Mar 11: Baltic Chŗonīcļe: New pad, Helaman 5, Random Stuff

From: Jordan Argyle

Date: 2009/3/11
Subject: Mar 11: Baltic Chŗonīcļe: New pad, Helaman 5, Random Stuff


All: 107,812 steps is 84,09KM

Pictures: Top: This is Sister Largey and Sister Wilson. They decided to start our first district meeting off a little differently. They actually look really good in suit coats and ties. Anyway, these are the two sisters in my district.

Next: This is my district. Right to left: Brown, Thompson (my comp), Largey, Me, Wilson, Millet.

Third: I usually hate pics of me, but whatever. After district meeting, the sisters ran to grab a cake and we had a little birthday party for me. I'm really excited for this transfer, because if we throw parties this hard, we'll have tons of fun (Elder Thompson's and Sister Wilson's birthdays are coming up. So...it'll be fun!)

Last one: So, after a beautiful, sunny day, we had this. What? Ladna, that's life here. It's a lot like Idaho--freezing cold and snowy one day, rainy then snow the next, then sunny and warm. So...yeah.

Q and A:
About Thompson: He's from a tiny, tiny town in Wyoming (Cokeville). He's been out for 21 months, I think. He's very serious about doing this work, teaches like a champ, wants to be a teacher (grade school). He's not a fan of the freaky weather we've been having.

Higher exchange rates means that the economy is doing worse. The economic situation here in Latvia is supercritical, and is very close to collapsing altogether. Only heaven knows what will happen. On the other hand, God's hand was in the collapse of the Soviet Union, and what have they done with that freedom? They haven't used it all that well. As people are righteous, they are prospered by God. When they aren't, they are left to fend for themselves. That's very evident here.

A lady named Diana was baptized last week. I don't know anything about her other than that she is an investigator of the Russian sisters in Center. Well...was. She's now a member here.
Teaching with members is sometimes really interesting. Helvijs is quite good for that, as he was a missionary once. He pulls out scriptures that have helped him, and he knows what investigators are saying. Turns out that for me, the gift of tongues operates when needed. If he's there or another member, sometimes I don't quite understand what the other person says, so I love having a member to help teach--they always know what they're saying. And they say things so much better than we do.

Stories:
I have a new apartment! We moved in last week. We moved because the contract was ending, and President Dance wants us all in good apartments. Now that the economy is failing, it's a great time to find apartments. They're all over the place, and cheap! Naturally, to this new pad there are a few pros and cons. Pros include:
* Public bathrooms that don't reek
* I can flush toilet paper. (That means no more poop bag!)
* An oven
* Much lower rent (about $175 (USD) less)
* Beautiful wood floors, cabinets and such. Just redone before we moved in
* Heated bathroom floor tiles
* One of those fun, top-loader washing machines (like I had in Imanta)
* Not in an ancient, wood structure.
Cons:
* The heating is terrible (it's way cold)
* There's only two burners, and they're both electric (I've grown fond of gas stoves)
* It's on the third floor (more stairs to walk)
* The selection of pots makes cooking take a little longer
* Not as much furniture, so storage of stuff is hard.

Today, we were buying groceries, and we saw that they had a self-check out line. Yes! So, we decided to try it out! But, it turns out that you have to do somethings exactly a certain way...for example, you have to hook the bag's handles around the little metal poles they have poking out above the scale. Then you have to scan, put it in the bag, and go again. It's quite a slow process, and a very frustrating one as well. Our first five minutes had the red light flashing all the time, and the helper lady had to come over about eight times to show us how to do it all. Then, we had an annoying Latvian voice telling us to "pieskariet" products. So, we switched it to English. Even worse—now it was an annoying, heavily accented voice. ") After another few minutes of frustration, we got it all figured out. The whole adventure wound up taking an hour and a half (that's with a few minutes—23 or so—traveling, and about the same time trying to check out). And they didn't even have cumen or cilantro. Honestly. We then went to our beautiful ice box and put everything where it belongs.

Investigators:
A. will not be baptized this weekend. He hasn't had his interview with the branch president yet. And I'm not sure he's ready.
We have a huge host of other investigators. We have 40 or so decent to excellent contacts that we've been calling. Many of them are even responsible and want to meet (a rarity for the men here in Latvia). But I would rather not report on any of them until we have some who are taking the lessons and moving forward. A. is really our only one who's moving forward at this time.

I would invite you to read and follow the teachings of the scriptures. Today, for this, I invite you to read and apply Mosiah 24: 6. I promise that people you write to will be happier for it. ")

Helaman 5 in the Book of Mormon: Well...I don't have time to share my thoughts about this. Basically, it's an amazing chapter. I hope you'll read it. Members might also want to look at Helaman 6:1-6 and ponder on its meaning to you. See also Helaman 9:39.

I love you all! Thanks for your support and prayers! Have an amazing week!
--
Elder Argyle
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