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 Home When 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.
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| Crossing the Baltic Sea |
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| Sorry for the weird angle |
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| Helsinki Temple |
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| The temple sits on a granite hill |
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| Guest House |
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| Preparing lunch |
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| Chopping garlic |
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| Catching up on the news |
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| Our famous salad maker |
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| Sis. Allred in her element |
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| Frozen lake in Nuuksio National Park |
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| Frozen spring |
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| These are planks to avoid sinking in the bog |
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| 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.
