Week 4

February 2, 2015

Monday-

Today was interesting, first we had our regular preparation day activities. I bought a really cute dress and skirt, then when we were heading back to our apartment with all of our groceries we get up on the fourth floor where we live and realized that we lost the keys. We thought maybe we threw them in the dumpster when we were taking out our trash that morning, so we go back down with all of our groceries, which are quite heavy, and kind of poke around with a stick. We then called the Elders, who should have a spare key. After an hour the Elders finally arrive with our key. We head back up and when we get to our door our neighbor opens his door and he had found our keys, so luckily our things were not stolen and we got all of our keys back including keys to the church. In the evening we went to go knock on some doors. On the way we were talking to a lady and she was pretty interested and gave us a referral to her neighbor who she thought would be interested. We go to her neighbors door and knock and she answers, she wasn't that interested, but another lady was visiting her and apparently Sister Hoskin and Sister Argyle had met her before and they just never were able to meet to have a lesson. After that we decide to just knock on that building's doors. We met some very interesting people. First, there was a man with no shirt on, then we knocked on another man's door who didn't have any pants on. We gave him a pamphlet and he just kept talking to us while Sister Hoskin was pushing me toward the stairs. We knocked on this young adults door where Sister Hosking asked if his parents were home and he said, "I don't live with my parents." She was super embarrassed. We also knocked on this super cool lady's door who seemed interested and was wondering about the English classes.

Tuesday-

Today we had to go to the immigration office with our landlord. We got there and I forgot my passport and I have to have it done in the next two days, and our landlord is limited on time, plus, I am going on exchanges tomorrow in Kaunas. I felt really bad I made our landlord come all the way down there, and now he has to go again, but I don't feel that bad because we couldn't have finished it anyway because he has already claimed six people living here and he cannot claim another person. It is only Sister Hoskin and I living here, he just never removed the other missionaries who had lived here. We would have had to come back again anyway. After all of that we had District Meeting, I was assigned to talk about companionships and why they are important. I wasn't really sure where he wanted me to go with it, so I just talked about what the handbook says about companionships, and I read a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 84:106. It is about how we put the strong with the weak so they can become strong. I spoke about how we are all strong and weak in different areas, so the Lord pairs us so that we can strengthen each others weaknesses. I spoke about how much I have learned from Sister Hoskin and how we have these amazing discussions where we can hear each other's different perspectives. Elder Armstrong spoke about prayer. He used two really awesome talks given by Elder Bednar, "Pray Always," and, "Ask in Faith." They were really good, definitely look them up and read them. He had a little different perspective about prayer, he said prayer is an opportunity to share our testimony with God. I really liked that. Elder Norman spoke about repentance, "see the God, that God sees in you," and, "when you recognize sin you can recognize hope." Then we watch the 2014 youth them, "Come Unto Christ," on lds.org. I had seen it in the MTC, it is really good. Elder Aidukaitis spoke about love, he told us to think about someone we love a lot and think of how we treat them, and then he challenged us to treat others in Lithuania and the people we teach with that same love. Sister Hoskin shared about eternal perspective. I really like this subject, she did a great job. I shared a quote from the MTC Departure Devotional, "the mission experience is the MTC of life." It was a really good district meeting. It is Elder Aidukaitis's birthday on Saturday, but since Sister Hoskin and I will not be here on Saturday we gave him his gifts today. I gave him glow in the dark sheep that stick to your wall, and Sister Hoskin gave him a magic bean that will grow. We bought the Elders a gift to give to him, it was a heart that lights up and changes color. He loves things that change color, he will just sit and watch it. We had Gospel Group Discussion tonight. We spoke some more about prophets and they seemed to be getting it, it takes a lot of work to keep them on track sometimes. Whenever they ask somebody to offer the prayer no one ever will, so for the closing prayer I asked one of our students, Romas, if I say the prayer first will you say a prayer? So, I said a prayer. Then it was his turn and all he said was "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I guess it is a start. He said it was a compound prayer, it was so funny.

Wednesday-

Today we had to go to the immigration office again super early in the morning. We get there this time with my passport in hand and apparently Sister Ballard, who was still listed as living in this apartment has to undeclare and declare where she is living currently in Vilinus. We had to figure out what I was going to do because I was supposed to be going to Kaunas on exchanges tomorrow, but since tomorrow is the last day and I should have all this figured out I have to stay in Siaullai. Instead of me going to Kaunas and Sister Hoskin staying here, I will be staying here and Sister Hoskin will be going to Kaunas. I was really nervous about that, part of the reason I would be going to Kaunas is because I don't know my way around that well yet but Sister Hoskin reassured me and told me the only places I would need to go to are the church, home, and the immigration office. So, I am staying here for the exchange and Sister Seaman came here. After I picked up Sister Seaman from the bus station and Sister Hoskin went with Sister Penrose to Kaunas, we went back to the apartment for our studies. Sister Seaman is really nice. We had a lesson planned at the church on Skype, after that we had another lesson at the church with a church member, Jovita. We were on our way to the church when Elder Norman calls us back from earlier when we had called to ask a question. He tells us that we have no electricity at the church. We were already on the bus on our way there, so we decide to go there anyway and do our studies there while we wait for our lesson with Jovita that evening. We were just studying with flashlights when all of a sudden we see flashlights shining in the windows. We were so scared, we dropped to the floor and call the Elders. The Elders tell us they are on their way. While we are talking to the Elders I think we should lock the door and so we ask them, they are like the building door is locked. We hang up and are sitting there when I say, "let's go lock the door." We crawl out of the room and go where the security system is and the door that we would lock. When the Elder call again and say just stay away from the windows. So, we decide to hide in between the two doors where the security system is. At this point, I hadn't locked the door yet and I remember that I was going to because what if they have a key. I lock it, and then we were just talking, trying to calm down, when someone tries to open the door. We just go silent and wait, and then we decide to pray. The Elders arrived and we felt better at this point, the men with flashlights were gone. The Elders shut the blinds and had brought some candles for us and said they would stay until Jovita got here for our lesson. Then we hear something hit the window, like a snowball or something. One of the Elders looks out the window, who is our Zone Leader, because they are also on exchanges, and says "Elder, let's go outside." They told us to stay there and lock the door behind them, so we lock the door and wait. They come back in, apparently it was the neighbors who live upstairs, they saw the men as well and threw something at the window to get our attention so they could see if we knew them. The men had gotten in the stairwell somehow, and then said they had a white van or something. I am just glad we were directed by the Spirit to lock the door, who knows what would have happened if we had ignored the prompting. Sister Seaman is freaking out, and somehow, I felt very calm, but later panicked a little after, but we are safe and the Lord was watching out for us.

Thursday-

Today was day two of exchanges, we were hoping that the electricity at the church would be back so we could meet with Jurga over Skype, but no such luck. Yesterday, Jurga had texted us that she had moved out of her abusive boyfriend's apartment, we were so happy she can not be baptized. She just started working on quitting smoking as well, she is just taking all these steps and we are so proud. We are pretty sure she sent us a text asking for a baptismal date! But we are not able to have a lesson with her. We traveled to Kaunas today and are spending the night with Sister Seaman and Sister Madison. Kaunas is beautiful. It was about a three hour bus ride to get there. They have a really cute apartment with an awesome view. I get to sleep in two chairs pushed together since they don't have an extra bed. 

Friday-

Today we had a Sister's only training meeting, it was really good, they talked about several things. President Harding and Sister Harding and the assistants came, as well as all of the Sisters in Lithuania. I finally got to meet all of the Sisters, it was really fun. That lasted pretty much all day and then we traveled back to Siauliai. We found out we get to have a new apartment if we want, so the Elders are supped to begin looking. Our apartment is nice and big, and we have a beautiful view, but it is super expensive and it takes us an hour to get to the church, we are pretty much on the outskirts of town. It is also super drafty, it is always freezing! I am so glad you sent me that hoodie, mom, and I am so glad I brought the heating pad and my Cariloha blanket! I got my birthday package today at the training. I am so excited to open it, but don't worry, I won't open it until my birthday! :)

Saturday-

Today there was an activity for the branch. It was the first one in awhile and we were super excited because we have been trying to get more activities and things going for the branch. So, by one of our suggestions on Personal Progress, the women and the young women met together to introduce personal progress and talk about why it is important. We were really hoping it would turn out well and a lot of people would show up. We got to the church and there ended up being 5 women from the Relief Society and 2 out of 3 Young Women were there, and then of course Sister Hoskin and I. I thought is went pretty well. I was super excited, Gitana, the Relief Society President, and Skaiste, the Young Women's President are planning on having activities every two weeks and switching off planning them. They will be activities that will help the women and young women complete their personal progress. I am super excited. Sister Hoskin and I are planning on doing our personal progress over again so we can support them in their efforts. For this activity Gitanan talked about why personal progress is important and what it is. We decorated the page in our books where we put our name and picture, and then we made posters for our next activity on February 14th! Super fun, then we cleaned the church together. I have a lot of hope for the Sialuliai Branch, I wasn't so sure for awhile, but Sister Hoskin made plans and then followed through with them and something happened. 

Sunday-

Today we tried to meet with Jurga over Skype, but she did not respond to our text messages. We think maybe she was avoiding us because she moved back in with her boyfriend. :( We did meet with Jane this evening, it was really good, we just wanted to drop of the jar her applesauce was in and see how she was doing. She invited us in and insisted that she make eggs for us. She is so sweet, but we don't want her to feel like she has to feed us and put herself out overtime we come over. We asked her to read Enos, then we asked if we could come back. She is a less active and she seems to be doing everything that she needs to be doing except for coming to church.

(Answering some questions from letters...)

Elder Norman is from Provo, Utah. No musical talent here, Elder Aidukaitis, who is also the Branch President, plays the piano, conducts, and presides in Sacrament meeting. My companion is from Grass Valley, California. Her mom was less active and her dad is not a member, so she is a convert. She has two little sisters who are twins, Bailey and Lily, Bailey has special needs. I don't know what else you want to know about her, she went to BYU Idaho before her mission, she was also studying Elementary Education. We run stairs three days a week. We are also doing this 30 day arms, buns, and abs challenge from my missionary binder. We have personal study for an hour at 8, then companion study at 9, then we have language study at 10, then we usually eat lunch for an hour and then we have second hour, which is for people being trained. We usually go to lessons or knock on doors or have weekly training. On Tuesday's we have district meeting at 11, and on Tuesday's and Thursday's we have English class in the evening from 6 to 7, then we have a lot of travel time when we have to go to the church because it takes about 40 minutes, but now that we get to move we will find somewhere closer. On preparation day we have personal, companion, and half of language study, then we come and email, usually at about 11:30ish, then we go grocery shopping. We usually eat with the Elders and clean our apartment. I have not been to the hill of crosses yet, we are waiting until it gets warmer. Today we are going to go to this chocolate factory. We have usually around 20 people who attend and the branch President is Elder Aidukaitis. The Zeppeline was pretty strange, other than that we just drink a lot of tea.

Love, 

Sister Brown

Here is a dome, this is where I live. 

 Gitana, the Relief Society President, and the flyer she made for the activity we had on Saturday.

Mangus 

Irena 

Sister Seaman sleeping on the bus to Kaunas. 

Sister Hoskin and Matias. 

Week 3

January 26, 2015

Monday-
Today was good, I was able to deep clean the kitchen. It looks really good. I tried Zeppelene today, which was interesting, I am not sure if I like it or not. It is potato that is so dense it is almost like a dough, then it is wrapped around mystery meat. It was okay, but super heavy.

Tuesday-
Today we had district meeting and I spoke about knowledge. It was really interesting preparing to speak about that, I really learned a lot. There is a talk in the last General Conference given by Elder Eyring called "Continuing Revelation" that I shared parts of. I really like the part where it talks about having and needing a constantly renewed stream of revelation. I related that to an analogy told by Elder Oaks in the MTC about how we are instruments in the Lord's hands. He compared us to a pen and our knowledge and testimony are the ink of that pen, if the pens run out of ink He will find another pen to do the work. Elder Norman talked about diligence and he used the story "The Tortoise and the Hare." It doesn't matter our abilities, if we are diligent we can do what we are called to do. The tortoise had "steady, consistent...effort" PMG 121. Then Elder Aidukaitis spoke about boldness. "...be bold and loving...raise a voice of both warning and hope..." PMG 8. Sister Hoskin spoke about goals, she used a really good analogy with coins. She had all of the coins in her hands and she told Elder Armstrong to catch them, the coins represent the goals made and then the ones he was able to catch represented the ones that he was able to complete. She threw them all at once and he only caught two, but when she threw them one at a time he was able to catch them all. It is important to not make too many goals at once and try to achieve them all at once. Elder Armstrong spoke about achieving goals and accountability, "when you have something for the Lord to help you with you will see how he helps you more," and, "if you think you can do better, than you are doing better than you think." It was a really good district meeting. We then went and got some yummy food from a Maxima (grocery store). Since we were planning on being at the church all day we got these little pizza's that were interesting, and then we got these little pastries, we each chose a different one so we could try a little of both. They were both really delicious. I have been practicing the piano when we go to the church, I really think the Lord is helping me learn and play better. Rather than only being able to play one hand from the simple hymn book I can kind of play both hands very slowly, I am improving. We had Gospel Group Discussion class in the evening, it went really well. We did not end up talking about prophets like we had planned because Bole brought up baptism and wanted to talk about it. He brought this baptism dress that he wore to be baptized in the Jordan River, where he paid and then received a certificate that he showed us. It was very interesting, but since they wanted to talk about baptism we decided that would be a good topic. We talked about it and then showed them on lds.org the new Easter promotion called "Because of Him," it was really good, I felt the Spirit really strong. Look it up if you haven't seen it. After we finished watching it they all wanted the link for it so they could watch it again, it was really cool.

Wednesday-
Today was so amazing, we had two visiting teaching lessons we were planning on helping with, then we were going to just do stop by's for the rest of the night. Our first lesson was with Irena and it went really well, the RS President, Gitana, came with us and she is really awesome and wants to serve a mission, but she does love to talk. Usually when we go to lessons with her we end up staying for a couple of hours, but not today, she toned it down and was able to focus on the VT message. Then we had a second one, but the sister couldn't do it tonight so we decided we could take cookies that I had made to another member, Jolanta. We went over there and it was pretty interesting, it was my first time visiting a bendrabes, which is where everyone on a floor shares a kitchen and a bathroom. I would hate to live in one of those, it is very sketchy. She did not answer, and we didn't fell like they would last very long on her doorstep so we decided to take them to someone else in the brach. We were trying to think of people who were struggling and we thought of a member named Jane, who had become less active. We went to her house, when we got there she let us in and made us some tea and gave us these delicious treats. She was so welcoming. We just talked with her and shared a spiritual though, when we left she sent us away with some homemade applesauce. When we were on our way home we discuss how God had wanted us to go there, how he had guided us there, so many things had to fall through in order for us to make it there and I was so grateful we did, I think she really needed it.

Thursday-
Today we had a lesson with one of our investigators, her name is Aldona. This was my first time meeting her. She was so sweet and happy, and then her husband joined us, they were the best, I am excited for the to accept our message and take the next step toward baptism. Aldona has met with the missionaries before, but always ended up dropping them. One of her concerns is that she has always been Catholic, and all of her family has been Catholic, and she is worried that she will disappoint her ancestors if she joins the church. I am hopeful that we can deliver this message in a way she will accept, I am hopeful this time while she meets with the missionaries it will be different.

Friday-
Today I had my first Zone Training. I got to see Sister Hubert for the first time since the MTC. It was really good to see her, it seems like she is doing well. They fed us pizza, then we all had to do a short little three minute skit thing to show our achievements, we were supposed to be creative. Sister Hoskin and I talked about the service we have been doing for others, then we read a story from the Liahona about the little girl giving her teacher a potato instead of an apple because that is all she had. The teacher said it taught her a lesson about how you do not need to wait for the perfect opportunity to serve, just serve with what you have. Then we gave them all potatoes, it was fun. The Kalipida Elders did a poem with interpretive dance, it was hilarious. We talked about courage and what it takes to have courage. Then they gave us a little notebook that as we study the scriptures we can record all of the Lord's promised blessings to us. The little notebook can give us strength as we see all the blessings the Lord has promised if we do our part and we know the Lord will do his part. I really enjoyed, I got to meet a lot of new people.

Saturday-
Today we helped Gitana, our Relief Society President, set up visiting teaching. She has just been doing it by herself up until this point. She sometimes called us for help, but other than that she visited all ten of the sisters on her own. I am glad we were able to help her with that, we feel like it is important to create unity and friendships in the branch. It also helps everyone feel needed when they have a calling.

Sunday-
Today went really well, one of our investigators came to church, her name is Branuslava. Saturday evening we had met with Gitana and Gitana mentioned that we should call Branuslava and see if she was coming to church the next day, she said maybe and then she showed up! We then had a lesson with Jurga and Skype. She has been meeting with the missionaries for awhile and totally wants to be baptized, but she has to move out of her abusive boyfriend's place, she also smokes, but today we weren't even talking about it and she said she was going to quit smoking! We were super excited about that. The members are beginning to talk to me more, it is exciting because it give me a chance to answer in Lithuanian.

Love,
Sister Brown

Week 2

January 19, 2015

Monday-
Today was my first preparation day!! First, we had our morning studies, then we went to a place called Akropolis where we email, it is like a huge mall with a skating rink, a movie theater, a ton of stores and restaurants, and bowling, there is even a McDonalds. :) After we got done emailing we went to the Maxima in the mall, which is a grocery store comparable to Wal Mart and we got our groceries. After we got our groceries we came back and we cleaned up our apartment. We then went back over to the Akropolis and ate some lunch with the Elders, that was fun and interesting. We ate at this place called Cili Pica, it is a sit down kind of pizza place with salads and pastas as well. I was looking at the menu and some of their pizza toppings were a little strange, like hot dogs, and on the menu in the English translation it said like canned pineapple. The would tell us when it was not rest. Anyway, I got a pizza with just ham on it, it was pretty good, but not like American pizza. After that I went shopping for some socks and tights at the H&M store. I wanted to buy so many things there, it was really difficult. We then ended our preparations day with some ice cream that we ate outside in the snow while we waited for the bus, it was delicious. Later that night, after some stop bys, I dyed Sister Hoskin's hair which was exciting, I thought I was going to ruin her hair. Then, this week it is my turn to have the phone, which is a challenge because you know how much I hate talking on the phone, let alone in not in English. The Elders called and I answered, but instead of saying, "hello, this is Sister Brown," I said, "hello, this is Brianna," it was so embarrassing. I was like, "oh, ah, I mean Sister Brown."

Tuesday-
Today we had district meeting which went really well. We all taught a short thought about our favorite Christlike attribute. I chose charity and love, I talked about how Christ showed charity to everyone, even those who made him suffer and hurt. I talked about the sons of Mosiah, and how their reasons for serving a mission included charity because they wanted the best for the people they were serving, they wanted them to have the Gospel, they wanted to improve their lives, they were serving out of love. I shared a story from the December Ensign, it is the First Presidency Message. I would read it if you haven't, it is super good, and really cute. I mentioned how if our reasons to serve a mission did not include charity, than we need to pray "with all the energy of our hearts" to receive that attribute. I challenged them all to think of a gift that they have that they could share, and then to share that some way with the people of Lithuania. Elder Armstrong spoke about hope, I really enjoyed a poem that he shared called "The Race," look it up and read it, it is super good. Elder Norman spoke about knowledge, Elder Aeidikitis spoke about care and Sister Hoskin spoke about compassion. They were all really good and I super enjoyed the meeting. Then, in the evening, we had Group Gospel Discussion, everyone except one man from last week showed up. It was a little difficult to keep everyone on subject and keep moving on with our lesson, which was about God, but it was good. I feel like they may have learned something new about God. Last week, Jurgita, the one woman in our class, seemed super interested and receptive to our spiritual though. So, this week we thought we would talk to her some more about the Gospel if she still seemed interested. She did seem interested after class, and when everyone else left she kid of lingered and Sister Hoskin started talking to her more about God. It was so amazing, we taught her in English, she is really good at English. She has been prepared, I can just tell, she has this light about her that you just don't see in a lot of these people's faces. She just likes to have a positive outlook on life and she believes in God and attributes a lot of the good things in her life to Him. I can already tell she would be such an amazing member. After we were about done talking to her, she gave us both hugs and thanked us. We had invited her to meet with us again, but she was a little apprehensive about it, we asked if we could ask again on Thursday, at our next Group Gospel Discussion, and she said yes. I hope she agrees to it. She asked us why our church was different and Sister Hoskin gave her a restoration pamphlet, so hopefully she will read it and find out more, I am excited to see her again. It was so wonderful to teach her in English, I did not feel limited by my speech. I get frustrated because I can not say what I want in Lithuanian when we teach and I feel like I can not get the message across as well, but the language will come, I already feel like I have improved since being here in Lithuania. Today was Lithuania's Memorial Day. I also had my first drunk person experience. I was sitting on the bus, Sister Hoskin was sitting toward the front, and I was more in the middle. These men get on the bus. I don't have very much experience with drunk people, I could tell something was wrong with them and then one of the sits next to me. Now, we have had explicit instruction not to teach drunk people. He sits next to me and starts talking to me and flirting, his breath stuck so bad. He kept scooting closer, so then his leg was touching mine, I then said "atsiprasau," which means, "sorry," or "excuse me," when you need to get out for your bus stop, then I stood up and said it again because he was just sitting there and wanted me to scoot by. I said "atsiprasau," and then "excuse me" in English, and then he finally got up and then he just stood in the aisle, right in front of our bench so I could not get out, I just made a gesture for him to move and he did, then I went and sat by my companion. It was very interesting. Oh, I also forgot to tell you something else that happened when I was getting off the bus last week, it was pretty embarrassing. I was trying to follow my companion off the bus last so that I didn't lose her, and everyone just kind of stands in your way on the bus, so you have to squeeze past them, and you have to hurry because the bus driver is quite hasty to shut his doors and drive away. So, I was getting off and my bag and my arm got shut in the door. Luckily, the door isn't so heavy and he opened the door again before he tried driving away. Super embarrassing. I could see the concerned look on the faces of everyone waiting at the bus stop.

Wednesday-
Today was quite busy, we had quite as few lessons planned, but our last one ended up falling through. We met her on my first night here, when we were out knocking doors. She gave us her number, and then we saw her again on Monday. We spoke with her, she seemed super interested, and then later that day we set up an appointment for today. We went to her apartment and some man, probably her boyfriend or husband, and he wasn't the most friendly, sent us away. Unfortunately, we didn't get to teach her. The other lessons went well, one was on Skype with Jurga, and the other one was with a less active member. We were sort of visiting teaching with the Relief Society president. We went over there and it was kind of like off of a movie. She had us remove our shoes and take off our coats, then she had tea all set out for us, as well as little oranges and some kind of pastry that I found out later was made of potatoes and apples, an interesting combo but surprisingly tasted very good. As the evening went on, I kept eating her dog's hair that somehow ended up in my food. We ended up being there a very long time and my brain had given up on trying to figure out what in the world they were saying when we finally left.

Thursday-
Today was interesting, we were about to start language study when all of a sudden we receive a call from Elder Armstrong, our district leader. He said that Elder Aidukitas was able to participate in a wedding today. An inactive sister, Ingrida, was living with her boyfriend, Saulus, she has three kids and they finally got married! We were surprised to hear it, as far we know, it did not seem planned out too far in advance, but they invited us all over to celebrate. They had the cutest little boy, he was very curious and was trying to see what was in our bags and our pockets, he was super cute. They fed us some really delicious food and we visited for awhile, it was really fun. We also had our Group Gospel Discussion class where we had a really good discussion about families and baptism. At one point, one of our students, when we were talking about baptism, asked why then do people baptize babies, it was so amazing to me that she brought that up. I turned the question back around to the class, which I am pretty sure at least one, if not all, were or are Catholic. They weren't really sure, so I brought up Adam's transgressions and how we don't believe that we are responsible for his transgressions, that babies are innocent. It was a really good class, I love teaching in English, I feel so free. I hope that as I become better at the language I will feel that way when I teach in Lithuanian.

Friday-
Today was good, we did a lot of stop bys, and while we were walking around we talked to a few of the cutest old ladies. They are definitely the easiest to talk to. I really love just being out doing stop bys and just really bonding with Sister Hoskin, we are able to talk about so much and really get to know each other. One problem we consistently run in to when talking to people is that they think we are Jehovah's Witnesses. We tell them we aren't, but then when we tell them where our church is located they think we are Jehovah's Witnesses again because our street goes like this: on the corner is the Jehovah's Witnesses church, then next to that is the prison, and then our church is next to the prison. It is really quite interesting.

Saturday-
Today we got to do a lot of service, but before that we had a lesson with a member named Jovita, she is a little handicapped, but I like visiting her because she speaks slowly and she can understand me, she is really sweet. We talked about family history. At the beginning of the lesson we had a piece of her favorite candy and I talked about how good it is and asked her if she wanted it, then I just set it down in her sight and we moved on with the lesson. At the end of our lesson we talked about how she felt when she had to wait for the candy and how badly she wanted it and how that is how our ancestors feel in heaven who have not had their temple work done yet, they are just waiting and they want it so badly, then we gave her the candy. I felt super cruel, but I think we got the point across. We then got to serve and participate in helping with a birthday party for a young investigator name Beata, she is a teenager and loves Harry Potter. The YW President and the two other young women helped plan this huge Harry Potter themed birthday. They traveled from place to place like they were places from Harry Potter, then at our stop, which was at the church, we had the bookstore all set up where she found the biting book thing, it was super cute. After that we had to clean up our mess, then we cleaned the church.

Sunday-
Today was really good, I got to help teach Primary for the first time in this branch. The only primary children we have are two little boys who are brothers, they are adorable, their names are Matias and Magnus, they are so fun and they have so much energy. Matias is 6 and Magnus is 4 and their mom, Skaiste, just had another baby, so now they have a baby sister. After church, during our studies, we received a call from one of the ward members, Brute, who wanted us to come over and visit with her. I had made blondies earlier that day (that were so delicious), so I packed some of those up and Sister Hoskin found a scripture we could share with her. She shared 3 Nephi 12:44-45. She didn't know why, but she felt like she needed to share it, so she followed the prompting and good thing she did because it turned out that is exactly what Brute needed to hear. She had us come over so she could just vent and get some things off of her chest, she has some problems with a few of the members and she just wanted somebody to listen. She served us tea and this super yummy cheese and raisins. We were stuffed full of cheese by the time we left.

Here are some pictures. :)

 The view from my window.

Week 1 in Lithuania!

January 12, 2015

Thursday-
Today was P-Day. It was really good, but felt like we had so much time because we were not able to attend the temple this week. The day felt super long, but it was great. I did laundry, packed all my clothes, except for what I will wear for the rest of the week. I worked out and then emailed, showered and then took a nap. It was probably the least busy P-Day I have had ever.

Friday-
Today we had to go to in-field orientation all day. It was long, but not as boring as I thought it would be. I finished up a little more packing. I can't wait to call home from the airport on Monday!!!

Saturday-
Today we had to say goodbye to our teachers. :( It was really sad. At least I know that I will be able to see them all at the mission reunions. They were really good teachers, and I learned so much rom them. We also had culture day, it was really fun! They told us more about recent Lithuanian history. The Lithuanians were under Soviet rule. They got all their freedoms taken away from them. They could not practice religions. The Soviets tried to wipe out their culture and their language, they made them all learn Russian. Now, the Lithuanian people, who a lot had lived through this, are very wary of people coming into their country. That is why it is important for us to know their history. We are going into their country, it is important for us to respect their culture and speak their language. I actually feel bad for those who go to the Baltic States speaking Russian, I am sure a lot of people do not even want to speak to them because they do not speak their language. Another part of culture day was when they showed us pictures from their missions. That was super fun and interesting, we got to see pictures of previous students that they had who we will be serving with.

Sunday-
Today was really good! We finished packing in the evening and finished a few things. I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting. In the evening, instead of going to a movie, our zone just gathered for our last night together. We played a few games, it was really fun. I am going to miss some of these people.

Monday and Tuesday-
I did not sleep at all last night, I was much too excited and nervous. I got up at 2:00 AM to get ready and finish gathering my things. We got on the bus at 3:30 AM to go to the airport. We got to the airport and I was so excited to be out of the MTC, I was just smiling and saying good morning to everyone. It was fun. I probably seemed pretty weird, but most people said it back. I was surprised to see that gas prices were at like $2.05. Of course they would be that low when I am not driving. We got on our flight to Houston. I sat in between Sister Bestenlenher and a man from Texas who is LDS and served a mission in Bolivia. It was good to talk to him. Then we arrived in Houston and we got to call home, which was great. It was difficult because the call cards were confusing, and I feel like I lost a lot of time off of them, but it was good to talk to everyone. We were about to board the flight when one of the Latvian sisters realized she was missing her boarding passes and passport, she was in a panic, poor girl. We had to leave her behind. The Houston mission President was going to pick her up and keep her until they got everything figured out. We got on the flight and I sat next to a man who was from Norway. He spoke English, we talked a little at the beginning of the flight, and then he put his headphones on and watched the Godfather movies 1 and 2 all the way to Germany. It was a very long flight, about 9 hours. They fed us dinner, and breakfast the next morning. I didn't really sleep much, so by the time we got off the airplane I was super sleepy. By that time I had pretty much gone two nights without sleep. By the time the airplane landed I had gotten the courage to talk to this man from Poland, his name is Ralph. I told him about the Salt Lake City temple a little, and we talked about his family. I could really tell he loved his family, so I then talked about how families could be together forever. I gave him a pass along card with the SLC temple. I was super proud of myself because I almost didn't do it. I am glad I did, I proved to myself that I could talk to people about the Gospel. We got off the plane and almost missed our flight to Latvia because our flight landed a little late, but we made it. We got on the plane and I was sitting by a Latvian girl, she spoke English, so Sister Bestenlenher had brought extra pass along cards and so we gave her one. We had arrived, we went and got cleaned up a little to meet the Mission President. President and Sister Harding are so nice! They took us to the church in Riga where they went over some things and had interviews. It was really fun, we got to go out to eat for dinner. By this time I could barely keep my eyes open. After dinner we went back to the church and they went over some more things, and we all bore our testimonies. Then we finally got to go to sleep. We get to stay at a hotel. I can not wait to go to sleep.

Wednesday-
Last night Sisters Madison and Bestenlenher asked us to wake them up in the morning because they did not have an alarm clock, and luckily, I packed mine. This morning I realized I didn't know what room they were staying in, all I knew was that we were on the same floor. We tried calling the front desk, but couldn't figure out how to use the phone. I showered and we went down to the front desk, by this time, it was 7:00 AM and that is when breakfast started, and the assistants to the President were coming to get us at 7:40 AM, so we went down and no one was there. We went to breakfast to see if they had woken up on their own, but they were not there either. We went back to our floor and I thought I might know which room they were in, so we knocked on it. Then the Latvian sisters thought no one but us were on that floor so we knocked on another door that we thought could be theirs. From this door we got a response, they said in English "who is it?" and I responded with "Sisters Brown and Hubert," then the first door we knocked on opened and it was not Sister Bestenlenher or Madison so we received a tired glare, then she shut the door. Then a different door we didn't knock on opened, it was Sister Bestenlenher, she heard us knocking and me saying our names. Then the second door we knocked on opened and it was another sleepy glare. We disturbed quite a few people that morning. We then went to breakfast where there were quite a few different foods, and then there were some good foods as well. We then went back to the church to meet our trainers. They first spoke with the trainers for a little bit, then had us come in to assign us who our trainer was and where we would be serving. I am in Sauliai serving with Sister Hoskin. She is super sweet and nice, she is a good trainer. We then got to go to the mall where I was able to buy a coat and a bag, they are super cute. We then went and got something to eat. We then went and got our luggage and made our way to the bus station where we would catch a bus to Sauliai, the bus ride was not too long, about an hour and a half. We got to ride with Sister Hubert and her new companion, Sister White, they are going to Klaipeda. We arrived in our apartment at about 7:00 PM, and we ate some dinner, then we went and did some stop by's. I was super nervous, but my trainer is nice, we would take turns and when it was my turn she would just let me say a few sentences and then she would take over. On one of my doors, we even received a telephone number and we are going to call her on Monday.

Thursday-
Today was good, we did our morning studies and then we went and had English class, it was super fun. We have about 6 students that showed up for the advanced English class. We separated into two groups, in my group I just talked with them in English and got to know them, in Sister Hoskin's group she read them a story out of the Liana and then they talked about it. It was fun, they are changing the English class to something called Group Gospel Discussion, so from now on, instead of just a spiritual thought at the end, the whole class will be focused on the Gospel. We told them this, and that it will be starting next week. Some of them seemed to be interested. We will see how many of them actually show up next week. I got to meet the Elders, we have three of them, Elders Armstrong, Norman, and Avikidas. Elder Avikidas is our Branch President, and Sister Hoskin is the Primary Presidency. We then tried to stop by one of the member's house, Irena, but her daughter answered the door and she was drunk and speaking in Russian, so we just left because we could not understand her, we figured Irena was probably sleeping. We then did a few more stop by's.

Friday-
Today we Skyped an investigator from the church, she does not live in Sialiai, but she want to be baptized so bad, her name is Jurga. We then went back over to visit Irena again, this time we were able to. I got to try my first kabob and Duona soda, which is just like a bread drink. It literally tastes like bread, it is very interesting, I did not really like it that much. The kabobs are just meat and vegetables and french fries with sauce all over it. The kabob was good, but I think I would have liked it better without so much sauce. We then visited with Jovita, who is a member, she is a little handicapped so she speaks a little slower and has the mind of a child. It was fun, she is really funny.

Saturday-
Today was good, we got to clean the church and we met with the Relief Society President, Gitana, and the Young Women's Laurel President, Juste. We had some ideas for activities for the branch. One idea was to do a Personal Progress night for the Young Women and the Relief Society one night a month. My idea for the first month to complete one of the projects in Faith was to make a prayer rock to remind them to pray morning and night. They seemed to like my idea, so we will see if they can get it going. We are trying to get them to organize it so that even after we leave they can keep it going. Another idea Sister Hoskin had was to have a knitting group once a week, they liked it but they don't think people will come once a week, so we talked about doing it every other week. I would love to learn to knit, that would be really fun. Then we thought it would be good to have somewhere to serve, so we asked them for ideas of places we could serve at. I really hope these activities can succeed, the branch really needs something to get people involved. We can also use these activities to invite our investigators to. Both Gitana and Juste are really strong members, it would be hard to be a strong member when everyone else comes and goes all the time. Juste has been a member for 5 years, she is 16, and Gitana has been a member for 6.

Sunday-
Today went well, I gave my first talk in Lithuanian, I basically just read it. I met all of the members, they were super nice and friendly. It is like they are a different people than the people on the streets, they are so happy and almost all of them gave me a hug. The people on the street seem so unfriendly and sad. I have found that they look unfriendly, but if you actually talk to them almost all of them will be friendly back to you. It is just starting the conversation that is the hard part.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Dear Family and Friends,

Here it is, I got this typing thing for Christmas that stores all of everything I type, and then I can download it on to the computer. It is very neat and makes things easier when it comes time to email, thanks Mom and Dad. :)

So, here is my week:

Thursday-
It's Christmas!!! I wasn't quite sure what this was for, but now I have got it figured out. This is such a good idea. I always forget something that has happened during the week, and I remember right after my email time is over. After we finished opening gifts Sister Hubert and I went to choir practice so we could perform the devotional. We sang "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer." It is a beautiful song. Then, for the devotional we heard from Russell M. Nelson. That was amazing, I love that here at the MTC we get to hear from apostles occasionally. After that was done we went and had a Christmas lunch, we then went and watched a talent show. Some were fairly impressive. After the talent show we got to wait for our moment to call home. When we were about to head over to the computer lab to call I see a girl who just got done talking to her family and she was crying, so then I started getting all nervous about crying and of course, I cry throughout the whole call. I was really glad I got to call though, too bad the time was so short. After we finished calling we ate our sack dinners and then we went to the evening Christmas program, which consisted of some caroler people who sounded really good, and then Mary's Story. Mary's Story would have been really good, but I was falling asleep because we had a sleepover the night before with the other sisters from our district, because they got locked out of their room. We ended up staying up talking until 1:30 AM, so I was falling asleep. It was just a story from Mary, Jesus' mother's, perspective on his birth and life. After that we watched a movie, Ephraim's Rescue, which I love. They gave us Junior Mint's, it was fun.

Friday-
So, today we played the Skittle game, which was super fun. Then, afterward, Sister Harris had a "drinking" game she called "Mormon, Mormon" where we had to drink water, not a lot, but it was a race. Things got a little wild, and it got a little loud, then the Armenian teacher, whose classroom is next door came in and we got in trouble. It didn't look too good since we looked like we were playing a drinking game. Right after that we began to study and it was silent inner room, overall, it was a fun night besides getting into trouble.

Saturday-
Today was harder, I didn't sleep much last night, then this morning I woke up with a sore throat, then throughout the day I increasingly worsened. By dinner I was achy, my throat hurt, I had a headache, and I was having cold chills. I had no appetite, so I didn't eat anything. Instead of going to gym I took a nap and I felt a little better by the time I woke up and went to class. I hope I am not sick or this whole week is going to be very difficult.

Sunday-
Today at the temple walk we spoke with the Elder from Lithuania. It is fun because he speaks to us in Lithuanian, sometimes he tells us about Lithuania. Then, I took one last picture with Elder Lungu (Moldavian Elder), because he leaves tomorrow for Australia. Tonight for our devotional we heard from Richard Elliot, he plays the organ for the Tabernacle Choir. He played a few songs for us, it was amazing! Then, we heard...wait for it...DAVID ARCHULETTA. That was equally amazing, he is such an amazing singer, it was super spiritual.

Monday-
Today was good, I feel like I accomplished a lot. Elder Haag in my district gave me some cut outs for a plan of salvation lesson. He seemed to be super excited about it. Sister Fish, our teacher, reads the emails she receives from the Lithuanian missionaries. She read one and he was talking about how they are preparing for the new missionaries. That's us!!!! I am so excited. We practiced bus contacting in class with Brother Erickson. I can already tell that is going to be super challenging.

Tuesday-
Today we had a devotional, it was really good. I did a test packing to make sure I would be okay for weight.

Wednesday-
Today was good, but a little sad because, first, we found out that one of the Latvian sisters who has been having issues with her shin has a stress fracture and has to stay here at the MTC for three more weeks. It is so sad, I would be super upset if that happened to me. Mom, this is the sister who really loved your pumpkin chocolate cookies, so I was thinking, if you have time in the next few weeks, will you make her some and send them to her? I think those cookies will help her feel loved while she has to be left behind. Later that day, we learned that the Latvians would not be traveling with us because they did not receive their passports back from SLC, so they have to stay for an extra week. I am super bummed we won't be traveling with them, or arriving with them, they are our friends. We had a little New Years party in our classrooms where we played charades and ate food, it was super fun.

Here are our pictures from our temple walk in the rain, and our temple walk in the snow. I have pictures with the Lithuanian missionary who is here at the MTC going to South Africa. I also have pictures with my Moldavian friend who left Monday to go to Australia.

 Sister T (we don't know how to say her name, so we call her Sister T), she is from New Zealand and was headed out on Monday for Indonesia. She was super awesome. :)

Our Lithuanian friend.

My Moldavian friend.

Good Morning!!

So much has happened I feel like since I last emailed. On Sunday, the BYU Chorus came and did the devotional, it was amazing, I loved it. They did a few fun songs and a lot of spiritual ones. My companion and I also got a new calling, we are now Branch Online Coordinators, we make sure everyone does their online training and train new people who came into our Branch on Wednesday. On Monday we had five people from our Zone leave for Madagascar, one Sister heading to Indonesia, and my companion going to Singapore/Malaysia. Sister Lee did not seem too torn up about it, but I was so sad. Sister Lee does not show much emotion. We saw her off, and when she was leaving I hugged her. She kept trying to pull away, but I would just squeeze her tighter. On Tuesday we had an amazing devotional given by Per G. Malm. He said something that I really liked, "do not set your own limits." I really liked that because I feel like I always tell myself I can't do something, but that is me setting a limit for myself. This is not my year and a half, I have no right to set limits that are much lower than the Lord has set for me. I think I really liked it because just the other day we were practicing contacting, and I just felt like there was no way I was going to be able to do this, it is much too hard. I know that with the Lord at my side I will be able to do it. On Wednesday we got to host new missionaries, that was super fun. I met so many new friends. Some parents cried so much. I have learned that you just don't look back or it makes it that much more difficult.

I received big news!!! For the first time in like forever we get to call home on Christmas day from the MTC between the hours of 3:15 PM and 5:15 PM, so you can expect a call sometime in those hours. 

Love,

Sister Brown

Hi. :)

December 11, 2014

Sister Kendra Campbell's family sent me a Christmas card that was signed by all of the presidency, it was super cute. :) Sister Hubert is from Caldwell, Idaho, and Sister Lee is from Fresno, California. Sister Hubert and my other two roommates, Sisters Madison and Bestenlehner, are going to Lithuania as well. I guess our names will be changed when we get over there so the people of Lithuania can say them correctly. We got our tags that we will be wearing when we get there. My name will be Sesuo Braun. We have five sisters in our room, but Sister Lee leaves on Monday, so we will then only have four. I guess we have to pack up all of our stuff and move to another building so our building can have maintenance done, I am not very excited to pack and move, and then pack again in three more weeks when I leave. Sister Lee gave away a bunch of her clothes, so I get to change up my wardrobe a little bit, so that is exciting. We had our first Mission Conference Sunday evening. On Tuesday, we got to sit on the front row because Sister Hubert knows the speaker, President Zwick, of the Seventy. I guess he was her Dad's mission president, so that was a pretty cool experience. They even had this young girl named Lexi Walker sing, she had a beautiful voice. She has sung with David Archuleta, for the President of the United States, and at Carnagy Hall. It was awesome to be sitting on the front row for that.