Week 12

9 May 2011

Well, it has been quite the wild week.

On Monday morning we woke up and had another soccer adventure with our super district. We invited Martins, our baptismal date to play as well. It wasn't quite as fun as last time because it was so cold. This week has been freezing- the heat is off and my thermals were back on. Happily today (the 9th it is nice and toasty again). Sister Sutterfield is pretty hilarious playing soccer. She kicked I think every single person accidentally. And hard. We all have bruises to show for it. I made four batches of pancakes which is enough to feed 2 sisters and 5 elders. I also tried my hand at some homemade buttermilk syrup, which is delicious (Markus, you should try it. Just make the vanilla syrup recipe from Aunt Marianne in the cookbook- it's about the same). We gave 30-day notice on our apartment. You'll never guess who has mold in their bathroom! (And we can't use the space heater = problem. Masa Sutterfield is always cold.) We went over to Velta's work to help her some more with the situation with her daughter. We taught her some English phrases so she can now say that she wants to talk to her daughter and that she is her mother in English. She was so excited to be able to call England herself!

Tuesday we had lots of guests to our District Meeting. The Jakes and the Assistants came. Sister Jakes loves us and brought cookies. We made some rocking ciabatta pizza (this week was a good cooking week) with lots of veggies and cheese on it. Anda and Vicente's lesson was good (and filled with many tangents). We went over faith as described by 1 Peter 1:5-9. We covered that one scripture block in an hour. Needless to say, we went into detail with word choice. It was so good though. Talked to a lot of interesting people today. One lady was not happy that I was in Latvia and told me I should go back home and tell America that they invaded Libya and that killing people is a sin, adding that we shouldn't be trying to save their poor little country. So America, killing people is a sin. :) Almost more entertaining was the bus ride we took to avoid Ms. Libya. We were contently on the bus and this lady started talking and shouting and then the bus driver got on the intercom and told her to be quiet. My favorite part was the whole entire bus LITERALLY "shhh"-ing her.

Wednesday was another fun contacting day. We talked to a great Russian Natalija. By we I mean Sister Sutterfield. She has the gift of tongues for that whole interpreting Russian thing. At least she had us all fooled. We got Natalija's information and she wants a Book of Mormon. She sounded like she had had a hard life. Good thing we know what can help! There was also a man who did NOT think we could help. He actually stole my Book of Mormon. And pretended to stomp on it. "This is the Bible. It is up here (above his head with his copy of the Bible). And this, your book, this is down here (pretends to stomp on it)." Sister S. was pretty upset. I was pretty much just laughing. Don't knock it until you read it folks! On the way back to our apartment we met this lady who was out sweeping. She cried a lot, bless her heart. She doesn't really know if there is a God, seeing as she has been through a lot of occupations and such. She was really sincere about wanting to know more. I look forward to meeting with her and having a real sit down lesson. Our adventurous day continued with going out with the elders to look at an apartment. It had some pretty epic Catholic pictures, but it will definitely not work.

Thursday we got Leanna to come to the church (since the whole Russian neighbor/alcohol incident the elders banned us from her house). She thought we were having a party party for her year baptismal mark so she brought her mom. Using our thinking caps and mad party throwing skills we made some popcorn and watched "Together Forever" in Russian. Leanna's mom seemed really touched that we had a movie and flowers and treats for her and of course, the most epic movie from the 80s so she nudged Leanna and Leanna actually came to church on Sunday! Raitis and Sanita are doing well. We wanted to commit them to baptism, but Sanita disappeared half way during the lesson with the baby and it was just awkward and Raitis was going on tangents so it didn't happen. Kati was so cute though. She was out in the front playing with her mom and grandma when she left and went running out the gate and told her mom, "See you tomorrow" and started walking with us. She also ran away and hid when Raitis when chasing after her. I wouldn't have minded if she came home with us!

Friday I made some fantastic Croatian chicken and had a blast stumping everyone with my "2 truths and 1 lie" sentences for Latvian class. I'm glad people think I would skinny dip in Switzerland but not dye my hair blue. (Don't worry mother, I will never skinny dip). We had our first "phone lesson" with Martins. Since he is several hours away at home for about 2 weeks we are having phone lessons. It wasn't too awkward praying over the phone and sharing scriptures. The next ones should be loads of fun!! We also went to visit the Sostaki couple- some rocks of the branch. Milde fed us some yummy salad and some of the 1 meter 19 kilo fish that Nicolas has just caught. They shared their conversion stories which was fun. And how they got married about 7 years ago. "Well, if you have the priesthood you have to get married. It is a rule, so I got married." He is definitely a romantic ;) . They are a fun couple though and have already started taking the steps to share the gospel with their friends.

The cell phone went for a wild ride on Saturday. I hope it enjoyed the washing machine ride, because it sure was a lot of fun trying to get a new one (no, it was not me who washed it). Sister Sutterfield accidentally (possibly on purpose, I don't know) took the elders phone and we went off contacting with it. We actually found an awesome Russian lady who gave us food and let us in (which like never ever in a million years of ever happens) and was just super nice and wants us to come back. The communication barrier was a bummer though. We got called "children" by a bunch of old ladies (which Sister S. also didn't appreciate). I find it more amusing...in a sad way that they don't know what they are missing, but I don't know how open I'd be to the missionaries if I wasn't so blessed to have been born under the covenant.

We did get a new phone. With a bulging battery. We crammed it in the phone and tried to charge it. It didn't work so we had to go off and use Maija's mom's phone (Maija's had no credit) and call our elders then the zone leaders and then the assistants (the first two wouldn't pick up) and try to get a phone so we could talk to our families. The men have little faith in the sisters here though because they sent our elders over Sunday morning to help us plug in our new phone. "Did they take the plastic off the battery?!" We showed the elders the bloated battery and told them that we had just tried the wet battery and it still worked.

Church was great (almost as great as the Swedish meatballs I made afterwards!). The primary sang and did a skit as well as gave us butterflies that they colored and flowers made out of napkins. It was definitely my most favorite mother's day to date. We saw Aija as well on Sunday. She is doing well and I hope will want to be baptized. She had a lot of questions about faith and repentance.

Love you all,
The church is true!
Masa Mari