The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2004, Qupperneq 31

Vol. 59 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
73
as she was last year. She speaks clearly, she
is lively and alert and tender - in a word,* a
lovely and good child.
My father, his wife, and their child live
in your old house. My other in-laws are at
Lon*. Their condition - in terms of health
and standard of living - has not changed
much. Fridsteinn and Fridbjorn have tem-
porary jobs hither and thither. Since this
summer Olgeir works as a farmhand for
Penrose, Kinsberris' friend. Olgeir is nice
and gets along excellently with people. I
think that he will make a good farmer.
New Iceland saw a bleak summer this
year. It rained a lot and we had frost in July
ruining a great amount of potatoes and
other vegetables, but worst of all was the
flooding in Lake Winnipeg that covered
meadows and fields. In various places,
houses were caught in the flood forcing the
people to leave their homes for a period of
a day or two. When the storm was over the
water fell but there remains a lot of damage
especially in terms of hay. Therefore, some
farm animals have been killed while other
have been taken to Manitoba for feeding.
None has to worry about destitution
because there was exceptionally much
work last summer with railroads, house-
building, etc. However, most believe that
there is no future for New Iceland, and the
majority of the inhabitants plan on moving
by this spring. A few have taken land in
N.W.T., township 6, Range 14, approxi-
mately 120 miles west of Winnipeg where
most of the land is prairie and forests in
between. I expect many to look for land
there by the spring because, fortunately,
the Icelandic spirit of togetherness is not
dead yet. There is a lot of discussion about
this moving going on presently, but none
has volunteered to be a leader - similar to
what Taylor and Sigtryggur did when we
moved to New Iceland, but then there is no
need for such a leadership. Let each person
get used to taking care of himself and to
trust in God and to trust in his own
strength. I am convinced that Icelanders are
learning a lot - at least lately. I will proba-
bly go west myself this spring looking for
land for myself and my family and maybe a
few others. If I like it they will probably
move west this summer. I will probably
stay in Gimli, Selkirk, or Winnipeg next
year. I will, however, keep a close contact
with the west if I see hope for a future job
for me there. All this will become more
clear by the spring. At that point I shall
write to you about it. Many who want to
move west are not going to be able to do so.
Some cannot move because of poverty
since it is impossible to go there destitute
intending to take up farming. It is essential
to have some oxen, ploughs, cows, and
some food in order to survive while one
waits for new crops. There is neither going
to be the Synod nor Rev. Pall to take care
of people, fortunately. To tell you the
truth, if close to Rev. Pall, Icelanders are
lead to temptation and he is bound to dom-
inate their spiritual life if they are in his
presence. Therefore, it is best to keep away
from him. He helps a lot south there. His
purpose is obscure, but the results are
going to be in the form of spiritual enslave-
ment, the more so the more mouths there
are to be satisfied. I do not have the time to
discuss the settlement further.
The latest mail included an official let-
ter of appeal for Rev. H. Briem to become
a minister for Icelanders in Minnesota for a
period of one year - longer if negotiations
could be worked out. The salary is to be
$300 a year plus housing. Those who
appeal to him on behalf of the congregation
are Jonatan Jonatansson, Bjorn Gislason,
Gudmundur Petursson, Stefan Sigurdsson,
Arni Sigvaldason, Snorri Hognason. Since
the New Iceland congregation has recently
informed Rev. H. that they cannot extend