Hey y'all!
How are you? Like honestly, I want to hear how everyone is doing. I feel like people don't actually update me on their lives because that's kind of weird over email or whatever but I want to hear details of how you're all doing!
Anywho, this week has been pretty good. We actually weren't able to meet with Galena or talk to Askoldas over the phone, so that was kind of a bummer. But lots of good things happened, too.
For one, we had Zone Conference. I just gotta start by telling you that each language has a reputation in the Baltic mission. I guess it's best described by Harry Potter classifications: Lithuanian missionaries are Hufflepuff, Estonians are Slytherin, Latvians are Ravenclaw, and Russians are Gryffindor/Slytherin. Haha I tell you this because Lithuanian missionaries are just different from Russian ones. They're all really huggy and hilarious and just a hoot to be around. So Zone Conference was fun. The day before, I did an exchange with a sister that I came out with, Sister Grey. She took a year of Russian before her mission so she can speak really well. I was slightly terrified to go on an exchange with someone my age in the mission but it turned out to be a great learning experience. I was surprised with how much Russian I can comprehend and how well I can communicate when I'm not relying on my trainer. It forced me to listen a lot closer so I was actually able to translate a lot for Sister Grey when she didn't understand. We decided to advertise for English club with chalk on the sidewalk by where we live and that was really successful because we talked to almost everyone that walked by. Lots of people here speak English enough to have a very basic conversation and I've learned enough Lithuanian to start a conversation so it was good. After we were pretty much going to head home, a lady came and yelled at us because apparently it's illegal to draw on the sidewalk in Lithuania so we got our hineys outta there.
Oh! Funny thing about Zone Conference/Lithuania in general: people think that my voice is good here. And I really hope you understand I'm not saying this in a braggy way AT ALL. Do you realize how hilarious it is that my voice is considered good? I wish you could hear what it sounds like every sacrament meeting. I think anyone with an ability to stay on pitch is classified as a superstar here. It's the best because it makes me feel like I suddenly acquired this ability to be less than mediocre at singing.
Anyways, my district sang the musical number for Zone Conference. It was great. The people in my district are Elder Erekson (he was the group older than me in the MTC), E. Bell, E. Christensen (he goes home after this transfer) and E. Grant. They're all from Utah except for E. Bell. We all get along really well.
I told you last week that we had planned to go to Trakai, and that was awesome. The castle is kind of an island that you have to cross a few bridges to get over but it was sooo cool. The whole time I kept thinking how much Dad would have loved it (All of you probs would have loved it but I went to Paris with Dad and I remember how museums are kind of his thang). We were able to go inside and go through all the different towers. It's kind of like a museum in the fact that every room had artifacts & information about it. It's weird to think that the castle is technically in my area. It's a forty minute walk from the bus stop to the castle, and then it was another forty minutes to walk to the Elanskaya family afterwards. We had to cross this sketchy bridge that was just floating in the water and, as you can imagine, I was hyperventilating/cracking up the whole time. We went to their house to teach Alena again about baptism, which was really fun. It was her eighth birthday and we bought her a cheap Barbie doll and made the mistake of giving it to her before the lesson. The only toys she really has to play with are the stickers on the side of her dresser, so she was pumped about it.
Her mom, Christina, was making tacos for dinner but we couldn't stay because we had to walk about an hour to our bus stop. It's funny that the only reason members ever make tacos is for missionaries because missionaries are the ones who taught them how.
We went over to Ludmila's a few times last week to prepare her to receive her patriarchal blessing. She was sassy, as usual. She made us these cheese pastries that were the greasiest things ever. They tasted good, as always, but it was one of those things where you hate yourself after. Haha she is so good at cooking but it just hurts whenever she makes us eat.
I made her laugh pretty hard on Sunday. We are always the first ones to get to the chapel because S. Weaver likes to practice the hymns and I like to talk to people, and Ludmila was the first person to get there after us. She set her stuff down and was about to walk out of the chapel to hang up her coat when I said, "Ludmila! Tapeлка!" (Ludmila! Plate!) From the very first time that I went over to her house, she has quizzed me on the word for plate and I could neverrrrr remember. I don't know what was wrong with my brain but I would repeat it and then it would leave me forever. So it's been almost a month of her being frustrated with me. I finally wrote it down and memorized it, so when I said it to her, she was sooo jazzed. She was telling Alvidas about it during sacrament and cracking up all over again.
Do you remember me telling you about Margarita and Galena? Well on Saturday Elder Packham and Elder Hall asked us to help on a lesson with them. We ended up making cookies and while the cookies were baking, we taught them about the Plan of Salvation. It went really well. I just love both of them so much. Their house reminds me of Christmas for some reason. But anywho, they're both really funny. Elder Packham had brought the ingredients for the cookies and I guess that they had done an object lesson with the ingredients before so words like "faith" and "baptism" were written on the sugar and stuff. Elder Packham asked what we needed to add next and Margarita was like, "A cup of baptism." Haha and the whole time that we were making them, Galena was getting ready for work in the other room and singing "God Bless America" just to be a rascal. They're both such great people. They fed us lunch and it was essentially tons of mushrooms on top of mashed potatoes. Get this--I didn't even blink. Ate it, no problem. That's improvement, right? Haha I don't think I'll be too picky by the time that I get home.
This week is going to be insaaaane because we are in charge of putting together this gigantic Book of Mormon that we can use in a finding activity with members and we're switching apartments with E. Packham and E. Hall. If it sounds like we are with them all the time, it's because we are. Haha I don't know whose idea it was to assign both of our companionships to this board but it has to be professional looking and with our limited budget it's looking grim. Haha but I'll let you know how that goes.
Saturday was also Radvilė's baptism. She's a Lithuanian girl who just turned eighteen. She's been waiting to be baptized for two years and four months, but her dad never gave her permission. Since her birthday was last week, she was finally able to. It was such a happy day! Something super funny that happened was that after the whole service was over, everyone lined up with flowers and congratulations. A lady who she's met maybe once but is just investigating the church went up to her and started belting out Ave Maria at the top of her lungs in an opera voice. You could tell that Radvilė felt so awkward; it was hilarious. Sister Weaver got it on video, thankfully.
But yeah, life has been really good. I was reading in 1 Nephi--I don't remember which chapter, but it was a short one where Nephi was basically just saying that he was going to write the history of his people on a separate set of plates and he would write the things of God and the ministry of his people on the small plates that turned out to be the Book of Mormon. It made me think about the fact that the only thing that really matters in the end is the ministry of people--their miracles, faith, lessons, trials, and spiritual experiences. These are the things that help their posterity the most. It made me wonder what we are doing to record our ministry today. Are we writing down the things that actually matter? Are we even ministering to other people in the first place? What can we do to more actively share what strengthens us? Honestly, I feel like before my mission I was so terrified to share what makes me strong because I thought people would think that I was trying to get them baptized or something. What I didn't realize is that I was keeping them from growing like I had. What we have in this gospel is applicable to everyone--it's not just for Mormons. It's for anyone who's ever felt like they could use some help in becoming a better person or who just wants to feel like they're doing the right thing with their life. I hope that you can remember that you're all placed in other peoples' lives for a reason--that you each have knowledge that will strengthen someone else.
I love you all and I hope that your week goes swimmingly. As always, give my nephews and niece hugs up the wazoo for me.
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