Helsinki, Finland. Saturday, 12 May, 2007.
- It was a shirtsleeves spring day like a Louis Armstrong song, 15 glorious degrees Celsius (59F). The birch trees are coming into leaf and shimmer greengold in the wind. As I climbed the hill to the temple, I looked up to Moroni rising into sky so blue it made my heart expand. What a way to go in.
- The temple is small and in the next ward boundary over, so I know all the workers. They greet me by name, ask about the family, tease me about having forgotten socks a few times. It really is like a second home.
- It was our ward temple day, and some members wanted to do baptisms for names they’ve submitted. So we booked the font for the morning. It was also Baltic week, so there were some Latvians, Lithuanians, plus a couple from Moscow who want to do some baptisms as well. There’s this wonderful spirit of patience and love as it all gets worked out. Languages are flying around, and everyone is smiling.
- To reiterate what Kevin Barney posted about the other day: here are these senior missionaries, mostly from the American west, some of them speaking Finnish they learned fifty years ago, picking up conversational Russian, communicating with smiles and outstretched hands, managing this Babel-in-reverse with adventurous and generous hearts.
- Sister N. is 80 years old and in our ward. She is always smiling and gives these great twenty-word prayers in sacrament meeting. She was submitting four names. She sat in the corner of the baptistry, and when her names came up, a matron escorted her to the railing so she could see the baptisms performed. I couldn’t look at her or I was going to cry.
- Two young women from Latvia did quite a few names which they brought with them. They were willing to do more and did a good stack of Finnish names. Afterward, they came up and asked to see some names and details of the people for whom they did the ordinances so they could put them in their journals. They were also enthusiastic about having done it in English, and wanted to write down some of the words and phrases we used: ‘font,’ ‘confirm,’ ‘for and in behalf of,’ receive the Holy Ghost.’
- On ward temple day we have a simple lunch together at the residence hall, a bright yellow building at the bottom of the hill. We were expecting 26 and only 15 came, which allowed us to invite the Russian couple and the Latvians to join us. We sat together at a table, sharing food, trying to talk while all the little kids played together. The Latvian girls sang a couple of hymns for us. All smiles.
- It’s not always great; there are tough times and negotiations. And there are days like this when being a member of the Church feels the way it’s supposed to feel.
May 13, 2007 at 6:50 am
Last week my wife and I went to the Palmyra Temple to participate in her sister’s sealing to her husband and children. We hadn’t been to the Palmyra temple before. It was a most beautiful experience.
May 13, 2007 at 7:04 am
Thank you for this lovely vignette of your morning at the temple.
May 13, 2007 at 8:10 am
No doubt all ruined by an evening watching Eurovision, eh Norbert?!
Nice images. I love temple residence halls.
May 13, 2007 at 8:27 am
Ack! Yes, I burned the spirituality away on an afternoon of ice hockey and a night of Eurovision. (Ronan: did you see the British entry? Hang your head in shame.)
May 13, 2007 at 9:12 am
You can get peaceful feelings from outside a temple too. There is now a small, beautiful temple in my hometown of Snowflake, Arizona. It sits on a hill that was two miles west of town when I was a boy. Its presence has been an enormous boost to the self confidence of the Latter-day Saints in Snowflake and the surrounding towns. My wife and I visit the site when we go back to Snowflake. As I say, it’s a peaceful place to be.
May 13, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Norbert – Thanks for your beautiful description of your day at the temple. My wife and I work the Thursday night shift, two times a month, at the Washington DC temple. Unfortunately Thursday nights are often slow and sometimes we even have to cancel a session (we have a session if even one person shows up.) Since the construction of temples in Raliegh, NC, Columbus, Boston, New York City, Palmyra and elsewhere, our temple district has shrunk in size and numbers. Sometimes there will be a ward or stake come on Thursday and the sessions are much bigger.
But despite the relatively sparce crowd, the work continues and the associations are similary enjoyable. I find it hard to believe that I am nowing saying this but my favorite time is in the initiatory. Whether an outside patron comes with their own names or an ordinance worker acts as the patron, the blessings given there always remind me of the great love the Lord has for us and what waits for us in the next life. In our sealing sessions (again the patrons are typically just the ordinance workers) our pleasant natured sealer always tells a bit about those we are doing work for and suggests that we smile at each other, just as those on the other side are undoubtedly doing,as spouses are being sealed together and as children are being sealed to parents. Whether it is a sunny Saturday morning (my favorite time) as you have described, or a regular Thursday evening, the temple brings out the best in us all.
May 13, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Thank you Norbert. Beautiful post.
Lamonte,
You probably know my aunt and uncle who are temple missionaries in the DC temple, Nancy & George Nelson (Don’s sister is Nancy). Oh, and my wife works in the temple and has come to love the initiatory as her favorite part of the temple experience.
May 13, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Just what I need after a hectic morning…
May 13, 2007 at 10:05 pm
For three years in college, I had a roommate from Lithuania and if there was a Lithuanian that came to UT I met her/him. I learned important words like milk, cheese, sour cream and then the phrase Run for the hills! All this to say, I’m always so pleased to hear those saints banding to together and getting to the temple.
May 13, 2007 at 10:31 pm
For all of you in ethnically and racially homogeneous areas, let me add that seeing someone of a different race represent the Lord is, I believe, the most powerful message of racial unity and acceptance imaginable. I had that experience Saturday in Columbus (OH), and it reinforced the feeling I had so many years ago in Atlanta the first time I witnessed it.
May 13, 2007 at 11:19 pm
I would love to visit this temple in Finland. My husband’s grandma is Finnish and from a little fishing town up north. She has passed away now, but we have records of her leaving her town and going to the big city (Helsinki) to find work as a maid. Fascinating stuff and our family has longed to see “the old homeland.”
We are moving in a couple of months and will have to fly through Europe a couple times a year to get home. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to do the Finland detour and enjoy the lovely people and beautiful blue skies!
May 14, 2007 at 11:52 am
I’m convinced God loves ice hockey. That’s why Canada is the true promised land.
May 16, 2007 at 5:36 am
This has been a great post. I do nto wish to threadjack but I wanted to ask all of you for advice. I live in the states and am going to Madrid as part of my MBA program next week and i want to catchn a sessin at the Madrid temple. I know they rentclothing there but how do I find out if they offer english sessions, when they offer them or if I would need headphones or soemthing similar. This will be my first international temple experience, so any input wold be appreciated. Feel free to respond here on to my email at kaneabal at gmail dot com