What to say? I think that Rob captured the essence of yesterday in great terms. In reality, digital pictures will never be the same as living in the moment. I am glad that we have you readers to follow along, yet at the same time these are the places that a person truly wants to take those who are close to him or her.
Today we were in Kopavogur again. It was nice to return to our home base for a time. Now that we are adjusted to the time and the light here it is time to have our days filled, well except for tomorrow when we will for the most part fill our own day.
We started the day with a trip to Kopaskirkja to meet with a pastor, Sigi, who has been reading our blog (Hi Sigi, see you tomorrow). Sigi has done Clinical Pastoral Education in Madison and has served as a chaplain in London and so after a wonderful breakfast spread, he treated us to his experience of the Church Universal. It is great that on a cross cultural trip we should get to hear from an Icelander about his perspective on cross cultural Christianity. A few of us will meet with him again to meet with his church's confirmand students to share with them our thoughts on the question, "Why do you believe what you believe?"
After our very hospitable stay at Kopaskirkja we made our way to the Kopavogur city hall to eat lunch and meet with Pall (pronounced Palt) a theologian turned government official who helped us increase our knowledge of how the government and the church work together specifically in this community, but more widely throughout Iceland as well.
This evening we traveled a little north of Reykjavik to spend a relaxing evening eating more than our fill and being treated with a gracious amount of hospitality by Hreinn and his wonderful wife at their home. Hreinn is a pastor to prisoners in Iceland and will speak to us more on Thursday.
Hospitality here has been beyond imagination. If anyone of us goes hungry it is our own fault. That goes the same with conversation as well. It is important for us to be ready to be able to eat as much as is offered, because much will be offered. It is also important for us, as Rob described below, to be able to take in what is offered, as it is not always going to be palatable to the American tongue. None-the-less, it is wonderful that there is no holding back by our hosts of offering us what they consider the finest. But most important of all, there always awaits a glass of wine or bottle of beer, a cup of coffee, (or tea for me the lone non coffee drinker), and pleasant conversation where any lack of trust is a barrier quickly broken down and new friends are held in the esteem of old and familiar friends.
Gracious God, We thank You for Iceland, the scenery and the food. We thank You most of all for the people. As they have been gracious to us and have blessed us with their resources and their presence, we pray that You bountifully pour out Your grace and blessings upon these people, our friends. In Christ we pray, Amen.
Not much to add to that except that I have GOT to stop eating at other peoples' houses or else I might not fit on the plane! Wonderful day all around, and I think you captured it well. I also thought the 871 +/- museum was pretty interesting. Maybe the use of technology was a bit "2007ish," but still, interesting stuff. (Oh, and Hi, Sigi!)
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