October 11, 2010
Dearest Family,
Yet another week has gone by and it is freezing here! It's been about 30 F in the mornings and nights here so... Not fun! Plus I have still been sick all week. Just a cold, so not bad, but I don't think I'll ever get better since we have to be outside for so long every day. :) All of the elders here in Kaunas have been sick too, so that's fun! Other than that, It's been a pretty good week I guess. Not a ton of things change from week to week, so I'm sorry if these are boring. The transfer will be over this Thursday though and it seems like it just started! I'm pretty sure that I will still be here in Kaunas and I'll honestly be a little upset if I leave again. But I don't think that I will. So, we will see what happens with transfers. I will probably have a new companion cause Elder Sanford has been here for three transfers and that is rare for a new missionary. But we'll see. I'm cool with whatever.
So, last week we were able to start watching conference and that was great! So far we have only watched the first two sessions but will finish the rest this week. I loved the talk by Elder Uchdfort about simplifying our lives. I need to do that with a lot of things. I find that I am always trying to study to many things at once cause there is so much that I want to get around to, but I need to slow down a bit. I think that we can all apply that talk to our lives and simplify a little bit. Especially sticking to the basics of the gospel and really learning them. We were also able to watch conference in Lithuanian on Saturday and Sunday which was good. I understood more than I did last time I watched it in Lithuanian, but I was still lost for a lot of it. On Saturday the Branch tried to run the sound through the house speakers in the sacrament hall, but it sounded so bad and it just sounded like mush.. So on Sunday Elder Manning asked me if I could bring my little speakers up and we could try them. So I did and I was glad for the chance to serve the branch. Those little speakers sounded great and they filled up the whole hall! The room isn't nearly as big as the chapels in America, but it is a good size. So all of the members were able to hear conference because I had those nice little speakers, Dad. :) Thanks so much for making them for me! Some of the members were asking where I got them and the district president asked me for advice on what kind of speakers were good cause he wanted to go buy some like mine for the branch. It was way hard to say all of that in Lithuanian! So yeah, you did a little service in Lithuania, Dad!
This week we were also able to meet with a guy named Gokan and his wife. That guy that we met last week that had been taught by the sisters didn't show up to our meeting, so maybe we can meet with him this week, but no promises. But anyways, Gokan came to English class and wanted to learn more about our church. He is from Turkey and is married to a Lithuanian, but he speaks English really well and so does his wife. That's how they communicate. So we taught them in English. Gokan told me that what we had said in English class really touched him and he could feel that our message was good. I think we talked about families and temples in class that day. Anyways, so we set up a time to meet with him and he brought his wife with him and that was really good. We had a great lesson about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. I really felt the spirit strong and I hope so much that they will progress and be able to find the peace and joy that we have in the gospel. I know that it can bless their live so much! Dad, you also asked about service and meeting with members to get referrals... There aren't a lot of chances to do service like there were in Klaipeda, but I would like to find some ways to serve. I love doing service and think that it would be a great way to help people and to maybe find some investigators. We are also working on updating the member list so that I know what members are in our area. President Dance told me that he wants me to meet with them and get to know them, so we are working on that. I know that through the members, so much more can get done with the work. I hope that we can start meeting with the members in our area. Thank you for the suggestions on the
work dad. They mean a me. Thank you for the reminder about having faith. Sometimes it is so hard here because it is so slow and things happen so far in between. I need to remember to always be
working my hardest and have faith in the little things, because like you said, by the little things the big things happen. I know that when we as missionaries are being diligent and working hard, the Lord
can work miracles. He can lead us to the right place or bring someone to us. We can plant seeds that will later grow to something great. Thank you for the reminder. Anyways, that is all for me about this
week! Oh, I did go on exchanges with Elder Cooke too, and that was a lot of fun. I learn a lot from him and he is a great example to me of what a good missionary should be. He is a leader and a great missionary and I want to be like that. I have realized so much on the mission that I have so much growing to do... As a teen you think you know everything and that you are at the top... But the more you learn, the more you realize that you have so much more to learn and that you really are nothing. I need to grow and learn so much. I just hope that the Lord can make something of me. :) Anyways, that's it!
I'm really happy to hear that BYU won their game this week! That is great. That's a really cool story of how Bronco really helped them have faith and believe in themselves again. It sounds like they have had a lot of problems with injury and that is something that you can't control. It seems like that team is always being humbled and the Lord is always trying them. Maybe one of these days they will just be totally humble! But I hope that everything goes well with the game against TCU! haha, maybe a miracle can happen. Anyways, I'm way glad that they seem to be doing better.
Ok, well, I need to go... I hope that you have a wonderful, joy filled week! Remember that the church is true and that Heavenly Father will be there for whatever we need! He loves us so much. Stay close to Him in all that you do. Tell everyone hi for me!
Love, Vyresnysis Lyšmenas
271 days down, 459 days to go!
