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.