So I've been on my mission for what, seven months(ish) now? And I had been wondering when I would encounter some food that was just ridiculous and nightmarish, like the stuff you always hear returned missionaries talking about. Well, dear friends, it happened at a birthday party. Kasenja turned 19 and invited us to eat dinner with her at the church last Monday. Her mom had prepared this thing--I don't know what they call it. I'll just tell you the ingredients: mayonnaise, sardines (or some kind of fish with eyeballs. Let me emphasize that again lest you missed it: eyeballs!), onions, beets, and pretty much everything about Russian food that I'm still not (probs won't ever be) used to. I persevered and ate that sucker like it was nothin'.
Anywho, it's snowed everyday here last week, which is actually kind of nice because that means that every day the ice gets covered so it's not so slippery. Anya (14 year old in the branch) makes fun of me for walking like a babushka but whatevs! Babushki know how to hustle safely, which is what I like to call my method. The bab-hustle.
Ever since I got here, I wondered how people use strollers here because it's freezing and there is a ton of snow, but I get it now! I've seen more people pulling their kids in sleds than strollers lately, so that's fun. I would have loved that when I was little!
As for the weekly Sister Janis story, I actually had a really sweet experience with her. From our last lesson, she had told us that she doesn't quite have a testimony of Joseph Smith and in the lesson, I had told her that we'd print of a talk by Jeffery R. Holland for her. The one I had in mind was "Safety for the Soul", where he bears a face-melting testimony of the Book of Mormon. Even though it has more to do with the Book of Mormon than with Joseph Smith's history and all that, I still felt pretty strongly that she needed to read it. We finally got to meet with her again on Saturday night and basically read through the whole talk with her because she loves to read out loud. And here's the thing about Sister Janis: she is ridiculously faithful and believing. As she was reading, she stopped towards the end and said, with hand over heart, "Sister Gooch, God put it in your heart to give me this talk. I just received a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. Glory to God! Halellujah!" It was so much more hilarious/endearing in Russian and if you could just see the way her eyebrows go up and down and she bobs her head when she talks. Every time we've seen her since then, she gives me a huge hug and says, "My dear, my beautiful, my little Sister Goochka! God told you to give me that talk, didn't he?" She's the highlight of my day, almost every day.
This week was full of really, really cool experiences, actually. We had an awesome lesson with Sasha. Sister Valling helped us, and I can't remember if I ever told you about her but she is what keeps this branch running. She's the most solid member and she is about 50. Anyway, we talked with Sasha about fasting and we decided to fast with him to receive an answer about whether or not he should be baptized on December 25th. Best present I could think of to give Christ, personally. But anyway, it was one of the most spiritual experiences of my life. Before I fast, I like to write down in my journal exactly what I'm fasting for or any questions I have. Then I pray with my eyes open to begin my fast and read down the list slowly, writing down impressions and thoughts that come to my mind as I go. Heavenly Father always gives me more than I ever expect from Him. I have wondered since I was in the MTC why I was learning Russian. Hopefully my head doesn't seem too big when I say that I can express myself pretty well in English, and I'm used to saying things in a way that makes me feel like I can get my point across in a pretty way. Obviously I can't do that in Russian. I had actually expressed this frustration to Sister Wrigley, my MTC teacher (sorry I talk about her all the time, it's just that she's the best and she taught me some of the most valuable things I've learned on my mission) and she told me to ask Heavenly Father what Russian has to teach me in life. Because obviously everything Heavenly Father puts in our lives has the intention of building us up; we just have to figure out how it's supposed to do that. So I did ask Him but never felt like I received an answer.
Fast forward six or so months, and I just get it now. Heavenly Father wants me to learn Russian so that I can learn to rely on Him and the Atonement completely. I had thought that I knew how to do that--I've always had the testimony that He can make our weaknesses become strong, but I hadn't recognized that He knows how to make full use of me--infirmities and all. That means that He can change every detail about me and make me into something glorious. Every part of me. My time here is teaching me to have a more complete faith in the cleansing and enabling power of the Atonement. And I know I talk about this almost every week, how we can change our weaknesses and become better, but I guess it's the message that Heavenly Father's especially searing into my heart since I've been on my mission. I figure He wants you to know it, too.
Sasha didn't necessarily receive any answers about his baptismal date, but that fast was mission-changing, I think. So I'm incredibly grateful nonetheless.
Had another powerful lesson with a former investigator of the elders (before sisters came to Narva) named Ludmila. If you haven't clued in yet, Russians pretty much have a variety of ten different names, haha. Anyway, we had taught an English class and at the end, for our spiritual thought, we gave everyone a piece of paper and told them to write down the name and contact information of someone they know who wants to change their lives and become better or who would be interested in the gospel. Ludmila referred herself, which was pretty awesome because apparently the whole time that Sister Benson has been here, she's been trying to meet with her. We taught her about repentance using Alma the Younger's conversion story in Alma 36. We explained what was happening as we went and focused on showing her how Alma went through the process of repentance. It was really cool because I've made a goal to memorize a bunch of things from Preach My Gospel in Russian and there was this perfect moment that it came to memory and I said it very slowly; sentence by sentence, and suddenly it just clicked for Ludmila. She said, "I've read this story with the missionaries before but I never understood it!" The Spirit really helped her see how Jesus Christ is connected to the process of repentance, and why we need Him as a Mediator with Heavenly Father. That was pretty awesome.
Another sweet thing about this week was our other lesson with Sasha, where we talked about the Word of Wisdom. Thankfully, Sasha doesn't smoke or drink, so the only thing he really had to give up was green tea. We asked him what he thought about the whole commandment (not the best question, haha) and he said, "It's like people in the army, right? They have to be physically prepared for battle and they have to condition their bodies to perform well. In the same way, God gave us the Word of Wisdom to keep the condition of our spirits healthy and ready to deal with any of the trials that we have in life."
Here's where one of those movie moments is supposed to happen where I'm in the middle of drinking a glass of water and I spray it everywhere. Future gospel doctrine teacher, right there.
Remember how I told you about President and Sister Dolgovi? Well, he was released as branch president and transferred to Latvia, so now we don't have a branch president. I'm really pumped to see who the new branch president is going to be. I mean, there's not much imagination to use since we only have one priesthood holder, Brat Kaben, but I'm still excited.
Anyways, I hope that y'all have a lovely week. Crazy that I get to talk to you in like two weeks, right? LOVE YOU.
-Sister Gooch
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