Hey y'all!
No joke, it's been the best week so far in the MTC. Just bustin' full of miracles. For one, I saw Becca Evans (summer roommate) and nearly died from joy. And then today, I saw Ashlyn Clark right when she got in here and I'm fairly certain that I alarmed the surrounding people by how fast my little legs ran to her. Haha it was great and she seems like she's doing well.
So there's 2 new districts here and it's been so fun getting to know them. They're funny kids and it's been so cool helping them adjust to the MTC. It's nice to see how much I've progressed in the five weeks that I've been here because I can see how freaked out they are by the language and I totally remember being the same way. And I still kind of am that way but I've accepted that no matter how good at Russian I am, I won't feel prepared by the time I leave. I thiiiiink that's a healthy attitude.
Anyway, having the new district here has really boosted my self confidence. To the point of being full of myself. Haha so to preface this story, you should know that every Sacrament meeting, no one knows who's speaking until after the Sacrament part is over. The branch President announces it. So this last Sunday, I was talking to one of the new districts and giving them advice (LOL) and I really sounded like I knew what I was talking about.
Then Elder Pyne came in and saw that I was distracting them from studying and said, "Sister Gooch, you were part of a miracle today." Knowing E. Pyne, I was expecting him to talk about how I embarrassed myself somehow but when I asked him what he was talking about, he said, "Your name was on the program to speak until the last minute when President Harrison grabbed the program and said to his counselor, "Sister Gooch isn't prepared. Sister Haroldsen will speak instead." After E. Pyne told me that, I was kind of taken aback. At first I was thinking, "Oh my gosh! What a tender mercy!" and thennnn it sunk in. E. Pyne is really good at chastising you without you really knowing it. Seriously though, my stomach just kind of dropped when I realized the implications of what he was saying. There's no way that President Harrison could have known that I didn't prepare a talk, but he somehow knew that I hadn't done what I was supposed to (write a talk for every Sunday just in case). I felt so bad. Haha I know it probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but there's nothing worse than knowing that you can't be counted on. I came on a mission to be a totally dependable servant of the Lord and I can't do that unless I'm obedient in everything that I do. I've been praying for a true conversion to the rules since I don't necessarily enjoy doing everything with exactness, even though it doesn't seem like it's important. And the Lord answered my prayer, just not in the way that I expected. I definitely feel humbled, but it's what I needed.
Oh, and for the weekly description of a companionship, we'll do E. Pyne and Graf. First off, E. Graf might be the funniest person I've ever met. I know I say that all the time but it just blows my mind. His delivery in his jokes is top notch. Sort of unrelated, but he told us how his dad was on his mission and was explaining the First Vision to some people in Japan. I guess he mixed up the word for "personage" and "carrot", so the people thought that he was saying that Joseph Smith saw two "glorious carrots". His companion didn't correct him and they were in awe and his dad kept saying, "I know, it's hard to believe but I know it's true." Hahaha so good. Anyway, E. Graf is from Utah...Sandy maybe? I don't remember. But he just graduated. And he reminds me so much of Jim Halpert in the way that he talks sometimes. This is going to sound like it's a cliche but I mean this in the literal sense: He breaks my bananas. Haha just to make me mad he'll reach over and rip 'em in half because he knows I hate it.
Something that he said this week that killed me was during dinner one time. We watched this super tiny elder walk in the cafeteria and I said something about wanting to hug him. I don't know why I thought it was so hilarious but E. Graf goes, "I just wanna shove a piece of cake in his mouth and tell him to go to bed." Died. Dead.
E. Pyne is from Seattle and there's no better way to describe him than saying that he reminds me of the little kid/baby version of the Grinch. Haha he has super long eyelashes and he's always mocking everyone in this annoying voice that just kills me. I'm sort of making it sound like he's mean, but he's not. He's just hilarious and reminds everyone to laugh at themselves. He's also a champion of the sun at the piano.
And since we're on the subject of how funny he is, I need to tell you about something that has just blown my mind this week. I can never tell if E. Pyne is joking because he's SO good at lying. It's ridiculous. I still don't know if he's actually adopted or not. Haha but he's telling me about the fact that he doesn't believe in dinosaurs and his argument for that was somewhat valid, but then he's telling me that he also believes in mermaids. I was laughing so hard that my face turned bright red. But he goes into this whack explanation of how they're not actually mermaids in the sense that they're half human half fish, but he believes in aquatic apes. Hahaha I can't wait to tell you his theory when I get home but this sentence actually came out of his mouth: "If you want to be taken seriously in this world, you use the term aquatic ape, not mermaid." He also said that "dolphins are the only ones who are intelligent enough to communicate with them underwater, so they're friends." No idea if he's serious because he's just a weirdo like that. Oh, and they're our zone leaders but that's changing this next Sunday.
My companion and I had awesome lessons with Vechaslav (Yes, I realize that I spell his name differently every week) and Nadyezhda. We taught Vechaslav about the Word of Wisdom and I learned a lot about how I teach. I'm getting better at being bold and blunt if it's necessary. For instance, Nadyezhda just wouldn't read the Book of Mormon and she was wondering why she wasn't progressing. I finally asked her why she wasn't reading it and she said it was because she didn't have time. I was quiet for a second and then I asked what the real reason was. Haha we asked her to pray right then and there to find out if it was true and she did and now she's getting baptized. Sister Wrigley (my teacher) was telling us that you have to be bold with Russians and that it's a good thing that I'm not afraid to get to the heart of peoples' concerns. It feels good to at least be doing one thing right, you know?
As for gym time, I've officially decided that I can't play volleyball anymore. I lose the Spirit too easily because I get so mad at the elders that always play because they always try to take over my position. Haha I'm sticking to kickball and running for now.
My district has grown really close this past week. Last Wednesday night, Sister Wrigley changed our plans for class and decided to have us all teach her as one massive companionship in Russian about trust. It was an opportunity that we'd been looking for because we could all tell that she was struggling with something big in her life for the past few weeks. She said it had something to do with her family but she would never say what. And this particular Wednesday, she seemed to be having an especially hard time. Anyway, she gave us about ten minutes to prepare and we all said a prayer to be inspired and be able to say what she needs to hear. I said a personal prayer and immediately after I said amen, a question popped into my mind that seemed a little awkward to ask but I wrote it down anyway. So she came back in and we start the lesson and I kept feeling like I should ask my question. I waited until the moment was right and then I asked her, "Sister Wrigley, do you think that God trusts you?" All in flawless Russian, of course. Haha but she started to get teary eyed and then later, after the lesson was over, she pulled me aside and told me how inspired that question was. She had an experience earlier in life when she felt the Spirit tell her, "I trust you, Amanda. Try to trust me too." So that was awesome. I'm mostly telling you this just so you know that there is no better feeling on earth than knowing that you've conveyed exactly what they Spirit wanted you to.
Sort of a sad thing that we found out is that Brat Williams is starting law school soon so we'll have a sub for the rest of the time when he teaches. Super bummed about that because we all love him.
It's crazy how much I'm loving life here. It took a little bit to adjust to, but I really am loving the MTC. My favorite part of the day is at the very end when my district is just joking around and telling funny stories. I always invite the elders over for movie night. Haha it's a great joke, right? We're hypothetically watching Mean Girls tonight. Haha anyways, I love you all and I hope that your week is great. Love you.
Love,
Sister Gooch
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