MEET......

VANHIN BRYAN MORTENSON....... Veli Mortenson is from Peoria, Arizona. Veli Mortenson lives in Becky and David's Ward there. He arrived here in Finland to begin his mission the same week Becky ad David came to visit us......the end of June. We did NOT get to 'run into him' while they were here though. We have been 'looking' for him since that time. Well, today, his companion needed to see Veli (Dr.) Allgaier for a little medical issue. Didn't know that Elder Mortenson was his companion until they showed up here at the asuntola. How fun!!

One interesting thing about Veli Mortenson (standing next to me on my left, by the way) is that his mother passed away right before he got his mission call.......she is a FINN!!! And then he got his 'call' to come here!! Amazing......just amazing!! And he has 'found' relatives since he has been here......some of whom are NOT members of the church yet!

While we were talking to the missionaries, this cute little young women comes over and says...."Do you remember me"? Well, it took a minute but when we realized who she was we were so pleased and happy to see her again!! We first met MARJA SANKOLA (from Oulu) back in January 2010. She was at that time celebrating her 12th birthday and she wanted to come to the temple and do baptisms to celebrate her big day!! How sweet is that. Guess what she got.....yes, a counted cross stitch picture of the temple that I made for her! And then when we visited Oulu chapel on a Friday night as we were on our trip up the west coast of Finland during the two-week closure of the temple, we got to see her again!!

Here she was TODAY......and she has grown up just in those few short 6 months since we last saw her. She seemed really excited to see us again!! How fun to keep seeing so many people that we have met here over the last 13 months!! How in the world are we going to be able to go home when our mission is complete here!!?? :-( It makes us sad to think about that!!!