Week 53

Well, hello world. We are alive and well. My music player, on the other hand, is not. It died this past week. February has not been my technology month- my camera got lost, the music player died, and now I'm just waiting for my running watch to give up the ghost. Oh well. It has been raining on top of the snow which makes for an ice skating adventure. No one has fallen yet, but I'm not quite sure how we are going to run on this stuff.

Monday we went and got yummy raspberry pastry hearts at the bakery. Valentine's Day is not really celebrated here, but you do see displays of chocolate out and such. We made kartupeli pankukas (potato pancakes) for lunch at the church. We borrowed the elders' waffle iron and made chocolate waffle cookies- yum! Harvesting was pretty great. There was an old man with a flowered robe (his) that answered the door. It was an effort not to start laughing until the door was shut. We also had a flirtatious young lad who draped himself on his door. Yes, congratulations, you are tall. I was joking with Sister Clark about it, to continue her beach ball jokes... "Have you seen my door frame? It is about this high. I think it was right here last." She lost it.

The door adventures continued on Tuesday. We went to heart attack the elders at 6:30. We had "punny" cards, a chocolate box filled with heart shaped cookies, and loads of pink and red hearts. We all got a really good kick out of that. In District Meeting I learned a lot about faith. Faith IN JESUS CHRIST leads to (the) action OF REPENTENCE. I think that often I haven't taught faith that way. There is always something new to learn. We made salmon for lunch to celebrate Single's Awareness Day. Good thing I have a companion, I'm not ever single. We taught Janis and Kristina (I) about the Word of Wisdom. They have absolutely no problem with it- don't smoke, don't drink, don't like coffee. Sister Clark, at the end of the lesson, commented, "Wow, that was so easy." We went to search for Gints- an inactive. His neighbor's dog tried to eat us. "Don't eat the girls!" his owner, who actually helped to build the church told him. Little Ieva (M) helped us to teach the Trolls. She was so great. She'd whisper things into my ear to tell them. "Tell them it is hard to feel the Spirit when they are laughing during church. Tell them that they aren't following God's commandments and that that is bad." By the end of the lesson both Ieva and Olga were pretty serious. Nothing puts you to shame like a six-year-old calling you out.

Wednesday we paid our rent...heating was 80 lats! Yikes! We had a neat lesson with Zelma (M). We talked about family history and she has a new resolve to find more of it. We had a tea party with Valda (RC) and Kaspars, who baptized Valda. It was so neat to see Kaspars doing his duty. We didn't know he was invited, but he showed up with juice and cookies. He was very polite and helped Valda's ancient momma, Zigrida. Kaspars also proceeded to help Valda with her wood-burning stove and she commented about the wet wood she had. Kaspars looked at his watch, said that he had 15 or 20 minutes before he needed to go, and asked for an ax so he could cut up some of her dry wood into smaller pieces! It was such a neat experience to see him being a part of Valda's life and serving. Our English class went well. We gave a tour of the church and were able to answer several questions, such as why we don't have crosses, and why there aren't any pictures in the sacrament hall.

We were able to meet with Janis (I), the jolly one, from English class on Thursday. He completely agreed with everything we taught about dispensations and apostasy. He is open to meeting more and wants to learn more before he accepts a date for baptism. He really enjoys our building and wants it to be his home. He has been searching for gospel truth a lot- didn't like the Lutheran church, didn't agree with the Baptists, etc. We made stuffed peppers (Ole!) and the highlight for me was getting not one, but TWO letters from my bestie! The mail monster didn't get them! Ausma B. (M) helped us to teach Janis and Kristina (I). We read Ether 12:27 and she shared a really neat story about how after having a priesthood blessing she was able to pass her driving test when before she had failed it. God really can literally turn our weaknesses into strengths!

Friday. I love seeing our branch work so hard to get things together. Bless the relief society president's heart. We had a meeting about visiting teaching to encourage her and help her do it. She had already started doing a lot, but she didn't have anyone in partners! Oh dear, I hated having to tell her that normally when we can we have visiting teaching partners. She is doing such a great job though. I love Ruta. We had a most excellent lesson with Marika (M). She hit it off with Sister Clark and had a lot to share about Jesus Christ. She went on a BYU Israel tour and it really strengthened her testimony. We had an interesting lesson with the Trolls. Madara helped out and asked them what they wanted from the church and from the missionaries. Olga responded that she wanted to help people, learn more about God, to repent, etc. etc. Ieva said, "Basically the same, but I also want to be a missionary." Her face was filled with embarrassment and she hid behind a book. She wants to be a missionary! Soooo good! We talked with them about appropriate church behavior and established expectations and consequences. They have been behaving so much better since this meeting.

Saturday we went running to the park and then after studies, helped out with the primary party. It was quite the adventure- musical balls (like chairs, but you have to grab a ball in the middle of the circle), decorating cookies, weaving hearts, and learning about the Good Samaratin. The kids really enjoyed themselves and a lot stuck around after the party and could be heard running around while we were teaching English. Valda helped us to teach the Trolls. It actually went really well. She told them that this was serious business and that they should leave their old, evil lives, and live the church life. She testified that it was a much better life, that it is like flying around like a bird above the clouds.

We had 48 people at church! That was definitely the highlight of Sunday. We also met with Santa (RC) and talked more about visiting teaching and then went to find some souls! We didn't find any. Just kidding! We found Ruta, a former investigator who was a sweetheart, and on the bus ride home we were able to contact Liga who was extremely friendly and asked us about when we have church services!

The church is true and don't you ever forget it!