Week 3: Jan. 6, 2011

Hi and hello! Happy New Year! I hope that you all had a smashingly good time. In the spirit of dad and myself, I went to bed at 10:30 pm and did not stay up for New Years. I did wonder what marvelous adventure Amber and I would have been on. Maybe we will have to do one of those "Run in the New Year" races in 2012/2013. I did wake up magnificently early New Year's Day to go and kick box. It was quite fun and I was rather sore.
This Sunday our old zone leaders, Elder Greciano and Baret sang. They had quite a few people in tears regardless of their below Mo-Tab singing skills. Many of the testimonies this fast Sunday were about our love for them and admiration for their example. They truly will be missed. Especially by myself. Elder Baret and I (and Elder Greciano who knows 7 languages) would speak French, which brought happiness to my heart. We got to walk around the temple as a zone on Sunday. Poor Sister Burnham stepped in a puddle so Elder Steggel, who is going to Georgia (the country), traded a shoe with her. They were both quite the sight. Elder Offut and I (another Georgian going elder) have been switching around people's name tags and seeing how long it takes them to realize that they are no longer themselves. It is quite entertaining seeing elders with sister tags on.
On Monday our serviceableness was even more epic. We mopped 10 flights of stairs. Luckily their was some Oldies singing by ourselves going on to keep it fresh. We weren't the only ones singing today though. My elders (by my elders I mean the elders that have to escort me everywhere, that I teach, eat, and learn with, but am not allowed to call my companions, so to make it short are my elders [or bodyguards, your pick]) both lost it Monday night and were monologuing Les Mis. I really wish that I had my camera, it could have had me in tears from laughing so much.
On Tuesday Brother Baxter of the 70 came and spoke to us about not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He told us that we need to live as disciples and that we have to find Christ ourselves before we can lead other people to Him. He said, "There must be alight shining from your eyes because of the burning testimony in your soul." He proceeded to doctrinally/scripturally show how we are different from other Christian religions and how we are correct. Check out "Lost Books" in the Bible Dictionary...who knew that there were so many lost scriptures!! My favorite quote from Elder Baxter was at the end when he finally started to testify and said, "It is true. It is all true." He said this very powerfully and it touched me.
Lately at gym I have been running a lot with Sister Bailey. It is nice to have someone to talk to because it helps me to zone out. Hopefully my knees won't hate me for making 120-some odd really sharp turns on them every day.
Brother Newmann shared a really neat thought with us yesterday about the difference between Satan's lie of good AND evil, and God's truth of knowing good FROM evil. You can check the two out in 2 Nephi 2:18 and 26. Good AND evil implies equality of the two and thus no need to be saved or have agency. Good FROM evil implies that you know evil because you have resisted it. So therefore people who give into Satan don't know evil as well as Christ because He has seen how hard it is to over come it so he knows how truly evil it is. For those of you who are temple goers, pay attention in the film for this, it is quite interesting that the difference with and/from is there as well. Yesterday I taught the Restoration in Latvian with Elder Lynch. We didn't know how to say much, but we were able to testify and invite the Spirit. The two sisters that we taught were very kind and helpful as we were trying to teach them. I am currently speaking Fratvian, this odd combo of French and Latvian. If I don't know a word in Latvian I tend to try to say it in French instead on English. I was praying last night in French and started putting in Latvian words as well- uh oh!
MY ELDERS
Elder Burr is doing most excellently with the language. We had a practice teaching session in Latvian last night and he was by himself teaching a returned missionary who speaks Latvian. This RM told Elder Burr that his language is at the level of someone who has been in the MTC for 8 weeks. Elder Burr is truly a grammar pro.
Elder Lynch is lucky to be Scottish. No one can recognize that he has an accent and he is often applauded for this. Brother Newmann, one of our teachers also feels that his teaching style is perfect and that he just needs to learn how to do it in Latvian. Elder Lynch is showing his 18-year-old age right now. He has a hard time studying because he doesn't really know how, nor has he had to. Some days he is a lot more negative (I want to punch you both in the face kind of negative) then others. Regardless, we had a companionship inventory and are now trying to cator to his needs as we study. This includes 5 minute walking breaks every half hour, which I enjoy greatly. They are good for Elder Burr too, his Arizona skin isn't too thick in this cold!
FOOD
The food is getting better, my stomach is desensitized, or I just know what NOT to try. But this is from the girl who had toast and ice cream for dinner last night...
TEACHERS
Sister Priddis got back from her mission to Latvia a few years ago is married and has a 6-month old boy, William. She is very kind hearted and we normally end up telling her stories about Brother Newman.
Brother Newman is...different. He is wicked smart, going into sound technology stuff. He grew up hindu and is very quirky. He knows lots of random facts and is rather opinionated. He likes Latvian idioms and the game rock paper scissors lizard spock (this is rock paper scissors on steroids). Right now he is doing a lemon/maple/pepper drink cleanse. He loves to cook and even makes his own feta cheese sometimes. I definitely would like to try out some of his creations. Pizza is supposedly his specialty. He called me weird the other day because he didn't think I sat close enough to everyone in prayers....

Anywho...


Love you!
The Church is true and God is our Father!

Sister L

Christmas 2010

25 Dec 2010

Labdien (Hello)

Priecigus Ziemassvetkus! (Merry Christmas)

First off, let the Las Vegas clan (Linda & Robert) that I met Sister Stoker. Secondly, mate (mom), can you send my black skirt with the wide band from Julie’s wedding that is in my closet. The one I brought is too big. Thanks!

Christmas has been awesome here (although really tiring). We had a Christmas devotional Christmas Eve that included talks about gifts and music. My favorite performance was “The 12 days of Christmas MTC style. It goes like so:
A rock solid testimony / 2 haircuts free / 3 new companions / 4 chocolate milks / 5 hours of gym / 6:30 wake up / 7 lukewarm showers / 8 hours of rest / 9 vaccinations / 10 more commandments / 11 loads of laundry / 12 hours of class.

After the devotional they passed out kettle corn and we got to watch “Mr. Kruger’s Christmas.” I really enjoyed it, especially when Mr. Kruger is talking to Jesus and mentions that he can hold his head high because he knew Christ.

On Christmas morning we woke up at our usual 6:30 am. Sister Huntington, Bailey, Smith, Burnham, and I (my roommates) opened presents together and then got ready and went to breakfast.

After breakfast we had a talent show that lasted until lunch. It was really fun. We had some really talented pianists, singers, cellos, and even ukulele players. My favorites were all the potential boy bands with their cheesy lyrics and actions. I think the Elders from Russia took the cake. They changed the lyrics and did all the actions too. It was epic with their accents.

We than had Thanksgiving dinner for lunch and met up for a devotional. Elder Russell M. Nelson and his wife spoke!

They were both so great. Sister Nelson talked about how the gospel is a one-size fits all and that we should do all that we can and then wait for God.

Elder Nelson said, “I love your families.” So congrats fam! He first talked to us about the doors of nations opening and how exciting it is . He gave us some advice as well. He told us to look for the bright young people and to practice concisely telling our story in as few words as possible. He then told some stories about some of his 30-second teaching times. My favorite quotes include:

“Of course we believe in the Bible, our members wrote it.”

“The quickest way to get excommunicated is to practice polygamy. The other sins take longer.”

Elder Nelson is so smart, cute, and funny. He Knows Christ. You can tell by the way that he talked about Him.

He read to us from Matthew 1, Luke 1, and 1 Nephi 11. He would stop and explain things about word meanings in Hebrew or Greek. He is so smart!

He also blessed us to feast upon the words of Christ, to apply His actions, to be safe, and that we’d return great and continue serving among our own people.

We then had a picnic-esque dinner and I watched the Armenians (missionaries going there, not from) in my district.

Sunday night we had yet another fireside. We had two people perform “A Christmas Carol.” They did a great job and Elder Nelson stayed and watched it. He closed by telling us that our mission is not only for the people on this side of the veil but those that have already passed on as well.

Well, I love you mucho much.
Jesus is the Christ. He lives and through Him we are not only saved but can succeed.

Week 2

Hola familia!

CAFETERIA

Mark and his food-loving friends will love the cafeteria. This is how it goes down. You can have milk, chocolate milk, juice, soda, etc. at every meal. Wednesdays and Sundays they have ice cream from the BYU creamery. You can have cereal, toast, or pb&j at every meal. Every Friday night they order pizza. Breakfast always includes bagels and fruit, over-sugared yogurt (which makes me sick dad :( ), and then waffles and pancakes, and some form of hashbrown, eggs, and sausage or bacon. They also have some hot cereals that they change out but it isn't the same as making your own oats.

Lunch and dinner are almost always filled with fun things like hamburgers, cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, etc. They also have lots of meat and potato dishes and so on a so forth. There are a vast multitude of desserts including pie, cake, brownies, and cookies at each meal. They also have soups on occasion and a salad bar as well as a bar where you can get a wrap made to your desire.

And it is all that you can eat. It is no wonder that people gain wait here. (Don't worry, so far so good).

GYM

The gym isn't very gym-esque. They have volleyball, foursquare (HELLO fourth grade), and basketball. They have maybe 10 weight machines and about 6 ellipticals and 4 stationary bikes. We aren't allowed to go outside so most of my time is spent running around the track and stretching.

LATVIAN

The language continues to blow my mind. There are over 100 possible noun and adjective endings. The words can sound really similar and you see them with so many different endings that it is hard to point out that it is the same word. Entertaining story: my name tag is wrong. They put the long a sound over the wrong a and so instead of sister it says large mass. On other noteworthy namecalling, the elders in my district have a tendency to call me Elder Lindstrom when they are talking about me to the zone...I don't know if this is a good thing.

LATVIAN CURSE

This week we were informed of the dreaded Latvian curse. Apparently we have a very special and different mission. Not only are there very few people who serve, they all get very close, still hang out for an obnoxiously large amount of their post-mission lives, and get married to each other. My group intends to break this curse (especially since the elders have girlies). Don't worry mom, I DON'T flirt with the elders. I realized how young they were when I say Allen Conners the first day....weird!

TRC

The TRC is the teaching resouce center and generally a missionary's worst nightmare. It is where you practice teaching investigators (and in your language if you are learning one).

DEVOTIONALS

My favorite devotional was on this Tuesday (we have devotionals Tuesday and Sunday nights). Brother Snow of the 70 came and spoke very simply but powerfully. He talked to us about how we bring the message of the Son of God as the shepherds did and how we invite others to come unto Christ. He talked to us about how we are just the conduits that help investigators feel the spirit. He told us that we preside over the changing of hearts.

STUDY

I have been reading conference talks and came upon a really great one that reinforced the idea in my mind that we need to act like what we want to become today. If we sit around waiting to become something then we will become nothing. We should all try to be good people now and be who we want to become.

TODAY

We got to go and clean the temple for three hours. Dearest mother, I luckily didn't have to clean the toilets. I did clean things with a q-tip though. Feel free to check any of the fake ferns for dust. They won't have any because I had the honor of cleaning them. :)

PEOPLE

Ok, here we go

SISTER BAILEY Is this cute blonde southern girl. She has a boyfriend who writes her every day. She has a very strong testimony though her parents are less active. This makes SISTER HUNTINGTON, a wild brown haired very not Californian California girl upset that the boy she is planning on marrying right when she gets home only writes her 2-3 times a week hand written. SISTER SMITH is from Canada and takes being a missionary very seriously. She has graduated from school and doesn't like to be late. Her companion is SISTER BURNHAM from Oregon. She loves politics and doing her hair. I don't think I've seen anyone fix their makeup/hair so much in one day. ELDER BARET was our zone leader. He leaves for Greece with his companion tomorrow. He is this super tall teddy bear. His companion is Elder Greciano. He's Spanish but doesn't look it. He is awesome as well. ELDER MOYE is a Texas sweetheart recent convert. He is definitely from Texas. And that is about all I have time for. You'd be surprised how many elders have girls though. It is nuts!!

Alex left this week. Fun stuff!

Elder Russell M. Nelson and wife with us all weekend and spoke in RS and Priesthood Sunday morning.

I have a testimony of this church. I know that the gospel is true and that this is God's work. He loves us and has created a plan for us to return to him.

Random thought from Elder Baret (Belgian elder going to Greece) "It doesn't matter where you serve, but how."

Dad, Scotland is over his jet lag and we don't let him eat sugar anymore. I'm praying for him lots. I have a hard time teaching with him because he doesn't really study and doesn't like to practice or anything. I am working on loving him and serving him and praying for him though. Gotta love learning experiences.

XOXO

Masa Lindstroma

Week One

Well hello family and friends,

I have survived my first week and the Empty Sea in Provo. It is definitely not what I expected. You have a lot of "Missionary Directed Time" aka teach yourself, so in that sense it is nothing like seminary (I thought they'd teach us gospel things like in seminary). I still think that the food here is rubbish, but it would be heaven for starving 19-year-old boys. As for girls who like to cook and don't like having hamburgers every day at lunch, it is not our most favorite. Gym time is a God-send. I think it is the only time that my brain turns off. Every time I go to sleep I'm teaching investigators or practicing Latvian in my head. We always have gym after lunch or dinner and I have somehow managed to run without puking (albeit the track is 10 laps = a mile so I go rather slow).

I am in a room with 4 other sisters: Sister Smith, Burnham, Bailey, and Huntington. They are all headed off to Armenia. I mostly see them after 9pm. Most of my days are spent with Elder Lynch and Elder Burr. Elder Lynch is having a hard time with the time change so he will stock up on sugar (aka Swedish fish, he's eaten 5 bags or so already) between lunch and dinner. This leaves him totally hyper and quite useless. So far he's sang us Lady Gaga and Metallica on said sugar rushes. Needless to say we are going to ban sugar for him although he still has his 2 glasses of root beer at EVERY meal (yuck!). Aggie ice cream totally beats the BYU creamery.

The Latvian language is crazy intense. There is this evil thing called declension. This means that depending on how you use EVERY noun and EVERY pronoun and EVERY adjective you have to congugate it differently. Talk about thinking before you speak. Luckily Elder Burr has studied German which has cases as well so he is really helpful. The language sounds a lot like Russia meets Italy (at least with the numbers) and then throw in some odd garb and some nordic sounding stuff and voila! Our teachers are really great. We have two teachers who come. They both served in Latvia several years ago. They teach us Latvian grammar concepts as well as gospel things. We are expected to memorize 20 vocabulary words a day as well as memorize 20 scriptures (in Latvian...ha ha) and be speaking in Latvian 24/7 by week six. We'll see how that goes. Right now we can pray in Latvian, ask someone their name and how they are, and we are learning how to congujate things so I could theoretically make my own sentences. About 55% of the people in Latvia speak Latvian, the rest Russian.

My P-days are on Thursdays. We get 30 minutes of email time, as well as time to do laundry and go to the temple.

Some days I like being a "solo" sister more than others. It is nice to not have to deal with a moody girl all the time, but I also have no real agency in where I want to go, I have to follow around whomever is escorting me so I don't even get to plan what I want to do when on P-days. I suppose it will make me appreciate those 3 sisters that I will serve with in Latvia and that when you have a companion you can make decisions together. I definitely wanted a companion last night. On Wednesdays we go and practice teach volunteers for about an hour. I had to teach the first lesson on the restoration all by my lonesome with out a companion to help answer their questions (and they were asking TOUGH questions). Let's just say that I have learned this week that none of my mission experience is for me. Latvian is messing up my French, I don't have a Brother Caldwell or Merrill-esque teacher to teach me more about the gospel, and teaching last night was definitely not fun (and I normally love teaching). Good thing that the church is true! The whole Latvian thing is getting a little bit better as I am trying to submit my will to the Lord, but some days it is still really hard because I still feel this urging need to go and teach the people in France. I feel like my work isn't done there. I think of my experiences of my mini-mission a lot and they help me through the harder days. If Elder Lazarev can learn Chinese, gosh dang it I can learn Latvian. These people deserve to hear the message in their language.

I actually had a really neat thought on my way to the MTC. I was thinking about the Roundy's and Daniel and how all the girls went on missions. I thought about how I was going about to finish my brother's work as well. My brother Jesus Christ is not physically on this earth anymore, but His work isn't done and I need to finish it.

My time is about out. I love you all. Make good choices.

Masa Lindstroma

First Letter

December 16, 2010

Dear Family:

I’m alive! Yes, alive in Provo. The food is mediocre.

My companion rocks. It is myself-LOL. I’m a “solo” sister, so I have no real companion. There are two elders learning Latvian with me: Elder Burr from Arizona and Elder Lynch from Scotland. They are awesome, and super hard workers.

The language is INSANE! Verbs have conjugations and so do nouns and adjectives-and it changes with how you are using the noun/adjective.

About the mission. There are 4 sisters serving in Latvia, and I will be replacing one of them. Only one city (Riga) is open to sisters right now.

The language overwhelms me at times, and the learning how to be a missionary can be boring because I’ve done it! France/mini-mission/Sister Hulet definitely prepared me to be here. I know I can do it once I get the language. I think often of the people I taught in France and my love for them. I still feel such a desire to finish teaching those in France. It can be hard because I still feel like I need to go back there. I guess that would be too easy. The MTC should get better once we are on a normal schedule. As of right now we don’t even have time to breathe.

I ran into Elder Grasley (my cousin) today; it was great. We freaked out everyone around us (i.e we gave each other a hug). My preparation day is Thursdays, so I should get to email next Thursday.

“The Church is true isn’t it, so what else is there?”

Love you,

Masa Lindstroma

Day 1. MTC

We dropped Mari off at the MTC yesterday at 1 PM. She was excited and ready to go. Here is her mailing address at the MTC. She'll be there until February 15, 2011.

Sister Mari Lisa Lindstrom
MTC Mailbox # 140
BALTIC 0215
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Mission Announcements