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There truly is something about the
country of Finland that gets into your blood. It’s happened
to Maurine and me. We love this place. We love the people. And we
love the new temple.
The following pictures were all taken
on the day of dedication, Sunday, October 22, 2006, save two shots—the
view of the entire temple and one of the temple nearly completely
obscured in the woods. I had shot those two days earlier.
I have so many beautiful pictures that
I took the day after the dedication I believe I will do another
photo essay on the temple for you in a few days.
I want
you to watch as we arrive in the darkness, then beautiful, golden
light comes for a brief time (just while the Prophet is to come
out for the cornerstone ceremony) and then the rains come. You’ll
be there with us again as you have been in Nauvoo,
Ghana,
Kirtland,
and Europe.
We arrived about two hours
before the first dedicatory session was to start—it was already
hard to find a place to park.
The temple lights shone
through the early morning moisture. The temple is truly a beacon
on a hill.
Everyone has to climb
to get to the Helsinki Temple. It is quite a type.
Here is the view from
the Temple Hostel where patrons can come and stay for a while as
they serve in the temple.
Here some of the early
birds arrive to get in line for the first dedicatory session. The
temple truly calls for people to come and visit.
The beautiful trees provide
a perfect foreground for the new temple on a hill.
The setting for this temple
is spectacular in the city of Espoo, Finland. The temple sits on
7.4 acres in the midst of a birch and coniferous forest.
Because of the busy road
that goes by the temple site, many people will become familiar with
the temple and be drawn to it.
The dome in the rear of
the temple is designed as the high open ceiling of the celestial
room and was a highlight for people touring the temple during the
open house.
So, this is one shot I
took two days before the dedication. I was very curious to know
if this is the temple that sits the most north of any of the temples.
I knew there was only one other real contender—Anchorage,
Alaska. I jumped on my Google Earth and plugged in the address of
the Anchorage Temple. It is 61° 06’ 05.92” North
of the Equator. Well, that’s pretty far north. Could the temple
here in Finland be further north? I plugged in Espoo (the temple
address wouldn’t respond). It came up at 60° 12’
09.22” North of the Equator—they are, oh, so close—but
Anchorage IS further north.
This is the other shot
I took a couple of days before the dedication. This is a unique
temple in looks and in setting. That spire is different than any
other temple we have. Interestingly enough, however, it surely fits
in nicely in Finland as we saw a number of other very old churches
that had similar spires.
Click
here to go to Part 2 of The Helsinki Finland Temple: Diamond of
the North.
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