Silver Lining

We spent two weeks in Gilroy California for Grandpa Connett's funeral and to help Grandma make the transition from 63 years with Grandpa to being alone. While it was a sad time it was also a good time to be with family. All of the children, grandchildren and some great-grandchildren made it for the funeral and it was a very special time. One special part was the opportunity for us as well as Grandma Connett to see our two granddaughters that were born after we left on our mission to Iceland. Roxie and Lily are both beautiful little girls and we enjoyed our time with them.

The Passing of a Great Man - Husband, Father and Grandfather

My Father John Heathcote Connett Jr.

Born Dec 16 1916 returned from whence he came 3 April 2009

We love you and we will miss you!

Come Listen to a Prophets Voice

We are going to enjoy General Conference this weekend. With the 6 hour time difference we will receive the Young Women's General Session rebroadcast on Saturday at 2 PM and then the Saturday morning session live at 4 PM. All the rest of Saturday's sessions will be rebroadcast to us on Sunday along with the Sunday sessions live. Sunday will be a long day as we leave Reykjavik at 8 AM and will not get home until about 11 PM. We start with the Priesthood Session at 9 AM, Saturday afternoon session at noon, Sunday morning session at 4 PM and Sunday afternoon session at 8 PM. We will enjoy seeing all the session on a large screen. What a blessing to have the technology available to see and listen to our Prophet and the other General Authorities who speak.

Average Wind Speed of 40 MPH

Today we had our first professional tour in Iceland - called the South Coast of Iceland Tour. We went from Selfoss to Vik the most southerly city in Iceland. It was supposed to be a nice day but as you can tell from our pictures is was not too great. We only saw the sun for a few minutes and we were told the winds were an average of 40 MPH. Sometimes the 18 passenger mini bus was practically blown off the road and at times you could not walk forward or you would get blown so hard you would be running. We saw all before except for the beach when we went to Vik in November to teach an investigator. It was fun though to hear the tour guide explain lots of folk lore and other items. Of course since Eileen went to the library when we arrived in Iceland and got the most famous saga (history of Iceland in 1100) we had heard most but it was fun to get the extra and now we have more to share with our family when they visit.

ther interesting items. Most of the folk lore and history Eileen had already told us as one of the first things she did when we got to Iceland was go to the library and get the most famous of the Icelandic Sagas (history of Iceland in the 1100's). We now know more though than before so we can share even more with our family when they come to visit.

April Fools Day

I wasn't thinking in terms of April Fools Day last night when the storm was blowing up a blizzard. We had to turn around on our way to an appointment in the country after several white outs as Mom couldn't take it any longer. The inside picture of our entry was taken during the storm yesterday. Then this morning we woke up to the pile of snow against our door. Then look at the pile of snow I shoveled away from the door. This was not an April Fools Day joke as the snow was extremely wet and heavy. But then it started raining and warmed up so most of the snow is gone but not my pile of snow.

Health Falls

Last night I came down with the flu and when the Elders called to see if we could go see some sights on Preparation Day - today, I told them probably not as I not up to even thinking about it. Elder Fillmore quickly said that is OK and we will pray for you. I woke up this morning figuring I had at least a day of the flu to look forward to but instead the Elders prayer turned it into only a 12 hour flu. We also had planned dinner for our Branch Mission Leader who is leaving for Denmark to get married in the Temple and live in Denmark (I am the new Branch Mission Leader with Arnar leaving). So we did not have much time and Elder Teodoro said there were some falls near by. We drove an hour up into the higher elevations and found the first falls called Health Falls. It is even more beautiful than the pictures. We then headed down another road which had not been traveled since the last snow fall. The car was having trouble maintain traction so I had to disappoint Elder Teodoro as we backed back out to the highway. The next falls he wanted to show us was on a road that was not only not traveled but has a foot high drift across it. This one we almost got stuck on. So we only have the one falls to show today. We got home in plenty of time to prepare dinner but the oven would not heat so we were debating about taking dinner somewhere to cook when our guest called and said he had a problem. His best friend had also invited him to dinner and he didn't know what to do. I told him to enjoy dinner with his friend and we would see him tomorrow night at the YSA activity. So for today all has worked out. In case you are wondering where Sister Bremner is - it was too cold to get out of the car!

Thai Music in Iceland

This is part of the fun that Tree was referring to when we come back to visit next time - see post on the hooks. She is very proud of her kids and had them play for us. Of course Elder Teodoro enjoyed joining in with them since there was an extra instrument.