Arctic Circle and More!

Good Friends,  this edition of the London Blog is from Rovaniemi, Finland right on the Arctic Circle in northern Finland.  We are on break from the temple while it is being cleaned and eight of us decided to go north on a mini-vacation during the winter.  Not a very smart idea, but we did it anyway.  The first night we drove to Kuopio, stayed overnight and spoke in church the next day.  Kuopio was the first town in Finland that I served in and it was just a cold last Sunday as it was almost 50 years ago.  I didn't recognize a whole bunch of the town, especially since it has grown so much over the years.  A very modern town now with parks, lakes, churches, and whatever else is going on there.

Here is the gang in front of the Kuopio Chapel last Sunday.  Sister Williamson took the picture, so she is not in it.  The biggest leg of the journey was to Rovaniemi right after church on Sunday.  It took quite a while and the roads were not in the best shape, but we made it to our hotel in Rovaniemi, which is about 1 1/2 star hotel.  But it is a holiday week in Finland and we were lucky to even find a room.
We have had fun in Rovaniemi going to Santa's Village where all the letters addressed to Santa Claus in Finland go to.  The post office there is really quite the place with people all over the world writing letters to friends and loved ones from the Arctic Circle and Santa's Village.

Well, here is we are at the Arctic Circle and all is well.  We have had a great trip north.  Today, Tuesday, we went to the Arktikum museum in Rovaniemi which has a lot about early life in Lapland. The weather has been pretty good,  but it has been close to 30 degrees C below zero here this winter already and could do it again if conditions are right.  We had a lunch at McDonalds here the other day and found out it is the most northernly McDonalds in the the world.  Look on your map where the Arctic Circle goes around the world and you will realize how far north we really are.  It is up there in Alaska and northern Canada and Siberia in Russia and all the other cold places in the world.  We went to a little branch party this evening there and it was fun to visit with a few of the members and see how they are doing.  

Certainly one of the main attractions at Santa's Village is the reindeer herd and the reindeer rides. They raise reindeer around here like we raise beef cattle at home.  It is very traditional of the Laplanders to raise reindeer for many of their needs.  They use them still to pull sleds and for a source of meat in their diets.  Also their furs provide a lot of comfort and warmth.  

I was doing pretty good in the gift shops in Santa's Village until I came across this ancient looking leather aviator hat hand-made by the guy in the picture.  We had quite a discussion, but I would have hated myself later if I hadn't have purchased it.  I did talk him down 10 Euros but that didn't help much.  It is a cool hat and very practical to wear in Finland with the cold weather.  Besides I needed a new hat anyway, Dad's Finnish hat that I brought with me is falling apart and I can't afford to buy one like that now.  Men's and Women's hats in Finland are quite a status symbol, so you can really see some far-out looking winter head gear.

  

Driving back to the motel the other afternoon we ran into this sunset.  Now matter how hard we try, man will never be able to match the handiwork of our Heavenly Father.  Tomorrow we are off to the Snow Castle (Ice Hotel) in Kemi and then to the Swedish border at Tornio, after that we will be on our way to Oulu for a fireside that the missionaries are putting on.
Hope all of you are doing well.  Love from the north,  Rick and Lynne

More Snow

Terve all,

Remember how I was commenting on how little snow we had in Finland a while back?  Well, I have quit talking about it since we have received a fair amount of snow.  The picture below is our maintenance man Matti using one of the new snow blowers that the church acquired for us.  I think that we received it at just the right time.

This is another picture of one of the older buildings on our walk to the grocery store.  No question about it, it is winter in Finland now.  

Aside from all the snow, we are doing very well.  We don't get out to walk as much but we try to do the best we can.  Everything at the temple is going well.  We have a really great group of missionaries and local members that work together in the temple each week.  Many of the Finnish temple workers are retired, like many of us at home, but there are many that take time off work each week or month to spend at least half a day in the temple.  Almost all the shift leaders are local Finns and the subordinate shift leaders are the full-time missionaries.  It works out pretty well, as we hope that some day all the workers will be Finns and they will be self-sufficient.  Missionaries come and go, but those that are native to the country will be here their entire lives.

Well, one last shot of the temple with all the snow.  It is a beautiful building and what happens inside is even more beautiful and wonderful.  Our love to all of you.  Rick and Lynne

Other duties as assigned!

In my job description at work at Hill AFB they would always end the list of responsibilities with the statement "and other duties as assigned."  Well from this picture below you can see that it applies to our mission as well.  Today we had "official" snow blower training for the missionary couples. I think that out of 6 couples only two of us had any experience at all with snow blowers before.  They are really nice blowers, big and will move a lot of snow, we will just have to be careful with them.  However, so far we have not had enough snow to justify using them, but I am sure that will change in the near future.

After the snow had been removed Lynne and I went on a little walk.  It was only about 10 below zero Celsius,  so it was pretty warm.  This is what a typical walking path looks like in Finland on our way to the store today.  Many babies out in elaborate baby carts that cost hundreds of dollars.  The cold weather doesn't seem to slow them down much.  The ice rinks are all filled with people playing ice hockey and just skating around.  Our fall walking paths are now all used by cross-country skiers, so we have to be careful where and how we walk.

 Doesn't she look great all bundled up?  Well this is a scene we see all the time when we walk to the store. We like to walk to the store because it gets us going and allows us visiting time together without any interruptions.

We are fine and keeping warm.  Our quarters are more than adequate and we still love each other, even if we are together 24 hours a day. We continue to progress each day with the languages and with our other assignments.  We love being here in Finland, it is still a dream come true for both of us.  Hope all is well for all of you.

Love Rick and Lynne

The Russians are coming.

Central Market place in Helsinki this weekend.  Most of the buyers are from Russia.

This has been a wonderful week in the temple.  Different, but that happens all the time around here.  It was the Russian New Year and they flock to Finland to buy many after Christmas good and services.  Someone said that 53,000 cars from Russian came to Finland this past week, many of them busses.  Well, it is a wonderful weeks also to have people from Russia in the temple.  A number of Russian members came, along with some youth, and stayed in the guest house all week and went to the temple each day.  Many were temple workers and many were regular temple attenders.  The youth were fun to work with in the baptistry.  Many of the same youth were baptized and confirmed in the morning and then again in the afternoon.  I think that some of the youth attended as many as 8 sessions of baptisms and confirmations.   And if it wasn't for the languages being used, you would think that you were doing it in any temple in Utah.  What a great feeling and experience.

Some of our Russian friends.

Lynne and Sister Williamson made treats for them Tuesday and took them down to the guest house kitchen.  It took them a while to figure out what a Rice Krispie treat was, but I noticed that there were not left a short time later.  The temple presidency had a couple of wonderful meetings while the Russian workers were here and we were privileged to be part of that.  Talks at one meeting were given by Finns speaking English that then was translated in Russian for them.  Elder Lawrence from the Moscow Area Presidency was the main speaker last Friday evening in one of the local ward houses.  He gave a wonderful talk on the temple and how temple attendance helps us in our lives.  All members of the temple presidency spoke also.

Snow on the ground now.  Lynne and I went for a walk this afternoon after church.  It was 10 below Celsius but it was a beautiful day for several hours and we enjoyed walking with all the other Finns out for the day. 

   This is Elder and Sister Lawrence from Moscow,  Sister Haikkola and President Haikkola (temple president), Sister and Brother Vorimo of the temple presidency also.  This was taken in the Espoo Ward building after the meeting with the Russian temple workers on 6 January 2012.

And we must include the picture of Brother Matti Ojala with the Joulu Kinkku (Christmas ham), which we ate for New Years instead of Christmas.  Brother Ojala is a Finnish temple missionary and a wonderful person.  We have become good friends.

Well, time marches on and we are still doing okay.  Each week zooms on by and before we know it, it is time to start another.  We and our family have been blessed greatly this past year, and hope and pray that the same can be said of yours.  Elder Lawrence said an interesting thing about the temple the other night.  He basically said that "when we do work for the dead in our families, it finally releases them from the spirit prison world, thus making them available to assist us and others down here on earth."  This is an very interesting perspective on temple work.

Have a great new year.  Love to all of you.  Rick and Lynne

Welcome the New Year 2012

Hope you all had a great holiday season and great expectations for the new year.  It has been a wonderful time for us in Finland.  They really enjoy their New Year's celebrating.  It is the only time of the year they are legally allowed to set off fireworks, and boy do they ever set them off.  In every direction on New Year's Eve we could see all kinds of rocket-type fireworks and also hear the firecrackers go off.

We celebrated in the typical Mormon fashion by eating,  with all the guest house temple missionaries. Brother Wayne Williamson hadn't eaten enough Christmas ham yet, so he purchased a big ham and Sister Ritva Ojala cooked it and the rest of us kicked in food and appetites. Just a little picture above to let you know how "tough" it is here.

One of things they like to do is light sparklers on the Christmas tree as you can see above.  Sister Vorimo and Brother Ojala light up the outside Christmas tree.  It was fun and exciting to be in another country from New Years.  It is really nice to have so many couples together here at the temple.  It makes things much more comforting and interesting.  

Yesterday afternoon it started to snow and this is what it looks like this morning.  Wayne, Matti, and I went out and shoveled snow for a couple of hours before it got really dark.  I think our efforts paid off because this morning the walks were pretty well cleared.  It is Russian week at the Helsinki Temple and there are lots of them.  They started coming Monday and have filled up all the rooms at the guest house.  We are on afternoon shift this week and are looking forward to working with them.  It is a holiday in Russia this whole week and so many of the members from north-western Russia come to the Helsinki Temple.  Another reason is that they love to come to Finland right after Christmas and New Year's Day and take advantage of all the bargains in the Finnish stores.  Actually the Finns extend their after-Christmas sales to include their holiday shopping. 

Hope all is well with you and your families.  We are looking forward to a great new years with lots of good times and experiences.  Our children fared well the holidays and most are back home right now.  Liisa reported that they had 21 bodies staying at our house on New Year's Eve.  All of them were in Morgan at one time or another and they all got together for a bowling party on New Year's Eve and had a great time.  We have wonderful children and grandchildren and love them all dearly as we do all of you.

Love,  Rick and Lynne

Christmas 2011 in Jyväskylä!

Well good friends, Christmas 2011 has come and gone and we have a lot of memories to report.  On the 23rd of December we took the Express train to Jyväskylä, which is located in the center of Finland.  It was about a 3 hour train ride in a really nice train with internet and comfortable seats.  I just had a good time riding the train looking at the country side.  Good inside view of the train below and after that the countryside.

After we arrived in Jyväskylä we went shopping, so we took advantage of the opportunity and it was a wonderful experience.  Saturday, Christmas Eve, we had a wonderful meal but first we had to go to the cemetery there and watched all the people put candles on the graves.  This is a very strong Finnish tradition that I remember from my mission.  In fact, Lynne and I have done this at home for the past 20 years.


This is an interesting picture because the headstone is missing.  Helena said that her family knows that someone is buried there, but there was never enough money to buy the stone.

And the Christmas Eve dinner of course.  The salted salmon and pickled herring added some interesting tastes for our tongues, but it was all good.  Helena and Oscar (her son) did a great job of cooking for us.

Sunday morning we went to church in Jyväskylä and had a great time.  A very friendly ward and lots of kids.  This is a picture of their ward house.  It was built in the late 60s and is holding up very well.

Then of course we had to have a Christmas Day dinner and it was wonderful also.  This is a picture of Lynne and me and Helena and Oscar also.  We really did have a fun time and enjoyed being with them.  They were wonderful hosts.

Helena spoiled me with fixing some rice mush with a mixed fruit soup to go on top of it.  I loved this so much when I was here years ago and it tasted so good again this Christmas.  So that is what is in this picture, my Christmas present from her.

The sister missionaries joined us for dinner on Sunday and we all had a good time together.  Monday morning we left for Helsinki and caught the train home.  We arrived late that afternoon because of a major power outage in Finland that affected many of the rail switching controls.  The winds really caused a lot of damage and destruction on Boxer Day in Finland.  Just a quick self picture of the two of us coming home, just in case you have forgotten which we look like in civilian clothes.

I guess our trip north wasn´t enough so we had to go to another party Monday evening at the Vorimo´s home near the temple in Espoo.  Sister Vorimo said that she just fed us leftovers, but that is hard to believe.  This is a picture of the Vorimo´s. Brother Vorimo is in the temple presidency.

Well, there you have it.  We Skyped the children a day later and they reported that Christmas went well at home and Becca and Phill are holding the house together with all the kids there.  The annual London party at the Morgan City building went well and they are doing something together this Saturday for New Years.
We just hope that all of you had a great holiday season and looking forward to a wonderful new year.  We are already back working this week in the temple with many Finnish and Russian couples.  They are such wonderful people, and always willing to share whatever they have.  The sisters have grown attached to them and they like to leave treats for them when they can.

Thanks for all your cards and letters and emails. Love to all of you.  Rick and Lynne

Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas from Finland.  We love it here and enjoy working in the temple and working with all the people each day.  We have been very blessed with great family and friends.

We just hope and pray that all of you are doing well and enjoying a great Christmas Season at home or wherever you may be.

A picture I just took of the temple out of our living room window.  We never grow tired of this view as we look at it all the time.  May the Lord bless and watch over all of you at this time.  I know for a fact, that He knows and loves each of us personally.  He is our Father and all fathers (and mothers) love their children, even if it means sacrificing one of their sons.   Love you all,   Rick and Lynne