SUNNUNTAI......

TRULY A DAY OF REST!!

Not sure what I had, but some kind of a little 'bug'!! My stomach sure hurt...started hurting on Saturday morning. I was hoping it would get better.....but with no avail!!

CHURCH was just not in our agenda for today! So sorry to miss.......but I spent more of the day in bed resting and trying to feel better.

Along about noonish, I was able to get showered and dressed.....and we decided to take a walk around the temple grounds to get out and get some much needed FRESH AIR!! It was very nice outside today. We have had a real HEAT WAVE going on here this past week. Finland have not much of anything air conditioned.....and why would they! When summer only last about 3 weeks a year, that is one expense that can be saved!!

These are some shots on our walk today......just a lot of pretty flowers...and lots of BEES!!

We got 'up close and personal' with the TEMPLE SIGN. Those yellow flowers in front of the sign......swarming with bees!

The pink and white flowers are finally looking better.....they were pretty sad for a while after they were planted!

Just love, love, love the beautiful flowers.

Even the weeds!! Wayne just couldn't stand seeing them where they were NOT suppose to be.

It truly has been a relaxing day......feeling a bit better.....hopeful to be back to 'normal' by sometime tomorrow!! Walking to Sello for errands and then walking to my hair appointment.

A VERY SAD

GOOD-BYE

TO ROSTOV FRIENDS......

We knew it would happen on Saturday.....that we would have to BID tearful good-byes to our many friends from Rostov........

It was indeed just that.......

FRIDAY NIGHT Katya wanted to give us a couple of 'presents' from she and her mother (who was unable to come)......so very sweet!! This was done before the TESTIMONY MEETING they held as a group after they finished the last Session of the day.

She HANDMADE us a counted cross (she also loves to do needle work!) picture of a RUSSIAN BLACK LAQUER BOX with WOODEN STIRRING SPOONS!! So perfect for remember our Russian friends!

And her mother gave us each a BOOKMARK made out of tree bark......from VLADIVOSTOK Russia!!! WOW.....what wonderful, memorable gifts.

Close up of the needlework....we will have it framed when we get home from our mission.....

She wanted to get a little something that she could remember her trip here by.....she found the 'perfect' thing....a set of 3 BRACELETS....talking about 'eternal happiness'......

Very befitting of the temple I would say!

NEXT WEEK: ESTONIA!!!! We are ready for a ASUNTOLA FULL OF GREAT PEOPLE FROM ESTONIA!!! Elinn, wish you could be here!! :-) And many returning friends as well!!

more ROSTOV RUSSIA friends this week.......

We started the week off with another WEDDING..... Tatiana Golina, whom we met several months ago when she and her mother and 2 other sisters where here at the temple. She was hopeful she would return in JULY for her wedding!!! And she was indeed here and got married!!

THEN.......May 14, 2010 ...... Tatiana (standing on my left) with sisters and mother.

NOW..... July 14th, 2010 you can barely see Tatiana standing on the temple steps in her wedding dress!! OH so happy......

We had 4 women who came to receive their own endowment! And they were so cute and so happy......and you know what that meant.....

Yes...... a counted cross temple picture!!

MEET: ELVIRA AITALIEVA

MEET: KATYA SVIRIDOVA

We 'found' a rainbow out back of the asuntola! KATYA just 'knew' that was 'her' sign that all would be well!! Heavenly Father's way of 'letting' her know!!

Left to right: TATIANA PASHKINA (returning long-time temple worker....she handmade and gave me a beautiful orange lace doily), me, of course, SVETLANA KUZMINA (new, first time), and KATYA(new, first time)

Katya, me and MARGARITA USTINOVA, new first time.....

PIOTR (Peter) KOVAL was just so ambitious!! He accomplished so much of his own family work this week!! Way to go Piotr!!

AND.....VICTORIA BAGMANJAN was here again his week. She got a counted cross temple bookmark from me last time!!!! A felt heart this time!! With Katya.....what sweethearts!!

A very fitting end to a beautiful day (and week) with Rostov here!!! GORGEOUS SUNSET taken at 11:05 p.m........although the SUN is not set yet, it was still very, very pretty!!

AAAHHH........

T H E N .......JULY 2009

We first 'met' the STREKOZOVA family last July 2009 shortly after we arrived here in Helsinki and began serving our Temple Mission!! What sweet young ladies. They found a Young Women Logo pendant in the Distribution Center. We just 'had' to buy a little gift for them......and they were soooo excited and very, very surprised! We hoped they would be able to come back in a year for another temple visit. You see, they live on the other side of Russia and it is not easy for them to get here........

This is (L) Marina and (R) Margo with mother, Lidia, in the middle.

And one more big HUG from 'my' girls!!

N O W .......... JULY 2010

Our young ladies have GROWN UP in the last year!! And become even more beautiful than last year!!

This time I made a little Temple Cross Stitch for ALL THREE of them......

And....they seemed to be very excited and surprised!

A little GROUP hug!!

And, less the boys be left out!! Lidia's son on the left.....SASHA KOZYREV. What a great family.....and we will miss them terribly when they have to go to the KIEV TEMPLE beginning next month!

G * R * E * A * T

P-DAY.....

We started the day off by meeting up with the Michie's, Groberg's and Mäkinen's and heading down to SEURASAARI OPEN-AIR MUSEUM about 20 minutes from Espoo.......

What a great place it is! This was our third time there....but the first for everyone else. We felt like their personal tour guide. We did not have time to stay for the English Tour because Veli Michie had the Asuntola Desk Duty and had to be back by about 3:30 p.m. Plus we had Veli Vorimo's birthday party at their home this evening as well!! Just not enough hours on a P-Day!

We had a little 'group' picture taken not long after we entered the park.....we were under a 'food house'.....called such so the animals would not get the food stored inside! Clever folks....

Small world story about the folks who took the pictures (pictured above)......the one in the middle is a Finn with the couple on either side of her being from Mexico. They asked where we were all from.....Washington D.C. (people know where that is quicker than Maryland!), Utah and Idaho. They had all lived in Utah while attending college! Where?? BYU!!! NO way!! YES WAY!! They were all three there on athletic scholarships and were NOT members of the church! Hard to believe!! How fun to talk with them.....Of course we invited them to come see us at the Helsinki Temple in Espoo!!!

Onward and Upward to see the sights around.....

The church above is the OLDEST building on the Island.....built in the mid-1600's. It is just a beautiful church and still in really good condition.....

Could NOT believe this little cookout going on!!! Some Finn had caught a fish and was cooking it 'up' while he went 'somewhere'........with his sausage cooking on top of the fish......and who on earth put the cigarette in the fish's mouth!! This was right along side of the lake.

THEN.......IN THE AFTERNOON IT WAS ON TO THE VORMIO'S HOME FOR A BIRTHDAY DINNER FOR VELI VORMIO!!

And who did we find cooking his very own Birthday Dinner!!! Kyllä... Veli Vormio himself!

The food was EXCELLENT......Sisar Vorimo is a great cook! And it shows with the great variety of foods she had.....

The day was absolutely PERFECT......albeit warm......

Sisar Vormio was showing me some of the foods she has growing in her garden. She is quite the little 'green thumb' as well!!

And the desserts were just as good as the main dinner!

Got home about 8:30 p.m. and the sun was just right for a picture with the beautiful flowers just outside the asuntola main door.....

And look who 'found' me as soon as I walked in the door.....KATYA SVIRIDOVA from Barnaul, Russia. She is here to receive her own endowment and she has asked me to be her escort!!! I feel very privileged to have been asked. Her mother is unable to come because of 'things' at home. We got to know her last fall when she came to participate in baptisms. She is so wonderful.....you will hear more about her throughout the week!!! And there are SO many other wonderful friends here with the ROSTOV group this week.....this will be a HARD week because we have to say GOOD-BYE at the end of the week. They will be off to the Kiev Temple next month! Not Fun!! :-(

SUNDAY........

We went to the HÄMEENLINNA BRANCH today for church. Kent and Barbara spoke.

We had dinner with the Michie's this evening.....homemade chicken soup and cabbage salad. Very good.....hit the spot. I made Barbara a Finnish blue and white hot pad....because she wanted one that color.

Then we had a missionary 'gathering' to enjoy some dessert together....Sistra Zina and Veli Pecilius went berry picking yesterday afternoon. They served up some berries and 'pancakes'......before we had a 'SING-IN'.....Sisar Groberg played the piano for us.

Everyone enjoyed the dessert very much!

And, I have to put a little note in here about VIRGIE WILLARD, my aunt who lives in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. Virgie is the oldest child in my mother's family.......Virgie turned 95 YEARS OLD on Friday, July 9th!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIRGIE.......we called her on Saturday and talked to her. She was hard of hearing us but sounded fairly good otherwise.....maybe a little out of breath. I would be too if I were 95 years old!

Tomorrow: PD....and NOT going to Helsinki.....going to SEURASAARI, an Open Air Museum about a half hour away!

AND THE REST OF THE STORY IS........

You may recall (OR just look at!!) yesterday's post about sweet little gals from Russia.....and my having made them a cross stitch temple.....OR just look at the picture below! Take your pick.

This sweet gal......NATALIA MURAMSTEVA from Barnaul Russia......came this week to receive her own endowment. She just loved being in the temple. She was always just beaming....such an infectious smile she had!!

Through an interpreter she told me she would have a gift for me tomorrow (Saturday). I told her she did NOT have to do that....but she kept insisting!! Bless her little heart! Or rather....BIG heart! Well, she met us as we were walking up to the temple this morning and she indeed have a wonderful, handmade gift for me! A LARGE CROCHETED HEART!!! It is just gorgeous and I will treasure it for the rest of my life!!

One of the neat things about it is that she actually made it LAST NIGHT after the group held their Testimony Meeting (which they always do the night before they go home). She stayed up quite late making it.....and even ended up having to go in the bathroom and sitting because her 'roommates' were going to bed!! Can you believe that. I will truly miss her!! She will be going to Kiev Temple beginning next month!

This afternoon we had a few errands to do and so we headed over to SELLO with the Michie's and Groberg's........Wayne loves to take 'action shots' and that is exactly what he did when he 'found' Kent checking out at City Market.

We may be a YEAR LATE in getting our little 'grandma cart' but we finally got one!!! And I LOVE IT......it looks more like a beach cart with the pretty PINK FLOWERS!!!

It has truly been a wonderful week with NOVOSIBIRSK here. We will look for the wonderful saints from ROSTOV next week.....their LAST time too!! We definitely do NOT like these LASTS!!!