Missionaries coming and going

This was "change week." Six missionaries went home and six came. There was a flurry of activity. The missionaries coming had their Salt Lake flight cancelled. They made it to Dulles on time but the Dulles flight was 1 1/2 hours late. They arrived at the gate in Austria before take-off time, but apparently after the airline's time for stopping the loading. They were rerouted through Frankfurt and then to Helsinki. So they arrived 7 hours late and without a single piece of luggage. The bags were still at Dulles. All but one of the bags arrived 24 hours later. We had to say goodbye to the mission couple which was sad for everyone. Sister Oliver was the mission "angel"--always smiling and happy. She was office support, friend, and therapist to all the missionaries. Brother Oliver was wise and organized. They met in the mission office 50 years ago when they were both missionaries. At that time the mission office was the center of church activity in Finland. They did all translation and produced the Finnish church magazine, etc so there were lots of missionaries working in the office. Sister Oliver left Finland to marry Brother Oliver in Canada without ever having had a single date. It was lovely having a native Finn to answer the phones and conduct other business. Elder Wolff is our district leader and came into the office on P-day to say goodbye to the Olivers. The Hungarian language and Finnish are in the same language group so Sister Olah is amazingly good at the language after a short time here. Interestingly, she and Sister Anderson have been able to establish contact with a group of Hungarians here in Helsinki, some of whom have attended church. And finally, much to our delight, the Goodliffes arrive in this group and are taking our place in Joensuu. There haven't been any missionaries there for two months. Sister Goodliffe plays the piano and leads music. Brother Goodliffe just retired as a dentist. I thought they looked amazingly good for having just endured all the travel problems and having not yet received their luggage.

Sisters Olah and Anderson -- from Hungary and Utah 

Elder and Sister Oliver with Elder Wolff in the middle 

Elder and Sister Goodliffe from Idaho and serving in Joensuu 

Elder and Sister Oliver on their next to last day 

Construction during the winter

I've included these two pictures to show you how the Finns manage to continue their construction projects throughout the winter. The building in Helsinki is entirely shrouded in plastic. The temple is protected with plastic in certain areas as well. In Joensuu there was a building under construction next to the church. We were amazed when the whole project shut down during the month of July for vacation time. As Americans, our view was time is money and July is prime time to get a lot of work completed before the winter hits. As Finns, their view was this is vacation time and we got the winter covered. By the way, American workers have the shortest vacation benefits of any industrialized nation.

Building under construction near the mission office 

Helsinki Finland temple 

Tyovaen Akatemia

David and I are teaching two classes about America at a local college. Our mission president wants missionaries to give service anywhere and everywhere. And, hopefully, by serving the Finns we can improve the image of the Church in Finland as well as help people become interested in the Church. The woman who is our supervisor and the rector of the school were both very happy to learn that we could not accept any payment for our services. They do give us breakfast and/or lunch in their dining room where all the tables have tablecoths. Pretty classy! The main building of the school was a rich person's summer "cottage" and is very beautiful inside with open beams on the second floor. The facilities are amazing. In our classroom we have a computer with internet access and a beamer, overhead projector, video and dvd players, and cd player. In the classroom next to ours is a state-of-the-art language laboratory. The students who attend this school receive some kind of certificate. But, it is our impression that most are attending to improve their language skills and prepare for the admissions exams for universities.

The main building of the Tyovaen Akatemia (spelled correctly) 

The building where our classroom is located 

View of the Tyovaen Akatemia camput 

Finnish sandwiches and mehu

The Finnish sandwich is something of an art form. It is not unusual to be served a platter of open faced sandwiches. Typically there is a little meat or cheese and thin slices of vegetable and possibly some herb decoration. Subway sandwiches may be stuffed chock full of anything that will fit. But, as one of our English students told us: In Finland, it's all about the breadand the rest is to add a little flavor. The bread in the picture is a ruis palat which has become my bread of choice. It is 10-15% fiber and very dark brown. The glass in the picture is filled with mehu, the Finns answer to Kool-aid (without the chemicals). A lot of people we have met pick their own berries in the forests and make berry concentrate for their mehu. And the grocery store shelves are filled with a huge variety of bottles filled with berry concentrates which are then diluted 1:7. Every time we have had refreshments or a meal at a Finnish home we have been offered mehu.

American imitation of a Finnish sandwich and mehu