Week 48

So, not like anyone is counting, but I'll be training in ten days! I'm so excited...Sister Clark and Sister Kurr are the new sisters coming in...thank heavens! We are very low staffed Latvian speaking wise- 2 sisters and 12 elders who speak Latvian- that is all! The bets all around the mission are Sister Wilson training in Riga and me staying in Liepaja. The former Sister Ferrin is predicting that I will be with Sister Clark, so we will see who is right in two weeks!

It has been quite the crazy week. At one point or another we have had six baptismal dates this week! What an outpouring of blessings. Kristina (24) and Janis- a cute family with 2 month of twin girls and a two year old girl who is almost as cute as my niece. Kristina loves church but Janis didn't come this Sunday. We also need to get them married. I'm considering getting a marriage licence so I can wed them (just kidding). Janis (27ish) #2- who found us on the Internet. *Sigh*. He has not showed up to meetings and he won't answer our calls. We don't know what happened but it is too bad because the First Presidency (somehow) found out about him and wanted to do a Liahona article on him since he found the church on the Internet. We are praying that he will come back. The trolls are back (Ieva [13] and Olga [15]) both with baptismal dates for Olga's birthday. I think Ieva might drop out but Olga, if she is sincere this time, will hopefully be able to kick her Word of Wisdom problems and follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into the waters of baptism. And then we have Valda (51). Her and Santa Dike are friends now and Valda is getting more and more prepared to be baptized by the day!

MONDAY was a backwards preparation day. We started with tanning and ended with internet. I took Sister W. to my favorite store...a mistake. It's called "Otra Elpa" (Second Breath) and is a second hand store that works purely on donations and uses all the money to go to charities and other warm fuzzy activities. We now have a very Latvian tea set, including a tea pot and spoons, some socks cards, a table runner, a doily, and a Latvian travel guide. If anyone wants to come for a tea party, they are welcome. The cashier I'm quite sure thought Sister Wilson was crazy for spending so much money. Good luck getting it home! I was content with the 50 cent (not the musician) CD I found by a famous Latvian band "Prata Vetra" (Brain storm). We took Santa Dike out to eat with us at a hotel/restaurant called Colombus. It was pretty snazzy looking and the food was fine (a little expensive and not many options). I got some delicious pasta with some salmon...yummy.

TUESDAY morning we went on a gorgeous run to the beach- full moon, no wind, it was perfect. Madara (former mini-missionary who will be serving in Temple Square) joined us for a hoot and a half of a district meeting. The title? "Hunting People." The lesson was complete with a deer hunting analogy (if only I hunted and knew about needing to get a tag and all those sorts of things). We met with the trolls and introduced them to their coach, Zina. She is supposed to be their go-to person when they want to break the Word of Wisdom. I lost beyblades to Eriks when we had FHE with the Frolavi. Eriks did an incredible job during the lesson telling us about prayer. "It is when you talk to God and if you want to ask a question to Him you can and He will answer you so you can know more about Him."

WEDNESDAY morning I was up far too early. We woke up to catch a 5:40am bus to Riga. So that we could ride with the elders to help Elder Alder find a palto (a sort of coat). It wasn't worth it. We then had the most incredible amazing Latvian Zone training (aka only 15 missionaries- only 2 being girls). We are a funny zone. Jokes were being thrown out left and right but it was still a super good meeting about how to be Master Preach My Gospel Teacher. I came with a few questions and left with many answers and ideas on how to better teach. The ride home was much better. Why? (Well, number 1, it wasn't 6 am) Elder Holdaway came down! aka I got to talk it up with my favorite pus-masa (half sister- Elder Holdaway loves shopping, clothes, talking girl stuff [don't worry, he likes girls too]) all the ride home.

THURSDAY we had a pretty funny lesson with investigator Valda.
The dialogue went as follows:
Sister Lindstrom: What color do you think of when I say the word "pure"?
Valda: Red! [odd looks from sisters] PAUSE It's my favorite color!
Sister Lindstrom: {internally: crap!} Ohh...well, when I hear the word pure, I think of the color white.
The lesson was saved, the law of chastity was taught, and there was much laughing among the sisters.
Ruta Grodska, our new RS president helped us out with a lesson with an English student, Nadezda. She is around 60 or so and speaks Russian better so we thought her and Ruta would be besties. They were. We didn't really even teach the lesson. Ruta started going and we just sat back and smiled. Occasionally Ruta would throw out a word or two in Latvian so we knew what was going on. Words I understood: Angel Moroni, Hill Cummoruh, three degrees of glory, Book of Mormon, etc. Nadezda wants to see a baptism first before she gets baptized, but I think she is golden. She LOVES The Book of Mormon and wants to understand it better. We also met with our cute family Janis and Kristina. Their twins have so much hair! Eliza the two year old is the politest thing I have ever met. We taught them about the Restoration and had a great lesson, with Kristina ending in prayer on her knees! We also met with the trolls and went through the baptismal interview questions with them. Their answers were really good and I hope they get baptized this year.

FRIDAY we had even more fun with Valda.
Sister Wilson: If you have 10 lats, how much tithing do you need to pay?
Valda: Umm...14 lats!
Sister Wilson: How did she get 14?! What? Why did you say 14?
Sister Lindstrom: But Valda, you only have 10 lats, you don't have 14 to even give!
I am happy to say that Valda can now pay her tithing. Correctly.
We made yummy polenta pizza (polenta = the Italian name for cornmeal mush that you eat as a side dish) thanks to Kirstin Lee's package as well as cinnamon rolls for a church activity tomorrow. Presidents helped us to teach Kristina (Janis wasn't home). She is so great. She asked 1. What do you wear to church and 2. How do you donate?
Ieva (the six year old BP's daughter) cut her hair today. It is pretty great. You can give her fuzzy wuzzys on the top of her head now. He hair is normally half way down her back. She will be having some epic fun growing it back. Currently mom is trying to cover it up with lots of bows and flowers, lol. Gotta love kids!
It started snowing! And it is sticking! It makes it look so much brighter outside so I kind of like it. I'd rather be out in snow than rain at least.

SATURDAY morning we went on an exciting trek with Kristina and Janis to show them the church. Mother Nature graced us with 4 inches of snow or so, which is lots of fun to push a twin stroller in. Bless their hearts for being determined. We showed them the church and then the Restoration film which they really really really enjoyed. We had a great big English class and the spiritual thought went well. Sister Senkane came and taught us about raising chillin's. I learned a lot. Parenting styles (which also apply to investigators she told us): authoritative, liberal, and democratic. During the Communist time children being raised were always under authority and they never had any choices. Sister Senkane said that when she had the option to choose what shoes she wanted she didn't know. "Mom knows what kind of shoes I like better than I do. Mom knows what dresses I like to wear and what color." Latvia has now swung to the opposite side- liberal. You see six year olds on public transportation unaccompanied, there is no discipline in schools, etc. It is best to be democratic, where their aren't punishments, but consequences that you have already talked about. When children/investigators/members need to do something, give them options, not choices. e.g. "Do you want to wear the green dress or the red dress?" not "What do you want to wear?" or "Which lesson would you like to teach, here is the list with the dates" not "Will you teach the lesson next Sunday?" She's a genius! She also stressed the importance of one on one time with children (where they get to pick what you do together for 30 minutes) and to have a good relationship with your spouse. Dad, I think I want to garden for my 30 minutes. :)

SUNDAY Kristina came to church with all three girls! The Branch LOVES them. I made popeye pucks for lunch and it made me think of dad a lot (P.S. I don't like the oregano in them). We also met with Santa. She never fails to be hilarious. "Riksi, cut it out! I need to read! Do you know what that means, 'to read'? It means to say letters together." Her prayer was hilarious. We were all laughing. Before we asked if she'd pray and said that her husband would be cuter. "Yeah, you could have one of the stripling warriors. Or I like Ammon," said Sis. W. "Who's Ammon?" "He's the one who cut off the arms." "He cut off his own arms?" "No, he cut off lots of other people's arms." "Oh...with a chain saw? Vrrm! Vrrm!" Thank you Santa. Her prayer included praying for said Ammon, the masochist to marry, as well as asking God why Riksi was so dumb. I may have been squealing during the prayer...Riksi kept on walking back and forth on top of me. Oh my, what a fine day.