Sadly, we said goodbye to Sister Kuznetsova on Wednesday morning. It was so fun having her here, and it's a little weird without her. Much quieter and less Russian; that's for sure. She promised me that the first thing she'd read when she got home was the Harry Potter series. The fool hasn't read or seen them yet!
We spent a lot of time with Valentina this week. First, it was stopping by Sister Chibatarjova in the hospital. She just had an operation on her mouth. Have I mentioned that the hospitals in the Baltics are sketchy as junk? The hallways are dark and most everything is painted concrete. On the bright side, the Daugavpils hospital is right across from the beach and forest, so it's got a nice location.
Valentina was telling us that thirty years ago, tons of people would come from Russia to the Latvian forests to pick berries and mushrooms. Those are huge here. You see babushki with red and purple-stained hands all the time from picking berries in the forest. I guess that people still do that but not as much as they used to.
We were also able to work on her garden. Do you remember like five months ago when I told you that I helped her plant potatoes? Well, I was lucky enough to be here long enough to dig them back up! We got to her garden and she told Sister Clark to start weeding, then pointed to me and said, "Gooch, you're going to dig up the potatoes with me." For some reason, she still has it in her head that I really know what I'm doing because I'm from Idaho. She was so pumped to share them, too--she sent us home with a gigantic bag full of them. If only I had Gram's recipe for pea and potato soup! *Hint, hint*
She said "Latvian potatoes are the best in the world," and I opened my mouth to disagree but then she gave me that Soviet look and I just kind of nodded. (I'm so sorry, Idaho!)
We definitely haven't been lacking in miracles this week. First of all, Elder Allred joined our district! Do you remember him? He and I served together in Narva and I just love his guts. So that was a pleasant surprise because it's not the transfer until next week.
Second and most important, Inna has had the coolest change of heart! She hadn't wanted to meet with us because she felt like it was pointless if she wasn't going to ever pay tithing. We had her stay after English the other day and just planned on talking to her about a change of heart. What ended up happening was kind of cool. We told her how we've had to experience a change of heart recently--learning how to get along. We were pretty honest in how we've had a hard time working together from the beginning and how it definitely hasn't come naturally to love one another. She was shocked, haha. She literally thinks that we're perfect, which is ludicrous. The Spirit was really strong though because we talked about the things that each of us have been doing individually to make it work (things that we didn't know the other person was doing) and testified about the fact that the Lord is always ready to shape our hearts if we let Him.
From there, she decided that she wanted to keep meeting with us and continue trying to let her faith grow.
She called me when I was working on Valentina's garden and said, "Sister Gooch, I woke up at midnight last night and read the Mormon's Book. Won't you come by tonight and discuss it with me?" She was in a particularly polite mood all day, so when we got to her place at 8 that night, I had no idea what we were in for. Our lesson plan was literally to listen to her talk and respond as the Spirit directed.
We started with a prayer and then she told us what happened the night before. She said that she had woken up at midnight and instead of reaching for a cigarette, she grabbed the Book of Mormon and started reading because she felt like she really needed to. She said, "I even forgot that this book is supposed to annoy me!" She started in Ether 6 and read all the way to the end. And what's more: she understood and enjoyed it! In her words, "I had Holy Ghost helping me to understand the text."
The fun doesn't end there, folks. Apparently when she woke up, she still felt the influence of the Spirit and wanted to do something about it. So she literally called her enemies and made peace with them; every single one. That's repentance, my friends!
It was cool to point out to her how much more Christlike she has become since meeting with us. She said herself that the faith that she's gained recently is something that she wants to keep forever, and then she said that she would be satisfied if that's all the Lord gave her was just a tiny seed.
You know what, though? That's so much less than what she's capable of. Heavenly Father isn't going to be satisfied with her only having a little bit of His power in her life when she was meant to have it all, в конце концов.
I feel like that's one of our biggest temptations in this life: to settle when things are good. I know I've said it before but it's something that the Lord is really searing into my heart. Settling goes against the very nature of our spirits. We were created with a purpose to propel us forward and upward and outward, which purpose Satan so cunningly curbs.
Imagine what kind of a person you could become if you did not let anything or anyone distract you from your purpose: to perfect your gifts, strengths, talents, weaknesses, and imperfections through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
How much more you would you be?
I love you all a lot and I'm so grateful for your prayers. Have a good week!
С любовью,
Сестра Гуч
P.S. I've had Christmas music stuck in my head all week. Wish I could sing it just to annoy J-Beezy.
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