P. S.

A LATE NIGHT VISITOR......BACK.....

The TEMPLE PHEASANT came by for a late night visit Sunday night! Actually it was about 9:00 p.m. (notice how bright the sun still is!).

That means spring really IS here!! He will be around until the snow comes in the fall! He may be pretty but his 'voice' is obnoxious!!

SUNNUNTAI.......

BEAUTIFUL SPRING DAY!

Before church this morning, Sisar Zaretskija (Russian Temple Missionary) and Sisar Peciuliene (Lithuanian Temple Missionary) and I were out walking and inspecting the flowers. So pretty....

Beautiful pansies around the temple entrance......

AFTER the snow is all gone......

Same door......lots of snow!! So glad it is gone for now!!

Another angle!

Wayne walking out of the temple wooded area taking pictures.....

looking at the font door.....

love that signage!

The Temple is built on a FIRM FOUNDATION....FINNISH ROCK.

The Temple Hare relaxing a bit.....

up close pansies.....

Do you see our apartment in the corner of the 2nd floor.....beautiful yellow pansies!

Great Sabbath.....went to Haaga Ward.

THIS WEEK: Moscow West and Helsinki Stake

Last time for Moscow West Saints.....Kiev Ukraine Temple will open the end of August.

HUNT THE HARE

AND MORE......

The plan this afternoon was to walk over to SELLO to update our bus passes and do a couple of errands, but NO!

We called the POLIISI office to check on our Finnish Drivers License. Well, we thought at least my license was ready to be picked up.....Wayne's paper work had a little snag! We would check on that at the same time. Long, long story......neither one was ready....bummer!! Yet another trip sometime to work on that more.

However, as Wayne was walking through the building lot, he saw this cute little 'mother duck' and her 'ducklings' just strolling along. Now, you have to admit....that is way cute! (I stayed with the car because we were in a hurry to get 'something' done before the offices closed.

And for DINNER we decided to have dessert!! Why not.....we are senior missionaries and we can do that if we want to! Don't tell our kids and grandkids though! :-) It was SO good.....fresh strawberries, sliced bananas and cut up sugar donuts for the cake. Hey, we have to improvise when you can't find the 'normal' food things here. And topped off with WHIP CREAM, of course. I think we have created a NEW recipe! Move over PAULA DEEN!

We have been on a HUNT for the TEMPLE HARE!! We have been seeing him FLASH by. We saw him and decided it was time to 'catch him'! He is such a quick little (actually BIG) bunny.

Wayne was able to get a couple of shots of him.....

and here...... as he went galloping along.

Sisar Luik is here this week from Estonia. We knew her last summer when she was on a mission here in Finland. She is just so sweet. Well, she told us that she has been accepted to BYU-PROVO and will be leaving in 11 days!! Good for her. AND she has been offered a job as a language tutor at the MTC.....teaching, of course, Estonian and Finnish. She will be wonderful at that. And she speaks English perfectly! She will be a great asset!!

TORSTAI.......

GOOD DAY!

We had enough people wanting the 7:00 p.m. session tonight that we had one. These folks from Tampere and Estonia are hard workers. They have done much work on their family lines and are anxious to get lots of work done!

Wayne had the Asuntola Desk duty tonight. I joined him as everyone started coming back from the temple.....about 9:00 p.m. I wanted to see Sisar Möll. I had made a bookmark for her and wanted to catch her before it got any later. She had a big smile on her face when she saw me. I had told her earlier that I had made a little something for her! And when we got to talking to her, we mentioned one of our daughters-in-law served her mission in Tallinn, Estonia. I am sure you don't remember her, but her name then was Sisar Christensen! Well....to our surprise she DID remember Elinn!! And she was excited to hear that Steven and Elinn (along with Jonathan and Tina) will be coming for a visit in September. She is excited to see Elinn again!! Small world in the church.

After our temple shift this morning, we needed to take a quick trip up to Lidl's to pick up a few things. We would have walked except Wayne had the Asuntola Desk duty and we didn't have a lot of time. We had to drive. While there Wayne found a little 'kit' which you put together and it makes a little step stool!! OH HOW I NEEDED THAT!!! I can never reach things on the upper shelves. ISO KIITOS PALJON Veli Allgaier!! I love my little step stool!!

MID-SUMMER NIGHT

IS QUICKLY APPROACHING!

That is the LONGEST day of the year......

Hard to believe it has been almost a year since we arrived here during the SAME time.

BUT.....here we are!!

ABOVE: 4:00 A.M.

ABOVE: 6:00 A.M.

May as well be MID-DAY!

A SPRING WALK

AROUND ESPOO

THIS AFTERNOON.....

(or at least close to the Temple Grounds!)

With our being on the morning shift this week, we have a gorgeous spring afternoon with the sun shining. We decided to get out and about around the temple.....do some walking!!

GOOD CHOICE!! The above picture was taken this morning at about 7:00 a.m. I looked out the window and noticed Veli Laine taking a picture. I figured something special must be going on so I grabbed my camera. I think he was just realizing the beauty of the day and wanted to capture it! And so did I.

Then as Wayne and I were walking up the steps to the temple at about 7:20 a.m., I just had to take a picture BECAUSE!!

SO, when we finished working, ate lunch, changed our clothes.....we headed out. The above picture was taken from the 'back side' of the temple along he walking path........

and from the side with the 'mostly not very visible Temple Sign' hidden behind the fence around the temple grounds........

and.....from the other side of the temple along the walking path......just GORGEOUS!!

Across the street, along another walking path and headed toward SELLO......there is a horse stable (we presume....since we see horses in this field a lot). Today was so pretty the riders had their horses out riding them around the dandelion fields!

Kind of behind the temple grounds in this 'COMMUNITY GARDEN' area. Busy little people out there working in their gardens.

And back HOME again to the temple grounds. These beautiful AZALEAS at the base of the Temple HILL......just like our azaleas at home! Made me a little melancholy!!

P.S. The temps today were in the high 50's!!

Beautiful walk 'AROUND'.

And Yet

ANOTHER

P-DAY.......

WHERE DO THE WEEKS GO!?

We decided to head DOWNTOWN HELSINKI again today. Just because we like to do that and because we were looking for a couple of specific things.....we were on a 'mission' to find them.

There is this one statue (of a famous Finnish poet I think) located in the ESPLANADE close to the TORI. We have yet to see this statue withOUT a bird sitting on top of his head......until today!! Had to get a picture of that. Might not see it again.

The FLOWERS were just gorgeous.....I think we truly have SPRING here!

The ESPLANADE on the way to the TORI!

And the beautiful flowers at the TORI for sell!!

I have been looking for almost ONE FULL YEAR for some DMC FLOSS for my cross stitch. Can you believe I 'accidentally' found it today! WHOA!! IF and WHEN I need some, now I know where to go.......even if it is 1 eu 50 for one skein!.........normally in the states I can find it for about 40 cents a skein.....or 3/$1.00 if on sale!

I told Wayne that I really wanted to get an authentic WOOD SAUNA LADEL!! You know, when we build our own SAUNA at our home in America. Well, today while walking around we saw a SAUNA SHOP and decided to check it out. I found just the right one.....made with wood and preserved in 'tar'!! That would be about as authentic as one can get. The only missing 'part' was I wanted it to say 'FINLAND' or something to that effect on it. Wayne asked him if he has a wood-buring tool that he could write that on the handle for me. 'OF COURSE I DO' was his response.

And the end result........SUOMI SAUNA!!! Perfect....and what a guy for doing that right there on the spot.

Again, while still walking around downtown, we 'found' this OPTIIKKA shop.....thought of Steven (our family eye doctor). Just had to take a picture of that for him......

HOME SWEET ASUNTOLA HOME with our 'finds'!! Here Wayne is holding his GREAT FIND for the day......the KALEVALA BOOK......A Finnish Epic. He really wanted something that was close to the original that was written back in about 1835. This particular book was a 150 year anniversary edition and published in 1985. This was the 4th bookstore where we had looked for it. It is the SAME BOOKSTORE where he had found a couple of books earlier this year. HIS FAVORITE BOOKSTORE!!! We scored.....only 50 euro too!!

And me with my TWO FINDS......My Finnish Sauna Ladle and Sauna Sign!!

Great P-Day.....we even got our laundry and cleaning done after we got home. Good Day.

Now we are ready for TAMPERE STAKE and ESTONIA to be here this week!!

SUNDAY

WITH A VISIT TO THE

NEITSYTPOLKU WARD

The Groberg's, the Michie's and we decided to head to the Neitsytpolku Ward today. (Dare you to learn how to SPELL that one really fast!) We thought Pavel Bashkotov was giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting. We wanted to hear him! How silly of us......he IS preparing a talk but was not to be given today! We did attend his English-speaking Sunday School class though. He is a really good teacher.

A peek at the inside of the chapel area.

Pavel's wife, Elina, is also the Relief Society President. I meant to make her a bookmark last fall. Never got around to it for some reason. I made it last night and was able to give it to her today. I think she liked it!

This ward is located in the same building as the Helsinki Finland Mission Office. Makes it convenient.

And THE POSE after church is over.....we were totally blocking traffic in the street as Pavel took our picture for us.....and left the car 'stopped'!! ANTEEKSI!!

Nap time this afternoon.....after I fixed a salmon steak and potato dinner!! We love relaxing Sundays!

COMING THIS WEEK: TAMPERE STAKE AND ESTONIAN SAINTS!! Should be a FUN and BUSY week!!

S * O * O * O..........

What do Senior Temple Missionaries do on a Saturday afternoon when they have finished working in the temple all week???

They go to lunch at the local IKEA store of course! They have a great restaurant at the one here in Espoo.......

and it is cheap too!! That is good....we all like that. We ALL have the SALMON lunch special. We went with the Groberg's and the Michie's. Fun folks

Afterward, we decided we would go for a drive through the National Park to scout out a location for a future picnic on a Saturday afternoon. We dropped the Groberg's off at the Asuntola (they felt a little 'tired')......it started to STORM!! You know with thunder and lightening! Kind of rare here in Finland. And a pretty good rain. Wayne and Kent looked over the map to 'strategize' the trip.

We decided to bag that idea and stay home and relax. AAAHHH.....we like relaxing.

The petunias are just looking so very pretty right now.

NEXT WEEK: TAMPERE STAKE......a lot of familiar faces of great people coming!

SIT BACK.....RELAX.....ENJOY......

A

FIELD TRIP AROUND THE TEMPLE GROUNDS

FOR THE SPRING BEAUTY HERE!

With our being on the morning shift at the temple this week, that gives us the most beautiful part of the day to be outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather we are having right now. Don't know how long it will last. We thought we better get some pictures while it was there.

SO.....to start our field trip out, we got one of the other missionaries to take a picture of us. At the bottom of the steps leading up to the temple from the asuntola. (I am sure you can picture that because you have seen THOSE steps so very many times!!

The flowers are just beautiful everywhere on the grounds right now. Purples (my personal favorite color), pinks, yellows, whites, blues....all of them!

And how do we get THOSE shots?? Well, Wayne was happy to demonstrate it for me!

KAUNIS blue sky with white blooming trees in front.....can't get any prettier than that.

And another view......

Maati (the asuntola 'guy') is in charge of watering the plants on the back deck.

And walking around outside was this cute little couple......Veli ja Sisar Lowry. They were just sealed two days ago!! From Russia. Well, she is front Russia and he is from Florida. YES, I made them a little cross stitch picture of the temple. They are just so cute together....so in love.

And then while we were still taking pictures, Ronda Groberg came walking by....headed to the afternoon shift to work. PICTURE TIME for the two of us. With a light breeze blowing....just enough to toss our hair around.

AND....this is how I get MY shots......

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE those trees with the temple spire in the distance.

The back of the temple is just as beautiful as the front. Well manicured and groomed.

KAUNIS flowers.....

and back to the front of he temple grounds again......

Hope you enjoyed this quick little tour of the beautiful temple grounds. Have lots more pictures. You can see them in a little slide show when we get home......whenever that is!

RAIN is coming in this weekend so we may not be able to enjoy these flowers for very long.

The Russians have headed back to St. Petersburg tonight and tomorrow morning. They have a conference tomorrow night and Sunday.

NEXT WEEK: Tampere Stake. Great people!!