And then there was one...

Do you remember where you were ten years ago?  

Ten years ago today I was in Vina del Mar, Chile, enjoying breakfast with a handful of other missionaries at the mission home.  Hermana Andersen, our mission president's wife, had made stacks and stacks of pancakes for the pancake eating contest to celebrate our last day in the mission.  (And yes--there was a book where they documented how many pancakes each missionary ate!)  

I had lost my appetite, partly because I was still digesting two Chilean lunches from the previous Sunday (for those who know what Chilean lunches are like--you can fully appreciate what this means!), but mostly because I was living the moment that I had thought about for 18 months: the day I would say goodbye to the people (and places) that I came to LOVE with my whole heart.  How is it that one day turns into 547 days?  

After breakfast, we piled ourselves (and our suitcases) into a mission van and drove to Santiago where we boarded our planes home.  Pres. Andersen, our mission president, had shared some words of counsel the previous evening about the next chapter in our lives.  He encouraged us to draw on the lessons we learned and the experiences we gained as missionaries as we set new goals in three areas of our lives: faith, family, and career.  Throughout our mission, he had taught us the importance of having a vision of what we wanted to accomplish during each phase of our mission experience. and how to set about to realize our vision.  On the plane ride home, I read Rise to Your Call, an address given in October 2002 by Pres. Henry B. Eyring, the same address I had read on the plane ride to Chile 15 months earlier and studied throughout my mission.  

And then one day, in March 2012, I returned to Chile to surprise 'mi hermanita' for her birthday.  As the bus in Ovalle pulled away at the end of that visit, the words of Elder Christopher Waddell came to my mind and heart: 'your mission will become holy ground to you.'  Returning to his remarks again tonight to find the exact quote, I was struck by the preceding paragraph:

Just as with missionaries past and present, the Lord knows you and has a mission experience prepared for you. He knows your mission president and his wonderful wife, who will love you as their own children and who will seek inspiration and direction on your behalf. He knows each of your companions and what you will learn from them. He knows each area in which you will labor, the members you will meet, the people you will teach, and the lives you will impact for eternity.

Through your devoted service and willing sacrifice, your mission will become holy ground to you. You will witness the miracle of conversion as the Spirit works through you to touch the hearts of those you teach.

All I can say to that is 'Amen!'  When I reviewed Pres. Eyring's remarks again tonight, I was struck by this insight:

And when you look back on what may now seem trying times of service and sacrifice, the sacrifice will have become a blessing, and you will know that you have seen the arm of God lifting those you served for Him, and lifting you.

This is true of a full-time mission as it is of any 'mission' that we're called to serve, any goal we strive towards, and duty we fulfill.  We will look back on those times and see how the sacrifices we made have become some of our most treasured blessings.

So...what did the week leading up to this 10 year anniversary have in store?  

Well...

A wonderfully relaxing lunch with Eija, Finland's Martha Stewart.  She prepared...

a vegetable and goat cheese soup.  The presentation was just as lovely as it tasted!!

She redid the upstairs master bedroom (where I stayed when I first moved to Finland in 2011).  Here is how it looked when I called this room home: 

And here's how it looks after the face-lift:

Eija painted the walls and ceiling herself.  For Mother's Day, she asked her sons to give her the gift of their brawn by moving her furniture upstairs.  She's turned this into a life-size version of a doll house.  :)

I love these flowers she picked from the forest (across the street from her house; you can see it in the background).  They're traditional Finnish wildflowers called 'kielo':

They remind me of Kati because they were the flowers she had in her bouquet. 

It's hard to believe that she and Henry celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary last week!!
Boy how time flies.

The cherry and apple blossoms were out in full force this week:

On closer examination of one of the trees in the church square, I saw this key hanging from one of the branches:

This is typical of Finland: if you've lost items like keys, gloves, hats, etc., you'll often find them when you retrace your steps because a passer-by will have found it and placed it on a tree branch, a post, fence, etc.

We celebrated Katie's 11th birthday at Reykhestar--horse stables outside of Jyvaskyla.  Katie loves horses and her birthday wish was to take a few friends to go horseback riding.  Lucky for me, I made the short list.  :)  We piled into Kirsti's car.  Katie taught her friends how to play the 'fruit game' but decided to use animals instead of fruit.  

Once at the stable, we got to saddle our horses, which included 

lengthening the stirrups...

and trying to get Luftor to suck in his belly to tighten the girth strap.  He must take Bikram classes because he drew in the deepest of breaths to expand his rib cage.  :)

Here we are with our horses:

Katie and her horse

Luftor, an Icelandic horse, and me (and the last photo taken of the earring I'm wearing)

We finished the adventure with cake and sweets.  

It was then that I discovered that one of my earrings had gone missing.  The back of the earring was still in its place, but my pearl earring was gone.  I went back to the stables to look for it.  Sadly, though, it wasn't to be found.  I have had those earrings for as long as I can remember.  As I retraced my steps and tried to come to terms with the reality that it wouldn't be found, this thought came to mind: 'And then there was one.'  Then there was just one earring.  Perhaps it was a fair exchange...

...one pearl stud for an Icelandic stud.

(Can you spot the earring?)

If I had to lose the earring, then this was a great day to lose it: celebrating Katie's birthday riding horses in a small village in central Finland.

This was in honor of the one.

On our drive back to town, Kirsti spotted this pink house:

A few minutes later, we spotted...

this pink moped.  I wonder if they share the same owner.

Later that afternoon, we went to three high school graduation parties: Laura Laine, Annu Leppisaari and Johan Fontanet.  Laura and Annu were two of my young women when I was serving as advisor to the youth group.  Here is a picture taken with Annu:

Annu is to my right and beside her are her two sisters: Milla (far left) and Pihla.  It's hard to believe that it was just two years ago that I was attending Pihla's graduation party.  And now Annu's graduated, with Milla's graduation following closely behind.

LOVE these girls!!  Milla, Annu and Eevi were my young women.  And Pihla befriended me when I first arrived to Finland.  There's nothing better than watching them set and achieve their goals!!

I'm reminded time and again that THESE are the experiences that make life so sweet.  

I'll close with some sage advice that Hermana Andersen shared with us missionaries:

Keep a journal.  Write down these experiences so that you'll be able to remember all the little (and big) things that happen.  

Like graduation day and my last day in the mission, our future 'one days' are preceded by today--which is filled with wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) moments/experiences.  We can more fully appreciate that future 'one day'  by looking for and recording in our journals what we're living and experiencing and striving for today.  I can more fully appreciate the significance of that 'one' day 10 years ago because I recorded the experiences of the 500+ days that led up to it.

For those of you who are waiting for that 'one day' to write in your journal, today is a great day for that 

'one day'.