"Our Office Sunshine"
I hate that the time is flying by so fast!
Don't get me wrong, we are excited to be home and to with family again,
it is just that we really aren't ready to leave Finland!
On Monday night there was a ward FHE at the home of one of the ward members.
There was a good turnout with lots and lots of food.
It was a lovely evening.
When we drove the van to the airport to pick up the Jämsäs, a light came on saying it needed AdBlue.
On Tuesday, Elder Shurtz got the Assistants to help put some it.
On Tuesday evening, we went to the temple. The Jämsäs were there as well.
There were people there from Russia, who had reserved a time to do sealings.
There were not enough men workers to do both the sealings and the endowment session,
so they did not have an endowment session and we were all invited to join in on the sealing session.
On Wednesday evening, Sister Laitinen had invited the Elders to come to her house for dinner.
Her friend Maija was there as well.
She invited us so that they could comply with missionaries rules.
Plus that gave her the opportunity to show us her new apartment, in addition to feeding us.
She made pizza. It was delicious!
Have I mentioned lately how much we love this place!
This was our morning walk. It is just a couple blocks from our apartment.
The air was cool, the birds were singing and it reminds me of being up in the canyon going for a walk.
We are really going to miss this!
I don't remember if I have ever posted a picture of the bulk candy aisle in Prisma.
Wow, that is a lot of candy!
Friday was Sister Laitinen's last day.
It was her turn to give the devotional and she told us some of the many things
that she has learned the last six month as she has served her mission.
This was not the mission that she had planned for and hoped for.
However, she has grown so much and she was certainly an answer to our prayers.
She was so sweet and told us that we have been like second parents for her.
I love that, because we love her just like a daughter.
I had written a song for her to the music of "You are My Sunshine".
Elder Shurtz and I sang the verses and we all sang the chorus together between the verses.
It was fun to watch her reactions.
We are really going to miss her, and the the brightness that she brings to the office.
Here is the song:
You are Our Sunshine
You are our sunshine, our office sunshine
You keep things happy at work all day.
You'll never know just how much we love you
And we hate that you're going away.
When Sister Airto's service was ending
And Sister Herttuainen's too,
We didn't know just how we could do it
You were an answer to our prayers.
Chorus
You helped our Finnish, we helped your English
At our devotional each day.
You taught me knitting, we made you cookies
Went to the daisy field to play.
Chorus
And when we left you to fun the office
There was a package on its way
It was delivered before you left there
Because you had the faith to pray.
Chorus
And then one weekend, we had a fun time
You drove with us to Kokkola.
You were our tour guide, we stopped for ice creamm
And you got me to try the sauna.
Chorus
We are so grateful we got to know you,
And we will miss you every day.
So we'll just say dear, wish you could stay here
But we know you have rent to pay.
We had Finnish tortillas for lunch as per Sister Laitinen's request.
The tortilla was filled with meat, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce,
red pepper, salsa and guacamole and kermaviili and wrapped and eaten.
We had Aino vedelma suklaa jäätelö (Sister Laitinen's favorite) for dessert, and monster cookies.
I had prepared a little gift for her. She was excited when she saw what was in the bag.
Lots of cookies!
She was touched by the other gift.
A hand crocheted nativity set.
It is hard to see her leave!
We are so grateful for her willingness to serve as a service missionary, even though that was not her first choice.
We are glad that we will be able to see her at church the next couple of weeks before we leave.
And we hope that someday she will come and visit us in Utah.
On Saturday, we spent most of the day cleaning the apartment.
Elder Shurtz cleaned the living room window. It is a big window!
The Perkins arrive Saturday afternoon.
It rained today.
The temple missionaries even came and picked us up at our apartment because it was raining.
The rain had pretty much stopped by time we got to the church.
But, it was raining again all during Relief Society.
After church the puddles we just too enticing for several of the children.
I guess that splashing in puddles is a universal attraction for kids.
We are noticing that the days are getting shorter, even though we still have a lot of daylight hours.
That is another thing that I will really miss. The long hours of daylight.
The sunrise today in Espoo was at 5:23 and the sunset at 21:27 for 16:04 hours of daylight.
In Provo, the sunrise was at 6:33 and the sunset at 20:29 for 13:55 hours of daylight.
Comments
Post a Comment