Little Spreading Lights

[00:00:00] Hildur: For sure, our, my country, Iceland, is the best place in the world to live, if you can afford it. We have, like Elia said, like the systems that catch us, if you lose your job or if you go homeless, are pretty much endless. We have, you can have anything physically that you feel like you could ever want or need. But, There is still a noticeable searching in my people that I see and that we see, and we notice even when they don't recognize it, they're searching for God.

[00:00:42] Matt: This is the Relentless Pursuit Podcast, where we hear stories from cross cultural workers on what it's really like to be a missionary, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

[00:00:52] Jess: Of all the countries that we've heard about on a Relentless Pursuit podcast, I think Iceland is probably a major bucket list item for a lot of people, right? I mean, it's got volcanoes and fjords and animals and nature and of course the Northern Lights, right? There's like so much. That's so much. It's so exciting about Iceland that a lot of us want to go and visit there. But it turns out, beyond all that, Iceland actually is in incredible need of the gospel.

[00:01:19] Matt: Yeah. And in this episode, we'll actually be talking to Elliot and Hildur, a couple that live in Iceland. Elliot is American, he's a TCK, brought up on the mission field, and his wife Hilda, um, is actually Icelandic. They met in that country while Elliot was there studying history, they were married, and now they're part of a church plant there in that unique country.

[00:01:43] And they also have hopes of also being involved in planting churches in Iceland. elsewhere throughout Iceland. So in this episode, we're going to start right off in hearing from Hildur about what it's like planting a church there, what the culture is like there. And this is not a majority Icelandic church that they're part of.

[00:02:02] It's actually a multicultural church composed of people from all over the world, as well as Icelanders who are there in the country. So let's get started right now hearing from Hildur about what church planting looks like in Iceland.

[00:02:17] Hildur: So our church currently has give or take 30 nationalities. So on any given Sunday, there's about 20 different nationalities at the church. And average attendance is around 100 people. So it's very diverse, a lot of fun. Very chaotic sometimes. Very chaotic. Um, we have big groups from Nigeria, Venezuela. Um, Middle Eastern countries and they cook. We have lunch every Sunday after service where different members of the church will cook. And I can't tell you how good that food is.

[00:02:57] Elliot: Well, navigating different cultural expectations, especially different cultural expectations of leadership and even what. What's the role of a pastor within the church? Because sometimes people come up, you know, and it's very like, oh pastor pastor OK , like Mr .

[00:03:12] Hildur: Bishop.

[00:03:13] Elliot: Yeah, there's a couple people who call me Bishop.

[00:03:17] Hildur: I'm Bishop Missus .

[00:03:18] Elliot: It's kind of a joke, but it's a navigating that now and then on the other hand you have You know you have especially like Icelandic culture by and large is fairly suspicious of leadership and titles mean very little without kind of the Relationship to back it up and the the kind of proven track record to back it up.

[00:03:36] And so navigating between the, between kind of those two extremes and kind of, and then of course it runs the spectrum in between that, that can be challenging. It's also challenging sometimes because some of these people come in, they don't speak English or Icelandic and we don't necessarily speak their language.

[00:03:51] And so there's a lot of Google translate that gets used. We translate the manuscripts of our sermons into Probably eight or nine different languages every week, uh, and we just got some AI software at the church to basically give live subtitles in different, in different languages.

[00:04:08] Hildur: We also have a live Spanish translation going.

[00:04:10] Elliot: And we have a live Spanish translation going. But yeah, different, navigating different expectations. I think it has been challenging in some ways. At the same time, we've been blessed with a pretty high degree of flexibility in the people that come, like there's kind of, there's a willingness to kind of, everyone recognizes like, okay, we're foreigners here. We'll kind of adapt to whatever this culture is. And when you kind of have most people willing to do that. It makes

[00:04:35] Hildur: It's beautiful.

[00:04:37] Elliot: Yeah, there's not, I'm not sure. I can't think of any cross cultural conflicts that have arisen so far, not between like the church membership or anything or the attendees. Like, I don't think people have come very open and very willing and very, very desirous of community and to be in community together and to fellowship together. And I mean, people come. Not really. I mean, I think it's, I think it would be challenging for us to go to a church week after week where we didn't speak at least one of the languages, you know, to have to sit there and read, read a manuscript that may or may not be stuck to, you know, depending on who's preaching, uh ...

[00:05:18] Hildur: Try and have conversations with other people in the community through Google Translate. I've had people explain to me that their father just passed away this week through Google Translate and just Not being able to react to that immediately, waiting for the translation to come in correctly, and then looking up to confirm, like, did your father pass? Or, like, did he pass you a ball? Like, is, you know, like, you have to kind of be aware that, like, Google Translate makes mistakes.

[00:05:45] And so having, like, deep theological conversations, like, through translation, can be very challenging. But like Elliot said, there has been just this willingness to die to in our congregation that has made it so that we can have a church with so many nationalities and not had a single, like, we've not had any group that's broken off.

[00:06:10] You know, we all of a sudden had a lot of Spanish speakers and they started their own Bible study, but they still attend the same services that we do. There's no factions, like, leaving the church. And so that has just been really beautiful to watch.

[00:06:26] Jess: Yeah, that's awesome. It's like such a beautiful picture of like, you know, even kind of like what heaven would look like with all the different nationalities and just imagine when you get to worship again in heaven, but without using Google translate, right?

[00:06:41] I mean, but it's, um, it makes such like a, it's such a beautiful reflection of what church is supposed to be like. Um, I imagine, is that like, normal for a church in Iceland to look kind of like what your guys church looks like? I mean, what do like Icelanders think when they walk in?

[00:06:57] Hildur: Icelanders probably feel like they're walking into a zoo, or like what we have. I feel like you can only find at like a fair or like a Like, like if they have like a national day of like international cuisine day downtown or something, I don't know of anywhere I could go where I could find people from such different backgrounds and not just geographically, but politically and just like the lives that they've lived.

[00:07:25] We have a lot of like refugees. And then we also have. People who live really good lives, who have like wealth, and we have everything in between. Honestly, Icelanders who walk into our church, walk into something they've never seen before. And like, most, most of the Icelanders who come to our church are not Christians.

[00:07:46] And they leave. And they have told us, they left that first time coming to church feeling loved and feeling appreciated and feeling that people wanted to know them for who they were. I think this just little touch of heaven that's there of just, we don't care about where you come from, what your background is, what you look like.

[00:08:10] We're a family and anyone is welcome into that family through Jesus. I think it's been a really beautiful way of sharing the gospel just by existing in this way. Amen.

[00:08:20] Elliot: Well, and even, um, some Icelanders in particular have come in and it's, it's been kind of funny because they've gone, well, I did, I've never seen such a tight knit family before.

[00:08:30] And they mean a physical family, like as if people were related. And we're like, most of us aren't very, very few of us are related to each other. And that's been, that's, that's almost caught them off guard. Um, even just yesterday at church, someone noted that. And, and yeah, and I think ultimately that's been just a mercy of God on us and on our church.

[00:08:53] And so that's, cause I don't know that we intentionally set out to have all this, to have it be this way.

[00:08:59] Matt: That's a great testimony of the unity of the body of Christ from every language and people. One question, I was, I was doing some research on Iceland according to Operation World. Iceland is 90 percent Christian and 3 percent Evangelical. So can you describe for our listeners what that means, from your perspective, living there? And, and, you know, how do we interpret that stat? Because I don't know if a lot of people would understand what the real world implications are of those stats.

[00:09:30] Elliot: So there's a national Lutheran church here to which everyone, when they are born, is registered. To that church and part of part of your tax, I almost said tax dollars, part of your tax krona go to. Go to go to help and maintain and upkeep the state church And it's you know in other parts of the world, you know, if you're born there you're You know, if you're born in that country to be a member or a citizen of that country is to be Muslim or is to be something else here in Iceland.

[00:10:02] And I would say, especially among young people, this is probably changing, but still by and large, to be an Icelander is to be a Christian. Now, what that means and looks like is not necessarily what you would find in the Bible. I mean, I would say the vast majority of. People we talk to of Icelanders we talk to like who will tell us.

[00:10:22] Oh, yes I'm a Christian But then they'll also in that same breath tell us that the Bible is outdated that it's it's been changed It has no relevance. It's not God. Holy Spirit does not exist But yeah the Bible has no relevance for a modern life and so the function socially of the church and even of Christianity is I think has far more to do with national identity than maybe a lived out You Like changing your life, if that makes sense.

[00:10:47] Hildur: Well, and the idea of being a Christian means that you were baptized as an infant into the state church. Um, you were confirmed at 14, which is our version of a quinceanera. Basically, it's just a really big party where you get a nice presence and you're a good person compared to Hitler. You're fine. And that's kind of what. the mark of a Christian, like that's the bar for being a Christian in Iceland. Those stats of the 90 percent Christian I think need to be updated because as of I think like five or six years ago, it is no longer mandatory when a child is born that they get signed as members of Now, they have to, the parents need to actively enroll them, enroll them.

[00:11:34] Today, only 56 percent of Iceland is enrolled in, um, the state church. So those, those numbers are changing, um, for the better, I think, like to actually reflect.

[00:11:51] Matt: Yeah, it's more accurate now, is what you're saying.

[00:11:53] Elliot: Yeah. And I think it's helpful, too, when, if the first conversation you have with someone, if they're, if they're going to ask about faith, and if you're going to start talking about that, it's, it's kind of a hard, it can be a hard place to start with saying, you know, with all due respect, like, look at the Bible with me, like, your definition of Christian doesn't match, you No, like, you know, historic Christianity, let alone what Jesus said about following him, you know, that, that can be a challenging place to start, especially in a, in an era in a society like in the West as a whole, where, you know, everyone, everyone's truth is, is equally valid and is my truth and I get to define what's true for me and what, and so that can be, that can be a challenging place to start. So if that changes, It seems to me, it seems to us, I think, that that would be better to at least be starting from not a, yeah, not a nominal Christian.

[00:12:39] Jess: Right. Where they don't already have all of these like preconceived notions about what they believe and what they think the Bible is and all that kind of thing. Do people generally go to church on Sundays? Or is it like Christmas and Easter

[00:12:50] Hildur: Not even. Some of the state churches actually go on vacation for Easter, which I always find fun. Oh. Funny. Um, because it's a national day off. Right, right. So youngsters get that day off as well.

[00:13:03] Elliot: We don't get that day off, to be clear.

[00:13:07] Hildur: We get to celebrate the resurrection and birth. So, you know, it's kind of a day off. Like, it's just a celebration. Um, that means waking up at seven, but I wanted to say one more thing about that statistic, actually, is that like with any statistic, any broad sweep of like, you know, you just ask people, are you a Christian?

[00:13:24] They just say yes. But what also needs to be looked at is how many of those were born in Iceland and how many immigrated to Iceland. Cause we do have a large population of immigrants from Poland, from Venezuela, well, refugees from Venezuela, um,

[00:13:38] Elliot: Asylum seekers.

[00:13:39] Hildur: Yeah. Asylum seekers. We have. Um, Christians who have moved to Iceland, who kind of bump up that number.

[00:13:46] Elliot: We're not in a role of judging hearts. Amen. Which is, we're very thankful for. Just from our experience, um, That, that number seems a bit high just from what we've seen and observed and even just like we visited the other some of the other churches and stuff and just from what we've seen and yeah, I know it is possible, you know, it wasn't all that long ago in Iceland that the church was on a like the state church was a much more biblically based church.

[00:14:13] Institution, uh, and that there was a lot more, how do I put it? Like just that, that the, yeah, there was a, yeah, I think there was a larger, yeah, a larger degree of involvement and just, yeah, of, of, of taking faith seriously somewhere along the way. And I don't, I don't entirely know how this happened, but somewhere, somewhere along the way, like this wasn't passed on to the younger generation.

[00:14:38] And so you still have some really old people who. That also are probably propping that number up a bit, even if they don't go to church, even if they're not really involved, they're still, like,

[00:14:49] Hildur: They accepted Jesus as their savior as teenagers, and now live in, you know, elderly homes.

[00:14:55] Elliot: Yeah, like, and, and somewhere along the way, for, for various reasons and, and developments and whatnot, the, yeah, that wasn't really passed on, or social issues maybe became, More like those kind of trumps anything else. And that kind of moved the state church a different direction.

[00:15:15] Hildur: Well, and I would say there are quite a few people who belong to the state church. Like we said, who say that they're Christians who maybe go a step further than just being baptized and confirmed, but what they believe is what the state church preaches and the state church is governed by the government.

[00:15:33] And so the government influences what the state church can teach. And so whatever I. Loathe the word agenda, but whatever the agenda of whichever government is in control Gets passed on to the church. And so whether that is whether that has to do with like lgbtqia plus or whether that has to do with socialism versus like capitalism or whether that has to do with Um, how you spend your money, or pride, whatever it is, like, whatever the government believes is true is taught in the church.

[00:16:08] And people who identify as Christians believe what is taught to them in those churches that is not from scripture.

[00:16:14] Matt: So Iceland has a human development index of number three behind Switzerland and Norway and that reflects education, health care, standard of living, lifespan. So it's a great place to live according to these standards. How does that affect people's receptivity to the gospel?

[00:16:35] Elliot: Yeah, that's a good question. I think we found, uh, we found that probably presents more hurdles than maybe you might think because, and again, I'm speaking very generally here, but it seems to have kind of led to a sense of almost, you know, Complacency and apathy, especially towards ...

[00:16:56] Hildur: self sufficiency.

[00:16:57] Elliot: Well, yeah, so self sufficiency, but then complacency and apathy towards like spiritual things.

[00:17:01] Hildur: Yeah.

[00:17:02] Elliot: They have everything they need. It does really encompass that if, if something happens to you, if you lose your job, if you lose your apartment, if something happens, you have a social network to catch you. And if that's not enough, or if, or, you know, if there's whatever reason, then there are government programs to catch you. Like no, Most of the people who are struggling financially in Iceland are foreigners, like they're not who either don't fully understand the system or just don't have the social network ...

[00:17:26] Hildur: ... or don't have the right to fully the government systems.

[00:17:31] Elliot: And so I think for most Icelanders, there's, I mean, I've literally talked to people. And have them go, well, it sounds like I'm going to hell, like, but I just don't care, like, I have what I need here. I'm comfortable now. I just, I don't see any urgency to do anything spiritually. And those, I mean, those are heartbreaking conversations.

[00:17:48] That's not, and it's, it's strange to hear someone come to that conclusion and then go, I don't really care. Like, not enough to think about. And so even when you're like, well, the way is open. It's like right here.

[00:18:02] Hildur: And especially if you. We've heard people share the gospel in Iceland with the line, um, hell exists because God is good, which is just one way of really starting the conversation.

[00:18:14] But honestly, when you get into a conversation of what hell is, like where they're going, I mean, our understanding of hell is a place with complete absence of God, which a lot of people believe they're already living with. There's no understanding of just, what's it called? Common grace? Everyday grace?

[00:18:35] Matt: Yeah, the benefits they're receiving from living in a world that God created and is present in.

[00:18:40] Hildur: And so there's the conversation that we have very much wind up in, well, they have a nice home, you know, their kids are healthy. They have a summer house, two cars, they can go on vacation twice a year. And when they die, they go to a place that's the same, you know, where they get to be greedy, they get to indulge in lust, they get to indulge in their vices and, and they can just choose to be good when they want to be and society will continue.

[00:19:07] Elliot: And last point on that too, not necessarily last point, but to build on that, the state church also preaches a very much like, Hey, you're good, like you're going to heaven. Like Jesus loves you. You don't need the change. Like God will change for you when you need, when you need him to. That's so you get all these messages going and then you have these.

[00:19:27] In their minds, weirdos, like fringe weirdos, fanatics like us who are like, Hey, wait a minute, but that's not what the Bible says. That's not what Jesus taught. And they're already, they're already kind of conditioned to go, yeah, but that book's not a trustworthy source. You know, Jesus wasn't who he claimed to be.

[00:19:43] And so that purely on a human level, I think those are, those are the challenges. Now, fortunately,

[00:19:50] Hildur: God is bigger.

[00:19:51] Elliot: I was gonna say God's bigger than all those.

[00:19:52] Hildur: So for sure, like our, my country, Iceland is the best place in the world to live if you can afford it. We have, like Elia said, like the systems that catch us if you lose your job or if you go homeless are pretty much endless. We have, you can have anything physically that you feel like you could ever want or need, but There is still a noticeable searching in my people that I see and that we see, and we notice even when they don't recognize it, not that we're like smarter or like they need to come to us to find out about it, they're searching for God, and they're searching for something to protect their children.

[00:20:48] They're searching for something that can fulfill them when their dreams come true. When they actually succeed in their dreams, and it's not right. I mean, of course you go to like alcohol or drugs or sex Like all these things, but we've definitely noticed in Iceland a move to like Thinking more deeper on things now that's not leading them to Jesus currently because there are a lot of well I mean government agencies and other things to catch you to teach you about, you know, mindfulness and yoga and You all these nice things to calm you.

[00:21:23] But with us being one of the happiest countries in the world, we're also one of the highest consumers of anti anxiety medication and antidepressants. So there is a lot, like a luxurious life to be lived here. But I think ultimately, when you reach that point, Of having everything you thought you wanted.

[00:21:44] People in Iceland have started going like, wait, why am I still, why do I still feel like I need to be searching?

[00:21:50] Jess: Right.

[00:21:50] Elliot: Right. And I mean, the thing is, is, I mean, as we know, I mean, even if you have systems to catch you, even if you have what you want, it's not permanent. Like, Economies change, political situations change, and I think, yeah, I mean, as, just as you were talking, Hildreth, I was just thinking C. S. Lewis really hit the nail on the head when he talked about a God shaped heart, or a hole, a God shaped hole in our hearts, and I think you see people, they're looking to stuff anything in there that might, you know, Fulfill the deeper longings and it will say, uh, having talked to a couple other Christians from some of the other churches and stuff.

[00:22:25] They're also, it was interesting that they're noticing the same thing in the conversations they're having. They're going like, like I was talking to one guy and he's like, it just seems like the people I keep meeting, like he's like, they're not Christians, but they, they don't. They're not following Jesus.

[00:22:38] He's like, but they're searching for something. Like he's like, and I, well, and he's, and he's older than, than we are. Uh, and so, and he's been in ministry in Iceland much longer than we've been. And he's just going like people, like there's an openness that I haven't seen before. Like there's a, there's, people are asking questions they haven't been asking in previous decades and whatnot.

[00:22:56] And so it would seem God's on the move.

[00:23:00] Hildur: And the only, the one thing I would add to that, like almost akin to the like story of the prodigal son is that. When people in Iceland have everything, they're still looking for an acceptance and a forgiveness that, that they can't just continue to not receive. And the sense of adoption, I feel like has actually been a really good conversation starter with people explaining to them that there's someone who has seen them their entire life and wanted nothing more than to welcome them. And that I just think that comes from, I mean, from material wealth, you see. Like the gap that that can't fill

[00:23:43] Matt: in one of your newsletters, you noted that inviting someone to church there has a very different connotation than here in the U S there is considered an admission of failure. If you're going to church, I don't entirely understand what that means. Is that, does that mean that your life has gotten so bad and you've run out of every other option for. Helping yourself. And so church is the last place you go. Is that what that means?

[00:24:11] Hildur: Not only that. Um, Much worse than that. Imagine a psychiatric emergency room. Imagine a place you go if you're all of a sudden seeing things or you're suicidal. You walk in there and people see you going in there. What will they think? That is what walking into a church is akin to here.

[00:24:37] Elliot: Iceland straddles the line and almost walks a 50 50 line between guilt, innocence, and honor, shame. So in many ways, very independent, very like, so in some ways very independent. And yet because it's such a small community and the population is so low, everyone does know everyone. And so your actions do not only reflect on you, but also on your family, on your circle and on your people. So that's why even something like admitting failure, admitting like, okay, like, what will people think of me? It also says something about your social circle. And it says something about like the systems that haven't been enough for you, the people that haven't been enough for you.

[00:25:15] Hildur: It's an indictment of your family and of your friends that you're searching for something outside of them.

[00:25:20] Elliot: Um, but yeah, keep going. So that I just wanted to make a point about Icelandic culture.

[00:25:24] Hildur: Inviting people to church, um, is really, it's a little, I feel like it's a little easier inviting people to a church as weird as ours, because it's like, How do I put this? It's kind of like being invited to like, you know, a Hindu ritual with like colors or ...

[00:25:43] Matt: ... like a cross cultural experience.

[00:25:45] Hildur: Yeah, exactly. Like it's just fascinating. And I, when Elliot and I met, I was finishing up my degree in anthropology and honestly, just going to like a church service like that was, was fascinating. Um, but walking into a church on your own is impossible. When people walk into church, they're saying that, Essentially to people, they look like they've gone mad, but going to our church, a Baptist church, I mean, what does that mean?

[00:26:14] Have you Googled Baptist churches? You get like Westboro Baptists, like it's weird anyway. And so I walk into this church, but I did that because. I had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor. I was literally grasping at straws of understanding was this a punishment for how I lived my life? Was this, like, karma?

[00:26:38] Was this an accident? Like, is there no law to the universe? Like, I only went because I was desperate to understand. I feel like without that, I'm not sure how I would have ever gone into a church. And so that's kind of what going to church in Iceland is like. It's, you're kind of associating with fanatics, especially if you're going to a free church, not a state church.

[00:27:01] But if you walk into, a church like that, you're, you're going to people who are considered dangerous in society. And you do that to figure out something in life that your family and friends and the government and your school system and your psychologist and your doctor, everything that's supposed to help you isn't able to give you any answers to.

[00:27:22] And so it's an indictment on them. Which people take very personally. My mother still has not forgiven me for getting baptized. She's like, we did that for you. We paid for a priest. Why did you need a new one?

[00:27:37] Jess: That's such a, I thank you so much for sharing and just kind of giving us a little bit of cultural insight into All the things that are going on in Iceland and even just that, like how profound it is to just invite someone to church and for them to agree, you know, here in the U S sometimes we get a little shy trying to invite someone to church.

[00:27:59] We don't want people to think that we're weird. Right. But I mean, in Iceland, there's just like so many different layers of. What that involves and what could be going on inside that person's mind and what they're thinking about in terms of their community and family and all of that. I mean, that is just really, really interesting and just kind of gives us kind of a glimpse into how Difficult it must be to work in ministry and to serve at the church and to really try to build the church in Iceland. So that is really, yeah, thank you so much for sharing.

[00:28:33] Hildur: Just one of God's beauties in how strange and difficult it is to invite people to church is that when people do come, they usually come prepared to hear the true gospel. That they are, sinner in need of salvation, that there is grace and abundance for them, that they can be loved, not because of who they are, but because of who created them.

[00:28:57] These are things that are very hard to talk about with people who feel like their lives are going well. But people who come to our church are often coming after just a divorce, or, uh, like drug use, or depression, or, you know, losing someone close to them, like people who are willing to sit down and really look closely at their lives, and so that has just been one of God's blessings in all of this is we don't have multitudes pouring in But we have people who are willing to accept God and be loved.

[00:29:38] So that, I still think that, I mean, that's how God has set it up for this country. That things are supposed to move slow here. And we appreciate that.

[00:29:47] Jess: Yeah. I did want to ask one more question, Hildur. You're not dying of a brain tumor, are you?

[00:29:53] Hildur: I am not. I'm not. Praise the Lord. Um, it's been, uh, yeah, God has been healing me. Um, so, and it was a, it was a benign brain tumor. The main worry was, um, it would, if it grew, it would take my sight. But, um, I'm fine.

[00:30:13] Matt: That's great. As, as we talk, uh, to Christian workers around the world, we find out how church planting looks very different depending on the context and you've described some of the, the uniqueness of the need in the church. Iceland and the uniqueness of the culture and how it is responding to the gospel. So then, how does that impact how you do church planting? What does that look like? What are the unique characteristics of planting a church in your context?

[00:30:44] Elliot: Well, so we have not planted a church yet. We've, you know, joined, we're Part of a church plant right now, uh, that was started before I came to Iceland and before Hildur got saved.

[00:30:55] I think one of the things we're thinking of and, and I think how we're going to approach kind of future church plants, um, will be probably through house churches because, because as Hildur shared, you know, there's maybe some hesitancy. There's already some hurdles that go into walking into a church building into an established kind of like, everyone kind of knows what you're walking into.

[00:31:16] Whereas People's homes are a lot less threatening and the way a house, a house church is a lot more simple. It's a lot more Yeah, I think you just you almost get like a just everyone's kind of there in a living room you know and you and so kind of just thinking through like Yeah. How do we, how do we remove some of these hurdles?

[00:31:39] Even just like, yeah, in a more non threatening way, like, Hey, come have dinner with us. Come have dinner with us and our friends. We are going to talk about the Bible and talk about Jesus, you know, but we're also going to spend time together and we're going to fellowship together. And I think that's a much more, we probably wouldn't, you know, fellowship is maybe a bit of a Christianese word, but you know, we're, we're going to spend time together and we're going to have dinner together.

[00:31:59] I think, I think that will be a more, uh, inviting avenue. And that's, and that's something even just talking to like the pastor here and some other pastors and other people who are especially once you move outside the capital area of like, okay, what does it look like to reach Icelanders outside the capital area?

[00:32:18] There seems to be, we've received a lot of like positive affirmation of like, yeah, that would probably be a really good idea actually more than like a, a traditional kind of church building like with programs and whatnot. You know, you don't need to pay for the upkeep of a building. You don't need to run.

[00:32:34] You know, programs or whatever it is that like, if you have a building and have like a site that you have to pour just both man hours and finances into suddenly you're more free, I think, to then actually go out and look for ways to positively impact the community around you and actually like, yeah, serve, seek the welfare of the city that you're in and whatnot.

[00:32:54] And so that's for us, at least that's our hope and our plan. Our prayer, our aim just is that we would, we're aiming to plant a house church eventually up in the north of Iceland, and that would be the, the hope and the aim of it is like that there would not just be time, it wouldn't just be a, yeah, we're just a group gathering together in a home, but actually that there, you know, that we can find positive ways to impact the community through a house church and whatnot, and through, and also they're, I mean, they're simple, they're easy to replicate, you know, someone doesn't have to quit their day job, you know, To go and, you know, have a group meet in their house and stuff, and, and I think, yeah.

[00:33:31] Hildur: Well, and, uh, a big part of our vision there as well is the city where we want to move. Around there, there are many villages, many towns. If there was a way for people from there, If there was just one house church in each one, I just picture from the north of Iceland, the rest of the country, just kind of lighting up with little, just small lights that spread out and, and hopefully we will be forgotten and all of that.

[00:34:02] Like this is not the Jones church. It's made so that anybody can bring people into community and teach about the adoption of God, like to people in need. I think, I think Iceland will get lit up by it.

[00:34:18] Matt: Well, can you tell us something you're reading or listening to or watching that's been inspiring or challenging you lately? be Christian. It can be like, whatever. Yeah, it doesn't have anything that you're learning from.

[00:34:31] Elliot: No, actually, so something I think for both of us, so we've been enjoying practicing the way by ...

[00:34:37] Hildur: ... John Mark Comer.

[00:34:38] Elliot: By John Mark Comer. Um, it's been, at least for both of us, for me, maybe for me in particular, but I think for both of us, I've, I've been dwelling a lot over the last three years. Honestly a few years on John 15 on just what does it look like practically for the Christian to abide? Like what does that mean practically in the day to day, not just kind of on the intellectual level, but like in a practical lived out sense. What does John 15 look like for the believer? And I would say this book was just a timely, like I, I appreciated Commerce's call too. Yeah, to practically live out and reorient your life around following Jesus. And so it came at a timely moment.

[00:35:17] Hildur: I'm more of an audio learner. What do you call that? Auditory. Auditory. Not my first language. I would say I've been learning scripture memorization for the first time in my life. And with my like ADHD off the charts, that's just never seemed like a possibility for me.

[00:35:33] And then someone pointed out that you can actually memorize scripture. any way you want. It's not a, like, it doesn't have to be by writing it down. No rules, huh? There's no, like, there really aren't if you're remembering the true scripture. So there's this woman named Leah Roberts who, she sings the whole book of Philippians word by word, um, in the ESV translation.

[00:35:58] It's on Spotify and it's like two to five verses each, you know, song. I've been, I've managed to know by heart, like the first 15 or 14 verses of Philippians and like in the last week or two.

[00:36:10] Elliot: And, and I can attest that, yeah, this has never happened before. Well, no, just like wrote memorization for Hildur has always been very challenging because she has ADHD.

[00:36:19] It's not that she's not brilliant, which she is, but just memorization. And I think being able to almost just kind of the regurgitation of whatever she just memorized, it has been really challenging. Um, But then having this resource where she's a singer and getting to actually sing the Bible as a way of memorization, it's, it's, it's been really mind blowing to me how quickly she's picked it up.

[00:36:43] I'm like, yeah, wow, you're remembering this, like I probably faster than, and I'm okay with like, just kind of wrote memorization, but I think she's learning it faster than I would in my own element.

[00:36:53] Hildur: I plan on having like all the Philippians . By, I don't know, end of year, I could probably do it. I think so. Awesome. That's great. So yeah, that's been really cool.

[00:37:03] Jess: It's really encouraging just to kind of picture what Hildur was talking about with all these little lights showing up around Iceland to really bring the light. The love and truth of the gospel across an otherwise really, really dark country. And so I just think it's awesome. And just praise God that there's evidence that the Lord is working that despite all of the social safety nets and the physical needs that are always being cared for and community and all these kinds of things, there is still this deep spiritual need and longing this, as Elliot mentioned, the Jesus shaped hole in people's hearts that people. That they are really searching for those answers. And so it was just such a good conversation to hear about how the Lord is working in really small, um, and sometimes not obvious ways, but He definitely is working in Iceland.

[00:37:57] Matt: Yes, absolutely. I think also, uh, those of you who listened to the story might have questions about how Elliot and Hildur actually met and were married.

[00:38:06] And it, it is kind of a funny story. We want to make sure that you have a chance to hear about that. So if you go to our show notes, there'll be a link. to bonus materials. And we have a short clip there in which Elliot and Hilder tell their hilarious story of meeting and getting married. And also even that, that story in itself reveals some of the major cultural differences between where Elliot was coming from and where Hilder was coming from, even though it.

[00:38:32] Might've seemed that two European slash Western cultures coming together would not be that big of a deal, but it definitely was also check out our show notes for links to helpful info about needs and opportunities in Europe, as well as links to the resources that Elliot and Hilder recommended at the end of our conversation with them.

[00:38:53] Jess: Thanks for following us on this episode of the Relentless Pursuit Podcast. Our goal is to make missions accessible to show that it's not just reserved for elite super Christians. If you want to be involved, just go to pioneers. org slash start and answer a few questions. We have a team who would love to help you discern your calling and what your next steps might be.

[00:39:12] Matt: At Pioneers, we love to partner with local churches and send teams to people groups with little or no access to the gospel. Keep up with what God is doing by following us on Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube all at pioneers USA, one word or visit pioneers. org. Thanks for listening.

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