Trip to the Embassy & more

Wednesday afternoon, September 24, 2008

Yes...ready for it or not, I now have a blog. I'm thrilled that a few of you have already visited me there and left a note! Sunday was a "jet-laggy" day. A precious morning meeting that was very international, dinner afterward at the mtg home, and then a nap that was awfully hard to wake up from. Later, a Gospel meeting. I found myself falling asleep every time I joined in trying to sing in Swedish. Incidentally, Laura speaks Swedish very well. More than one told me this after meeting.
Monday morning, Laura and I left early on the city train and subways and then the city bus to the Russian Embassy. A chilly wind was blowing as we waited about 35 minutes for it to open at 9:00. Most of the line was behind us. After a few minutes, a nice man offered me his jacket. Smile. There are advantages to looking like a chilly old lady. Ha. Applying was no problem. They don't look nearly so grim here as they do in Latvia. Now I go back next Tuesday to pick it up.
Afterward, we met Stephanie, had lunch, and shopped awhile. I got a new pair of shoes. I soon realized that the only pair I brought were NOT going to work for serious walking. Sigh.
Tuesday, Laura drove us to the Ferry to cross to the Aland (OH-land) Islands, which takes a few hours. That was delightful. The sun shone and the island is beautiful. Wonderful to see where Laura went to school last year; where they stayed in Mariehamn, etc. We'll go back there for Gospel meeting this evening. Have you ever read of the man buried outside the churchyard? I
wanted to see that place, so we stopped by. This man was professing, and it must have been that the churchyard was the only burial ground...and they wouldn't bury him there because he wasn't part of the church. So, he was buried outside the wall. In time, because of the negative publicity, the church took away that part of the wall, but you can see distinctly the division. Others are buried in that little outcast group, too.
We came on to the home of our friends in the country here. It is such a lovely, peaceful place. We have beds in a little cabin not far from the house. The house, Melanie tells me, is very old. She says that Russian soldiers slept on that shelf behind the stove during the occupation. They have done some remodeling and it is very comfortable. Melanie is from Pennsylvania, has lived in Laramie, Wyo and in Denver...met and married Gunnar R*** from here! Quite amazing to find
someone here, so far away, who knows many people and places that we know. She has been to Antioch, among other things. They have a little girl, Ingrid, who is about 18 months old.
Trees are just beginning to turn here, to beautiful golds and bright reds. These Islands are in Eastern European Time, which is 8 hours later than Kearney. They belong to Finland but are self-governed, and everything is really in Swedish. I was surprised to find there are way over 1000 islands, 65 inhabited, the total population around 26,000. The only town is Mariehamn, which is the seat of government. Mostly the islands are connected by bridges or embankments and you hardly know when you cross from one to another.
This is long...I likely won't bore you with so much other times, but a lot has happened in these few days!