Some Artsy Shots

These photos arent for everyone, some might interpret them as bad photos, but i rather enjoy them
                                                       
                                                                 Latvia

Lithuania

Ireland

Athlone in Pictures

Pizza and chips with garlic and curry sauce

There are four members of the Church in Athlone, these are two of them. I met all four today.

Viking tour on the Shannon River

Swans. There were many swans on the river and the lake.

Me at Athlone Castle

friendly ducks

some Irish fishermen on the river

another swan

Photo Blog

 I am feeling slightly better than earlier but still pretty sick; so I am just going to post pictures. They are worth 1000  words each, so enjoy  

chicken curry sandwich, this is my food wars contribution

The Hill of Crosses in Siuauliai Lithuania

I put an Iron Rod on here, so that yet one more religion is represented

more from the hill of crosses

Beautiful Lithuania

The famous Dwarfs of Siauliai

Gedemino Bokstas

a view of Vilnius from Gedimino Hill, 20 years ago Elder Balard dedicate Lithuania for 

for the preaching of the gospel on this hill

Labas Ladys baptisim. I saw three baptisims in one day a Russian lady, a French  man,

and Labas Lady, one of my eternal investigators. This baptisim was ten years in the making. 

A reminder to never give up on anyone.

me and Sister Boswell, the current mission Presidents wife

the 20 year celebration for the Saints in Lithuania was fun, festive, and a very spiritual experience for me

This is the face that greeted me in Ireland, my cool Latvian friend I am staying with

my language confusion continues...

Welcome to Athlone, Ireland

Dreaming in Lithuanian in Ireland

I now am in Ireland, I have a cold, and I dreamed in Lithuanina last night then woke up and couldnt understand anyone because their accents were so thick. then I realized, Im the one with the thick accent here. Its as beautiful as I imagined, later tonight i will try to post some pics. right now I need to go get some cold meds but i just wanted to check in first. 

Vilnius via train

so, I wont have much internet access for the next little bit, im kind of going off the grid. I am  now in an internet cafe in akropolis shoping center. yesterday I saw a little more of siauliai including the hill of crosses, and then I traveled by train to vilnius. my bank card is now working, so that means I finally have money. the train ride was beautiful. i slept through most of it. the last stop they announced in english and lithuanian, which was good, because I can understand most lithuanian, but I can't understand train announcements apparently.  It was hard to find where I needed to stand for the train, but people are nice and  helped me out.  when I got here, I went to my friend Lolitas  house, and ate food, and slept, alot, and today i am out being a tourist.   well, not lots of time left for me, so I will sign off. tomorrow is the big church celebration. more picutures and such when I reach Ireland. lots of love to you all!!

I Out Thrift Shoped Maclamore, Lithuanian Style.

 well, today was another day in my adventures in Lithuania. I got a new Sim card for my phone, I bought lunch, dinner, bus tickets, and I did some thrift shopping, and I spent less than $20. Take that Maclamore. 

I spent under $2 on my new slightly used threads.  Ok, so I only bought a pair of pants and a sparkly purple belt- but I rocked that.  

  I intended to spend a lot more, but apparently the magnetic strip on my debit card is not working and I can't pull any of my money out. I am slightly frustrated about this. That is a major understatement. Despite that and the incredibly stormy weather we had today, I greatly enjoyed my time here. I practiced my bus surfing (standing up on a moving city bus) and this time I didn't fall on anyone like yesterday.  I ate cepelinai and kuldunai, and I drank an entire litre of juice, and a ton of water to help my kankles. I saw where I used to live, and didn't even recognize my apartment or the street it was on - except the Nykstukai ( dwarfs) they never change.  Even the  arch looked completely different, and the White Church. I felt lost in what used to be my home, and that was a very overwhelming feeling. If I was going to feel at home and recognize anywhere, this would be it. 

 Still, I got brave at some point, when there was no one left around to hold my hand and tour me around the city safely, and I ventured out (at the urging of Skaiste) and got a little lost, but eventually I found myself and my way back to the apartment I am staying at.  Its been a panic filled day, but in the end, Viskas Bus GERAI!!!   Its all going to be OK.  I did learn that my Lithuanian has stayed mostly intact. I understand people probably better actually than when I was here to begin with. How did that happen? since I haven't really had much chance to speak or listen for 7 years.  And, though my grammar is horrible, I am actually communicating better in Lithuanian that when I was originally here.  I spoke Lithuanian all morning, to a friend, and then I had to talk to a lady at a bank because my card isn't working, and we got it done. She gave me a dirty look when I asked if she spoke English. I'm not sure she really understood what the problem was, so its possible I don't speak well at all, but then I don't think I ever did speak well, at least I am less afraid to try now, and maybe that is all that matters. Tomorrow I visit the hill of crosses, then I tackle Kaunas.  Heres pictures as promised.

Oh Riga, Riga, Riga, Riga

Well, the good news is next time I am in Frankfurt airport I will know where to take a shower and get a massage. the bad news is it took me my whole 7 hr layover to find it, so i didn't get to enjoy that this time. I only found it because my flight moved gates.

 My excitement grew as all other languages including English and German faded away and I found myself surrounded by Latvian, Russian, and Lithuanian, which soon emerged again as English when the German staff started asking everyone what they wanted to drink, etc.  A troop of Latvian soldiers joined us on our flight. As our plane took off it sounded like one of the engines was stalling, which had me worried, then finally it went. It was a mostly smooth flight. Everyone clapped upon landing, and I cried, like a baby.

 I went into survival mode, got money changed, found a taxi and got to my friends house around 1am. We stayed up and chatted, then  I went to go to bed and discovered I had massive kankles.  I pulled off some of the stinky sweatiest clothes you've ever smelled, and put on my pajamas, brushed my teeth and went to bed. It was warm, I slept without a blanket.   It was so nice to sleep laying down for the first time in about 48 hrs that I had no problem sleeping. The sun came up around 6:30 am, and so did I. I read my scriptures in Lithuanian, re organized my bag, then met my friends cute little two year old that looks just like my nephew Kaden. His name was sabastians, and he understands Latvian, Lithuanian and English. Pretty amazing kid, and loads of fun.

 As the day went on, and got hotter, I enjoyed the best yogurt and Ice cream in the world, went to the beach- via train. Chased a 2 year old around the beach, learned how to manoeuvre a stroller on a train, and a bus, got a sun tan/burn and had an amazing chicken curry sandwich which I will be posting in food wars, because I helped make it.  Then it got really hot and I took a nap and missed seeing old town Riga, but I saw some cool old places that were familiar by the bus station. I caught a van down to Lithuania. Its weird not having to get a stamp at all the borders any more. Now I am in Siauliai, looking for a day tomorrow of shopping and seeing the hill of crosses with my friend Jovita.  I am so happy to be back here with my friends, I can't believe I am here, it is like a dream.  Any way, its one am, and I have a busy day planned tomorrow. I will check in as I can. Good night!!  Iki

 Mandi

I lied,another post

Once upon a time in a land called chicago sat a pretty little princess who got too little sleep and ate crapy airport food all day.

The princess was traveling to a kingdom far far away to meet a magical butterfly with crazy awesome powers. The princess hoped the butterfly would teach her how to fly without having to wait in an airport or use travelsized mint toothpaste that caused her all sorts of unplesantness. 

And then she talked to a friend and it was so funny because she was really tired, and you know when your really tired, magical butterflies make you laugh not fly duh!!

Five hours down, two million to go

I dont know that i will do seven hour layovers on no sleep, staying in the airport ever again. Its about as fun as having someone rip your fingernails out one at a time. 2.5 hours sleep? What the crap was i thinking? Also, there has to be an alternitive to mint toothpaste in travel size, right? It just made my headache worse at first, but now my mouth is feeling itchy. Not worth it, i dont care how bad of breath i have. Just a little longer, i have to stay awake, then i am so sleeping on that plane. No annoying people had better sit by me.

Chicago o'hare

I am currently sitting at a charging station in the Chicago O'hare airport. I can tell im in an international type area because i've heard more forgien languages than I am hearing English. Strangely, there has been alot of russian. Plane must have just landed.

My flight here was ok. We got two beverage services, no penuts. Maybe they are watching out for people with food allergies now?  I have friends that would appreciate that.

Before I borded my last fight I met a lady from chicago originally that lives in Seattle. We had a nice chat, she was pretty excited to hear about my adventures. I wish i could have sat by her instead of who i sat by. I sat by an elderly couple that were kind of anoying and the lady kept sticking her book in my leg.

I didnt care, too much. I was practically in a coma the whole time, except when i woke up for my orange  juice.

The landing was quit bumppy, but i was happy because my childrens size earplanes did their job.

I have really narrow eustachion tubes (those are in your ear). So my ears dont equalize the pressure well on their own. Flying used to be really horrible, id get apain in my ear and not be able to hear anything for three days. (no yawning and chewing gum, which is usually mint, which i am allergic to did not help at all!!!)

Then one day, someone invinted this cool special ear plug called ear planes that help equalize the pressure. I still had mild problems, but it was much more tollerable, and i could hear. Then one day i tried the kids size. It was amazing, my ears now do just about what everyone elses do and i am a pretty happy camper, as long as i have my ear planes. 

So we landed. I watched a guy throw luggage in the cart and text at the same time. Now here i am, on the brink of my real adventure. Ill be in touch, watch for updates

Ten Things To Do While Waiting To Board Your Flight

You know, i slept about 2.5 hrs last night, but Im not sleeping right now, Ill save it for my flight. I didnt sleep on the airporter this morning either, I had too many thoughts. So, with an hour before we board, im kind of bored.  So what to do...

10. Read a book, newspaper, or something readable.

9. Buy some over priced food. I just got a $5 bottle of water, and a reasonably priced classic breakfast sandwhich at starbucks. I decided to pass on the salted carmel hot chocolate, for now.

8. Watch soccer on a laptop. I didnt bring my laptop, but the guy next to me did. Is it creepy of me if i join in his watching experience?

7. Call or text everyone you know and talk about how fun it was for you to get through security, thats what the girl sitting on my other side is doing.

6. People watching. Hello, you are surounded by interesting, odd, bizarre and sometimes annoying people. Thats entertaining.

5. Play the guess where people are from game. Hear a language, ooo its russian, ooo its spanish, are they russian, maybe latvian. Lets look at clues and deduce all we can.

4. Check in on facebook, tweet, see how many people like the fact that you are doing something they wish they were doing, leaving, from wherever to wherever.

3. Write a blog. You are reading one, so obviously you see the merit.

2.twiddle your thumbs. I actually see a surprising number of people doing this now.

1. Visit the airports WC (yeah, I just went all European on ya there), but after purchasing and drinking the expensive bottle of water, you're a gonna need to be peein', and if you are as clostraphobic as me, you'll wanna avoid the one on the plane as much as possible.

What the jeridites taught me about travel anxiety

« And it came to pass that the Lord did go before them, and did talk with them as he stood in a cloud, and gave directions whither they should travel.
6 And it came to pass that they did travel in the wilderness, and did build barges, in which they did cross many waters, being directed continually by the hand of the Lord.
7 And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth even unto the land of promise»  that was my scripture study today. Either chapter 2. Prepare for your journey, then trust the Lord to guide and protect you in it, and dont forget to pray.

In other news, i think rolling jeans makes them more bulky, not less.

Can I Leave Now?

My bags aren't packed, and Im not quite ready to go, but mentally, I'm already gone.  Less than one week till my vacation of the decade, and I feel so completely and totally drained. I just survived another Mothers day Sunday at church (also highly emotionally exhausting for me, no matter how you slice it) and that was the final nail in the coffin I think.

 I've done a lot of big, hard things this year. I've worked very hard on every aspect of my life. I need a moment to not work on anything, and that moment is coming up. I'm the kind of person that when I decided to do something, I go full board, and full out until I've got nothing left in the tank. We are coasting in on fumes right now,  so I think I will leave you all with one of my favorite french songs for children.

C'est Les Vacances       enjoy

The Bourne Wedding

 Tonight is one of those strange nights where I would like for a mixture of things to happen. I am tired, sore, possibly have some sort of heat related ailment. I'm hungry, but food sounds horrible. I would like to have people around, to interact with, but when I think about it, not really. I did five hours of yard work today, and I am exhausted.

 I went to walmart and bought junk food, - Greek frozen yogurt, Reese's pieces, and some frozen veggie pizza. I'm at home, in my most comfy PJ's, and now I have a dilemma. I need to watch a movie, and I can't decided if I want a romantic comedy- the wedding planner, where I can feel all sorts of nonsense about love, or do I want to watch three of the Bourne movies?  I thought of a great solution, they should make the Bourne Wedding, for those nights you want spy action, and violence, mixed with the fun and happiness of a romantic comedy. How would such a film work? I have no idea.

 So, since I can't watch the Bourne Wedding, as it doesn't exist, I'm going to watch the other Bourne movies and forget about the icky love stuff.  

The Importance of Knowing How to Fall Correctly

 In all the years that I have been a Figure Skater, there is one move and skill that I have received more praise from my coaches than any other- I fall well. It sounds like a funny skill to be proud of, but its probably the most important on ice skill that I have. Knowing how to fall correctly allows me to practice jumps and spins with little fear, and few to no (exception being when I am sick and skate then I fall wrong) fall related injuries.
Most of my skating injuries have been due to stupidity, I mean not being careful when my skates are newly sharpened, or when they are getting dull.

 On my mission, many of my companions were also highly impressed with my abilities to fall correctly, and they asked me to teach them by demonstration many times. OK that may have been just because it was hilarious to watch me fall repeatedly in the snow, but if followed my falling tips could save them broken wrists, and banged heads from falls.

 Today I was telling my counselor about this amazing falling ability I had, and he agreed that its very very important to know how to fall properly, not just physically, but also emotionally, and mentally. Maybe even to a degree, I would add spiritually.  You can't learn unless you make mistakes, on the ice, or in life. You can't grow if you don't learn.  If you learn to make mistakes in a way that minimizes damage to self and others, to testimony, or to relationships or anything else, then you can learn from life without destroying yours and others lives and having to rebuild them constantly.

 Learning to do this is something everyone has to figure out to some degree by themselves, but over the past year I think some tips for life in general  could be:
 1. Always be painfully and completely honest with yourself
2. Set Boundaries
3. take some time for you, and take some time to serve others. keep them in balance.
4. Read your scriptures, pray, and meditate daily, even if its one verse in the scriptures, and a quick prayer on the way to work.
5. Unplug from technology for at least a half hour every day.
6. Eat healthy, exercise, and get enough sleep as regularly as  you can.
7. every now and then, take a vacation.
8. Talk to someone, connect, get things out

That's what I've come up with for now. Add to it if you think of something, but If I feel my life starting to get out of control, that is what has helped me.

As for regular falling, here are my tips on that:
1. Tuck your head.
2. don't catch yourself with your hands, you risk breaking something. Tuck your arms, and try to land on the softer meatier part of your upper arms
3. Tuck and roll. (after the aforementioned tucking, roll out of the fall. It will take some of the momentum and energy out of the impact, so you wont hit as hard as if you just come straight down.
4. if you are coming down hard on your legs, bend your knees, and try to land on your toes rather than smacking your feet flat, and then if you are still going to fall after you land, tuck and roll.

 Good luck, and keep your stick on the ice. 

A Lesson From Alex

 You know, life is funny. One minute you are all excited planning a trip to Europe, then you get even more excited because you meet Elder Aidukaitas, who is Brazilian, but also in some ways, very Lithuanian.
Then the next minute you are talking to your grandpa on the phone, the one that is very sick, and probably not going to last much longer, and you are struggling to understand what he is saying because he just sounds so tired, and he is struggling to understand you.

 And you go  home, you cook amazing food, you do laundry, and you plan your trip a bit more and watch master chef without another though in your head. Suddenly its time to get ready for bed, and you take one last look at Facebook and happen to notice that a friend from your mission has passed away.

 Then you think about the moments when he was  a friend to you ( long after you got home from your mission) and cheered you up and gave you hope in a difficult trial. You think about how much seven years can change things, and you are astounded.  Frantically you have to search for your mission memory book, the one where all the members and some of your fellow missionaries wrote thoughts to you. You  have to find it, and you have to remember what he wrote. All you can think of was that he knew you liked to collect coins so he put a picture of a lat giving a fig that said "Neviens Lats" and you have to find that Lat.

 And you start reading every page, and the things all the people wrote, and you realize that you might not talk to most of them regularly, but you facebook stalk them occasionally because you still love them and you still care how they are doing, and you wish you could be more in touch. And then you think about your trip again, and you realize that the most important thing on this trip isn't the castles you will see in Ireland, its the people you will see in Latvia, Lithuania and Ireland, and you realized that  a silent nagging has been going on in the back of you head since the moment you left, begging you to return and visit again, not the castles or the war memorials.

 Not amber encrusted flutes, or woven book marks, or leather books. Not the marshrutes, or the food, or the street you walked, but the people who changed your life when you were trying to change theirs. The place that taught you who you were and what you were made of, and how possible it is to love everyone so much it hurts, and to never have that feeling completely leave or go away.

 There isn't a single one of you, member, investigator, person I talked to on the street, that I don't think of from time to time. I might not be able to remember your name, but I forgot my best friend of seven years name once, so that isn't surprising. But when I can see, or hear what has become of you  I am sad when life is not good to you, and I am happy when you are happy, and sometimes I am sad because I know you could be happier, but we are all human and lets face it sometimes we are all incredibly short sighted and stupid.  I hope you feel the same about me, I am also sometimes short sighted and stupid. its not a judgement, it doesn't diminish love, sometimes its hard to watch people struggle.    

 I am off track now. I want you all, my every friend, from elementary school to my dear friends in my family ward now and everyone in between to know how very very much I love each of you. If I have lost track of you, I still haven't forgotten you, and sometimes I'm so frustrated because I don't know how you are and I want to (yes you Hironori Yamagata!!! are you still alive ? I don't know!!)  

 To me, life is meaningless without people, and without love, the pure love of Christ type.  I love people, even the stupid ones (all of us are, some more than others.)  I don't forget you, even if I misplace you. I just want you to know that.

I found my memory book. It fell behind my bookshelf and got a bit busted up, but I thought what my friend Alex had written was pretty insightful and awesome, so I'll share part of it.

  "Sometimes life may seem unfair and cruel, and people around us may seem cruel  but don't forget it was never easy for anyone and you are no exception."  That is a true statement. Its actually  helped me a few times to put things in perspective. He then went on to thank me for my awesomeness, so that was a positive personal note,  and then he put a few pictures of himself and said  "I hope you will like these pictures and hopefully it will be enough for you to remember me."  

        Alex, It was enough ,I have never ever forgotten you.  I hope that those who have met you never do either.  And if it helps, Here is a picture.  You were a good man, we will meet again.

Heart Dont Fail Me Now

Its funny, how some morings you can wake up and see the hand of God so clearly in your life directing your path.

I know three thing this morning, I am where I am meant to be, I am doing what I am meant to be doing,and, I am being slowly moved in a different direction.

I dont really know what is on the path before me, but I have that feeling of change, like good things are a head of me, like things are happening for a reason, like in coming weeks my life could completely change, but im ready for it. 

And now I bust into song, courtesy of Anastasia, "Heart dont fail me now, courage dont desert me, dont look back now that im here. One step at a time one foot than another, no one ever mentioned fear..."