East Zone Missionary Apartment Inspection Tour

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On Monday evening we had FHE with the temple couples. We forgot to take any pictures though.
We got back to our apartment in time to be able to join in on the burial service for little Evelyn.
Stephanie and Clay and family were finally able to make the trip from 
Virginia to Star Valley so they could bury Evelyn there. 
Several of our kids were able to make it to Star Valley, and the rest of us were able to join in via Google Hangouts.
We enjoyed seeing this painting of their entire family which was set up at the gravesite.
 I took several pictures of my computer screen, so the pictures aren't the best, 
but we were so glad to be able to participate.
 I thought that Lucia looked like she was very much aware of what was going on and missing her twin.
 It was a sweet and touching graveside service.

Monday was quite a busy day at the mission office!
I don't think I actually got any of my own regular things done.
Sister Laitinen was up in Tampere at FSY all week.
Monday morning I got a phone call from some missionaries saying 
that their bus pass had expired and they needed a renewal.

On Friday, just before she left, I asked Sister Laitinen to show me how to do the bus passes. 
(Just in case I needed to know how while she was gone.)
I didn't really think that I would need know, but I must have been prompted to ask her.
We send a commitment form to the city bus office with the missionaries' names and the date, 
saying that we will pay the cost and then they bill us.
We send this by email and the missionaries go to the station and sign the form and pick up their tickets.

The challenge is that the form and the email are all in Finnish.
I can figure out how to change the request number, the missionaries' name and the dates all right, 
but I also have to "read" through the form and see if anything needs to be changed on it.
And then I try to find the last email that was sent to that city bus service
and hope that I can just copy and paste the text from it into a new email.

I ended up doing 5 bus passes!
Between that, filing supplies and answering the mission phone 
(which Sister Laitinen had left and which usually hardly ever rings), I was kept pretty busy!

On Tuesday, we left the office in time to go to the temple.
There were more bushes in bloom.

On Tuesday night, I really noticed how light it was outside our apartment at 10:00pm!
 We noticed on our walk that the lupine were blooming on the little hill by the golf course.

 There were many different kinds of wildflowers along our walk.
 

 

We also noticed how thick and green the trees are now and how there are so many dandelions covering the fields.
The sun is already quite high in the sky at 7:00am.
We have found it quite interesting to study the dandelions as we walk and compare them each day or two.
These pictures are from the same dandelion clump. 
The one on the right was taken on Wed. and the one on the left, on Thurs.
 
 We love being in the forested part of our walk!

Thursday was the first day we were finally able to go walking without wearing a jacket!
 The rose buds are beginning to open.

We spent the week at the office getting things ready for our apartment inspection tour for the East Zone. 
We had lots of supply orders to fill and our regular work to get caught up on.
We left Thursday at 4:30 when the office door automatically locks.

Our trip included:
One Unique Lake
Lake Saimaa is a labyrinth formed by wide waters and thousands of islands, not just a simple lake basin. 
It has the world's longest lake coastline (14,000 km) and 13,710 islands. 
It is Finland's largest lake, and the 4th largest freshwater lake in Europe. Basically, we drove around this lake as we traveled first to Mikkeli, then on to Kuopio, Joensuu, Savonlinna and Lappeenranta, finishing up in Kouvola, and then back home in Espoo.

Two wonderful Sisters
Sister Herttuainen and her sister, Sister Herttuainen.
This was the first we got to meet the second Sister Herttuainen. 
We met them for dinner on Saturday night, and then went to church with them on Sunday.



A Three Towered Castle
 Olavinlinna (the castle in Savonlinna) is a 15th century castle. It is the northernmost medieval stone fortress still standing.
We enjoyed being able to go on a tour.
We stayed in Four different Hotels
Hotelli Uusikuu in Mikkeli
Hotel Aada in Joensuu
Resort Hotel Norppa in Savonlinna
Summer Hotel Karelia-Park in Lappeenranta
Five days on the road

Six museums (if you count the Lappeenranta sandcastle)
North Karelia Museum
Lusto - Finnish Forest Museum
Look for the animals in this wooden art piece.
 I enjoyed looking at the fabric childrens books that were there.
We got there in the middle of an event showing off lots of old cars.
Olavinlinna (castle in Suomenlinna)
Wolkoff House Museum
Museum of South Karelia
Heikkalinna (Lappeenranta Sand Castle)
Seven Missionary apartment inspections.
We love being able to visit with the missionaries in their apartments!
One of the campanionships had homemade bread ready to come out of the oven as we arrived to do their inspection.
Two of the companionships had brownies that they had made for us.
Mostly we just enjoy being with them and feeling of their spirit!

I am not sure how many churches!

This is still a work in progress.
Check back again to see the updated version!

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