Nu, čau visiem maniem draugiem! (well, hey to all my friends!)
This week was wonderful! This letter will be scattered and I need to apologize to everyone who wrote me and I wrote back a mediocre reply, but there is just so much I want to write about in this email and I have so little time! It will be a little scattered, but here are my thoughts for the week!
First off, to describe the title to my email. (Sunday with miracles) It all starts with last Sunday. We went out last week with only 15 minutes before church started (we wanted to use our time the best we could!) and ran into Skaidrite, our newest investigator. We talked about our church and the Book of Mormon. She was busy right then and didn't want to set up a meeting, but said she would come to church next week! Sure enough she did! She stayed all three hours and we found out that one of the members is her neighbor! She is going to meet with us this week! When we called her after church to say that we were happy to see her, the first thing she said was, "I really like your services! I'll come every single week to attend!" It was great to hear! If only the member neighbor had invited her to church, but at least the member is invested now!
Well, it was just a week of blessings and miracles! Including yesterday at church where no missionaries blessed or passed the sacrament!!! That was a goal of ours! There are very, very few active men in the branch here in Liepāja. There are 6 active men who hold the aaronic priesthood. One is Branch President, one is a counselor, and then there are four others. Well, it is hard to have them all at church at the same time, and two of the 6 are recent converts who just got the priesthood, so to have 1 on the stand and 4 bless and pass the sacrament was a big accomplishment! It was a wonderful moment yesterday!!! Also there were 17 Less Actives and Investigators at church! It really was a wonderful Sunday!
Also, I was in Rīga this last week for a visa appointment. We walked pass our mission president who was in his car and pretended not to see and walk past. It was really funny, and we laughted hard. We shook his had and said hi, and then we were off again to head back to Liepāja. This is what President Boswell said about it, "And, what about those 2 sisters who tried to walk right by my car without stopping at migration the other day? You two are fun to watch and have such a great skill of engaging people. I am very proud of the wonderful example that you set." It is fun to be able to have fun, while at the same time working hard!
So, now updates on the work here, which is going very well:
Viktorija is doing very well. Her mom sadly wasn't able to join our last meeting because they are apartment hunting. They are going to be kicked out of their place at the end of the month and they are having a hard time finding and affordable place with such short notice. We offered her our help, and she declined it, but was very touched. We found out later from Viktorija, that she told her dad about the help offer, and he was very surprised that a church would offer help. Viktorija's dad, Viktor, is very against churches in general and doesn't really believe in God, but that changed his oppinion a little bit. Another problem with viktor is that he is Russian and we will have a communication barrier. We found out that Viktorija lives in our area close to the B family. They have 4 boys and one of them is Viktorija's age! She has been spending time at their house and really seems to love it. We are doing everything we can to show the parents that we want them involved and just show them support. We have sent home lots of things to dad in Russian. So far, he won't read it, but the mom has as well as mom has read some of the Book of Mormon. Viktorija also this last week has a favorite verse in the scripture and got a spiritual confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true! She is doing really well and we hope that we can soon get her family involved in her progress.
With Inara, we did a drop by (we were still unable to get a hold of her on the phone) and it was perfect! She was at home as well as a lot of her family was there! It was her husband's birthday and they were celebrating together. We met a couple daughters and they were all very nice to us. We were unable to stay (although they invited us to stay and celebrate with them) because of another appointment, but she invited us to come by another day to meet again and talk some more. This was big because before that she was absolutely opposed to us coming over! We brought a great member who we prepped and she really helped us with the lesson! Inara's husband, Ojars, joined us and he is one of our new investigators for the week! We taught Word of Wisdom (even though Ojars was there) and they both so willingly accepted. They only have a social coffee problem, but they gave us their coffee (after Sister Scott asked for it) and we left them with some peppermint tea! It went very well. She isn't reading yet however and didn't come to church. We'll work with her.
For more fun things, we are moving this week. We are getting a senior couple in Liepāja (they get here on Wednesday) and they are moving into our apartment. We have the nicest apartment of all the missionaries. We will be moving into our new apartment (used to be elder's apartment) tomorrow. It will be weird, but good change I guess. It isn't too far from where we used to live. It will be fun and great to have a senior couple in Liepāja. They are going to help with reactivation. It will be a BIG blessing for our little branch of 50 (that has like 100 less active's at least! a big chunk being youth). We are going to miss our little cat. His name is Runcis (it means Tom Cat in Latvian). No, we don't have a pet! That is not allowed. He is a stray that gets fed by all the people in our apartment and he lives in the stairwell. I'll admit, we've also fed him. ;) He is just so cute! I'm sending a picture home of him. :)
Also, my singing voice will be used again this week. I'm going to be singing with a member named Madara in a talent show we are having this week. I'm really looking forward to it. We are singing a Irish folk song called, "Will ye go Lassie go?" It will have guitar and violin. It is SO PRETTY!! I got permission to sing it from President Boswell and I'm really looking forward to it. It is different from anything that I've ever sung before, but Madara has been so patiently coaching me. Madara is an awesome member. She served a mission at temple square. She just got back in September last year.
I'll just end with a spiritual thought. I know that the this church is true. I have felt it so much more this last week. I've been trying for the first time in my life to reread all of conference talks before the next session of conference. I really like doing it. I've read one-two a day ever day for the past week. I know that the prophets are called of God. They lead and guide the church according to revelation from God. Really this is Christ's church. The doctrine in this church is necessary to survive the things that will come into the world in the last days. If you aren't in this church as a member or if you aren't as active as you have been in the past, please come and see what is here. Your lives will be better with the truth that is in the church! Remember that! I know it, for I've seen it!
Ar mīlestību un lūgšanām jums visiem, (With love and prayers to you all)
Māsa Klauvarda
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