I've Packed My Bags...I'm Ready to Go...

The Blackhams were able to purchase a new GPS system this morning.....SK and Elder Blackham went to purchase it.  They got lost going to the store!!!!  It is an invaluable tool for finding your way around. 

Ours is up and running as well, which is a good thing.  We will be leaving tomorrow morning for Sweden.  It will take around 8 hours to get there (Stockholm).  If we get away early enough, we may be able to attend a temple session....if not, we will go to two on Saturday morning.  We are excited to see the temple there....but we are excited to be able to drive into a country we have not yet seen much of.  (Does taking the ferry over in 2003 and driving down the coast to the bridge and back to Copenhagen count?)

We will attend church there on Sunday and then board a ferry for the 12-hour ride to Helsinki.  It will go through the night on the Baltic Sea.  We have sleeping quarters....a four-person room....there are only two of us, so that might be an adventure!  I hope the other people in our room are at least nice.  How do you share a room with other people?

Once in Helsinki we will be in a hostel....where we will also share a bathroom and a kitchen I think.  That will be better because it will be another senior missionary couple and we are getting to be experts at sharing our living space with other senior couples!

The Festinord will begin in earnest on Tuesday and last until midnight on Friday.  The closing prayer is said nightly at midnight and then the YSAs (I have it on good authority) will probably stay up another few hours.  They will retire early enough to get 3 or 4 hours sleep before the days classes and activities begin.  I think we will try to get a lot more than that during the nights in Finland.

We will board the ferry on Saturday morning early for the return voyage to Stockholm.  It should be beautiful, unless we are so far from land we can't see any.  The ferry trip we took when we went to the 4th of July festival was delightful.  The huge ferry was clean and comfortable with plenty of places to sit and relax, as well as plenty of places to get a bite to eat.  I imagine the ferry between Stockholm and Helsinki will be nice.

After landing in Stockholm we will make the trip back across Sweden, arriving back at our apartment by 2 or 3 a.m.  SK has always been able to drive long long periods of time, but I think we will have to take all kinds of measures to make sure he is alert! 

On The Sunday after we get back, one of our YSAs will have a few minutes in Fast and Testimony meeting to speak....there will be an open house.....and then he will leave for South Africa shortly after that.

So it is going to be an exciting and busy week and a half.  We are looking forward to being with all the wonderful young adults and seeing all of the fun things that will go on there.

I am not sure if I will be able to post on the blog.  If I can...I will be posting pictures!  If I can't, then you will hear from me again on Sunday August 3.
Happy Pioneer Day one and all!....and we are all  pioneers in one way or another.

p.s.  A great Institute lesson given by Brother Andersen who is a master teacher.  I listened intently to him teach in Danish, and understood a fair amount....but understood also with the spirit.  Wonderful comments from the class.  It is so energizing to be with these wonderful young people.