The Many Faces of Daugavpils

Daugavpils is a city of many faces. It is located in Eastern Latvia very near the border of Belarus (which is now a part of our Baltic mission).  There have been people living here since 1275. Daugavpils is regarded as a "Russian city" as the majority of the residents are Russian. Under Soviet occupation the city was mostly used for industrial purposes and since Latvia got it's independence the city has been neglected.  It has many churches and beautiful old buildings and is full of history and the city seems to be in the process of improving it's image .

For lunch, we found a restaurant on the 7th floor of a hotel where we could enjoy a view of the city.

Elder Davis wanted to show Elder & Sister Adams the "Fortress" that we had briefly visited on our last visit to Daugavpils, so that is what we did.

The Daugavpils Fortress is part of the historical past of Imperial Russia.  In 1810,  when Napoleon was bent on world conquest,  Russian War Minister, Barclay de Tolly (Sister Davis just finished reading War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy) wanted to build a fort in Dinaburg (now Daugavpils)  that could hold 4,500 soldiers, to keep the invaders out of Russia.   Tsar Alexander I liked the idea and wanted it equipped with 595 cannons. It wasn't completed before Napoleon's army attacked in July 1812.  It held off the French army for a short while and then was overtaken. Napoleon didn't occupy it for long and work was started back up on it. It is in remarkable shape for it's age and the place is HUGE!

During WWII, the Nazi's used Daugavpils fortress area as a concentration camp -“Stalag-340”, where thousands of people were killed and tortured. According to estimates, over 15,000 Jews lived in the "ghetto" under a commandant who was known for his extreme cruelty. After WWII, part of the fortress, was transformed into a prison for particularly dangerous prisoners.

There are a lot of stories to tell about the part this fortress played in the Holocaust (we have local books on the subject) but what is interesting, is that none of the signs tell you anything about that period of history.  It is as if nothing about the Holocaust ever took place here.  There is one small sign, in several languages that explain why the fortress was built and by whom but nothing is mentioned about this being "Stalag 340".  That information you have to find yourselves... in books or online.

As we drive in through the narrow tunnel ...we notice a lot of construction work going on.



A sign tells us the fortress is undergoing a cultural heritage renovation. The city with private partners has plans to make the whole compound into a new "upscale" tourist destination, that includes a business, cultural and art centre.   See photo below:

It is a little ironic, that the plans include a "Rothko Art Centre" in the Old Arsenal building.  Mark Rothlowitz, later changed to Rothko (1903-1970),  was a world-famous abstract artist, born in Dvinsk, Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia). His family followed the path of many Latvian Jews, they immigrated to the United States in 1913.  In 2007, one of his paintings appropriately called "White Center" (photo below)  sold for 72.8  million dollars....

...no wonder Daugavpils wants to claim him as one of "their own".

We are glad to have seen the fortress in a more "natural state".  You can really get a feel for the history that took place here still. Within a few years,  the fortress won't be recognizable as a military compound at all.   

The yellow building below was the hospital and plans are already approved for renovation.  It is a big and once beautiful building.

These cannon may be the only thing in the future that will show that this was once a military garrison.

You can see the brick road is nearly finished in front of this building.





Some of the buildings need a lot of work but you can see why we could get a feel for the history while walking around the fortress.

  

Some of the buildings are in sad shape....

... and yet we discovered that people were living in some of the buildings and there was even a small store on the bottom floor of one of them.



 We finally saw this small sign on a brick building....we aren't sure what it says but the dates make it a WWII memorial of some kind.

A few kilometers up the road from the fortress was a small sign...

Since kapi is the Latvian word for cemetery and facism is what the Soviets called the Nazi's this must be the place Elder Davis was trying to find.

The white monument is the memorial for all the Soviet POW's buried here.

And this little slab of granite near a grassy area,  says....

"The remains of prisoners of the Daugavpils ghetto are buried here."

In several mass graves....

But small as the marker is reminding us of what happened here,  at least there was a memorial.

And as we drove back into Daugavpils we got to see another side of the city.  Now Riga has some pretty nice church buildings but the ones we saw in Daugavpils are really special. 

 

First, is the very small Eglise Orthodox Church. It is blue and white cute-ness!

Next we found the  all-white Church of the Virgin Mary....

St. Mary's Church of the Old Believers decked out in pink and very colorful....

The all brick Martin Luther Church...

We are sorry but we don't know the name of this pink and white cutie....

But the most grand church in Daugavpils is arguably,  the Boris and Gleb Russian Orthodox Church....it's pretty fancy!

It is amazing the architecture we see here. Every design intricate and beautiful.

Daugavpils is definitely a city of many faces!

A Day in Daugavpils

Elder & Sister Adams needed to go to Daugavpils to give talks.   Elder & Sister Davis needed to go to Daugavpils to have a recognition ceremony for the one student who finished institute for the year. It just made sense to combine the trip and have some fun together. So we headed out bright and early Sunday morning. We needed to get to the church in Daugavpils  by 11:00AM and it was a 4 hour drive.

 

 It was a nice day and we were happy to be on the road again....

though Elder Davis was very tired from driving to Liepaja the day before.

 

One of us noticed some white birds on hay bales.....

so we stopped the car to get a closer picture:  A row of Storks!

                                        Storks are getting ready to fly south for the winter...

We made it in record time thanks to our GPS and as usual, the Saints in Daugavpils were happy to see us and we were warmly welcomed.  There were a lot of people there and we met the newest members of the ward...a family with five children, a rare thing in Latvia. The Daugavpils members are a happy lot and seem to love meeting together.

 

The Adams gave wonderful talks in Sacrament meeting  (and surprise! Sister Davis was asked to speak about Institute). Then we attended a Sunday School Class on the importance of families. The recent convert and father of the five kids, talked about how his family is the most important thing in his life. His family lives outside of Daugavpils and they travel an hour by bus to church, stay at church for three hours,  and get on the bus for an hour ride back home.  This family is sacrificing not just their time to attend church, but the expense of 7 bus tickets. What a sweet testimony he had and how quickly he showed his dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

 After class, Sister Davis and Sister Adams went into a room and started setting up for our special recognition ceremony.  We bought 4 different kinds of cakes from the Rimi bakery....the saleslady said all of them are liked by Latvians. We forgot to tell her, the members in Daugavpils are mostly Russian speaking.  But we didn't need to fear, cake (kuka) is well liked by everyone! 

President Spalvans gave the certificate to the one young man who actually finished the Old Testament course of study for the year 2012.

 

  And the photo above, is the one we put on our "Too Busy to Blog!" post which was 6 posts ago. Sister Davis is trying to make up for lost time.

 

 Alexandrs was grinning from ear to ear as he accepted his award. We later found he has posted a picture of his certificate on his Facebook page.  Isn't that the sweetest thing? He was justifiably proud of his accomplishment, and wanted to share it with the world.

 

 

 

 

And someone else needed recognition...Sister Spalvans, the teacher! She was the one who made sure Alexandrs would finish the course. A big bouquet of flowers was given to thank her for her dedication to teaching the Old Testament course.

 

See those "kukas" on the table ready to be served? The whole branch was invited to this celebration and Elder & Sister Davis were hoping that four cakes would be enough.

 

 

And there was enough cake! Some people even got seconds. 

 

 

And because Daugavpils seldom has visitors, we were given the royal treatment. Two little girls made cards in Primary written in Latvian and one was given to Sister Adams and one was given to Sister Davis thanking them for coming.   In the background are Sister Sandberg and Sister Lubberink.

We felt we had given service to the Saints in Daugavpils.  They felt our love because we showed we cared about them.  That's why we are on a mission...because we are needed and though we seem to do just small things, we get warm, uplifting feelings as we bless the lives of others.

 Another successful day in the life of two CES missionaries assigned to the Baltic States!

 

 

Teacher Training Day

This is the church building in the small coastal town of Liepaja, Latvia.  Elder & Sister Davis drove here with Noemi & Tatiana to have teacher training for the institute teachers of Latvia.   We had planned a day of classes, workshops and pizza lunch. We were handing out supplies and manuals for the new institute year to the teachers. This is what CES missionaries are supposed to be doing to promote the seminary and institute programs of the church. 

Teachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ have been given a sacred trust.  They have the responsibility to teach gospel  doctrines and principles:  truths that are unchanging.  These truths have the power to change students behavior if they will apply what they are taught.  We know that the prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon said:  "Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness."Alma 41:10

That is an example of a gospel truth.

The truth that is taught in class needs to go from the minds of the students, into the hearts of the students, by the power of the Holy Ghost. That is when they will actually want to live what they have learned.

Now we just have to teach that method to the wonderful institute teachers in Latvia.

After Antti talked to the teachers about the course of study for the new year (the New Testament), Kristina gave a workshop on the use of "spiritual journals". 

 She showed how she teaches a concept and the students write what they learned from it into their personal journals.  That solidifies what they have learned in both their hearts and their minds. It's like taking notes in class but you are allowed to think about the meaning of what was said and not just write what the teacher said. 

"True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior." Elder Boyd. K. Packer

And her fellow institute teachers did just that... they pondered what she had said to them and wrote down their thoughts in their spiritual journals.

The next class was given by Tatiana, the Russian Institute teacher in Riga, and since it was all in Russian, Noemi who was translating for me didn't have a clue what was said and we didn't either.  But we could understand what Tatiana was demonstrating.   Her subject was using visual aids in the classroom and she was demonstrating how to have the students come up to the board and put the pictures of the Savior's life in chronological order.  The Liepaja branch president is helping her with the pictures.

"A study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior."

Her demonstration showed to us the power of visual aids in teaching in a new way. We couldn't understand what was being SAID, but we could learn from her because we SAW what she was teaching.

Noemi taught the next segment on using object lessons in teaching and she had three groups demonstrate an object lesson and then teach the concept behind it.

Then it was Sister Davis's turn. She taught (with the help of a translator) how to find the gospel principles (enduring truths) in the scriptures so the teachers could emphasize the most important part of the lesson.  It is quite a fun game....read a few scriptures and find out what the writer wanted you to learn from them. Sometimes you have to read  a whole chapter to find out and sometimes one scripture will have several gospel principles in it.

And thus we ended a wonderful day of training.  We thought it was a huge success... because it seemed to us that REAL learning was taking place, and most of the teachers were able to attend.
We say goodbye to Liepaja and leave for home.....

The church parking lot in Liepaja has got to be one of the best in the church...it even has a basketball court in the corner.

Institute classes start all over the Baltic the first week of September, and we will be in Riga observing the teaching and learning going on!

Back in Riga, after dropping off Noemi and Tatiana, we saw three missionaries on the street trying to talk to people and getting brushed off by all of them. We felt sorry for these hard working guys who just want to share the message of Jesus Christ with their fellow human beings. 

So we turned down the street, pulled our car over and said (a little loudly) out the window, "Hey, who would have guessed we would see Mormon Missionaries in Riga, Latvia! Can we take your picture?"

The missionaries turned around grinning (they probably all recognized Sister Davis's voice).
And Sister Davis said,  "Can I take your picture?"

Well, some of the people who brushed them off, suddenly became interested in them. They stopped to look and smiled to see "an American" lady taking pictures of the missionaries from a car.

We love our missionaries!  Elders Morgan, Baxter, and Davidson

All are hard working, clean cut, wonderful young men giving up two years of youthful service doing the Lords work....the hard work and discipline they are doing now, will make them remarkable men someday.

  

Pioneer Day-Jelgava Style

The state of Utah has a rather unique holiday that celebrates the courage, faith and perseverance of their ancestors. It is called Pioneer Day or more correctly, Days of '47.  Mormon pioneers were the first settlers in the Utah territory, led by President Brigham Young, to a place where they  hoped to be free from persecution and harassment.  A place where they could practice their religion in peace.

Church members around the world like to celebrate pioneer day to help remind them of what early church members went through to establish the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

The members in the Baltic are also pioneers. They need courage, faith and perseverance to keep the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prospering in a place that often rejects doctrine we teach.

Mormons are still harassed for their religion...just this last week we had a young missionary that was kicked in the back (as he was turning to go down the stairs of an apartment building) by someone who just didn't like our church.  And these things aren't isolated incidents but are happening all over the world.  Our missionaries are often yelled at, punched and spit on for no reason other than they wear a name tag and suit.  Our missionaries are trained to not be pushy and walk away from those not interested in the message. Why people can't politely say, "I'm not interested" and leave it at that...just shows that Satan still puts hatred into the hearts of people everywhere.

Now, Pioneer Day is usually celebrated July 24th but we are often behind the times in Latvia.  On Aug. 11th, the tiny branch of Jelgava invited the members in Riga to a Pioneer Day celebration on the tiny lawn in front of their tiny building. Elder & Sister Davis decided to go.

And we were pleasantly surprised that  some of the members actually dressed up in pioneer clothing.

What are these two young missionaries doing below?   Stick pulling! A pioneer game that most every member of the church has played or watched.  This is Elder Schmidt and Elder Lynch (from Scotland).

The goal is to put feet together, bend your knees and pull on the stick with enough strength to pull the other guy up and over your head.  That didn't happen but Elder Lynch did end up with the stick!

Pioneer Boswell and his pioneer sweetheart made it to the party...

The young missionaries had been asking, and begging for a contest between Elder Davis and President Boswell but both were reluctant to compete. And then, with a little encouragement they decided to give it a try.....

Only, unbeknownst to everyone else (the wives were in on the secret), the two men had prearranged to just pretend to pull on the stick and act like they were really trying hard.... "grunt, ugh, umph", President really hams it up and most think he is really struggling against the mighty strength of Elder Davis. They start cheering him on.....

And then Elder Davis takes one hand off the stick to scratch his head and the stick doesn't move at all. President Boswell just keeps it in the same place....President Boswell starts laughing out loud...but some of the watchers still didn't get that it was a set-up...that neither of them was pulling on the stick. Elder Davis lets go of the stick and it still stays in the same place! President starts laughing for the sheer fun of it! Priceless...

Elder Davis putting the blame on President Boswell....hey, he has often told us when we have problems, "Don't worry, I've got your back".

 President Maksims Kornevs of the District Presidency is cooking the sashlik....what we call chicken kabobs. Everybody brought their own and he cooked them on this tiny BBQ.

After eating a wonderful array of food brought by everyone, it was time for playing musical chairs with country western music that was downloaded from the Internet....some of those songs were mighty strange!

Walk slowly and keep your eye on a chair......waiting for the music to start.....

 Start walking....

Music stops....Maksims is fighting for a chair.

Elder Davis is still in the game...

Music please.  Going around the corner is always the hardest spot to be in...

Who will lose their chair?

Sister Boswell (she was probably relieved!)

The numbers are getting smaller...

And people are getting more competitive....

And finally, two people are left...President and Rams.

We won't tell you who won....

but sometimes doctors ARE better than lawyers.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye!

The Family Home Evening Farewell for Elder Lauris Vanags was bittersweet.  All his friends came to wish him well on his mission.  We had a special dinner and he was given a goodie bag with all this favorite candy and snacks to take on the plane. He was leaving on a Tuesday morning for the  Madrid MTC and Elder & Sister Davis were entrusted to take him to the airport. 

Rams, Aivars, Rihard and Renars.....

Lauris explaining how he feels about leaving the next day. 

We are glad he is smiling, it mean's he's ready to go.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu, to you and you and you

Before you go Lauris,  Sister Davis has a couple of missionary tips that you need to learn. Let's make a game out of it!  First off is a shirt folding contest. Who can fold a white shirt just right, so it fits in a suitcase with very few wrinkles....? Let's show Lauris how to do it.....

Renars won!

Rudolfs looks envious....that fold looks professional.

Hope you caught how to do that Lauris!  You need that suitcase packed by tomorrow.

Now it's time for the tie-tying contest.  Who can tie their tie the quickest?

Elder Davis won but that wasn't fair...he has had lots more years of practice than these young fellows.  Lauris did pretty good himself.

 And then we had a clothes pin demonstration. Aivars, using four clothespins, could put four socks on the drying rack in seconds! Amazing to watch, he obviously has had a lot of practice hanging up socks.

No, Lauris...you need to go home and pack your suitcase!

Leaving his humble hotel room for the last time.....

Lauris has one large suitcase, one carry-on suitcase and a gym bag.

 

  

So long, farewell....

WAIT!

We have to go to President Boswell and get you set apart as a missionary first, then we go to the airport!

President Boswell is going to miss Lauris as much as we will.

But we all know that Lauris will make a great missionary and missions give you real life experiences that make you a better member of Christ's church.  After all, Jesus's best friends, his apostles, went on missions as he instructed them to.

One young woman, here in Riga, asked the missionaries why do you go around "bothering" people all the time. The answer the missionary gave?  If you had a really great gift given to you, wouldn't you want to share it with your brothers or sisters? 

 

The young lady said, "Probably." 

"Well, that is why missionaries share the "good news" of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We just want to share it with out brothers and sisters around the world. They can reject it or accept it, but we still need to share it." 



Elder Koltko & Lauris



All the Sisters (Millet, Davis, Adams) wanted a picture with the new missionary!

And finally, Lauris with us, two smiling senior missionaries who love this young man very much and want him to be happy always.  We are so proud of the choices he has made that have led him to serve a mission!

 And now time to go to the airport....

What a surprise we got when Lauris's friends started showing up there. They took buses from all over town to say their goodbyes.

Sister Davis, Aivars, Pres. Blums (Riga I Branch Pres.), Elder Vanags

We got there so early, his airline didn't even have a ticket booth open.  But of course, we didn't know that, and were standing in the wrong line for 15 minutes. Then when his airline opened up their booth, all of a sudden there were 20 people ahead of us in line....how does that happen?  There must be a "Murphy's law" that dictates how airline passanger lines form.

Renars, Aivars, Pres. Blums, Lauris and Juris

 And finally, it was time to head into the "ticketed passengers only" area. It was hard to say that final goodbye knowing that we wouldn't be in Riga when Lauris returns. Our mission is up in May 2013 and his will last until August 2014.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, Adieu

Adieu, adieu,

to you and you and you

And lest you think this is the end of our support for this special young man....we realize he will need lots of letters on his mission. Elder & Sister Davis wrote weekly letters to their three sons who served missions and we know how much work that is to do consistantly.  We also have seen first hand how much these young Elders crave letters from home. To get a letter in the mail is HUGE to them.  We will continue to support Lauris in the Ukraine with letters from us and all the YSA's who  know him.

Post Script:  Lauris loved the Madrid MTC (especially the food!) and even went out to a park to practice his missionary skills.  He was one of 6 Russian speaking missionaries in the MTC and we were told by the mission president that he was fearless in talking to people (even though he knows little Spanish!).  He arrived in the Ukraine mission and is doing well.

Homemade Pie- An American Tradition

Sister Davis saw some peaches the other day at the Central Market that just looked too good to resist.   Sister Davis loves peach pie, though her favorite pie is Olallieberry.  Olallieberries are a wonderful sweet blackberry found mostly on the central coast of California. 


Sister Davis used to hand pick her berries, freeze them and make Olallieberry pie for Christmas!



She hasn't seen any Olallieberries in Latvia so she had to settle for peaches.  


Normally, you wouldn't think twice about buying peaches and making a pie out of them, but in Latvia (where there are no pies) you wonder if you can find everything you might need. The first being a pie pan (yes, sister Davis realizes she could have made a peach cobbler instead but she really wanted a pie!)  A tart pan was found that was similar in size and scope to a pie pan.

A crust was made using a recipe found online similar to the one Sister Davis has at home (the Internet is wonderful!). And within a short time.....

....An absolutely spectacular, delicious, warm peach pie was born.  And with a little help from Latvian vanilla ice cream was quickly consumed.

Well, it happened again at the Central Market....Only this time, Sister Davis found blackberries! The sign said  1 L ($1.90) a box.  Sister Davis pointed to the blackberries and held up 5 fingers.  The saleslady said, "pieci?" in a surprised voice. 
Sister Davis just nodded yes, "Pieci".
She knew it would take at least five boxes to make a  blackberry pie...but that pie will have to wait. She is planning on making a blackberry pie for Christmas so she will make the filling and freeze it. It will totally be worth the wait!