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I'm married now; a new page of my life, a new chapter, a new book in fact! Follow me in my eternal adventures on: herewegoacarrolling.blogspot.com

Blog #5: Final Course Synthesis

I really enjoyed this class. I feel like out of the secondary education classes it is the one in which I have learned the most applicable information. Because of this class I realize the importance of teaching literacy and comprehension strategies. I think this was really important for me to learn because I have always been a good reader and have never understood persons who struggle with reading or don’t read well. Teaching vocabulary words and using oral language fits in perfectly with the communicative approach that I have been learning this semester in my teaching foreign languages classes. To me this adds evidence to how important it is to teach vocabulary and use the oral language appropriately. However, I feel like it will be more of a stretch for me to do this in my health class, but it is definitely applicable. It is important for students to be able to talk about things orally and I think jigsaws would be a good way to do this in a health class. I am a huge fan of making different representations in health and not just writing essays. After this and my assessment class I have loved the idea of just making lots of different project options for each unit instead of having a test. I really enjoyed the RAFT concept and plan to use that. I hope to apply having students write to a real audience. It makes the writing so much more enjoyable. I loved making the text set for French. I plan to keep this text set up and use it in my classroom. I actually created the part on French musicians so that I could play music before and after my classes like Professor Wilson. It is also imperative for me to teach critical literacy, particularly in a health class. There is so much health information available today, but not all of it is accurate. It is important to develop critical literacy and I hope to be able to provide assignments that promote critical literacy. I could go on for a while, but I don’t want to yap anyone’s ear off. Happy Holidays!

Blog #4: Affective Dimensions of Writing

Ernest Hemingway is attributed to have said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Writing can be a beautiful way to express one’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Or to write one may answer the question, “What would your eyes say if they could speak?” I believe that everyone has something to say and that it can be said by some means. Some people can perfectly capture their sentiments with the right words. Others, myself included, sometimes struggle to find the right words. “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” -Mark Twain I am sometimes a writer, but not always. Sometimes I am an athlete, at other times I am a musician, a painter, or a photographer. Ideally I think I like to steal other people’s expressions to express my own. It is probably why I like reading and quotes so much. As a child I don’t recall writing often for my personal pleasure, but I did begin to keep quotes and sayings that I enjoyed. I have grown from a word robber to an occasional blogger, if I have something exciting to blog about. Exciting to me generally revolves around three subjects: adventures, pet peeves, or food. I probably have a more intimate relationship with food than most people, so maybe that is how I communicate. I am definitely not a journal writer, but I probably should be. Sometimes I am too quick with my words and it would probably improve my non-edible relationships if I vented through writing before being so quick to open my mouth and say the first things that come out of it. In lieu of journals I write emails to my family. I’m sure if I changed the beginning to “Dear Diary” I would have a very nice collection of journals but I never save these emails. I guess I don’t journal because I don’t feel I have the time and most things feel so trivial and I feel that I waste too much time going into detail, yet if it is not detailed I feel that it was boring and pointless to even mention. Do you see my struggle? I don’t twitter and I try to keep my Facebook addiction to a minimum, so I don’t post updates on Facebook very often. I also go on tangents (if you didn’t notice) which may be another reason I don’t write a lot. Tangents are a hard habit to break. I am making progress though (I wrote a tangent but decided not to add it, but I suppose telling you about the tangent I didn’t add is a tangent in itself). I have a few very memorable writing assignments. One was for my sophomore English teacher, Mr. Talley. Mr. Talley had us do some creative writing and write a story. My imagination soared with this assignment and I enjoyed the positive feedback I received about my story. I always like writing assignments that feel easy or that I have good ideas to write about or how to write it. Another writing assignment I enjoyed was a persuasive essay for my college English class. My instructor gave me permission to write this essay in the same style as Swift's A Modest Proposal which I loved. I enjoyed the satire and irony in writing about shipping off country music fans to Australia (see- a pet peeve!). Writing assignments that I dislike are long, boring, tedious, and hard. I had one French writing class and I hated the teacher because she would never give out high grades because, "A paper can always be improved upon." Bah. It is already hard enough to write in French, never mind writing the "perfect" paper. It took me a long time (I'm not sure if I am still there) to come to terms with writing in French overall. It is a terribly difficult thing you see, the whole language is different and some American ideas, words, and phrases, just don't work right in French. One of my mentors in France, Annick, taught me that I needed to take on a different personality to be able to successfully write in French that was not my own. I feel that this is important for all language learners to know, you aren't going to be able to say things quite how you want to, but you can figure out how to work around it and basically say what you want to. Another influential theme that should flow throughout any writing assignment is the ability to be creative and the validation of outside ideas. This is an excellent way to get students to connect to writing, but letting them write how (and possibly what) they want to. I think it is finding that balance between having some guidelines (we all secretly like boundaries, you know) and freedom to create. I guess that means being able to write outside the box? :]

Blog #3: Affective Dimensions of Reading

Affective Dimensions of Reading I consider myself a good reader. I like reading and I generally don't find difficulty in reading. I’ve been reading since I was young. My mother used to read us children The Great Brain as we ate breakfast. She encouraged me to read and helped me to grow my own collection of books; I loved reading The Bearstein Bears and still own quite the collection of the series. Now I enjoy reading junior fiction. I relish in stories of fairy tales, princesses, and that sort of thing. I like reading when it is for my own enjoyment and personal pleasure. I also don’t mind reading textbooks if they are particularly interesting (but one can only read so much textbook in one day). I enjoy reading except when it is something that I don’t like to read that is forced upon me because I naturally don’t read things I don’t like to read, like obituaries. I only read the comics in the newspaper, and that is a tendency of persons who are more likely to be depressed, but I completely understand why they don’t read the rest of the paper. I dislike very much historical fiction. I also don't enjoy analyzing texts. My most unpleasant reading experience with French literature was very unpleasant, rather painful, and I’m quite sure I am still scarred from the experience. While studying in France I took a French literature class in which the professor took enjoyment in torturing us by requiring us to read À la Recherche du Temps Perdu, (Remembrance of Things Past is the English title, not that you should read it unless you wish upon yourself a slow and painful death) by Marcel Proust. I hate Proust. I respect that he has some writing skill, but really when your skill is putting to sleep through fifty pages about how you can’t sleep one night, no one wants to read on and find a sentence that is NINE HUNDRED FIFTY-EIGHT words long. Proust drags you through time so slowly that to quote Proust himself, "An hour is not merely an hour.” No, it is much more painful and drags you slowly, ever so slowly through the coals of hell. See the end of this post for an excellent piece on the attempt to read Marcel Proust. Less than pleased to find Proust in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. To have students interested in reading it is important to avoid books such as Remembrance of Things Past and The Scarlet Letter. Books need to be age appropriate, entertaining, and applicable for the students. It is imperative for students to know the relevance of reading the text. All of the texts I truly loathed seemed very irrelevant in my studies. I share the view of Oscar Wilde, “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.” Reading for students needs to be enjoyable and should never be more painful than being skinned alive like reading Proust is. Teachers need to be less hung up on finding texts that others have been deemed to have a particularly outstanding literary importance and find texts that will be more enjoyable to the students. Perhaps students could have options of what they read in class. Maya Angelou, a renowned poet in our time has said, “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading to make reading on of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” It doesn’t matter if this is Captain Underpants or Tom Sawyer; the importance is that the child is reading. Reading is at the foundation of our society. I think that you can help students to see themselves as readers by letting them see you as a reader, encouraging reading, and providing opportunities to read. You can take opportunities to read to your class, let them know what you have been reading over the weekend, as well as have books related to your subject that students can look at when they have completed assignments early. Teachers can also create activities which center on student reading. This antidotal text describes efforts to read Proust rather well: Crawling Up Everest By Russell Baker On July 18 the two of us set out together to read Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust. We have been reading it fairly steadily ever since, thanks to our stocked kits of smelling salts, and are determined to keep on reading until we either finish or die in the attempt. Our first diary entries--of a Shackleton's expedition in literature--are presented below because this is a moment that cries out for public examples of heroism to remind us again of the greatness of which Americans are capable. Few deeds can be more heroic than an attempt to read Remembrance of Things Past from beginning to end. Some persons will quarrel with this. Some will argue that true heroism lies in sitting through all of Wagner's Die Valkyrie. Others will hold that it consists in enduring a festival of Andy Hardy films. Every man has his Everest. None is so formidable as Remembrance of Things Past. Remembrance of Things Past is longer than Everest is tall. When all seven volumes are piled together the stack is more than six miles tall. This great length is due not only to the incredible number of strained similes contained in the novel's seven volumes, but also to the dense layers of tedium packed into almost every paragraph. Reading it is a feat to test Hercules, Washington, Lindbergh, John Glenn or John Wayne. "Life is too short and Proust is too long," Anatole French is said to have explained when asked why he had not read it. Perhaps so. To help in the struggle I have retained a Sherpa reader who is highly prasied among his countrymen for his ability to read anything. His name is Tenzing. Once Tenzing read the inaugural address of Warren G. Harding in its entirety, and to show that this was not a fluke, went on to read The Last of the Mohicans almost halfway through. To protect ourselves against the temptation to cheat by skipping several volumes, we are reading aloud, every last word. The opening diary entries follow: July 18: Would anyone believe 12,000 words about a man who had a hard time going to sleep when he was a boy? We read twenty-two pages of this before Tenzing gets ugles and say I have betrayed him by not telling him that this is a plot to bore him to death. Fortunately, I am asleep by this time and cannot take offense. July19: Another twenty pages today. The narrator--Proust, I suppose--still couldn't get to sleep. In a sudden flurry of narrative action Proust drinks a cup of tea and eats a cookie, which remind him of his boyhood, especially an aunt and a church he associates with that age, and an inability to go to sleep. July 20: Only six pages tonight. Proust remembers the church again and, in a plot complication, recalls a stained glass window. Tenzing revives my heartbeat with brandy after seven hours of reading the paragraph on pages forty-nine, fifty, and fifty-one. Our medical team pleads with us to turn back. July 22: Our first crisis tonight. Lifting the book to begin, I was seized with acute indolence, which the doctors say is common in the tertiary stage of tedium gravis. It was brought on by my conviction that Proust was going to remember the church's steeple while my life ebbed away. Recovered enough tonight to read again. Proust tells absolutely everything about a meal that was prepared when he was a boy--asparagus, chicken, potatoes, marrow, spinach, apricots, roast leg of mutton, biscuits, preserves, coffee, cream, pepper and salt, bread, butter, knives, folks, spoons, table cloth ... Tenzing says I must get a grip on myself. July 23: Tonight we read for three weeks and finish nine pages. Proust reads in his garden and remembers veal. July 24: Hurrah! Seventeen pages in just thirty-two hours tonight! Proust thinks of an invalid aunt and a musician who rather thinks he would like to play for some guests but is too shy to mention it. July 25: Tenzing is in a deep depression. "That rotten Proust is going to think of the church again," he predicts at dinner. "Compared to Proust," he tells me, "Uncas, Chingachgook and Warren Harding are as much fun as Mae West." I take Tenzing to see an old Terry Thomas movie, which reminds both of us of brussels sprouts. July 26: Refreshed by our night off, we plunge through twenty-seven pages about Proust's boyhood passion for hawthorn blossums. Tenzing collapses in hysteria, cursing hawthorn blossums, spinach, church steeple and stained glass windows. Our medical team order us to take a week off. With 60,000 words behind us we have barely dented the book, but we feel heroic and American. Next week, says Tenzing, who has peeked ahead, the plot will thicken. He believes Proust is about to take a walk in the country. I already begin to look forward to it. Or is it merely anticipation of the ticket tape parade up Broadway?

Blog #2: Connecting School & Home Experience

Connecting School and Home Experiences In junior high I started studying French as well as playing competition soccer. In ninth grade I joined the high school cross country team. I enjoyed taking French because it was a fun class for me but my life really was sports. I identified myself as a runner. While running I got a few stress fractures, had to wear a boot, and sit on the sideline. I kept on waiting and waiting, but my legs simply became more and more painful. My running coach recommended I go see a sports medicine doctor. I had multiple tests run over multiple visits including a MRI, nerve testing, and a very memorable compartment pressure test which involved needles the size of pencils. No one knew what was wrong, but they knew one thing: I was not to run anymore. I was devastated. I cried for two weeks straight. I felt that my identity had been ripped out from under me and that I had nothing. It was that summer in 2005 that I first went to France. My uncle was gracious enough to take his three nieces (two of which were graduating and I because I was the only other niece) to Paris for a week. Paris was simply magical. I didn’t think once about running. There I realized that the sun still came up every morning and that life went on with or without running, with or without everything that was familiar to me. That first experience in France was pivotal for me and has pushed me to become a teacher. If I can help students to learn that there is a world out there bigger than them it is worth it to me to teach. I want to help students get out of their heads and their little worlds and realize that there is more to life than high school, sports, drama, or girls. There are other countries, other people, other cultures, other foods, other ways to do things “right.” I want to help students discover the world in which they live and how they fit in that bigger context. Studying abroad in France also shaped my thoughts on the French people. It is one thing to visit the city of love for a week, and an entirely different matter to live in a French city for a year on your own. I loved speaking with them, eating with them, spending time with them, and taking classes from them. I learned a lot about the culture and the people there whom I respect. I understand why they can be annoyed with Americans (I began to be annoyed with Americans towards the end of my stay- we are so annoying and disrespectful!), why they may appear cold, as well as what is important to them. Having such an in-depth understanding of the people will help me in my teaching because I will be able to debunk myths and help students to understand why people do things and act differently than they do. This is a critical skill to learn in our ever growing multi-cultural society. Culture is something so complicated yet beautiful and I feel that many problems in the world would be resolved if we could learn to understand others. Learning to communicate in a different language also helps people to understand others better and how they think. This knowledge and these skills are part of the foundation of my teaching. For those of you who are wondering what happened to my legs I can run again. I found out I had a rare syndrome that cut off my blood supply. Here is a picture of what my legs looked like after surgery.

The Engagement

Stuck on You Leighton flew up to Utah on Friday, September 13th. My parents picked him up and I drove my aunt Becky and my grandmother down to Brigham City where we went and had lunch at Maddox together. We then did some car switching so Leighton and I could go up to Island Park, Idaho (about 20 miles from West Yellowstone) in the same car. We stopped by the gorgeous waterfalls of upper and lower Mesa Falls. We got to Island Park in time to make dinner and watch a movie. Saturday morning my parents kicked us out of the house and sent us off to Yellowstone. While I was in the shower my mother was telling Leighton all the good places that we could go in Yellowstone and Leighton really liked the sound of Norris Geyser Basin so he planned our Yellowstone adventure that we would end there. We packed our lunches, our rain coats, and umbrellas and headed off. We talked a lot as we enjoyed going to lots of different places. We saw many elk as well as rivers, swimming holes, mountain ranges. When we were at Firehole River I thought Leighton was going to propose and I was really nervous. He didn’t propose there, but I did find the ring box in his jacket while we were getting out. Note: Now don’t think this isn’t romantic; Leighton and I went ring shopping in July but I never knew that he bought the ring and carried it around for a month until the last day of our summer when he told me (and showed me!). I’ve been dying to have it ever since so we all (parents included) kind of knew that it was coming the next time we saw each other. I think it turned out perfectly too because I don’t do well with change, so I had some time to stew and mentally prepare. Bless Leighton’s heart though; he got so much teasing. We then went to Old Faithful to have lunch. I started teasing Leighton about how he could propose there (I had already told him I did NOT want to get engaged there.) “My love for you is more faithful than Old Faithful!” I told him. We continued the cheesy Yellowstone pickup lines throughout the day. It was raining and cold so our picnic lunch turned into an in-the-car lunch. We meandered around the gift shop and the lodge while we were waiting for Old Faithful. Leighton’s friend Marc called while we were waiting for Old Faithful to go off so I answered it and told him Leighton was busy trying to figure out when to propose.

It was slowly getting more rainy and later in the day so we decided to stop at the smelly paint pots with a whole bus of Asian tourists as well as Gibbon Falls, another giant waterfall and walked across the mini wall of China. We then went to our last stop, Norris Geyser Basin. It was raining again and I think we got the last parking spot. Leighton turned to me in the car and said, “I was going to propose to you here but the weather isn’t good and there are all these people…” I told him that that is okay and that he could propose a different day but that we might as well go see the geysers since we were there. He put on his bright orange waterproof jacket, I left the Canon Rebel in the car, and we went out on our last adventure in Yellowstone. We started walking around the Porcelain Basin and the rain stopped. We found ourselves alone and there was a bench. Leighton wanted to sit on the bench so I knew something was coming. He prefaced his proposal with the fact that we had already picked a date and a temple, that he had my dad’s blessing, and that he now wanted to formally ask me. He got down on one knee and told me that he loved me so much. He then asked, “Mari Lisa Lindstrom, will you marry me?” I fought back the tears gave him a hug and then whispered in his ear, “Yeah.” He slipped my super cute ring on my finger (finally! He had been teasing that I could just wear it and he’d propose later) and then people came by again.

We drove back home and ate dinner. After about three minutes dad burst out and said, “So, is there an announcement you two want to make?” I was waiting to see if they noticed the ring. I guess they did. We went swimming after dinner and it wasn’t as romantic as we were hoping. Cue 7-year-old girl, “Are you guys in love? That’s gross.” Cue four-year-old Maxwell, “Do you guys want to see a magic trick?” “Yes.” SPLASH! It was a wonderful day even if everything wasn’t ideal. What is wonderful is finding someone who can love me like Leighton does. Leighton wishes that he waited until Sunday (we went on the most beautiful walk and sat on a dock and watched a moose and a bald eagle). It was so beautiful and calm and indescribably beautiful. Now we’re engaged and we are going to be sealed forever and ever. I love Leighton because he is so wonderful and just loves me so much. He always tucks me in the blanket and makes me his priority every waking moment I am around him. He puts up with me when I am grumpy and laughs at my angry face. He eats my sandwiches when I don’t like them and he knows how many carrots I eat for lunch. I was in the back seat when he was driving us and my grandma and Becky home and he reached back and held my hand while driving. For four hours straight. Just so he could hold my hand and let me know he was thinking of me. That’s love to me. Leighton is love.

Blog #1: Introduction

About Me Me in France in 2010 My name is Mari Lindstrom and I am not a True Aggie. I am currently a super-duper senior at Utah State University. I am double majored in French Education and School Health, both with an emphasis in Secondary Education as well as a minor in linguistics. I claim to be trilingual through knowing English, French, and Latvian fluently. I have a university diploma in French as a Foreign Language from the University of Nantes. I served a LDS mission in the Baltic States from 2010-2012. I am a NFL member and I’m not talking about the football league. My interests include: Running, reading, cooking, traveling, guitar playing, and ceramic making. My First-Choice Discipline I first began taking French in eighth grade. I had heard that many colleges required two years or more of foreign language study. At my junior high all of the Spanish teachers spoke very poorly, the German teacher scared the whole entire student body as well as teachers and that left French as the only possible language to take. I soon fell in love with the language and the culture. I continued taking French in High School and had the best French professor I have ever met. He was not only humorous, kind, and hip, he also knew French very well, spoke the target language with students, told stories of his own experiences, brought in French food, and taught grammar like it was nobody’s business. It was this high school French professor, Mr. Miller, who inspired me to become a secondary educator. What is French to me? What is French to you? French to me can be a way of life. French to me is a way to see the world through different eyes. I feel that one has to have an intimate experience with France, to be in France, to know what French is- the sound, the smells, the sights, the food (most definitely the food), the people, what is spoken and unspoken. To me French is also a beautiful form of communication. French is a personality, a way of life, it is so encompassing. I feel that this clip from the film, “Paris, Je t’aime,” describes these sentiments better than I can. Literacy Literacy is complicated. I wouldn’t say that I have a specific definition of literacy. It, like French, is something different to each person. To some it is being able to read, write, spell, listen, and/or speak. To others it is to be able to perform specific tasks (functional literacy). To others it is more of a cultural literacy where one knows idioms and other specifics about a particular culture. Also worth mentioning is critical literacy which defines literacy as being able to critically analyze and view information differently. Literacy in French to me includes several facets. First and foremost is the simple reading, writing, spelling, listening to, and speaking in French. This bleeds into the hope that students become functionally literate in a French-speaking culture- that they are able to ask for directions, order food, etc. all in French, the target language for functional literacy. Beyond that, which in some ways I feel is more important and one of the overarching reasons languages are offered, is to create what I’ll call a cultural-critical literacy. Through studying a culture a student can learn to analyze and view not only French, but their own culture differently. Teaching languages to adolescents provides them with a different point of view and helps them to be more tolerant of others. Taking French language classes truly opened up my eyes to the world around me. It helped me to get out of that teenage “spotlight” effect and realize that there is an entire world out there besides my life—a world that is big, beautiful, and diverse. I want to make language & culture learning an interest for my students. I want to help them discover passion and respect for cultures and people different from them. My French classes helped me improve my grades in other classes and created within me a desire to reach out and be more inclusive. I want to provide students with a safe learning environment where they can learn that we are all different and that it isn’t bad to be different. I want to show students the world of possibilities that lie before them. I simply want to be the teacher that every high school student wishes they had; one who is intelligent, enthusiastic, caring, motivational, and unforgettable. Teachers really do make a difference and I want to be that one teacher that we all remember who made a difference in our lives. By teaching children well a legacy of future leaders who can help to stabilize our decaying world is created. Every day we are in need of more and more strong and talented people leading out in our community and I want to help shape our future’s leaders. My teaching philosophy is to teach French and to teach it well. I believe in allowing all children an equal opportunity to succeed in my classroom. I believe that this can be achieved by striving to attain as many forms of literacy in the classroom as possible. Critical literacy through a cultural perspective: A different way to create change. Are French people wrong for going on strikes?

The Last Toast to Us.

The Last Toast to Us. We fit, like a pair of old running shoes or that favorite pair of jeans. Two peas in a pod. Peanut butter and jelly. Right shoe, left shoe. You get the idea. Together a complete whole, more exciting and meant to be together and just not quite complete nor functional when apart. I should have seen it sooner. Put one and one together. It crept up on me I guess. I didn’t realize until my best friend was getting married that I had already lost her. Just think of it as being let go, that life's going in a different direction, that my body's part of a permanent outplacement. I’ve been demoted, let go, fired, she’s moved on; she has a new best friend. Don’t get me wrong, he’s great and I’m so happy for her, I just forgot about the part that she would move on and I wouldn’t be moving with her. If I had one person to be with on a deserted island, it’d be her. I like to think that back in the day she’d pick me, but now she’d pick prints charming. We used to not be able to live without each other, used to make ourselves laugh until we peed our pants, and went on the most awesome adventures. Sisters, connected at the hip, inseparable. You invite one to a party and know it means you are inviting the other. But my best friend is upgrading to a different kind of lifelong best friend. She won’t need me anymore, she’ll have her Prints Charming to make her laugh when she is sad, make her soup when she is sick, go running with her, take her on adventures, and take care of her. I’ll fade into the background like those faded old photographs that frame my walls of the good old days. A distant memory past. We’ll still be friends, catch up when it is expected, reminisce about the old days and those good times we once had. But there won’t be any more old days to talk about from now on because she’s already gone. So let’s toast to us. We had some good times and some great dreams but it’s time to grow up and move on with life because life always does move on, even if we aren’t ready for it. So a toast to us. Peanut butter and jelly. Sisters. Friends. Adieu. Anyone seen a left shoe? I lost mine. “Someone Like You” by Adele has been my favorite song of late. Switch the lyrics up a bit and it isn’t bad about talking about our friendship. I know that you're settling down That you found a boy and you're married now. I heard that your dreams came true. You know how the time flies Only yesterday was the time of our lives We were born and raised In a summer haze Bound by the surprise of our glory days Nothing compares No worries or cares Regrets and mistakes They are memories made. Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste? Old friend, why are you so shy? Ain't like you to hold back I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it. I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded That for me our friendship isn't over. Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you too Don't forget me, I beg. Never mind, I'll find someone like you I wish nothing but the best for you.

We all make mistakes. I just hope yours isn't your front tooth.

The curious case of getting a crown for a tooth. Worst mistake of my life. Since I killed my tooth (too many soccer balls to the mouth) in 8th grade my lovely front tooth has been more yellow than my other teeth. Me, being the vain person I am, have tried internal and external bleaching to no avail. My wise dental friend said a crown would look so much better. I believed her and felt it was wise to take advantage of my parents’ insurance and get my front tooth crowned. I made my appointment. The doctor neglected to tell me some things like…your face will be numb for 5 hours, I’m going to shave off basically all of your front tooth, this is not reversible, you can’t floss, you can’t bite with your front teeth, or even wear your retainer. Umm…so if I can’t wear my retainer for a month my 3 years of braces and thousands of dollars just goes down the drain..right? No big deal. Nevermind the imminent threat that temporary crowns have a tendency to pop off at inconvenient moments, like in public. Oh. Fast forward nineteen hours from leaving the dentist office and I’m eating a sandwich. By eat I mean I am on my third bite and POP! Was that my tooth? Why yes it was. Is the dentist busy for the next several hours. Oh. So I’m supposed to go around with my fake tooth hanging out at work. Oh okay, no worries. The dentist fixes my tooth (it feels much more secure might I add) and he tells me to just eat oatmeal for a month. Out of a straw. New weight loss program?? I think so. Now I shouldn’t neglect mother. Mother thought it was very funny because it was the end of the world. I had made a terrible mistake, I want my old tooth back and it is in the dentist rubbish bin. Never mind the fact that I mourned my lost tooth with tears, my mother laughed. And laughed. Even at night prayer when I wasn’t doing anything she burst into a fit of laughter that lasted longer than the prayer. Let’s not forget Hal. He is the tooth color matching guy. My teeth are apparently off the charts white. And transclucent. He said he’ll have a hard time matching it and doesn’t think he’ll get it right on the first time. Hal has been doing this for 35 years and the PRINCE of Saudi Arabia has used him. The Netherlands have used him. And he doesn't think he’s going to get my tooth right. Has my regret increased? Yes. Do I think it will look better than my old tooth? No. Biggest mistake ever. To look on the positive side I do appreciate front teeth. Always chewing with the side and avoiding certain foods and not flossing sucks. Things I never thought I’d be grateful to do. We all make mistakes. I just hope yours isn't your front tooth.

May the Fourth be with you!

A long long time ago in a galaxy far away Saturday was MAY THE FORTH be with you (get it…May the force be with you…May Fourth). Naturally, a party needed to happen. I slaved away in the kitchen all day (after a morning run and labeling the tulips). Party food included: pizza the hut, pretzel light sabers (with chocolate and caramel), the dark side salad, wookie cookies (no bakes), Chewbacca croutons, padme popcorn, vader veggies, C-3PH2O, and so on. I dressed up as Princess Leia, Tatjana as Yoda, Amber as a Padawan, and Tyler as Darth Maul. After our delicious dinner we watched Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Tyler and Amber fell asleep but were very awake for their tickle war after the movie. Tatjana and I just watched and laughed. We then proceeded to talk for about two hours even though we were all ready to go to sleep. Aren't friends great?

Bang Party and St. Pattie's Day

We had a fun Bang party with Tyler, Amber, Tatjana, and the parental units. We all wore bandanas and talked like cowboys. It was a fun but very long game. Amber the outlaw ended up winning. I woke up Sunday morning to a trail of Shaun the Leprechaun's footprints. They naturally led to a box of Lucky Charms. Dad said that he followed the trail earlier and couldn't find them, lol. Sunday was an interesting church experience. We had a missionary who served in Ukraine speak. I was surprised at how much of his testimony in Russian I could understand. I like his advice about scripture study: you read until you feel the Spirit and then you read a little bit more. I wish I had that advice when I was a misisonary. At least I can apply it to myself now! He also told us, "What are you afraid of? You can be cleaner." In Sunday School we talked a lot about how revelation in the scriptures applies to all and about pride. The elders taught Relief Society and went over chapter six a lot. I like how they said that "Information leads to Inspiration." We had Tatjana and Amber over for green rolls, leprechaun casserole (green beans, tomato, beef, green mashed potatoes and cheese), and green seafoam jello. We then played several rounds of the vonderfullly gud game Dutch Blitz.

Spring Break 2013

Spring Break finally arrived just in the nick of time! My current beau, Leighton was sweet enough to buy me tickets to fly down to Mesa for an early birthday present. Sorry I don't have any pictures...I didn't take any. But just so you don't feel bad, here is one from when I went down last time... Monday I flew down to Mesa after a 2-3 hour delay. There was a problem with our plane down in Mesa so they had to unload everyone and switch planes. Then they flew up to Ogden Utah and we scurried ourselves onto that plane. There was a young girl who I believe had some sort of concert performance in which she was performing. They literally ran off the plane once we landed in Mesa. I enjoyed my flight by talking to a very entertaining and chatty 64-year-old from Hyde Park, Utah. She is one of those riotously entertaining Mormons who swears. She was telling me about her two awful ex-husbands and how good her new boyfriend, or "gentleman friend" as she put it is. She refuses to marry him though, says she is too old. They have lots of fun trips planned, including one to see grasshoppers frozen in a glacier in Montana. Leighton Carroll was waiting for me at the airport with lots of hugs and lots of food. He brought me: a Jamba Juice, a Wendy's chicken sandwich kid's meal, an extra chicken sandwich, and a PB&J sandwich. Bless his heart. We drove to his ward variety show and I was able to watch Leighton perform a skit- who's on first but Bishopric version. It was pretty funny. Tuesday we woke up terribly early to have family scriptures at 6am before Leighton headed off to work. Catie took me and the dog for a walk. I worked on homework until I was captured away to go to a giant mall with Leighton's mom (Liza), older sister Jill and her two young children Emery and Clarissa, and 13-year-old Catie. We made it to a whole of two stores: the Rainforest Cafe which was very decked out in rainforest-ness and Burlington Coat Factory. They have more than just coats- I didn't know that. I was sad we missed out on the Forever 21 and H&M in the mall, but oh well! Once Leighton got home we went with the family (Liza, dad (Wayne), Matthew (18), and Catie) to watch "The Rise of The Guardians" at the dollar theatre. It was a fun movie with really deep parallels to the Gospel. We made homemade pizza after that. On Wednesday we (Jill & kids, Catie, and Matt) went to the Phoenix Zoo while Leighton was at work. I love their zoo! It felt like a safari. I almost went on a camel ride for only $4. I wanted to wait for if I went again with Leighton though. They had cute elephants and giraffes, these funny things called dick dicks, a rhino, a lion and lioness, a tiger and a jaguar, and a whole bunch of monkeys. One monkey put a palm branch on his head and walked around with it there. I also was so very close to a sting ray; so creepy! I really liked the zoo and the animals looked so very happy. We ate lunch there. For dinner Leighton's home teachers took us out for dinner at a very Mexican mexican place. Everyone in the restaurant was speaking Spanish and I got the smallest tacos that I have ever seen in my life. Afterwards we went to the temple and participated in a session. There are lots of signs in the Mesa temple which I like: The Glory of God is Intelligence, Those who seek me shall find me, etc. They also have this double staircase leading up to the Celestial Room with murals of American Indians on the sides. Once we got home from the temple we played Bang with Matthew, Catie, and two of Matthew's friends. Thursday morning was terribly hot but we still went to the Gilbert Riparian Preserve to see the water and the birds. We (Grandma GG, Liza, Jill's kids, Catie) all had out umbrellas and didn't make it very far with the kids. It was 92F and they weren't wanting to move very quickly. Thursday was March 14th, aka 3.14 aka PI aka pie day! We made oodles of pies. Oodles being: apple, banana creme, blueberry cheesecake, and lemon. The crusts weren't the best, but they weren't my mother's. GG had a great suggestion so I had Leighton take me to the dress rehearsal of The Easter Pageant at Mesa Temple. We were able to sit on a blanket and watch them perform under the stars. My favorite part of the pageant was the real lambs and donkey that they used. It is kind of a song and dance sort of show, so it was interesting, or at least not what I was expecting. So I was attempting to waltz with Leighton, and me having two left feet, met my left heel with Leighton's sharp toenails. He got me good and felt sooo bad. I thought it was kind of funny. He promptly went to clip his nails, find a bandaid, and apologize a billion times. Friday my flight was at noon. I was in a silly mood from lack of sleep so I spent a good part of the morning being a sass and tickling Leighton and teasing him. We also worked very hard picking citrus trees so that we could make: orange juice, grapefruit juice, and lemonade. I then flew home and that was that.

My Teaching Philosophy

My professional goal is to change the world in a simple way, one high school student at a time. As an adolescent educator there is a wonderful chance to influence youth, our nation’s future for good. I am ecstatic to begin teaching and share my passion for languages and health. As a health teacher there is a significant opportunity to change health behavior for good and help students to become more confident and aware. Teaching languages to adolescents provides them with a different point of view and helps them to be more tolerant of others. Taking French language classes truly opened up my eyes to the world around me. It helped me to get out of that teenage “spotlight” effect and realize that there is an entire world out there besides my life—a world that is big, beautiful, and diverse. My French classes helped me improve my grades in other classes and created within me a desire to reach out and be more inclusive. I want to provide students with a safe learning environment where they can learn that we are all different and that it isn’t bad to be different. I want to show students the world of possibilities that lie before them. I simply want to be the teacher that every high school student wishes they had; one who is intelligent, enthusiastic, caring, motivational, and unforgettable. Teachers really do make a difference and I want to be that one teacher that we all remember who made a difference in our lives. By teaching children well a legacy of future leaders who can help to stabilize our decaying world is created. Every day we are in need of more and more strong and talented people leading out in our community and I want to help shape our future’s leaders. My teaching philosophy is to teach French and to teach it well. I believe in allowing all children an equal opportunity to succeed in my classroom.

Pumpkin carving

Longboard making adventures

So I got this crazy idea in my institute class to make a longboard. Yup, make as in by scratch. I thought I'd post some photos of the progress. First we glued the boards together

Then we added some curves

Next we cut it out so it looked like a board.

Then we had to sand it and such.

And make the edges smooth.

And then I gave my board a tattoo.

Dear Girls Who Live With Me

A few years ago I ran into a hilarious and rather handsome man Charlie McDowell online. This is the summary of his blog Two annoying girls moved into the apartment above me. I'm forced to hear every dumb thing they say. These are my letters to them. He is quite hilarious, here are some samples: “I heard that only people who went to some school get to vote this year. That doesn’t seem fair.” The Electoral College? “Aww, I just realized iceskating isn’t a part of the Olympics anymore!” Who knows, maybe they’ll bring it back in a couple years. “Isn’t it funny that we’ve both never seen a pickle tree before!?” Well I find it funny, but I think for a different reason. I also have some special girls who moved into the apartment with me. These are some of the dumb things they say. J "Oh my gosh! It's so hot in here....someone turned up the thermometer in my room. It wasn't me." Really?! It wasn't you. Me: "Well then turn it down." J:"But I don't know how." "Turn it to zero." J "Oh." Wow. Who knew life was so complex? "Where did the potatoes go. Ooh, they're all gone." Have you checked the fridge? That is where people put most things so they don't get e.coli. "How many scarves do you think David Archuleta has?" Seriously? "I'm not going to talk to anyone who doesn't vote for Romney." If only the election was 8 weeks sooner. "Sa ha ha, ha ha ha. we are so dumb." That's the most intelligent thing you've said all week. I really wouldn't watch the justin beiber movie and let people see. Daylight savings means you still should be sleeping at 1am not 1pm. At least now I know how you all stay up so late.

How "The Help" Helped Me

This summer I watched a film entitled, “The Help.”

The film is based off of a movie written by Kathyrn Stockett that describes the 1960s Civil Rights movement through the eyes of an aspiring author and the African-American maids that she interviews. The racism “the help” is faced with is shown as they work with white families to raise their children. It was a touching movie to see the relationships and struggles that went on. The message of racial equality is displayed. But what touched me most was what one maid, Aibileen would tell the charming young girl she raised. Every morning she would give her a hug and tell her, “You is kind, you is smart, you is important.” I love this message. It has been a month or two and I still haven’t been able to get it out of my head. It is what I doodle when I’m bored in class, it is what I say when I’m sad. It is what Aibileen, and every other African American wished to hear at that time. It is what I wish to hear every time I wake up. Aibileen didn’t tell her that she was beautiful or some other superficial unimportant quality. She told her: You is kind. Kindness is a quality that has gone missing in our society. Where are the days of chivalry and politeness? Even in the church we are constantly having to be reminded, “Don’t judge. Be kind. Love one another.” It is a quality that is oh so precious, but is found lacking. If we are kind it means a lot. You is smart. In a day where African Americans were thought to be from a sub-race of filthy animals, and when women were not a man’s equal the message “you is smart” resonates strong. Today so many derogatory words float around in our vocabulary- stupid, dumb, retard, dense, slow, brainless, dim-witted. When a child, or anyone for that matter, feels smart they are able to achieve more. You is important. Everyone wants to feel important and needed. Do you feel important? How do you act when you feel important? How do you act when you feel unimportant? It makes a difference, doesn’t it. When I have children I want to make this a daily ritual. Proper English grammar or no, it is imperative to tell those we love that they are kind, smart, and important. These are things that we all need to hear.

Weel 74: Final Days and Final Words

Monday
Monday was a super clean day so therefore we super cleaned. Nothing
like a clean house! I also introduced Sister Clark to statdogs.
Statdogs are the genius that isn't in America. A hot dog in a warm
crunchy cylindrical goodness. No mess with full carb coverage. We
went biking with the gang (the elders, Sintija, and Inguss). We had a
blast! We biked down the beach trail to the giant Liepaja sign where
we were entertained by some rather large swans with half a dozen ugly
swanlings. We all got a kick out of Sintija taking on the parent
ducks and hissing back at them. We were biking to the other side of
Liepaja to see the lake and it started POURING rain.

We continued spending our day with Sintija and had a really neat
lesson with her and Arta. We watched the Restoration film and Arta
has been reading and praying. Arta said the closing prayer and
Sintija was crying afterwards because she was so happy! It was neat.
We continued on with Sintija and Arta and went to have FHE with the
Frolovi family. We read the Proclamation to the World on Families and
then we continued to converse about what they can do to have an
eternal family. Sister Clark and I continued on to inactive Lidija's
house and she gladly let us in. We talked to her about prayer. I
know that prayer is so important in our lives and that it helps us
immensely.

Tuesday
This morning we ran to the church and grabbed some ping pong
equipment. We waved at the web cams that Presidents has set us as
security videos for the parking lot and he teased us about that
afterwards. We ran to the awesome park by the sea and played ping
pong on a circular table that has two nets that cross and make an X.
We also played on the giant ship playground for ages 7-14. We figured
that 23 and 24 was close enough. We leaned of the role of the Spirit
in conversion while gorging ourselves on a dessert called "peaches
down under" which is essentially canned peaches drowned in sour cream
and brown sugar and then heated. We went and got Sister Clark
registered in Liepaja and went by a potential investigator's home but
they weren't there.

We ate nutella and fruit crepes (shout out to France!) which we
learned about transfers. It is a crazy world- Sister Kurr will be
with Rubija, Latvia has only one zone leader, and Elder Burr is coming
to Liepaja!!! I am so excited for him. They are going to have a nerd
fest in Liepaja. Elder Bergason is a math major, Sister Clark a
physics major, and Elder Burr is a genius as well.

We had a fun lesson with the Beldavi's and Eriks was even over and
helped answer lots of questions. He just about broke my heart though,
"Lindstroma, will this be the last time I see you?" We also went by
some other less actives and went contacting in the park. On the way
back from the park we ran into Crazy hyper Sintija and her twin and
mom. Those twins are so darn touchy. We set up a meeting at a later
date.

Sarra and Ieva were at the church when we had Santa's lesson. They
were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hyper and goofy. They came in and helped with
our lesson and then we had to spin and dance and spin some more.

Wednesday- Last day in Liepaja
Time sure does fly. Today we went running barefoot at the beach and
reports are neither confirmed nor denied if I got my feet wet. After
studies we went and taught Kristine and Janis. Zane randomly peaced
out to the laukos (country) and didn't care to tell us. We had a
great lesson actually about modesty. It was so neat to feel the
complete and total change in their home; obeying God's commands really
does make a huge difference.

We ate gravy toast, packed, went to the Bakery, and visited even more
people! We had a little miracle and found Valda outside of Janis'
house. I am supposed to call her so that she can hear my voice, lol.
We went to the park again and Sister Clark got rhubarb ice cream which
was quite delicious. Aivars was 15 minutes early (go figure) to pick
up our luggage so we waited with him at the bus station for a while.
His muffler is about to fall off and he kept on telling us how he
hoped he'd get it fixed so he could help the new sister with her
luggage. We had an uneventful bus ride and I may have even gotten
some shut eye.

We went to the sisters' apartment in Imanta to stay. They naturally
lived on the 9th floor and the elevator happened to be broken. They
greeted us with Danish dessert, chicken salad, and death log.

Thursday- Last day in Riga
Thursday morning SC and I took a taxi (with the same driver) to the
mission home. SC went to the trainers meeting and I helped Sister
Boswell clean and go berry shopping. We made a birthday cake for one
of the elders and just kind of hung out and waited for other departing
missionaries to come. My exit interview with President Boswell went
well although it was not what I expected. I thought we'd talk a lot
more about my mission and what I did but it was more questions about
future plans and some advice about being a good sweetheart and such.
He was the second witness to the "well done thou good and faithful
servant" feeling that I have had this past week. The Lord has
accepting my efforts as the "mother of Liepaja" as he called me. He
related the counsel he received from President Monson, that if a
missionary is making a difference in an area why would you move them?
I was able to go out with Sister Grinevicute who is from Lithuania.
We went around Old Town Riga. I wanted to go up into this one church
for the panoramic view, but I did not want to spend 8 US dollars for
said panoramic view, so we just walked around a little bit instead.
Sister Boswell fed us funeral potatoes, ham, and green beans as well
as birthday cake with ice cream. We were quite stuffed. We had a
"fireside" after that. The fireside was a lot of President Boswell's
advice for the future. Keep on dressing nicely, you don't have to
look like an apostle ever day, but don't look grungy. Facial hair-
don't have it (darn....). Don't get divorced! Think of finding a job
that will allow you to go to church and participate in callings. Do
something that you enjoy doing. Date members and look for someone
that makes you want to be better when you are with them. Find someone
that YOU want to make happy. Chase after someone but still be chaste.
If you are ever going to have an intimate conversation, have it at
the mall; you can't get in trouble there and absolutely no one will
pay attention to you. What does multiply and replenish the earth mean
to you? Enjoy the dirt poor days. Ask the Lord to send you
Ephramites and raise them in the Lord. Choose your love, love your
choice. You have to work really hard and give 100% to the
relationship. The relationship is 3 things- the marriage, you, and
your spouse; do what is best for two out of three. Give more than you
expect to get. Avoid devisive things in the home. Fight hard and
early against pornography. Date time is sacred time. Pray with your
children for them to get married in the temple.

President Boswell also gave the advice he got from Sister Boswell's
bishop. Sister Boswell had just received her temple recommend and
President Boswell came to pick her up. "I want to talk to you young
man. I have two questions. First, when do you shave?" "In the
morning." "Well, from now on I want you to shave at night, can you do
that?" "Yes sir." "Second question. When do you shower?" "In the
morning." "Will you promise me that you will shower at night from now
on? No one likes to kiss someone with a scruffy face or sleep by a
smelly person." President Boswell swears by this advice.

Friday
On Friday we woke up and had blueberry muffins for breakfast and then
headed out in the cars to the airport. Our extra baggage cost an arm
and a leg- 400$ a piece. The elders (Moffat, Pack, Mills, Froelich,
and Thomas) were very glad to have me along because I "looked like I
knew what I was doing." We went through security about a billion
times that day. Our first flight left at 11:30 am Latvia time and we
arrived in SLC at 9pm Utah time on Friday. We flew from Riga to
Amsterdam and then took a 10 hour flight from Amsterdam to Seattle.
It was really neat to fly over Greenland and see all of the ice and
snow. Delta treated us well with food every two hours or so- peanuts
and pretzels, chicken curry or lasagna, a sandwich and candy, a
calzone and ice cream. I slept for maybe an hour on the 10 hour long
flight. The elders were pretty antsy to get home by the time we got
to Seattle. On the first plane they were all sad to leave Latvia and
by the last plane they couldn't wait to get home.

Mom, dad, and sister-in-law Julie greeted me at the airport. I had a
nice time being released by the Stake President at his home.
It is good to be home; I've been gone a long time and I know that my
missionary service hasn't ended, it has just begun.

Week 73-Final Weekly Email from Mari

Well, this week wins for adventures. Remember how last week Sister Gallacher and Elder Holdaway were in my district? They aren't anymore. Ha ha, yup. I'll just leave you all in suspense for a while.

On Monday Sister Gallacher and I had a busy day. Since we had said goodbye to Elder Holdaway who was going home early to see family we had the day to ourselves. We went to the three main older churches here in Liepaja. We went up to the tower of one of the Lutheran churches which was SO amazing. Gorgeous! Best 50 centimi I have spent in Liepaja. We also went to the museum, which wasn't very neat. They had large collections of old school cameras and radios that Kirstin would have liked though.

We went to meet Andris, a former investigator in the park. His lesson was amazing! He had so many questions and has been thinking about religion a lot. He was such a pleasure to teach because he would always ask questions and tell us when he agreed, disagreed, or didn't understand something. We went over some of both the restoration and the plan of salvation with him. After an hour we said that we needed to go and he was almost offended. "I'm here feeling the Spirit right now learning and you tell me you have to go?" Yup. But that Spirit is testifying that it is true. He agreed with most everything except he believes in reincarnation. We had to scurry off because we had a FHE appointment with the Frolovi. Eriks has been picking up English like crazy. He tried to pray in English, which was an entertaining thing for us to hear. “And I also want to talk about grandma. She be a good good good girl...”

Tuesday we were able to properly meet our new district member and leader, Elder Brighton. He has been serving in Klaipeda, Lithuania and is currently the district leader there as well. District leader of two different districts in two different countries = pretty cool. He is a really humble, hard working, down to earth missionary. His district meeting on Christ-like attributes was very spiritual. I learned that to gain knowledge we not only need to study but to use our faith (apply!) DC 88:118. A great scripture about patience is DC 67:13. After District Meeting we took some of Valda's old magazines from the 50s and 60s to the museum and they readily took them. I had an amazing contacting experience in the evening. I approached a couple who at first didn't want to talk at all. Almost a half of an hour later we finally said our goodbyes but not before the husband told us that now he was “half ready to meet” and that we “planted a seed” and that he has some things “to think about” now. It was so neat to have a person actually say those things. So often as missionaries we don't get to see the fruit of our labor or the seed grow that we planted, but the Lord knows what He is doing and it is all in His hands. We also had an entertaining run-in with Aina (less active) on Tuesday. She told us how she doesn't like the fat cook at her work so when she sees him she mutters scriptures in Hebrew under her breath because they are really powerful. Oh boy.

Wednesday. I love America. I didn't realize how grateful I am for my land of freedom until we were singing songs about America for the Fourth of July. I really do feel so blessed to live in a land where I haven't had my rights and privileges taken away. We have it pretty good. To celebrate we were going to have a picnic but alas, it rained. We had hotdogs and watermelon anyway. I had some computer stuff to do and SG ended up talking to Aivars for almost another two hours because she is trying to help him over his concerns. Mostly they are concerns that he has to get over himself by taking a leap of faith. I was also able to help train new member Zane to work in the Primary since the Primary president is MIA all summer.

Thursday. It is hot. I don't like hot. I would be such a baby somewhere like South America or Africa. Cold is a lot easier to deal with. We ate chocolate chip pancakes before we started our mission-wide fast (worst day EVER for fasting). We helped an inactive couple, the Martinsone move to a new apartment. I was very glad that they only lived on the second floor. We got most of the moving done in about two hours, which I thought was pretty good. The elders only stayed for 45 minutes. They would have stayed a full hour, but the map and the actual streets did not match up. It was a miracle we found their street. So, I had one of my most memorable lessons on Thursday. I don't know if you remember Zenta, but last year with Sister Ferrin she was an investigator. We set up an appointment to meet with her. We were quite surprised to see her 9-year-old disabled grandson butt-naked when we walked in. Did she try to put pants on him? No. He pushed SG around me in a circle while SG was on a computer chair with balloons on it while she pretended to blow a train whistle. Um, can we say really funny and awkward and bless Sister Gallacher's heart for being a good sport. We have another meeting set up and I REALLY hope people will have clothes on again.

At 9pm we were doing our nightly planning and we received a call. “Hey sisters, this is Assistant Kolkto. How are you? What are your plans for tomorrow? Nothing big? Good, because you are going to need to rearrange them. Sister Gallacher, you will be going to Imanta with Sister Hanks, a Russian-speaking sister. Sister Lindstrom, Sister Clark will be joining you in Liepaja tomorrow at 2pm so you don't have to travel anywhere.” What the?!!?!?!?!? Transfers aren't for another week. Speechless would be the appropriate term to describe our response. Totally not expected.

Friday was mostly spent getting all packed up. Aivars Fishmeisters, our eternal investigator in Liepaja is so great. He really is like my grandpa here. He drove our luggage to the bus station and then bought us ice cream (it was another really hot day) while we waited for the Riga sisters to get there. Their bus was 20 minutes late so Sister Kurr almost missed the return bus. She literally walked off the one bus and then got on the next. We broke our fast with baked new baby potatoes, carrots, and chicken (yum!!!) and then went to work. We showed Oskars the spirit-filled church tour and then we went to Marika's. She gave us each two ice creams- yum and we talked to her about prayer.

Saturday was mostly busy work- weekly planning, cleaning the church, working on branch stuff, and of course singing opera with Presidents. We helped the elders teach 18-year-old Viktorija about Jesus Christ. I love the Spirit. Even though I don't know Russian I knew that she was being asked to be baptized and that she had some concerns. I am glad that the elders asked her because if they weren't, I was going to! We also wrote down Zane and Kristine's conversion stories and had an awesome lesson with the Tolmachovi family. All morning study the topic we planned just seemed wrong. I prayed and the idea of giving the church tour (which is essentially the Restoration using the church building) came into my head. While we were in the Sacrament Hall Elina expressed how she had been thinking this week of how she wanted to start meeting with the missionaries and taking the discussions again to relight her testimony and how going through the church like an “investigator” was just that.

Sunday I gave a talk. I at least really enjoyed my talk. It was ten things that I had learned from my service as a missionary that was also advice to the branch. I'm sad more people weren't at church. Zane totally froze up and apparently hadn't prepared the lesson like she said she had, so improvisations had to be made. Primary turned out fine, but Presidents looks pretty stressed that he has no Sunday School teacher for recent converts nor someone to be in Primary. After I spoke in Sacrament he said a few words and got all teary-eyed and thanked people for their service. I like to think he was crying because I'm leaving, lol. He really is one of my good friends.

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's kingdom here on earth. I know that the Plan of Salvation is real and that Jesus is the Christ. The Book of Mormon is a testament of Him and of God's unending love for His children.

Thank you everyone for your love, support, and prayers.

See you soon! :)

Love, Sister Mari Lindstrom