Email from James - January 9, 2012

Hey dad,

 

Hopefully this letter will get to you. I don't know why the last letter didn't get sent. It was a long email and so I resent it and I hope it gets to you.

 

That's way funny that you got some snow on saturday because it started to snow here on saturday too. A lot actually. It just kept coming down and down and wouldn't stop. I had great fears that the winter was beginning and that the great battle was about to begin. It kinda felt like in the second Lord of the Rings movie where they are beginning the battle at the castle thing and the music begins and you can tell on Aragorn's face that it will be a hard fight but he rounds up his shoulders and fights. Ha ya that's how I would describe my feelings for that day. But, it warmed up a bit and now most of the snow is melted again. It is still way cold and bleak looking outside with the gray blanket of clouds but the snow is gone.

 

That's really cool you got to eat at President Homer's house with President Price. It's always way cool to be in the same room as a general authority and have the oportunity to be instructed by them. They are true servants of God. You can feel it when you are around them and I am blown away by how well they know their scriptures. When President Clayton came, an elder asked a question and without even a pause, he said, " well let's open up our scriptures to Doctrine and Covenants yadadad." It was crazy how well they know their scriptures. It makes me a little worried because I don't know my scriptures that well and I still haven't read through the new testament or the doctrine of convenants, but I am trying. I am beyond thankful someone used up their time to make the Bible Dictionary and the Topical Guide. :D I can zip through that way quick and find scriptures. I will have a lot of time to study the scriptures for the rest of my life which is very exciting for me because their is so much to learn from them. It's a life long pursuit that I am sure I won't ever be able to complete but I hope I can get close.

 

I totally am 110% in support of your new goal to be home with the family. That is a very honorable and worthy goal that not many families here have the opportunity of having. It's not that they have busy jobs or their lives are way busy, it's that most of the families are broken and their isn't a good dad or husband to come home after work to give the family some love and protection. I am so thankful that I have you as a great dad. You have been used as a great example for service, forgetting yourself, loving the Lord, being an example to me through my life and on my mission, being a great father and husband, and so many other great things. I can't wait til we are home and we can have conversations about gospel stuff and life more. I regret not taking those chances when I was home. Talking about gospel stuff or life wasn't that important to me, but now I am so thankful it is. It has taken a whole new meaning on my life and has a lot greater importance. I am so beyond grateful for my mission. Words can't describe how happy I am to be on a mission and to have this foundation that will bless my life forever. Thank you so much for being the great example that I needed to see to shape me into who I am becoming today. I shared some of my goals in the last email. They have been going pretty well. I have been working out every day except for sundays. It was a little hard to start and some days when I'm really tired, it's very hard to work-out but I actually want to keep this goal. I have seen great affects from it. I feel a lot better through the whole day and I am getting stronger. The Book of Mormon and D&C reading got a little slacked but I am renewing my desire to keep it going and setting goals to keep that strong.

 

Here's a copy from my email about one of our great investigators saule.
Saulė- I think personally this week for the question of what did I do to acheive the missionary and branch baptismal goal was our work with Saule. We have been working with her so hard and she has made so much progress in just one weeks time. She was very open with us when she knew that we saw her smoking after she told us she hadn't smoked in about 3 months. The spirit was a lot more stronger in our lessons with her and we could see and feel that she was repenting. I am very excited to ask her those questions you gave us. As we told you in our lesson this past week, the spirit was way strong and she has opened up way more to us, which I didn't think was possible. Her and Vladas have set the goal to quite smoking together. It has been wonderful to see. Vladas bore his testimony in church which was huge! We met with them sunday night and he said he was starting to think about not bearing his testimony but that he felt like he should. We are keeping a constant contact with Saule and Vladas to check up on their smoking and keeping that constant contact so we can know how they are doing spiritually. We gave their daughter, Gabriella, some of the bible and book of mormon cartoon stories and she loves them. They all read and study those together. Vladas and Saule are praying together. I couldn't be any happier from how I have seen them changed. Saule's baptismal date is for the 4 of February. It has been wonderful for me to be her so long to get that bond with her and saule so there is that trust. I feel I can be completely open with them and they said they feel they can tell us what they are feeling or what is hard for them. They told us that we were both from God just by how much we have helped them. When Saule first came to Šiauliai, way back in the summer time, she wasn't even interested in the gospel, and now, she wants to be baptized. People's hearts can change.

Romas has been out of town in Switzerland with his family so we won't be able to meet with him til next week.

 

That made me laugh about how people are arguing about who's team I will be one. What are the team's so far? Make sure they are serious about having me run because I really want to when I get back. I have been working out so I will be ready to get back into training fo the race. You totally got to run it. It's way fun and it's one of those experiences you got to try. Not many people say they ran a marathon like ragnar. :D

 

So I got an email from the lady from Bingham and she said that she can't send me those forms through email. I will copy what she said to me.

 James,We do not have the capability to email transcripts.  I need you to give me the name and addresses of the Universities for which you are applying, we will mail them directly to the admissions offices, that is part of the official transcript process for admissions.  Also, give me your date of birth and the year you graduated. If you would like us to mail an unofficial copy of your transcripts home we can do that just give me the address. Thanks,Robyn SmithRegistrar OfficeBingham High

      So you will have to get me the address of the schools that we are applying for. I think you can do both email and physical address of the colleges. I will need the addresses for BYU, Utah Valley University (UVU), SLCC and I was also thinking about Uof U too. :D Thanks for helping me out so much. It really means a lot. I am way excited to go into college and begin my whole new adventure. I am going to work way hard.

 

I didn't tell you on the phone about one of the exciting things I wanted to talk about. So we are going to go to Nauvoo? Wow I was way thrilled to hear about that. That is going to be so much fun and I can't wait. Some of my companions have been there and they say it is amazing. I want to go to the Nauvoo temple way badly. Oh I can't wait for that trip. Two thumbs up for that idea to go to Nauvoo and I am sure I will live if the hotel has a pool or not. :D That made me laugh hearing Anna and Parker ask if there will be a pool. Ha I remember flipping out if there wasn't a pool at the hotel. haha.

 

Nothing much really to report about this last week. It was a little slow but still lots of fun. I love being here and I can't believe how fast times just goes and goes. It gives me the extra drive to keep working harder and harder and to keep improving my skills constantly because I still have so much I can improve on. I love you so much and I can't wait to hear back from you. 

 

             Love always,

              James

Email from James - December 26, 2011

Hello again, :D

Oh how great it was to hear all of your voices. I tried to think of things to ask each of you so I could hear all of your voices and could have a small bit of time to talk to all of you. I hope you felt like you all got a chance to say what you wanted to say to me. That was so much fun and the time went by way to quickly. It's a good thing we ended when we did because literally two minutes after we hung up, Elder Nelson's family called :D whew, close one. I can't tell you all enough but I love you all so much Dad, Mom, Anna, and Parker. You all sound like you are doing so good and I can't wait til I can be with you all again. You mean the world to me. I often catch myself thinking of fun times we had together and of those special moments. The moments when I would just come sit in Dad's office in the church or at work and just chat or lunch trips we took together. The time at a christmas many years ago when I was caught hidding on the coach. I thought I was in so much trouble and that I wouldn't get anything for christmas. You gave me a package from under the tree and told me to open it. I couldn't believe the words I had heard. It was nearly 3 in the morning I think. I went down and opened the package and it was the Lord of the Rings Risk. I don't remember how the game went or who even won, but I remember how happy I was, just me and my dad, spending time together. My sweet mom who I can't wait to give a big hug too. I miss those little hugs so much. Even though I would make a little fit or pretend I didn't want a hug, those meant a lot to me. I would give anything to have a mom hug when the hard times come here. My room was always clean and I never will forget those notes you would leave me, in my glasses case when I was in in elementary school or on my desk after you had cleaned it that told me you loved me. I laugh at the time when I made you laugh really hard when we went to McGrath's fish house right before I left and I was immating a russian man and thanking God we had two frozen dogs to eat instead of one. :D Anna, oh hahaha where do the funny memories stop, I don't think there is an end. You always have some querky comment to make or some funny act you will pull out out of that creative mind you have. I laugh really hard when I think about how crazy we were at Disneyland and how hyper we were. It was fun to have some Big Brother and Little sis time when we went off and waited in lines for Indiana Jones and Pirates. We constantly had something to laugh about and you kept me entertained for hours as we waited in those long lines. And my little Parker. I miss your amazing energy and all of the crazy things you get into. I miss those times when I would be playing videogames and then you would come down and ask if you could play. Or when you and I would have Bro time and go see a movie or go drive around in my car. Remember when we went to the zoo? That was really fun seeing all of the animals and watching your eyes get really big when we saw the big tiger open his mouth to yawn. Ooooo scary. I remember when you were really little and you had barely learned to walk. I was sitting on the edge of the stage in the church and you walked up and sat down right by me. I had be hands behind me to support me sitting up. You looked at me and studied how I was sitting and then you did the same. I smiled and started kicking my legs and then you saw me and started doing the same. Then I put my hands on my legs. You laughed and then copied me. I miss having you around and copying my every move. I try so hard to be the big brother that you need to see. You made me tear up when you told me you love me and you wanted me to baptize you. I didn't know what to say. :D It will be fun when the trio, Anna, You and Me are all back together and we can be as crazy as can be. Anna can drive us to some places and we will go eat and see some movies. :D 
   Family, you mean so much to me and I can't express how lucky I feel to have you. I see other families and I always think how extremely happy I am to have the family that I have. You mean the world to me and before we know it, I will be home. What a wonderful day that will be. 

     With all the love I have,
         James

Email from James - December 20, 2011

Dear Dad and family,

 

So the great news is 100 percent true, I will still be in the belevoed city of Šiauliai. We said goodbye to Elder Manning, which was so sad and way hard to do. We became way close and we are going to miss him a ton. We had a lot of fun our last week together. He lives in Logan and he already gave his homecoming so you won't be able to see it. Elder Nelson and I are way excited to still be serving together. It is so foreign for me to be in a two-way companionship. We went shopping today and I felt like we didn't have enough food so I'm having to reteach myself how to live in a two way companionship. Should be funny. Thankfullly Elder Whicker is here today for exchanges for a couple of days so I can feel comfortable for a time. It made me so happy on sunday when all the members saw me. They were so happy when they found out that I would still be here in Šiauliai. :D I love them all so much. We had a christmas party on saturday and that was so much fun. :D I was one of the wise men and I got a good practice in in using my hebrew tounge. They all thought it was funny. A way funny thing happened, as Antti was speaking and president Chomskis was translating for him, Mati, the little 1 year old boy that I love to death and always play with, was running around in the hallway and his mom was chasing him, Skaiste who is Antti's husband so this is all one big chain. Skaiste is going to have another baby in January. So as he is running around, he sees me and I smile at him and make a little face. I'm up in the front so no one can see him but me. So he comes running towards me and runs up to me haha. It was so cute. So I just played with him so Skaiste could sit and Antti could finish talking. I love that little kid so much. I will have to get a pick with him.

 

There's still no snow. Ugh, it's so lame. I want it to snow so so badly. It tried to snow last night but it didn't stick. It's way funny how badly I want it to snow when just a few months ago I was dredding the coming of the snow. It's just that it isn't christmas without snow, you know? It's pretty cloudy and gloomy looking oustide so maybe it will come down. Cross your fingers.

 

We were at zone conference yesterday so that is why we are emailing today. It was a lot of fun and it was even more fun seeing other missionaries. Now that there is only two of us in Šiauliai, it gets a little lonely not seeing anyone else. I loved it in a threesome. I was fine without seeing anyother missionary. But now, it gets kinda lonely but I am glad I am with Elder Nelson. I wouldn't pick anyone else to be stuck with in Šiauliai than him. Haha. You would have laughed your heads off if you saw what I did at zone conference. So there is a new senior couple named the Flakes and they are hillarious. So they were getting pictures with all of the missionaries with their fancy dancey cool touch phone. So they ask me to help them and so Elder Flake hands me this cool phone and the screen wasn't on. They get in position and I am trying to figure out how to get the thing working. It was so funny how long it took. I didn't even figure out how. Some of the newer elders laughed and elder flake said, " oh come on it's not that hard." Then he took it from me and started it up. Hahaha. so I did a good grandpa voice and said, " dang kids with their shmazy dazy gizo devices. whatever happened to the normal push button phone. " Hahaha. OH it is so funny how I am so behind in the silly things of the world. I am sure I will be amazed at everything when I am home. You will have a great show for some time.  

 

I got sick last week which was no fun but I remembered I saw the cold flu stuff in the package. Yes I opened yet another thing from the package but this was an emergency. It helped a lot and tasted really good. My cold is all gone and I feel much better. Just a little cough here and there but no biggie. Mom said that she hopes there will be enough presents and I promise there will be plenty. Lucky charms is in there, I may or may not have seen, and that will be a present everyday for a while :D. It doesn't even really feel like it is christmas. I remember last year when I got those packages and it was driving me nuts for christmas to come and open those packages. I am just excited to hear from you all on christmas more than anything else. Ofcourse last year I was alraedy thrilled, but you get what I mean. ;D When you just grow up I suppose, the small material things of the world just don't matter. Hu Hu Hu Hu (you have to read that with an old wise man british accent to get the full affect).

 

So I will have to talk with you on the phone more about what to do with that email to that lady about the releasing my paper stuff because I was super confused. I don't know what that means and I don't know what to write to her. So you will have to explain to me what that means and what I need to do.

 

You'll have to try sending me that film again because when I opened it, it said it is only 30 sec. long and so I only got to watch thirty seconds of it. :( It looked way cool and I like the cool guitar christmas music of it.

 

Have you watched the christmas devotional? If you haven't, you should. It is so so good and I got to watch it again but in lithuanian on sunday. I love it and the new bible films are way interesting. One of the sisters here, well she is in Vilnius and she is a russian speaking sister, her dad is over all of the video stuff for the church so over a year he has been working on these films so that was kinda cool to hear. They are pretty sweet and they have a really cool feel and look into the birth of the savior.

 

It made me laugh when you said you have been planning all of the speakers for the next year and through the next few months and it's funny because that it what I have to do every month. I have to plan the speakers and pick the topics for them. Since there is so few members in the branch here, I just plan at the beginning of the month or before the month begins who will speak and what topics. It's been really cool because I always pray before planning and then the thoughts just come in what to say. I could tell it was true revelation because the talks that were given this last sunday, which I had planned at the beginning of the month, were so applicable for the things that happened this past week. It was amazing. The Lord truly does watch over his work, and even though we may not understand why we are doing something, it will always affect something to come in the future. It was a really neat experience for me to see.

 

So for the calls, here's how it's going down. Your are going to call me at 8:00 P.M. my time here. So that means it will be, I think, 11:00 A.M. your time. If I am wrong then you know just to figure out when my time is.  The number to call is 01137060678575. I can't wait!!

 

Well family, I love you a ton and I can't wait to talk to you. I can't believe it is already here!!!! Love you lots

          James 

 

Dear President Boswell,

It was quite hard letting go of Elder Manning, but we knew we had to. He needed to be sent off to his next mission and we still needed to work in ours. Elder Nelson and I have been working so well together and we have a lot of good goals to start this new transfer. I am very excited to be serving with him and I know that we will continue the work here. I am also very thrilled to still be in Šiauliai. I have so many great visions of changes that I can see here and have shared them with Elder Nelson. He has great desires for this transfer as well and I pray that we will have a lot of success.

Romas- He is doing wonderful. We had a lesson about Jesus Christ and we watched the film "Finding Faith in Christ." He really wants to find a testimony. He told us how he wants a strong testimony like we have and like how some of the prophets in the Book of Mormon said, " I know...". We have been praying alot for him and we really want him to see that he can find that testimony and that when we is baptized, he won't know everything, but he will feel that what he is doing is right in God's eyes. He amazes me everytime we meet with him by how much he is changing and how more sincere he is when we meet with him. He wants to learn from us. He told us how powerful it is to him to see young men acting and living what they believe in. He said that was one of the major reasons he knew he could trust us and that what we taught had to be true. He said he just wants to learn all he can from us. That made our day so much and it also put a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. I don't think I have ever prayed so hard for an investigator in all my life. We are going to meet with him this week before he leaves with his family to switzerland. They go on a family trip every year and they will be gone for a few weeks. We tried to set another baptismal date but he said he would be gone for that one. He said he wants to meet with us when he gets back and that he wants to keep preparing for baptism. He won't be back til mid January.

Dalė- We had a good lesson with her and Ruta, and their friend Greta. Greta is Ruta's friend and she comes to church with them but isn't too interested in the gospel. She comes to english class so we know her pretty well. We talked about testimonies and talked about the first again and explained the importance of authority and the great message we have of the restoration. They acceptated it but Dalė said she couldn't accept another baptism because she already accepted one in the catholic church and that would be a sin towards God. We expained, very well actually, I was quite impressed and it was completely by the spirit, about how if she felt that this is God's church, why would it be a sin to join God's church. She understood and she thought about it for a bit.

 

Raimonda- We talked with her about obeidience to God's Commandments and the blessings that we can receive from our obedience. We used a lot of scriptures that talked about how when we obey God's commandments, he immediately will bless us. She said that it is very hard for her to not have the desire to drink wine. She says she doesn't drink it but at parties with friends, she says it would be hard to tell her friends no that she can't drink and that it would be embarrasing for her. We talked a lot about faith and having fear of God and not of man. She is progressing little by little but she is getting there. She keeps coming to church faithfully each week and to the ativities. Her little daughters love church because Gitana, one of the members, teaches primary and they play a lot.

 

Saulė- We went over the chapter that she was supposed to read in 3 Nephi 11, about baptism. We went through it again with her and talked about the importance of baptism. We talked a lot about how with baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost, we can be cleansed from all sin and that all of those bad feelings that we have about past sins, they can all be washed away and we won't have them anymore. I could tell she really liked that. We also talked a lot about the great gift we receive when we get the gift of the Holy Ghost. She didn't understand really what that was so it was fun to explain that to her and bear our testimonies of it's power. This week they said they should know the exact date for their wedding and then we will get a new baptism date with her.

 

Rimantas- This is one of our miracles this week. Rimantas is the recent convert of last summer and we went by to visit him. He has become less active and it's been kinda hard to get him to come back to church. He will coem but he thinks that all we do in the church is chat chat and that we need to go into the schools and teach kids how to grow up. Ha, he is a really funny guy and talks forever about the culture and how bad everything is. When we went over, one of his friends was over. His name was Saulus. He was such a nice man and greeted us way warmly. We began talking and he really opened up to us. He said he was seen us before when he used to come into Šiauliai for work and says that he was always interested in talking to us. That made him think of his friend. He pulled out his phone and asked if I would talk with one of his friends who has been wanting to meet with us. I talked to his friend who was an older lady who was really nice and said how wonderful boys we are and she said that she wanted to meet with us way badly. She said that we are angels in the city. I wrote down her number and her name and she took ours and I told her I would call her next week. She lives a little bit outside of Šiauliai, but she would be able to come into the city to meet and find out where our church is. That Saulus guy really enjoyed the lesson with us and came to our branch christmas activity and really liked it. He said he moves around a lot and doesn't have a set place where he always is so he is hard to get ahold of. I really hope we will be able to meet up with him again. He was a really nice man. It would be a great way to get Rimantas to come back if he had a really close friend start coming to church.

 

Geduminas- He is one of our new investigators who is doing pretty well. He said that he is interested in learning more about the church. We taught a first lesson shortly and got to know better who he is and what he believes in. He is a really nice guy and has a great family from what we hear. He is married and has a daughter and it is seen how much he cares about them. We want to go over to his house so we can get the whole family involved.

 

I learned so much from Zone Conference and I am looking forward to reviewing my notes. It was fun to watch those bible videos also. I found those on LDS.org on one p-day and they were really interesting. Something that stood out to me and stood out again on sunday and then on zone conference was the importance of having time to pondering and waiting on the Lord. Those films are very interesting if you watch them in their full length. They seemed almost dragged out and when people walk, they walk more peacefully and with grace, for example, the angel. Everyone, at the beginning of the film, is slowly filling up their water containers as if they have all the time in the world. It stood out to me how Mary is pondering before she goes to work. As she is walking, she is still pondering deeply about something. She is giving a lot of thought to the Lord and on what she is pondering about. As she is on her knees, praying again, which I am sure that isn't her first time praying on that one subject that day, the Lord sees her real intent, and her prayer is answered according to her desires, her works, and her faith, and an angel appears. Pres. Chomskis and I talked for a bit about it after we watched the christmas devotional on sunday. Once we, the branch, were done watching the christmas devotional, everyone just jumped up and starting getting ready to go go go go go and no one took time to sit and ponder about what pres. monson had just said. President Chomskis said he asked some of them about what they thought about what pres. monson said and not many of them remembered after we had just seen it. We talked a lot about the importance of pondering and setting time for the Lord. I learned a great lesson this week about the power of waiting and pondering. I have never been good at that and I really want to become better at it and let the Lord touch my heart and give some revelation on how I can improve and become better. It was quite a powerful experience for me to learn this week. I know it was by inspiration that the Lord said that we must read, ponder, and pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true.

    have a wonderful christmas,
         Elder Sanford

Photos from James - December 12, 2011

Pic of me on a really cool street in Vilnius that is way old. 

You could hear all of the catholic church bells ringing in the air. 

The pic after the game of America Vs. Lithuania.  Our investigator, Romas, wanted to play basketball with us and before Elder Manning goes home. So he called us up on Saturday and asked if we could and we had time that night. Ya, we were a little nervous because we had no idea who was going to come, I haven't played in forever and neither had Elder Manning. So we went out there and we went to a school and we met up with his two friends. They were about Romas's age, about 40. So we felt pretty confident. Ha Romas's daughters came to watch us play. Hahah oooo real americans. They brought a camera too and took lots of pics during the game. It was so much fun. They were way good and we had a blast. I am still sore. I hate not having sport days or more of a way to work out as a missionary. Alas, America did not triumph. It was way close those but they pulled it out in the end.

Email from James - December 12, 2011

Well transfers will be this week but we just kinda found out what they will be. I still will be fully and 100% sure. Elder Manning is going home and it is so sad. I have never wanted a companionship to not end so badly. All three of us having been having so much fun serving together. We were all in the same district in Klaipeda when I was with Elder Hilton so we are already way close. We called Elder Hilton yesterday to get a good laugh out of him and reminice about the good time in Klaipeda so many cold winter days ago. Aw, good times. So about transfers, presdent boswell emails us personal small emails and says some stuff to each of us personally. To me he just told me about how great the work is going and yadadad. It was really good and the yadadad doesn't mean that it was boring it is hebrew for, it's only for the reader to know. :D But, in Elder Nelson's email, he told him that next transfer would just be Elder Nelson in I in Šiauliai. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Oh I don't know what to think. I am completely excited to be with Elder Nelson for christmas. Oh we are so excited to be together, it will be a blast. I am also beyond beyond beyond happy I will still be here because I love this place and all of the members to death. The problem is, we need three elders together. We teach a lot of women and you need a third guy there. Problem is, we don't have  third guy. Antti, who could be the solid guy who comes is always traveling to Russia or Latvia or Estonia, for the seminary trainings and what not and he doesn't speak lithuanian. Vladas is here so I can see we could get him in on more lessons. It's hard to explain with him but he is doing a lot better since I came here. I gave him a suit and he loves it and I was just going to let him borrow it for his wedding but I don't wear it all that much and he really likes it. We need him to come to church in a suit to start getting him ready to be a leader and his family has no money to buy clothes. We go shopping with them everyweek. I'm sorry if you think that is a little to much but I really felt like I should. I still have suits so don't worry about that. Plus, hint hint, it's kinda normal for departing elders to get a new euro suit to come home and look nice in so you know, I keep an eye out for one of those. :D Maybe christmas or something. They are actually way good here because they are a lot cheaper than the ones you can buy in american and they are so much more nicer looking. Trust me, when you see me in one, you would agree. :D So ya, this transfer, if it is just us two, will be intersting but o so much fun. I love Elder Nelson to death and we get along great. I wouldn't be any happier. It will be fun for me because I haven't been in a two companion companionship in over 7 months. It will be transfer number 6 in Šiauliai. Oh yea. :D I would love to just hear president Boswell's voice and hear him say, " Elder Sanford, the Lord wants you to finish your mission in Šiauliai." I would love it. 

Man father, you have been working a ton. Take a good rest this holiday season and watch Elf and How the Grinch Stole Chritsmas for me. I have been acting out those movies and I can't wait to watch them. hahaha The Grinch with Jim Carrey is hillarious. We were in a book store and I found, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, in LITHUANIAN. I was flipping out because I had just asked my english class if anyone knew who Dr. Seus was because they had all seen the movie but they didn't know what it was from. I bought the book because it was way cheap and it was in lithuanian. It is so sweet! It is way cool because it all rhymes in lithuanian. Kaip Grinčas Kalėdas vogė. I took it to english class and showed everyone and I told them to all buy it. :D They got a good laugh. 

Our investigator, Romas, wanted to play basketball with us and before Elder Manning goes home. So he called us up on Saturday and asked if we could and we had time that night. Ya, we were a little nervous because we had no idea who was going to come, I haven't played in forever and neither had Elder Manning. So we went out there and we went to a school and we met up with his two friends. They were about Romas's age, about 40. So we felt pretty confident. Ha Romas's daughters came to watch us play. Hahah oooo real americans. They brought a camera too and took lots of pics during the game. It was so much fun. They were way good and we had a blast. I am still sore. I hate not having sport days or more of a way to work out as a missionary. Alas, America did not triumph. It was way close those but they pulled it out in the end. It was great and they really liked us. One of the other guys daughters came to and she played with us. She was really good. She plays for the school. We all got a picture together so I will send it. I look way short but I blam it on my flat bottomed shoed and everyone had higher up shoes. I was still taller than two of the guys so that makes me happy. :D haha. 

You should definitely send me that little movie thing. We have a lot of time when emailing and it would be fine to watch. I would love ot see it. It would be really fun to see pics of everyone. 

The family that has the son coming home from Lithuania, he is a russian speaking missionary. I don't know him that well but I have seen him. 

We went to Vilnius on friday for the whole day because Elder Manning had to go undeclare as a resident in Lithuania. We went out to lunch with President Chomskis because he lives down there. We went to a really cool italian place which is like a buffet, which is rare to see a buffet type place here. What you do is they give you a plasitc card that keeps track of how much food you eat. You go up to one of the lines and say what you would like to eat. They make it and then when it's done, you put your card up to this machine and then it records what you got and then you pay for it all after at the cash register place. Way sweet restaraunt and it was way yummy. I talked with the kid who made my pizza. He asked me what we do here and how we eat and work etc. He was way funny and about my age so we had a good laugh. I love speaking lithuanian. My kids are so going to speak a little lithuanian. :D I already have my first daughter's name picked out. I won't type it because you will read it americanly and I don't want that. It has to be pronounced lithuanianly. :D We took some pics by some of the old streets and I have one I want to use as a christmas card thing to family and some friends. I will send it in the email. It's really cool. It was  way fun being in Vilnius because it was starting to snow and vilnius was just covered in christmas decorations and what not. Being in big cities around christmas is one of my favorite things to do. It was fun going there and back because we took a train both ways and it was snowing so we joked around that we were on the Polar Express and we started singing the Hot Chocolate song. We had our own little cabin room thing to ourselves on the way there and then on the way back, we had a room again, but it was way old and we were pretty crowded in it. We didn't realize it was friday night and everyone was going back home for the weekend. Mostly all of the college students. :D 

hahah so I found a solution for how not to be tired in the morning. Yes, first was to ask the Lord for MAJOR help. I did that. Second, was to just take it in and just work out. It was quite a battle, I can surely tell you that. I just had to turn on all the lights and just start going at it. I felt so much better the whole day though and it made studies a lot better. Plus, for my future job in mind, I gotta start getting in the habit of being in shape. :D haha. Thanks so much for starting to look into the college stuff. I can't believe that time has already come to start thinking about college. I will be excited to hear how that goes and what goes on. If you could, try at UofU also, just more choices. :D The more choices the better. I can't wait to hear what you think about my job in mind. :D It may sound weird at first, but you will have to hear me out. It's a good job though and one that can support a family. Let me know how I can help with any of the applying stuff and keep me updated. Thanks so much for doing that.

I will have the info about the calls for christmas next week. I can't believe that is here either. I remember saying goodbye last mother's day and it felt like Christmas was far away and now it is here again. It snowed on tuesday crazily, there was so much snow and it just coming down and down. When I woke up and saw that it was snowing, I started yelling and doing my little Elvis dance and started singing Santa Claus is coming to Town. :D Then it melted and then it snowed and it melted then all the water froze and now there is only a little bit of snow left, but, snow or no snow, the nightmare of chirstmas past is here, the cold. Oh man it's just goes right through your bones and the wind doesn't feel any better. I am starting to get more used to it but it will still be freezing no matter what. Oh Utah winters will seem so nice when I can get in a warm car and look out the window and drive through the snow. Eh, I will still walk, bring back some good memories. :D I love it though. I really want it to snow more. I want a winterwonderland, not the dead marshes with a little bit of snow. It's not christmas without a winterwonderland. 

Oh, those pics just made my day. Oh I love the house and the beautiful durango. You got to give her a hug for me. Oh so many good memories with that car. Hahaha I sound weird but it's true. I am madly inlove with that sweet car haha. :D Our house is SOOO BIG. I couldn't believe it. I always thought about it but I never realized how big it really was. Whew, we are a blessed people. Say a big prayer for all that we have everyday. I tried that last night and it was kinda fun. I just said a prayer just thanking Heavenly Father for all that I had, without asking. It was a little hard at some parts but it was fun to try. Thanks for sending those. I would be happy to get copies of those because I tired printing them out but it's only in black and white and it doesn't look as good. I like the real pics when you print them at a store because they look so good. 

Well family, I love you all so much and I am beyond so thankful for all that you do for me. Just be prepared for a lot of spoiling, that is after I have a decent job, have some money, but I will do all that I can for all of you to pay back. :D If you haven't watched the first presidency christmas devotional, watch it. It was so good. We watched it last week on the computer in the church. It was so good. It is such a great time to think about our greatest gift, our Saviour. It was cool because they showed some videos from the new New Testament movies they are making. They are pretty cool. The clips they showed in the devotional had a lot of good music to it and it blended way good together. If you go to LDS.org, the have the clips and they are a little longer but there is no music in most of them. It's kinda weird. Pres. Eyring talked about the videos. They really make you think and ponder about the scriptures. I can't wait for the next ones to be released. 

I love you alll so so much and I can't wait to hear from you next week and then on CHRISTMAS.
     Lots of love forever and ever,
           Elder James Sanford

P.S. Dad, if you get the chance, would you mind doing a little update of the blog. That would be great. My friends always like to read it and they ask when it will be updated if it doesn't get updated. :D


Dear President Boswell,

We had quite a busy week and quite a good one as well. I can't believe how quickly this transfer has gone by. It makes me quite sad actually. It feels like it was just a few weeks ago when I was thinking how blessed I am to be serving with Elder Manning and Elder Nelson and now Elder Manning is about to go home. I have learned so much from him and he has helped the work here so much. He told us that you told him one time in a meeting that you said he would be finishing his mission in Kaunas but later on those plans changed and he came up here to Šiauliai. I know that the Lord needed him here and we also did too. He has changed the work here in Šiauliai and I was so blessed to be able to serve with him for two transfers. They are transfers that I have grown and learned so much on and ones that I won't soon forget. I truly believe that some of the best missionaries are sent to the Batlic Mission, but I also believe that even greater missionaries are sent to Šiauliai. I try my best to match up to their great potential. I think the Lord just wants to me to learn and see how I can improve from their great examples. :D 

Romas- He is doing so great. We went over the baptismal questions with him and he said that the only problems he has is finding a testimony. He said that he is a little bit nervous for his baptism and still hasn't found an answer yet. He said when you have a testimony about God and Jesus Christ, everything else falls into order. We challenged him to pray more. It was quite a powerful impression actually. I felt the reason why he wasn't getting an answer was because he wasn't praying sincerelly enough and that he needs to pray more. He said he prays every night without failure and it looked like that was just a routine that never changed. We found the scripture where Alma says how he received his testimony, "much prayer and much fasting". We read that with him and asked him how he thought Alma had such a strong testimony. He said he prayed and fasted a lot, I guess I need to too. He is sensitive to the spirit and he is changing drastically. He wasn't able to come to church this sunday because he hurt his ankle but he has been three times. He are going to meet with him a lot this week and get him ready. We had a special fast for him yesterday that he will feel an answer from our Heavenly Father and that he will feel ready for his baptism. 

Saulė- She is doing really good. We finally got a chance to meet with her. We went over the baptismal questions with her and talked about what she needs to do for her baptism. It was a pretty good lesson. She was a little confused aobut what it meant about a living day prophet. We talked about that for a while adn helped her see why it's such a great blessing that we have a living prophet in our day. Vladas tends to be a little silly in lessons and we have been trying to make him see that it's a serious thing that we are talking about. Something great though is that he has been coming to church every sunday and he has a suit now. He texted us and asked if we had a suit he could borrow for their wedding which will be at the end of this month. That means Saulė's date will be moved back, but I already had a feeling it would be. She still needs a lot of preparation. So I found one of my suits and gave it to him along with a nice white shirt I haven't worn my whole mission. We went over and he tried it on. He looked so good in it and his family was way impressed. I had to help him tie his tie but he will learn pretty quickly with help. :D I told him he should come to church like this every sunday and he said, " definitelly", as he was looking at himself in a mirror like he was a model. I think he likes it more because he thinks he looks like James Bond in it. But if he comes to church in a suit, I'm fine with him thiking he is James Bond. :D President Chomskis and I were talking about what calling we could give him now that he is becomming more active and showing a lot of progress. 

Raimonda- We met with her once this week. We asked how her prays are going. We challenged her to pray more sincerally. She said it was a little hard for her still but she is trying. We focused our whole lesson about Jesus Christ because she only knows who he is from a movie she watched. We had a really powerful lesson and talked about what Christ did for us and what that means to us personally. We gave her The Living Christ and the chapter 9 in 2 Nephi to read as her assignment. We watched with her the finding faith in christ and she really liked it. It was a great video for her because she struggles with finding that faith that we always talk about. She always asks,how? How do you believe? When Jonas askes those types of questions in the movie, it perfectely applied to her. After the movie, we could tell something touched her. She seemed more sincere. She came to church and seemed a lot better. 

Dalė and Ruta- They are doing so great. We met with them last week and Dalė said she didn't like fast and testimony meeting. One of the members gave an "interesting" testimony. Dalė didn't like it and said it was a bit strange to her. We were going to talk about it but she kinda went on a long story about how she "saw god". We were able to bring it back to the lesson and brought the spirit back so powerfully. Her daughter Ruta asked about baptism in our church with us and with the young women on sunday. I was amazed at how she was so interested in baptism. Dalė came to church, which was a great miracle, and she was so smiley. It must have been something in our lesson because I thought she was scared away after the fast and testimony meeting. She came and after she was so smiley and said to call her and we would meet again. I am very excited to meet with them this week. 

Miracles:

We had to go down to Vilnius so Elder Manning could undeclare. We were down in vilnius for a while so as we were walking down through center, a lady came up to us and asked us how she could get a Book of Mormon. We talked to her for a sec and she said that she was interested in our church and didn't know exactly where it was in vilnius. We gave her a book of mormon and our visiting card and she said she would call us and would love to meet. After that, a few hours later, a man ran up to us and said that Christ or God helped him so much last year because he was trying to quite using drugs. He said it was so hard for him to do but God helped him. He said he started using them again the day before and that he didn't want to go back down that hard path. He said he wanted our help. He gave us his number and we told him other missionaries would call him the next day. He said he was excited and that he would be waiting. It's so great when we are simply outside, the Lord truly does place people in our path who are ready and prepared to hear the good news. 

We had 5 investigators to church. That was so wonderful. So many people are wanting to hear our message. The great task for us is is to be prepared at all times with the spirit to help them be prepared for baptism. One of the members said to us, " wow, you elders have a lot of investigators to church. you are guys are working so well here. keep it up." 

It was a double witness to me about testifying to everyone even if they don't want to listen, the Lord will always send people to us according to our desires and our work,as you mentioned in your email. We may not see the outcomes now, but all that we do is noticed and seen by the Lord and it will change the heart of someone. I learned it first in the scriptures and then your email provided that second witness that it was true. I first found out that truth this past week in my personal study. I read a story in the Book of Mormon that everyone knows quite well but I noticed something I never noticed before. Abinadi was commanded to preach repentance and the truth to all of the people. He did very well and very powerfully. No one listend to him. He kept preaching and then the people took him before the King to be put on trial. Quite a powerful way to tell a missionary that no one wants to listen to you. As he was before the King, in chains, already having been told he was going to be put to death, he continues in his calling from the Lord to cry repentance and the truth to the people. He preached so powerfully and with the spirit that his face shown as it did with Moses. EVEN AFTER he preaches this wonderful sermon, and I can bet the spirit was beyond powerful that everyone could feel it. It's shown how powerful it is that the guards dared not to touch him, the preists and the people cried to put him to death. I could imagine that was very heart breaking for Abinadi. What stood out to me is how devouted he was. He never gave up even when people wouldn't listen to him and then he was sentenced to death. BUT, his work had tremendous success, but not right away. ONE preist believed what he said. We could probably agree that Abinadi preached to thousands of people, but the Lord needed him to be prepared to touch the heart of the ONE. From that one, Alma, went on and converted thousands. THOUSANDS were brought unto christ because Abinadi did what he was commanded and he was ready, with the spirit, and bore a powerful testimony, that touched the heart of the ONE. How great is our calling.....

     Thank you so much for all that you do president. Thank you for praying for Romas. I know that it is helping a lot in his success. Tell sister boswell thank you so much for all the wonderful things so does for us as missionaries too. :D
                   -Elder Sanford

Email from James - December 5, 2011

Surprisingly, I really wish it would snow here. For the past few weeks, all it has been is depressing cold rain rain rain. It's not so cheerful especially when it's December. Which is way crazy how it is already December. Where has the time gone? I love it because we have been listening to Christmas music, which I absolutely love. I had president chomskis by me the Josh Groban Noel cd down in Vilnius and then I payed him back. Oh man, that cd is so so good. I love my Josh Groban. I defenitely call next trip to a Josh Groban concert when I'm back , with mom. And then Anna and I can go to Tim Mcgraw or Toby Keith. :D hhahah So funny story, last Wednesday we had our zone conference with Pres. Lawrence. It was intense and we talked about the tribes of Israel. I will tell about it later. So for some reason, the zone leaders said we had to go down to Vilnius to stay with elders there and then travel up to Kaunas. So on tuesday night, we went down to Vilnius. Elder Manning and Elder Nelson stayed with other elder and I went to stay with Elder Hengst, Elder Hilton, both of whom were in the MTC with me, and Elder Hyer, whom I was with in Klaipeda. So when I was with Elder Hyer back in Klaipeda, he said he was going to make me like country after the mission. I used to always make fun of country and how terrible music it was. So when we got on the bus and started going back to their apt., I looked at Elder Hyer and said, " well, my friend, the Lord has heard your cries and has softened my heart." He looked at me and said, " what do you mean?" I said, " Boiy, I am a country music man." Hahaha he made his funny little squel happy sound and flipped out. He couldn't believe his ears hahha. It made me laugh so hard. Elder Hilton was way surprised because I used to always bash on country in the MTC. Oh it was funny, you would have had to be there. 

So conference, I can't type it but the way I act out how conference was, is I put my hand by my head and make a blowing up noise and show my brain exploading. That's how I described conference. Elder Lawrence's wife knows her scriptures. Man, she went on forever about the Lost Tribes of Israel and all of this deep doctrine. It was intense and I wasn't too happy because we had to get up at 4 to get to Kaunas so I was way tired when I wanted to be fully awake. I learned to much though. She talked about how special and how important our mission is, especially in the Baltics. Her and Elder Lawrence said how only some of the best missionaries get called her. They told us that once this mission and russia and the higher scandinavian countries were opened, the church noticed a great work opening up. People have always wondered where the lost tribes are. Well, Sister Lawrence told us that when people here started getting their patriarhcal ( ya totally killed the spelling) blessing, the members were from the lost tribes. I couldn't believe it. It made me love this mission even more and made me think how great the work is here. I took a lot of notes and now I really want to study the Old Testament when I am home. It was a really good conference.

So I learned even more so that I hope I never have to be a bishop or a stake president. Ugh, President Chomskis and I, because I am the first counselor, had to talk about Vladas, a less active kid who is doing really good now but his girlfriend, is one of our investigators, and they aren't really living according to the Law of Chastity. Oh it was depressing. I don't know how you do it. So much drama with the whole family because some leader said this... and another said that... oh it was soo fun. I really admire that you are able to be a bishop. I don't think I will ever be one but I look up to you so much for being able to have so much love for the members and always being there to help everyone and me and still have a smile on your face. Pres. Lawrence talked a lot about repentance and said how when you bishop, the lord gives you the power of memory loss. He said he would see people sitting in the audience, but he couldn't even remember what they had done. He only rememberd how loved and how good of a person they are. He only saw the change that the person was making for the better and their worth in God's eyes.

I can print off emails. I printed off all of the talks that you gave and other random things I have printed off. There is a really nice library by our apt., literally right next to it, and it's way nice on the inside. They have a really  nice printer and the comps, even though they aren't apple, are way good. I can't wait to see pics of the house and off the durango. :D I haven't seen those in so so long. I barely even remember it. It has fadded from my eyes. You could send some through the email of the car and of the house but still send the pics in a letter because when their are the actual pic, it's much better quality. 

Transfers will be next week. I'm not sure what will happen when Elder Manning goes home. We don't really talk about it :D. We are only getting a new sister missionary so no new missionaries are coming in. Elder Nelson is my other comp, so I am in a threesome with Elder Manning. We have thought and it will be interesting to see what happens because Elder Leishman is going home too. I pray and pray that I won't leave Šiauliai. I love the members here so much and Skaiste, the member with the little baby boy, and Antti, her husband, invited us over for chirstmas so that would be a lot of fun. We went over to their house last night with pres. chomskis for his "birthday dinner" and had a lot of fun. I just entertained little Matti the whole time. Hahah Skaiste said I have to come back after the mission to play with Matti because he will miss me a ton. I love that little boy. Haha. I will have to get a pick with him. With Antti,  he speaks russian and really good british english. When he speaks english, you would think he is from England but he's not. With him at church, I have to translate for him. Your brain hurts trying to translate from an old language into english. It gets your head going though. 

Ugh I am so tired all of the time. I have such a hard time waking up in the morning. It kills me because I can't go running or do something in the morning to wake me up. When Elder Manning is taking a shower, I just callapse on the floor or the couch and pass out. It's way bad because then I get in the shower and then in studies I am so tired and can't concentrate. I have tried working out or something but pushups is no fun when it's that early. I found one work out that is good which kinda keeps me awake. I just lay on the hard wood floor, which is the only floor in our apt, carpet doesn't exist here, and I just roll around to keep me awake. Ha. Any suggestions? You would think by now I would be used to getting up but I learned it was from all of my running in the morning I could get up that early. I can't wait to have the freedom of going running again. It will be so nice. :D 

So next week we will be finding out when we can do calls for christmas. Weird. Something to get you excited, I have thought a lot about what I want to do as a carrear and I think I have found it. We were all talking together about jobs and my whole mission I never really thought of one and now, with such little time left, I was getting a little worried. But as we were talking, Elder Manning said he could see me working as this carrear and I had such a good feeling about it for some reason. At first I kinda laughed at the idea of me being one but as I thought about it more and more, it felt like the right carrear for me. So be excited :D Also, not getting trunky or anything but I just want to be sure. When do registration for colleges start. If it is possible I would love to start school in the summer. I talked with some of the other elders and they said it's easier to get in some colleges when you register for the summer. I have been thinking about BYU or UVU but let me know becasue I don't want to put those off until the last minute. Let me know about all of the colleges. Some Elders were saying I should start asking you about that stuff now. Weird huh? hahaha. I can't wait to start college.

I hope everything is going well with you and always know that I love you so much,
           Love,
             James

Email from James - November 28, 2011

Brangausia Šeima,

Well way funny, I got the B-Day package on monday which was amazing! Thank you so much. Oh how I love pictures so much. I showed them to my english class. I always talk with them about what's new at home or just funny memories. That cd, OH MY GOSH is so amazing! I can't stop listening to it. I like it more than MOTAB cd's. They have such powerful versions of hymns. That tie also is very good. I bought a scarf that is blue and black and it matches that tie perfectly. Thank you so much. I have just been tearing up, not literally but spiritually, that Ensign. I love it so much. So much to be learned and so much revelation to be gained. Conference is just so wonderful and I bang my head when I think about how I used to think it was the most boring time of the year. Ha. I get good catch up's thought because we have all of the Ensign back from who knows when so I read through those a lot. I had the great privilage of teaching preisthood this last week and I taught about worthiness and I quoted some from your talk you gave dad and from conference issues. It was fun because I had to translate what you said from english into lithuanian. I did that for language study. :D Then on Friday, your christmas package came. Crazy! Ok well hear me out. I have strength, but when it comes to new music, I can't resist. So I opened the package quickly, cause I figured you would put the cd's on top, which thankfully you did, and I took those out and hurried and taped it all back up so I couldn't see in more. Call me weak but hey, it gives me more time to listen to the good cd's on the mission. That THIS IS THE CHRIST cd is so so good. I love it. The pictures on the inside are really cool too except for the first one of Jesus. That one doesn't really look like him to me. That cd has been great during studies. I call the music we listen to during studies the "prelude to revelation" music. :) But OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! We love that Nashville Tennesse WORK cd. I have never loved country in all my life but now... times ar a changin. I seriously want to listen to more country when I get home. It makes you feel so happy. But that cd is by far my favorite. The songs are so sweet and they get me way excited to go out and work. I figured you listened to it because it was opened. It is sweet eh? Like the song " work" is awesome. "the dollAr don buy wha it did befar. the word of God has ben ignored" haha oh it's awesome. Or the second song, "Children, going where I send thee? How will I send thee oh I am going to send thee two by two. Two for Alma and Amulek" Oh we are having way to much fun with it. But righteous fun. I applaud you grandly for buying that cd. That is going to be a major booster during the cooming winters. Ma and Pa, your a hootin good 'ol parents I got here. :D Thank ya much.

So we had a thanksgiving activity and one of the members, Antti, who is married to Skaiste, pretty much the only solid family in the branch, they have a small baby boy, Matias, and he is the cuttest kid alive. Sad to say I didn't get to have any of the Turkey we made because there was a lot of people and the Turkey didn't have to much meat on it and I wanted more of the members to have some. I still got lots of mashed potatoes we made though so I was happy. :D  When he sees me, he just flips out and skaiste says "ok ok . go play with your best friend" and so I let him eat my card and what not and we go walk around while I hold his hand or we go get into something. :D After a lesson we had with them at their house, Skaiste said, " I have never seen someone entertain a him for so long". Matias was getting a little fussy during our home teaching visit so I kept him busy will my comps taught most of the lesson. I said, " I had good practice from a little brother". :D Ah matias is so cute. After the lesson, Skaiste and Antti asked, " Can you do a service project for us." I said sure and they said, " a babysitting service project" hahah. I told them unfortunately I can't but I pretty much do when they come to church and I keep him entertained while skaiste is helping people because she is our relief society president. The little kids are so funny. There is a lot of them and I have little jokes or little secret handshakes with all of them. Ah little kids are the best. :D Skaiste said that she is jealous of my wife because she says I am the best guy with kids she has ever seen. Hahaha. It's probably because I am so goofy and immatate things or characters that keep kids entertained. What can I say, I take on after dad. :D He is the best dad in the world. Anyways, where I was going is that Antti did a spiritual thought and I was apart of it. Skaiste would walk around with a plate of small donuts that she made and ask the people to take one. We had all of the tables together to form a really long one so there were about 32 people all together. So skaiste goes over and then asks if they want one. The first person took one so Antti says to me, " ok elder sanford, do three pushups." So I do and everyone kinda laughs. Skaiste goes on to the next person and asks if they want one, so obivously they take one. " Elder Sanford, three pushups." So I do three more pushups. Well after about 8 people, everyone starts understanding what's going on. It gets to Vladas and he doesn't want to take one because he thinks I won't have to do more push ups. So he doesn't take one and then Antti says, " ok elder sanford, three push ups". Vladas looked way surprised and kinda upset. Well I haven't done pushups in quite some time so it starts getting kinda hard after about the 10th person. I got twenty more to go. The members here are so close to me and I love them a ton and they always tell me how much they don't want me to go so as I am having to do these push ups for them and starting to struggle, some of them start getting tears in their eyes. I knew what this lesson was already about, about Christ and his attonement for us. It gave me such a strong look into what Christ did for everyone and more personally, for me. I could feel tears coming to my eyes as I am struggling to push up. The room was full of laughs as I was having to do this at first but now, it was silent, you could feel the spirit so strongly. Glad to say I was able to do push ups for everyone but I was quite sore. haha, I was for a few days after. Antti than taught about how what I just did was like Christ. He came, and he suffered and died for us so that we could be happy and recieve eternal life, the greatest gift God could ever give us. It doesn't matter if we decide not to accept his gift or not, Christ still suffered for us. It was a very powerful lesson and everyone could feel the spirit of that lesson. 

After the lesson everyone came up and said they felt so bad for me haha. I told them I would live and that it was a sign I need to start doing more push ups. haha. On sunday, oh it was funny. Here's some background history for you. President Chomskis doesn't like it when people know about his B-Day and he doesn't even post it on his facebook. I was going through MLS and found out his birthday was in November and on the 28th so I said we are cool for having Nov. B-days. I said what are you going to do and he said, " eh, I dont' know. I am not much of the attention guy or the partier." hahah I laughed and had a dark plan in my head. Hahaha so we bought him a birthday card and some funny lolipops and I made a secret plan with the young woman and the relief society. I had them all sign the card and along with the men and I told them that after the class, I wanted them to come into our class and then we would all sing for him. Skaiste was so excited about it. So class ended and I told my class to stay seated and then all of the women came in. President Chomskis said, "eh why is everyone looking at me. " So I pulled out his card and his candy and announced that tomorrow was his b-day and that we wanted to sing for him. So we did. Ahahahah he was so embarrased but he said it was way nice for him. :D hahaha. I can do that when I am the first counselor. :D We had some meetings before and after church. Elder Nelson is the branch clerk so President Chomskis and I fix other stuff while Elder Nelson works on the finances. I had to help with some translations and then talk about financial and church matters. I felt so official hahaha. :D 

Well this week will go by fast again and then we will only have one last week of the transfer which is way depressing because one, time is going by really fast and two, elder manning is going home :( We have gotten to be so close. I don't want to see him go. But alas, time always comes to an end on the mission. Tomorrow we are going to go help one of the members at her house with Antti because there sewage pipe that exploded and so ....ya..... use your imagination to figure out what that means. So we have to go dig up the pipe and fix it and what not. hahaha. ya.... it will be fun. Than after that we are going to Vilnius to stay with some other missionaries to go up to conference in Kaunas on wendesday. It starts way early so the zone leaders want us to get down there so we can be there on time. Šiauliai is by far the best city in the mission and I never want to leave but for conferences, especially when they want to start way early, it's terrible. We are so far from everything and the buses leaves at way hard times. It will be interseting but conference should be way good. I am way excited because Elder Lawrence is coming to speak. I will let you know how it goes. 

You got to send me some pics of the house with the lights because I really want to show my english class that and you have to get some good pics of the durango. Could you do that? That would make me so happy :D I tell them all about it and they have no idea what it looks like. I also want to se some pics of Anna's play. That sounds so cool. I will definitely watch it when I am home. ;D

Well dearest family whom I love so dearly, I hope you have a great week. I love you all so much. Dad, that meant so much what you wrote to me at the end. Being a missionary is the greatest thing I could ever be in my life, but the most important thing that I am so happy to be, is your son. I am so honored  and blessed to have such a great dad in my life who is such a great example and hero in my eyes. I can't wait til we can just talk and catch up on the past two years that have gone by. I miss those days when we could talk and when we would go to lunch together. That day will come fast. I love you so much.
    
           With lots of love through the grand eternities of time,
                 James

Dear President Boswell,

Miracle, Miracle, Miracle. I can say with a full heart and with full conviction that when we do all that we can and put forth our best effort in the Lord's work, he will always bless us. I found such a great love for King Benjamin's sermon in Mosiah this past week. I had read it before many times but this week, I decided for personal study, I wanted to read it slowly and pick out piece by piece what King Benjamin wanted his people to learn and what he wanted us to learn and apply in our day. It was great. I grew a greater love for prayer and how loving our Heavenly Father truly is. He makes the analogy of those who beg for money or food and how we shouldn't deny them or ignore them. He asked the great question, how can we deny those who are in need and then beg the Lord for help? It really made me think about how I work as a missionary. Am I going out each day with "full purpose of heart", "with real intent" trying to find those that are in darkness and need our help, and do I really have the true love of Christ for my companions, the members, and for these people here. I thought of that when I was praying because that is what I ask of God. How can I ask that of God if I don't live that in my own life towards these people. I do love these people to death and I really want to help all those that I can, what I learned gave me a greater look and desire to build that love even more. 

Miracles:
Saulė- We only got to meet with her once this week. She found a new job, like I mentioned, and she had to be trained a lot this week. What a miracle it was at the end of the lesson and we were all talking more about what we had just read in the Book of Mormon, Saulė said to us on her own, "So when can I have a baptismal date and prepare for baptism?". I felt like Elder Christensen on the PMG videos ," wait, whaoh. Are you serious?" It was so great to hear her say that on her own because it showed us that she was ready and willing. It's been so great to see that change in her. Our big work, as we discused on the phone with you last thursday is Vladas. We were able to have a lesson with just Vladas on Friday and we talked about the Word of Wisdom and he said there are no problems, it's just it's almost to hard at times to keep always. We felt he was just trying to justify himself but we gave him a very strong promise that if he keeps it, the Lord will bless him. We talked about how greatly the Lord has blessed him and Saulė and that they shouldn't push the Lord off now, think of how much more greater the blessings will be. I could see it really made him think.

I taught preisthood on sunday and I talked about worthiness quotioning from some General Conference talks and it went so well and I was very happy because Vladas came. He was very sincere during the lesson and I could see that he was feeling the spirit and really thinking about what he needs to do to change. We have been praying so hard for it and we hope they have the faith and the strength to commit. I have faith they will, they have already made such a big step and change in their life now. 

Romas- Ah Romas. He is just doing wonderful President. We only had one chance to meet wit him this past week also because he went out of town with his daughter to Riga. We taught the law of chastity and it went so well. He said he understood everything and he said he would agree to live it. We asked him if he was married because he mentioned about his wife and he said he is married and that he told her about his decision and she said it was fine but she wasn't interested. I think they are just married but not serious about their relationship. He asked about our views of divorce because in the Catholic Church, you can't get divorced. He came to the church thanksgiving activity and really enjoyed it. The members were so nice to him and welcomed him way warmly. We talked about moving his date earlier to the 10th. We felt like that may be a little hard for him at this point but we thought of a great lesson to teach him and we will ask him what he feels. We don't want to ask him if he wants to move his date, but we want to ask him where he feels he is at right now. I am very excited for this lesson and I pray he will say he is ready. I can't explain or describe the great change I have seen in him.

On sunday, we had a lady we have been meeting with for a while, Dalė, and her daughter and her friend come to church. The daughter and her friend come to english class so we already knew them pretty well. They said they really liked church and that they want to keep coming more and keep meeting. That made me so happy to hear because Dalė said that she wanted to see what our services were like so she could see if there was anything "bad" about it. She said she didn't see any. :D

We had a really good companionship inventory for Weekly Planning. I could tell it made our companionship unity even stronger. We all commented on things we had seen eachother do well on and how great of a missionary each one of us is. I am so blessed and happy about how great of a companionship I am in. Everynight, I smile just thinking that tomorrow, I get to serve in the beloved city of Šiauliai with the two greatest elders in the mission. We are truly quite a dream team in my eyes. We also had a great District Meeting were we discused about faith in the work. I learned so much from both of them and we felt very eddified to go out and work. You could say we all had a new fire to go out and contact and we got a lot of numbers that day. Elder Nelson made me smile when he said, " man I just want to contact everyone. That District Meeting got me way excited." He's a great elder. Elder Manning is holding on so strong as well. He is a way hard worker and I compliment him on that. I call him the "Rocky" of the mission. "Fight to the end". 

Raimonda- It's been a little hard to get her to progress. She is having a hard time to not drink coffee and she still isn't realizing the power of prayer. We really want to talk about Christ with her but this last lesson we talked about prayer. I felt like it was a really good lesson. I feel that she is just one of those investigators that you just have to help little by little, but in the end, they will understand. She is just a little afraid of getting an answer. We know she wants to progress because she keeps meeting with us and reading and trying to pray. 

Eduardas- He is doing great as well. We read with him for his first reading in the Book of Mormon up to 1 Nephi chapter 3. He had some questions but we did a great job in following the spirit and answering them to his needs. He is progressing well.

I am very excited to hear what Elder Lawrence has to teach us about how we can help our investigators progress in the following lessons in preparation for baptism. That is something we could definitely apply here and I pray that we will be spiritually ready to receive revelation on how to help our investigators better. 

              Sincerely,
              Elder Sanford