Work, Good News, Holiday, and Fun!

MONDAY, MARCH 21

Finally, we get to work ALL WEEK, but wait, Thursday, Friday, and the next Monday are all Holidays . . . so, another week of goodness and surprises :)

The scanner at the Archive received a temporary upgrade, so we were able to get busy Monday morning scanning. This is a short video of Terry running the scanner. It is a German piece of equipment and cost about $140,000. USD eight years ago. It's pretty amazing and does a great job of scanning the old books we're working with.

The books we are scanning right now are from 1700's to early 1900's, each coming from different Parish's around Iceland. The books are basically a census the community Pastor kept on the people in his territory. We have asked what the titles in the columns represent (since they are all in Icelandic), this is what we were told: 1) Name - and it's easy to tell if they are male or female by their last night...boys all of 'son at the end of their name and girls all have 'dottir at the end of their name, 2) Age - this is really the only thing we can read on the entire page. It's interesting how in the earlier years the oldest ages we saw were late 50s and a few early 60s. By the early 1900s there were many who lived to late 70s and even early 80s. Terry likes to watch the ages. He said, "of course, the girls outlived the men". I said, "ah, it is just because the men took such good care of their wives and families". :)


TUESDAY, MARCH 22

Okay, it's a true story, some days are just more exciting than others. However, if you are not from Iceland, probably you've never seen a garbage truck with two different sizes of dumpster smashing apparatuses on the back of the same garbage truck.  Terry and I actually had a pretty interesting conversation about this while we were stopped behind them at a red light. We decided the left side was for 'garbage' and the right side was for 'cardboard or paper' only. Also notice the big yellow bus, that is city transit bus, which is a well run operation. 

Meet Porunn (the P is pronounced 'th' and the o actually has an ' above it, giving it an 'ou' sound, the r is an 'er' sound....so, meet Thouerrrunn! She is one of the awesome staff members at the Archives. When I asked her about where to buy some curtains for the window in our apartment, she drew a map and told me where to buy some 'cloth'. Yikes, I told her I didn't have a sewing machine. She QUICKLY said, no problem, you buy the cloth and bring it to me, I will sew them - no problem. What a sweetheart! I found some really nice cloth but was already hemmed on the top and bottom, with the casing to hang them, so just the four sides needed to be hemmed.  

I took the material to work, she smiled, and said 'No Problem, I'll have them back tomorrow!" And by darn she did . . . however, she said her sewing machine needle didn't like the material since it was so thin, so she just sewed them by hand. REALLY!?! Who does that? Ug, I felt very silly, I could have done that . . . but she was happy to serve me. She made my heart happy and reminded me that even if there are some in the world who seek to destroy others, there are still MANY MILLIONS of people who love, care, and willingly serve others. 

What do you think? Porunn did an AWESOME job! I love my curtains, hemmed with love. I also LOVE my view. Again, every day, I spend much of my time in the kitchen just gazing out the window. It is by far my most favorite spot in our apartment. More times than not, I'm not there alone. Terry loves looking out of the window too, at God's beautiful world.


WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23

Yup, your guess is right! Icelandic lessons from these two awesome Elders! WOWSER, our tongues just don't bend, twist, lay flat, and rollllll like they are suppose to. Terry is actually way better than me. Ha, must be some of his Danish coming out :)

The Icelandic language is about 1,000 years old. Icelandic is the closest language to the Old Norse language which the Vikings used. It is possible for the Icelanders today to read the sagas of old, because this is the same language the children of Iceland learn still today. AMAZING!

Since we're talking about the Icelandic language and alphabet, let's just talk a minute how how they alphabetize...By FIRST name! Everything is always in alphabetical order by the first name, even their phone books. The picture is of the staff directory at the Archive. See there, alphabetical by the first name and almost every name ends with either dottir or sson. The name with the blue arrow by it is Benedikt, our supervisor at work. 

Let me just tell you about Benedikt for a second. He is SUCH A NICE GUY! We love working with him, he's so patient with us, cares so much about the work he does at the Archive, and is always happy and positive. I'll get a picture of him soon :)

Last week our washer quit working, Terry was sure the pump had gone out, but wasn't sure how to fix it because the manual is in part Danish and part German. Ugh! Terry asked Benedikt about the washing Monday morning, wondering who he should call to come take a look at it. I wish I would have kept the paper, but darn, I thew it away. About an hour later, here comes Benedikt with a complete typed page of instructions of who could fix it, how much a service call would cost, how much estimated parts would cost, the phone number and address, AND a printed map of where this place was. He said it was best for us to go there and talk to them. However, he said he had already called ahead and explained everything in Icelandic, just in case whoever we spoke with didn't understand English. WHAT A MAN! Another example of there are GOOD PEOPLE in the world. (BTW, our machine did need a new pump and a few other parts. So $200 later and we're back in business again :)

THURSDAY, MARCH 24

HOLIDAY, today was the first of our our five day break (like we needed one), ha, but we'll take it. We made a shopping list and headed out for the day....LOOK what we found at Kostur! Jet-Puffed Marshmellows (that means the Elders will be getting a chocolate marshmellow cake here pretty soon), milk chocolate chips (these are hard to find, usually only semi sweet and dark are available), and a BIG BAG of pecans. JACKPOT! And by the way, you have to buy the reusable bags or pay for every little plastic bag you get. PLUS, since we get to carry all of the bags up to our third floor apartment, the nice bags with handles are great. We have to keep remembering to take them in the stores with us :)

Then we had a nice surprise. We ran in to Elder and Sister Michaelsen, who had just left District Conference with the other eight young missionaries and Elder and Sister Loveland from Selfoss (about 40 minute drive away). We don't go to District Conference because of the type of service we are doing. Anyway, they said too bad you're working, we're having an outing with the other 10 missionaries. We said, WE'RE ON HOLIDAY! So guess who got to hang out with the gang today? Yup, us! It was so so fun.

We went to two museums while it rained, snowed, and blew like crazy outside. I met an American tourist from Boston, she and her friend saw a cheap flight to Iceland, so thought, hey, lets go. Funny, same story . . . this was their last day here and they didn't want to leave. They are already looking for flights to come back in the summer. As always, once you visit Iceland, you fall in love with the place and the people.

Terry and I had not had lunch, so while everyone else was going through the Saga Museum, we ran across the street, next to the old Reykjavik harbor, and had THE MOST DELICIOUS ICELANDIC FISH AND CHIPS! YUM YUM YUM!!! Can you see that WHITE MEAT?!? We both love fish and chips, and this was by far the best we've EVER had world-wide!

Back at the museum, the young missionaries were just exiting the museum in to the foyer. I told Terry to go stand by those happy and handsome bunch of guys - SMILE! Do you see the wall behind them says "Are you a true Viking?."

Well yes, Elder Robertson said (who is Icelandic descent and from Spanish Fork, Utah, the same as us). So, there was a big table and basket full of Viking wear . . . sure enough, Elder Robertson starting to dress himself. It didn't take long until one by one, all of the other Elders started to help 'dress' him.

Ah, first part on, feels good, looks good, let's keep going!

 Next came the Viking helmet!

 Then some more help and final touches!

Yes, Elder Robertson is a true Viking!

Tie, name bade, and sword - now he's ready. 

 Bring it on, anything, and Elder Robertson's got this!

Well, as us humans are....we see one person having fun and we want to have fun too! Yes, all of the Elders started putting on Viking gear, and a fun day was had by all! 

 Elder Michaelsen wasn't so sure about standing with all of those mean looking characters :)

 Some of the Vikings got pretty animated!

 Terry insisted I have a picture with all these awesome Vikings!

 So then I insisted Sister Michaelsen have her picture with them as well :)

 The dressing and undressing continued...

 Lots more laughs, smiles, ARG noises, fun times!

Then across the street we went, to get ice cream for these fun loving Vikings. I'm not sure what Terry was telling Elder Rodriguez, all I know is he's an awesome missionary, always happy, and always happy to serve. He's from the great state of Texas!

The big decision is . . . what flavor should I get?

 The Elders were so cute, they ALL ordered in Icelandic. All eight of them are EXCELLENT at speaking the language. One of the employees asked me how long these 'boys' had been in Iceland. When I told her between seven months and twenty months, she couldn't believe it. She said, THEY SPEAK GOOD! 

This was the 'special' of the day . . . remember that yummy Chocolate Easter Egg from last weeks blog? Well, they chopped up a few eggs and added it for the Easter Ice Cream Special. 

 Elder Daw was the first to decide what he wanted, didn't take this young man too long to know what he wanted. Yes, count them . . . THREE scoops! Well earned - well deserved!

One by one, EVERYONE got EXACTLY what they wanted. It was delicious. I should say, ice cream, is one of my favorite treats, therefore, it was one of the first words I learned and remembered in Iceland . . . plus it's easy...Is pronounced 'ess'....I like easy :)

It was time for the day to end, and a perfect time to give the eight Elders their own yummy Icelandic Chocolate Easter Egg treat (sorry Akureyri Elders....we'll catch you next holiday). You know it's the human thing to do. Because we loved our Icelandic Easter Egg and all of the surprises in it from Barney, the week before, we had to share the experience with others. Can I just say the Elders were SO EXCITED and you would have thought we gave them a million dollars. 

One side note, before we left home we told our 23 grandkids and our five children we were not going to be spending lots of time and money getting birthday and holiday gifts to the U.S. Rather, we had decided to bless the lives of those around us with 'their' gifts. So family, look how grateful these hard working, giving service with a smile, young men enjoyed your Easter gift. Thank you for sharing and agreeing to bless the lives of others.

 While we were at the Saga Museum I saw this fun little book. I picked it up, thumbed through it, an decided to buy it. It is 50 short essays of what the old days were like in Iceland. It is excellent (with the exception of one word I had to blacken out) and gives a great picture of how the people of old lived . . . ugh....lots and lots of work....and lots and lots of 'smelly things'.

FRIDAY, MARCH 25

So today was Good Friday and EVERYTHING was closed, just like Christmas Day in America. Terry and I spent a very relaxing day at home in the morning, took a little drive in the afternoon, and just enjoyed the moment.

SATURDAY, MARCH 26

We did our usual Saturday shopping, which is still a little hard for me to have Terry by my side rather than my sister. He's a good sport, usually, but like when I say STOP.  He says....'what!' and I say, I need to take a picture of that cute little Easter chicken.....well then I can see him smile through his teeth and say "OK!".

We usually go to three or four stores, which all seem to carry, collectively, almost anything we're looking for. The trick is to figure out which store has which item. Also, each store has a special item on sale each day of the week, not so much, 'this is what's on sale this week'. Wowser, we'll get it figured out....probably just about the time for us to come home.

This is another one of our favorite stores to shop at....Hagkaup, say that! They are everywhere, kind of like a WalMart.....we were not sure how to pronounce it, I would say it one way and Terry would say it another. Ha, we never knew what each other was talking about. So, we just gave it and some of the other stores our own name: We call this one Hacky Sack .... my dad always said there was more than one way to skin a cat (poor cat), he was right :)

We were asked if we could have a Cottage Meeting at our home (apartment) on Saturday night. Some of the members from our Church wanted to know more about us, our interest in Iceland, and what we're doing here. So AWESOME, that means COMPANY! I made a little PowerPoint showing pictures of our family, explained how the Icelandic Association was formed by our ancestors in 1897, after leaving Iceland with the hope we would always remember them. Then we shared what our role was at the Archive and how much we loved what we were doing. 

I shared with them how the desire was to learn the culture of our ancestors, one of them being cooking. A young lady from Iceland, Kiddy (Kristjana Bardardottir) taught me and Vina (my sister) how to make an Icelandic Kleinur (a donut type pastry) several years ago. We make them often and enjoy sharing them at Icelandic gatherings. So, when in Iceland, do as the Icelanders do, and make Kleinurs for your guests. So, here you go, a picture of a few of them.

Our Cottage Meeting turned out WONDERFUL! I'm really bugged though, because I took this first picture when just the first guest arrived, Axel, and then was going to take more pictures. We were told to plan on about 12 people, and that everyone would bring a treat to share. WELL, there were 25 people who came and LOTS of YUMMY treats. We started at 6 pm and the last guest left about 9:30. IT WAS SO FUN! Even a lady we had met at our little village bakery from Indonesia, said "I know those badges", pointing to our missionary badges.  We had a fun time talking with her a few weeks ago, and then apparently she is friends with one of the guys from Church, he told her where he was going, and she said, I think I know them. So, here she comes, walking through our door, with a beautiful cake and a big smile on her face and she says 'remember me?.  We loved every minute sharing our Saturday evening with these great people (and bragging about our family, heritage, and purpose).

SUNDAY, MARCH 27

 It's Easter Morning and we were asked to speak in Church. What a privilege and honor to speak on such a special day. I spoke about street lights and how important they are. When I was a young girl my home was a few blocks from the main part of town. I use to be so afraid to walk in the dark, it was never easy and I always felt unsafe. I LOVE STREET LIGHTS AT NIGHT. When I saw this quote it reminded me of the many 'street lights' in my life.  There are many of them, GOOD PEOPLE and I'm very grateful for each of them. It also gives me a determination to be a 'street light' for others.

And yes, MORE GUESTS from home, kind of. I received a private Facebook message a few weeks ago from a business partner, Pam Browne, from Las Vegas. She said she had attended a training event where Terry and I were presenting a few years ago and had been following our blog. Yes, we remembered meeting Pam because she was with her most AWESOME cousin and our business partner in doTERRA, Pat Leavitt from St. George. Well, her daughter, hubby, and two kids were going to be visiting Iceland.

Sure enough when we arrived at Church, someone met us at the door and said we had MORE guests waiting for us in the chapel. Ha, we have had LOTS of guests and we LOVE it! So, meet Aron and Jodi, and their two children, Zoe and Cole. We instantly became friends, just like we had been friends forever. We talked and talked, she told me I smelled good, just like her Mother (thank you doTERRA), and we sat next to each other and it was a great day making a new friend. Thank you Pam for sharing your precious Jodi and her family with us!

So, you just can't have Easter without serving deviled eggs and having guests. We invited Elder Daw (from Utah) and Elder Johansen (from Denmark) to brighten our Easter Day. What a good choice. We laughed, they ate, we laughed, and they ate some more. BTW, can you see it in Terry's 'look'? He said "Elders, you better get ready when you get married, your wife takes pictures of all kinds of strange things!" 

We pray each of you had a blessed and happy Easter. May you and those you love and hold most precious be watched over and protected. We love each of you, for loving and caring for others, and making this life wonderful! We are here on this earth for a purpose.

Bless bless (goodbye in Icelandic) until next week,

Elder Terry and Sister Lil Shepherd

Week of Firsts (Is that a word? Yes, I checked)!

MONDAY, MARCH 14


This is the FIRST time since we've been in Iceland (four weeks), that I found a pair of shoes that didn't belong to either Terry or me in our apartment. They are Morgan's, our grandson who visited for 10 days. Oh, there was a sad beat in both of our hearts when I found them under his bed. The shoes are empty but our hearts are full of memories. Good memories are treasures. We are FILLED with treasures.


I probably failed to mention last week, that I left our Icelandic mobile phone in Vestmannaeyjar last Saturday. I'm certain maybe the anticipation of riding the 'rock and rollin' ferry for almost three hours back to the mainland (Reykjavik) is why. I'm sure it has nothing to do with my age :)

So, it was our FIRST time driving around the Reykjavik area without our handy dandy phone GPS. We would look up the route on our USA phone, in our apartment, take a screen shot, and hope to get to and from. Ha, Terry did AWESOME. We got the phone back on Monday afternoon, so our new method was short lived.

Interesting to me, was the way we got our phone back. The guesthouse where we stayed simply took our phone to the little domestic airport, gave it to a pilot, and he brought it with him on the next flight in to Reykjavik Monday morning. Our trusted friend and Iceland son, Audunn, went to the domestic airport here in Reykjavik and picked it up. It didn't cost a dime, just some very kind and appreciated service from the owners of the guesthouse and Audunn. Also a little sweat on the brow while trying to be brave and 'drive on memory and faith'.

I should say the TO: address above is Rumfatalagerinn. This has become one of our favorite stores. It's kind of like a mini Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We needed to find some cookie sheets and muffin tins. Job accomplished!


TUESDAY, MARCH 15

We were told today, NO WORK at the Archives until maybe Thursday or Friday. The new computer and software upgrades are not quite ready.

The FIRST this day was Terry said, "let's go shopping".  Terry is okay with going shopping, but ONLY if we are shopping for 'something'. Not just shopping for maybe, something :) We had a fun time and picked up this . . . . almost.

This post is really for Tracie and Katie, our daughters. When we saw this electric lice comb we thought of them. No, they have never had head lice. However, they have a fear of it. We almost bought one for each of them, just to put their minds at ease.


WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16

You have to be a girl to appreciate this post. I have been having my toe nails 'hand painted' by Meg for too many years to count. Once a month, me and my sister, have a 'date'! I let my daughter, Tracie, take over my appointments. It was TOE DAY and Tracie sent me a picture of her cute toes. I sent her a picture of my HORRIBLE toes. She sent back the words, OH MOTHER and a few of those laughing faces with tears running down the cheeks. Never fear, I bought myself some polish remover and cute pink polish. The last remains of my happy toes from Meg are gone, but at least my toes are smiling, somewhat, again. Now that's a FIRST!

If I was home, this is what my toes would have been looking like. Take a peek, which one would you choose to remind you of Spring? Me and my toes miss you Meg. Even Terry told me my toes were looking pretty dull. Ha!

We had two FIRSTS today. We started taking Icelandic lessons. OH MY! Two of the young missionaries, one from the U.S. (Elder Daw) and one from Denmark (Elder Johansen), were just darling, patient, and EXCELLENT teachers. There were two other students in the class. A young woman from Slovakia and a young man from Lithuania. Maria married an Icelandic man, has a young family, and teaches piano lessons. She needs to learn how to communicate with her students. Amos owns a construction company that ties steel, he has lived here off and on for seven years. They both said they loved Iceland because it was a safe place to live. It was fun meeting them; guess we'll be seeing them every Wednesday evening :)


THURSDAY, MARCH 17

The FIRST today was seeing what a bag of Hershey's Easter candy cost in Iceland, WOWSER, $30.53 . . . um, we didn't buy it. The sun was shining through the window, so the picture isn't real clear, sorry. What it says is: 3,798 Kr for the bag of candy. This is another handy dandy app we use on our phone DAILY!

Second FIRST today, we ALMOST got our cute car creamed, twice, in the round-a-bout. Andrea, one of the cute staff members at the Archive, drew us a detailed diagram at lunch (hence the napkin) of how the round-a-bouts work. In case any of you ever drive here, the story is this: The driver on the INSIDE (red line) lane has the right of way. So if you're on the outside lane (blue dots), you have to keep an eye out for someone coming from behind you and in FRONT of you. If the red car line wants to exit the round-a-bout, they have the right of way. YIKES!!!

FRIDAY, MARCH 18

 This is the FIRST time we've seen the temperature in the almost mid 40s. WaHoooo! ALL of the snow melted with the rain and wind last weekend, the grass is starting to show green, and the leaves are starting to pop out on the tress. Spring is coming!

Meet Barney (this is what he said we should call him because his Icelandic name is too hard to say). He one of the first staff members we met at the Archives. What A Nice Guy! He has been very helpful and encouraging to us. When we FINALLY got to officially 'start work' capturing images today and Barney happened to walk by our office. I said to him, "We just finished scanning our first book" with a big smile.  A few hours later he presented us with our FIRST official Icelandic Easter Egg as a Congratulations!

I thought this was just like our Easter Eggs at home . . . NOPE, they are FILLED with goodies on the inside, and the outside chocolate is YUMMY. It is Icelandic chocolate, pure chocolate, none of that waxy pretend chocolate.

 How cute is this Easter Egg

 And the back side has an interesting little circle

 You POP the circle out, and THERE are ALL of the GOODIES!

The first goodie I pulled out (which is very traditional) is like a fortune or good wish. Can you read it? Ha, I couldn't so I sent a copy to my friend, Bjorg, and she translated it for me. It says: What you learn in your youth will last a long time. Darn it, I wish I would have learned Icelandic in my youth, then I would still have it with me, because it's been a long time since I was a youth :)

This is the final results of ALL the candy that was inside. AWESOME! I wish I could transport 23 of these yummy chocolate Easter Eggs to Utah in an instant for our grandchildren. They will just have to take our word for it, the chocolate and goodies are yummy and it was fun pulling all of the surprises out. Thank you Barney for sharing this fun Icelandic Easter Egg tradition with us and for your support and congratulations on our success. Blessings to you and your family!


SATURDAY, MARCH 19

It was our FIRST Zone Conference. What a wonderful day it was and an amazing site to hear and see 12 wonderful young men singing, sharing from their hearts, and making Iceland an even more amazing place to be. There were also three couples (including Terry and I), and our Mission President and his wife, President and Sister O'Bryant. They live in Denmark and traveled to Iceland on Friday evening, along with two young Elders, to attend the Zone Conference.

Meet cute Sister Michaelsen from Missouri. She is ADORABLE! She made a yummy lunch of homemade beef stroganoff along with homemade rolls and chocolate cake. Sister Loveland made a delicious green salad.

I was in charge of the morning snack. Terry and I decided to make homemade Banana Oatmeal Muffins. Some had chocolate chips, others had pecans, some had nothing. We also got some nice juices and a bowl of candies to boot. It ALL disappeared in five minutes or less :)

 Terry talking with Elder McConkie. Elder Robertson on the far right is from Spanish Fork :)

 Tell me, are they all not the most handsome bunch of Elders!

 Sister Loveland chatting with Elders Wight and Rodriguez

 Elder Michaelsen and Terry - SMILE!

 Elder Brady from Denmark with Elders Johansen and Daw

 Elder Loveland with Elders Pons and Geslison

 Elder Stirk, Elder Curtis from Denmark, Elder Pons

We talked about www.familysearch.org and how the records Terry and I are capturing will soon be available to 'index' and then be added to this free website. The Icelandic people and those who have ancestors of Icelandic descent, will soon be able to start creating or filling in names on their individual family tree. EXCITING!!!!

The evening ended with a wonderful dinner with President and Sister O'Bryant being the Host. The evening was beautiful, spring was a 'little' in the air, and as we walked down the streets of old - yet well kept, clean, and beautiful Reykjavik, our hearts were happy and peaceful. We know we are where we're supposed to be.

It was a week of FIRSTS and we enjoyed every single one of them, except the round-a-bout experience.

Have a blessed, happy, and peaceful week. Remember to celebrate Easter with a humble and grateful heart. Because of our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, we all can live forever.

Bless bless,
Terry and Lil