Week 71

Goodness me, what a wild week.

Monday- we took Presidents to the Ukrainian Virtuve. It was not quite as exciting as last time. I did finally try cold beet soup- yum! We received a text from Zane that the house was in a panic. We went running over, worried that Janis didn't want to get married anymore. Nothing was wrong, Zane was just being dramatic, Kristine was just a little nervous.

Tuesday- we had thunderstorms last night! Zigrida, Valda's mom died during the night. We went over there with Santa and her 21-year old son Kristaps to help her move some of her stuff. We were quite worried that there was going to be a dead body inside because Valda told us it would smell and asked if we were afraid. Thankfully, there was no dead body, but a TON of clothes to move. Valda is scared to be in her apartment now so she's moving in with her boyfriend Janis. It was hilarious to watch Kristaps fold a 15-year-old girls clothes and look at them. I love Santa's relationship with Kristaps. She found two giant jars of fat (what the?!) in the bathroom (huh?!). Kristaps was afraid of it so she was waving it around at him. We also altered Kristine's dress (thank you mom) and taught Arta a lesson about prophets.

Wednesday- my allergies sure are bad this week. Whatever is in the air, I'm allergic- sneezing, watery eyes, the whole caboodle. I finally learned how to iron properly trying to get the wedding dress wrinkle free. I got it! I can come home now, it only took me 18 months. I had a really strong feeling to give a lonely looking teenage girl that was selling strawberries a Book of Mormon. She looked like she could use it and I hope that she will contact us. We also bought some of her strawberries and they were very delicious. We also went to visit a member and we took her grocery shopping. She was so excited to have food! She was probably my most favorite person that I've taken because her countenance totally changed as we took her. We had a good lesson with less-active Marika in which the Spirit was so thick you could have licked it and tasted the vanilla flavor.

Thursday- We spent a good chunk of the morning figured out exactly how much food we needed to buy for the Ligo party and exactly what we should buy. The grocery list we were given was quite vague. We managed, and I also managed to buy a ridiculous amount of chibas (slippers) and some wooden Latvian symbols that I am making into Christmas tree ornaments. The Ligo outdoor market was great this year! In the evening we played American football for sports. Watch out, Sister G. has nails! Elder Holdaway and I both ended up bleeding, and we were only playing flag football. Santa was waiting on the side lines with a mask and bandaids. Sister G and Elder H both ran into a pole. I laughed so hard because it looked like something Amber would do (in a good way!). We also had a fun lesson with a member who just came back from Sweden. He was very honest and I enjoyed his questions. He is a sharp man and he wants to do more service and feel the Spirit more in his life.

Friday- good grief, we were busy. Kristine came to the church 30 minutes late to get ready, so we did hair and makeup in record time. Janis peaced out right before they were going to sign all the documents, but luckily he appeared again. Kristine was so stinking happy. Janis was not. I guess that is what happens when you live together anyway? I don't know, but SG and I had a fun time running away from Kristine's and Zane's creepy brother Janis who kept trying to take pictures of us. Kristine's parents were there but only her mom came to her baptism in the evening. It honestly didn't seem much like a wedding, but only 2 witnesses were able to be their for the signing.

We ate lunch and then headed with Santa to go to Zigrida's funeral. Also another interesting experience. The paid preacher with his long pony tail and very memorized speech honestly reminded me of a dramatic interp in debate. "We all have our own paths in life, filled with sorrow..." He gave no comfort and didn't ever talk about God. It made me really appreciate the plan of salvation and how our clergy is NOT paid. Valda was very sad and it was quite fitting that we walked behind the casket being carried on six men's shoulders with the cross in front in the pouring rain. I was very glad I had an umbrella, but I was still very soaked after the whole affair. They buried the casket quite quickly and we were able to go home and change and be to the church in time for the baptism! Getting to and from the cemetery was pretty ridiculous, walking through rain and fields and puddles. Presidents said he was my friend since I had an umbrella, but if it were sunny he wouldn't be. He is so goofy!

It was neat to see Kristine baptized because she was very prepared and it meant a lot to her. Eliza started bawling when she saw her mom in the baptismal outfit and then again when she was in the water. Eliza doesn't like getting her head washed. We had a fun Ligo party afterwards with meat, cheese, bread, salad, cake, and of course head-wreath making! We played a sing off game (Americans v. Latvian [aka not fair because they have tautas dziesmas]), a candy string eating contest, and a balloon popping contest (when you have it connected to your ankle). I totally won! Wahoo!

Saturday- actual Ligo, was pretty quiet. We talked with Liga (baptized last July). She is sick but is doing well. It is sad to see that she doesn't get the gospel. We also met with another less-active and had an excellent lesson with her.

Sunday- we had the Boswells down! So fun! President Boswell has some pretty ridiculously great stories. I envy his life. I'd tell you some of the stories, but I'd probably get in trouble, lol. We made them NY ziti and Thor's bread which they loved. We sat around the table and President Boswell kept on telling more stories. We were also able to have interviews with them which was nice. In the evening we had a zone conference call and I talked about making English an effective finding tool.

Week 70

(June 18, 2012)
This past week was one of those slow yet fast weeks. They always throw me off. Mission Conference feels like it was weeks ago, but alas, it was only last Monday. Kristina Shcherbinina had her baby while we were at mission conference! She has a cute dark haired girl named Esther (Estere). Mission Conference- Bishop Stevenson made fun of me about going home. When we went through and met them he asked how long I'd been out. "A while," I replied. I had to do the math after that. My 18-month mark was on Friday the 15th! Elder Bennett said it felt like we were more obedient missionaries, and talked about giving everything to the Lord. Sister Stevenson told a cute story about how the gospel changed a family in Japan. Bishop Stevenson talked about finding the elect, hardwork, obedience, and testimony. Thoughts: obedience is not a sacrifice. Every lesson should be like a testimony meeting.

Tuesday was our Preparation day. We were able to go to the Karosta Prison that was in use until 1997. Our tour guide was a hoot and a half. "But that is not my problem, that is your problem. You were a bad soldier and this is not a prison." It was totally like a prison but not for civilians- no beds, bathroom twice a day for 2.5 minutes, and lots and lots of military exercises. We all really enjoyed ourselves. The tour guide was definitely what made it. We took the bus home with Sintija and quizzed Eriks about baptism. Uldis is really nervous that he won't pass the interview, but I have no worries. We had Sintija continue to spend the day with us and we took her to our lesson with Zane and Kristine which was a very nice lesson about being converted. It is important to continually strive to be converted. No one can do it for us!

Wednesday we held district meeting and talked about the importance of the Restoration. It really is so key and vital. I wish I could explain it better so that people would get it and join in on the salvation party bus! Afterwards Zane and Kristine brought over a whole entire family (of almost 4 generations) to see the church. It was a little hectic because Zane and Kristine were taking different people and talking about different things. By the end everyone was very confused. It is exciting to see how happy they are to be sharing the gospel. In the evening we had a wild lesson x2 with crazy hyper Sintija and her mom. Her mother won't let you get in a word edge wise so eventually SG let me listen to her mom and she started to teach Sintija about the Book of Mormon. Team effort! They are both very believing and have potential if we ever get a chance to TEACH them something. Highlight of the day was definitely the drunk 30 year old trying to buy us ice cream. All was going well gospel-interest wise until his work called and he found out he wasn't fired, so his desperation for change was not as great. We forewent the ice cream since he wouldn't promise to call Elder Holdaway and get the help that he needs. Afterwards we had a really really really good lesson with Oskars. Probably the best I've had with him. We talked about the central role that the Book of Mormon has in our conversion. Hopefully he'll be back soon. He gave a very sincere prayer to our Heavenly Father afterwards.

Thursday we had a cute lesson with the Tolmachovi about reading your scriptures together as a family. We gave them a Book of Mormon stories book and they've started reading it. Our sports night started quite late because the elders are the only ones with keys to the sports equipment. In the meantime we enjoyed getting to know Jurislav. He is in his 20s. Born in Russia, raised in Cali. He went back to Russia at age 15 and went to circus school for a year. He was a DJ in Canada and is just a really nice energetic entertaining person. Once we finally did play floorball we had a blast. Eliza wanted to play so we swapped her a hockey stick for a little broom. It was pretty great. There were some hoolies shooting hoops and doing push ups. Once they left Eliza went over to where they were and started doing "push ups." I'm glad that I have good bladder control because it was hilarious. In other news, Sister Gallacher writes her own piano music and it is amazing.

Friday we ran into one of the elders' old 'gators, Andis. He's really tall. My neck hurt after looking up so long. He talked our ears off, but we didn't miss any lessons. We showed Zane and Kristine our real church tour. The highlight of the day was Erik's baptism. He looked like a martian killer with his new toy gun and the white suit. His baptism was pretty funny. I tried really hard not to laugh. Walking into the font his dad was teasing that he was going to drown him. Uldis then proceeded to basically spin Eriks every which way because he didn't know which way to hold him and have the arms and such. We had a birthday cake and ice cream afterwards to celebrate this great day of turning eight! We may or may not have forgotten to confirm him after though. :) Good thing there are Sundays!

Saturday we had a good lesson with Arta. She came without Sintija and we had a good discussion on why bad things happen to good people. She has also prayed three times since we last met and read the homework. She still doesn't know if she believes in God. I can't imagine not believing in God and I think it would be very hard to start believing in him at age 16. After cleaning the church we went to Karosta to celebrate Sarra's Fourth Birthday. Remeber that time I was there last year for her birthday? I'm feeling old. Sarra is no longer shy. She loves giving us kisses, talking our ears off, and jumping on us and grabbing our necks. We had crab and rice salad, watermelon, and a cake made of cookies. For games this year we played hair stylist (I looked like a Christmas tree according to Presidents). We had a jolly good time playing button button. Sarra kept on telling who had the button and so it was just silly. We had an incredible lesson with Janis, Kristine, and Zane. Kaspars was there to help us teach why it is important to read the Book of Mormon. Towards the end Kaspars randomly grabbed SG's copy of the Book of Mormon, opened to a random page and started reading, "Teach your children to do good...don't search for riches...." It was very spiritual, especially since Kaspars had just talked about how meaningful and useful the scriptures are in our day. My testimony grew.

Sunday was the Sister Lindstrom show. After Branch Council I led the music, translated the first talk into Latvian, gave the second talk, and translated the third talk into English on the translation set. I definitely prefer translating as people talk. It is a lot harder for them to wait and pause. When that happens you have to try to remember what they said and it just isn't as fun. We had raclette for lunch and SG called everyone to set up lessons all by herself!

Good times. Love you all.
XOXO

Week 69

So you'll never guess whose watch broke yesterday. I refuse to have my time run out so I fixed it since just a part of it fell off and it wasn't the battery. Sorry for the delay in writing. We had Mission Conference, that's right, m-i-s-s-i-o-n conference yesterday so Tuesday is P-day this week. Weird. Never mind that my BABY brother just gave his farewell talk. We don't talk about things like that. "Ahhh!" Is a random scream that Sister Gallacher has been hearing as of late. At least I don't go super crazy like the elders? Happy Birthday tomorrow (Wednesday) bestie [your letter is coming late. it got sent back. *sigh*] and thanks for the letter Drewbie. And if you are out there Sister Ferrin, I never got your letter that you supposedly sent. And Happy Father's Day! I appreciate you Dads out there. You're the greatest. And happy 18-month mark to me on Friday the 15th. Weird!

Monday was miraculous. We found Laima (Laima is an inactive recent convert. Her family went super anti right after she got baptized and her husband divorced her because of it)! It was a district effort. We were on a bus going up to Karosta when I saw Laima. Elder Holdaway and I started freaking out. "Oh my goodness, that's Laima!" "No way no way. Keep your eyes on her and get ready to get off this bus at the next stop. We are going to get her." I think she was slightly disturbed when 4 missionaries came running up to her (two blocks of running) just to say "hi." She has a job now and says that she is slowly getting better. It is only a matter of time until she'll be back. What a blessing though to find her! We eventually did make our way to Karosta and it was beautiful weather. The "stairway to heaven" is slowly falling off the cliff. It is kind of scary and totally suspended on the sides- meaning no longer connected to the cliff side. We had a fun time going through the old war forts and finding sea glass. We decided to contact our way to the park in the evening. This super hyperactive 14 year old came up and contacted us. Her name is Sintija and she is beyond bouncy. She was very interested in the fact that we had Jesus Christ on our name tags and invited us to come back (we saw her yesterday, Monday the 11th and talked to her mom as well). We also went to talk to inactive Aina and had an interesting exchange with a couple (30s?) who had just been in NYC. "We were the only white people where we lived." Ha ha, yes. Indeed. There is a negative black population in Latvia. I've maybe seen a dozen in over a year of living here and maybe 3 in Liepaja. Anywho, they were really rude at first, but then in the end we ended it as acquaintances.

Tuesday District Meeting involved a FH'zookie. Baked in a pot. It was at least a 3 inch thick cookie and took almost 2 hours to cook. We went and taught Valda. It was so neat to see how she had something that she wanted to share with us that she read in the Liahona. It is great to see her back into the gospel and happier again. We met a man named Jack from Australia. His grandmum was Latvian and now he has a bunch of property and he bounces between Latvia and Australia. He is a very nice fellow and has looked a little bit into our church since Mitt Romney is running for President. We invited him to come for a tour sometime because we had a big turnout of people to learn how to make Grandma's Cherry Swirl Cake. What can I say, my grandma makes good desserts. The children had a fun time taking ridiculous pictures on my camera and thankfully didn't break anything.

Wednesday was a sunny beautiful day. I told a woman that on the tramvajs and she started tearing into me about how it was beautiful in HER country and that I should leave it. Naturally I saw her three days in a row after that. I still haven't decided if I should try to say hello again. It was a good little learning moment for me. I didn't say anything back, but I was thinking of responses after we had left the tram and I came to the conclusion that, you know what, I was called by a prophet of God. My calling is important and I am doing a good work. We had a sweet little miracle not long after that. We are trying to get a recently less active, Laimonis back so we have been asked to try to make daily contact with him. Thing is he has neither a phone, nor friendly family members that allow us to come over. I was praying that we'd be able to find him somehow today and Voila! There he was sitting on the park bench across from the church. He heard that Joseph Smith had 30 wives. Oh boy. That one definitely shook little SG's testimony and so she studied polygamy all morning and fretted about it. I love what it says in Preach My Gospel though. We are all backed up against the wall and need to take a leap in faith. All you need to know is that the Book of Mormon is true and then the rest logically falls into place. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. We met with Arta and taught about Satan which was an interesting topic, but went well. I think we piqued her interest for reading the Book of Mormon. I still haven't given up on inactive RC Liga. I knocked on her door. For five minutes. Either she wasn't home or really doesn't want to talk. We had another bad contact turn good. Another older woman was telling me that I was doing a dishonest work. I just tried to be her friend and by the end she spent at least 10 minutes telling us her life story. Sometimes I wonder why people are so impolite at first. Guess they wouldn't really be happy in Jesus' presence. They aren't okay meeting the "missionary" but when it is just a "person" they are more friendly. Anywho, the ring man Maris' girls were out selling painted rocks. I totally bought one and it is my new favorite rock. But it isn't a pet because pets aren't allowed. We met an inactive member Martins who saw some junk on tv about the FLDS a few years ago and thought it was us. Oh boy. I feel like all I did was argue today but by the end I learned just to be like, "Do you know that the Book of Mormon is true?" because it really does resolve all concerns.

Thursday we ran into Laimonis again! Today he had questions about letting non-members take the sacrament. We had a lesson with Ivita, a very believing English class student. She got baptized about 1.5 years ago, so she wasn't too keen on hearing that there is more truth than what she has found. It was interesting to hear what her preacher has taught. A lot of it is truth/half-truths are taught in other churches. Um, I love the Branch President here. "Sisters, can you help me with something? Do you have a minute?" "Sure, what?" "Are these the right lyrics?" Phantom of the Opera. All I Ask of You. To make a long story short we ended up belting that song with presidents several times with the new speakers that he bought. So fun. Oh my, my heart will be sad without Presidents in my life. We made yummy calzones and played floorball with the elders, Inguss, and Raivo (who broke his arm on the 10th, poor kid). Floorball was super fun, other than the fact that SG and I were EXTREMELY sore for two days after that. The highlight of my Thursday was talking to eternal investigator Aivars on the streets. Why? Because Jack and his dog came strolling by. We told Aivars that Jack was from Australia and Aivars asked if Rogers (the dog) was from Australia too.
"No, actually he's Italian."
"He's Italian? When did dogs have nationalities?"
"He is a Bolognese poodle but he was born in Latvia."
"Does he speak Italian?"
"He doesn't speak Italian but he does prefer Ciao to Labdien. And he likes lasagna."

Oh my goodness, hilarious! Their wits are perfect for each other. I wish I could have stayed longer and listened to them.

Friday we met with Indra from English. She is going to Finland to pick strawberries for 5 weeks and wanted extra help with her English. She has a Book of Mormon and she said she'll take it with and read it. She actually knows Aivars (the forever 'gator) and said she's noticed the change in him (he used to drink all the time and the missionaries helped him to quit) so we got to help her make the connections of why he's become a better person.

Saturday we went park contacting again after teaching Valda, cleaning, and meeting with Santa. We talked to inactive Aina and one of her co-workers. SG taught her first lesson in the park! All by herself! I was so proud of her. We had an impromptu lesson on Fathers with Zane, Kristine, and Janis. It was madness. Eliza (2.5), Davisa (7), and puppy were there. Eliza would pull Rambo's face and ears and then Davisa would try to grab her dog back. Rambo would like Eliza and then she'd stick out her tongue and let the dog lick her tongue. Eww! Davisa told her not to do that and then Eliza got mad and threw a battery-powered dog at Davisa's face. Poor kid is going to have a black eye, but she took her cut cheek like a champ. Later on they were on the bunk bed and SLAM! Face plant into the ladder. Eliza was bleeding everywhere and oh my goodness. Control the children someone, please! I was dying. I was dying of laughter after Eliza used her little potty and was pulling up her pants when Rambo started walking towards her. She started screaming in fear which was just hilarious to me since she was just barely tongue-ing the very same dog. We had even more dog adventures after. We have a good-looking businessman neighbor in his 30s who was outside with 5 male friends and his ridiculously ugly dog. I think it is a bulldog. For some reason his friends started talking to us in English and the dog started jumping on us. Our neighbor was profusely apologetic in English. "I'm so, I'm so sorry. It's a terrible habit of his." I didn't know he spoke English. Anywho, I kind of wanted to keep on talking to them, but 6 drinking men on a Friday night and a bulldog does not seem to be in my favor. "I'll see you tomorrow," our neighbor said in his Brit accent as we went in the apartment complex. I thought it was the most hilarious thing.

Sunday morning we were running with a wedding dress (Runaway Bride!) to catch our tram to the bus station. We made it. We went up to Riga for a great District Conference where we sang a beautiful arrangement of "Come Thou Fount." I really enjoyed one of the talks about how we need to build a good spiritual house. How does your house look? Is it run down? Does it need remodeling? Santa sat between Elder Lynch and I and was hilarious during the sustaining of the people. We frosted a belated birthday cake for Sisters Kurr and Gallacher and then headed off to the Bailey's. The Bailey's are an amazing embassy family who are like a giant slice of American pie. They really are the greatest. They were so kind and had all the Latvian missionaries over for their last Sunday in Latvia. We had hamburgers and strawberry shortcake for their early Father's Day dinner. I didn't know the Bailey's well, but I am so grateful for them and their strong example. They both served in callings and came to church every week, regardless of the language barrier. They move every 2-3 years and always do service projects with their kids in each new country. Sister Bailey even moves their 72 hour kits with them. They truly love the people of Latvia and love helping the missionaries. They are amazing!

Lots of Love,
Sister L

June 2012 Pics Zane's Baptism

Week 68

June 4, 2012

Another week has come and gone. I still don’t believe that Mark is going into the MTC soon. AHH! Where has the time gone?

Monday was super clean Monday. We definitely super cleaned. Rubija Berzina, a 32 year old member was set apart as a mini-missionary so she spent the day with us. We took her out to lunch at my favorite, Pastnieka Maja. They didn’t give us all the right things that we ordered, but what can ya do? It was still really yummy. I got my favorite spinach and carrot soup and then I got probably one of the best desserts I’ve had in my life. Filo pastry dough stuffed with wild berries, ice cream, cream and strawberry jam. Yum. I was stuffed. Definitely worth three lats, but I probably should have shared more of it. I was definitely full 2/3 of the way through, but it was just SOO good. In the evening we had a ridiculously long appointment with Lidija. It was supposed to be about scripture study, but she blabbered on and on and on for over an hour about fasting.

Anywho, Tuesday morn we woke up early so that we could go by Rubija’s and grab all of her luggage to take on her mini mission. She now owns over half my wardrobe, ha ha. She will definitely be the most styling missionary in Daugavpils. She got called to Latvia Russian speaking! President Boswell told us she’d be going out of Latvia, but she’s opening up Daugavpils to sisters with another Russian-speaking missionary! She was ridiculously happy to be serving a mini-mission. I got my new ID card up in Riga. I feel like a secret agent now. They had to take finger prints and photos. Next will probably be voice recognition. We went to the office after my appointment and got semi-forced into going to this nasty Cafe. Rubija needed to have lunch and it was the closest thing. I didn’t want to eat there but she said she wasn’t eating if we weren’t, so we had to take one for the team. I got a letter from Sister Madara Zommerovska, which almost made up for the bad food. She is having a blast serving at Temple Square. We got back to Liepaja and were able to teach Janis and Kristine, albeit we had to wait almost 30 minutes for Janis to get back. We had a good lesson. Long story short is that he has no desire or reason to read the Book of Mormon and to pray. I’m still looking for the section on how to make people have a desire in PMG. I called transfer calls. By that I mean I called that we weren’t getting them until 10:22pm. In case you were wondering, Liepaja is staying the same. Wahoo! Ten transfers in a row.

Wednesday we had a District Meeting by Sister Gallacher. She taught us about spiritual gifts. They really are the greatest things. Y’all should read up on them. We had two amazing lessons on Wednesday. The first one was with Arta, Sintija’s friend and we went over Alma 32. She related perfectly to the story. „That’s like me. I have a desire, I want to believe, it is just hard because there is another half that is trying to say that God doesn’t exist.” The lesson was amazingly good, we found out some questions she has, and we got her to pray ALOUD. This was a HUGE momentous step for her. Rihards came with us to teach Janis about God. Rihards did an amazing job testifying and he also invited Kristine and Janis to read and pray together, like he does over the phone with his fiancée. The spirit was strong.

Thursday...Happy Birthday Sister Gallacher. She’s official now- 21. Wahoo! We started the morning off right with a great lesson with a student from English. „If I didn’t already have a church, I’d come to yours. I agree with everything that you teach and I like how I feel here.” Well, you don’t hear that every day. Inta was very impressed that we had apostles. „That is new” she told us. We went to Fontaine’s for SG’s birthday and I got the best kebab I’ve had in Latvia. I hope that Denmark has better kebabs for Mark. We also went to Valda’s house. She gave SG some jewelry and a really cute speech blessing her with health, endurance, and a faithful cute husband. The rest of the day was spent planning and eating chocolate ice cream.

Friday morning we had another meeting with a cute old man from English, Arvids. Arvids was impressed that no one got paid in our church. He’s a cute old grandpa. We had a lesson on the phone with recent convert Zane. She is working on a branch member’s farm and loves being in nature with the animals. We had a good time doing some unexpected service at Valda’s. From what I understand her old boyfriend of six years is out of prison and wants all of his china and doilies back. They could have fed an army. We filled up two large suitcases and the bathtub with china. We were wrapping it in old German magazines from the 40s-60s. SG just about died. Santa came and helped and would carry giant bags of his stuff like Santa Claus and go „ho ho ho.”

In the pouring rain on Saturday we went out and bought groceries for break the fast. Meat at the market = disgusting. No gloves, no cleaning your hands. The woman still had meat on her hands while handing us the money. Eww eww eww. We met with long time member Annika and went through some old branch lists. She gave me a lucky button from a trade fair of sorts that they had last weekend. We cleaned the church and then took Santa with us to teach Valda who kept telling us all that we need to find boyfriends. Once we left Santa started singing a song she made up. „We’re going to find a boyfriend, a boyfriend, we’re going to find a boyfriend *sniff sniff sniff*” „What are you doing?” „Looking for a boyfriend like Riksi [her dog] would.” Oh my Santa. My world will be so dull without that woman. We were also talking about visiting teaching and her lack of a partner. „I’ll take Sister Holdaway.” (Elder Holdaway is known for being a half sister) I died when she said that. I made SG scones. She’s never had scones! She was also appalled that I was sticking honey on my scones. I thought that was normal. This transfer SG is in charge of getting us everywhere. I had fun letting her get lost. She may be worse than me. She tried to take us on a bus going the wrong way. I didn’t let her do that. I have been showing her how to use a map....how ironic.

Sunday was a crazy Sunday. No one was there to conduct (Elder Holdaway did). No one was there to teach Sunday School (thanks again EH), and Lidija called at 7am saying she wouldn’t be there in Primary. At least we got the advanced notice. Primary was a bit wild, but we had fun learning about being missionaries. We had 53 people at church, albeit 8 of them were the Bailey’s from Center visiting. It was nice to have people to pass the sacrament. I was really worried that we wouldn’t have anyone there to bless and pass the sacrament. We had plovs (some weird meat and rice dish) for lunch and strawberries. Yum! I’m excited for strawberry season. I forgot about how yummy strawberries are here. We took Santa with us to see whatever happened to Oskars. Oh. My. Goodness. She would be the best companion. She was knocking on his window and doors in all sorts of ways. „Do you think he is home?” „No” Santa said as she continued knocking. She also covered up the peep hole and tried yelling „Oskars” into the window pane. We tried going by a few other homes and no one was home. While we were calling people Zane texted us and asked us if we could come over. She and Kristine had some questions on fasting so we talked with them about that among other things.

The church is true. This week I have gained a greater testimony about how important the Priesthood is. It doesn’t matter how many Sister Lindstrom’s or other women we have at church, or in the church if we don’t have the Priesthood. The Priesthood is God’s power and I don’t have that. As much as I would like to help, I can’t help fill those callings. The priesthood is necessary and I am so grateful that I lived in a place with many worthy priesthood holders. You are so needed. You are so precious. Without the priesthood we can’t progress in the gospel.

Week 67

Time is running out. Quite literally. I brought three proselyting watches (aka not including my running watch) on my mission. This transfer my purple watch died and then my nice Invicta watch decided that it also wanted to join the pile of watches that need new batteries. It was actually great because time was slowing down. Anywho, let us just hope my last watch doesn't die, I'm not sure what that would mean.

Last Monday was H-O-T. Like 35C (95 F) hot. Which is a big jump from like 10C. Luckily it didn't stay for more than a few days. Happy year mark Santa! You know you've been on a mission for a long time when someone that you helped teach and saw get baptized is no longer a recent convert. We took her over flowers and butter. Santa loves butter. We taught her about the temple. I'm taking her to the DC temple when I find a rich and obedient husband (Aivars, Liepaja's eternal investigator told me so). Santa showed us some of her old photos which was awesome. We taught the Beldavi and scripture study and gave them one of the fun picture Book of Mormons.

Tuesday we woke up far too early to go up to Riga to get my visa picture. The bus ride was gorgeous. The rapeseed (yup, rapeseed) was in bloom so there were giant beautiful yellow fields mingled in all the greenery. We got to my appointment early so we went walking through a GIANT cemetery and saw huge lilac trees (these monsters weren't bushes) as well as many old grandmas cleaning burial areas. I got bitten by a bunch of mosquitos. I still have the bites and they are bruised...hopefully I don't die. They finally stopped itching on Sunday. Anywho, we didn't get lost (yes!) and we met up with Rubija and the Riga sisters and went to Muffins and More. I got a pesto-mozzarella Panini as well as a caramel muffin. Yum yum. We left Rubija to spend the day with the Riga sisters. She is going to be a mini-missionary starting Tuesday! At the office Elder Holdaway and I had a wonderful surprise- a birthday package for us! Wahoo! The way home to Liepaja was so neat. We ran into a Brother Walker of California who is adopting twins from Latvija. He told us his story and the twins make children 9 and 10. Bless his heart. We also saw the Millets (senior couple) at the bus station with their three wonderful daughters who were visiting. It was fun to meet them.

Wednesday we had district meeting since we were on a hot and sticky bus all Tuesday (okay, so only 8 hours of Tuesday, but still). Quote of the meeting "We are helping people learn Heaven." We made giant tacos for lunch. And then proceeded to eat the left-overs for the rest of the week. We figured since we forgot Cincqo de Maijo we'd just make up for it by having 5 days of celebration. Zina came to help us teach Zane and Kristine and bore a great testimony about not getting offended and remembering why you go to church. We had a meeting with inactive Dzintra. She forgot me (that's a good thing) and she was uber nice to us. No door slamming when we have cookies for her this time. And she actually gave us cookies. After English we had a meeting with Arta to watch Finding Faith in Christ. Aivars was there so we invited him. He is getting so much closer. He said he felt something in his heart watching the movie. He just still has lots of questions, and some of them are good. I think we all have questions. Some are important like will everyone have a body and some are not like will I have my earring holes in heaven (thank you Sintija).
Thursday Rubija spent the afternoon with us so we went to some lessons. First stop was Lucija, an old, pant less lady with flies everywhere. She completely forgot that we called to set up an appointment and she didn't connect us with the Mormon missionaries (she was a former investigator). The conversation kept repeating which was somewhat entertaining. We also visited the old man we helped across the street. He didn't look as happy as I thought he would to see us. Oh well. We went to Valda's and she is looking much happier. Her and Janis had a fight so she came to the baptism as well as church on Sunday. We rode another hot and sticky bus ride to the Scerbinini's for an excellent FHE put on by the very pregnant Kristina S. We brought ice cream and brownies. We took enough brownies for everyone to have two each but we only got one. I'm assuming Sis. S. is eating the other 10. She downed 5 pieces of Texas sheet cake in a row at the baptism on Friday. Anywho, we had a lot of fun with Sarra, Ieva, and Eliza.

The baptism went well. Presidents forgot to put the plug in the water [oopsie!]. Luckily someone noticed so we only started 45 minutes late. Eliza started bawling when she saw Zane in the font waving and smiling at her. It was pretty funny. Zane was very happy and excited after she was baptized. She got dressed faster than Presidents. We only had time to sing 2 verses of 1 song. Many people showed up which we were glad about.

Saturday morning we got to take Rubija shopping for her mini-mission. Humana had everything for 20 cents which was AWESOME. One lady from our English class gave us these cool light yellow tulips that look like Edward Scissor-hand trimmed the end of the petals. They have lots of neat tulips here. Presidents invited us to a surprise party and wouldn't tell us what the surprise was. It was Uldis and Maija Frolovi! Uldis is FINALLY back in the country with his wife. Hallelujah. Sintija and Eriks were very excited. We had sausage, cheese, and even more cake to celebrate. The highlight for me was Maxims. He's my favorite! He's the neighbor who got stuck on his fence and had his dog chase him...he just makes my heart smile. Anywho after planning a music group was singing outside our window. It was the most beautiful chorus I have ever heard. They had just performed at the Catholic church across the street.

Sunday made for chocolate cake #5 that I made this week. I don't even like chocolate cake all that much. We were having seminary graduation/sacrament for third hour and had lots of peeps from Riga. Sister Davis (CES couple) didn't know that everyone was invited so she didn't have enough brownies for everyone. We didn't realize this until we were walking to third hour (which was sacrament today). She told us the ox was in the mire so we ran home (literally) to start making Texas sheet cake. We've got skills. We stuck one in the oven at home, got one in the oven at church and made it to the church in time to partake of the sacrament. I still don't know how we managed that. We did miss Zane getting confirmed, but everyone got their cake. Sister Kristina S. had five again. With ice cream. She's a champ, I hope that baby girl of hers comes soon!

Sorry we haven't got more time today! It has been a wild ride.
Love you lots,
Sister Lindstrom

Week 66

Well, hello hello. Another adventurous week. It seems like about three since Mother's Day. The hot water has been off so I've been practicing my yoga breathing. Zane is all ready to be baptized on the 25th and her sister Kristine will be joining her after her wedding on June 22nd. In other news, it is Santa Dike's year anniversary of being baptized. Weird! I've met with that woman at least once a week for the past year. She is still one of my best friends. I'll hopefully get to see her son Kristops one more time before I leave, because Santa and I are planning to get that kid baptized. I'm convinced that is why Mark is going to Denmark since that is where Kristops currently lives. He has to do the work that I didn't finish! Sometimes I reflect on being a missionary and it is just so funny to me. People like nuns seem like such deeply spiritual people and I'm sure if I saw missionaries running around I would think they were very much into their religion. I don't feel like I'm obsessed/a nerd/insert appropriate word. I just feel like the gospel is more of a way of life, but not a weird one. We are normal people with some extraordinary knowledge and power available.

Monday was busy filled with non-preparing activities. We had a lesson with Ruta about service and then she took us over to her son's so that we could do some service. Aldis is a cop here in Liepaja but wants to move to be with his wife who just got a job in England. Only problem is that he doesn't know English so we are meeting with him once a week. We were very surprised in our spiritual lesson to find out that his mom hasn't told him about The Book of Mormon or anything like that. People are often afraid to share the gospel with the ones that they love, but if we truly understand that it is the only way to be with them in the eternities, we wouldn't hesitate. We had popeye pucks for dinner (yum yum frozen spinach is my friend!). We had a pleasant surprise at the Frolavi FHE- Arta was there! She was able to get her first exposure to learning about baptism and poor Eriks did not win "Search Ponder and Play", a game that Aunt Claudia sent me. The Frolavi love that game and Eriks always pouts if he doesn't have the galaxy.

Tuesday for district meeting we worked on our building tour. It uses the pictures in the building as well as other visual displays for great effects to essentially teach the restoration. Elder Holdaway has invented a "comment cup." I don't like it. You are supposed to not say your random tangents/comments and just write them down to be read later. Random comments are the fruit of life and enjoyable conversation! We also finally (I've been thinking about it for months) got a copy of our key made which was just about the coolest thing to watch. They have so many old school keys here. I think it would be neat to buy one and just carry it around in America to confuse people. We taught Zane and Kristine about tithing. I love those two. A few hours after the lesson Zane called me asking if she can pay on any day or if she has to wait until Sunday. We met with the Beldavi and thought we'd try playing a game after we taught about the Sacrament. Bad idea. Who knew hot-cold could be such an intense game that can cause tears. I don't know if we are going to try playing a game there again. Poor Dace was just trying to stay patient and not strangle anyone.

Wednesday was a rainy day. the days are really long when the sun isn't out because they just seem like an eternity. I don't know why because now the sunrise is at 5am and sunset is after we finish planning so it is perpetually sunny. Anywho we took Oskars along to Zane's and Kristine's lesson so that he could hear them go through the baptismal interview questions. When we got to keeping the Sabbath Day holy Kristine totally called Oskars out and told him that he should be coming to church more. Awesome! I'm excited for her to be a member and take her to everyone's lessons. The elders also dropped by to give Zane a blessing. It was a great lesson overall because the Spirit was very strong. We took that Spirit and went to Valda's. She was home! And answered the door! And Janis stayed. He told us that his brother just died so we were able to sing "Oh My Father" and teach him some of the Plan of Salvation. The Spirit was really strong which NEVER happens. Janis is just not the greatest person so normally the Spirit runs and hides whenever he is in the vicinity. Rumors were also confirmed. Old Zigrida is indeed losing it. At the end of our lesson she started screaming at Valda not to come to our church because it was the devil's church that is full of robbers and that we'd steal all her money. I was even more shocked when Janis started talking back to her. "Be quiet mamma. You know that isn't true. Stop speaking crazy." Janis just got brownie points and is no longer in the negative.

Thursday we helped an old man across the street. And then all the way to his house. He got stuck in the middle of the street and all these cars were trying to go around him so we pretty much saved his life (not really). But he was very appreciative and said that even he was 86 years old he would let Sister Gallacher stay with him because he'd love her. Oh boy! It was neat though because afterwards some of his neighbors stopped us and thanked us for helping him. Zane and Kristine both passed their interviews! Hurray!

Friday was another cold and rainy day. Especially cold since our hot water and heating are off! We moved studies into the kitchen and put on the space heater. Friday morning was entirely swallowed up by trying to figure out wedding business. Long story short President Bowell offered to expedite Kristine's wedding (the soonest they could was June 22) which is 155 lats, and 2-day ship a wedding dress from America so that she could get baptized with her sister. She didn't take our offer, but all parties seemed pretty happy about it. I was pretty disappointed. She said that she asked for the Lord's guidance that day and He had provided a way that she could get baptized with her sister and she rejected it.

We took Lidija L. (active) on the tour with the elders and she loved it. We also took Santa (RC) on Friday. It is going to be a very powerful tool for teaching and I'm excited. We made no knead garlic bread (YUMMY!) and ate it with some of Lidija's homemade cheese. We also got to meet with Marika (LA) and had a good lesson with her about Christ-like attributes and she showed up to Sacrament meeting on Sunday! She almost strangled all the children making noises, but at least she was there renewing her baptismal covenants.

Saturday was a great English class. No one wanted to participate, but the great part was the Spirit-punch that was the spiritual thought. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and the Spirit was almost overpowering. There were some teary eyes in the audience. Yay for the Spirit! I also had a little miracle of my own. After calling this woman since June 2011, I was finally able to meet with Rasa. We met her on the beach and she talked our ears off. We were able to give her a Book of Mormon and invite her to church. We were very tired after our very long, very slow walk. Rasa did it in 3 inch heels on the sand. Ouch.

Sunday was a fine Sabbath day. It is getting warmer! A miracle was Presidents lesson second hour. I think that this is the first lesson he has ever taught without ever once going into Russian. I'm going to blame it on my challenge to him to read three pages of the Book of Mormon in Latvian daily. :P In the evenings we dropped by a few people who weren't home. A block before our house we had a boy stop us and ask for a Bible. Eventually I gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon. I'm pretty sure he was just messing with us, but who knows, maybe he'll read it. I didn't give him our phone number though. Have fun if he calls elders!

Have a great week!

Love, Māsa Lindstroma