February 10, 2014

Čau visiem!!

Es ceru, ka jums bija laba nedēļa!! (I hope you had a good week!)

So, by title of the email, you can tell that I had some bg changes in my missionary work here. I am in Liepaja (which is the farthest a latvian speaker can serve). I love it! It is a cute little costal town, that reminds me of Rexburg, because it is so windy!! 

I am also Sister Training Leader which is looking to be fun, but a little crazy!!! We will travel a lot, but we are going to stay in our area as much as possible. My companion is Sister Scott. She is from Ohio. She is wonderful! She is two transfers ahead of me and the older Lativan sister in the mission. She is a great example and is a very successful, hardworking missionary. I am priveldged to be able to work with her and I know I will learn a ton!! I love this work so much! Here are my thoughts to President Boswell about the week:

"I am excited to be Sister Training Leader, but even more so, to work in Liepāja, and help this area and branch out. I really think some great things can happen here soon. Sister Scott is amazing, and I am grateful to the Lord for the opportunity he has given me to work with her. 

"I am still learning about this area, but from what I can see, there is a lot to do. I am looking forward to doing it all, and being a good worker. Sister Scott adn I are making the area our first priority. She has so many great ideas, and I am truly pleased that I have the opportunity to work with her and learn from her. 

"We have set some great transfer goals to give us some focus. We are really going to working on finding some solid baptismal dates for this transfer. We just had a baptism, and handed off a lot of progressing investigators to the Elders, so we are starting on ground zero, but by the end of the transfer we have a goal to have 3 solid baptismal dates in our area. We understand that this means there are going to be a lot of different baptismal dates in between, and that we are going to have to work hard every minute that we are in our area. 

"Lelde, our recent convert (she was baptized 2 weeks ago, she has had a rough past, but has come through a lot. SHe has a 4 year old daughter and she herself is 18. She lives on her own and is really actually incredible!!!!), has been going through some rough stuff. She is full of drama and makes life exciting, but sadly, I feel like she attracts drama. Her little sister Ksenija is the biggest worry and stress for her a lot of the time. She is 15. She has also had a very rough background like Lelde. It is hard. When I was on an exchange with Sister Peterson we had a lesson with Lelde and Ksenija came. She didn't believe in God, and was very stubborn. She has jsut been trhough a lot of hard stuff, and she is in the phase of her life where she likes to say no, because she wants to be independent and have a mind of her own. She has been reading everything that Lelde will give her to read (including the Book of Mormon) and came to sacrament meeting yesterday. She also though, has big word of wisdom problems, as well as she is has a 31 year old boyfriend. The boyfriend was over at Ledle's house, and caused some problems. We don't know everything that happened, but we do know that now Lelde has been diagnosed with a concussion and is stuck in bed for 8 days. She's stressed, and we hope we can help her out.

"We got 5 new investigators this week as well, which was wonderful! Sister Scott is teaching me how to talk to everyone! She's amazing at that. She also is super great at finding something that they would be interested in so that we can help them see more of who we are and what we believe. Of the new investigators, the one with the most potential is Jānis. Sister Scott talked to him for about two hours on the way from Rīga to Liepāja this last week. They talked for two hours and would like to hear more. He has a Book of Mormon and we are happy to help him out. He used to smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, but has gotten him self to only seven cigarettes, and we are excited to help him quit overall, which he wants to do. 

"Also, we talked to an athiest named Edijs this last week. It was a great teaching moment for me and Sister Scott. Mostly I am jsut excited by how well and smooth we taught together, and by the end of the teaching moment, he was curios to know if God could really be there. :) It was wonderful. We'll see what happens."

Another thought about Edijs. (like Eddy) It was truly a miracle teaching moment. I loved it! The night before while planning, I told Sister Scott that I thought we needed to find a upper 20's (28-30) year old man who has no girlfriend, kids, and is lost in life and doesn't know what to do. Well, I thought about that all day, but it didn't happen. We didn't talk to anyone who fit that, until Edijs (who was the last person we talked to that day!) He fit the profile perfectly! We talked about why it is important to have faith in God and how he can find that. It was a great conversation. I really liked it! It was fun to teach so smoothly with Sister Scott and help Edijs. We really focused on him. It was great!

Well, I'm almost out of time! I love you all so much! Just know that I love you. I am so greatful to be a missionary! I know this is the Lord's work and I know that he is hastening it. Dad told me about the news with several big family history comanies combining with the church and that just gave me chills! This will be really big for family history work! The Lord truly is hastening the work! It is incredible! I invite you all to join in in some way. Look into our church, strenghten you faith in Christ, and share that which you have!

I love you all! (Es jūs visus mīlu!)

Māsa Klauvarda

Sister Training Leader

February 7, 2014

Dear Brother and Sister Cloward ,

Your missionary, Sister Sarah Leigh Cloward, has been given a new assignment in the Baltic Mission.  As of this recent transfer, she will be serving as a Sister Training Leader in the Latvia "LATVIAN" Zone and will be responsible to train and lead the sister missionaries serving with her.

Sister Cloward is a great missionary and we are very pleased to have her in the Baltic Mission.  This new assignment will bring additional growth and will give her wonderful opportunities as she prepares for a lifetime of service.

With warm regards,

Jeffrey G. Boswell, President
Baltic Mission

Cute Sister missionary in her earmuffs! Gotta protect those cute ears!

Sister Mitton. Not sure what they are doing.

More graffiti. Sarah says, "Obviously, they haven't met the elders."

February 3, 2014

Čau!

So this week is transfer weeks and as you can tell by my title, I will not be in Imanta next transfer! AH!! Crazy!! I also will not be training! I found out a weird way too. Usually we find out from our district leaders where we will be going. But this time, I found out in my email from President Boswell. I still don't know who I will be serving with, but I will be headed to Liepaja!! The Lord apparently has some work I need to do in Liepaja that is for me, because both President Boswell and I both felt I would be going there. :) Here I my thoughts to President Boswell.

"I was a little surprised to read here where I would be going, but I wasn't surprised that I would be going to Liepaja. I did both of my exchanges there the last two transfers, and it felt like home. I knew I wouldn't be staying in Imanta, as much as I want to. I am glad and looking forward to the work in Liepaja. It is a great place, and I already know several members and love them. I really am looking forward to it. I know both Madara and Santa (they are returned missionaries in Liepaja that I am supposed to get to know really well) already and have worked with them when I've been on exchanges. I will take the lessons I learned here with me to Liepaja, and keep the fire of missionary work burning. Now I am just curious as to who I will be privileged to work with.

 

"I am excited for Sister Mitton to stay [in Imanta]. The members already love her, and I know she will do great. I know it will continue to be a challenge, but I have confidence in her, as well as I know that this is where the Lord wants her to be. I hope she feels ready for the work, but I know that she will do that in this area, that is supposed to be done. I am glad that she will be able to continue with Emīls and Paula."

I am definatley going to miss the members in this area. I love them so much! I have done a lot for them, but even more than that. They have done a lot for me! I also will miss working with Emīls and Paula, but I know Sister Mitton will be wonderful for them!!

So, about the area, since this is my last time writing about it. Things are going well. Our next few days are packed with lessons with members. We are going to get them acquainted with the branch goals and challenge them to start thinking about who they are going to share the gospel with. I really do love the members in this area. They are so great, and are already feeling the desire to share the gospel, now we just need to help them find opportunities. 

Linda, Inga's daughter (a less active's daughter), was at church yesterday. She surprised us and came with her mom! It is great! She told us that she is going to come every Sunday that she doesn't have to work (which is once or twice a month)! I also asked her when we could meet with her. We are hopefully going to meeting with her and Inga this Thursday. She loves the text messages (we send her text with Book of Mormon verses), and has started to respond back with her little thoughts about them. So, maybe also that way, we can teach her some concepts of the gospel. I hope that reading these verses will help her gain a desire to read the Book of Mormon on her own so she can find her own scripture gems.

Paula and Emīls unfortunately were not able to come to church. They went with dad's girlfriend to visit their grandma. Paula was actually very dissappointed that she wasn't able to come and I know she'll come next week. Emīls has read 12 chapters (as of Friday) and Paula still was at 11. It is great to hear that they are finding the opportunity to read, and are enjoying the reading. Emīls and Paula both said that they enjoyed that which they are reading and learning about. They also each have their own Book of Mormons that they have made their own (and surprisingly, Emīls really personalized his)! I love those kids, and by the guidance of Sister Mitton and her new companion, the challenge will continue. I know that I will continue to read from where I am at, but I also know that the kids are happy to read and keep racing each other.

Dita (a recent convert) shared a wonderful experience on Sunday about her family respecting her desires and beliefs about the Word of Wisdom and not drinking with her there. That was such a great testimony to hear! They even let her pray with them! Their hearts are softening, and we will be talking with her on Wednesday about what we can do to continue to help that process.

I challenge you to all go out this week, and share the love and joy of the gospel. Whether that is simply through service or in a bigger way, I challenge you all to go and share! I love you much and I am glad that I get to be out here. Don't be afraid to brighten someone's day by telling the a truth about the gospel. 

Ar mīlestību un lūgšanām,

Māsa Klauvarda

Sarah with new Latvian hymnbook

I wrote Sarah a letter on a snowflake. Pretty challenging to read, but a lot of fun to write!

January 27, 2014

Labdien visiem!

This week was really good. I love the missionary work. It was a simple, but fulfilling week. As far as what our biggest focus and joy is right now, it is Paula and Emīls. They are nonmember children of the relief society president that we are working with. :) They are so good. Paula is 12 (almost 13) and Emīls is 10. It is really fun to work with them. We started a Book of Mormon reading challenge in between me, Emīls, and Paula. I love it so much. I have to read in it Latvian, and the whole thing out loud. He is what I wrote President Boswell about our work with them.

"With Emīls and Paula, it is a pleasure to be able to work with them. They are wonderful and so cute! Paula is progressing quite well, and both are progressing investigators (That means they are keeping commitments). :) I'm glad to report that as of yesterday (Sunday, only a day after starting the reading challenge) Emīls had already read 7 chapters! He is determined not to lose. He doesn't care about the prizes as much, but he hates to lose, so he is working very hard. He didn't come to church, because they couldn't get him out of bed, but he liked the baptism (a baptism in Rīga this week that I'll tell about before. Paula and Emīls and their family came). He was very interested in what actually happens at the font part, and gratefully to Paula, he had front row seat and saw everything. Paula is a great little missionary and really want to help Emīls accept this. We are going to be teaching them once a week, and we are thinking of some creative ways to teach the lessons on their level, but also making it fun so that they want to learn with us. I have to thank the spirit for the ideas, but they have been flowing as I think about Paula and Emīls constantly. We are going to do a puzzle this week for the restoration and talk about each of the "pieces" that led up to Joseph Smith asking the question, that led to the first vision, and restoration of the true church. We are going to try other different, fun homemade activities to teach every concept so that we can really get Emīls involved."

I really do love helping these two progress, especially since this is something that has been worked on ever since Agnese (their mom) got baptized a little more than a year ago. They do have one big opposition, dad. (agnese is divorced and remarried to Henn from Estonia) Dad is against the church in general and doesn't believe in God so he doesn't want to allow the kids to do this. So, if you pray for anything for me, pray for their dad's heart to be softened so they can get baptized.

As usual in this area, we do a lot of work with less actives. We had a great experience and idea about one less active. Here is what I explained to President Boswell:

"Also, for other less actives, we have Inga V who we have been working with. We have been trying to think of what we can do to help her come to church. We haven't really been sure what we could do. Well, we also had another problem with our super sweet less active who just came back into activity. Iveta L just started coming back to church, but sometimes it is hard for her to convince herself to go outside. She has a little depression, and some big fears for outside. It helps her to know there is someone waiting to go with her. So, we have asked (with Agnese's approval) that Inga V start taking Iveta to church. They both for now have agreed and we'll be having a lesson with them together to talk more about it, but if all goes well, they both will be at church next week!!!"

We also got a new investigator this week. His name is Janis, and Sister Mitton taught him on a bus. We have a meeting set up with him for this week, but we already know it will be a pass off. He lives in the Elder's area. I'll let you know how our first meeting with him goes. I was so proud that Sister Mitton talked to him! She is such a great missionary!!

So, we are getting close to the end of another transfer! I'll be ending transfer number 6!! That is so crazy. After this transfer I only have six left. So, my time in the mission field is half up!! I've spent five in the area I am at right now, so the odds of me moving next transfer are high and the prediction is I will be transfered. I hoping and praying no! I want to stay in Imanta so bad. It is home. Here are my thoughts to President Boswell:

"So, training is going to end for a second time for me. It is weird that I have already almost finished training again. The time really flies when you are having fun, which, I most certainly had fun with Sister Mitton! She is a wonderful missionary. She is quiet and observes a lot. I have spent a lot of time helping her figure out how she learns latvian, and helping her figure out what her strengths are. I hope that I have helped her gain a confidence. She is hard on herself, but mostly because she tries so hard to do everything perfect! She succeeds with that a lot though. When I give her a suggestion, she takes it a runs with it! She learns fast, and is so motivated. Sometimes it takes a little bit of pushing to get her to lead (she's more content to sit back and go along), but I've been pushing her and trying to help her realize that she can do this. I have learned so much from her. She has taught me how to really improve. She makes good goals and really works to improve herself! It is amazing! I have also really learned to be myself around her. I love her so much, and I am so grateful that I got to be with her. I'm looking forward for our next week and a half together. I am definitely going to miss training though. (there is no way I'll be training again, because we aren't getting Latvian speaking sisters this time, just elders)"

"I am resigned to take whatever happens with next transfer. I know it is likely that I could move, but if I may request, I would be happy staying in Imanta the rest of my mission. It is a hard area, but I love it! this is home. I love the members here, and I am so grateful to have been able to spend so much time in this area. I want to stay longer and keep helping it, but I know the Lord will direct me to the place I need to be."

So, yeah. This was my week. One more fun though/question. Mom and dad, are you sure I wasn't adopted?? ;) because, everyone says I look Latvian. All the members say I look Latvian, and the language came pretty easy, so am I adopted from Latvia? :) Haha, I know I'm not, but in some ways, I wish I was! I love this country! This is my home, and I feel so comfortable here. I love the members, nonmembers, culture, food, and just everything about this place. It is such a bummer that more people haven't heard about it.

Well, to wrap up this letter, I'll end with a little testimony. This week I'm really seeing the importance of good study to build and solidify our testimony. We should have good, solid, enriching, spiritual feasting every day. It is the only way we can keep our testimony solid. I'm grateful for my mission which has taught me how to study. I challenge you all to ask yourself, are you feasting on the words of Christ daily? If not, find a time daily when you can study the scriptures, and study! :)

I love you all. Jauku nedēļu jums visiem! 

Ar mīlestību,

Māsa Klauvarda

New haircut! She is gorgeous!

January 20, 2014

Hey everyone,

As you can tell by my title, it has been very cold here! We did get that snow last Monday, which was beautiful, but we haven't gotten anymore, just a lot of COLD!! It has hovered or dipped below about 9 F all week, with it forecasted to do the same. It could be colder, yes, but it is cold and snowless, which is not a fun combo. I'm only happy with cold if there is snow. It is beautiful thought because of the cold the Daugava river is frozen over which is awesome!! It is beautiful, and I'll try to get pictures soon. 

Here is what I wrote to President Boswell this week. It will kind of be boring maybe to read, but these are my thoughts, worries, and concerns all the time for these people. It was a slower week, but a good week this week. :)

"This week was another week of just continuing to be consistent in keeping up that which we have. We've been working a lot with less actives the last little bit and try to get in contact with some that haven't been in contact with. Thanks for the suggestions with Dita. We will hopefully be having a lesson with her soon. We know she is doing her best, and she did tell us this week that she started paying for attention to the spiritual things too. I wish we could help her more, but a lot is in the Lord's hand. We have just been doing our best to know that we are looking out for her. She knows that and trusts us and has told us many of her concerns. 

"With Paula and Emīls, we will be having a lesson this week with them. We told Agnese that we will only do as much as she thinks we should do. We don't want to ruin things for them all in this situation. We hope that Emīls will be joining us, but it doesn't look so. He doesn't have much interest, but we'll do our best to have them join us. We are going to just do little lessons. We talked to Agnese about maybe setting a date that we could prepare for, to show the Lord that we are serious on doing everything on our side to help the kids be ready, and asking for his help with the father so that they can be baptized this year. I asked Agnese to talk to Henn about it and pick a date that they thought would be good and we'll work towards that date with the kids. It will probably be about 4 months in the future to give the kids time to learn without forcing things on them. I know that Agnese holds FHE every week, and we're thinking that maybe we'll talk to her about teaching some of the missionary lesson concepts to her kids at Family night. We know that Emils participates in those, so, maybe something can work out. 

"With Linda, we have just been continuing the texting. (we send a less active member's daughter Book of Mormon scriptures in a text daily) We also are really trying to get Inga motivated (her mom). In her own words, 'she doesn't do anything bad, but she doesn't do anything good either.' We are having a hard time with her. We've hit a brick wall where we just can't get her motivated to do anything. She is from the tribe of Ephraim, so it is her duty and aptitude to share the gospel, and it would be wonderful to trigger that.

"This week has just been a lot of motivated consistent working. We've been evaluating ourselves every night and working to be improving every day that we are working. We have done a lot of work with less actives this week. Inga M being a big one, but also, we took a trip out to Tukums with the Š's family to visit a less active out there. She's only really less active because it is a two hour trip to church. It was a good meeting and she thinks that she will be coming to church soon."

I'll expound on this, because it was fun as well. We went with the Š's (Branch President and his wife) in their car to Tukums. It is a small city in our area (another city besides Riga) that is about an hour to an hour and a half from our area! It was a long drive with them, but lots of fun. We met with this member, who hadn't had contact with the church for a little while. It was great.

So I've told you about my talking in my sleep before. Well, I had another fun episode this last week. :) Here is what I told P. Boswell about that.

"Just one last little thing. I told you before about me practicing for referrals in my sleep in Latvian, well, I have a new one to add to my list. As companions, we decided that we wanted to bring our work around more to our purpose and really help ourselves focus on that, so at the beginning of companion study, after reading the missionary handbook, we recite our missionary purpose in Latvian. It was really helped me focus on our purpose as missionaries here. I know think about every time while preparing lessons, and when we are out teaching people on the streets. I even have started quoting it in Latvian in my sleep, and, according to my companion, with quite a lot of confidence. :) I have become a missionary 24/7!"

I told a member about that, and she says it means that I'm fluent. I don't know about that, but I am happy to be able to learn latvian. I love this language! I still have a lot to learn to say, but I am really learning to fully immerse myself in the language. We are doing a memorization challenge as a zone right now, and it is a blast. It comes with 3 vocab list (each is 2 1/2 pages long), as well as you have to memorize a sentence for every doctrine point in the lessons, 2 scriptures for every lesson, the commitments for every lesson, the vocab sentences at the back of each lesson, and pass off some common missionary tasks. We have a month to do it. I love it! It is definitely a challenge, but it is a blast!!!

Some people from Rexburg were here this last week and were at church yesterday. He served his mission here and is now back from BYU-Idaho to do some research. It was really fun to see them and talk to them. His name was Jeremy Lamoreaux and he came with his 14 and 13 year old daughters (amber and emily) who say that they know Jake. :) It was fun to talk to them and see them. The great part was that Jeremy Lamoreaux, who served here 17 years ago, still speaks fluent Latvian. That was great to hear, and I am excited to keep up my Latvia after my mission. 

I'll end with my testimony. I love this gospel. I know that it is true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Jesus Christ's restored church again on the earth. What a privilege it is to have this knowledge. I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father. He sent his son Jesus Christ to atone for our sins. Every member of this church is about the Lord's work. We need to remember that. We should constantly be looking for what we can do to help the Lord in his work today. Whether that is as big as sharing the gospel with someone who doesn't have it, or reaching out to a less active, or as small as striving hard to live happily so that people can see that light of Christ in us. I hope that you all are trying to do all you can to help the Lord in his work in whatever way possible. I know I am, but even more than that, I know that I will for life. Every member is truly a missionary.

I love you all. Thanks for your support.

No Imanta, kur ir ļoti auksti! (From Imanta, where it is very cold)

Māsa Klauvarda

Sarah's Christmas package before it was opened. Dean is the Master Packer!

After unpacking! How did it all fit in there?

Why in all of that was there a french fry wrapper? Who knows? Stowaway?

January 13, 2014

Sveiki, visiem!

First off, thanks to my family and my grandma for the Christmas packages that finally made it!! It took them a while, but they came and I LOVED THEM!! For those who also sent one, I'm sorry I haven't gotten them yet. :( I hope they come soon. Also, for those who sent letters in the last little bit. I've gotten them. I have a stack of 8 or so waiting for replies. I'll work hard these next weeks to reply to them all. Be patient and eventually you'll get a letter from me. :)

Šeit, Latvijā, mums ir sniegs un mazi brinumi!! :D Here in Latvia, we have snow and small miracles!! :) This week was really great!! I loved it! It was one of the best weeks I have had in a long time. For those who don't realize this, I have been working in this are now for seven months! That is a long time to be in one area. I've been working hard here and LOVE THIS AREA! A lot of things that have been in process for my whole time here (and before me) have all just started to work out this week! It was wonderful! I wrote about it below in my email to President Boswell.

"Several things panned out for us really well this week! It was wonderful! We got three new investigators!! Sadly, two of our now four investigators, have told us they can't and don't want to meet until February. :( That was sad. I hope that they will change their minds. That is Agija and Ivo. They are dating, and they both decided together that they don't want to think about religion right now. We haven't heard anything from Ivo. He's been ignoring us, sadly. But Agija said that she has been reading the Book of Mormon when she gets a free moment, and that she would like to put her focus on religion as soon as she is done with examens. I think she has a ton of potential. Simona knows about them both, and hopefully through Dita and Simona we can reach out to Ivo soon. Dita also is overwhelmed with school, and we are worried about her too. She hasn't been reading or praying everyday, as well as she wasn't able to come to church this sunday. So, we are really going to focus on building her testimony back up as well right now. We haven't been able to meet with her for a month because she has just been swamped!

"Well, the other two of our three new investigators are Paula and Emils (Agnese's kids)! They have never been counted as new investigators because none of us ever knew what to do to help them, and we haven't ever been able to work towards baptism with them. Well, Sister Mitton and I had a lesson with Agnese and Henn this last week where we talked about the role of Holy Ghost in their lives. They both see and feel his influence daily, especially as a guide. So, we pulled on that. We talked about how grateful they are for the gift, and then asked, "Who you want everyone to have that gift?" They both said yes. I then asked, "What about your children?" They both said of course, but there were things that could keep that from happening. When I asked what, we found out the problem that no one has known, and I wish we had known all along. The problem is Agnese's ex husband. If she forces the kids to do anything (even just go to church), or just asks them strongly, she can lose custody of the kids. They have to do this all because they want to do it. She can't encourage or really ask. She has to be very careful. So, we want to make this work for them. We gave them several ideas to start to work with dad. I told Agnese that while right now, she couldn't work with the kids as much, she could definitely work with her exhusband. So, that is our new focus. We are going to pull every string to try and soften the dad's heart! We want to help these kids get baptized. So, we all set a goal that they are going to get baptized this year. So, they both have a baptismal date for some time this year. We will be meeting with the family again soon, and hopefully can set a more exact date! We know that if we prepare the kids on our side and do everything we can, that the Lord will soften the dad's heart. So, we just need a lot of prayers for Paula and Emils dad. The great thing also, is it looks like Paula is also want these things for herself too. She came to church yesterday because she wanted to. She love young women's and also has a personal progress book that she has been working on! It is wonderful!!

"Also, another little miracle. I told you how we haven't been able to do anything with Inga's daughter Linda, because Inga wouldn't let us. Well, this week, Inga gave us Linda's number!!! We had a lesson with her where we tried to commit her to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning this year. She said no, sadly, but talked about how she likes opening up randomly, because she finds something that stands out to her. We asked if she would share those thoughts with Linda. She just said, "She doesn't like to read. She won't listen to what I tell her that is out of a book." I then asked, "Does she read test messages?" And of course Linda reads texts! So, Inga, said yes, of course. I then asked if she would read scriptures if they were in a text message!! She said, "Yes!! She will!! HEre is her number! You can send her a verse a day as her guardian angles!" So, we send Linda a text daily with a verse from the Book of Mormon. Hopefully soon she'll begin to feel the spirit of this all more and desire to meet with us."

So, yeah. That was great. Paula, Emīls, and Linda have been being worked with, thought about, or prayed about since before I got here, and we had some big advances with each of them this week! It makes me so excited! All of it happened after a priesthood blessing I received. I got a priesthood blessing this week because I was a little stressed and also felt a little lost. I wasn't sure what to do or how to help get this area going. Well in my priesthood blessing, I was told that the Lord was proud of the work I had done, and that I didn't need to feel bad, because he knew and saw what I was doing. I was told that if I kept moving forward with patience, relying on the Lord, that I would see success in the next couple of weeks!! Well, I didn't think it would come so fast, but Linda, Paula, and Emīls all happened after the priesthood blessing! The Lord truly listens to our prayers and keeps his promises! So, I have to keep working hard, but the Lord is managing his work as always.

 

So, I didn't think I would see this in my time here in Latvia, but I got to go to a traditional Latvian funeral this last week. A wonderful member down in Jelgava (which is a mini group from the branch I'm working in) passed away this last week. He had brain tumors that he has been fighting for a while. It was sad, but at the same time, it was his time to go. The sisters down there have been working and visiting with his family at this time (not a single one is a member) while he's been in a coma, and they have really softened the heart of the family. Enough so, that this anti family asked the branch to run the whole funeral, not the catholic preacher (the rest of the family is catholic). It was a beautiful funeral. I was only there because the branch president called me and asked me to get some musical pieces put together for the funeral!! I was a little shocked, but touched and surprised that the Branch President (who lives in my area) trusted me to put it all together. So, I put it together in two days, and we went and sang at the funeral. It was beautiful, the whole thing. As I've heard, funerals are usually very depressing and gothic here because they don't have the truths of the gospel. So, a funeral is an end for them, but with the branch in charge, it was filled with the truths of the restoration and the plan of salvation! Several people from the branch testified that they will see him again, that the truths he had will save him, and that if they listen to the same truths and find them in their lives, that they can live as a family forever! I know that is true! I loved the Latvian tradition at the end. They actually lower the casket into the ground at the end (usually four men of the family), and those four men bury it and build up a mound above that is a shape of the casket. They then cover that with pine boughs, and all the flowers that people brought to the funeral. They then light candles and stick them in the dirt all around it. It is beautiful and very respectful. They have huge respect for the dead and for graves. I wish we had that in America too. It was beautiful and very memorable.

Well, that is all I have time for today. If you want to know more, send me some questions. :)

Just know, that I know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us. We are his children. He created a plan. We lived with him before this life and knew about the plan. We are here to learn and grow and prepare to live with God again. We CAN live with our families forever in the presence of God, but the only way we can is if we have the true, restored gospel in our lives. We need to prepare and gain that life, but we all can. I ask you all to reflect on that. Do you want to live with your family forever? Your parents? Your kids? What do you need to change today so that you can be there? If you aren't sure, ask a missionary, they can tell you all about this and what you need to do. :)

I love you all!!

Ar mīlestību un lūgšanām,

Māsa Klauvarda