Report From the North Country

Well good friends another month has gone by and I haven't reported on our whereabouts and doings in the great land of Suomi.  I just don't know where the time goes, but it manages to pass so fast.

First of all, like my Dad always did, I must report the weather.  Today, Sunday the 22 of September the weather has been sunny and rainy with very nice temperatures and mild winds.  We have had a great fall so far this year.  People are still out on the streets and enjoying what sunshine there is.  Everyone knows what the winters will be like, so we all suck up the warm weather as much as we can.

We have been really busy still with our daily tasks.  It seems like we never get caught up but again that is okay for now.  We are starting to get ready for our next bunch of missionaries next month.  Several days ago President Rawlings let us know where the new missionary companionships will be located when the new missionaries arrive in October.  I think that we have to come up with 4-5 new apartments to accommodate the new increase.  Along with the new apartments comes the job of furnishing them.  Brother and Sister Thelin have been a big help in getting that job done.  Below is a couple of pictures of the van getting ready to go to one of our cities with a load of furnishing.  The van can pretty much hold an apartment full on furniture and whatever is needed to set up for a new companionship.

Does that look like we have a lot of room to spare.  This one is bit tight because we found a couch at a second-hand store and it took more space than the boxed one from IKEA.  We try to use good quality used furniture if we can find it, but it isn't always possible.  We have been checking out all the apartments this summer and making sure that they are furnished adequately for our missionaries.  The worst one looks much better than what I stayed in when I was here but that is another story for another time.  Really, the elders and sisters have pretty nice housing arrangements and the church take good care of them.  However, we  and others have to go around and check up on them.

This part of the job does get us around Finland and out of the office once in a while.  We have tried to do most of our distant travel during the summer because of the horrible winter weather when driving conditions are not very good.  Another big plus that helps us is that in many of the cities where we have elders and sisters, the members are very helpful.

We have a great summer with friends and family stopping by to visit.  Gary and Kaisa have been around for a while and we have had a great time just visiting with them. Yesterday we returned from an overnight trip to Tallinn where we attended an opera, Man of LaMancha, in Estonian with English subtitles.  It was fun and the opera house was packed.  We managed to walk around town quite a bit and see many places that we have seen before.

This is the entrance to a little glass blowing shop in Tallinn.  We have been here before but it always fascinates me to see them blowing glass.  We actually bought a bowl from them this time and now have a solid memory of the place.

Also a picture of the shop help will brighten up this blog.  They were very helpful and spoke great English.

Brittany London and her friend, Tiffany Brianholt visited us on-and-off for the past week.  We have been their Finnish way-station while they travelled around northern Europe. They have visited around Helsinki for a few days in between their side trips to Estonia and St, Peterburg, Russia.  I am sure that they will share with you their experiences when they get home. Here is a picture of them with Lynne inside the Rock Church in Helsinki.  It is a beautiful building built inside solid rock.

 This is a church but I think that it is used for more for non-sectarian type programs.  It is most unusual  building and has a large copper dome.  It was fun with the girls and fun for us to get away for a while.

We went with Gary and Kaisa to a little island around here called Seurasarri, which has a lot of Finnish history exhibits.  It is a beautiful park and we had a good time.  Below are several pictures from the island vacation.

This was a special attraction at the island.  They had some folks dressed up in Viking outfits and played the part.  Even the food was prepared the Viking way.  They had some games and others event.  It was like our Mountain Man Rendezvous in the states.  The weapons were a bit older but everything else was pretty much the same.


The living museum on the island was very interesting but I enjoyed seeing how they built houses back then more than anything.  Also, look at this large oven for eating and baking in a home.  The kitchen was truly the center of the home, like it is today.

Nothing like an old windmill to remind you of days gone by.  It was a fun trip and we all had a good time.  Must of it was like looking at the pioneer times back home.

These are just a bunch of pictures that I have taken over the summer.  This one below is my picture for the fair next year.  I like it.

 

Lynne trying her luck at walking stilts again.  We tried, but we weren't too successful.  

Don and Linda McClellan from Morgan stopped by to visit us one day.  They only had a few hours in Helsinki but it was fun to take them around a bit.  Of course we had to take our picture with the Morgan County News and the Tuomio Kirkko in the background.

The Helsinki Finland Temple is always a beautiful spot to take a pictures from.  It was a great day for picture taking and visiting around the city.

Last year just before we came back to Finland, Brother and Sister Roto wanted us to bring them some corn seed to see how it would grow over here.  Well, it did okay and it earned Lynne and I another invite back to the Rotos for their annual missionary get-together on their estate out in the country.  It is very difficult to get corn to grow over here because of the difference in growing seasons and weather.

Do you think the chain securing this bike is big enough? I don't know how the rider packs it around.

This is just a bit older than Dad's old wheelbarrow that had hung around for so many years.  However, as old as it look, it still served a great purpose when it was first used.

Brothers and their wives in the north country.  Good to be together again for a while.

Well enough for now.  As you can see we are doing just fine.  We do manage to get away once in a while and now that the summer over, we will not get away as much.  The days are much shorter and colder so I really don't want to stray for from our apartment and work.  Missionary work is going well in Finland.  They have already surpassed last years numbers and we still have 3 month to go.  It is always a struggle, but the missionaries are working very hard and seem determined to do the best they can.

We receive 16 new missionaries in about 3 weeks, so we are preparing for their arrival.  We love our work and enjoy being busy doing something useful.  Hope all is well with all of you.  God bless and keep!

Love,  Rick and Lynne