Going to the temple, like going "home" our Helsinki Finland trip

Have you ever tried so hard to get to the temple? Maybe you had to rearrange your schedule, ask a friend to help you with your kids while you were away, or leave a newborn or maybe you renewed your recommend or traveled a long distance to get there...then after all that effort you put into it something goes wrong, you forget your recommend, you didn't make the session where you were planning to meet someone or something else happens that keeps you from actually doing the sacred work you have set out to do...Has that ever happened to you?

It is in those sad moments that God whispers to you that His house is not just for performing vicarious work to save souls of those who have passed on, it's also made to save us, the living.  Yes, sometimes just standing inside that holy place even when all has fallen apart can heal you, can make you feel whole, can fill a void, and comfort an aching heart...That is why going to the Helsinki Temple was for me like going home, even though all my planning and and wishing and longing for the perfect temple experience didn't work out as I had planned.



At the end of July I realized that my temple recommend would shortly expire so I set up an interview to get it renewed before leaving for our trip.  I knew that Russia had no temples, but I hoped with all my heart to be able to make a pilgrimage to Helsinki to attend the recently erected temple there. I later found out that my sister Ali had the opportunity to visit Helsinki during the time we would stay there.  We planned to meet in Helsinki, attend the temple together and then return with her to Saint Petersburg for a short visit here.

Derek Lovingly offered to stay behind with the kids so that Chrissy and I could be more free to make the journey.  I invited my David (my 10-year old) to join us as he is always up for an adventure.  After staying the night in Vyborg we took the train into Helsinki where Ali was miraculously befriended by a stake President and his wife who brought her to the temple to meet us.  Because Ali had been traveling for many hours without rest we decided to let her sleep as long as possible the next day. We were so excited to be in the temple together as sisters and Ali had brought some family names which we would be doing the work for. Everything was just perfect!


When we first caught a glimpse of the temple, I literally felt like I was home.  It's funny how each temple across the globe is so very distinct in its architecture and even landscape reflecting the beauty of the land upon which it is built, and yet each temple feels like your temple when you see it with Moroni atop, with its declaration of :Holiness to the Lord and you feel its warm invitation to enter in and feel of its spirit.  As we entered in that holy house we handed our recommends to the brother at the desk.  He looked up at us kindly and tried to explain that on Saturdays the Helsinki Temple closes early and the last session had just begun.
                                  
I was beyond shocked!  I had been planning this trip for weeks, had taken 3 trains and a bus to get to this place and here I was on the other side of the planet with my dear sisters and there was no possibility of doing temple work! 
                                          
Then before leaving we asked the brother if he would allow us to walk around the temple and feel the spirit of that magnificent building.  He agreed.  What a lovely experience it was!  Just being in that Holy place brought indescribable joy.  We prayed there, we read the scriptures there and we submitted names to the prayer roll. On that glorious day I knew that God has seen my desire to serve in His house.  He knew of my planning and my longing and He helped me to know that at that moment, it was enough.  By the time we return to the states I won't have been able to attend the temple for many months, but instead of feeling like a failure (which I am so good at), I felt peace, I felt joy, and even though I was as far from home as I had ever been, I felt like I was home:)

The rest of the trip was awesome.

 As a consolation for enduring hours of shopping with 3 women, David was able to buy himself a Spidey costume which was a huge hit with all the local children and their mothers:).
                                               
















                                                         
We were blessed to be able to meet a dear friend Marrtaa whom I had known as a missionary who had moved to Finland.  After 15+ years since our last meeting she was just as I had remembered her!

Vyborg, Land that I love!

 

I am really behind in posting!  I am posting about a special trip we took in 3 segments for the 3 separate cities we visited.  The first leg of the trip was to an amazing city with a fascinating history It was formerly part of Finland and is now a part of Russia very near the boarder of Finland.

 Vyborg is very special to me because I spent 3 glorious months there as a missionary.  Sadly, my phone was the only camera I had on that trip and my phone was lost so I only have a few photos from my dear friends the Shefers: Tanya and Vladimir.
                                  
                                    

They invited us to stay in their home and Tanya made us the most heavenly plov, charlotka, salad and chocolate cake, what a major treat!!!

 

Sightseeing was a definite highlight.... 

  

                               


                                  

.... but by far the very best part of all was gathering in the evening with people I love with all my heart.

Vladimir had called several people whom I loved and those who were able to come gathered at the church.  We began with a prayer and hymn and then Brother Shefer asked me to speak about what I had been doing for the last 15 years.  I didn't expect anything so formal and I was scrambling to say something that could possibly be meaningful to these beautiful people and do it all in Russian...then miraculously I began to speak and thoughts and ideas filled my mind.  I was able to testify to them of how much God loves them and I truly felt His love for them so strongly I was totally overcome with love!

Our first weeks in Russia: Excitement, Tears and Conquering Fears

 

We have been in this amazing place for over one month now.  Its beauty is beyond my ability to describe.  Its history is so very rich.  Its people have struggled through so many hardships and have been deeply refined by them.  It is truly out of hardship that beauty is born.  I keep reminding myself of this truth remembering that 70 years of communistic rule, suppression of faith and many hardships made these amazing people who they are today.  If that's the case then doing something REALLY hard should produce similar results with my own family right?  Only I certainly don't have 70 years but closer to 70 days here.  One reason it has been hard to post is that I know that I need to be real about what we are experiencing and being real means telling about all the hardships, frustrations and difficulties associated with being taken completely away from ones comfort zone.  I can't wait to share the beauty that has been born from these hardships, but to fully appreciate what is to come for now I will share what has been hard.  Most of this list is comprised of things which I knew would happen and that I actually wanted my family to be able to experience for their own growth, I secretly love the hardship knowing that it can only bring growth .  Some of the things on the list however took me by surprise and have been for my own painful growth.  Here is our hilarious list of mishaps:

*traveling internationally with 27 bags (each child even the babies had to carry 2 carry-on bags through about 10 different airports)

*Jet lag!  Being asleep when you want to be awake and not being able to sleep at night

 *Arriving at 2:00 a.m. and needing to get off the plane with a sleeping princess in your arms, get 27 bags loaded into 2 taxis and get to our 2 rooms in an expensive hotel where we would need to check out in a matter of hours. 

*losing Adam's backpack that contained his personal treasures as well as an electronic device belonging to BYU-Idaho and his glasses.

*Owing our landlady about 6,000.00 and not being able to get Western Union to work in order to pay the landlady.

*Walking around the city for hours trying to find a way to pull out money from a foreign bank.

*Resorting to pulling out money from an ATM that will only give about $400.00 per day.

*Having to explain to a very annoyed agent waiting at our house for all those hours that we would not be able to pay the amount for several days.

*Realizing that in order to give Aunt Chrissy her own space we would need 4 kids to sleep in the same room and one child to sleep on the living room couch, (I actually did this plenty of times as a child in our tiny house growing up!).

*Getting yelled at by all sorts of people in public (we always see if we can go a whole day without being scolded by a grandma working at the subway station).

*Having strangers tell you that you need to teach your children more properly :(

*Being the only one to understand the landlady, the infuriated downstairs neighbor who can't stand our noise, and all the other people who share their strong opinions with us about how to control our children better.

*Having your credit card not work at the grocery store, or anywhere really and then having it sucked up by the ATM and not being able to get it back for many days.

*walking everywhere (I absolutely love this...only the kids aren't too keen on it:)

*Having brown water come out of the tap for the tub and wondering if it's going to make your children cleaner or dirtier to bathe them in it.

*Homeschooling 5 extremely active children (I don't think I need to elaborate on this:)

*Losing my phone

*Being completely different, standing out thoroughly and completely.

*Seeing your kids try to communicate and fail.

*Taking 2 hours to get to and find church (I LOVED this, so great right?  What a reason to rejoice that you can gather with saints after such a large effort!..the kids didn't agree and one promised he would never return to church after all the trouble, his heart did change though thankfully:)

*Coming from the most amazing Mediterranean weather to almost an entire month with out sun.

*Having your sweetest single sister tell you that she doesn't think she can ever be a mom (I promised her that she wouldn't have 5 babies at once!)

*Missing special events at home.

*Having your kids beg to stay in the apartment instead of going to some amazing sight that other people would dream of seeing.

*looking out the window and seeing a land and people you love and wanting to spend every second out exploring and embracing it but knowing that I came here not for myself but for my family:).

*feeling like you need to tiptoe and whisper every moment so that your neighbors don't yell at you.

*Fighting, teasing and arguing among siblings, finding yourself getting to the end of your rope.

*Being asked to present my Russian research to the entire Saint Petersburg Mission (Jr. and senior missionaries) and feeling super inadequate.

*Seeing your kids missing home, missing friends and missing normal.

*Searching for people I have taught as a missionary to find that they are long long gone from the church (this pain is offset by the joy of finding saints ever faithful and even stronger than before!)

*Spending hours finding a local orphanage and having trouble getting them to believe we sincerely wanted to do service for them.

*Seeing all your greatest weaknesses magnified again and again and feeling like there is no way to escape them.

Stay tuned because as I promised I will share the gems that these hardships have produced, they are priceless:).

Our Italian Adventure!!!

In 2010 Derek and I went to Venice for a conference he was invited to speak at.  Venice is arguably one of the most beautiful cities on the earth.  I was overwhelmed by its beauty, history and antiquity; every step you take there reveals a spectacular treasure.  What I didn’t realize during that trip, is that you haven’t really experienced Italy if you haven’t spent time in an Italian home with real Italians.  The two trips to Italy I experienced were so very different!  So, while Venice will always be an amazing memory for me, the Italy I will dream about visiting again is not Venice, it is one of Italy’s best kept secret beauties; Cagliari, on the Island of Sardinia.  That is the Italy where we left a portion of our hearts!

                                              Here is what we will miss most about Italy:

                                                           T H E   B E A C H E S

Alessandra (our exchange student/big sister) took us to 3 different beaches.  GORGEOUS!  White sand, and the clearest calmest water I had seen at any beach.  The kids had the time of their lives:

                               Swimming

                       

                                 Snorkeling

                                       

                  Building Crazy Sand Castles

                        

  

And hanging out

 

 

 

  

 

As a side note I have to say that this would have been a time when I would have loved to have had a bottle of instant Italian tan handy…but I think I proved to be a nice form of entertainment as I smothered 30-50 sunblock all over myself and the kids walking around in my extremely modest (even for Idaho standards) swim tank and shorts. :)

                                    T H E   B E A C H   H O U S E   B B Q

 Alessandra's Uncle Franco and Aunt Donatella were kind enough to invite our family to a BBQ at their amazing beach house,  They cooked steak and some Italian sausage that was perhaps the best meat I have ever eaten!!!

                         

                                                    A N C I E N T   R U I N S:

                        

                                                                  
                                                       
                                                               T H E   F O O D

                               

I was in heaven each time we sat down for a meal, EVERYTHING was hand mad from scratch by our very own Italian Mom and Grandma, a power-team of culinary wizards!
                           

                                                                G E L A T O !
 Serious goodness. 

          

T H E   S C E N E R Y

          

 

 

                                                     

 

 G O I N G   T O    C H U R C H   

(the gospel is true everywhere!) 

a n d

G E T T I N G   T O   H A N G   O U T   A N D 

 D O   S E R V I C E   W I T H   S O M E   A W E S O M E   M I S S I O N A R I E S 

(hooray for good influences!!)

 

What will we miss the very most?....

F R I E N D S !    O L D   A N D   N E W ! !

 

Here is our Italian Family! Annamaria, Alessandra, Grandma Nina and Elia.  

 

 and Roberta (Alessandra's sister)

  

This is Betty (Alessandra's Aunt) and Claudia (Alessandra's Cousin)

This is Eduardo (Alessandra's boyfriend of 7 years)

 

and Eduardo's parents.

This is not even half of the amazing people we met and fell in love with.  I seriously can not tell you how much we love these people. Love, love, love!!! They are so dear, so generous, so open with their love and kisses and hospitality.  Alessandra's family moved in with their Grandma so that we could sleep in their beds.  They fed us amazing food every day, took us on long journeys and even threw us a party on the last day with all our favorite people.  They really know how to make a person feel amazing!!! Being around such openly loving individuals was just what we needed to fuel us for heading on to a place where it's trickier to find your way into someone's heart.

Thank you Italy for loving us and for being so loveable!  We will never, never forget the  memories we made here! Thank you Carboni's for your loving hospitality!  You are the best!!!  

      

 

*thanks to Alessandra for sharing these gorgeous photos with us!