Another week has gone by. This has been a long transfer for me. And it has been long...7 weeks! We are having transfers on Thursday and we still don't know what is happening. The weather has been so gorgeous as of late. The heating is coming on November 1st, there is still a mouse in the house, but God is still smiling upon us. The weather has been unseasonably dry and warm. I am grateful for that as well as all my other many blessings.
Happy Halloween! Yes they do celebrate Halloween here. We actually saw some trick-or-treaters Sunday night (we still don't know why). It definitely isn't quite as big as in America (no decorations, no special candy to buy, etc.) Happy name day today Grandma Nadine!
On Monday I got to try frikadella soup. Frikadella soup is very popular in Latvia and I had it along with some garlic and cheese bread (also very Latvian and unhealthy) at the 3 Kungs cafe with the elders. The sun was shining so we even got some ice cream after. You know you are in Latvia when you have on a coat and gloves, but you are still eating an ice cream cone outside because it is sunny. We found out today that our Margarita is heading off to Ireland to be a nanny there. We are going to miss her dearly. We met with long-time member Marika Monday evening. Along with helping us with the language she informed us that we need to keep our feet warm otherwise we will get sick (among other tidbits from Latvian culture).
We've been able to do a lot of contacting this week. On Tuesday I contacted the kindest old man from Lithuania. He's been living in Latvia for several years now and he was so fun to talk to. Our District Meeting was on how to be happy. We started off by discussing what our definition of happiness is, what makes us happy, etc. It is an interesting exercise, I recommend trying it. We then read in 2 Nephi 5 about things that help us to "live after the manner of happiness." The highlight of the day was definitely visiting with Guna (our investigator who is a member's sister). We ended up taking Sintija along because we saw her on the way to the meeting. Sintija was a great help and we now know that Guna still doesn't believe the whole authority business.
I have just been on a French kick. I found something that was in the similitude of a "pain au chocolat" at the tirgus (market) on Wednesday. I was fairly impressed. We were late to service at Rihard's because we helped President Scerbinins show the church to a friend visiting from the middle of nowhere, Latvia. I found out at service that I do not remove wallpaper "smuki" (cute) enough. Sister Wilson was informed by Rihards that you shouldn't stand on chairs with shoes on. We just both laughed because we both would have at our respective dwellings in America. Anywho, we made some kicking taco soup. If you want to know what that extra "kick" is, try adding some ginger root to your taco soup. We had a lunch meeting with a nice 63 year old, Karmena. She mostly just likes talking to us young folks and seeing what we think. It was quite the game to see how to sneak in the gospel without her knowing. She fed us tea, honey (separate from the tea), boiled potatoes, and coleslaw. It was all very nice. As always, God helped to expand our stomachs because it was right after our taco soup. We visiting cute old member Ausma when her growly "sveiki" (hey!). Her eye operation went well and she was glad to see us, as was her dancing dog (yes, the dog dances on its two hind legs).
On Thursday we had weekly planning and our weekly meeting with Santa Dike (recent convert). We challenged her to read The Book of Mormon by the end of the year and she is taking the challenge (10 pages a day, I dare you all to do it!). We had a few meetings not show up so we went harvesting/knocking/bothering people in their homes/whatever you prefer to call it. Naturally the first door that opened was also the last. This 89 year old half deaf lady just let us on in and yelled our ears off. She was half deaf and could only understand Sister Wilson because she was sitting closer to her, so I sat back and enjoyed the show. She was a super nice old lady, going a little senile, but that is okay. When we were leaving her neighbor, in broken Latvian, told us thank you for visiting her. That really meant a lot (I'm pretty sure he heard all of the conversation through the ceiling, bless his heart).
Friday morning we taught Vineta (inactive 30 year old with 2 kids) about prayer and it was a nice lesson. We invited Vineta to start praying two times a day. We had more perfect weather for contacting. We had a meeting with Guna at the church to watch the Restoration film. Due to people being late and such, we ended up having Oskars and Santa D. in the lesson with Guna. It went really well and they told her essentially that yeah, it sounds crazy, but you've got to pray and eventually you will get it. We had a lesson with Oskars and Santa helped out. Jinkies, she is just so funny. Today she was talking about how she isn't going to the Celestial Kingdom because she doesn't want to get married. She said the closing prayer and asked God to forgive her for not wanting to get married and to help her have that desire. God love her, she is so great! I'm pretty sure we were all chuckling in that prayer. Santa really has the greatest prayers though, because they truly are conversations with God. She is an example to me! We had a pioneer party at the church. Members got to make forts, hunt rabbits, cross daunting waters, etc. It was quite the event!
I was sick on Saturday. Boo, not fun. I mostly wanted to just chop everything off from above my shoulders, but no worries, I am on the mend. We had cleaning and English as usual and our class continues to grow! They just all invite their friends! We made repentance airplanes with the Beldavi family as we celebrated Elvis' name day. Lauris and Raivo thought the airplanes were the greatest things ever. I personally liked the example of how to repent because I got to steal candy from Sister Wilson and eat it. :)
Sunday was a nice block. I taught third hour to the Relief Society, Priesthood, Young Men, and Young Women. I had a LOT of time and with the Lord's help I was able to keep pulling stuff out of thin air and fully taught all 5 steps of the gospel of Jesus Christ along with the difference between immortality and eternal life. Phew! In other random events, someone stole a 20$ box of cookies from the church. After having a nice Sunday dinner of chicken and rice, we called many people who didn't answer and then went out by the lake to knock on doors there. We met some rather nice younger people. Mostly I think Sister Wilson and her big blue eyes enamour them, but anyway, that is that!
The church is true. God lives.
Love you all,
Sister Lindstrom
Monday, October 31, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
Week 36
Hello world.
It is rather nice weather in Liepaja- except for in our house. We have officially hit the sub-60F mark inside. Needless to say we get cold when we are studying and it feels like it is warmer when we are outside.
So last Monday I lost the rubber gasket to the shower..uh oh! We went to a few hardware stores and they didn't have anything that would work. We paused the gasket search to go to Karosta- the war forts. It was the perfect day- not too cold or windy. The lighting was also perfect for all of us amateur photographers and we all had a great time. While searching for sea glass a huge wave came up and got three out of five of us all wet. My running shoes needed a bath anyway though. We came home, I said a little prayer and we were able to disemble the shower to find the gasket to reassemble it!
We had a fun transportation blunder. Just so you all know, the number 3 mikrins (Scooby-doo style van) doesn't go the same was as the number 3 bus. Needless to say we didn't get lost, but were just late to our meeting with Vera (lady from English) and her daughter Diana. They live in Lauma (named for the lingerie factory there). We had a lesson planned for Vera other than the Plan of Salvation, but she kept on bringing up what she read in the pamphlet about it so we taught her an amazingly spirit-filled lesson. She was so excited to be sharing this information with her daughter. After the lesson she showed her the picture we had drawn of the plan. "See," she said, "we want to live here together in the highest kingdom." So good! Sadly, they are in the elders area so we need to pass them off.
So I may not be my mother but her cinnamon rolls still turned out really good. I don't think I am going to make them soon if only because I could eat all of them. The elders also enjoyed having cinnamon twists and thought they were the greatest thing. Elder Alder led a great discussion about desires and how they need to become God's desires for us to be better. We ran some random errands. Later in the day we had a great lesson (thanks to Sister Wilson and her testimony and linking thoughts skills) with Santa Dike (recent convert- the funny one with the dog) about personal revelation. We also had a really good lesson with Oskars (recent convert) about faith from Alma 32. It wasn't your typical Alma 32 though- we focused on the tree and not the seed which made for a really interesting discussion. I recommend studying it.
Wednesday morning we woke up and got on a bus to go to Riga for Zone Conference. The ride was gorgeous. It reminded me a lot of Sweden when I was there. I also got to talk a lot with our token Swede at Zone Conference (he is called to the Baltics Russian speaking). He is a funny one and he just laughed and told me that I look super Swedish and was suprised that I didn't know Swedish. The Boswells did a great job talking about how God takes what you have and will make it enough. We compared ourselves to the miracle with the fishes and loaves- all we have to do is give God all that we have and he will bless and multiply it so that there will be more than enough (there were 12 extra baskets!). Sister Boswell talked about being vessels and that it is okay if we aren't a perfect vessel (see below for the parable she shared). I was able to do practices for the teaching parts of zone conference with Elder Burr and Sister Stout who both came out to the Baltics with me. Elder Burr is doing well- he loves being with Elder Mills and has had a hard mission so far. Sister Stout is doing so great and is crossing her fingers that President Boswell sticks us together in a zebra (aka two different language speaking companions together). They both want me to come up to Riga and play with them next transfer. It was Elder Lynch's birthday...he is finally 19...an official missionary! (We like teasing him)
Margarita showed up at the church in Riga! She was up visiting a friend. When she saw 6'9" Elder Graham it was hilarious. "Wow! He is tall!" And then she hid behind me. We stayed over with the sisters in their new apartment in Center which is very cute and fun. Lots of bright paint colors on the walls. They are all doing well and are all in denial about leaving at the end of next transfer.
Thursday we were able to see Elder Seitz (the funny short Russian elder who stole my boots and wore them in Imanta) when we went to get Sister Wilson's new visa. He is still as funny as ever, telling us about the chocolate museli shortage in Estonia and that we should buy a ton and sell it on the black elder market. We all took a taxi down to the bus station and then we sisters went and found some books, Sister Wilson set off an alarm going INTO a store, and we found the best french-esque bakery. It was really good. I found an almond croissant there that was only second to my first one in Marseille. Needless to say I could have died at that moment and been happy. The bus ride was nothing special and neither was our "day in the life of a missionary activity." It was quite the flop. We did have more members than missionaries though (just barely) so that was good.
On Friday we stopped by Lidija R.'s (the lady Sister Ferrin and I reactivated.). She is still being silly and not letting go of what the Branch President said to her. She knows that the church is true but said she won't come back until there is another American BP. We told her that that is never going to happen again (Liepaja thinks the church government is like a democracy- that you can revolt and kick people out). Anywho, it was really sad to see her place her salvation in jeopardy over one sentence that was spoken. We had a much better lesson with Zenta. Roberts her handicapped grandson stuck his chocolate fingers on Sister Wilson's tights and not mine, so that was always nice that it wasn't me. No, I'm joking, but her lesson did go very well. We won't get to meet with her for a few weeks because they have to go up for testing to see if Roberts needs his legs amputated. We had another weird lesson with Nina (aka the Professor Trewlany lady). We helped her with English and then ATTEMPTED (emphasis on attempt) to teach her. She was telling us that Moses didn't write some of the Bible and she didn't know who Abraham was. Aye aye aye, she was not wanting to listen. We watched the RS broadcast with Marika and Margarita (the only people who showed up). We all really enjoyed it. Afterwards we had a lesson with Margarita about God's love and how we need to take things to His feet and just let them go and forgive ourselves.
We did weekly planning on Saturday before teaching our English class which keeps on growing. Everyone keeps bringing their friends, so I guess that is a big compliment! We cleaned after trying not to offend all our English class by teaching them about the word of wisdom and then went and had a great lesson with Skaidra (a member). She is doing great, as is her super fat cat that attacked Sister Wilson's bag. We had a spirit-filled lesson about the temple and she is thinking about going next spring. She is such a great member, but needs a different job so she can come to church more.
Well we had 25 whole people at church. 7 of those (aka one third) being the Branch Presidency and missionaries. Yikes! Four were investigators, so that was good. We were able to teach investigator Santa S. (the teenager) and her two sisters the restoration for the combined YM/YW/primary Sunday School [that is what I call multitasking]. Rihards helped hold up pictures (thank you first counselor to the Branch President). I taught the lesson in Relief Society again. We went over a very detailed Plan of Salvation and answered their questions (or at least attempted to). My favorite question: "What if we want different parents in heaven? Can we trade? What if ours our bad?" We had a Branch Council meeting, ate the last of the creamy soup we've been eating all week and then we went harvesting. Sister Wilson was telling me scary missionary stories and then at one door we rang the doorbell and this man started screaming (not yelling but screaming). We booked it down all five flights of stairs, confusing greatly a man who was coming into his apartment building. We made it home okay. :) The sky is really pretty here- you can see the stars at night- Venus, Cassiopeia, the big dipper.
That's all the adventures for this week!
The church is true!
Love,
Sister Lindstrom
It is rather nice weather in Liepaja- except for in our house. We have officially hit the sub-60F mark inside. Needless to say we get cold when we are studying and it feels like it is warmer when we are outside.
So last Monday I lost the rubber gasket to the shower..uh oh! We went to a few hardware stores and they didn't have anything that would work. We paused the gasket search to go to Karosta- the war forts. It was the perfect day- not too cold or windy. The lighting was also perfect for all of us amateur photographers and we all had a great time. While searching for sea glass a huge wave came up and got three out of five of us all wet. My running shoes needed a bath anyway though. We came home, I said a little prayer and we were able to disemble the shower to find the gasket to reassemble it!
We had a fun transportation blunder. Just so you all know, the number 3 mikrins (Scooby-doo style van) doesn't go the same was as the number 3 bus. Needless to say we didn't get lost, but were just late to our meeting with Vera (lady from English) and her daughter Diana. They live in Lauma (named for the lingerie factory there). We had a lesson planned for Vera other than the Plan of Salvation, but she kept on bringing up what she read in the pamphlet about it so we taught her an amazingly spirit-filled lesson. She was so excited to be sharing this information with her daughter. After the lesson she showed her the picture we had drawn of the plan. "See," she said, "we want to live here together in the highest kingdom." So good! Sadly, they are in the elders area so we need to pass them off.
So I may not be my mother but her cinnamon rolls still turned out really good. I don't think I am going to make them soon if only because I could eat all of them. The elders also enjoyed having cinnamon twists and thought they were the greatest thing. Elder Alder led a great discussion about desires and how they need to become God's desires for us to be better. We ran some random errands. Later in the day we had a great lesson (thanks to Sister Wilson and her testimony and linking thoughts skills) with Santa Dike (recent convert- the funny one with the dog) about personal revelation. We also had a really good lesson with Oskars (recent convert) about faith from Alma 32. It wasn't your typical Alma 32 though- we focused on the tree and not the seed which made for a really interesting discussion. I recommend studying it.
Wednesday morning we woke up and got on a bus to go to Riga for Zone Conference. The ride was gorgeous. It reminded me a lot of Sweden when I was there. I also got to talk a lot with our token Swede at Zone Conference (he is called to the Baltics Russian speaking). He is a funny one and he just laughed and told me that I look super Swedish and was suprised that I didn't know Swedish. The Boswells did a great job talking about how God takes what you have and will make it enough. We compared ourselves to the miracle with the fishes and loaves- all we have to do is give God all that we have and he will bless and multiply it so that there will be more than enough (there were 12 extra baskets!). Sister Boswell talked about being vessels and that it is okay if we aren't a perfect vessel (see below for the parable she shared). I was able to do practices for the teaching parts of zone conference with Elder Burr and Sister Stout who both came out to the Baltics with me. Elder Burr is doing well- he loves being with Elder Mills and has had a hard mission so far. Sister Stout is doing so great and is crossing her fingers that President Boswell sticks us together in a zebra (aka two different language speaking companions together). They both want me to come up to Riga and play with them next transfer. It was Elder Lynch's birthday...he is finally 19...an official missionary! (We like teasing him)
Margarita showed up at the church in Riga! She was up visiting a friend. When she saw 6'9" Elder Graham it was hilarious. "Wow! He is tall!" And then she hid behind me. We stayed over with the sisters in their new apartment in Center which is very cute and fun. Lots of bright paint colors on the walls. They are all doing well and are all in denial about leaving at the end of next transfer.
Thursday we were able to see Elder Seitz (the funny short Russian elder who stole my boots and wore them in Imanta) when we went to get Sister Wilson's new visa. He is still as funny as ever, telling us about the chocolate museli shortage in Estonia and that we should buy a ton and sell it on the black elder market. We all took a taxi down to the bus station and then we sisters went and found some books, Sister Wilson set off an alarm going INTO a store, and we found the best french-esque bakery. It was really good. I found an almond croissant there that was only second to my first one in Marseille. Needless to say I could have died at that moment and been happy. The bus ride was nothing special and neither was our "day in the life of a missionary activity." It was quite the flop. We did have more members than missionaries though (just barely) so that was good.
On Friday we stopped by Lidija R.'s (the lady Sister Ferrin and I reactivated.). She is still being silly and not letting go of what the Branch President said to her. She knows that the church is true but said she won't come back until there is another American BP. We told her that that is never going to happen again (Liepaja thinks the church government is like a democracy- that you can revolt and kick people out). Anywho, it was really sad to see her place her salvation in jeopardy over one sentence that was spoken. We had a much better lesson with Zenta. Roberts her handicapped grandson stuck his chocolate fingers on Sister Wilson's tights and not mine, so that was always nice that it wasn't me. No, I'm joking, but her lesson did go very well. We won't get to meet with her for a few weeks because they have to go up for testing to see if Roberts needs his legs amputated. We had another weird lesson with Nina (aka the Professor Trewlany lady). We helped her with English and then ATTEMPTED (emphasis on attempt) to teach her. She was telling us that Moses didn't write some of the Bible and she didn't know who Abraham was. Aye aye aye, she was not wanting to listen. We watched the RS broadcast with Marika and Margarita (the only people who showed up). We all really enjoyed it. Afterwards we had a lesson with Margarita about God's love and how we need to take things to His feet and just let them go and forgive ourselves.
We did weekly planning on Saturday before teaching our English class which keeps on growing. Everyone keeps bringing their friends, so I guess that is a big compliment! We cleaned after trying not to offend all our English class by teaching them about the word of wisdom and then went and had a great lesson with Skaidra (a member). She is doing great, as is her super fat cat that attacked Sister Wilson's bag. We had a spirit-filled lesson about the temple and she is thinking about going next spring. She is such a great member, but needs a different job so she can come to church more.
Well we had 25 whole people at church. 7 of those (aka one third) being the Branch Presidency and missionaries. Yikes! Four were investigators, so that was good. We were able to teach investigator Santa S. (the teenager) and her two sisters the restoration for the combined YM/YW/primary Sunday School [that is what I call multitasking]. Rihards helped hold up pictures (thank you first counselor to the Branch President). I taught the lesson in Relief Society again. We went over a very detailed Plan of Salvation and answered their questions (or at least attempted to). My favorite question: "What if we want different parents in heaven? Can we trade? What if ours our bad?" We had a Branch Council meeting, ate the last of the creamy soup we've been eating all week and then we went harvesting. Sister Wilson was telling me scary missionary stories and then at one door we rang the doorbell and this man started screaming (not yelling but screaming). We booked it down all five flights of stairs, confusing greatly a man who was coming into his apartment building. We made it home okay. :) The sky is really pretty here- you can see the stars at night- Venus, Cassiopeia, the big dipper.
That's all the adventures for this week!
The church is true!
Love,
Sister Lindstrom
Monday, October 17, 2011
Week 35
Well, I won't lie, I'm cold. Socialism has its pluses and minuses. Minus is that heating doesn't come on until November. We have been enjoying about 5C weather outside and 16C inside which is cold when you are sitting studying. Luckily we have a microwave and rice bags as well as thermals and blankets. Can't wait for the winter!
Monday was rubbish weather so we couldn't go to Karosta. Instead we had the elders over for leftover soup and bread. Elder Schmidt wanted some of "Thor's thunder crisp" (aka apple crisp) and a double batch so that is what we made; it was HUGE! The elders couldn't eat it all in one day so we had it the next day at district meeting. In the evening we went out knocking in apartment buildings and met the nicest Russian atheist man. He wanted us to come in and talk but 1. we don't speak Russian and 2. not allowed. We got his information for Elder Palmer who called him. He said, "Oh I don't want to talk to you and make you not believe in God but those girls of yours are so great out on the streets."
We had a really great District Meeting this week about charity and love and what that means and how we get it (Elder Alder does a GREAT job teaching) in which he brought up DC 11:20. I liked it compared to Moses 1:39. Our work is to be obedient (DC 11:20). God's work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39). People will always have their agency and can do what they will. All we can do is be obedient!
After our District Meeting we headed out to Rihard's to stack wood. Being girls they wanted to give us the "easier" job which was totally not easier. Instead of stacking wood in the shed, we were supposed to grab a pile of wood and then haul it up the stairs and stack it in Rihard's hall. And boy did we stack it. And then we ran into the ceiling so we stopped. It was fun and so nice to be working outside like at the farm. The weather was also sunny for this firewood adventure. Afterwards we had a meeting with Presidents and Rihards in which we found out Rihards is engaged! About time! Though it won't be until next July. We are pretty excited for him. We had flying saucers for lunch since we bonded over them last week and then had a lesson with Guna from English (who is the Beldavi's aunt...weird!)
Wednesday we got to watch the first session of General Conference in English. So good! We also had a good lesson with Zenta about baptism and what exactly it is. She had some questions about what if we sin after we are baptized...she is a smart cookie. :) We stopped and said "hi" to Lidija and Ausma. They are both doing fine and we took a muffin to Marika. She came to her door as we were writing a note. We confused her a lot since our meeting with her was scheduled for Friday. We went to a meeting at a non-existent address. The elders always have the most reliable referrals :). We did meet some very nice people along the way though. Santa D. doesn't have cancer and Riksi still has fleas but both are doing well.
Conference was amazing yet again. Talk after talk has been answers to questions (except for the one about having babies...and the chicken drum one) Thursday was a good feeding day at the sister missionaries' apartment. We made pumpkin-carrot soup as well as no knead bread. It was amazing. It made up with the ice berg that we hit that we didn't know existed. One of our older members feels guilty for her son's disability that he may have gotten when he hit his head when he was younger. She feels responsible for not preventing the accident. It was really sad to see her, she has been carrying around this burden for a long time. I cried with her. We were able to see President Uchtdorf's RS talk which was amazing. If you haven't watched it, you should. We made popcorn in a pot (my new favorite snack as of yesterday's practice session) and had a party and watched the Restoration film and then had a testimony meeting after. Aivars Fishmeisters was there and I think his heart is softening slowly. After the party (aka pasakums) we had a lesson with Rita and Sandijs about repentance using the story of the sons of Mosiah. The atonement is real!
On Friday we watched the Priesthood session which was amazing. That is so crazy about senior missionaries! We do love senior missionaries. I'm expecting dad to be off on a mission before I get home. I enjoyed all the talks on missionary work as well. Many speakers spoke to the missionaries. We made banana fajitas for lunch and then had a meeting with Rafaella. She is in her late teens and investigated the church a few years ago. She is thinking she is on the "middle path" of life- not Satan's but not God's path. We were bold and told her that if she wasn't on God's path she was on Satan's and that she needed to decide where she wants to go in life and after this life. We challenged her to pray every day for the peace she had when she was investigating the church and to read Ether 12. It was a good lesson, but not at all what we planned. We had our meeting with Marika and talked for way too long about food. We are officially all bonded now in our love for cooking and Marika came to sacrament meeting, so that was good.
On Saturday another session of GC. Quote of the week: "Oh look! The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has matching pink snuggies!" Elder Palmer is quite the comic. Sunday night when we watched conference he was speaking instead of singing the closing hymn is this old person/Gollum from Lord of the Rings/just really funny voice. Anywho, we cleaned the church as usual and had a very large English class again. We had a leftover fiesta and then went to the beach to see the end of the sunset. It was so gorgeous and it wasn't windy which made it even that more enjoyable. We also had time to search for past church members. None of them lived at their old addresses, but everyone was very kind and helpful, especially with finding buildings. This one man was stopped by a woman who only spoke Russian who was trying to help us. He then looked around, called his wife, and told several other people and called after us several times to redirect us
Sunday was a miracle Sunday. I fasted for Oskars who is having Word of Wisdom problems and felt a lot better about it (I cried about that one too...stupid Satan is just getting everyone). He is going to kick the habit again. Few of the "regulars" were there, but there were so many inactives that haven't been in who knows how long. They all new each other and it was exciting to see them all there. They enjoyed Elder Palmer's great talk about his conversion as well as our impromptu missionary musical number. Ruta G. taught a great lesson about service in Sunday School and I taught about the restoration in Relief Society. Sister Wilson is now basically the Primary President. We are just going to rule the whole church down in Liepaja :). Not really, but it is a blessing to be able to help and use our talents.
Create a great week. Enjoy the weather and being able to control your heating in your homes!
Loves,
Sister Lindstrom
Monday was rubbish weather so we couldn't go to Karosta. Instead we had the elders over for leftover soup and bread. Elder Schmidt wanted some of "Thor's thunder crisp" (aka apple crisp) and a double batch so that is what we made; it was HUGE! The elders couldn't eat it all in one day so we had it the next day at district meeting. In the evening we went out knocking in apartment buildings and met the nicest Russian atheist man. He wanted us to come in and talk but 1. we don't speak Russian and 2. not allowed. We got his information for Elder Palmer who called him. He said, "Oh I don't want to talk to you and make you not believe in God but those girls of yours are so great out on the streets."
We had a really great District Meeting this week about charity and love and what that means and how we get it (Elder Alder does a GREAT job teaching) in which he brought up DC 11:20. I liked it compared to Moses 1:39. Our work is to be obedient (DC 11:20). God's work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39). People will always have their agency and can do what they will. All we can do is be obedient!
After our District Meeting we headed out to Rihard's to stack wood. Being girls they wanted to give us the "easier" job which was totally not easier. Instead of stacking wood in the shed, we were supposed to grab a pile of wood and then haul it up the stairs and stack it in Rihard's hall. And boy did we stack it. And then we ran into the ceiling so we stopped. It was fun and so nice to be working outside like at the farm. The weather was also sunny for this firewood adventure. Afterwards we had a meeting with Presidents and Rihards in which we found out Rihards is engaged! About time! Though it won't be until next July. We are pretty excited for him. We had flying saucers for lunch since we bonded over them last week and then had a lesson with Guna from English (who is the Beldavi's aunt...weird!)
Wednesday we got to watch the first session of General Conference in English. So good! We also had a good lesson with Zenta about baptism and what exactly it is. She had some questions about what if we sin after we are baptized...she is a smart cookie. :) We stopped and said "hi" to Lidija and Ausma. They are both doing fine and we took a muffin to Marika. She came to her door as we were writing a note. We confused her a lot since our meeting with her was scheduled for Friday. We went to a meeting at a non-existent address. The elders always have the most reliable referrals :). We did meet some very nice people along the way though. Santa D. doesn't have cancer and Riksi still has fleas but both are doing well.
Conference was amazing yet again. Talk after talk has been answers to questions (except for the one about having babies...and the chicken drum one) Thursday was a good feeding day at the sister missionaries' apartment. We made pumpkin-carrot soup as well as no knead bread. It was amazing. It made up with the ice berg that we hit that we didn't know existed. One of our older members feels guilty for her son's disability that he may have gotten when he hit his head when he was younger. She feels responsible for not preventing the accident. It was really sad to see her, she has been carrying around this burden for a long time. I cried with her. We were able to see President Uchtdorf's RS talk which was amazing. If you haven't watched it, you should. We made popcorn in a pot (my new favorite snack as of yesterday's practice session) and had a party and watched the Restoration film and then had a testimony meeting after. Aivars Fishmeisters was there and I think his heart is softening slowly. After the party (aka pasakums) we had a lesson with Rita and Sandijs about repentance using the story of the sons of Mosiah. The atonement is real!
On Friday we watched the Priesthood session which was amazing. That is so crazy about senior missionaries! We do love senior missionaries. I'm expecting dad to be off on a mission before I get home. I enjoyed all the talks on missionary work as well. Many speakers spoke to the missionaries. We made banana fajitas for lunch and then had a meeting with Rafaella. She is in her late teens and investigated the church a few years ago. She is thinking she is on the "middle path" of life- not Satan's but not God's path. We were bold and told her that if she wasn't on God's path she was on Satan's and that she needed to decide where she wants to go in life and after this life. We challenged her to pray every day for the peace she had when she was investigating the church and to read Ether 12. It was a good lesson, but not at all what we planned. We had our meeting with Marika and talked for way too long about food. We are officially all bonded now in our love for cooking and Marika came to sacrament meeting, so that was good.
On Saturday another session of GC. Quote of the week: "Oh look! The Mormon Tabernacle Choir has matching pink snuggies!" Elder Palmer is quite the comic. Sunday night when we watched conference he was speaking instead of singing the closing hymn is this old person/Gollum from Lord of the Rings/just really funny voice. Anywho, we cleaned the church as usual and had a very large English class again. We had a leftover fiesta and then went to the beach to see the end of the sunset. It was so gorgeous and it wasn't windy which made it even that more enjoyable. We also had time to search for past church members. None of them lived at their old addresses, but everyone was very kind and helpful, especially with finding buildings. This one man was stopped by a woman who only spoke Russian who was trying to help us. He then looked around, called his wife, and told several other people and called after us several times to redirect us
Sunday was a miracle Sunday. I fasted for Oskars who is having Word of Wisdom problems and felt a lot better about it (I cried about that one too...stupid Satan is just getting everyone). He is going to kick the habit again. Few of the "regulars" were there, but there were so many inactives that haven't been in who knows how long. They all new each other and it was exciting to see them all there. They enjoyed Elder Palmer's great talk about his conversion as well as our impromptu missionary musical number. Ruta G. taught a great lesson about service in Sunday School and I taught about the restoration in Relief Society. Sister Wilson is now basically the Primary President. We are just going to rule the whole church down in Liepaja :). Not really, but it is a blessing to be able to help and use our talents.
Create a great week. Enjoy the weather and being able to control your heating in your homes!
Loves,
Sister Lindstrom
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Week 34
Last Monday was not my Monday. It was one of those "Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day" kind of days. I won't go into details. The evening was really great though! We went up to Lauma (an area of Liepaja named for the GIANT lingere factory there) and had an English/gospel lesson with one of our English students, Vera. Her 13-year-old daughter joined in. We followed the Spirit and decided to talk about The Book of Mormon instead of what we had planned and we had a great lesson in which the Spirit was very strong. They said that they were most definitely going to read The Book of Mormon. Vera even came to a session of General Conference on Saturday and said she really enjoyed it!
Tuesday was very intimidating walking into District Meeting. Before District Meeting Sister Wilson walked into a pole. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about that, but it was way too funny not to. The three assistants (I don't know why we have three) to the mission president as well as one of the Latvian zone leaders were there along with our elders. That many people in suits is quite intimidating. That didn't scare away the Spirit though and I had probably one of the best District Meetings. We first talked about fear and Joshua becoming the prophet after Moses. We then talked about obedience and the power of words. I was almost crying during the roleplay. Elder Palmer is a hoot. I was trying to practice and he was pretending to be an old Russian bab. He is planning on writing a 7-novel fantasy series when he gets home if that gives you a glimpse into how creative and expressive he is. Apparently his companions get bedtime stories from his fantasy series and can make up their own characters to be in his books. Too bad he isn't a sister! We had a meeting to plan our Book of Mormon party and it should be a fun one. We are in charge of Jeopardy and brownies. We had a yummy greek salad for lunch and were able to visit again with Guna, another English student. By the end of the lesson our minds were officially blown...Guna's sister is Dace Beldava, a church member! We are going to have to figure out how to use this to our advantage.
On Wednesday I typed up the warm mission plan (right down my alley, I like making things cute on the computer!) and then we went out in the chilly wind to visit Zenta. She is progressing slowly. She still needs to come to church which will be a real struggle with her handicapped grandson, but at the end of the lesson she was asking us about baptism in our church. She still doesn't believe that only one church is right (God is one so it doesn't matter what church you go to according to most people here in Latvia). We then went and visited cute ole Ausma. She is a saint, still sharing the gospel with everyone and it was just a pleasure to be with her. We did some calling to invite members to the party on Thursday before going to visit Santa D. They still don't know what is wrong with her and she is getting a sonogram sooner than later. We taught Jana Gromenko, an inactive Russian member with help from Margarita (aka Rita). Jana has a great light and testimony and she enjoyed learning about the Restoration.
Thursday's grand event was the party. We finished translating Book of Mormon Jeopardy questions in the morning as well as made Book of Mormon brownies. We had Aunt Joyce's indian fry bread for lunch (which, when left over and reheated with jam tastes like a toaster strudel for those of you who were wondering how to make your own toaster strudels [those good frozen ones with the frosting packs]) and then had a lesson with Oskars as well as the Frolavi afterwards. I talked to Uldis on Skype (he is away in that random land with his new wife that he can't get a visa for) and he asked about the church and stuff. Thankfully the internet glitched so we could get to teaching the Eriks and Sintija. Eriks made it through the lesson with the bribe of playing Uno afterwards. He kicked our butts. He won and so we were playing for second place for about five minutes. He got bored so he took seven more cards and started playing again and won again. So yes, he won the same game twice. We then all headed to the church and Sintija and Sandijs sat in for Margarita's lesson about missionary work. The Book of Mormon party went really well. We had head ribbons for each team and we played Jeopardy. We all got the final question wrong so both teams lost. We then had a spiritual thought by Elder Schmidt, a teaching model by Margarita and I about how to share the gospel and then we had everyone write down their mission goals and practice.
Friday was really cold! We visited Vineta (inactive) who we got to pray at the end of the lesson...progress! We also went with the elders to declare. We did some shopping for Sunday dinner, had lunch and did church cleaning which was the best ever. Sarra and Ieva put on giant gloves and helped me clean the bathrooms. The bathrooms ended up cleaner than we were, which is always good [for the bathrooms]. Presidents sang some opera to us and we taught Santa S. and her sister Alina about prophets and then we went harvesting.
Saturday we got honked at twice on our run. I've never been honked at here, I guess we were looking good...or being chased by someone with a knife, who knows. We watched Saturday morning session with the branch and then had lunch with them. We did weekly planning and then took Margarita to help us teach inactive Maris Spagis. He seems nice and we will be meeting with him again. We went knocking with Rita and went to the Beldavi's in the evening. Raivo and Lauris prayed again...so cute. Elvis was there and had some great answers.
Sunday was a busy day. Sarra, Ieva, and Eriks helped us make four different kinds of soup while everyone watched conference. They were all a big hit. We then cleaned, made calls, made primary song signs and that was about it.
Times up!
Tuesday was very intimidating walking into District Meeting. Before District Meeting Sister Wilson walked into a pole. I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about that, but it was way too funny not to. The three assistants (I don't know why we have three) to the mission president as well as one of the Latvian zone leaders were there along with our elders. That many people in suits is quite intimidating. That didn't scare away the Spirit though and I had probably one of the best District Meetings. We first talked about fear and Joshua becoming the prophet after Moses. We then talked about obedience and the power of words. I was almost crying during the roleplay. Elder Palmer is a hoot. I was trying to practice and he was pretending to be an old Russian bab. He is planning on writing a 7-novel fantasy series when he gets home if that gives you a glimpse into how creative and expressive he is. Apparently his companions get bedtime stories from his fantasy series and can make up their own characters to be in his books. Too bad he isn't a sister! We had a meeting to plan our Book of Mormon party and it should be a fun one. We are in charge of Jeopardy and brownies. We had a yummy greek salad for lunch and were able to visit again with Guna, another English student. By the end of the lesson our minds were officially blown...Guna's sister is Dace Beldava, a church member! We are going to have to figure out how to use this to our advantage.
On Wednesday I typed up the warm mission plan (right down my alley, I like making things cute on the computer!) and then we went out in the chilly wind to visit Zenta. She is progressing slowly. She still needs to come to church which will be a real struggle with her handicapped grandson, but at the end of the lesson she was asking us about baptism in our church. She still doesn't believe that only one church is right (God is one so it doesn't matter what church you go to according to most people here in Latvia). We then went and visited cute ole Ausma. She is a saint, still sharing the gospel with everyone and it was just a pleasure to be with her. We did some calling to invite members to the party on Thursday before going to visit Santa D. They still don't know what is wrong with her and she is getting a sonogram sooner than later. We taught Jana Gromenko, an inactive Russian member with help from Margarita (aka Rita). Jana has a great light and testimony and she enjoyed learning about the Restoration.
Thursday's grand event was the party. We finished translating Book of Mormon Jeopardy questions in the morning as well as made Book of Mormon brownies. We had Aunt Joyce's indian fry bread for lunch (which, when left over and reheated with jam tastes like a toaster strudel for those of you who were wondering how to make your own toaster strudels [those good frozen ones with the frosting packs]) and then had a lesson with Oskars as well as the Frolavi afterwards. I talked to Uldis on Skype (he is away in that random land with his new wife that he can't get a visa for) and he asked about the church and stuff. Thankfully the internet glitched so we could get to teaching the Eriks and Sintija. Eriks made it through the lesson with the bribe of playing Uno afterwards. He kicked our butts. He won and so we were playing for second place for about five minutes. He got bored so he took seven more cards and started playing again and won again. So yes, he won the same game twice. We then all headed to the church and Sintija and Sandijs sat in for Margarita's lesson about missionary work. The Book of Mormon party went really well. We had head ribbons for each team and we played Jeopardy. We all got the final question wrong so both teams lost. We then had a spiritual thought by Elder Schmidt, a teaching model by Margarita and I about how to share the gospel and then we had everyone write down their mission goals and practice.
Friday was really cold! We visited Vineta (inactive) who we got to pray at the end of the lesson...progress! We also went with the elders to declare. We did some shopping for Sunday dinner, had lunch and did church cleaning which was the best ever. Sarra and Ieva put on giant gloves and helped me clean the bathrooms. The bathrooms ended up cleaner than we were, which is always good [for the bathrooms]. Presidents sang some opera to us and we taught Santa S. and her sister Alina about prophets and then we went harvesting.
Saturday we got honked at twice on our run. I've never been honked at here, I guess we were looking good...or being chased by someone with a knife, who knows. We watched Saturday morning session with the branch and then had lunch with them. We did weekly planning and then took Margarita to help us teach inactive Maris Spagis. He seems nice and we will be meeting with him again. We went knocking with Rita and went to the Beldavi's in the evening. Raivo and Lauris prayed again...so cute. Elvis was there and had some great answers.
Sunday was a busy day. Sarra, Ieva, and Eriks helped us make four different kinds of soup while everyone watched conference. They were all a big hit. We then cleaned, made calls, made primary song signs and that was about it.
Times up!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Week 33
Monday we went scarf hunting and were quite successful. You have to love second-hand stores. Sister Wilson found this really awfully epic ugly sweater from Humana for a lat. She was beaming all day. It is good that the little things make her happy. We did emails and shopping and the rest of our day was consumed by moving the elders to a different apartment. It took us six hours. We did it all using the tram (and they didn't call any members to help...silly elders). It was quite entertaining though...mattresses, microwaves, weight sets, ironing boads, chairs, coat racks...all on the tram. We got A LOT of looks. The elders are now moved in to the top floor (no elevator naturally) of a very nice building near the Rock Cafe.
Jacob 5! Elder Schmidt said something profound in District Meeting today.. we are the trench diggers and God brings the water. I really liked that. We had Sister Wilson style haystacks for lunch. These haystacks included (but were not limited to) raw pepper, green onion, olives, carrots, pineapple as well as a chicken sauce and the rice. It was different but not bad. We bonded over our love of flying saucers (hot dogs sliced in half with mashed potatoes and cheese on top). You should try it if you haven't. The trolls (Ieva and Olga) called to set up a meeting and then didn't show up. They haven't been to church in a long time. I was working on the visiting teaching list and Sister Wilson decided to press the red button on the power cord. This naturally turned the computer off and I hadn't saved what I was working on, of course. It was pretty funny. "I thought the button was broken and didn't go to anything!" Oh dear. In other happy news we had a "smarter man" (our landlord's words, not mine) come and fix our washing machine. I am so grateful for working washing machines!
Wednesday we had a good meeting with Zenta. We invited her to baptism. She wants to know everything first but she has the desire and we look forward to taking her step by step closer to Christ. We also had a meeting with Maija, this cute lady that we called from a potential investigator sheet that was who knows how old. She seems like she has a sincere desire as well to learn. We had a nice little park bench meeting in the sunshine before the rain came later in the day. We had a lesson with Rita and Sandijs about the Holy Ghost. It then turned into appropriate media. Sister Lindstrom says you cannot watch Saw. It is not a Moses commandment, but a Sister Lindstrom one. You should all take note of my addendum to the commandments. We met with Santa. She is doing quite a bit better.
Last night we got a present in Liepaja...a Russian elder. We therefore played basketball with the elders in the morning so that they could bring me my package (thank you by the way! It is fun to have bright colors and the new tights. I was most excited for the toothbrush head, lol. The shoes will hopefully work, I tried wearing them once and they killed my feet. I haven't tried the lamp yet because we don't know if it needs a converter or not...it didn't have the voltage thing listed on it. Another tangent...I sent Sister Layton a package today, as well as kirstin). We all played basketball terribly. We blamed it on the dark. The sun is now coming up at 7:30. It is going to be a battle getting up at 6:30 in the winter. I already don't enjoy trying to start my day when the sun hasn't even come out to play. Good thing I won't be in Latvia forever! Did some more calling today and had a visit with Viktorija (Santa's friend). President helped with the lesson since Russian is her native language. This helped so much. She was SO close to taking a Book of Mormon. She did agree to meet again so we are hoping we will be able to help her see that the restored gospel is true. We made calzones again today. They were even bigger than last time...yikes! Neither of us could finish them. We visited inactive Velta. She was much happier today. We decided to use Sister Wilson's mad singing skills to our advantage and sang a hymn. We happened to choose her favorite hymn so she sang along. You gotta love the Spirit. :) We tried to drop by less-active Lidija's. She wouldn't let us in. She thinks I got her sick and didn't appreciate that we brought President last week. Oops. We went contacting and knocking today as well...no exciting adventures from that.
Friday we went and dropped off some banana bread to Nadezda. Poor lady is taking care of her ailing mom and is sick. I also bought 5 tram passes...I am such a nice missionary. Thankfully everyone (missionaries) paid me back. It was a beautiful autumn day, perfect for contacting. We taked to a really nice girl (by we I mean Sister Wilson and I stood at the side) who asked why I wasn't talking. Sister Wilson said that I could speak, and even better than her. "Oh, so you are letting her practice. How nice of you." Lol. I enjoyed that. We also ran into eternal investigator Aivars Fishmisters. He is my favorite. He was so raised in the communist times and thinks that the church heirarchy is corrupt. He is such a fun jokster. He decided we should embezzle church property and go to Cyprus. His mom died and you can see his heart softening a little bit. He just needs a testimony about church leaders and prophets! Rita helped us by translating in a meeting with less-active Tatiana. She is doing well but can recognize that something is missing in her life (THE GOSPEL!). We made soup, fixed my skirt (the one you made was too long mom...we hemmed it about 3 inches).
Our neighbors have a great sound system. They like to play good music sometimes, but mostly awful music. They also like to play it at our bedtime. Sister Wilson was ready to kill someone. Bless her heart. I didn't think it was THAT bad, but it didn't keep me from sleeping.
Saturday we were able to watch some of the Relief Society broadcast, go contacting, teach English, clean. The highlight of the day was probably when Sister Wilson got scared to death by this little dog when we were out harvesting. There were also a lot of scary old looking ladies that we knocked into.
Sunday was a great testimony meeting. All the District Presidency came and all bore their testimonies. Elder Palmer made up a Latvian testimony on the fly. It was so good and the branch LOVED it. We were both in primary for third hour. We went with the elders to visit Oskars in the hospital. He is looking so good (kidney stone treatments). The elders forgot bread for the sacrament so we used a mint...it was an interesting sacrament experience. I didn't know you could use pretty much whatever. I'm thinking cookies and milk would be awesome, but that is just me. We enjoyed hearing Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody" (yes I did sing along) on the way there and country music in the micrins on the way back. We met up with the Boswells at the church and had soup and cornbread with them to break our fast. It was a lot of fun; I love President Boswell's stories. They stopped by on their drive up from Lithuania.
The church is true.
Love you all,
Sister Lindstrom
Jacob 5! Elder Schmidt said something profound in District Meeting today.. we are the trench diggers and God brings the water. I really liked that. We had Sister Wilson style haystacks for lunch. These haystacks included (but were not limited to) raw pepper, green onion, olives, carrots, pineapple as well as a chicken sauce and the rice. It was different but not bad. We bonded over our love of flying saucers (hot dogs sliced in half with mashed potatoes and cheese on top). You should try it if you haven't. The trolls (Ieva and Olga) called to set up a meeting and then didn't show up. They haven't been to church in a long time. I was working on the visiting teaching list and Sister Wilson decided to press the red button on the power cord. This naturally turned the computer off and I hadn't saved what I was working on, of course. It was pretty funny. "I thought the button was broken and didn't go to anything!" Oh dear. In other happy news we had a "smarter man" (our landlord's words, not mine) come and fix our washing machine. I am so grateful for working washing machines!
Wednesday we had a good meeting with Zenta. We invited her to baptism. She wants to know everything first but she has the desire and we look forward to taking her step by step closer to Christ. We also had a meeting with Maija, this cute lady that we called from a potential investigator sheet that was who knows how old. She seems like she has a sincere desire as well to learn. We had a nice little park bench meeting in the sunshine before the rain came later in the day. We had a lesson with Rita and Sandijs about the Holy Ghost. It then turned into appropriate media. Sister Lindstrom says you cannot watch Saw. It is not a Moses commandment, but a Sister Lindstrom one. You should all take note of my addendum to the commandments. We met with Santa. She is doing quite a bit better.
Last night we got a present in Liepaja...a Russian elder. We therefore played basketball with the elders in the morning so that they could bring me my package (thank you by the way! It is fun to have bright colors and the new tights. I was most excited for the toothbrush head, lol. The shoes will hopefully work, I tried wearing them once and they killed my feet. I haven't tried the lamp yet because we don't know if it needs a converter or not...it didn't have the voltage thing listed on it. Another tangent...I sent Sister Layton a package today, as well as kirstin). We all played basketball terribly. We blamed it on the dark. The sun is now coming up at 7:30. It is going to be a battle getting up at 6:30 in the winter. I already don't enjoy trying to start my day when the sun hasn't even come out to play. Good thing I won't be in Latvia forever! Did some more calling today and had a visit with Viktorija (Santa's friend). President helped with the lesson since Russian is her native language. This helped so much. She was SO close to taking a Book of Mormon. She did agree to meet again so we are hoping we will be able to help her see that the restored gospel is true. We made calzones again today. They were even bigger than last time...yikes! Neither of us could finish them. We visited inactive Velta. She was much happier today. We decided to use Sister Wilson's mad singing skills to our advantage and sang a hymn. We happened to choose her favorite hymn so she sang along. You gotta love the Spirit. :) We tried to drop by less-active Lidija's. She wouldn't let us in. She thinks I got her sick and didn't appreciate that we brought President last week. Oops. We went contacting and knocking today as well...no exciting adventures from that.
Friday we went and dropped off some banana bread to Nadezda. Poor lady is taking care of her ailing mom and is sick. I also bought 5 tram passes...I am such a nice missionary. Thankfully everyone (missionaries) paid me back. It was a beautiful autumn day, perfect for contacting. We taked to a really nice girl (by we I mean Sister Wilson and I stood at the side) who asked why I wasn't talking. Sister Wilson said that I could speak, and even better than her. "Oh, so you are letting her practice. How nice of you." Lol. I enjoyed that. We also ran into eternal investigator Aivars Fishmisters. He is my favorite. He was so raised in the communist times and thinks that the church heirarchy is corrupt. He is such a fun jokster. He decided we should embezzle church property and go to Cyprus. His mom died and you can see his heart softening a little bit. He just needs a testimony about church leaders and prophets! Rita helped us by translating in a meeting with less-active Tatiana. She is doing well but can recognize that something is missing in her life (THE GOSPEL!). We made soup, fixed my skirt (the one you made was too long mom...we hemmed it about 3 inches).
Our neighbors have a great sound system. They like to play good music sometimes, but mostly awful music. They also like to play it at our bedtime. Sister Wilson was ready to kill someone. Bless her heart. I didn't think it was THAT bad, but it didn't keep me from sleeping.
Saturday we were able to watch some of the Relief Society broadcast, go contacting, teach English, clean. The highlight of the day was probably when Sister Wilson got scared to death by this little dog when we were out harvesting. There were also a lot of scary old looking ladies that we knocked into.
Sunday was a great testimony meeting. All the District Presidency came and all bore their testimonies. Elder Palmer made up a Latvian testimony on the fly. It was so good and the branch LOVED it. We were both in primary for third hour. We went with the elders to visit Oskars in the hospital. He is looking so good (kidney stone treatments). The elders forgot bread for the sacrament so we used a mint...it was an interesting sacrament experience. I didn't know you could use pretty much whatever. I'm thinking cookies and milk would be awesome, but that is just me. We enjoyed hearing Queen "Bohemian Rhapsody" (yes I did sing along) on the way there and country music in the micrins on the way back. We met up with the Boswells at the church and had soup and cornbread with them to break our fast. It was a lot of fun; I love President Boswell's stories. They stopped by on their drive up from Lithuania.
The church is true.
Love you all,
Sister Lindstrom
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