YSA= Young Single Adult
Conference= classes, workshops, activities, dances, fun
Theme: Encircled in the arms of His love.
Place: Kraukli Guest House, Salacgriva, Latvia
Well, FINALLY! We finally have the opportunity to share what we did for four days at YSA Conference. Elder & Sister Davis had a grand time even though we slept on bunk beds for four nights, ate a lot of porridge (well Elder Davis did anyways) and had our coats on more often then not.
Monday, August 20, 2012:
We meant to get an early start to Salacgriva, but we needed to stop by the church to make sure Marta was there and to help everyone get organized. Marta (as a student council rep) was in charge of getting the YSA's from Latvia and Lithuania on the chartered bus. When we got there, we found that Zane (who had registered the night before) only had flip-flops to wear. Sister Davis was concerned about that....we were heading to a forest after all, it was turning cold and Zane couldn't afford to buy any shoes. 
And then Elder Davis said we needed to get a microphone for the dance workshop. We couldn't find one at the church that had the right plug-in, so we decided to try and find shoes and a microphone on our way out of town.
We were calm...after all, every big event has to have some snafu's, right? But now we were getting a later start than we planned and had to make a couple of stops along the way. No one seemed to know where we could buy a microphone, so finding one may be a problem....hmmm.
Well, we set out with faith and drove to a shopping center to find a pair of shoes for Zane.
On the way, Sister Davis says, "Hey lets try Elkor! We've never been there, maybe they will have a microphone."
It was sweet inspiration....
We walked into this pricey department store and couldn't believe our eyes....they have everything, and on the second story we found a microphone with three different plugs. Wahoo! What a tender mercy, a microphone in the very first store we entered. You might think that isn't such a big deal, but then you probably haven't shopped in Latvia. We knew a miracle when we saw it.
Another stop at Jysk and we found a pair of fake crocs for Zane to wear, and finally we headed north to the great outdoors.
On the way, we got a frantic call from Marta. The chartered bus came early, the Lithuanians were late and no one knew where the three people from Daugavpils were. The bus was parked in the front of the church and a policeman told the driver he couldn't park there. The driver yelled at Marta and she was nearly in tears. While she was talking to us, the Lithuanians showed up and Sister Davis said, "Marta calm down. I will call Daugavpils and ask the Elders if the YSA's are coming. In the meantime, get everyone on the bus."
A quick call to Daugavpils revealed the three YSA's decided not to come after all (nice of them to let us know). A call back to Marta and the bus full of YSA's were on their way north, too.
Crisis averted....and we had less time then ever to get to Kraukli, find rooms for the chaperone's, set up signs and put out balloons to to show the way.
We managed to do everything but the balloons. That, Elder Davis did after all the YSA's arrived since we had other people coming during the week who probably didn't know the way to Kraukli.
Elder & Sister Bonner showed up from Estonia, to help set up. At the registration table, the YSA's were assigned a "fruit group". We had apples, pears, oranges and bananas. Each group was a mixture of guys and gals from each country. After all, we were trying to mix them up so they could meet each other and maybe find their "true love". Each group would be mixed together with other groups all week long.
Sister Bonner, Darja, and Sister Flake helping register the YSA's.
Rihard is an apple....
Romans is a banana.
Sister Davis is puzzled....
She now had a camp full of "fruits" that needed tending...
so she gave instructions to Dimitrijs who was helping with the "Getting to Know you Games".
Antti taught a new game out on the lawn. Kubb (pronounced keb)) is a Swedish lawn game that has become quite popular. The object is to knock over wooden blocks by throwing wooden sticks at them. Simply described its part bowling and part horseshoes.
Marta's turn....
Monday was the warmest day of the week.
Antti, holding Magnus, Sister Davis and Tomas.
This was Juris's first YSA conference and he was excited to be here!
Elder Davis rang the big iron bell and with a little encouragement everyone came to the gathering place outside the dining hall. Sister Davis gave instructions to everyone on meals, schedule, etc ....
Olga, Aleksejs, Kristine, Dimitrijs, Roman and Rihard
We can only hope.
Tomas, Marina, Anton, Vitali, and Valerija
After dinner, the boys played basketball.....
And then it was time for Family Home Evening or rather YSA Home Evening. Elder Gvido Senkans, and his lovely wife were giving the lesson.
Photo below: Front row: Zane, Aivars, Juris
Middle row: Kristine, Marta, Dimitrijs, Renars, Dimitrijs P.
Back row: Elder Bonner, Sister Flake, Roman, Rihard, Aleksejs, Qi (Chi), Sister Davis
After Home Evening, Sister Davis and Marta were in charge of "campfire". But since it was cold, we moved our program to the dining hall. After singing the usual camp songs, black socks, Chick-a-Boom and having a rat race or two....we had a tie tying contest.
Elder & Sister Davis visited with the other senior couples and then went to bed....that is what was nice about YSA Conference, they are all adults and can take care of themselves (for the most part).
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Not everyone was up early for Institute class. One cabin of girls hadn't stirred, so all the early risers, stood outside their door and sang until the girls showed up. We divided the fruit groups into three classes.
Elder & Sister Davis were smart enough to have the same "pondering in the forest" class they did in youth conference. This time we had towels for the girls to sit on and a few chairs. We didn't have any mosquitoes this time but it was chilly in the morning (who would have thunk that in August!).
We had YSA's tell us they really enjoyed pondering and reading scriptures in nature. One YSA said he wants to do this more often, it really helped him focus.
After breakfast....
Elder & Sister Senkans taught the YSA's about dating, Baltic style. You see the YSA's don't date.... NO, REALLY! they don't date! If you ask someone out on a date, it's paramount to saying, "you're the one for me"....so what boy wants to date someone knowing the girl will think it means commitment?
So, instead of "dating" young men and women just hang out together and never get to know each other well enough to know if they are compatible or not.
Sister Senkane went through the stages of dating and told the YSA's that even though this was something "foreign" to their culture it was the best way to find out if someone was a good match for them. And that dating meant spending time alone with someone, not just being in groups.
After that "pep talk" it was time for speed dating...and Elder Davis was in charge of that. He had it all organized with chairs scattered all over the big field. Every seven minutes he rang the bell and the boys rotated to another girl. He ran the speed dating like a well-oiled machine.
And because we had more males then females, three young men had to rotate out. It's a rare thing when you have more males than females at a YSA event.
And because we had more males then females, three young men had to rotate out. It's a rare thing when you have more males than females at a YSA event.
Aliona & Marek
Each couple had to figure out how to communicate with each other. Most of them had to cope speaking in something other than their native tongue. Latvians can't speak Estonian. Estonians don't speak Lithuanian....the two common languages are either English or Russian.
It looks like the couple below are dancing but Marina is really teaching Maksims a martial arts move ....while they are speed dating... an interesting "getting to know you" strategy.
Olga and Tambet getting you know each other....
Marina has some interesting speed dating ideas....
Dimitrijs is carrying her across a bridge, a Russian newlywed tradition.
Dimitrijs is carrying her across a bridge, a Russian newlywed tradition.
We were surprised at how much everyone loved speed dating! Dimitrijs said he wants to do that every year and we heard only good things about it.
After lunch....
We had a Family History workshop with Pablo Garaguso, the Nordi-Baltic Family Search Specialist. Pablo is a great guy...an Argentinian who married a Finnish girl and now lives in Finland. This is the second time he has met with the Baltic YSA's and he says there is something special about the youth here. He has noticed they don't have any malice towards anyone and aren't judgemental....and he is right, we have noticed the same thing. The Baltic youth are very accepting of everyone they meet.
Brother & Sister Serihs role playing how to get oral histories from your grandma.
And finally after a long day....it was FREE TIME! The YSA's could do whatever they wanted...so Aivars decides he needs pictures of bees. Say what? Yes, he opened up the hive box and took pictures of bees as they were swarming around him.
Wouldn't volleyball be safer? Elder Davis seems to think so.
Antti pushes....wait.... Antti is pushing Qi (pronounced Chee)?
Qi is Chinese (from Shanhai, China) and studying at Tallin University. He is an atheist and is now taking missionary lessons. Everyone loved Qi! He was a lot of fun and spoke very good English. Whenever we took a picture, Elder Davis would say, "Everybody say Chee!"
Dimitrijs D. decided to play basketball with Viktorija.
And some of the "fruits" just wanted to plan their skit for campfire.
Campfire started at 7:30 each evening. Tuesday was Lithuania's turn to conduct.
Sister Flake helped them out by leading the music.
Elder Flake told a story about his ancestor Jacob Hamblin....
The next skit was on.... surprise! DATING, Baltic style.
With the YSA's hamming it up for the audience.
The next skit was about the Brother of Jared from the Book of Mormon....
if you don't know the story, we encourage you to read the book :).
The girls have a hard acting job....they are stones.
Dimitrijs is the brother of Jared.
The audience is really getting into it!
And now it's time for the DANCE!
And Juris quickly asks Brigita to dance! Rihard asks Anya... and soon everyone is dancing. This was way easier than getting the youth to dance at youth conference.
Everyone was having a hecka good time.....
Even Elder & Sister Davis!
Now, it was time to give these YSA's a little privacy,
so they can get to know each other a little better!
We settled down for the night in our uncomfortable bunk beds
and left the young folks to their dancing.
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