Week 18: October 28, 2013

Hey friends!

This week was pretty great. We went to Klaipeda (a town 4 hours away) for exchanges with our sister training leader, S. Ramos. I did the exchange with her and it was seriously so fun. First of all, Klaipeda is exactly what I had imagined Lithuania to be like. The city is all old and pretty with cool architecture and cobblestone. It was a lot of fun because Sister Ramos and I get along swimmingly. She's from New York and I love hearing about her life and all of the things that she's learned, because it hasn't always been easy for her. She's the bomb. 

There's a senior couple there, the Yaskus', and until I met them I didn't realize how rad senior couples are and how sorely they're needed. They fed us lunch (and introduced me to this aloe drink that I'm sort of obsessed with now) and their apartment smelled like America! I can't really explain to you how incredibly comforting and lovely that was.

Moral of the story: If you're a senior couple and you're able to serve a mission, YOU MUST! Seriously, Vilnius would be doing a lot better, branch-wise, if there was a senior couple to run FHE or something.

Anywho, a couple of other fun things happened this week, too. We were invited to dinner with Elder Erekson and Elder Bolingbrooke at Tatyana Orlova's (previous member of the relief society presidency in the branch and just all-around solid lady). She's a classic Soviet woman because she didn't let the elders help make dinner while she had us help chop stuff. First time I've eaten raw tomatoes in, like, ever! Not too bad. Just another thing that I'm definitely going to be used to by the end of my mission. She made us some really good chicken cutlets and a salad, plus tea, of course. She has this little Yorkshire terrier whose guts I hate but it was pretty much on my lap the whole time during dinner. I literally threw it off of my lap like five times but there just came a point where it wasn't worth fighting anymore. Haha and also, Sister Weaver is more afraid of dogs than I am, which I just find hilarious. 

We also had dinner with Ludmila and all of my district, plus Alvidas. She made the same mushroom soup that I told you about a while ago, and then these huuuuge Khazakstanian meat pastry things. Plus this chocolate cake with cherries and cream in the middle and tea. The meat pastry was brutal because it had the consistency of a potsticker (it's steamed or something) and it's packed with meat and grease. I felt a little more prepared this time--I didn't touch my strawberry rhubarb tea until I had finished everything else--but I still felt a little bit like death. It always tastes pretty good, though. I mean, come on. It's Ludmila we're talking about here.

She's the world's #1 hostess because she did magic tricks and made us play games. Haha she's such a lovely person. You would love her.

Elder McClure (new zone leader, he came from Samara, Russia mission because he had visa problems and had to be sent here) said that he would finish reading the Book of Mormon in Russian before me and I sort of destroyed the fool. Haha we were challenged to finish it within our first two transfers and I finished three weeks early, so yay!

And speaking of Elder McClure, funny thing happened yesterday at church. I sat by Alena Elanskaya (8 yr old that we're preparing for baptism; lives in Trekai by the castle) and she drew a picture of a princess, then underneath she labeled her "Gooch". Haha so cute. And then she drew a picture of a girl with a dress on and labeled it "McClure" because he was sitting behind us and looking over her shoulder to see what she was drawing. Hahaha so funny. She thought it was hilarious.

So yeah, I'm doing well. Let's be real, though: missions are really hard, and mine is no exception. It's definitely the hardest thing I've ever done but I also feel like I'm surrounded with some of the most special people on earth and I'm learning more than I ever could have, had I not decided to come here. But I've noticed that my hardest days are always the ones when I'm counting my frustrations rather than my blessings. The most valuable thing I think I've learned so far is just basically what I was saying last week: who God is.
Here's what I know about Him: 

-He is not impatient. I always seem to project my characteristics onto Him. For example, I might feel like He isn't proud of me for the imperfections that I have and it might make me feel unworthy to ask for His help, but that's what's so rad about Heavenly Father. We may be impatient, but He is not. He has a perfect understanding of our capabilities and constraints. He only asks that you keep Him in the loop--pray; involve Him in your decisions and tell Him how you're feeling. It's a lot easier for Him to help you when you're seeking for His advice.

-He doesn't ask us to be something we're not. From the beginning, He has worked with and through His flawed children. He doesn't expect us to be perfect in order to be His. He only asks for us to develop the skills and talents that we were blessed with, and He helps us let go of the vices that we don't know how to get rid of. Which leads me to the next thing...

-The Atonement of His Son, Jesus Christ, is more powerful that I can even comprehend. Do you reallze that He can change our very nature? He can take the impulse that we have to be selfish and exchange it for the impulse to see things from His perspective. I can't imagine how much happier we'd be--and how much more of a blessing we'd be to those around us--if we just learned how to correctly apply the Atonement in our lives.

-He didn't give us repentance to punish us. In fact, it's the furthest thing from punishment that I can think of. Real punishment would be if He had just expected us to live without hope of being able to let go of all the guilt that we accumulate from our imperfect lives. He gave us repentance because it's the only thing that we have in this life that's going to lead to lasting happiness in the life after this.

-He's hasn't ever and won't ever do anything that isn't for our ultimate happiness. For real. It's just not who He is. He has a purpose for everything, whether we can understand it or not. I sometimes feel like my life would be so much less stressful and negative if I could fully grasp this concept. He doesn't give us this gospel and this church just because it's something that helps our lives today. I mean, that is part of the reason, but He has greater purposes. He's preparing us as individuals and us as families to have the greatest amount of happiness that we're capable of obtaining. Which I think is pretty cool of Him.

I don't have too much time left but it helps me to write you about this, so the sermon's gonna continue next week, haha. I really hope that you all realize how lucky you are to have the knowledge that you do about God. So many people don't, and their lives are a lot harder because of it. I also hope that you don't act ashamed of it--that you're sharing it. Not because you're supposed to, but because you recognize the worth of the gift that you have.

I love you all tons! Somebody better watch Hocus Pocus for me because y'all know that's what I'd be doing if I were with you.

-Sister Gooch

Week 17: October 21, 2013

What what what uuuup?

Let's just start with the fact that it's starting to get butttt cold here. We're gonna hit up a bunch of Humana's (thrift stores) today so I can get warmer skirts. I found an old skirt in the apartment that was at least five sizes too big but I figured it would be warmer than the ones I have, so I wore it to church. I can't go a single Sunday without being yelled at for my clothes--this time Ludmila was appalled with how gigantic it was. Haha she grabbed me by the waist and started trying to fix it and make my belt tighter--I felt like a five year old. She's so funny.

Last Monday we finally started branch family home evening! It wasn't planned out very well--none of the elders called the members in their area, so let's blame it on them. Haha there was Ludmila, Karl (have I mentioned him? If not, he's theeee funniest person I know. He's mildly handicapped and wears sunglasses and leather jackets inside--he's hard to explain but just know that he's smooth), Vlad (Ukrainian guy who was only here for a week), Alvidas, Lena (terrifying member who'salso hilarious), and all of us Russian speaking missionaries. We had a spiritual thought at the beginning and then played signs. It took forever to explain to them but it was so worth it. I'm pretty sure I haven't laughed so hard in a while. Whenever someone would pass the sign to Karl, he would take forever to receive it and just as long to pass it. I wish y'all could see and hear the venom in Lena's voice when she would whisper, "PASS IT, KARL!" Karl just sat there, reclined in his seat with his eyes half open/half closed and a crooked smile that looked so slick. Haha it was better than words can express.

Ludmila and Lena were freaking out at the beginning because not that many people showed up, and Ludmila kept saying that she's never coming again and how it was just terrible. But let's all keep in mind the fact that she's a classic Russian woman and, therefore, a drama queen. Haha she was telling the elders how awful it was and how she had other plans that she was going to do (which she totally didn't) and I said, "You are sassy today, Ludmila!" I mostly said that because I had learned the word for sassy that day and wanted to use it. Haha her face was priceless. She was like, "Do you know what that word means?" And she asked Elder McClure if I knew, and he said yes, and she got all huffy and hilarious and was like, "You'll answer for that." And then all this week she has been joking about how rude it was but I know she loved it.

She's funny too because this Sunday, she went around to every member of the branch and told them that they had to come this Monday. I overheard her telling Felix about it and she was like, "It was so much fun--you have to come." I can't wait for it to happen again tonight!

Another funny story happened last week on a night when we were knocking in Arkitektu again. And I hope you realize that when I say knocking, I don't mean houses. We go to huge apartment buildings and start at the top, then work our way down. Anywho, we were in this one at the very top and two Polish guys who were drunk answered. We talked with them for a little bit but one was somewhat creepy--he kept winking, which is never comfortable, haha--and so we ended the conversation pretty quick. They weren't interested anyway.
So then we go to a completely different apartment building and we had made our way almost to the bottom when we knock on a door and the same creepy drunk guy answered. I want you to picture this guy coming out of the door, closing it behind him, and standing in front of us while winking periodically and just staring in silence. Haha we asked him if he lived there and he said, "No, I live...elsewhere..." and then that's when we awkwardly waved goodbye. "We'll be going now..." Haha what were the chances?

Sad update on Galena: we brought Alvidas with us again but Galena has just gotten to the point where she doesn't listen toanything we say. It's a bummer because she seemed to be doing really well for a while, but it's impossible to help someone change their life if they don't want it.

I will say, though, that Alvidas was really funny on that lesson. He started telling her about his visions and we were like, "Ooookay, that's not usually how it works though."

I've been thinking a lot about how interesting Lithuania is lately. I'm starting to be able to tell the difference between how Lithuanians look/dress and how Russians do. Lithuanians are a lot less loud and argumentative. Haha Relief Society is always a blast because the babushki just argue the whole time. I love it.

I think I've told you about Vechaslava, my babushka friend, who is the tiniest human being ever. We see her from a distance as we're walking towards each other and I expect her to get bigger as she gets closer but she never does! Haha she's so funny and classic Russian. Today we saw her after grocery shopping and she was like, "You eat every day? I don't. I just walk outside and let the air fill me up." We kind of laughed but she didn't even crack a smile the whole time. Then she was like, "I'm joking. Have a good day." Haha that probably doesn't sound very funny but I loved it.

We have been having really good lessons with Ludmila lately. Since she was only just baptized in July, we still meet with her once a week. This last time we talked with her about the fact that we have to have faith enough to live a principle or commandment before we can receive a testimony or witness that it's true, or that it's what will make us happy. She really struggles with that-- she kept saying, "How can I have faith in something before I see that it's good for me? I want to know why before I act." I can definitely see how it's a hard concept to grasp, but I think that looking a little closer at who our Heavenly Father is makes it easier. If we understand that because God loves us; because he knows us perfectly, He knows exactly what will make us happy in this life. Commandments are pretty much an excuse for Him to give us more blessings than He would have been able to before. He works on the principle that if we obey His commandments, then we are entitled to blessings. If He is honestly the one who knows us best and has our best interest in mind, then He would never give us a commandment that wasn't going to make us happier than before if we choose to follow it. All of his energy goes into helping us overcome our weaknesses, and when we show him that we have faith before the miracle, then He is more than willing to help us out even more than He could before.
I'm sorry, I feel like my logic is jumbled and complicated, but it's just something that I think is really interesting to think about.

Anywho, I love you all a lot and can't wait to see pictures of Ashton, Riv, Yvey, and everyone else (here's lookin' at you, Beary J. Blige) in their costumes. Haha have a great week!

-Sister Gooch

Week 16: October 14, 2013

Heeey everyone!

This week was good. It makes me a little sad that people don't celebrate Halloween here and that we don't make things like caramel apples or carved pumpkins but it's whatevs because autumn is 2385345 times prettier! That's being dramatic but for real, the colors are a lot more vivid than they are on our side of the States, at least.

The weather has been pretty good here but I can't tell you how many times I've been chewed out by babushki who tell me I'm practically naked because my clothes are more appropriate for summer. Haha there's nothing I can really do about that in the next few weeks because our preparation days are taken up by emailing, grocery shopping, and watching Conference one session at a time.
We watched the Saturday morning session last week, which I loved. Ulisses Soares' talk about how to cultivate meekness was so good! "Because of the Atonement, we have the ability to change our spiritual character." I know I've talked about this before, but I feel like it's in our nature to think that we were born a certain way and there's not much that we can do to ultimately change. That's just my favorite thing about the church: we are not only told that we can change, but we're given the tools to do so. The more we understand about the Atonement, the better we can use it. 

We watched all of the sessions in Russian on Saturday and Sunday with the branch, which was just brain melting. Haha here's my thought process during Conference: "......forgiveness....something about the Atonement...power or strength? Ehh I don't know....I promise that...welp, I might as well just read the Книга Мормона." It's painful. Haha but thankfully we watched the Sunday afternoon session in English with Samuel, a Nigerian member who goes to the Lithuanian branch. Plus some of the members just talk the whole time so it was easier to focus. I loved Russell M. Nelson's talk! He spoke more about how we can change our very character through the Atonement. It was a cool promise that if we consciously think of our bodies as temples, then the decisions that we make with this in mind will determine our destiny. I also loved how he said not one of us can stop being a child of God; that we're eternal beings and that eagerly, earnestly, and exactly obedient to the commandments is the only way to feel true liberation and joy. 

When we were waiting for a bus after Conference, this guy in his late 20's came up to us and just started going off in the most random English I have ever heard mixed together with a bunch of profanity. The only thing I understood was that he kept quoting Breaking Bad, which I thought was hilarious. He was obviously on drugs, so we got in at the opposite end of the bus from him. 

Jared, you'll also be happy to know that I tried a duner/kebab/shwarma thing. I liked it, but I don't really understand what the rave is all about. Then again, I got it at a fancier place and it wasn't like a street vendor because all of the street vendors are rumored to sell dog meat...so I don't know if that's ever gon' happen.

We went to Ludmila's twice this week, which is always pleasant. It was cute because she had tried to give me her apple pie recipe but it was really hard to understand so she made us watch while she made it and write down a more accurate version of the recipe. She's so funny. We came back the next day with Svyeta, a member, and ate the pie while teaching her about family history. 

Lately we have had just an hour or so to go finding each night and that doesn't leave us with many places to go because buses take so much time out of our proselyting time, so we went to Arkitektu (a place two bus stops away from us). Almost every night this week we have ended up walking babushki home because they are so nice and they love to talk about God. None of them have been the most interested but they're the most adorable people and they could basically talk all night if you didn't cut off the conversation. 

Anyways, we stopped this one babushka and she was hilarious. At the very beginning of our conversation, she pointed to me and said, "You're a very kind girl," and then she pointed to Sister Weaver and said, "but this one's more sneaky." Haha she went on to tell us that she has psychic powers. She said that my life is going to be very hard because I am so innocent and sweet and I'll just endure my trials in life because I'm not sassy and Sister Weaver's will be easy because she can stand up for what she wants and all that. I was thinking, "Orrrrrr I don't speak Russian very well so I just nod and smile at times that I deem appropriate (85% of the time)." I don't care what she says: I'm sassy!

At one point she took out her phone and was like, "Look at this power I have." She put the phone in her palm and then slapped it with her other hand and the hand that slapped it had the phone stuck to it. It's hard to explain but just imagine her holding her phone in her palm with her hand straight while staring at us blankly. It was one of those moments that I thought, "Is this really happening right now? Am I really in Lithuania, staring at a babushka holding up a phone in her hand and talking about her psychic powers?" Haha it was so funny.

The next day we went to Barbara's apartment with Elder Erekson and Bolingbrooke since she's a member. You should know that it's pretty much customary to be given tea at the very least when you go to someone's house, but Barbara gave us walnuts to crack open and some really good apples. They were really good. Anyway, we were talking later on in the lesson and somehow Barbara gets on the subject of natural milk. Nobody but S. Weaver understood what she was talking about but Barbara asked us if we wanted to try it. Elder Bolingbrooke said sure so she brought some out for the elders and Sister Weaver has a really hard time saying no, so she said yes. Barbara asked me but I figured it was better to say no than to have to hand her a cup full of untouched milk and I've noticed that they don't really get offended, so eh. But while she went to get Sister Weaver a cup, Elder Erekson told us that it tasted exactly how cows smell. A direct quote: "It's what I would imagine udders to taste like." The best part about it was that Barbara gave Sister Weaver her milk and just stood there, watching her and waiting for her to finish it. Hahaha I was dying. Elder Erekson and I couldn't look at each other after Barbara was like, "Tasty?" And Sister Weaver sounded physically pained when she said, "Yes, very." I just loved that I was spared from it.

We finally met with Galena last week. We brought Yanina to help us out but it was seriously the roughest lesson I've ever had. She really wanted to argue and then she got mad that we weren't arguing with her so she got a little mean. It's frustrating to have someone who absolutely won't listen to anything you have to say and who asks the same questions over and over again, even though we've answered her. It basically comes down to whether or not the Book of Mormon is true, and that's not something that she's quite grasping. It's also hard to help her progress because she meets with Jehovah's Witnesses once a week and it feels like all of the progress me made in the last lesson is totally lost by the time we meet with her again. 

Last night the Lithuanian elders invited us to be on a lesson with Dasha, a Belarussian girl who's in her early twenties, I think. She's atheist and had agreed to listen to a short spiritual message after half an hour of the elders teaching her Lithuanian. She's super smart and really cool and we had a good discussion about who God is and what the Church is all about. She's really good at English and it was interesting to hear a little about Belarus. She's here in Lithuania for university and she has lots of intellectual ideas--she knew the word for existentialism in English! But yeah, she was way cool. She's not actually in our area, so we won't be able to teach her but I think Elder McClure is a really good match for her anyways.

Two more highlights of my week and then I gotta peace out: 1. I found Daim bars. They're like Heath bars, just better. I'm in love. And 2. we were joking to Elder Packham and Elder Hall about the fact that we might as well just start having companionship inventory together since we work so often with each other, and they told us something really funny. There was a survey that we had to take for our mission and one of the questions was "What is your favorite finding method?" and both of them wrote "The Russian sisters" because we are basically setting up a lesson with a new Lithuanian person for them to take over teaching every week. Haha we found another girl this week who was so cool! I don't usually stop girls who look under 20ish because they almost always turn out to be Lithuanian and don't speak Russian, but I stopped this girl and asked her what helps her get through trials in her life. She ended up saying that she has just recently been looking for the right path to God because she's noticed His hand in her life. She said she wasn't really interested in Christianity because it didn't seem right to her that Christians drink and smoke. Well have we got exciting news for her! Haha she was really interested after we told her a little bit about the Word of Wisdom and she asked when she could meet with us, so hopefully we can set up an appointment with her and just invite Elder Packham and Elder Hall so they can take over from there.

Anywho, I hope that all of you are doing great!  I miss you all tons love your guts.

Love,

Sister Gooch

P.S. Not sure if it's legal, but can you send me pepper spray? 

Week 15: October 7, 2013

Heyyy everyone,

Before I get to how I'm doing, I need to know how X-Factor is going. Haha psych. Please don't take that seriously, Dad. 

This week was really really good and then really really rough. I guess first of all, you should know that I'm still in Vilnius for my second transfer! I'm pretty happy about that. I've finally built relationships with the members and I still want to get to know them all better.

Also, I would have sorely missed Maria, my babushka friend. She's the sweetest. It makes me sad that she's a little too old and out of it to receive the gospel though because she told me that she wakes up everyday and lays in bed thinking of all of her sins every day, and how she cries herself to sleep at night because she feels so terrible for having an abortion when she was in her twenties. It's heartbreaking, actually. But she's so good--I can tell she's just one of Heavenly Father's favorites.

We got two new elders in our district since Elder Christensen went home and Elder Bell went to Imanta, Latvia. We got a new district leader, Elder Bullingbrook and a new zone leader, Elder McClure. They seem cool.

So let's talk about food now. Haha we went to Ludmila's again last week and she basically stomach punched me with pure Russian food. She made us some kind of dried mushroom soup that was filling in and of itself (I wasn't the biggest fan, but I have a feeling that I'll just get used to mushrooms by the time that I'm home), but then she piled plates of rice and what was essentially breaded chicken with some kind of gravy stuff. I don't know how to describe it because she used a bunch of spices that I've never seen in America. I was feeling barfy but then I drank a giant cup of tea on top of that. I'm not who I used to be.

Mike, you asked what kind of snacks I like here. Selga cookies are really good; they're like shortbread but 12983479384 times better. Every Monday, Sister Weaver and I try new pastries and we found some in Center by Zara that are amaaaaazing. Mine was a chicken pastry thing that apparently Lithuania is famous for. Also, Muesli is great. E'erbody knows that. It's like a granola cereal.

So as I said, this week was super good and really hard. A few great experiences: I was on the bus and I noticed that the guy sitting next to me was looking at the BOM in my hands. In my mission, it's a rule that we always carry a BOM, no matter what. So I was trying to think of a conversation starter when he pointed to it and was like, "Give me that." Haha so I did and I watched him read the whole introduction and leaf through it. It's just crazy because we have a hard enough time getting our investigators to read through the intro and there he was, doing it! His name is Sergei, which was lovely to hear because it's pretty much guaranteed that he's Russian. It's hard in Lithuania because most of the people that we meet, we have to pass off to the Lithuanian elders because they speak Lithuanian better than Russian. Anywho, Sergei took the BOM and said he'd call. He wouldn't give me his number, but whatevs. Hopefully something good comes of that.

Second awesome thing was that we were on the way home on Sunday night last week when we stopped this Lithuanian lady named Eglė. She was really interested in what I was saying about the Book of Mormon and she took my Russian copy and asked for my email. So we took Elder Packham and Elder Hall over on Thursday night to give her a Lithuanian copy of the BOM and also to kind of pass her off to them. She let us in and Sister Weaver started by saying, "We know that you're really busy, but we'd just like to tell you a little bit about the Book of Mormon." Eglė interrupted her and was like, "Actually, if you have time, I'm really interested and I'd like to hear as much as you can tell me about it." Haha golden! We taught her a really in-depth first lesson and then at the end, Elder Packham invited her to be baptized in November. She said, "My cat will be giving birth at that time, so can we do it in October?" AHHHHHHHH I was moving my hips a little in a victory dance on the couch. Haha so she was committed to the end of October. We were about to walk out when every single one of us got the impression to warn her of opposition. Sister Weaver said that she might encounter opposition or go through hard times but that if she turns to Christ, he'll help her through anything. I wanted to contribute too so I tried to say, "Satan knows that this gospel is going be help you become a better person and he doesn't want that. But I promise that you'll have joy and peace if you turn to Christ when you're struggling." Here's what came out: "The devil knows that this gospel will help you to become better, and he does not want that. But I promise you that you will be eating joy and peace if you pray to Jesus." Hahaha whyyyyyyyy do I open my mouth sometimes? Apparently "have" and "eat" are like the same word in Russian or something. I just feel like that's a lack of foresight on the part of the fools who made Russian up.

Anywho, I've been praying so hard for Eglė, but then on Sunday she texted Elder Packham and told him that she doesn't want any contact because she heard that we're a cult. It's so frustrating that the Church's reputation here is so bad. It was definitely the most discouraging thing so far on my mission just because she seems sooo ready for this gospel! She even said that minutes before we stopped her on the street, she had just dropped hers son off who has been deathly ill and she was crying. She said she saw us as angels and that God knew that she needed to be humbled to hear our message. So yeah, that's been tough.

Margarita and Galena texted him the same day and said the same thing--double whammy. 

Anyways, good things happened too. Let's talk about those. The Relief Society President, Yanina, is the most celestial person ever. Seriously, she's awesome. I had told her in passing that I didn't have a winter coat and she called me last week, saying, "Sister Goochka, kljwoeijhslkdjlfjsjk lskejfwoiejfslkdj we jjfslk jsljfkd." Well, that's what I understood. She is sooo hard for me to understand. There's something about people who grew up with their parents speaking Polish and then they themselves attending Lithuanian school that makes it really difficult for me to understand their Russian. Alvidas is the same way--their Russian sounds a lot softer and blended together and it's pretty much just jibberish to me. Anywho, I guess that she had been trying to tell me that she was at this bazaar and was looking for winter coats for me and had found that they had a really good selection. The next day she  took us there and I bought a total babushka winter coat. But it was only 108 dollars! Remember how my mission said to bring 270 dollars to purchase a coat? I thought it was a good deal. I had thought that it was black but apparently it's dark blue, which is a bummer. It's not the ugliest and Sister Weaver assures me that it's one of the cutest ones she's seen, but I don't know. Sister Weaver also things that slippers with cats on them are adorable so I don't know how valid her opinion is at this point.

Anyways, Yanina is such an awesome person. She's literally always serving people. I guess that she used to have back problems that were terrible and she prayed one day, promising God that she would dedicate the rest of her life to service if He would heal her. She hasn't had back problems since and she has definitely lived up to her promise. Every time we talk to her, she's buying groceries for a struggling member or she's at someone's house helping them clean. It's ridiculous.

This Sunday was really good. It was fast and testimony meeting, and I think it's the number one thing I'll miss about church here when I come back home. The members are hilaaarious. Hardly anyone actually stands behind the pulpit and speaks into the microphone--they stand off to the side and yell their testimonies with wild gestures. I wish you could all meet Sasha. He is the most animated and loud Russian man I have ever met. His testimony was earth-shattering, as you can imagine.

So yeah, things are good. I miss you all a lot but it also hits me every day how crazy it is that I'm having this experience. Who in the world gets to go to Lithuania and focus on nothing but the most important things for 18 months? This girl right here. Haha I'm annoying myself but I love you all and hope that you have a lovely week!

Love,

Сестра Гучка