So those pictures of Yvey made me cry. Haha she is beautiful! And I'm not even saying that because she's my niece and that's just what you say as an aunt: she's seriously adorable. I'm so jealous of all of you. Gahh but I'm so glad that everything went well. Can't wait to get more pictures of her! You better send me tons.
This week was really good. We have had some sweet miracles. I'll start with Galena and Margarita.
I think I told you that we passed them to Elder Packham (been spelling his name wrong this whole time) and Elder Hall. It's been cool to receive confirmations over and over again that passing them at that specific time was the right thing to do. I guess that on Wednesday, the elders went over to their apartment and they could tell something was wrong with them. I guess that they had just heard that Margarita's dad had committed suicide that morning. I don't remember if I told you that her dad wasn't in her life and wasn't a very good dad, but yeah. I guess they were just kind of shell-shocked. They brought Alvidas (the guy who whispers sweet nothings) and while they fixed their furniture, they taught them about the Plan of Salvation. It's just awesome to me that Heavenly Father sent missionaries to them at this specific time so that they could be there to comfort them with that specific message; that there's life after this and that people can continue to progress and change and become better even after death.
They also introduced Margarita to some youth in the Lithuanian branch and they got along really well. There's a girl who's 17 as well that they introduced to her and she's getting baptized next weekend and Margarita said she'd come. Great things are happening with them.
The other huge miracle that happened this week has been with our other investigator, Galena. She's the one who's been meeting with Jehovah's Witnesses and who is kiiiind of argumentative. Haha remember how I said that she'd change her tune once we introduced her to Alvidas? It worked! Haha we invited him to our next lesson with her and after the first five or so minutes, it was like he had calmed the raging storm inside of her. He's such a peaceful and knowledgeable person that I feel like it's impossible to argue with him. She stopped saying stuff like, "Well, that's not in the Bible." Alvidas started talking and suddenly she was soaking up every word he said. It was awesome because you could honestly feel the Spirit the whole time even though her apartment was filled with noise: there was a car alarm going off outside, it was pouring rain, her dog was barking a lot, her son was listening to some really loud elevator/techno music.
At one point it was really hard for me not to laugh though because Alvidas is famous among the missionaries for doing this thing where he opens up the Bible to the end of Malachi and talks about how 500 years are missing from the Bible and then he puts the Book of Mormon inside it and shakes it in the investigator's face saying, "This fits!!!" Haha he didn't necessarily shake it in Galena's face but he definitely put the BOM inside the Bible and showed her what's up. I was shaking. Thankfully Galena's eyes were glued to Alvidas because I was having a hard time keeping a straight face.
Another cool part of that lesson was that I was able to tell Galena how I receive answers (which was good because Alvidas went off about how he received his answer through a vision--we were like, "uhhhh"....) through having my journal in front of me and writing down my thoughts as they come. I talked about the fact that we can learn how to discern which thoughts are coming from our own mind and which ones are inspired by the Spirit by just writing them all down and then when you look at what you've written later, it's really clear which ones were revelations and which ones weren't.
The next lesson we had with her, we actually got her to come to the church. It's interesting how the Lord inspires at least one of us (S. Weaver and I) to do something that the investigator needs. For example, I felt really strongly that we should start meeting Galena at the church and S. Weaver felt really strongly that we should have member on the lesson. Both things happened for the last lesson that we had with her. Brat Falec came. He's in the branch presidency and he was pretty much the first member of the church in Lithuania. He was so perfect for the lesson! The Spirit was there the whole time and Brat Falec was really good at working with us and saying just enough but also letting us teach like we're supposed to. It's usually hard with members on lessons because they are Russian and that means that they talk for a verrrry long time and they go off on random tangents and they feel the need to answer every single question that the investigator has. I'm not saying that answering questions is a bad thing--it's kind of why I'm here--but members don't usually get that it's more important to teach the investigators to find the answers for themselves. The whole time we were kind of building up to the commitment of asking her to come to church on Sunday and the cool thing is that we never even told Brat Falec our main goal of the lesson but he taught to it anyways. He told her all about what we do on Sundays and when we asked him how he received an answer that the Book of Mormon was true, he testified about the perfect thing. He said that he didn't receive an answer until he started living the principles that are in the Book of Mormon--until he started coming to church and honestly repenting, he didn't know it was true. We were able to testify that Heavenly Father rarely gives us answers right when we ask. He expects us to act in faith and actually do something about the little knowledge that we do have. Before we were even halfway through the lesson, Galena was quiet for a while and then said, "I'm coming to church. Maybe not this Sunday but I'm coming next Sunday for sure." It was clear that the Spirit was there just because she was ready to keep the commitment before we even extended it. She was also asking all of these questions like whether or not her dog was going to go to heaven and a bunch of little things that would be answered if she just knew that the Book of Mormon is true, and S. Weaver said, "Galena, you have a lot of really good questions, but I promise you that once you receive an answer that the Book of Mormon is true, all of your questions will be answered." Right after she said that, Galena was quiet again and then said, "I'm going to read the whole Book of Mormon."
It's awesome to see the process of Heavenly Father softening someone's heart. Galena's way nicer and less argumentative than she used to be and she seems happier when we talk to her. Getting to know her has reaffirmed the fact that I was sent here, at this specific place and time, to meet people like her.
You have all asked about food a lot, and this week I got to experience the real deal at Ludmila's. She invited my whole district (us, E. Erikson, Bell, Christensen, and Grant) to eat at her place. She made us Ukrainian borsht, meat blini, Russian apple pie, and tea. That doesn't sound like that much but you must keep in mind that this is Ludmila we're talking about: the woman dishes up your plate and expects you to eat like a growing boy. Haha she gave me a huuuuge bowl of borsht, three blini, a piece of pie, and a huge cup of tea. All of it was amazing--I actually really like borsht and her apple pie blew my mind, but it was so much. I was watching the missionaries around me and they all tackled one thing at a time: borsht first, then the blini, then the pie, and then the tea. I was full after the borsht and the blini was the hardest part for me because it was full of mushrooms and super greasy. I honestly sat there and thought to myself, "I will vomit if I have to eat all of this. I am physically incapable." Elder Christensen couldn't even look at me while we were eating because he would start laughing at how pale I looked. Haha and then Ludmila picked up a blini and shoved it in my face, asking why I wasn't eating. I told her I was making room and she was like, "That's right, you'll make room!" all sassy-like. I don't really know how I did it, but I ate all of it and I'm still alive. Ludmila is the best cook ever so at least I wasn't choking down gross food.
She also invited Alvidas to eat with us and that was great because her love for him is so obvious. He kind of gave a little sermon (he used to be a priest so it's just in his blood) during dinner that was hilarious. At one point he said, "You sisters need to be careful when you're pregnant not to speak about death or hate because your baby will hear it and they will be programmed to it when they're born." LOLLL I died. So much love for that man.
Genadi (another member of the branch presidency) told me that I was bearing my testimony when we got to church on Sunday. That was fun. Haha so bad. It's like I forgot all of the Russian that I know when I got up there. But it wasn't too terrible; the members came up to me after and a bunch of them said that my Russian is really good for my first transfer. There's this one lady, Lena, who kind of has mental problems and is a little bit scary with how mean she can be but she came up to me and was like, "Your Russian is suprisingly good!" and then started going off about how bad one of the elder's Russian is. Haha she's terrifying and well-meaning at the same time. But yeah, the members are all so great. I love them.
I wish I could write more but I gotta peace out. I love you all and give Yvey (and Riv and Ashton) a kiss and a swat on the bum for me. Haha miss you all.
Love,
Sister Gooch
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