THE END OF YET ANOTHER

V * I * I * K * K * O * !!

(week)

On Friday I just happened to look out the window.....and what did I see!! The

POSTI - LADY having delivered mail here to the asuntola. Notice how CLEAR that sidewalk is. Nice, huh!!

Well, guess what!! We got a couple of more inches of snow today. MITÄ!! Yes, this is Finland and it is STILL WINTER. Won't be spring before we leave to go home!

While I was warm INSIDE enjoying the beauty of the soft-falling snow from the comforts of our bedroom window (relaxing after working in the temple).....

Wayne was with Veli Vorimo ja Veli Zaretski and headed to the SAUNA....Saturday afternoon tradition.

P* L*E*A*S*E tell me what can be so relaxing and 'fun' about this little 'exercise'!! Hot....then cold.....Hot.....then cold.....Hot.....then cold......3 or 4 times at least.

Obviously they all enjoyed it and they even survived!! Just give me the warm comforts of our apartment! :-)

AND THE END IS IN SIGHT!

with over 300 made.......

YES......more than 300 counted cross stitch mini-picture Helsinki Temples and Bookmarks during the last almost 2 years that we have been here in Finland! I can hardly believe I have made that many. BUT.....I have. This is the LAST of my supplies. When these are gone.....I will have 'finished' this project! I hope I have enough to last the last 6 weeks of our mission. Have a great journey this has been for me. I have loved being able to share this little 'talent' with those that I have come to love here in Finland......and Russia and Estonia and Lithuania and Sweden! And a few other countries as well!!

Today Wayne and I had to go to the Posti to check on a 'LOST PACKAGE'.....well, at least we don't know exactly where it is. We know it made it to the US Customs in New York. It seems to be 'stuck' there. These 3 POSTI-LADIES are the best in the world. We love them.....and they are always smiling when they see us come in! They seem like FAMILY to us!

They were so AGREEABLE to having their picture taken with FLAT STANLEY today! They are good sports!

We showed them the pictures when we finished taking them.....they all agreed that they were okay! KIITOS PALJON!

MEET

'FLAT STANLEY'......

HOW FUN......

We got an letter from our granddaughter, Kristyn Marie. She is doing a school project called Flat Stanley. This little paper doll is sent by the students in Kristyn's class to people they know who are anywhere around the world. We are suppose to take Flat Stanley with us and take pictures. At the end of an allotted time we are to send the pictures back to the school. The class will then learn about different parts of the world. Great IDEA! SO........

yesterday the Michie's and we took the Metsäthähti's out the lunch. They have been living in the asuntola for the past few months and working in the temple along with us during that time. They are headed back to their home in Turku this weekend. It has been wonderful to be able to work with them! What a great couple they are. SO Flat Stanley got a 'free' lunch today at Sello.

Svetlana, from St. Petersburg, has been here this week. She is such a sweetie!! We will miss her. This will be the last time we get to see her smiling face. She was so sweet and brought us a few little things from Russia.

It has been a wonderful day.....can not believe it is already the end of the week. Where does the time go to!!

W E D N E S D A Y

RANDON-NESS!

Don't know where the weeks go to! It is the middle of the week and it feels like the week just started. Time is flying by so fast. With the recent sunny days and temps actually getting above the freezing mark, the snow is beginning the melt-down process. Wayne was out helping Matti 'find' the drain so they could get it un-iced! That is always a huge help. Wayne looked back at pictures pre-snow days and knew exactly where to 'find' it.

I wore my 'regular' shoes for the first time yesterday! Felt a l

ittle weird since I have worn these BOOTS every single day since last November. My boots, I decided, are much more comfortable than regular shoes. These boots.....if only they could talk! They have literally walked all over Finland during the past two years. From top to bottom and side to side!! Not to mention a lot of Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Germany and probably a lot of other places I can't remember!! AAAHHH......such wonderful memories they bring to my mind!

Wayne and I were headed over to the hospital to visit a s

weet friend. As we were leaving the asuntola we heard a helicopter overhead. That is unusual here. Don't think we have heard a helicopter but one other time in the last 2 years. Discovered it was landing in the field behind the asuntola. Medivac Heli for some reason. Never did figure out what for. Veli Zaretskji was already over at the snow pile climbing to the top for a better view.

AND BACK TO THE DRAIN........As we were walking up to the temple, Matti and a friend (with his grandchild helping) were making great headway on opening the DRAIN up. Nice work guys.....and are these little Finn children just not the most adorable all dressed up in their cute little snow suits!! You just want to pick each one of them up and give them great big hugs!! SO CUTE!!

After the temple last night, we had our 'regular' Wednesday night m

eeting with the President and Matron in their apartment. Only tonight would be a bit different!! We were going to have a CPR CLASS....mini version. We needed to be 'prepared' in case of a medical emergency so we could help in whatever way is needed.

The President is 'helping' to get 'Resusci -Annie' ready....batteries in place.....and ready to go.

We all got a 'turn' trying to save her. Wayne did the best job of all!! I think I want him on my 'side' if I ever need any help like that.

Great Day.......on to TORSTAI! And it will be busy as well.......

AND THIS JUST ADDED!! Late entry but.....Sisar Metsäthäti sent this picture to us from last night. Has 'Annie' in the foreground and Wayne and I in the background! Kiitos Paljon Cornelia! Fun evening of learning.....

Home from

OULU

We had a few hours in the morning to walk around the 'downtown' market area of OULU before catching our train back to Espoo. Originally we were scheduled to leave Oulu at about 5:30 p.m. which would have been a really, really late night returning for us. Fortunately, we were able to change our tickets to leave shortly before 1:00 p.m. allowing us to return at a decent time. Love that!!

It was a beautiful snow falling as we walked around. The McDonald's below was a very unique entrance. We just like the design! We did NOT eat there. Can you see the little cluster of GRAPES over the doorway. Have not seen that before.

We picked up a couple of pulla breads to eat on the train.....along with a carton of MILK! Can't have pulla with the milk now can we! It sure was good.......both the pulla and milk! The train did have a dining car but we chose to have a little snack instead.

Beautiful scenery as we traveled along back to Espoo.....

As we walked from the bus stop at the top of our hill down to the asuntola, the TEMPLE was there to greet us, as always! Looking just as beautiful as it always does.

AAAHHH.....it is good to be back home. Looking forward to yet another wonderful week. It is Helsinki Stake and Estonia week. Lots of familiar names here at the guesthouse!

WONDERFUL SABBATH

IN

OULU BRANCH

We have had a wonderful day here with the Saints in the Oulu Branch! We know so many of them from the temple.

The grounds of the chapel of buried deep with the snow.....no surprise there. This is Finland and it is winter!!

One of the favorite things for the kids to do after church is play in the snowbanks! And there is no exception to that here. The kids are always supervised by an older, responsible person. They are just so cute when they go sliding down the banks.

This group of neighborhood kids were playing ICE HOCKEY........and their goal thingie (post, maybe) was in the street. Why not.....it is not a busy street! They looked like they were having fun.

We had the Elders take our 'traditional' picture in front of the chapel. KIITOS PALJON Veljet!

Sisar Pyykkö invited us over for dinner. She is so sweet. She is a temple worker. We got to know her best when we served a recent mission in the Helsinki Finland Mission Office and she would come to the temple once a week and serve as an ordinance worker. She still comes and works in the temple when she can get there. It is a very long trip and costs a lot of money to come. I made her a bookmark, which she is holding. Sisar Brown, Mission President's wife, also made her a cross stitch picture when she was released from her mission in the office back last November. She is so wonderful. Yet, another friend we are going to miss terribly!! I was also able to make and give 4 more cross stitch pictures and bookmarks to friends in Oulu Branch.

We gave our talks in Sacrament Meeting (in Finnish of course). After the meeting the Branch President asked us to come to his home in the evening and help with a YOUTH FIRESIDE. The topic: THE TEMPLE. We were delighted to help with that. The Branch President lives with his wife and 6 children in this beautiful home not too far from the church. It has been a wonderful day in OULU!! So wish we could come back again. Maybe on another mission to Finland!! :-)

N I G H T T R A I N

TO

O * U * L * U

The last time we took a 'night train' and had a sleeper cabin was one year ago when we went up to LAPLAND. It was a great trip. We sleep well in the beds. Likewise, we slept well this time too. Just not long enough is all!! The beds were just as comfortable as we remembered them to be.

We got to watch a beautiful SUNRISE as we approached our destination of OULU.

It was 'fun' to watching the passing scenery.......

and see lots of beautiful things. They have just as much snow up here as we do in Espoo!!

The train station is a quaint place. Love all of these train stations that have the 'old' flair to them.

One of the things we remember most about OULU is the POLICEMAN STATUE in the marketplace TORI!! It is just so cute.

And, of course, we did a little shopping while we were there. This is a great little shop when we went a year ago. And we were there again this time.

One thing our 'car rental guy' told us to do if we had time was to drive over to the HAILUOTO ISLAND and to take the ICE ROAD!!! WHAT?? IS?? AN?? ICE?? ROAD??......just exactly what it says.......JÄÄTIE (Ice Road)!!! There was an 'optional' ferry to take us there. But NO, could we be as simple as that!! Of course not......so, off we went on a 5 mile (8km) adventure over the BAY OF BOTHNIA (same place where we did 'ice swimming' from the Sampo Icebreaker last year)

I have to admit that it was quite an ADVENTURE!!! A little (or maybe a LOT) nervous until we made it to the Island. When I saw all kinds of cars and trucks driving across I figured it must be safe!! After all, we ARE in Finland and they are used to things like this, right!! There were some cool WINDMILLS there too.

Cool LIGHTHOUSE there on the other side that we drove to.....on snow-covered ground. NOT on the ice!

This fellow and his boat won't be going anywhere until 'spring' thaw comes....say, about the end of May or June!

Wayne convinced me to STOP our rental car part way across the ICE ROAD for a foto op. Was I crazy or what.....but I did!!

L * O * O * K ...... he says. It is perfectly safe out here!! Yea....whatever!!

But this 'little' puddle of water in the middle of the road did not give me warm and fuzzies!! We did drive across it but I wasn't sure just how safe it was. Needless to say....I was most grateful to be on the Island and back to the 'mainland' safe and sound. With yet one more adventure under our belts!! Now that we are safe I can say.....THAT WAS FUN!!

This 'draping' snow off the roof of this house was so pretty.....just had to capture a shot of it.

It has been a great day. A little tired from not getting enough sleep last night on the night train.....only because we weren't on it long enough!!

Tomorrow: We will be speaking int he OULU BRANCH!! Looking forward to seeing lots of wonderful folks that we have met in the Temple over the past almost 2 years!