Jesus Women...

Before we left for Iceland Bjarni told us about a little church here in Selfoss that we should visit. Last friday I was talking to Bjarni on Skype and we went to the church's website and found out that a group of ladies from that church meet the first saturday of every month from 10am-12pm for food and fellowship. This group of ladies calls themselves "JesuKonur" or "Jesus Women". I think that Bjarni could tell that I was feeling a little depressed or something that day so he encouraged me to go. By the end of the conversation I decided that I would attend the meeting.
The next day I got up and got dresses for the meeting. I could tell that Sy was happy that I was trying to get involved and meet some new people. I got there about 10 minutes late because I got lost, of course. In my defense, the little church was kindof hidden, if you will, behind a grocery store. When I got there about 3 ladies greeted me with smiling faces at the door. There were about 13 ladies there. There was also food and drinks, but I wasn't hungry...After a few minutes a lady, I assumed the worship leader, got up in front of the group and began to lead the ladies in song. All of the songs were in Icelandic, however I did recognize soem of the melodies. They sung about 5 songs. After the singing one of the ladies that had greeted me at the door came over to me and asked me if I would like her to translate for me. I was thrilled! Of course I wanted a translator! One of the ladies from the the group got up and shared what the Lord had been teaching her lately. She spoke about what it means to fear the Lord. She talked about that word 'fear' and how she has learned that it doesn't neccessarily mean to be afraid of God, but more so to revere Him or reverence Him. She also tied her message about fear in with obedience and love. She said that when she was young child she used to obey her parents out for fear of not being loved. That struck a cord with me...And I wondered how many times I have done the same thing...I am sure many times...But then I thought, isn't it wonderful that we have a Savior that loves us unconditioinally...no matter what we do or don't do...Romans says that nothing can seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!
I was so happy that I went to the Jesus Women meeting that day...I left really encouraged! I also met several new friends: a lady named Michelle who is orginally from the Phillipines. She moved to Iceland 2 years ago with her husband and son. She goes to FSU for training in Icelandic and she offered to get together with me so that we could practice our Icelandic skills together. I also met another lady who just found out that she and her husband are expecting their second child. She is actually the pastor's wife. Appartently, they have a 5 year old daughter already, but had trouble getting pregnant again. They have been having fertility assistance and just found out that the procedure worked and that they were pregnant!