Monday, September 29

June 9, 2014

Čau ģimenei un draugiem,

I know right off that this email will be shorter. I want to spend more time writing to people personally and there isn't a lot new in the work this week. 

Here is my update to President Boswell on the area:

"Irene decided this week that her branch is true (she is a member of the salvation army....I didn't even know that was considered a church. but apparently here it is and they have a preacher and baptism and everything!! If someone wants to look up information about that and send it to me it would be very appreciated). She stopped reading and hasn't come to church. We are going to keep in contact with her and help her see the need for this. As of right now, she is not planning on getting baptized. She also moved back to Saldus this week (Saldus is an hour and a half from Liepāja), and isn't planning on coming back to Liepāja soon. We still talk to her on the phone and she is super nice. She wants to learn still and we are going to push the urgency with her this week for her to find out for herself. We are glad that she is out of the hospital and can think more clearly now. Our plans with her are mostly to help her see the need for baptism. 

"Before we could meet with Martiņš he decided that he didn't want to meet with us. (Martiņš is a new investigator from last week, who didn't believe in God, but had some great questions) We were really looking forward to helping him progress towards finding out if God exists. We'll give him another call and invite him to activities and see what happens.

"We did get a new investigator this week. She is an 80 year old woman who wants to read the Book of Mormon. We'll see how she progresses. She has the Book of Mormon and is a super sweet little thing, but we want to make sure that she is fully there and accountable. She might have some memory problems. She thought that Sister Ormsby had been at her house 3 years before. :)

"We also have been working with our recent converts. Viktorija is doing really well. We have gained the trust of her parents. We are going to try to get lessons at her house, but for now her parents say no, because mom works longs hours and dad drinks a lot. She came to church yesterday and sat next to a member! (that was one of our concerns because she likes the missionaries more than the members) Ilze has taken on the role as bigger sister and told Viktorija that. They laughed at it, but have already formed that relationship. We are going to try to do more with Ilze involved (as much as Ilze's schedule allows). 

"With Skaidrīte, we are a little more worried. She got a job (a blessing from Heavenly Father) and she started to work the Monday right after baptism. Well, now she works everyday, really long hours!! They work her from 5 in the morning to 8 at night. The pay is really low and it is a horrible situation. She hasn't been able to attend church since her confirmation. She'll be coming this Sunday though. She says she only gets one free day a month and she'll use it for Sundays, but that is only one Sunday a month. She also has a guy trying to move in with her. He is a total creep who she doesn't like, but he is using her. We aren't sure what to do and how much we can tell her to do. We want to tell her to call the police and get rid of this guy. She told us that she doesn't want him around. We're going to try to get her member friends to go and visit her at night more when she gets of work. We hope that they'll be the ones to give her advice on what to do. 

"We also started teaching Ilze, another recent convert. The Elders passed her off to us. She was starting to crush on the Elders and it was getting awkward. We love her and enjoy the lessons with her. She is very smart and has great questions. She is also very good at finding answers on her own."

Our week was pretty normal, but good. We played ultimate Frisbee as a district on Monday with a few members. That was a ton of fun!! I really love playing. My back pains have come back, but the good exercise helps a ton. Sister Ormsby is great and is keeping me in good shape. We go running 3-4 times a week! I love it!

Today will also be a fun preparation day as we are going to rent bikes and ride to a place in Liepāja called Karosta. There we will see the only former military prison in Europe that is open to public, a russian catherdral (russian orthodox faith), and some old forts! We are really looking forward to it. I hope I will be able to send some pictures, but I don't know. 

It really hasn't been any special of a week. We've been trying to find less actives and new investigators this week and that is what we have spent most of our time doing. We are also kept busy with the lessons with the recent converts )we have four recent converts that we are working with). I love this work, and even if there wasn't anything exciting I am still really enjoying the work I get to do. 

One spiritual insight I wanted to share. This last Sunday was fast Sunday for us because of the conference last week. I love fast Sunday. Well, I also played the piano for the branch this Sunday and while sitting up at the piano, I was thinking about the sacrament and what it means. There is so much symbolism in the sacrament that can help us think of the atonement. We could spend all the time that the sacrament is being passed and still not come up with all the symbolism that the sacrament carries. Also, the more I learn about the atonement, the more I catch of the symbolism. I know that Christ died for us and suffered for our pains and sins. He did that so that we could progress. He wants us to challenge ourselves and do things that are hard. He wants us to achieve great things. He sees something that we can become that if we could see we would be shocked! But I know that we can become all that Heavenly Father has foreordained us to become. I love this work and I love my part in it. I get to help people find Christ and strengthen there testimony in him! What a joy! I love you all and I know that you can do hard things, but the most important thing to do is follow Christ!!! Don't ever lost sight of that!

Ar mīlestību un prieku, (with love and joy)
Māsa Klauvarda

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