We went to Riga for zone training on Wednesday, which was great timing because we got to say goodbye to President and Sister Boswell the day before they left. And when I say "goodbye", I mean something more along the lines of them coming into the room for literally one minute and then being like, "Well, be good! Bye!" And we all waved. It's actually really sad to see them go and it feels weird. I haven't met President and Sister Harding, but from what I've heard, they're "ridiculously classy". If there's one quality that I require of a mission president, it's that he's classy...
But yeah, it'll be exciting to meet them sometime soon. We stayed in Riga for exchanges, too. I went with Sister McDiarmid and had a really good time, as usual. We've consigned (is that the right word for that?) ourselves to the fact that we're never going to serve together, so we take great pleasure in being able to teach with one another when we can.
The miraculous thing about our time in Riga was that all of the sisters that I came in with had visa appointments at the same time, so I got to see all of my MTC sisters! Seriously haven't talked so much or laughed so hard in a looong time. I haven't seen Sister Coombs or Sister Gray in what seems like years, so it was fun to catch up with them. The bummer was that I forgot my passport at my apartment so I couldn't renew my visa. I have to go do that today at a small place in Daugavpils without the help of Valerijs, the native who does the whole process for us. Wish me luck!
I don't have my camera on me but I will send pictures next week.
We also taught Inna four times last week. She still can't walk very well and as awful as that is, it gives us the opportunity to meet a lot more often. Funny thing that happened this week with her was that she texted us and basically told us that she can't meet and her incision is painful and then she wrote, "God has left me." I didn't respond to that but instead asked her, "Inna, do you usually feel better after meeting with us?" and she said, "of course." Then I drew the only logical conclusion and said, "Let's meet then." Haha so we did. She struggles with depression and every time that we get ready to leave her apartment, she sighs and says, "Every time you come, you leave my apartment a little brighter."
We taught her a lot about repentance and how the Atonement plays into that. She has a hard time understanding that even though there's a lot of bad in the world, Christ still suffered for a reason. He still helps people change. I've been thinking about the fact that what we see is determined by what we know, and it makes sense that Inna has little hope for humanity when she has only seemed to notice the negative things about her surroundings. I'm convinced that we could all become considerably depressed if we chose to pay attention to the things in life that aren't ideal. What's cool is that we're given a choice from Heavenly Father as to what we accept as knowledge. Not only did He give us the ability to choose what we know, but He gave us the natural ability to spread what we know. Whether we notice or not, we show what we know and believe by the way that we act. If we know that stealing is wrong, then we don't steal and, further, we try to discourage others from doing so. In the same way, if we know that the Savior lived and died for us, then we act like it. We use the Atonement by asking Christ to be our daily Mediator in prayer as we repent of the things that we could have done better and ask for an expanded capacity to do what we couldn't do before.
This gospel is so practical if you strip away all of the monotonous rituals that we tend to think about when the word "repentance" or "Atonement" is brought up. If you honestly and sincerely ask God how repentance can become a part of you, He'll lead you in a way that touches your heart specifically. It may not be conventional or what other people would first think to do, but He will tailor His principles to fit your soul. That's what's so awesome about prayer: through sincere prayer, we learn how to apply the gospel in a way that no Sunday school teacher or parent can tell us to. I don't mean to say that he will change His principles to fit your beliefs, because He will not and cannot do that. I'm saying that He'll find a way to make your soul fit what He has taught.
I don't really have the words for what I'm trying to say, but just know that this gospel is supposed to be individual in the sense that we apply every principle and doctrine as personally as we can rather than having a vague understanding of it and being satisfied with that.
Sorry for the short email. I love you all and hope you have a lovely week!
С любовью,
Сестра Гучка
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