Family!
I know that you guys are probably wondering why there were so many charges on my debit card, and I can explain. I got a few shots and then I had to walk to the BYU health center two days ago to get an x-ray for my leg. Turns out the bone is just bruised and it should heal in about two months, which is sort of a miracle because that's right when I leave! And no, I still can't really talk about it without laughing.
As for how my first week went: I am honestly really happy, but it doesn't make sense. Haha I am having such a hard time with the language and on my fourth day here or something like that, my district was reviewing cases in Russian (ask J-deezy what that means) and everyone seemed to have a really good grasp on it but me. So I was getting a little misty eyed when we took a break and my substitute teacher, Brother Noren, asked me how I was doing. I basically started hyperventilating and telling him how I was way behind everyone else and blah blah blah. He interrupted me and said something that I've been keeping in mind ever since. "Sister Gooch, that attitude is exactly why your MTC experience is going to suck." Aaaaaaaand he's right. I'm doing better at not comparing myself though!
My district is so awesome. Not even kidding, I laugh so hard with them every day. There's E. Graf & E. Pyne, E. Wixom & E. Brewer, E. Harrison & E. Dimond for the elders. They're mostly from Utah & Washington. E. Wixom is going to be an apostle someday, I can just feel it. He's our district leader. He does the best Dragonball-Z impressions. Kills me.
As for the sisters, there's my companion, S. Coombs (pronounced combs) who is from Idaho Falls. She's awesome. We're soooo different but we complement each other nicely. She's exactly obedient and that's the perfect thing for me in a companion because I'm so relaxed. Anyways, the other sisters are S. McDiarmid (from Cali), S. Roy (Utah), S. Bonazelli (Washington) & S. Haroldsen (also IF). All of us get along super well. Especially S. McDiarmid & S. Roy & I. It's gettting harder to concentrate on the language and all that because we're getting to be really good friends. But all of the elders and S. Bonazelli & Haroldsen are going to Samara, Russia. The rest of us are going to the Baltics.
And Ash, I know you'd appreciate that E. Graf has an incredible Theresa Caputo impression. You might have to google that name.
I was really surprised at how different it is to be a missionary. My zone (and apparently Russian speakers in general here at the MTC) hold a high bar for obedience. It's exact obedience in all things, which is a little more difficult than it sounds. We were able to have a question and answer with a general authority the other night (just my district) and he made a good point about obedience. He compared the stripling warriors with the Nephites. Even thought the Nephites were righteous for some of the time, they still got slaughtered, for lack of a more delicate term. The stripling warriors were exactly obedient and none of them were killed. The takeaway: God will bless us beyond what we even think is possible if we are doing everything we can to obey him.
Can't argue with that logic.
My companion and I have taught three lessons to our investigator, Anya. All of them were very awful. Haha mostly because we hadn't figured out how to study until yesterday. Before, I had just been writing down exactly what I wanted to say in Russian with an English translation below so I could know what I was saying, and then I would read it slowly and painfully to Anya. Oh it was bad. We asked her to get baptized two days ago and she went off in this long stream of Russian that I'm sure was very slowed down for our benefit but I got nothin. I think it was a no? I was in such a panic mode that I said, "Okay, can we close with a prayer?" Haha it hurts to even type that. One of my teachers (kind of, she just comes in every once in a while) Sister Kaznetzova, rebuked me for it yesterday. She said it was really rude to not even try to understand the investigator, which is like, duh. You'd think I would know that. But it turns out that remembering that in the heat of the moment is a totally different thing. The next lesson (tomorrow) will be better!
So my schedule: I go to the temple on Wednesdays at 1:30ish. I can't remember when we have exercise time but I'll let you know next week. We walk over through the field and to the volleyball courts. And speaking of which, I've just sat on the sidelines and watched while everyone plays, but my last name is like a thing here. I mean, people say it all the time just because they like the sound of it. I'll hear "CECPTA GOOCH!" all the time but they're never actually talking to me. Also, my district likes to say "Gooch night" and "Gooch morning" to me, so that's fun.
Oh, and funny thing from the first day here. The sister that helped me with my bags and everything was soo nice. But you can tell that she's been here for a while because everyone has these little card holder things that clip onto your skirts or pants. And one of the first things she said to me was, "I invite you to buy one of these. I promise that as you do, your life will be so blessed." Haha it kills me. Missionary talk.
And hey--tell my freaking brothers to DearElder me at the very least. I miss all of you guys a lot. Ashton already looks like he's a year old. And I heard about Cal's haircut. Send me pictures of it!
Another comical story: E. Graf had to hide his backpack on the way into the devotional yesterday night at the Merriott Center, so he put it behind a bush. On the way back to the MTC, me, my comp, and S. McD were way ahead of the elders apparently so we grabbed the backpack, thinking that he'd forgotten it. I hurriedly scribbled a note on a piece of paper saying, "Got your backpack. -S. Gooch". But I wrote my name in Russian and ain't nobody got time to do that on a computer, so you'll just have to imagine it. Anyways, all of the elders met us back at our classroom and E. Graf said, "Thanks, Cecpta Pooch." Apparently I spelled my own name wrong. So add that to the list of awesome names I get called here.
So my schedule is different every day and from what I had heard before I got into the MTC, it's a ton of instruction time and you just feel like you wanna die. But that's totally not how it's been for me. We have three hours of class and the rest is basically eating and personal/language/companionship study, which is waaaay harder to be productive in than classtime. I really like my teacher, Brother Williams. We haven't met our other full-time teacher, but (spoiler alert) it's gonna be Anya, our investigator. Or so I've heard. She'll start teaching us either this weekend or next week. Which is sort of embarrassing because I have really sucked at teaching her, but hey, I've only been here a week.
Speaking of which, I definitely know that I was supposed to be called speaking Russian. Brother Williams spent all of yesterday's instruction time teaching us how to apply the doctrine of Christ in our teachings. He made us practice teaching part of our zone as companionships in English, which was relieving because I could say exactly what I wanted without sounding like a broken robot. Buuuuut what happened was that I loved being able to say what I wanted so much that I'm pretty sure my companion only said five or six words. I suck at trusting other people to speak when I think I know everything that needs to be said. And that's why I'm Russian speaking. The Lord knew that he'd have to give me limits in some way, and Russian was definitely the way to go.
I really like my branch presidency, although I can't really remember their names.
And OH, my gosh. I gotta tell you about E. Harrison real quick. He's great, he really is. But he's also the one that everyone loves to joke around with because he's super into sparring and he is such a bro. (I hate myself for using that word, but I'm lacking adjectives here.) Just think Jean Ralphio but waaaay more aggressive. Always says, "I'm fluuuushed with caaash" like Jean Ralphio. He always wants to fight people and I was dying at dinner yesterday when E. Graf and E. Pyne were talking to him about baptism. E. Graf was impersonating him talking to his mission president: "President, scientific fact: I can guarantee you that none of my investigators will ever sin again." and E. Pyne said, "I can also guarantee you that I'ma choke 'em out and then I'm gonna baptize 'em, BOOM ROASTED." I realize that's probably not funny to you, but it's literally how E. Harrison talks. Spot on.
Anyways, I gotta go. I can't figure out how to attach pictures but I'll try to next week! And also, your DearElders are what get me through the week. So thank you thank you, I LOVE YOU ALL.
Love,
Cecpta Gooch
