Mission Complete

Well, I thought it was about time to close out our mission blog.  After about 34 months away from home, with a month break in between missions, we are home again in Morgan, Utah with family and friends.  We arrived home on the 7th of July after about 24 hours on the road, or more so "in the air."  It was difficult to leave our Finnish friends and missionaries in the land of lakes and trees.  We managed to work up until we left, so we had very little time to really think about leaving.  Our son Mark was with us the last week before we came home, and that was good for us as he helped us in the office and in our apartment.

Certainly being back home is a real change in our lives.  Everything was pretty much the same in Morgan, but I think we had changed and it has been a bit difficult readjusting ourselves to "civilian" life again.  The kids have done a great job of taking care of our home, but there are lots of odds and ends that need to be taken care of. We did get home in time for the Morgan County Fair and I was able to drive my Model A Ford in the parade with some grand kids and my daughter.

I will post a few pictures from our last few weeks in Suomi (Finland).

One more trip to Savonlinna to help the elders move and then a little side trip to the castle there.  It was a very rainy day but we had a great time.  A lot of history connected with this castle.

Also, Mark and I decided a quick trip to Tallinn was appropriate for his visit.  We had a great time listening to this group in the market square there.  The lady on the right just beat her stick, but they sounded really good.  Tallinn is a really fun place to visit.  Finnish chocolate is cheaper in Tallinn than it is in Finland.  However most of the Finns go there to buy cheaper beer than in Finland.  I think that too many of them drink up their purchases before they get back to Helsinki.  This is very evident when they exit the ship at the dock in Helsinki.



One more picture from Tallinn.

We needed all the help we could get to get our bags to the airplane.  Thank goodness Elder Thelin was there to help the cart from running away.  I think that we had 6 check-in bags and 2 carry-ons and a couple of personal items.  Have to be in pretty good shape to travel these days.  Every bag was within a couple of ounces of 50 pounds.  

Of course it was a super occasion to see the family when we arrived in Salt Lake.

New and old mission presidents and their assistants.

Flowers of all colors.  Lynne likes these pictures.

Nothing like buying fish from a boat in the harbor.

One last look at the trolley near the market place in Helsinki.

Fond memories.

Alone?

Helena and us.

The best companion in the world.

Home again.

Where does one stop thinking of all the memories and pictures from Finland.  It never ends and it never will.  We had a wonderful time on our missions in Finland.  The temple mission was outstanding and our mission in the office will always be remembered.  We were truly blessed while away from home.  It is always comforting to know that when you are are involved with the work of the Lord, He will look after you and your family.  It was a special time to be in Finland with my wonderful wife.  We grew together as we served together during this time.  

Our love and thanks to all of you.  May tomorrow always be better than today. 

Love,  Rick and Lynne

Home Stretch

Well, it is the 7th of June and we have exactly one month left on our mission and about 3 month's worth of work.  But, keeping busy is what it is all about.  Our replacements, Elder Richard and Sister Eliisa Smith, arrived last Saturday and are beginning to pick up on their duties as the new office couple.  They have been fighting jet-lag all week, but come next week they will be in full swing of duties in the office.  This week has been Interim Training for 3 days and language school on Thursday, so we have had a few missionaries around the office.  You don't realize how often you are interrupted until you try to get a simple task done and it is not done at the end of the day, whatever time that may be.

But life is good and summer is here.  Hasn't really been that hot yet but the days are certainly much longer and sleeping at night without darkness is interesting.  I will try to throw a few pictures into this blog just to show you that we are still alive and kicking.

 Couple of Sundays ago we went to church in Kerava and visited with some good friends. This is outside their church.


Below is the church in Helsinki built right into a large rock area.  It is a beautiful building and the acoustics are great.  It is a very impressive place.

This picture was taken at 11:30 PM out front of the office.  Notice the night lamps are burning but you can still see the ocean at the end of the street.

We thought of Uncle Dave Rich while we watched this parade today in Helsinki.  All the fire departments around Helsinki got together and had a big parade.  Most of the equipment is modern and very practical.

Below two young lovers standing near the harbor in Helsinki.

 

 

They still run this old trolley downtown Helsinki for the tourists I think.  It is fun to watch and people like to ride it.

Below is a picture of some friends at the Helsinki Open Market.  My hat is a gift from my good Greek friend.

One last trip to Tallinn before we go home.  This is a picture of Lynne and our guide in Tallinn.  We had a really fun time there again. 

 

 

Well, that is about the story for us from Finland.  We just got back from a fun walk around Helsinki.  The city has become very familiar to us and we enjoy the walk after sitting in the office all day.  We are going to miss the open markets and just walking the streets.  It is a very clean and safe city with thousands of shops. We are certainly going to miss our Finnish friends and members of the church.  Working with the missionaries is always fun and rewarding to our lives.   

 

Missionary work is going well in Finland.  Not a lot of baptisms but that has been the story here for years.  The members are great and work hard to keep their small wards and branches going.  The missionaries are dedicated and obedient and work hard trying to spread the gospel. 

 

President and Sister Rawlings will complete their misson the end of this month and President and Sister Watson will be on the job the first of July.  I have gained much respect for the calling of a mision president.  It is kind of like having a super large family with over a 100 children.  Just think about that for second and then think of all the expectations that missionaries have and trying to help them all achieve their expectations.  Someone told me once that being a mission president like being a bishop to about 10 wards at the same time.  Always somethings going on that needs their attention.

 

We will be back to Utah on the 7th of July and I guess we have been asked to speak in church on the 27th of July in Morgan. Hope all is well with you and your familes. God bless!

 

Love,

 

Rick and Lynne

Spring is here (almost)!

Well, my good friends it is time to update the world on the adventures of Rick and Lynne London.  But first the weather.  Today sunny and blue skies, a bit cold, but we do live in Finland.  Yesterday was a normal, dismal Helsinki day.  It rained, snowed, sunshined, and stayed pretty much typical all day.  It must be spring, however, all the street washers are out cleaning off the winter crud and getting ready for warmer weather.  It really was a very mild winter for which I am very thankful.

Well, I guess I had better add a few pictures to the blog.  The one below is the harbor this week taken in the evening.  Still pretty cold, but beautiful.

Now, this is a pair of dudes.  This is in front of a steak house downtown Helsinki. 

Typical intersection in Helsinki.  This is called Five Corners not far from us.

  Notice how they cover their buildings when they work on them.  They can work in any weather.







Yes there are barber chairs in Helsinki.  Not many, but they are here. 

 

 

 

Just a picture of the corner store.

You can clean a lot of streets with a broom like this.

 
 

Just a couple of icebreakers to help in the harbor this winter.  It was very mild winter and they didn't get much work this year.  See the ice in the water, but not too thick.

 

 This is a statue in the Helsinki Harbor, does it remind you someone you might know?

Above is another beautiful sunset.  Below is our good Greek friend at the open market in Helsinki.  Look up George if you are ever in need of a fur hat while visiting in Helsinki.

We are doing well and staying busy.  The missionaries are very busy and doing a great job.  We have enjoyed very much listening to conference live.  Wonderful talks and many things to ponder over, especially as we near the end of our 2nd mission in Finland.  We love the work and gospel.  May the good Lord bless all of you and watch over your families. 

Love,  Rick and Lynne

Into March

Well, it seems as our mission gets closer to the end, the more routine everything appears.  We are still very busy most of the time, but it is often a repeat of what we have done before.  Certainly the missionaries come up with different problems all the time but nothing much seems too unusual to us now that would have a year ago. Like last week, we put out a cookbook for all the young missionaries and it has taken quite a bit of time, but again all in a day's work. In fact, here is a picture of the front cover.

However, I had to include sample of one of the recipes for you.  Some of them are pretty amusing to read but I am sure they all taste good.  It took a bit of time getting them all into the proper form so we could print them and put them together.  All the office staff put in time on this project.

One Saturday morning we walked downtown to a Finnish military formation where the tradition of swearing allegiance to Finland was done.  Every year a large group of soldiers assemble and publicly swear and renew they allegiance to their country.  It was very impressive.  I didn't get much out of the talks that were given but very impressed with the crowd and their support for the military. This picture was taken from the steps of the large White Church downtown Helsinki and it rained the whole time we were there, but that didn't seem to stop anyone.

Earlier in February we went to church in Kouvola and then after Richard and Eliisa Smith invited us to their home in Kotka.  The Smiths have been called to replace us in the office this coming June-July.  We had a very nice dinner and visit in their home in the country.  In this picture from left to right is Sister Hunsaker, Sister Locke, Brother and Sister Smith, and Sister  Airto, our Finnish missionary in the office.  We had a very nice time and the Smiths were great hosts.  BTW, Brother Smith was my first language instructor when I arrived as a green elder some 52 years ago.

Another picture of their home with Lynne and me and the Smiths.  A really nice home.

Lynne was struck with these ice formations along the road as we drove to Kouvola.  Indeed they are really pretty and quite unusual.

The mission is going well.  We still have many things to do but I think that all the missionaries are doing well and seem to be doing what they are suppose to do.  We have great missionaries in Finland and they work hard and try to be obedient.  President Rawlings and his wife work very hard teaching, training, encouraging, and just taking care of the Elders and Sisters.  Being a mission president is an enormous calling, not only their spiritual leader but always worrying about their personal health and welfare.

Lynne and I continue in good health.  We certainly have been blessed.  We manage to walk around Helsinki a couple times a week to get some exercise, but it takes effort to get out of the office when there is still so much to do.  Winter has been very light and not much snow at all.  The temperatures have been mild and much higher than Utah earlier this year.  We are still getting a few more missionaries than are leaving but it is tapering off.  I fear by the end of the summer when the large groups start to go home, we will not have the numbers coming to replace all of them.  But, with that in mind, we all do the best we can and press on.

Our love and prayers to all at home and abroad.  Thanks for your friendship and prayers. Take care of yourselves and others.  God bless.

Rick and Lynne

Winter Time in Helsinki

Well, morning in the office and another Finnish day at work.  It is a beautiful day outside this morning.  I love to go down on the harbor when the sun is coming up and take pictures.  However, I can hardly move my fingers now because it was so cold down there.  Below are a couple of pictures from about 30 minutes ago on the waterfront which is all of two  minute walk from the office.

Really a nice looking scene for a brisk morning walk.  The weather has been wintery around here finally. We have been busy gettng ready for new missionaries again and helping a bit with the housing.  With all the new missionaries, our office duties have increased quite a bit also.  We have just about doubled the number of missionaries in Finland since this time last year, especially the sister missionaries.  From about 12 sisters last January to about 38 sister right now. 

 After being in Finland during a couple of winters, my dear wife finally got to ``walk on water´´, frozen water anyway.  For some strange reason she just wanted to do it, so here she is standing by a buoy in the middle of the bay. 

Here I am standing on about 20 cm of ice and tugging at a boat that is stuck in the ice.  I thought the ice would crush its hull, but again I am wrong.  Anway, it was a fun activity to walking on  the ice, especially being with the wife.

 

Some of our sister missionaries dressed for the winter. 

I thought that you might want to take a quick look into a store that we shop at often, but first notice the shopping carts.  Fairly normal, but they are all locked to one another and you have to put coin into the slot on the cart to get it released to use.  It is an incentive to put the cart back after you have used it.  Pretty much standard practice all through the country.

Also beer is a  big seller over here.  What do you think is in all these kegs?

Ground beef, anyone?  I don't think I have seen so much hamburger in a plastic bag like this before.  But is works out well.  There is about  $200 worth of meat there.  This store supplies many dining facilites with supplies, so selling a quantity of this size is probably a normal practice.

What would life be, without a Subway sandwich?  Well, they are all over in Finland and they taste just the same. In fact, this shop doesn't look much different than Butter's shop in Morgan.  They are a bit more expensive over here, but that is to be expected.  They just opened a Burger King in Helsinki and after month, there are still waiting in line for quite a while to order.  They like fast foods also.

When I first saw this guard standing there everyday I though it was a statue, but after several trips by his station, I noticed a different face.  So there a soldier stands everyday, guarding a military building and hardly moving at all.  I don't know how they stay warm during the winter and I don't know how long they are at their station.

One last remembrance of Christmas.  We thought this was pretty cool during the Christmas season.  It is lighted with colored lights and just stays there all through the holiday season.



Well, there you have it.  Just a few pictures to let you know what we are up to.  We still manage to stay busy in the office everyday.  I need to start documenting everything that I do for our replacements in July, but I never seem to get around it.  This past week we have had about 30+ missionaries in the office for training and language school. It is a really busy time because they like to hang around the office during their breaks.  We enjoy visiting with them and they seem to be having a great time.  Their language training seems to go very well and they have a good time.

Lynne and I are doing well.  We are in good health with the normal aches and pains.  The days scream on by and we just have a hard time going with the flow.  The world will leave us behind pretty easily if we let it.  I think that after we get home, that is exactly what we will do, let the world go on by and we will just watch it.

Anyway, hope that all of you are doing okay. 

With love,

Rick and Lynne