TURKU WARD..........

This was the week for us to attend Turku Ward. Turku is the oldest village / city in Finland. The capital used to be here until Turku was burned to the ground in 1827. After it was rebuilt the Capital was then moved to Helsinki, where it remains today. There were 4 missionary couples who attended the ward there today.......2 American, 1 Lithuanian and 1 Russian!

There is a very famous book about the history of the Mormon Church in Finland. The lady who wrote it was at church today and we got a picture taken with her. Her name is Anna-Liisa Rinne. She will be 90 years old in January! What a sweet lady she is! And very patient with all of us who wanted our picture taken with her. She speaks about 5 languages!

The Sisar Missionary in the middle was at the MTC with us. I was giving her a little 'motherly chat' about a problem she was having with her ankle! Her companion loved the instruction I was giving her because it was the exact same thing she had told her!! Go figure......

After church we drove around to a couple of 'sites' like the Turku Castle.....oldest in Finland and built by the Swedes. It was built in the 13th century! And completed in about 1500! Now, we are talking old. Veli Wayne and Veli Peciulis are 'knocking' on the door to see if anyone is 'interested' in what they have to offer! No one answered the door however.

We also stopped by the Lutheran Church in town. It is the oldest in all of Finland. It was beautiful. They had a very large Christmas tree out front that they 'lite' last night to begin the Christmas season! It too was impressive.

And the trip would not be complete without a group picture in front of the Castle as we were leaving. A nice young Finnish fellow didn't mind taking the picture for us.......with 4 different cameras.......