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