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A Promised Day Arrived
The Helsinki Finland Temple Dedication, Part 3
Text by Maurine
Jensen Proctor
Photos by Scot Facer Proctor
History in their Hearts
So this glorious temple meant more than the
Finns could say, and though Paivi Haikkola wore her grandmother’s
dress, everyone carried a history of the work in Finland in their
hearts.
Click on Photos to Enlarge
How things have matured. The temple also brought
a meeting with the President of Finland, Mrs. Tarja Halonen, with
Helsinki stake president Ismo Maatta and first Finnish stake president
Kari Haikkola.
It was 15 minutes stretched to 20 because of
the lively and friendly discussion where they brought the greetings
of President Hinckley.
President Halonen mentioned that she was the
first president of Finland to give an audience to our church. “She
is right,” said President Haikkola, “because this is
the first time an audience was given to a Finnish leader of the
Church. However, in the 1950s the president of Finland had met President
David O’Mckay, and President Hinckley had met the Finnish
president during the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The Mountain of the Lord
Finland is a flat country, but the temple is
built on a promontory, situated on a granite outcrop that stands
like a symbol of the temple’s enduring eternal meaning. The
morning of the dedication many nations were literally flowing and
rising to come to this temple.
The Finns have long been a temple-attending
people. At the temple, they were known for their attendance and
faith. “Most are faithful temple goers,” acknowledged
President Haikkola.
When the Finns were in the Swiss temple district,
“we traveled there together as members and stayed the whole
week. It was a wonderful experience for us. The longer the trip,
the more time we had to be together. It was one night to Stockholm
and then two days from there. “Usually we did it once, twice
or three times a year. We tried it by bus, by train and by airplane.
Often we took the family with us, and camped. We have very fond
memories of those times.”
When the Stockholm temple was built, they had
less distance to travel, but no less devotion.
Now, the Finns have their own temple, so beautiful,
that when President Haikkola took the construction workers on a
tour during the open house, “They were caressing the doors
and the panels. They said this was a once in a lifetime opportunity
for them to work on something of this quality. Because construction
on other buildings is so often done quickly, they said, you can
never do your best. On this project, we got to do our best for the
Lord.”
Elder Quentin White, who was the missionary
in charge of construction said, “I’ve had 20 or 30 workers
tell me that it was a privilege to work on this project.”
He said, “The spirit of unity during the construction was
more than I’ve felt anywhere in my life.”
Temples are built without an expiration date.
They are maintained every year so that no aspect of them is allowed
to deteriorate. They are meant to last into the millennium.
The Sun is Up
The cornerstone choir was practicing in Finnish,
“High on a Mountain Top” and “I Believe in Christ”
as the sun began to break, chasing away the mist and painting morning
colors across the sky. It was about then that President Hinckley
had arrived, looking more robust than he has in several months since
his bout with cancer.
When President Hinckley had arrived at the temple
earlier that morning, he greeted the crowd with a smile and a wave,
but he had individual comments for two in the audience—one
was a member of the press and the other was a little boy who had
been standing by his father in a wheel chair and found a spot to
stop just at the entrance of the temple.
President Hinckley stopped for a moment, turned
to nine-year-old Aaron Kaleva who stood by his father, Eero, and
said, “You’re a very fine looking boy.”
It was a comment that resonated more
than he could have known. In the parking lot Aaron had said a prayer
with his family in the car and had asked specifically that the prophet
would speak to him. To him this was the message: the Lord hears
me and the prophet hears the Lord.
Click
here to go to Part 4 of A Promised Day Arrived
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