WEEKEND AT HOME!!

Yes, it was a weekend......and yes, we were home this weekend. We don't have another weekend visit until Nov 20th to Seinäjoki....about a 6 hour drive north toward Lapland! It feels good to sleep in our own bed and not be tired from the driving!

This weekend was our Helsinki Stake Conference. It was held in a HUGE arena about 20 minutes from the temple. There were two other HUGE events being held at the same time in different parts of the arena. That meant a lot of people driving their cars and few available parking spaces.

Don't know where this HUGE pile of snow came from.....maybe they hauled it in from up north? Or left over from last winter?? AAAHHHH seems like just yesterday we had that much snow piled up everywhere!!

We got our seats in time to watch the PRIMARY CHOIR during their final minutes of rehearsal. They did a great job.

And just before Conference began we were able to get a picture of those speakers on stage.....L to R....New Stake President (called about 6 months ago), visiting Area Seventy Authority Elder Lopez from Spain, Stake Presidency 1st Co., 2nd Co., Stake Patriarch Sovolinen (also a sealer in the temple) and President ja Sisar Brown, Helsink Finland Mission President and wife.

After conferenc we got a picture of the Koponen family as they were leaving conference. Sisar Koponen is the stake primary president....newly called about 6 months ago. Veli Koponen is the Recorder at the temple and newly released from the out-going stake presidency about 6 months ago. With them are 3 of their 5 children.

I made a pot of homemade spaghetti for dinner today when we got home. And YES, I had PIIMÄ with my spaghetti!! In english that means BUTTERMILK! I LOVE buttermilk. And the buttermilk here is sooooo good......better than in America if you can believe that. And so many people here drink it. That is also amazing.

The days are definitely getting shorter now......sun coming up about 8:00 a.m. and setting about 4:30 p.m. as the picture below shows the sun setting.....and this was taken at about 4:15 p.m. In just a few weeks we will have daylight hours from about 10:00 a.m. to about 3:00 p.m.

And while all of this was going on, I decided to make homemade rolls....kind of like having a

2-course meal. The spaghetti first and a little later HOT ROLLS fresh out of the oven. We shared some with the other missionaries because the recipe (LION HOUSE ROLLS) makes plenty to share!! They were so good....

Nice relaxing Sabbath......just as it should be once in a while!