30 November 2011

A Better Outlook...

Mummi update:
It is one week and a day that I arrived here, Finland, and what a time to arrive here!  If you are planning a trip (!!!) to Finland, do not come in October - November -December, although December maybe different because of the brightness of the Christmas lights!  It is so dark and gloomy, rainy and cold, I had forgotten all that.  Sun, if you can see it once and while, rises barely above the Horizon about 10 am, moves slowly, but does not rise much more, and then about 2 pm (here 14:00) goes down and starts getting even darker, and by 5 pm ( 17:00) it is night dark !  But people are so used to this and I will also soon again.
 
The MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo was another experience! Seeing about 2100 missionaries (this how many there can be at one time) and of course most of them are these fantastic young, anxious to go, missionaries. Makes your heart swell and you see Helaman's 2000 young warriors !
 
I had a very nice and friendly room mate, Sis. Horne, who went to Nebraska to be in the office. Most of the Seniors in our group (35 couples and 5 single sisters) went all of the globe, Phillipnes, Australia, Chile, Samoa etc, etc. and now they are sending e-mails to each other, it is fun !
 
I dont know if you have seen a picture of the Finnish Temple, it is very simple, classic Finish design, on a small hill, and you can see it from the main roads down below, and it has 62 steps to the main door. You can also use car to come closer, but small road is nicely hidden so it does not take the beauty of the Temple away.  AND ---- this is a multi-lanquage Temple:  Finnish, Russian, Eastonian, Latvian and Swedish !!!. So we are learning all those, Russian we are reading with regular Finnish, same as English, letters, because you would have to learn the Russian alphabets, and it would be too much !
 
Housing for the missionaries and patrons are just below the Temple, close and they are beautiful and roomy and very modern (as Finland is), but they are done for couples and the patrons quarters are made for 6 people, who come here from different countries to work for a week or so. So, they dont have a place for me, I am the only single. They rented a small apartment for me, and unfortunately I have to use a bus to get there and back. I do get rides from the others, specially if I am working in the evening shift and Sundays to Church meetings. The Temple president told me that they are going to add at least one new apartment, for me, and I am praying for that!!  But it does not happen until May-June. Right now I dont have a companion so it is kind of lonely.
 
I do miss Sandy and the Silver Pines [the Senior Community Mummi has been living at for the past 2 years] and you all, and try not to think about that it will be 1 and 1/2 years before I see you again! But this is a once in the life time experience and opportunity to be a Temple missionary, and I am thankful for this.

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