The Miracles Keep Coming!

Sveiki sveiki!

This week was another great week. God is doing amazing things! I hope everyone had a great week as well!

Last Monday night we had two lessons one with Liana and Sigita. We talked about temples with Liana and watched the tour of the Rome, Italy temple with her and it was so powerful. I love the temple! We found Sigita about two weeks ago and we had a great lesson with her! She accepted a baptismal date for the 13th of April and we haven't heard from her since but that's okay it was a still a great experience and it was really cool to see her begin to understand authority and the need of a Restoration! :) We will hear from her one day! 

Tuesday we had a lesson with a lesson active member named Ulgita and she's the cutest! She works literally all the time but has the sweetest testimony and it was so fun to meet her. We also had a lesson with Jurgite, another less active, and that was fun! We watched the Restoration film with her and the spirit that filled the room while watching was so sweet. Then we had a lesson with this girl from France. Well we didn't but two elders in France did and she skyped from the church and it was so cool to hear! 

Wednesday we had another lesson with Tereza and that was super good! We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she basically already believed all of it just with different names! She's honestly the cutest! 

Thursday we had a lesson with Lizzie! Before I left to Liepaja we had a lesson with her and she's still been meeting with the sisters and this week we had another lesson with her and it was really good! We talked a lot about faith. She doesn't believe in God and really believes in science. So we took the scientific method and made a hypothesis and experiment with her to live one week as if God is there. And she loved it! I'm so excited for her and we're praying she'll recognize God is there. We also had a lesson with Liga and she told us she can't get baptized on the 6th because of work. It was pretty stressful but we talked with her and President and she's getting baptized this Saturday! What was a stressful situation turned out to be a huge blessing!! We are so excited for her!! Her and Liana are getting baptized Saturday but at different times.

Friday we had a relief society activity and it was the best! It was all about the Book of Mormon! It was so awesome! We started out with getting to know you games which was super fun and then we each took a Book of Mormon and they had asked members beforehand to write their favorite verse and why and they printed them on pieces of paper and glued them in the Book so as people read they can see how others feel about it. Then we tied a chocolate bar with it and we each need to give it to someone. It was such a fun activity and everyone was excited about.

Saturday we decided to drop by one of our members who hasn't been in a while and it was so fun to see her! She was so excited to have someone come visit and I'm grateful for the spirit that told us to visit her.

This week we were also told we are becoming a technology mission which is crazy and going to be happening within the next three weeks. And yesterday at church they announced that our church building in Imanta, another part of Riga, is opening up again!!! This is such a huge blessing! It's not too far away but can take like an hour from center to get there so many people don't come to church because they have to travel farther so another ward is going to be awesome! We also had one of our old investigators text us saying she met other missionaries on the street and felt she needed to text us and start coming to English class so we will get to see her again wahoo!!

We have also started a new thing this week where every day we memorize a new scripture. And it has been hard haha but so amazing! So many times on the streets the scriptures we have been memorizing have come into our heads to share with these people. The scriptures have power! As we have been using more of the Book of Mormon in the street we have felt the spirit stronger. I'm so grateful for the Book of Mormon!

Have a great week!

Love,

Māsa Brūnere

Pics:

1: 3 juices for 1 euro, meant to be

2: RS activity!

3: We taught young women's yesterday!

4: mirror selfie in the lift!

Crazy Taxi Driver

Sveiki! Sveiki! Sveiki!

I hope everyone had a great week and was able to have a fun St. Patrick's Day!

This week was great! We started our week by contacting Monday night and it was so good! I wasn't too excited to go out and contact so I studied right before and asked God to help me. As I started I had the thought to read where I am in the Bible and it turned out to be a whole chapter about how awesome missionary work is! Then we went out and had an awesome night! We found 3 people and we're meeting with one of them!

This week we had three lessons with Liana and they all went great! She's the best! In our lesson on Sunday we had a member help us and it was so perfect. He was able to help her understand that she could do it! It was such a blessing.

We also had two lessons with Liga and she's still doing great! She's getting baptized April 6!! She's the cutest and on Sunday we had a "break the fast" party with her after church and just ate some food with her. So fun!

Wednesday we were on exchange so Māsa Lū and I were with the Russian sister and it was a great day! We found 5 people together and we went and visited Milda. I love her so much and it was so good to see her. She just had surgery so we went walking with her and it was so fun just to talk with her. 

Thursday got a little harder. We have been pushing really hard this transfer for every companionship to get three baptisms. President has made the analogy that God is parting the Red Sea so that this can happen. Every day we have been seeing miracles but the opposition has been put more on us during this time and it has really grown my faith in Christ and God that they are there helping us. On day no one would talk to us and finally, one lady did and she wasn't interested in the end but the contact was so powerful. I felt the spirit so strong and felt the love of the gospel and Christ so strongly. I was so grateful for it! It was exactly what I needed that day to make it through. The power of the gospel and the truthfulness is there!!

Friday turned out crazy. We had a lesson with a member family and while heading there we realized they lived farther than we thought and they didn't have a lot of time and the bus was going to take forever too so we called a taxi. Well a car pulls up and calls us over but he wasn't in a taxi car and he was a young Russian in a track suit listening to crazy Russian music but we knew it was our taxi because he called us. So we get in and he starts driving so fast, basically just lapping cars, while on his phone haha but it all turned out great. We got there faster than we thought so what a blessing! Then we had a super cool lesson with them and they gave us a referral! It was such a miracle!

Then we had an awesome lesson with someone we found last week. She's the cutest and had so many great questions and we're meeting with her again this week wahoo! 

Friday we also had a lesson with another member, Tamara. It was the best. She's my favorite and taught us a lot about faith! We also did a service project with a potential from France who doesn't really speak English. So we got approved to go hand out food to the homeless which turned out to be interesting haha. She tried to give it to one of the people who sells goods and is blind and it just turned out to be super awkward haha so I bought a bracelet from him and basically now I just have a bracelet to remember our great experience haha. 

I also called to checkup on a former investigator and she's called me many times this week with random things haha. One day she met a new friend so she called me to show that an American learned Latvian haha. She's the best and our conversations are always like 15 minutes but it's usually just her talking haha. But this week she called me her daughter which was super cute.

Saturday we went to the soup kitchen! it was so so fun! Then we got to have a lesson with Dace and Diana! I love them so much! 

And Sunday I got to see Māsa Helena again wahoo!! She's still going strong! She's the sweetest and has so much fire still in here.

This week I learned a lot about faith and just how powerful it is. Moroni 7:33 says:

And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.  

And this is so true!! We have really experienced this these past two weeks. The more faith we have the more miracles and help we have been receiving. There were some days when it was hard to have faith. We all have those days where it's harder to have faith. I know I've had them and recently I've been trying to figure out how to overcome that. One thing I have do is keep going as if I have faith and God will help! Faith is powerful! We must exercise and grow it! Only by continuing can we do that! 

for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.  (Ether 12:6) and these trials, if we let them, will help us grow our faith! God has a bigger and better plan for us than we do. So trust and have faith!

I love you all! Thank you for everything! Have a great week! 

Love,

Māsa Brūnere

pics:

1: A cute lake!

2: Happiness is a choice

3: My cute trio

4: Rollin in the dough (until we paid rent the next day lol)

Miracles and Miracles!!

Sveiki! Sveiki!

What a great week!!! So many things happened! But to start off I moved back to Riga and I'm in a new companionship!! I'm back with Masa Bosvela and then we are with the new masa, Masa Lu! But us three together are the only Latvian speaking sisters in the world! But it's so fun being with them! And Masa Lu is killing it! Her language is so impressive!! She's killing it!!

Thursday we had English Class and it was so fun. We talked about space. Just two people came but it was one of the funnest english classes I've been too. We made our own planets and it was just really funny haha. 

But we had so many miracles this week! These next six weeks we are really pushing to find more ready people. We had a meeting with president this week and it was really inspiring to see his faith in the Lord, the work, and us. Each day as we go out we have been able to see the Lord's hand in His work. Our first miracle was Anna! We talked to her Thursday night and met with her Friday! She's so cute! She's 15 but so sweet and sincere! We extended a soft baptismal date and she was like kapec ne? I've got nothing to lose! So that's awesome! We are so excited to keep working with her!  Then Sister Taylor and Lewis went home this week but the day before they left they were at the church and the Russian elders brought a Latvian woman in and so they taught her the Restoration and she also wants to be baptized!! Then we also had a lesson with Liga! The sisters have been teaching her and we had a lesson this week about faith and she has so much faith! It's so amazing and she's the cutest!!! Then we have Liana! The sisters have also been teaching her and she accepted a baptismal date this week for March 30th! She's the cutest and just has so much faith about everything.

Another amazing thing! Masa Bosvela called one member who hasn't been called or seen in 8 years and we had a meeting with her! And she's the cutest! Her name is Jurgite and she's the cutest!! We are excited to keep working with her!! We also met with Dace this week and I missed her! Her faith just keeps growing! She's so great! 

Also, funny but important miracles this week. Yesterday while walking to church we talked to this one woman and she started to sing to us and then had us join in and it wasn't even in Latvian it was in Georgian so that was really funny and just super funny. Then later we were contacting and this other lady starts singing "don't stop believing" and gave us apples!!! So nice and then we were knocking later that night and one lady gave us a chocolate bar! So many nice people on the street.

This is going to be an amazing transfer and I'm so grateful I get to be a missionary at this time and help God's children find Him! Missionary work is the best work! I love being apart of it!

Then yesterday was District Conference so all the members were there and it was such a blessing to see them all!! I love the members here!! I'm so grateful for them!!!! 

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

Love,

Masa Brunere

Pics:

1: All the Latvian sisters in the world. We're pretty rare haha

2: All of us!

3: "Feed my Sheep"

4: Mirror pic

Back to Riga

Sveiki! Sveiki!

I hope everyone had a great week!

This week was super crazy for us. We received transfer calls this week and usually, we just get them on Saturday, but while we were in Riga for Zone Conference Masa Luisa and I were told what was going to happen so we could prepare and it made for a crazy week but one of the best! So I will be going back to Riga! It was such a big surprise because I've only been in Liepaja for one transfer, but Masa Luisa and Teilore are heading home and we only get one new masa so we'll have three Latvian sisters in the whole country so Masa Bosvela, the new sister, and I will all be together in Riga and elders will be taking over Liepaja! So this week we have been saying bye to members and de-sister-fying our apartment for the elders haha. 

But Thursday we finally made it back to Liepaja and met with the Birkenfeldi! I love them so much! They are always so fun and have the cutest kids. Then we had English class and we talked about the theatre and we created plays and performed them and it was the funnest thing to watch haha.

Friday we visited Zenija! Oh, how I have learned to love her. She loves to teach us to knit and it's still not my talent haha but grateful for her patience haha. She's also the funniest lady. We were just sitting and talking and she just randomly gets up and goes into her bedroom and grabs a comb and comes up behind Masa Luisa and just starts brushing her hair and Masa Luisa has curly hair so it went puffy and it was just the funniest thing to watch. We also met with the Blumi and Beldavi. I love visiting them! 

Sunday! I love Sundays. For primary one of our members had us sing all the primary songs in Latvian and record them to make an album to use in primary and it was the funniest thing. But hey our district has an album now and we're going to be famous, even though it took many many many different trys for each song haha. We also visited Velta and she's the best. One of the smartest and sassiest people I've ever met haha. 

And then yesterday we did service for Zenija at her farm and it was the most beautiful place ever! It was like heaven being there! She fed us biezpiens for breakfast and she knew we didn't really like it but she still forced us to eat a whole plate full haha she's the best.

I am so so grateful for my time in Liepaja. Even though it was short I learned so much here. I love these members so much and I'm so grateful I got to spend time with them and learn from them. The biggest two things I learned is love and trust. The members here know how to love and stay strong with each other. I learned about Christ's love from them and just how to love easily. And then trust God! He knows best! I had my doubts and fears about coming to a new city after being in the same city and branch for so long but Liepaja has truly changed me. I'm better because I got the chance to be with these people. This just taught me that God knows what He's doing. Trust Him from the beginning. Don't fear or doubt! He is guiding us everyday! Learn to trust Him and everything will be easier because then you can know God, the most powerful being, our Creator, is leading us down the path we need to take with experiences we need to have to become better. So trust and act now because we only have now to act. I'm so grateful for Him!

I love you all! Have the best week! And Happy March!

Love,

Masa Brunere

Pics:

1: This is my friend who always sits outside my window. He has one leg! 

2: Our favorite phrase from Ieva! "sleep and eat"