Dear Dad,
In Lithuania, they don't have halloween. Sad day! What they do though on October 31st is a sort of day of the dead thing. Everyone goes out to their ancestors graves and puts candles around it. I have seen pics and it looks really cool. But ya they don't dress up or hand out candy. I was hoping they would then we could score some free candy. :D
We all womped on Elder Morrel. haha. I made 18/20 shots along with Elder Manning and Elder Morrel had a high of 10/20. So we got to go to a really yummy lithuanina restaurant. I got a way good cepiliniai that was as big as my head. I was stuffed after. Apparently the potatoes aren't as good as the ones here cause no one has been able to make cepiliniais in america after their missions. I was sad to hear that cause I love them. they are so so good. Definitely something i'm going to miss after my mission. But ya we, Elder Leishman and I, didn't get six investigators. It was our goal as a District. Elder Leishman and I only got one. But ya Sigitas, our investigator hasn't been answering our calls, which is weird for him. We are getting a little worried but we will keep trying. We only taught a lesson with a less active and our two spritual thoughts at english this week. We would set up apointments, then go over to the less actives houses, and they wouldn't be there. We had a full week of lots of walking and talking and knocking on domes. I got to practice my simple Russian last night. :D We went to a way far out area and most of the people only spoke russian so we told them we were missionaries and what we were doing and we only spoke lithuanian. It was fun.
So the leather case, the one I was thinking of is the cases that are tighter on the book so when you open your book the book of mormon can just stay in it. Some of the other Elder's here have some that other missionaries have given them. I probably want one without a handle on it. More convenient that way.
Ya, ugh I have bad news. So the camera is probably going to have to wait but the trench coat I have is the ones the missionaries wear in Russia. They wear more convenient coats here so I can't wear my trench coat. President Dance has a way he wants missionaries to look here. So my B-day present might have to be a new coat. They are having lots of sales on those coats so I will look around at the prices. They are about 300-400 lts which is about 150-200 dollars. I hit myself in the head when I found out I couldn't wear that trench coat we bought. So my camera will have to wait a while. Luckily Elder Leishman likes to take pics to I copy his pics onto my sd card.
Ya it has been a little cold this past week. The weekend got pretty nice so I was hoping it would be nice today so we could play bball but it rained a little early this morning and now it's cold again. We're allowed to go bowling so we might do that or go see a really cool war museum they have here. Wow that's crazy about the National Guard catching the fields on fire. I am so glad to hear you are all safe. I bet the sky looked cool that day.
I loved that picture you sent! I told mom in a letter I haven't lost my picture book, she figured I had lost it ahaha, but to send another one full of more pics. I love pictures and I want to get more of the family and everything. Elder Leishman's family send him tons of pictures and I love looking at them. :D Pictures are our only little touch of home. They give us hope in times of harship. :) ahaha you accidentaly erased the audio file. that's not good. Thankfully there wasn't a lot. I need to record on my tape recorder and then send it out to you. I put some pics in the letter to mom. Oh that reminds me, instead of sending back that sd card through mail do you have an extra flash drive so I can just take off my pics and put it on that quicker. Then you can't see all my pics before I'm home and then I won't have to buy one here. :D I will send you pics every now and then but I want it all to be a surprise when I show you all the pics. But do send back the SD card I sent in the package. I want to see those pics. :D
Nothing else to report this week. Anna and mom should be getting their letter sometime this week. :D Transfers is coming quick . I have a feeling I will be leaving Kaunas. If not, I will be the only Elder in Lietuva to have been in Kaunas the longest and in a consequetive order :D. I am getting pretty close to finishing the Book Of Mormon in Lithuanian. It has been a lot of fun reading it. I plan to keep reading it til I understand all of it. ahaha. I had a dream two nights ago that I had to come home to change something on my facebook account. I asked President Dance if I could just change it from here but he told me I would have to fly home, change it, then get back on a plane real quick to come back. So I hopped on a plane, flew home, you all came and picked me up and took me home. I went in and changed like two things on it, my status and my email thing, and that was it. Then we ate some food and I told you a couple of things about my mission then we were off back to the airport. At the airport you just let me jump out of the car and waved goodbye and then I flew back to Leituva. ahahah I laughed. Then last night I had a dream we were at the airport. I think I was leaving for my mission cause I was in my suit and we were all crying but happy crying. I gave you, dad, a hug goodbye and you started crying and said i'm proud of you then I started crying and then mom was obvioulsy crying and i hugged her and then anna was crying and gave me a hug and parker was trying to climb a tree, that didn't surprise me ahaha, then he climbed down and gave me a hug goodbye. Then I grabbed my luggage and went onto an airlplane. ahaha it made me laugh. I think I was thinking so much about the armour of god video from seminary when they guy leaves to go on a mission and it has that song in the background that I like. lol. It made me laugh when I woke up. I have had funny dreams every night. All my Elders love hearing them every morning. It's become a routine for me to act them out every morning :D
Tell everyone Labas for me and a hug.
Su meile,
Vyresnysis Sanfordas
Email from James - September 20, 2010
Hey Dad,
So another good week in the books. Time seriously does fly by. It's crazy. It helps when we have two english classes every week and district meeting and then before I know it, church comes then it's P-day all over again. :D That's so cool about the photoshoot! I like the tag-line a lot. When your a missionary, you look at quotes in a missionary perspective so that's what I did. :D Every sunday Elder Morrel updates us on how BYU and the other Utah colleges are doing in football. lol
Stake Conference sounded like it was very good. Ya they are starting to change some of the ways we teach. On the PMG DVD they have a sort of show/movie of following missionaries and watching them teach and what not. They just barely came out with a new one and it's called District 2. We love it! The elders in this one are more real. It's not acting or anything and they teach real investigators. It gives us ideas on how to teach better. But, some of the elders on the video are hillarious. lol. It makes zone conference and traning meetings very interesting. But the new ideas on how to teach have really been helping alot. Sounds like your still the same busy Bishop/Dad. :D It's good to have to keep on your toes, i guess. lol
That's awesome Tanner may get his visa soon! I don't feel so bad for him cause I had to tough it out in there for the whole two months. The MTC was definitely one of the hardest parts of my mission. It really works on you.
So cool story from this week. We have been teaching this new guy named Sigitas. He is really nice and always gives us snacks when we come over. Anyway, we taught him the first lesson about a week ago. Then on friday, we asked if he had read from the Book of Mormon and he said he hadn't. So we picked up ours and said, " that's ok, we can read together right now." So we read two chapters then asked him to keep reading and to pray about it. We then taught about the importance of prayer and why we pray. At the beginning of the lesson he didn't want to say the prayer and he said he didn't know how. We thought he would say that and created a plan beforehand. So we pulled out the gospel pamphlet and read about prayer and taught him how to pray. So we ended the lesson and we knelt in prayer. After Elder Lieshman said the prayer, before we stood up, we asked if he would say it. He hesitated but he agreed to do it. So he began the prayer and then sat there for a while. The spirit became so strong as we sat there in silence. He said he didn't know what to say. We didn't say anything and just waited. He then thanked Heavenly Father for us being there to teach him, for his family, etc. Then he asked if the Book of Mormon was true. Then he ended the prayer. It was such a good prayer. After, he had a new light about him. He smiled so big. I know the Lord heard his prayer and he felt something different.
We are meeting tonight with another one of our new investigators from English Class. He speaks english cause he is from Turkey and moved here to marry his wife. His name is Gokan. He is so so nice and very humble. He actually came up to us and said he wanted to meet with us. I'm so excited for tonight.
Vytalijus has disappeared and doesn't answer our phone calls. It really made me sad because him and i had become really good friends and I really thought he would try and keep his baptismal date we set. I never thought I would feel so much love for people I didn't know just a few months ago. I love missionary work. Every person I see means so much to me and it makes me sad when they say no. But we keep searching.
So I thought I would ask you for something. I was wondering if you could get me a leather zip case for my triple combination (Book of Mormon, D&C, and POGP) in Lithuanian. Like the ones you have for your scrips. I measured it and its 5.1/2 in. X 8.1/2 in. It's a little bigger then the ones you have but some of the missionaries have some and I want mine to be protected. Black would be the best coler too. If you could that would be awesome.
Also, when you send your package, the elders families send theirs to the city they are serving at. It gets here a lot faster and now we don't have zone conferences as often I won't get it for a while if you send it to Riga. So you should send the package to where i'm serving. But I may transfer out of this city so don't send it to kaunas. :D
Elder Morrel is challenging us in a shot out in B-Ball today. We made a goal to get 7 new investigators and Elder Morrell said he would buy us lunch again if we made it. We got six. So, being Elder Morrel, he saide he would challenge us in a shoot out so if we win he will buy us lunch. lol :D I haven't played B-ball in a while so we will see how it goes. :D
I love hearing from you everyweek. It makes me so happy to hear from home and to know you guys are all doing good. I can't wait to get that tape. In the letter to mom I said I want all the teasing, laughing, goofiness, of my family on the tape. No routines :D I also want to get a lot of pics too :D of the family, home, people. lots :D
I can't wait to hear from you. Stay safe and find all the happiness of being an american and being a member of this wonderful church. :D
su meile,
Vyresnysis Sanfordas
Email from James - September 15, 2010
Labas Visiems!
Training was so so good! We got a lot of good ideas of how to teach and how to teach with boldness. It was really good. We stayed in Kaunas and the Elders from Klaipeda and Šauliai came down. We had to two Elders from Sauliai stay with us. I got to see one of the new elders. It made me happy to see him struggle with Lithuanian :D hahah jk. I still struggle but it made me realize how much I have learned. At church last sunday I noticed I had learned a lot. The first counselor pulled me aside and had me translate for Elder Morrel. Elder Morrel is the senior Elder with his wife. They don't speak a word of Lithuanian. So I had to translate for Elder Morrel and the first counselor. It was really cool!
I have been reading the Lithuanian Book of Mormon a lot alot more. I read about 8 pages a day. President Dance and I set a goal for me to finish it by next month. I'm in Alma. It's so cool to see how much I can understand. I love reading it cause I read it out loud to practice pronunciation. It's a blast. I will have to record me reading so you can hear what it sounds like. :D
Vernal sounded like a lot of fun! I miss doing the slick rock trails in Moab. We will have to do that when I get back. Parker is still quite the rock climber still. That's awesome! Tell him to keep it up! :D There's no places for him to climb if he came here. lol speaking of coming here. Elder Geibler, and elder who finished his mission with Elder porter, his parents came to pick him up. Apparently you can do that! On the leaving missionaries letter they have times for when the parents can come to the mission home the day they are there and you can do whatever after that lol. Just thought you should know but I figure it's kinda a lot of money and what not. Plus I think the coming down the airport stairs at the airport is a very cool missionary returning way to come home :D
Wow parker is already off track. Time flies! I can't wait to see some of Anna's plays at Bingham when I get back. I can see her being some big time actress when I get home. :D In english class we were talking about our favorite movies and one of the girls said hers was twilight and I told her about how Anna loves twilight. I showed them pics of my family when we taught about how families can be together forever and they thought she was cute. Along with mom.
Man, you really messed up your finger if it's still hurting. Thankfully I haven't gotten hurt. We have lots of trips and what not on the cobblestone in Old Town but other than that nothing else:D I hope it gets better though.
I am glad you told me about the U.S. Open. I love hearing about sports and what not. Wow Federar lost. Crazy but i'm glad Nadal took a U.S. open. The big news among the missionaries here, especially with Elder Leishman because he goes to the Y and loves the football team, is about how BYU is going independant. :D Funny story about sports.
So this past weekend was the world basketball championships. Lithuania is crazy about Basketball. Like there were flags all over with " mes lausime" we will win. Basketball is huge here surpirsingly. But over the weekend, Lietuva played USA and everyone was going crazy! All the bars were crowded and the square in Old Town was full of thousands of people to watch the game on a huge screen. USA won but everyone was still cheering Lietuva and what not. That was on Friday. On saturday, Lietuva played Serbia for 3rd. It was even more crazy. After every shot, if Lietuva would make one, they would go crazy and clap a ton. We would watch the game for a second to see how Lietuva was doing. The won and oh my gosh all of Lietuva celebrated. That night, we had to go to the train station to pick up the Elders who were going to stay with us. Elder Morrel thankfully gave us a ride. So the drive would have normally taken at least 10 min. IT TOOK 45 MINUTES TO GET HOME! Everyone was dancing in the street. Waving flags out of the cars, dancing on cars, drinking beer and vodka like there was no tomorrow, running in the road, every car was honking their horns, everyone was singing lietuvaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, it was crazy! ahahah we were laughing so hard. Some drunk guy was in the middle of the road pointing at cars to honk. Guys had their pants off and waving them over their heads. ahaha it was such a crazy night. The only took 3rd but it was like they had won. :D I definitely won't forget that night.
Your job is so cool. Everyone thinks you have the coolest job and that i'm a rich kid. ahaha. I just laugh and say my dad does a very good job and all of the tasks he has and does them on time. Definitely don't quit your job cause I need the college benefit when I get back lol. I want to see pics of the office. Have you sent off the pics?
So food here is so good. We don't eat at members houses. But some famous food here is Keiv's, they are amazing here, Sepilinai, way yummy too, cold beet soup is alright, the juice here is by far the best, potatoes are so good here too cause they eat a lot of those. But for food we have to make our own. One of my favorite missionaries meals is Stop Your Heart. Oh it's so so good. It's Vilnuis Mayo but it's not like mayo, Chopped up grilled Salami and chicken, taco spice, cheese, and pasta all mixed together. I am so making it when I get home. I make crepes for breakfast sometimes. i love crepes with Nutella and jam. I have made chicken quesos popular here. the food here is so so good. Chocolate here is so so good too. I haven't had any chocolate with vodka in it yet. But every missionary has that happen at least a few times in their mission on accident. :D lol When we go shopping, we go up to Maxima, like walmart, and then take the bus back to our place. We have to walk a little and climb up the 8th floor to our apartment.
So in answering to Mom's email: I did get her letters and I am planning on writing this week. I have been reading the Book of Mormon as much as I can cause I really want to finish it. I am excited to get hers and anna's letters. I wrote spencer a letter last week with some pics of me from the mission so he should be getting those soon.
The heating here is fine. They have heating things in our apartments plus I will just eat potatoes and then wear a hoody and climb in my sweet sleeping bag and all will be well. No worries mom :D. My testimony will keep me warm at night. :D Boots I probably won't get. You don't really need them here cause they clean off most of the sidewalks and plus they cost a lot and just take up weight. I promise I will be fine. As long as your are true and faithful and obey God's commandemnts, I will be safe.
I forgot to get elder porter's address so I will email it on monday. He doesn't go back to school til January so you would be able to talk to him. I don't know his dad's name.
I love you all so much and I can feel your prayers as I work harder and harder. I love it here so much and i love the people even more. I enjoy being a missionary so much. Being a missionary is the coolest job to have and I'm going to be so sad when it's over. But that's not for a while :D
Stay safe and I can't wait to hear from you.
Su meile,
Vyresnysis Sanfordas
Training was so so good! We got a lot of good ideas of how to teach and how to teach with boldness. It was really good. We stayed in Kaunas and the Elders from Klaipeda and Šauliai came down. We had to two Elders from Sauliai stay with us. I got to see one of the new elders. It made me happy to see him struggle with Lithuanian :D hahah jk. I still struggle but it made me realize how much I have learned. At church last sunday I noticed I had learned a lot. The first counselor pulled me aside and had me translate for Elder Morrel. Elder Morrel is the senior Elder with his wife. They don't speak a word of Lithuanian. So I had to translate for Elder Morrel and the first counselor. It was really cool!
I have been reading the Lithuanian Book of Mormon a lot alot more. I read about 8 pages a day. President Dance and I set a goal for me to finish it by next month. I'm in Alma. It's so cool to see how much I can understand. I love reading it cause I read it out loud to practice pronunciation. It's a blast. I will have to record me reading so you can hear what it sounds like. :D
Vernal sounded like a lot of fun! I miss doing the slick rock trails in Moab. We will have to do that when I get back. Parker is still quite the rock climber still. That's awesome! Tell him to keep it up! :D There's no places for him to climb if he came here. lol speaking of coming here. Elder Geibler, and elder who finished his mission with Elder porter, his parents came to pick him up. Apparently you can do that! On the leaving missionaries letter they have times for when the parents can come to the mission home the day they are there and you can do whatever after that lol. Just thought you should know but I figure it's kinda a lot of money and what not. Plus I think the coming down the airport stairs at the airport is a very cool missionary returning way to come home :D
Wow parker is already off track. Time flies! I can't wait to see some of Anna's plays at Bingham when I get back. I can see her being some big time actress when I get home. :D In english class we were talking about our favorite movies and one of the girls said hers was twilight and I told her about how Anna loves twilight. I showed them pics of my family when we taught about how families can be together forever and they thought she was cute. Along with mom.
Man, you really messed up your finger if it's still hurting. Thankfully I haven't gotten hurt. We have lots of trips and what not on the cobblestone in Old Town but other than that nothing else:D I hope it gets better though.
I am glad you told me about the U.S. Open. I love hearing about sports and what not. Wow Federar lost. Crazy but i'm glad Nadal took a U.S. open. The big news among the missionaries here, especially with Elder Leishman because he goes to the Y and loves the football team, is about how BYU is going independant. :D Funny story about sports.
So this past weekend was the world basketball championships. Lithuania is crazy about Basketball. Like there were flags all over with " mes lausime" we will win. Basketball is huge here surpirsingly. But over the weekend, Lietuva played USA and everyone was going crazy! All the bars were crowded and the square in Old Town was full of thousands of people to watch the game on a huge screen. USA won but everyone was still cheering Lietuva and what not. That was on Friday. On saturday, Lietuva played Serbia for 3rd. It was even more crazy. After every shot, if Lietuva would make one, they would go crazy and clap a ton. We would watch the game for a second to see how Lietuva was doing. The won and oh my gosh all of Lietuva celebrated. That night, we had to go to the train station to pick up the Elders who were going to stay with us. Elder Morrel thankfully gave us a ride. So the drive would have normally taken at least 10 min. IT TOOK 45 MINUTES TO GET HOME! Everyone was dancing in the street. Waving flags out of the cars, dancing on cars, drinking beer and vodka like there was no tomorrow, running in the road, every car was honking their horns, everyone was singing lietuvaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, it was crazy! ahahah we were laughing so hard. Some drunk guy was in the middle of the road pointing at cars to honk. Guys had their pants off and waving them over their heads. ahaha it was such a crazy night. The only took 3rd but it was like they had won. :D I definitely won't forget that night.
Your job is so cool. Everyone thinks you have the coolest job and that i'm a rich kid. ahaha. I just laugh and say my dad does a very good job and all of the tasks he has and does them on time. Definitely don't quit your job cause I need the college benefit when I get back lol. I want to see pics of the office. Have you sent off the pics?
So food here is so good. We don't eat at members houses. But some famous food here is Keiv's, they are amazing here, Sepilinai, way yummy too, cold beet soup is alright, the juice here is by far the best, potatoes are so good here too cause they eat a lot of those. But for food we have to make our own. One of my favorite missionaries meals is Stop Your Heart. Oh it's so so good. It's Vilnuis Mayo but it's not like mayo, Chopped up grilled Salami and chicken, taco spice, cheese, and pasta all mixed together. I am so making it when I get home. I make crepes for breakfast sometimes. i love crepes with Nutella and jam. I have made chicken quesos popular here. the food here is so so good. Chocolate here is so so good too. I haven't had any chocolate with vodka in it yet. But every missionary has that happen at least a few times in their mission on accident. :D lol When we go shopping, we go up to Maxima, like walmart, and then take the bus back to our place. We have to walk a little and climb up the 8th floor to our apartment.
So in answering to Mom's email: I did get her letters and I am planning on writing this week. I have been reading the Book of Mormon as much as I can cause I really want to finish it. I am excited to get hers and anna's letters. I wrote spencer a letter last week with some pics of me from the mission so he should be getting those soon.
The heating here is fine. They have heating things in our apartments plus I will just eat potatoes and then wear a hoody and climb in my sweet sleeping bag and all will be well. No worries mom :D. My testimony will keep me warm at night. :D Boots I probably won't get. You don't really need them here cause they clean off most of the sidewalks and plus they cost a lot and just take up weight. I promise I will be fine. As long as your are true and faithful and obey God's commandemnts, I will be safe.
I forgot to get elder porter's address so I will email it on monday. He doesn't go back to school til January so you would be able to talk to him. I don't know his dad's name.
I love you all so much and I can feel your prayers as I work harder and harder. I love it here so much and i love the people even more. I enjoy being a missionary so much. Being a missionary is the coolest job to have and I'm going to be so sad when it's over. But that's not for a while :D
Stay safe and I can't wait to hear from you.
Su meile,
Vyresnysis Sanfordas
Email from James - September 6, 2010
Hello from Kaunas,
Ya so transfers were last week and I'm still in the same area. Same address and everything. My comp is way cool. His name is Elder Leishman. He has only been out two transfers ahead of me so both of our language skills are about the same. It's going to be a very challenging transfer but a huge growing one. We get along so well. I can tell i'm going to really like this transfer.
Nothing much new has happened. I'm feeling a lot better after that flu I had. We don't have any investigators in our area, by the way i'm back in the center apt. It's where Elder Porter and I were. So we are going to have lots of work to do. I'm excited!
I laughed so hard when I heard about you recording. I want to hear it all. :D Also send lots of pics too. Elder Leishman has loads of pics of his house and family and what not and it made me think, I need more pics. :D It's crazy september is here already. Time is flying by. Before I know it, I will be on a plane coming home.
Tell mom not to spoil those missionaries too much. Make them work a little lol. Elders here always kinda tease about the utah/american missionaries. The power in our Apt. goes out alot and we have to restart it lol. It's a joke ahaha. We really live like the people here. We have a small heater that tries to heat up our rooms at night. It works fairly well. :D
I will send Elder Porter's address next week. I don't have it with me. You may miss it cause it may be this sunday but you can try.
I'm excited to get letters from everyone. I haven't gotten letters from them in a while. :D
Sorry it's a little short today, I didn't have much news happen. I won't be emailing til next wednesday cause we are having training next monday and tuesday.
Su meile,
V. Sanfordas
Ya so transfers were last week and I'm still in the same area. Same address and everything. My comp is way cool. His name is Elder Leishman. He has only been out two transfers ahead of me so both of our language skills are about the same. It's going to be a very challenging transfer but a huge growing one. We get along so well. I can tell i'm going to really like this transfer.
Nothing much new has happened. I'm feeling a lot better after that flu I had. We don't have any investigators in our area, by the way i'm back in the center apt. It's where Elder Porter and I were. So we are going to have lots of work to do. I'm excited!
I laughed so hard when I heard about you recording. I want to hear it all. :D Also send lots of pics too. Elder Leishman has loads of pics of his house and family and what not and it made me think, I need more pics. :D It's crazy september is here already. Time is flying by. Before I know it, I will be on a plane coming home.
Tell mom not to spoil those missionaries too much. Make them work a little lol. Elders here always kinda tease about the utah/american missionaries. The power in our Apt. goes out alot and we have to restart it lol. It's a joke ahaha. We really live like the people here. We have a small heater that tries to heat up our rooms at night. It works fairly well. :D
I will send Elder Porter's address next week. I don't have it with me. You may miss it cause it may be this sunday but you can try.
I'm excited to get letters from everyone. I haven't gotten letters from them in a while. :D
Sorry it's a little short today, I didn't have much news happen. I won't be emailing til next wednesday cause we are having training next monday and tuesday.
Su meile,
V. Sanfordas
Email from James - August 30, 2010
Labas Visiems!
Ya I can't believe September is almost here. I can sure feel it. It hasn't gotten quite cold out of nowhere. All last week we wore our longer shirts and suit coats on some days. It was a very good summer for me. I'm going to miss the heat.
So oh my gosh, Kiev Temple dedication was amazing. The spirit was so so strong. We were at all three sessions. We had to check everyone's recommends and stuff but we watched all the sessions. Oh President Monson is so funny. The first session they "layed" cemented in the corner stone. He did it then he would let some of the kids come up. To a boy with red hair he would say, come here tiger. :D He was just cracking jokes. I love the prophet. Then after as they walked back into the temple, he waved goodbye then sang the end of the song " goodbye" from the Sound of Music. All the talks were so good in each session. For the last two, President Motiunez translated the talks in Lithuanian. So we would hear the talk being given in english, then when the russian translator there would translate, Pres. M. would translate. So I understood the whole time lol. The Kiev temple is so pretty though. I really want to go there. But in one the talks, the spoke about how that temple was the fist temple the in the Eastern Europe. The said now all of eastern europe: estonia, latvia, lithuania, ukraine, then he named them all off. It was so cool. :D But they spoke about how no longer the philosophies of men and deep cultures thwart the work of god in the east. It is continuing throughout the whole world. It made me cry cause serving in east europe is really hard. It's hard to explain but all the of the missionaries were crying. :D But before and after each session, they had recordings of MOTAB singing and they would show temples. They kept showing Oquirrah MTN. and I wouuld tell people my house is right by there. They were like, you are so so lucky. It's a gorgeous temple. It really made me miss the temple. But being at the dedication, I felt like I was in the temple. The spirit was so strong and powerful. I didn't want it to end. It is an experience I will never forget.
So tell mom Elder Porter doesn't know when his farewell will be cause when they get back they are going camping then the next week I think it's ward conference or something but he as her email so I think he will email her or something. I will have his address when he writes in my friendbook. :D
Ya we will get transfer calls this tuesday and wednesday to find out the transfers! I'm excited to see what happens. Last transfer I for sure knew I was staying in Kaunas but now I don't know what will happen. It's exciting!
Yay go Bingham! I say a liscense plate that had BHS and it made me smile. It blows my mind thinking that Anna is in highschool. It feels like I just graduated. I hope she enjoys it though. I'm excited to get her letter and moms. Highschool adventures are fun. ;D I want to get these stickers that new drivers have to have on their cars for her. They have to fave a sticker that has an M on if they are learning then they have to have a sticker that has a green leaf on it for a year to show they are new drivers. It puts ristrictions on how fast they can drive and what not. Btw anna, they can't get a liscense til they are 18 here so don't feel to bad if you have to wait :D waiting til 16 isn't too long.
Funny story, lol. So last week Elder Porter got a little cold but nothing too bad. Then I started to get it. Then so did Elder manning a couple days later. But I got a bad flu on Friday, My temp. was 101 so we didn't go contacting that day. I slep the whole day. But now I feel better. Just a little sore throat. But it's funny, our apartment is sniffs and coughs lol. It's going to keep going around and around. haha. Just until transfers though. :D
No worries about the tape/cd. When it comes it comes :D I am excited to get it though. I haven't recorded in a while but I need to. :D I will soon though then I will send it off.
Ya last tuesday we sent elder Hatch off. It was sad yet exciting at the same time. We could all tell that he was way excited to see his family again. :D Elder Porter is way excited for his departure on thursday. Elder Manning and I give him a hard time cause he is way trunky lol.
But ya fun stuff happens everyday. I write funny things that happen in my planner. So it's like my little side journal :D
I love you all so much and stay safe!
Su meile. Vyresnysis Sanfordas
Ya I can't believe September is almost here. I can sure feel it. It hasn't gotten quite cold out of nowhere. All last week we wore our longer shirts and suit coats on some days. It was a very good summer for me. I'm going to miss the heat.
So oh my gosh, Kiev Temple dedication was amazing. The spirit was so so strong. We were at all three sessions. We had to check everyone's recommends and stuff but we watched all the sessions. Oh President Monson is so funny. The first session they "layed" cemented in the corner stone. He did it then he would let some of the kids come up. To a boy with red hair he would say, come here tiger. :D He was just cracking jokes. I love the prophet. Then after as they walked back into the temple, he waved goodbye then sang the end of the song " goodbye" from the Sound of Music. All the talks were so good in each session. For the last two, President Motiunez translated the talks in Lithuanian. So we would hear the talk being given in english, then when the russian translator there would translate, Pres. M. would translate. So I understood the whole time lol. The Kiev temple is so pretty though. I really want to go there. But in one the talks, the spoke about how that temple was the fist temple the in the Eastern Europe. The said now all of eastern europe: estonia, latvia, lithuania, ukraine, then he named them all off. It was so cool. :D But they spoke about how no longer the philosophies of men and deep cultures thwart the work of god in the east. It is continuing throughout the whole world. It made me cry cause serving in east europe is really hard. It's hard to explain but all the of the missionaries were crying. :D But before and after each session, they had recordings of MOTAB singing and they would show temples. They kept showing Oquirrah MTN. and I wouuld tell people my house is right by there. They were like, you are so so lucky. It's a gorgeous temple. It really made me miss the temple. But being at the dedication, I felt like I was in the temple. The spirit was so strong and powerful. I didn't want it to end. It is an experience I will never forget.
So tell mom Elder Porter doesn't know when his farewell will be cause when they get back they are going camping then the next week I think it's ward conference or something but he as her email so I think he will email her or something. I will have his address when he writes in my friendbook. :D
Ya we will get transfer calls this tuesday and wednesday to find out the transfers! I'm excited to see what happens. Last transfer I for sure knew I was staying in Kaunas but now I don't know what will happen. It's exciting!
Yay go Bingham! I say a liscense plate that had BHS and it made me smile. It blows my mind thinking that Anna is in highschool. It feels like I just graduated. I hope she enjoys it though. I'm excited to get her letter and moms. Highschool adventures are fun. ;D I want to get these stickers that new drivers have to have on their cars for her. They have to fave a sticker that has an M on if they are learning then they have to have a sticker that has a green leaf on it for a year to show they are new drivers. It puts ristrictions on how fast they can drive and what not. Btw anna, they can't get a liscense til they are 18 here so don't feel to bad if you have to wait :D waiting til 16 isn't too long.
Funny story, lol. So last week Elder Porter got a little cold but nothing too bad. Then I started to get it. Then so did Elder manning a couple days later. But I got a bad flu on Friday, My temp. was 101 so we didn't go contacting that day. I slep the whole day. But now I feel better. Just a little sore throat. But it's funny, our apartment is sniffs and coughs lol. It's going to keep going around and around. haha. Just until transfers though. :D
No worries about the tape/cd. When it comes it comes :D I am excited to get it though. I haven't recorded in a while but I need to. :D I will soon though then I will send it off.
Ya last tuesday we sent elder Hatch off. It was sad yet exciting at the same time. We could all tell that he was way excited to see his family again. :D Elder Porter is way excited for his departure on thursday. Elder Manning and I give him a hard time cause he is way trunky lol.
But ya fun stuff happens everyday. I write funny things that happen in my planner. So it's like my little side journal :D
I love you all so much and stay safe!
Su meile. Vyresnysis Sanfordas
Email from James - August 23, 2010
Labukas!
This week has been fun! Lots of crazy things have happened and lots of work has been done. On tuesday, like I said we went up to Trikai. If you search on google for Lithuania or Trikai Lietuva you can see what it looks like. It was so cool. It was like stepping into a midevil movie. It was huge. I was locked away in a slave cart. We got lots of pics. :D My camera died but Elder Porter will put pics on my card. Each room had different stuff to look at. It was like a huge museum. Then it rained way hard and it made everyting perfect cause it was a total european knighthood look. :D I had a blast! I can't wait to go back.
I had a hillarious but really powerful dream on tuesday night. I don't want to type it out cause it would take forever but I recorded it on one of the tapes :D So you will hear it soon enough. On Thursday I got to go on splits with Elder Hatch. We had lots of fun. It was cool to be able to work with him :D. Everyone, including missionaries, has a friend book where members and missionaries write stuff and put pictures in it. I bought mine in old town and it looks way cool. But I have a lot of the missionaries here writing in it and soon the members. They love them here.
Then on Sat. Elder Porter and I were going through Old Town and there were a lot of girls heading towards the castle/ middle area dressed as princesses. We were like...ok.... Then as we went down there was lots of side shops with Lithuanian trinkets and old stuff and there was men riding horses. There were so many people. It was so so cool. Elder Porter bought a shirt that is supposed to look like the coca cola logo but it says cepa lina which is a famous food here. Very lithuanian. ;D Then that night as we were walking, some old lady gave us some flowers and said, " here's some beautiful flowers for beautiful young men." lol
Then, way crazy, last night at about 10, I was writing in Sister Jenson's friend book and then I heard a load bang then glass crashing. I looked out and some guy was punching a door that had glass. I could obviously tell he was way drunk. Then some guy was like, hey don't do that. Then the drunk guy sat on a bench and held his hand. Then his hand started bleeding everywhere. People came out because of the loud noise. They called the police and they came over and checked out the guy. It was dark but I could see a lot of blood, then the police shined a light on his arm and his arm was way cut up and there was a lot a lot of blood. So we watched til the paramedics came and he was about to pass out. The whole bunch was covered with his blood cause some people bandaged it but it kept bleeding. I took some pics lol. It's hard to see but you can tell if you zoom up on it. Crazy days in Kaunas :D
Our investigator, Vytalijus doesn't answer our calls or comes to church anymore. We got a hold of him and tried to meet with him but he said he was busy. He isn't going to be baptized anytime soon. It was really sad to see cause we saw a huge change in him. We still try to meet with him and continue to pray for him.
This sunday will be the Kyiv Temple Dedication! I'm so excited! It will be cool to go to a temple dedication in a whole new language. I probably won't know what's going on but I will feel the spririt for sure and that's all that matters.
So Elder Hatch does leave tomorrow. He is leaving a week early because of school. Some missionaries are able to do that because of school starting. So next week our companionship will be Elder Porter, Elder Manning, and I. Then transfers will be next week and Elder Porter will leave next thursday, transfer day! This week is going to be crazy though. We have to find a way for Elder Hatch to have a companion for going up to Riga and I have to go to Vilnius to get my living permit and we will be in a tri companionship. It's going to go by quick! The new missionaries are coming in next week so they will replace the other missionaries. We have a tri companionship now so there is only 2 elders and one sister coming to Lithuania.
I got mom's letters so they got here safely. I enjoyed them a lot. :D The day those two letters came, I got letters from Madi and Nate. We had to take pics because that was the fullest the mailbox has ever been. :D we got a good laugh out of it.
It has been feeling really good this week. It hasn't been hot because it's starting to cool down and it has rained a few nights. I love it cause it feels perfect. But I can feel that the dreaded winter is slowly approaching hahaha.
I love you all so much :D The gospel is true and I love the work!
Su meile,
Vyresnysis Sanfordas
This week has been fun! Lots of crazy things have happened and lots of work has been done. On tuesday, like I said we went up to Trikai. If you search on google for Lithuania or Trikai Lietuva you can see what it looks like. It was so cool. It was like stepping into a midevil movie. It was huge. I was locked away in a slave cart. We got lots of pics. :D My camera died but Elder Porter will put pics on my card. Each room had different stuff to look at. It was like a huge museum. Then it rained way hard and it made everyting perfect cause it was a total european knighthood look. :D I had a blast! I can't wait to go back.
I had a hillarious but really powerful dream on tuesday night. I don't want to type it out cause it would take forever but I recorded it on one of the tapes :D So you will hear it soon enough. On Thursday I got to go on splits with Elder Hatch. We had lots of fun. It was cool to be able to work with him :D. Everyone, including missionaries, has a friend book where members and missionaries write stuff and put pictures in it. I bought mine in old town and it looks way cool. But I have a lot of the missionaries here writing in it and soon the members. They love them here.
Then on Sat. Elder Porter and I were going through Old Town and there were a lot of girls heading towards the castle/ middle area dressed as princesses. We were like...ok.... Then as we went down there was lots of side shops with Lithuanian trinkets and old stuff and there was men riding horses. There were so many people. It was so so cool. Elder Porter bought a shirt that is supposed to look like the coca cola logo but it says cepa lina which is a famous food here. Very lithuanian. ;D Then that night as we were walking, some old lady gave us some flowers and said, " here's some beautiful flowers for beautiful young men." lol
Then, way crazy, last night at about 10, I was writing in Sister Jenson's friend book and then I heard a load bang then glass crashing. I looked out and some guy was punching a door that had glass. I could obviously tell he was way drunk. Then some guy was like, hey don't do that. Then the drunk guy sat on a bench and held his hand. Then his hand started bleeding everywhere. People came out because of the loud noise. They called the police and they came over and checked out the guy. It was dark but I could see a lot of blood, then the police shined a light on his arm and his arm was way cut up and there was a lot a lot of blood. So we watched til the paramedics came and he was about to pass out. The whole bunch was covered with his blood cause some people bandaged it but it kept bleeding. I took some pics lol. It's hard to see but you can tell if you zoom up on it. Crazy days in Kaunas :D
Our investigator, Vytalijus doesn't answer our calls or comes to church anymore. We got a hold of him and tried to meet with him but he said he was busy. He isn't going to be baptized anytime soon. It was really sad to see cause we saw a huge change in him. We still try to meet with him and continue to pray for him.
This sunday will be the Kyiv Temple Dedication! I'm so excited! It will be cool to go to a temple dedication in a whole new language. I probably won't know what's going on but I will feel the spririt for sure and that's all that matters.
So Elder Hatch does leave tomorrow. He is leaving a week early because of school. Some missionaries are able to do that because of school starting. So next week our companionship will be Elder Porter, Elder Manning, and I. Then transfers will be next week and Elder Porter will leave next thursday, transfer day! This week is going to be crazy though. We have to find a way for Elder Hatch to have a companion for going up to Riga and I have to go to Vilnius to get my living permit and we will be in a tri companionship. It's going to go by quick! The new missionaries are coming in next week so they will replace the other missionaries. We have a tri companionship now so there is only 2 elders and one sister coming to Lithuania.
I got mom's letters so they got here safely. I enjoyed them a lot. :D The day those two letters came, I got letters from Madi and Nate. We had to take pics because that was the fullest the mailbox has ever been. :D we got a good laugh out of it.
It has been feeling really good this week. It hasn't been hot because it's starting to cool down and it has rained a few nights. I love it cause it feels perfect. But I can feel that the dreaded winter is slowly approaching hahaha.
I love you all so much :D The gospel is true and I love the work!
Su meile,
Vyresnysis Sanfordas
Zone Conference August 2010
Dear Mighty Lithuanian Missionaries,
Attached are photos from zone conference. Thank you so much for your strength and your faith. The Baltic Title of Liberty was a highlight!! :) and the testimony meeting was a spiritual feast. :) :) We are so blessed to be able to serve with you! Thank you for all you do.
Also, I should have announced Elder Mock's name to sing to, (as someone tried to tell me but I wasn't thinking too clearly I guess??) because his birthday was on Sunday, August 8th. He did receive a singing phone call for his birthday, but perhaps he would have preferred a Toblerone. So when you next see him, tell him Happy Birthday a little late! And for you Elder Mock, since you will receive this email as well--I owe you a Toblerone!
We love each of you.
Sister Dance
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