Hodgepodge

hodge·podge  

noun~ a mixture of dissimilar ingredients; a jumble

That is what this blog post is...a hodgepodge of pictures we have recently taken that don't fit into a specific topic. So, Sister Davis decided to have a hodgepodge post. Hope you enjoy it.

Elder & Sister Croft serving in Russia as CES missionaries came by for a visa visit and we took them sightseeing. We had an enjoyable time showing them the beautiful sights of Riga and they were so appreciative they took us to dinner at Lidos. They are welcome to come back any time!

mish·mash   

Noun~ A collection or mixture of unrelated things;

Elder & Sister Ballstaedt, the "newest members" of the senior missionary couples serving in the Baltic have wanted to see the Baltic Sea ever since they got here. So, on their day away from the office, we took them to Jurmala...and were really surprised to see how frozen the Baltic Sea gets along the coast.

                                                See the big chunks of ice in the distance?   
                                                                 That is Baltic Sea. 
                                             The beach ends about where the people are standing.

We decided to walk out onto the frozen ocean. It is a little scary, because you can see water seeping between the chunks of ice where the tide still manages to come and go.

It was really cold that day about 17 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can see where the waves have pushed up big chunks of ice on top of other chunks of ice.

Elder Davis and Elder Ballstaedt inching their way to safety...

after Elder Ballstaedt's foot broke through a thin  part of the ice.

pot·pour·ri

                                                  noun~ A combination of incongruous things 

We ended up at an Uzbeki Restaurant.  We weren't even sure where Uzbekistan is...but the menu looked good.  Elder Ballstaedt is overcome with laughter at some witty remark that we made....probably about International Woman's Day.

We were there March 8th which happens to be International Woman's Day...which seemed to be a source of amusement for two male senior missionaries.  They kept joking about it. Sister Davis and Sister Ballstaedt thought Woman's Day was a great idea.  On this day, women are treated like queens.  They are given flowers, candy, etc.  Throughout most of Europe and Eastern Europe this day is the day you honor, not just mothers,....but ALL women. That way people who don't have children are honored for their contributions to society, as well as mothers.
When Sister Davis and Sister Ballstaedt sat down at the table, a male waiter came up and gave us each a tulip to honor us on woman's day. Our two companions just grinned.

These are the Uzbeki outfits the waitresses wore...

 col·lage 

                                                     noun~An assemblage of diverse elements

Marina came from Moscow to visit her fiance Dimitrijs, and ended up staying with us for four days.  It looks like the Davis Bed & Breakfast is back open for awhile. You might remember this engaged couple from our post "the Great Sushi Adventure".  They are such a joyful couple to be around. Marina is always laughing at something that is being said...her English is pretty good but Dimitrijs usually ends up translating everything into Russian for her.  And Dimitrijs is so sweet and soft spoken.  Elder Davis says he has a pure heart. 

Elder and Sister Davis have become semi-wedding planners.   Marina and Dimi , touched us deeply by their words. "We want you at our wedding so we need to get married before you leave for home." Currently their wedding is set for Friday, April 26th.  Friday seems an odd day for a wedding but they had to choose Friday because the Wedding Registration Hall isn't open on Saturday.  What can we say? A wedding place that isn't open on weekends....very odd.   In Latvia, they just say, "That's normal".

Here Dimi is modeling his new wedding suit...and grabbed Sister Davis to be in the picture.

Dimitrijs gave both Marina AND Sister Davis chocolate candy on Woman's Day. He's a good boy.

We asked the couple how much money  this wedding will cost and they didn't really know.  So we started calling  a few of the YSA's who got married in the last year to get an idea of what everything costs in Latvia.  We made a check-list of the things the couple needed to get done before the big day and about how much each one cost.   They will need to buy rings, reserve the wedding hall, get Marina's dress, etc.  They did manage to get the paperwork needed from the Russian embassy so Marina could get married in Latvia. They have a month and a half to get this wedding planned and Dimi is heading to the Spain MTC to teach Russian to a group of missionaries for a few weeks and Marina is taking a bus back to Moscow.  

We are keeping our fingers-crossed they can get everything done in time!

 med·ley

                                                   noun~ An often jumbled assortment; a mixture

Eva and Dainis were our guest speakers at Break-the-Fast.  We were surprised to only have 15 people show up for lasagna. We ended up with two 13x9" pans left over... of course it was put to good use: FHE potluck the next night.

Eva and Dainis talked about things the YSA's could do now to prepare for marriage...like learning to get along with a variety of people.  They said a marriage means compromise and learning to get along with each other.  Dainis soon realized that Eva is not a morning person. Eva quickly found out that after a long day at work, Dainis likes to relax and be left alone. Learning how to adjust to each other is something we can work on in all our relationships with other people.

mixed bag

noun~ A collection of dissimilar things; an assortment.

And now....Birthday time.  We have found that the YSA's loved to have their birthday recognized as much as they love having their pictures taken.  Their name days are even bigger events but we can't keep up with name days AND birthdays. So chocolate cupcakes for everyone.

Happy Birthday Elina...happy birthday to you!

grab bag

                                                    noun~ a collection of miscellaneous things

We see so many things in Latvia that would not be approved of in the United States. They don't have an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) here.  Elder Davis has been saving pictures of some of the hazards we face...these are old pictures...now many things (and streets) are covered with a thick sheet of ice.

So, imagine you are walking down the street and not watching where you are going....

Those are sharp sheets of metal jutting out into the sidewalk!

Sometimes there aren't any covers over the basement wells...just holes!

rag·bag

noun~ a confused assortment; jumble, a hodgepodge

 And the last bit of hodgepodge...Lauris Vanags.  Oops!  We mean Elder Vanags, the young adult we helped get on his mission. We love that happy-go-lucky kid and try to write him each week. His letters to us are a mixture of pigeon English and Latvian...we call it Latvish. He sent us a picture awhile back, of a Ukrainian man he was able to baptize.  He was so excited  to baptize someone he had been teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to, he said "step by step day by day end I love this mission. Feel very great this mission."  He also said it has been snowing so much,  "I feel I am snowman."  You gotta love that kid!