Iceland Goes to Denmark

March came in like a lion and is going out the same way!  Lots of wind, rain and snow.  The snow doesn't last long because of the rain.  So, everyday our weather could include a little bit of sun,  a little bit of rain, some snow and wind that rarely ceases.

I have added a couple of pictures of things we see along our drive to church each week.

A lone pine tree propped on the edge of this tiny island in the middle of a river that is rushing out to the ocean. 
This river is in the town of Selfoss.

We pass this memorial each week as we travel to church. There are several white crosses next to it. 

The plaque, roughly translated, reads: 

The crosses are a memorial to a father who has been injured in a Sudurlands Road between Reykjavik and Selfoss

Latest project at the archives - the 1950 census.  First five boxes out of 54!  There are about 1000+ images per box.  

We finally had a Saturday that was sunny without rain, snow or a lot of wind.  So, we took a hike near where we live.  There are lots of hiking trails nearby where you can walk, run, bike, or ride a horse.

Along the way we discovered we had a hot pool within walking distance of us.

Looks like fun!  Remember, I only said it was sunny - not warm!!!

But, the water is more than warm and everyone looked like they were enjoying themselves. 

This river flows through the hiking area.

March means celebrating the organization of the women's auxilliary at Church - the Relief Society.

The lady on the right is our Relief Society President who is originally from the Philippines and her friend from Reykjavik (also from the Philippines). 

Happy 177th birthday Relief Society!!!

March also meant a trip to Copenhagen, Denmark for an all mission conference.

We were able to hook up with this young man, Ryan Evans.  

He is from our stake back in Santa Clara.

The highlight of the trip was attending a session in the Denmark Temple.

It was a chapel before being converted into a temple so it is pretty small.  

Dedicated in 2004

It is in the middle of town so the garden area is not very big.  But they managed to make it lovely.

I love how they made floral arrangements around the everygreens.

A view from the back side.

The letters are in gold and not visible enough to read.  But the plaque says:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Denmark, Copenhagen Temple

Another view of the garden area.

View from the side.

We were taken around Copenhagen by our mission president.  Here we are visiting the Fredericksborg Castle. 

Very impressive....The castle was built in the early 1700s.

Very big....

Very windy and cold....(shocker)

Surrounded on all sides by two moats!

The chapel organ

Look closely - hanging down from the wooden beams are four rope pulls.  These are used to pump the bellows so the organ can be played.  I can envision two young boys in back of the organ going up and down as they pulled on the ropes.  Might have been a fun job!!

The gallery above the chapel.  These plaques, or crests, lined the walls upstairs and downstairs in the chapel.

Lots of silver ornamentation.

The highlight for us was this room.  It was lined with paintings from the Life of Christ by the Danish artist Carl Bloch.  A selection of these paintings have been used many times in Church manuals and publications.  Go to Google if you want to see more paintings and read more about Carl Bloch.

We were treated to a trip to The Church of Our Lady where we saw the original Christus statue and statues of the original 12 apostles.

The statues of the apostles line both sides of the church

The details are amazing!

We also went to the Copenhagen harbour where we saw the Little Mermaid.  Made famous by Hans Christian Anderson and, of course, the Disney film.  The tale is much sadder than the Disney version.

The Little Mermaid is really pretty little!

Sad tale!

Dinner at the mission home after our day of sightseeing.
While we were out sightseeing, the young elders were taken around the city by a few of the Danish missionaries.

The overflow table - there were 22 of us!
After dinner we all left to go to the temple.

All Mission Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 21-23 March 2019

The conference itself was delightful.  We have 8 missionaries in Iceland (called the Frozen Chosen) - on the second row are the eight.

It was great to be with our missionaries plus all the Denmark missionaries.  It made for a fun day watching all of these young elders and sisters catching up with each other - they love being together!  There were lots of hugs, laughter, and the energy was amazing!

The whole group!

Nearly forgot the really good news.....they finally got the other scanner fixed and, as of Monday of this week, it is up and running! 

WELCOME SPRINGTIME!!!🌷🌷