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Carole Mikita ReportingPresident Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the 124th LDS temple today in Finland. It was a remarkable gathering of Eastern Europeans in Helsinki.
After days of rain and very cold temperatures, the skies cleared Sunday, as many predicted they would. Thousands of Latter-day Saints from six Eastern European countries gathered for the dedication of the new temple. Many waited to see President Hinckley seal the cornerstone.
The seven-year-old boy who put mortar in the cornerstone says he came disappointed not to be old enough to go into the temple. But standing next to President Hinckley was even better.
Jiri Wrangell/Mikkeli, Finland: "It felt wonderful and it was nice to stand next to him because otherwise I couldn't see him very well."
Hundreds and hundreds of Latter-day Saints from Russia came here for their own dedicatory service.
The Finns experienced an amazing event at their Open House.
Jussi Kemppainen/Helsinki, Finland: "Such love, never before seen in our time. We expected 20-thousand people. We had 56-thousand come here. That's more than one percent of all the Finns. That was a miracle."
Many waited afterward just to be able to say farewell to President Hinckley. He's on his way back to Salt Lake City.
Many Latter-day Saints who traveled long distances for the dedication will stay in Helsinki for days or even a week, to do what they call ordinances for their ancestors, here in their new temple.
