SPANISH FORK, Utah -- The promises given to the Old Testament prophet Abraham were restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith, BYU religion professor Robert L. Millet told a gathering of the descendants of Icelanders on Sunday.

Because of that restoration, people past and present may receive the promises of the gospel, said Millet, speaking at the annual Heritage Fireside, the final event of Iceland Days 2009. Such promises include the priesthood authority of God, the continuation of families through the eternities because of eternal marriage and an inheritance of land.

The book of Genesis in the Old Testament records that promise, Millet said. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been on this earth since Adam, which is one of many teachings unique to Joseph Smith, he said.

"Joseph Smith helps us understand the Abrahamic covenant," Millet said.



Through missionary work the "larger family of Abraham" is gathered, although most religions know nothing of lineage, he said.

"When missionaries go out and bring people in (to the faith) they begin to understand who they are and where their roots are," Millet said.

The restoration of those promises is recorded in Doctrine and Covenants, Section 110, where a series of heavenly messengers visited Joseph Smith and his scribe, Oliver Cowdery in the faith's Kirtland (Ohio) Temple on Oct. 4, 1836.

The only way the promises of the gospel and eternal families can be fulfilled is through temples. Once a person receives them, his heart turns to his children to pass those promises on, and also to his ancestors to see that they, too, receive them, Millet said. This is done through temple ordinances and was foretold in the Old Testament book of Malachi.

"There is a connection through the temple -- an eternal link between heaven and Earth, the past, present and future, the living and the dead -- and parents and children," Millet said. Once those promises are received, people "become joint heirs with Christ of all the Father has."

As those promises spread through missionary work, "the day will come in Iceland when we'll see growth" in the church, Millet told the Icelandic descendants, whose ancestors left Iceland in the 1850s because of religious persecution. Growth will also occur elsewhere in the world as well -- "although the Lord may need to shake the nations a bit," he said.

Strength found in friends, native Icelander says

Friendship is a key element for young single adults to remain faithful to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a native Icelander told descendants of her native country during the Sunday fireside.

"We must be strong and keep the standard," Kristjana H. Bardardottir said.

In Iceland young couples often live together without marriage, she said, which is contrary to the teachings of the LDS Church. She attends a small branch of the church there.

"The culture is different (than in the United States) and we must be unified and stick together," she said. "Living it brings you happiness."

Strength is in friendship and having friends in the church give each other strength, she said at the Heritage Fireside of the Icelandic Days 2009 annual event.

The LDS Church came to Iceland in 1851 when two Icelanders were converted while visiting Denmark, Thorariun Haflidasson and Gudnundur Gudnundsson. The latter convert did most of the teaching after returning to Iceland when his friend drowned, Bardardottir said, and the religion took hold and grew.

However, the new converts suffered religious persecution so in 1854 they began to immigrate to the United States where 400 of them eventually made their way to Spanish Fork, then a new settlement.

Every year the descendants of those first Icelanders celebrate their heritage with a thee-day series of events, culminating in the Heritage Fireside.

E-mail: rodger@desnews.com