MONDAY We thought the Dome (kind of like the city hall) would have a good cafe. We were wrong. It was retched. My favorite was when Sintija said in English, "This tastes like rubber." Oh goodness! We quickly left and went and sat in a love bird booth at Chili Pica and got dessert. I got some yummy melted chocolate and ice cream.
TUESDAY We met with my favorite Santa Dike. She had to pray twice because she forgot a word in her pray. It was pretty great. She is still my favorite. Her prayers have changed so much. God is definitely one of her best friends, it is awesome. We headed up on a bus to Riga so that I could go to the doctors. Dr. Caune was a super nice lady and she told me I had a terrible cough (thank you, like I didn't know that). She listened to my lungs and said that they sounded clean and then sent me off with some prescriptions for plant juice (that doesn't help you stop coughing), some cough drops, and an asthma inhaler. Fun stuff! She sent me off to get some blood tests to make sure that I didn't need an antibiotic. That was fun. Screaming children, needles, foreign language. Good stuff. I also got walked in on whilst going to the bathroom. It was a long day. We also got lost. (Not my fault! I was not leading). Luckily the assistants came and picked us up because I was TIRED from walking all over. They took us to the empty sisters' apartment. There wasn't even toilet paper in it! It was pretty funny. The night before Sister Wilson said, "What if there is no toilet paper." "That is ridiculous," I replied. "What kind of person would do that." I guess she should have listened to the spirit and brought toilet paper, lol.
WEDNESDAY was Zone Conference. Our district wore ugly Christmas sweaters! It was epic. Sorry we didn't get a picture...sigh. The elders had Charlie Brown-esque sweaters and Sister Wilson's was bright blue with snowmen. The senior couples made us a nice Christmas lunch, there was a slideshow, and we had a gift exchange (I got cookies), Elder Alder told me stories on the ride home to snowy Liepaja!
THURSDAY We had choir practice for the Christmas Eve Program. Aivars Fishmeisters (eternal investigator) came hobbling in [he has had hip surgery], "Elders! I just heard twenty minutes ago that you were in a fight. Are you alright? Are you hurt? You should get another day off." It was really cute that he was so worried about it. The elders are fine; the newspaper decided to write an article about it so they have been the talk of the town.
FRIDAY night we got to help out Santa Claus deliver gifts to the Frolavi home. Eriks was so excited and so confused about it. I like doorbell ditching people. Sister Wilson slipped on the ice as we were running away, oops!
SATURDAY we went out caroling in the rain. We were all pretty wet by the end, but we had a lot of fun. People thought we were crazy (we are). We then went to the Christmas Concert and sang songs like Go tell it on the Mountain and Silent Night in Latvian. It was a nice short program and at the end Ausma gave me chibas (aka knit slippers). They are so great! They look like fairy shoes and are pretty much my favorite. Since I was fairly awake on Saturday night we had Christmas early and opened all of our presents. Thank you everyone!
SUNDAY we had an hour meeting full of testimonies of Jesus Christ. We sang Silent Night as the closing hymn and the spirit was very strong. We went to some less active's homes and saw a bunch of wild swans on the lake. They were beautiful. I like watching the wind on the water.
Practically every day we have met with Valda, a 51-year-old working towards baptism. She loves Jesus and likes to wear clothes that sparkle. Her mom, Zigrida is 80, has no chompers and loves to have us sing since she can't see well. She claps her hands and giggles like a little girl whenever we finish a song. I'm pretty sure that Valda has a crush on Oskars. Valda has a boyfriend that we are trying to help her get rid of. He is a drunk that already has a wife. Lots of fun stuff.
Merry Christmas and I love you all. God loves us so He sent His Son! Christ, Jesus, the annointed one!
Love,
Sister L
Note from Thor & Lisa: We had a nice 'video chat' with Mari on Christmas morning. She looked great, and we all enjoyed visiting with her.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Week 44
Merry Christmas everyone!
I can't believe that a year has already flown by. With this past week being my year mark I have been thinking a lot about what I was doing last year. What an adventure the past year has been, filled with many ups and downs. Thank you all for your continued love, support, and prayers.
On Monday we went by the Ringman Maris' to pick up some rings. Sister Wilson made the mistake of asking about skiing. A half hour later we left. We are now well versed on skiing in Latvia and in other places in the world, lol. It was actually a lot of fun. Maris loves skiing and is such a fun man. We ate a late lunch with the elders at Olive and had a fun lesson with a lady named Sveta. Missionaries used to live by her and she was just all sorts of fun. "I haven't formed an opinion about your church yet." I had a fun little miracle of listening to the spirit on Monday. Normally I carry around a "personal" copy of the Book of Mormon. It is one of the smaller older versions that I use so that I don't soil a bunch of new ones. I had the impression Monday to take a new Book of Mormon, so I did. I was on tram, on the way home from harvesting debating whether I wanted to talk to this lady or not. I decided to and made a straight b-line for her. She was just the perfect little contact. "You are a missionary? That is so great! I love the Bible. Do you believe in the Bible? I bet you have a special book too? That book contains the fulness of Jesus Christ's gospel and you can study it with the Bible? I bet you teach English too, and I bet it is for free." Sadly she didn't want to meet, but she did take a copy of the Book of Mormon and our phone number.
On Tuesday we had District Meeting in Latvian with Oskars! It was fun having him there. He really enjoyed being with us and helping out. We taught Santa Dike about Family History with Ludmila. Ludmila was the cutest thing in the lesson. She really likes family history and was so excited that Santa would be able to work on her family history. In Ludmila's prayer she prayed that Santa would be able to get a temple recommend and do her family history and it was just super cute. We taught Guna out of Alma 32 and she thinks she has the desire to grow the seed!
Wednesday's highlight was going to Inga's. Inga is a long time investigator who apparently hasn't had a firm grip about what the Book of Mormon is. She didn't understand fully about what the BOM is, where it came from, who wrote it, etc. We cleared that all up and it made a LOT more sense to her. We also helped Inga clean. We were all ready with gloves to get down and dirty but we ended up just helping her fold clothes. She owns a LOT of clothes. A lot a lot.
Thursday was transfers! Elder Palmer is leaving us, but everyone else is staying the same in Liepaja. Elder Burr and Elder Lynch are serving together in Jelgava, in a tri-panionship with a Russian speaking elder from Sweden! I so wish I could be there, but alas, I still haven't found those people I am to teach in Liepaja. We had a branch activity and made Christmas cards.
Friday was a busy day. We taught Rita, a newly engaged 51-year old English and a spiritual thought. We also got to meet with Valda. She is a woman that the elders contacted that has a strong desire to change her life. It was really neat to meet with her and teach her how to pray. She came to church on Sunday and we extended a baptismal date to her then. She is already reading from the Book of Mormon and is just a really sincere and humble woman. We had a fun little bonding time with Alesja during her meeting. We started by talking about families and then she showed us all of her family pictures. We also got to meet with the Beldavi on Friday night. Dace (the mom) was there, so it was nice to talk to her. That woman is a saint, raising four sons on her own!
Saturday's service was helping Rihard's stack wood. It was pretty easy this time since we just had to stay in the house and stack it. We then had choir practice for our Christmas Eve concert, English class, and a lesson with a hopefully soon-to-be-new-member Nadezda. She is the cutest lady and she loves the Book of Mormon. She brought her copy to class and we read some of it together. By we I mean she, and she did it with arm movements and such emotion and would stop and say, "I love this part!" and other things that missionaries love to hear. Sadly, she is going out of town for the holidays. I am excited for January. Liga was mellow this week, she's been sick. She made us cabbage soup (tasted like coleslaw in soup form...yuck!) and I had a cough attack. It was pretty bad, my eyes started watering and yeah. I survived though.
On Sunday Valda came to church! Hurray! Madara is back from her mini-mission and she gave a talk and it was a good sacrament meeting about callings and service.
I can't believe that it is almost Christmas! I look forward to spending the next holiday season with you. Hot chocolate, "It's A Wonderful Life", and all my favorite people.
Sending you Christmas kisses!
Sister L
I can't believe that a year has already flown by. With this past week being my year mark I have been thinking a lot about what I was doing last year. What an adventure the past year has been, filled with many ups and downs. Thank you all for your continued love, support, and prayers.
On Monday we went by the Ringman Maris' to pick up some rings. Sister Wilson made the mistake of asking about skiing. A half hour later we left. We are now well versed on skiing in Latvia and in other places in the world, lol. It was actually a lot of fun. Maris loves skiing and is such a fun man. We ate a late lunch with the elders at Olive and had a fun lesson with a lady named Sveta. Missionaries used to live by her and she was just all sorts of fun. "I haven't formed an opinion about your church yet." I had a fun little miracle of listening to the spirit on Monday. Normally I carry around a "personal" copy of the Book of Mormon. It is one of the smaller older versions that I use so that I don't soil a bunch of new ones. I had the impression Monday to take a new Book of Mormon, so I did. I was on tram, on the way home from harvesting debating whether I wanted to talk to this lady or not. I decided to and made a straight b-line for her. She was just the perfect little contact. "You are a missionary? That is so great! I love the Bible. Do you believe in the Bible? I bet you have a special book too? That book contains the fulness of Jesus Christ's gospel and you can study it with the Bible? I bet you teach English too, and I bet it is for free." Sadly she didn't want to meet, but she did take a copy of the Book of Mormon and our phone number.
On Tuesday we had District Meeting in Latvian with Oskars! It was fun having him there. He really enjoyed being with us and helping out. We taught Santa Dike about Family History with Ludmila. Ludmila was the cutest thing in the lesson. She really likes family history and was so excited that Santa would be able to work on her family history. In Ludmila's prayer she prayed that Santa would be able to get a temple recommend and do her family history and it was just super cute. We taught Guna out of Alma 32 and she thinks she has the desire to grow the seed!
Wednesday's highlight was going to Inga's. Inga is a long time investigator who apparently hasn't had a firm grip about what the Book of Mormon is. She didn't understand fully about what the BOM is, where it came from, who wrote it, etc. We cleared that all up and it made a LOT more sense to her. We also helped Inga clean. We were all ready with gloves to get down and dirty but we ended up just helping her fold clothes. She owns a LOT of clothes. A lot a lot.
Thursday was transfers! Elder Palmer is leaving us, but everyone else is staying the same in Liepaja. Elder Burr and Elder Lynch are serving together in Jelgava, in a tri-panionship with a Russian speaking elder from Sweden! I so wish I could be there, but alas, I still haven't found those people I am to teach in Liepaja. We had a branch activity and made Christmas cards.
Friday was a busy day. We taught Rita, a newly engaged 51-year old English and a spiritual thought. We also got to meet with Valda. She is a woman that the elders contacted that has a strong desire to change her life. It was really neat to meet with her and teach her how to pray. She came to church on Sunday and we extended a baptismal date to her then. She is already reading from the Book of Mormon and is just a really sincere and humble woman. We had a fun little bonding time with Alesja during her meeting. We started by talking about families and then she showed us all of her family pictures. We also got to meet with the Beldavi on Friday night. Dace (the mom) was there, so it was nice to talk to her. That woman is a saint, raising four sons on her own!
Saturday's service was helping Rihard's stack wood. It was pretty easy this time since we just had to stay in the house and stack it. We then had choir practice for our Christmas Eve concert, English class, and a lesson with a hopefully soon-to-be-new-member Nadezda. She is the cutest lady and she loves the Book of Mormon. She brought her copy to class and we read some of it together. By we I mean she, and she did it with arm movements and such emotion and would stop and say, "I love this part!" and other things that missionaries love to hear. Sadly, she is going out of town for the holidays. I am excited for January. Liga was mellow this week, she's been sick. She made us cabbage soup (tasted like coleslaw in soup form...yuck!) and I had a cough attack. It was pretty bad, my eyes started watering and yeah. I survived though.
On Sunday Valda came to church! Hurray! Madara is back from her mini-mission and she gave a talk and it was a good sacrament meeting about callings and service.
I can't believe that it is almost Christmas! I look forward to spending the next holiday season with you. Hot chocolate, "It's A Wonderful Life", and all my favorite people.
Sending you Christmas kisses!
Sister L
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Week 43
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...at least decoration wise. :) There are angels "floating" in the river, the bridge is covered with gingerbread cookies, there is a tram that is covered in Christmas lights, the Catholic church has them as well, a giant Christmas tree is in center, and the University has giant white lights and snowflakes on campus. I am perfectly fine with the fact that there is no snow on the ground. No snow = above freezing and with wind chill it isn't too bad. I realized last night that this is the 4th Christmas away from home for me. I am ready to be back home, doing the nativity and driving dad nuts, eating cold cereal Christmas morning after waking up way too early, and of course, slurpees at 7-11 with my favorite people on Christmas Eve. There's always next year though!
Did I mention that I feel like I live in "It's a Wonderful Life"? Currently there is a bank crisis here in Latvija. One Latvian bank went bankrupt and all the time there are huge lines at banks- people trying to get out their money and such.
Last Monday was quite adventurous. We went with recent convert Liga to try out these massaging beds. It was actually really nice. That is the best my legs have felt in years! (Now don't I sound old.) The people there do a great job at brainwashing you into thinking that you need a 30 centime massage every day (aka 60 cents US for about a half hour massage and 30 minutes or so of brainwashing to like their products). The shorter days haven't been bothering me as much as I thought...we've been very busy this week though with various activities. Mostly we just live in a time warp of perpetual gray, the occasional rain, wind, and blue sky. I'm just glad that it isn't super cold. Our windows are quite drafty. Our house temperature ranges from 61 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. We bought some tape and are going to tape up the windows today and see if it makes it less draft. So anywho, we ate at my favorite Pastnieka Maja. I got fish and rice. It was weird, we ate upstairs, which isn't very cute. There are VERY large pink flowers on the walls and yes...I just like downstairs and outside better. Speaking of outside, there is a boardwalk that leads across some grass to Pastnieka Maja. Elder Alder was sliding on it because it was hail/rain/snowing and he biffed it and fell really hard. He was soaking wet and embarrassed and we all had belly aches from laughing. We made a bunch of playdough ornaments for ward members that we still need to paint.
Tuesday we had quite the weather- more of the rain/snow/hail with wind. I now know why I went to physical therapy for so long...so I could walk backwards and sideways really fast so you don't get pelted in the face by hail going at least 30 mph. I knew there had to be a reason they always made me practice traveling all sorts of directions of that treadmill! Mostly the weather just made me laugh, although I was very wet very quickly. We had lunch with Ruta Jekste, the former RS president who randomly went off to Germany. She is back and is doing well. She really didn't like her job there...they were very restrictive on her freedom. Needless to say she talked our ears off and is glad to be back in the Branch and helping out. She fed us rice with beef and carrots "chinese food!". We dropped off cookies to some members, overall it went well. We were able to see one member, Alesja, who hasn't been to church for 10 years and set up an appointment to talk with her.
On Wednesday we took cookies to inactive Lydia and Dzintra. They were NOT happy to see us. I left the cookies outside their doors anyway. :) Ausma was happy to see us and We had a good lesson with Alesja. She is 20 and got baptized when she was about ten. She is really nice and sweet-tempered and wants to come to church once she finishes learning how to drive. Driving here is a big deal- it is really expensive and the law is soon changing that you have to be 21 to drive here. You lose your license if you ever hit anyone and they have a disciple points and fine system like we do in Utah. We visited a possible investigator, Inga. She is the Branch President Wife's friend. She is a nice lady who needs to make some life changes but will one day be a member. We had a good evening harvesting. Lots of people gave us their phone numbers and said we could come back.
Thursday’s highlights included eating lunch at Zelma's house. She fed us frikadellas with potatoes and sour cream. We eat everything with sour cream here- soup, potatoes, pancakes, meat, salad, pretty much anything and everything. They are proud of their potatoes here. Lots of varieties and a lot more flavorful than Idaho potatoes. We held a Relief Society party in the evening...we made Christmas cards as well as flowers from cloth to wear. Overall it went really well and we are planning on having another activity to make even more cards.
Friday, oh Friday. It was snowing on Friday (it is all gone now). But you see, there is this cute old man who is out every morning and stands by the gate to the old Catholic church and begs for money. He was out today in the awful weather and the priest told him to leave and he was walking across the cobblestone with his cane looking defeated and it was just really sad. I cried for him. We are so blessed to have so much. So so much. There would be many many families living in houses the size we have in Utah. We made a yummy creamy vegetable soup (with far too much onion...oh boy!), and we did a lot of calling of persons on Friday. Presidents sang for us....it was some crazy Russian- 80s techno super weird song about forgiveness. I think he should keep to his opera. It was pretty great though...I just imagined him in a gangster outfit with some electric guitar players with long hair behind him. I gently nudged that he shouldn't sing it for the Christmas party. We had tea and cookies with Liga in the evening and talked to her about tithing. She is excited to pay it and it was just a good lesson overall.
On Saturday we only had 6 or so people at English...all of our Lauma (lingerie factory) students are working 6 days a week to finish a huge order. We had a good lesson with Santa from Enos 1. I really like Enos one, it was a really touching chapter for me. I especially liked the last two verses. We had a choir practice...mostly missionaries and a few members. So far I don't have any solos, so that is good. We are learning some traditional Latvian Christmas songs, as well as other songs like "Go Tell It On A Mountain" in Latvian. We love feeling like a Baptist church! We went harvesting and a young dad set up an appointment with us for next Wednesday...wahoo! Sister Wilson was in need of some chocolate Saturday night and after buying 5 lats worth she set off the alarm. A big security man then came and grabbed her. I had to quickly grab all her chocolate and other articles and go chasing after them. They disappeared! Luckily Sister Wilson is loud so I could hear her. She was in a boxed off security room and apparently her pocket dictionary set off the alarm. Always an adventure!
On Sunday I was able to give a talk about family. It went really well and several members thanked me after, so I guess it was good! I talked a lot about how my family is a great example to me, especially my parents. They have taught me about the importance of family history, how to work, how to serve, the importance of the temple, daily scripture study, home and visiting teaching, family prayer, and so on. I helped Sister Wilson in Primary. The kids were pretty rowdy so we did some pretty silly games while singing. In the end they just ended up making a fort out of blankets and chairs...wild children! We then did normal missionary work- trying to find people and there wasn't anything too exciting there.
Merry Christmas!
Love, Sister L
Did I mention that I feel like I live in "It's a Wonderful Life"? Currently there is a bank crisis here in Latvija. One Latvian bank went bankrupt and all the time there are huge lines at banks- people trying to get out their money and such.
Last Monday was quite adventurous. We went with recent convert Liga to try out these massaging beds. It was actually really nice. That is the best my legs have felt in years! (Now don't I sound old.) The people there do a great job at brainwashing you into thinking that you need a 30 centime massage every day (aka 60 cents US for about a half hour massage and 30 minutes or so of brainwashing to like their products). The shorter days haven't been bothering me as much as I thought...we've been very busy this week though with various activities. Mostly we just live in a time warp of perpetual gray, the occasional rain, wind, and blue sky. I'm just glad that it isn't super cold. Our windows are quite drafty. Our house temperature ranges from 61 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit. We bought some tape and are going to tape up the windows today and see if it makes it less draft. So anywho, we ate at my favorite Pastnieka Maja. I got fish and rice. It was weird, we ate upstairs, which isn't very cute. There are VERY large pink flowers on the walls and yes...I just like downstairs and outside better. Speaking of outside, there is a boardwalk that leads across some grass to Pastnieka Maja. Elder Alder was sliding on it because it was hail/rain/snowing and he biffed it and fell really hard. He was soaking wet and embarrassed and we all had belly aches from laughing. We made a bunch of playdough ornaments for ward members that we still need to paint.
Tuesday we had quite the weather- more of the rain/snow/hail with wind. I now know why I went to physical therapy for so long...so I could walk backwards and sideways really fast so you don't get pelted in the face by hail going at least 30 mph. I knew there had to be a reason they always made me practice traveling all sorts of directions of that treadmill! Mostly the weather just made me laugh, although I was very wet very quickly. We had lunch with Ruta Jekste, the former RS president who randomly went off to Germany. She is back and is doing well. She really didn't like her job there...they were very restrictive on her freedom. Needless to say she talked our ears off and is glad to be back in the Branch and helping out. She fed us rice with beef and carrots "chinese food!". We dropped off cookies to some members, overall it went well. We were able to see one member, Alesja, who hasn't been to church for 10 years and set up an appointment to talk with her.
On Wednesday we took cookies to inactive Lydia and Dzintra. They were NOT happy to see us. I left the cookies outside their doors anyway. :) Ausma was happy to see us and We had a good lesson with Alesja. She is 20 and got baptized when she was about ten. She is really nice and sweet-tempered and wants to come to church once she finishes learning how to drive. Driving here is a big deal- it is really expensive and the law is soon changing that you have to be 21 to drive here. You lose your license if you ever hit anyone and they have a disciple points and fine system like we do in Utah. We visited a possible investigator, Inga. She is the Branch President Wife's friend. She is a nice lady who needs to make some life changes but will one day be a member. We had a good evening harvesting. Lots of people gave us their phone numbers and said we could come back.
Thursday’s highlights included eating lunch at Zelma's house. She fed us frikadellas with potatoes and sour cream. We eat everything with sour cream here- soup, potatoes, pancakes, meat, salad, pretty much anything and everything. They are proud of their potatoes here. Lots of varieties and a lot more flavorful than Idaho potatoes. We held a Relief Society party in the evening...we made Christmas cards as well as flowers from cloth to wear. Overall it went really well and we are planning on having another activity to make even more cards.
Friday, oh Friday. It was snowing on Friday (it is all gone now). But you see, there is this cute old man who is out every morning and stands by the gate to the old Catholic church and begs for money. He was out today in the awful weather and the priest told him to leave and he was walking across the cobblestone with his cane looking defeated and it was just really sad. I cried for him. We are so blessed to have so much. So so much. There would be many many families living in houses the size we have in Utah. We made a yummy creamy vegetable soup (with far too much onion...oh boy!), and we did a lot of calling of persons on Friday. Presidents sang for us....it was some crazy Russian- 80s techno super weird song about forgiveness. I think he should keep to his opera. It was pretty great though...I just imagined him in a gangster outfit with some electric guitar players with long hair behind him. I gently nudged that he shouldn't sing it for the Christmas party. We had tea and cookies with Liga in the evening and talked to her about tithing. She is excited to pay it and it was just a good lesson overall.
On Saturday we only had 6 or so people at English...all of our Lauma (lingerie factory) students are working 6 days a week to finish a huge order. We had a good lesson with Santa from Enos 1. I really like Enos one, it was a really touching chapter for me. I especially liked the last two verses. We had a choir practice...mostly missionaries and a few members. So far I don't have any solos, so that is good. We are learning some traditional Latvian Christmas songs, as well as other songs like "Go Tell It On A Mountain" in Latvian. We love feeling like a Baptist church! We went harvesting and a young dad set up an appointment with us for next Wednesday...wahoo! Sister Wilson was in need of some chocolate Saturday night and after buying 5 lats worth she set off the alarm. A big security man then came and grabbed her. I had to quickly grab all her chocolate and other articles and go chasing after them. They disappeared! Luckily Sister Wilson is loud so I could hear her. She was in a boxed off security room and apparently her pocket dictionary set off the alarm. Always an adventure!
On Sunday I was able to give a talk about family. It went really well and several members thanked me after, so I guess it was good! I talked a lot about how my family is a great example to me, especially my parents. They have taught me about the importance of family history, how to work, how to serve, the importance of the temple, daily scripture study, home and visiting teaching, family prayer, and so on. I helped Sister Wilson in Primary. The kids were pretty rowdy so we did some pretty silly games while singing. In the end they just ended up making a fort out of blankets and chairs...wild children! We then did normal missionary work- trying to find people and there wasn't anything too exciting there.
Merry Christmas!
Love, Sister L
Monday, December 5, 2011
Week 42
Monday
Thanksgiving take two was definitely a lot less stressful and almost as good. We didn't finish Thanksgiving leftovers until Thursday. Our district had a nice time talking and writing letters. In the evening we went and had FHE with the Frolavi family since they are having some family trials. They are doing well. Afterwards we dropped Jana Gromenko (inactive) and gave her cookies. She let us in for a spiritual thought and for a return appointment!
Tuesday
In District Meeting I was glad for the opportunity to practice teaching about dispensations. As of late I've been going over the first three lessons in PMG and learning a lot and improving my teaching. We went with Lidija L. to do her visiting teaching. We went to visit an awesome inactive member, Mara. She and Lidija butted heads at first, but by the end everyone was sipping tea and enjoying Mara showing us all of the crafts that she has made. Luckily the whispers of inspiration told me to 1. bring Mara's address and 2. prepare a spiritual thought. We taught Santa Dike (recent convert) in the evening about Gifts of the Spirit and you know what, she didn't crack one single joke about it. I was kind of disappointed. Regardless, it was a great lesson.
Wednesday
Everyone decided to cancel on us. It ended up working out though because Lidija called during studies and asked if we could take her daughter to the dentist since she had to work. The dentist was behind schedule and so it all worked out. It was interesting to be inside a school here. It was PURE CHAOS. I have never seen so many little people punching each other and being so loud. It would be pure madness to be a teacher here. I am grateful that we have a more civilized educational approach. We went by Liga's (recent convert...the one who practically took the Book of Mormon out of my hands) even though she had cancelled on us earlier and she let us in! We had cookies and she was so glad to see us that she made us peppermint tea and bread and butter. I have a confession, I kind of like tea now. Sugar is the key. Anywho, Liga invited us to go get 30 centime (60 US cents) massages with her on Monday [in retrospect it was a very nice massage by a machine].
Thursday
We went and had probably our best lesson with inactive Vineta. Her husband was home and he took little Marex (who still doesn't talk) for a little bit and you could actually feel the Spirit really strongly, it was great! We had a lesson with Oskars in his home. Wow. We are just spoiled little people. Oskars lives in a one room home with a wood stove, 2 old broken beds, 2 chairs that he places his clothes on, no fridge, no cupboards, just a small table by a sink and enough dishes to serve himself. We are so blessed to have so much and yet we always want more. There are others who have nothing and are happy. I think we have a big lesson to learn from them. The gospel has made Oskars happy. He was just beaming when he showed us pictures of his family (all now deceased). We went to the town tree lighting ceremony. It was really fun. Different classes from the schools dressed up and sort of had a parade. They sang some traditional folk songs about how it is getting dark and how they have the stars for light but want the sun and so on. It was all really pretty and there were so many cute families. Since the whole cookie thing has been going so well, we decided to try it with an investigator we haven't been able to meet with, Zenta [older, has the grandson with the crazy random disease]. She, along with all our other investigators will be busy pretty much all December.
Friday
Yay for early morning trips to Riga. The handsome ortho was able to fix my new retainers right away. We went around Imanta a little bit- it was weird to be in my old stomping grounds. We then picked up mail and I ended up carrying a very heavy package around all day in the rain and wind. We found a great cafe, Sweetday Cafe, and had some creamy vegetable soup with some good but overpriced chocolate cake with ice cream and fruit. It was pretty epically eclectic. It reminded me of a cafe that Kimmie, Kirstin, and I would have. They were also playing awesome old school (aka Nat King Cole) Christmas music which is my favorite. I love the old stuff!
Satuday
The church got attacked again. More graffiti and three broken windows. Last week they tried to steal the sign. We don't know who it is, but we have a sneaking suspicion that it could be some previous investigators. We had a neat little moment in English class...we were going over how the BOM answers questions to the soul and spent some time showing everyone how to look up the scriptures and they all seemed a lot more comfortable and everyone took a BOM at the end! That NEVER happens! It was super awesome. We went off with Lidija again to help with her visiting teaching. On the way I dropped the phone in a puddle. Never fear, the phone is fine! It wasn't like when Sister Sutterfield ran it through the laundry by any means. The inactive woman we visited, Inese was really great and her whole family (husband and 2 kids) are members. We had a good lesson with her, Lidija talked a LOT this time and Inese actually came to church on Sunday, what a miracle! Do your visiting and home teaching everybody! We had our lesson with Jana. Rubija a member who has been in France picking kiwis (no, she doesn't speak French) helped us with the lesson and I think Sister Gromenko really liked it.
Sunday
The Boswells came to church today which was fun! I translated Sister Boswell's testimony...it is hard waiting for people to finish their thoughts and then translate. I do much better translating as they talk. I was in Primary for singing time with Sister Wilson and then Sister Boswell went to Relief Society with me so I could do my duties there. We then had lentil soup and biscuits to break our fast. We love having the Boswell's over!
Thanksgiving take two was definitely a lot less stressful and almost as good. We didn't finish Thanksgiving leftovers until Thursday. Our district had a nice time talking and writing letters. In the evening we went and had FHE with the Frolavi family since they are having some family trials. They are doing well. Afterwards we dropped Jana Gromenko (inactive) and gave her cookies. She let us in for a spiritual thought and for a return appointment!
Tuesday
In District Meeting I was glad for the opportunity to practice teaching about dispensations. As of late I've been going over the first three lessons in PMG and learning a lot and improving my teaching. We went with Lidija L. to do her visiting teaching. We went to visit an awesome inactive member, Mara. She and Lidija butted heads at first, but by the end everyone was sipping tea and enjoying Mara showing us all of the crafts that she has made. Luckily the whispers of inspiration told me to 1. bring Mara's address and 2. prepare a spiritual thought. We taught Santa Dike (recent convert) in the evening about Gifts of the Spirit and you know what, she didn't crack one single joke about it. I was kind of disappointed. Regardless, it was a great lesson.
Wednesday
Everyone decided to cancel on us. It ended up working out though because Lidija called during studies and asked if we could take her daughter to the dentist since she had to work. The dentist was behind schedule and so it all worked out. It was interesting to be inside a school here. It was PURE CHAOS. I have never seen so many little people punching each other and being so loud. It would be pure madness to be a teacher here. I am grateful that we have a more civilized educational approach. We went by Liga's (recent convert...the one who practically took the Book of Mormon out of my hands) even though she had cancelled on us earlier and she let us in! We had cookies and she was so glad to see us that she made us peppermint tea and bread and butter. I have a confession, I kind of like tea now. Sugar is the key. Anywho, Liga invited us to go get 30 centime (60 US cents) massages with her on Monday [in retrospect it was a very nice massage by a machine].
Thursday
We went and had probably our best lesson with inactive Vineta. Her husband was home and he took little Marex (who still doesn't talk) for a little bit and you could actually feel the Spirit really strongly, it was great! We had a lesson with Oskars in his home. Wow. We are just spoiled little people. Oskars lives in a one room home with a wood stove, 2 old broken beds, 2 chairs that he places his clothes on, no fridge, no cupboards, just a small table by a sink and enough dishes to serve himself. We are so blessed to have so much and yet we always want more. There are others who have nothing and are happy. I think we have a big lesson to learn from them. The gospel has made Oskars happy. He was just beaming when he showed us pictures of his family (all now deceased). We went to the town tree lighting ceremony. It was really fun. Different classes from the schools dressed up and sort of had a parade. They sang some traditional folk songs about how it is getting dark and how they have the stars for light but want the sun and so on. It was all really pretty and there were so many cute families. Since the whole cookie thing has been going so well, we decided to try it with an investigator we haven't been able to meet with, Zenta [older, has the grandson with the crazy random disease]. She, along with all our other investigators will be busy pretty much all December.
Friday
Yay for early morning trips to Riga. The handsome ortho was able to fix my new retainers right away. We went around Imanta a little bit- it was weird to be in my old stomping grounds. We then picked up mail and I ended up carrying a very heavy package around all day in the rain and wind. We found a great cafe, Sweetday Cafe, and had some creamy vegetable soup with some good but overpriced chocolate cake with ice cream and fruit. It was pretty epically eclectic. It reminded me of a cafe that Kimmie, Kirstin, and I would have. They were also playing awesome old school (aka Nat King Cole) Christmas music which is my favorite. I love the old stuff!
Satuday
The church got attacked again. More graffiti and three broken windows. Last week they tried to steal the sign. We don't know who it is, but we have a sneaking suspicion that it could be some previous investigators. We had a neat little moment in English class...we were going over how the BOM answers questions to the soul and spent some time showing everyone how to look up the scriptures and they all seemed a lot more comfortable and everyone took a BOM at the end! That NEVER happens! It was super awesome. We went off with Lidija again to help with her visiting teaching. On the way I dropped the phone in a puddle. Never fear, the phone is fine! It wasn't like when Sister Sutterfield ran it through the laundry by any means. The inactive woman we visited, Inese was really great and her whole family (husband and 2 kids) are members. We had a good lesson with her, Lidija talked a LOT this time and Inese actually came to church on Sunday, what a miracle! Do your visiting and home teaching everybody! We had our lesson with Jana. Rubija a member who has been in France picking kiwis (no, she doesn't speak French) helped us with the lesson and I think Sister Gromenko really liked it.
Sunday
The Boswells came to church today which was fun! I translated Sister Boswell's testimony...it is hard waiting for people to finish their thoughts and then translate. I do much better translating as they talk. I was in Primary for singing time with Sister Wilson and then Sister Boswell went to Relief Society with me so I could do my duties there. We then had lentil soup and biscuits to break our fast. We love having the Boswell's over!
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