Third VISA Trip-Helsinki Finland Oct-Nov 2009

By Russian law, every 3-months we must leave Russia and get a new VISA.  This time we went to Helsinki Finland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsinki) to get our VISA.  We have a temple in Helsinki, and the Novosibirsk Mission is in the Helsinki Temple Distrist.   We left for our VISA trip on Friday 30 Oct on a train to Irkutsk and spent the night with the Southams, counselor to Mission President Trejo.  Then on Saturday morning 31 Oct. (our taxi did not show up so a gentelmen who was dropping his date off at 5 am gave us a lift in his cab to the Irkusk airport- Lord works in misterious ways to make sure His senior coulples are taken care of) we took Aeroflot airlines from Irkusk to Moscow, Sheremetyevo 1 domestic airport, and met our VISA traveling companions, the Simmons, financial missionary senior couple, living in Novosibirsk and working at the mission office.  The Simmons are a special couple that hold things together for the Mission in much more than just financial work.  This is the Simmons next to last VISA trip.  We took a bus to the Sheremetyevo 2 international airport and left for Helsinki Finland (90 minute flight on Finnair).  After buying Euros (at the time of our trip $1.50 US buys $1.00 Euro) we took a taxi from the Helsinki airport to Espoo (affulent distrist out side of Helsinki- we did not see any sign of a recession) and the temple hostil.  That Saturday evening 31 Oct. we took a train to Helsinki to learn how to get around Espoo and Helsinki.  That evening in Helsinki we had a delightful dinner at a resturant by the wharf, the exterior walls were all made of glass, like a little glass palace.  Sunday we went to Sacrament service that, of course, was spoken in Finnish.  The translating equipment did not work, so a member of the Bishopric got up and asked those who could find those who needed translating and sit with them.  After the sacrament service we left for Helsinki and took a ferry to Suomenlinna Island and had a guided tour of the island.  Monday 1 Nov we had to leave the temple hostil and checked in at a hotel called StayAt Espoo then we went back to Helsinki and walked to the Chuch in the Rock and saw other sights.  Tuesday we did 3 sessions at the temple and some sealings all with Russian names from members in Ulan-Ude.  Wednesday we left for home in Ulan-Ude.  Finland and Helsinki are wonderful, must see places.  We also have included links to websights that will be of interest to the readers of this Blog.  A few photographs are shown below.

 The Moleffs (left) and the Simmons (right) at a resturant by the wharf in Helsinki.

The Moleffs in front of the Chapel

This is inside the Temppeliaukio Kirkko (Rock Church). A very beautiful place. (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/finland/helsinki-rock-church-temppeliaukio)

This is on the Sumenlinna Island.  The Suomenlinna sea fortress, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suomenlinna was founded on a group of islands off Helsinki in 1748, and is listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site to be preserved as an example of the European military architecture of its time.  The fortress has served as a base for the armies of Sweden, Russia, and Finland.

This fruit stand was in a long building by the warf that was with a number of other stands that sold cheeses, breads, many fish stands, meats of all kinds - just a delightfull place to be in.  We purchased tomatoes at this stand (belongs to the mother of the young lady in the picture who spoke perfect English), and some cheeses at another stand that we cannot get in Ulan-Ude but can get in the Goom at Red Square in Moscow.

This is the Helsingfors Tempel (Helsinki Temple) in Espoo Finland just North of Helsinki.  It is layed-out similar to the Columbia River Temple so everything was familiar.  All the sessions were in Finnish and we wore head sets for English translation.  The sealings were done in the large sealing room (same location as in the Columbia River Temple) with the Temple President assisting.  We were English speaking, doing Russian names (Temple President assisted the sealer in reading the Russian names), with the service in the Finnish language (no translation).  The temple experience was wonderful and the highlight of our VISA trip to Finland.