A Visit with The President

Today, Monday, May 31, 2016, we had a very special afternoon. It was filled with many emotions of gratitude, friendships, past experiences, current situations, and what the future holds.

We visited a place today, that our son Tyler and I visited for the first time, in 1997. That would be the office of President Ólaufur Ragnar Grímsson, the President of Iceland.

Tyler was serving as a missionary in Iceland; this is the first picture his companion took of us, while waiting for the President to see us.

Now look, I have my own companion, and we took a 'selfie', in front of the same beautiful piece of furniture, while we were waiting for the President to see us.

So the story goes like this . . .
I happened to be the President of the Icelandic Association of Utah, from 1996-1998, and was visiting Iceland for my second time. Our Association was going to be celebrating in August of 1997 the 100th anniversary of when our forefathers created the Association.

If you know me or any other Western Icelander, we are very proud of our Icelandic heritage. We were taught at a very young age to always respect and be especially grateful for those who left their beloved homeland of Iceland and made the journey to America, suffering many hardships along the way and even after they arrived at their new homes.

More than anything else though, we were taught to always REMEMBER THEM, and to KEEP THEIR MEMORY ALIVE.

As an Association Board, we decided to celebrate big, and invite the President of Iceland to our 100 year anniversary. I confessed to the President today, that we had to 'create a letterhead' to write the official invitation on. Also, that we were fully expecting a return response from him saying 'thanks but I'm busy'. Ha, then we would just put his 'official' letter of response in our book of remembrance to pass on to future generations. Done.

Well, guess what, the official letter came and it said, "I would be honored to attend your 100 anniversary celebration." YIKES!!  What would we do with the President of a country, for an entire week!?! 

Let me back up one year. In February of 1996, Marie Huff, the Mayor of Spanish Fork, called me and said she wanted Spanish Fork to have a sister city, and she thought it should be Reykjavik, Iceland. She was raised in Spanish Fork with the Western Icelanders and felt because they had helped settle the city and still had strong and important roles in the success of the community, this should be.

She wondered if me, my father, and my sister, would be interested in visiting Iceland in the summer if this were to happen? Long story short, and to this day, I can't figure out 'how' it came about, but I was put in charge of creating the tour for the first trek of 40 Western Icelanders to visit their father's homeland.

It was a WONDERFUL experience, 10 days of pure bliss. My sister and I never tired of watching our father with his nose literally PRESSED on the window of the bus. He wanted to make certain he didn't miss one minute, one experience, or one opportunity to see, hear, listen, taste, or 'being' in the land of his fathers. 

When we returned home, the word got out and my phone was ringing off the hook . . .when was the next trip? How could they get their name on the list? Oh my, it had to be, trip number two was scheduled for the summer of 1997.

When I arrived in Iceland, I sent President Grímsson an email, saying I was in Iceland, told him I was the President of the Icelandic Association of Utah, and would be happy to 'go over the agenda' for his upcoming visit to Utah. Again, I thought . . . maybe he will have someone from his office call and go over the details.

Much to my surprise, when I returned to the hotel one evening after touring with the group, there was a message from 'The President', as the front desk hotel staff said . . he wanted to meet with me. (Insert the second YIKES here :)

Well he did come to Utah, with his beautiful Guðrún Katrín Þorbergsdóttir, and together they gave our Icelandic Association of Utah a huge gift of love, kindness, and respect.

Honestly, I don´t know who was more surprised. Us that he came, or Ólafur and Guðrún with just how much we loved and honored our Icelandic heritage.

There were many celebrations, activities, events, meetings, picnics, touring, etc. . . . the picture above is left to right..Elisa and Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, my precious mother, Marian Irene Brown Johnson, beautiful Guðrún, President Grímsson, my father, Arthur Sigurdur Johnson, Jr., and me. This was taken after a PACKED event, where both Guðrún and Ólafur spoke. They stayed after the event, along with Elder Wirthlin and his sweet wife, and shook EVERY HAND standing in a long, long, line. (Note, can you see the U.S. Secret Service man standing behind us...we had about 10 of them accompany us the entire trip, that was an experience all in itself.)  

Between 1996 and 2005, there were many contacts back and forth, plans for the future on both sides of the ocean, assistance given, several more tours back to Iceland, etc. Then in 2005, the Icelandic Association of Utah decided our Icelandic Monument needed a facelift. This is a long story, all in itself, but again, our Association invited Ólafur to come to the dedication of the new Memorial and President Gordon B. Hinckley (who had become friends with Ólafur during this time period - another entire story, all in itself), and they both came.  

Before the event, President Hinckley and President Grímsson needed a place to meet, our home was blessed to have both of these men in our home at the same time. 

While we waited for Ólafur to come, President Hinckley chatted with some of our kids, grand kids, nieces, nephews, and visitors from Iceland.

Look at little Beretta Bradford (our daughter Tracie´s son), President Hinckley has his hand around his shoulder. He might have been young, but his heart and mind still remembers this special day. 

When Ólafur arrived, it was like two long lost friends finally meeting up. Even today, President Grímsson talked fondly of President Hinckley and the visits they had together both in Iceland and Utah.

It was finally time to drive to the site where the Icelandic Memorial Dedication would take place. It was a wonderful event, with both Ólafur and President Hinckley speaking. Well over 5,000 people attended the dedication, many Western Icelanders, Icelanders who had traveled to witness and participate, as well as many people from Spanish Fork and surrounding areas.

This is my favorite picture of the day. My father, grasping President Hinckley´s hand in both of his hands, with the President of his beloved Iceland standing next to him. This is what my father stood for: His God, His Family, and serving others.

This is my second favorite picture of the day, four generations of Western Icelanders, proud and thankful to honor their ancestors today. Tyler, his son Evan, me, my daddy, and my beautiful sister, Vina. That´s a little piece of heaven right there.

So back to today . . . 

This is Bessastaðir, the home of the President of Iceland. There are no guards, no fences, no guns...just the ocean, clouds, and a road leading to the front door.

 As you drive in, the first building you pass is a church with a cemetery. The building directly behind is where Terry and I parked, walked up, and knocked on the door. 

A very nice woman, named Helga, answered the door, took my coat, and asked us to wait one moment. That´s when we took the ´selfie´. 

Soon we were escorted to the next room, where Ólafur came in, and with a big smile on his face and said, ´Well, there´s my friend´. 

The next hour and fifteen minutes were spent talking about times past, suggestions on where we should visit while we´re here, and what great things are to come in the future for both Iceland, Utah, and the Icelandic Association of Utah.

There were conversations on how blessed we were to be in Iceland to live for a year and work on such a special family history project; and how is it we got to come? Ólafur wanted to know where we lived, how the people were treating us, what we liked, and thanked us for coming.

Before we left home, Terry asked me what I was going to say to Ólafur. I told him I wanted to tell him THANK YOU for loving the Western Icelanders of Utah and for supporting us. THANK YOU for welcoming us home after more than 100 years from when our families left. I was able to do this, today, in person. WOW!

I also had the opportunity to ask Ólafur in person, to please let the new President of Iceland who will be elected next month, to love us, care for us, visit us, and always remember us . . . just like he did.

I feel honored, humbled, and grateful for the opportunities Heavenly Father has allowed me to participate and be part of. Every person on this earth is truly a child of God. He loves each of us. He knows our individual names, our needs, our desires, our joy, our sorrows, and our pain. As I said in one of my first posts on this blog, we each have a purpose. I believe that purpose is to love each other, serve each other, until one day, we will all meet again as one.

May God bless you President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, as you continue on your journey of life. Enjoy every moment in the future with your family and hearts desires; you served well my friend.

Blessings to all, and now it's 10:30 p.m. and time to watch another beautiful sunset. The picture below was taken last night at 11:30 p.m.

Bless, Bless,

Terry and Lil Shepherd

Family Search Records Preservation Mission

Reykjavik, Iceland

As promised, this post is about the wonderful water in Iceland, and a few other things about this awesome island in the north atlantic ocean!

As you will remember, we (my companion Terry, and I) made a mad dash back to Utah last month for a little medical situation (ouch, a big fat kidney stone removed from Terry that was stuck). We had not been in our home for more than two minutes when I turned to the faucet in the kitchen and got a glass of water. YUCK!!!!  Oh.my.goodness. The water tasted HORRIBLE and even SMELLED worse (of chlorine). 

WOW, we didn't realize how quickly spoiled we had become to drink Iceland's PURE, YUMMY, COLD, and WONDERFUL water right from the faucet. Any faucet, in Iceland.

So WHERE does that wonderful water come from?

Snow, ice, and glaciers . . . that turns in to . . . 

 Waterfalls (blue dots) . . . then rivers . . and then drinking water  

The quality of the drinking water in Iceland is also exceptionally good due to a wealth of fresh water rivers that stream down from the mountains and glaciers. In fact, it’s perfectly safe and highly recommended to drink this water straight from the source. Otherwise, it’s still just a pipe away to your tap. Quoted from www.visiticeland.com


On a side note, on a clear day, you can see one of the glaciers from Reykjavik. I took this picture with my phone camera just two days ago.

The blue arrow above is pointing to the glacier. Click on the photo and you will be able to see the white peak (a little better). The blue arrow below is showing you where the glacier is. Yes, it is the green spot on the far left tip of the island. The other green areas on the map show the other glaciers. The blue circle on the map below by the capital of Reykjavik, is where we live. On a clear day, like this weekend, we can see the glacier from the favorite spot in our apartment, the kitchen window. 

Below is a picture showing the 13 BIGGER glaciers or ice caps in Iceland. As a side note, the country of Iceland is covered a little more than 11% by glaciers. 

Did you notice all of the glacier names end in with the letters: Jökull . . that´s actually the Icelandic word for glacier. There, now you have had your Icelandic lesson for the week :)

One last comment regarding glaciers . . they are beautiful and sometimes look like a waterfall rushing down from the mountains.

Now let's talk about the HOT water in Iceland. Did you get the HOT part of that? The picture above looks a little blury . . . that's because of the steam coming from the water, right out of the faucet, in our kitchen sink. We were warned to be careful because the water comes out at 180 fahrenheit or 82 celsius. THAT IS HOT!

So where does all of the HOT water come from?

Yes, you guessed right :)  Mother nature, or in other words, volcanoes. Iceland has many active and inactive volcanoes (about 130 all together!) due to it being situated on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Basically, the country is in the middle of or on top of two tectonic plates and has 30 active volcanic systems running through the island. If you go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_volcanoes_in_Iceland there is a list of all the volcanoes in Iceland which includes the 130 active and extinct volcanic mountains, of which 18 have erupted since human settlement of Iceland began circa 900 CE. Also when they erupted last, if at all. I'm not sure why, but this fascinates me.

From what I understand, the earth below is hot from the volcanic activity. In some areas of Iceland, holes are drilled and steam is captured. As you drive around, you see steam plants (I'm not sure if that is what they are called) and BIG FAT PIPES coming from them, on top of the ground. The big fat pipes can be seen as you travel.

Here you see one of the big pipes running along the side of the road as well as one of the steam plants.

If you have been following my blog, you will remember me talking about the wonderful warm and comfortable heat that comes from the nice looking radiators in our apartment. Hence, this is where the water/heat comes from.

Then the question is, where does all of that hot water go, before it gets to the many homes and business . .

Large water tanks, like the three above, can be seen all over Iceland. They are usually painted with bright and happy colors. I took the picture above as we were driving today, headed towards Keflivik.

This is a picture of the Perlan, a beautiful landmark in Reykjavik. There are five water tanks holding up a few gift shops, cafeteria, and rotating fine dining restaurant on the very top. Three of the tanks were left in Iceland after World War II, and were an eye sore. In the late 1980's, the mayor of Reykjavik had the idea to use them for hot water storage as well as add two more and build the nice facilities on top of them. INGENIOUS! 

So, bottom line:
1. The drinking water is wonderful
2. The hot water is awesome
3. The homes are heated very inexpensively
4. We don't have a hot water heater nor a furnace in our apartment
5. The Icelanders are very resourceful and we love every aspect of their water.
6. On a side note, there is a slight 'rotten egg' or 'sulfur' smell that does come with the hot water. For the first two months or so when we first got to Iceland, if I was running the HOT water, Terry would come in the kitchen and say, "hon, did you let a little stinker?". Ha, I can't believe I'm sharing this . . . but every time I was happy to announce "NO, it's the water :)" 

This is not all the amazing facts about the water in Iceland, there's even MORE TO COME. Hint, Blue Lagoon, cooking, fun, and relaxation.

And here 'we' are, just outside of the Perlan. We being, Gugga, her hubby Kristjan, and Terry. Gugga just happens to be THE BEST tour guide in all of Iceland. Her hubby, Kristian is the driver. Together they make an awesome team.

This little guy sits inside of the Perlan, on top of the gift shop entrance.

So here is my special friend, Gugga. Her real name is Gudbjorg Bragdottir. Several years ago when I started to bring Western Icelanders to visit their father's homeland, Gugga was 'assigned' to be our tour guide. WOW, what a treasure we found. Gugga not only loves and knows everything about her precious Iceland (I'm talking centuries of history), but she loves genealogy too. 

Before we ever leave home, I collect from the Western Icelanders traveling the names of their family members who left Iceland, where they were born before they left for Utah, their parents, etc. I give that information to Gugga, and she begins her research. 

When we arrive and begin our journey, she shares each day with the group which family farm of our beloved family member(s) we will be visiting that particular day. It's always an awesome experience to pull up to a little farm house somewhere in the middle of Iceland with a bus of 40+ or so people, and see people from inside the farm house peek out their window with a look of wonder on their faces. 'I wonder why that big bus full of people are staring out the windows, with huge smiles on their faces and sometimes tears running down their cheeks'.  

Gugga then goes to the door, explains why we are there, and immediately we are welcomed to their farm, home, etc. 

Gugga and Kristjan were excited to show us their brand new people mover . . WOW, it seats 19 and it's just beautiful!

 This is their logo - you can take a look at their web page for more information www.icelinetravel.com 

From the top of the Perlan, just as Gugga and I were posing for the picture, she said "LOOK, you can see the Snæfellsjökull glacier so clear today!". (And just as an FYI, there is also a volcano under the glacier.)

Speaking of Gugga, touring Iceland, and seeing where our ancestors came from, a tour will be happening again in 2017. Last May, a year ago, my cousin Muriel Runolfson Cook called me and asked if I would plan/organize one more trip to Iceland. After about two seconds of bending my arm, I said ok. Ha, little did I know Terry and I would be living in Iceland really soon.

However, the two of us, along with my best partner in crime, my sister Vina, got together for lunch. We planned the Runolfson Clan Tour for the end of July early August, 2017. The bus holds 40 people and the map above shows the driving tour we'll be taking, including hoping on a ferry boat and going to Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands) and spending the night. 

There are a few spots left, if you're interested to go with us contact Vina at 801-798-7709 ASAP. The cost is approximately $4,200 per person, which includes round trip air fare from SLC, hotel accommodations, entrance fees, breakfast every morning, etc. We will fly from SLC on Wednesday, July 26 (arriving the next morning) and leave Iceland Monday, August 7 (arriving back in Utah late that evening). Your name can not be added to the list until a $300 non-refundable deposit is paid to either Vina or Muriel. The final payment must be paid by April 1, 2017.


Now let's talk about the National Archives of Iceland and our Family Search project. Take a look at the spreadsheet to the right. Can you see all of the checked boxes, and completed information. Yipppeeee! We sent our first shuttle with names and information to the Family Search office in Frankfurt, Germany on Friday. There were 9,648 images with approximately 25 names per image (low estimate) on the shuttle. Do the math, that's well over 241,000 individual names that can now be indexed and added to the web site www.familysearch.org and connected to their family tree. WOW, we feel so INCREDIBLY BLESSED to have this opportunity to serve those who have gone before us, our brothers and sisters, in this way. 

Take a look at this BIG BOOK Terry captured on Friday. WOWSER, it was from the 1700's, had 748 pages, and was an all-day project. He's smiling in the picture above because, "all done Lillie" he said :)  Love my companion. (And don't you love his Family Search name badge hanging sideways - ha!)

Speaking of waterfalls . . . last week I posted about the beautiful Glymur waterfall we hiked to (Kathy Neves Long you were the first one to say the name on the FB post - GOOD JOB!). Our awesome supervisor at the Archives, Benedikt, came to our office and was excited to show us a picture he found of the falls . . . on Pinterest of all places. ENJOY!

The days are getting longer, and warmer. Terry took the picture above last night from our bedroom window, it was after 11:00 p.m. So the sun was not yet set for the day, and by 4 a.m. the next day (five hours later) it's coming back up again. SWEET!!

 We were asked to speak in the Selfoss Branch at Church today. We enjoyed the 45 minute drive there so much. The snow is all but gone, so pretty and peaceful, and the earth is turning green. Selfoss is a farming community, so we felt totally at home there. 

There was an abundance of Icelandic horses in the fields having their morning breakfast. 

 We were a little early so we took a detour to take in more of the beautiful surroundings. Here you can see the ocean, where many of the rivers dump their water in to. Also, even though you can't see it in this picture, we could clearly see Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands), absolutely breathtaking. Many of our relatives were born and raised in this area, I could feel my family near me today :)

Meet Rosa, she is a member of the Selfoss Branch. She is quite sure she knew our son, Tyler, when he served his mission in Iceland 20 years ago. She wasn't a member of the LDS Church then, however, she said was a young single mother, and the young missionaries assisted her greatly with her young children. With a big smile on her face, she said she was grateful for the good memories. She said she especially remembers one of the young missionaries who knitted. That wasn't Tyler, but if you know who it is, please let them know Rosa has fond memories of you making her days better.

This is þórhildur, a special woman here in Iceland and in the Reykjavik Branch. You remember me talking about Auðunn, the young man who has helped us so much here in Iceland and has lived at our home in Utah a few times the past 20 years. This is his mother. She use to give all of the missionaries their hair cuts, not to mention serving them and love them when they were far away from home. Her daughter, Rosa, lived in Spanish Fork with the Laura Jones family and was an exchange student at Spanish Fork High School. þórhildur was a favorite of Byron and Melva Geslison. She is having major health issues, especially with her eyes. She's loosing her eyesight and the doctors here in Iceland can't figure out why. PLEASE, keep þórhildur (pronounced Thorhildur) in your prayers. If you're LDS and have access to calling or visiting an LDS Temple, please add her name to the Prayer Roll. She deserves the blessing of having her health and eyesight restored.

May our Heavenly Father bless and watch over each of you this week. It's wonderful to know we are all brothers and sisters and we have a loving Heavenly Father above, who KNOWS each you by name and my name too. 

Bless, bless,
Elder and Sister Shepherd
AKA - Terry and Lil :) 

We are back in Iceland and hard at work....and play too :)

It's great having my companion healthy and happy again. Terry's kidney stone surgery went even better than the doctor had hoped for (yup that is what happens when you pray non-stop :)  Two weeks and one day, in and out, and off again to our wonderful Family Search project at the National Archives of Iceland.

However, I must admit, it was wonderful being home in the spring, enjoying the warm weather, shopping with my sister and in stores where I could read the labels, and most of all being with family and friends.  

There is no place like home :)

 Now Terry is driving every morning to the Archive and I'm asking him a zillion questions :)

 The construction just outside the Archive lunchroom is still going strong.

The beautiful Lutheran Cathedral is calling our name to go to the top, for a few ISL ($$) the elevator will take you to the top. Those pictures to come.

 It's always great when we can meet up with the other two Senior Couples, the Michaelsen's and Loveland's.  However, the Lovelands left Iceland yesterday (sad face), they were reassigned to the Boston, Mass mission. God bless you on your journey.

 We are always finding the most awesome vehicles to gawk at! Terry REALLY liked this one.

The sun is setting around 11:00ish p.m. . . . or later. I have to set my alarm to remind us to go to bed, otherwise, it's past midnight and still light outside.

 The spring flowers are finally blooming, it only took them about two months. Totally worth the wait.

We had wonderful friends and amazing business partners stop by Iceland for a week. Thank you Jessica and Clay, and of course your precious two little guys. What a beautiful family you are.

 One of the main bus stops is at our little shopping village. There are always a ton of buses parked with people coming and going; I wonder who they are and where they are going.

 I'm certain if you have ever lived in Iceland, you will know EXACTLY where this bus stop is and you'll be flooded with a ton of memories.

The guys . . . Clay from Washington State, Fridrik from Iceland with his son (who now live in Utah), and Terry with Clay's older son. Notice the cute photo bombers behind Terry, good job Jessica and Alanna. I met Fridrik about 20 years ago and life has brought us together, again. What a treat. What a wonderful man who loves to serve with a smile.

Thank you Jessica, for meeting up with your leaders Alana and Stephanie (Fridrik's wife), in beautiful Iceland. It was WONDERFUL having you all here!

 The visitors were so sad to leave, but no worries, I found the perfect shirt for them when they get stressed . . . don't get a therapist, just come back to Iceland.

 One week later, at 11:30 p.m. . . . getting lighter and lighter, and so far, we love it. When you're tired, you just close your eyes and sleep comes :)


The young missionaries get to have an outing every now and again, and us oldies but goodies get the wonderful task of driving them. Last Thursday we took the day off from the Archives (which proved to be perfect because the entire network needed repaired and we couldn't work anyway :), and off we went to Glymur, the second highest, longest waterfall in Iceland. I sent our kids a message letting them know we were headed out for the day, every one of them sent a text back and said BE CAREFUL! 

The most interesting thing about driving and walking to the BIG waterfall are ALL of the little waterfalls you see along the road getting there and then walking, climbing, huffing, and puffing, getting there. Not to mention the other beautiful sites to look at along the way.

 First might river we saw along the way. The snow is melting and the rivers are flowing.

 How would you like to live here? Looks like a peace of heaven. So pretty!

 More waterfalls.

 More waterfalls along the way.

 Still yet another one as we drove to Glymur.

 The young missionaries are SO EXCITED to get out and start the hike. Elder Michaelsen needed to make sure his walking sticks were in good shape before we took off.

 The hike started out pretty mild . . . but then WOW, it was not easy for this aging woman to CLIMB up the rock and steep trail. However, it was SO fun, the weather was just perfect, and hearts were happy.

Boys will be boys!

 Always a sign around each corner so we stayed on the right trail.

 Went up and then back down several of these wonderful steps made by some kind soul.

 We had to climb through a cave, I told the Loveland's to SMILE. Darn, Iceland is sure going to miss them.

 Yup, we had to walk over the river on a log . . . Elder Wight said he would show me how to do it, while Elder Rodriguez promised to come fetch me out of the water if I fell. Ha, thank goodness there was a rope to hang on to.

Elder and Sister Michaelsen are real troopers . . . they have Terry and I by 10 years, and nothing stops them. In fact, they passed us . . it was their third time to Glymur, they knew what to expect. We love serving with them.

Terry loves kidding around with the young missionaries. He is always making them laugh and if you know Terry very well, you know he has TONS of what we call Terryisms . . . And as you can see, the young missionaries make Terry very happy too!

 Elder Geslison was full of life, jumping, smiling, and having a great day~

What a great group of young men who love God, the people of Iceland, their families, and serving from night until morning. Terry said to me the other day, look at their shoes. You can plainly see they walk, and walk, and walk some more to share the message of their Elder Brother Jesus Christ. God bless each of them, their families, and those they teach.

Here is a sample of just one place where there was a rope to hang on to as you climbed UP the hill and held on to for dear life coming back down. There were about six or eight places like this. WOW, challenging yet so rewarding when you get to the top.

 More falls.

 And more . . .

 And more . . . . . 

 And more . . . . . . 

 And yes, even more :)

And the best of the best - GLYMUR!

 Finally, back on flat ground, so happy, and thrilled for the experience.

 I love to take pictures of the plants/flowers I see, for my cute sister. I found out later these are similar to the lamb ear plants we have at home.

 I loved this sign, good thing I know what the big P stands for, otherwise, we would not have found the parking lot :)

So we were off to work all day Friday. The network system was totally fixed and we spent the day working and getting so much done. In fact, at lunch time Terry said 'Lil, we're late for lunch'. Then all of a sudden I said 'Terry, it's past 5:00 . . . we both love what we're doing.

We have been scanning records from the South coast of Iceland. The other day I was scanning and started recognizing names like Geslison and Leifson, who I'm sure are relatives of the Western Icelanders who live in Spanish Fork, Utah. I got so involved looking at the names that I forgot to watch the documents I had scanned, and WOWSER, I had to rework about 40 pages. 

It gave me a wonderful warm feeling to know these Western Icelanders would soon be able to connect their family tree on the Family Search website.



Now it's Saturday, May 14, and our Icelandic son, Au∂unn, called and said he wanted to take us for an off-road trip. We went to the top of the mountains right in Reykjavik, it was so fun and beautiful, of course. 

 There are islands here, there, and everywhere off the coast. 

Terry and Au∂unn walking and talking. Can you tell it's cold? They both have their hands tucked in their pockets.

New apartment buildings are going up everywhere inside and outside of Reykjavik. We have a great view from the top to see all what was happening where.

We ran in to other off road vehicles. . . of course Terry and Au∂unn had a good talk about these awesome tires, fenders, climbers, etc. etc. etc. :)

 We passed several people riding the Icelandic horses.

 Drove through the water . . . GULP!

 More horses and riders.

 A beautiful lake with a few summer homes around it.

 This is the new jail being built. Au∂unn said there is only one jail now in the entire country of Iceland, which is on the South coast. When the new jail is finished, the old jail will be closed down.

 Terry telling Au∂unn takk (thanks) for a fun morning

 This is Au∂unn's favorite restaurant. The word HANINN means rooster :) It is DELICIOUS, we know, we have been here several times.

The inside is decorated so cute!

 Lots of roosters here, there, and everywhere.

 And of course, the food is yummy!

When we got home from our adventure, someone had tagged me on Facebook with this post! Our son and his wife, Tyler and Kellie Shepherd, have a passion for running. So, they opened a running store, Endurance Athletics, in Spanish Fork. They have only been opened for two years this coming July, and take a look at that! They were voted the second best running store in all of Utah County. GOOD JOB, we're so proud of you sharing your passion, building your dreams, and working for what you believe in!

Tyler is preparing for the Wasatch 100 . . .yes, that means running from northern Utah, through the mountains to Heber. WOWSER, Terry said he thinks Tyler must have mountain goat in him.

Like father, like son, like uncle, like nephew - these four little cousins all attend Salem schools. Jack, Tyler's son (in the green shirt), won two of races. The other three ran their hearts out. Brit, Tracie's son (black shirt), Kylin, Ben's son (blue shirt), and Boston, Katie's son (red shirt). Im pretty sure this picture brought a tear to my eye, not Terry . . . several tears. We love our family, miss them like crazy, but so grateful for the opportunity to serve our Heavenly Father and assist Him in making it possible so families can be connected for eternity.

If you and/or your spouse are thinking of serving a mission, put on your papers you would like to serve in the Family Search project. They need COUPLES, lots of them. You choose, 12 months, 18 months, or two years. We only have eight months left, the time flies by quickly, and like Terry said at our farewell . . . it's kind of like a second honeymoon . . . only better :)

This is a sneak peek for my next post . . . Iceland's water . . .that's what we missed the most while we were home . . . it is beyond superior for more reasons than one, or two, or more :)

God bless,
Terry and Lil