P-DAY LIKE NO OTHER!!

OUR DAY AT THE ROTO 'FARM' IN ORIVESI

SIT BACK.....relax. This is a long one for good reason. It was an amazing day. Can not adequately be described in just a few pictures in all that we did and saw and enjoyed! This will have to suffice for now until we can actually 'talk' to you about it!

We had all been invited up to Veli ja Sisar Roto's home in Orivesi (northeast of Tampere). That would be about 2 1/2 hours drive from here in Espoo. It was an absolutely GORGEOUS day.....the Lord provided us with that and we were so grateful!

We left about 8:30 a.m......Maati took a group picture for us. Bless his heart.

L to R......Allgaier, Peciulius, Zareteski, Michie, Mäkinen, Groberg, Johnson

Once there we were off to explore and look everywhere....what a gorgeous setting for their paradise right here in Finland.....

Above: The dining room table set for all 18 of us! The young missionaries from their ward were invited to attend....at least the first course of lunch. One of the missionaries is from Russia and he was to be our interpreter for the Russian and Lithuanian couples.

Sisar Roto (L) and Sisar Mäkinen hard at work in the kitchen!

The outside view of their 'main' home on the property. There are a number of 'out' buildings that they use on a regular basis. This one was built in 1897!

This is another 'out' building. One part of it was built in the 1700's. The part we are standing in was built in the 1600's!!! I can't imagine being that old and still useable! This is the building they use when their family comes for the summer. They stay in here.

We ate and talked and ate and talked all day long.....

Sisar Roto is just so cute!! She and her husband are both physicians. And they retired when they were called to the Temple Presidency!

Another 'out' building in the background.

Sisar Zaretskeja and Siar Pecuiliene made all of us girls a dandelion 'headband'.....tradition for Russians! They were just so cute and we loved them. We wore them until they died!!

Lunch....course #1....

and the rest of the gang.

Veli ja Sisar Roto

And I made a bookmark for Sisar Roto, of course.

They told us we would be doing 'some work'! Did not know what kind.....but the guys loaded and unloaded 3 loads of wood from the wood shed to the SAUNA shed......

And planted some potatoes in the garden.

This is the walk from the main house down the hill to the SAUNA MÖKKI down by the lake. Can not explain what a GORGEOUS setting it was!! Oh my....want to go back again!

A little glimpse inside the sauna.

The floating dock at the edge of the lake......you run from the sauna to the lake and jump in and back to the sauna again (Wayne actually did this little 'ritual' 3 times!!)

Unloading one load of the wood.

Boys will be boys with their TOYS no matter what age and stage of life.....

A look at the SAUNA (smoke a floating out of the stove inside) from the hill coming down from the main house.

YUPPER it got that hot inside the sauna.

And LUNCH course #2......After the sauna and a cookout of SAUNA SAUSAGE and salad on the deck.

FINALLY at about 9:00 p.m. we decided we just HAD to head back to the asuntola. We just hated to leave. BUT we all had to get back so we could work in the Temple Tuesday morning (thank goodness we are on the afternoon shift this week.....we could sleep in a bit this morning!). The Roto's had to also drive back Monday night. They are on the morning shift Tuesday!! Notice how light it is outside. We got home at about 11:30 p.m.....still light outside.

The 1897 number above the door?? The date the home was built, NOT the address of the house.

What a wonderful P-Day......

THIS WEEK: MOSCOW WEST and HELSINKI STAKE! This will be the last time for MOSCOW as well. We will miss these wonderful people so much. We have many friends from all over RUSSIA that we will miss!!! Maybe we can work in the Kiev Ukraine Temple next!! :-)