Kalevala and Finnish Culture

 On Mondays, the Espoo District usually has their district council meeting at the office.
Sister Bentley and Sister McCammon were there a little bit early.
Sister Bentley shared with us a Finnish folk dance that she had found that she liked.
The steps were just like the Bunny Hop, but to different music. I tried it out with her.

On Tuesday, there were several packages that needed to be picked up. All were packages from Amazon.de. One was coming by DHL, it was supposed to be delivered last week, but no one was at the office and they called Sister Saarinen. She arranged for it to go to a pick up point (a locker in Sello). The  lockers must have been full, because it went to an R-kioski in Galleria. It said that ID was required to pick it up. (ID would not have been required if it had been delivered to our office, or to the locker pick up point, so I was annoyed.) It turned out that they gave me that package without too much problem. I was able to give it to the missionary the next day since he is one of our office elders.

The other two packages were coming by UPS and they were at the Taj Mehal afro asian market in Galleria, so quite close to where the other package was. I have picked up packages there before and they didn't want to give it to me at first because I was not the person named on the package, but I have explained that they were addressed to our office and that all of our volunteers have their packages sent there because they are scattered around the country and move every couple of months. 

I have showed them my nametag and that the name of the Church is on the package 

and they have eventually given me the package. 

This time it was a different man who was there. He was adamant that UPS requires him to show them proof that he gave the package to the right person, even after we had tried to explain it to him and told him that we have picked up packages in the past from this same place. He told me to have the person who the package was for to come in and pick it up. I told him that they were not living in this area. He told me to have them make a power of attorney saying that I could pick it up. Elder Shurtz asked if we could just call them and have them tell him that we were authorized to pick it up. He finally agreed that we could call them and have them send him an SMS message saying I could pick up the package. 

He gave us a paper that had the phone number on it. 

It was also more complicated because only one of the packages had the name of the church on it.

We called the first missionary (his package had the name of the Church on it) and he said he would send a text. We called the next missionary and he was trying to send a text on his companion's phone because it was the one with the SIM card. The problem was that the companion's phone was in Finnish and he was having a hard time navigating to the correct place. 

In the mean time, the man showed us his phone with the church website pulled up and asked if that was us. We said "yes". He was confused why the address on the package just said MAP Jeesuksen Kristuksen Kirkko, instead of the whole name. (It is because the whole name is too long for most address fields, so we abbreviate the MAP (LDS) part of the name.) He told us that that package was cleared, but he still needed the text from the 2nd one. I was still talking to him on the phone and wanted to make sure he was trying to send it to the correct phone number. The clerk showed us his phone and told me to take a picture and that the packages were both cleared to go, but he still needed the text, but they could send it after we left. I think he was tired of us being there. 

This phone number was not the same as the one on the paper.

These were some hard fought for packages! Certainly what is in them is not worth the hassle that we had to go through. The clerk kept telling us that he was not the bad guy here, that it was UPS and we needed to complain to them. We don't really know how to do that though. He also told us that we need to tell the missionaries that they need to put the name of the Church on the address! (We do that, and we let the families know to do that as well, but sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.)

Wednesday was Kalevala and Finnish Culture Day. The Kalevala is a compilation of epic poetry and it was instrumental in the development of the national identity which in combination with other things eventually led to their independence. This flyer about it was hanging in our elevator. It is a flag holiday, but the offices are still open and there are no special treats associated with this day.

Sister Lehtinen took pictures of the staff in the office so she could post it on the facebook page for family members. Here are some of the pictures that she took.

Our supply room with the Book of Mormon in so many languages!

Sister Saarinen taking care of the transit passes and declaring packages among other things.

Elder Weaver and Elder McArthur, our office elders who take care of all the VR travel on the long distant trains for Zone Conferences, MLC, My Plan, etc.

Elder Shurtz and I and our version of the transfer board showing where missionaries are currently.

On Wednesday night we went to the temple with the missionaries who were here for My Plan, 6 weeks before going home, but we didn't get a picture.

Thursday night, Sister Lehtinen invited us to come to the mission home to help them eat leftovers from My Plan and to watch a train show that she has been telling me about. It is always so fun to spend time with them. We enjoyed watching the program which is a British program so it is in English with Finnish subtitles. I would put a link in here, but it is on a Finnish station, so it is not available in the US. The episode that we watched was a train trip from Helsinki to Kemi-jarvi in the winter. It was so fun to watch and to see many of the places that we have seen and many more that we would like to see. 

On our Friday morning walk, we saw a sign that spring is getting closer. These are the bike stands for the rental bikes. They are now put in place, but tipped over. 

In the office, one of our cactuses is blossoming. It must be an Easter Cactus.

The Kites came to the office to sort things to see what things they still needed to purchase for the new apartments that are needed in April. We invited them to have lunch with us, but we forgot to get a picture. It was fun to have extra people join us for lunch.

On Friday night we went to a baptism. 

It was held in the Haaga building, but from the International ward. 

We brought some treats for afterward. I made some oatmeal chocolate chunk cookie bars at the office in the afternoon. I was glad that I brought them. It turned out that Sister Mitchell and I were the only ones who brought anything. They were a hit, everyone seemed to enjoy them.

After the baptism, we drove to the Marjaniemi Elders apartment. There are 4 Elders living there now, but they only had 2 keys, and they lost one of the keys. Elder Shurtz took the spare key over to the shoemaker in Sello and he was able to get a copy made for 27 euros. He got 3 keys made so each missionary would have a key. The missionaries were at a dinner appointment, but we were able to let ourselves in with the keys and they had a little key cabinet where we could leave the keys.

On Saturday morning, we had the mission wide webinar. We try to listen in when we can. As part of it, they had Sister Lehtinen teach us a little bit. She talked to us about Finnish Culture...

and Finnish sayings ...

I liked the one that says, "Eteenpain, sanoi mummo lumessa."

Which is basically, "Forward said the grandma through the piles of snow".

We walked to the store to get our groceries for the week. There are still some icy places, but mostly there are just lots and lots of little rocks all over the walkways. It makes it seem like a dirt path, but it is actually pavement covered with the little rocks that the use to make the ice less slippery.

We went to the secondhand store. 

We were able to find a dutch oven so I can try making some sourdough bread. It would be better if it were just a bit bigger, but I figured it was worth a try since it was only 15 euros and a new one that is the right size is at least 55-60 euros. They are much too heavy to take home, so whatever I get will just stay here in Finland. I'm not even sure just how practical it will be to try to make sourdough bread while we are serving our mission, so I don't want to spend too much on equipment.

This morning, we noticed that it was getting light when we woke up! 

The sun was well up in the sky when we got to church.

There were a lot of people out today, we saw a horse and buggy as we walked back to our car.

We also saw this interesting bike....the kids look like they are having fun!

On the way home from church, we stopped at a Nosto ATM so Elder Shurtz could activate some credit cards. It has to be done at this particular brand of ATM and there used to be one in Galleria, but they are doing some renovations and it is no longer there. This one was very convenient and not far off the road that we take to and from Church. That is the ATM, the smaller yellow to the left of the S-Market door.

I had asked a sister at the baptism if she could share some of her sourdough start with me. She said she would bring it to church, but I forgot to look for her after church, so came home without it. 

I was able to find her number and send her a WhatsApp message. 

She said we could stop by and pick it up, but they were not going to be home, so she left it out for me.

Now I will need to try making the sourdough bread!

Sunrise/sunset times for Sunday 3 March 2024

Espoo Finland 7:13am to 5:54pm for 10 hrs 41 min of daylight

Provo Utah 6:56am to 6:21pm for 11 hrs 25 min of daylight