After 2 Weeks

Vivienne and I have chatted about what to put on the blog.  The fact is that most everything we do and most of our time is spent in the Temple.  There's not a whole lot about it that can be put on the blog.  So when we're not on our Temple shift we have a little while to go exploring the country close around us.  There is a van that the Temple missionaries share, but since I don't drive yet, we're sort of at the mercy of the other couples.
Today, Saturday, after the temple closed at 2:00 pm we put our bikes in the back of the van with Erick Erickson and drove about 15 minutes away to the beaches west of Helsinki.  It was a beautiful day.  Very Finnish. Slightly overcast and about 65 degrees.  Great biking weather.

Missionaries who served in Finland in 1969.  From left to right:
Nolan Doxey, Sister Stromberg, Sister Hämäläinen, Erick Erickson, and me.  Fun unplanned reunion at Haaga Chapel last Sunday

Our bike ride to the beaches at West End today, near Helsinki, Saturday, June 11.  Great biking trails!  We found some rocks to sit on for out lunch.  Picture by Erick Erickson.
Vivienne hadn't been on a bike in many-a-year.  But it came back to her.  She said, "Hey, no big deal.  It's just like riding a bike." ........ You sort of had to be there.

Temple steeple.  We see it on the way from our apartment.

Favorite tree on walking path closest to our apartment.  It leads to the Temple.

Temple view from near our apartment.  Biking/walking paths criss-crossing the fields going into the forest.  There are only about 5,500 church members in all of Finland.  10 years ago during the Temple open house, they hoped for and planned for about 25,000 visitors.  At the close of the open house more that 58,000 people had gone through.