I just posted on another post and included Iceland in what I was saying (because it is a Scandinavian country), but I just realized that I do not know if there are, in fact, Mormons in Iceland.

Does anyone know?

Has anyone served a mission there?

From a nationalistic standpoint, the Icelanders can be feisty, and IF there are Mormons in Iceland, they (as more or less a country) may be most interested in taking this [a similar fraud case] on, on behalf of their country in general.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2014 02:56AM by tevai.

"The Mormons have a fairly small presence in Iceland, but worth mentioning for historical reasons. In the nineteenth century, LDS missionaries came to Iceland and converted a few local residents. In 1855, these residents would become the genesis of the first Icelandic community overseas in Spanish Fork, Utah.[11]

"As of January 1, 2012 Iceland had 265 LDS members in 2 branches (Reykjavik and Selfoss).[12] A family history center for the church is also located in the Reykjavik meetinghouse.[13]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Iceland#The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints

Thank you, Fetal Deity!

I guess, with less than 300 members in the country, Iceland probably isn't going to be a high-level priority...right???

;)

Time for some Mormon math, 300 members in an overseas country, divide by half...figure that for an overseas country, the Morg is more deceitful than normal, so divide again, carry the one...

There are probably, at best, a hundred Mormons in the whole entire country, and that figure probably includes a fair amount of children. Figure that a fair number of those are Utah transplants working in the country temporary, there are probably only a handful of native Icelander families that consider themselves members of the cult, and I would be surprised if most of the members of said families have moved on from the church.

This is just speculation though. For all I know, there could actually be stout 300 Nordic members in the country, each paying a full and fair tithe, and just waiting for the chance to scrub the toilets on Saturday.

Absolutely true, Steve!

:)

As a missionary in Sweden I remember hearing that Iceland was part of the Danish mission and only had about 6 Icelandic speaking elders assigned to it. This was 10+ years ago. Living in Sweden after my mission I recall meeting a few Icelandic members at a single adult type of activity that included ysa from other Nordic countries. Very small Mormon presence, as mentioned by other posters. Northern Europeans tend to be too smart to be deceived by the Mormon cult.

Some Icelandic mormons left about the same time as the big migrations from mainland scandinavian countries. There is actually a golf course there - either the whole golf course or one hole is named Mormon something. Its been over a decade since I was in Iceland so I forget.

Iceland has a very high literacy rate -- 99%. People who can read effectively and have internet access have little interest in Mormonism.

I knew a guy who went on a mission to iceland in the eighties, he left the church soon after

I would have left my mission and stayed in Iceland. That
island fascinates me.

I am getting ready now to leave for the day...but before I do leave I want to thank everyone who responded.

With the great information y'all have provided, it seems that Iceland would probably not be the most productive choice of a country to take Tom's strategy to next!!!

Many thanks to all...and I will be back on tonight, when I return from my Saturday adventures...

I hope today is GOOD for all of you.

:) :) :)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2014 10:09AM by tevai.

She goes on to tell how the young man immigrated to Europe, and then to the US where he joined the handcart Mormons and trekked off to Utah.

Yes, and many are cold, but few are frozen.

A++.

I love your posts, Don.

maybe they were thrown into volcanos.

damn that mid atlantic ridge !

Hi Bishop Rick,

It almost sounds like you entered the basement flat of Halldor Hansen. We, as missionaries lived in the flat and on the bedroom wall was a large mural of the first vision. I was there in '82 so you may have spoken to me. The house was near the pond on Laufasvegur Street.

The Icelandic mission was fantastic. At most we had 8 missionaries all serving in Reykjavik, the capital. At one time during my mission I believe we got down to four for a very short period of time.Learning the language was difficult but the group of Elders I served with were all very diligent about speaking the best we could.Most of the time when we spoke Icelandic we received a response in English. We wanted to practice the language and the Icelanders wanted to show us how well they spoke English. And to my surprise, the Icelanders speak better English than most of us. 30+ years later, I still try to say a few things in Icelandic. The lack of practice is a detriment though.

When I was there we had a very small branch in a building across the street from Hallgrimskirkja. A monument in Reykjavik. Our branch president and his first counselor died from a hiking fall my first year. It was a tough time for the branch. Pall and Gunnar were good men.

Foods I miss: Icelandic Pancakes, skyr (a must with brown sugar) and appelsin orange drink.

Foods I don't miss:Hakarl(google it you will see why),blóðmör(blood pudding),lifrarpylsa(liver sausage)and svið(sheep's head)

And yes, I have tried them all. Some were full meals at an invited dinner so "one can't be rude". Yuck

Hope this gives a little insight from someone who was there. It was a blast. I miss the people and the island.

Sounds like an absolutely fascinating place to go. I always wanted to go there. Did you see the Walter Mitty film? Whole parts of it took place in Iceland. And what a language. They always say that it's still mutually intelligible with Old Norse. Did you also work out of the Denmark mission back then?

I was stationed at Keflavik nato base in 81-82 and I remember walking through downtown Reykyavik and seeing a poster of JS gazing at the pillar of light above his head. I went in and said hello and the english-speaking folks there told me about the small branch they had there. If I remember correctly they were not Icelanders but also it seems they were not standard 19-yr old missionaries either.
There were always military mormons there as long as the NATO base was open but it closed in 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Air_Station_Keflavik

they were in our group at the MTC. I have met 2 members who have moved from Iceland. I think it is pretty common for converts to leave the country and come to the US.

Cummorah says there are currently less than 300 members; I know there is an LDS building in Rekjavik; a co-worker from iceland who knew I was a scandinavian LDS missionary told me about it. Although the church is small he said he had been tracted up many times.


http://www.cumorah.com/index.php?target=view_country_reports&story_id=146

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/20/2014 12:01AM by steve benson.

at a golf course in Iceland is called 'The Mormon Hole.' Dunno why.

Funny but true, my dear daughter is taking her 11 year old son to Iceland for a Thanksgiving getaway.

Too bad I can't fit in her suitcase. :O(

From the Icelandic Census of 2013:

http://www.statice.is/?PageID=1180&src=https://rannsokn.hagstofa.is/pxen/Dialog/varval.asp?ma=MAN10001%26ti=Populations+by+religious+organizations+1998-2014+%26path=../Database/mannfjoldi/Trufelog/%26lang=1%26units=Number


And the number shall be 185...


Here's the 'home page' for religions on the census website:

http://www.statice.is/Statistics/Population/Religious-organizations


And here's the real home page: http://www.statice.is/pages/916

Jehovah's Witnesses: 693

Wow!!! :D

I had forgotten I started this thread (eight months ago!)...and I REALLY appreciate all the replies!! Superb and expert information...and great fun, too.

I was laughing my way through this tonight...and--as a mostly vegetarian for about twenty-five years now--I am SO GLAD I don't have to eat the non-veg Icelandic foods.

I DID Google hakarl [Oh, GOD!!! :( ]...and I'm not even the tiniest bit more enthusiastic about blood pudding, or sheep's head, either!!! (Skyr, though...skyr is delicious!)

Thank you SO MUCH...everyone!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2014 10:04PM by tevai.

LDS Inc. has been there since the 1850's and there are only 265 total members (which means there are only 125 or so active members).

That's pretty poor results people.

Yes, a TBM friend of mine served there. I never asked him about the details.

Haldor Laxness wrote a novel about an Icelandic convert. I think it is called Paradise Regained. I read a Dialogue article or review about it ages ago. He researched the Icelandic Mormon community in American Fork.

One of my friends and his wife served a mission to Iceland a few years ago, but had to return due to his heart trouble. He had been on the First Presidency's short list to become a mission president, probably of the Bangalore mission. Anyway, they were never able to go back out, I think. (After I quit the church, our contact has waned.)

The Mormons have always tried to run the effort from the Denmark mission. I am left wondering if they realize that it's a different culture with different language. I know they have the BoM in Icelandic, but that may be it. My friend had told me that none of the missionaries are/were trained in the language. A bigger problem is that the national population is likely too small to ever permit the formation of a nucleus of membership that would sustain itself, and the Mormons would be perpetually left with a couple branches that were composed mainly of missionaries. And it's so brutally expensive there--would the LDS church ever allow that much money to be stuffed into the country knowing how small the payoff would likely be?

The biggest problem, of course, is that Iceland is a very non-religious country. Winning converts to anything would be difficult. And they are well-schooled and know hucksters when they see them.

Cumorah.com says there are 247 members (that would be roughly 70-75 "active" people) in 2 branches countrywide, with 3 convert baptisms in 2010. Again, does the LDS church want to continue flying people there and renting expensive buildings? What do they hope to gain?