Finland celebrates Valentines Day!!! That is something we didn't know (or I would have brought Valentines Decor & FUN) but our daughter Sheri took care of us beautifully with a gift to open every day...it made waking up very fun!!!
It is more a day of friendship rather that LOVE...but it brightened many events!
February has been a busy month with lots of events. Early in the month the office staff (and they always include us) went to a horse show called "Appassionata" at the Hartwall Arena. Those who really know and love horses loved it more that we did but it was quite amazing and beautifully done.
There are 8 couples serving missions at the temple and they invited us to a valentine dinner at the temple center! We had 29 of us in all (including 2 YSA's who served as translators for their parents, the temple president and matron, the office staff, and us) and it was a wonderful evening for all. A couple in our ward, Earl and Elaine Fry, are here to teach at the Helsinki University, as a Fulbright Scholar from BYU! His field is political science, and he is a fascinating speaker! We had a FHE for the YSA's at their home as our kids are very interested in US politics. After hearing about our FHE, the temple couples wanted to hear him speak too. So they came to the dinner and provided a fascinating talk! It was a great evening! It is always really fun to visit with the American couples at the temple and they love to hear about what's going on with the YSA's.
We had a Senior Missionary Conference this last week that was wonderful! There are 6 missionary couples in Finland and we had not met 3 of them. Also we had the area directors for Centers for Young Adults for Europe come to give training. Allan & Diane Asplund are a delightful couple on their third mission. They came a few days early to see the sights and came to dinner on Sat. Feb.11th and answered many of our "Center" questions.
Our conference began with a tour of the Helsinki Opera House!
Its a beautiful building built in 1993!
They were setting the lights and the sets for their next production!
They were building huge sets here! It was fascinating!
I had to sample some of the fake food!
We then went on to a dinner at a restaurant. It was the first steak I've had since leaving home...loved it! Paul decided to have the reindeer filet. He liked it but will order steak next time. He just wanted to try this local delicacy!
The Asplunds and us raced away to our FHE at the center
to serve our Valentine refreshments!
Our FHE evening leader, Paivi, was making a video of us saying HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY in 4 different languages, one at a time. It took several tries to get it right!!!
Our conference was wonderful with talks, training, lunches, dinners, and a temple trip!
Here's the whole group!
Finally, under the "happenings" is High School graduation in Helsinki. The seniors are through with classes and now "read" for their final exams which will be in May.
To
celebrate they have a parade, filling snow removal trucks, and came by
on our street just 2 blocks away. It was great to see their excitement
and gather the candy they threw. We were on our way to see "Mission
Impossible 4" so they provided all our movie treats!
There were 75 truckloads of kids!!!
We have had a fun and busy February and the Valentines have brightened our grey and snowy days. We are getting more daylight now with sunrise at 8 am and sunset at 5:15! It is still VERY cold, between 10 and 25 degrees. When it is 25 we don't hesitate to take a walk as that seems much warmer than usual. It's all relative!!!
Valentine LOVE to all!!!!
