We Are Finally Here!

Today is Sunday, December 23rd, and we have been in Iceland for one week!  We had a wonderful week at the Provo MTC.  We were there with Al's brother Brent and his sister-in-law Charlene.  We served with them in Ukraine and in South Africa and it was just a coincidence that they were going to the MTC the same week as us.  They are serving a mission for their stake at home.  We had a small group at the MTC - there were only about 22 couples and two single sisters.  Out of all of these, there were only three couples going on foreign missions.  Most of the couples were doing missions from home for their stakes.

Arriving at the MTC

Who? What?  We thought it might say "old and gray" but it actually says "Elder"!

Can't quite reach it!!!

MTC Group 1
I am sitting next to the single sisters and my sister-in-law is next to me. The single sister next to me has a young man in her home ward who was in our ward in Anchorage, Alaska!  Knew the family well!!!

MTC Group 2
For those of you who remember Linda Williams from our ward - she is the second sister from the right. 
The sister, third from the right has a daughter who served with my daughter in the RS presidency in College Station, Texas. 
We were all reminded what a small world this really is, especially within the church.

The first week has been interesting.  We arrived in Iceland at 8:00 am on Sunday the 16th and after getting our luggage and going through immigration, etc. we got to our flat about 10:00 am.  We were picked up President Erickson who lives here in Reykjavik and is the mission president's eyes and ears in Reykjavik The mission president lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. Anyway, he dropped us off at our flat and said he would be back in about 15 minutes and we would go to church.  Our branch is in Selfoss which is about 45 minutes to 1 hour away! We made it with about a minute to spare.  Thankfully, we only stayed for Sacrament meeting where we were asked to bear our testimonies.  We met so many people, in spite of the fact that it is an extremely small branch.  The branch has 51 members but some live as far as 200 km away (about 130 miles). There were maybe 16-17 branch members there last week and, today, there were 9.  Perhaps they heard we were the speakers!!! 

Yes, the first week has been busy, busy!  We have spent many hours looking for groceries in three different super (or not so super) markets.  Think about what you pay for groceries and double it and you have about what things cost here.  We finally stopped looking at the prices and just bought what we thought we needed!  We made a Costco run and had our first meal out - a Costco hot dog and soda! Not bad (except for the bacon they added with the onions! YUCK!) and the fact that Allan got really sick afterwards.  We had the same thing to eat except for the mustard...mine was Heinz (of course) and his was a local product that looked creamy.  He suffered for two-three days with a two bucket case of food poisoning!  Unfortunately, he had to get dressed the day after being so sick so we could go to our training at the archive.  He was a trooper and made it through and then fell into bed for the rest of the day and night.  I managed to get a one bucket case of something.  The mission doctor thought it was a novovirus - I really don't care what it is called I just want it to go away.  Go figure - we have been all over the world and just within the last year and a half we have been to Peru, the Amazon, the Holy Land and Africa......NEVER got sick until we came to a country with clean, pure air!  Oh, well!  This too shall pass (hopefully sooner than later).

This past Friday was our Christmas Zone Conference.  There are 8 elders in the country and four senior couples.  One couple had to go home for the funeral of a sibling and we have not met them yet.  They serve in a branch in Akureyri which is about a 4 hour drive away.  Two of the senior couples serve here in Reykjavik and we serve in the Selfoss Branch.

All 8 of the Iceland missionaries. For those of you who know of John Bytheway - his son Andrew is the one seated on the floor on the right.  He has been here just a few weeks and already has the language down amazingly well.  He and Elder Shipp (second from left on sofa) serve with us in Selfoss.  Already love these Elders!!!  This picture was after the training and lunch.  Now they are ready for the fun part of the day - their packages from home and a movie with popcorn and other treats!  Just a side note - there were three sofas set up and yet these guys all crowded together to be together.  Pretty cool!

Christmas Zone Conference

After the business and training part of Zone Conference - FOOD!!

Zone Conference

More Zone Conference

President Erickson and Elder Lee

Same two...(Still talking)

Zone Conference

Zone Conference - the sister is Sister Erickson

Elder Lee taking pictures and Sister Jesse

Elder and Sister Jesse at the end of the room

Our flat is very nice.  We are up on one of the highest parts of town.  Reykjavik is about the size of Boise, Idaho.  Doesn't take long to get from one side of town to the other except for rush hour traffic.  We are on the third floor of a three story building and we are on the end - so it is pretty quiet.  The stairs are gentle and the climb is easy - nice since there isn't a lift.  The hard part was getting four huge suitcases up!  It was hard but I managed - supervising is such hard, exhausting work!!

Living room taken from foyer

Living room taken from window

Kitchen (even has a really nice dishwasher).  We could be an advertisement for IKEA!

Laundry room (all instructions are in Icelandic or German or Danish)!

Bathroom

Main bedroom - a wee bit spartan but lots of storage.

Guest bedroom (that is one awesome lounging pillow on the bed)!

Our little Christmas tree and our $34.00 Christmas ham that was smoked but not cooked!! 
Our flat smells a little bit like a campfire!!!!!!!!!!!


We just got "caroled" by our four local missionaries and President Erickson.  Beautiful harmonized voices. 
Truly the highlight of our day.

May You All Have A Very Merry Christmas and REMEMBER The Words From Luke, Chapter 2 -

THIS IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT!