Week 7 in the MTC

So Friday I was feeling so ridiculously miserable that I stayed in bed. I then went to the doctor's because I was miserable. He was very nice and we chit-chatted and he thinks that I have reactive bronchiole disease or something like that on top of my virus. He let me suck oxygen with medicine in it to open up my airways and then he gave me a narcotic cough suppressant (yes my cough is that bad...they actually made me wear a mask in the doctor's office and they also took me in right away) and an Advair inhaler to help open up my breathing since I was wheezing when he listened to my lungs. I slept some more and then got to wait while Sister Huntington visited the doctor because she has the virus too. I finished a puzzle while there and met some very interesting people.
On Saturday I made it to class. I was falling asleep though so Sister Priddis took all of us (I wasn't the only one falling asleep, just the only one drugged) outside and we played I Spy. I spied an Elder with a Mexican sombrero. I'm not quite sure why he had it. Saturday night was an adventure. Poor Elder Burr had rebelling intestines....let's just say he went to the front office and got some medicine, yet still wasn't well enough to stay. I sent him home to bed. He's doing better now.
Sunday was ridiculously dramatic. The Armenian sisters in our zone have been having some issues with each other, mostly about one companionship being disobedient. Long story short the Branch president got involved and people were offended and PMSing. It has all blown over now though, but I sure thought that WWIII was about to erupt. I am so grateful that I do not have a companion here and that I have a district that may be small, but is extremely awesome. We all get along really well and everyone is just improving in all aspects in our district.
Oh yes! Another Sunday adventure.... After the Sunday devotional by Brother Swenson we stayed to watch the Joseph Smith movie. Suddenly all the elders in my zone were whispering and pointing. They were pointing at a sister who they nicknamed "Isabel the Harlot." So Isabel is a solo sister. She was sitting between her two elders (not normal) and was leaning into the not hideous one during the whole entire movie, flipping her hair and whispering sweet nothings into his ear as well as almost resting her rosy cheek upon his bone-y shoulder. All those behind this site were quite disturbed as was I. Isabel was getting more action that I have gotten on some second and third dates! Needless to say I grabbed her after the movie just to let her know that it was quite sketch looking from the back. She exploded in a whirlwind of hatred. She informed everyone in her defiant angry voice that she has a fainting problem and that she has given herself two black eyes and a concussion. She further informed me that she could have my branch president talk to her branch president who has talked to the MTC president and blah blah blah blah blah. I still don't know what that has to do with her whispering sweet nothings to an elder, but whatever. All the elders in my zone think I'm the bomb for calling her out. Yeah, eventful Sunday!
On Monday we practiced street contacting with Brother Newman. He is so intimidating! It was good to get some practice in though.
On Tuesday we taught Brother Vehawn, the Lithuanian teacher about the law of chastity. This went over really well. Our district is really starting to teach like a team and be more loose about things. Elder Duncan of the Seventy spoke to us about building bridges for our investigator to cross. We really need to know the people that we are dealing with and cater to their needs. We need to listen to others.
Yesterday, Ground Hog Day was lots of fun in class. We had two Baltic bound sisters learning Russian come and ask our teacher questions about the Baltics. We got to see pictures of concentration camps and old fortresses. Brother Newman also told us about the Russian influence there. You can find foods like borsch and the Russian Mafia is still alive and well in Latvia. He is convinced that they have a center right below the church in Riga. He said it looks like a clothing shop but that the clothes on the displays never changed in the two years he was in Latvia and that you always see men go out of limos and come back with bags from this shop. Sounds exciting!
I taught in the TRC by myself yesterday. It went so well. Most of the time we spent talking about the importance of baptism (which was only supposed to last 10 minutes, not 30-40). This means that a lot of it was impromptu and not prepared. Amelia, one of the sisters I teach said that she could really feel the spirit when I was trying to tell her how important it was for her to be baptized again (she is a pretend Lutheran investigator), that it gave her shivers.
I still have my cold. I'm up and about moving more though. I didn't take a nap yesterday during gym, so that was good. I have another appointment with the doctor on Friday. We're all praying that my cold will go away soon so I can use all my energy preparing to go to Latvia.

Lots of Love,
Sister Lindstrom

The language is going well. Latvian is actually Sanskrit based....Latvia has tons of amber and so there was a trade trail from there to India and then mix in the several hundred years of German rule and you have the language!