Closing Remarks

 (Elder Putnam)

Dear Friends and family,

This past week has been outstanding. It was my last full week of missionary work and I no longer have a regular day. On Tuesday I will have district counsel, interviews with president and dinner at his house. On Wednesday, I will fly out in the morning and be released in the evening from missionary service. Something sister Ceimere said really kinda shocked me. She said that when you are released, you feel the support of the blessing of your calling kinda disperse. It kind of concerned me and I'm not really looking forward to it. If you have any advice regarding that please let me know. I'd love to hear it.

On Monday, we visited Sigulda and took a cultural day in order to do so. We checked out the castles and the gardens. It was very pretty.

On Tuesday we had district counsel and a lot of lessons. Elder Williams choked on a tomato and was trying to get it up for the entire duration of the devotional. Sister Smart also came back and visited with her family so we got to talk with her.

On Wednesday we struggled with our lessons, but the highlight was definitely visiting Gatis and Gunita. Marta is also high key a legend. (Although she wasn’t happy at church on Sunday.) We had a really good conversation about how we can be tools in God's hands. It was super cool to hear how Gatis was able to put together a meeting between the archbishop of the Rīga Lutheran church and Elder Renland when he came. Pretty cool. Gunita shared about how she used her musical talents and learned English from her mission to translate the hymnbook into Latvian. They made us delicious pesto and not so delicious tomato and avocado salad. But the gift of tongues works in mysterious ways.

On Thursday we had online MLC and a bunch of lessons. We also went to dinner with the Halls at a dark ages themed restaurant. It was delicious. We got to celebrate our missions together and encourage the missionaries that still aren’t going home. Gatis also joined a call lesson and that made it so much better. Like he just knew exactly what to talk about to help this duds feel the spirit, especially cause he was kinda bashy. I love Gatis.

On Friday was Edžus' baptism. For a good portion of the day we were preparing for that. We has a goodbye lesson with Arta and then Edžus' baptism was a spiritual high. Roger, one of our friends whose just starting to learn with missionaries was fascinated with the baptism and then talked with Lauris Sapožnikovs for like 30 minutes after it. So many people showed up to support Edžus and the Spirit was very sweet.

On Saturday we took a bus out to Nākotne (translation: the future) which is a small town in the countryside. We helped the Sapožnikovi clean up their land after the big storm we has recently. Marija kept coming up and throwing water balloons at the missionaries, predominately me. She also helped us with some of the smaller branches. On the way back after she helped us she was walking behind me and I put my hand out to give her a high five. Instead of hitting my hand she took it and started walking with it. That melted my heart. She's like 5-6 years old and reminds me of my little cousin. Super sweet experience. We got back in Rīga for my last basketball night in Latvia. Elder Beebe and I were battling it out. Honestly he has turned into a really good defender especially against me. Gotta respect him. We go at it pretty competitively and make some good plays on each other. We'll have to recruit him down from Utah state for the intramural team. He's just gotta marry someone at BYU to qualify.

Sunday topped all other days, even though we did have a baptism. Edžus received the gift of the Holy Ghost in sacrament meeting which set a wonderful start to the meeting. He also bore a short testimony and did some incredible member work welcoming in a first time church comer. A+ for him. The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. Elder Beebe, Bastow, and I all gave our farewell talks. It was a great experience, since a few members from Liepāja were travelling back from the temple and I was able to say goodbye to them in person. After second hour, I had the opportunity to sit with a member and open the scriptures. I felt like President Mahslakti-Tolstosheev in my interviews with him. This member expressed some concerns and we read together about the stripling warriors. For privacy reasons I won't get into what we talked about but it was a very uplifting experience for both of us. Afterwards Elder Beebe, Elder Bastow, and I visited the Frīdbergi for dinner. They are just such a celestial family. I don't know how they do it, but Harolds is gonna be a deacon next year and I'm super excited for him. On Sunday I also had a really good sacrament experience.

Today, P-day, we played basketball and Baltic ball. My joints ache. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

As for spiritual things, my favorite talk that I listened to this past week was Elder Renland's The Powerful and Virtuous Cycle of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ. I especially like how he mentions at the end that we will fall off the Kayak. It doesn't feel good to spiritually fall off the Kayak, but by constantly moving forward, taking the steps of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and applying His atonement, we work up to it. Getting back on the spiritual kayak requires effort, not just subconscious passive movement. And we will fall off the kayak more than once. Its comforting and motivating to know that.

Here are a few pictures from this past week.

I will be giving somewhat of a farewell talk on this Wednesday evening. If you're interested in watching, send me a message and I'll get you the zoom link. It'll be like 5:45 Mountain Daylight time. (I’m not gonna be able to speak in sacrament meeting so it’ll be more like a welcome home party and testimony.)