Week 10: September 2, 2013

Hey, y'all!

So I'm thinking it was pretty obvious last week that I was experiencing a little culture shock. Haha it's extremely different here, what with all the languages and the fact that people just live life a lot differently. But I'm feeling so much better about things. Last week church was a little overwhelming and I was getting frustrated because my Russian doesn't get me much further than, "Hey, my name is Sister Gooch. I'm from America. We have a very good message about happiness. You want to listen?", "Are you a believing person?", and "I like to eat. It's cold outside. You like Jesus?" Haha it's good stuff. 

I feel like my Russian is improving exponentially from day to day. It helps a lot because Sister Weaver is good at forcing me to say all that I can in Russian and she doesn't bail me out unless I absolutely have no idea how to say what I want in Russian. She's been a major blessing in more than one way. I'm really glad that I got a trainer who is never negative and always does things for the right reasons--we're not obedient because we're uptight missionaries who think that's just what we're supposed to be doing. We're obedient for our investigators and for the people that we're meant to find because we want to be the clearest conduits for the Lord's spirit.

Speaking of investigators, this week was full of miracles. I think I told you about Marguerita and Galena last week. We were having a hard time trying to figure out what they needed to be taught and we were sitting in companionship study one morning when it hit me: we needed to pass them to the Lithuanian elders in our area. Marguerita is the 17 year old daughter and she couldn't understand really simple Russian words like "perfect" and "guilt", so we brought E. Packem and E. Hall to our next lesson with them. E. Packem is one of the most ridiculously likable people I've ever met and he's a great teacher because he's really good at simplifying things. He's also hilarious. And E. Hall came to the Baltics at the same time that I did, but he's funny too. The lesson went so well and you could tell them lightbulbs were going on for both Marguerita and Galena because they understood the language better. We stopped by again yesterday with the elders and E. Packem pretty much just knows exactly what to say. Marguerita was saying that nobody from their church ever helps them out (they have a lot of broken things in their home and they don't have a lot of money because their dad left and doesn't want anything to do with them) and E. Packem was like, "What do you need help with?" Marguerita just went off for a few minutes, listing a bunch of things that they need and E. Packem said, "Alright, we're going coming over on Wednesday and we're going to fix all of it." It's awesome because as missionaries it's hard to get people to see that you care about them more than they understand. Most people think that we want their money or they want them to sign away their apartment or something crazy like that. Tons of people think we're a cult. But it just feels good to be able to show them that we really are here to help in any way that we can.

I think I might have also told you about Ludmila. She's was baptized in July and she's this 55ish year old lady who's got so much spunk it's ridiculous. She calls herself a hooliganka (like a hooligan) and cracks up everytime. We meet with her twice a week because that's what you do for a whole year after converts are baptized. Anyway, one day we ate dinner and then decided to head over to her place for a lesson. Baaaaad idea. I was so full and when we got there, she had made us blini, which is basically Russian crepes. It was so nice of her because I had mentioned in passing on my first Sunday that I wanted to try blini and so when we get there, she folds one up and dunks the whole thing in sour cream, then shoves it in my face. Not exaggerating. She put it up to my lips and was like, "Eat!" It was so painful. Haha I felt like I was gonna barf. But the good news is that blini is amazing and the sour cream isn't half bad here. She also made me drink a huge cup of raspberry tea and by the time I was done I was feeling pretty ill. But I've learned that you never eat before you go over to Ludmila`s--at the very least she feeds us cake and tea. It's always really good, so I look forward to it. Yesterday she made us eat a tonnn of this plum cake, which is essentially like sweet corn bread with plums in the middle. It's surprisingly good. I'm also getting used to drinking a lot of tea. But Ludmila is funny; she forces us to eat everything and she always says, "It's tasty, right?" She teaches me a lot of words every time we go over there and helps me out with my pronounciation. She, along with every other branch member, gets a real kick out of my Russian.

Speaking of which, the branch members here are the best people I've ever met. Everyone calls me Sister Goochka and they always make the pinching cheek motion and say, "Little girl!" all the time. Being small and not being able to speak Russian is a cute combo, apparently. Haha seriously though--they are all so willing to help out with lessons and they all share the gospel with their coworkers and friends. One of our biggest miracles this week happened on Sunday because Felix (this member who allllways sounds like he's drunk because he slurs his words like there's no tomorrow but is super nice) brought this lady that he works with, Nika. He introduced us and told Nika, "Give these girls your number! You need to be taught by them." So we are meeting with her this week. 

There's also Alvidas, who is the most charming man in Lithuania. I was talking to S. Weaver about it this week, and it's just his spiritual gift to soothe people and lull them into a sense of security. My first Sunday, he sat by me and talked to me a lot and I didn't understand for more than half the time but I just felt so much better afterwards. He's our go-to man--if anybody has difficult investigators, they bring Alvidas to a lesson and they end up getting baptized. No joke: he's baptized six people in the past couple of years. And something funny about him; when he baptizes people, he does something that I like to call "whispers sweet nothings" into their ears. For example, when he baptized Ludmila, he was whispering as they were in the font, "Your life is a clean slate. Your prayers will have power and you will overcome many things." Hahaha I love him to death.

The thing that I love about Russians is how blunt they are. They just tell you what's up and nothing is really offensive to them (except for not eating their food). It also makes it kind of hard because if they think you're annoying for wanting to talk to them, they'll pretty much tell you.

Our other investigator Galena is blunt like that. Haha we brought a member, Tatiana, to our lesson the other day and at the end she turned to Tatiana and said, "Will you come to the next lesson with them? You know a lot more than them and I like talking to you better." Ouch. See what I mean? Not necessarily mean, it's just painfully honest.
But it's all good because we're bringing Alvidas to our lesson with her
today--pretty sure she's gonna change her tune.

At the beginning of the week, we decided to go to the furthest away part of our area just to explore and go knocking or something. That experience made me change my mind about Lithuania--it's absolutely beautiful here. There's a lot of forest area and the country is more hilly and there are flowers and gardens everywhere. That's what it was like where we went that day--like a sleepy little country town. It was real cute. My first really awkward moment happened on my mission though. We were in this aparment complex thing and we knocked on a door and nobody answered. We waited for like a minute and then knocked the door just across from it. Then the most dreaded thing happened--both doors opened at once and I had to take the door with the sweaty beer-bellied man in a tank top while S. Weaver took the one with the nice 30 something lady. Haha the guy was pretty angry and all I was able to get out was, "I have a message about happiness that I want to--" and then he was yelling. But it was so ridiculous that I couldn't help but laugh.

 I also saw the cutest thing ever while we were waiting for our bus to get back to our apartment: this babushka was playing with her grandson and they had this blue balloon. She would hit it in the air and the little boy (he was four or something) would laugh so hard and scream. It physicially hurts not to be able to play with little kids. Haha they're adorable here and they remind me of Ashton and River every time. Gahh.

Another great thing that happened the other day was we got a text message with this guy named Vladimir's email in it. We had no idea who it was so we called and he asked for an Elder Winegar, but we're pretty sure he went home in 2006 or something so we told him that. Vladimir was like, "Oh, okay. I guess I'll be your friend then. Can we meet next week? I want to take lessons from you." It just blew us away because most of the people that we talk to everyday either don't want to meet or the people that we do meet with are suuuuper difficult to teach. But what a miracle! We're gonna call him today and try to meet. 

I'm learning so much here. There's this thing in "Baltic mission culture" that says "We offer a more excellent sacrifice". I didn't really understand what that meant so I've focused a lot of my personal study on learning about it. Here's what I've got: I was reading in 1 Nephi chapter 3, when Laman and Lemuel were really angry with Nephi for not getting the plates in the first few tries. I've never related more to them--I could just imagine their thought process. "Haven't we already sacrificed enough? What more is there to give? I thought the Lord wanted us to do this! Why isn't he making it easier?" But I get it now. Laman and Lemuel didn't understand the principle of a more excellent sacrifice. The Lord doesn't ask us to give up "things". He didn't ask me to give up schooling or seeing my family and friends. He asks me to have complete faith in Him and to be willing to follow Him, and He tests me on it every day. Do I have enough faith to leave Jerusalem? Do I have enough faith to turn back and get the plates? Do I have enough faith to go back and not get the plates on the first few tries? 

A more excellent sacrifice is doing God's will, even when you cannot see a purpose or way for it to be accomplished. A more excellent sacrifice requires a more excellent trust. Greater sacrifice requires great faith but it will always yield greater blessings.
Sorry, I don't mean to get wordy or preachy but it's something I really want you to think about in your own life. What kind of sacrifice are you offering? 

Anywho, everything is great here. We come to Center to email and it's like a whole new world compared to my area. It's like twenty minutes away on bus but the buildings are just old and the architecture is cool. None of the Soviet dirty apartments. The people dress super well. And I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty pumped about the shopping. They have Zara and a few others stores that they don't have in America that are like better versions of H&M. If you see that a bunch of money is taken off of my card today, it's because I am going shopping after this. Haha anyways, I love you all and hearing from you seriously makes me happier than you know. I'm so jealous you're all in Ashton but I hope that things are great! LOVE YOU!

Love,

Cectpa Goochka