Mari 26 September 2011
Hello hello, ciao ciao,
Monday was a wild preparation day. We were more tuckered out than prepared by the end of it with all of the running around we were doing. I trimmed Sister Wilson's hair and then we went off to do errands and such. We spent quite a while at JYSK (the wannabe IKEA of Latvia, but totally kind of lame) discussing the qualities of different rugs. We are both penny pinchers and so shopping was fun. We definitely bought way too much. Yay for food storage! We bought kebabs at the only kebab place in town with some nasty cold fries. We couldn't get them to taste any better. So we just had a whirlwind of activities and when it came to working time we got to meet with the Beldavi family (members). We had fun singing "Wicked" on the way over. Sister Wilson is quite the singer. I enjoy the random singing episodes I hear while we are in the house, they make my heart giggle. We had a good lesson with the Beldavi boys and mom about prophets. Inguss wasn't there, but Elvis was (the 13-year old). Raivo, Lauris, and Elvis all said they want to serve missions. That was such a miracle to hear Elvis say that (he is inactive)!
On Tuesday I felt like rubbish. The black lung of the MTC is back!! We were still able to go out and work though. We had a semi-awkward District Meeting on the Spirit...Sister Wilson isn't used to small districts. We went to help Zelma Golta with the lesson for Relief Society on signs of the Second Coming. She fed us potato pancakes, tea, AND ice cream. It was an awful lot of food. I am glad I don't serve in America where the members stuff you with roasts and steak all the time. We had a super fun lesson with Santa S. (investigator). Rita and Ieva (the Branch President's 6 year old) helped out. Ieva was so fun to have in the lesson. She got to be God and give Santa the candy blessings. Later in the evening we went to Guna's home (a legit house!). She is in our English class so that she can help her kids with their English homework. She is a super nice lady and seemed fairly receptive to our spiritual thought. Sister Wilson and I have been having fun teaching together. She really brings the Spirit in with her thoughts.
Wednesday morning we got to go and visit Vineta (inactive) finally! Her kids are still sick. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and Martina her little girl had fun helping me draw the plan. We had service at Rihard's (who sang Britney Spears to us this week) with our new pair of hooligan elders. Elder Schmidt and Elder Alder came with their punk beanies on looking like trouble. We had some delightful minestrone soup. Good thing it is good because we will be having it for several meals. Maybe one day I will learn how to make less soup. Poor Santa (recent convert) is under the weather. After teaching her about the patterns of apostasy and restoration the elders came over and gave her a blessing. We had an awesome awesome awesome lesson that Kristina (BP's wife) helped on. We went to Jana Gromenko's, a Russian inactive member. I was totally expecting this older boring lady but she was so hip and fun and cute. We are hoping that with time she will be active again (curse those busy schedules!).
Thursday was a party! It was Sister Wilson's 1-year mark as a missionary. We had humongous calzones and almond pear cake to celebrate. We also did weekly planning and tried to take apart our washing machine. You see, it is broken and Sister Wilson has skills with anything that she can use her Leatherman on. The elders came and showed us how to clean the filter. They let us keep the rusty bobby pins and they took the two lat coin. Too bad the washing machine is still broken. We met with Oskars who is getting surgery on Tuesday. He is doing okay. Bless that man's heart, he has many blessings in store for hm. We then had the youth party and afterwards I had my first Skype conference. We had it with President S. on the other end. We being us sisters, the elders, Rihards, and Kaspars, the branch mission leader and we discussed the Branch goals for next year. The girls saw us on the screen and started waving and making faces, it was pretty cute. I got calls from Sister Boswell and then Dr. Mayberry (the area doctor who can't even give you drugs or anything, just listen to you since he is in Germany). He wants me to get an inhaler and see a lung doctor. Oh boy!
Finding a lung doctor isn't fun. We spent most of companionship study calling different phone numbers trying to get an appointment. Luckily, European socialized medicine can play to your advantage. We went to the pharmacy and you can get inhalers without a prescription for the low price of $4.50. Thank you communism for saving me a trip to a lung doctor (at least for now). We went to Lidija's with President so he could apologize and we gave her tram tickets to come to church. (She didn't come on Sunday though :{ ) We then stopped by Skaidre's and shared a quick thought from Mosiah 15:5 with her which she loved. We then spent the rest of our Friday eating couscous, watching Together Forever with Rita and Sandijs, and having Latvian at Marika's. She fed us mayonaise cake. Elder Schmidt thought the whipped cream was mayonaise and not that the chocolate cake had mayonaise in it. We all just about died laughing. Elder Alder ate at least half of that cake by himself. It was insane. By the end he was sitting cross legged with the whipped cream bowl dipping the cake in the bowl. Gross! The people love him though.
We had a HUGE English class this Saturday...thirteen people (and all women!). After teaching our class we taught Santa S. (investigator) about Agency from the Strength for Youth pamphlet. She really enjoyed it all. We cleaned the church as always. I got to clean the windows today which was fun and then we went home and ate and then went to the elders. You see, the repairman said they'd need to send our washing machine away to be fixed and we needed to wash our whites. We remembered all our wash, but not the phone. We also didn't know which apartment number was the elders. Luckily Sister Wilson's gut is better than mine so we found it on the first knock. Their stairwell is spooky though! We had another adventure in the dark, visiting Santa with Rihards. She might have to have surgery on her breast. We then headed back to the Elder's, collected our laundry and then had a lovely evening walk home.
On Sunday Sister Wilson gave a great talk. And then I gave an improv one because she was the only assigned speaker. The Tolmacovi were at church (miracle!), but we still had maybe 25 people there. No one was there to teach primary so I used my sunbeam skills and pulled out an hour lesson to keep the children entertained. It actually went really well...Lehi's Dream along with the interpretation, drawing pictures of the vision, and apple snacks from the tree of life. I then had to run to Relief Society to conduct that and left Sister Wilson to man music time on her own with Ludmila. Relief Society was good. Besides myself only 3 sisters attended. We had branch council and then a meeting with Kristina to plan visiting teaching. The girls stole our bags and name tags and were sister missionaries. It was pretty darn cute. They also found Sister Wilson's makeup, so I got LOTS of lipgloss...mmm.
My mouse keeps on glitching, so that is just going to have to be all for this week so that it doesn't freeze and you don't get a letter!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Week 31
Well, the past week has been wild. I am now with Sister Wilson and I am still in Liepaja. She has been in Riga the past ten months, so naturally she wasn't very happy to be coming down. Sister Wilson is from Utah, getting a health degree at USU, and gives me a run for the money in the kitchen. She also loves running, so pretty much she is just going to kick me into shape. She is also an amazing missionary. I am excited to be having the opportunity to work miracles with her.
On Monday we super-cleaned since transfers are on Thursday. We went to Hesburger and got food with the elders and ate it at the church and we then played Sister Ferrin's crazy version of bananagrams. I got a falafel burger, which wasn't too bad. Bananagrams was by far the highlight of my Monday. Elder Schmidt would just make up random words and scream them out. This annoyed Sister Ferrin greatly, so it was just all really funny to watch. We met with inactive (who will be staying inactive but comes to activities if you invite her) possibly crazy Elvira. We thought watching the Restoration film would keep her from telling us horror stories of her life. She still did. :) Yay for the atonement that can fix those things! We also got to meet with investigator Santa and taught her about chastity and all that fun stuff. I really don't think it is that awkward teaching the law of chastity, other than the fact that I can't say "chastity" in latvian. It has a double dipthong at the beginning that just gets me every time.
On Tuesday Sister Ferrin requested some infamous almond pear cake (thank you New York Times). We all found it quite divine and enjoyed eating it while Elder Holdway taught us of the importance of commitments as missionaries. Commitments is one thing that I am focusing on this new transfer. While I was cooking I saw a mouse! Yes, a mouse in the house. Somehow Sister Ferrin slept through the whole ordeal. It involved me on the couch with the phone talking to the elders about how to catch mice, and a broom. Yes, I screamed when the mouse popped out of the bag and then went and hid in the corner. It was one of those adventures that you wouldn't have been a baby about if you would have had someone else there. The elders thought it was hilarious and wished the mouse was in their house. They told me to build a wall, trap it in the corner, and then get it to run into the garbage can and then turn it upside down. I didn't know what to make the wall with so the stinking mouse ran off when I was chasing him into a hole by the electrical outlet. I spent the rest of my afternoon taping up all the holes in the wall that the mouse could go through. So far he hasn't been back. It took a lot out of me, I am still tired from the mouse in the house ordeal.
We got a new investigator on Tuesday. Her name is Zenta. Sister Ferrin and Santa S. (who is now on a mini mission) knocked on her door one day and we finally got to go teach her. She takes care of her grandson who has some crazy disease that only 5 people have in Latvia and is very humble but positive because of it. We had a good lesson with Oskars for his retention. We read in Alma 43 about how Moroni prepared his army and how we need to be spiritually prepared so we will be safe and come off conquerors. We met with Skaidre (a member who would be more active if she had less work) and watched the Restoration film with her (no we aren't lazy, we've been asked to go over the Restoration with them and they have a new translation in Latvian that none of the members have seen and that film brings such a sweet spirit). Skaidre was very touched.
Wednesday I made zuchinni muffins because we are going to Riga! Elder Holdaway is serving in Imanta (after being in Liepaja for 8 months straight) and Sister Ferrin in Riga Center with Sister Sutterfield and Sister Madara Zommerofska (mini-missionary). All three of them are actually finishing their missions on December 15th so in 2 transfers. Cute old Ausma wanted us to go to the doctors with her because she was getting an operation. She didn't show up at the doctor's and didn't tell us that they changed their minds, lol. No worries! We still had super fun remonting (aka remodeling) at Rihard's. Elder Schmidt pulled off wall paper with me. My most favorite thing of Wednesday was visiting the Svari family. The father is inactive and the wife not a member. They have an angel of a four year old, Tomass. He is practically perfect in politeness. He showed us the door, bowed, and then kissed Sister Ferrin's hand. It was the greatest thing I've seen in my life. We were all laughing. They have a lot of potential as a family! We stopped by Santa D.'s (the member). It was her name day. We are so glad we went. None of her friends came to visit her so we had a candle light tea and cake event to celebrate, brought her flowers, and shared a small spiritual thought.
Thursday morning we all headed to Riga. Sandijs and Rita came to say goodbye. Sandijs was crying and Rita told him to stop being a baby. She also called him a snail because she called him about 20 times so that he'd wake up in time. We barely made it to the tram with the luggage. Ugh. Girls have a LOT of stuff on a mission. I don't want to leave Liepaja. It was my half way mark on Thursday so I was thinking of being half way done and how awful it will be to say goodbye to little Liepaja; my heart and soul are here. We met a plethora of missionaries at the train station and then Sister Wilson and I headed back down and that took most of our day. We also taught Santa D. ....Riksi puked on the couch (he ate a bunch of cookies). Nothing says welcome to Liepaja like dog barf! We also had a little meeting with Sandijs and Rita. Sandijs bore a powerful testimony of his conversion story.
Friday we got to go contacting! So fun! Sister Wilson is really good with people and contacting effectively. We are also effective in the kitchen...apple raspberry bran pear muffins with a streusel topping...mmm. We are planning on not making sweets often because we both have a sweet tooth and know how to cook some good food. We had planning. I think I overwhelmed Sister Wilson. There is a mini-apostasy going on in our Branch and so there is a lot of information and it is really stressful as a member because you see good people getting beaten by Satan. We are doing everything in our power to keep the branch afloat though. This included visiting Marika and having Latvian class and then a spiritual thought about supporting our church leaders. Sister Wilson bore a great testimony that brought the spirit, she came at the perfect time. Liepaja needs her!
On Saturday we had a great English class turn out, even more people and one class member even took a Book of Mormon. They all took contact cards and hopefully we will be able to help them come unto Christ. We cleaned the church, went on an adventure to see where the elders were trying to move us (they are determined to steal our apartment because it is practically perfect in every way like Mary Poppins). We visited Lidija R. Sister Wilson saved the day again with her powerful testimony and this upcoming week President S. is coming with us to visit her.
Sunday's church meeting was excellent. The talks were all good and the second and third hour were superb. We learned about honesty and then the gathering of Israel. I stayed in RS as the RS President and Sister Wilson went to go be the Primary piano player/music leader. She plays and sings much better than I do so I am off the hook for now. We made some hearty tomato and rice soup for lunch, did some calling, and went off on a goose chase to find missing members. We didn't find any but we had a lovely night.
The church is true. The Lord answers prayers in His due time. This is His work and we should all be going about our Father's business.
On Monday we super-cleaned since transfers are on Thursday. We went to Hesburger and got food with the elders and ate it at the church and we then played Sister Ferrin's crazy version of bananagrams. I got a falafel burger, which wasn't too bad. Bananagrams was by far the highlight of my Monday. Elder Schmidt would just make up random words and scream them out. This annoyed Sister Ferrin greatly, so it was just all really funny to watch. We met with inactive (who will be staying inactive but comes to activities if you invite her) possibly crazy Elvira. We thought watching the Restoration film would keep her from telling us horror stories of her life. She still did. :) Yay for the atonement that can fix those things! We also got to meet with investigator Santa and taught her about chastity and all that fun stuff. I really don't think it is that awkward teaching the law of chastity, other than the fact that I can't say "chastity" in latvian. It has a double dipthong at the beginning that just gets me every time.
On Tuesday Sister Ferrin requested some infamous almond pear cake (thank you New York Times). We all found it quite divine and enjoyed eating it while Elder Holdway taught us of the importance of commitments as missionaries. Commitments is one thing that I am focusing on this new transfer. While I was cooking I saw a mouse! Yes, a mouse in the house. Somehow Sister Ferrin slept through the whole ordeal. It involved me on the couch with the phone talking to the elders about how to catch mice, and a broom. Yes, I screamed when the mouse popped out of the bag and then went and hid in the corner. It was one of those adventures that you wouldn't have been a baby about if you would have had someone else there. The elders thought it was hilarious and wished the mouse was in their house. They told me to build a wall, trap it in the corner, and then get it to run into the garbage can and then turn it upside down. I didn't know what to make the wall with so the stinking mouse ran off when I was chasing him into a hole by the electrical outlet. I spent the rest of my afternoon taping up all the holes in the wall that the mouse could go through. So far he hasn't been back. It took a lot out of me, I am still tired from the mouse in the house ordeal.
We got a new investigator on Tuesday. Her name is Zenta. Sister Ferrin and Santa S. (who is now on a mini mission) knocked on her door one day and we finally got to go teach her. She takes care of her grandson who has some crazy disease that only 5 people have in Latvia and is very humble but positive because of it. We had a good lesson with Oskars for his retention. We read in Alma 43 about how Moroni prepared his army and how we need to be spiritually prepared so we will be safe and come off conquerors. We met with Skaidre (a member who would be more active if she had less work) and watched the Restoration film with her (no we aren't lazy, we've been asked to go over the Restoration with them and they have a new translation in Latvian that none of the members have seen and that film brings such a sweet spirit). Skaidre was very touched.
Wednesday I made zuchinni muffins because we are going to Riga! Elder Holdaway is serving in Imanta (after being in Liepaja for 8 months straight) and Sister Ferrin in Riga Center with Sister Sutterfield and Sister Madara Zommerofska (mini-missionary). All three of them are actually finishing their missions on December 15th so in 2 transfers. Cute old Ausma wanted us to go to the doctors with her because she was getting an operation. She didn't show up at the doctor's and didn't tell us that they changed their minds, lol. No worries! We still had super fun remonting (aka remodeling) at Rihard's. Elder Schmidt pulled off wall paper with me. My most favorite thing of Wednesday was visiting the Svari family. The father is inactive and the wife not a member. They have an angel of a four year old, Tomass. He is practically perfect in politeness. He showed us the door, bowed, and then kissed Sister Ferrin's hand. It was the greatest thing I've seen in my life. We were all laughing. They have a lot of potential as a family! We stopped by Santa D.'s (the member). It was her name day. We are so glad we went. None of her friends came to visit her so we had a candle light tea and cake event to celebrate, brought her flowers, and shared a small spiritual thought.
Thursday morning we all headed to Riga. Sandijs and Rita came to say goodbye. Sandijs was crying and Rita told him to stop being a baby. She also called him a snail because she called him about 20 times so that he'd wake up in time. We barely made it to the tram with the luggage. Ugh. Girls have a LOT of stuff on a mission. I don't want to leave Liepaja. It was my half way mark on Thursday so I was thinking of being half way done and how awful it will be to say goodbye to little Liepaja; my heart and soul are here. We met a plethora of missionaries at the train station and then Sister Wilson and I headed back down and that took most of our day. We also taught Santa D. ....Riksi puked on the couch (he ate a bunch of cookies). Nothing says welcome to Liepaja like dog barf! We also had a little meeting with Sandijs and Rita. Sandijs bore a powerful testimony of his conversion story.
Friday we got to go contacting! So fun! Sister Wilson is really good with people and contacting effectively. We are also effective in the kitchen...apple raspberry bran pear muffins with a streusel topping...mmm. We are planning on not making sweets often because we both have a sweet tooth and know how to cook some good food. We had planning. I think I overwhelmed Sister Wilson. There is a mini-apostasy going on in our Branch and so there is a lot of information and it is really stressful as a member because you see good people getting beaten by Satan. We are doing everything in our power to keep the branch afloat though. This included visiting Marika and having Latvian class and then a spiritual thought about supporting our church leaders. Sister Wilson bore a great testimony that brought the spirit, she came at the perfect time. Liepaja needs her!
On Saturday we had a great English class turn out, even more people and one class member even took a Book of Mormon. They all took contact cards and hopefully we will be able to help them come unto Christ. We cleaned the church, went on an adventure to see where the elders were trying to move us (they are determined to steal our apartment because it is practically perfect in every way like Mary Poppins). We visited Lidija R. Sister Wilson saved the day again with her powerful testimony and this upcoming week President S. is coming with us to visit her.
Sunday's church meeting was excellent. The talks were all good and the second and third hour were superb. We learned about honesty and then the gathering of Israel. I stayed in RS as the RS President and Sister Wilson went to go be the Primary piano player/music leader. She plays and sings much better than I do so I am off the hook for now. We made some hearty tomato and rice soup for lunch, did some calling, and went off on a goose chase to find missing members. We didn't find any but we had a lovely night.
The church is true. The Lord answers prayers in His due time. This is His work and we should all be going about our Father's business.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Week 30
Hello hello. We should be finding out transfers later today. Everyone is so excited because there are some changes a-brewing and President Boswell was dropping hints about sending more missionaries to Liepaja, so we all want to know what is happening.
My favorite part of Monday was grocery shopping. We saw my little church neighbor best friend Maksims. Today he was wearing really old school frames (like old people ones...no offense older persons) and suspenders. I really wish that I had my camera. We went to the beach and had a picnic. We had SANDwiches. The wind started blowing and so there was sand everywhere...mmmm sandy cheese. We all had a lot of fun doing kartwheels, burying Elder Holdaway's feet in the sand, etc. etc. Rihards went with us to the Aldermani's. They didn't answer even though we set up the appointment Sunday night. We did get to meet one of the Svari brothers. The Svari family is inactive, but awesome and we have high hopes for these brothers and their families.
On Tuesday for district meeting I made "Thunder Crisp." Pretty much every elder on the mission that knows that my father's name is Thor is obsessed and anything that he cooks is the greatest thing because it must be packed with thunder. It was really yummy apple crisp with ice cream. They don't have very many different varieties of apples here. President Scerbinins helped us visit less active Tatiana. She is a really nice lady with the hugest white-lab like monster I have seen in my life; her dog was huge! It is also afraid of people, so no worries there. We watched the Restoration video with her and her daughter who was interested in the gospel. We are excited to start working with them through the Russian speaking members of our branch. We had a really neat lesson with Oskars, one of our favorite retention lesson people. We invited another member, Ludmila who has been having a bad week and we taught them from 2 Nephi 31:15-20 about what endure to the end means and what we can do to truly endure to the end. Ludmila was very grateful that we invited her to help with our lesson. Visiting inactive Velta was not as fun. She is pretty depressed and is ready to move on from this life. She was in a better mood by the end of our meeting though! Lidija is inactive now. Sad day, we had just helped her get activated. She doesn't feel like she can sacrifice the money to get herself to church.
Wednesday I had a nice little run outside. I love running; it is good stuff. We worked a lot on the Branch Directory that we are making, updating people's information and such. We also got to go help remodel at Rihard's again. I love helping! I am getting very good at ripping off wall paper. The music this time wasn't as great...Russian pop and random stuff like that. We made Sister Bonnie Jone's chicken salad for lunch which was delicious. The highlight of the night was sports. We played inside and Elder Schmidt is just ridiculous at ping pong. I ended up just sitting on the couch laughing and watching while ducking because the ping pong ball was going all over the place.
Thursday we made "Ferrin's Firehouse Chili." It isn't really Sister Ferrin's recipe, we just made it up. We found out that dried beans grow a lot. We had a LOT of beans so we shared the spice with the elders who appreciated something so spicy in Latvia. We got to go up to Rita's and go grocery shopping with her. It was fun. She doesn't like food so we enjoyed trying to guess what she would maybe eat. We settled on basic basics- yogurt, milk, cheese, bread, pasta. We got invited to Lidija L., a member's home. She has been working on the farm with her brother all summer, so we hadn't met her before then. Kirstin would like her, she milks her own cows and makes cheese from it. She used to be a nurse but she quit because she hated giving people pills and would rather help heal them spiritually. She has a super active seven year old girl Davisa who was so excited to have us over. She was waiting for us at the corner and was full of lots of hugs and did not want us to go. We had a great time with Santa Dike reading about Alma and his repentence for being a hooligan son of Mosiah going about destroying the church. She is such a great lady, goodness, we cannot get enough of her. Riksi her dog still has fleas though. Not fun. Speaking of fleas, Elder Holdaway has fleas, poor guy.
Friday consisted of more branch directorizing, planning, and helping with the apple party we had. There were all sorts of apple games; apple eating contest (little Ieva almost beat Inguss!), apple relays, apple juice sipping, blindfolded applesauce feeding, apple eating with no hands (and doused in yogurt). It was a lot of fun. Sister Ferrin and I were rubbish at the apple relays; it was almost as ridiculous as my face after she fed me applesauce blindfolded. I'm pretty sure I had more applesauce on other body parts than my head by the end. We had a pretty good turn out for our ward and we had apple desserts at the end.
Saturday we had a HUGE turn out for English class. The elders had to bring in two more tables. Cleaning took longer than normal because we got distracted talking about transfers and what could be happening. We met with Rita and taught her about hope. Poor kiddo has some rash/allergic reaction/disease and can't stop itching her rashes. The elders lost their keys on Saturday. They thought that maybe the hooligans stole it, but never fear, miracle masas are here! We prayed and then found their keys in the missionary closet! God answers prayers! Free time was spent practicing "Faith" for the Primary kids to sing. I ended up re-translating it and yeah, fun stuff!
Sunday I didn't even get to use my song translating skills because third hour President disbanned Primary because there was no one to go to Relief Society. Santa D. taught the lesson and did a great job talking about the spirit world. It was another one of those "aha" moments. There is no church in heaven, but the spirit world is organized by the church and that system still exists there. Anywho, it was sad that we had about 30 people at sacrament meeting, because it was a great meeting. Elder Schmidt, Sintija, Inguss, and Santa spoke. Santa's talk was my favorite. She spoke about missionary work and she just does a great job being funny and teaching pure doctrine. Elder Schmidt taught with the spirit and President taught second hour. He did a great job talking about revelation. I understood because someone translated it from Russian! We met with the Branch leaders and talked about our missionary efforts for a very long time and then went home ate, and took naps. Our struggling little branch is just stressing us out; we don't know how to help them. Got some meetings set up (notice the lack of a noun...you can do this in Latvian) and then met with the Frolavi family (members) in their home. Everyone behaved today and we had a really pleasant lesson.
Nothing too terribly exciting. We need to find some new investigators but life is good. Some of the leaves on the trees are starting to change and autumn is in the air, which I love. The air is just so fresh and crisp; you feel like you are in the mountains getting out of your tent in the morning.
I know that this church is true. Life is hard, the gospel is not. If we keep the commandments and are faithful, we will be blessed.
Sis. L.
My favorite part of Monday was grocery shopping. We saw my little church neighbor best friend Maksims. Today he was wearing really old school frames (like old people ones...no offense older persons) and suspenders. I really wish that I had my camera. We went to the beach and had a picnic. We had SANDwiches. The wind started blowing and so there was sand everywhere...mmmm sandy cheese. We all had a lot of fun doing kartwheels, burying Elder Holdaway's feet in the sand, etc. etc. Rihards went with us to the Aldermani's. They didn't answer even though we set up the appointment Sunday night. We did get to meet one of the Svari brothers. The Svari family is inactive, but awesome and we have high hopes for these brothers and their families.
On Tuesday for district meeting I made "Thunder Crisp." Pretty much every elder on the mission that knows that my father's name is Thor is obsessed and anything that he cooks is the greatest thing because it must be packed with thunder. It was really yummy apple crisp with ice cream. They don't have very many different varieties of apples here. President Scerbinins helped us visit less active Tatiana. She is a really nice lady with the hugest white-lab like monster I have seen in my life; her dog was huge! It is also afraid of people, so no worries there. We watched the Restoration video with her and her daughter who was interested in the gospel. We are excited to start working with them through the Russian speaking members of our branch. We had a really neat lesson with Oskars, one of our favorite retention lesson people. We invited another member, Ludmila who has been having a bad week and we taught them from 2 Nephi 31:15-20 about what endure to the end means and what we can do to truly endure to the end. Ludmila was very grateful that we invited her to help with our lesson. Visiting inactive Velta was not as fun. She is pretty depressed and is ready to move on from this life. She was in a better mood by the end of our meeting though! Lidija is inactive now. Sad day, we had just helped her get activated. She doesn't feel like she can sacrifice the money to get herself to church.
Wednesday I had a nice little run outside. I love running; it is good stuff. We worked a lot on the Branch Directory that we are making, updating people's information and such. We also got to go help remodel at Rihard's again. I love helping! I am getting very good at ripping off wall paper. The music this time wasn't as great...Russian pop and random stuff like that. We made Sister Bonnie Jone's chicken salad for lunch which was delicious. The highlight of the night was sports. We played inside and Elder Schmidt is just ridiculous at ping pong. I ended up just sitting on the couch laughing and watching while ducking because the ping pong ball was going all over the place.
Thursday we made "Ferrin's Firehouse Chili." It isn't really Sister Ferrin's recipe, we just made it up. We found out that dried beans grow a lot. We had a LOT of beans so we shared the spice with the elders who appreciated something so spicy in Latvia. We got to go up to Rita's and go grocery shopping with her. It was fun. She doesn't like food so we enjoyed trying to guess what she would maybe eat. We settled on basic basics- yogurt, milk, cheese, bread, pasta. We got invited to Lidija L., a member's home. She has been working on the farm with her brother all summer, so we hadn't met her before then. Kirstin would like her, she milks her own cows and makes cheese from it. She used to be a nurse but she quit because she hated giving people pills and would rather help heal them spiritually. She has a super active seven year old girl Davisa who was so excited to have us over. She was waiting for us at the corner and was full of lots of hugs and did not want us to go. We had a great time with Santa Dike reading about Alma and his repentence for being a hooligan son of Mosiah going about destroying the church. She is such a great lady, goodness, we cannot get enough of her. Riksi her dog still has fleas though. Not fun. Speaking of fleas, Elder Holdaway has fleas, poor guy.
Friday consisted of more branch directorizing, planning, and helping with the apple party we had. There were all sorts of apple games; apple eating contest (little Ieva almost beat Inguss!), apple relays, apple juice sipping, blindfolded applesauce feeding, apple eating with no hands (and doused in yogurt). It was a lot of fun. Sister Ferrin and I were rubbish at the apple relays; it was almost as ridiculous as my face after she fed me applesauce blindfolded. I'm pretty sure I had more applesauce on other body parts than my head by the end. We had a pretty good turn out for our ward and we had apple desserts at the end.
Saturday we had a HUGE turn out for English class. The elders had to bring in two more tables. Cleaning took longer than normal because we got distracted talking about transfers and what could be happening. We met with Rita and taught her about hope. Poor kiddo has some rash/allergic reaction/disease and can't stop itching her rashes. The elders lost their keys on Saturday. They thought that maybe the hooligans stole it, but never fear, miracle masas are here! We prayed and then found their keys in the missionary closet! God answers prayers! Free time was spent practicing "Faith" for the Primary kids to sing. I ended up re-translating it and yeah, fun stuff!
Sunday I didn't even get to use my song translating skills because third hour President disbanned Primary because there was no one to go to Relief Society. Santa D. taught the lesson and did a great job talking about the spirit world. It was another one of those "aha" moments. There is no church in heaven, but the spirit world is organized by the church and that system still exists there. Anywho, it was sad that we had about 30 people at sacrament meeting, because it was a great meeting. Elder Schmidt, Sintija, Inguss, and Santa spoke. Santa's talk was my favorite. She spoke about missionary work and she just does a great job being funny and teaching pure doctrine. Elder Schmidt taught with the spirit and President taught second hour. He did a great job talking about revelation. I understood because someone translated it from Russian! We met with the Branch leaders and talked about our missionary efforts for a very long time and then went home ate, and took naps. Our struggling little branch is just stressing us out; we don't know how to help them. Got some meetings set up (notice the lack of a noun...you can do this in Latvian) and then met with the Frolavi family (members) in their home. Everyone behaved today and we had a really pleasant lesson.
Nothing too terribly exciting. We need to find some new investigators but life is good. Some of the leaves on the trees are starting to change and autumn is in the air, which I love. The air is just so fresh and crisp; you feel like you are in the mountains getting out of your tent in the morning.
I know that this church is true. Life is hard, the gospel is not. If we keep the commandments and are faithful, we will be blessed.
Sis. L.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Week 29
Hello!
So on Monday we didn't get to go biking because Sister Ferrin wasn't feeling well. Sad day, I was excited to go biking, but we should be going to the beach this Monday! We took Sintija and Sandijs with us to Panna. It was an okay food joint, not my favorite. Everyone enjoyed watching the Discovery channel playing on the telly (except Sister Ferrin, it was a show on snakes and she hates snakes). Sintija went with us to Humana (aka Savers/DI) and we had fun finding awful clothes and then we got caught out in a rainstorm with Sintija...we were both trying to fit under my mini umbrella and running through the tirgus (aka market of the outdoor variety); it was pretty fun. We went and had a great lesson with the Tolmačovi family. Sister Tolmačovi's heart is softening. She actually came to church with the girls all by herself this Sunday. Anywho, Sister Ferrin was feeling uber yucky, so the elders came over in the evening and gave her a blessing.
District Meeting was definitely a meeting. We ended up spending two hours discussing branch council and how to help our ward. Good times. I made some yummy stuffed peppers for lunch. The Brothers three (investigators) skipped out on their meeting so we went to find them. Their mother was not very happy to see us, but their neighbor was! He was very friendly and we were able to talk to him a bit about The Book of Mormon and invite him to church. Santa Dike is being such a great member! She told us that the other day on her mail route she talked to some drunks for a half hour and taught them about the Word of Wisdom and told them to quit. We went and had a great lesson with the Beldavi family (members). Dace, the mom really opened up and I am going to help her with music in primary.
On Wednesday we got to go to the thyroid doctor. That was an adventure, he is a really nice jolly older man. I like him. The health care may not be as sanitary and effective as in America, but it sure was fast. Sister Ferrin was able to get blood tests and an ultrasound on her thyroids the same day (no worries, her thyroids don't have cancer or anything bad...they are good). We took Zelma Golta (member) on a church tour and she was really touched and feels bad that she can't serve more. I tried to make wheat bread. It was a flop. I'm pretty sure it is because I killed the yeast....warm water not hot! I just got distracted because I was multi task cooking so I had to make a white loaf for Sister Ferrin to celebrate her year mark in the field! We had a good meeting with Oskars (member). He is going to get his Patriarchal (spelling?) blessing! This is a huge deal because like only 2 from Liepaja get theirsevery year.
Thursday was weekly planning and ice pack hunting. We found out what an ice pack is called and that they cost twelve US dollars. I settled for the bag of peas, which has been helping with my chronic compartment syndrome. Made some Italian barley casserole (it was, well, interesting.) We had a good time with all our investigators at the Thursday night activity playing musical chairs and charades. Little 8-year-old investigator Krists said "beautiful princess" when Sister Ferrin was acting out something very unrelated to being a beautiful princess. Rita did a great job bearing her testimony and talking about prayer. It fit in perfectly with the lesson with Santa S. that Sandijs had helped us with. We found out though this week that Santa's mom won't allow her to get baptized (she is fifteen). We also met with the brothers 3 who were being hooligans. We weren't too happy about their goofing off. Thursday night Sister Ferrin and I had a bang cutting party. I am not regretting this. Growing out bangs + glasses = doesn't work.
Friday we got to visit cute ole Ausma. She is knitting us socks. I got to take down wallpaper at Rihard's. I found a nail and have an infected pinkie, and we had a lot of fun. Sister Ferrin ran into the door she just painted red. I laughed a lot about that one. We met with the Hooligani again. They were much better when we met with them on Friday with Sister S. Krists once again was adorable. He said both prayers (he wanted lots of cookies) and it was so cute- him saying thanks for the nice people and the nice church and knowing that the BOM was true. It made my day because our night sucked! Something awful happened to Rita, so long story short she stayed with us Friday night after Rihards gave her a blessing.
Saturday she stayed with us most of the day. Our english class brought us flowers since it is a tradition for the first of September when the kids here start school to dress up and take flowers.
Sunday President Boswell came. Sister F. and I got to translate an interview with him and Rita. He is awesome. We got to have interviews as well. President Boswell rocks. He is a good man and has a lot of trust in me. He also told me to start winking at God, I'll have to tell you about that one later. Sunday night after napping and dinner we went with Rihards and set up a bunch of appointments with people we have been trying to get into forever! He is a great member missionary
woot!
Time is pretty much up. Keep Rita in your prayers, she needs it.
So on Monday we didn't get to go biking because Sister Ferrin wasn't feeling well. Sad day, I was excited to go biking, but we should be going to the beach this Monday! We took Sintija and Sandijs with us to Panna. It was an okay food joint, not my favorite. Everyone enjoyed watching the Discovery channel playing on the telly (except Sister Ferrin, it was a show on snakes and she hates snakes). Sintija went with us to Humana (aka Savers/DI) and we had fun finding awful clothes and then we got caught out in a rainstorm with Sintija...we were both trying to fit under my mini umbrella and running through the tirgus (aka market of the outdoor variety); it was pretty fun. We went and had a great lesson with the Tolmačovi family. Sister Tolmačovi's heart is softening. She actually came to church with the girls all by herself this Sunday. Anywho, Sister Ferrin was feeling uber yucky, so the elders came over in the evening and gave her a blessing.
District Meeting was definitely a meeting. We ended up spending two hours discussing branch council and how to help our ward. Good times. I made some yummy stuffed peppers for lunch. The Brothers three (investigators) skipped out on their meeting so we went to find them. Their mother was not very happy to see us, but their neighbor was! He was very friendly and we were able to talk to him a bit about The Book of Mormon and invite him to church. Santa Dike is being such a great member! She told us that the other day on her mail route she talked to some drunks for a half hour and taught them about the Word of Wisdom and told them to quit. We went and had a great lesson with the Beldavi family (members). Dace, the mom really opened up and I am going to help her with music in primary.
On Wednesday we got to go to the thyroid doctor. That was an adventure, he is a really nice jolly older man. I like him. The health care may not be as sanitary and effective as in America, but it sure was fast. Sister Ferrin was able to get blood tests and an ultrasound on her thyroids the same day (no worries, her thyroids don't have cancer or anything bad...they are good). We took Zelma Golta (member) on a church tour and she was really touched and feels bad that she can't serve more. I tried to make wheat bread. It was a flop. I'm pretty sure it is because I killed the yeast....warm water not hot! I just got distracted because I was multi task cooking so I had to make a white loaf for Sister Ferrin to celebrate her year mark in the field! We had a good meeting with Oskars (member). He is going to get his Patriarchal (spelling?) blessing! This is a huge deal because like only 2 from Liepaja get theirsevery year.
Thursday was weekly planning and ice pack hunting. We found out what an ice pack is called and that they cost twelve US dollars. I settled for the bag of peas, which has been helping with my chronic compartment syndrome. Made some Italian barley casserole (it was, well, interesting.) We had a good time with all our investigators at the Thursday night activity playing musical chairs and charades. Little 8-year-old investigator Krists said "beautiful princess" when Sister Ferrin was acting out something very unrelated to being a beautiful princess. Rita did a great job bearing her testimony and talking about prayer. It fit in perfectly with the lesson with Santa S. that Sandijs had helped us with. We found out though this week that Santa's mom won't allow her to get baptized (she is fifteen). We also met with the brothers 3 who were being hooligans. We weren't too happy about their goofing off. Thursday night Sister Ferrin and I had a bang cutting party. I am not regretting this. Growing out bangs + glasses = doesn't work.
Friday we got to visit cute ole Ausma. She is knitting us socks. I got to take down wallpaper at Rihard's. I found a nail and have an infected pinkie, and we had a lot of fun. Sister Ferrin ran into the door she just painted red. I laughed a lot about that one. We met with the Hooligani again. They were much better when we met with them on Friday with Sister S. Krists once again was adorable. He said both prayers (he wanted lots of cookies) and it was so cute- him saying thanks for the nice people and the nice church and knowing that the BOM was true. It made my day because our night sucked! Something awful happened to Rita, so long story short she stayed with us Friday night after Rihards gave her a blessing.
Saturday she stayed with us most of the day. Our english class brought us flowers since it is a tradition for the first of September when the kids here start school to dress up and take flowers.
Sunday President Boswell came. Sister F. and I got to translate an interview with him and Rita. He is awesome. We got to have interviews as well. President Boswell rocks. He is a good man and has a lot of trust in me. He also told me to start winking at God, I'll have to tell you about that one later. Sunday night after napping and dinner we went with Rihards and set up a bunch of appointments with people we have been trying to get into forever! He is a great member missionary
woot!
Time is pretty much up. Keep Rita in your prayers, she needs it.
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