May 5, 2014

Čau manāi ģimenēi un draugiem,

Today was a crazy week, but so rewarding, but also surprising! :) I'll let you know why. First off, it was transfers! I am still in Liepāja but I am with Sister Ormsby! She was my MTC companion! I am so happy to be here with her and have the opportunity to serve with her again. Sister Scott is in Riga with Sister Branchflower (my first trainee). Here were my thoughts to President about it:

"I am so happy and grateful to serve with my MTC companion, Sister Ormsby, again. I am already enjoying my time with her. I really already love being with Sister Ormsby. I think this will be good having the Sister Training Leader's split. It is almost like having 4 Sister Training Leaders because when I go on exchanges with a sister I can trust Sister Ormsby with the other sister. It will be very good that they will get a lot more good training and support. I love this transfer and what I have to look forward to!"

So, the week was surprising because of that. Sister Scott and I didn't think we would get split, because it would split the sister training leaders, but now we see that it will be good and I really am glad to be with Sister Ormsby. It was also crazy because Tuesday morning we found out about transfers and who was going where. We had to transfer Wednesday (only giving a day to pack). I also had to pack because Sister Ormsby and I had to again move apartments. On Wednesday we also had zone training as well as I had a visa appointment (i got a new visa meaning I've been in latvia almost a year!!!). That was fun, but it got more exciting when we went to the bus station to take a bus back to Liepāja only to find out they were all full and we weren't going to be getting back to Liepāja that night.... oh joy! So, we are stuck in Riga and I have no extra clothes on me! It was crazy! Well, we stayed with the sisters in Imanta (my old area) and they lent me some clothes. We got back to Liepaja Thursday morning and moved an hour after we got back into our new apartment. It took us a few days to get cleaned up (Elders had lived in it before us...) but now it is home and all cleaned and organized! So, that was my crazy week!!! :D I love the excitement though. So, updates on investigators.

Skaidrite doesn't currently have a date, but Sister Ormsby and I have thought and prayed about it and we'll be setting a new date for her tonight for March 17th. We think that date will be the right date for her so that the branch will be behind her as well as she will see that this is a celebration not a test to pass. She is still kind of looking at baptism and everything before it as a list of to do's that she must check off. She really wants to do it. I hope that she'll see that it is a thing to look forward to with joy and that she can enjoy her baptism. We are going to talk to her about that tonight. Lilita and Indra are both very excited for her and we know that they can help her make it through this time. We are keeping Elder Wilson very informed this time. We are telling her all about her progress and we plan on updating him on her mock interview and how that goes and then also telling him about how to best help her feel comfortable, so she can share how she really feels. She shares her feelings with us all the time, so I hope we can get her to open up and share her feelings more with Elder Wilson in her interview.

With Viktorija, we are a little bit more worried about her. She still has several things to learn, and we really want to help her have a testimony in all this. It is hard with her because she has a true desire to be baptized and wants to do all the things that are right, but her parents are not really interested at all. They want her to do it if she wants to, but they have been doing much to help her along in it.  We had a lesson planned with the Ščerbinini twice last week and both times they canceled the day of. We hope that for right now that we can get Viktorija back on board and get her excited. She wasn't at church yesterday because her neighbor offered her a babysitting job for money. She felt really bad that she wasn't there, but it is hard when your parents are encouraging you. We'll talk to her about what to do in those situations. We are probably going to try to find a family in the branch that can kind of "adopt" her and help her out when she is at church and encourage her to do the things that we have taught her. For example, who will help her pay her tithing when she gets baptized. And who will help her buy clothes modestly as she grows up. They are concerns constantly in my mind as I think about her approaching baptism. I feel so strongly that Viktorija is meant to get baptized. She is so excited! We want to help that excited fire burn brighter. We'll probably talk to her a little bit about the baptism program to make it more real and exciting for her. She will help activate the rest of her family. I just hope that we can help her get here and stay! I love that little girl!

The twins, Gija and Sintija, are so sweet. They are in a mental hospital right now. They are 18 but mentally they are 10. Sister Ormsby and I think that they just have some sort of learning disability. They aren't crazy or anything, they just act like cute 10 year old girls who have a really rough life. They have been in and out of the mental hospital, but not because they have problems that means they need to be there, but more that they have no one in their lives who is equipped to care for them. It is really sad. It is especially hard, because we can tell that they are heavily drugged in that place. They are giving them all sorts of stuff, and we know it doesn't help their mental state. It makes me really glad to be from america where we have a great health care system. This hospital is definitely not the greatest place ever. The members who we have met them are in love with them and they would make a great fun addition to the branch, but since they are mentally 10 years old, it doesn't really make them accountable for themselves. We are going to talk to their older brother, who we have heard has accountability for them. We are going to have Madara call him tonight while we are with her and we'll set up a time when we can meet with him and in person describe why we are meeting with the girls and get his permission for them to be baptized and for us to keep meeting with them. We'll let you know what happens with that.

Well, that is all about my week.

I love this work. I just want to testify that I know that I am about the Lord's work. He leads it. I am learning to trust in him. I enjoyed fast sunday yesterday (did anyone share their testimonies). I have really learned to love fasting. I started doing something called a fasting journal and it helps me receive revelation. I write down at the beginning of my fast the purpose for why I am fasting and then as I fast I keep notes and then at the end as I pray to break the fast, I write down all my thoughts as well. I really as opened up the channel of revelation. I got some great revelation to help oour investigators yesterday. I also received some other revelation (and kind of a rebuking) that I needed to trust in the Lord. It was so needed. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!!!!! I know I will!

Love,

Māsa Klauvarda