Week 25

August 8, 2011

Superclean Monday was fun. I really wish I would have made a snowball though. There was a lot of ice from defrosting the freezer. We went with Rihards and his girlfriend Kristine, to the only legit Chinese restaurant in Liepaja, Ginger. It was really good. I love business lunches. Why? 1. Cheap 2. Limits my choices. It is good for us cheap, indecisive people. I ended up getting soup, rice noodles and chicken, along with a lot of sushi. I was actually quite awestruck that we got that much sushi. It was delicious and made me think of last summer and last time I had sushi... roadtrip! We went around with the elders trying to find souvenirs in antique stores since Elder Clark is leaving! We had quite the adventure trying to get to less active Velta's house (and by house I mean apartment, as always). We thought we'd get a 15 and it would be a short cut. As Elder Lynch says, "She lives on the last street in the last building in the last apartment in all of Liepaja." This isn't much of a stretch. After seeing two number 3 buses pass us we decided to take the next one and stop waiting for the 15. A magical thing happened, we weren't late! We discovered a HUGE shortcut. Velta actually lives really close to some of our other members. She is a very nice lady who has become rather apathetic since her husband died. It was really sad to see that she didn't want the blessings of the temple for both of them. We are just going to work on that desire!

We had a great great great great district meeting on Tuesday. Elder Clark got to leave us with some excellent parting advice. He talked a lot about desire and the path to discipleship. Where are you? Defiance, despair, dread, drudgery, duty, or devotion? It was a lot to think about though we got quite distracted by our next lesson. Referrals from the elders are just always bad. Or they are a lot braver than us. Regardless, we ended up at a home in Jaunliepaja to find the wife and the neighbor taking shots of moonshine through the window (in the middle of the day!). Imants came out, drunk, and told us about how his time in prison and how he could only read The Bible and Book of Mormon. We gave him one and left because he wanted to be a little too good of friends with Sister Ferrin. Thanks elders! Well, we survived and I had an adventure figuring out the lights in our apartment. Sister Ferrin calls me "handy." Astride, that lady who was going to get her eyes fixed jaked us. It was an excellent thing though because we went knocking in her area and got three phone numbers that evening, which is fantastic! Astride isn't interested. She wasn't home/didn't answer the door for another appointment that we set up later saying that she went far far away for a very very long time. Too bad we found her home on Friday. Oopsie! Sometimes I wish people would just be honest, it would be much less embarrassing for them and be a lot more respectful of other people and their time. Never mind that though, there is always a reason and because of her flakiness, we were in the right place to be with other people at the right time this week.

Wednesday was an odd day (do we ever NOT have odd days). I contacted in the same spot for over an hour while Sister Ferrin contacted the same person for over an hour. I was going for quantity over quality. ;P Mostly she got trapped with a chatterbox of an old lady on a bench. It was perfect though because it was right by center and around lunchtime so I was able to speak with a lot of people on their lunch breaks. We went and had lunch with Madara and Santa (the younger). I had fun helping Sarra and Ieva make pizza for the lunch. Leva loved spreading the ketchup and putting on all the toppings. Madara will be serving a mini mission in Riga this transfer and Santa will be in Estonia as a Russian sister. The Branch President's family were very sad to see them go. It was an odd setting apart. We waited around a lot for President to start it. Luckily Ieva kept us entertained by walking around in some stilettos that she found. She immediately had to show "the boys" how pretty she looked in them.

Rita's meeting this evening was great. She is so much happier now that she prays and reads her scriptures more regularly. It is amazing how much the little things help, and they can help a lot! We talked to her about the blessing that she has in her life and then we played sports. There were new hooligans tonight and I was stuck on their team...not very fun. They forgot the whole "team" part of it so my hockey stick spent most of the night as a baton and a sword.

Thursday was transfer day! Sister Ferrin and I are staying put in Liepaja, as is Elder Holdaway. His new companion is Elder Schmidt from Canada. I love the kid (strictly platonically speaking). He is one of those people with GREAT faith, like Elder Lynch. I really admire that and am excited to serve with another missionary who has such great faith as to convert thousands. I also finally found out my reputation as a missionary. Thanks dad. EVERYONE is obsessed that your name is Thor. "Is your dad's name really Thor? Elder Adams said to ask you where you can get your dad's thunder." I am also apparently known for my good cooking and always having treats, so that is a good thing, could be for bad cooking!

Ingus scared us silly Thursday morning while we were walking. He just snuck up behind us and gave us a fright. He is doing well and looking forward to going on the temple trip this month. Ingus wants to be an engineer when he grows up. He will be great! Vineta, our less active is doing well. Her cute four-year-old Martina was just dancing all over the place and thought her little brother was the funniest thing ever when he was getting into trouble. Vineta is a great mother and she knows what she should be doing. As it is for most people here and everywhere, the excuses to not do things just add up and we are not always willing to make sacrifices for what is right. It is one of the constant battles in mortality, our will verses God's.

Thursday was also planning day. We had lots of planning to do with the new transfer. We taught both Oskars and Santa tonight about priesthood organization. Oskars is doing well. His doctor went on vacation so he didn't have the surgery and we removed the lego from Riksi's (Santa's dog) mouth during our lesson with her, so all is well with some of our favorite recent converts.

Friday was another jake-o-rama. We had all of our appointments cancel but because of the first woman who wasn't home, we were able to meet with less active Lidija. We had an interesting lesson with her. We started out on the Gospel of Jesus Christ which somehow got to tithing and sacrifice and obedience. We promised her blessing and even though she didn't have money to pay for the bus to get to church on Sunday, she showed up! I am so proud of her and that she is willing to be more dedicated to the gospel. Friday was part two of planning (we didn't get done!). We also had a miracle. President Boswell asked us to start praying for the Branch President and his family so we have been doing so. Today his wife, Kristina, approached us and offered to help us contact less-active Russian speaking sisters and come translate at their meetings. (This is the woman with two kids, teaches Sunday School, Young Women, Institute, and Seminary). Wow! Hearts are softening and it was just the help that we had been wanting during planning on Thursday.

Saturday was fun. Professor Trelawny (aka Nina) came to English! She is such a nice lady and she caught on really quickly considering she doesn't know the English alphabet or anything. Viktorija was there as well as Rita and Sandijs. Vikotrija and Nina seemed really interested in the Plan of Salvation. We were sad that Rita and Sandijs were a little too hyper during the spiritual thought, but Viktorija (Victoria) took a pamphlet and that is progress! We helped Ludmilla clean the church (she was the only church member who came!) and had a short meeting with Kaspars. I made the mistake of giving Elder Schmidt a cookie. Now every time I see him I hear about how great it would be to have some of those cookies because they are the best he has tasted in his life (They are the Mrs. Field's cookies from your cookbook, mom). I really like them too (possibly my new favorite chocolate chip recipe) and have a personal stash in the freezer. Liga is so awesome! She brought her granddaughter and her granddaughter's boyfriend to her meeting so she could show them the church. She also brought us produce from her garden and we watched the Restoration together to better solidify her testimony of Joseph Smith. She really enjoyed the film and we are excited that she is back from her vacation. She got sick though and wasn't able to come to church. We tried to find Laima, but no one was home so we did some tracting which was fun.

There was actually no one at church this Sunday. It was sad to see so many empty chairs. The meeting was excellent. Angel man was there and he bore his testimony about God's love and 75 cent days at Humana. We got the hooligans that we always play sports with to come to Sacrament meeting. Sintija bore a great testimony as did Elder Schmidt. We only had Santa in the investigator/new member class so we joined with the normal Sunday School class. It was...okay. Relief Society (5 total, including us two missionaries...yikes!) was really good. Daina prepared a great lesson about desires based on the conference talk. The rest of the day was normal missionary stuff, nothing too exciting. We didn't get stuck out in the rainstorm so that was good. Sister Ferrin is still on her taking cat pictures kick. I am starting to really dislike cats. Why? Because it means we have to stop whatever we are doing so she can take a picture. I'm not going to own a cat now. We found that referral from Uldis. He wasn't interested and Uldis was really sad that his friend wasn't open to the gospel. Maybe next time! As Elder Holdaway says, "Sometimes as missionaries we are looking for land. Other times we are moving rocks. I've moved a lot of rocks on my mission. Other times we are planting and sowing and we are also harvesting."

Loves,
Sister L