Did you know that they celebrate Women's Day here on March 8th? It was beautiful. Flowers were in just about everyone's hands and everywhere we walked, people were like, "Hey, thanks for being a woman!" Not in so many words, but I could see appreciation and gratitude gleaming in their eyes.
They did say, "With the holiday!" which essentially means the mentioned above. And if you're reading this to yourself and wondering if anybody else on earth gets my sense of humor, the answer is no.
Anyways, this week was so good! Minus the bus rides. We went to Tallinn twice: first for Zone Conference and the second time was Estonian District Conference. I met people from the branches in Parnu, Tartu, Tallinn, and a good amount of our branch came, too. It was quite the difference from my first experience at a District Conference (I was in Lithuania last time) and I didn't really need to use the little translator things, so that was fun! Apparently my Russian has improved leaps and bounds. And when I say leaps and bounds, you need to remember how small my footsteps are due to the short nature of my legs.
What's cool about the Estonian branch is that almost all of them speak English, so I was able to get to know some of them. People here are the best. I know I've mentioned that once or twice, but I figure that if I repeat it enough then it'll actually mean something to you. People here are the best.
We took this tiny marshruta bus (I think that's Lithuanian and I never learned the English word for it) down there with our branch and that was hilarious. I convinced Gelia (10 year old birthday buddy that I mentioned in January) to braid Sister Dalley's hair into pigtails that made her look like her name should be Jessie and she should be from Squirrel, Idaho or something. The best part about that is that she felt obligated to keep her hair that way because Gelia was so proud of it. I don't know if I'm too easily entertained anymore or not but I got a real kick out of it.
It's always fun to watch President Boswell speak at conferences. During Zone Conference, he told us that we need to be meeting with every single member and reteaching them all of the PMG lessons. During the Estonian District Conference, he told the members that we, as missionaries, would be coming over and to prepare themselves to hear the PMG lessons all over again. He's just one of those people that leaves no stone unturned in making sure that something gets done--so he keeps the members and missionaries accountable by setting expectations for us. Haha he's the bomb.
The best part of Sunday was the fact that Pavel Ivanov came with his wife! I was so pumped about it. Scratch that--still pumped over here. I realize that it's not very descriptive to simply say that someone is "the best", "the bomb", or "the coolest", but you have to keep in mind the fact that my grasp on the English language is slipping through my grasp at an alarming rate. I literally say things like, "I want so that..." instead of "I want to..." I figure that's the price I have to pay in order to get my mind thinking like a Russian.
Anyways, we did the quit smoking program with Zhenja! He hasn't smoked for five days AHHHH! I'm like a proud mother over here. He was excited about it and it sounds like he's doing really well.
WE FINALLY MET WITH SASHA THIS PAST WEEK! Does the caps lock do my excitement justice? Not really. He hasn't answered our texts or phone calls for the past month(ish) and we've been pretty bummed about it. But he showed up and it was one of the best lessons we've had with him. We did this diagram (is it called a Venn Diagram when there's a subject in the middle and then you draw a branch to a subtopic and then you can draw another branch from the subtopic and make it into a sub-subtopic?) with Trust in the middle, because we've had a hard time getting him to understand that trust in God is essential to most things. I drew branches to repentance, the Atonement, God, the prophet, and receiving answers to your prayers. That sounds like chaos but it was all methodical genius, alright? His main concern has been really hard to pinpoint, but we knew that it was hidden somewhere in the monsterous topic of trust. So we went through point by point and asked some inspired questions that led to the heart of the heart of the heart of the concern! He doesn't understand the difference between being "worthy" and being "perfect". That's why he doesn't trust that a prophet wouldn't fall away and that's why he doesn't feel like he can make a covenant with God. I was telling him that it's really discouraging sometimes for me because I make a lot of the same mistakes every day, and every day I repent of the same things, but that I know repentance is a gradual process that enables us to change if we are continually, sincerely, and truly repentant. Then he said something along the lines of, "Yeah, that's good for you, but that doesn't really apply to what I'm saying. For me, it's the fact that I have a choice in front of me. I know that this choice is wrong and that it's bad, but I choose it anyways. Repentance can't do anything for me because I knew before I chose it that I'd be sinning but I did it all the same."
I can't imagine how hopeless I'd feel if that were true. Sasha has been paralyzed by all of his wrong decisions and can't imagine feeling guiltless before God until he has perfected himself.
It's actually a pretty logical train of thought if you don't understand how loving our Heavenly Father truly is. If you think about a god that only really executes justice and casts people out of his presence because they aren't worthy, then that's totally omitting the mercy side of the balance. God's mercy and justice work perfectly in balance with one another and there is no way that one can outweigh the other, otherwise God would cease to be God. He wouldn't be the perfect, loving, and just Father that we know from scripture study and experience. Sasha's right in the sense that God doesn't look upon sin with any degree of tolerance, but He does look upon us with eyes that see us as we are, or as we can become. He gave us the Atonement and the ability to repent as the way to reach that potential. The mercy that we receive from the Atonement obviously didn't come for free--the Father had to send His only perfect Son to pay the price for our sins.
So the price is paid: completely, fully, absolutely paid. That means that if we rely wholly upon the merits of Christ, we do not have to worry about making up the change. He didn't just pay 98% and then leave the rest up to us. He paid it all. What's left up to us is to make sure that we are using His priceless gift--that we're actually repenting daily and trying our best to change into who the Father knows that we can become. It has nothing to do with our personal worthiness of this gift. We so often think that mercy is the absence of God's justice, but that's not so. Mercy is the presence of God's power. Receiving it just requires a humble heart and willing (moldable, flexible, not-set-in-your-ways) mind with a determination to serve Him to the end.
If we use the Atonement daily in our lives, it will be impossible for us to look back on lifetimes of falling short and not quite reaching the mark. We will look back at lives that were lifted, strengthened, and supported by the perfecting Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.
I love you all to the moon!
Sister Gooch
No comments:
Post a Comment