Email From James - October 3, 2011

Wow Parker's leg looks way good. Haha he really did a number on his leg. I'm sure he will be able to show that off to me when I am home. He's quite a trooper. I told my english class about what happened to Parker and they said he is quite a crazy american boy. I am going to bring pics next time to class to show everyone. They always have big smiles on their faces when I talk about my family cause they say I have a shine when I talk about you. My class is way funny. The class got a lot bigger. Normally there was about 5 people that came but just this last week, it exploded with english calls and now my calss is about 25 people. Wooo. It is a little harder because some people speak better than others so I have to find ways so that all can learn and participate. At the end of class is where we have the spiritual thought and so far they all seem to like it. They say I speak lithuanian, " beautifully" haha. :D I usually laugh when they say that and tell them that their liars. :) That's way neat that Anna got asked to Bingham Ball. You'll have to send some pics. I want to see who her date is and how she dresses for the dance. :D

Oh Konference. I can't wait to watch it this week. We are watching a konference session a day this week starting tomorrow so I'm way ekstatic about it. :D I literally have been counting down the days. When the first session started when it was 7pm here, I have never wanted to watch konference so badly in all my life. President Chomskis has been working like crazy with a lot of the other members in Lithuania translating the sessions and he told me that Elder Hollands is way good. We also heard from the assistants that Provo is getting another temple. Yay, Satan's influence is dwindling. :D Now there will be two cities in Utah with two temples. I am going to pass out when I am home and see all of the glorious temples all around. I won't know what to do with myself.

So we had quite a crazy hard week this past week. Won't go into details now but after the mission I will tell, but long story short, we had a run in with a way drunk guy on a very big bridge and then had to sneak our way into a store and out to get away from him ;D Story for after the mission hahaha. But a another funny story I can tell. So last tuesday, Elder Kezele starts saying he thinks he is getting bitten by fleas at night. He showed us a couple of small red marks on his arms and says that they itch. Elder Manning and I told him it was all in his head and that he is probably getting hives from freaking out about it. Well next morning, he has a ton of red marks on his arms and legs and says he felt a couple of them bite. Well now we start to believe him and say to just spray some bug spray. Well the next night, I wake up at 3 and feel something bite my leg and then a little higher up my leg and it itches way bad. Oh great. He really did have fleas. Yep, next morning I had some good bite marks on my legs from a dang flea. Oh it was terrible. So we had to go to the vet and buy some flea killer spray stuff and then cleanse everything in our apt. with it. We sprayed every inch of our apt. with that stuff so it was impossible for anything to have survived. Elder Kezele was really paraniod about them so he slept on the coach in the other room. But now things are in order and there are no more fleas. We went to the farthest reaches of Šiauliai by accident and ended up in a way rough area to go harvesting. Ya that didn't end up lasting for too long. Once it turned night time, everyone decided to be crazy and more drunk then usually. A little crazy, but behold I say unto, that the Lord protected us for we were men strong in the faith. Yea, for the Lord surely doth protect His servants from the dangers of this world. :) I also got pretty sick during the week. It was just a minor cold/flu but I feel much better now. I had a really good fast and after all the finances were done and putting all of the end of the month reports in, and my fast was over, I began to feel so much better. It was a true blessing. Everyone during the week was so nice to me. They would tell me things that I should do to get better. :D All in all, It was a pretty tough week for all of us. I think this week will be a lot better, plus we will be watching konference. That will really boost us up. I have also set a lot of new goals for this week to help me with my studies and things to do to improve the work.

I saw and really felt the power of fasting and prayer this past week. I took a really long fast because I really wanted to receive the Lord's help. I felt pretty week this past week. A lot of our investigators weren't able to meet, we weren't finding anyone, I felt we weren't really working together as a District, and I didn't feel like I wasn't mounting up to my calling as a district leader. I started my fast on sunday and things started to change. I prayed so hard and for a while for what I wanted to the Lord to help me with and thoughts began coming into my head of what I should do and what I could do to help our district/companionship. Throughout my fast from saturday onward to sunday, my studies seemed to be sort of lead and at church, I felt the spirit so strong in a lot of people's testimonies. My language picked up again and I could feel the Lord was aware of me and was helping me. One the members that I really like but she had been gone for a while with her husband in Russia came back last sunday. She said she noticed a change in me and that I was speaking a lot clearer and better. That meant a lot to hear. My love for the members here grows more and more. I think Šiauliai is my favorite area I have served in so far. I have grown so close to the members here and they always say how happy they are that I am serving here. One of the investigators/investigator who is practically member but her husband won't let her be baptized along with her daughter. He is a great guy and loves missionaires but just doesn't think his family should get baptized but the mother and daughter want to. Long story, I will explain after, but she came to church for the last time. They are all moving to Holland. That was so sad. She talked to me for a bit and said that I was the easiest missionary to interract with because I am so friendly and speak very freely and kindly. I am so sad they are moving. She said I better stop by and see her and her family after the mission. :D I love that whole family so much. They will all get baptized one day. I know it. After my fast, I felt such a calm releif and a feeling that God knew my concerns and that everything would be ok. There is such a great power that we can receive if we just allow the Lord into our lives and we give him some time in our lives. It's so sad when people say they are too busy to read the scriptures or come to church. They don't know what they are missing. I'm so grateful that I have this time to dedicate my life to serving God every day and every minute. I know I'm greatly going to miss that after the mission. It's funny, when we are out on p-days and we see music videos on tv our hear some songs that we used to hear before our missions, it used to make me miss all that and I would say," oh I can't wait till I can listen to that" or " what I would give to ....". Now it makes me kinda sad that time is going by so fast and that day is coming when I have to go back to that. That I won't have this time to promise people blessings, to prepare for lessons on how we can help them grow closer to God and follow Christ, go out and talk to peole about happniess and joy every single day. Let's just say be prepared to have ultimate family home evenings and scripture study in the morning. :D Being a missionary is so awesome. By far, as that speaker said in konference like you said, the mission is the best two years of and for my life. :)

Make this week a really good one and I will too. :D I love you all so much.
su amžina meile,
James

P.S. hey dad, I haven't heard a good mission story in a long time. If you got time I would love to hear another one. :D I learn a lot about how great of a dad you are and how great of a sacrifice you make as a bishop. I am so blessed to have a dad who is home and loves and cares for all of us. You are a great example to me.

P.S.S. Mom, your the greatest and I learn more and more by having to clean up and cook all the time, how wonderful you really are. ;)

P.S.S.S. Anna, choose righteous friends and be thankful for how many friends you have that are in the church. We are truly blesses for where we live in amazing Utah. Also go to the Temple, once for you and once for me ;D Keep that crazy drama attitude always shinning that I love. I always think about the funny laughs you and I had together at Disneyland or on trips together. Or when we tease mom ;)

P.S.S.S.S. Parker, well first try not to kill yourself, but also know how much I love you and you are truly my best friend. There are a lot of times when I wish I had little parker boy with me to make me smile. :D We will have a lot of fun when I am home. :)