Monday I found out that I could be Sister Gallacher's personal clothing shopper. I have quite the knack for finding things that she enjoys. She was befuddled that I knew. “I don't wear clothes on my mission like the ones I wear at home.” What can I say, it is a gift. We found her an awesome dress from the fifties at my favorite secondhand store Otra Elpa and SG loved all the antique stores because antiques don't really cost much here. We had FHE with the Frolavi about being good examples. “We can help others” was Eriks' answer to everything. We also had a great lesson with a less active in which we got to her ice berg of why she is having a hard time coming to church. The gospel is all about love I have decided. If we love God and others we will keep the commandments, we will serve them and we will be happy.
Tuesday during District Meeting Elder Holdaway told the story of The Velveteen Rabbit. We concluded that we are real because we are falling apart and our whiskers have fallen off, ha ha. It was a good story and a good reminder that when you give everything then you become “real” (perfected, more like Christ, etc.) I introduced Sister G. to Baltic tacos...mmm....tacos. We had an intense evening. Zane, Kristine's sister called saying that she wanted to talk to us and Presidents. And then didn't sound happy. Duhn duhn duhn. We arranged our schedule so we could meet, called President Boswell so that we knew our “game plan” for possible scenarios. We didn't plan for what happened. Kristine wants to get married and they want to start the church up in their home town and give 10% of the food that they grow as tithing and they offered work for church members who don't have jobs, that they could come live with them and work in the country. Talk about getting the gospel. Awesome! We started making wedding plans right away. We are getting her a temple dress (I am not confident enough in my sewing skills to make a dress from scratch. For a wedding. No sir.) and she kind of went home to “propose” to Janis, or at least give him an ultimatum “now or never!” On Sunday they informed us that they are staying in Liepaja because they still need to learn a lot before sharing it with everyone else (whew). Talk about intense! Like camping, “in tents!” (Har har, that is what Sister Clark would always say.)
Wednesday was a good day. I passed by a lady sitting on a bench but felt that I should talk to her and I did. It was the clunkiest contact, but she was very friendly and talkative. She willingly gave us her phone number and should be meeting with her in the next couple of weeks! This happened right before our lesson with our new investigator, Zita! She is from our English class and comes with her 11-year-old son so she can help him learn English as well. She is such a great mom. She is looking for a third job so that she can let her son play soccer more competitively. He is really talented and already goes across Europe playing. She wants a good clean life for him and all the opportunities that she can give him. I was overwhelmed with her love for her son. Thanks to all you mothers (and fathers) out there who sacrifice everything so that your kids can reach their dreams. I love you mom and dad. She was very touched by the Restoration film, with tears freely flowing. The Spirit was very strong. Zita believes that God answers prayers, is Lutheran, but only goes to church on Christmas. She is worried about the persecution that comes from being associated with our church (and even coming to English class) but she is still going to read The Book of Mormon. I really want her to accept the gospel because I know it is something that she needs in her life and would greatly enrich and bless her and her family. We also had a meeting with Valda. Albeit a sad meeting. Zigrida is really sick. She just lies in bed and doesn't even have the strength to get up. We tried to help stand her up so that Valda could clean up the yucky mess in her pants, but she wouldn't let us because it hurt too much. We turned her over on her side, Valda cleaned up what she could, and we sang church hymns so Zigrida wouldn't cry. Getting old doesn't look like fun. Valda is really unhappy with her drunkard Janis back in her life but she doesn't know how to get rid of him and is afraid to come back to church. She does miss her church family though. English is interesting; we have some really good people and then a whole bunch that scatter once the spiritual thought starts. One particular lady who always complains was trying to say shirt but left the “r” out of it. It was great to see which class members knew their American curse words and just started laughing and laughing.
Thursday was my turn to almost wet my pants. We went to chop wood at Kaspar's house. Sister Gallacher would pick up the rusty old dull ax, say something ridiculous like “This is for all those kids who didn't get Christmas!” and proceed to whack a piece of wood as hard as she could. We aren't the most efficient wood choppers, but we did have the most fun. All body parts are still accounted for! We also made Chinese coleslaw and put apple in it...yum. It definitely tastes better when you put all the salad dressing in on top of the salad. Anywho, we tried having a clothing drive, which totally bombed for a Relief Society activity, but such is life.
Friday “May the Fourth be with you” was the theme of the day. SG can be pretty funny. It was another eventful day. Santa the younger was back from her mini-mission (over 6 months later) to be released, only to become a missionary again in a few days because she is going to serve full-time on Temple Square. She will have served over two years. She is an amazing missionary and bore a powerful testimony of how God never leaves us but that we leave Him. There was a mini-fireside of sorts with ice cream and log (chocolate cookie frozen heart-attack mess of goodness). Two sisters from Lithuania accompanied her up so we all went to lunch together at Doka Pizza which is neither American or European pizza. They don't really have sauce on it, but they have really crumbly cheese and the crust is almost deep-dish, but it just tastes like a weird casserole your grandmother (not mine) would make you. We lucked out on finding a bus to Palanga, Lithuania, five hours before a bus back to Klaipeda, so we got the sisters home in time to go to evening lessons. Elder Holdaway showed us a new church tour that is a lesson on the Restoration that is going to be a very powerful teaching tool. It uses a lot of visuals (i.e. a dark room representing the world without priesthood). In the evening we met with Santa and the Beldavi and talked out gratitude. I found a quote by President Monson that I really liked. It inferred that we start to recognize our blessings we cannot help but feel God's love more in our lives. I agree. For my bedtime prayers I have started simply saying prayers of thanks and I love it. I wake up a lot happier, I sleep more, and I don't spend all evening beating myself up in my head about what I could have done better that day.
Saturday. Have I mentioned that it has cooled down? We have gone from having the fan on to the space heater in only a few days. I don't really mind though because 1. Jackets are better than sweating. 2. My legs are WHITE. 3. My boots are in better shape than my shoes. (Although I did get in trouble for wearing boots. I alone am apparently keeping spring from coming just by wearing my boots. No one else is. I'm glad Annika clued me in to my weather changing powers). We were able to meet with Sintija and teach her friend Arta. Arta has zero religious background. WEIRD! After her lesson I went home and reread the PMG section about teaching people without a Christian background. Odd thing is she doesn't believe in anything. She isn't atheist, but she doesn't really believe in anything. The Plan of Salvation was really interesting for her and hopefully it got her started thinking. We are going to work on helping her have spiritual experiences and then one day she can be a young woman in our church and live happily ever after. We wanted to stop by Valda's again so we called first. Drunk Janis her boyfriend answered. “How did you know it was me Janis?” I don't think that one is ever going to get old. It kills me every time. I still don't get why people like to drink. You do dumb things, it smells bad, etc. etc. He said she was at the Catholic church so we snuck in there to call his bluff. We didn't see her there (phew!).
SG and I get along well. Maybe too well. She likes old movies and tap dancing. We both can get off track by singing a song after someone says some phrase or another. She has a great voice and can be pretty funny. We most often get distracted right before we are going to pray. Oopsie!
See you on Sunday! :P
Sister Lindstrom
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