Week 24 & 25

 Hello Everybody!

Short Version: It's been a hectic two weeks. We had a little heat flash hit us and our apartment has no air conditioning so we were very toasty. We have a fan that works sometimes, his name is Pixar. We learned some Russian swear words by accident. Apparently sometimes the people we contact on Facebook don't want to be bothered. We took another trip to Riga, Latvia and finished up our vaccinations. A lady invited herself to church this upcoming week, and it will actually get to be in-person!

Long Version: So I'd like to start this off by saying the Baltic States are not what I expected in many ways. When I got my packing list, they told me that I'd need to buy a quality winter coat and boots and the warmest clothing you can imagine. So of course, I bought wool, double-layered pants and long sleeve shirts, everything you need for cold weather. I'm not sure if I was misinformed or just a bad listener but I had no idea it got hot here too. Nothing crazy, maybe 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit. However, wearing wool double-layered pants and a long-sleeved shirt is not comfortable in this weather. I only brought 2 pairs of summer pants and 2 short sleeve shirts so most of the week I'm really sweaty. Our apartment is on the top floor so we get everyone's hot air. Most people here don't have air conditioning, so we have just a fan. It's slightly broken and but it gets the job done. 

     Last week we had one of our YSA friends, Monika, come to 10 seconds of church. Her mom was on the couch at the church zoom meeting and we convinced her to listen in for all of 10 seconds. It wasn't much but we were so pumped. 

     Our apartment has a little roof access that we explored last week. Our landlord told us we could go up there and hang out so we decided we would check it out. It had a really pretty view but our neighbor told us people are gonna call the cops on us. Last year they had someone jump off the roof so now people panic whenever they see people on our roof. It was fun while it lasted.

     Interestingly, Lithuanians don't have their own swear words. If they are going to swear they use Russian words. We found that out because every once in a while people respond with words that we don't understand so we put them into Google Translate. If Google Translate doesn't know the word, chances are that it's a Russian word written out phonetically in Lithuanian. My mission president asked me not to forget my Russian but I don't think this is what he meant. 

     Someone we're talking to invited themselves to church so of course we said yes, they're bringing a friend too. This will be the first week of in-person church

     Since it's so hot we open the windows but there are so many flies. Our kill count is pretty high. We're nearing close to 100 for the week

 A nice little story I came across:

    "The other day my friend said something to me that hasn’t left 

he recently came home as a mission president 

in his mission, they didn’t use the phrase “exact obedience”...

it [led]...

to never feeling like they were good enough

like God or angels were always watching over them with a clipboard 

waiting...just waiting to catch them trespassing...even one footstep over the line

but that’s not who God is

He isn’t out to get us

He is out to exalt us

that’s what He does

and His laws...they lead to that

so He invites and persuades us into a better way

and when we step over the line, He doesn’t see us as criminals 

but He sees a moment to win our hearts 

back over to His side

where there is safety

where there is love

my friend had his missionaries use this phrase:

“consecrated obedience”

a kind that isn’t perfect

but comes out of a heart that is willing

and feet that are trying"

 

    As the wise Elder Forbes has said, "I'll let you think about the moral of the story for yourselves :)"

Until next time,

Vyresnysis Smitas