Monday was miraculous. We found Laima (Laima is an inactive recent convert. Her family went super anti right after she got baptized and her husband divorced her because of it)! It was a district effort. We were on a bus going up to Karosta when I saw Laima. Elder Holdaway and I started freaking out. "Oh my goodness, that's Laima!" "No way no way. Keep your eyes on her and get ready to get off this bus at the next stop. We are going to get her." I think she was slightly disturbed when 4 missionaries came running up to her (two blocks of running) just to say "hi." She has a job now and says that she is slowly getting better. It is only a matter of time until she'll be back. What a blessing though to find her! We eventually did make our way to Karosta and it was beautiful weather. The "stairway to heaven" is slowly falling off the cliff. It is kind of scary and totally suspended on the sides- meaning no longer connected to the cliff side. We had a fun time going through the old war forts and finding sea glass. We decided to contact our way to the park in the evening. This super hyperactive 14 year old came up and contacted us. Her name is Sintija and she is beyond bouncy. She was very interested in the fact that we had Jesus Christ on our name tags and invited us to come back (we saw her yesterday, Monday the 11th and talked to her mom as well). We also went to talk to inactive Aina and had an interesting exchange with a couple (30s?) who had just been in NYC. "We were the only white people where we lived." Ha ha, yes. Indeed. There is a negative black population in Latvia. I've maybe seen a dozen in over a year of living here and maybe 3 in Liepaja. Anywho, they were really rude at first, but then in the end we ended it as acquaintances.
Tuesday District Meeting involved a FH'zookie. Baked in a pot. It was at least a 3 inch thick cookie and took almost 2 hours to cook. We went and taught Valda. It was so neat to see how she had something that she wanted to share with us that she read in the Liahona. It is great to see her back into the gospel and happier again. We met a man named Jack from Australia. His grandmum was Latvian and now he has a bunch of property and he bounces between Latvia and Australia. He is a very nice fellow and has looked a little bit into our church since Mitt Romney is running for President. We invited him to come for a tour sometime because we had a big turnout of people to learn how to make Grandma's Cherry Swirl Cake. What can I say, my grandma makes good desserts. The children had a fun time taking ridiculous pictures on my camera and thankfully didn't break anything.
Wednesday was a sunny beautiful day. I told a woman that on the tramvajs and she started tearing into me about how it was beautiful in HER country and that I should leave it. Naturally I saw her three days in a row after that. I still haven't decided if I should try to say hello again. It was a good little learning moment for me. I didn't say anything back, but I was thinking of responses after we had left the tram and I came to the conclusion that, you know what, I was called by a prophet of God. My calling is important and I am doing a good work. We had a sweet little miracle not long after that. We are trying to get a recently less active, Laimonis back so we have been asked to try to make daily contact with him. Thing is he has neither a phone, nor friendly family members that allow us to come over. I was praying that we'd be able to find him somehow today and Voila! There he was sitting on the park bench across from the church. He heard that Joseph Smith had 30 wives. Oh boy. That one definitely shook little SG's testimony and so she studied polygamy all morning and fretted about it. I love what it says in Preach My Gospel though. We are all backed up against the wall and need to take a leap in faith. All you need to know is that the Book of Mormon is true and then the rest logically falls into place. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. We met with Arta and taught about Satan which was an interesting topic, but went well. I think we piqued her interest for reading the Book of Mormon. I still haven't given up on inactive RC Liga. I knocked on her door. For five minutes. Either she wasn't home or really doesn't want to talk. We had another bad contact turn good. Another older woman was telling me that I was doing a dishonest work. I just tried to be her friend and by the end she spent at least 10 minutes telling us her life story. Sometimes I wonder why people are so impolite at first. Guess they wouldn't really be happy in Jesus' presence. They aren't okay meeting the "missionary" but when it is just a "person" they are more friendly. Anywho, the ring man Maris' girls were out selling painted rocks. I totally bought one and it is my new favorite rock. But it isn't a pet because pets aren't allowed. We met an inactive member Martins who saw some junk on tv about the FLDS a few years ago and thought it was us. Oh boy. I feel like all I did was argue today but by the end I learned just to be like, "Do you know that the Book of Mormon is true?" because it really does resolve all concerns.
Thursday we ran into Laimonis again! Today he had questions about letting non-members take the sacrament. We had a lesson with Ivita, a very believing English class student. She got baptized about 1.5 years ago, so she wasn't too keen on hearing that there is more truth than what she has found. It was interesting to hear what her preacher has taught. A lot of it is truth/half-truths are taught in other churches. Um, I love the Branch President here. "Sisters, can you help me with something? Do you have a minute?" "Sure, what?" "Are these the right lyrics?" Phantom of the Opera. All I Ask of You. To make a long story short we ended up belting that song with presidents several times with the new speakers that he bought. So fun. Oh my, my heart will be sad without Presidents in my life. We made yummy calzones and played floorball with the elders, Inguss, and Raivo (who broke his arm on the 10th, poor kid). Floorball was super fun, other than the fact that SG and I were EXTREMELY sore for two days after that. The highlight of my Thursday was talking to eternal investigator Aivars on the streets. Why? Because Jack and his dog came strolling by. We told Aivars that Jack was from Australia and Aivars asked if Rogers (the dog) was from Australia too.
"No, actually he's Italian."
"He's Italian? When did dogs have nationalities?"
"He is a Bolognese poodle but he was born in Latvia."
"Does he speak Italian?"
"He doesn't speak Italian but he does prefer Ciao to Labdien. And he likes lasagna."
Oh my goodness, hilarious! Their wits are perfect for each other. I wish I could have stayed longer and listened to them.
Friday we met with Indra from English. She is going to Finland to pick strawberries for 5 weeks and wanted extra help with her English. She has a Book of Mormon and she said she'll take it with and read it. She actually knows Aivars (the forever 'gator) and said she's noticed the change in him (he used to drink all the time and the missionaries helped him to quit) so we got to help her make the connections of why he's become a better person.
Saturday we went park contacting again after teaching Valda, cleaning, and meeting with Santa. We talked to inactive Aina and one of her co-workers. SG taught her first lesson in the park! All by herself! I was so proud of her. We had an impromptu lesson on Fathers with Zane, Kristine, and Janis. It was madness. Eliza (2.5), Davisa (7), and puppy were there. Eliza would pull Rambo's face and ears and then Davisa would try to grab her dog back. Rambo would like Eliza and then she'd stick out her tongue and let the dog lick her tongue. Eww! Davisa told her not to do that and then Eliza got mad and threw a battery-powered dog at Davisa's face. Poor kid is going to have a black eye, but she took her cut cheek like a champ. Later on they were on the bunk bed and SLAM! Face plant into the ladder. Eliza was bleeding everywhere and oh my goodness. Control the children someone, please! I was dying. I was dying of laughter after Eliza used her little potty and was pulling up her pants when Rambo started walking towards her. She started screaming in fear which was just hilarious to me since she was just barely tongue-ing the very same dog. We had even more dog adventures after. We have a good-looking businessman neighbor in his 30s who was outside with 5 male friends and his ridiculously ugly dog. I think it is a bulldog. For some reason his friends started talking to us in English and the dog started jumping on us. Our neighbor was profusely apologetic in English. "I'm so, I'm so sorry. It's a terrible habit of his." I didn't know he spoke English. Anywho, I kind of wanted to keep on talking to them, but 6 drinking men on a Friday night and a bulldog does not seem to be in my favor. "I'll see you tomorrow," our neighbor said in his Brit accent as we went in the apartment complex. I thought it was the most hilarious thing.
Sunday morning we were running with a wedding dress (Runaway Bride!) to catch our tram to the bus station. We made it. We went up to Riga for a great District Conference where we sang a beautiful arrangement of "Come Thou Fount." I really enjoyed one of the talks about how we need to build a good spiritual house. How does your house look? Is it run down? Does it need remodeling? Santa sat between Elder Lynch and I and was hilarious during the sustaining of the people. We frosted a belated birthday cake for Sisters Kurr and Gallacher and then headed off to the Bailey's. The Bailey's are an amazing embassy family who are like a giant slice of American pie. They really are the greatest. They were so kind and had all the Latvian missionaries over for their last Sunday in Latvia. We had hamburgers and strawberry shortcake for their early Father's Day dinner. I didn't know the Bailey's well, but I am so grateful for them and their strong example. They both served in callings and came to church every week, regardless of the language barrier. They move every 2-3 years and always do service projects with their kids in each new country. Sister Bailey even moves their 72 hour kits with them. They truly love the people of Latvia and love helping the missionaries. They are amazing!
Lots of Love,
Sister L
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