HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Well, the holidays are upon us and our thoughts are turning to family and friends - two of the greatest blessings we enjoy.   

We try to always remember how blessed we are - traveling to and living in different countries has really made us appreciate coming home to the United States...

We are blessed with:
*The Gospel of Jesus Christ with all of its saving ordinances
*An awesome family who loves and supports us
*Terrific neighbors who watch out for each other
*A home to shelter us
*Clean water to drink and bathe in
*Electricity to light our world
*Stores overflowing with everything we might need or want
*Indoor plumbing
*Hot and cold running water
*A car that works
and
*Good health (just to name a few)

This month in Relief Society (the women's organization in the Church) we focused on Member Missionary Work.  We have hopes of getting names of interested families for our young missionaries to teach when they return to our Selfoss Branch in January.
So, we put together a packet to help us, as members of the Church, feel more confident about asking our friends, family members and co-workers if they would like to know more about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The packet contains copies of:
*The Living Christ
*The Family: A Proclamation to the World
*Pass-along cards
*Ideas on some of the ways we can help others through missionary work
*Referral slips
&
*Bag of candy with the message: "Member Missionary Work is Sweet"
All the sisters in the Selfoss Branch got together this past week and put the packets together and talked about our own missionary experiences while enjoying a variety of treats.
If anyone is interested in learning more about any of the above items, just let me know.


Me - setting up for the evening event

All gathered together

Enjoying each other's company

Finished packets

Our three youngest members of Relief Society-
It was a good evening!


We were with our Icelandic "family" on Saturday for a pre-Thanksgiving Dinner.

The mission counselor's wife got everyone together.  There were 14 in all and we enjoyed turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade rolls and 7 different kinds of pies.  She had asked everyone what their favorite Thanksgiving dish was and to name their favorite pie.  End result.....EVERYONE got their favorite pie for dessert.  
The pies - in no particular order....
Pecan, Oreo Cookie, Chocolate and Peanut Butter, Banana Cream and Chocolate, Lemon and Cream Cheese, Apple and, last but not least, Pumpkin with whipped cream.
There was a new senior couple and two new young elders that we were happy to meet.  The Hills, from Idaho Falls, are serving a 6 month mission here and are based up north in Akureyri.  

Chowing down!

Good food and good company.

Free haircuts for the missionaries.  
Cute Elin Gudnason doing the honors.  She is in our Selfoss branch.
Elin recently returned from her mission on Temple Square in SLC.


Sunrise on our way to church.  
We have about 5 1/2 hours of daylight right now.
Heading for 4 hours on 22 December - Winter Solstice.


This past Monday had a visit from Elder Kopischke of the Europe Area Presidency.  He is doing a mission-wide tour and met with our missionaries here in Iceland.  We were able to attend two meetings that day with him.  




Image result for count your many blessings clipart


Comments

  1. PhylNovember 29, 2019 at 1:09 PM

    Thinking of you two at this time of year! What is your mailing address?
    (Awesome that Sister Elin Gudnason served at Temple Square!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mary Jo O'NealDecember 2, 2019 at 7:15 AM

    Dear friends, thanks for your monthly updates. We love hearing from you. We had two of our three kids with us for the Thanksgiving week or part of it. Andrea and her daughter 16 year old Kyra from California, her son, our oldest grandchild is serving in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia mission and is Salisbury, MD right now. Also our son Greg, Christy and two little girls were here from Sunday to Wednesday when they went to her family's Thanksgiving celebration.
    The weather has turned cold, we had a lovely two day snowstorm and are keeping cozy inside! I am teaching 5 year olds in Primary right now and JT has just completed Radiation for prostate. He is doing great and hopefully will have a complete clean bill of health after his next visit in a few weeks. Life is good. Cheers, JT and Mary Jo

    ReplyDelete

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