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