Oct 29: Baltic Chŗonīcļe: Transfers, Stephen Covey, Funeral, Baptism, Conference Thing

All: 64.93KM (83252 steps).

Pictures: 1687 is from the "funeral"/farewell party for the Elders going home. The people are (from left to right): Elder Andrus, Elder Markle, in back by E. Markle is E. Brimley, then E. Lindhart, and I don't know the name of the Elder in the far back. By Lindhart is Sister Knight, Sister Kelley (in back), Sister Hagen, Sister Morley (behind me), me, and against the wall in front is Sister Wilson. In front is Elder Eddington, E. Racker, and E. Black. Yeah, it was a pretty good turnout. For dessert, we all had a snickers bar, and we happened to find candles there, so for no good reason, we put the two together.

1703 is myself, H. (who baptized), A. (who was baptized), and E. Black. More on this in a moment.

1695 is out of order, sorry. Sister Knight drew these two pictures, so I thought it'd be fun to photograph the portraitees next to their portraits. I thought she did quite a fantastic job!

OK, so the first question all have asked has been: "What happened with transfers?" So, here you go: my companion went home to America. So did E. Racker. I got Elder Brown's trainee (named Elder Weideman--I'll probably misspell it in the future, but it is correct in this instance), which makes me a senior companion. Who has no clue what he's doing. I don't know where anything is, all our investigators are gone, and the only thing the same is that I am in the same apartment. So...yeah. My district: Sisters Knight and Hagen, Me and E. Weideman, and E. Brown with a new trainee. So, our entire MTC group is together again. This is quite exciting for me, because E. Brown told me our focus is going to be on unity, and I couldn't imagine anybody easier to build that unity (as a district) with than them. Sister Morley and Kelley are staying in Imanta. Morley is training, and Kelley has Wilson. It will be rather interesting: there's only Elder Payne and a trainee in Imanta as far as Elders go (Latvian...I really didn't pay attention to what happened with the Russians). So, yeah.

Stephen Covey arrived for a seminar here. He decided to give a presentation to the missionaries. He actually gave some amazingly good ideas, and I had four pages full of notes (as his presentation was also laced with a great deal of doctrine and scripture). And a lot of good ideas for working with other people which I certainly will be using.

The "funeral" was a rousing success. It was amazing fun: with darts, food, an amazing song, and a fantastic (though hastily written) eulogy for the pair of them, rather than individualized eulogies. We had quite a few attendees, as well. We held this in the Āgenskalns apartment, and it almost had the feel of a clubhouse, because there were currently no missionaries living there. So it was our private place to go hang out. Anyway, it was great fun for our preparation day.

Now for the climax of the week and the transfer: we lost all our investigators. There was one that listened for quite a long time, prayed with real intent, and felt the spirit of the Lord tell him to be baptized. Yes, A. was baptized. There's a picture of us after the event. H. was the one to actually do the baptism. The turnout was a lot less than I hoped, but that's probably because A. decided to be baptized the day before the baptism was actually held. He is still glowing.

Two conferences. District conference and another one this morning (and the reason I'm so late getting this off). District conference was for the district of Latvia--all church members Latvia over. Elder Black decided to be very sick that morning, so we barely made it for the last half hour to fifteen minutes (just like last time, when the bus broke down. I seem to be shooting 0 for 2 so far on getting to those). This one was at the Imanta church, because Thomas S. Monson spoke directly to the members from Eastern Europe (as well as several from the Eastern European presidency). I hear it was amazing (this time, I can get copies of the talks written and study them). I also had the opportunity to see many of the amazing members from Beautiful Liepāja, which I liked a great deal! And, Ainārs was confirmed shortly after conference ended. All in all, it was a beautiful Sunday for me.

The other conference thing: there's a three day seminar for all religions not based in Latvia that work in Latvia. The thing is designed to aquaint the religious organizations with the laws, personality, and methods of work for Latvia and her people. Elder and Sister Boehm will attend all three days; Elder Payne and Grey attended yesterday, Elder Weideman and I attended today, and President and Sister Dance will attend tomorrow. It was very different from what I expected. And all were very respectful to everybody else. There were not too many people there, so it was quite easy to become friendly with each other. I was even able to help set up the projector for it! It was pretty cool, and a good experience for me.

Other things of interest: the food I'm eating is about the same. Elder Black and I were out saying goodbye to members Monday, and we left an appointment at 5, finding it dark as night outside. And rainy. Woo. Uh...There will be more later. I...kind of have a little emergency right now. We had two Estonian elders (who came to pick up trainees) stay at our place yesterday. And now Elder Black cannot find his passport (somewhat important to getting home). He called in a panic and asked us to come help him. So, I will be cutting this short. One thing really quickly: I saw Elder Fitzgerald (who's here for a trainee also), and we were able to chat it up a bit. I love that kid. And I remembered how amazing life is talking with him! That means I'll also be talking about the Fall next week. Sorry! I hate postponing so much! Loves and such to all!
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Elder Argyle
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