We had a very busy week, with 13 lessons with a member accompanying us. That is insanely good for all y'all who haven't recently been on a mission. Sadly, we only had one investigator at church.
On Monday I found the most divine chocolate mousse. It was like being back in France...yummm. It reminded me of that awful awful French book that was a torture to read by Proust. He has a "petite madeline" moment where he has a bite of this cookie and it takes him back to his glorious childhood. Anywho, we also did some missionary work. We were able to meet with Jana (LA) who we are trying to get active. We had a nice lesson, though it would help if we spoke Russian. Ne gavaru pa russki! We had the most hilarious 10 commandment lesson that I have ever witnessed with the Beldavi (M). We were talking about how you don't use the Lord's name in vain (people often say "Ak Dievs!" here). I likened it unto Inguss' name. Inguss wouldn't like it if we hollered his name, "Ak Inguss!" every time something bad happened. Then proceeded "Ak Inguss (giggle)!" "Ak Raivo!" "Ak Lauris!" "Ak Elvis" "Ak Filips [the bird]!" and so on and so forth. It was pretty great, especially with mom and brothers tearing into others on certain commandments. We were warmly invited to come back next Monday and talk about not using all of our time on the computer.
Sister Clark likes gingerbread so we decided to try making a gingerbread log (aka artery clogger of goodness- nesquick, sweetened condensed milk, butter, smashed gingerbread cookies). In District Meeting we talked about testimonies and how they are important. I like in True to the Faith where it states so simply what our testimonies should be. Ieva gave us coloring homework (how did she know I was stressed?!) and we made some delicious bbq chicken pizza. I don't have a talent for inventing BBQ sauce just if y'all were wondering. I do have a talent for poetry slamming. Sister Clark, having gone to that awful land of BYU would poetry slam hymns with her roommates for fun. It is quite an enjoyable missionary activity. Missions make you so weird. Presidents came and helped us to teach Janis and Kristina (I) about the importance of following commandments. Hopefully it helps because we shouldn't procrastinate the day of our repentance!
Kristina helped us teach Oskars about how to teach Wednesday night. Kristina schooled us...in all of our planning we forget to plan to teach about the Holy Ghost! It was a good reminder that he is the most important part. We had a nice lesson with Alesja (LA) about baptism and confirmation. She committed to come to church but then she ended up going to Riga on Sunday. After English class we invited them all to stay and watch the Restoration film. Only a few did, but one of them, Liga, was visibly touched by the film and we were able to meet with her on Thursday.
Rihards helped us teach Liga the restoration. Liga actually has had contact from missionaries and had a Russian copy of the Book of Mormon. We talked to her more about the Book of Mormon and she said she was excited and wanted to read it this time. She prayed very sincerely at the end to know if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet from God. Elder Adams was down from Riga for exchanges and participated in a Branch Missionary meeting. By the end we all had mustaches drawn on our fingers, it was pretty funny. Janis and Kristina (I) now know the 10 commandments and are going to "try" to live them. We split the trolls up and taught them at the same time in different rooms so they couldn't bother each other (yay for splits!) and it worked really well. Ieva and I talked more about Alma 34. It is a good chapter. Read it.
Madara hung out with us basically all Friday. We taught Rita (I) English. Well mostly we made Madara and Rita practice speaking to each other and taught her the Plan of Salvation in less than 10 minutes! We ate some soup together and then we taught Vaira. She brought us molding apples (yum!...I gave them to a bum). With Vaira, Sister Clark and I were both very impressed to teach her the Plan of Salvation. She has LOTS of deep questions. I didn't even know where to start. Cute Tamara (I) (a Russian) from English brought us pink tulips and chocolate. Who needs a boyfriend when you teach English?! Tamara just has a good light to her and accepted the Restoration. She is just busy so we will see if we can get this to become a priority. With Santa (RC) we went over Alma 42 and talked a lot about how God shapes us through trials and that he doesn't want to have to punish us all the time and stuff- the whole mercy/justice thing can be confusing for her.
On Saturday when we got to the church to prepare for English the elders had a woman there and said, "Hey, teach her about the Book of Mormon." Well, okay. It was a really spirit-filled impromptu lesson. Lidija helped us a lot when we taught Vaira again. She just won't sit and listen because she has so many questions. I'm not feeling too badly that she is in the elders' area and that they will be teaching her. We met with the trolls again- talked about the Book of Mormon with Olga and Repentance with Ieva. Olga's mom doesn't want her coming to church and so it looks like we may be saying farewell to the trolls again for a time.
Sunday I had a great talk prepared off of DC 90:24 that I didn't get to give. I did get to teach an impromptu 2nd hour about the Fall and Adam and Eve. We all survived, especially with Santa's humor. "Why was it bad for Adam and Eve to eat the fruit?" "Because it wasn't washed." I threw the phone at Sister Clark after lunch and made her set up all our appointments. She did pretty well on the phone. Other than the fact that she doesn't talk into it so they people are always saying, "Allo? Allo?" We went and visited an inactive who has 8 kids and will be earning 40 lats a month. Good luck. It is so sad to see that people aren't willing to come to church- even if you flat out tell them that it will help their temporal needs be fulfilled. God really does love us and I know that he blesses us temporally and spiritually.
-Sister Lindstrom
Monday, February 27, 2012
Week 54
Monday, February 20, 2012
Week 53
Well, hello world. We are alive and well. My music player, on the other hand, is not. It died this past week. February has not been my technology month- my camera got lost, the music player died, and now I'm just waiting for my running watch to give up the ghost. Oh well. It has been raining on top of the snow which makes for an ice skating adventure. No one has fallen yet, but I'm not quite sure how we are going to run on this stuff.
Monday we went and got yummy raspberry pastry hearts at the bakery. Valentine's Day is not really celebrated here, but you do see displays of chocolate out and such. We made kartupeli pankukas (potato pancakes) for lunch at the church. We borrowed the elders' waffle iron and made chocolate waffle cookies- yum! Harvesting was pretty great. There was an old man with a flowered robe (his) that answered the door. It was an effort not to start laughing until the door was shut. We also had a flirtatious young lad who draped himself on his door. Yes, congratulations, you are tall. I was joking with Sister Clark about it, to continue her beach ball jokes... "Have you seen my door frame? It is about this high. I think it was right here last." She lost it.
The door adventures continued on Tuesday. We went to heart attack the elders at 6:30. We had "punny" cards, a chocolate box filled with heart shaped cookies, and loads of pink and red hearts. We all got a really good kick out of that. In District Meeting I learned a lot about faith. Faith IN JESUS CHRIST leads to (the) action OF REPENTENCE. I think that often I haven't taught faith that way. There is always something new to learn. We made salmon for lunch to celebrate Single's Awareness Day. Good thing I have a companion, I'm not ever single. We taught Janis and Kristina (I) about the Word of Wisdom. They have absolutely no problem with it- don't smoke, don't drink, don't like coffee. Sister Clark, at the end of the lesson, commented, "Wow, that was so easy." We went to search for Gints- an inactive. His neighbor's dog tried to eat us. "Don't eat the girls!" his owner, who actually helped to build the church told him. Little Ieva (M) helped us to teach the Trolls. She was so great. She'd whisper things into my ear to tell them. "Tell them it is hard to feel the Spirit when they are laughing during church. Tell them that they aren't following God's commandments and that that is bad." By the end of the lesson both Ieva and Olga were pretty serious. Nothing puts you to shame like a six-year-old calling you out.
Wednesday we paid our rent...heating was 80 lats! Yikes! We had a neat lesson with Zelma (M). We talked about family history and she has a new resolve to find more of it. We had a tea party with Valda (RC) and Kaspars, who baptized Valda. It was so neat to see Kaspars doing his duty. We didn't know he was invited, but he showed up with juice and cookies. He was very polite and helped Valda's ancient momma, Zigrida. Kaspars also proceeded to help Valda with her wood-burning stove and she commented about the wet wood she had. Kaspars looked at his watch, said that he had 15 or 20 minutes before he needed to go, and asked for an ax so he could cut up some of her dry wood into smaller pieces! It was such a neat experience to see him being a part of Valda's life and serving. Our English class went well. We gave a tour of the church and were able to answer several questions, such as why we don't have crosses, and why there aren't any pictures in the sacrament hall.
We were able to meet with Janis (I), the jolly one, from English class on Thursday. He completely agreed with everything we taught about dispensations and apostasy. He is open to meeting more and wants to learn more before he accepts a date for baptism. He really enjoys our building and wants it to be his home. He has been searching for gospel truth a lot- didn't like the Lutheran church, didn't agree with the Baptists, etc. We made stuffed peppers (Ole!) and the highlight for me was getting not one, but TWO letters from my bestie! The mail monster didn't get them! Ausma B. (M) helped us to teach Janis and Kristina (I). We read Ether 12:27 and she shared a really neat story about how after having a priesthood blessing she was able to pass her driving test when before she had failed it. God really can literally turn our weaknesses into strengths!
Friday. I love seeing our branch work so hard to get things together. Bless the relief society president's heart. We had a meeting about visiting teaching to encourage her and help her do it. She had already started doing a lot, but she didn't have anyone in partners! Oh dear, I hated having to tell her that normally when we can we have visiting teaching partners. She is doing such a great job though. I love Ruta. We had a most excellent lesson with Marika (M). She hit it off with Sister Clark and had a lot to share about Jesus Christ. She went on a BYU Israel tour and it really strengthened her testimony. We had an interesting lesson with the Trolls. Madara helped out and asked them what they wanted from the church and from the missionaries. Olga responded that she wanted to help people, learn more about God, to repent, etc. etc. Ieva said, "Basically the same, but I also want to be a missionary." Her face was filled with embarrassment and she hid behind a book. She wants to be a missionary! Soooo good! We talked with them about appropriate church behavior and established expectations and consequences. They have been behaving so much better since this meeting.
Saturday we went running to the park and then after studies, helped out with the primary party. It was quite the adventure- musical balls (like chairs, but you have to grab a ball in the middle of the circle), decorating cookies, weaving hearts, and learning about the Good Samaratin. The kids really enjoyed themselves and a lot stuck around after the party and could be heard running around while we were teaching English. Valda helped us to teach the Trolls. It actually went really well. She told them that this was serious business and that they should leave their old, evil lives, and live the church life. She testified that it was a much better life, that it is like flying around like a bird above the clouds.
We had 48 people at church! That was definitely the highlight of Sunday. We also met with Santa (RC) and talked more about visiting teaching and then went to find some souls! We didn't find any. Just kidding! We found Ruta, a former investigator who was a sweetheart, and on the bus ride home we were able to contact Liga who was extremely friendly and asked us about when we have church services!
The church is true and don't you ever forget it!
Monday we went and got yummy raspberry pastry hearts at the bakery. Valentine's Day is not really celebrated here, but you do see displays of chocolate out and such. We made kartupeli pankukas (potato pancakes) for lunch at the church. We borrowed the elders' waffle iron and made chocolate waffle cookies- yum! Harvesting was pretty great. There was an old man with a flowered robe (his) that answered the door. It was an effort not to start laughing until the door was shut. We also had a flirtatious young lad who draped himself on his door. Yes, congratulations, you are tall. I was joking with Sister Clark about it, to continue her beach ball jokes... "Have you seen my door frame? It is about this high. I think it was right here last." She lost it.
The door adventures continued on Tuesday. We went to heart attack the elders at 6:30. We had "punny" cards, a chocolate box filled with heart shaped cookies, and loads of pink and red hearts. We all got a really good kick out of that. In District Meeting I learned a lot about faith. Faith IN JESUS CHRIST leads to (the) action OF REPENTENCE. I think that often I haven't taught faith that way. There is always something new to learn. We made salmon for lunch to celebrate Single's Awareness Day. Good thing I have a companion, I'm not ever single. We taught Janis and Kristina (I) about the Word of Wisdom. They have absolutely no problem with it- don't smoke, don't drink, don't like coffee. Sister Clark, at the end of the lesson, commented, "Wow, that was so easy." We went to search for Gints- an inactive. His neighbor's dog tried to eat us. "Don't eat the girls!" his owner, who actually helped to build the church told him. Little Ieva (M) helped us to teach the Trolls. She was so great. She'd whisper things into my ear to tell them. "Tell them it is hard to feel the Spirit when they are laughing during church. Tell them that they aren't following God's commandments and that that is bad." By the end of the lesson both Ieva and Olga were pretty serious. Nothing puts you to shame like a six-year-old calling you out.
Wednesday we paid our rent...heating was 80 lats! Yikes! We had a neat lesson with Zelma (M). We talked about family history and she has a new resolve to find more of it. We had a tea party with Valda (RC) and Kaspars, who baptized Valda. It was so neat to see Kaspars doing his duty. We didn't know he was invited, but he showed up with juice and cookies. He was very polite and helped Valda's ancient momma, Zigrida. Kaspars also proceeded to help Valda with her wood-burning stove and she commented about the wet wood she had. Kaspars looked at his watch, said that he had 15 or 20 minutes before he needed to go, and asked for an ax so he could cut up some of her dry wood into smaller pieces! It was such a neat experience to see him being a part of Valda's life and serving. Our English class went well. We gave a tour of the church and were able to answer several questions, such as why we don't have crosses, and why there aren't any pictures in the sacrament hall.
We were able to meet with Janis (I), the jolly one, from English class on Thursday. He completely agreed with everything we taught about dispensations and apostasy. He is open to meeting more and wants to learn more before he accepts a date for baptism. He really enjoys our building and wants it to be his home. He has been searching for gospel truth a lot- didn't like the Lutheran church, didn't agree with the Baptists, etc. We made stuffed peppers (Ole!) and the highlight for me was getting not one, but TWO letters from my bestie! The mail monster didn't get them! Ausma B. (M) helped us to teach Janis and Kristina (I). We read Ether 12:27 and she shared a really neat story about how after having a priesthood blessing she was able to pass her driving test when before she had failed it. God really can literally turn our weaknesses into strengths!
Friday. I love seeing our branch work so hard to get things together. Bless the relief society president's heart. We had a meeting about visiting teaching to encourage her and help her do it. She had already started doing a lot, but she didn't have anyone in partners! Oh dear, I hated having to tell her that normally when we can we have visiting teaching partners. She is doing such a great job though. I love Ruta. We had a most excellent lesson with Marika (M). She hit it off with Sister Clark and had a lot to share about Jesus Christ. She went on a BYU Israel tour and it really strengthened her testimony. We had an interesting lesson with the Trolls. Madara helped out and asked them what they wanted from the church and from the missionaries. Olga responded that she wanted to help people, learn more about God, to repent, etc. etc. Ieva said, "Basically the same, but I also want to be a missionary." Her face was filled with embarrassment and she hid behind a book. She wants to be a missionary! Soooo good! We talked with them about appropriate church behavior and established expectations and consequences. They have been behaving so much better since this meeting.
Saturday we went running to the park and then after studies, helped out with the primary party. It was quite the adventure- musical balls (like chairs, but you have to grab a ball in the middle of the circle), decorating cookies, weaving hearts, and learning about the Good Samaratin. The kids really enjoyed themselves and a lot stuck around after the party and could be heard running around while we were teaching English. Valda helped us to teach the Trolls. It actually went really well. She told them that this was serious business and that they should leave their old, evil lives, and live the church life. She testified that it was a much better life, that it is like flying around like a bird above the clouds.
We had 48 people at church! That was definitely the highlight of Sunday. We also met with Santa (RC) and talked more about visiting teaching and then went to find some souls! We didn't find any. Just kidding! We found Ruta, a former investigator who was a sweetheart, and on the bus ride home we were able to contact Liga who was extremely friendly and asked us about when we have church services!
The church is true and don't you ever forget it!
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Week 52
On Monday we decided to take Valda (I) up to the Scerbinini's for family home evening. She was pretty funny on the bus; I felt like I was with a small child. "Are we there yet?" "No." "Are we there yet?" "No." "They live very far away." "Yup, they live by the last bus stop." "Are we there yet?" "No." Anywho, we all really enjoyed family home evening. We brought the temporal food (brownies and ice cream) and we talked about Mosiah 4:30, which is Presidents favorite, and don't forget it! My favorite was 3-year-old Sarra showing me her photo album. She made up stories about all the pictures and they were pretty funny.
Tuesday was an adventure. We had a pleasant bus ride up to Riga to get my visa renewed. Naturally we got lost. No one said where to go after we got to the big red church! We went into a Narvissen and asked for directions and started heading that way. An older gentleman came running out, hollered us down, and pointed the other way and told us the tram was that-a-way. We were grateful that he pointed us in the right direction so that we weren't late (miracle!). We got to the migration office on time (miracle!) but Valeris (the member who helps out with visa work) wasn't there. Uh oh. I called him and he said that he didn't have it written that I had an appointment on Tuesday. I asked the front desk and I indeed did not. They did have my papers ready (miracle), a free appointment within the hour (miracle), and Valeris was able to leave work to come (hallelujah). So I'm legal now and many miracles happened to make it so! "We believe in ...obeying the law!" Turns out my appointment was for Tuesday but they rescheduled it to be with everyone else on Thursday but forgot to tell me. All was well though, we bought kebabs, Magnum ice cream bars, and made it safely home.
Wednesday was the day for our District Meeting on contacting. I forgot how scary it is to talk to people, especially when you don't understand what they say back. The practice really helped our younger missionaries. We had another large English class. I don't know how I feel about big English classes, it is hard to sense who is interested in the gospel because there are so many of them. They all seemed very intent while we were using pictures to tell them about the Book of Mormon. Janis, a retired fellow, was very excited to take a Book of Mormon and read it. We are planning on meeting with him next week. We got investigator Janis (I) very interested in the Priesthood. With the help of Kaspars (M) we taught Janis and his wife-to-be Kristine about the priesthood and how it would be a blessing in their lives.
Thursday we actually did weekly planning on the correct day, wahoo! The highlight of the day for me was teaching the Beldavi (M) about family history. Elvis poured over my pedigree chart and asked me questions about it. He is excited to get online and start doing some research. Dace also lit up and started telling us stories about her working on family history. Elijah's spirit is alive and kicking here in Liepaja! We also met with Lidija (M) to help her plan her first Primary Activity. I'm sure glad that I have worked with little people before so that I know what kind of things they like to do. It should be a fun party; the theme is "Love your neighbor".
Friday we had a Holy Ghost POW! lesson. We simply read, "The Living Christ" with Rita (I) and the Spirit couldn't even be contained in the room. Ausma B. (M) did an amazing job helping to teach Valda about her baptismal covenants and why they are so important to keep. We had a riveting discussion with Oskars on pride and we all learned a lot. Pride takes on so many faces! We gave Janis and Kristine homework last time and they read it! We were then able to talk with them more about baptism and confirmation and invite them to Valda's baptism.
Saturday we were able to go over how the Book of Mormon answers the questions of the soul. We showed them how to find references and read Enos 1:1-8 and then I shared about God answering my prayer when I couldn't find the hotel in Spain. No habla espanol Quesadilla! I think we gave out about 20 copies! There was a girl from Morocco in the Elders' class. Naturally my French came out as Latvian. *Sigh* She just laughed at me and said I was mixing up my languages. I could understand her perfectly though. :D It was nice hearing French. We scarfed down some leftover quiche and then took our mayonaise cake and trifle-thing to the church and helped set up. About 25 people were there to see Valda enter the waters of baptism. I was able to be the other star of the show with Rihards. Rihards played the piano, conducted, and was a witness. I led the music, participated in a musical number, and spoke about teaching Valda. Lime light! Luckily it was truly Valda who was shining; She definitely has a twinkle to her eye now. The branch is really embracing her. Afterwards Valda was baptized she said she was so happy she could fly. :) We had lots of yummy treats, some of which got in my hair when Ieva (M) gave me a big hug. Kristine (I) really really really really liked the baptism. "So I guess we have to wait until we are married to get baptized, huh." "Yup." "Well, could we do it on the same day, like go get married and then get baptized after?" "Absolutely!"
Sunday was a church of miracles. #1. The trolls showed up. #2. Brother Tolmacovs was at church! (It's been a while) #3. Kaspars was able to confirm Valda (he also baptized her). Santa was naturally the comic relief in Sunday School. She had Valda laughing so hard she was crying. After that Santa said she wasn't aloud to talk because she'd be a distraction, lol. We had a delicious candle-light dinner- rosemary mustard chicken with seasoned potatoes and carrots...mmm! Harvesting was fun. We found a door covered in bubble wrap (yes I popped it) among other things. We were also contacted on our way home by this lady who said she will be calling us! Gotta love miracles!
I've been studying out of PMG ch 5 a lot lately. My testimony has grown that God planned to have the BofM a long time ago.
Tuesday was an adventure. We had a pleasant bus ride up to Riga to get my visa renewed. Naturally we got lost. No one said where to go after we got to the big red church! We went into a Narvissen and asked for directions and started heading that way. An older gentleman came running out, hollered us down, and pointed the other way and told us the tram was that-a-way. We were grateful that he pointed us in the right direction so that we weren't late (miracle!). We got to the migration office on time (miracle!) but Valeris (the member who helps out with visa work) wasn't there. Uh oh. I called him and he said that he didn't have it written that I had an appointment on Tuesday. I asked the front desk and I indeed did not. They did have my papers ready (miracle), a free appointment within the hour (miracle), and Valeris was able to leave work to come (hallelujah). So I'm legal now and many miracles happened to make it so! "We believe in ...obeying the law!" Turns out my appointment was for Tuesday but they rescheduled it to be with everyone else on Thursday but forgot to tell me. All was well though, we bought kebabs, Magnum ice cream bars, and made it safely home.
Wednesday was the day for our District Meeting on contacting. I forgot how scary it is to talk to people, especially when you don't understand what they say back. The practice really helped our younger missionaries. We had another large English class. I don't know how I feel about big English classes, it is hard to sense who is interested in the gospel because there are so many of them. They all seemed very intent while we were using pictures to tell them about the Book of Mormon. Janis, a retired fellow, was very excited to take a Book of Mormon and read it. We are planning on meeting with him next week. We got investigator Janis (I) very interested in the Priesthood. With the help of Kaspars (M) we taught Janis and his wife-to-be Kristine about the priesthood and how it would be a blessing in their lives.
Thursday we actually did weekly planning on the correct day, wahoo! The highlight of the day for me was teaching the Beldavi (M) about family history. Elvis poured over my pedigree chart and asked me questions about it. He is excited to get online and start doing some research. Dace also lit up and started telling us stories about her working on family history. Elijah's spirit is alive and kicking here in Liepaja! We also met with Lidija (M) to help her plan her first Primary Activity. I'm sure glad that I have worked with little people before so that I know what kind of things they like to do. It should be a fun party; the theme is "Love your neighbor".
Friday we had a Holy Ghost POW! lesson. We simply read, "The Living Christ" with Rita (I) and the Spirit couldn't even be contained in the room. Ausma B. (M) did an amazing job helping to teach Valda about her baptismal covenants and why they are so important to keep. We had a riveting discussion with Oskars on pride and we all learned a lot. Pride takes on so many faces! We gave Janis and Kristine homework last time and they read it! We were then able to talk with them more about baptism and confirmation and invite them to Valda's baptism.
Saturday we were able to go over how the Book of Mormon answers the questions of the soul. We showed them how to find references and read Enos 1:1-8 and then I shared about God answering my prayer when I couldn't find the hotel in Spain. No habla espanol Quesadilla! I think we gave out about 20 copies! There was a girl from Morocco in the Elders' class. Naturally my French came out as Latvian. *Sigh* She just laughed at me and said I was mixing up my languages. I could understand her perfectly though. :D It was nice hearing French. We scarfed down some leftover quiche and then took our mayonaise cake and trifle-thing to the church and helped set up. About 25 people were there to see Valda enter the waters of baptism. I was able to be the other star of the show with Rihards. Rihards played the piano, conducted, and was a witness. I led the music, participated in a musical number, and spoke about teaching Valda. Lime light! Luckily it was truly Valda who was shining; She definitely has a twinkle to her eye now. The branch is really embracing her. Afterwards Valda was baptized she said she was so happy she could fly. :) We had lots of yummy treats, some of which got in my hair when Ieva (M) gave me a big hug. Kristine (I) really really really really liked the baptism. "So I guess we have to wait until we are married to get baptized, huh." "Yup." "Well, could we do it on the same day, like go get married and then get baptized after?" "Absolutely!"
Sunday was a church of miracles. #1. The trolls showed up. #2. Brother Tolmacovs was at church! (It's been a while) #3. Kaspars was able to confirm Valda (he also baptized her). Santa was naturally the comic relief in Sunday School. She had Valda laughing so hard she was crying. After that Santa said she wasn't aloud to talk because she'd be a distraction, lol. We had a delicious candle-light dinner- rosemary mustard chicken with seasoned potatoes and carrots...mmm! Harvesting was fun. We found a door covered in bubble wrap (yes I popped it) among other things. We were also contacted on our way home by this lady who said she will be calling us! Gotta love miracles!
I've been studying out of PMG ch 5 a lot lately. My testimony has grown that God planned to have the BofM a long time ago.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Week 51
key
SC = Sister Clark
I = investigator
M = member
RC = recent convert
Some of you may be wondering about the cold: We are nice and warm when we are inside. No frostbite, all body parts accounted for. We heard it has been -33C here. I don't know if that is with windchill and humidity or not, but it is cold. People always tell us we are crazy to be out and to get warmer clothes on. I can't fit more than two scarves on my body people! I finally smartened up and started wearing thermals under my wool tights which makes your toes get cold later. Mostly just your extremities and your nose get cold. I like it when you go out and it is so cold the inside of your nose just kind of freezes. It is the weirdest feeling ever, it makes me giggle. We also have been using hot hands and toasty toes when it gets especially cold and we will be outside for a while. Saturday we took a pot to the church that had about a tablespoon of water in the bottom...by the time we got to the church it was ice! Our apartment is very warm, I turn down the heat at night often because it is too warm; I only sleep with one blanket. We ALWAYS have hot water. It is one of the fun things about being in a post-communist country- the heat and hot water!
Others may be wondering about baptismal dates. Valda passed the interview and will be baptized this Saturday. The trolls haven't come to church so we are having an ultimatum...no lessons until you come to church...or they have to be with your mom. Janis and Kristine want to get married in the summer...we are still working on that.
Let's see, the adventures this week....
Monday was mostly just running around Liepaja getting all the random odds and ends that SC needed. We had chicken noodle soup with the elders, Rubija (member), and Presidents. There was still leftover. I don't know how soup lasts forever! We went to drop off some of this said leftover soup to a sick member, Nadezda. We did indeed "drop" it off. The handle broke and the soup proceeded to spill in the entryway. Oopsie! I thought it was pretty funny. Sister Clark is still mortified. We met Uldis Frolovs (member) with his kids, Sintija and Eriks at the bus station. He's been gone for around 6 months. We walked the long walk (3 miles) with his baggage home and then taught about the restoration. Uldis didn't stick around though, he went to skype his wife in Georgia (the country).
Tuesday we celebrated Madara's (mini missionary from Liepaja called to the Temple Square mission) twenty-first birthday with a most excellent cake and candles. While I was cooking lunch SC did this hilarious show-off your muscles "Excuse me, have you seen my beach ball? It went that a-way. It is about this big." (all while flexing your arms). I got a good ab workout from it and still chuckle everytime I think about it. SC likes to randomly do it to make me laugh. Good golly we are silly! Rubija helped us teach Kristine (I) about the Ten Commandments. She is so solid; her answers to why we have the commandments blew me away.
Wednesday we went to JYSK, aka the overpriced, not as cute IKEA of Latvia and bought some items for a member in the ward. They don't have a lot (aka any) furniture, so we went on a district adventure to pick some stuff out! We proceeded to get the new members of the district registered in the city. The lady there was so great. Elder Alder was holding this big pile of stuff from JYSK. "Oh, is that a gift? For me?" I then introduced SC to Baltic tacos which we had leftovers of like ALL week. Presidents had a great analogy when we were teaching Valda (I) about enduring to the end. "I live on the fourth floor. If I give up and get tired at the third floor I haven't endured to the end. If I want to make it home I have to continue all the way until I get there." So this week was a wetting pants week, and luckily not ours. Eliza (two year old) wet herself whilst we were teaching Kristine and Janis about the Law of Chastity. She also spilled on herself and got wet on the break the fast after church on Sunday. I've been watching the film from when Elder Bennet came and spoke. "It's cool to be outrageously obedient." Y'all just remember that.
Thursday was cold. Especially in the Beldavis (M) home. They hadn't started a fire yet and so we were all huddled on the couch watching our breath. We had a really great lesson with them on the priesthood though, regardless of the cold. We taught Santa Dike (RC) about the Sons of Mosiah and talked about fasting. "Why is God so preoccupied with food and us eating or not eating?!" It was a good question.
Friday we met the mailman! He brought me a letter saying I was an illegal alien. Thanks! I'm getting my visa renewed soon. We had a nice lesson with good old [literally] Ausma (M). The Spirit was strong as we taught her about prayer. Prayer is so important and I know that God listens and answers us! I'm still loving being with Sister Clark. She is training me on how to be a good teacher. And we have fun. Possibly too much fun. The jokes are overflowing and we have a blast harvesting and doing basically everything. The latest and greatest this week was trying to use the Harry Potter spell, "Alohamora!" to open doors while harvesting. It didn't work. The people who did answer were wondering what the devil we were doing out in the cold. I told one handsome Catholic boy to come to our church because 1. it was warmer in our church 2. we have youth activities and 3. I promised it would be more interesting than his church. He didn't come on Sunday. :( Ah yes, and we had another wet pants experience at RC's Dzintra's home. Her adopted girl is learning to be potty trained. Dzintra's lesson went well, but was sad. She feels that God cares for her and guides her, but not that He loves her. I know that He does love us and that is why he cares and guides us. He doesn't want to give us trials, He has to though so that we can be prepared to live with Him again and be what He is.
Saturday was incredible...we had over 30 people in our English class. Obviously all of our advertising (radio, newspaper, etc.) worked. SC was terrified. I like teaching smaller classes. There is no way I am going to get to know everyone's name if there are 30+ people and class is only an hour, including the spiritual thought. We went over the Articles of Faith and one older gentleman commented, "What is this Book of Mormon? It sounds like it is worth reading." Yes, indeed it is. SC loves gnocchi, or at least the sauce I made for it. She wrote down the recipe. Mostly it was just random stuff- sour cream, green onions, mushroom, tomatoes. We walked back and forth and back and forth waiting for Kaspars, our amazing branch mission leader, to help us out teaching Janis and Kristine (I). We had an awesome Spirit-filled lesson about fasting, prayer, and scripture study.
Sunday was a nice day, Branch Council was effective, I got to translate for Sister Boswell, and I fed over thirty people soup with only 5 lats (10 dollars) and there was leftover soup! Score! It was a yummy yellow pea, white bean, chicken soup. I had a short interview with Pres. B. We are both doing most excellently well. Funny story about break the fast...someone brought raspberry jam? in a 35% alcohol container. When we saw it we hid it and then disposed of it later. Oopsie! The Boswells brought down mail- still nothing from Julie, but I got my dear elders as well as Grandma and Jami's pouch and a giant envelope from a friend of mine with lots of pictures. Fun stuff! Like I said, the mail monster eats all the good stuff.
Sunday night I said the prayer before we went out contacting with what we learned from Elder Bennet in mind. It went something like this, "Heavenly Father, please help us find a new investigator. We really want to and we have the faith too. And also we've been really obedient." When the prayer was over Sister Clark laughed at me and told me it sounded like I was asking Santa Claus for presents, "I've been extra good this year!" Regardless, it worked! We were harvesting with the purpose to teach a lesson and find an investigator and some old lady who I was nice to on the street before just let us right in, made us grilled cheese sandwiches, tea, shared a pastry with us and let us teach her about the Plan of Salvation (her husband just died 6 months ago). We set up an appointment to show Birute the church. Faith + Obedience = miracles!
The church is true. God loves us. The sun is shining, it is a good day to be a missionary for the Lord.
Sister L
SC = Sister Clark
I = investigator
M = member
RC = recent convert
Some of you may be wondering about the cold: We are nice and warm when we are inside. No frostbite, all body parts accounted for. We heard it has been -33C here. I don't know if that is with windchill and humidity or not, but it is cold. People always tell us we are crazy to be out and to get warmer clothes on. I can't fit more than two scarves on my body people! I finally smartened up and started wearing thermals under my wool tights which makes your toes get cold later. Mostly just your extremities and your nose get cold. I like it when you go out and it is so cold the inside of your nose just kind of freezes. It is the weirdest feeling ever, it makes me giggle. We also have been using hot hands and toasty toes when it gets especially cold and we will be outside for a while. Saturday we took a pot to the church that had about a tablespoon of water in the bottom...by the time we got to the church it was ice! Our apartment is very warm, I turn down the heat at night often because it is too warm; I only sleep with one blanket. We ALWAYS have hot water. It is one of the fun things about being in a post-communist country- the heat and hot water!
Others may be wondering about baptismal dates. Valda passed the interview and will be baptized this Saturday. The trolls haven't come to church so we are having an ultimatum...no lessons until you come to church...or they have to be with your mom. Janis and Kristine want to get married in the summer...we are still working on that.
Let's see, the adventures this week....
Monday was mostly just running around Liepaja getting all the random odds and ends that SC needed. We had chicken noodle soup with the elders, Rubija (member), and Presidents. There was still leftover. I don't know how soup lasts forever! We went to drop off some of this said leftover soup to a sick member, Nadezda. We did indeed "drop" it off. The handle broke and the soup proceeded to spill in the entryway. Oopsie! I thought it was pretty funny. Sister Clark is still mortified. We met Uldis Frolovs (member) with his kids, Sintija and Eriks at the bus station. He's been gone for around 6 months. We walked the long walk (3 miles) with his baggage home and then taught about the restoration. Uldis didn't stick around though, he went to skype his wife in Georgia (the country).
Tuesday we celebrated Madara's (mini missionary from Liepaja called to the Temple Square mission) twenty-first birthday with a most excellent cake and candles. While I was cooking lunch SC did this hilarious show-off your muscles "Excuse me, have you seen my beach ball? It went that a-way. It is about this big." (all while flexing your arms). I got a good ab workout from it and still chuckle everytime I think about it. SC likes to randomly do it to make me laugh. Good golly we are silly! Rubija helped us teach Kristine (I) about the Ten Commandments. She is so solid; her answers to why we have the commandments blew me away.
Wednesday we went to JYSK, aka the overpriced, not as cute IKEA of Latvia and bought some items for a member in the ward. They don't have a lot (aka any) furniture, so we went on a district adventure to pick some stuff out! We proceeded to get the new members of the district registered in the city. The lady there was so great. Elder Alder was holding this big pile of stuff from JYSK. "Oh, is that a gift? For me?" I then introduced SC to Baltic tacos which we had leftovers of like ALL week. Presidents had a great analogy when we were teaching Valda (I) about enduring to the end. "I live on the fourth floor. If I give up and get tired at the third floor I haven't endured to the end. If I want to make it home I have to continue all the way until I get there." So this week was a wetting pants week, and luckily not ours. Eliza (two year old) wet herself whilst we were teaching Kristine and Janis about the Law of Chastity. She also spilled on herself and got wet on the break the fast after church on Sunday. I've been watching the film from when Elder Bennet came and spoke. "It's cool to be outrageously obedient." Y'all just remember that.
Thursday was cold. Especially in the Beldavis (M) home. They hadn't started a fire yet and so we were all huddled on the couch watching our breath. We had a really great lesson with them on the priesthood though, regardless of the cold. We taught Santa Dike (RC) about the Sons of Mosiah and talked about fasting. "Why is God so preoccupied with food and us eating or not eating?!" It was a good question.
Friday we met the mailman! He brought me a letter saying I was an illegal alien. Thanks! I'm getting my visa renewed soon. We had a nice lesson with good old [literally] Ausma (M). The Spirit was strong as we taught her about prayer. Prayer is so important and I know that God listens and answers us! I'm still loving being with Sister Clark. She is training me on how to be a good teacher. And we have fun. Possibly too much fun. The jokes are overflowing and we have a blast harvesting and doing basically everything. The latest and greatest this week was trying to use the Harry Potter spell, "Alohamora!" to open doors while harvesting. It didn't work. The people who did answer were wondering what the devil we were doing out in the cold. I told one handsome Catholic boy to come to our church because 1. it was warmer in our church 2. we have youth activities and 3. I promised it would be more interesting than his church. He didn't come on Sunday. :( Ah yes, and we had another wet pants experience at RC's Dzintra's home. Her adopted girl is learning to be potty trained. Dzintra's lesson went well, but was sad. She feels that God cares for her and guides her, but not that He loves her. I know that He does love us and that is why he cares and guides us. He doesn't want to give us trials, He has to though so that we can be prepared to live with Him again and be what He is.
Saturday was incredible...we had over 30 people in our English class. Obviously all of our advertising (radio, newspaper, etc.) worked. SC was terrified. I like teaching smaller classes. There is no way I am going to get to know everyone's name if there are 30+ people and class is only an hour, including the spiritual thought. We went over the Articles of Faith and one older gentleman commented, "What is this Book of Mormon? It sounds like it is worth reading." Yes, indeed it is. SC loves gnocchi, or at least the sauce I made for it. She wrote down the recipe. Mostly it was just random stuff- sour cream, green onions, mushroom, tomatoes. We walked back and forth and back and forth waiting for Kaspars, our amazing branch mission leader, to help us out teaching Janis and Kristine (I). We had an awesome Spirit-filled lesson about fasting, prayer, and scripture study.
Sunday was a nice day, Branch Council was effective, I got to translate for Sister Boswell, and I fed over thirty people soup with only 5 lats (10 dollars) and there was leftover soup! Score! It was a yummy yellow pea, white bean, chicken soup. I had a short interview with Pres. B. We are both doing most excellently well. Funny story about break the fast...someone brought raspberry jam? in a 35% alcohol container. When we saw it we hid it and then disposed of it later. Oopsie! The Boswells brought down mail- still nothing from Julie, but I got my dear elders as well as Grandma and Jami's pouch and a giant envelope from a friend of mine with lots of pictures. Fun stuff! Like I said, the mail monster eats all the good stuff.
Sunday night I said the prayer before we went out contacting with what we learned from Elder Bennet in mind. It went something like this, "Heavenly Father, please help us find a new investigator. We really want to and we have the faith too. And also we've been really obedient." When the prayer was over Sister Clark laughed at me and told me it sounded like I was asking Santa Claus for presents, "I've been extra good this year!" Regardless, it worked! We were harvesting with the purpose to teach a lesson and find an investigator and some old lady who I was nice to on the street before just let us right in, made us grilled cheese sandwiches, tea, shared a pastry with us and let us teach her about the Plan of Salvation (her husband just died 6 months ago). We set up an appointment to show Birute the church. Faith + Obedience = miracles!
The church is true. God loves us. The sun is shining, it is a good day to be a missionary for the Lord.
Sister L
Friday, February 3, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Week 50
Hello from the cold and snowy land of Liepaja. Yes, that is right, I've been here since May 2011 and I'm fine not moving (my luggage broke!) My new companion is Sister Clark from Omaha, Nebraska. She is majoring in physics at BYU. I Love love love love love Sister Clark. You have no idea (well you probably do) how fun it is to be serving with someone who you would have been friends with if you were in high school together. She is incredible at the language, she is smart, obedient, fun, she gets missionary work, she will share ideas and helps me want to be better. Guess what, I'm having fun and working hard at the same time! That hasn't happened in a while. It is super nice to be with a companion that doesn't talk about boys all the time too. Needless to say, I am so happy to be in Liepaja with her. She is a great teacher. She is terrified of talking to people, but once she teaches she is amazing so she is a great fit for Liepaja.
Last MONDAY I got sunburned. Bad. I would have made a great lobster. We ran into Martin the Irish sailor. He was telling us about Kurt Cobain. We used what is called Rimi cash (money you save up for spending money) and bought our groceries with it. Well, all but $1.37 worth, it was pretty fun. I ordered some delightful shrimp and rice tomato soup at Pastnieka Maja and got kicked out of the Catholic Church. Sintija and SW wanted to go inside so we did. It was freezing (I could see my breath!) and they still had Christmas up. The nice lady asked me what our church believed so she got a little lesson. Then she said it was time for her to go so we needed to go to...there were still people in the church. We are still confused. We harvested into this awesome lady Mudra and her cute cat. She took English forever ago and was really kind to us. She gave us apples and maizites and is planning on coming to English. We cut off Eriks rattail at FHE with the Frolavi. By we I mean SW took Crayola scissors to the back of Eriks head. She doesn't like mullets. In other news, Monday evening we taught the Frolavi obedience and Janis and Kristina (baptismal dates) from 2 Nephi 31.
TUESDAY we got transfers after District Meeting. I was so excited! SW was really sad to be leaving. She doesn't like change. I'm glad she finally fell in love with Liepaja though! We taught Valda out of Alma 32. Metaphors aren't the greatest idea with her. We taught Oskars about pride, obedience, and purity (his choices). It made for an interesting study. Some scriptures I liked: Proverbs 16:18, Helaman 3:35, Mosiah 3:19, Jacob 4:10-11, Psalms 24:3-4. We also taught Guna (investigator) 2 N 31. She still seems a little iffy on baptism- isn't faith enough? NO! We also took SW's ring to Maris the ringman on Tuesday. He showed us his ski slope in the backyard; it is pretty fantastic.
WEDNESDAY Ruta the RS President wanted to say goodbye to Elder Davidson and Sister Wilson. Elder Davidson is going to be with Elder Schmidt in Imanta and Elder Alder is training Elder Baxter here in Liepaja. SW went to say bye to Kristina and told about how she felt she needed to talk to her. Kristina said that she had a feeling to go out walking and pause at that street, she didn't know why, just felt like she should. They were supposed to be found, that is why! Aivars Fishmeisters helped us get our luggage to the bus station. He then felt the need to stay with us until our bus came and harass the bus driver to get him to help us with our luggage because Aivars couldn't. It was super great. I felt like it was my grandpa sending me off for summer camp or something. We had the Davis couple pick us up at the Riga bus station. They are so fun and told us lots of stories about the Boswells (they were in their stake) as we had dinner at DaDas with them. Elder Davis was a trooper and helped us get all the luggage up 5 flights of stairs, including past an old bathtub. We picked up Sister McPhee who came up from Klaipeda. She is so funny. She ran XC and likes to wink. She was with Sister Santa Schneidere who know speaks Latvian with a British accent and they slept at the Riga sisters apartment with us.
THURSDAY we got to pick up our trainees! Sister Wilson had a bad morning. She wasn't ready on time, the door to her apartment got jammed, she didn't get all unpacked, we missed the bus, etc. She was a little stressed to say the least. We hid at the other end of the bus. We went to the mission home and I found out that I'm serving with Sister Clark! We came home on the bus with the elders and Sister McPhee and Madson who were going to Klaipeda. Sister McPhee forgot her passport, so we had to do some crazy travel arrangements. We all sat in the back of the bus and talked. I then made my first homemade alfredo, we taught Janis and Kristina about tithing, and then taught Santa D. the Restoration. We are working with her for referrals.
FRIDAY I woke SC up. At 5:30 am. Oopsie! I forgot to change the alarm. I felt so bad. She's still alive though and went right back to sleep. We made soup, taught the trolls about repentance, got Olga to throw away her lighter, taught Liga the Plan of Salvation while sipping peppermint tea, did some harvesting, and had a fun time on the bus ride home. Of course the only person to talk to was a charming young man who wanted to take us out for drinks. I told him we didn't drink. "Not even water or milk?" "Well, you touched the button, you'll have to come drink tonight." "Not tonight buddy, sorry." He was harmless and mostly pretty funny. Oh yes, it is cold, -10C (14 F)! But the sky is blue!
SATURDAY Madara helped us teach Valda. Madara loved going through the temple and just has a new glow about her. While helping clean the church we got to tour the attic; it was so cool! We taught Janis and Kristina a lesson strangely akin to a dream that I had had last week and taught the Beldavi the restoration and focused a lot on receiving answers.
SUNDAY's highlight was contacting at the beach. At sunset (I had cabin fever, okay?!). We talked to this awesome girl, Marta at the beach yesterday...she was from Portugal so it was in English. She is doing volunteer work here and believes in God. The Baltic Sea is freezing over! Mostly the week was spent doing lots of planning and studying, with a lot of fun and Janis and Kristina came to church!
The time is far spent!
Love,
Sis L
Last MONDAY I got sunburned. Bad. I would have made a great lobster. We ran into Martin the Irish sailor. He was telling us about Kurt Cobain. We used what is called Rimi cash (money you save up for spending money) and bought our groceries with it. Well, all but $1.37 worth, it was pretty fun. I ordered some delightful shrimp and rice tomato soup at Pastnieka Maja and got kicked out of the Catholic Church. Sintija and SW wanted to go inside so we did. It was freezing (I could see my breath!) and they still had Christmas up. The nice lady asked me what our church believed so she got a little lesson. Then she said it was time for her to go so we needed to go to...there were still people in the church. We are still confused. We harvested into this awesome lady Mudra and her cute cat. She took English forever ago and was really kind to us. She gave us apples and maizites and is planning on coming to English. We cut off Eriks rattail at FHE with the Frolavi. By we I mean SW took Crayola scissors to the back of Eriks head. She doesn't like mullets. In other news, Monday evening we taught the Frolavi obedience and Janis and Kristina (baptismal dates) from 2 Nephi 31.
TUESDAY we got transfers after District Meeting. I was so excited! SW was really sad to be leaving. She doesn't like change. I'm glad she finally fell in love with Liepaja though! We taught Valda out of Alma 32. Metaphors aren't the greatest idea with her. We taught Oskars about pride, obedience, and purity (his choices). It made for an interesting study. Some scriptures I liked: Proverbs 16:18, Helaman 3:35, Mosiah 3:19, Jacob 4:10-11, Psalms 24:3-4. We also taught Guna (investigator) 2 N 31. She still seems a little iffy on baptism- isn't faith enough? NO! We also took SW's ring to Maris the ringman on Tuesday. He showed us his ski slope in the backyard; it is pretty fantastic.
WEDNESDAY Ruta the RS President wanted to say goodbye to Elder Davidson and Sister Wilson. Elder Davidson is going to be with Elder Schmidt in Imanta and Elder Alder is training Elder Baxter here in Liepaja. SW went to say bye to Kristina and told about how she felt she needed to talk to her. Kristina said that she had a feeling to go out walking and pause at that street, she didn't know why, just felt like she should. They were supposed to be found, that is why! Aivars Fishmeisters helped us get our luggage to the bus station. He then felt the need to stay with us until our bus came and harass the bus driver to get him to help us with our luggage because Aivars couldn't. It was super great. I felt like it was my grandpa sending me off for summer camp or something. We had the Davis couple pick us up at the Riga bus station. They are so fun and told us lots of stories about the Boswells (they were in their stake) as we had dinner at DaDas with them. Elder Davis was a trooper and helped us get all the luggage up 5 flights of stairs, including past an old bathtub. We picked up Sister McPhee who came up from Klaipeda. She is so funny. She ran XC and likes to wink. She was with Sister Santa Schneidere who know speaks Latvian with a British accent and they slept at the Riga sisters apartment with us.
THURSDAY we got to pick up our trainees! Sister Wilson had a bad morning. She wasn't ready on time, the door to her apartment got jammed, she didn't get all unpacked, we missed the bus, etc. She was a little stressed to say the least. We hid at the other end of the bus. We went to the mission home and I found out that I'm serving with Sister Clark! We came home on the bus with the elders and Sister McPhee and Madson who were going to Klaipeda. Sister McPhee forgot her passport, so we had to do some crazy travel arrangements. We all sat in the back of the bus and talked. I then made my first homemade alfredo, we taught Janis and Kristina about tithing, and then taught Santa D. the Restoration. We are working with her for referrals.
FRIDAY I woke SC up. At 5:30 am. Oopsie! I forgot to change the alarm. I felt so bad. She's still alive though and went right back to sleep. We made soup, taught the trolls about repentance, got Olga to throw away her lighter, taught Liga the Plan of Salvation while sipping peppermint tea, did some harvesting, and had a fun time on the bus ride home. Of course the only person to talk to was a charming young man who wanted to take us out for drinks. I told him we didn't drink. "Not even water or milk?" "Well, you touched the button, you'll have to come drink tonight." "Not tonight buddy, sorry." He was harmless and mostly pretty funny. Oh yes, it is cold, -10C (14 F)! But the sky is blue!
SATURDAY Madara helped us teach Valda. Madara loved going through the temple and just has a new glow about her. While helping clean the church we got to tour the attic; it was so cool! We taught Janis and Kristina a lesson strangely akin to a dream that I had had last week and taught the Beldavi the restoration and focused a lot on receiving answers.
SUNDAY's highlight was contacting at the beach. At sunset (I had cabin fever, okay?!). We talked to this awesome girl, Marta at the beach yesterday...she was from Portugal so it was in English. She is doing volunteer work here and believes in God. The Baltic Sea is freezing over! Mostly the week was spent doing lots of planning and studying, with a lot of fun and Janis and Kristina came to church!
The time is far spent!
Love,
Sis L
Monday, January 23, 2012
Week 49
The snow is back, the tank is clean (it was super clean today. The house is now SUPER clean.), and I still don't know where or whom I am training. Internet Janis is also gone; we can't get a hold of him.
MONDAY I was feeling awfully artsy- I made a whole bunch of cards and postcards and such. We ate at a place called the Barons Bumbiers (The Baron's Pears). I didn't see any dishes with pears, but I did have a good soup bowl as well as some amazing potatoes. My new favorite way to have potatoes since being in Latvia? Boiled. And then fried. Unhealthy, but soooo good. We taught the Frolavi about using our time well from the General Conference talk...they both are computer addicts. We now have some alternative ideas and some bribes set up.
The bus and tram fare went up this year, in case anyone was wondering. It know costs .50 lats to ride public transport. That is as much as 4 kilos (9 lbs.) of potatoes cost here!
TUESDAY morning I had a lovely time sprinting on the beach. After District Meeting we went through fire safety with Branch President/curator Antons. It was so much more entertaining this time- probably because I understood everything. Member Zina helped us to teach Kristina and Janis. She did a great job. Pretty much one of us needs to be entertaining Eliza at any given time. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and then we taught the trolls tithing. It snowed again so we had a snowball fight with them. We also went for a ride around the parking lot in their sled...so! much! fun!
WEDNESDAY. Sister Wilson has fleas. This makes her very unhappy. Watch out! We went to stack wood with Rihards and the elders. We got a call while we were there...I'm an illegal alien and the government is after me!!! My visa expired yesterday and I don't have my appointment for my new one until February...oopsie! So Valda is in love with Oskars, just if y'all were wondering. She asked us to tell him. We said no. She proceeded to say the closing prayer and asked God to tell Oskars what she didn't have the courage to. Oh boy. Should be fun.
So I've been taking a steroid inhalor for my "asthma" [I so don't have asthma] and it has a tendency to tickle my throat sometimes because of the steroid. Often this occurs during lessons where I don't have water and proceed to start coughing. This occurred while teaching recent convert Dzintra about the atonement. Trying to not cough also makes me cry. Everyone now things I have a great testimony of the Atonement, when really my eyes were wet because of my cough. We dropped by Elina Tolmacova's and talked to her a bit and did a head-bob with her cute little one Eliza who is the same age as baby Ezra. She came to church on Sunday for all three hours!! Anywho, we made some delicious frikadella soup and then went with Oskars to talk to the Trolls about having a quit-smoking plan. They were ready for us...they had piles of snowballs.
THURSDAY we were able to meet with Vineta (less active). We hope to work with her more so that she can come to church again. She doesn't have support from her hubby or monster-in-law. So we made dad's pizza recipe...with cheese in the crust. Fattening, but we do not regret this. It was SO delicious and quite possible the best homemade pizza I've had. Janis prayed about baptism and wants to be baptized again! Kristina is so excited to be a believing person and she loved the idea of FHE. I am glad we have FHE, even if sometimes it is WWF [not world wildlife federation] sibling-down. The snow is gone now because it is raining. We weathered the weather (HA.) and went to Liga's for a suprise visit. She told Sister Wilson she should sing opera. Sister Wilson didn't like this. Sister Wilson also didn't like the black tea she got served. Oopsie! And that is why Sister Lindstrom keeps tea in her bag for times like those. Liga loves church though, recognizes the good feelings there and when we are with her. She just needs to get taught more (we only met with her 6 times before baptism). We decided to take a bus home...duhn duhn duhn. You can't use tickets bought last year if you were wondering. The bus driver said we could and the controllers disagreed, would not let us buy new ones, and fined us. Sister Wilson was very displeased. She doesn't like the bus controllers.
FRIDAY we were supposed to have a Skype mission conference, but we couldn't hear anything (boo) so we went back home and studied. Taught Kristina and Janis as well as the trolls. We made them teach us the plan of salvation. It went really well. The highlight of Friday for me was playing a chutes and ladders-esque game with Sarra (3) and Ieva (6). Three year olds cheat! Just if you were wondering. I lost.
SATURDAY After we had a great meeting with our branch mission leader, we coaxed him to help us with Valda's lesson. It was super great. Sis. W. ALWAYS yawns in lessons. Today Valda commented, "Why are you yawning? Is it because you have a boyfriend? Which one of those boys..." I had to try really hard to contain myself. I guess she still doesn't get the law of chastity. The trolls wanted to meet and told us that they tried Oskars idea and didn't smoke! Exciting and good if plausible.
We celebrated Santa Dike's "25th birthday." Mostly she didn't tell us it was her birthday on January 4th, so we told her we were celebrating it again, with tea and cake and all sorts of yummy goodness. We also read about her future husband Ammon cutting off the arms. We then went to the Beldavi home and taught everyone about prayer. Well, everyone but Raivo. Cutie was sleeping. We got fed even more food (AHH!) at Ruta Jekste's. I think she had 4 or 5 sandwiches for us each. It was super interesting talking with her. We got on to the topic of faith during the occupation. "Everyone who said they couldn't go is lying. You could. My mom went every week. The Russian's didn't disallow it, they just tried to brainwash the worshipping of their communist leaders." It really is so interesting talking with people about the communist times.
SUNDAY. We sang (by we I mean myself, Wilson, Madara, and Rubija) sang a beautiful children's song -possibly I know my Savior Lives in English. Santa is a dork. She is so hilarious. Today she was joking about needing to go to the bathroom and peeing her pants and that you can't have a wet seat for Oskars' lesson (Oskars is the Gospel Principles teacher). She was also referring to herself in third person whenever Oskars would call her Masa Santa. "Masa Santa isn't ready." "Masa Santa agrees with Masa Lindstroma who agreed with Elders Alders talk today in Sacrament."
We passed off Nadezda (from English class) to the elders. She is so great. She gave Elder Alder and I a hug because she had such a fun party last night. And why are we here on earth? "To love." Myself and the Elders were trying not to crack up because Sister Wilson's answers to everything is love love love love love.
Only investigator to church was Valda. The trolls were "sick" and Janis was scared. We talked to him about church - the why and the what.
More snow! I'm so excited for training! Should be a blast and a good time to slow down and teach someone how to do it right- with the Lord!
Xoxo sis l
MONDAY I was feeling awfully artsy- I made a whole bunch of cards and postcards and such. We ate at a place called the Barons Bumbiers (The Baron's Pears). I didn't see any dishes with pears, but I did have a good soup bowl as well as some amazing potatoes. My new favorite way to have potatoes since being in Latvia? Boiled. And then fried. Unhealthy, but soooo good. We taught the Frolavi about using our time well from the General Conference talk...they both are computer addicts. We now have some alternative ideas and some bribes set up.
The bus and tram fare went up this year, in case anyone was wondering. It know costs .50 lats to ride public transport. That is as much as 4 kilos (9 lbs.) of potatoes cost here!
TUESDAY morning I had a lovely time sprinting on the beach. After District Meeting we went through fire safety with Branch President/curator Antons. It was so much more entertaining this time- probably because I understood everything. Member Zina helped us to teach Kristina and Janis. She did a great job. Pretty much one of us needs to be entertaining Eliza at any given time. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and then we taught the trolls tithing. It snowed again so we had a snowball fight with them. We also went for a ride around the parking lot in their sled...so! much! fun!
WEDNESDAY. Sister Wilson has fleas. This makes her very unhappy. Watch out! We went to stack wood with Rihards and the elders. We got a call while we were there...I'm an illegal alien and the government is after me!!! My visa expired yesterday and I don't have my appointment for my new one until February...oopsie! So Valda is in love with Oskars, just if y'all were wondering. She asked us to tell him. We said no. She proceeded to say the closing prayer and asked God to tell Oskars what she didn't have the courage to. Oh boy. Should be fun.
So I've been taking a steroid inhalor for my "asthma" [I so don't have asthma] and it has a tendency to tickle my throat sometimes because of the steroid. Often this occurs during lessons where I don't have water and proceed to start coughing. This occurred while teaching recent convert Dzintra about the atonement. Trying to not cough also makes me cry. Everyone now things I have a great testimony of the Atonement, when really my eyes were wet because of my cough. We dropped by Elina Tolmacova's and talked to her a bit and did a head-bob with her cute little one Eliza who is the same age as baby Ezra. She came to church on Sunday for all three hours!! Anywho, we made some delicious frikadella soup and then went with Oskars to talk to the Trolls about having a quit-smoking plan. They were ready for us...they had piles of snowballs.
THURSDAY we were able to meet with Vineta (less active). We hope to work with her more so that she can come to church again. She doesn't have support from her hubby or monster-in-law. So we made dad's pizza recipe...with cheese in the crust. Fattening, but we do not regret this. It was SO delicious and quite possible the best homemade pizza I've had. Janis prayed about baptism and wants to be baptized again! Kristina is so excited to be a believing person and she loved the idea of FHE. I am glad we have FHE, even if sometimes it is WWF [not world wildlife federation] sibling-down. The snow is gone now because it is raining. We weathered the weather (HA.) and went to Liga's for a suprise visit. She told Sister Wilson she should sing opera. Sister Wilson didn't like this. Sister Wilson also didn't like the black tea she got served. Oopsie! And that is why Sister Lindstrom keeps tea in her bag for times like those. Liga loves church though, recognizes the good feelings there and when we are with her. She just needs to get taught more (we only met with her 6 times before baptism). We decided to take a bus home...duhn duhn duhn. You can't use tickets bought last year if you were wondering. The bus driver said we could and the controllers disagreed, would not let us buy new ones, and fined us. Sister Wilson was very displeased. She doesn't like the bus controllers.
FRIDAY we were supposed to have a Skype mission conference, but we couldn't hear anything (boo) so we went back home and studied. Taught Kristina and Janis as well as the trolls. We made them teach us the plan of salvation. It went really well. The highlight of Friday for me was playing a chutes and ladders-esque game with Sarra (3) and Ieva (6). Three year olds cheat! Just if you were wondering. I lost.
SATURDAY After we had a great meeting with our branch mission leader, we coaxed him to help us with Valda's lesson. It was super great. Sis. W. ALWAYS yawns in lessons. Today Valda commented, "Why are you yawning? Is it because you have a boyfriend? Which one of those boys..." I had to try really hard to contain myself. I guess she still doesn't get the law of chastity. The trolls wanted to meet and told us that they tried Oskars idea and didn't smoke! Exciting and good if plausible.
We celebrated Santa Dike's "25th birthday." Mostly she didn't tell us it was her birthday on January 4th, so we told her we were celebrating it again, with tea and cake and all sorts of yummy goodness. We also read about her future husband Ammon cutting off the arms. We then went to the Beldavi home and taught everyone about prayer. Well, everyone but Raivo. Cutie was sleeping. We got fed even more food (AHH!) at Ruta Jekste's. I think she had 4 or 5 sandwiches for us each. It was super interesting talking with her. We got on to the topic of faith during the occupation. "Everyone who said they couldn't go is lying. You could. My mom went every week. The Russian's didn't disallow it, they just tried to brainwash the worshipping of their communist leaders." It really is so interesting talking with people about the communist times.
SUNDAY. We sang (by we I mean myself, Wilson, Madara, and Rubija) sang a beautiful children's song -possibly I know my Savior Lives in English. Santa is a dork. She is so hilarious. Today she was joking about needing to go to the bathroom and peeing her pants and that you can't have a wet seat for Oskars' lesson (Oskars is the Gospel Principles teacher). She was also referring to herself in third person whenever Oskars would call her Masa Santa. "Masa Santa isn't ready." "Masa Santa agrees with Masa Lindstroma who agreed with Elders Alders talk today in Sacrament."
We passed off Nadezda (from English class) to the elders. She is so great. She gave Elder Alder and I a hug because she had such a fun party last night. And why are we here on earth? "To love." Myself and the Elders were trying not to crack up because Sister Wilson's answers to everything is love love love love love.
Only investigator to church was Valda. The trolls were "sick" and Janis was scared. We talked to him about church - the why and the what.
More snow! I'm so excited for training! Should be a blast and a good time to slow down and teach someone how to do it right- with the Lord!
Xoxo sis l
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
