CRAZY BUSY WEEK SO FAR!

It has been a couple of days since I have written....it's because so much has been going on. Have a minute to 'catch up' today!

Since last I wrote, the MICHIE'S arrived here in Finland! FINALLY......the ASH CLOUDS played havoc on so much European Air Travel. After THREE DELAYS they finally made it. We were very excited to get them here. We have been communicating with them for a while now.....answering questions and trying to help them in any way we could to be 'prepared' for their mission here. KENT and BARBARA......TERVETULOA!!

Remember we told you about an e-mail coming to the Temple Office asking about an 'elderly' missionary who was a Doctor!! Well, as soon as we got home from our 'drivers license day' on Monday, there were our little Missionaries here from RUSSIA. They were here, literally, for about 3 hours. We got back just as their cab came to take them back to the airport. The 'elderly' missionary doctor had about 2 minutes to look at the ankle!! We may have to wait another 3 months for him to look at it again!!

This is LITHUANIAN WEEK at the temple. Oh my goodness.....what WONDERFUL people have come here!! Last Night (Wednesday) they had a little 'program' that they put on. These are some of the YOUTH who dressed up and put on quite the 'SHOW' for everyone!! Typical Teenagers!!

And then TODAY (Thursday) the OJALA'S showed up at the temple!! Bless their hearts. Sisar Ojala looked just a little tired but seemed to be recovering very well from her STOKE last month. We had little gifts for them......a framed picture of Veli Ojala, Wayne and Kevin....cutting up and making funny faces! And we bought a very pretty handmade linen BREAD BASKET for Sisar Ojala.

We just LOVE the Ojala's!!! We want our whole family to meet them!!

Okay....I think I am caught up for a minute. Oh....I have that yucky 'horrible sore throat and don't feel good at all' thing that I had last fall.....at the change of the seasons. We are changing seasons again. Could this be setting a 'pattern' for me here?? I certainly hope now. I had it 3 weeks last time....hopefully it won't last as long this time! :-)

ANOTHER WEEK......

BALTIC MISSION WEEK AT THE TEMPLE

We are looking forward to another great week here at the Helsinki Temple. The saints from the Baltic Mission will be coming. A large group from Lithuania will be here. We have not seen them for about 6 months. Most of them only get to come once a year.

With P-Day today, we got a few more errands checked off of our list. On our way home from Sello (purchasing food for the Michie's who arrive tomorrow afternoon....more about them later!), we had to stop and let the 'car czar' fill up the VW Van with gas...that is part of his responsibilities as 'car czar'! The first picture was taken at the gas pump.

We have a need to get our FINNISH DRIVERS LICENSE before June 15th gets here. You have to get the new license not sooner than 6 months after arriving here but before you have been in the country for one year. We have 1 1/2 months before that one year mark. SO....today we headed over to the Poliisi Station in Espoo where we had to start the process.

So, after just a bit over 2 hours, and paperwork later.....we came away with having started that month long process. We had to have our 'mug shots' taken (at least we think that is what they look like!). We had to take our glasses off....just in case there was a reflection from the glass part! And we were suppose to have a 'somber' face. I managed a little smile and no one said anything.

Then back to the asuntola where we were invited to some cake and punch by the Pecilius. Didn't know what the occasion was but we said we would be there!!

As it turned out it was her BIRTHDAY!!! Bless her little heart. I would have made a little something for her. I still will but it will just be a bit late getting to her.

LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING!!

We woke up this morning (Sunday) to a beautiful blue sky ....... Finland BLUE actually.

Then we looked a little closer at the thermometer...... not quite as warm as the sun makes it to appear. We are hopefully that we will get warmer weather before too long! At least our days are getting longer now.....and it seems like it happened all at once too.

We have missionaries here this weekend from Novosibirsk Russia Mission getting visas renewed. These fine folks went to Haaga Ward with us today. They just were so amazed at how beautiful Finland is compared to Siberia (in their mission where they work)!!

As we were driving back and forth today to church and then for an AIRPORT RUN for the missionaries, we noticed this wreck along the highway. You just never, never see this type of thing over here. It looks pretty smashed up. We never even heard any sirens at all!! (The location is right by the asuntola). I guess the sirens really are POLITE over here!! :-)

END OF ANOTHER WEEK!!

Here are some 'random' thoughts to end up the week......TAMPERE WEEK.

There have been many, many folks here this week from Tampere....workers and patrons. They have 'done' themselves very well. And fun to see some very familiar faces.

Wayne has been working on some of our

genealogy work during the 'off' hours.

And as a result, we have sent family file cards to some of our children to have them help with the temple work. The picture above is one that Steven sent to us from the date night of Steven and Elinn and Jonathan and Tina to the Washington D.C. Temple last night (High Priest night at the temple). My goodness....our temple sure looks BIG after being in a small temple for the past year! I think it must have grown! Thanks kids for helping with the work...the other kids will be helping out as well.

It was Wayne's turn at the asuntola desk today (Saturday). He heard a loud noise and went to the kitchen to investigate (thinking that was where the noise was coming from). It was from a BIRD FIGHT just outside the window. You can see a bunch of feathers on the ground and this guy still had some evidence in his mouth!! CAUGHT IN THE ACT!!

Tonight Wayne wanted to take me on a date....drive around a National Forest in Espoo. We didn't even know it was there. So off we went. We leave at 8:30 p.m. just as the sun was starting to set.....very pretty time of the day. This is a huge lake in the Forest.....along with a lot of MÖKKI's on the lake. What a beautiful setting.

To match the beautiful SUNSET!!

Just couldn't resist one more of the sunset!!

We passed by a GOLF COURSE out in the middle of

this Forest....go figure. And there were THOUSANDS of gold balls!! I told Wayne I wanted just one. He said "NO" unless we could find one 'on the other side of the road'!! Well, as soon as he said that, there was one on the other side of the road. He had to go get it for me then!! These were all left from the winter and were being exposed from all of the snow we think.

AND....here is my prized GOLF BALL!!

As we arrived back at the TEMPLE, we 'found' yet another very pretty view of the TEMPLE that we had not taken pictures of before. Of course, we had to stop and 'capture the moment'....to add to the hundreds of other pictures.

10:25 p.m. and it is basically DARK now....days are definitely getting longer and longer!! It must be almost summer time!

SAY

W*H*A*T......

Did we miss SPRING and SUMMER and just going BACK to WINTER again??

And the gardeners had just returned back to the temple to begin working on the grounds. I even small a little patch of crocuses and tulips! Please....just a little break from SNOW! :-)

KIITOS PALJON!!

TORSTAI.....

INTERESTING DAY

We really didn't plan on doing any errands before working on our afternoon shift today. Just do a little genealogy here at home (or at least Wayne). In fact, he went up to the temple this morning to do some proxy baptisms for MY father's side of the family! He is so sweet to help with MY family!! KIITOS....

When he got back to the apartment, Pavel called and asked Wayne if he would drive him downtown Helsinki to meet his wife at the Ferry Boat arriving from Copenhagen, Denmark. She had to get real creative to get back here from her 3-week stay in Utah. It was because of the 'ASH CLOUDS' that she couldn't get home.

So, off he went and got home just in time to eat lunch and head up with me to the temple.

AND....while we were there working, we were notified that an American was coming to the temple this afternoon. He was 'stuck' in Finland for the last week because of the 'ASH CLOUDS'. We could look for him and help him out. Well, what a small world in the CHURCH!! This good fella turns out to be JANE VOGEL's brother (John Jacobson) who has been trying to get back to his home in Indiana!! JANE....THIS ONE IS FOR YOU!! :-)

AND....then Mervi Multamäkki was in the temple this afternoon. We love that family. We had some nice family pictures framed and ready as gifts for them as well as her mother-in-law! She was tickled to get them.

What a fun day.....and helping the patrons who were there was very rewarding as well!! Russian and Finnish ordinances were the 'norm' for today! As always it seems!!

SO......

WEDNESDAY AT THE TEMPLE.....

I forgot to tell about an e-mail that came to the temple yesterday. From an American missionary serving in the Yekaterinburg Russia Mission. She had sprained her ankle pretty badly and was seen by an 'elderly' man who had been a doctor before coming to work in the Finland Temple. Couldn't remember his name, although she thought it started with an 'A'. She will be coming back to the temple next week (for visa renewal process again!....man those 3 months go by quickly!). IF that 'elderly' man is still here, could he take a look at the ankle again, just to check to make sure it is okay? Funny.....that she called Wayne 'elderly' TWICE!!! Now, does that make us feel old or what!!

This morning we have a light rain shower going on....at least it is NOT snow!

AND....we have started the process of getting our Finnish Drivers License!! Here is the first set of paperwork that has to be filled out!

'ASH CLOUD'

UPDATE.....

'ASH CLOUD' as in Iceland Volcano update! We woke up this morning to a gorgeous blue sky with NO clouds. Makes it hard to believe there is a problem with flying in this kind of weather.

It is just so pretty. Oh, and by the way, our days are getting longer. Light in the morning by about 6:00 a.m. and stays light until about 9:30 at night.

This morning we made a quick trip over to Sello for a couple of things. As we arrived back at the asuntola I commented to Wayne that I wanted a picture of an AIRPLANE!! As soon as I said that he looked up and said 'there is one now'. We both grabbed our cameras and took a picture. This was the first day in a week that planes have been able to fly. However, we heard that this afternoon they shut down the airports again!! :-(

This is TAMPERE STAKE WEEK at the temple. It has been quite busy. And they have a lot of temple workers with them and that is good.

PREPARATION DAY

AND

APPRECIATION DINNER FOR FHE

Today would have been the day Wayne and I would have taken the Michie's shopping at Sello....to introduce them on the 'ropes' of where to go and how to shop here in Finland. However, because we are still having NO AIRLINE FLIGHTS come in or go out of the Helsinki Airport due to the Iceland Volcano eruption, they have not arrived yet. Bummer.....they have missed so much already!! Hopefully by the end of the week they will be here.

So, our P-Day was a 'free' day to catch up on things. We decided to take a walk on the 'paths' around the asuntola. The snow has mostly melted and the trails on in great shape. We walked for about 1 1/2 hours.

It felt great to get some good exercise again.....

and we found some cute little flowers to prove that spring may be here!! Even if they are dandelions!! Better than NO flowers at all, right!

Tonight the temple presidency and their wives prepared a MEXICAN dinner for us. It was to show their appreciation for the hundreds of hours of shoveling snow this past winter (actually they told us it was calculated at 700 hours in all!!). It was also for the hard work us sistars do in the PESULA (laundry) at the temple......a total of 1400 hours!!!

WOW....we didn't know we had worked THAT hard. We knew it was a lot.

I am cutting the desert for us made by Sisar Roto. It was a strawberry pie.

Just a delightful evening of fun and fellowship.

And everyone enjoyed themselves very, very much. The presidency wanted to know when the next dinner was?? We are ready!!

All three of the presidency washed and dried the dishes! Bless their hearts.......the wives all cooked the food so that is the way it should have been.

And when all of the hard work was done.....one last group picture. KIITOS PALJON!

MARJANIEMI WARD TODAY......

The Piculius were asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting today in the Marjaniemi Ward. They asked us to 'tag' along.....and we were very excited to do that. We wanted to support them.

This picture was taken in the chapel after the 3-hour block

of meetings. They did a great job with their talks. Sisar Peciuliene gave her talk in Russian. It was translated into Finnish by and American living in the ward. Veli Pecilius gave him talk in Finnish. He did an excellent job. They have both commented on how difficult learning Finnish is for them. They are from Lithuania. I totally understand that 'concept'!!

Last night we all attended a SPRING CONCERT at the Haaga Ward Chapel. It was absolutely wonderful. There are so many great musicians and singers in this area. Put them all together and you have yourself a real treat......and we definitely did. We had this little 'girl picture' taken outside the chapel as we were leaving......left to right: me, Sisar Zaretskja, Sisar Groberg, Sisar Peciuliene (back) and Sisar Johnson.

It has been a wonderful day!

STARTLING AWAKENING THIS MORNING

The alarm clock had gone off and it was time to get up....6:30 a.m. Hit the snooze button for just 5 more minutes! No harm in that.....right!

Then we heard a sound we had not heard here before.....not sure what it was. Wayne went to the apartment door, opened it up and we heard the smoke alarm going off!! It was NOT the harsh smoke alarm we were used to hearing at home.....the kind that sends a jolt up your body....but a 'polite' sounding alarm!!

So, Wayne thought he better investigate. I looked out the window and there was the FIRE TRUCK arriving (notice how light it is.....6:40 a.m.).....they were very quick to respond I might add. BLUE lights flashing but not alarm on that either.

The Fire Chief arrives to find out what is going on. As it turned out, one of the Russian guests had burned something in the microwave and it was pretty bad. It set the alarm off. All was well....but it made for an exciting few minutes here in the asuntola.

FRIDAY

RANDOMNESS!!

On Thursday we needed to do a quick little errand over at the IKEA store. It was only our 2nd time going here since we arrived some 10 months ago. It is just such a huge store. And they have everything you can imagine....and then some.

We got a picture from Kevin and Lauren after they got home and gave the boys the FINLAND hats we got for them. They are surely handsome in them don't you think. A mighty fine looking group. Ollie didn't get a hat this time so he is not in the picture. And Ele didn't get a hat either....didn't think she would like that!

On Wednesday as Kevin and Lauren were leaving to head home there was a VOLCANO that erupted in ICELAND. They were very, very lucky they were able to get back home to Utah before all airports in norther Europe were shut-down.....including Finland!

Tonight we noticed some 'very interesting' clouds headed our way.......

VOLCANO residue?? We think so......

But even so....it makes for pretty pictures.

SUNSET......

AND

FAREWELL FOR THE JÄKKÖ

A blog is never quite complete without a little sunset picture...this was taken about 9:00 p.m. You can see how light it is....that means our days are getting l-o-n-g-e-r!!

We had a FAREWELL dinner and desert and 'roast' for Veli ja Sisar Jäkkö. They will be leaving to go back to Lappenranta. They have been 'full-time' here in the asuntola for the past 6 months. They have been a wonderful addition to our full-time missionary couples here.

The dinner was actually quite good....can't remember the name of the restaurant though. It is close to Sello.

And after dinner it was back at the asuntola for some dessert.....a delicious cake that Ronda Groberg made.

And a little 'roasting' time for the Jäkkö's.

Veli Jäkkö and I have this thing about saluting each other. I have no idea where that came from ...... somehow it just started. He wanted a 'salute' picture

So, when we finished our little party we went past the kitchen area and the Russian's were having a party of their own......a genealogy party.....sorting their family file cards and figuring out what they needed to do at the temple tomorrow. They will head back home on Saturday and there is still a lot of work to be done. They are so faithful and diligent in their family work.

It is hard to believe that another week is almost gone!