Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

                                                                         

Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need?
Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?
If not, I have failed indeed.                                    LDS Hymns 223

                                                 

Here we are, two Senior Mormon Missionaries assigned to the Baltic States Mission  to work with young people.... but are we really doing any good here? We will let you be the judge as we share,  in this post, a week of our lives here in the Baltic.

But don't think this is a typical week...there really isn't such a thing as a typical week for us, except for Mondays;  Mondays, of course, are reserved for our Family Home Evening get-togethers but every other day gives us something different, largely depending on our emails. 

"What?" you ask Sister Davis, "How do your emails change what you do each day?"

Most of our communications with others come by emails....we are asked to teach, go places, do things, and when we check our emails (several times a day) we get new instructions of things we need to do. Other missionaries will often call us on our cell phones and ask us to do things but mostly we deal with emails.

Usually one incoming email requires several outgoing emails....we are trying to set up a YSA conference AND a youth conference and though we have a facility ready to secure, the Area funds haven't actually secured them....and that is just the beginning. But let us share one week of  our mission with you and see what you think. Maybe you will want to come take our places in a year....

Okay, we will readily admit, Mondays can be hectic...Family Home Evening has been averaging a large number of young adults...and that requires a grocery shopping excursion every Monday.

The soup was nearly gone for this picture...two pots full. This Monday we had 21 people show up not including E/S Davis!

A full house but everyone loves to gather at the apartment and we had 6 people who weren't members of our church come for  the fun. 

Some of the best youth in all of Latvia come to our apartment... though no matter where you are, anywhere in the world, it seems someone has to put "bunny ears" on the person next to them in a photo

Thursday was an all new experience...we got a phone call on Monday from Noemi asking if we would help drop off the quilts the RS sisters had been making to the local children's hospital (slimnica). Of course, we said we would! A new adventure for us...

So we head to the church where Elder Davis illegally parks because there are never enough parking spaces in downtown Riga. He sits with the car while Sister Davis goes upstairs to open the door for Noemi. Linda shows up (she's the only native Latvian going and we need her language skills!) and helps us carry the bulky quilts down to the car.

Drive across the city to Jugla....arrive at the hospital about 11:00AM and of course there isn't any parking in the tiny parking lot, so....

....we leave Elder Davis in the car once again (double parked) and we get the quilts out of the back...

pile them in to our arms...

...walk into the hospital and purchase some plastic booties to put over our shoes to keep disease out...walk through several wings of the hospital and finally we are greeted by a very friendly nurse who was delighted with the donation of 18 quilts . The hospital is in desperate need of money to do improvements and since the medicine here is a socialistic system, the government doesn't have the money needed to update this very busy children's hospital. 

It was sad for Sister Davis to see how much work this hospital needs to be updated. The room above is the play room for the kids and it was in good shape...that's because this room has a company "sponsoring" it. The company pays to keep this room updated with toys, furnishing and carpeting.

The nurses were quick to tell us they need donations of flooring, paint, equipment and other things but they just don't have enough sponsors to take care of all their needs. The  vinyl floor was old, patched with a variety of patterns and was tacked down in places to keep it from curling up.  The nurses decorate the hallways with pictures the children draw while in the hospital to make it more cheerful.

This is a bed with one of our quilts on it. These small children's beds had a sheet and a lightweight throw on the top and nothing else. When Noemi was in the hospital with her baby, she said her kids were cold and the nurses said they didn't have any blankets to give her. That is why she organized this service project.

These dedicated nurses who work for such little pay and in such humble circumstances are doing the best they can. They said if we want to do another project, they could use pillow cases in bright colors to help perk up the rooms.....good idea!

Friday,  Davis woke up with a gastro-intestinal problem. She doesn't know where it came from because she has been eating the same thing Elder Davis has been. But because she was feeling punk she stayed home and mended a few of her clothes, read scriptures and played word games. She tried watching TV but not much was on BBC or CNN and everything else is dubbed in Latvian or is in Russian. It can be comical to see Nickelodean shows dubbed in Latvian...or even shows like Desperate Housewives.

Elder Davis walked to the Rimi  store by himself and bought a Coke to see if that could kill whatever bug Sister Davis had picked up...

By evening she was ready to attend Institute. It was Sister Senkane's first class (she's a newly called teacher) and it went well. The Russian class with Sister Kovalesky had 5 in attendance and the Latvian's had 7. They are nearly through with the Old Testament.
Sister Davis likes to go and hand out candy to those who take time from their busy schedules to come to Institute class.

Afterwards, we set up the ping-pong table and play a little table tennis. We had about 9 YSA's stay after class.  We brought two bags of cookies which were soon gone. It is a nice way to make Friday Institute class more special. We are supposed to be promoting enrollment right now for next year and hope to get our numbers up.

Saturday

Sister Davis made an Apple Spice Cake because we had company coming over on Sunday. Elder Davis helped clean the house and then we went shopping... Yes, we seem to do that a lot. We walked to Rimi and bought a few things for our dinner on Sunday and purchased a beautiful purple African violet...well, actually two of them. Sister Davis's  mom and grandma have always had a few African violets around their homes and she needed to use one as a hostess gift.

A hostess gift? Well, Elder & Sister Davis had been invited to E/S Millets home for dinner and a movie... DATE NIGHT!  So we walked the mile and a half to the Millets leaving at 5:20 and arriving at 6:00.

Sister Millet is a good cook and her meat loaf and funeral potatoes were so good!!!  And to top it off, we had apple crisp with ice cream for dessert.

This is Sister Davis showing how little their dishwasher was! It was quickly loaded.....

On Sunday we went to church at 9:30 and sang a song in Russian, sang another in Latvian and had the sacrament passed so we could renew the covenants we made at baptism to always remember Jesus and keep his commandments. And then the Russians and the Latvians were going to listen to General Conference for the second week in a row. They watch two sessions each Sunday. 

So we did the next best thing, we went home to watch the talks in English on our computer hooked to our TV. And we asked Ram (from Nepal) if he would like to listen in English. After all, Latvian is not his native language either. He said he would enjoy that and Sister Davis had ham cooking in the crock-pot and potatoes in the oven. What an enjoyable way to watch conference again. We have heard the talks once already, so we picked the best talks and our favorite  songs that the choir sang and made our own conference session. Wow, we LOVED Jeffrey R. Holland's talk!

We ate the apple cake and ended up showing the movie Praise to the Man (about the life of Joseph Smith) to Ram who was interested in the Church's history. We talked a lot and had a good visit and after Ram left....we took a nap. After all, Sunday IS  supposed to be a day of rest!

So have we answered the question....Have we done any good in the world today?





Traditions!...a Russian Wedding

Weddings are always about traditions no matter what country you get married in. But a Russian wedding seems to have more than its fare share of traditions. 

What fun it was to attend our first wedding in Latvia for Sveta and Alexandrs (Sasha).  Both were "just friends"  a few months ago and now they are married!  Sasha is the branch president of the Riga Russian speaking branch. This was the wedding that Brother and Sister Hardy came all the way to Latvia to attend.  We found out, the Hardy's were the ones giving little nudges to these two very special young people because they could see that Sasha was perfect for Sveta and vice versa. And it somehow worked out....Sveta said they probably wouldn't have gotten married without those nudges!

In Latvia, you must get married by a state registrar...so a wedding hall was reserved and while the bride and groom were filling out paperwork, everyone else waits in the foyer.

The first tradition we noticed  was that wedding guests (even our young men) brought flower arrangements or bouquets to the wedding.  What is that all about?

Lauris, Dainis and Zaiga

It seems that everyone brings flowers to give to the bride and groom to wish them well. And you can't bring an even number of flowers...the bouquet must have an odd number of flowers or it's bad luck.  We had the bad luck of not bringing ANY flowers with us!

 There aren't any chairs...these are quick affairs.

The official wedding song starts playing 

(Mendelssohn's wedding march : "here comes the bride...)

& the bride and groom enter with their witnesses....

The registrar says some greeting to the guests and asks the bride and groom if they want to marry each other, they answer "Yes",  exchange rings which go on their right hands not the left...

 and kiss each other. Then they and their witnesses sign the registry and now all the guests get in a line to greet the newlyweds. Oh, and of course, hand over all those flowers.....

The witnesses stand on either side of the bride and groom and pretty much hold all flowers that are given to the bride and groom....

Sister Davis greets Alexanders with pats on his cheeks,

she is tickled pink with him for marrying that lovely girl!

As the guests file past the happy couple, they head out the door into an lovely atrium with trees, ferns and birds.  And everyone gathers around to wait for the bride and groom

And finally the bride, groom and witnesses appear!  And it 's time for a toast...

And the next tradition becomes apparent...everyone is handed a glass of sparkling cider (at least for LDS weddings) and after the first sip someone yells out "gor'ko" which means "bitter". 

The rest of the guests than start to shout "gor'ko, gork'ko" and to make the drink sweet, the bride and groom must kiss.   This can happen anytime for the rest of the wedding celebration, so at a Russian wedding there is A LOT of kissing going on. The bride and groom are good sports about it and every time someone says "gor'ko" they kiss.

And then each family that attends gets their picture taken with the bride and groom. When the newly weds leave they drive around for a while. Sometimes the couple visits memorials of people who died in World War II or other famous graves or memorials, and lay flowers there.  This helps them to remember the lives of others. They put a lock (with their names engraved on it) on a bridge and throw the key in the water to show their commitment to the marriage.  They take more photos and drive around Old Town on their first trip together as husband and wife. 

The bride and groom would soon be arriving for the reception, so each of the guests were given a handful of rose petals. But before that, The newly weds must get through three gates that symbolize the passage of life from childhood, to youth, to marriage.   The first "gate" was a ribbon with balloons tied on it that had to be broken and popped.

The next gate was a ribbon that had bows tied on it. Only one bow would untie the ribbon across the doorway and the groom had to untie the right one before entering the building. 

Once inside children throw candy on the floor in front of them to symbolize they will have enough to eat in their marriage. Older people throw coins to make sure their life will be prosperous (and Sasha had to put a coin in his brides shoe).

And finally we get to throw our rose petals which symbolize health and happiness to the newlyweds...

You would think the traditions are nearly over but not SO!  There are LOTS more....

The bride and groom must each break off a piece of  sweet cake that the brides mom holds for them, dip it into a bunch of salt and eat it, symbolizing that life will be sweet but will have difficulties to overcome.

Then the bride and groom must pass through the last "gate" to married life....

the gate of love!    But first a very important question must be asked...

How many children will this couple have?  We shall find out in a very scientific way...

A plate is put on the floor with a cloth over it and the bride and groom must stomp on it. The number of pieces it breaks into, is how many children they will have.

And now for the last gate into marriage.....

A piece of material is held up and together the newlyweds  take scissors and cut a heart in the middle and walk together through the opening into the reception hall as man & wife. And then every one of the guests must walk through the same opening...Sister Davis didn't have a problem with that at all...being short does have it's advantages!

And about 6:00 Elder & Sister Davis were ready to go home...

Ketchup....

Ketchup.. Isn't that a strange title for a missionary blog post?
Well yes,..... but lets explore ketchup for a little bit, just for fun. 


A long time ago (in the late 1600's) the Chinese created a sauce from pickled fish...'ketsiap'. It sounds disgusting and though Sister Davis adores Chinese food, ketsiap does not sound like something she would have tried on a Chinese menu.BBritish traders discovered the same sauce in Malaysia where it was  called kĕchap. Many people experimented with different ingredients over the years and had varied successes selling the bottled stuff but when HJ Heinz added ketchup to his line of pickled products and introduced it at the Philadelphia fair, ketchup made the BIG time.
The Heinz formula has not changed since, and has become "the standard by which other ketchup's are rated."

Elder & Sister Davis even find Heinz ketchup in Latvia. Now for a play on words... ketchup....a sauce with a variety of sweet & sour ingredients,  and "catch-up," trying to keep up with something you areAnd so this post is really about CATCH-UP.....and she hopes she can remember all the things she needs to "ketchup" on.

First up, the Perrys have finished their mission and we were blessed enough to have another senior couple arrive to take their place. We say blessed because senior missionaries are needed all over the world and though the numbers are increasing, senior couples are still fairly rare.  And E/S Davis believe that every branch in Eastern Europe could use a senior couple to teach leadership skills to the young branch leaders. When you think of how many members the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has... nearly 14.5 million,  with a 55,410 missionary force (and only 2,500 of those are senior couples) you can see we could use a few more. 

E/S Perry on the left and E/S Bonner on the right. Sister Davis is extremely glad to see that E/S Bonner are so short. She has a much easier time talking to short people because she doesn't have to crane her neck way up.

The Bonners were still recovering from jet lag and headed to their apartment in Estonia, when another American couple came for a short stay. Brother & Sister Hardy, served a mission in the Baltic States just last year and came over to attend a wedding of two of the young single adults (a future blog post, by the way) and needed a place to stay. So the Baltic Mission Bed & Breakfast opened for business once again in the Davis's apartment.  They are a fun couple and we had a great time getting to know them.

Next, on catch-up stuff... 

Elder Davis's brother reminded us that the Baltic is famous for it's amber. It isn't hard to forget when everywhere you go, there are amber jewelry booths!

 4 senior missionaries...

And finally, our success with Ping-Pong....or as the Latvian's call it, "galda tenisa" (table tennis).  This has become a hit with many of the YSA's and the competition is friendly and fierce. The game starts out fairly calm until enough people come to play "round the world".  And then things become fast and furious.... And while this picture is a little fuzzy, you can see how everyone runs around the table hitting the ball until someone misses and gets "out". When you are down to two people they finish the game by playing for three points and then everyone gets a paddle and starts running around the table again!

And now you can see Elder Davis in action....

First Elder Davis has to "psych" his opponent out with a little humor.

He then gets  ready to serve....

Putting a "spin" on the ball....And actually he won a game! He was given one life for winning...to use when he missed his ball on the next turn. The kids said, "Elder Davis you got a life!" And his response "I gotta life?  I NEED a life because I don't have a life of my own!" 

And now, you should all be "ketched-up" on the comings and goings of two old missionaries in Riga, Latvia.

Celebrate Good Times, Come on!

                                  
The Easter celebration lasts 4 days in Latvia from Good Friday until Monday which is called the second day of Easter.  Our new and wonderful student council decided their first scheduled activity would be on the second day of Easter, so more people could attend. And where did they choose to go?

Latvia's Open-Air Museum....

The Latvian Ethnic museum is located on  87 hectares (215 acres)  of land on the shores of Lake Jugla in Riga.  Old buildings from all over Latvia  were relocated here, refurbished and furnished with period decor and tools. 

The 121 buildings are scattered throughout a lovely pine forest. Because the museum was established in 1924, many of the buildings were preserved during the war and give a great glimpse into early Latvian life... 

Fifteen young single adults met at the church and took the bus while Elder & Sister Davis drove the Perry's who were visiting us. Three other LDS families showed up and so did Pres. & Sister Boswell, E/S Millet and E/S Flake!  It was really a time to celebrate Spring!

It was a beautiful bright, sunny day but the weather was  a little cool. We arrived first, paid our 2L ($4) entry fee, excited for a day out in nature.  The museum was celebrating Easter with lots of games and activities geared towards families...

And as we strolled past booths with beautiful handicrafts, Sister Davis smelled something really good.  Her nose led her to this fascinating booth. A potato chip on a stick....

This girl took a whole potato (red skinned with yellow meat) and secured it onto the prongs of this clever device. She turned the crank and the potato was sliced by the blade into a single perfect spiral. Deep fry it and yum!

It was truly a celebration for the Latvians and this handsome crew of

American missionaries!

L-R:

Pres.& Sister Boswell, Flakes, Davis's, Perry's, Millets

People were sitting watching their children play, eating and resting.

Dyeing Easter eggs Latvian style!

Now put the stick in a bowl of water to cool it down....

Music started playing and these folk singers began to sing and teach folk dances to the people standing nearby.

And without any hesitation our kids went out to dance. They LOVE to celebrate their Latvian heritage!  With enthusiasm they danced and sang.

           "As we wandered some more through the park we came across this old windmill. Built in 1814 near Jelgava it was placed in the museum in 1935. This is one of the oldest types of  windmills called a pole mill and is made of oak poles.

And it was finally time to head home, tired but well versed in early Latvian life. We only saw about 1/3 of the museum so we resolve to come back another day and celebrate some more!

There is Sunshine in our Hearts...

You can make the pathway bright,

Fill your soul with heaven's light

If there's sunshine in your heart....
                             LDS hymnal #228

As Sister Davis is writing this post our weather widget says it is 63 F! There is definitely sunshine out today. After the Perry's left for Estonia (they were coming back again in three days) Sister Davis treated Elder Davis to the 2 Lat tour of the Academy of  Science viewing tower. There is something so liberating about being high above the rooftops and viewing the landscape around you...it makes your spirit soar!

Turning Darkness into day,

as the shadows fly away,

If there's sunshine in your heart today!

In the distance you see the Riga Radio and TV Tower, the tallest structure in the Baltic. It was built between 1979 and 1986 by USSR. Its highest point reaches 1,209 ft and was built on an island in the Daugava River.

If there's sunshine in your heart,

You can send a shining ray

That will turn the night to day;

And you cares will all depart...

If there's sunshine in your heart today!

 

And below is a view of the Central Market buildings that used to be dirigible hangers. All the little roofs in front of those rounded buildings house little shops and stalls. It's about  3 city blocks wide. The pyramid shaped building across the river is the Latvian National Library.

 And while we were on the 17th floor viewing tower, we met a man from Norway with his Filipino wife and of course Elder Davis struck up a conversation. They visit Riga every year and love it. They said they have a lot of immigrants from the Baltic States and it is causing some concern in the Scandinavian countries. They worry the Latvians are taking all the jobs.

 But this man, who happens to be a university professor and makes 35,000 Euros a year ($48,000), met a man playing guitar in one of the restaurants here in Riga.  When he started a conversation with this guitar player he was surprised to hear he also taught at the Latvian University and made about 4,000 lat a year  (about $8,000) and that is why he was playing guitar at night. The Norwegian guy said, after hearing that he won't complain about the Latvians working in his country again.  It is sad, the people here are paid such low wages; it's hard to raise a family on such little pay.

Riga is so beautiful,

And a view of old town...it's just past the Central Market area...

We are grateful for our testimony of Jesus Christ,

We are grateful to be missionaries and

We are grateful to have sunshine in our hearts today!

Thank You for Being our Friends

This post is dedicated to some of our special friends.  On April 2, 2012, Sister Davis received a call from one of her friends currently living in Riga... Sister Boswell. She was at the mission office and there was a package sent to both of us from California. Two of our close friends had mailed us a package and we knew they were as excited for us to receive the package as we were receiving it.

You see Sister Boswell was once the Young Women's President in our old Stake in Fresno.  And she called as her counselors three women that are so very different from each other in personality, characteristics and demeanor that you would be amazed that we would get along at all. But the amazing thing is that we all became BEST FRIENDS, and continue so today.

And Sister Davis thinks they just got tired of being left out...and so a package was sent from California to Latvia.  Elder & Sister Davis had the Perrys at our house and that means it was time for a missionary dinner out. After a bout with rush hour traffic on the Valdemara bridge...we met at  Lidos in the Spice shopping center.  Elder & Sister Wood were on a visa visit and they joined all us Riga missionaries for dinner. Thank you for being our friends

And then Sisters Davis and Boswell opened the package...amidst many photo flashes and laughter.   Elder Davis somehow, accidently erased the pictures  he took, so thankfully, Sister Boswell sent the photos President took!

 



The two little bottles are maple syrup and rootbeer flavorings. The enchilada & guacamole mix will go nicely with those $5 cans of refried beans Elder Davis bought. :)

And now for all those new friends we are making in the Baltic....

This is a picture taken from the viewing tower on the Academy of Science Building in Riga.  You can see the whole city from here, 17 stories high.

We Have Work Enough to Do...

Its Easter Week here in the Baltic, and.....

We have work enough to do,

Ere the sun goes down...

 The light is changing rather rapidly in Latvia.
The sun sets about 20:00 (8PM) now, and like the hymn says we are working "ere the sun does down." That means Elder & Sister Davis have been doing a lot of work! This post will show a slice of the work we have been doing for the past week.
Sunday was fast Sunday...so Saturday was definitely not a day of rest. Elder & Sister Davis were preparing for our fifth break-the-fast by shopping and preparing the food. We were making ham, "funeral potatoes" and green beans in celebration of  Easter. We try and prepare everything the day before so we only have to heat it up on Sunday.  Since we have afternoon church, we leave right after sacrament meeting, hurry home and start heating food. With one oven, it takes about 2 1/2 hours to heat three big pans of food, one after another. The ham was heating in the crock pot. We set up tables in the morning....

...and once the YSA's started coming, we didn't have time for photos! We ended up feeding 29 hungry people with three pans of potatoes, two loaves of french bread, 5 bags of green beans and 5 tiny hams.                  For ourselves and mission too,       Ere the sun goes down....
Monday of course is FHE, but before we could worry about that,  E/S Davis needed to walk to the mission home and work on some budgeting paperwork that Elder Davis needed. It was a little wet and cold outside so Sister Davis wore her boots and bundled up. Outside our apartment we noticed the beginning of a sink hole in the cobblestone street.

After an hour worth of work at the mission office...it was time to head home. But wait! What are those big white things falling from the sky?  Oh NO! It is SNOWING!!! The wind is blowing a gale, the snow is swirling in all directions...Sister Davis had a  hard time keeping her eyes open with snow flying into them. And she just had to laugh...its April 2nd and we thought spring had sprung but mother nature has a mind of her own!

.

And two hours later the sun came out and we went grocery shopping for FHE.  Luckily, we instituted "potluck" last month for every first Monday.  E/S Davis bought potato chips and made dip....and waited to see what else would arrive. We ended up with oranges, pears, grapes, carrot sticks, cookies, cookies, and more cookies. Since we  only had 14 come to FHE (can you believe Sister Davis said "ONLY 14!) , there was plenty to eat.

Tuesday we started a new  business in our apartment...the Baltic Mission Bed & Breakfast. First we had Elder & Sister Perry coming from Estonia to stay for two days. They are nearing the end of their mission and had to bring a young elder down for a visa renewal. We took them to some historical sites that we have already seen.

And we finally found the Old Jewish Cemetery that Elder Davis had been looking for two months ago. It is a 2 mile walk from our home through the Jewish ghetto.  Part of the reason we couldn't find it is that now it's a park....

The  Nazis blew up some of the graves  to erase evidence of all the bodies they buried here and the Soviets later used the head stones in construction work. There are a few bigger pieces of granite and monument foundations scattered around but it doesn't look like a cemetery anymore.  And if you read the last words of the memorial marker, you will see that good old America has stepped-in to preserve this heritage site, here in Riga Latvia. We are an amazing country!