Dearest Family,

What a week! Started off with zone conference last week in Latvia, and our presentation was more or less a review from the things that were taught at the mission conference the previous week. President Dance pointed out how special it was to have the president of the missionary committee, the senior president of the seventy and the area president in the same meeting; it's a pretty big deal. I love that this church is led by God and it was really neat to meet three general authorities, one of whom being an apostle! I'm a wucky guy. General conference is in 24 days! So excited.

We got back from Kaunus yesterday where we were on exchanges for a day and had zone conference. I really love exchanges because miracles always happen. We started out with a pretty “empty” day but in both companionships we ended up teaching 5 new lessons to young males or couples. My favorite was a kid named Gleb, who's 23 and really good friends with a daughter of a member family (she's not a member but comes to church occasionally.) He spoke russian and lithuanian which was perfect, and I just love the fact that you can meet somone, within 3 minutes sit down on a bench, say a prayer, teach, give them a commitment, and then find a time to meet up again. It's a different approach than knocking doors but it seems like we meet a lot of prepared people that way. I know that the spirit is a real part of this work, and even though his promptings are sometimes very small, they are definitely there, whether or not you realize it at that time.

Ah three minutes left! Sorry this is such a dinky e-mail. We're heading to teach Gatis soon (the 18 year old latvian) so hopefully it'll go well. Marek didn't make it to church, bummer, but he'll come this week. He's just got to! I love you all, a lot, a lot. Happy Birthday Tigey! Watch out Eugene!

Love, Elder Barnes #12