Thanksgiving 2013 in Turku, Finland

 So, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in America, we Americans held our own "Thanksgiving Dinner" at the church in Turku.  It was a smashing success, and we all over-endulged.

 We had turkey breasts, yams and apple casserole, several kinds of bread (some of which was made by Elder Ream), jello salad (strawberry, with pretzel crust), mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, tossed salad, and a relish plate.

THEN, on the REAL Thanksgiving day, we were invited to the Huhtala family's home for an incredible turkey dinner with all the trimmings!!  Those at the table clockwise from the lower left are:  Sister Aleena Huhtala, Ville Huhtala, Sister Bunting, Martha, Sister Pendleton, an investigator girl, two more Huhtala kids (the girl is Aura), another investigator, Sister Vincent, Glenn, Elder Oberhansley (from Ashton, Idaho), and Elder Batey.

 Deserts included the amazing cake pictured above, and the delicious American style apple pie below.

A great and filling time was had by all!!!  Next best thing to being home.

Halloween cake decorating contest for FHE

 The kids really seemed to have a lot of fun decorating cakes for Halloween.  They know all about Halloween, even though they don't officially celebrate it in Finland.  They do, however, have costume parties around Halloween time.  These are the cakes they made.  Cute and original!  We had huge attendance!  I'm pretty sure we get more kids out to FHE than they do in Helsinki, where they have three wards to draw from!

"Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" goes to Turku!!!

These are Larry and Bonnie Slade.  Bonnie directed the production.  They lived with us for five weeks while the cast practiced.  And Larry played his guitar and sang in the program.  He is holding one of our many advertising posters.

 This picture is from our "Canaan Days" song.... All of Joseph's brothers and his father, reminiscing     about the "good old times".  I had a solo part here..... with a French accent!

 This is sweet Sister Pendleton, one of our best Sister missionaries, with Sister Elisabet Kinnunen, our pianist.  She was amazing.  She made the electronic keyboard do magical things!!

 Some (not all) of our female chorus girls.  They really got into the play, and were much more expressive than our male chorus!!  They were wonderful!

"Joseph" (Pirkka Hyssälä) with the children's chorus.  They were so cute, and Joseph was incredible!

 Sister Bunting, an amazing young missionary, who "cued" the children's chorus with their parts!

 This was our "Pharoah" aka: Elvis.  He was nothing short of magical!  He really got into his role!

 The whole play was set in the scene of a Sunday School classroom.  This is one of the blackboards in the back of the class, which I had decorated.  Tuomas Kiikko decorated the other one.

 There was a part in the play where road signs were held up on sticks, showing the direction and distance to certain locations.  These are the back sides of the four road signs.

These are the front sides of the four road signs.  I drew these, and tried to put some "character" into the pointing hands.  ("H:ki" is an abbreviation of "Helsinki".)

 This is Joseph in the last scene, with his royal garments as well as his coat of many colors.  (Pirkka Hyssälä) .... I can't even imagine a better "Joseph" than what he was!  He was so expressive, and so creative with his own part, and even added great ideas for other parts!  He was nothing short of marvelous, magical, and magnificent!


And below is our incomparable Elvis (Pharoah), Veli-Pekka Huhtala.  Martha constructed his collar and his apron.  He got more applause and laughs than anyone else.

 This is "Jacob" (Jurkka Vuorela), one of our very best friends.... one of the sweetest, kindest, lovingest men I've ever known.  We have so much in common with each other!

 The coat of many colors.  Pretty sweet!  She (Sister Järvenpää) did a great job on it!  We got as many people as possible from both Turku wards involved in the musical.  This included inactive members and nonmembers, too.

 This is our amazing director, Bonnie Slade,  getting psyched up for the first showing of the musical!

 This is our amazing behind the scenes master of all trades:  my own sweet Martha!  She's adding her finishing touches to the place before the show started.  She made almost all of the scenery and lots of the costumes.  Not to mention snacks for the practices and moral support and recruitment of players!

 Some of Martha's decorations and scenery.  She would still be making more decorations, if we hadn't stopped her in order to begin the performances!  She always wanted to add just one more touch!

The other side of the stage... once again, you can see "Gammy's" genes coming through Martha!

 Joseph in the last scene, in his regal outfit as well as his dreamcoat.  Our two narrators on each side.  They were Emmi Hiltunen and Marina Kiviniemi.   Emmi leaves next week on her mission to Lyon, France.  Marina is an inactive member who has been an opera singer.

 Marina Kiviniemi.  A wonderful voice!  And LOTS of personality in her role as narrator!  Fantastic!

 One side of the stage, decorated by (you guessed it:  Martha!)  You can't see the little white lights which adorn the top of the colored tapestries.  But they were a perfect touch when the lights were out.

 Other side of the stage.  The band sat in front of the far right side: drummer, guitar, base, saxophone.

 Another of Martha's magical creations:  The crown bestowed upon Joseph as the Pharoah's #2 !

 Corn props made by me and some of the young single adults.  The "Visa card" was made by Martha.

 Another shot of the corn... which was part of Joseph's dream, which made the brothers angry!

 Joseph's regal attire.  Arm bands, collar, apron.  Made out of "this and that" by our amazing Martha!

 The other blackboard in the Sunday School Class... drawn by Tuomas Kiikko, who will leave in December on his mission to Sweden.  One of our favorite young men.  He and his brother, Aleksi, who is serving in England on a mission, have promised to visit us in America someday.  Their younger brother, Arttu, is a gifted guitarist, who played in our band.  Bonnie Slade is trying to arrange a tour for him in the USA.

More decorations for Joseph's dream.  Sun, moon, and stars constructed by Martha.  I didn't get pictures of them, but Martha, Larry Slade, and Bonnie Slade also constructed twenty beautiful and unique headbands to be worn by the female chorus.   Lots of time, talent, and love!!!

We had hoped to get maybe 50 people in attendance:  family and friends of cast.  But we brought the house down with standing room only both nights.  We originally set up 235 chairs, but had to add another 25 or 30 when the crowds rushed in.  Lots of inactive members and tons of non-member friends and workmates of our ward members!  It was a raging success!!  We will be eternally grateful to Bonnie and Larry Slade for their investment of time, talent, and finances in order to produce such a successful musical!!  Thank you so much!!!  We love you dearly!

Our Recent Baptism: Joseph Okeke from Nigeria

We were happy to be a part of teaching this incredible man of faith!  The Slades (Larry and Bonnie) were also part of the teaching process.  Joseph actually wanted Larry to baptize him, but he had already gone home to Utah.

Lots more excitement in Finland!

 We got a surprise the other day, when a dear old friend showed up to say "Hi".  The above picture i Jussi Kemppainen and myself on the steps to the Turku chapel.  He was in town to pick up his daughter;  so he and his wife, his daughter, and his three grandchildren met us at the church for a quick reunion.  This man and his wife are amazing people... very educated, talented, and friendly.  They have been all over the world and they seem to know everyone who is important in any possible station!


One of the sad parts of a mission is saying goodbye when someone gets transferred or goes home.  Sweet little Sister Cribbs is the one in the red next to Martha.  She was a brand new sister, who is full of energy and enthusiasm.  She sings beautifully and makes friends quickly.  She got transferred to Jyväskylä, where my old friend, Mauri Isokangas lives.  Sister Pendleton is on the end.  She is a wonderful sister missionary who is one of the very first sisters to be called to leadership positions in the mission (like a zone leader, only over the sisters in the zone).  She is also, talented, way smart, and a born leader.  We are privileged to be working with her.  She tries to keep me in line.

Here is another "goodby".  Poor Elder Chase got transferred to Kokkola.... a surprise to all of us.  He really wanted to stay longer in Turku!  He had a tough time leaving.

Juhannus Päivä is the celebratory holiday in Finland marking the longest day of the year!  Traditionally the eat a meal of new potatoes with dill and pickled herring.  A huge bonfire is lit just before midnight and everyone watches is burn as the sun is still shining in the midnight sky!  Often, the bonfire is placed on an artificial floating island like this one.

Here is another shot of the bonfire from a greater distance.  Lots of large and small boats were cruising around enjoying the sight.  And to the left, on the large island is the summer home of the national president.  You can tell he is there, when the flag is flying at the top of the castle.  It was flying when we were there.  So he was there, but you cannot see it well from our pictures.

This was a zoom shot of the presidential summer castle, but you still cannot appreciate the flag flying.  You will have to take my word for it.

Sorry, but some of these pictures are out of order.  These lovely young ladies have all been called to the exact same mission!  Lyon, France.  Two of them even go to the MTC on the same day.  The third one follows them in one month.  But they will all be in Provo together, and maybe even be companions later in France!!  Two of them (on the right) are from here in Turku.  They are Oona Metsätähti and Emmi Hiltunen.  Their best friend is the girl on the left from Helsinki or Espoo.  (Iida?)

Now, out of order, this is a picture of the full moon over a blue sky lit by the midnight sun!  What a sight it was in person.  The picture does not do it justice.

This is cute Meri Laineenkare.  She has received her call to Southern England for her mission.  She has been a trustworthy helper to Martha whenever we have big projects to get done.  We love her and her family very much.

This is one of the decorations that were hanging from the ceiling at the formal dance held on the second night of the YSA conference.

This is more what the decorations looked like at the dance (in a darkened room with music playing).  They were really quite stunning and romantic!  Martha is amazing when it comes to decorations!

There are many more pictures that we want to include, but they will have to wait.  Suffice it to say that we are still loving every minute of our mission, and are working well together as a team.... each with our own talents to add to the mixture.  I love Martha more all the time, and am amazed at her energy... and my LACK of energy!

We are looking forward to "FestiNord" next week in Sweden (a huge YSA conference held every summer, and includes Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland), and also to Tyler's visit in August!  We'll post pictures!