The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2006, Qupperneq 39

Vol. 60 #1
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
37
"Sunday School Times." Maybe I was
wrong.
I am now on my way home from
Winnipeg. The future does not look good,
the weather has been very bad on the lake
this summer. I talked with some
Icelanders at a meeting in Winnipeg. Since
you asked me, I informed them about your
reasons for not coming here until 1884. I
pointed out that you resented the fact that
some were of the opinion that lack of inter-
est prevented you from coming earlier.
Furthermore, I asked people to bring their
feelings about this in the open, resulting in
their revealing their disappointment.
After thinking about the matter for a while
they realized that your reasons are perfect-
ly legitimate. They said that they had
never been offended by your decisions, and
they said that they intended to wait until
you could come to serve as their minister
because you are the one minister who they
like the best. Those who talked the most
were A. Fridriksson, Kr. Jonsson, and Jon
Julius, and most of the others agreed with
those. I am sure that people are not
offended by your not being able to come as
soon as they had wished for. Those who
might have resented this fact have now
realized that they were wrong. I think that
you should come as soon as you can.
I think that Icelanders didn't gain any-
thing by H. Briem's work here, but both
sides are probably to blame for that (i.e. he
and the congregation). Icelanders hold reli-
gious meetings every Sunday in their cul-
tural house. More people attend these
meetings than Rev. H. services. Generally
speaking, however, people are not extreme-
ly religiously oriented, but one good man -
with the help of God can do a lot to change
that condition.
Financially, Icelanders in Winnipeg
are doing as well as can be expected. All
who want to work can find work paying
$2.25 - $3.25 a day. The cost of living has
not changed much lately, it is maybe slight-
ly higher. A great number of people now
own the houses and grounds where they
live. Some, who have recently bought
their houses, find themselves in financial
trouble especially with the date of payment
coming up. On the whole Icelanders'
profits this year have been enormous, but
by now that "boom" is over, and it is no
longer possible to make money in real
estate like last winter. Every able bodied
man can, nevertheless, provide for himself
and his family through common work. It
is just great how fast the north western
parts of the country are becoming populat-
ed and how rapidly these parts develop. I
am going to send you a few copies of the
"Free Press" so you can see for yourselves
how much things have changed since you
left.
In New Iceland everyone is doing
nicely but there is actually not much
progress. Everyone is content since they
can leave whenever they feel like it.
My business is going very well. Our
profits this year will be some $6,000 -
$8,000 if we manage to sell our lumber as
planned. The profits are of course to be
divided between the three of us, and most
of it is invested in our business, steamboat,
mill, etc.
I am now in the process of preparing
lumber for next winter. I hope to be able
to go ahead with it as soon as I get home.
I have had Sigtryggur's house fixed,
and I hope that it will be warm and com-
fortable this winter. My wife is pregnant,
otherwise she is healthy. I know that you
join us in prayer for God's help when the
day of delivery appears. Aurora is healthy,
lively, and promising.
God bless you,
Your loving friend, Fridjon
Editorial Note: It has come to our
attention that the letters we have been pub-
lishing from Fridjon Fridriksson were
most likely not translated by Miss
Sigurbjorg Stefansson. Several factors have
lead to this conclusion, and we are current-
ly uncertain who translated these works. If
any of our readers can assist us in this, we
would be only too happy to hear from
them. Our apologies for this error.