Lithuanian New Year's Eve

The Latvian YSA's were invited to Vilnius, Lithuania for a New Year's Eve Party. Did they want to go?  You betcha!  We had 16 who wanted to go. And thus we began another adventure.....

First, we needed a van. The  rental van cost 50L ($100) per day, plus gas. However, 200L was needed as a deposit to make sure the car came back in one piece. Elder Davis had to put down the deposit since no one else had 200L. It was a nine passenger van and several of our young men had driver licenses but since most do not have cars, we didn't have a real experienced driver for it.  Dimitrijs P. volunteered to drive it. In the picture above, he is waving out the window as he gets ready to take it to the church.  He only drove over one curb on the way to the church. So far so good.

     Matiss, who is just learning to drive, was able to get his parents car (5 seats) but had to have an experienced driver in the seat next to him at all times.  So Eva and Dainis (our newlyweds) were invited along since Dainis has had his license for 13 years.  Counting Elder & Sister Davis, that meant we had three experienced drivers...the rest were amateurs. 
       Elder & Sister Davis were letting the student council do a lot of the organizing for this trip. After all, the YSA's were highly motivated to take a road trip,  and they needed to practice their leadership skills. Which is why, things didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped.
      Be at the church at 1:30 they were told, we will leave at 2:00.  Most of them arrived at 1:45 but we had several stragglers who called and said they would be late.  Each person had to pay 8L to go and some hadn't turned in their money.  For those who couldn't afford 8L, they could get the money from their branch president so  money was no excuse, it was the lack of foresight that was the problem. After waiting for some to get  money from an ATM machine, and having a prayer for safety, we loaded three cars with YSA's and headed out at 2:15.

But then we had to stop for gas. At the gas station, we were informed that the YSA's needed to run over to the nearby grocery store for snacks since no one brought their own.  We waited and waited while the shopping group decided what snacks to buy. Finally, they arrive back at the van, handed out snacks and we started driving once more. It was now after 3:00 and we were supposed to be in Vilnius at 7:00PM...and it's over a four hour drive. Elder & Sister Davis had to laugh about it to ease our frustration, this was like leash training a puppy... lots of coaxing and patience. Thankfully, the drive to Vilnius was uneventful. 

We arrived fashionable late. The Lithuanian YSA's , under the direction of Brigita, had done an excellent job of preparation for the New Years Eve party.  That is Brigita and her sister Valeria.


Dinner was served soon after our arrival...a hearty soup with bread.

Jovita, Sister Flake and Juris waiting for the party to begin:

Meanwhile the girls needed to dress up for the party.  The theme was the 1930's and if you think fashions were different in Latvia in the 1930's from America, think again.  The Baltic YSA's wear the same type of clothing as they do in  America; after all, they all watch American movies and television shows. Most of our YSA's grew up watching the show "Friends" and  know Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, etc. very well.

While the girls were primping, Dimitrijs notified Elder Davis that something was wrong with the rental van.  The engine was turned off but the fan/heater was still running and they couldn't get it to stop.  So several men went out to fix the car. 

Looking under the hood....

Playing with the fuses....

Nothing worked. The engine was shut entirely off but the heater just kept running, using juice from the car battery. About an hour later, someone discovered the battery was under the drivers seat and they unhooked the cables which "fixed" the problem...at least until morning.

Dainis and Eva,  1930's newlyweds 

Zane and Agneta

Marta, Matiss & Iveta

Tomas, Lith. YSA, Alexejs, Juris,  & Romans

Olga, Zane & Marina

                   Juris and Anton                                                   Dimitrijs & Marina- "Engaged!"

Our darling Olga, who helped organize the Latvian group.

She worked hard to promote this activity and all her encouragement paid off!

Aivars, looking sharp, had to be at work at 8:00 in the morning so  he needed to leave Lithuania about 2:00AM.  Elder Davis agreed to drive him back to Riga with three other YSA's.

Right after dinner, Sister Davis gave a FHE lesson.  Hey, it was Monday night! 

And after that we celebrated Zane's birthday with her. 

Can you imagine having a birthday Dec. 31st?  Every year you know you'll get a party!

Then the boys and girls were separated and a game was played to find out who would be "Santa Claus" and his "assistant". They don't have a Mrs. Claus here but the Russians have a Santa's helper who is a young lady.  Alexejs won and he became Santa of New Years and Aliona became his assistant. Then everyone came up to have a picture taken with Santa...a rather unusual tradition. They played the role of "King & Queen" of the dance.

Getting in the picture with Santa and his girl friend.

Two Gangsters and their Moll

The next activity was a skit...narrated and acted out by the YSA's.  It was all in Russian so Elder & Sister Davis didn't have a clue what was going on but Olga looked like a tree...

We are constantly amazed at the willingness of every YSA to participate in these activities. No one says, "I don't want to do that."  They all get up and volunteer and have a good time doing it.

It was nearly midnight and Brigita had planned for the YSA's to walk to a nearby bridge to watch the fireworks that are a big part of a Baltic New Years Eve. 

Fireworks are legal in the Baltic and Brigita handed everyone sparklers to light while watching the fireworks.                         Juris is having fun!

Those who walked to the bridge said the fireworks were going off in every direction.  

Elder & Sister Davis stayed at the church...one, because it had started raining and two, because we were too tired to walk to the bridge.  These are some of the fireworks that were set off from the roofs of apartment buildings nearby.

By 1:00AM everyone was back at the church and the dance finally got started.  This was an all night party and Brigita had activities planned until 5:00AM.

Dimitrijs and Marina doing a Santa dance.

At 2:00AM, Elder Davis left with several YSA's  and headed back to Riga. Sister Davis needed to drive Matiss (the student driver) home in the morning and needed to get some sleep....that was harder to do than she thought it would be. Every floor in the church was either tile or hardwood. The chapel only has chairs in it and no benches. The only place to lie down was a sofa that was right near the cultural hall where the music was booming and kids were laughing.  So she stayed up and watched a short video some of the YSA's had made...too bad it was all in Russian.

Jovita and Raumonas clowning around

The YSA's started a game of Mafia, and Sister Davis headed for the sofa in the hall....

Even Aleksejs got tired...Sister Davis made room on the sofa. 

                                                  It was going to be a looong night!
                                                                      (to be cont.'d)

 Happy New Year Everybody!

The Great Sushi Adventure

 

 

Sushi....why on earth would Sister Davis be blogging about sushi, when sushi is probably her least favorite food?  If you can even call sushi food! Raw fish, seaweed and rice....it's more like stuff you would find in Japanese flotsam (wreckage  found floating on or washed up by the sea).

But life can take some crazy turns and one day this week our missionary life took a decidedly different twist...and it included sushi.

 

Here is the story....Elder Davis was helping the Young Single Adults procure a rental van to take a rather large group of them to Lithuania for a New Years Eve Dance.  He was to meet one of our YSA's at the car rental place. Dimitrijs has recently come home from a mission in Novosibirsk (Siberia) . He is a sweet, gentle and quiet young man, and is currently serving in the church as the District Executive Secretary. 

On the way home, Dimitrijs asked Elder Davis for a favor.  He was requesting three things: #1- to make sushi at our apartment,  #2- bake a pie for his family and #3 make homemade fortune cookies. A rather odd assortment of requests, wouldn't you say? He asked if we would be willing to give up 3-4 hours of our time to help him do those three things on a Saturday afternoon. 

Sister Davis:  "Dimitrijs, have you ever made sushi?"

Dimi: "No."

Sister Davis: "Neither have I. Why would you want to make such a thing? Sushi is awful."

Dimi:  "Because, my girlfriend is coming from Russia and she once told me that she would like to try sushi.  I want to show her that I remembered what she said and I want to cook it myself."

Dimitrijs is obviously a romantic.

Sister Davis: "I know how to make a pie but I don't have  a clue about how to make sushi."

Dimi:  "That's okay, I have a recipe."

Sister Davis: Why do you want to make your own fortune cookie?

Dimi (with a shy expression on his face):  "I want to put a ring in one and ask my girlfriend to marry me."

Sister Davis (very excited!):  "WOW! That is so nice. Elder Davis and I are in on this...we will definitely help."

And that is how Elder & Sister Davis got involved in the Great Sushi Adventure.





 

First, you unroll the dried seaweed which is brittle and has a musty odor to it. Refrain from getting close and smelling it. It doesn't smell any better close up.

You make sticky rice extra sticky by adding some vinegar to it...and it looks as appetizing as glue.

Spread a glob of rice on the smelly seaweed.

 

Pick up a sharp knife and act like a samurai warrior ready to do battle...slice up raw salmon.

 

Add some avocado slices and place nicely down the middle of the rice.

And now the hard part...rolling up the brittle seaweed without breaking it. After a few aborted efforts, Sister Davis decided to show Dimitrijs how to roll it up... firm yet gentle. Dimitrijs did the rest.

Sister Davis is sorry for the grimace in the picture above but really, it was a hard thing for her to do. And her kitchen was beginning to smell like fish.

 

Dimitrijs was all smiles as Sister Davis was making sure he rolled it firmly enough to keep the rice from falling out.

 

Isn't it amazing what great lengths a young man in love will go to?

 

 Elder Davis went online to help Dimitijs by searching for a fortune cookie recipe...

 

It  had to make one big enough to hide this bit of bling.....and a fortune.

 

"I want to share my eternity with you....Will you marry me?"

 

Once the cookie batter has browned around the edges, pick it up and put a fortune in the middle of the cookie. Shape it quickly, while still warm, over the edge of a mug.

Pinch it just right to hold it's shape....

And let it cool in a muffin pan.

 

He made several of them with various fortunes in them. He was going to be hosting a special dinner for her the next night. Sister Davis ran to get him some candles and place mats to make it more romantic. We took him, his sushi and his special fortune cookies home late that night and he stopped along the way at an 24 hour  flower shop near his home. Can you believe that they actually have 24 hour flower shops here?!?  Now he was ready for his proposal!

 

This is Dimi's girlfriend from Russia,  before they had their romantic dinner.

 

For now,  Elder & Sister Davis had to be patient...

 

Post Script:   She loved the sushi, but said she would have to pray about her answer to his question. The next night at the New Year's Eve Dance, she told him..."YES!"