September 29, 2014

Hey!

So, this will be a short one this week. My time is taken up by doing business type stuff. (applying for college). But the good news is, BYU already let me know I can come back in the winter 2015! I'm excited to continue my degree in Family History and Genealogy.

So update on the week, here is what I sent President Harding: "This week went well. It was hard because it was a slower week and as you know my back is acting up again, which put us inside for a night, but I'm an still pulling through strong and I will be a finisher! I love learning a language because it adds more meaning to what you say. Well, in Latvian they have to ways to say to endure, one is izturēt and one is pastāvēt. Both mean in English to endure, but the difference is a matter of how we endure. Izturēt means to grit your teeth and endure it, to get by, or get through, while pastāvēt means to endure and conquer, to overcome with power! I love it and this is my new focus. I'm going to a missionary who "pastāvēt"s to the end! I will conquer. Thanks for the advice about that!"

"This week we have been meeting with our newest investigator, Kristīne. She is a cutie. She is coming to the church to learn English, but also feels a lack in her spiritual life that she would like to improve. We have been trying as a companionship to improve and become better teachers by being real and personable/personal. It has really helped us improve our teaching. We are trying not to be robot missionaries anymore. I love that I have the opportunity to teach Kristine. She is young, probably about 20. She is very shy, and quiet. We were really sad this week though that she came to our second lesson and hadn't read or done anything. It was sad as well because she didn't want to commit to do anything either. We are going to work on helping her this week with English a separate time to show her that we really are here to help her and want her to succeed in that which she does. We'll see how it goes with her this week."

"Other than that, the branch is doing great! We had some fun surprises this Sunday with less actives at church who don't usually come! It was great. One who came was Elvis. He is a 17 year old in the branch. All of his family are members, but he and his older brother have fallen away. Well we've been working with him, and he came!! We were so excited and he seemed to enjoy it. We were even more impressed that he came because his mom had to work so he had to come alone and bring his younger brother! It was so great and we are so proud of him!"

"Well, Sister Berchtold is still doing well. I love her tons. We are working continually on improving together. I feel like this week I'm really seeing that she is ready to take over this area. I am so proud of her for that. She knows where everyone lives and can get anywhere in the area and knows what needs to be done and for the most part, how to do it."

As for the back (just to expound a little), Saturday night, I had to rest it. The pain started on Friday night and continued to get worse the more I walked and the more I worked. It was hard, but I'm glad that I took that break (we only went in for the last hour of the night, but I really couldn't walk anymore. It hurt too much). I really didn't want to, but Sister Berchtold talked to me about how my stubbornness could in the long run ruin my abilities to keep working the next days and weeks, so I gave President Harding a call. I'm a little better today, but the pain is still there. I am not going to let it stop me from pushing forward though.

From my sister-in-law Haley. How do Latvians typically carry their babies around? Do they often have them on their backs? Or is it more like we do here in America? -It is like it is in America. They push strollers everywhere! They have awesome strollers though! They are multi-functional and super cute! Europeans always have to look classy, even with a stroller, but yeah, they mostly just push their babies around in strollers.

From Jake, my brother:What do teens in Latvia do in their daily lives? -They are like any other American teen except they probably don't spend as much time on the computers (mostly because they don't all have them and internet access). They spend most evenings hanging with friends.

What is the thing you will miss the most about Latvia? -I will miss the people the most. I love Latvians. They are my second family and I will miss them so much. I will also miss speaking Latvian.

What food do you NOT like? -I really like everything. I haven't eaten anything that I didn't like yet, except for Kefirs which is like butter-milk, but a little different. They drink it all the time here. I'll eat things made with it, but I don't like to just drink it plain.

Well, I just want to share my testimony about the work of the Lord, particularly one part of it, family history work. I love family history work and lately I have seen the push that has come about to get it done. It is so much fun, but also vitally important. We need to eternally connect the whole human race so that we can all return to live with God again. I love this work. It is a way for us to improve personally and a way to help others improve. Family history work and missionary work go hand in hand, they are interconnected. I know that, and I know that all of us need to get on board or get left behind. The Lord is hastening His work and we must decided if we are going to jump on board and go along or get left behind in the dust.

Ar mīlestību,

Māsa Klauvarda