Marta's Baptism!

Sveiki! Sveiki! 

I hope everyone had the best week!! This week seemed longer since it's Tuesday instead of Monday but great things happened! 

Last Monday I got to skype my family! It was the best thing ever! It will be fun to get to see them more often now!

Tuesday we had our last lesson with Marta before her baptism and it was so fun. We read the 13th article of faith with her and talked about each quality and had an item that went along with it. Then we put all our items in a bag and went on a trip where we ended up in the chapel with a picture of the temple. As soon as we sat there the Spirit was so strong and we were able to just sit there and reflect. That night the Riga Masas came for an exchange but I got super sick that night so our exchange the next day was just one of the sisters staying with me haha but super grateful for all of them and their help! 

Thursday we had a lesson with one of our members who is super talented and loves to make bracelets and things like that and she taught us how to make one. She said she searched for the easiest one to teach us, well she had to explain it to me like 10 times because I did not understand how to make the bracelet but through her patience, I learned, wahoo!

Saturday was Marta's Baptism! It started out snowing but turned into a beautiful day! She was so happy and excited! It was such a sweet thing to watch her and see her love for the gospel and Christ grow even more. 

Yesterday we had zone conference! Elder Golden was with us and it was such a good conference. It was amazing to see where we have grown and how much our mission is growing and then find even more ways to improve to help others find the truth! One of the biggest things that stuck out to me the most was just how great and amazing it is that we have the opportunity to tell people that Jesus Christ's one and only church is on the earth again! I'm so grateful for that! That night we went out contacting and started just being more straight with people about it and telling them that right away and it was amazing to see the difference in conversations! No one was interested but they all said they understood and just simply weren't interested. I'm so grateful for revelation and for Jesus Christ's church!!

I hope everyone has a great week! Thank you for the love and support!! 

Love,

Masa Brunere

Pics:

1: Latvian sisters!

2: Marta's baptism!

3: The world has been pink in the evenings!

Please pray for the health of Latvija

Sveiki!

I hope everyone had a great week and a great Valentine's Day! This week was super great!

Last week we went to the sea and walked this pier thing and it was so fun! By the end of it we were in the middle of the sea haha but it was so beautiful! I love being so close to the sea! Then Monday night we had FHE we with the Beldavi! I love them and it's so fun to be with them. 

We also met with Lilita this week, one of our members, and she was sooo funny we were laughing the whole time. She also loves music so we always sing her songs from America because she loves those the most haha. 

Wednesday we had an exchange with the Russian sisters and we ran to the sea in the morning. It was cold and rainy but soo fun!! Also, sad story. My favorite restaurant we are pretty sure has closed down which was sad haha.

Then Valentine's Day!! It was a great day and Masa Luisa made it great too. We had lots of fun. We met with one of our members Zenija and she taught me how to knit! Well, the beginning of it and I'm not very good at it haha but I will get better! We also had a lesson with a former investigator Svetlana and she has the cutest little kitty! But she's also the cutest! 

We also met with Marta this week and she is getting baptized on Saturday and she is so excited! It was so cute to see her at church yesterday just go look at the baptismal font. She is the cutest!

Saturday we had the coolest lesson! Her name is Olvija. We talked to her on the streets this week and met with her and talked about the Restoration and she accepted to read the Book of Mormon and continue meeting us. I am so excited!!

We also meet with Maija. She moved here from Indonesia and she makes the best food! She always has so much but it's so good. We also teach her Latvian which has also been the best! 

The weather was also so nice this week! There was one day we didn't need our hats or scarves! And the sun is shining brightly! Monday was a nice day so we went out without our hats and scarves as well but walking home after the Beldavi it was so super windy and raining pretty hard. We basically ran the whole way home because we got soaked and we were cold haha.

Also, all of Latvija is sick I'm pretty sure haha. Most lessons we had this week were canceled due to sickness haha.

This week I want to share some verses we read with our members this week for Valentine's Day. Romans 8:35,38-39

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come., Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Nothing can stop Christ from loving us. His love and help is without end. Turn to Him! This week my testimony was strengthened that He is always there and always loves us and always PERFECTLY understands us. I love sharing this gospel and telling everyone about Him. I love Him and His gospel and I love Latvija!!

Have a great week! Thank you for everything!

Love,

Masa Brunere 

Video: 

Pics

1: valentines day

2: heart-shaped pancakes!

3: at the sea!

4: our fur coats

"Do the Karosta"

Sveiki Sveiki!! 

I hope everyone had the best week and is enjoying all the snow in Utah! It has been like spring here! Just rain and not too cold! 

Last Pday we ended up going to the police station again to get interrogated again but all is good now and we won't have to go back wahoo!! But then we got sushi! It was my first time ever trying it and it was pretty good!! 

Tuesday night we headed to Riga for an exchange. So I got to spend Wednesday with Masa Teilore!!! It was the best. I love her to death and it was such a blessing to be able to spend a day with her again!

Thursday we had a lesson with Lita. She's the best and coolest. She sends us inspirational texts throughout the week and wants to serve a mission! Right now she the branch missionary and is the best!! I love her and is the best missionary! And she's going to the temple in March!!! I'm so excited for her! 

Friday turned out to be a crazy day haha. We went and visited our member Ausma in the hospital. She's the cutest! and then we were supposed to have a lesson, but she didn't show up but then we got a call that all the Relief Society leaders were sick and that we needed to run the activity. The activity was on Pioneers and we read some pioneer stories and then made a cake they ate. So we had to translate the stories and recipe and then run to the store to buy all the things. Then we had a lesson with Marta! She's the cutest! She's excited for baptism still, a little nervous but she knows it's what Christ has asked for us! Then we had the activity! It went good! The cake took a long time to bake haha but it turned out good! One of our members even made it the next day for her family!! 

Saturday!! We were visiting one of our members in the morning and coming back from it we talked to one lady. As we were talking to her, her bus left and the next one didn't come for another two hours so we walked to the church and met with her then! She took a Book of Mormon and it was an awesome experience! Then later that night we went to the Beldavi! They are my some of my favorite! We have family home evening with them once a week and we even have a chart for what each one of us does. But one of the boys loves to dance and Sister Lewis and I made up a new dance move called the Karosta and we told him about it and this week he had a dance move ready so we all practiced it and made a film. Basically we are all going to be famous for starting a new dance move haha. 

Sundays are also my favorite here. Before church we had a lesson with Ina and we were reading the Introduction of the Book of Mormon with her because she knows the Book of Mormon is true and we wanted to help her connect that with her testimony of Joseph Smith and the church. She reads and then stops us and tells us "Girls we have read this like 5 times now. I know the Book of Mormon is true. No  doubt about that. I'm a teacher too so let's move on. Teach me something new!" We tried teaching her the Plan of Salvation but she had already read the pamphlet and knows that's true too so we talked about Baptism and she wants to be baptized! She was talking to Marta about it and was like maybe we will get baptized the same day! As much as we want that we have to still teach her all the lessons haha. But she the coolest!! After church we have a meeting with our Branch President, but we always go last so we always have time to just hang out with the kids and yesterday we played red light, green light and it was so fun! I love the branch here. I can't say it enough! But it's the best!!

One thing I have learned this week is how powerful the Book of Mormon is and how much I love it! If you haven't read it with President Nelson's challenge with marking every time Christ's name is mentioned I encourage you do to it! Male or Female! The spirit that it brings is so different, in such a wonderful way! It will strengthen your testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Christ!!

I hope everyone has the best week! Thank you for everything!!

Love,

Masa Brunere

Pics

1: One day it snowed hard!

2: Exchanges!

One Year?!?

Sveiki sveiki visiem!!

I hope everyone had a great week!!! 

This week was very eventful with all sort of things happening! Monday night we went to a less active's house for family night and they are the cutest family!! She has two kids and they are my favorite. They speak Latvian, but the two kids will only speak English to each other so their mom doesn't understand what they saying. But they are the funnest!! 

We also had another lesson with Marta! She is still doing great! Her baptism is in just a few weeks and she is so excited! We started reading the Book of Mormon with her and our other young women Ieva together with President Nelson's Challenge from last conference and it's been the greatest!! I love being able to do it again and in Latvian, it brings the same sweet spirit! 

Wednesday I met Zenija!! In the MTC the person I taught was based on her and at first I was a little scared to meet her because it was hard teaching her in the MTC, but she's the sweetest lady ever!! I love her so much!! We also had a lesson with a potential. Her name is Sarmite. Masa Bosvela found her when she was in Liepaja. But she is the caretaker for this older man who is hard of hearing. So we taught the Plan of Salvation while talking as loud as we can haha. But for the most part he would ask a question and she would have already found the answer in the pamphlet and read it to him. It was so fun! Then we had a lesson with another potential. Her name is Lidija and she is the cutest! We walked around with her and at first she didn't have too much interest but by the end she took the Book of Mormon and agreed to read it and meet again! We are so excited!! 

We also had a lesson at the sea!! We met with a less active's daughter, Karina and talked about the Plan of Salvation. She is so smart and knows a lot about everything haha but it was amazing to talk to her and look at the beauty God created for all of us as we were talking about His plan for each of us. I know it's true and I know He's there looking out for each one of us! 

On Saturday we had a lesson with another potential. She speaks Russian and then broken Latvian and English so it was a mixture of both languages but her house was so cool! We felt like we were in a Monastery. It looked like we were in Asia and smelled so nice and there were candles everywhere. She even had a whole room dedicated to just mediation. Turns out she really just wanted to convince us she had the truth but she took a Book of Mormon because the day we met her was a hard day for her and she knew we were sent from God! It was a testimony builder to me that we are here for a reason! Even if she wasn't willing to listen she was reminded that God loves and knows her!

Yesterday was also a very eventful day haha. We taught Primary for church and were with all the kids after church while their parents were finishing up things up and then we head to the front of the building to meet with our branch president. We went looking for him when we realized my coat was gone! Our branch president asked us to call the police so they came and then Masa Luisa, all three elders, and me all went to the police station haha. Elder Wright had some things stolen too so we all went to give our witnesses which was so funny haha. They just thought Elder Wright and I would get the cop car to go to the station but nope all 5 of us piled in there! Then just I went and gave my testimony which was super funny because they know we're from America and just explaining how my coat looked was funny because I definitely don't know the names of material in Latvian or what height converted into the European way so it was a fun process. Then we got to walk home and although I didn't have a coat on I was good! God knew this was going to happen and the sun shined the whole way home! But no worries I have a spare coat so all is good! It was just a super funny day.

We also made a dance floor in our apartment! Sister Lewis got me this light where it projects stars everyone and then you can turn on led lights so we hung it up and now we have a disco ball! 

I've also been on my mission for over a year now! So crazy how time flies! I feel like I've only been gone for three months. Some of the sisters called and asked me to explain my mission so far in one word. After thinking for a minute I decided on "Miraculous" because I have seen miracles everyday! Big or small they have been there. And this gospel is just wonderful and I have seen it change lives and works miracles in everyone's lives and I love being able to see it! 

I love you all so much, thank you for the support!! Have a great week!

Love,

Māsa Brūnere

Pics:

1: our sunny day!

2: the sea!

3: One year!