6/10/13

Lab Dien! Ka iet Maijaaaaaaaaaaa??? here i am again just writing a letter from the other side of the world while you all are sleeping like babies back home. This week has been awesome!!!! Im still working hard with elder Bland and we're having an awesome time. We're out contacting everyday which is helping improve my Latvian so much. The only bummer is that because we're working so hard, I have hardly any time to take pictures; however, I am traveling today to Siguda which has 3 ancient castles so I'll be taking loads of pictures for you next week! Hmmmm....Stories from this week. oh! If you didnt know, It LOVES to rain here in Latvia. I'm not talking like a little drizzle, this is like full on notebook style rain and the best part is that it will come out of no where. Honestly it will be bright blue skies with a couple baby clouds one minute and then the next it's pouring down harder than I've ever seen. It's so funny because the people here don't really like the rain so when it comes crashing down out of no where they all run to the closest tunnel or some type of shelter and just wait it out. Of course I'm running around the whole time in it having the time of my life while all the Latvians look at me like I'm crazy but I can pretty much always get them to laugh about it. Anyway, the last time it down poured, this older gentleman got stuck underneath a really small tin roof of a shop and he probably had about three feet of space to remain dry. Seeing this as a golden opportunity (where he couldnt just run away) we went up and started testifying to him in Latvian of course. Honestly if a photographer would have been there it would have definitely made it on the cover of the next ensign because we're on a beautiful street with a massive cathedral right behind us and my companion and I are standing right in the middle of a sidewalk stream having water soaking us head to toe, handing this man a Book of Mormon who's barely finding shelter under this roof thing. Oh man it was so cool!!!!!!!! but...no picture :( hahaha it's awesome here though. We dont exactly have any new investigators EXCEPT I contacted into this man from Chicago who doesnt speak a lick of Latvian (tender mercy for sure seeing how mine is about the equivalent of a 4 year old with a mouth full of food) and he's here teaching OLD TESTAMENT AND HEBREW. Talk about the hardest lessons of my life. Honestly, we meet once a week and I get the chance to share about our church and he has a problem with mostly everything I say but he continues wanting to meet. I think he knows probably every single verse in the bible which is good and bad I suppose. He's a Calvinist so that makes it super fun too but I love him to death. His name is Mark and I'm so glad we have the opportunity to teach him. Other than him we pretty much just contact into drunks all the time which gets a little weird hahahahahaha the other day I went up and started talking to this man on the street and soon realized he was REALLY drunk. Anyway, I asked him if we could meet sometime when he was sober and he said yes and then told me about how he wanted to quit alcohol. My companion expressed that we could help him accomplish that through Jesus Christ and his eyes lit up. The next second he was on the verge of tears kissing our hands....you know how I am with other people touching me...let's just say that I'm pretty sure my BAC went up a little by the time he let go. man, so strange haha My district is awesome and I'm becoming so close with all of them. The coolest parts are that I'm serving with two of my MTC Masa's here in Centre and the second coolest thing is that there are only 13 Latvian elders and we're not getting anymore elders for the next 6 months. It's so humbling to know that God gave me the opportunity to be one of them. I love my mission with all my heart and I'm learning life lessons I couldn't learn anywhere else. I hope you're all doing great back home and I'm still praying for you everyday all day! I love you all so much and I can feel the blessings of your prayers everyday when I get discouraged at times. Thank you so much for all you do for me and I cant wait to hear from you! I'll send pictures next week!!! Es Jus Milu!