Icelandic Saints’ Flame of Faith

It should come as no surprise that even at the edge of the Arctic—in a land of wind and water, Vikings and volcanoes—the restored gospel has found a foothold, for the Lord “remember[s] those who are upon the isles of the sea” (2 Ne. 29:7; see also D&C 133:8).

A view of capital city Reykjavík, with snowy Mount Esja in the background. Inset: (left to right) Reykjavík Branch Primary children Önnur Einarsdóttir, Rakel Mjöll Gudmundsdóttir, and Thórinn Jónsdóttir. (Photo by Tod R. Harris.)

The Church in Iceland got its start in 1851 when two young Icelanders who had joined the Church in Copenhagen, Denmark, returned home to the Westmann Islands (off Iceland’s south coast) and began teaching and baptizing. When Thorarin Haflidason, who had been ordained a priest by Elder Erastus Snow, died in a drowning accident, Gudmund Gudmundsson, a teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood, continued to teach but lacked authority to baptize.

About two years later, Elder Johan Lorentz arrived from Copenhagen and baptized waiting converts, ordained Gudmund an elder, and set him apart as branch president. Persecuted for their beliefs (laws were passed prohibiting baptism into the Church), most early Icelandic converts immigrated to the United States. More than 150 Latter-day Saint families left Iceland between 1855 and 1913, most of them settling in or near Spanish Fork, Utah, fifty miles south of Salt Lake City. Efforts to establish a permanent branch in Iceland were given up in 1914.

Missionary activity resumed in May 1975, when Iceland, formerly a part of the International Mission, was assigned as part of the Denmark Copenhagen Mission. Copenhagen mission president Grant R. Ipsen had earlier visited Iceland and helped locate Icelandic Saints and invite them to Church meetings held at a NATO military base near Keflavík, a small town west of the capital city of Reykjavík. Two members from that period included Thorhildur Einarsdóttir, who had been baptized at age fifteen, and a sailor named Thorstein Jonsson.

Soon after, missionary work began in earnest among the native Icelanders when a descendant of the Icelanders in Spanish Fork, Byron Geslison, his wife, Melva, and their twin sons, David and Daniel, served as the first missionaries to Iceland (1975–78). The couple later served two other missions there (1983–84, 1987–89).

Between 1975 and 1977, about forty native Icelanders were baptized, leading to the organization of a branch in Reykjavík. The country was dedicated for missionary work in September 1977 by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, then of the Seventy.

A Church building in Reykjavík serves as meetinghouse, district offices, translation office, and visitors’ center. (Photo by Tod R. Harris.)

Today, Iceland’s more than two hundred Latter-day Saints are spread out among three branches: in Reykjavík; near Keflavík, a branch mostly made up of American servicemen and their families; and in the northern coastal town of Akureyri.

“Our branch faces many difficulties today, as it always has,” says Reykjavík Branch president Emil Thor Emilsson. Smiling confidently, he adds, “But we, as the branch presidency, feel strongly that many blessings are coming.”

The branch is currently blessed by its youth, young Saints like Fridrik Gudmundsson and Steinunn Pieper, who, though few in number, are good examples to their friends of other faiths. Fridrik, a longtime district missionary, is now serving a full-time mission in England, and Steinunn serves in Scotland. Another example is Thorbergur Sigurjonsson, age eighteen. “Many of my nonmember friends have problems in their lives, but I don’t do the things they do, and I can affect them in a positive way.” In Reykjavík he serves as Sunday School president and as a district missionary.

Because of Iceland’s high cost of living (nearly all goods except potatoes, fish, and dairy products are imported), many Icelanders work two jobs or long hours at one job. Gudmundur Sigurdsson, former district president, does both. In his truck, he makes commercial deliveries all over the island; he also raises and sells Icelandic ponies, keeping alive an ancient Viking tradition. He and his wife, Valgerdur Knutsdóttir, are also busy rearing their five children.

“We are extremely blessed here in Iceland in many ways,” Gudmundur says. “Times are difficult, but there is nowhere that is as clean or as safe or as beautiful as Iceland.” Joining the Sigurdssons for family home evening in the warmth and quiet of their living room, and looking out the window of their ninth-story apartment to the snow-shrouded peaks across the bay, one can easily agree with that claim.

For Icelandic Saints, their icy northern island is a special place, made more beautiful by the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Icelandic scripture translators (left to right) Ólafur Ólafsson, Sveinbjörg Gudmundsdóttir, and Sigurjón Thorbergsson. (Photo by Tod R. Harris.)

Reykjavík Branch Relief Society sisters enjoy a summer-night outing in the city’s center.