10 pistetta ja papukaijamerkki

On Monday morning, we had breakfast in our hotel in a nice room with beautiful views. 

Then before heading out of town, we drove past the castle ruins.

We passed this interesting building with a dog? face on it. 

 We also drove past the Lutheran church in Kajanni.

 The day was cloudy, but the snow covered trees were beautiful.

When we arrived in Kuopio, we stopped at Prisma to buy a mop for the Sisters.

We then stopped at the Elder's (Elders Hall and Jacobsen) apartment for their inspection. 

We parked in a very tight spot in their garage.

 At the Sister's apartment, Elder Shurtz helped to put a pipe piece back onto the drain of their bathtub so that the water didn't just splash all over the floor underneath the tub.

 Sisters Hartley and Debiasi have been working hard to have their apartment in great condition.

 Elder Shurtz helped them to do the inspection on their car.

The drive in the afternoon was not as nice as the drives on the other days, but we made it safely to Mikkeli.

We wondered just what this construction actually was for. It seemed to be in such a random place.

Elder Shurtz helped Elders Jordan and Bolingbroke to fix the piece holding the corner of the shower rod up.

 On our way back to our hotel, we saw these old boot planters hanging on the side of the fence.

 At each apartment, we would ask if there was any winter gear that was still in good condition
that could be used for missionaries who need winter clothing when they first arrive.
Here we are with the load from the Mikkeli Elders.

Here is Elder Shurtz with most of the coats and boots that we brought back from out trip.

We stayed in the Scandic Mikkeli hotel, and after a nice breakfast there, we headed out.

We drove back to Espoo and went directly to the office arriving around noon.

We loved being able to go on this trip, but it was good to be back.

It snowed for a couple of days after we got back. 

We got this picture of Sister Airto walking to the bus stop one evening.

It is quite difficult to maneuver her Ferrari through the snow, but she continues to do so.

She was not in the office on Tuesday when we returned, but she called me because 

the Rauma Elders needed the maksusitoumus so they could get their bus tickets. 

She talked me through finding the document on her computer, 

changing the wording in the document (which is in Finnish) 

and sending an email to the correct place (again in Finnish).

When I got it completed, she said, 

"Good, you should get, like we say - 10 pistettä ja papukaijamerkki."

The saying doesn't quite make sense translated - it is "10 points and a parrot mark".

The next day, she called the Elders to see if they had been able to get their bus tickets and they had, 

so she brought me this because I had done so well!

Because we had just gotten back on Tuesday and we were trying to catch up 

on our work at the office, we din't make it to the temple Tuesday night. 

We were hoping that the Harrises would get to town early enough to go to the temple on Thursday.

They got away quite late, so didn't actually make it to Espoo until Friday, 

but we went to the temple on Thursday evening. 

On Saturday we spent the day with the Harrises. 

They had not spent any time in the Helsinki area while they were serving on their mission, 

so they wanted to do some sight seeing before they went home. 

We took the train.

We went to the Ateneum, the National Museum, Senate square, the kauppatori, the rock church and Oodi (the new Helsinki central library).

Oodi is a very cool looking building.
(Notice the glass windows on the top story and note the corner on the top right of the building.)

On the inside, there is a ramp that you can walk up to that very top corner.

 The kids especially like to come up and look out at the view.

 Of course, the parents are interested in taking pictures of them there.

There is all sorts of different seating in different areas of the library.

Here are a few of them.

 There is an awesome staircase in the center.

 There are hundreds of words painted on the walls in the stairway.

 There are even little cafes where you can get something to eat or drink.

We had to get back to Espoo because we were having FHE with the temple couples.

It was held at the Ames apartment.

 Elder and Sister Lewis are new to the mission.
Elder Lewis plays the piano, and so we had some accompaniment for our songs.

 We enjoyed getting to know them a little bit better.

 It gave us all a chance to say goodbye to Elder and Sister Harris.

 Elder Lewis took a couple pictures and then stitched them together so we could all be in the picture.

On Sunday we attended the Espoo 1 ward for the 1st time. 

We are now in that ward since they created the Lohja branch last Sunday and realigned the boundaries.

We enjoyed having the Harrises join us at our apartment for dinner. 

They were excited that we had this book about the mission in Finland. 

 We heard that they had not tried mämmi before, so we had some so they could try it.

We are really going to miss Elder and Sister Harris. Even though we didn't get to see them very often.

We are now the only full time couple in the mission, and the only ones from the U.S.. 

We are so grateful for all of the part time service missionaries that are serving here that we get to work with.

The sunrise in Espoo was at 6:54 and the sunset at 18:10 for 11:15 hours of daylight.

In Provo, the sunrise was at 7:46 and the sunset at 19:28 for 11:41 hours of daylight.

(The hours shifted because of daylight savings time. 

Even though Utah has shifted the time, we have not done so yet in Finland.)