Our Last Zone Conference in Riga

Who would have known that our last Zone Conference as missionaries would be so enjoyable? It really was...maybe we are finally understanding what missionary work is all about.   Maybe it was the homemade soup Sister Davis brought so she wouldn't have to eat a sandwich. Maybe it was the great training we got about avoiding distractions that can keep people from learning about the gospel..like saying "Ummm" too often, twirling your hair, swinging your foot, etc....these things show you are nervous.  Well, Sister Davis can understand the nervous part...think about it, these young missionaries are talking about religious topics to complete strangers, of course they are nervous. But they quickly get so used to sharing their beliefs with people on the street, they lose their nervousness. A good missionary appears confident, dignified and well dressed.  Like these great missionaries!

Just kidding!  

These missionaries are having a light-hearted moment showing off their new fur hats.  If anybody had told Sister Davis there was going to be a hat "photo shoot" she would have brought hers! There are some seriously great hats in that photo...

 except for the one that looks like a German Shepherd.

Elder Schmidt and Driggs, happy to be in Riga with all the other missionaries. Elder Schmidt will be leaving for home before Elder and Sister Davis will.

Sister Weaver and Sister Lubberink brought pastries with them when they arrived.

                                                                                 Elder Schnepf and Elder Takasaki                                                                                         both Russian speaking.

Elder Ormsby and Elder Bland

Poor Elder Morgan was sick with the flu. So a couch was put in the chapel far away from the other missionaries where he could relax, and not get anyone sick...and still participate in the conference. He had a microphone he used when he wanted to say something. What a trooper!





Sister Nelson and Sister Peterson...you remember them from the Liepaja post, don't you?





        Elder Dickson and  Elder Taylor

Elder Schnepf and Elder Wadsworth

Elder Keller and Elder Gingerich

                                                                                  Elder McClellen and Elder Stucki

Sisters Kerr, Clark and Gallacher

Elder Christensen, Elder Bird, Elder Davidson and Elder Cook

Sister Boswell, Sister Peterson, Sister Lubberink, & Elder Schnepf

Seriously, it was a great zone conference to end our mission.  We felt the love of our fellow missionaries and at the end of the day, all the missionaries who would be going home before the next zone conference were asked to bear their testimonies.  That was a hard thing to do.  Sister Davis knew it would be hard and said to her mission president as she is walking to the podium, "I don't want to do this!" Her mission president came up to stand beside her and said, "Let me tell you about a Sister who just went home and got to Frankfurt Airport to find a blizzard had closed the airport and she couldn't get a flight home for over 24 hours!"
Sister Davis looks at her mission president and says, "Thanks a lot, President. That makes me feel so much better about going home."  Our flight will be 11 1/2 hours long!  Enough said.

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!

One Baptism, One Homecoming

Sometimes, when a missionary finishes his mission and goes home,  his home branch will plan a homecoming party for him.  The tiny satellite branch of Riga 1st,  located in Jelgava, (about 45 min. south of Riga) had one of their members coming home from  his mission in Samara, Russia.  At the same time, Artures, the young man who attended our YSA mini-conference wanted to get baptized. The most logical thing is to have both events at the same time....and that is what we did the first Saturday in March (2013).

 We met Verners, the RM (returned missionary),  the first Sunday he was home in Jelgava. He is a quiet and humble young man. We found out he was having a hard time adjusting to his post-missionary life.  He lives with his mother in very humble circumstances....in a small home with no electricity or running water.  Many of the Europe East Saints improve their lifestyle considerably by going on missions. They get used to a higher standard of living and they struggle coming home and not knowing what they should do with the rest of their lives.  They face the pressures of school, work, and family issues that they didn't have on their missions and they have to learn to deal with those problems all over again.

Artures (Arthur) is also from Jelgava, and, after being taught about the Church by the missionaries, wanted to get baptized.  What a tender mercy from the Lord that Verners came home from his mission at that same time.  They can strengthen each other.
Jelgava is such a small branch (15 people?) that to have another young man in it,  is truly a blessing for Artures.  And so Verners was asked to perform Artures baptism.

Elders Bird, Christenson, Verners, Artures, Elders Cook and Davidson.

Below,  is a really bad picture of Artures AND Sister Davis but the only one we have of him after his baptism. Artures not only got flowers at his baptism but also chocolate candy, cards and a journal and new pen.

Elder Gingerich and Elder Bland

                     Elder Massey





We have seen this young missionary really blossom since he first came out. Elder Keller is still a little shy, but he seems to have fully adjusted to the rigors of missionary work and goes about with a smile on his face now.

Some missionaries have a harder time adjusting to the total change in their environment, that missionary work requires.  Sister Davis didn't get over her feelings of "being a fish out of water" for 6 months or more.  Most every missionary adjusts to the new life they are living and they come to the realization, the work they do is of far greater importance than what they ever imagined....

Elder Baxter, Kristaps (his baptism is next week) and Elder Bergeson

Elder Morgan will soon be leaving us...how sad. He brings such a happy spirit into the room wherever he is. We have one more zone conference with him.

Sister Lubberink (Holland), Elder Mickelson, Sister Kerksiek

Elder Gingerich with Elder Takasaki.  They were teaching a free English class after the baptism. Teaching English is a way for the missionaries to serve the Latvian people. The classes are free to anyone who is willing to come and participate.

After the baptism was over, it was time for the Missionary Homecoming....  

Welcome Home Verners!

We gathered all those who wanted to celebrate into a separate room, had lots of snacks and cupcakes and played a game called
What can you do to help Verners?

Linda Cekule (below, orange shirt) helped organize this little party. The game was her idea and it was a good one. On little slips of paper, she wrote reasons we came to the homecoming party for Verners.

Each person chose one slip of paper and then had to read it to the rest of the group.  We read things like: "I came to see Verners to day to show off my shoes"....and then you had to do that.  "I came to see Verners to teach him how to drive".   "I came to see Verners so I wouldn't have to wash my dishes at home"....

There were  serious and funny things and we all had a good laugh at why people came to Verners homecoming.  Even little Emily Cekule enjoyed herself!



One of reasons we had this homecoming was to collect some money for Verners since he had no money and no job.  The senior missionaries chipped in a bit  of cash and put it in a card which we all signed.

Then we gathered for a group picture before "pigging out" on the refreshments. Wait! Who is not looking at the camera? Rick (from Holland) is reading the Latvian welcome home sign...turn around Rick!

Left to Right:

Christina & her little sister, Artures, Elina, Alex, Dainis,Rick, Verners, Kristaps, Agneta, Linda, Ritvars, Ritvars mom with Emily, ?, ?, Aivars,  Sister Davis, Aleksejs, Elder Davis, Sister Millet, Elder Millet

 

Verners and his many friends!