recently (for the first time ever). I am about one third through it and am amazed at how the elements didn't frighten them like it might you and me out on the open sea, or even close to land like in this picture. That they sailed in open boats too amazes me.

I spent my early years from age 6 to 12 in Tallahassee, Florida. My father had a friend who we went to church with who regularly went deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. He took us along on occasion. We would leave at 5am and head out to sea three or four miles. Then we would trawl for King Mackerel or Hardtails. I thought seeing the fish come in on the lines was cool as a young kid, but the sea scared me to death. And then to be seasick often on top of that. And the Gulf of Mexico waters were warm! These Norwegian/Icelandic vikings must really have been tough.

I think I would want to stay in an area like this last picture from the Westmann Islands just off the south coast of Iceland. This picture evokes a lot of emotion for me as well. Imagine that being your backyard....

Næðingur frá fortíðinni (Blast from the past)

Okay, so the translation leaves something to be desired. The one disadvantage of not having Icelandic be my native language is that when I want to translate a unique English colloquialism like this one, doing so ends up proving quite difficult. The Icelandic-English dictionaries out today are better than we ever had on my mission. They provide tons of common phrases using many of the individual words in the dictionary. This helps a lot when we are trying to know the proper ways to express these unique phrases. I am happy to know though that even advanced speakers of their second language often do not understand these unique phrases which do not translate word-for-word.

I got a very cool picture in an email today from a returned missionary who served in Iceland named Rob Mikkelsen. He was there from 1976-























1978, about seven years before me. I've attached it here. This is a picture of Gerhard Guðnason the day he was baptized in the summer of 1978. He has German and Icelandic roots. The missionaries in the picture from left to right are Doug Brinton, Jerry Ohrn, (Gerhard), Rob Mikkelsen, David Knechtel and Kevin Barton. I don't know the whole story behind Gerhard's conversion to the Church back then, but I know that every one of these missionaries was very happy that day. They are even happier today because 30 years later, Gerhard is still active. I saw and spoke with him two months ago on my trip and he is doing well. It is people like Gerhard who help to keep things stable in the Church in a land, like so many others, where people come and go spiritually. Golden for these missionaries and all who have known him since.

Skeljar (sea shells)

I don't recall ever seeing seashells while I was a missionary in Iceland back in the mid eighties. I went to the beach with my companions a few times, but it was never to get in the water, of course. We weren't supposed to get into the water. It was too cold anyway, so that was okay. But then in 2004 when I went the second time to Iceland, I spent a little time walking along the shores of the Westmann Islands off the southern coast of Iceland. The main island isn't that big so there weren't a whole lot of places to stop and see the sea, so to speak. One of the beaches had a bunch of little shells strewn all over it like in this picture. I got this picture from a missionary couple who lived in Reykjavík there in 2006 and took the picture sometime while serving there for 18 months. I don't know what beach it was from though. To me it looks just like the one I walked along when I was there in 2004.

I spent part of my early years growing up in Florida. We would go to the beaches on occasion and see lots of different kinds of shells. But they were never like these. If you look closely at these, you will notice that most look "thick". I brought a few home and added them to the aquariums I had who's occupants lived in much warmer waters than these shells came from. It made sense to me that these shells would have to be thicker in Icelandic waters to keep out the cold when compared to the Florida water shells which often seemed so delicate and thin.

After having collected a number of these shells to take home, I began to think of how similar most Icelanders had been to these shells. Most had a pretty thick shell and were trying to keep warm in a land that had been cold spiritually for a very long time. Trying to break through those shells was hard when the people had spent so much time growing them so thickly. But on occasion, one or more would come out of their shells on their own and gladly feed on the spiritual food that was being provided. Those were the people and the experiences which kept us warm as missionaries as well.

Ferskar myndir (Fresh pictures)

New pictures. I was sent a bunch of new pictures form Iceland in the last little while from those who are currently serving as missionaries for my Church there. This first one shows three missionaries in the foreground with President Ólafur Grímsson. The elders from left to right are Doxey, Balla and Mortensen. President Ólafur has always been very kind to us as a Church.

This second picture is of Bjarni and Regina, two Icelandic kids who are a part of our church in Selfoss with their parents. When I was a missionary in the 80's the farmers did NOT wrap up their hay (or whatever is inside these things) in these monstor-sized marshmallows. Now in the summertime wherever you go in the country you will see huge marshmallows dotting the countryside. I thought it looked funny but cool at the same time.











Everywhere you go there are these cool little nooks and crannies where the mountains and grass are so characteristic of Iceland.

Smár (Small World)

A small world. I remember being in Iceland only a short time when one of my early companions took me to visit a new member family. It was the family of Emil Emilsson and his wife Ingibjörg (Someone's daughter--I can't remember). They were living in an apartment in town at the time and it was fun getting to know them. For the life of me though, I can't find a picture of the two of them together. I only found this one so far that I have converted from a slide with Ingibjörg on the far left in the picture. All the missionaries thought she was beautiful and had a crush on her.

After a time, Emil and Ingibjörg moved with their son and daughter to a little farm house outside of Breiðholt that was quite literally out in the middle of nowhere. There weren't any other homes in sight of their tiny home. You got off the bus at the far edge of Breiðholt and then walked a mile or so to their home on a dirt/gravel road. You couldn't see the little home because it was around some little hills and aways off from the busstop. We would go and visit them on occasion and play with their two kids. They were both such cute kids. I can't for the life of me remember the name of their son, but I do remember the name of their daughter. It was Lára Ósk. We might say in English, "Laura Wish". Lára was very cute, neither of the kids being very old.

Well, years passed, I went home to Utah after my mission and after a few years I heard that Emil and his family were moving to Utah. I was excited to see them a time or two after they arrived, the last time being about six or seven years ago out in Spanish Fork, Utah which was settled by Icelandic immigrants. The Icelandic Ambassador to the United States, Baldvin Hannibalsson, was visiting Spanish Fork paying his respects to the descendants of those Icelanders who came there so long ago. About 25 people were invited, a number of whom were returned missionaries who had served there. Emil and Ingibjörg were there. Emil and Ingibjörg had started a business of some kind involved with off-road vehicles, I think.

Since that time, I really haven't heard much of anything about them. Then one night my oldest daughter came home from her work at the Utah State Developmental Center in American Fork, Utah. She told me that one of the girls she worked with said that she was from Iceland originally. My daughter perked up and asked her lots of questions, like when she came over, if she knew Darron Allred, etc. She said her parents would, since they were the ones that came over 15 years ago or so. She came home and told me about it. I told her to find out the girl's name and her parents' names and I was sure to know them. She finally saw the girl again and found out it was the same Lára Ósk that I had known when she was a little girl in far away Iceland. Smár heimur. I can't wait to see them again and to reconnect after all these years. This picture is of the mountains near their Utah home now. A lot different looking now than when I first met them all those years ago.

Skrifstofu heimsókn (Office Visit)

Office Visit: I was on the phone last week in my office at BYU and all of a sudden I look out into the waiting room and who should I see but Unnur Ólafsdóttir. She was at BYU last year and the year before but decided during the summer to stay home in Iceland to finish school. She had told me about a month before that she felt strongly that she should stay in Iceland to finish up. I was disappointed, of course, but could tell that she was at peace with her decision.

The picture here to the left is of her when she dropped in. But the other yahoo in the picture is Friðrik Guðmundsson. He has been here at the Y for a few years with his wife Stephanie. They both just graduated and he will now be starting a masters program in Social Work. Unnur won't be around any more, but at least Friðrik will be.

I was especially surprised to see Unnur because I knew she wasn't going to be coming back to school and our fall semester just started. So naturally I thought she had changed her mind. When asked she explained that she was only here for a visit to get her things from her old apartment and then head home after a week or two.

Just about a week or two before that, another person came into my office who had served in Iceland. Jason Mortenson. He got home from Iceland in February of this year and has married in that time to a girl named Candice. His choice of spouse will give his kids a very good chance of being exceptionally cute (ha ha). They are living in Utah county as Jason is trying to get his school completed over the next few years. Jason and Candice came to the missionary reunion we had back in April and Jason bore his testimony then.

I get lots of visits and enjoy chatting with any and all who have lived or served in Iceland. I will just have to rely on Friðrik though for the next year or two for all of my questions about Icelandic which must be directed to a native.