Springtime in Finland

Well, I think that spring is officially here in Finland.  That doesn't mean we won't have some snow still, but the days are certainly longer, the snow is going fast, and all the Finns are out walking or riding their bikes.  It is starting to get really nice for a daily walk in the forest.  We went to Tampere today to their stake conference and the ride there and back was really nice.  The snow is almost gone and the fields are starting to green up and the farmers are starting to plant their summer crops.  In about 6 weeks, the countryside will be beautiful.  the picture below is of Lynne and me at the stake conference in Tampere.  They hold it in a large social hall similar to our Salt Palace.  It is a beautiful building right in the middle of town and certainly does a great job of housing conference for the church.

Rick and Lynne in Tampere

They speakers were really good.  The general authority was from Italy and gave his talk in English which had to be translated into Finnish.  Our temple president spoke, along with the stake president, and a sister convert to the church that has recently been married in the temple.  It was fun and enjoyable to see many of the members that we see in the temple all the time.  They seemed happy to see us and know that we really do care about them and want to help them as much as we can .

A really fun part of the day was our dinner at President and Sister Roto's home in the country.  They live about 45 kilometers from Tampere in the country.  They have a really cool farm house that has been remodeled and fixed up for them and their kids when they visit.  We had a wonderful dinner with them and greatly enjoyed visiting with them and touring their farm.  They have some ruins on the place that have to be 2-300 years old along with buildings that were built in the late 1800s.  The women fixed dinner for us and after dinner, the ladies went on a tour of the house and the men were instructed to wash the dishes which we  did. It was a fun day all around.

This is Roto's home in the country.  The yellow and red paint is very typical of many of the buildings in Finland. As you can see, a bit if snow.  We are fine and doing well.

Something "fishy" here!

Well, time has come to report a little bit about the Londons in Finland.  I guess the problem with being somewhere a certain period of time is that all the new stuff that you do seems routine after a while.  We continue to have a wonderful time working in the temple.  We have all kinds of neat experiences each and every day.  We continue to meet and work with amazing people all the time, whether they are from Finland, Estonia, Russian, Sweden, USA, or anywhere.  It is certainly a privilege for us to be able to participate each day with these folks and help them with their temple work.

Well, the picture of the week is below.

Salmon

  What is it?  Well, it is salmon from sea around Norway and it is fresh and Lynne just cooked it.  It is delicious and tasty and we have it all the time.  It is relatively inexpensive and they eat a lot of it around here.  You have to shop for the bargains but it is worth it.  Really, we are able to get about anything we want here.  Lynne has had to substitute certain things sometimes, but I have yet to try something she cooked that didn't turn out okay. The grocery stores stock everything and anything we could possibly use, as long as we have the Euros, we can usually find what we need and more.  The produce part of the grocery stores are always stocked with fresh produce and the same with meat.  Beef is a real treat over here, but they like it in fairly small portions because of the cost.  The bread section of the stores is huge, they have a part with packaged bread like we have at home and then there is a bigger part that has all kinds of freshly baked breads in the aisles.  The candy section of the store is huge also, with all kinds of goodies.  Never fear for the lack of ice cream either, hard to make up my mind when we buy it.  It is soooo good.

Today is the second day of Easter and it is a holiday in Finland.  Brother Fuller and I had to retrieve the Finnish flag this evening.

Rick and Roger taking the flag down.

There are certain prescribed days (17 to be exact) in Finland that the flag can be flown.  We have a schedule  in our guest house and when that day rolls around, someone in the complex will put the flag up and take it down.  It is a beautiful flag and so simple, but so meaningful to the Finns and to us also.

Helsinki Train Station

 We had last Saturday off and so we went to Helsinki for a break and visited the art museum which was exhibiting the Swedish painter Carl Larsson's works.  We had visited his home in Sweden when we were they a few years ago and it was fun to see his art work, mostly water colors.

 The photo above is the Helsinki Central train station.  It is the rail hub for the whole country and it is right in the middle of town.  Almost impossible to visit Helsinki without seeing or using the train station.  Almost all trains going north originate here.  We use it all the time to go from Helsinki to Espoo where the temple is.  Most of the trains are electric until you get way up north.  Another reason the train station is so popular is that there is not a whole bunch of parking in Helsinki, or it costs a fortune to house your vehicle.

Again I can't pass up the opportunity to display another picture of the temple.  We went for a walk the other day and it looked so beautiful with the snow and the blue sky.

Well, again we are doing well.  We love being here and being together most of the time.  We certainly hope and pray that all is well with all of you at home.  We missed being home for Easter but I guess we are celebrating it more than ever this year as missionaries. Love, Rick and Lynne