Family!
This past week has been pretty good. And by pretty good I mean awesome. But first things first: HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY BEARY J. BLIGE! I cannot believe that I forgot to tell you that in my last letter but rest assured that I was scatting (sp?) all day in your honor. I hope it was great. It sounds like you guys had an awesome Fourth. Mine was great! We had to teach in TRC (teaching people who aren't your investigators, just church members so it's kind of like home teaching) and it went pretty alright considering the fact that we had like a ten minute warning that we were going to teach. We were supposed to be trained but our teachers forgot. But it was all good because it forced me not to overprepare and then just read from my notes. I'm pretty sure that they do that on purpose to us sometimes--throw a lesson at us without prior preparation just to prove to ourselves that we know more Russian than we think.
Anywho, that went well but it was also a wakeup call because the guy we taught was a returned missionary and I'm 99% sure he wasn't speaking the language that I'm learning. Haha everything was mumbled and so hard to understand. Can't wait to get to the field :)
That night, we were able to watch 17 Miracles which was awesome because I guess it's not that hard to thrill me anymore. But seriously, that movie is great. Afterwards, we all got ice cream bars and went outside to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire. To my great lamentation, I wasn't able to hear Kelly Clarkson. Is that who was there? Haha probably not.
Anyways, it was a pretty good night. I was thinking the whole time how much can change in a year. I'm so happy that I'm here though.
Earlier that day, we taught our new investigator Nadyezhda. We went into the lesson with a few vocab words but other than that I'm learning that it's always better for me to rely on the Spirit rather than read my notes. So it was sort of a miracle from the second that we said hello: I remembered (or rather, I figured out) how to say that Sister Coombs and I didn't know each other before the mission (Nadyezhda asked since we're both from Idaho), how to explain that we were not prophets, the whole First Vision, and a few other things that I can't remember but have no idea how the crap I said them. It's the best feeling to know that the Spirit is teaching through you. The lesson was awesome.
Another highlight from last week was Sister Kuznetsova telling us her story about how she raised money to go on a mission. E. Graf, E. Brewer, and E. Wixom do the best impression of it: "Heevenly Father, I haf two peegs. I sell them eend do all that I can eend then I get call weeth the rest of thee money." She always tells us stories about her telling Heavenly Father, "I want this. I'm going to do this to get it, but you're going to bless me in return." It's just hilarious because she's this tiny person and you can totally see her bossing around Heavenly Father. She's the best.
And speaking of that little rascal, she made us teach her the other day. All of the Elders are sort of scared of her and they all went first. I knew something was up when the first pair comes back and they were laughing and saying how fun she is and how we didn't need our notes and that it was just the best lesson ever. And then when E. Pyne and Graf came back and wouldn't let us hear what they were talking about with the first elders, then I started to feel anxious. Haha they so weren't convincing that everything was good with her. So we were the second to last to go. We approach her expecting this nice welcome and that most definitely did not happen. It was bad. Haha she was sitting at a table and there are benches attached to them. I say hello and start to slide in the bench, all the while telling her that we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but she interrupted me. "I don't believe in God." Didn't even get the chance to ask her name! So imagine me awkwardly hovering over the bench and struggling to remember any Russian word besides "okay". Naturally, I couldn't keep a straight face. I asked her what her hobbies were and her response was, "You're from some church that I don't care about, I don't even know you, I don't know who you are, I don't know what you're doing, I don't care about your God, and you're asking me about my hobbies? No." I guess it's a miracle that I could understand that insult. Hahaha seriously though, I couldn't stop laughing the entire time and my companion didn't say a word. So that was great. It was wakeup call #2.
All of the elders were waiting for us when we walked away and we all laughed so hard about it. She was brutal to everyone, apparently. Made one of the sisters cry. It's a good thing that I can't take myself seriously sometimes.
Oh! And for gym, I've been playing volleyball. The first three times that I tried, almost all of the Elders in my district left within ten minutes. Haha but HERE'S THE BIGGEST MIRACLE OF ALL: people actually want me on their team now! Haha that might be an exaggeration but I am just beyond proud of myself for the improvement.
It sounds like we're not moving to Raintree now. But apparently they change their minds every two weeks or so, so we'll see what happens.
The older district left so we're now the oldest Russian speaking missionaries. It's weird to me that I've been here for three weeks. Time really does fly!
It's been sooo hot here but there was a storm and ever since then, it's been so much better.
Elder Graf and Elder Pyne were called as Zone Leaders, which isn't super surprising. They're both awesome. Can I say awesome a few more times? I don't think I've said it enough.
We taught Nadyezhda again this week on Monday and the whole lesson was average until the end. She doesn't understand why she needs the BOM when she has the Bible, and it's difficult to explain exactly why when you have a limited vocabulary. But I was just quiet for a moment at the end and then suddenly I knew how to say everything that I needed to. Moments like that are seriously the best. I made my companion chest bump me and she was mad but it was worth it.
Also! S. Coombs' parents are here and we got to talking and figured out that they know the Raines! McCall, Natalie Coombs played soccer with you, right? So that was great.
She and I are getting along so well and we have finally figured out how to work together. Comp inventory is always like, "I don't have a problem with you. How can we both improve?" Haha I guess that's a good problem to have.
Yesterday was SYL (speak your language), and that means that we have to speak Russian all day. We had to tally the English words that we spoke and write them down and look them up later. It was rough but it got easier as the day went on. It is tempting to preface an entire sentence with, "Kak skazat" (again, don't have time to type that out in Russian, but it means "how do you say") and then just say what you want. It was fun though. I mostly just express myself through grunts.
Also, THANK YOU for the packages of goodies, Mom. Everyone thought I was really somethin as I walked through the halls with that candy bouquet thing.
I'm gonna send you pictures so I've gotta cut this short. I love you all though!!! Have a fantastic week and write me when you get the chance!
Love,
Sister Gooch
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