Week 16

Well hello again! It has been quite the week. This transfer is just flying by. I'm just planning on staying in Liepaja until Christmas-time because it flies by so quickly! Doubtful that will happen, but we can dream.

On Monday we went out with the elders (yes there are elders- Elder Holdaway and Lynch) and Santa and Sandis to Olive. It is this really neat restaurant with a floating roof garden and giant fun couches and very very slow service. The food was okay- liked the grill taste and Elder Holdaway's chips (aka fries, but we have Elder Lynch from Scotland) were delicious. We took Santa out because she is leaving for Riga and will be going to the Imanta Branch for the summer. The funniest thing was Sandis eating the sour cream he got to go with his potato pancakes whilst saying, "This tastes weird", shuddering, but still eating it. Latvians love their sour cream. On anything. We also did some shopping. Sister Ferrin found a little red dress for Mission Conference and I found a pretty epic dress right out of the fifties that is most definitely coming home with me. I found a jacket that I am really excited about. I probably won't get to wear it on my mission, but it is to make up for the coat that I never got in France that I am still dreaming about.

Speaking of France on Tuesday I called France. It was awful. I started speaking Latvian to the poor French woman. Elder Lynch laughed. I almost cried. Luckily, I can still understand French perfectly and the woman understood my Fratvian and told me how to get to the church so that some Branch members from Liepaja who are working in France can go to church there. I am so grateful for Elder Lynch and his faith. He always just tells me, "Don't worry about your French masa. God sent you here foreign speaking and he will bless you to be able to speak French perfectly when you get home." If only I had this kid's faith! He is working miracles and doing so well here. Santa, the recent convert said that she always knew what he was saying was true by the Spirit that he brought and how he would testify. I am so blessed for my MTC group- they are angels in suits and I am so glad that I came out with such fine young people. To continue on my Elder Lynch epicness, he had a miracle on Tuesday. One of his investigators is going to quit smoking. He traded his Bible for a lighter (Bibles are quite expensive here). He held them both up in the lesson and said, "Which is more important to you? Which would you rather have?" Martins picked the Bible!

On Wednesday we had a miracle of our own. We went to Ena's home and couldn't find her and her phone was off. We decided to check by the park just in case she was there and we ran into her and her daughter walking home from the store. We were able to teach both of them on a giant park bench with all of our legs swinging as we talked about how to be happy. Ena's prayer at the end was really good- she wants to come back to church. I tried making Dad's pizza- another successful Thor creation! Sadly yeast and Sister Ferrin don't quite mix so I won't be making pizza anytime soon.

On Wednesday we also taught Olga and Leva who we got from the elders. Olga is 16 and has some definite potential and Leva is well, 13. They are both terribly giggly and have a horrible addiction to smoking. They do want to quit though, so it should be a fun adventure with the two of them! We also taught Cynthia and her brother Erik. Erik is the little twirp who locked Sister Sutterfield and I in the library in Imanta. He tried the other week with Ieva to take me to prison, and my elders with shiny shoes had to save me from those jungle monsters. We had a fun object lesson about happiness that Erik loved a lot. They are two great members and I didn't get locked in prison again!

We did get kidnapped in a different sort of way while out knocking in apartment buildings. This "99.99%" atheist woman let us in and talked our ears off for 45 minutes. She even said she got us in "prison" and was talking our ear off and wasn't letting us talk even though she saw we were trying. He he. She was really nice though and actually fairly believing and smart. She just knows that she'd have to change if she believed in God more concretely, so she doesn't.

On Thursday we saw the first fruit of my calling labors. We met with Sanda. She was contacted by missionaries several years ago and brought her cute little runny nosed, bubble gum chewing 4-year-old Dennis to the meeting. She was fairly interested and asked a lot of questions about prophets. She travels a lot for her job though, so teaching her would be very difficult. Rihards, the 26-year-old first counselor helped us with a member lesson with Nodezda. She is Russian and we don't speak Russian. She understands Latvian but often answers more complicated spiritual things in Russian so he translated for us. It was a good meeting.

On Friday I went running barefoot on the beach again and played tag with the waves and let them try to chase me. I love Liepaja. The wind means that we have an excuse not to do our hair and it is cooler because the wind is nearly always blowing. It also gives us the chance to practice our Marilyn Monroe skills. We took Madara out contacting and had several miracles. The first was that a lady let us in and was quite interested and receptive. We are going back to teach her! She is in a hard spot in her life- sick parents, etc. so it is a good time for the gospel. We were continuing contacting in this 9-story apartment building (always start at the top!) when Leva and Olga called saying they wanted to smoke so they wanted to go to the church so they wouldn't. We left the dome with the unbreakable code (it was a miracle the door was open and we just walked right in) and went to buy them grapefruit juice (supposedly makes smoking super nasty and not desireable). At the store there was lo and behold MAGNUM ICE CREAM BARS! For those of you who haven't experienced these, they are a little taste of heaven on a stick. And a little heart attack, but very good. We haven't seen them in Latvia until now. Sister Sutterfield was rejoicing when we called her and told her; they are her favorite. So we went and taught the girls a spiritual thought. They behaved. No giggling. It was a miracle (possibly because we kicked Ieva out of the last lesson for being too giggly and not serious).

I have a confession. I'm in love. The neighbor kid to the church is so stinking cute. He is this little fat kid with glasses and his big pinch-able cheeks. He was also trying to climb over his fence and got stuck. And starting yelling and flapping his arms so it looked like he was swimming in the air. His police dog came and tried to scare him off the fence. I burst out laughing. It was quite the youTube hit quality adventure. He did finally get off the fence and then came over to us doing tricks and jumping and shook his head and went, "bbbbbbbbb!" with his jowels shaking. It was really the funniest thing I've seen in my life. I feel really bad that I was laughing, but things like that just don't happen in real life. I still snicker about it every time I think of Maxims stuck on his fence.

Our English class on Saturday went really well. We had the Russian dentist lady, our 2 way to cute to be in their 30s Russians, and Baiba- our only serious Latvian speaker who translates when the younger Russians ask questions in Russian. We decided to go over the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet in Russian with them and it went over really well. Sure do wish I knew some Russian! We met with a less active family who just had a cute baby girl, Eliza. They are so nice and their six-year-old girl is a hoot. They stayed for some of the Latvian District Conference. It was really neat, Elder Mills got the buildings wired so we saw it broadcast from Imanta live! Elder Lawrence and Clayton were there as well and Elder Senkans and President Dance (with respective wives). They held a 2-hour Q&A session for the members. They could ask any question they wanted and the panel answered. It was really neat for them to have that. We had an older woman we met on the street come and like it, which was a miracle!

Leva and Olga (or oye! as we call them...previously Moye! until we split them off from Martins [the one who now has a Bible]) called and wanted a spiritual thought so we headed over to the church. We were in the midst of starting said very impromptu spiritual thought when the fire alarm went off. Now you see, we had fire safety for this building but didn't think president was serious about the noisy message in three languages "Uzmainibu Uzmainibu! There is an emer-g-ncy. Please exit this building. a;skldfjawoith (that was the Russian)" We learned how to turn said alarm off but it did not work. About 30 minutes later a police man came. By this time our investigators had left and we were just sitting talking and swatting at mosquitoes. Elder Lynch was fascinated that he had a gun. He couldn't get the alarm off either. So then we waited for another man to come and didn't leave until 9:30 from the church which had the speakers making an odd white sound and some of the rooms not smelling right. Sister Ferrin and I didn't sleep well at all for fear of the building burning down, but we couldn't do anything because the man that stopped the alarm said it was fine and the branch presidency was off in Riga at the District Conference.

On Sunday we got to the church. It didn't burn down. But the missionaries were apparently in charge of getting the branch to Riga. And the bus wasn't coming to the church. And neither were all the church members. Luckily the church is true and we found the bus and what stops we were supposed to pick people up at so we all got there. The most eventful part of the trip was the bathroom break. In the woods. Nevermind stopping at a city. 3/4 of the bus got off. Boys to the right and girls to the left. Seriously, we were just all in shock. Oye! were stinkers and went and smoked a cigarette during the potty break.

The conference was great. Same people as Saturday session. They all bore their testimonies and just talked to the church members here. They spoke often of being grateful, loving your country, counting your blessings, and improving yourself.
We went back with Sister Sutterfield and Wilson and had a chicken casserole (so not for summer heat) and then went off on mini-splits and went out working. Sister Wilson and I talked to some really good people. My favorite was this nice college-age kid who believes in yoga and he was just good to talk to though didn't want to meet with missionaries. We also met a super nice Russian lady who gave us her phone number.

Girls. They were so giggly. I felt like I was at a 13-year-old slumber party and it was warm, so I am still suffering from sleep deprivation.

Luckily MISSION CONFERENCE on Monday made up for it! It was so amazing. The whole entire mission was in the Imanta church together with the Dances, Lawrences, and Claytons. We took pictures with them and then were fed a spiritual feast. They all bore their short testimonies and then Elder Clayton held a Q&A session with us. He talked about getting along with companions, spiritual v. logical thinking, the relationship between faith and agency (Elder Lynch's question), forgiveness, and being a disciple of Jesus Christ. It was all really good and quite interesting to see how many of the scriptures that he used were also used in Preach My Gospel (thanks hand dandy multi-colored scripture marking). I especially like when Elder Clayton told us that it is just the beginning here. He told us that there is harvesting going on, but that we are also planting and sewing for later on. He told us that we are laying a foundation and that it will be great even though it is hard to take the long view. He also told us about the new stake in Moscow that was just formed. The church is growing here!

The biggest compliment was Sister Lawrence came up to Sister Ferrin and I (who were sitting in the front) after the meeting and told us that we had beautiful white smiles and "should be on a Colgate commercial." She also inquired as to if we used those whitening strips.

The senior couples put on a great lunch- chicken salad in croissants with brownies and ice cream. We got to stay until around 3pm and talk and socialize with missionaries from the mission. It was good to see all these faces that I may or may not see again. All the Russian elders are so tall! It is kind of fun to see the different personalities and body types that go with the certain speaking languages. Shorter Latvians, bigger Russians, nerdy Estonians, etc. etc.

The ride home was fun. We went to center with some of the Lithuanian elders and got to talk to them. One kid, Elder Carroll, was actually in a past New Era that we found in our apartment. I only teased him once about it, don't worry. We went into Stockmanns (a store with food from America) and got some bread and yogurt and then talked instead of sleeping on the way home. It was fun to learn more about the elders. Elder Holdaway's family is really into ultra-marathoning. He's done a ton of races and normally runs barefoot. Elder Lynch told us more about his family and it was just good to talk. We crashed once we got home though. It is getting harder to sleep though because it is brighter and warmer. Wish us luck!

Love you all,
Sister Lindstrom

week 15

Hello from Lovely Liepaja!

Monday we had a family home evening at the beach. We got to collect sea glass and look through the old forts that they tried to blow up. That didn't work so they threw some of them in the sea. We went out to lunch with Rihards, the 26-year-old counselor in the bishopric. I got a traditional Liepajan dish- Liepaja's Mencinis. It was some sort of fish with basically home-made scallopped potatoes. We had it at this cute restaurant, Pastnieka Maja.

Masa has been sick a lot this week so I've been cooking and making phone calls. Food highlights included nutella and banana crepes (Sigh...France) and eggplant parmesaen. I also made some wicked good Italian soup. I am glad I found this skill as it can still be a little chillier here...which I love. Towards the end of the week my phone calls started to be more successful- there are people who want us to call back! It is a long process with lots of not interested people....some of them were contacted way back in 2004 so they don't remember or care often now.

Saturday we had an adventure at the church. The alarm went off and so President called us. This was natually right when I was making Swedish meatballs and we were about to eat dinner so we had to turn off the stove and go find out what happened at the church! This big burly security/police man came with us to investigate. Someone left a window open and the wind set the alarm off- ha ha.

We also went and visited the infamous ring man. Maris has been making rings for over 25 years. We wanted to visit his wife, but she wasn't in. He told us about making rings and how to find amber on the beach. He even gave us some. He is a really neat man, and if anyone wants a custom made silver ring (or necklace or bracelet or whatever) you should let me know while I'm in Liepaja. He has designed missionaries some pretty cool CTR rings.

Sunday we went on splits! Sista F. went with Santa and I went with Madara and Sandis (who had his two nieces- twins- 6 months). They did so great! I switched Sandis the stroller for my copy of the Book of Mormon and they went out contacting. It was so neat to see them so excited and to encourage them. I won't mind training twice, those girls are going to get a lot of loving and help so that they can succeed. We ran into a miracle- Ena and Jolanta, who we were going to visit. We taught them a quick lesson in the park and then went and did some harvesting.

I'd write more but my hour is spent today. Know that life is good and the church is true!

Create a great day,
Sister Lindstrom

Week 14

Soooooooooo

It was another wonderful week in Liepaja. We met a lady, Ieva, when we were out contacting Sunday night. She said that she would meet with us so we set up an appointment for Monday afternoon (during our preparation time, because that is when she said she could). So we went to the church in the afternoon to meet her. She didn't show up, but we had about 4 or 5 people come to the door and ask us about free English, our worship services, or both. One of the ladies that came asking actually showed up to English class on Saturday and she seemed really quite interested in the gospel. She had a lot of questions. We had a fun preparation day walking around the center and seeing what the city has to offer. We went to family home evening at the Stake President's home with his two cute little girls, Ieva and Sarra. They were both terribly shy and hiding for most of it until they came out to blow bubbles. We gave the spiritual thought and then President showed us pictures of his wedding and such. They met for the first time 2 weeks after he got home from his mission. It was at a regional YSA Conference. The second day of the conference (and of knowing of her exsistence) he proposed. Crazy!!! Madara, Santa (the young Relief Society President) [both putting in their mission papers soon], Inguss (~15 year old member) and Sandis (17-year-old dry member...his mom won't let him get baptized) were also there and we all played Charades together. It was a lot of fun.

Tuesday was our first district meeting with our new group. We also celebrated Sister Ferrin's birthday late with some Coconut Heaven Cupcakes (just as heavenly when made in Latvia, if not more) and princess candles. Elder Holdaway is a professed pus-masa (half sister) and Elder Lynch is the kind of kid who would tell you to go roll in mud. They are so different but get along so well. Elder Lynch is growing up! Elder Holdaway does ultra marathons and runs barefoot. He likes high school musical and shopping. Elder Lynch loves satanic-esque (in my opinion) rock music and hiking. They make quite the pair going back and forth with America and Scottish bantering. We love them and all the help they are to us. We got to learn about fire safety in our Methodist-esque church building designed by a local (and Methodist-esque so that the city would let it be built). The elders also took us to declare that we were living in Liepaja and to pay rent. We met with Laima (her name means happy in English), a woman who got baptized a week ago. She is so beautiful inside and out. She works with some Christians should be friends with Jews group and has been to Jerusalem. She was talking about the gathering of Israel and is more golden than gold. She showed up at church one day and then later asked when she could be baptized. We are planning on converting her husband. We have an appointment at her house (she hasn't let missionaries come there yet!) this upcoming week. We also went and met with Santa and had a nice little tea party and talked about prophets. We read the talk about Thomas S. Monson's birthday service. She loved it and now has a testimony that he is a prophet of God.

Wednesday we went over to Aivar's home to give him a talk to speak about in church. We called his house and his legitimately, certifiably insane wife answered. "Why are you calling him?! He is at work. What do you want?!" "To give him papers." "What do you want?! Wa ha. Ha. Ha. (for about 2 minutes)" We are glad she didn't come outside. We went over to Zelma, another member's home who lives by us. We weren't sure if she was active or not, so we thought we'd stop by. She is :) . Her sister was over who lives in Jelgava so we were able to teach her. Zelma was so cute. She was just like, "Tell her girls. I've been trying to tell her but she doesn't believe me. Tell her about how you can't swim and have to be in at 9pm etc. etc. etc." Santa had her interview today. She had it with Elder Jakes over the phone with Elder Holdaway translating. She did it! We are so excited. I almost forgot my most favorite part of the day...running to the Baltic Sea! (which we just call the ocean) You can actually find amber washed up after lots of wind. Amber is huge in Latvia, you should wiki about it. But anywho, so we were running back and crossed the street to avoid a group of intoxicated persons our age. One of the boys came over running, his medal around his neck bouncing and started running with us. We exchanged pleasantries and then he left.

Sister Ferrin woke up sick on Thursday. Never fear, I am a pro soup maker now. I just make too much. Which was fine because the elders have been terribly ill and spent most of the week indoors. But I tried making dumplings, and they were amazing. They made me think of Grandma, as do all of the lilac bushes that are in bloom. We did get to visit Santa in the evening with Sandis. Sandis thought it was hilarious that Riksi got all his white dog hair all over me and that he kept licking my leg. My favorite part was when Santa was reading a scripture about baptism and water and she stopped and exclaimed, "Ak Dievs!" (also known as Oh God!) Her fear of water is pretty big.

Friday was another special day. We had the Dances, the Hardys, our district and a Lithuanian District (Cleipata) up (or down) for a district meeting. President Dance taught us about planning lessons, using the scriptures in our teaching, and asking the right questions with scriptures. It was all really helpful and we have some new things to apply. I really learned the importance of asking a simple question first before they read the scripture and then go into the more complex application "why do you care" "how does this apply to you" questions after. We ordered Cili Pizza and had lunch together. The Hardy's drove us the whole block to our apartment so they could do checks on it. Sister Ferrin left her coat at the church. Her coat has a pocket. Inside the pocket were the keys. To everything. We ran back to the church. It was locked. They all had left! We had to call the elders to come rescue us and unlock the church and then go back to our apartment. We met with Oskars, a man who got baptized in November. He has no living relatives and really wants to do their work but doesn't know all their birth/death dates, etc. It is really sad. He has a great faith though and great knowledge. He gave the talk at Santa's baptism and did really well. I love the ward member Marika. She is cute, maybe in her 40s or 50s. She fed us chocolate cake and a rhubarb drink and helped us with our Latvian.

English went well on Saturday as did helping to clean the church. We are planning on making some of the English students investigators. The baptism was the highlight of the day. I made some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and Neka's sugar cookies with almonds (which are Sister Ferriņ's new favorite...thanks Neka!). Elder H. gave her a great blessing of comfort beforehand and she did it! She pumped her fist and shouted "Yes!" when she came out of the water. We were holding back the tears. It was a very nice service. So apparently it was supposed to be the end of the world on Saturday.

There were tons of cannons or something that went off while we were trying to sleep. So we survived the end of the world.

Sunday Masa Juna and her family came and visited. She and her mother bore their testimonies. I replaced Masa Juna in the field. Ieva and Sarra are no longer shy- they are silly girls and Ieva is a boss! We found a new investigator, "Mara and the Janes" (she has cute girls according to the elders) and a lady basically took my Book of Mormon because she was so interested in it. We also went with Santa the young and Madara to visit Ena, a less active lady. She let us hold her kittens and we will be meeting with her often.

Times up, love you, enjoy the pix!

Week 13-Welcome to Liepaja

Monday was quite the epic preparation day. We went with our super district to Seagolda to see the Turaida castle. In the morning we played on a giant swing by the grocery store and then went into center and got McDonald's (not my idea). We played apples to apples on the long bus ride to Seagolda. From Seagolda we took another bus up to the castle and we roamed around and played in the tower and learned about the history of the castle.

We did end up not getting home on time, but that was an adventure as well. We took a bus, waited for another bus and then decided to stop waiting for that bus and took a train. The train ride was quite humorous. It was just all really funny and quite hard to explain. We found out on this train ride (okay, so maybe I got told sooner) but there is a possibility that the Elders will be taking over our area.

We saw the Harikrishna singing in Center today. They are such a great religion. I wanted to join in their parade and dance and sing. I also wanted to join in with everyone at the WWII Memorial. Latvia was a huge war front so it was a pretty big day for them having the end of that. Everyone flocked to the war memorial and took flowers and wore black and orange stripped ribbons. It was really neat to see young and old people doing this.

Tuesday was our last big District Meeting together. We took pictures together and then Masa and I had a lesson with Andris. It went okay. Inga was our member present and she did not appreciate the baptismal interview questions. She thinks they are dumb. To make up for this she did give a killer testimony when Andris answered that we want him to get baptized so that he would be a member of our church. "No! That is not why! They don't need you, but you need the church. The church doesn't care if you are there or not, but you need the gospel." President Dance called us twice and texted us once during this meeting, so naturally we contacted him afterwards. Transfers!!! I'M GOING TO LIEPAJA!! With Sister Ferrin! She was in the MTC with Sister Sutterfield. Sister Sutterfield will be with Sister Wilson in Center. Elder Taylors will be taking over the Sister's area in Imanta with his new companion fresh out of the MTC. President Dance told Sister Sutterfield not to hit him. Multiple times. I'm just so excited to be opening a new area to masas with Sista F. We went and had our ward mission leader meeting with Gatis. The other highlight of Tuesday was meeting up with the elders and having carrots and hummus, apples and crackers, and telling Elder Taylor about our investigators. The packing has begun!

The packing hasn't ended even though we spent most of the day inside Wednesday. It doesn't help that we are shutting down the apartment so everything has to be cleaned up and packed away. In the midst of our cleaning we had a telephone lesson with Martins. He is still doing really well and hope he'll get baptized without the masas there. We had our last Latvian language with Inga. She made us crepes with homemade apple jam. She is pretty excited for elders though sad that we'll (sisters) be gone. We taught her one last retention lesson and she gave a great prayer at the end in which she prayed for us (and Inga never prays for anyone)!

Sister Sutterfield is losing it. Last week it was the phone in the washing machine, this week it was the keys in the library. I had to call the elders and tell them she locked the keys in the library (the door locks when you shut it) and wait for over an hour for them to come. I'm glad I'm a good sport, I thought it was pretty hilarious. And Sister Sutterfield didn't notice the elders sneaking in, so we got to scare her together.

Thursday we officially closed shop. Sister Sutterfield had TONS of stuff to take to center (see pictures). We took a van to center, hauled up all the junk (it was junk) and then got a new taxi and Sista F and I went off to the bus station where we ran into a herd of missionaries who helped us with our bags and with whom we got to speak. The 3 hour bus ride to Liepaja was beautiful. We just talked as we watched the forest fly by. Elder Lynch (from my MTC group) and Elder Holdaway (from Sister Ferrin's) met us at the bus station and showed us around the greatest place on earth. They took us to meet our investigators and the ward members the past few days.
We gave talks on Sunday and we love the ward. I translated in Relief Society and had a really neat (missing text).

I'M IN LIEPAJA! For all of you who don't know how exciting this is, Liepaja is a city in the southwest of Latvia that hasn't been inhabited by masas for over a year. This means that I won't be serving my whole entire mission in one city. I love this place SOOOOOOOOO much. We live right basically in city center in a VERY nice apartment. It is all wood floors and has a huge room to study in with skylights and a view of an old Catholic church which has bells that ring the morning awake (7:45am). The kitchen is nice and new and the bathroom is like a giant castle. It even has a shower that works and isn't super moldy!

The church in Liepaja is gorgeous. It resembles a new-age christian church because that was the only design plans the city would approve. It has lots of windows and the baptismal font is gorgeous. The youth are often found just hanging out at the church. It is all nice and new and large and I love the design.

The branch is amazing here. It is filled with youth and many women (70% I'd guess is women) since it is a harbor city and the men go off to sea. The people here are tanned to a brown from the sea work and talk with an accent (aka cutting off the end of all the words they say). Their hands are dirty but their smiles are warm.

I love love love Liepaja. The streets are cobbled. In the mornings we can run one way to the lake or in the opposite direction and turn out on the beach.

Being out in the middle of nowhere means that I will not be getting mail frequently. So I'd recommend emailing me if you want to contact me and I can just print it off and read it later. We will only get mail if someone comes down or we go up to Center.

Week 12

9 May 2011

Well, it has been quite the wild week.

On Monday morning we woke up and had another soccer adventure with our super district. We invited Martins, our baptismal date to play as well. It wasn't quite as fun as last time because it was so cold. This week has been freezing- the heat is off and my thermals were back on. Happily today (the 9th it is nice and toasty again). Sister Sutterfield is pretty hilarious playing soccer. She kicked I think every single person accidentally. And hard. We all have bruises to show for it. I made four batches of pancakes which is enough to feed 2 sisters and 5 elders. I also tried my hand at some homemade buttermilk syrup, which is delicious (Markus, you should try it. Just make the vanilla syrup recipe from Aunt Marianne in the cookbook- it's about the same). We gave 30-day notice on our apartment. You'll never guess who has mold in their bathroom! (And we can't use the space heater = problem. Masa Sutterfield is always cold.) We went over to Velta's work to help her some more with the situation with her daughter. We taught her some English phrases so she can now say that she wants to talk to her daughter and that she is her mother in English. She was so excited to be able to call England herself!

Tuesday we had lots of guests to our District Meeting. The Jakes and the Assistants came. Sister Jakes loves us and brought cookies. We made some rocking ciabatta pizza (this week was a good cooking week) with lots of veggies and cheese on it. Anda and Vicente's lesson was good (and filled with many tangents). We went over faith as described by 1 Peter 1:5-9. We covered that one scripture block in an hour. Needless to say, we went into detail with word choice. It was so good though. Talked to a lot of interesting people today. One lady was not happy that I was in Latvia and told me I should go back home and tell America that they invaded Libya and that killing people is a sin, adding that we shouldn't be trying to save their poor little country. So America, killing people is a sin. :) Almost more entertaining was the bus ride we took to avoid Ms. Libya. We were contently on the bus and this lady started talking and shouting and then the bus driver got on the intercom and told her to be quiet. My favorite part was the whole entire bus LITERALLY "shhh"-ing her.

Wednesday was another fun contacting day. We talked to a great Russian Natalija. By we I mean Sister Sutterfield. She has the gift of tongues for that whole interpreting Russian thing. At least she had us all fooled. We got Natalija's information and she wants a Book of Mormon. She sounded like she had had a hard life. Good thing we know what can help! There was also a man who did NOT think we could help. He actually stole my Book of Mormon. And pretended to stomp on it. "This is the Bible. It is up here (above his head with his copy of the Bible). And this, your book, this is down here (pretends to stomp on it)." Sister S. was pretty upset. I was pretty much just laughing. Don't knock it until you read it folks! On the way back to our apartment we met this lady who was out sweeping. She cried a lot, bless her heart. She doesn't really know if there is a God, seeing as she has been through a lot of occupations and such. She was really sincere about wanting to know more. I look forward to meeting with her and having a real sit down lesson. Our adventurous day continued with going out with the elders to look at an apartment. It had some pretty epic Catholic pictures, but it will definitely not work.

Thursday we got Leanna to come to the church (since the whole Russian neighbor/alcohol incident the elders banned us from her house). She thought we were having a party party for her year baptismal mark so she brought her mom. Using our thinking caps and mad party throwing skills we made some popcorn and watched "Together Forever" in Russian. Leanna's mom seemed really touched that we had a movie and flowers and treats for her and of course, the most epic movie from the 80s so she nudged Leanna and Leanna actually came to church on Sunday! Raitis and Sanita are doing well. We wanted to commit them to baptism, but Sanita disappeared half way during the lesson with the baby and it was just awkward and Raitis was going on tangents so it didn't happen. Kati was so cute though. She was out in the front playing with her mom and grandma when she left and went running out the gate and told her mom, "See you tomorrow" and started walking with us. She also ran away and hid when Raitis when chasing after her. I wouldn't have minded if she came home with us!

Friday I made some fantastic Croatian chicken and had a blast stumping everyone with my "2 truths and 1 lie" sentences for Latvian class. I'm glad people think I would skinny dip in Switzerland but not dye my hair blue. (Don't worry mother, I will never skinny dip). We had our first "phone lesson" with Martins. Since he is several hours away at home for about 2 weeks we are having phone lessons. It wasn't too awkward praying over the phone and sharing scriptures. The next ones should be loads of fun!! We also went to visit the Sostaki couple- some rocks of the branch. Milde fed us some yummy salad and some of the 1 meter 19 kilo fish that Nicolas has just caught. They shared their conversion stories which was fun. And how they got married about 7 years ago. "Well, if you have the priesthood you have to get married. It is a rule, so I got married." He is definitely a romantic ;) . They are a fun couple though and have already started taking the steps to share the gospel with their friends.

The cell phone went for a wild ride on Saturday. I hope it enjoyed the washing machine ride, because it sure was a lot of fun trying to get a new one (no, it was not me who washed it). Sister Sutterfield accidentally (possibly on purpose, I don't know) took the elders phone and we went off contacting with it. We actually found an awesome Russian lady who gave us food and let us in (which like never ever in a million years of ever happens) and was just super nice and wants us to come back. The communication barrier was a bummer though. We got called "children" by a bunch of old ladies (which Sister S. also didn't appreciate). I find it more amusing...in a sad way that they don't know what they are missing, but I don't know how open I'd be to the missionaries if I wasn't so blessed to have been born under the covenant.

We did get a new phone. With a bulging battery. We crammed it in the phone and tried to charge it. It didn't work so we had to go off and use Maija's mom's phone (Maija's had no credit) and call our elders then the zone leaders and then the assistants (the first two wouldn't pick up) and try to get a phone so we could talk to our families. The men have little faith in the sisters here though because they sent our elders over Sunday morning to help us plug in our new phone. "Did they take the plastic off the battery?!" We showed the elders the bloated battery and told them that we had just tried the wet battery and it still worked.

Church was great (almost as great as the Swedish meatballs I made afterwards!). The primary sang and did a skit as well as gave us butterflies that they colored and flowers made out of napkins. It was definitely my most favorite mother's day to date. We saw Aija as well on Sunday. She is doing well and I hope will want to be baptized. She had a lot of questions about faith and repentance.

Love you all,
The church is true!
Masa Mari

Week 11

It has been a good week.

Monday we played sports with our super district. It was a lot of fun since we have a lot of good soccer players. Elder Seitz and Taylors both played in high school. Elder Frolick isn't too shabby for not really playing and Elder Adams just makes me laugh. I'm going to be really sad when he isn't in my district anymore. He is really good at handling people and situations and just making you laugh and smile and feel appreciated. Afterwards I cooked pancakes for everyone while Sister Sutterfield played hostess. Next time I will have to make more pancakes. 2 1/2 batches was not enough! We got some sad news as missionaries on Monday. Fry Days at the Jake's are pretty much cancelled. We can't have multiple districts there and it has to be over by 4pm, so pretty much won't be happening. We are all really sad about this.

Something really neat happened Tuesday with District Meeting. I was with Elder Seitz doing a teaching practice and Elder Adams assigned us to practice talking to someone who only believed in a higher power. I've never met anyone who has said that, so it was good to practice. That night we went out contacting. I talked to two girls who only believed in a higher power and I was able to use some of the things we used in the practice and I ended up getting both of their numbers and we taught one of them a lesson! Funny how the Lord works! After District Meeting we all went over and filled partikas. I was able to talk to and get to know Elder Taylor which was nice. Sister Sutterfield doesn't fancy him all too well so he probably feels like the black sheep at times in our District. I really think he is swell though.

Wednesday was quite the eventful day. We went to less-active Ineta Lidace's house and her daughter Eliza Bella had us play salon with her. My finger nails were a lovely pink. I mentally gave myself a gold star. That was the longest that my finger nails have ever been painted. She also brushed my hair and sprayed water aka perfume on my fingers and toes. Her mom thought it was pretty funny. We went back to the partika place to visit Iveta, the member who runs the Help Latvia partika (aka food bags) for some referrals. Her daughter is in a hospital in England and she doesn't speak English so we were helping with that. I forgot how much I love British accents. She gave us uncooked cold hot dogs. I was so proud of Masa Sutterfield for eating half of one. She is pretty girly with that sort of stuff if you know what I mean. We also met with Andris and Martins. Andris is being Andris, still not coming to church, but Martins accepted a baptismal date! He is planning on getting baptized June 18. He quit his job at Maxima so he will be going home to the woods for a few weeks and then coming back to Riga.

Thursday was another fun day. Our ward mission leader Gatis invited us over to his home to do service. The elders helped move dirt to make a garden and we sisters raked the grass to get out the dead grass so new grass could grow. We did this for a couple hours and we able to talk to Gunita about their recent marriage, her mission at Temple Square, etc. Afterwards we went in and had lunch. Their kitchen has this giant long window that gives you a view of the pond in their backyard (soon to be cleaned for swimming) and the forest. It was so nice to be out in the "country" air. It reminded me a lot of the farm or Cache Valley. We all piled into the back of their car like clowns and they took us to a bus stop. This was pretty hilarious. Elder Taylor was freaking out that his shoulder was touching Sister Sutterfield so he started stuffing copies of the Book of Mormon between the two of them. Eventually Elder Adams just sort of sat on his lap so Elder Taylors wouldn't have to touch Sister Sutterfield's body anywhere.

Less-active Janina was so happy on Friday. It was so fun to visit with her because she was so happy. They had just had a family miracle and she knows that the Lord answers prayers. We ordered some Herbal Life smoothie mix from her to try out. She has been eating it for the past six months and has lost 9 kilos, so she is pretty sold on it. My favorite part of Friday was when we ran into the Russian elders at the church. Sister Sutterfield meant to say, "I like your tie" but it came out as "I love you Elder Frolick." I may or may not be making fun of her for that still. Latvian class was crazy yet again. It just keeps on getting more crazy. Maybe it is just because I understand more. I made some of dad's infamous apple crisp. Even Inga approved of it, which is big. Inga doesn't like fatty American sweets, so hats of to you dad!

Saturday was the giant "talka" (service/spring cleaning) for Latvia. We got to wear street clothes for the second time this week (weird!) and help clean up the woods around the church. There were many cigarette butts, small baggies, beer cans, and a few needles. The small baggies we are quite positive come from the drug dealer that is in a building across from the tram stop by the church. We are pretty sure the drug users just cross the street and go into the woods after buying the goods and use them there. Latvians have always liked their nature.

Sunday was a calm day at church. We didn't have any investigators (again) at church BUT we did have the Lidace family and Janina come, so it is great to see that our less-actives are starting to come back. Martins didn't show up to church like he said he would but we did get him to come to a meeting in the evening. He is such a sharp kid, especially since he wasn't raised in a religious background,

My time has dwindled down,
Love you all, the church is true!

Sister L

Week 10 Easter 2011

Sisters Wilson and Lindstrom


This past week was amazing!

The fun started on Monday. We went to the zoo as a super district (3 Russian Elders, 2 Latvian, and us sisters) and had a blast walking around looking at all the animals. The zoo was quite impressive. The animals were also all very close since it was not America. We got to watch a show with a seal, laugh at the kodiak bears playing in giant tires, mimic the flamingos, and play I Spy with the frogs and other bugs. The most fun part (besides all getting ice cream and hot dogs for lunch) was playing on the playground. This is where we lost our cell phone, so Sister Sutterfield and I had a fun adventure going to the zoo two more times to find it. It was definitely a miracle that the phone was turned in.

On Tuesday we just had a series of entertaining events. The other night the Russian elders called and told us how they were about to extend a baptismal date in a lesson when a bunch of cops came storming in, questioned them, their investigator, and then the investigator had to go.

We were having a Latvian district meeting and the elders noticed these two men walking around and around and around the church. They finally came in and the elders recognized one of them as a man they had contacted the previous week. They gave him and his friend a 15 minute lesson and committed them to baptism. We were rushing out to our next meeting when the Russian elders showed up. Turns out the Latvians had just taught their investigators that had the cops come. They are both named Alexander and are both amazing people. One is older and the other is about 20-22 years old.

Tuesday night started off with a bang for exchanges. There were many mix-ups and so the Russian sisters were in Imanta at the church and the rest of us were in Center at the church. Sister Ferrin and Wilson got locked in (see the picture) and so we had to call the elders to come unlock the door (they had just changed the key to the building). I LOVED being with Sister Wilson in Center. She was so wonderful, making sure that I got to be involved and asking my opinion on things. She let me carry around the keys and we had so much fun contacting people. Her Latvian isn't the greatest (possibly worse than mine, but she understands more), but people always stopped to listen to her. She got the number of the first person we contacted, and we also got two lessons in a park, including praying with one lady out loud. She was the spiritual boost that I was needing and I learned a lot about just being happier for the people and being more persistent. By the end of the day my mouth hurt from smiling, it was so fun being with such a spiritual giant. I can't wait to serve with her because I know that we will be a great companionship because she loves what she does and who she is with. We had some really good lessons together. We met with Agrita and almost got her committed to baptism and then we met with this older member Helena who is dying. She is a saint. And she made me cry because her prayer was so earnest and touching. She was saying the closing prayer and just pleading with our Father to help her so she could go to church and partake of the sacrament there. It made me so grateful for my health and that I am able to go to church.

Random tangent: Living here makes me afraid to grow old. People don't seem to age well herel. I am glad to be an American, for sure.

Friday we had a Branch Easter Party. There was a 10 minute spiritual thought and then we went outside and played some games. One was finding "eggs" blindfolded, another a 2 team scavenger hunt, pin the tail on the bunny (which I got volunteered to draw), and our personal favorite a chasing game. You pair off and then there is one person without a partner who tells the last pair to run. They try to connect back up to each other while being chased by the person without a partner. The elders were quite daring taking leaps and bounds. My personal favorite was Elder Senkans chasing after Elder Taylor. Afterwards we played volleyball as missionaries with Elder Jakes and some of the members. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday we had an adventure visiting Leanna. Long story short (I don't have much time) we were talking with her in her stairwell, had two drunk Russians come who ended up taking us and the two little neighbor girls and Leanna out to talk and then to the backyard of the apartment where they had another friend and alcohol. I was ready to leave because it was obviously turning into a bad situation and Sister Sutterfield wanted to finish the tea the little girls gave us from their grandmother. Nevermind that she HATES tea and had a man trying to get her to drink that kept on grabbing her arm. We did get out but all the way home Sister S. was worrying about what those young girls would think because we didn't drink all their tea. Bless her heart.

It was interesting contacting this Easter. It is a four-day holiday so most Latvians were in their summer homes in the woods. We contacted MANY Russians. Luckily Easter is almost over, so hopefully people will go back to being themselves. Traditions here...they dye eggs with onion skins and we even had several members give us eggs on Sunday. We sang a musical number as missionaries and that is as Easter-y as it got at church. Sister S. and I made funeral potatoes and had turkey and green beans to celebrate.

Sorry I can't write more, but my time is up.
I hope you had an amazing Easter. I know I did. I am so grateful for our Savior and Redeemer.















Sisters Wilson and Ferrin Locked in the Chapel