Week 14 - December 26, 2017

Dear Family,

With Christmas Day just being an ordinary working day here in Russia since they celebrate it in January, we spent the morning with me cleaning house (after being gone so much of the week), and Gpa George going to work to catch up.  Of course, both floors of the office building had no one there (since they are all Mormons and celebrate it on the 25th), Gpa George was the only one there and didn't know where the master switch was to turn the lights on, so he literally worked for 2 1/2 hours in the dark!   When he came home, we had to go with our landlord and re-register at the immigration office since we had a new Visa now.  That took about an hour and a half.  After that our landlord took us to the post office where we spent about half an hour in line to try to get any packages or mail we knew we should be receiving.  Nothing, but at least we found out where the post office is and that was helpful.  Our Christmas dinner consisted of four-cheese rice-a-roni, salad, and sloppy joes in toast.  Yes, it's true!  And we wouldn't have had that, but thank goodness to Kyle for bringing a suitcase of items from America that Kim had packed for us, we wouldn't have had anything, so we were grateful.  With no car to carry groceries in, tiny refrigerator and refrigerator, items that are never the same at the store, it is difficult to have much ahead.  I laughed when the Mission President started out saying everyone should have three weeks' worth of food--now he is saying, just have a week's worth of food.  They found that even trying your best, it just doesn't work that well, but we all try.

Well, enough of that!  Christmas is about the Savior and family!  Our Christmas really started at 7:00 p.m. for us because that's when the telephone calls started coming in!   We LOVED talking to every single one of our children, their spouses, and all of the grandchildren, even Carter on his mission in Scotland, but we just missed Kade calling from Ecuador.  It was 2:50 in the morning for us when he called his parents.  I was hoping I would hear the ding when Kevin let us know.  We must have truly been tired!  We slept right through it!  Anyway, our hearts our brimming with LOVE for all the Savior has done for us.   Serving the Lord has always been a priority in our lives--we've just never had to be this far away from family.  But everywhere we go and meet all the senior couples, our hearts are touched by their dedication to the Lord.  Having the support of family just means everything! 

 Elder Copeland in Scotland/Ireland Mission

Elder Copeland in Ecuador Quito Mission

As you all probably already realize, we went on our Visa trip this past week.  The government requires a new Visa every 90 days, so that means you must go out of the country and return with a new Visa.  The younger missionaries go out and return the same day.  For us "oldies," they allow us to stay out for a few days if we will pay for the hotel and all our other expenses, which we all are happy to do.  We chose to go to Helsinki because there is a temple there.  We have decided we would like to go to a different temple each 90 days.  That would be so great!  I posted quite a few pics on Instagram and will post more on my blog, but like I said there, we LOVED visiting Helsinki!  It was such a beautiful time of year there with its Christmas villages and beautifully decorated streets and buildings.  

 Riding in from the airport on the train.  So comfy!!!

 Train Station in Helsinki

View out our hotel window.

This is what it looked like outside most of the time--sunrise about 9:30 a.m, and sunset about 3:15 p.m. each day.  Unbelievable!  

Our hotel was right next to this beautiful mall.

 Christmas village in the square right in front of the Helsinki Cathedral.

 George "sprinted" up all these stairs to get to the top just like Rocky did in Philadelphia!  

Across the street on the other side of the Cathedral is the National Library.  It is absolutely exquisite inside!

 I don't know of anyone who wouldn't want to study in these beautiful surroundings!

 The old marketplace has all kinds of little shops--and it's all indoors!  We went in to look around and get warm!

 Nothing better than good hot chocolate!  Although it wasn't very hot--it was still delicious along with strawberry cheesecake.

 George was amazed by this fish in one of the store windows--one like we had never seen before!

 Waiting for the city tour bus.

 This festive horse-drawn wagon was delivering the kegs to the little restaurant there.

 Presidential Palace where they, also, have a changing of the guard.  We missed this one.

 Some very expensive homes a little further out of the city.

 The tour bus stopped at the Temppeliaukio Lutherna Church, 

 which literally was built right into the rocks.  The ceiling is made of tons of wire wrapped round and round.  We had already seen it a few years ago, but it is very unique.

 The thing that was sort of upsetting was that when we got in, they charged us and said it wasn't part of the tour, then told us we could not use their restrooms.  It didn't make for very good public relations!

 The Finnish people love their furs!

 Later on, we saw these furs in the airport.  They are reindeer hides, and that really made us feel sad!

Sibelius Monument is a very controversial pieces of artwork in Finland. It was designed in tribute to Jean Sibelius, a famous Finnish Composer, and is located in the park in Helsinki that also bears his name.

The artwork was revealed to the local community in 1967, and almost immediately started a debate. The issue was that this piece was the first public abstract monument ever built in the whole country.  It is made up of 600 pipes that are fashioned in wave like sound patterns. 

In addition, we loved visiting Medieval Porvoo, about an hour's bus ride out of Helsinki.  This is one of my favorite little cities to visit.  We had visited it on our cruise about four years ago, but that was summertime, so it was fun to see it in a different season.  

 Crossing the bridge coming into Porvoo.

 George always loves to meet new friends!  Here are some Helsinki friends!

 This little Medieval town was first mentioned in text in the 14th Century.

The museum had so many fascinating items.

 I loved how they pulled the babies along in the sleigh.

 That is quite the Christening dress!

 Interesting how the predecessors of our piano had the opposite color on the keys--white and black instead of black and white.

 An inkwell that could hold lots of quills.

 One could really rock in this kind of rocking chair.

I noted the differences between Russia and Finland:  Finland uses the Euro, so everything is much more expensive.  Words are long in Finnish, but they use the same alphabet, so at least we could attempt to sound them out.  

Almost everyone we met wherever we were in Finland spoke English, whereas very few speak English in Russia.  The trains were so comfy, even with compartments, but again the price was monumental!  One ride is over $6.00 compared to packed, very uncomfortable Russian Metros, but they only cost 60 cents a ride!  There are many more street trolleys and bicycles in Finland, of which we see very few in Moscow. 

The garage where they keep all the street cars.  It reminded me of Thomas the Train that some of the grand kids loved to play with.

The best part of Finland was visiting the Helsinki Temple.  With Scandinavian ancestors on my side of the family, we were able to do family history work there for many of them while we were there on two different days.  The people in the temple just couldn't have been nicer and kept working so hard to make sure we could do initiatories, endowments, and sealings---even doing special sessions just for us to get it all done!  Such a wonderful experience!  We flew home from Helsinki on Friday night and got to our apartment about 1:00 a.m.  

On Saturday, we got up a little late, and I started fixing lasagna for the ward party which would be starting at 4:00--meaning we needed to leave no later than 3:15--already getting dark at that time.  How to pack and carry it and still have it semi-warm while we waited for about 20 minutes for the first bus to come--cramming in with all the people and literally getting hit by the door as the bus driver just slammed the doors so no more people could on.  I was the last one on and George was ahead with the lasagna.  How he kept it from flying, I will never know!  Then we got to the next stop--about 10 minutes of waiting there.  Took that bus, got off, walked about a half mile through cold and snow, and finally arrived at the party!  I don't know whether it was still warm or not because our church doesn't have an oven, but the women's eyes really lit up when they saw that lasagna!  Everything they have is like cold meats, cheeses, fruits, and veggies, so they were so happy to see something even semi-hot.  It must have been good because when George and I got to the tables of food, it was entirely gone!  It is so funny how they do dinners here--no chairs at all.  Just set up tables and everyone walks around them and just stands there eating, continuing walking and eating whatever they want.  Amazing!  But for Christmas, they had decorated the tables a little, so it looked very nice.  They started with singing Christmas carols--Gpa and I always sing out in our English, while everyone else sings in Russia.  It's okay.  They all know it and don't seem to mind!  Then we had a talent show--fantastic!  Our bishop who can see no further than about six feet in front of him because of very bad eyesight, who is, also, the most color-blind person I know and only sees everything in black and white, is one of the kindest and most talented bishops I know.  He played the piano and sang--just gave you goosebumps--so fantastic.  He, also leads the ward choir, of course.  The children sang and some did dance numbers.  We really did enjoy ourselves.  

 Father Frost handing out Christmas gifts to everyone.  He is the Russian Santa.

We are starting to make more friends at our ward all the time--it has taken some real doing.  Gpa goes around on Sunday  morning and shakes hands with everyone of them and tries to communicate.  They all smile and LOVE him, I know.

Sunday, of course, we went to our ward to church.  I had made cookies and brownies for the Elders and Sisters to have while they talked to their families.  It is so far to our apartment, they were just calling from the church, but I wanted them to know how much we LOVED them.  Our two favorite Elders gave us some Christmas presents--so sweet.  They gave Gpa George a Russian cowboy hat--I will post a picture, and me some lotion and shampoo that were free in a motel--along with a few pieces of candy.  It was definitely the thought!  I LOVE how hard these young missionaries work and have seen a new light on what missionaries do all over the world!  They are certainly to be commended.

Well, long enough.  Sorry!  Just been an English teacher for too long!  We send our LOVE to all of you, and thanks again for all your kind greetings, LOVE, and encouragement.  You are all so great!

Love,

Gma Laura (and Gpa George)