Sept 24: Baltic Chŗonīcļe: Big City Thoughts and the Restoration of the Gospel

All: 66.57KM (85350).
Sorry. Apparently, some have gotten confused about what Šašliki is. Šašliki is...pretty much shishkabobs. It's meat grilled on a stick of some kind, usually with a few veggies or mushrooms or something like that. Way good...and Elder Raker makes a mighty fine Šašliki (pronounced shah-shleek-ee).

IMG_0695 is me falling into a pool of ridiculously huge lily pads at the Botaniskais Dārzs my last service day. The sign says "don't touch the plants!"
IMG_0709 - This is attack of the cats. I saw a cat, so I called to it. When I did, a virtual whorl poured out and this is only about half of the cats that appeared from quiet bushes and still grass around us. Kinda neat.

0714 is me right outside the church. We have these random grooves cut in, and I've seen other missionaries with the statue photo, and I wanted one for myself, as well. There you go.

OK, a few things. General impressions of Rīga center: Way too many people! But, when coming home from a meeting way out there, I looked to my right and saw a XXX Maxima (that's the biggest one...pretty much Walmart), McDonald's, and a GE Bank all glowing in the night. It looked pretty much like any American big city at that moment. I still don't like big cities--US or otherwise, but it's not so bad. Actually, we have had a good number of investigators, so in that respect I am quite liking this place. The church building is nice (it's a second floor that we bought and turned into our church a good number of years ago).

It's been a little tricky this week, as far as the work goes. My comp is sick, and therefore we spent most of our time not in meetings but at home napping. But, we have had a lot of meetings. One good thing about the hoard of humanity thronging the streets is that you can always find somebody to teach. Any time not at home or in meetings has been spent knocking with the Russians in this area. Things have been good. I don't really have any other impressions on the city yet (as I haven't really been out and about in it), but I'll keep you posted. It's nice to have public transportation come on time...

Investigators: This section is actually very full and exciting right now:
H.: He's a construction worker. Very humble, and praying about all we teach him. He's reading and building his own testimony.
J.: This man works for the president of Latvia as a landscaper (I'm fairly sure). He's excited to jump into the Book of Mormon, and he's moving right along. He's not from Rīga, though, so meetings and church may be tricky.
J. Family: This is an amazing family. They understand the gospel, the principles, and are striving to apply them in faith. I have yet to meet with the mother, but the father and daughter are doing very, very well. I love them, already!

I.: A young college student who just showed up at the church when our meeting fell through. He is amazing! He told us what he had read in the Book of Mormon (he got half a discussion on the Restoration from a Russian companionship...he, however, is quite Latvian and understands little Russia or English), and then he pulled the doctrine taught in those chapters right out. He accepted all the things we taught, and the Spirit was incredible throughtout the meeting!

A few more...next week.

OK, now, I wanted to go ahead with my discussion on what the church believes, and how we differ from from other churches. We, however, are going to Sigula today, and my time is depressingly short. So...I apologize, but I will talk about that next week, as well.

Es jūs milu!
--
Elder Argyle
@..@
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( >/°¥< )
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