Email from James - March 7, 2011

Svieka šeima mano, kurią myliu.

Oh yes you realize that also today is my 11 month mark! I literaly look at it and realize how short the time we have here is. I can't tell you how fast time has gone. It doesn't even feel like I have been gone for that long. I have really been amping it up on the studying of Lithuanian and it has been increasing so much. The members are very impressed cause I ask them questions about hard gramatical stuff and they give me a funny look that í'm using that :D. I love this language and talking to people. There are days now where I don't even think in english. We watched some of the PMG dvd's where they pray in english and I can't even imagine praying in english haha. It sounds funny but I haven't said a prayer in english since the MTC. So have patience with me if I need help saying a prayer in english when i'm home. Parker can teach me how to pray again when i'm home :D

I wrote tanner a letter today. I got a letter from him last week and it was way fun hearing from him. I may punch him when he gets home because of how high his numbers are for every week, hahaha, but it was fun writing to him. He sounds like he is doing really well and really loving brasil. I can't wait to hear back from him. It is way nice being able to stay in an area for longer periods of time. You get to know the members well, especially here cause there aren't that many, and you get to know the area better.

Hahah ya cheaper pankakes when I get home. I will have no money so i'm going to need cheap food when i'm home. :D I can't wait to see your work that you do with all the adds. I bet the Ford stuff looks way sweet.

The weather here has been heating up finally which makes me so happy. I am tired of the cold and ice. Ofcourse when I say heating up, I mean it's not in the negatives but to me, it feels a lot warmer. :D I can't wait for spring to come. Lithuania is so beatiful in the spring in summer. It's so green and nice. It's going to be funny when I pass my year mark, ugh, next month and I will be able to say, oh I was in Kaunas at this point yadada.

The do get Ensigns here. I grapped the cool edition of the temple one in Lithuania. The don't get New Era's in Lithuania but they get Liahonas. They are fun to read. They have all the magazines in Russian but all I can do is read it and I have no clue what it means. :D The members laugh when i'm reading the magazine and they ask if I understand it and I say nope and keep reading :) So ya if you could send some New Era's that would be awesome. OH and the cd. It's not the peace like a river one I want by motab unless you already got it then that's cool too. But the one I really like by MOTAB is Come Thou Fount. It looks like a western theme on the cover and the music on it is way intense by motab. They have cool versions of some hymns on it. :D

Haha yes the package is here safe and sound. I think the reason the package got quicker is because of the snow. :D but who knows, I have the velveta mac and cheese left and i'm too scared to eat it. I have one other mac and cheese left so I might eat that this week. Oh it's like heaven. :D We made calzones yesterday and oh they were so so good. Thanks so much for the recipe mom. We were very satisfied after :D

Hahah if they had a Rosetta Stone in Lithuania, It would be so funny to see you learn it. :D

so now i'm at the library and on the key board they have keys with russian on it so I can show you what all your names would look like in Russian.

Jack Sanford: Джак Санфорд
Julie Sanford: Джюлэ Санфорд
Anna Sanford: Ана Санфорд
Parker Sanford: Паркер Санфорд

Now ve ar a bveutiful Ruschian family :D ( hahah russian accent)

So we have two new investigators. One is a hillarious crazy older man we knocked into to. He had been taught by the missionaries a long time ago and is just about the funniest guy ever. The other is a really nice guy who comes to english. We have lessons set up with both of them so I hope they go well. They guy from english is more interested in meeting with us to practice more english ( we provide a private english lesson with people in our class if we want, but we talk about our church after) so I hope he will want to learn more about the church.

Also, so this is pushing it especially after last week. So there is a really cool one of a kind Book shop here in Klaipeda and they sell sweet Bibles in Lithuania. They have one that is a smaller size but is so so nice and I would really love to have that. It's written a lot nicer and the it has tabs and has a way nice cool cover on it. I want to get it before I leave Klaipeda cause I won't be coming back by the look of things. I am hoping I will be here for one last transfer so I will have time. But it's kinda pricey but it would be so worth buying cause I like how nice it is and how the pages are set up on it. It's 320 LTs and that would be asking for a lot but you said to ask if I needed to get something and this would be really special to me. We can talk about it next email but that would really mean a lot to me if I could get it.

This week, I am so happy about it, we have lessons set up for every day of the week! :D
This week is going to fly by like it was nothing. I am so excited and I am hoping we will find some new investis on the way. The time clocks change here too but i'm not sure what day. We are no longer only harvesting or being out til 8 at night. We are going back to the normal schedule of working til 9 so we will be out longer now. I'm hoping with that extra time, we can find more people. I really want some solid investigators.

Elder Hyer and I have been having so much fun working together. I had him teach in sunday school yesterday which he did so good on. I sat next to him to help him say things. I had him teach a first lesson cause he needs to really work on that and he did an awesome job. I saw that it boosted his confidence up a lot. We practice teaching eatchother and he laughs when he gets frustrated but he keeps going at it cause he knows he needs to learn the language. We even practice knocking on doors and good door aproaches for companion study. He got a good laugh at that. He said," I thought I was done with that at the MTC". haha. He's a fun elder and it's crazy this is our 4th week in this transfer. Time goes faster and faster every day and as the language becomes more and more clearer. The lord has truly blessed me so much.

I love you all so much and thank you so so so so much for the prayers and all the support. I thank God everday for the wonderful family I am in and for all that we have. We are so truly blessed. Before you know it we will be talking on the phone again :D

   Su daug mielų,
        Džemsas Sanfordas