saying goodbye

Monday morning was downtime, so I took the opportunity to start packing. Linda made a wonderful brunch of omelettes and toast which filled the B&B with a great aroma. We skipped lunch to ready our appetitte for Gyða´s cooking. Her meal was delicious and plentiful. It was hard to say goodbye. I hope they will use the lessons we leave and continue to grow. I urged them to stay with us in Georgia the next visit to the States.

There are things which I have not mentioned about the guesthouse we have stayed at for the past 13 days that are wonderful. The couple who manages this place are very nice and helpful. The kitchen is well supplied with drinks and food that are offered always and has helped with the cost of eating out. The entire inn has beautiful photos hung everywhere which show the beauty of this island. We have met many people from all around the world- Scotland, Austria, Russia, France, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and those from Iceland flying out to other places. We were able to help the couple from Italy with sightseeing tips because of William´s expertise. It was nice to help others.

I am ready to head back. The country is beautiful and has been a good stay but I am ready for home and to smother my children with hugs and kisses. I hope you all have enjoyed the blog. I have never blogged before so we have learned as we go. Love to all and see you soon!
Katrece

We are heading back to the States today. We will get to Boston and spend the night there. Our flight from Keflavik gets into Boston too late for us to catch a flight to Atlanta.

We have had a good visit. The total number of teaching hours is 12. That is all we were able to do with the schedule of everyone here. Lat night we were invited to Marias and Gyða´s house for supper. She made fisk (fish). Jimmie told her it was the best meal we had eaten in Iceland. That is true. We have had decent meals in Iceland (no complaints) but her cooking is excelent. Charles can tell you that as well.

I have started another ad campaign in Morgunblaðið - One of the major news papers here. It is actually a good thing I went the wrong way to find the Morgunblaðið building last week. Over the weekend we were told that the latest version of the Icelandic Bible had 1 Corinthians 6:9 changed. It no longer condememns homosexuality. It is not mentioned on the list of those who will not see heaven. There has been a bit of an outcry among some in Iceland concerning this and other changes. Thanks to Linda we used this in our ad for the BCCs. "Has Someone Changed the Bible? Study what it actually says in a free Bible Course."

We went for what I thought would be a short visit to Linden. The religious radio station in Reykjavik. I guess I should have expected that it would be longer. We went to introduce Katrece, and the Hills to those in charge (a couple named Mike and Sheila) and to see if they were using our radio programs. It turned into quite a visit with coffee, tea, chocolate and Pentacostalism. They have not used our material and say they are interested in the one minute programs. I hope they use them. Like the Omega TV station, Linden Radio is founded on a determination against the Lutheran Church of Iceland. The state church is a pathetic tax eating thing.

I hope someone can come for a longer stay and perhaps an extended visit to help the Christians here.

Teaching 6 children with a limited resources

Keeping the children´s attention in their first Bible class was challenging for Linda and me. We tried to get them to sing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" in Icelandic with the children not knowing the tune and Linda and I not knowing Icelandic. I think we did our best and hope they will try to keep the Bible classes. The lesson was simple and translated so I think that went well. They knew the answers as we kept reviewing. We had pages to go with the lesson that they enjoyed coloring. We hope the ladies saw how easy it is to teach a simple lesson without much material. Unfortunately after the children´s Bible class the kids left for another room and did not stay for worship. That was disappointing after we taught and encouraged in the week´s lessons how the children need to be in worship. There is still a lot of work to be done. William thinks overall much was accomplished so I will try to look at it that way also.

Tonight the four of us snacked together and played cards again. It is a good friendship.
Love to everyone and I look forward to being home soon- Katrece

Today ended a beautiful day. It started off wet and cold but ended up sunny and clear. It was clear yesterday and it became almost as clear today. It becomes astonishing when you are so accustomed to seeing distant mountains as hazy that are suddenly extraodinarily clear, or suddenly seeing mountains you did not know were there.

Linda and Katrece taught the children´s class today. The ladies were with them in the hopes that they would be encouraged to teach the children in classes. That was a first for Iceland.

I taught the men and then gave the sermon. In worship we sing one song simultaniously in Icelandic and English. Then we sing the rest in Icelandic since there is no English version of those hymns. All in all things have gone well. We were able to gain everyone´s trust and answer questions that were hanging around. I know they have been strengthened. How long will it last? They need someone here that is strong and can help every day.

Today may be our last day with Marias and everyone here. It is possible we may be able to do something on Monday but that has yet to be planned out. yesterday was lay-low-and-quite day. We may have overdone it on Friday and we needed to rest. Yesterday was the clearest day I have ever seen here. I honestly did not realize how beautiful Keflavik actually is. The view on the horizon is usually clouded even if the sky above is blue so you do not see great distances. Yesterday the horizon was clear and the view from the coast was stunning. There is sea and then from one side of the ocean to the other (left to right) is nothing but distant snow covered mountains. It was an unbroken, panoramic view. Charles and I were suprised when the clouds lifted one day in January but yesterday was even clearer. You could see the whole northern landscape from Keflavik.

After the last lesson, we were able to get Marias to agree to have a children´s Bible class. I suggested Linda and I could teach and show the ladies how easy it is to conduct. His grandchildren would be there for once because of babysitting and we wanted to jump on the opportunity. Linda and I decided later to teach on Jesus feeding the 5000. The youngest child knows how to say Jesus so we thought that would be a good lesson. Linda has been trying to translate "Jesus Loves Me" in Icelandic to sing to them but it is difficult. We will work on it more today. We do not expect them to learn songs in English.

Friday was a day to ourselves and William took us on an adventure. It was not a day for an umbrella! I have never felt such cold or hard wind. My legs were going numb! But we saw the most beautiful landscape and took pictures which will not do justice. William said this in January and now that I am here, I understand even better. A coastal cliff we took many photos at was unbelieveable and later the pictures did not show the beauty. William wanted to bring lawn chairs and just sit and drink it in. You would also.

I have met many people from other countries that are staying at the same inn. It makes me feel inadequate since they know several languages and can speak to me in English. I only know English and some words in other languages but not enough to converse. Everyone is very friendly.

In the evenings if we all are not too tired, we play cards. Linda is very good and won five hands of Crazy 8. No one else won. If I am Queen Frostine, Linda is Queen of Cards. We all get along well and that is good when on a trip together 24 hours a day for two weeks.

Friday was a beautiful day. We took a drive north past Reykjavik and up into Snæffellsnes to see among other things Snæfellsjökull. That is the volcano used by Jules Vern in his book Journey to the Center of the Earth and has a large glacier on top. The whole peninsula is a set of mountains and fjörds. We entered by driving on the south side of the mountains next to the sea. Here was a wind like none we have felt since we have been here (nor did Charles and I in January). It was fierce and unrelenting. During the drive I was actually able to use the wind to help slow the car while going down a mountain road. I have no idea how fast the wind was but it would have carried anyone away in baggy clothes. Once we reached the western side we were out of the wind. The northern side of the peninsula was even quieter.

We saw plenty of snow on the ground and in fact it was snowing in the town of Borgarnes which is funny because that is the way Charles and I left the town back in January. Yesterday it did not snow before Borgnares and it did not snow after Borgarnes but only as you enter and stay. Does it ever stop snowing there?

It is amazing how cold it gets here once you begin to go up a little in altitude. The roads on the coast were above freezing (about 3 degrees C). When we took a road on a mountain pass (one that does not go that high) we began to see ice everywhere and a large frozen lake. And when we began going down the other side we saw waterfalls a plenty where the snow was melting off the sides of the mountains.

We returned back to Reykjavik for supper and then back to Keflavik for bed.

Thursday was the end of our series of lessons. That makes 10 hours of lessons with questions and answers. Things went well. Jimmie spent two hours on his last lesson. Included was time spent answering questions such as: Are we saved by the blood of Christ or by baptism? We have to keep in mind these Christians know very little and they pick up things from the denominational world.

When I designed this set of lessons I hoped I could get them to commit to meet on a Sunday followed by four nights. They did. Today and tomorrow everyone is too busy to meet. So we will meet them again for Sunday. We convenced them to try a Bible study for the children and a seperate class for the adults before worship. That is progress.

We have managed to accomplish the things I had hoped for this trip. That does not always happen.

more teaching, shopping and Ikea

We headed off Wednesday morning to go to the large mall and find gifts for family. William is truly amazing how he navigates the town so easily in the squall we often face. He shifts gears, defrosts the windshield, makes those crazy roundabouts (like our intersections) and drives in heavy rain and wind. We have safely arrived every time. If I were here by myself, I would walk everywhere and not get as much accomplished.
Lunch today was back to the Ikea store for something new and cheap eats. I choose what they have as their daily special. It is a kind of breaded vegetable patty served with couscous and snow peas- very good. William, Jimmie and Linda all had chicken and eggplant. But the big thing was to go back for ice cream! They serve an ice cream cone for 70 kronur (50 cents?) that is amazing. It tastes like the best ice cream mixed with cool whip- full of cream and probably very fattening. You can have it vanilla or dipped in chocolate. YUMMY! William and I bought 3 and shared them. I was being teased by Jimmie and Linda but I don´t care- it was good! I told William I now will think of this as Icecreamland instead of Iceland. He said I can be Queen Frostine. That is why I love him.
Linda gave her lesson on the woman´s role in the church. There is still much they do not understand. The scriptures she gave and read for submission puzzled them and they thought they could never speak. Linda answered and all is well. She perfectly covered how a woman cannot take the lead in worship. Darlene said she had been asked to lead singing by the men in times past. Thankfully she knew that was not allowed and refused. Linda also taught what the women can do and needs to be doing. I then started my lesson on teaching children in Bible classes. I stressed again how important it is that the children are coming to worship and it would be very good to have Bible classes for them. We talked about how you can make learning fun and how to teach different ages. Before coming here, I weeded through some material on my shelf and brought examples of Bible class take-home pages and crafts. Linda and I told them they could make up songs for teaching in Icelandic and the children would learn better. I believe we made a lot of progress and we pray they will do what they have now been taught.
Love to all my family and friends-Katrece

On Wednesday we woke up to rain, wind and an outside temperature which was closer to freezing that I expected. We have noticed that it is generally colder now than the first few days we were here. I am also seeing more snow on the mountains. We have also noticed that it has been very very windy with powerful gusts during the day when we are driving to Reykyavik but later around sunset it become peaceful. The drive back to Keflavik after our Bible studies are rather calm.

We met again for our fourth day at Marias´ house. This continues to be productive. Jimmie began with a lesson for the first hour whereupon a question was raised and we spent the next two hours answering the question. It seems that Gyða is not convinced that a good man (a very good man) would be punished eternally by God if that man did not obey the gospel - become baptised. Her foster fother was evidently a very good man and read his Bible regularly. If that is true then he did not die as an ignorant man. He will be judged as one who read the will of God but refused to act wholely upon it. That is difficult to hear and is an emotional subject. The fact is that punishment waits for the man who knew to do right and did not do it. It also waits for the one who did not know the will of God and then died in sin. The Gospel is here for a reason. If men were in a place of safty in ignorance then God should never have given us the Bible which brings us the truth. And it is the truth which makes us free not ignorance. If ignorance were a safe place then Jesus shoud never have given the great commission to anyone.

It was a productive but tiring day. We returned back to Keflavik at about 10:15 P.M. and went to bed.

First let me get to the bad news. I intended to write about this yesterday but forgot to include it. I had Marias call our Icelandic BCC student. As it turns out he did not begin our courses but was signed up by a friend who did it as a joke. That is a bit dissapointing. At least we know someone saw the ad.

Yesterday was another great day. Before we went to our Bible studies I took everyone to the shopping district in Reykjavik. It is a place filled with shops and foreigners in Iceland. Let me tell you how unusual this is. I have had Katrece here for a complete week and only yesterday went shopping. She has yet to even see the larger mall in Reykjavik - the Kringlan Mall. Since it is raining today I think we will. Katrece has quickly learned the the word "utsala" which means "clearance sale".

I had mentioned earlier that spring was approaching. Yesterday it began to sleet in Keflavik and then later in Reykjavik. It was too warm to collect much on the ground. I learned in January that the weather here changed rapidly and can be very unpredictable.

The Bible studies went very well. I spent my entire hour on a question that had to be addressed. It was brought up in Jimmie´s class and we could not let it be a problem. Marias questioned why God would punish someone who was very good but did not obey the gospel? He could not believe that God would do such a thing. The answer to that question can be found all through the Bible beginning in Genesis 3. I hope we put this one to rest. He is very eager to learn and said he had learned a lot from us. All of Marias´ daughters were present again last night. This is going well but I know this small group needs someone here on a regualr basis.

Teaching what is hard to accept

Tuesday evening we met back at Marias' home for another Bible study. Jimmie continues with his 8 point lesson. In this study, Marias brought up a question that so many struggle with and we knew the answer would be hard to hear. He said he does not believe God would send one to Hell if they had been a good person. Later the men talked more about this and Marias was referring to Gyða´s foster parents who he believed were such wonderful people but now gone and not in the church. Jimmie and William both so gently, but through the Bible, showed the answer. He may now be accepting. I know that is a heart breaking fact to consider in my own family, friends and the world in general. Why else would God send Jesus to die?
As we separated for the next hour, I told the ladies what I taught would be hard to hear also. My lesson was on the home God wants us to have. I already knew that it is very accepted in Iceland to live together and have children and marry later. I had them read what the Bible says. They also do not bring their children to worship. We read many scriptures about teaching children and worshipping as a family. I encouraged them to watch their children´s friends and be sure they are making good companions as taught in I Corinthians 15:33. The 17 year old daughter goes out to meet others dressed immodestly and it is okay with Gyða. Linda and I will teach this more before our time is up. I made sure to talk slowly and ask Gyða if she is understanding. They all said it was clear and I did not get kicked out of the house. I now am catching myself using sign language while speaking. Afterwards I asked Linda if I sound as though I am talking down to them because it was bothering me. She said no and thinks they understood. This is all so new to me! We all are trying so hard to teach big lessons in the short time we have.

Monday went well. We met at Marias´ house for our series of lessons. I can definitely see progress. All three of Marias´daughters were present which is a first. His oldest daughter has shown no interest in the church thus far. Jimmie taught the first hour with everyone in the living room. He taught on evangelism which incorporates other issues and concepts.

We then seperated into classes and the men went to the kitchen. I taught on the responsibility of the local congregation. We also continued to answer a question which was brought up in the first hour. The question was on the Holy Spirit and miracles. I think we put it to rest.

I found two things in my class with the men: 1. the men are more interested in Bible study than I thought and 2. they are more ignorant of the Bible than I thought. I could tell by their questions and answers that they had been taught by someone but they are definitely babes. I fully enjoyed our time in class. we went slow and easy and let them read the verses from the Icelandic Bible. I believe everyone enjoyed our study together.

We are laying some groundwork that is needed. I believe they want to do the right thing. I believe we are helping them.

A furniture store for supper?

Our first class with the Icelandic friends went well. Jimmie gave the next point in his 8 point lesson and the next hour Linda taught on the ideal woman separately to the ladies. There is still a little language problem with Gyða and we encouraged her greatly to stop us in class and let us know. Linda did very well and gave many handouts which the ladies seemed grateful to have. Tonight on my lesson, I plan to go slowly and ask often if I am being understood. That is why we are here. Afterwards we went to the Ikea store for supper. In Atlanta there is an Ikea store that sells Scandinavian furniture but the store here also has a cafeteria. Marias said one can eat cheaply and he was right. William had pasta and I chose swedish meatballs. Our new friends helped us navigate the choices. I would like to go back and try something else another day. When I return home I will find out if the store in Atlanta does the same. It seemed strange at first, but I suppose it is no different than eating in the food court at the mall.
Our room at the B&B is above a fish market. We have to be careful of opening the window for fresh air because the air is not always so fresh. I am not complaining but it is one of the funny things you do not expect. Even though it is cold outside, the rooms are kept almost too warm and we crack the window to breath easier.
I am very spoiled with brewed coffee each morning. In Australia, instant coffee was the norm but here we have what I like. I am very grateful and happy. Love to all- Katrece

Good to be from Florida

I talked tonight to Gyða after worship. She is very sweet and apologetic for her English which is in fact very good. I know only a couple of words in Icelandic. She told me she tends to understand Americans from Florida better than other states, namely Texas. So that is good for Jimmie, Linda and me who have lived large parts of our lives in Florida. I don´t know what it is, but I'm glad she understands me. I thought people from Texas talk slow also! I have caught myself flayling my hands around and talking upbeat like Rachel Ray trying to make sure I am understood. Í'm sure I look ridiculous and need to quit. I spoke with another member named Darlene who is looking forward to the classes on teaching children. She is from the Philippines and has grown up in the church. Linda and I want so much to be of help in teaching these sisters what they need to learn. Please pray for us that we will be understood in more ways than just a language barrier.
Today was windy again and almost knocks you off your feet. The coat and snow boots purchased just for this trip were well worth it and very good protection. I send love to all family and friends.

Today was a great day.... but first let´s talk about Saturday. Yesterday we had to slow down. Jimmie was not feeling well and I needed him ready for today. Katrece and I did a few things on our own and then readied ourselves for Sunday - including laundry.

Sunday was a a great day. Katrece and I went to the grocery store and we all made lunch at the B & B. That was fun and different with an oven in celsius and symbols on knobs which required our guessing what they meant. We went to Reykjavik for planning the classes and worship and we had a full house at Marias´ and Gyða´s house We ate a small meal prepared by Gyða before worship and met Royce Sartin. He is the one we had heard was coming. As it turned out he was there to deliver some hardware for video conferencing. We worshiped with the Icelandic brethren singing in Icelandic and us singing along in English. That worked out very well. We were also introduced to a couple of Icelandic hymns where there is no English version. Jimmie gave a good lesson and after worship it became evident that things in Reykjavik have progressed. Marias has the Mac Lyon program airing again on Icelandic television. That caught me by suprise. We talked about our series of lessons and agreed to begin tomorrow in the mid afternoon. That is great - everyone is planning to be there. It seems this is working out. I am very happy about this. That is the all good news.

Okay, yesterday was tiring. Marias did not respond in any way so we waited on him. With the help of Jimmie and Linda we were able to locate where our BCC student lives - I know how to get there too. It was suggested (wisely so) that we try to correspond with the student before we show up at his front door. I had not thought of that. I was able to get his phone number from the phone book which took a bit of investigative work in that when he registered for the BCCs he did not actually put in his last name (or what we would consider a last name). You now ask the question: "How can you possibly find someone in the phone book when you do not know the person´s last name?" This is Iceland. No Icelandic person actually has a last name per se. They are given a firstname followed by their fathers first name and then the relationship to their father (i.e. son or daughter). So if I were Iclandic my name would not be William Howard it would be William Marlinsson - I am the son of Marlin. Marriage does not change a woman´s name either. Kristen Jenkins would never be Kristen Jenkins in Icelandic culture. She would always be Kristen Robertsdötter regarless of her marriage to Carl (the name Carl by the way happens to be a common Icelandic name). So what does this have to do with the Icelandic phone book? Everyone is alphabetized by the first name. So all the Carls in Reykjavik are listed together. Thus I was able to match the first name of our BCC student with the facts he provided and the facts listed in the phone book - whew. Aside from that Jimmie found the email address and wrote him. Thus we needed to wait on his response as well.

Morgunblaðið - okay, that is the newspaper just outside Reykjavik. I wanted to get our ad back in it for the next ten weeks or so as we did in January. We left in the morning to Reykjavik and I went on the correct road to get to the Morgunblaðið building, but just in the wrong direction. I discovered this mistake after driving a few Kilometers into the coutry. When I realized my mistake I decided we should just continue in our current direction to look at a few sites we were headed toward. I thought we would be back in a couple of hours or so. I was wrong. The first of the sites was easy enough and I had been there before. The next place was not listed on my map and I had never been there so I follwed the signs. We got back to Keflavik at about 7:15 P.M. tired and hungry. I am ready for a new day.

Today is Saturday morning and Marias has responded. We will meet on Sunday afternoon to discuss details on our meeting and for worship. I am very happy about this. That is moving in the right direction.

My goal for today:
1. Get everything ready for Sunday and next week
2. Let those who need a rest have their rest
3. Find our what our BCC student has said and respond as quicklyto it as possible.

Thanks to my sister I have made these posts legible. I want to thank everyone for their comments.

Hello Crawford. I received your comment as well. I hope all is well with you and Ruth.

Today was a long and beautiful day. We left Keflavik after hearing nothing from Marias. I had tried to reach him for two days with no response. As it turns out they had just returned from their cottage in Bjartangar. That is the place where Gyða grew up in the northwest part of Iceland.

We did some traveling about and then made our way to Reykjavik to check on our reservations at the Hotel Cabin (set for today). They knew nothing of our reservations. This at first appeared to be bad news. But as we were able to look at a room and ask about internet connections for Jimmie we decided that maybe it was best after all. Before we made any decision however we had to see Marias. He said he made the reservation for us at the Hotel Cabin or somewhere. What did he do? I realize Hotel Cabin is a strange name. It does not look anything like a cabin. It is a six story building in downtown Reykjavik. We went to see if Marias was home. Gyða was home and asked us to wait and that Marias would be back shortly. When he arrived he was confused about what the Hotel Cabin told us. He did not know what had gone wrong. everyone was introduced and we talked for awhile. Then Marias wanted us to go to a place called Amerian Style (it is a hamburger place). We talked about our meetings beginning Sunday. On this Marias began to hedge. This I expected. We had corresponded for weeks putting everything together, going through details and then when everyone is in Iceland ready to go it becomes unclear whether this can be done or not. I was prepared for this and tried to encourage him that this was a needed thing and we must try it. Also he lets us know that someone else is coming from the States for the weekend who is possibly here to look us over. We will see. I could be wrong but that is what it sounds like. I am ready to switch gears in this if needed and begin from square one. This trip will not be wasted. Am I discouraged? No, I expected this could happen and this may not be so bad.

My goals for Friday:
1. Go to Morgunblaðið (the newspaper in Reykjavik) and get our ad in again for our BCCs.
2. Look up our BCC student in Reykjavik. I hope to get a Bible study going there.
3. Take the DVDs and books to Marias - thank you WVBS

long day

We headed out this morning and did more sightseeing. The day was beautiful and cool. Drove along the coastline further and took terrific pictures. Not because of our photo skills but the landscape is breathtaking. Met with Marias and Gyða in Reykjavik and ate supper together at a hamburger place they thought we would enjoy. more later- Katrece

This post was cut short due to someone else needing the computer at the B&B Guesthouse.

Spring is definitely on the way. Things are different than in January. The sun is up early (about 5:oo am) and goes down later (after 9:00 pm). The snow is only on the mountains. We saw the sun for awhile then it turned cloudy. It seemed at first that everyone had packed too warmly - prepared for colder weather. Iceland does not disappoint in this. Once we all walked on the coast everyone knew (including Jimmie) that it was cold enough for all the cloathing we brought.

We took a late lunch at about 2:00. We went to the Olsen Olsen Dinner, the place Charles and I always went for lunch in Keflavik. It is close, it is good, but it is not really authentic Icelandic. The authentic dishes have proven to be expensive, so that will be for later. We all ate fish and chips and then took a tour of Eymundsson´s Book Store. That is store where I bought the Icelandinc cookbook for Melanie - she is now a reindeer cooking expert. We then took a drive around the coastline of Keflavik and then to a lighthouse a few miles away. It was low tide. The place was teaming with small flies. Charles and I did not have to deal with them back in January.

We continued on a quick tour of the area so everyone could get a notion of their surroundings. I drove until there were too many dozing off from the flight so we returned back to the B&B. Katrece was able to call the kids and they are okay. Katrece also tried Skyr and thought it was great on a cookie. Skyr is like an Icelandic form of Yogurt. I do not know how it is made.

We are here. After a very short night in a jet we arrived in Keflavik at about 6:30 AM. We get through customs and then are picked up by Hilmar and taken to the B&B Guesthouse. We all need rest and take a few hours of the morning to catch up with sleep. At 1:00 our rental car arrived. Katrece found the coffee and all is well. Today we will get our feet on the ground and get acclimated.

Today we leave for Boston then on to Keflavik. The last of the details are done. We should be there at 6:30 A.M. Wednesday morning.

Welcome to all.
Today we finish the final details for the trip. We leave tomorrow.