And the time passes by

I happen to look at our blog today and quickly realized that a whole month had almost passed since I updated it the last time.  Our time in Finland is going by so quickly that in less than a month the first year of our mission will have been completed.  I guess the message to all of us is that if there is something that you want to, or should be doing; it is best that we get it done right now because there will not be time tomorrow.

Probably one of the neatest things that we have done while here is that we and the Williamson put together a 50's party for five couples here, that are, or will have, in the near future have their 50th wedding anniversary .  Certainly Lynne and Karla did most of the work.  It turned out really nice and we had a great time.
 Left to right, looking at the picture, are the Roger and Janice Fuller, Kari and Auli Haikkola, Donna Kay and Jon Carpenter, Kirsti and Pertti Vorimo, and Sue and Warren Thornock.

The food was excellent and the game played with the guest of honour couples was really fun and exciting.  Lynne put together a special paper with each couple's picture and the temple where they were married.  It was a fun time.









The next day one of the special sisters in our area had invited us over for a walk in the forest and a bowl of pea soup. It was a very enjoyable and the soup was great.  She said that she had made enough soup for only part of us to start with, but when more showed up she added a couple of cans of commercial pea soup and the end result was outstanding.
Sister Tapola was a great guide and showed us quite a bit of history about some of earlier aristocracy around her home.



The following Sunday we had the opportunity (??) to speak in church again at a branch in Kouvola.  Brother Fuller and I spoke and Brother Fuller sang also.  Their branch is on a two hour block where they alternate Sunday School, PH Meeting and RS every other week after their sacrament meeting.  Interesting concept, but it seems to work really well for the remote small branches.

 We had a wonderful meal afterwards with the Hyvärinens, Matti and Kaija.  I knew Matti in Kuopio years ago when I first arrived in Finland as a young missionary.  What a wonderful  couple and an outstanding day going to the Kymenlaakso Branch and then spending the afternoon with this family.  Facing the picture, Lynne and I, Matti and Kaija, and Janice Fuller.  Roger Fuller is taking the picture.






The following Monday afternoon President and Sister Roto had all the missionaries out to their home near Tampere for any afternoon of fun and relaxation.  We went to the sauna, ate, picked all kinds of berries, jumped in the lake after the sauna, ate a wonderful meal, and just visited and had a great time.  Brother and Sister Roto have been called to replace President and Sister Haikkola as the next temple president this coming November.

Their home is a remodeled officer's home from many years back and is way out in the country.  I could not believe how many strawberry, raspberry, red and black current, and gooseberry bushes they had around their home.  I have never eaten so many raspberries in one day.

This is the Roto's back yard.  Pretty nice.




They following Sunday we went to a special presentation given by Sister Fuller on Emma Smith.  It was really good and Sister Fuller had spent a lot of time in preparation.  After the fireside, Sister Horning from the mission office celebrated her birthday.

On Monday, 20 August, we were invited to an afternoon with the Petri Jäkkö family in the country about 30 km from the temple.  It was so kind of them to invite us to their home and feed us and allow us some more time to enjoy the country and their family.

Brother Jäkkö is the temple engineer in charge of all the physical facilities at the temple.

Again a wonderful day and great hosts.  They are so kind to the temple missionaries.

Here is the whole family together. One boy and four girls.  Great family.

Thought you might want to see what their son has done with all his Legos.  It was quit a sight.




Time to go to the store.  We have this going away celebration this afternoon and Lynne has to fix something. Just want you all to know that we are fine and the temple work gets better every day.  The Lord continues to bless us and our family everyday.  Hope all is well with you and your families.

Love,  Rick and Lynne

Suomen Kesä (Finland's Summer)

Sunday afternoon and all is well on the Finnish front.  We have had a great day together going to church and just doing our Sunday "thing."  The weather has been nice, a bit warm but it is a bit cloudy now and cooler.  We went to church at Neitsytpolku where enjoyed the block meetings.  We may not have been able to understand everything, but the spirit was there and all the members were very friendly.  The Finnish Mission office is located just above the chapel on Neitsytpolku.  In fact it is exactly the same office that I served in almost 50 years ago.

We have had a very busy week at the temple.  A large number of Estonians came with their youth and adults.  Many more sisters than brothers, which makes it interesting for the workers to accommodate the differences, but we made it and the week turned out very good.  Certainly the language is always a challenge.  During one session this week, we had Russian, English, Swedish, Estonian, and Finnish.  All in a days work.

 Quite often out our living room window we get some great pictures.  This is one of them.  They have beautiful sunsets because the sun sets so low in the horizon.

Last Sunday we went for a walk along the waterfront near the chapel in Helsinki.  It was a beautiful day.  This picture was taken by a man sitting on a bench near us.  I asked him and later found out that he was from Idaho.  Not a member but visits Finland every summer .

This is an interesting picture.  Because of the apartment construction there is very little wall-to-wall carpeting, mostly large throw rugs are used.  So, near many of the docks there is a place where the residents may take their throw rugs and wash them in the sea or lake.  Then they have drying racks for the washed rugs.

The fast boat to Tallinn from Helsinki.  I think that it cuts the trip to Talliin by an hour and a half over the regular ferry.  Personally,  Lyune and I are happy with the old slow ferry, it is a lot of fun and considerably cheaper.  

This is a picture of the kids from Talliin playing a game of Sneaky-Peeky that we taught them.  It took about one round of the game for them to learn.  They did baptisms and confirmations for a week.  The young sister dealing the cards spoke English, Russian and Estonian, so she ended up translating for everyone.  It was fun to see them learn a new game and have a good time. 

One of the Finnish temple missionaries have this wall sign on their apartment door.  I thought it was pretty good, but Lynne thought it was even better.  I guess I will have to duplicate it when I get home, even though I don't have to be reminded how wonderful my wife is.

Again we are fine and doing great.  Getting old and missions don't slow down that process at all.  We have been travelling around quite a bit but nothing exceptional.  Our good friends, George and Margaret Hopkin, are home from Austria and Germany serving their mission. They reported to us a great mission.

Keep in touch.  Our email is Londonrt@msn.com and we would love to hear from you.

Love, Veli London 

Rauma and blueberries

Sunday afternoon, overcast and raining outside, temple looks great out the window, returned from church several hours ago, Lynne is making me oatmeal-raisin cookies, Richard Smith and family stopped by to visits and brought goodies from the states, and we are just having a relaxing Sunday afternoon together listening to church music and catching up on things that need to be done.

Last Sunday morning eight of us drove to Rauma to attend church and visit some good friends that have been trying to have us come for several months now.  We were invited to the Mäkinen's, Ritva and Vesa, for a couple of days and had a fantastic time.  Our hosts worked in the temple when we first arrived in Finland and we have been friends every since then.  They were wonderful hosts and we had a great time.  The weather was a bit rainy in Rauma, but that didn't stop us from having a wonderful time.

This is a picture of the Rauma Chapel and a few of the folks leaving after church.  It was a fun meeting and we met a lot of temple friends.

From church we went to the Mäkinen's home for a wonderful formal dinner.  Sister Mäkinen prepared an outstanding meal for all of us and we played a few games the rest of the day.  We stayed at their place that evening and the next day we visited the town and walked the streets.

This is Brother and Sister Mäkinen together for our second meal of the day Sunday.  They have a wonderful home.

 This is the whole gang together in front of Mäkinen's home.  Londons, Williamsons, Fullers, and Mäkinens.  The Carpenters stayed with another family while we visited with our hosts.










Monday for lunch we went to an old home on the beach front.  It was fun and we enjoyed visiting with our Finnish friends and members.

This Saturday was our day off from temple duties so we went for another walk in the forest.  The trail was in a national forest and it was just beautiful.  The weather was overcast, but we only experienced a few drops of rain.

But earlier in the week we had to go pick some strawberries in the big field  up the road from us.  It was quite an experience.  You just weigh your bucket, pick your strawberries from the row that you were assigned, and weight it after the picking and pay by the kilo.  It looks like a great family activity from the picture to the left.  This cute little family was picking in the row next to us.  The great thing about the experience is that you can eat all the strawberries you want while you are picking.  I am sure that these three young children probably ate their fair share.

 When we got home the work started and we hurried and froze what we had picked.  I think that we picked about 5+ kilos of strawberry.  Boy, they were good.

 Yesterday we went out into the Nuuksio National Forest for a hike.  This is a picture at the trail head.  It was beautiful day and just a good time to be together.

Two old dudes taking a break on the hike.  We ran into people from Sprain, Poland, and England on the walk, plus many Finns.

 I thought that you might be interested in the root structure of many of the trees along the way.  It makes that trail very rough and dangerous because every step has to be watched.  The ground in many places is so shallow because of all the rock substructure, the root structure of trees does not go very deep into the ground.  Therefore, we see many tree in the forest that have fallen over because of a weak root system.  Also it rains much over here so the roots do not have to go very deep to find water.



Oh my, we could not just walk along the trail without eating a few blueberries found in the forest.  They are in season right now and all over on the ground. They actually encourage visitors to the forest to pick all the blueberries they want.  From what I can tell from the locals, people from all over northern and central Europe come to Finland and pick blueberries.  Also, interestingly enough, you can pick and sell as many of them as you want without any type of sales tax attached.  So I am sure that many folks find substantial income from picking these berries every year.

Well, as you can see we are doing okay and the two of us are well and happy.  Days are getting a little shorter all the time now and before you know it, it will be winter time again.  Fairly slow at the temple right now because everybody, who is anybody, goes on vacation in the summer usually during the month of July.  And these folks like to vacation, especially to their summer cabins or travel into all the countries around here.

Hope all is well back home.  Thanks for all you prayers and concerns for us and all the missionaries in the world.  Keep the home fires burning and we will do what we can over here.

Love you all,  Rick and Lynne

A walk in the forest.

Hello again.  Life becomes so routine to us around here that we forget that it might not be that way to you.  Not that we don't have great experiences in the temple, but they are so many and varied, it is hard to keep track.  So a few days ago when we went for a walk, I took the camera with me and thought that I would share that with you.  We try to go 3-4 times a week after or before our temple duties, especially now that the weather is so beautiful and summery.

This is the path right behind where we live. The Finns like to have as much green around them as possible, so the picture is a bit deceiving because right close by there are many multi-family dwellings.  But on the other hand, about 100 yards from our apartment is a large forest area where we went on this walk.

 Also, right behind our house.  This is just in back of the house.

 Wild flowers along the way. Really pretty.

 And the larger paths become smaller and smaller

 Off to the side of the path.

 And smaller.

 Don't let anyone tell you that Finland is all lakes and trees.  It has its share of great big large rocks, in fact I think the whole country is built on granite.  We needed to take a break on our hike so this is us in the wilds.

Getting closer to home we ran into an older home in the forest.  How about this arrangement for a summer home?  Really, they are only about 1/2 mile from a major housing area which would be great.

 Well, but the size of the road, we are about back home from our walk.  It was a fun time and great time for Lynne and I to be together.

 Oh, Lynne saw it first.  The Angel Moroni in the distance.  Home is close by, this is our beacon in Finland and I hope the beacon for many in the world.

 We did celebrate the 4th of July with a strawberry and blueberry cake.  We sang a few songs at the end of our weekly meeting and then ate (again).  Lynne's cooking skills have been put to a very good use over here.   She and her good friend, Karla, each made a cake for the big event.  We did miss the big day, especially for our family back home.

We have pretty much talked to all the kids today and they seem to be doing fine.  I think that the 4th treated them all okay.  My Model A Ford was in the parade without me, so there really isn't any reason to be home.  We are doing well and manage to stay busy.;  We have truly been blessed in our work in the temple.  

Hope all is well with you and your families.  God bless.  Rick and Lynne

Mid-Summer Night Johannuspäivä Holiday

Well, it finally happened and the longest day of the year is officially over.  It is celebrated in Finland on what is called Johannuspäivä.  It is the mid-summer night holiday and it is the biggest of the year.  We had a great time for the holiday.  We went to Brother and Sister Vorimo's home for the Friday evening festivities.  It was so fun and enjoyable just to eat and visit for a while.  After that we went to a lake close by and watched, along with hundreds of others, the bonfire on the lake.  It is a night for bonfires all over and that is how they celebrate along with much drinking and whatever.

As you can see it is a beautiful evening and the weather was just great.  However, later into the weekend it started raining again and all of us got a bit wet on Saturday and Sunday.

Early Saturday morning Lynne and I went to Helsinki and boarded a train to Jyväskylä where Helena (Kaisa's sister) lives.  We had a great time visiting and site seeing with Helena, especially Saturday when we took about a 3 hour cruise on the big lakes around the town.

The sunsets at the lake Friday evening were outstanding and interesting.  Lynne took these pictures and they turned out really well. We weren't quite as lucky in Jyväskylä with the sunsets but we have some other great pictures.  The train ride north was most relaxing and enjoyable.  Hardly anyone on board as it was a holiday.  Different story coming home Sunday, the train was packed.

Picture of Helena and Lynne on the lake front.  Helena uses her bicycle much during the summer as many Finns do.  It is a primary source of transportation around here and one has to be very careful walking on paths because of all the bicycles.  Almost all riders use helmets when riding their bikes, something we could copy in the states.  Only problems with riding bikes here, is that it costs a fortune to buy one.  Nothing for someone to spend a grand or more for a bicycle to go back and forth to work on, or maybe just to the train station.

If you are wondering what this picture is all about, then whatever you think is probably okay.  No, it is the Sister adult missionaries in the Guest House displaying their special socks that Sister Jyrkkänen from Turku made for them to walk around in our rooms and in the halls.  I guess this is something that she has done for a while.  The sister missionaries and the members sisters get along really well together.  They have a good time together in and out of the temple.

Well, we have to quit with a picture of the temple.  It is always a beautiful sight and we enjoy visiting it everyday.  We are doing well and all seems to be going okay at home.  We just passed our "hump day" last week and time is hurrying by without any delay or any thing in the future that might slow it down.  Hope all is well with you and your families.

Love to all,

Rick and Lynne

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