Week 45

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.