July 13, 2015
Dear Family and Friends,
Monday-
Today after grocery shopping at Akropolis we were waiting for the bus when Sister Penrose wanted to take pictures in this park behind the bus stop, we had a few minutes, so we jumped the wall with our groceries and took some pictures when all of a sudden Sister Penrose saw our bus, so we again jumped the wall with our groceries and ran for the bus. We went to an authentic Lithuanian restaurant where we ate blynai, which is a potato pancake. We went souvenir shopping in old town, old town is very Lithuanian and cute. Then that evening we wanted to do some stop bys to these less actives, but we took the wrong bus, so we got off and we waited at a different bus stop, the bus never came. Then we decided to walk up the large hill to where we needed to go. By the time we walked up the large hill it was time to head back, we looked at the bus times and they were all too late for us to get us back on time. We then decided to walk right back down that big hill. It was a very interesting night and we spent most of it waiting for buses.
Tuesday-
Today we had district meeting where Sister Bruce, Elder Bruce, and Elder Fraiser spoke about how an investigator, a missionary, and a member must feel in the conversion process. It was really good and I really enjoyed it. We then traveled to Vilnius so that I could go on exchanges with Sister Soosalu and Sister Penrose could go to Ryga Latvia with Sister Seaman early the next morning for mission leadership council as sister training leaders.
Wednesday-
Today Sister Soosalu did a lot of walking and we went to her therapist for her back. The other sister's had left early in the morning and then got back quite late that night. Sister Penrose had forgotten her passport, which she needed to travel between countries. They decided to try and they let her on the bus without her passport and then no one stopped the bus on the way there to check their passports, but on the way back they stopped them and all she had was her residence card, which was expired, but they accepted it. It was a blessing, I don't know what they would have done, kicked her off the bus or fined her or something, but everything turned our fine.
Thursday-
Today I returned to Kaunas with Sister Seaman for an exchange. It was so fun to be back in Kaunas West with her. She has been having a little bit of a hard time lately because she doesn't get to walk around very much and do missionary work because of Sister Soosalu's back hurting. Her twin sister will also be getting married tomorrow, which is really hard for her to not be there.
Friday-
Today we stopped by a less active name Vanda and it was so sad, she lives in a really sketchy place where she pretty much lives in one room that didn't even have pain on the walls. She was super sweet though.
Saturday-
Not much happened today, we talked around and it really rained a lot. We stopped by a member named Petras because it was his birthday, usually we have to climb a bajillion stairs but the trolley thing that I have never seen work was working so we took that up the huge hill. It was super fun!
Sunday-
Today I taught the YW lesson. It went really well, we talked about why covenants are important. I really am blessed with amazing YW. I hope that they can continue to grow. We feel like the branch is becoming more and more dependent on the missionaries, which is exactly what we are trying not to do. We play the piano during Sacrament meeting, and the prelude, and we lead the music, and we translate, and we play the piano in Primary, and we are the YW presidency, and then after church they eat food and they were going to have temple prep class right after, so they asked us if we would do all of the dishes. We feel like they depend on the missionaries a little too much.
*I did receive your package! Sister Penrose and I really had fun with it! Thank you so much! The calling has been good, I got to teach yesterday and I tried not to be fearful because in my patriarchal blessing it talks about my callings and how I shouldn't be fearful! I really focused on not being fearful. I feel like it helped me feel more calm and do better and know what to say because I was not freaking out. I am so glad our YW participate or else it would be very difficult to teach them. I really feel like since I have been here I have seen them changing and becoming more mature in the Gospel, it is exciting to see. Now my next challenge will be going to Branch Council and having to participate in that, but I will not be fearful, I will just prepare the best I know how. They are expecting 7 missionaries and then I heard that they are 6 elders and 1 sister, they are definitely not sending as many sisters as we are losing, it is sad to see the decrease, I found so many good long time friends in the Sisters I serve with.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Week 26
July 6, 2015
Dear Family and Friends,
Monday-
Today we went to the Young Single Adult FHE where they talked about any questions they might have about the Gospel and then discussed them. There were some really interesting and deep subjects.
Tuesday-
Today we had district meeting where Sister Penrose taught about diligence, then I spoke about why we are here. I really did not know where to take it, but I spoke a lot about how we all have a specific reason or person we are here for in Lithuania at this time. It was interesting to think about.
Wednesday-
Today I moved back to Kaunas West because the district leader decided it would be better since there are more people in West. We also had a lesson with Ade, a recent convert, where we talked about service and missionary work. It went really well.
Thursday-
Today we went on our first exchange of the transfer. I will be with Sister Soosalu on these exchanges in Vilnius. Vilnius is beautiful and really quite large. Sister Soosalu has hurt her back, so we got to go to the clinic where she has a physical therapist. It was super nice. We then got to go over to the church to look for activities for the Young Women to prepare them for girls camp. There were some really good ideas on lds.org. While we were there we met a previous missionary who had served here like 8 years ago and his wife served in Latvia, and they had two cute little boys.
Friday-
Today Sister Soosalu, who is from Estonia if I didn't mention that, walked around quite a bit and spoke with people. It was so hot today, with lots of sun. Then we had a lesson with a mother and daughter who are less actives. We then met the other sisters to travel back to Kaunas. We met a very interesting man on the bus. He kept looking back at us, he was probably drunk or something. He then kept saying something about how the door was letting air in or something, he even pulled out his lighter trying to prove his point. I thought he was going to start the bus on fire. Then he started to talk to Sister Penrose about where she was from and what she was doing here in Lithuania and then he said she was beautiful and if she was married. She said no, but then told me in English what he said and I said yes you are, so he would stop trying to talk to her. So then she told him she was married. He just kept saying that she was lying. Finally, I just said she does, I know him, his name is Martinas. He stopped talking after that. It was so funny, then finally he kept trying to warn us that there are not good people in Kaunas and that we needed to be careful. He gave us these weird shirts with cherries on them, so now I have a new T-shirt. It was very interesting. When the bus stopped in Kaunas we basically ran so that he wouldn't follow us.
Saturday-
Today we celebrated the 4th of July by making hamburgers and fries. It was super delicious. Then we had a Young Women activity where we played a game of spoons with Go Fish cards, then we made s'mores in the oven since the church's stove is electric. They were super good. I think the Young Women liked them.
Sunday-
Today was a really good day. So Agne, who plays the piano for Sacrament meeting, was gone and the Branch President asked me if I knew how to play about 10 minutes before Sacrament meeting and I said I couldn't, so I asked Elder Fraiser and he hadn't played in forever, but he said he would try. You should have seen us, all four missionaries around the piano trying to figure out which songs he could play in the easy hymn book and getting the numbers up from the Lithuanian Hymn book. Elder Fraiser and Sister Penrose saved the music for Sacrament meeting. Sister Penrose led the music and Elder Fraiser played the piano. I tried to sing really loud. Then after Sacrament meeting we went in to Primary to help for the first hour. Since Sister Bruce was able to switch singing time and sharing time so that she could have both of us. When the second hour came, we hadn't even sang any songs yet. Sister Penrose had to stay in Primary to play the piano and I had to go to Young Women's. It went pretty good in Young Women's. After church we were headed to the bus stop when we saw Albina, who is super old and she is one of the Elder's investigators, sitting at the bar talking to all of the drunk people. Sister Penrose and I went and saved her from them. She is so cute, and was probably just called over to them. Sister Penrose told her we do not go to that place. After that, she got on the same bus with us and she was getting up to exit the bus, Sister Penrose was standing in front of her and I was sitting behind her and she was saying goodbye when she started to fall forward on top of Sister Penrose, I grabbed her coat (yes, she was wearing a coat in 83 degrees of humidity), and we held her up so she wouldn't fall. Sometimes those buses stop pretty suddenly, it was so funny!
*It has been hot here too, today the high is 92 F, and that is with humidity. I just feel really wet. Here is a cool story, so a few weeks ago I made a goal to ask the Lithuanians if I don't understand a word they are saying in an effort to speak more and try to understand. I just wasn't doing it, so then last Sunday I was asked to be the YW President and then I fasted for my language too yesterday and Heavenly Father definitely blessed me with opportunities to ask questions for understanding by making me go to YW's by myself without Sister Penrose for the beginning. Sister Penrose had to play the piano for Sister Bruce in Primary and then YW's started, so I then had to go by myself to YW's. During the lesson, Kamila, another leader, was teaching the lesson and she asked us a questions I didn't understand when they were asking me to answer, so they were so patient re-explaining it to me in different ways. I really do feel like Heavenly Father blessed me with more understanding yesterday. It went pretty good, I didn't end up teaching because Kamila offered, so I just did opening exercises. I made a paper for Justina, the class president, to fill out so that she could begin with the song, prayer, and announcements. It worked really well. They have youth conference in Vilnius this week, which both of the active young women will be going to. Then the branch is going to the temple in Finland in a couple weeks for 5 days, and then the week after that they have girls camp in Estonia. I am trying to help them prepare for all of those things. The active YW are Justina and Diana, then we have one other who is not active. I will send a picture.
I only got to be in the new area for a week, ten we moved back to West in the apartment Sister Seaman and I were in. Sister Penrose is wonderful! She is so cute and proper. I help with singing time for the first hour, then I go to Young Women's until they are done with singing time.
*It has been hot here too, today the high is 92 F, and that is with humidity. I just feel really wet. Here is a cool story, so a few weeks ago I made a goal to ask the Lithuanians if I don't understand a word they are saying in an effort to speak more and try to understand. I just wasn't doing it, so then last Sunday I was asked to be the YW President and then I fasted for my language too yesterday and Heavenly Father definitely blessed me with opportunities to ask questions for understanding by making me go to YW's by myself without Sister Penrose for the beginning. Sister Penrose had to play the piano for Sister Bruce in Primary and then YW's started, so I then had to go by myself to YW's. During the lesson, Kamila, another leader, was teaching the lesson and she asked us a questions I didn't understand when they were asking me to answer, so they were so patient re-explaining it to me in different ways. I really do feel like Heavenly Father blessed me with more understanding yesterday. It went pretty good, I didn't end up teaching because Kamila offered, so I just did opening exercises. I made a paper for Justina, the class president, to fill out so that she could begin with the song, prayer, and announcements. It worked really well. They have youth conference in Vilnius this week, which both of the active young women will be going to. Then the branch is going to the temple in Finland in a couple weeks for 5 days, and then the week after that they have girls camp in Estonia. I am trying to help them prepare for all of those things. The active YW are Justina and Diana, then we have one other who is not active. I will send a picture.
I only got to be in the new area for a week, ten we moved back to West in the apartment Sister Seaman and I were in. Sister Penrose is wonderful! She is so cute and proper. I help with singing time for the first hour, then I go to Young Women's until they are done with singing time.
Love,
Sister Brown
Week 25
June 29, 2015
Dear Family and Friends,
Monday-
Today we went to this really delicious crepe place where I got a banana and nutella crepe. Then we went to the young single adult FHE, it was really fun. We played this blanket game where we had two different teams and we both stood on either side of the blanket and then when the blanket drops you have to say the other person's name before they say yours. It is really fun, when we were going around saying everyone's names, I almost said my first name, it was super embarrassing. Then we played Matthew, Luke and John, which is quite difficult in Lithuanian, and partly in English. Then we went home and we waited and we waited for transfer calls. I was so nervous I started singing while we waited. Finally we got a call from the assistants to the president, which was weird because usually the district leaders call and let us know. Sister Seaman is going to Vilnius with Sister Soosalu, and I will be going from Kaunas West to Kaunas North with Sister Penrose. I am excited to be with Sister Penrose, I think we will get along great, I am also sad to not be with Sister Seaman anymore, we really got along great.
Tuesday-
Today we had our last district meeting with Elder Hanson, who was going home and as a district. I spoke about hope and I actually really enjoyed studying about it. I read in True to the Faith about hope and it said that sometimes in the world people use the word hope with uncertainty. For example, I hope it doesn't rain. In the Gospel we use hope as a sure thing. I liked how in Ether 12:4 it compares hope to an anchor to the soul. I really like that because if you think about an anchor and what it does, it holds the ship in place so it can't drift far. Without hope we will drift away without even realizing it. After district meeting we pretty much spent the day packing and cleaning so that we could go to our new areas tomorrow. It is really sad because West will be closed for a little while because we don't have enough missionaries.
Wednesday-
Today we traveled to our new areas. I didn't have too far to travel by taxi, but Sister Seaman went to the bus stop to meet Sister Bestenlenher and Sister Penrose. Sister Bestenlenher will also be serving in Vilnius. I got unpacked and settled in.
Thursday-
Today we went to have Gospel Discussions, but no one came so Sister Bruce (Senior Sister) took the opportunity to practice for Primary. She is in charge of singing time in Primary and she also teaches a short part. Sister Penrose plays the piano for her and Sister Bestenlenher was a voice to help her. So now I get to be the voice. We practiced and then after we had a lesson with this man named Juozas who has quite a large, bushy beard.
Sunday-
Nothing much happened on Friday and Saturday, we talked with a lot of people. Today we had our first Sunday together. Elder Aidukiatis, who just got done with his mission, came to Sacrament meeting with his parents. It was so neat to meet his parents. We almost had to translate since Elder Armstrong, who would translate, had to speak. Thank goodness for Elder Aidukiatis, he translated for us. After Sacrament meeting we got to go to Primary and help Sister Bruce with the music. It was really fun. After church the Branch President asked to speak with us and he asked Sister Penrose to be the YW President and she said she would, but that he should know that she leaves in August. so guess who gets to be YW President now? Yes, me. I am super nervous. It is a big responsibility when you speak English, but now I feel like my language skills will really be put to the test with going to Branch Council and telling them what we need for YW. We also will be working in Kaunas West instead of North. Hopefully we don't have to move again. There are more people in West. It was a great week and I am excited to be with Sister Penrose.
Love,
Sister Brown
Dear Family and Friends,
Monday-
Today we went to this really delicious crepe place where I got a banana and nutella crepe. Then we went to the young single adult FHE, it was really fun. We played this blanket game where we had two different teams and we both stood on either side of the blanket and then when the blanket drops you have to say the other person's name before they say yours. It is really fun, when we were going around saying everyone's names, I almost said my first name, it was super embarrassing. Then we played Matthew, Luke and John, which is quite difficult in Lithuanian, and partly in English. Then we went home and we waited and we waited for transfer calls. I was so nervous I started singing while we waited. Finally we got a call from the assistants to the president, which was weird because usually the district leaders call and let us know. Sister Seaman is going to Vilnius with Sister Soosalu, and I will be going from Kaunas West to Kaunas North with Sister Penrose. I am excited to be with Sister Penrose, I think we will get along great, I am also sad to not be with Sister Seaman anymore, we really got along great.
Tuesday-
Today we had our last district meeting with Elder Hanson, who was going home and as a district. I spoke about hope and I actually really enjoyed studying about it. I read in True to the Faith about hope and it said that sometimes in the world people use the word hope with uncertainty. For example, I hope it doesn't rain. In the Gospel we use hope as a sure thing. I liked how in Ether 12:4 it compares hope to an anchor to the soul. I really like that because if you think about an anchor and what it does, it holds the ship in place so it can't drift far. Without hope we will drift away without even realizing it. After district meeting we pretty much spent the day packing and cleaning so that we could go to our new areas tomorrow. It is really sad because West will be closed for a little while because we don't have enough missionaries.
Wednesday-
Today we traveled to our new areas. I didn't have too far to travel by taxi, but Sister Seaman went to the bus stop to meet Sister Bestenlenher and Sister Penrose. Sister Bestenlenher will also be serving in Vilnius. I got unpacked and settled in.
Thursday-
Today we went to have Gospel Discussions, but no one came so Sister Bruce (Senior Sister) took the opportunity to practice for Primary. She is in charge of singing time in Primary and she also teaches a short part. Sister Penrose plays the piano for her and Sister Bestenlenher was a voice to help her. So now I get to be the voice. We practiced and then after we had a lesson with this man named Juozas who has quite a large, bushy beard.
Sunday-
Nothing much happened on Friday and Saturday, we talked with a lot of people. Today we had our first Sunday together. Elder Aidukiatis, who just got done with his mission, came to Sacrament meeting with his parents. It was so neat to meet his parents. We almost had to translate since Elder Armstrong, who would translate, had to speak. Thank goodness for Elder Aidukiatis, he translated for us. After Sacrament meeting we got to go to Primary and help Sister Bruce with the music. It was really fun. After church the Branch President asked to speak with us and he asked Sister Penrose to be the YW President and she said she would, but that he should know that she leaves in August. so guess who gets to be YW President now? Yes, me. I am super nervous. It is a big responsibility when you speak English, but now I feel like my language skills will really be put to the test with going to Branch Council and telling them what we need for YW. We also will be working in Kaunas West instead of North. Hopefully we don't have to move again. There are more people in West. It was a great week and I am excited to be with Sister Penrose.
Love,
Sister Brown
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