I think I'm getting the hang of thisc

 (Elder Putnam)

Dear Friends and Family,

What an awesome week it has been. This might have been my favorite week of my mission. We just were moving the entire time and it was awesome. I love those fast paced days.

On Monday Rīga flooded during the day and then by the time that work hours started it had all cleared up and so we went street contacting. Nothing crazy there. We barely got in before 9 but that always makes it exciting.

On Tuesday we had 4 lessons as well as district counsel and the mission devotional. Needless to say, we didn’t go finding all that much, but those lessons all went very well. That night though we took in the Liepāja elders for exchanges.

On Wednesday exchanges with Elder Smith started. We woke up with a surprise message from an old street contacted friend that he wanted to meet. I was completely blindsided by this since he hadn’t messaged us since May and hadn’t read my last 2 messages. But we met with him and then again on Sunday. He's low key elect, he just needs to listen a little bit more to the Spirit.

On Thursday we reunited with our companions and planned for next week. at the end of the day I picked up Elder Ornstead and we found on our way home. He's super high energy and spiritual which I found out pretty quick. We had like 3 minutes before 9 when we got home so we went back out finding and talked to like 15 more people. Unfortunately we didn’t find anyone in that time, but it set a good tone for the next day.

Friday was likely the peak of the week for me. We went finding for like 5.5 hours and found like 5 people. Some of them were super quick conversations where we just continued the conversation over text, but others were a lot more drawn out and we talked about meeting again next week. Thats how it was with one person named Aleks. We ran into him when he was on the way to a wedding and was dressed up so the first thought we had was: Oh he's gonna fit in great a church. We talked about families and the restoration and discussed meeting again. Still waiting on a specific day, but he seems super interested. I also figured out how to do Facebook work.

On Saturday we switched back again, taught some lessons, ran basketball club, and prepared for the sacrament on Sunday. I was exhausted that night.

 

On Sunday we had a lot of people visiting the branch, mostly from Liepāja, but the branch building was full and fast and testimony was on fireee. I wish more of our friends had come, but as Alma, "I do sin in my wish for I ought to suffice with that which I have been given" (or something like that). Sunday night we had our regular calls and then I clocked out early. The other thing that was notable from Sunday was that we closed our fast with tacos. Those things slappeddd.

Talk of the week: Imma list a triad. As I listen to them in order and uninterrupted, I gotta put down Elder Holland's Fear Not; Believe Only, Elder Kearon's He is Risen with Healing in His Wings, and Elder Aidukaitis' Lift Up Your Heart and Rejoice which come right after another in the April 2022 General Conference.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what my mission has offered me. One skill and gift I’ve been given has been the ability to bear my testimony. Not only have I gained a testimony of many of the truths of the gospel but I feel comfortable and even confident sharing them. I used to be scared to share my testimony in sacrament meeting, but as a missionary I no-longer have that worry or hesitation. The gospel is true. It is restored. And It blesses everyone on both sides of the veil. I share that with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Have a good one.

Just a little pic from exchanges this week

"Can y'all be worms for me please?" - Jesus

 (Sister Cummings)

Howdy y'all!

This week was a WEEK! But it was so good!

No. 1 announcement, I HAVE A NEW NEPHEW. YAYYYY

No. 2 announcement, I still haven't seen a kangaroo :/

This week was stock FULL of lessons. Sister Yochim and I were worked hard this week and were able to share so many messages. Even messages we never planned to share! It was amazing! The spirit was strong always and it was so fulfilling!

Thursday, I had exchanges (companion tradeoffs) with the STLs which was crazy because Sister Woodbury (my last companion) is my STL and we just had a grand ol time. It was like nothing changed! I love her so much! It's truly spectacular the relationships you get to make while on the mish!

Yesterday, we got to watch a devotional put on by our Mission President and his wife on zoom with one of my favorite families! They're so amazing!

Okay now moving on to the Jesus jazz,

This week, I came across a scripture that gave me so many giggles and it's found in Isaiah chapter 41 with verse 14 which states:

"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel."

Y'all, the first message I got from this scripture is that God and Jesus Christ would still love you even if you were a worm. The second message was one that was pointed out to me by a good friend which is that the meaning of the word "worm" that Isaiah was using was "meek and humble." Meaning that when we humble ourselves before the Lord (like it says in Ether 12:27) He WILL help us. It's not that He "might" help us it's that He WILL. Isn't that amazing!!

So, my invitation to y'all is to be worms this week and turn to your Savior for peace, comfort, or whatever you are in need of.

I love y'all! Y'all are my favorite worms EVER!

- Sister Cummings

Question: What's your favorite hymn and why? What parts of the verses stick out to you and touch your heart?

Yeah, I showed up at your party

 (Elder Mackrory)

Boa noite pessoal! Tudo bem com vocês?

This week was good! Lots of things and some more. As usual, we're starting off with the fusca count. For those who are new and don't know, fusca is the Portuguese word for the VW beetle. There are lots of classic bugs here and I like to count them. We saw 13, bringing the total to 796. 800 next week!!

This week was interesting. I officially hit the point where I have less than a year left on the mission. Tomorrow ill be half way done, and on the 7th I'll be 1 year in. Crazy. Flew by.

On pday we chilled in the house. Not much happened. I like pdays like this one.

On Tuesday, two things happened. 1, in district council we set a goal to have 13 lessons with a member participating. We have 5 pairs of missionaries, so that's very doable. I promised them that I would provide breakfast on the next council if we reached the goal. Second, we accidentally showed up to someone's birthday party. We're teaching a dude named Palmer, and we visit him every Tuesday night. Except this time it was his birthday and he forgot to cancel. So we show up and there's a big ol’ cake on the table and lots of people. So we sang happy birthday and we taught the premortal life to everyone and went on our way with a huge piece of cake. And let me tell you it was the most bomb cake I've had on the mission. Best frosting of my life easily.

On Wednesday we had English class. Nothing out of the ordinary. Except the example conversation was funny. Were learning about how to ask and predict the weather. The example conversation went like this: “How's the weather in London?” “Not very good. It's raining again” “That's too bad. Will it rain tomorrow too?” “I Think it will. It usually rains a lot in April.” And I thought it was funny because British weather is often bad. It's a 50/50 shot that at any given moment that conversation could be real.

Thursday and Friday were pretty normal. Saturday was fun though. At lunch we watched the Olympics while the member family jokingly made fun of the French. It was very funny but I couldn't say anything. After this, we went home and started baking. There was an activity that night called “My origin and traditions” and the branch wanted us to participate. Elder Flores didn't really want to, but I did, so we made my favorite dessert, Milk Tart. It's a South African dish that's very good. At the activity I gave a little presentation about my family's history in the church and the history of the church in that country. So I explained how the church started in South Africa and the sacrifices my grandparents had to make to receive the full blessings of the gospel in the temple. After everyone's presentation, we served up. I cut tiny pieces so that everyone could have some, and after everyone had some, there were a few people who came up to me saying “man I didn't get a good taste of your dish, could I try it again” like yeah sure grandpa I know what you mean “didn't get a good taste”. Ok here's some more. So everyone liked it and I won first place for the desserts category. I got to take home a beautiful art piece of the temple that says “Home, sweet home”. Thanks for the recipe Sister Brummer! You're awesome!

On Sunday we had a fire lesson with an Argentinian family. We taught them the restoration and all, and the daughter was very excited to read the Book of Mormon. And we hadn’t even finished teaching it all, and the mom said “vos no podés solamente leerlo, necesitás orar también para saber la verdad”. Yeahhh they're the best. Anyway they also offered us real Argentinian pizza for free. This is an insane deal because pizza here is not great. And good pizza is realllly expensive. Also, the district met the goal for member lessons, so were having breakfast together tomorrow.

Yeah that's about it. Good week.

SummaRio:

13 fuscas, 796 total

Tomorrow I'm halfway done

Pday was chill

Showed up randomly to a friend's birthday party

The weather is probably bad in London

Made milk tart for the branch and they loved it.

More Spanish lessons, going well

Tender mercy:

This week, I read the book of Jeremías. It was really good. I liked it. But I was just studying, you know? And then on Sunday I called the Sísteres and they asked me where it says that Jerusalem was destroyed About 600 bc. Well of course I know that it's Jer. Chapter 39. So it was just cool to see my studies apply to what I'm doing and who I'm serving. Because even while it's personal study, it's always for the benefit of someone else, and I’m glad I got to see the fruits of it.

Spiritual thought: Guess what I'm gonna talk about… Repentance!! This morning I was talking with my dad about something he discovered in his studies that stuck with me. In Matthew 5, the Savior gives His famous Beatitudes. Something my dad told me is that they line up pretty well with the 5 principles of the gospel: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The second beatitude speaks about those who mourn, or those who remorse—those who recognize their faults and seek mercy. To those comfort, or forgiveness, is promised. Just this. Have fun studying the rest of the beatitudes now!

Fotos:

1. Acompanhamento com as Sísteres

2. Moto side shot

3. Moto rear view

4. Milk tart

5. Baking

6. Activity

7. Templo?? Para crianças???

8. My area

9. My meme

10. Flowers

11. English class

mmmm... sweet food

 (Sister Cummings)

Howdy y'all!

This week was so amazing! We had Zone Conference and our Mission President instructed us to focus on the youth and YSA in our wards. Which is amazing because they're literally my favorite people to interact with! Soo, we got to go to young women's this week and it was so great! The activity was on budgeting and I feel like Sister Yochim and I learned and took in more from it than the youth! It was great!

On Saturday, Sister Yochim and I caught the train to Gawler and then literally walked ALL DAY. Our feet are still recovering but it's okay because now we can empathize with those pioneer children that walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and etc...

Anyways, the spiritual stuff:

I want to talk about these verses:

" 12 For the Lord had not hitherto suffered that we should make much fire, as we journeyed in the wilderness; for he said: I will make thy food become sweet, that ye cook it not"

(1 Nephi 17:12)

Y'all may be wondering, why did I choose to share that verse? Valid question. Let me answer. Because of Nephi's family's faith and sacrifices for the Lord, the Lord made their lives so much easier so that they didn't have to prepare their food. I would honestly love to never have to prepare food again but that's not the important part. Because of their faith in their Savior, the easier their lives were. Reading this made me reflect on how my Savior has made my life easier (aka made my food sweet). During this reflection I was overcome with just how much simpler my day to day life is because I have my Savior and I have my faith. It's amazing.

With this, I just want to ask y'all to reflect on how Christ has made your food sweet. You can respond and tell me about it or you can take the time to answer it in your notes app or in a journal. It'll change your perspective. I promise.

I hope y'all have a fantastic week! I love y'all!

- Sister Cummings

3 Time in a row has got to be a record

 (Elder Putnam)

Dear family and friends,

What a vibe of a week it has been. Thank you to all those who shared their stories from their missions or their friends' missions about inspiration while finding. The training went splendidly.

Monday was very chill in the end of ends. We went to Bible study and learned about hope. We also met with a new friend Antons set up a return appointment. Then we found on our way home and ate pelmeņi for dinner.

Tuesday was the classic district counsel, grab lunch in center, mission devotional, and then go on with lessons or finding if we don’t have teaching appointments. So nothing crazy there. But exchanges did start that night and Elder Roberts and I just chatted it up after 9. It was a good chat.

Wednesday I hit a crazy workout in the morning. For whatever reason I woke up mad. And then we used that motivation to go finding in Jelgava for several hours. Although we didn’t see a ton of success, I felt like we had accomplished a lot and we did well for ourselves.

Thursday we switched back from exchanges, planned our week for our friends, and drove down to Liepāja for zone conference. We planned actually pretty efficiently and I set a goal for myself that to develop more charity and humility I was gonna serve my companions a bit more. That led to 3 humbling graphics on the whiteboard at home. I'll include a picture of them at the bottom.

Once we got to Liepāja we all hiked over to the church where we were able to meet Markuss, Vilārs, President Birkenfelds, and Max. It was super cool to see them and talk with them. Then we went home after eating kebabs for dinner.

Friday morning, due to the fact that Elder Trollenberg and I's training was still not completed, we skipped on Baltic ball and worked on it. We trained on using a map to more effectively find people to teach. The Zone Conference was uplifting, educating and spiritual. Afterwards, as is tradition, we ate dinner with President M.T. which was homemade gyros (literally so delicious).

On Saturday morning I finally got to play Baltic ball on the beach. We lost one of the chairs so we used two trashcans that were already set up. I played well for my last zone conference Baltic ball. I did kinda clock Elder Kane though. He's recovered. Later that day we had a missionary-member finding blitz where we walked all around Liepaja. I got to meet and talk with Raitis which was awesome. Later I went finding with Jāzeps and he was telling me all about the cool stuff that was happening in his life recently. Pretty cool. After the zone blitz it was tough to say goodbye to Liepāja for the last time as a missionary. On the ride back I had a beautiful wonderful conversation with Elder Bastow which honestly changed my perspective on a few things.

Sunday culminated of course with the sacrament. It was hard to concentrate though since our friend who was sitting next to me kept making jokes to me. But I just Kobe Bryant'ed that Chris Rock. Sunday was Cozy's birthday so I got to call her. That was the second highlight of the day (sorry, Cozy, Jesus takes first place)

Thats pretty much all I have for the week. I'll attach some pictures.

Conference Talk of the week: The Doctrine of Belonging by Elder D. Todd Christofferson

Spiritual experience of the week: Taking Elder Philips' advice and writing down who Christ is to me. I discovered that to me, Jesus Christ fills the role as the fulfiller of the laws of Justice and Mercy. That to me is very personal. I know God loves you and I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior. Have a wonderful week!

Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear

 (Elder Mackrory)

E aí? Belezinha?

This week was incredible. Full of new and cool experiences. Vamo lá.

We saw exactly 20 fuscas this week, making for a total of 783.

On pday we didn't do a whole lot, since our money was scheduled to drop on our cards that day, we planned to do our purchases. But as some of you know, there was some sort of tech problem in the system of the church, and our money was delayed a day. So since neither me nor my companion had money, we decided to get our stuff on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, we had district council! This was my first time leading it, so I was pretty nervous and worried about it all. But it went well, and we were able to feel the spirit. That's what matters. Next door to the stake center is a Brazil's Costco: Assaí. So we did our shopping there real quick and I saved about 40% shopping there than shopping at our local stores. Since it delays 1 day after the money drops to withdraw from an ATM, we actually had to walk back home after our lessons. The maps told us it would take an hour and twenty minutes, but we made it home in less than an hour.

On Thursday, we had a youth night, and so we played ping pong (pingy pongy) and foosball (tostos or something like that). I sucked at Foosball, so I mostly played ping pong. But that wasn't the cool thing that happened that day. We had a lesson with some millionaires. They live in the wealthy neighborhood already, but I had no idea how rich we were talking. We knocked at the base of their driveway, and their cook answered us and let us in. Upon further entry, we come across their Porsche (an SUV, not pictured), seconds later, their two motorbikes, both BMW and huge. One is a race bike, and the other for comfort riding. The lesson was great, and they had prepared dinner for us. So that was nice. We had to postpone weekly planning, but free dinner was worth it. We talked more about the gospel and how missionary work goes. In the end I don't feel so bad about a 2.5 hour lesson.

On Friday we had zone conference. It was awesome to be able to play the piano and have had time to practice too. We learned lots of great things, especially about repentance, which you all know I love. More on that later. We also received some house materials. Knife, spatula, serving spoons, ladle, and bucket. Not sure why we got a bucket, but we got one. Got to see lots of good friends including my bestie Elder Patterson. After the conference I stayed with some other missionaries to practice for our musical number that we plan to sing for when we get an apostle visit. I also got to rewrite the sheet music to include the Portuguese lyrics and melody. That was fun. Afterwards I had a baptismal interview with one Hamilton, the goat (I am not making a formula one reference). He has one of the strongest testimonies I've seen and it was inspiring to be able to interview him. He was baptized yesterday. In the end, we didn't get back to our area until 9. Exhausting.

Saturday was a good day. We taught a pretty full and productive English class and helped a little with the chapel cleaning. The family that was there to clean it has a little toddler who loves me. She always blows me a kiss and gives me heart hands 🫶. She's not yet used to having hands, so the heart looks more like an H. But it's still cute. Well anyway she randomly ran up and gave me a hug. I know the standards say I'm not supposed to hug children, but I cant do anything about getting hugs. The family thought it was cute too, so we're good. Then after a long day of not much success we come to our lesson with Theo. He's awesome. We shared our message, and he shared some of the things he’s going though and I could see that our message was inspired and truly for him. The spirit was really strong and we all left feeling strengthened. We also got free food which was nice.

On Sunday the family who was giving us lunch said they wouldn't be able to receive us until 1pm. When we found this out, we were already on our way. So we got off of the van early and did some visits in that neighborhood. We ended up finding a less active family and they were happy to receive us and commit to coming to church next week. So there's the tender mercy this week. Would not have happened if we had lunch right away.

SummaRio:

1. 20 fuscas, 783 total

2. Went to Brazilian Costco

3. Taught some millionaires, dominated at ping pong

4. Zone conference was lit

5. I got a hug from a girl 😯

6. Delay in lunch meant we could find some new people (they were actually pretty old)

Spiritual thought:

Repentance cannot be realized if it is incomplete. Our president spoke about this and how we can't just commit to keeping the commandment we broke, but need to recommit to keeping all the commandments. This really struck a chord with me. In pondering the principle, I came across an object lesson. This day, I was wearing my suit. Everything was in order, I was looking my best. Shaved in the morning, did my hair all perfect, brushed my shoes clean, ironed my shirt, pulled hair and scrubbed marks off my suit, made my beautiful tie perfectly knotted and set off. Everything was in order. But the fact that I was carrying a freaking bucket ruined the entire look. Just a big black bucket.  You can clean up your look by doing lots of things, but you won't look good if you got an ugly bucket at your side. We need to clean everything in order for the change of one thing to mean anything.

Fotos:

1. Somehow my garbage phone can take good eye shots

2. Mayara and Marcelo, Thursday's dinner/car show

3. Matando saudades de oreo e leite

4. Lasanha de chocolate?

5. Loja bem colorida

6. Bom meme

7. Ping pong

8. Foosball

9. Membros podem participar online!!

10. Nossa zona + os APs

11. My little fan

12. Big bike

13. Nosso distrito

Week 2, holding up strong

 (Elder Putnam)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I present to you my 1st two week email streak since the MTC.

This week's main event was MLC, when I got to see Elder Nolan again. The Estonian ZL's stayed with us and brought chocolate and juice down.

On Tuesday we had district counsel which is essentially a district counsel with other districts on a zoom call. We did it with Tallin and Vilnius since they have most similar style of work to us. Afterwards we visited the Šostaki in their garden. We walked by the river on the way and there were a ton of people sunbathing there. We all just had to look down. The šostaki taught us what it meant when in the doctrine and covenants it says "be thou humble and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand..." When we got to the garden we ate some weird berries, Sister šostaka taught us how to properly wash our hands (I got it wrong the first time). We also ate waffles with jam with them. It was great. I'll include some pictures.

Tuesday was also Elder Woods' year mark so he made a video for that. As according to year mark tradition he was in the shower bath with something eatable/drinkable, this time a kebab.

On Wednesday we had a finding activity for MLC. Nothing crazy there. But we did film an awesome video for the Latvian Come Unto Christ Facebook page.

Thursday we had MLC and we decided to get rid of our mission focus in order to more fully focus on our missionary purpose. We also decided that all communications between missionaries within the Baltic mission need to be checked by our companions. That includes transfer notes but excludes notes from departing missionaries for some reason. So that doesn’t apply to me. lol

Friday and Saturday didn't really have much going on.

On Sunday however I had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament meeting. I felt inspired to speak on the sacrament itself and its importance in enduring to the end. I didn't prepare much to share, but I was able to speak as guided by the Spirit which was a really good experience.

On that note, I am preparing a training for  the missionaries at zone conference about receiving revelation, especially in regard to finding. If you have an experience from your own mission about following the guidance of the Spirit while finding on the street please share it. I'd love to tie it into the training.

Conference talk of the week: Christlike Poise from Mark A. Bragg

pictures:

1. a Georgian drink that tastes like cough syrup

2. and 3. pictures from the Šostaki's garden