September 8, 2014

Sveiki visiem!

Transfer came and went and no changes for us here in Liepaja. Only two companionships in the zone got switched up (the only two not in training). So, I'm finishing my mission here in Liepaja with Sister Berchtold. :D I'm super excited!! Half my mission in Riga, half in Liepaja. This week was not anything super eventful, but here's the update I sent President Harding:

"This week we had our zone training (we traveled to Riga for that and met there all in our zone, 23 strong). We as zone leaders and sister training leaders had such an inspirational time at the zone leadership council, that we really wanted to create a similar experience for our zone in our zone training. We really enjoyed the preparation and decided to teach a big chunk of it about conversion (both for us and our investigators) and we all four led a council like discussion. We did it at the end so they were already used to the council like set up and it went really well! The spirit was very strong and we got several comments about it. I especially liked this, because I felt the spirit was able to pass off a lot of things that we learned from the training that our zone members needed to hear and that was specifically for them. I myself received even more revelation and learning as I had the opportunity to direct this learning experience. It was a great meeting, and we are looking forward to creating all of our meetings more like counsels, because as you said, that is how the church and God's kingdom works. We also had some conversation about area books and natural conversation when teaching on the street. (this is one personally that I am trying to work on, it is definitely a weak point)"

"As for investigators, we don't currently have any progressing investigators. We are putting our focus as a companionship this transfer to finding. We are going to try to contact all the former investigators who either had a baptismal date or desire to be baptized and try to get back in with them." 

"As for us in this area in Liepaja, we are doing a lot of less active work and recent convert retention. Gundega is doing well in her first week since baptism. She went out with us on Monday night (just two days after baptism) and taught a lesson with us to a potential investigator. It went really well and she was able to share her testimony about why she likes to read the Book of Mormon and how simple and true it is. It was incredible and I was so proud of her. She is doing well still and working hard to strenghten her testimony. We are going to get working with her about making the temple her next goal!"

Questions from Jacob (my smart brother and the only one who sent me questions. Nice work Jake!)

What is the food like?

-First off, a lot healthier and fresher overall and I love that! It is easy to find fresh fruits and veggies as they are in season. They also have a lot of potatoes and mushrooms (all sorts of mushrooms). Their potatoes are different than Idaho Russettes. They are little with a very think peel and they are yellow on the inside. They are very good though! They have open air markets in every city. We live right next to Peter's Market in Liepaja. It is the biggest market in liepaja and is half open air and half in a pavilion.

How do you get around mostly?

-the good old fashioned way. Walk. We do have tramvajs that we can take, which is just an electrical tram. There are also buses that travel through liepaja that are public transprotation but we don't use those hardly at all in our area. We walk pretty much everywhere.

What is your favorite food?

-in general, I just love the food here! I love and eat it all. It is hard to find traditional classic latvian food, but everything I've tried I've enjoyed. I really do love Potato pancakes (which are technically not latvian, but everyone eats them) and I've learned to make those. so you'll enjoy them. :)

What is your favorite place to go there?

-I love it all! I love to just walk the streets of beautiful Liepaja. It is a very beautiful, but small city with lots of history! I really enjoy all of it!

So that is all I have. I know, boring, but I'm not sure what's new! For the spiritual thought this week I just want to talk about the spirit. The spirit is incredible. It has such a powerful influence on us and can do amazing things. This week the spirit has been key in my work. As I get closer and closer to coming home, Satan tries more and more to distract me. It is a battle thought, that he will not win. I work hard to create spiritual experiences constantly in my life. I had an interesting and insightful experience this week while teaching the members of my zone. It was really rewarding to see how that spirit was able to teach each person individually and give them that which they needed. It was really enjoyable. Although we all heard the same thing, we all got some personal directly from our Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost. I love and am so grateful that I have the gift of the Holy Ghost. I know that it is a needed companion for me every day in my life.

Ar lielu mīlestību,

Māsa Klauvarda