Helloooo!
So, I have a lot this week. First and foremost, THANK YOU for the package. I love all of the clothes and I love myself again now that I'm not wearing the same things over and over. I realize that this feeling is temporary but I am thrilled for now so I'll take what I can get. Also, Jared: Brother Eckersley taught us the other day and said that he served with you. So that was fun! Also, send me that Russian poem that you got on your mission if you can.
This week has been really great, but has spawned a really unfortunate reputation for me. Haha so here's the thing: I eat a bunch of carrots when the food is less than satisfactory, so this happens often. Anyways, I'm eating one day and I look at Elder Graf and (I'll do my best to describe it but words can't capture the hilarity) he had his nostrils flared and is nibbling on a carrot with his lips tucked in. Apparently it was an impression of me. Hahaha I literally snorted. He said, "If you were an animal, you'd be a mama rabbit." I'm mostly offended at the "mama" part. Like what does that even mean? I look matronly?
Anyway, err'body's drinking haterade because they think I eat carrots like a rabbit. It hurts. Haha seriously though, if you only knew how much crap I get for three things: 1. my name 2. the fact that I sway when I eat/stand and 3. my carrot thing. It's hilarious though. Thank heavens I was blessed with the inability to take myself seriously.
Speaking of which, remember how Elder Harrison is just like the most ridiculous person on earth? Well he still is but we've had some really good conversations this week! Love him to death. He's always trying to get E. Pyne to do crap by saying, "YOU'RE NOT DOWN" and then followed by something like eating a napkin dipped in gravy. (It happened, unfortunately.) E. Pyne gets so annoyed and he never says it back, but last night E. Harrison challenged him to something--I think it was to wake up at 5:00 to do laundry in the morning--but finally E. Pyne broke. "THAT'S IT, I'M DOWN." It was reeeeal funny, believe me. But I tell you that to illustrate the fact that E. Harrison will eventually break you down and make you love him. Haha he's one of the most interesting people I've ever met because he's suuuper confident to the point of annoying but he has like a bajillion friends and he is honestly interested in what you're saying. He would be a great businessman.
And I just decided that I'm going to tell you more in depth about one companionship each week because why not. So E. Dimond is E. Harrison's companion and he just got called as our district leader and E. Wixom was released. He's already awesome. It's hilarious to see E. Dimond and E. Harrison together because they could not be more opposite. E. Dimond is quiet, suuuper humble, and the nicest person in the world. If I'm ever talking and someone interrupts me, he's like, "Go on, Sister Gooch. I'm listening." It's ridiculous how Christ like he is. I die everytime he gets frustrated with E. Harrison because he's just funny when he's mad. It's like a polite disdain. They're both great.
We have TRC every Wednesday and last Wednesday was great. We never seem to be prepared but both S. Coombs and I are pretty relaxed in lessons so it seems to go pretty well. We get feedback sometimes and the things that they had to say were awesome for me to hear. They said that we were relaxed and came in with a spirit of love, which is exactly what I've been trying to focus on. Another high point of the week was our lesson with Veecheeslov. He has always intimidated me because he just sits there all silent and if we ever ask him a question about how he feels about something, he always answers with "good". Haha he doesn't talk much and there isn't much eye contact. But we really tried our best to study what the Spirit prompted us to, which for me was to figure out how he feels the Holy Ghost. We centered our lesson around that and when we had him read D&C 8:2, he was quiet for like thirty seconds. And then he said, "Good." Haha so I asked him what he was thinking and he said that he had thought he needed to see God in order to know that he was feeling the Spirit, but he understood that it's usually more natural than that; that you feel peace or warmth or what have you. Afterwards, I was trying to say something along the lines of, "When I feel the Spirit, it isn't like lightning or thunder. It's a warm feeling." What I ended up saying: When I feel Spirit, not BOOM SCHOOOOBOOM. I feel warm." At least it made him laugh. Haha he got what I was saying. That's why I used hand gestures as well.
What really helped me and why I think that lesson went so well was because Brat Williams had showed me this scripture in Moses 6:32. It talks about how Enoch (I think) was talking about how he's slow of speech and he's wondering whether he can even be a servant of the Lord because of his inadequacies. Basically, the Lord tells him to follow His commandments and He'll fill him with His spirit. Turns out that I'm a lot more effective when I'm not relying on myself.
The other lesson that we had this week didn't go as well. Haha we taught Nadyezhda again and it was just baaaaad. But it makes sense why it was. Earlier that day, I had been having a hard time. I was thinking a lot about how bad I am at Russian and how it's a proven fact that I'm the least advanced in my district (not a proven fact, just me being dramatic), and my thoughts weren't very focused on Nadyezhda. So our lesson was all over the place. Haha we were talking about Joseph Smith and she said that she understood, like, "Yeah, he was a prophet just like you are." And then there was this awkward moment where I thought, "Wasn't I supposed to clear this up within the first ten minutes of us meeting her?" Anyway, we told her that we're just representatives of Jesus Christ and then I accidentally told her that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the future. We all had a good laugh about that. That's why I love Nadyezhda: most of our discussions with her are laughing at our mistakes. She's great and also she doesn't get why she has to read the Book of Mormon because she already has the Bible. And she keeps saying that she doesn't have time to read the BOM because she wants to spend time with her family. In our next discussion, I'm hoping that we can show her that if she just exercises her faith and reads and prays about the Book of Mormon, every aspect of her life will be blessed; including her family and her understanding of the Bible.
I learned a lot of cool stuff about the priesthood this week, too. Before I came here, I had thought that it was obviously the power to act in God's name and it can heal the sick and make you feel good and all that, but I have never understood the true miracle that it is until now. And I probably still don't even understand. It just blows my mind that Heavenly Father trusts us with the same power that He used to create the world. I know without a doubt that I need it in my home when I get married.
I think this week was so good because it finally feels like I'm learning how to control my attitude. I've prayed a lot for Heavenly Father's aid to help me recognize the second that my thoughts turn selfish or negative, because that's when I lose the Spirit and basically render myself incapable of loving others as Christ does. Which makes it impossible to teach. But this week I was able to really tell myself to suck it up and as a result, I feel like I'm actually doing pretty well.
Oh, and I just thought of a few more highlights of my week: 1. My district has no shame in their knowledge of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC songs. During TALL (language study on the computer), everyone has headsets/headphones and most of the elders know the words better to the songs that I do. So much love for them. 2. Beau, tell me what youtube video Ephesians 4:5 reminds you of. Hint: it involves nunchucks. 3. We have learned all of the cases in Russian and E. Pyne has a real zinger concerning that one. He calls himself the Case Boss. Kills me.
We're getting 2 new districts this week! It's crazy that I've pretty much been here for a month. Honestly, it feels like it's gone by so fast. I wish I could write more but I'm gonna try to figure out pictures now so I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Sister Gooch
P.S. What the freak is this about everyone getting iPhones? I love that mom's first text to Ash was "Gretchen". Hahahha died. Dead.
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