Itsenäisyyspäivä and Miehikkälä
On Monday night we got together with the temple couples at the Evan's apartment for Family Home Evening.
It was so nice to be able to spend the evening with them.
Sister Ames gave each couple a flower. It is called a decorative pineapple (at least that is what the Finnish name means).
I had been disappointed on Sunday because we did not sing Hosianna in the Haaga ward.
Sister Airto had told us that on the first Sunday of advent (first Sunday in December),
all the churches in Finland ("including ours", she said)
stand and sing Hoosianna to prepare for Christ's coming at Christmas.
It is actually more about the Savior's triumphant entry into Jerusalem, but is the traditional beginning of advent.
We looked it up online and listened to it so we would be able to sing along.
Then on Sunday, our ward didn't sing it.
The two wards that temple couples had been in sang it.
The ward the assistants are in sang it.
Sister Airto's ward sang it, but for some reason our ward did not.
(Perhaps because the people doing the music are not Finnish?)
Here is a link in case you are interested in hearing it.
When the temple couples found out that we didn't get to hear it,
two of them went to their apartments and got the words and we sang that for our opening song.
For the closing song we sang En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa.
It is a Finnish Christmas song that is in the Finnish LDS hymnbook. It is to music written by Jean Sibelius.
It is one of my favorite Christmas songs now. Here is a link to listen to it.
On Tuesday, Lucia graduated from the PICU to the regular pediartic unit.
I got this cute picture of her early in the week.
Tuesday we went to the temple. As we arrived home, Elder Shurtz realized that he had gone all day dressed like this.
Not sure if you could see from the above picture, so I zoomed in a bit closer.
Yup, he went all day with the pants from one suit and the suit coat from the other suit.
Well, if we didn't notice, maybe no one else did either. 😏
Thursday (December 6) was Itsenäisyyspäivä (Finland's Independence Day).
Offices are closed on that day and stores that are open have shorter hours. Sister Airto was planning to stay home.
We decided to go in to the office for a while and work on cleaning out the storage room.
It looks like we are making a bigger mess than what we started with.
We at least got a few boxes organized with like things.
Elder Shurtz even fixed the flat tire on the hand truck.
The evening of Itsenäisyyspäivä there is linnan juhat (the Castle Ball) held at the presidential palace
for war veterans, dignitaries and other important people invited by the President and his wife.
It is televised and the Finnish people are very interested in watching it.
The President and his wife shake hands with all the 2000 people who attend.
We found it online so we could watch it as well. Because the commentary was all in Finnish,
we didn't really know what they were saying, but it was interesting to watch it.
There was an environmental theme and the president's wife wore a dress made from a birch tree.
The flags were flying and our apartment building decorated the lobby for the occasion.
Of course there are Christmas decorations as well.
Everyone puts candles like this in their windows. We have some in the windows of the mission office.
Friday morning we tried making riisipuuro (rice porridge), which is a very traditional dish to have at Christmas time.
We heard that it works best in a double boiler so it doesn't get scorched on the bottom.
We don't have a double boiler, but Elder Shurtz put one pot inside a larger one and used it as a double boiler.
It is hard to know how well something turns out when you haven't actually had it before. 😊
We think it turned out well.
We served it with cinnamon sugar. We understand that they also serve it with fruit soup.
On Friday, Lucia was able to have her ng tube removed!
On Friday evening, the Lehtinens invited us to go for a ride with them to Helsinki
to see the lights and stop at a little cafe near senaatintori (senate square).
They were especially accommodating since Elder Shurtz was involved in a conference call at 5:00
to see what could be done regarding the current challenge with senior missionaries and their visas.
We met the Lehtinens at the Haaga chapel at 7:00 and they drove us in their car.
I like the flag flying at the top of this building.
This nativity was in the window of the cafe.
Elder Lehtinen and Elder Shurtz
Sister Shurtz and Sister Lehtinen
Senate square (Christmas Market) was quiet at 9:00pm
The lights on Alexanterinkatu (Alexander street).
Window displays with reindeer.
Lights on the esplanade.
More beautiful lights.
On Saturday morning, we picked up the Ames shortly after 8:00 to drive to Miehikkälä.
At 8:30am, it was still very dark. There was also kind of a slushy rain.
Just a little after 9:00, the street lights turned off. It was about time for the sun to rise.
It was so cloudy though that we never did see the sun, but at least it was a bit lighter.
We were seeing a bit of snow.
We were seeing a bit of snow.
When we got off the main highway and in Miehikkälä, there was a fair amount of snow on the roads.
It made for a pretty drive.
We visited with Sister Ames cousin. We first visited with him in his home. He doesn't speak English.
Sister Ames was asking him about his siblings and their names and their spouses' names.
It was fun to listen and to be able to understand many of the words that she was using.
He led us to the house that her grandfather built. She wanted pictures of the apple trees there.
Sister Ames and her cousin.
Here we are standing in front of the house that Sister Ames grandfather built.
Sister and Elder Ames standing on the porch.
Her grandfather (or great grandfather - I'm not sure) planted another tree.
It was a German spruce. It drops it needles, and it was huge.
It was cut down in September. It was 150 years old.
Sister Ames wanted to see where the tree had been and see if there were any
branches from the tree left that they could have for Elder Ames to carve into toy horses.
We stopped at the house and she knocked on the door.
It turns out that the woman who lived there is her distant cousin.
She consented to a picture taken.
Sister Ames grandfather and his brother both lived in the same house and once they were both married
things got a bit crowded in the house (the story Sister Ames grew up hearing),
or there was a disagreement (the story the distant cousin grew up hearing)
and they divided everything, all the land, and the house.
Sister Ames grandfather took the wood from his half of the house and moved over to the next hill.
The distant cousin had a picture of the house before it was divided.
There was not even a stump left of the tree, but we could see where it had been.
There were only a few pieces left of the tree. The rest of it had all been hauled away.
She let Elder and Sister Ames take a a bunch of pieces with them.
I loved seeing the stacks of wood.
I also loved the buildings and cellars.
We visited another cousin.
She had a copy of a couple of newspaper articles that told about the 150 year old tree.
This side of the family didn't know anything about the tree being removed until
this cousin saw the article in the paper. You can see that it was a huge tree!
This cousin didn't speak English either. She seemed so happy to have visitors.
She told us when we arrived that she couldn't hear. I told her that was OK because we couldn't speak (Finnish).
She talked and talked and talked. Sister Ames would try to tell us what she was talking about,
but she was never able to say more than a sentence before the cousin would start speaking again.
It was fun to listen.
We had brought some food with us, but the cousin had made some soup and she so kindly feed us a wonderful meal.
I enjoyed seeing some of the things in her home.
I love these baskets!
This decoration is made of straw!
As we were leaving, we saw that there was an old potkukelkka (kick sled), so of course we all had to try it out.
We were surprised at just how dark it was at 3:30
and then even darker at almost 4:00
Sunday night we had a wonderful Christmas concert at the Haaga Chapel! The Choir sang Hoosianna!
We love being here! It is especially nice at this Christmas time of year.
We are enjoying learning new songs and new customs.
We are so grateful for the gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ, for his life and example and most especially for His Atonement.
We appreciate this opportunity each day to wear His name and to serve Him.
Today in Espoo, the sunrise was at 9:12, and the sunset was at 15:14 for 6:02 hours of daylight.
In Provo, the sunrise was at 7:37 and the sunset was at 17:00 for 9:23 hours of daylight.
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