SNIEGS

Sveiki! Sveiki!

I hope everyone had the best week and a great Thanksgiving!! 

This week was great! First, it snowed!!! I love the snow! It hasn't been too much, but it's been great. Most mornings when we go out it's snowing now. So great. 

Tuesday we skipped district meeting haha. One of our members is recovering from a coma and has a really hard time walking, talking, and breathing and so we helped her to one of her doctor appointments but it ended up being 3 hours of sitting and waiting with her haha. It was so good though to be able to help her and serve her! 

Thursday, Thanksgiving! It was such a great Thanksgiving. Māsa Teilore and I planned a Thanksgiving dinner for all our members that night. Not too many people came but it was the funnest thing. One of members had us all laughing the whole time. Someone called him and I guess he calls all the time so he's speaking in Latvian to him and then turns to all of us and tells us how the guy doesn't even understand Latvian. It was so fun just sit there and talk with all them. I'm definitely grateful for the members here and their testimonies!

Saturday was the talent show! Honestly, it was the best ever! Us missionaries just kinda made a fool ourselves but it was so worth it! So many people came and participated. 

"Now we may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise."

-Alma 37:6

Do the small things every day because they really do make the biggest difference in the end! I have seen that a lot this week as I've been trying to improve those small things every day. Those small things like reading our scriptures and praying bring the spirit and we are able to be happier and be lead by the Holy Ghost. But without those small things we wouldn't have that. 

I love you all and thank you for the support! I love Latvija and the people here. God is so good!

Love,

Māsa Brūnere

Pics:

1: From the talent show!

2: Love these māsas :)

3: Our thanksgiving! Also pumpkin is the best thing to eat. One member made pumpkin soup and then just brought pumpkin to eat. So good.

4: The gratitude tree a member brought where she made leaves where we could write what we are grateful for.

God is a God of miracles!

Sveiki! Sveiki! 

I hope everyone had the best week!!

This was a week of finding miracles!! It was so good and I'm just so grateful for Heavenly Father and for His plan for each one of us. His timing might not always make sense but it's always what we need! 

We had this new idea to visit all the addresses we have from the area book of former investigators. So on Tuesday, in the hard pouring, bone soaking rain, we got to Marupe. It's a nicer part where everyone basically lives in houses. So we start looking for the addresses just to realize how far they are apart from each other haha. We were basically just walking through the woods in the dark and the rain and our map got destroyed haha. But it was good to give those people another chance! But knocking at the gate of someone's house is definitely more intimidating haha.

Thursday I was with Sister Sedivy because our companions were in Belarus and it was the best!! The weather was soooo nice!! and the sun was shinning and there were so many people!! It was a miracle! We stopped this one lady and immediately she recognized us and wants a Book of Mormon! Hopefully we are meeting with her today!! And then we did one of our less active drop-bys that missionaries have been doing for the last yearish and her son answers the door a lot and is always really nice but this time he asked us why we always stop by. We explained to him that we love everyone and God loves everyone and we want to share that love. Then he asked us how he can learn about it!!! He was so excited about it and we are so excited about it!! Honestly a miracle!!! Things just take time but God always has a plan!! 

We also tried some new whiteboarding ideas this week to get to talking about the Book of Mormon quicker and it was so cool! I had some of the coolest conversations about the Book of Mormon and how it really does help everyone and we really do need to read it! I love it! We took pages of the Book of Mormon and had them read it and mark every time Kristus was mentioned to show we are Christian and one lady loved it and we were talking for a long time about it and then her friend came up and had been talking to another missionary and started telling me how peaceful she felt while reading. Then they were like okay we gotta go! They hugged me and left, so sad we didn't get the info but they will find it!! 

Yesterday was 100 years of Latvija!!! It was so good! In church we sang the national anthem and I just love Latvija! At night we were inside but from our apartment we could see the fireworks!! It was so great! I love Latvija and I love being here!! 

I hope everyone has a great week and a great Thanksgiving!!! I love you all!!

Love,

Masa Brunere

Pics:

1: Just eating Medus Kuka

2: Fireworks!

3: Lol I don't think we actually know when the bus comes because we missed  it again

4: Whiteboarding!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sveiki!

I hope everyone had a great week!

This week flew by! I think I'm starting to say that every week haha, but it was such a good week!

On Monday night we went knocking and one lady told us to leave or she'd call the police but we decided she just meant leave her door so we did and continued to knock, but she then came out and started to tell us to leave in Russian, so we decided to leave haha. It was just a funny story and we were sad we didn't get to finish the knocking the whole building. 

We always meet some interesting people while knocking but this week we met the nicest people! One lady was not interested but just loved to talk haha. She was so cute and even gave us suggestions of those who lived in the building who would be interested in our message, nicest lady!

Wednesday was zone conference and basically Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday!). Zone conference was amazing though. I'm pretty sure it was just based around my needs haha, but it really was so fun and answered all my questions and was just a great reminder that Gods knows! That's my new phrase "Dievs zin" because really He does and He really does answer all our questions. That night we also went to one of our member's homes and it was so fun. They took our lesson to a whole new level and want to throw a Thanksgiving dinner for this side of the river and get all our less actives there!! Best idea ever!!! And that's why missionary work is most effective with members!

We also got to do some dropbys with the YSA this week. We went to one recent converts home who has been impossible to get a hold of. It's really hard to get into her apartment building because there's no code but a key, but we went anyways and we weren't successful haha but as we were walking away we saw someone go in the door so we went and tried again and it was unlocked and we saw her! It was such a miracle!! 

One of the biggest things I have learned and am reminded of everyday is that God often works in small miracles and it has been amazing to see those small miracles every single day. I am so grateful for them because even if there is a super hard day you can look back and always see at least three good things that happened and those things are from God! Each day I have written at least three things of where I have seen God's hand. Some days it's harder, but I promise they are there because I have always been able to find them. And to me those small things are miracles! Okay sorry for my little rant, I am just so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father.

Thank you for everything and have the best week!

Love,

Masa Brunere

Pics

1: Whiteboarding in the dark lol

2: Christmas lights are starting to come out!!!

3: This is at one of the parks. it is always foggy and we didn't see the sun this week!

4: Classic mirror pic

HALF WAY?!?

Sveiki! Sveiki!

I hope everyone had a great week and a great Halloween!

This week flew by, literally no idea where it went haha. It was a good week with lots of learned lessons.

One of the biggest things I learned is to just enjoy the little things! Honestly, it's been really hard to find people and there were days when I got down about it, but looking back on the day I realized how great of a day it was and how much we accomplished, even if we didn't find anyone. For example, on Saturday we tried whiteboarding in our area. It's really only ever been done in City Center and not where I am. And it went super great! Every Saturday there's a cute little Tirgus (plaza) and so many families go to it so we set the whiteboard up and tried it! The Russian sisters came with us and brought flowers and we gave out flowers as well. We didn't find anyone, but we had many good conversations and made so many people smile! That's what made it so great! The next time those people come in contact with the missionaries they will remember the happiness! So always look for the little things, I promise they are there every single day! God is always looking out for us and we can see His hand every single day. 

I also hit half way this week! How crazy is that?! Who knew time would go so fast? I'm so grateful to be here and I was grateful for the opportunity to look at the first half of my mission and set goals to grow even more.

On Halloween we went to a potentials house and ate with them and taught them the great gospel! They are the cutest family and is so fun to be able to see how many of the concerns were answered by the gospel. It really is for everyone!

Okay coolest thing. So about a month ago I called this guy from the areabook and he was like yeah I'm interested but call in November when I have time. So November first I called him haha and we had a lesson the next day and HE IS THE COOLEST. I'm so pumped for him. He's the best. 

We also have a member who just had a baby and she doesn't like cooking so we went over this week and cooked a meal with her and it was so fun to just strength our relationship with her. It was so fun!

One verse that I read this week that I loved so much was from Jacob 2:8

8 And it supposeth me that they have come up hither to hear the pleasing word of God, yea, the word which healeth the wounded soul. 

The Book of Mormon heals!! This week I was feeling frustrated and down and I turned to the Book of Mormon for help and immediately I found peace!! God has given us everything to find happiness and peace! One of those being the Book of Mormon!

The weather is getting colder and the sun is shining less haha! I think we only so the sun three times this week and it's starting to get darker earlier!!

Thank you for everything!! Have the best week!!

Pics:

1: The little girl of the family we went to on Halloween gave us costumes by drawing on our arms

2: 9 for 9 months!

3: all the flowers before we gave them out

4: my cute comp and I