Senior Missionary Seminar and Dinner with Lehtinens

One morning on our walk we saw about 4 or 5 rabbits crossing the street  1/2 a block ahead of us. 

When we got the the other side of the street, we could see them camouflaged in the field. 

As we looked we realized that there were a lot more than the 4 or 5 that we saw crossing the street. 

I think there are at least 8 hiding in this picture. Can you spot them? 

(You can see one hopping on the right side of the picture. 

These seem to be much smaller than the huge jack rabbits that we have seen.)

May 29 was the 100th birthday of the Finnish flag. 

I had told Melissa that I would send a picture the next time that I saw a flag flying. 

They are usually only flying on holidays and special occasions. 

We This one was flying on a nearby building that we could see from our balcony.

Do you remember from the early spring the stump that I thought fairies or elves must live in.  

It is much more difficult to spot it as the forest ground cover is growing. 

The fairies and elves are being camouflaged for the summer I think. 

A fern is growing right outside the opening now.

All the yellow dandelions in the field have changed to white puff balls. 

I didn't even get a picture of the yellow field. It seemed like they changed overnight.

We also walked back past the place where we did comparison pictures as the trees were leafing out. 

Now you can't really even see the building behind the trees. 

What an amazing difference from a couple of weeks ago!

I have loved seeing all of the flowers!

We (everyone in the mission office) were invited to the Lehtinen's house for dinner. 

The Lehtinens are service missionaries over the housing. 

They attend the same ward that we do and we love having them as part of the office staff. 

They have become instant friends and we are so grateful for this opportunity to get to know them better.

Sister Lehtinen made a delicious salmon soup for dinner.

We loved being able to visit their lovely home and sit and relax on their deck. 

They have a cozy summer home and sauna in the backyard.

 Doesn't this look like a fun place for their grandkids!

They have the most beautiful and neatly stacked woodpile I have ever seen! 

Elder Lehtinen has a bit more work to do though as they just cut down a couple more trees.

At the end of the evening we took sister Airto home and then drove back to our apartment. 

This picture was taken from the car on the way home at about 9:45pm.

This week Elder Shurtz found a bunch of old keys in his desk. 

He showed them to the others in the office to see if anyone knew what they might be.

Sister Airto had her own collection of old keys!

Former sister Margetts came to the mission office again this week and left us this cute card that she made.

On Friday, we had a Senior Missionary Seminar. 

The theme was: The rise of the identity of the Finnish people through nature, arts and architecture.

It was a wonderful opportunity for us to explore the beauty of Finland and its rich culture and history.

We started out at the mission home with some delicious fruit smoothies.

We were each assigned an aspect to learn about and discuss with the group.

1. The merging of the Finnish National identity.

2. Golden Era of the Finnish art 1880-1910.

3. The National Romantic era in the Finnish architecture in the late 19th century.

4. The role of Jean Sibelius in the rise of the Finnish National identity.

5. The events leading to the declaration of independence in 1917 in Russia and Finland.

6. The role and contribution of Akseli Gallen Kallela in the Finnish arts, design and architecture.

It provided a great opportunity for those of us from the USA to come to know more about a bit of Finnish culture and history as well as for an opportunity for us to learn from the Finland natives as they shared about their country. 

Then we went exploring.

Here is a picture of us as we are leaving the mission home.

We went to Nuuksio National park and visited the Haltia Nature museum. 

We also had lunch there, which was billed at "Nature on your plate". It was delicious!

We drove to Hvitträsk, the studio home of members of the Finnish architecture firm Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen. 

Then to the studio and residence of Akseli Gallen-Kallela.

Here is a group picture at Nuuksio.

More Pictures.

Several of us got together for dinner at an Italian restaurant at the end of the day. We forgot to take any pictures though. We do enjoy spending time together with the other senior missionaries.

We were supposed to go on a couple of hikes as part of the seminar, but ran out of time. 

Elder and Sister Harris had come from Vaasa to join us for the senior seminar. 

They were spending the night in the area, so we went with them back to Nuuksio to go on a hike Saturday morning. 

It was a beautiful day for a hike.

The lupin are in bloom. They are beautiful, but I understand that they are actually a bit of a problem as they are not native and they take spread everywhere and then prevent the native plants from growing. 

Lichen on the rock.

We walked up to a ski lift. It is very small compared to what we are used to in Utah!

We thought that this looked like the lost and found. 

The beautiful view!

We loved spending a little more time with Elder and Sister Harris. We wish that they were closer to us so we could do things together (especially as Sister Romberg go home next week and Sister Potter next month).

It is still staying light a little longer each day, 

but the rate of the increased light is slowing down as we get closer to midsummer. 

We now have 18:28 hours of daylight, with sunrise at 4:06 and sunset at 10:34.

In Provo there are 14:53 hours of daylight, with sunrise at 5:58 and sunset at 8:51.