I guess I haven't told you much about Narva. I've mentioned that it's tiny--we seem the same people often and people pretty much know who we are. People call us девченки here, which is pronounced dyevchonkee. But it sounds like dyev-chunky to me, and it means gals or chicks or something. It's slang for girls, so I'm not sure how that translates. Anywho, it makes me feel like a fat little five-year old with lopsided pigtails and chocolate on the corner of my mouth that's just baaarely too far for my tongue to reach.
Obviously I've thought about this a lot.
I guess it doesn't help that I cut four inches off my hair and now look like an eight-year old. Life is good; hair is healthy. I can't complain.
As you probably know, it's cold here. I had thought that it wouldn't really surprise me because it's not like I'm from Hawaii--but I didn't realize that it would be so painful. Haha it feels exactly like being on a sled pulled by a snow mobile and the snow is just flying in your face and you're not really sure how you're going to live. And there's literally two inches of ice everywhere--I'm terrified that I'm going to fall and break my leg since it hasn't healed from the first day in the MTC. I may or may not be a drama queen, but I'm tellin' ya, it's nothing like I've ever experienced before. And everyone keeps saying that it's normal weather! Apparently it gets to be -27 in January. Happy birthday to me! Also, I don't think I mentioned that I'm serving in the coldest city in my mission. So there's that.
But yeah, this week has been lovely. You know how I'm somewhat fanatical about Christmas? It's like my winter wonderland dream come true here. I bought a Christmas tree and some holly and I'm pretty sure it's going to be the cutest thing ever. I'm also spearheading this Christmas activity in the branch that I'm pumped about. There are going to be three separate parts of the Savior's life that we'll have presentations on: His miraculous birth, His ministry, and His Atonement/Resurrection.
I love Christmas so hard.
I've come to realize that I will probably have a hilarious story about Sister Janis to tell you every week. This week, we were moving this huge table in the church kitchen to the sacrament hall. Sister Janis came in the door just as we were trying to squeeze it through the doorway of the sacrament hall and immediately she throws her purse down and her hat off her head and starts yelling, "Oh Lord, help us!" as she took part of the table and just ended up making it a lot more difficult. I was laughing so hard. The funny thing is that she doesn't even take the Lord's name in vain: she's literally always addressing Him in prayer. She's the most faithful person ever and it makes me so sad that y'all don't know her.
Another shining Sister Janis moment was on Sunday, when she told me that I look like a beautiful Egyptian. I just--I don't even know where she's coming from. Haha she's so funny.
The branch had an activity where we went to an art museum. It was a Christmas exhibit, apparently, but it had lots of Bulgarian artists. So Mike, that's cool. I also read Bulgarian all the time on the products here and it makes me excited for the fact that we might be able to kind of understand each other when I get home.
And oh my gosh, Ashton is one! So crazy. Nobody sent me pics of him, so let's jump on that next week, shall we? And Thanksgiving! It sounds like it was fun. Mine was pretty great.
As predicted, Sister Benson and I ended up doing the gravy, apple tarts, rolls, stuffing, cranberry cake, and squash. The elders brought chicken and coleslaw, haha. It was super good though--the whole church smelled like America. Which I'm now realizing just smells like food that's going to make you feel like a big fat lard, haha.
Forgot to tell you that Elder Rawlings is from Fruitland, Idaho and everyone gets a kick out of how hick he is. He was super impressed that I know Josh Foster (shout out to Josh!) because he has a huge farm...or something like that. So good job, Josh.
Our trip to Riga was fast--we were literally there for two hours. We had the time to eat at this Latvian cuisine place that was tasty but mostly just tasted like Lithuanian food to me. It was good though.
It's kind of cool that I can tell that my Russian is a lot better here than it was in my first two transfers. I'm thinking it's due to the fact that Sister Benson and I only speak Russian outside and I'm suddenly able to memorize things really quickly. The gift of tongues is real, my friends. I know it's also due to the fact that I am working harder than I've ever worked and Narva is teaching me some really valuable lessons. I asked Heavenly Father why he sent me here, because I felt like Narva needed at least five Sister Bensons and none of me. We're pretty much young women's leaders here, so it's a heavier work load than any other areas have for sister missionaries. Working with teenage girls who have it really rough in life is difficult in a way that I never expected it to be, but I have never loved people more or felt more like the Lord has expanded my ability to look beyond myself. Essentially, the Lord wants me to learn how to be selfless here. I've thought about the difference between the Savior and me, and in most situations that I would turn inwards, He always turns outwards. I really like who I'm becoming and the missionary that I'm learning to be. It's sad that it's taken me over six months to finally have this realization, but I thought for the first time this week about how honestly and completely blessed I am to be here of all places, doing what I'm doing. I've probably written that before but I've never felt it as deeply as I do now. Sister Benson and I have been focusing on teaching in every situation that we're in and instead of going "contacting", we go "teaching". It's made the biggest difference for me to focus on my purpose as a missionary to teach. It's made me more consecrated, happier, and in general I'm a lot less critical of myself.
I've thought a lot about the art of prayer this week. Sasha told us that praying is really hard for him because he doesn't want to ask Heavenly Father for blessings that he shouldn't. Honestly, I had the same problem before my mission, but it has been one of the most valuable things I've learned on my mission: how to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. I never really thought about it before but when we learn to pray in the name of Christ--to actively think of Him as our Advocate with the Father--our relationship with God and our Savior becomes a lot more than just a list of things that you're grateful for and things that you need. At least, mine did. Praying to know what to say in my prayers has made all the difference. Praying for the Spirit to guide you in your supplications and questions; praying for the humility to be open and willing to receive whatever answers or instruction that Heavenly Father has to give. Imagining the Savior beside you as you speak with the Father is something that's kind of hard to describe, but I just know that if you do it, your life will be more specifically blessed in the places that you need it to be than before.
I hope that made sense and didn't just sound like me rambling. But I love you all and I'm so grateful whenever I hear from you.
Love,
Sister Gooch
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