A Wondrous Adventure

Another great week in the magical land of Latvia!!

I'm working on exploring the city more. Latvia truly is magical and beautiful, and we're right in the middle of it all! There's a great gelato place Shannon showed us this week, and let me tell you - it is fantastic. It may be freezing cold outside, but it won't stop us from enjoying some tasty frozen heaven.

Photo credit: David Joseph

Another student on the program with us is David. He's interning in the parliament and received 2 tickets to a production of "Princess Mary" ("Княжна Мэри"). It's an adaptation of one of the parts from Mikhail Lermontov's book "A Hero of Our Time." So I got to tag along with him and enjoy the brilliance of Russian literature adapted to stage. I really appreciated the chance to hear Russian spoken dramatically. And I must say - the actor who played Pechorin was incredibly handsome. (Don't be fooled, it's just a part of his rouse!) I learned that here in Europe audiences clap in unison for productions when they love them. The cast kept retreating from the front of the stage, only to return again and again to bow in response to the continuous applause.

I'm loving my dental clinic more and more, though I discovered this week that I still have to sit down during a tooth extraction. My head says everything's fine, but my body says, "I think I need to give up on life for a little while." I think the solution is to eat more and watch more tooth extractions. I'll keep hoping that's the case for now. In addition to assisting, I've been helping in the office a bit. Last week, I translated a couple patient questionnaires from Russian into English. This week, I spent some time finding fun dental facts and comics. So here's a fun fact for you: A snail's mouth is smaller than the size of a pin, but it can have up to 25,000 teeth! Wow. The people in my office are incredibly friendly and kind. We celebrated our accountant's birthday this week! There were flowers, presents, and a delicious cake. She is definitely loved. They're hoping to get me to the point where I can assist on my own, and I'm hoping for the same. For now, I'm working on learning the terms for dental instruments.

We've had a lot of good food this week. Part of me wishes I had pictures of every meal. We tried this place that sells pizza, except it's layered like a sandwich, with bread on top and bottom. I enjoyed it thoroughly. We've also had some amazing pasta and hamburgers, and yes, I caved and went to McDonald's this week. I'm still trying to figure out how to eat in Europe, because they don't have the foods I'm used to.

Photo credit: Elder Rick Barnes

We had FHE with the young adults at our senior couple's house on Monday. They all speak English, so it's super fun to go and chat with them. Sister Barnes made a bunch of homemade bread, which we enjoyed with fresh honey from the Russian market ALL WEEK. It was so good. I'm starting to worry about how much bread I eat. We watched the Elder and Sister Uchtdorf's devotional from a few weeks ago, and I think his words struck me a little deeper this time when he said, "You can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking back." I think focusing on the time I have now and the people I'm currently interacting with is so important to help me grow and become who I dream to be.

On that note, I went to print out my February scripture study calendar this week (which I get free from archerandolive.com), and I came across another free print of theirs. It reads: "When nothing is sure, everything is possible." And I realized: Not knowing the future means that I have every possibility to become whatever I want to be. Each day is a mystery, and I can thank God for that, because it means that I can choose what to do and become each day. That changed perspective gives

Credit: archerandolive.com

me so much confidence in a place that I don't know, where everything is strange and new. I can  this place my own through my decisions each day.

This week, I sadly also broke my favorite necklace, which I wear every day. I kind of wandered around town looking for a place to fix it, and I came across a little jewelry shop. I walked in and there was one woman sitting behind the desk. I asked if she could fix my necklace, and she offered to take a look. The chain had simply slipped out of the jump ring, so I knew it was an easy fix. She fixed it for me, adding a little bit of glue to the jump ring, and told me, "You be careful with this. It's a real pearl." When I asked what I owed her, she kindly replied that no payment was necessary. She even put the necklace on for me when she was finished. Her name was Laila, and though we both communicated in imperfect Russian, I felt such love from her for fixing something so dear to me.

It made me think: There are a lot of us here in this little world. We often have no idea what kind of influence we will have on those around us. But everyone has some dear possession, whether it's a necklace, a song, or simply an idea. Treating those cherished items as dearly as their possessors would brings a unity and trust to humankind. I hope I can learn from Laila to be gentle and kind when others trust me enough to share such valued pieces of themselves, of their history. Because things that have worth in the eyes of others are worth the time we have to give them.