Suomi (read on to find out what that means!)

Ok, so I hesitate to even post these pictures, as I still have a certain friend who is convinced that all I do is galavant around Europe and goof off. So, when I told her that I was going to Finland for a week of meetings, she didn't really buy the whole "but we'll be in meetings all day! It's not really a vacation" thing. And, she was right. It pretty much was a vacation. We were in a little town three hours north of Helsinki and I can't even describe how beautiful it was. It was a refreshing and encouraging week and here are some of the highlights:
-worshiping in english with some amazingly gifted musicians from a church in Tennessee
-getting to talk with lots of different people about the work they're doing throughout this region and be encouraged by the work the Lord is doing throughout this area
-having an impromptu country music concert; his name is Paul Bogart and you should search him on itunes and buy his music! He's great!
-the campground we stayed on was on a peninsula, so we were surrounded by water; I got to jump off the dock and swim one afternoon and it was wonderful to be in the water once again. Ahhhhhh
-trying out a Finnish sauna (for only about 5 minutes and we all went American style. If you know anything about Finnish saunas, you understand what I mean)
-meeting some new friends who are serving in Poland
-enjoying Finnish black licorice (it's apparently a specialty there and we ate lots of it!)
-daylight 24 hours a day! No kidding! It's the strangest feeling. One night, we were getting ready for bed at about 1 am (4 of us girls slept in a loft in a cute, little cabin) and this is a true conversation:
Amber: Jess, is there a light on downstairs
Me:no, that's the sunlight
Amber: where in the world are we?!?!
-canoeing all around the lake
-getting make-overs and pedicures from a Finnish lady working on her beauty school portfolio
-paying $200 for a Finland t-shirt (it says "Suomi", which means Finland in Finnish); it's a long story, but I'll just say that the money goes to funding people to head overseas and do what we're doing here, so it's well worth it, right?!?!

So, in a nutshell, those are the Finland highlights. It really was an amazing, blessed week that I'm so grateful for. And, I have to be honest, it was really strange to think that it was the last meeting of its type that I'll be at. My time here is drawing to a close and it's becoming more and more real. And more and more strange! As I've said before, these are memories I will cherish for a lifetime and blessings that have shown me more of who God is that are precious. Enjoy some photos (again, thanks to Amber for sharing her pix!) although photos just cannot do the beauty of this country justice.