It’s been a positive tour de France…or should that be Iceland?

An Icelandic sheep (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As you know, it’s been some time since our last blog post proper. So, we were thinking, that perhaps the best way to introduce you to the lovely people we have been visiting would be to give you an overview of the people, places and events that have populated our diaries and then to dedicate one blog post to each family or group we have been visiting. On our travels we have met some really interesting people. To be fair, you only have to turn a corner to find interesting people in Iceland. There are, for example, relatively few people who don’t play an instrument, tend a small-holding, keep a summer cottage for family gatherings or who are aren’t imbued with an entrepreneurial spirit. On the contrary, when in Iceland, chances are you will rub shoulders with an instrument playing, museum keeping, singing, fishing, hiking, skiing, career-changing superhero/heroine just about every day. In fact, so frequent are these meetings that we have (sort of) got used to the vaguely troubling thoughts that accompany such meetings such as the impulsive desire to learn to knit, sew, hike, glacier-climb, keep sheep, play an instrument, etc etc. Thoughts such as these (you will be relieved to note) are quickly dismissed, although I will admit to buying a book of Icelandic knitting patterns published by the Hand knitting Association of Iceland. The only problem is, I will have to improve my understanding of Icelandic before I can knit any of them…phew, saved by my terrible Icelandic skills!

Anyhoo, I digress. Here is a list of the Churches we have been involved in supporting since Christmas 2012, together with the dates that either Chris or Chris and I visited:

Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands) – February 15-17.

Ísafjörður – February 22-24.

Höfn í Hornafirði – March 8-10 and April 26-28: Home Mission gathering

Stykkishólmur – January 25-27, March 18-20, May 10-12.

Kirkjulækjarkot í Fljótshlíð – February 1-3: Lost Generation conference. March 1-3: Pastor’s AGM. March 28-31: Prayer conference. April 12-14: Leaders training w/e.

Coming up!

Ísafjörður – May 24-26: supporting the local Church.

Stykkishólmur – June 8, 9 + 10: development work. July 4, 5,6 +7: helping at the national Pentecostal summer/family camp.

Vestmannaeyjar (Westman Islands) – June 14, 15 + 16: development work

The work we have been (and continue to be) engaged in varies from Church to Church as it depends on what the people of the Church feel they need. Future blog posts will focus on the development work Chris has been involved in at each Church and will include interviews with Church members on how the work they have done with Chris has helped them to become more outward facing.

Some articles they may be of interest:

• The Icelandic Sagas on In Our Time and “Memories of Old Awake” (citizenship.typepad.com)
• Homer in Iceland (thefirstgates.com)
• What’s Behind Iceland’s Shockingly Low Crime Rate (on.aol.com)

 

So, where have you been my whole life…?

Or, at least, where have you been for the last six months? Regular readers of the blog have noticed the lack of posts over the past six months. Thank you for noticing. It is fair to say that Life suddenly became overwhelmingly busy as I wrote the final chapters of my PhD thesis on dementia and then began a new job – more about the PhD and the job later. And, for the longest time, after the death of my beloved brother, I simply didn’t have the heart to write.

We have, though, been keeping notes of our adventures in Iceland and over the next couple of weeks I am going to transform those notes into blog posts. We hope you find them interesting and we hope they give you an insight into what modern missionaries get up to. We hope also that as you journey with us vicariously, Iceland and her people become as familiar and as dear to you as they are to us. Every blessing, Chris and Ethna

Happy New Year everybody!

Happy Christmas our digital friends…remember, Jesus is the reason for the season!

The Icelandic National Anthem

Ó Guð vors lands (O, God of Our Land), is the national anthem of Iceland. The lyrics are by Matthías Jochumsson and the music by Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson. The anthem has three stanzas, but most people only get around to singing the first one. The melody is considered somewhat difficult to sing, probably because it requires a vocal range of a minor fourteenth. The anthem is essentially a hymn, which has caused a few problems over the years. But those who love it point out that Iceland has a state church and that Christianity is by far the most popular religion. Thanks for the info wikipedia!

Sung by Icelandic choirs from London, Stockholm, Oslo, Lund, Gothenburg and Copenhagen. Filmed by Paul Barlow

Ó Guð vors lands (O, God of Our Land)

Ó, guð vors lands! Ó, lands vors guð!
Vér lofum þitt heilaga, heilaga nafn!
Úr sólkerfum himnanna hnýta þér krans
þínir herskarar, tímanna safn.
Fyrir þér er einn dagur sem þúsund ár
og þúsund ár dagur, ei meir:
eitt eilífðar smáblóm með titrandi tár,
sem tilbiður guð sinn og deyr.
:; Íslands þúsund ár, ;:
eitt eilífðar smáblóm með titrandi tár,
sem tilbiður guð sinn og deyr.

Ó, guð, ó, guð! Vér föllum fram
og fórnum þér brennandi, brennandi sál,
guð faðir, vor drottinn frá kyni til kyns,
og vér kvökum vort helgasta mál.
Vér kvökum og þökkum í þúsund ár,
því þú ert vort einasta skjól.
Vér kvökum og þökkum með titrandi tár,
því þú tilbjóst vort forlagahjól.
:; Íslands þúsund ár, ;:
voru morgunsins húmköldu, hrynjandi tár,
sem hitna við skínandi sól.

Ó, guð vors lands! Ó, lands vors guð!
Vér lifum sem blaktandi, blaktandi strá.,
Vér deyjum, ef þú ert ei ljós það og líf,
sem að lyftir oss duftinu frá.
Ó, vert þú hvern morgun vort ljúfasta líf,
vor leiðtogi í daganna þraut
og á kvöldin vor himneska hvíld og vor hlíf
og vor hertogi á þjóðlífsins braut.
:; Íslands þúsund ár, ;:
verði gróandi þjóðlíf með þverrandi tár,
sem þroskast á guðsríkis braut.

Oh, God of our country! Oh, our country’s God!
We worship Thy name in its wonder sublime.
The suns of the heavens are set in Thy crown
By Thy legions, the ages of time!
With Thee is each day as a thousand years,
Each thousand of years, but a day,
Eternity’s flow’r, with its homage of tears,
That reverently passes away.
Iceland’s thousand years,
Iceland’s thousand years!
Eternity’s flow’r, with its homage of tears,
That reverently passes away.

Our God, our God, we bow to Thee,
Our spirits most fervent we place in Thy care.
Lord, God of our fathers from age unto age,
We are breathing our holiest prayer.
We pray and we thank Thee a thousand years,
For safely protected we stand;
We pray and we bring Thee our homage of tears,
Our destiny rest in Thy hand.
Iceland’s thousand years,
Iceland’s thousand years!
The hoarfrost of morning which tounted those years,
Thy sun rising high, shall command!

Our country’s God! Our God’s country!
Our life is a feeble and quivering reed;
We perish, deprived of Thy spirit and light
To redeem and uphold in our need.
Inspire us at morn with Thy courage and love,
And lead through the days of our strife!
At evening send peace from Thy heaven above,
And safeguard our nation through life.
Iceland’s thousand years,
Iceland’s thousand years!
O, prosper our people, diminish our tears
And guide, in Thy wisdom, through life!

Lyrics by Matthías Jochumsson. Music by Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson

 

It feels like home to me…

Well, it’s been a bit of a strange year so far for the Parkers in Iceland. We arrived in Iceland in early January 2012, to be greeted by one of the coldest, snowiest winters to hit Iceland since 1984. Snow started falling in Iceland in Oct/Nov and forgot to stop until the end of May. Although those poor souls who had bravely pulled on a snowsuit every day for almost nearly seven months were getting a mite tired of the ever present white stuff, Chris and I were thrilled. We had missed Iceland and we especially missed the white stuff. Sad, I know. I am pleased to report however, that the blessed white stuff is back with a vengeance and as you can see from the photo taken just a couple of days ago, even the sheep were taken by surprise.

As you know from the last blog post, we returned to England to itinerate in the NorthEast of England. We managed to visit 20 Churches, the majority of whom we had a good working relationship with already and 2/3 we hadn’t had previous contact with. Five Churches decided to support us financially for at least the next twelve months. A select group of family and friends have decided to support us with a monthly gift for at least the next twelve months. We know the financial situation of our friends and we know that they are not giving out of abundance, they are rather, giving sacrifically. We are thankful for every one of them for their financial gift and for the way they have supported our vision for Iceland. Thank you one and all. We are also thankful for every Church donation we received and for every Church that has decided to support us into the future. Thank you so much for investing in us and in the Icelandic Church.

When we first moved back to the UK, the idea was to itinerate and try to raise the finances necessary to cover Chris’ salary for at least twelve months. Because only 5 of the 20 Churches in our region decided to support us financially over the longer term, we were left with a big gap in our finances. Others (aka sensible people) may have taken this as a sign to give up. But not Chris and I. Instead we choose to remember something we believed God had spoken into our hearts many, many moons ago. So that you understand the significance of what Chris believes God said to him, you need to know something about this lovely man of God who I am blessed to call my husband.

When Chris first became a Christian way back in 1992, he believed God spoke into his heart about how he would be trained up for ministry. Those of you who know Chris, know he is dyslexic. Chris’ dyslexia was compounded by the fact that he had attended more schools than most people have hot dinners (Chris’ father was an NCO with the Army). Unfortunately, this meant that no one person/teacher took responsibility for Chris’ education and as a result, when Chris emerged from the education system at 16, his general level of education was low (mainly because he was frequently sent out to work with the gardener or whoever else was around at the time) and his literacy skills were very poor. In fact, when Chris and I married in 1981, he was unable to write a cheque as he couldn’t spell well enough to fill in the amounts. Not to worry though, I wrote enough cheques for both of us

Several months after Chris became a Christian, he started to feel pretty down. He desperately wanted to preach, teach, lead ministry and get involved with various projects in the Church and start a few of his own. But, knowing his literacy skills were poor, he despaired that he would ever amount to anything. One day, as he sat quietly mulling things over with God, Chris felt God say (and here I take the liberty of paraphrasing as I wasn’t actually there), ‘Stop feeling as though you can’t do anything. I am going to teach you everything you need to know.’ The words were a gentle salve to Chris’ hurting heart, filling him with hope and, as you can imagine, quite a lot of questions. Just how would God accomplish this?

Over the years, God has proved Himself faithful in so many ways and when Chris needed to learn a particular skill, God sent a special man or woman to equip Chris with everything he needed. More than that, in every project Chris started or contributed to, God surrounded him with an endless supply of helpers and encouragers. Those of you who know Chris personally, will know he started, or contributed to multiple projects in England, Romania, The Gambia and Iceland and in each of those projects, God has used Chris’ unique skills to bless many hundreds of children, young people and adults. Over the years, Chris has developed and grown into a gifted preacher, communicator and mentor. He has though, never forgotten the day that God told him to stop fretting.

Because we have seen the outworking of this promise on an almost daily basis, we had no reason to believe that if God had asked us to go to Iceland, He wouldn’t sort out the things we couldn’t. So, Chris returned to Iceland and simply got on with the job of making the vision God gave him a reality. Within days of arriving back in Iceland in July, Chris discovered that the Church in Kirkjulækjarkot (Church by the river) had been planning ways to raise financial support for us as a family. Chris was invited to a meeting at the Church and was informed that the Pastor (Jóhannes Hinriksson) had decided to give up his salary at the Church so Chris could be appointed as a part-time Assistant Pastor. Jóhannes was about to take up a new job that would leave him with less time to run the Church on a day-to-day basis. So, he really needed someone on the ground. The Church Council was unanimous in their decision to appoint Chris to the post. Chris has been in post for approximately five weeks and he couldn’t be happier. Because the work at Kot will take up approximately two/three days a week, Chris has plenty of time to get on with developing the vision of the mission movement. As you know, Chris was appointed as an Elder to the Church in Selfoss earlier in the year. He will continue in that role, supporting the Church in Selfoss for the forseeable future.

There are a number of reasons for sharing this information with you. First, we want to be transparent in the things that we do, so that you know what our needs are and so that you can rejoice with us in the many blessings we receive.  Second, it is good to give God the glory when we see His plan working out in our lives. Too often, His intervention in our lives goes unrecognised. Lastly, we hope that in sharing something of our lives that you will be blessed and encouraged to keep going. Be encouraged that if God has asked you to do something, then even if things seem a bit bleak at the moment, His plan will come to pass. Still your fretting heart and know that He will sort out the things we cannot.

“For the eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” (NLT) Chronicles 16:9.

Enjoy the video below, it captures perfectly the sense of peace and strength we experience when resting in the centre of God’s Will…it feels like home to me.

Related articles

• The Perlan, Iceland (everyphototellsastory.wordpress.com)
• ‘Thor’ Sequel: Iceland Becomes ‘The Dark World’ (splashpage.mtv.com)

Continuing the great adventure in Iceland

It’s been a while since we’ve done a ‘proper’ blogpost so when Anna Roberts from AOG UK asked us to answer some questions on our new life in Iceland, it felt right to share those responses with you here on the blog. Chris and I returned to the UK at the beginning of May for a three-month itinerary. We visited 20 Churches across the UK, sharing the vision for our project in Iceland. The purpose of the itinerary was to raise financial support for Chris so that he could devote himself fulltime to developing our project in Iceland. We were unsuccessful in raising all the funds we needed, so we may have to think about another itinerary next year. Despite this setback, Chris is back in Iceland working hard on the first stage of the project. I will be following him shortly. If you are interested in learning a bit more about the work we will be involved in, download the PowerPoint presentation at the end of the blogpost. If after reading the blog you are interested in finding out how you can get involved in the project, please contact us, we would love to hear from you.

What is your vision for your second trip to Iceland? What do you want to see change and happen?

When we first went to Iceland in 1999, we worked with children and young people from (mainly country) Churches around Iceland. This time around we believe God asked us to work with the National Pentecostal Church of Iceland. Some time ago, God gave Chris a vision for Iceland. In the vision was a plan for linking the Icelandic Pentecostal Churches together via mission. Pentecostal Churches in Iceland work in a similar way to Pentecostal Churches in the UK, in so as much as they are all independent Churches in fellowship with each. Unlike their UK counterparts however, the Icelandic Pentecostal Churches do not currently have a robust infrastructure to support, guide and lead mission.

There are many aspects to the vision that God gave Chris and even after a short time back in Iceland, some of those things have already come to pass. But, I’m getting ahead of myself! In the beginning, Chris and I wrote down the vision and Chris shared with it a local Pastor – Jóhannes Hinriksson. Jóhannes was very excited about the plan and asked Chris to elaborate it further and to be prepared to present it to Pentecostal Church Leaders at their upcoming AGM. Leaders from every Pentecostal Church in Iceland were represented at the meeting, which took place over a long weekend. After Chris presented the vision God had given him for the Church, leaders were asked to vote on whether it should be accepted by the National Pentecostal Church as a project that would come under their management and supervision. The vote was unanimous.

What Chris proposed was that he and a small team of people would develop a ‘home missions’ department that would take responsibility for encouraging and supporting people to get involved with mission to geographically isolated regions of the country. Due to a combination of vast distances and difficult driving conditions, few people are in a position to visit country Churches on a regular basis. This means that some Churches are cut from fellowship, teaching and support during the long months of autumn, winter and spring.

What we envision is that Churches will contact Chris and the team with details of the support they need. That support could include a request for a small team to travel to the village and support the Church in their outreach programme, or it could be a request for help in painting the Church, or support to develop a presence on the Internet. Whatever need the Church has, the home mission team will develop a plan to support it. Meanwhile, Chris and the team will have a database containing contact information for people who have expressed an interest in contributing towards a project, together with details of their skills, talents, knowledge, preferences and availability. The idea is of course that the need of the Church will be matched to people with the relevant skills to help.

There is a launch conference planned for October 2012. During the conference, Chris and the team will expand on the vision, sharing their thoughts on how the project will unfold in the following 6-12 months. The project has caused considerable interest and quite a few people have already signed up to attend the October conference to see how they can contribute.

If you’ve a bible verse or passage that is a part of that please share it!

Our family Bible verse has always been Joshua 24:15: ”But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

What are you most looking forward to the most?

Well, that would have to be our first call from a Church asking for support! And of course, Chris and the team being able to respond by sending out workers. What a lovely day that will be.

What is difficult about going back out on mission after having been home – and you know what it’ll be like?

Well, this time we are going back to Iceland without our children – James and Kim. James and Kim were very involved in the development of the work first time round in Iceland, so it will be strange to go back there without them. They have promised to visit though! To be honest, there is nothing terribly difficult about going back out on mission to Iceland. Perhaps this is because we are going back to do something completely different, so there is a sense that we have moved on. We didn’t go back thinking we would pick up where we left off, which is always a bad idea, as of course everything and everybody moves on. Learning Icelandic is a challenge of course, anyone who has ever tried to learn it will testify to that! Most Icelanders speak English though and that is both a blessing and a hindrance. Because their grasp of English is so much better than our grasp of Icelandic, we often end up speaking English. Icelandic is though such a beautiful language, one poet (whose name escapes me) once famously wrote that he learnt Icelandic so that he could think. And, why not?

What, from your last time in Iceland, were you most inspired by/pleased with?

Chris and I were in Iceland from January to May earlier this year. During that time we were invited to join a weekend conference run by fellow missionaries Mike and Shelia Fitzgerald, a wonderful couple who hail from the US. They are the directors of Lindin Radio in Iceland, the only Christian radio station in Iceland broadcasting the Good News 24/7. During the conference, several people gave testimonies about how the children and young people’s work that we had helped to pioneer in Iceland was still going strong. They talked about the tremendous blessing the work had (and continues to be) to the Church, but particularly to the smaller country Churches. We were blessed beyond measure to know that our work had been so well received and was still blessing the children and young people. You can’t ask for more than that!

What preparations are you currently making for going back to Iceland?

Chris went back to Iceland at the end of July to begin putting things into place. He is already busy developing plans, meeting people and preparing for the conference in October. His feet haven’t touched the ground since he got there, which of course, suits Chris very well. I am still in the UK, writing up the final chapters of my PhD thesis, which is exploring aspects of dementia care. As soon as that is submitted, I will be returning to Iceland, ready to start the next part of our great adventure in Iceland.

Resources

Pentecostal Mission Movement_presentation

You know you’re from Iceland when…

There are lots of lists doing the rounds at the moment on the subject of, ‘you know you’re from Iceland when…’ this one from the howdoyoulikeiceland.blogspot.com is one of my favourites. If you come across any more, send them to me and I’ll dutifully post them

CORRECTION ALERT! I have been reliably informed (by an Icelander – thank you Jóhannes) that one of the factoids below is incorrect. The bit about trolls is in fact wrong:

Trolls don’t live in suspicious looking rocks, it’s elves, or Huldufólk to be more precise. Trolls on the other hand get turned into stone when exposed to sunlight.

You’re suspicious of pink fish, and wouldn’t want to eat it out of choice.
But you like eating rotten fish (and sheep’s heads).
Despite the cold, ice cream is a very popular choice of snack.
You consider a Toyota Hi-Lux a “runabout” and an F150 a small car.
There is no such thing as having overly large wheels on your vehicle.
You know that Icelandic jumpers are actually waterproof and wind-proof so may be used in all conditions.
Driving 150km to the cinema is regarded as normal.
You classify route 1 as a “main road”
Reykjavík is a big city.
You like Opal as you’ve been conditioned to like the flavour from an early age with the same brand sweets.
You have an involuntary impulse to say “How do you like Iceland?” when meeting a foreigner for the first time.
You use a credit card for all purchases, especially for less that Kr100.
You have been caught speeding by the police at least 5 times in the last year. When you get caught speeding you get a “25% discount” if you pay on the spot with a credit card.
You have Christmas lights up in your room all year round.
You have an urge to be a student in Denmark.
You eat rhubarb jam with beef.
Soup is considered a dessert.
The biggest parties revolve around horse and sheep festivals.
Whilst waiting for the correct time to go to the bar, you make as many circuits as necessary in your car on a “Rúntur” around the town, stopping at regular intervals at the local petrol station.
Although not particularly interested in whaling or whale meat, you like to take part to wind up the international community.
You have a personal blog, and treat this as the primary communication system with your friends.
Cod liver oil is non-negotiable.
You think any plant taller than 15cm is a “tree” and 5 together are known as a “forest”.
You believe in trolls (when foreigners are in earshot), and think they live in “suspicious looking rocks”.
You can actually pronounce the beer Egilsgull.
You have never heard of Magnus Magnusson, despite him being the most famous Icelander (ok after Björk)
There is no such thing as a time when you can’t say “Haa?”
You like using the letters ð and þ, but get confused by the letter z.

Related articles

• Iceland Booms As the World Struggles (itmakessenseblog.com)
• Iceland with Kids: around the blogs (alloverthemap.net)
• The Golden Circle – Reykjavík, Iceland (travelpod.com)
• BEST OF THE WEB: Iceland’s Economy Recovers by Going After the Banksters, while Europe’s Malaise Continues and the US Barrels Toward Collapse (sott.net)

How great thou art…

Feeling the need to praise Our God for all that He has done to bless our little family. For all the blessings we have received through the years…thank you.

For Michael, Paul and dad…much loved, much missed

Iceland calling…12 points!

Gréta Salóme and Jónsi will represent Iceland in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, with the song ‘Mundu Eftir Mér or ‘Remember Me.’ It’s a song about an elf and a mortal…I think it’s a winner!

NEWSFLASH: I have been reliably informed by my good friend Bryndís Sveinsdóttír that the song is not about an elf and a mortal but rather it’s about a bishop’s daughter and a farmer’s boy who worked for her father. Her name was Ragnheiður and the boy’s name was Daði. Her father had her make a chastity oath when he heard about her being in love with Daði. It is said that 40 weeks later she gave birth to their child and later died as a cause of that. Very romantic! I much prefer this version

Vitnisburður Ethnu á íslensku

Ég hef aldrei haldið bakgrunni mínum leyndum og þegar ég starfaði í Darlington AOG birti ég vitnisburð minn í fréttabréfi kirkjunnar. Í gegnum árin hefur Guð notað vitnisburð minn til að færa mörgum konum lækningu og von og þó ég þakki ekki Guði fyrir að hafa upplifað misnotkun, þá er ég þakklát fyrir það góða sem hefur komið út úr þeirri lífsreynslu gegnum árin.

Ég hef ákveðið að fara ekki út í smáatriði misnotkunarinnar hér, það nægir að segja að þegar ég var 7 ára gömul var mér rænt af nágranna og haldið fanginni í nokkra klukkutíma. Á þeim tíma varð ég endurtekið fyrir kynferðislegu ofbeldi og mér hótað. Mér voru gefnir peningar (til að ég þegði) og sagt að ef ég segði frá yrði fjölskylda mín drepin. Ég kom frá mjög fátækri fjölskyldu, svo það fyrsta sem ég gerði þegar mér var sleppt var að eyða peningunum sem ég fékk í búð á staðnum. Ég kom heim nokkrum klukkustundum seinna og hélt fast um stóran poka af nammi. Móðir mín sagði að hún hefði strax vitað þegar hún sá mig að eitthvað slæmt hefði gerst. Það var hringt í lögregluna og pabba minn. Þegar þeir komu var árásarmaðurinn flúinn. Það kom brátt í ljós að hann hafði misnotað mörg önnur börn á svæðinu, en óttaslegnir foreldrarnir höfðu ekki þorað að hafa samband við lögregluna. Þegar hann var farinn komu þau öll og sögðu sína sögu. Þetta var sorgardagur fyrir bæinn. Seinna var hann eltur uppi og skotinn í höfuðið af óþekktri manneskju og hann liggur í ómerktri gröf nærri staðnum sem við bjuggum.

Áhrif þessa atburðar á fjölskyldu mína voru hræðileg. Engin orð fá lýst afleiðingum þess sem gerðist þennan dag. Ég varð mjög lokuð, talaði ekki við neinn, varð hrædd við allt og alla. Foreldrar mínir ásökuðu sig, faðir minn barðist í þögn árum saman. Það að ég hafði verið fangi í húsinu á móti og hún ekki vitað um það, nærri eyðilagði blíða og kærleiksríka móður mína. Að hún hefði verið að sinna sínum daglegu stöfum meðan mér var nauðgað var eitthvað sem hún fyrirgaf sjálfri sér aldrei. Já við þjáðumst öll og vorum særð, en á mismunandi hátt. Misnotkun hefur ekki aðeins áhrif á manneskjuna sem brotið er á, heldur alla fjölskylduna. Eftir nokkra mánuði, lokaði hugur minn á allar minningar frá þessum dögum og það var ekki fyrr en ég var nærri sautján ára og reynt var að nauðga mér (og tókst ekki, þar sem ég sparkaði í klofið á honum og hljóp inn í búð eftir hjálp) um hábjartan dag, í afgirtum garði fyrir framan búð, að minningarnar byrjuðu að koma til baka.
Ég bað mömmu mína að útskýra hvað hafið gerst þennan dag fyrir mörgum árum. Hún gerði það og í fyrsta sinn gerði ég mér grein fyrir stærð málsins. Svo mörgum börnum nauðgað eða þau beitt líkamlegu ofbeldi, svo margar fjölskyldur niðurbrotnar, einn maður látinn, fjölskylda hans sundurtætt. Þetta var of mikið til að meðtaka. Í þetta skipti, ýtti ég minningunum djúpt niður. Núna vissi ég hvað ég var að gera. Þetta var eitthvað sem ég vildi ekki muna … aldrei nokkurn tíma.

Tveim árum seinna kynntist ég og giftist Chris. Lífið hefði átt að vera draumur en það var það ekki, fyrir hvorugt okkar. Chris komst fljótt að því hvernig það er að búa með manneskju með dimma leyndardóma fortíðarinnar. Sífelldar martraðir, ástæðulaus ótti við allt sem hreyfðist og dapurt geð sem skyndilega snérist í svartnætti. En ég hélt áfram að ýta minningunni niður, þangað til börnin okkar tvö fæddust. Þegar ég horfði á þau leika sér hamingjusöm í garðinum dag einn, varð ég allt í einu yfirbuguð af reiði yfir að barnæska mín hafði liðið í einmannaleika, ólýsanlegri sorg og tilfinningalegum sársauka. Frá þeirri stundu varð ég þunglyndari og þunglyndari.

Á þessum tíma var ég farin að sækja föndurhóp hjá Darlington AOG. Í tvö ár sótti ég þangað eða þar til börnin byrjuðu í skóla. Dag einn, ákvað ég að fara á kvöldsamkomu á sunnudegi. Allir voru hissa á að sjá mig þar, ég hafði aldrei talað um kirkju við neinn þegar ég sótti föndurhópinn. Ég var alin upp í kaþólsku kirkjunni og var búin að fá nóg af trúarbrögðum (eða það hélt ég). Á samkomunni þetta sunnudagskvöld heyrði ég rödd sem sagði skýrt “ég elska þig”. Ég heyrði þetta eins og talað væri upphátt og ég þekkti þessa rödd strax. Þetta var sama röddin sem ég hafði heyrt þegar ég var sjö ára, og hendur árásarmannsins voru þétt vafnar um hálsinn á mér. Þá heyrðum við bæði einhvern kalla ákveðið nafnið mitt. Það dugði til að brjóta þau illu álög sem við höfðum bæði verið föst í. Hann lét mig detta á gólfið og leyfði mér að fara. Þessi rödd hafði bjargað lífi mínu einu sinni og þarna bjargaði hún mér aftur. Ég tók á móti Kristi þá strax. Ég hef aldrei efast eða hikað í trú minni síðan. Hvers vegna ætti ég að gera það? Ég á allt sem ég þarf í Drottni mínum.

Líf mitt breyttist á undraverðan hátt eftir að ég frelsaðist. Þunglyndinu var létt af mér og kom aldrei aftur. Jafnvel líkami minn virtist léttari, það var eins og miklum þunga hefði verið lyft af öxlum mínum. Ég lærði að hlæja og gráta. Það mikilvægasta af öllu fyrir mig var að ég lærði að elska án skilyrða. Það var ný reynsla. Eftir að hafa alla æfi vantreyst fólki og ekki getað snert það, gat ég treyst fólki og sjálfri mér í aðstæðum sem ég hafði aldrei getað áður. Innan nokkurra mánaða sótti ég um í hjúkrunarnámi. Þegar ég lauk námi eftir þrjú ár, 1995, hófst það sem átti eftir að vera ótrúlega gefandi starf innan heilbrigðis og félags sviðs og í fræðimennsku.

Eins og hjá flestum hefur líf mitt mótast af reynslu minni, bæði góðri og slæmri. Sagt er að það sem drepur þig ekki gerir þig sterkari og í mínu tilviki þá held ég að það sé satt. Ef ég hefði ekki orðið kristin á þessum tíma er ég viss um að líf mitt hefði orðið allt annað en það sem ég nýt í dag. Kanski hljómar það eins og gömul lumma en styrkur minn kemur frá sambandi mínu við Krist. Án hans reikna ég með að hryllingur fortíðar minnar hefði yfirbugað mig. Eins og annað fólk (dýrðlingar sem aðrir) er ég sterk á sumum sviðum en veik á öðrum.

Ég er sterk í því að sjá aðstæður í heild sinni og geta um leið komið auga á hluti sem þarf að laga, þetta er hæfileiki sem ég nota stöðuglega í vinnunni, bæði í veraldlegu og kristilegu starfi. Ég er sterk í að viðurkenna mistök mín og er ekki hrædd við að bakka og leiðrétta það sem miður hefur farið. Ég er t.d. fljót að gera mér grein fyrir því þegar ég hef ekki rétt fyrir mér og alltaf tilbúin að leiðrétta og jafnvel ganga á minn rétt. Ef mér er stillt upp við vegg, þá vil ég frekar láta einhvern halda að hann hafi rétt fyrir sér, jafnvel þó svo sé ekki, því ég veit af fyrri reynslu að Guð mun seinna sýna viðkomandi villu hans. Mér hefur æfinlega fundist að það “að hafa rétt fyrir sér” sé ofmetið. Þó ég segi þetta, þá eru sum atriði sem þarf að berjast fyrir og vinna, málið er að velja hvaða málefni eru þess virði að berjast fyrir. Ég trúi því að veikleikar fylgi einfaldlega styrkleikunum; það er ekki hægt að hafa annað án hins. Þannig gerði Guð okkur. Í veikleika okkar köllum við til hans, í styrkleika okkar gefum við honum dýrðina, hvort heldur sem er þá er sigur á báða bóga.

Líf mitt heldur áfram að vera varðað ævintýrum á göngunni með Guði. Þegar þetta er skrifað er ég að ljúka doktorsgráðu í rannsóknum á heilabilun (PhD in dementia research). Heilabilun skiptir mig miklu máli bæði af persónulegum og faglegum ástæðum. Þegar þessu er lokið vonast ég til að geta unnið á Íslandi og notað þekkingu mína og hæfileika svo að fólk með heilabilun og umönnunaraðilar þeirra geti notið þjónustu sem er hönnuð fyrir þarfir þeirra. Ég vonast einnig til að vinna með fólki sem ekki er með minnissjúkdóma til að kenna þeim hvernig þau geta dregið úr hættu á að fá heilabilun síðar á æfinni. Verkefnin eru mörg og ég óttast að fólk með heilabilun mæti afgangi. Ég á samt stóran Guð sem þráir að blessa börnin sín og að vita það, er hvatning til að vinna eins vel og ég get og skipta máli þar sem hann hefur sett mig.

Hvað nú um veikleikana sem ég sleppti að tala um áðan…? Þrátt fyrir veikleika minn fyrir ódýrum matreiðslubókum og eldhúsáhöldum, þá eru eftir 21 ár á göngunni með Guði mínum fáir ytri lestir eftir, það er þó nóg eftir af þeim hið innra. Ég forðast samt líkamsþjálfum á næstum sjúklegan hátt, þó fór ég einstaka sinnum með Chris í morgungöngu þegar við bjuggum á Englandi. Ég skammast mín fyrir að viðurkenna að það var svo sjaldan að þegar sonur okkar James sá minn hluta af rúminu mannlausan kl. 6:15 einn morguninn fyrir nokkrum mánuðum, gerði hann ráð fyrir að ég hefði dottið fram úr og sofnað aftur á gólfinu hinum megin við rúmið. Honum datt aldrei í hug sá möguleiki að ég hefði farið á fætur snemma til að fara í göngu!

Þýðing eftir Lilja Óskarsdóttir

Photos of Iceland submitted to National Geographic

It’s not for nothing that Icelanders claim Iceland is the most beautiful country on the planet. Here’s the evidence…

Your Iceland Photos — National Geographic.

The midnight sun…

I wasn’t planning to write another post just yet. But the following video is just too wonderful to not share with you. If you enjoy the video, please consider voting for it here. If he wins, Joe promises to make another time lapse video for us to enjoy!

Happy first day of summer!

Although you would never know it from the freezing wind, today Icelanders celebrate the first day of summer. All over the country, memories of one of the coldest and longest winters in living memory are banished, hearts are gladdened and fantasies of a warm summer where one may gander about in t-shirts and shorts are nourished. Yes, all is right with the world. No wonder Icelanders made it a national holiday

How do you like our volcano?

Anyone who has ever visited Iceland knows the first question they are asked upon release from Keflavík airport is, ‘How do you like Iceland?’ In fact, you will be asked the question roughly ten times a day until the aircraft door is shut firmly behind you as you leave Keflavík airport. Icelanders, not behind the door at making fun of themselves as well as the former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (we don’t have much cash but we have plenty of ash Mr Brown), have two t-shirts hanging in the tourist shops windows in downtown Reykjavík. The first one says, ‘So, how do you like Iceland?’ and the second one says, ‘I love Iceland, now stop asking me.’

The recent volcanic eruptions have done little to dampen Icelander’s enthusiasm for enquiring about your frame of mind about Iceland. Except, now of course, there are even more exciting places to quiz you about. We don’t mind one bit being asked, ‘How do you like Iceland?’ because we like Iceland, a lot. In fact, við elskum Ísland. And, to be truthful, if Icelanders didn’t ask us how much we liked Iceland several times a day, I fear we would stop random Icelanders in the street and tell them how much we love it – you already know about my penchant for stalking unsuspecting Icelanders in airports.

Guðni Hjálmarsson and Guðbjörg Guðjónsdóttir. Pastors of the Pentecostal Church on the Westman Islands.

So, when Chris and I were asked if we would like to spend the weekend on the Westman Islands – Vestmannaeyjar and share our story with the Pentecostal Church there, we jumped at the chance and we are so glad we did. We spent the weekend at the home of the Pastors of the Church in Vestmannaeyjar – Guðbjörg Guðjónsdóttir and Guðni Hjálmarsson and had a blessed time with them and two of their three lovely children.

The Westman Islands are named after the first inhabitants of the islands who came from the west (Ireland actually) and are a cluster of islands off southern Iceland. The largest of the islands – Heimaey, is home to approx 4,600 inhabitants. Surtsey (the newest island) was born in a volcanic eruption that started in 1963. It is the newest island in the world.

A photo showing how close the lava flowed to many of the houses on the island.

Vestmannaeyjar are probably most famous for the eruption that started in January 1973 when a 1600 metre fissure opened on the east side of the island. The closest houses where only 300 metres from the eruption. Everyone had to be evacuated from the island. Miraculously,  the fishing fleet was in harbour because of bad weather the previous day and it was these boats that were used to transport all 5,000 islanders to the mainland via þorlákshöfn. Unbelievably, the evacuation of the island took only five hours. An estimated 250 million cubic meters of ash and lava was discharged during the eruption that lasted for five months and ten days. Before the eruption, Heimaey measured approx 11.3 square kilometres. Now,  it measures approx 13.5 square kilometres. 360 houses were ruined by lava flow and many more severely damaged. I confess, I still don´t understand why my request to sleep in a boat at the harbour during our stay on the island was pooh poohed. Given that islanders had escaped in boats during the last eruption, it seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea to me.

Chris and I arrived in Vestmannaeyjar on Friday evening after an uneventful 30 minute trip onboard Herjólfur (the ferry). We spent most of Saturday exploring the island with Guðni and Guðbjörg and really enjoyed hearing all about the long and varied history of the island. Keen to show us everything, Guðni drove us right up the 1600 metre fissure that had carried the molten lava down to the harbour. I think it is really exciting to see fissures, craters and the like on TV. Driving to the foot of the (still warm) volcano, centimetres from the giant fissure was however, way too close for my liking and I was palpably relieved when we began our descent back down the windy gravel track.

On Sunday, Chris and I shared stories about our life before we came to Iceland with the congregation of Guðni and Guðbjörg´s town-centre Church. I talked about our journey to Iceland so far and Chris preached a lively message on living large in Christ and of not being ashamed of the gospel.

The people of the Church gave us a very warm welcome. Isn’t it great, that no matter where you go in the world, when you are a Christian, you are never far away from a friend? After Church, I mentioned to Guðni and Guðbjörg that it would be great to collect some chunks of lava for the folks at home to look at. So, after tea on Sunday evening we walked up the slope of the volcano to gather some samples.  Guðni and Guðbjörg sauntered up like a couple of mountain goats, Chris did pretty well also. I made it in the end but by the time I got to where the lava was strewn about in gay abandonment, I couldn’t actually feel my legs. As we were winding our way back down the mountain (staying upright while walking sideways in a gale, isn’t easy), clutching our Icelandic treasure, I couldn’t help but hope that the folks back home appreciated our efforts to bring them a little piece of Iceland.

Due to uncertain weather conditions, we cut short our trip by a couple of hours and returned home to Selfoss on Monday morning on the 08.00 crossing, a journey of two hours forty minutes. Although the sea was choppy, we arrived well rested after sleeping most the way in a comfy cabin. All in all, we had a great time in Vestmannaeyjar. The weather was unbelievably mild, sunny even at times, although you still needed a good jacket if you were out and about. The company was superb and the volcano behaved admirably. To answer the question, ‘How do you like our volcano?’ Our answer can only be, we liked it very much!

Related articles

• Volcano Power for Homes (foxnews.com)
• Exciting Eyjafjallajökull in a Super-Jeep! (fikaafterfifty.wordpress.com)
• Confused.com’s Guide to Driving in Iceland (confused.com)

You ain´t seen nothin’ yet…

This is one of the many reasons that Iceland was chosen as the number one holiday destination in 2012 by Lonely Planet. This time lapse video was shot by Kiddi Kristjáns at lake Kleifarvatn and two other places during March 2012. I still remember one glorious night when we lived in Hvolsvöllur, Kimberley and I watched with awe the most incredible display of aurora borealis we had ever seen. We were eventually driven indoors by the sub-zero temperatures, but it was so worth it! It just never gets old.