Goodbyes!

Today we attended a very beautiful funeral for a member of the Reykjavík Branch. Gísli Ragnar Pétursson was only 72 years old. He was very active in the community and well loved. During the planning of the funeral it was projected there would be 130 people attend. Since our chapel is not big enough for that many people the funeral was held in a Lutheran Church (first picture outside the church). The Masons wanted to participate in the funeral services because of his membership in their organization. After the very beautiful Mormon, Mason, Lutheran funeral we went to a small cemetery for the burial (picture of the church at the cemetery). Our 6 young Elders were asked to be the pallbearers which was a new experience for them especially when there were handed the ropes to lower the casket into the grave.

Gísli was still working at the time of his death and his employer wanted to make sure there was a nice meal after the services, so we set up our church with every available table plus some and served an amazing amount of food. Over 200 people attended the funeral but we were so busy keeping the two food tables stocked and washing dishes, glasses and silverware no one counted how many came for the meal. We had 80 seats full all the time and many people stood and talked and ate. When you look at our small Church kitchen, you know it was a miracle to accomplish such a feat.