In front of the Helsinki Temple, December, 2007

We began serving in the Helsinki temple February 14, 2007 and we will return home at the beginning of February, 2008. We serve Estonian, Finnish, Latvian, Lithuanian, and Russian members of the Church Tuesday through Saturday as they come to perform important ordinances for themselves and in behalf of their family members who are deceased. We have been inspired how dedicated the people from all these countries are to family history research. We are especially inspired by the sacrifice of time and money made by Russian members as they travel from as far as Siberia to attend the temple.

Christmas at the Temple

We come from Washington, DC where there is a month long Festival of Lights celebration at the temple which is featured as a major attraction in the Washington Post and other area papers. This little nativity scene was placed at the bottom of the steps going up to the temple where not very many people would see it. There was a brief opening ceremony. You can read about the event at mormonit.fi
There has been some local interest in viewing it. A group of children from a local daycare facility came and stayed for quite awhile. It is actually the only outdoor "seimi" that we've seen here in Finland. And what you see in this picture is the most snow we've had so far. Unbelievable.

Pictures from the Vorimo pikkujoulu Party

I'm not so good at formatting the pictures using this blog feature. But I wanted to include a few more pictures from the pikkujoulu party. There were lots and lots of candles inside and outside of the house. The sun is rising sometime around 9:30AM and setting before 3:30PM here in the Helsinki area. So people use candles often to add light to their days. But the Vorimo house sparkled.

Also, they have spent many years living and working in Frankfurt, Germany and collected some wonderful Christmas artifacts from there. One of their collection is a model of a German Christmas market with many little pieces. This year she put it on a shelf above the steps that go down to the lower level of their home which mad it inaccessible to little children and was a disappointment to the grandchildren.


Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the refreshment table before we started to eat. But shown here is a pasta and vegetable salad. A Fazer gel Christmas tree. And some German almond pretzel cookies with marzipan filling that were to die for. In the foreground of the picture above is a brie covered with a caramel nut topping.

Pikkujoulu with the Vorimos

PIKKUJOULU (literally “little christmas”) is a party (or very many parties) organized before Christmas to light up the darkest period of the year and to bring people into the Christmas mood. The decoration and food of pikkujoulu remind you of Christmas. The party may include singing Christmas carols and playing games. Even Santa Claus may appear in the party and give some presents. The most common pikkujoulu drink is called “Glögi”. It is made either of hot juice or of red wine, and is spiced with cinnamon, ginger, clove, raisins and almonds. Pikkujoulu parties start around November and continue until

Christmas. We had been to two pikkujoulu parties previously. One was sponsored by the Baltimore Chapter of the Finlandia Foundation and held in a Lutheran church in a Baltimore suburb. There was lots of Finnish food and singing and Joulupukki for the many children who came. The second one was an annual formal dress party given by Jaana Moller in Annapolis. She is an excellent baker. In fact she sometimes teaches classes. And the tables, decorations, and atmosphere were quite elegant--lots of candles, lots of Finnish speaking, and lots of traditional caroles.
This Christmas season was our first pikkujoulu party in Finland. Kirsti and Pertti Vorimo invited the temple presidency, all the temple missionaries, and all the temple office volunteers to come for dinner on December 10. Her house was beautifully decorated with lots of candles and Christmas things they have gathered from Finland and Germany. No Santa, no caroles. But amazing food, almond pretzel cookies that were to die for, Glögi, people sharing their Christmas memories, and lots of good company. In the top picture from left to right are Nikolai Vasilyev, David Tippets, Nancy and Chuck Harrington, Gerry and Ralph Larson, Pavel Bashkatov, and the temple president, Mel Luthy. In the second picture are Aito, Kaija Hlinovsky, Purevsuren, Tatyana Vasilyeva, myself, Bishop Kariluoma, Sister Kariluoma, and Sister Lindroos.

Just like Lasagna

Last Thursday the young missionaries who live close to us came to our house for lunch. One of the American missionaries told me that Elder Peltola, the Finn, would like chicken enchiladas for lunch. I actually thought they were asking for themselves and using Elder Peltola to get what they wanted. But..turns out it was Elder Peltola who made the request. Later that evening the missionaries went caroling with the young men of the Espoo 1 ward and told them what a great lunch they had at our house. What did you have to eat? Chicken Enchiladas. What are chicken enchiladas? Well..uhm..they're sort of like lasagna. But instead of lasagna noodles they have tortillas. And instead of ground beef they have chicken. And instead of oregano and thyme they have cumin. And instead of tomato sauce they have a white cream sauce. Yep. Just like lasagna!