And the Days Get Longer

Just a quick update on the Londons in Finland.  This picture is out our window at 11 PM at night and as you can see, which you can see, is that it is still very light outside.  We have to close off our bedroom at night so we can keep out the light and sleep.  We still have month to go to the longest day here but we are getting used to sunshine for most of the day (and night).

The weather has been so nice lately and everything is so green, especially for a Utahan from the dry western part of the USA.  We go for walks in the forest and everything is so alive and growing.  The blueberries are starting to develop and they are all over in the forest.  Blueberries in Finland are picked by everyone and many people from outside Finland come here and pick them and sell them on the street.  The Finns have made it possible to pick, market, and sell blueberries without having to pay tax on the profits.  It is a special situation here that allows the common dude to pick and sell and earn some extra money.  We were not here last year when the season began but we are watching close this summer to see what happens.

Thought that you might want to see some of the new flowers around the Guest House.  Here is a picture or two.

Every year the church changes the flowers at the temple quite regularly.  These yellow flowers to the right were only in for a month and now they have been replaced.  Temple grounds are looking very good and is so pleasant  to walk around.  They church doesn't seem to spare any time nor money in doing what it can to make the Lord's house look as good as it should.

They have a professional gardener/landscaper who is mostly in charge and she does a wonderful job.  I think that she only works three days a week at the temple but she makes great use of her time.  Two others on the staff also help her.  Anyway, enjoy the pictures, we love the outside of the temple almost as much as the inside.

Went to a cemetery in Helsinki this evening and spent some time walking around.  It is a beautiful cemetery with many years of graves and headstones.  It is on the shore line overlooking the bay and commands your attention and reverence.  In the picture we are overlooking a number of headstones of soldiers killed during the Winter War with Russia (1939-40).  It is a solemn sight and almost makes one feel like he is in church or some other sacred place.

This below is a picture of the regular cemetery.  Lots of headstones.

Again, we are doing just great.  The temple work is going very well and we love helping the people here enjoy the blessings of the temple.  Many times they bring their own researched names to be done and their faces just shine when the work is completed.  We try to help them as much as we can.  Just last week the wife of the one of the temple presidency members went through a session to help a sister from Lithuania finish some names that she had brought with her.  Many of the members here really seem to understand the importance and need for the work that is done in the temple.

Lynne and I hope and pray that you are all doing well and so are your families.  Thanks for all your prayers and support.  We appreciate all of you.

Love,  Rick and Lynne

Phill and Bec continued

Phill, Becca, and Rick

Well just a couple of more pictures about our travels and then we can move on into the summer.  On Sunday we went to church in Helsinki and went for a walk on the waterfront as I explained in the previous blog.  But it was a beautiful day and our walk was very fun.  I think that half of Helsinki was out walking, but it was a spectacular day and everyone seemed to be doing okay.  After a couple of hours of walking around the town,  Brother and Sister Carpenter picked us up and we went home and all packed for the trip home.  I think that most weight on the way home for Phill and Bec was caused by all the chocolate bars that we bought at Prisma.  Anyway, they reported after they got home that everything went okay and they didn't have too much weight in their suitcases.  I forgot to mention how much stuff Bec and Phill brought with them when they came.  It was just like Christmas to see them open  their suitcases.  I gave away one of the bags of Hershey's Chocolate Kisses to our Russian friends today.  It is always fun to give them American treats. We also went for late walk in the forest this evening.

Rick, Lynne, Becca, and Phill

Monday morning the final trip-home preparations were made and later in the day we went to Helsinki on the train.  It was a fun day of walking around and riding the trolley, bus, ferry and commuter train.  We enjoyed the market square downtown Helsinki and we took the ferry to Suomenlinna, located off shore Helsinki.  This is the castle that used to protect the city of Helsinki many years ago.  It is still used by many government officials and there are some personal residences on the island.  A whole bunch of rock walls and tunnels and cannons and walking.  It was fun, especially the ferry trip to the island.  

Helsinki from the ferry

Picture to the right is Helsinki waterfront from the ferry to Suomenlinna.  It is a "cool" looking city from the water.  The central market place is right straight ahead and we had a great time shopping there.  The food was outstanding.

Well, the kids are home and I think they had a great time.  I know they missed their own children, but we had a wonderful time visiting with them and just talking and relaxing.  We really appreciate the time and expense they went to in order to visit.  Those 24 hour flight days are real "butt" busters as many of you already know.

Final remark.  We met a really nice American couple in the temple today.  They are senior missionaries in the Siberian part of Russia.  But wait, here is the amazing thing about them.  This is there third mission to the same place in Russia and their fifth full-time mission overall and we are only on our first.  We have two temple missionary couples working with us right now that are on their fifth or sixth full-time mission as a couple.  I really have to admire all their efforts and what they have done for the church all over the world.

Second final remark, I would be most ungrateful if I didn't take a minute and express my feelings of love and appreciation to my good friend, Lynn Mickelsen, who passed away last week from cancer.  There are really not a lot of things that being in Finland has caused us to wish that we were back home once in a while, but not being around the last several months, being able to visit with Lynn was difficult for me. Not that I could have done anything to prolong the inevitable, but it was hard.

Lynn Mickelsen

Our love and prayers to Colleen and her family.  He was (is) truly a great man and an example to all of us.

Bye for now.  Rick and Lynne

Phill and Becca

Well, time to update all you fantastic readers about our ventures here in Finland.  Before I tell you about what we have done outside the temple, please rest assured that we have been busy in the temple doing our missionary duties.  Although we took a couple of days off when the kids were here, we are back in the swing of things today.

But with that disclaimer, we have had a great time with Phill and Becca visiting us here in Finland.  It was just great to have them here and visit and talk with them, but we did more than that.  We traveled around a bit.

Tallinn

They arrived on Monday the 14th of May after a very long trip.  It took them about a day or more to accommodate themselves to the jet lag.  We kept them up the first night here but it didn't do much good as they  slept in very late the next morning.  We walked around that afternoon and visited a store or two and showed them a bit around the place.  Tuesday afternoon, we walked to a large shopping center near us and showed them the sights.  Thanks to Phill we ate pretty good Monday and Tuesday evenings.

Lynne and Rick in Tallinn

Wednesday morning we caught the ferry to Tallinn, Estonia and ate the breakfast on board.  It was a fun trip and we had a good time listening to the musical groups preform and watch the passengers dance.  It was pretty cold that morning, so we didn't spent a lot of time outside.  Once we arrived in Tallinn the weather was much better and we had a great time.  The picture below is one we took while walking around the town.

Becca, Phill and Lynne

Tallinn has an interesting history.  It is independent now but not too long ago it was under Russian rule and the Russian influence is still pretty strong there.  They do have their own language fairly similar to Finnish but not quite.  The old part of Tallinn is a tourist town right now with cruise ships in the harbor all the time.  They sell a lot of "stuff" in the markets to the visitors and shops and small stores are all over the place.  We did much walking in town and had a pretty good time. Above is a picture of the town center in Tallinn.  Right around the corner is a large open market that sells all kinds of junk for tourist.  The Finns like to go to Tallinn because their prices are a bit cheaper than in Finland and the beer is enough cheaper that they haul it back on the boat by the case in great quantity.  It is a fun town and we had a great trip.

Sunset on the Saima

Thursday morning we all went to the temple and attended a session and had a enjoyable time there.  The temple is still one of the most beautiful spots around the area.  Later in the day we drove to Lappeenranta and stayed overnight in order to catch the ferry to Vyborg, Russia the next day.  Lappeenranta is a cool town right on the banks of Lake Saima, the largest lake in Finland and the forth largest lake in Europe. We went from Lappeenranta via the Saima Canal, with its eight locks, to Vyborg.  Toured around Vyborg for about 3-4 hours, bought a few trinkets, and got back on the boat and came home.  We had supper on board on the way back and enjoyed the most beautiful sunsets one can imagine seeing as you can see from the picture.  Vyborg used to belong to the Finns but after the Second World War, Russia somehow managed to take a big chunk of Finland for its own.  Back then we were friends with the Russians and Finland was on Germany's side for a while.  The Finns didn't really care who they allied with then as long as it was against the Russians.

Vyborg Castle

The town of Vyborg is really run-down looking.  It is a typical Russian looking town with a very old look to it.  My friend says that nothing in Russia is new because it take so long to build something that it is old before they finish it.

This is the castle/fort at Vyborg.  It was built many, many years ago to keep the Russians out but apparently it didn't do the job.  It is beautiful old fort with much the same design as the Savonlinna castle that we visited the next day.

We stayed Lappeenranta a second night and the next day we drove to Savonlinna to see the sights there.  The drive there was very enjoyable and colorful and the weather was just great.  The most looked at sight in Savonlinna is the castle there.  We took a tour and then drove back to Helsinki and our nice bed which allowed us to catch up on our sleep. Savonlinna

Savonlinna Castle

castle is much larger than the one at Vyborg and has a nice tour and explanation of events.  It is further north and more elaborate.  It is on the river and the location is outstanding.  We had a neat tour guide of the castle here and heard quite a bit about it.

From Savonlinna we drove home and settled down for a while.  Sunday morning we all went to church in Helsinki and had a great time.  It was a bit noisy, but we all a good time.  We met a Russian missionary couple getting their visas renewed before going back.. They asked if we knew a Rich family in Morgan and from that we come to find out that the he had been a companion years ago on his mission with Dave Rich.  A very small world sometimes. After church on Sunday we went to the Sea Horse for lunch.  After that we went for a walk on the seashore out from Neitsytpolku and had a great time.  It is certainly ice cream time in Finland as there was an ice cream stand about every 50 feet.

I have to go to bed now.  I will finish this on a following post.  Have a great day.  Later!

Marvels of technology

Well, just thought that I would bring you all up to date to our mission in Finland.  So far, so very good!  That is about all we can say.  We love the country, the people from all the different countries, and being at the temple is a wonderful experience.  We have a very nice apartment and plenty to eat and the best thing about our mission is that we are together, as husband and wife, best friends.

The weather is more like summer all the time, but it still manages to stay very cool many of the days, but with the sun not setting until about 9:00 PM and coming up at 4 AM, we have plenty of daylight with more to come.

We had an exciting afternoon today watching Heather's graduation exercises on a video stream from the University of Georgia, Athens.  The picture below is what we captured live about 30 minutes ago as she received her Master's Degree.

Heather receiving her Master's Degree

We are so proud of her accomplishing this feat with work, school, motherhood, church, wife-hood, and a shoe-string budget.  Our thanks to her husband, Mike, for all his love and support. They have a couple of more years in Georgia before Mike receives his doctorate, then they will on their way to somewhere.

We cannot begin to express the love and gratitude that we have for all our children and all the support they have been to us.  From housekeeping our home to doing the taxes, they have been great.  We have the best kids in the world and we love them all very much.  Thanks to technology, we are able to communicate with them fairly often over Skype and see how the grandchildren are doing.  We probably talk to them more now that we did when we were home.

To our friends at home that are having special difficulties, we pray for you often and hope that things are going better for you.  We certainly miss the friendship of all of you and wish we there to help share your burdens.  We love you all very much.

Rick and Lynne

May Day in Helsinki

Well, it was May Day in Finland today, but it really started Monday with earnest.  We went to Helsinki yesterday to check the holiday out and we got our eyes opened.  I think the biggest celebration of the day is to see have much booze one can drink.  That was quickly evidenced on the streets of Helsinki yesterday and I think all night.  It is really a time when all the students celebrate the end of school for the year and all the graduates from anywhere, or any time, get to wear their white hats.  The statue down by the open market in Helsinki gets her own white hat placed upon her head by a group of students hanging from a crane.  This is the picture

 After the white hat was placed on her head, all the student graduates in the crowd waved their white hats above their heads and sing some national songs.  There was a massage crowd on the streets of Helsinki near the market square.

This is the picture of the statue Amanda, with her hat upon her head, that stands in the park where all this took place.  It was fun to see how the Finns celebrate their holidays.

Balloons on May Day in Helsinki

Today we took a quick May Day trip to Porvoo just east of us and we had a good time in the town.  Today is a much more quiet day with people and their families walking around the town with the children in tow and just enjoying the warmer weather and all the "stuff" for sale at the open market in town.




 One of the big things of the day is to buy some type of character balloon.   This is a picture of one of the vendors selling balloons downtown yesterday.  I don't know how they stack so many balloons on one string, but they certainly do it.

Street in Porvoo

Porvoo is a very interesting town with much history, of which I know very little.  But the old part of town is very old with its wooden buildings and narrow cobble stone streets.  We had a good time mingling with the locals and asking all kinds of questions.  The city is near the Baltic Sea so it has a lot to do with the water.  We managed to eat a bit of Finnish sausage with their great mustard and also some licorice which there must have been over 30 selections of flavors.  It must be getting summer over here also because ice cream in on the menu of many of the folks now also.  They seemed to be enjoying it very much as they easily wander about the town.  It is really a family day for the them also as many children were out with their parents, many dressed is some sort of costume or another.

Waterfront near Marjanieme

   Last Sunday we went to church in Marjaniemi, a ward to the west of us near the Baltic Sea.  It was a beautiful day as you can see from the photo above.  We love going to all the different wards near Helsinki and let the local members know that we love them and support them in all their efforts.  We like them to keep the temple always in their minds.

We continue to do well in Finland.  We had a busy Russian week this past week.  Lynne and I are starting to read and memorize some of the temple ordinances in Russian, so we can assist when called upon in the temple.  It is a bit scary, but everyone understands that we all do the best we can and know that the Lord will certainly "fill in the gaps."

Our love and prayers to all of you.  I know that some of you are experiencing some great difficulty in your lives and we will continue to hope and pray for you.  May we all keep the faith and know that our Father in Heaven is always there for us, as he always has been.

Love,  Rick and Lynne

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