Helsinki Temple Finally, we were given permission to attend the Helsinki Temple. For those who don't know, Helsinki, Finland is not in our mission nor is it in the Europe East Area. As in all cases where missionary travel would be out of the Mission or Area, special permission must be obtained. In our previous mission tour in Estonia, getting permission was hard to get, so are were very happy to be able to go. The trip was organized by the District Presidency for the last week of February. It also happened to coincide with a planned Super Saturday that we were organizing. We decided that if we could go to Helsinki, we would hold the Super Saturday there at the guest house. Otherwise, we would have to postpone it. With the expert talents of Sister Allred, we had a great activity planned. Also, in preparation for our trip, we went on Family Search and found one endowment, 5 sealings and 5 initiatory on my line that needed to be done. So we were prepared to work. Friday On Friday morning we got up early and walked to the port to board the ferry to Finland. It had several decks where people could just lounge around and of course there were food venues everywhere as well as duty-free shopping. The ride was 2.5 hours long. Our plan was to find a certain bus and ride it to the temple site, an hour away. However, while on the ferry, we found some branch members (mother and daughter) who had brought their car and we arranged to ride with them. That was a big relief. When we arrived at the guest house, we had a nice apartment waiting for us with a full kitchen. The guest house has several rooms for small groups and a few private rooms for families. There is a community kitchen where guests can store their food and prepare it there. After settling in, we headed straight to the temple and started on our collection of names. When you pass the recommend desk, you are to go to a side room to remove your coats and shoes. That way, no street shoes inside the temple proper. We were in two sealing sessions. One was conducted in Finnish and the other was in Russian. It was not your ordinary sealings for sure. We nearly finished the whole batch of names before retiring for the night. Saturday At 11:00, our youth were in the baptistry and each had about 5 names. I was able to act as witness while Sis. Allred went through another endowment session. Afterwards, we were able to go and finish the last of the names we had brought with us. Super Saturday We organized the youth and had them prepare the meal for all the members who came from our branch. They made spaghetti, garlic bread and salad, with plenty to share with others who were not from Estonia. Then at 2:00 PM, we started the Super Saturday for all the seminary and institute aged youth. We started with having everyone say something that is to be admired about the person to their left. That elicited some surprises and some good humor. We then gave them all a quiz about the Helsinki temple using Kahoots. It's a website where you can make a quiz on-line and the students use their cell phones to log onto the website and then answer the questions. Points are awarded for correct and quickest responses. It was a lot of fun. Then we had a journal jar activity where everyone picked a paper out of the jar which was a memory prompt - a question about something that they experienced in their life. Each one shared their experiences and we heard a funny one about a discharged rifle round in a tent from a young man who is soon to finish his military obligation (every male has an 11 month military service when they graduate from high school). Finally, everyone got to share their feelings about the temple and we ended with our testimonies. On the way HomeWhen we were through, we still had a few hours before we were to board the ferry back to Tallinn, so we drove to the Nuuksio National Park. We found a place to park and we went hiking and found a frozen lake. We had some fun busting up some ice along the shore. We found a little spring pouring out of the side of a hill. Although the water was still running, there were ice formations from when the water flow had been heavier. Back in the car, we stopped at one of the largest malls I have ever seen. I was gifted a big block of cheese by people trying to get shoppers interested in their brand of cheese. Later, we drove onto the ferry and floated home with our arrival around midnight.
Crossing the Baltic Sea
Sorry for the weird angle
Helsinki Temple
The temple sits on a granite hill
Guest House
Preparing lunch
Chopping garlic
Catching up on the news
Our famous salad maker
Sis. Allred in her element
Frozen lake in Nuuksio National Park
Frozen spring
These are planks to avoid sinking in the bog
Enjoying our trip back to Tallinn
UPDATE!!! I suppose that if you got this far in the post, you should be entitled to an update on our status here with all the COVID 19 craziness going on in the world. It's been an eventful day as things have changed by the hour concerning restrictions and border closures, etc.. By Tuesday, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia will close their borders to anyone not living in those countries (with some exceptions). That means that our options are limited. As of yet, we have not been directed to return home, such as what was done in many European missions recently. Right now, the missionary department is letting us (senior couples) stay, but it could change at any moment. We were given the opportunity to choose to return home, but we would have had to leave almost immediately. So we chose to stay.
February 2nd marks the 100 year anniversary of the Tartu Peace Treaty that was signed in 1920. It seems that everyone wants this piece of land as their own. As soon as the Germans left at the end of WWI, the Bolsheviks decided they wanted to expand their power base. So in November of 1918, the Red Army invaded Estonia. This conflict was known as the Estonian War of Independence. The young Estonian republic was ill-equipped to battle an army that was already trained and well supplied. The Estonian defence forces were inexperienced and lacked equipment, weapons and essential supplies. There was very little money available to improve the situation. The situation looked bleak but the government decided to oppose the Bolsheviks hoping to receive aid from Western allies and Finland. In this, they were not disappointed as weapons and supplies were sent from England, USA and Finland as well as additional troops.
Out numbered and outgunned, Estonia was not deterred. They organized critical military units under the leadership of Colonel Johan Laidoner and planned a counteroffensive. In early January of 1919, the Red Army had captured nearly half of the Estonian mainland and was only 30 kilometers from Tallinn, the capital. However, on January 7, with rearranged Estonian and Finnish troops, Estonia began a counteroffensive and in three weeks time, the Red Army was sent packing.
They were not done, however. To prevent further incursions, the Estonian Army pressed hard to push the front as far away as possible from the border. They pushed toward Petrograd (St. Petersburg) but later retreated to protect the borders. There were other mini-wars and skirmishes on other fronts, but by the end of 1919, the Bolsheviks agreed to exclude Estonia from it list of enemies to Soviet Russia. Peace talks in Tartu began in earnest by December of 1919 and an armistice was announced on the 3rd of January, 1920. The peace treaty was signed on February 2, 1920 in Tartu.
To commemorate this treaty, a memorial was commissioned and built in 2009 at Vabaduse valjäk (Freedom Square). The column incorporates the Cross of Liberty, Estonia's most distinguished award. It is 77 feet tall and is made of 143 glass plates.
Please value the freedom you have. Any lack of vigilance to secure it can result in it being taken away.
Book of Mormon Fiesta This year, 2020, marks the 20th anniversary of the translation of the Book of Mormon to Estonian. The District Presidency thought that for our Super Saturday this month (Super Saturday is like a stake youth activity for Seminary and Institute age youth) we might plan something around that anniversary. Since the geography of the Book of Mormon is mostly in Central and South America, we thought that we could introduce a little of those cultures with what we call a Book of Mormon Fiesta. This is the poster we created to advertise the event.
So we were thinking that no exploration of Latin America is complete unless there is a piñata. So using my best You Tube research, I set about to make a first class piñata.
How it all started
With cones, it is ready to decorate
Russian-speaking Sisters came to help
One side completed
I finished the other side and added extras
How it looked at our Fiesta
The program started in the chapel and after the talks and video presentation, our CES coordinator from Lithuania ran a quiz game on the Book of Mormon with the students using their smart phones to answer the questions The quickest and most correct in their responses won chocolate.
We divided up into three groups and told them to create a scene from the Book of Mormon based any of the many pictures on the walls.
One of two walls with Book of Mormon scenes
At the appointed time, the groups presented their skits, based on the scene they chose. It was a lot of fun to see their creativity.
Nephi "shocking" his brothers
Final destruction of the Nephites and Mormon handing off the plates to Moroni
Fate of Moroni after hiding up the plates
Scramble for the piñata candy
Taco soup and chalupas for lunch
Studying the Book of Mormon should be a fiesta where we can come and enjoy the spiritual nutrition we all need in our lives.
(This will be long) I Know, I know. Iam way behind. In July the Estonian Song and Dance Festival was held (laulu ja tantsupidu). It was massive. It was the BIG one. The one that only happens every 5 years. For a week, the streets near our apartment are filled with many performers, often in their costumes, walking to and from their rehearsals. It's a fun time for us to watch from our window.
So, I took so many videos and pictures of the dancing and singing and marching in parades that I was just overcome with the enormity of the task to prepare them for publishing in the blog. In essence, I just stopped, thinking that I would pick it up again soon. So, I will include a small portion of what I captured and try to catch up with what is happening now. First, there was the dance festival. Groups from all over Estonia had been rehearsing for many months for this event. Cultural costumes for Estonia are many and they vary from region to region. They are all represented in the various dance sets. Every part of the costume is authentic, from the shoes to the bonnets and hats. The opening ceremony includes a recognition of esteemed dance instructors and other dignitaries and then the lighting of the "flame" (think Olympics). Then the dances begin. Here are a few clips.
Lighting the Flame
Boy lost his shoe
The Grand Finale
If you are interested in watching the whole thing from a bird's eye view, click on this link here.
On Saturday, the first day of the song festival, there is a big parade from Vabaduse väljak (Freedom Square) all through the center of Tallinn and ends up at the Lauluväljak (song festival grounds), a distance of just over 4 km. The parade goes on all afternoon until the festival starts in the evening. All performers of both the dance and song festivals march with their schools/groups. As the groups arrive in the parade, they take their place in the shell which was designed to hold 15,000 performers. When all are seated, the show begins. There is also a "flame" that is to be lighted and once that is done, the singing begins in earnest with guest conductors leading each one. Performers for this event are selected by audition and come from all over Estonia and from other countries with Estonian connections as well. Take a look at all the different costumes. There is a lot of handwork in many of them and they can be quite expensive to make.
They are all making their way to this:
Lighting the flame to get things started
If you are interested in watching the whole thing, click on this link here.
There is an interesting dynamic going on here. Estonians have a reputation of being a people of few words, especially when it comes to emotional things. Unless . . . it comes to speaking about their homeland and their roots and the richness of the culture that has seen them through many hard and challenging times throughout history. Get them to sing about the land and those who went before, and they can become quite talkative and sometimes very emotional. As you watch them sing of their homeland, every so often you will see tears in their eyes. It is so touching. I know I am touched because tears form in my eyes as well and I'm not even from this treasured land. But I have come to love this people and their musical devotion to their Fatherland (Isamaa). Although the world thinks of Estonia as the most unreligious country in Europe, there is something here that is overlooked. The heart of the people is one that is yearning to belong and to be unified. In a coming day, when the conditions are right, the gospel message will resonate in their hearts. Not by ones or twos, but in large numbers will they come - answering an internal longing to return to their spiritual roots.
CAUTION!!! Extra Long Post. There is so much to write about. Let's get to it.
Baltica 2019 International Folklore Festival:
Baltica 2019 was held in Tallinn this year. It is a festival that highlights the music, dance and folklore of the Baltic countries but also invites other countries from around the world to participate. We caught some of the performances in the Town Square in Old Town.
Latvia
Chile
Ukraine
Seto women from Southern Estonia
Lithuania
Punjab State in India
The following are pictures I took of some of the local performers as they waited for their turn.
Baptism:
We had yet, another baptism this past month. Again, since our building is being renovated, we are using the hotel spa as a baptistry. Of course, afterwards, a social gathering at our place for all to visit.
Service:
We have, from time-to-time, opportunities to give service to those who may have some need. The other day we went to a brother's house who lived way out west of town in a secluded neighborhood. He needed an old subfloor removed and renovation debris stacked and ready to throw in a dumpster. There was lots of fibrous insulation and old mortar to bag up. The mask was really helpful. We had the subfloor demolished in just a few minutes and the remainder of our time was just hauling junk away. Multiple Eagle Scout projects over the years were good training for these kind of things.
Seminary and Institute Graduation: On May 14, we held the annual Seminary and Institute Graduation program at the home of our new District President. Since the area of study this past year was Doctrine & Covenants and church history, we decided to have a Pioneer themed activity for the youth. Siser Allred told of some pioneer heritage and the kids made button whirligigs (similar to a simple toy the pioneers made). The we taught them about stick pulling. This is a game that most Estonians had never heard of. Only a few dared to try it. Then to pass the time before the meal, we ate watermelon followed by a seed spitting contest. Elder Allred won by a very large margin (years of practice, I assure you). Then we served a taco salad with cheese bread, juice, fruit and cake. As the weather was threatening rain, we finished the actual graduation ceremonies inside where the youth either graduated from Seminary or received their certificates of completion for both Seminary and Institute. Our teachers were honored with flower bouquets and chocolate - a gift combination that is very popular here.
Zone Conference: Everyone looks forward to Zone Conference. We receive important instruction and counsel and catch up with everyone else in the zone. It's like a family reunion every 6 weeks. This time we learned how to make a 2 minute video to put on Facebook to introduce ourselves, why we're here in Estonia and then leave an invitation to learn more and attend church with us. It was kinda fun.
The whole Zone
All the Sisters plus 3 converts who were invited to attend. The one on the right (tan skirt) has just submitted her mission application.
Comparing notes and exchanging stories.
Jaanipäev (Summer Solstice):
The observance of the summer solstice is a BIG thing in the Baltics. There are celebrations everywhere and many businesses close their doors. The center of town looks like a ghost town with only a few cars or busses to be seen and even fewer people. They are all at their country home or at a park, building a bonfire and eating "shashlik" (seasoned meat to go on a skewer or grill). It's a very long day here in these Northern parts. Daylight is over 18 hours long. We go to bed and it is light outside. We wake up in the morning, same thing. So, to celebrate Jaanipäev, we organized a picnic for the YSAs at the park across the street from our apartment. We played Kubb, a game involving throwing blocks of wood to capture a king. Great fun. We decided to eat our picnic in the house.
More Culture, and I Don't Mean Yogurt:
We were walking in Old Town last week and we some Canadians. They were in Tallinn with a large choir from Ontario to perform a concert in the St. Nicholas church. We decided to go and listen. St. Nicholas was built in the 13th and 14th centuries. On March 9, 1944, Tallinn was bombed by Soviet forces and the church was severely damaged. It took nearly 30 years to restore the building to what it is today. The beautiful pews and balconies are forever gone. Here are some clips from the concert.
