Difference between revisions of "Mormon Pond"

Latest revision as of 10:35, 30 January 2024

”The Messenger" at the Monument to Emigrants near Mormon Pond. Photo courtesy of the Icelandic Association of Utah

The Mormon Pond is a tide pool located within the rocky coast of the Westman Islands of Iceland.

In 1851, two natives of Iceland, Þórarinn Hafliðason and Guðmundur Guðmundsson, were studying in Copenhagen, Denmark, where they came in contact with two Latter-day Saint missionaries from Utah. After being taught the gospel, they joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Shortly thereafter, they returned to their native Iceland to spread their new faith.

After Þórarinn’s untimely death, Guðmundur preached alone for almost two years. In 1853, despite ongoing opposition, he organized a branch on the Westman Islands.[1] Resulting Icelander converts to the Church were baptized in the Mormon Pond and from 1854 to 1914, they emigrated from Iceland and gathered with the Saints in the Mountain West.

Some 100 friends, family descendants, and Iceland government officials gathered at Mormon Pond on June 30, 2000, and honored 410 Icelanders converts with a dedication of a monument.

The monument was dedicated by Elder W. Rolfe Kerr, who was then serving as Area President of Europe North Area of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. David A. Ashby, President of the Icelandic Association of Utah, Inc. presented the monument to the people of Iceland on behalf of the Icelandic Association of Utah. Sigrun Inga Sigurfeirsdottir, president of the city council, Vestmanneyjar, accepted the gift on behalf of the people of Iceland.

The Icelandic Association of Utah and Friends raised enough funds in in-kind donations to erect the monument that faces the "Mormon Pond."

The black-granite monument base is engraved with the names of the 410 emigrants. It is topped with an 8-foot sculpture, "The Messenger." Artist Gary Lee Price, then of Springville, Utah, created the work using his mother as the inspiration. “It represents an angel of light, truth, comfort and whatever one might need to carry on the earthly journey, just as the emigrants needed help on their journey. The figure is reaching out to the Mormon Pond and the Atlantic, which the Icelanders had to cross to reach their new Zion.”[2] Also engraved on the monument is a scriptural passage: "And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm. . . ." (Ezekiel 20:34).

A similar monument, the Icelandic Memorial, is located in Spanish Fork, Utah, the first Icelandic settlement in the United States in 1855.

Other events included the opening of a museum devoted to Latter-day Saint Church history focusing on the emigration and culminating with the dedication of the first Latter-day Saint meetinghouse to be constructed in Iceland. A conference of the Iceland mission district and the observance of 1,000 years of Christianity in Iceland was also held.

The Book of Mormon was published in Icelandic in 1981. Although the number of church members in Iceland remains small, Icelandic Saints form a close-knit community.[3]

In January 2024, Bergdís Ellertsdóttir, Iceland's ambassador to the United States, visited Salt Lake City, Utah, where she met with leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including President Russell M. Nelson, President Dallin H. Oaks, President Henry B. Eyring, Elder Quentin L. Cook, and Elder Carl B. Cook. She toured Church sites and met with Utah's Lt. Gov. Diedre M. Henderson and C. Shane Reese, president of Brigham Young University, where she also gave a lecture.

External Sources

• Ensign Peak Foundation, “ICELAND - MORMON POND, WESTMAN ISLANDS”

• Church News, “A monument at ‘Mormon Pond’”