22 October 2008:
This week has made me excited beyond excited, because we came closer than we ever had to teaching 15 lessons this week. I'm not quite sure what we did to deserve it, but it went amazingly.
We found one area that has just been perfect for tracting. It's been like walking into fairyland. We've already taught a couple of lessons, and I think we're going to be able to teach a lot more with the Lord's help. As for staying in Daugavpils- I would love to stay here for the rest of my mission. I've really felt like I've been pulling my weight in this city, and I love the branch to bits. The whole district has been predicting my leaving for the last couple of transfers, mostly because they think it would be cruel to keep me here much longer. I, on the other hand am loving it. But, we'll see what the Lord wants for me. I'll just say this- I've worked harder and more effectively here than I ever have on my mission.
Some more money on my card would be wonderful for one of three reasons. Most importantly, because I'm am running out of suit pants, they all have hole worn on the inner leg. I fixed one by putting an iron-on patch, and made the hole worse by trying to do the same to another (all this happened just last week, was not happy at all). Secondly, a member got a photo with me and is now bugging me constantly for copies, if you could find your way to getting me some money for that in the next couple of hours (big ask, I know), it would be wonderful. The final one is a little selfish, I guess. I found a book I would like to buy and read when the mission is over. It's a Russian translation of "Hound of the Baskervilles"- one of those old Sherlock Holmes novels.
Something interesting occurred this week while in sacrament meeting (followed by 1st session of general conference- wonderful session). I was sitting behind the sacrament table contemplating what I saw as a major problem- no investigators at sacrament meeting. My disappointment was deepened when I learned that other missionaries in the district had somewhere around 2 or 3 investigators with them. I started to wonder why it wasn't working for me. Was I that poor a missionary? Why wasn't the success coming as quickly for me as it had been for others?
Naturally I started thinking about what I had done during the week, trying desperately to find a ray of sunshine. It came quicker than I expected, and in a different way than I had expected. I remember a meeting I had with Yariga the day before. We had been addressing her fear of going to the the city, where our church was located. To do so, we shared Alma 7:10-13. which in effect says that Christ bore our griefs and sorrows so that he may succor his people. We told her that such griefs and sorrows include her fear of the city.
Suddenly, that scripture started to have meaning for me. The spirit gave me the strong impression of it's truth. And I started to realize it's application for me as a missionary. I understood that Christ felt every ounce of grief that I felt when investigators did not come to church, when people I tracted into gave me that disgusted look and proclaimed "I don't need it!", when the Book of Mormon had not been read for several weeks and when Baptismal dates failed. I began to understand more fully the meaning of "(bearing) our griefs and (carrying) our sorrows". That morning in sacrament meeting, the Atonement held more meaning for me that it ever had in my life. Sure, we had meetings this week, a considerable amount of them, too. But all in all, it was that experience that made the week wonderful. I'm sorry there aren't more interesting stories to tell you, but if any come to mind, I'll be sure to write them.
5 November (One of his letters just never arrived and he refers to it in this letter):
Turns out after all that talk about going to Narva, I'm not serving there after all. I was there for one day before I get a call from President Dance telling me that I am to be re-transferred to Riga. I've served there before, but this time I am to serve on a different side of the river. I am now on the eastern side of the city. The missionaries who were here before me have both had Visa problems and now have to leave the European union. Hence President Dance had me re-transferred back into Latvia at the last minute.
My new companion is Elder Markle. He's an odd one, but I like him. Before I forget. Yes, I do know Viktorija. We all call her Vika, She's a recent convert in Daugavpils. Do you remember the one that sent us the text message? The nice one with funny grammar? That's her. I gave her your email address because most young members in Daugavpils have what they call a "Friend book", in which many missionaries leave a friendly word, and a contact. I gave them your email because I don't want her sending to my LDS mail, and I'm not sure my hotmail is still valid. (This girl sent an email to us saying ' Hi mate whats up home slice???? I just want to tell you, that we ,miss you so much and we want that you come back in Daugavpils! Becouse you be great elder! You are the best!!! All the best! Vika ')
Which brings me to a nice story about when I left Daugavpils. Having been there so long, I felt that there had to be some special objective accomplished before I left. Therefore, the call to go to Narva came unwantedly. I began to think that maybe God was just sending me there to fill space, and that better missionaries had been sent to other areas where their work could be more fruitful at that time. Well, news gets around quickly in Daugavpils. Vika found out. For some background information, Vika was found through English class. She first entered the Church Building to come to my intermediate English class. There, after several English classes, the sister missionaries started meeting her, unfortunately, she was unable to come to church due to problems getting into the city from where she lived. So, the sisters stopped meeting with her for a while. During this time she still kept coming to my class, and was still hearing my spiritual thoughts. Eventually, sister missionaries started meeting with her again. The time was right, and she was baptised. She is now a faithful member of the church. I suppose having known me throughout the whole of her LDS experience, she thought it appropriate to come and see me off when I left. She gave me a note, thanking me for introducing her to the church and participating as a witness at her baptism.
Those words of thanks changed my whole outlook on my time in Daugavpils. When I got the call to leave, I thought that all of my efforts had been wasted. On the bus out, I was silently thanking my Heavenly Father that he was able to use me to save one of his children.
In other good experiences this week, going too and from Narva allowed me to stop in Tallinn for a night and go to the Branch's Halloween activity. I got to see the family I baptised while there- they are so strong. The Kid who says "what the hell" is now passing the sacrament, and the girl that I baptised is still strong as well. It was great to see them.
Also 5 Novemebr:
Okay, I think It's time to tell you a little bit about our investigators in Riga. I got into Riga on Saturday, so I haven't had a lot of time to meet them. But here's the one I've met.
His name is Artur. He's a tall, VERY muscular Boxer who wants to go to Australia for study and work. He speaks in a very deep voice using Schwazenager-style English. He's more ready for baptism than he seems to think, but has so many questions I'm worried he's going to get distracted by the minor details of the Gospel and not enjoy the real blessings. But still, a great, humble guy. He would like to know what the population of Australia is like. And how many members are there. Could you give me a number?
Riga kinda overwhelms me, having been in a small city for the past nine months, coming here is somewhat of a culture shock. I asked Elder Markle if he was related to the Elder that you knew, he hasn't heard anything about it. Well, love you guys. I'll write more as I think of it. I still have 40 minutes here, so if you want to ask any more questions, now would be the time to do it.
11 November:
Before I go too far, I should explain: I have Zone conference tomorrow, so I'm writing to you on Tuesday. Sorry, I forgot to tell you last week. If you are able to see this before the day's out, let me know you guys are still alive and well, but if not, I guess I'll hear from you next week.
Well, it's been a slow week, this one. Not teaching as much as I'd like, but this can only get better, I suppose. A lot of the leaders keep asking me if I get along with my companion. They seem a little concerned about him. I suppose they have a right to be worried- he refuses to tract or contact (he is convinced that he should only work through the members, and that nothing else works), he sleeps in pretty late for a missionary (his usual wake-up time is 9am) and, by the look of things he refuses to take advice from president. It's a shame, because I like the guy, but occasionally the aforementioned habits drive me up the wall. But I won't go too deeply into that. I don't want to dwell on his bad points, but I've found myself thinking about it a lot.
Having been in Daugavpils for so long, Riga seems amazingly clean in comparison. That might sound strange, since a year ago I was also in Riga and thinking it was the most disgusting place I'd ever been in. But Daugavpils had it's messes as well. Needles and broken bottles on the ground were common, not to mention human feaces. With that in mind, I feel like I'm in a much cleaner environment right now. The Branch in Riga, again in comparison to Daugavpils, is enormous. Ten active priesthood holders doesn't sound like much in Australia, but here it seems like almost too many members. Really makes me think about how lucky I was to grow up in a ward that was so solid. The only thing about Riga that I don't understand is the total absence of children in the branch. I think this is the only branch I have been in which has no children at all. I baptised a couple of them in Estonia, I became a good friend to them in Vilnius, I remember looking after at least one in Imanta, and I look back with a amused frustration (if such a thing exists) on the times I had to chase a whole bunch of kids who were trying to run out of the church in Daugavpils. It really is uncanny.
We have a new investigator: Boris. He was given to us by the assistants (who speak Latvian and Estonian) and we managed to get in contact. We had a quick chat, and he seemed uninterested, but was willing to come to church when we picked him up. He's now willing to meet with us. Well, that's all from me. Not a very exciting week, this one. But who knows, maybe later.
With Okas family:
With Elder Berryhill:
With Riga Dsitrct:
19 November:
Firstly, a HUGE thanks to granny for the money- it will come much in handy- partly because I have also found the entire "Chronicles of Narnia" in Russian- I'm considering building a small library of books in Russian.
Who would have thought a storm could do so much damage? It sounds like all hell broke loose in Brisbane. I'm telling a fellow missionary about this right now and he's just as surprised. I don't think I ever heard of anything like it. Is everyone more-or-less well all things considered?
I'm looking at Jesse's formal photos, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to put at least a little bit of fear into that Ben kid. He looks alright, though. Kinda hard to picture him as a prime minister- what, with him looking like the Billy Joel off of Greenday and all. Oh well, if they can vote labour in when the whole world is going into a financial crisis, I guess someone who looks like a punk-rock-hero might seem pretty good. I had to at least chuckle when I saw the Picture of Nathan with his date- he's looking more than a little pleased with himself.
Well this week saw the first snowfall this year. I woke up this morning to the entire street being white. It started snowing on Monday and very little of it was melting away- which is what it did about this time last year. These last few days were the Latvian Independence days. These are three days when the Latvians celebrate their freedom from soviet rule- guess which language gets the dirty looks? So we spent the last few days tracting into people's parties and trying to use less-conventional ways of finding (eg. using the area book). Well, I'm afraid that that's all I have time for right now. I'm under directions from president to read a couple of talks from David A. Bednar. So I need to get to those.
