I'm learning the new neighborhood. It feels a little like when we first arrived in Riga, and Linda and I explored the streets, shops, and alleys, making delightful discoveries at every turn. I walked to Dairs Veikels this morning to see if they had the chicken and bananas I needed. The traffic is so bad here in Riga these days that even driving to the grocery store is a challenge. Dairs is just up the street. It’s a tiny little store, but has a surprisingly wide variety of goods. It’s set up so that all the food is behind the counters, and I have to tell the clerk what I want, then she gets it for me. I found the bananas immediately, but when I scanned the cooler cases, chicken was not to be found. Resigned to driving to the Rimi (supermarket), I headed towards the front door. Just to the right of the door was a small freezer unit of the type that usually holds ice cream bars. I glanced in and then did a double take – not ice cream, but fist-sized balls of chicken parts in plastic bags! Yeah! I walked over to the cash register with my treasures. The clerk was solemn faced – they always are until I make the first friendly move. I asked her name: she said “Inese” looking very bored. Then I tried saying “Loti paticami”, which means “Glad to meet you” if you say it right. She grinned and said it back to me - pronouncing it correctly - so I think I have a new friend now. Chicken, bananas, and a new friend – Yep, it’s all good.
November 4, 2007 - Klaipeda, Lithuania
After Sunday School today, Ganvila invited me to attend Young Women, and it was an amazing experience. The young women in the branch run their own program. The President is Dovila, a 15 year old dynamo. Ganvila, also 15, prepared and gave the lesson on forgiveness. She was well prepared – didn’t read a word – asked great questions, and the girls participated with great enthusiasm. It was wonderful.
After Church we had dinner with the missionaries at the Sisters’ apartment. They had taken into account all the dietary problems associated with feeding Russ and I, and had put together a great meal – chicken broccoli casserole, green salad, no-flour chocolate cake with raspberry and caramel
sauce. Wow – quite a treat! Seating is always a challenge in a missionary apartment. Some sat on the low sofa, with the table under their chins, some sat on barstools, towering above the rest of us. Russ and I got the "normal" chairs - there are privileges with Presidency!Wednesday, November 7 Riga, Latvia
I spent the morning on medical issues, taking missionaries to doctors' appointments, checking on out-of-Riga ailing Elders, and picking up another Riga-based very ill Elder and bringing him to the mission home for chicken soup, lots of rest, and some motherly TLC. E
lders McKee and Stowell, the Assistants to the President, were in my kitchen making shakes, so they made one for me. A Baltic missionary shake consists of softened ice cream with cookie bits stirred in – so thick you have to eat it with a spoon. The portions were HUGE; nevertheless, we ate it all, but when we were done we all just sat there, unable to move for the sugar stupor that enveloped us. Russ needed to give them their interviews for this transfer, so he took them one at a time into the other room to do so. Elder Stowell went first, so Elder McKee helped me make the birthday packets in preparation for Leadership council tomorrow. As we did so, I lectured him on the fine art of “cute” as it pertains to the packets. He was an attentive student. When Elder Stowell came in, I told him about the importance of the cute factor. He looked concerned, and as he placed a couple of balloons in the center of the cellophane, he looked up at me with apprehension all over his face, and asked, “Is THIS cute?” Gotta love 'em.Thursday, November 8, Riga, Latvia
Yesterday evening was spent preparing food for today's Leadership council. Shepherd's pie, cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls, breakfast casserole - all done ahead so I could enjoy the meetings. This morning I got up at 6:00, stuck the breakfast casserole in the oven, then went back to bed for an hour. The out-of-town Elders started showing up at 8:00 for breakfast. I was counting on 14, but ended up feeding about 20. Before the meeting started, several of the more musical Elders gathered around the piano and practiced singing hymns. Elder Price has an unusually clear, beautiful voice. It set a good atmosphere as the others visited quietly or read their scriptures.
I love Leadership Council. All these young men are the best of the best; they work hard at their own missionary efforts, and are eager and anxious to help their districts do well. The house just glows with all that light in here. It’s so rewarding to serve them
I was impressed yet again at Russ’s ability to teach and motivate. He is absolutely transformed as he teaches our
mission- aries, and they hang on every word. He teaches solid principles with such love and power. It’s an electrifying experience to be a part of it.Elder Empey, as always, brought me a liter of baked apple Alma Estonian yoghurt. Bless him.
Friday, November 9, Riga, Latvia
Today we met the Boehms at the Occupation Museum. The museum teaches about the occupation of Latvia by Russia, then by Germany during WWII, then by Russia again, ending in 1991 when it became once more an independent nation. What I saw there gave me a better understanding of what I see in the population and culture of today. The lives of these people under German/Russian rule were full of privation, cruelty, and uncertainty. The history explains why many people here still live under a cloud of hopelessness. They lived without hope for so many years – no hope for better living conditions in this life, no hope for anything better in a life to come. There were shortages of everything except booze. No wonder alcoholism is such a huge problem here. People drank to forget their problems, and it became an accepted fact of life. Soviet domination is gone now, but the alcoholism remains. Now I also understand why there are precious few healthy old folks. The elderly that I see out on the street are bent, crippled, toothless, and alone. The end of occupation came
too late for many of them.Visiting the Occupation Museum made me grateful, more than ever, for the oppor- tunity to have grown up in a free country. I guess I never fully appreciated what it was like to be subject to the whims and atrocities that occurred under these dictatorships. Both Stalin and Hitler were monsters, with no respect for human life, let alone dignity. People’s lives were in a constant state of upheaval, with loved ones being arrested and killed, or shipped off to Siberia for no valid reason. Man’s inhumanity to man was horribly demonstrated by the atrocities committed during the occupation. I
wonder how or if I would have survived under such conditions. I don’t know if I would have been the type to fight the system and probably die, or to hunker down and endure the misery. I hope I, or my descendents, never have to find out.After we left the museum, we went to a concert at the Music University. We thought it was going to be a folk music concert, but it turned out to be a classical concert performed by students at the university. It was absolutely brilliant. The musicians were superb – there was not a missed note, nor an out of tune anything. Perfect musicianship, poise - everything was very enjoyable. Sitting in the front corner of the audience right over against the wall (and the heater) was an older man, who looked as if life had treated him roughly. He had a huge duffel bag next to him, stuffed full with his treasures. During the musicians’ performances, everything was normal, but when each musician finished, and the narrator began to speak, some very insistent mewing issued forth out of the duffel bag. The cat “spoke” all the way through each speech given by the narrator, who was, to say the least, a little distracted initially by the cries from the bag. But the minute the music started, the cat stopped - a r
eal music lover! After the concert was over, Russ and Elder Boehm spoke to the narrator – the common language being German – and found her to be a very kind-hearted, understanding woman. She explained that this man probably lived alone – except for the cat - in a tiny one-room apartment, without much joy, love, or light in his life. She figured that this concert was a way to give him a little happiness, if only for a moment, and that it was wonderful that the cat was a lover of good music and didn’t distract the musicians. Such nice people.Wednesday, November 14, Riga, Latvia
Our parking garage is ridiculous. It is riddled with square support columns, the individual parking spaces are very tight, and there are lots of BIG EXPENSIVE cars in there. It's an obstacle course just begging for disaster. While driving the car out of the garage to take an Elder to the doctor tonight, I misjudged the distance between my van and a post, scraping up against it. The car is OK. The post, however, is going to need some repair. I managed to rip off the corner metal stripping and a good measure of plaster and paint. It made me sick. At the Dr.'s office, when I told the Elder what had happened, his advice was, “Get the paint from the post off the car with gasoline, and don’t tell President.” He had, apparently, suffered similar events in his short driving past. I told him that "President" and I didn’t have any secrets and that he was the one I run to when I’m hurting. How grateful I am that this is the case. It would be awful to be afraid of your husband. I am blessed.
To make matters worse, I have FLEAS! My leg was itching, and when I inspected the offending area, I found 5 bites on my right leg and at least 2 on my left. I HATE fleas. Now I have to wash all the bedding, spray with Permethrin, and try to keep from clawing my skin raw. It/they must have walked into my home on one of the sick missionaries - I know they have flea problems in their apartments. It's no reflection on their housekeeping - they just teach people who live in humble, flea-ridden circumstances.
Friday, November 16, Riga Latvia
With all the ailing missionaries of late, I've gone into mass production of Green Drink with my Vitamix. It's Sister Hansen's addition to mission culture -she swears by it as a restorer of energy and well-being. I've tried it and have to agree. It's a combination of fresh, raw broccoli, spinach, parsley, (anything else you can find with dark green leaves), fresh pineapple, and pineapple juice. It tastes surprisingly good - the key is getting enough pineapple juice to thin the consistency enough to be able to swallow it. I've got my Riga sick people on 2 glasses a day, morning and night. Once they get past the idea of drinking something that color, they like it.
Russ and the Assistants had a transfer meeting tonight, followed by dinner. We were enjoying a peaceful meal when suddenly Russ said, “Well, are you going to give them a little nip?” I couldn’t believe that I’d heard what I thought I’d heard, so I said, “What?”
“Are you going to give them a little nip?”
Stunned silence. Breathing stopped. Forks halted in mid-air. Muscles tensed, ready to run.
“What are you TALKING about?”
“Are you going to give them a little nip of green drink?” Embarrassed laughter, breathing resumed. Eating continued. So we brought out the green drink, it was sampled, declared good, and a carton sent home with them to consume this week.
My husband is officially wacky.
