Iceland: Chronology

1851 • Westman Islands, IcelandIcelanders Guðmundur Guðmundsson and Þórarinn Hafliðason, who had been baptized in Denmark, were the first missionaries called to preach in Iceland.

May 1851 • Westman IslandsBenedikt Hansson and his wife, Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, became the first converts baptized in Iceland. Their baptism generated intense local opposition.

June 19, 1853 • Westman IslandsThe first branch in Iceland was organized with Guðmundur Guðmundsson as president.

1854 • Reykjavík, IcelandSamúel Bjarnason; his wife, Margrét Gísladóttir; and Helga Jónsdóttir left Iceland and moved to Spanish Fork, Utah. Over the next 60 years, at least 379 others would do likewise.

1858–72 • IcelandNo missionaries were sent to Iceland, and the immigration of Icelandic Saints to America essentially halted.

July 1873 • Westman IslandsMagnús Bjarnason and Loftur Jónsson returned to Iceland as missionaries. From 1873 to 1914, 19 Icelandic missionaries who had immigrated to Utah returned to preach in their homeland.

May 29, 1874 • Westman IslandsA new branch with eight members was organized. Einar Eiríksson served as branch president for the next six years.

1879 • Spanish Fork, UtahThree years after his mission to Iceland, Þórður Diðriksson, a native Icelander, wrote the first known Icelandic missionary tract, A Voice of Truth and Warning, which was still in use 100 years later.

1880 • Westman IslandsBranch president Einar Eiríksson and 19 others from the Westman Islands immigrated to Utah. With their departure, the last remaining branch in Iceland was closed.

1883 • Copenhagen, DenmarkThe royal council in Copenhagen declared it illegal to impede the activities of Latter-day Saint missionaries in Iceland.

1885–87 • ReykjavíkNearly 50 Icelanders, more than at any other time in the Church’s first century in Iceland, were baptized. Nearly all of these converts immigrated to Utah as part of a larger exodus due to historically frigid weather.

1906 • ReykjavíkMissionary Loftur Bjarnason reported that all members of the Reykjavík Branch were faithfully “paying their tithing and attending to their duties generally.” A Relief Society, the first in Iceland, was organized in the Reykjavík Branch.

1914 • IcelandAs World War I began, missionary work in Iceland was discontinued.

1930 • Iceland James C. Ostegar and F. Lynn Michelsen, missionaries from the Danish Mission, preached in Iceland.

April 29, 1945 • Keflavík, IcelandNATO servicemen based in Keflavík organized a Church group under the leadership of Farrell A. Munns.

1947 • KeflavíkA servicemen’s branch was organized in Keflavík.

1966–73 • IcelandThe Keflavík Branch prayed that missionaries would be sent to the Icelanders, and Church leaders began evaluating the feasibility of again sending missionaries to Iceland.

March 23, 1974 • KeflavíkÞorsteinn Jónsson became the first Icelander to be baptized since World War II.

April 18, 1975 • ReykjavíkThe Iceland District of the Denmark Copenhagen Mission was opened by Byron T. Geslison from Spanish Fork, Utah. Bryon and his wife, Melva, served alongside their twin sons, David and Daniel, both of whom had recently served missions in Asia.

July 25, 1976 • Kópavogur, IcelandWith more Icelanders attending church, missionaries began holding Sunday meetings in Icelandic.

August 8, 1976 • ReykjavíkA branch was created in Reykjavík, with Gary M. Boekweg as president.

May 8, 1977 • ReykjavíkMaría Rósinkarsdóttir was called as the first Icelandic Relief Society president.

September 18, 1977 • ReykjavíkFrom Öskjuhlíð in the center of Reykjavík, Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, then a member of the Seventy, dedicated Iceland for the preaching of the gospel. The Church in Reykjavík had 56 members at the time.

May 20, 1979 Westman IslandsGerhard Guðnason and Hlynur Óskarsson were called as the first modern district missionaries, serving for three months in the Westman Islands.

July 15, 1979 ReykjavíkThe Reykjavík Branch was placed under Icelandic leadership with the call of Þorsteinn Jónsson as the first native Icelandic branch president.

1980 ReykjavíkÞórstína Ólafsdóttir and Jóhann Karlsson were the first members living in Iceland to be called as missionaries. Both served in Canada.

1981 Reykjavík The Book of Mormon, translated by Sveinbjörg Guðmundsdóttir and Halldór Hansen, was published. Sveinbjörg’s translations of the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price were published a year later.

January 10, 1982 ReykjavíkHelen Hreiðarsdóttir graduated from early-morning seminary, the first Icelander to complete four years of seminary.

August 1982 Lingfield, England, and Zollikofen, SwitzerlandPáll Ragnarsson and his wife, Klara, and their son, Ragnar, accompanied by Sveinbjörg Guðmundsdóttir, Þora Reimarsdóttir, and Ronald Guðnason, traveled to both the London England and Bern Switzerland Temples, the first temple trip by Icelanders.

January 1, 1983 ReykjavíkReykjavík Branch president Páll Ragnarsson and his counselor Gunnar Óskarsson were killed in a climbing accident. Their tragic deaths devastated the branch.

September 17, 1983 ReykjavíkA meetinghouse complex in Reykjavík was dedicated by Elder David B. Haight. It included a visitors’ center, baptismal font, and distribution center in the basement. The second floor had translation, branch, and district offices. The third floor held the chapel, classrooms, and a genealogy library.

November 1, 1983 ReykjavíkThe Church was legally recognized in Iceland. Elder Robert D. Hales, then a member of the Seventy, attended the ceremony that made it official. Baptisms and marriages would now be honored and recorded by the Icelandic government.

August 3, 1986 ReykjavíkGuðmundur Sigurðsson became the first Icelandic president of the Iceland District.

November 1, 1987 Akureyri, IcelandThe second Icelandic branch was established with Gerhard Guðnason sustained as president.

March 1988 ReykjavíkAn agreement was reached to transmit Music and the Spoken Word in Icelandic over radio free of charge.

August 14, 1988 ReykjavíkFor the first time, video of a general conference of the Church was viewed with Icelandic subtitles.

October 15, 1989 ReykjavíkSpeaking at the general session of the Iceland District conference, President Russell M. Nelson, then serving in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, invoked an apostolic blessing that Iceland would become “a lighthouse to all of Europe.”

June 1991 Salt Lake City, UtahSveinbjörg Guðmundsdóttir and Guðmundur Sigurðsson completed the translation of the temple endowment into Icelandic. In 1995, it was first recorded for use in temples.

June 1995 Lingfield, EnglandThirty-eight Icelandic members spent a week at the London England Temple, Iceland’s largest temple excursion.

June 30, 2000 Westman IslandsThe Icelandic Association of Utah donated a monument honoring the Icelanders who immigrated to America from 1854 to 1914. The monument was dedicated in the presence of Church and government officials.

July 4, 2000 Garðabær, IcelandA newly constructed Latter-day Saint meetinghouse was dedicated by Elder William Rolfe Kerr of the Seventy. Iceland’s president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson attended the dedication ceremony.

September 11, 2002 ReykjavíkAfter visiting with Iceland’s president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, President Gordon B. Hinckley met with Church members and visitors.

2006 ReykjavíkThe Iceland District was discontinued due to the imminent closure of the Keflavík military base.

January 28, 2007 Selfoss, IcelandThe Selfoss Branch was organized with Bárður Gunnarsson as president.

April 27, 2008 • IcelandIcelander Ronald Björn Guðnason was called as the first counselor in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission presidency.

March 4, 2018 • AkureyriThe Akureyri Branch was organized, with Ásgeir Guðmundsson as president.

January 22, 2023 • ReykjavíkThe Reykjavík Spanish Branch was organized.