My next chapter: Riga

 (Elder Putnam)

Aight so the big news is that I got transferred. Imma miss Liepāja and I’m gonna miss Elder Bastow, but Elder Jessop and I are gonna live it up in Rīga. Its gonna be sick.

For now Imma just say that I’ve enjoyed my time in Liepāja, especially with Elder Bastow, I’ve loved the people here and I can't wait to bring some energy to Rīga. Should be dope.

The other big thing that happened this week was Mothers day!!! I got to speak and I actually gave a pretty darn good talk, given the fact that Latvian is my second language.

Heres some pictures from the last week:

1. There are some murals all over Liepāja of various sizes. This is one of the bigger and more famous ones.

2. We had a service opportunity on Friday and Sunday. We helped a person move to a new house (I should have seen that it was a shadow of things to come)

3. Jānis Mandeiks (he is one of the members of the ward here) sends me the playoff basketball updates. Its sick

4. These biezpiens bumbiņas are the best things on earth when fresh. My goodness.

6. Heres another mural. Its got Madison Beere in it. Check her profile picture on instagram (per Ernests Migla)

7. The Northern Forts were my first and last pday in Liepāja.

Weekly May 1

 (Elder Putnam)

Yoo, heres a recap of the week.

 

Monday: I arose early. Being compelled by Sister Lū we decided to be efficient in the morning. I got a solid workout in then showered and we headed to lidl. We went crazy again on the eggs and other high protein goods. I also found a new pastry there. Todays big purchase was a six pack of multifruit juice. Then we hit Rimi for a few items. I snagged Ramone (the purple car from Cars - ill include a picture). We also got tabasco sauce from Rimi which saved us a trip later. Then we met the former missionaries at the church to go to the Southern Forts. Ive never been there and so it was quite fun to check out. The Southern Forts are a bunch of cavish looking things made of cement. It was full of beer bottles and potato chip bags. We kinda just vibed out there for a short while. Then Elder Bastow and I did a lift (like the dancing thing where you lift the person in the air from the waist). Shoutout to James Lear for the pointers on that. The pictures not so great. We then went back to the church and played duraks and citrons, followed by Unstable Unicorns. I pulled like no useful cards for myself, but a bunch of downgrade cards. So I ended up looking like the villian when really I was only doing that which was effective. So finished up by sending off my email. Then we went to the Ščerbeniņi for Benja's birthday. Benja is the cutest little kiddo. We gave him cars for his birthday. I also got clowned for not having made siļķe kažokā (herring in a fur coat) which is just way not my thing. But I am a missionary. So I got seconds. Mamma, I dont wanna hear the echoes of old memories "on your mission youre gonna have to eat tomatoes" or "youre preparing for a mission so eat those mushrooms." And Father,,, I have not eaten a single chicken foot my entire mission thus far. For the most part, the food here is pretty darn solid.

Overall day: 9/10, lots of fun and relaxation

 

Tuesday: We had district counsel, went home. Did studies. Then we went whiteboarding in the rain with Ernests. It was not very effective but we talked alot about missionary work which was good. then in place of art night we had a lesson about the plan of Salvation with Emīls. He is starting to pick up the stuff that we put down. We just gotta poke him to get him moving (figuratively of course). Then we had a heart to heart with Raitis on the way home. I ate left over chicken pesto pasta for dinner.

But Ye Elders of Israel goes so hardddd.

Overall day: 7/10 not a crazy amount was accomplished. I also started to fall asleep during language study.

 

Wednesday: we started off by going to Miko bakery. Its so good. Very cheap for decent pastries. They have old bagged ones you can get by weight. I got maybe 20 little mini pastries for like a euro. Such a deal. Then we went to the church for Kristīnas Study. Garett was also there. He brought his dog, which im pretty sure is not allowed in the church, but I honestly have no idea what to do in that situation. Near the end, the former missionaries showed up to say goodbye. I must say, they are so cool. Like very respectful and kind. They seemed proud of us. Made me happy. Then we went home and did studies. Neither of us set a timer so im pretty sure it went over by like 30 minutes. But its ok. Then we went back to the church for seminary and the chosen night.

Overall day: 7/10 good day, but nothing overly significant.

Thursday: We went to the bakery again for comp study. my MSF is getting shot. English Night was alright. We were in charge of the beginner class which is just two 13 year old Russian girls. They are not at all focused. Then on our way home, Brālis Hilton messaged us and we found out that he, Brālis Bastian, and Jordan Harmon, who all served in Latvia 2 years ago, (and Brālis Hilton and Brālis Bastian taught us in the MTC). They’re dope.

Overall day: 6.5/10, the tougher days help you appreciate the better ones.

Friday: We started the day off with some finding. It got mad chilly on Friday just kinda out of nowhere. We went walking in a different direction and across the bridge. Its right next to the beer bottling factory. Anyways, nobody was outside due to the weather and the wind. There’s always the struggle of walking back towards home and then one girl is walking in front and keeps taking the same path that we need. It makes you look and feel like a stalker. But ya, then we went back to the apartment texted people, and did language study and lunch. Then it was Facebook and piano work until sports night. Sports Night was the first time we got to see the former missionaries. They are dope. I love them. Brālis Bastians was only speaking Latvian to us, which I was low key a fan of. Our friends liked them too. After Sports night we hurried home and grabbed our pelmeņi and a pot. Then we ate with the former missionaries and just talked about divine things.

Overall Day: 8/10, lowkey mad stressful, but definitely a fun time.

Saturday: We had a very stressful day. We wont say what started the day, but it was unsuccessful and a bit of a waste of time. Then we went home to fix our water filter, spending way too much time on that, and found out that the Suisses, who were gonna come up from Lithuania and teach an Art class, cancelled on us. So we spent a short sec informing a ton of people that we were cancelling an activity. It was tough. Then we went to the church and ate tacos with Lāsma, her kids, Raitis, Ernests, and the Māsas, kuras (klasisku māsu modē) nokavēja😁. Then we had a long game night. A part way through the former missionaries joined in and we had a solid time. I think the youth especially liked the returned missionaries. It gave them a tom of energy. After game night we talked for a long time with other people. I got to talk with Samanta and we just conversed. She taught me a new phrase. It was dope. Also the entire district leader call heard the last half of the conversation. It was good.

Overall day: 8/10, some good moments just kinda surrounded my chaos.

Sunday: It was good. the former missionaries spoke. I played piano badly in front of them. The church was very alive. Also, one of the newly called Stake Presidency members was there. He’s pretty cool, but his kids are absolutely crazy. They speak minimal Latvian and no English so I learned that Banan means Banana in Russian. Who woulda thought? After second hour we raced to do some Facebook work but just ended up talking with President Blūms about deep doctrine and how to improve the Facebook page. That Facebook post never did get written *sigh*. But President Blūms is dope. We like him. Then we had the classic Sunday calls. Elder Bastow and I have a new tradition though for Sunday dinner. But I wont include it here. Chicken Pesto Pasta for dinner.

Overall day: 8.5/10, good and also surprisingly chill for a Sunday.

Keep up your faith in Christ. He magnifies your efforts

Putniņš out✌️

Latvian word of the day: mieloties, meaning, to feast.

Mēs ar Talmadžu un Kraiganu mielojamies ar pelmeņus.

We feasted upon pelmeņi with Talmage and Cragun.

Spiritual Thought: We listened to the talk %1 better in Second Hour at church on Sunday. if every day you improve by 1%, you will be 38 times better of a person after a year. That’s an incredible difference. However, you have to have consistency. Keep the grind up. You wont see results day to day, but God will work His magic on you and through you.

Weekly update April 24th 2023

 (Elder Putnam)

Hey yalls, so if the daily summaries are short this week it is due me not writing that week and then struggling to remember what happened. Hope yall enjoy!!

Monday: It was a lot of messaging Henry and hyping him up for the MTC. Giving as much advice as I could. I also made bread for Family Home Evening. We kinda just chilled around and then went shopping. At Lidl I got so much food. Ill attach a picture. I got 5 litres of milk, 2 litres of Multifruit juice, 40 eggs, a 400g of chicken (not actually that much), and then Kvass. Those were my big deals of the day. We then hit Rimi for those extra things that you can’t find at Lidl, like paprika and paper towels. After that we just chilled at the church and wrote emails and stuff. After that, Raitis picked us up and we went to the Ceimeri for Family Home Evening. We discussed the talk "the Perfect Harvest" which I referenced in my last email. It was great. Since Kristaps was turning 10 months old we had some Honeycake. I tried kvass for the first time. Gotta say, I’m not a fan. Highly overrated.

Overall day:9.5/10 very relaxing with some solid highlights, mainly cause Henrys in the MTC now.

Tuesday: Ok I hit the ground running today. My workout went over. I’m usually out of the shower and starting personal study at 8:30. But right before my last set I looked at my phone and it was 8:29. I took a quick quick shower, which was difficult because of the size of my biceps (I had an incredible pump thanks to the General Conference hype up mix). And then Personal study went so hard. Imma share with yalls the thing that stood out to me as the Spiritual thought this week. John 4:35-36. Anyways I haven’t been this hyped for missionary work, like the work aspect of it, for a few weeks probably. We hit comp study and language study to start the day and then texted people into lunch. Its way more efficient if you just hash it out in the morning. 6 eggs for lunch with two types of cheese, ham cubes, chicken cubes, and onions, garnished with fresh sweet bell pepper and the green and the red tabasco sauces. I’m estimating like 50+ grams of protein. And then an apple. gosh I love this country. we hurried on over to the church for Distric Counsel. Usually district counsel is a waste of time, but it low key was solid this time around. Shoutout to Elder Breidijs. I walked away with many insights, despite the whole of it taking 3 hours. We figure out what our activity schedule is gonna look like from now on. We were considering ending Art night and then like 10 people showed up out of nowhere for it. And also an inactive youth might wanna come to that. Before Art night though and after District Counsel I practices piano while Elder Bastow put together the Facebook page for our activities in Liepāja. At art night I ended up talking to one girl (shes been here for the entirety of my tenure and has not listened to one spiritual thought). But today, I talked with her about the idea of God. and the possibility that He is our Heavenly Father. It was cool. I left it open on her end for some personal studying in Mathew 13. If yall got any other chapters for a 13 year old to read in the New Testament let me know. Further, I am beginning to just love Facebook work. Its kinda fun, especially when you start understanding the memes in Latvian. That always goes hard.

Overall day: 8.5/10 very efficient, but missed out on lots of things

Wednesday: Woke up and hit a solid leg workout. Finished it on time this go around. I’m starting to love my morning routine. This morning during personal study I felt prompted to message these two people. Now, we have two new friends. First off, there’s the tram stop girl. Shes gonna come to English Night, where we will talk a little bit more about the Book of Mormon and then also pass her off to the Māsas. That’ll be solid, although Viktorija wont be there... which will be rough. Secondly, literally the first successful contact I have ever been involved in was in my first or second week. I asked the dude if he wanted to hear about how families can be together forever. and we got his phone number, giving him a pamphlet. He read the pamphlet but it was really hard to get in contact with him. He came to like 2 activities, but then we thought he ghosted us. Anyways, I just sent him a scripture from the New Testament and he responded later in the day. Were gonna talk a little more later on.

Alright, next, even though we only had an hour to go finding, we placed 3 Book of Mormons. literally so good. Each one has legitimate potential. Each was to a youth. One we just called to from across the street and then we talked to him. He said he was Christian and then we talked about how the Book of Mormon has helped us get closer to God.

In the next one we went down to the beach next to the workout park. I hit some dips with very good form while Elder Bastow did some pullups. We talked to a group of youths, inviting them to English club and one of them accepted a Book of Mormon (in Russian, which is so lucky that we had one on us). He seemed really down to talk. (Later Imma post some stuff about me and working out and just self improvement). It’ll be good. Then we went to seminary. It was such a good lesson from Māsa Ščerbeniņa about forgiveness. My goodness. I loved it. Then we had our very first The Chosen Night!!! It was good, turned into texting time for me though and Ernests and Elder Bastow just chatted.

Last miracle of the day: Noah is gonna texted us when he has a free day. Very good stuff today. I had a lb of vegetables with two eggs, a protein drink and multivitamin juice.

Overall day: 9.5/10, Only baptisms get 10/10.

Thursday: So we had another great day. We did our studies, then ate, then went to the church, found a little for English club and then zi practiced piano while Elder Bastow Facebook grinded for the Facebook page. I found out that the sacrament hymns are all very playable. We like that. Elder Argyle and Elder Jessop pulled up for exchanges. I’m with Elder Jessop. Last time we had fun. Today he was a little more closed off, but we still placed a Book of Mormon with a dude whos gonna show up to church in two weeks... apparently. I also met the Mayor of Liepāja contacting. He was walking really fast, and I complimented his suit jacket. Then we walked, really fast with him. He taught me the word Mēris, which means mayor. how bout that? We then went back to the church and got really nervously prepared for English Night. We tried to hype it up to our other friends but they didn’t all come. However, the most important one, Ieva came with her friend. We gave her a little more information about the Book of Mormon. She says that shes gonna talk with the sisters tomorrow about the Restoration. English Club was a disappointment, but a start. Now that we have a legit plan, it should be better. Then we went to Hessburger with Sister Lū, Elder Lear, the Māsas, Raitis, Ernests, and AJ. Twas a good day. finished off my bagged milk today too.

Overall day: 8/10, a little disappointed with the English club turnout, but the Māsas have a new friend.

Friday: Friday ended exchanges with a visit to Vilars. We talked and he helped me write my Facebook post. After that we went to Street Burger and I ordered a delicious but overpriced burger. Like 13 bucks my dude. Then we went to basketball night and had a massive turnout. twas great. I felt kinda gross throughout all of it. I’m also starting to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid in Latvian. Its solid. Harry Potter is a bit out of my stretch but still fun to read.

Saturday. It was a pretty chill Saturday. We got our studies done in the morning. Then ate lunch, and went to the church to clean. The Māsas were also there, but their lesson cancelled on them. So they went to hang out with Viktorija for a long time. Kinda left us out to dry. Especially when we went back and forth from the church and to our apartment. So the Māsas were late to an activity again. But the game night went well. We played smurfs and duraks, a Russian card game. It went well. Not gonna lie, my spiritual thought was low key a banger. I could have given a better invitation though. After game night, we just kinda chilled around and then I had my call with the District Leaders, in which I found out that the Māsas didn’t have their keys and that we needed to meet them at the church to right that wrong. It felt kinda disso to be stepping out of the door at 9:00 dressed for contacting and everything. Well, I was dressed. Elder Bastow was wearing a sweater and he had taken his hoodie off. He was also wearing slides (which ill admit, I checked them off for him). What made it feel much more disso was that as soon as we rounded the corner and crossed the street, we saw Ieva Ščerbeniņa sitting at the bus stop. We were like crap. Then we saw Sister Powell, Lū, and James, Sister Lū's husband. (they all served in Liepāja together and came to visit). Bro it was really embarrassing. Like bad. Then Māsa Bentley took a bunch of pictures of us. Bro like I’ve never felt so close to getting sent home in my life. Well I guess that’s not true (ifkyk). They definately threw us under the bus. Also Viktorija is high key flirting with us. She really likes elders. A lot. Be careful Elder Beebe. Brālis Hiltons give it a shot. She has been avoiding after-baptism lessons with the Sisters for quite some time but then approached us when we got to the church and was like, yo you wanna have a lesson? Then she also invited us to go outside of Liepāja there.

Overall Day: 9/10, ended with an all time story so yeah.

Sunday: The Lears came to church today with Sister Powell. They're all pretty cool and shared their testimonies with us. Definitely got talked up by Sister Lu. Apparentely they are considering moving to Liepaja. So that would be dope. We took them to visit the Beldavas. It was a good time. Then we went home. Sundays are either really busy or really laid back. It just kinda depends on how we spend our time after church.

Remember that yall are dope and that you’re sons and daughters of God.

See yall next week!!!

Putniņš out ✌️

Latvian word of the day: pārspīlēt. It means to exaggerate

Mana mīlēstība pret olām nav pārspīlēta.

My love for eggs is not exaggerated

No Spiritual Thought for this week! but study up on the gift of the Holy Ghost. Its a pretty cool gift.

Weekly Update: Grūti, Uguns, Simts (thats tuff🔥💯)

 (Elder Putnam)

Yall what’s good. So sorry if this sounds tired, but I write my little daily updates at the end of every day when I’m exhausted. So sorry if they lack the usual energy.

Monday: It was solid. We went to the church at like 1. It was the first time we stepped out of the apartment. Then we did an escape room with Raitis, the Māsas, and Lāsma. That was dope. We beat it with 10 minutes left. Everyone had a highlight which was pretty solid. It was a little creepy though. Then we went to Lidl with Lāsma and Raitis and then to Family Home Evening with them too. We ended by checking out the sunset which was great.

 The weather is finally nice out. Except I don’t have an in between coat. So it’s either my winter coat, or my white shirt.

(And yes, Henry, there’s a reason I’m not mentioning that thing that I didn’t mention).

Overall day: Today gets a special boost, 9/10

Tuesday: So Tuesday was pretty productive given the amount of time we were given and how unproductive it could have been. we had a timely district counsel, and then at the end of it we got hard Lāsma and her friend from Rīga showed up. We judged by Lāsma about not eating food with them. We were stressing out so much about the baptism we are planning for Raitis so we kinda just excused ourselves from them. Lāsma planned that time to meet specifically so that we would be there with the Māsas. We love being appreciated, but also we can’t just sit there and counsel Lāsma, which is what that turned into for the Māsas, who stayed. We went home, ate lunch, did our studies, and then returned to the church for another lesson with Ernests. He is getting kinda bored of the lessons, which is a little concerning. We finished the lesson like 25 minutes late and came out to President Birkenfelds with his kids waiting for Art night to start. My goodness, I felt so bad. Art night finished well though and we got one more person going to the youth activity in Rīga. Also Lukas and Jonas showed up. Lukas has a girlfriend. were soon gonna teach him about not dating til he’s sixteen. Anyways, night finished with us texting a bunch of invitations for Ernests baptism. It was productive. and then I ate chicken pesto pasta for dinner. 😎😎Overall day: 7/10. I feel satisfied.

Wednesday: We started the day by texting people invitations to the baptism. We had a little bit of finding time that kicked off with this one dude. He was initially a bit antagonistic, but then he said that his wife or daughter or something would want to go to English night. We then had a decent conversation with him and then saw him later. We also ran into Nauris and he is super cool. we just talked for like an hour walking around. We're tryna get him to show up for the youth activity that will be in Rīga in a week and a half. Then we finished the day with a Raitis lesson and branch correlation.

Overall day: Nothing crazy, but had some good moments, 6/10

Thursday: We started with another longgg language study with Māsa Ščerbeniņa. She really likes the Elders. Like a ton. I think its cause we can speak Latvian... But anyways, after like 2 hours at the park, we walked back to our apartment, ate lunch (which for the past two days has been scrambled eggs, uhhh soo goooddd, but surprisingly low on protein) and did regular language study. Yes maybe it sounds like were doing a lot of language study, but when I’m fluent I’m gonna look back at you and laugh.

Speaking of that, I’m willing to say that I’m at least to some degree fluent. I can understand any conversation with mostly anyone that has at least 12 teeth in their oral cavity, and ask the right clarifying questions in order to understand something better. The hardest part, is just using all the words that I recognize back again later. Also I speak kinda slow.

But yeah further, after an empty English club, we had a great lesson with Ernests. President Birkenfelds is a legend for that. I kinda planned my part, but then I looked at it and thought it was boring, so I explained enduring to the end, like going to battle against Satan, except because you made that covenant with Jesus, He's like your captain. It got Ernests hyped up and it got me hyped up. The rest of the lesson was pretty solid.

For dinner I ate chicken pesto pasta and called Lāsma to plan the Easter party/event.

Overall: Pretty solid day, 7.5/10

Friday: The last lesson. We were jam packed today and at the church. we started off with our studies straight out of the gate (limits those inhibiting factors). I had a particularly good language study that spanned into lunch. So all of lunch Elder Bastow and I just listened to Latvian conference talks and silently checked off messages to each other. Lunch was again delicious. Eggs, scrambled with a little bit of paprika, chopped onions, ham, and cheese. That adds up to like 27 grams of protein for like maybe 300 calories. Another small food rant: Bro milk and multifruit juice go so harddd. I wanna go through 3 multifruits and 5 L of milk a week. It’s so gooddd. We have a thing of rice from last week just sitting in our fridge. Its taking up a lot of space so we will probably throw it out before pday. Things are gonna get really cheap and really healthy for a hot sec. But every night after 9 I always crave ice cream. It’s sad.

So after lunch we went to the church so I could practice piano while elder bastow did other things for the baptism on Saturday. That ended up turning into cleaning the church with Vilārs and Ernests. Vilārs is a really funny member. He always wants to hang out and help the missionaries, but he also wants us to visit him like twice a week (which is not in our power to do).

We finished cleaning with a lesson about tithing. Brālis Ščerbeniņš hopped in through Whatsapp facetime halfway through. It was quite hilarious. Then Ernests went to his interview while we set up volleyball. We played volleyball for sport night at the church.

Then afterwards, we popped on outta there. I talked with a random person at the tram stop and gave her a Latvian Book of Mormon and a game night card. She said she had some interest in talking more, but I’m not expecting a ton. For dinner I ate a pound of pan fried vegetables and some pelmeņi. I also finished off my last multifruit juice of the week. It’s tough.

Overall: Great day, 8/10

Saturday: We woke up with a focus. We got so much done today. Aight, so first off Lāsma was mad stressed about the activity which got us stressed out too. But we did our studies in the morning, comp study at miko beķerija which is an absolute legend of a bakery. I ate an Easter cake, which was dope. It was quite delicious. Then we snagged our stuff for the baptism and game night and went to the bus stop to pick up Guntars. For those of you who don’t know Guntars, that’s tough, take an L cause this man is a legend. Raitis picked us up with Lāsma and Jonass and we went to the church to prep for the baptism. We set stuff up and then just kinda chilled until Ernests got there. Despite our best efforts, the baptismal font was still cold. While waiting, the person from the tram stop texted me (I have the sim card). I invited her to game night but she was busy. I have significantly higher hopes now. Maybe the Māsas will have a new friend!! The baptism went splendidly. I played piano, Elder Bastow spoke and baptized him, and everything went calmly. I am very happy with the turnout. The we went onto the Easter Activity and President and Sister Huff pulled up. It was a little nerve-racking but we handled it well and President Huff even said that the vibe here had changed since he was last there. We are very happy with how that went. Then we all went home. I ate some kind of easy make pasta thing with sufficient protein. It was good with the sauce.

Overall: Incredibly successful and smooth, 10/10

Sunday: Ok all the stress was over. I played piano at church and it went well. I’ve mostly learned like 20-30 songs. It’s nice. Ernests received the gift of the Holy Ghost. He is ready to be a member. He just needs to allow himself to be included by others. Also, Jāzeps, who is Ernests' age, is an absolute G. He straight up opened up to me about spiritual stuff. He’s so dope. I love the dude. He’s gonna be a good example to Ernests I think. I hope. Brālis Mandeiks is soo coolll. He is a sports commentator with such a loud strong voice. I talked with him for a couple minutes about basketball today, especially the playoffs and he sent me an update of the games that have been played. What a guy. He's just such a likeable dude. So then after second hour we had a lesson with Raitis. We read the Book of Mormon together. First two chapters of Alma. Love the dude. My energy has come back. The stress has passed. We just gotta get another dude on date without enough time to teach him all the stuff. My goodness. my goodness what a wild ride it has been. Very stressful. But the best part of today was probably when I got 3 messages in all caps from Henry. He said he just couldn’t wait to serve the Lord and that nothing else mattered anymore. haha take an L, @princessdowney. But that actually got me so hyped. Like I jumped out of my seat. Yallzz, we have known each other for the past 9 years and been best friends for at least the past 5. Not once did we prioritize spiritual things. Seeing this man recognizing the Lord as first in all things is the coolest thing ever. Mans is a different person since serving in the temple. I just wanna see this man now. If there is a way to get him to fly through Rīga on his way to the MTC, I will force exchanges so I can be there at the airport to see the changed man that this fool. Henry, I love you and I’m so proud of you. And I’m glad that you will finally appreciate the 9-12 minute voice recordings. I also expect the same kinds of things on Pdays. You text me first, not your mom. Cause that’ll be at the close of my Pday and I’m not about to miss out on that chance to talk to you. "You serve, and serve loyally" "no man having set his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of Heaven." Go crazy my duddddeeeee!!!!!

Overall day: 9.5/10

Yall are legends. Remember who you are: Sons and Daughters of The Living God.

Putniņš out ✌️

Latvian Word of the Week: Proteīna Pulveris; Protein powder

Es nopirku proteīna pulveri tāpēc, ka Elders Bestovs palielinās pār mani.

I bought protein powder cause Elder Bastow is getting bigger than me.

Spiritual Thought of the Week: Taken from Elder Vern P. Stanfil's The Perfect Harvest.

"The Savior stands ready to accept our humble offerings and perfect them through His grace. With Christ, there is no imperfect harvest."

Elder Stanfill compares a [corn?] harvester's inability to collect and retain 100% of the harvested corn to our inability to measure up to the "measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12-13). Later on, he says that the extra corn that laid on the ground fed migrating birds. He pointed out, that although not all of the corn was collected, all of it was used for a purpose.

If we do our best, to be our best, God will use, what we see as shortcomings to bless the lives of others. It will likely require patience. And it will require us to "do all we can do, [before Christ] will do only He can do. I’ve seen this several times on my mission. The most blatant has been within lessons. I have both seen and been a part of a full-hearted, but half-communicated, lesson. I have seen missionaries share experiences with the most abhorrible Latvian grammar and incorrect words that you can imagine. But somehow, Christ communicates those feelings of the heart to the souls of those being taught. I’ve seen and been a part of it. It’s one of the reasons that Brother Ščerbiniņš is so great. He thinks that every preposition forces dative, but he brings an impossible spirit.

Yalls, if you think that you’re struggle to uphold your calling whether that be as a First Counselor in the Bishopric, Deacons Quorum Secretary, as a set apart representative of Jesus Christ, or even a non-set apart representative of Jesus Christ (cause we all took his name upon us), remember first that the Lord loves effort. And remember second, that He will use your inabilities to accomplish great works.

Alma 37:6

"Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."

1. Pic from Ernests Baptism

2. Also from Ernests Baptism, but better

3. We got Martiņš Birkenfelds and Raitis posted up after the Law of Chastity lesson. Less gooo

4. Raitis took the missionaries, Lāsma and her kids, and Ivita to the beach to watch the sunset. We got back after nine. ://

5. Idk, clouds looked kinda dope. I also, after pointing them out, got clowned by Lāsma for trying to come up with a theory behind the weather patterns and the cloud patterns. She has no respect for the men of science as I am.

6. Raitis took us with Ernests to check out a tank. For some reason I don't have a picture of the tank, but I got another sunset pic. (I get my selfie technique from my dad).

Ohh one more thought!!

for all my Saudi folks out there who went on the Ukraine temple trip.... Yeah so yall remember snowball fighting and playing capture the flag with the youth of the Ukrainian branch there? Yeah, well one of those members is now my Zone Leader. And he remembers when we visittedd. Isn't that legendary?/? Heš a super cool dude too. Shout out to Elder Petrakov

Ernests will be Baptized, Happy Easter, and Vilārs

 (Elder Putnam)

Monday April3rd: Bro this day was legendary. Ok so unfortunately, Māsa Johnson is headed up to Rīga. However, that meant that we spent a good portion of the day as a group. We went to a petting zoo with Raitis and Lāsma. We fed the donkeys, goats, dear, pigs, emus, and many more. It was pretty solid. There were also swings at the end which Raitis and I sat on and talked and overall just vibed on.

Then we went to New Yorker. Bro it’s such a vibe. Mens clothes from New Yorker are mad cheap, comfortable and in decent style. So I got a hoodie and a sweatshirt. It was pretty solid. Then we had Family Home Evening which I didn’t know I was conducting. It wouldn’t usually be a big deal, but it was in front of like half the ward and a few investigators haha. It went pretty well. I played games with the Ščerbeniņi kids and they are just so fun. Benja kept trying to climb on my back, which we all know is a missionary no no. But we spent some quality time with Rebeka, Estere, Benja, and even Māsa Ščerbeniņa. Then we went to Hessburger. Unfortunately, Lukas started feeling sick. So I went over and started talking to him. We talked for like 30 minutes about music (specifically Kanye and Eminem -- don’t ever come at me for listening to them again -- The Lord knows where He is sending His servants)

Anyways, that was pretty cool.

Tuesday we had art night as well as a lesson with Ernests about some basic commandments. Nobody showed up to art night so we just ended up playing Durak or Cūkas (Latvian name) with Ernests and Raitis. Durak is a really fun game, but it’s also mad simple and quick so kinda pretty solid. I still wanna figure out how to play yooker or however its spelled.

Quick thought: this week was a lot of just thrown together food for dinner. I ate literally just veggies one night... and I liked it. I think Elder Bastow is starting to negatively affect my life as a missionary. No all jokes though.

Wednesday: We had another lesson with Ernests. I’ll explain a bit about him here. He’s 14 years old and likes to dance. He has lots of questions about the gospel, but his attention span for gospel stuff is pretty darn low. That’s why we have so many lessons so often. He’s gonna get baptized this weekend. We met with his parents on Wednesday and he was like really confident in his desire to be baptized in front of his parents, who are not interested in the gospel. He's always at the church which is so great...but he’s also always at the church.

Thursday I found out I would play for the Easter program on Sunday. I half-learned a ton if songs. We also had a lesson about the word of wisdom. Pelmeņi for dinner. Its significantly better if you boil then pan fry them with olive oil.

Friday we went basketball finding. It was rough. I had a great time, but it was entirely ineffective. Elder Bastow and I are debating whether or not it’s a good idea to go when school gets out. I feel like my competitive side shows too much. We also had Māsa Ščerbeniņa study outside the church. The weather is absolutely gorgeous here and thus, Māsa ščerbeniņa talked with us for like 2 maybe 2 and a half hours. It was wild.

Saturday we had the Law of Chastity lesson with Ernests. We included Māsa Ščerbeniņa who’s an absolute legend. She basically explained the principles to Ernests and how to apply them. Made it so much easier.

Sunday was the big easter lunch with the ward. It was an absolute hit and now they want one all the time. Afterwards we spent time with Vilārs just looking at pictures and stuff. We are encouraging him to be more active and serve in the church more. Vilārs is dope.

Overall, loving life, enjoying the scriptures a lot more and understanding what it really means to serve in the church.

Raitis, Ernests, un Tad Talak

 (Elder Putnam)

Gooodddd Morning Vietnamammmm!!!!

Gosh it has been quite some time since I wrote an email home.

I got a Rimi card. That saves me like .16 Euros per Rimi trip. It'll build up over time. Some how I end up spending like 25% more on groceries every week than other Baltic missionaries do. Its wild. So I'm half-broke, but I'm getting my protein in. So we are all set.

Let’s backtrack like 4 weeks. Ok so we got Raitis on date about a month ago. He's a 19 year old Latvian dude who has just been waiting for the gospel. He is now gonna be baptized on Saturday which will be super cool. That Sunday was also the first day he showed up to church with a button up shirt. Like he is so cool. He wants to serve a mission too (Or at least he is thinking about it). Unfortunately, his family is not super interested in him joining the church. It's kinda sad. But he just loves the Book of Mormon and he keeps talking about the peace that he always feels at the church and when he reads the Book of Mormon.

3 weeks ago was Lasmas birthday, so we threw her a party. It was also a Thursday which meant English Night, a lesson with Raitis, and Vlad. Vlad gets his own shou-out. He will call random missionaries out of the blue just to talk to them in English. He is so kind and polite, but he is a little bit of a hassle sometimes. On top of that we had Exchanges. So Elder Argyle joined our lesson (which was a Book of Mormon read) and got to know him better. Very good things. I did drink my last Fairlife protein shake gosh that tasted good. I'm now using the bottle for my fast-offering collection. About 3 weeks ago we were supposed to start teaching Sebastians Tomass about the Priesthood. He will soon be ordained a deacon and that will be so dope. The amount of Aaronic Priesthood holders in the branch just spiked. Like it’s so dope. And with Raitis we will have another priest pretty soon. Some dude on the street called us Satanists. That was funny, but then like 30 seconds and 100 meters later we placed a Book of Mormon. Get got, Lucifer.

2 weeks ago we thought we had a new friend. We went street contacting and like nobody was interested. I had been preparing short little thoughts that I could share throughout tram rides and stuff like that. (tram contacting sucks by the way, in Liepaja at least). But I saw a youth wearing a cross necklace and I was like, bro, do you have time to talk about Jesus? and he was like, yeah bro of course. So we gave him a watered down 60% of the Restoration lesson, and we set up a time to meet. Then he was like, bruh I'm sorry, can't make it tonight. Then we rescheduled, and he biffed on us again. But its cool though, cause we have his contact info, and as soon as guitar night happens, we're gonna try to get him there.

This past week (since I forgot what happened the week before): Ok so we've been trying to set up a meeting with Atvars. He's an inactive member. Last P-day he stumbles into the guitar studio (while we are spending a copious amount of time shopping for a guitar for Masa Johnson). So he walks in, like probably 30 seconds before were about to leave. and I introduce myself as the dude who's been texting him in English (the entire conversation was in Latvian too). It was whack but then we started contact with him again. That was good. On Thursday we had English Night again. A couple months ago the Masas found a group of kids to come to game night. Every once in a while one of them, Ernests, comes to an activity. Such is the case here. So Raitis and Ernests are the last people to be at English night and Raitis mentions that he is gonna be baptized. And Ernests gets super surprised and starts asking questions about that. So we show him the baptismal font, explain it all, and then he sees the Big Book of Mormon (a giant wooden frame that looks like a Book of Mormon that we use to talk to people about the Book of Mormon.) And so we give him the schpeel on the Book of Mormon (he speaks fluent English but we spoke in Latvian cause were like that) and then how it relates to Joseph Smith and the First Vision. And were like, would you be interested in learning more about it? And he's like sure. So we do a lesson, with our almost baptized friend, Raitis, and the Masas. And he wants to be baptized and serve a mission. It’s crazy. Absolutely love the dude.

We also had District Conference (the equivalent of Stake Conference) in Riga this week. Raitis came in person and Ernests attended over zoom. They are both just eating up the gospel. We want to make sure the seed isn't falling on stony ground though, yall feel? Mathew 13:5 vibes. We baptize converts that are gonna stick with it. They both loved District Conference.

I also loved district conference cause I understood like 97% of it. Like its so wild. The church is so trueeeee. Like I like to think about things logically. If the true church is not on the earth (and I am not serving the true church), there is no way that I could pick up this language. I'm smart but I’m not that smart. Like I speak Latvian. It’s an obscure and difficult language. The gift of tongues is real and the church is true. God still performs miracles. Moroni 7.

Alright yall are dope. Love yall. I hope this was entertaining enough for yall to read it all. See yall next time

Elders Patnams

I'll say it, Im sick of pelmeni

 (Elder Putnam)

Dang it has been quite a solid few weeks.

Lets get a recap. Last pday with Elder Argyle. Absolute vibe. We went to the Northern Forts and just kinda sat in the sand. It was so peaceful. Anyways, I think that I wrote about that in my last email.

On the following day we went to pick up Elder Bastow and drop off Elder Argyle. Elder Argyle and I got off the tram and started making our way over to a worried looking Elder, sitting alone on the bus station bench with his guitar backpack. what a vibe. As soon as he saw us he put one hand in the air and started bopping to some beat he had going in his head. Mans a legend. I will cherish an remember that moment forever.

So for the next week were just SYLing like crazyyy. Its so good. I've never seen so much language improvement in suuch a short time. Screech and Preach did kinda fall off the cliff though. Rip to that. No worries we will hop back on that grind. Then came Sunday. I was so excited to introduce Elder Bastow to the members here cause I knew they would love him. But then Masa Ceimere absolutely clowned me by saying that his language was better than mine. That threw me spiraling, but Elder Bastow and I are closer now because of it. I literally have so much to learn from him. Every time we talk about spiritual things he enlightens my mind. Honestly we gotta talk more about that stuff.

The District: Aight so the district is so dope. We have the most hype possible combination in all of Latvia. I mean you might be able to argue Sister Prach into that category, but thats a reach still. Masa Johnson is dope. She doesn't SYL though which is diezgan kaitinosi, bet ko darit. tas nav mans parinieks. But she definitely brings some talent to the table so we will give her that.

So for Pdays we've been 1. Up in Riga and so we jsut kinda chilled. 2. Went to the Northern Forts and then played games. 3. Up in Riga so we just kinda chilled. But today, Elder Bastow got matching Gym Lacplesis hoodies. They are so dope. We also snagged some solid weights from Depo and covenanted to go shopping there every week. Its literally such a glorious store.

We are teaching a new person. This dude comes to every single activity. He is so good. I'm not supposed to go into too much detail about the people we are teaching, so thats gonna be it for now.

Anyways. I'm not being disobedient by messaging. Today is Pday cause we had to move it.

Good stuff I'll attach some pictures.