Week 9: August 26, 2013

Heyooo!

So this has been the most insane week of my life. Seriously, I don't even know what to do with myself. The flight over here was really good! Ask me when I get home about placing a Book of Mormon in the DC airport because it's a funny story but it can wait. We almost missed our flight to Riga from Frankfurt because they printed the wrong gate on our ticket and we literally sprinted for twenty minutes to the other side of the airport and barely made it on time. That flight was the worst because I was feeling super nervous and barfy. Haha the Riga airport is pretty ghetto too, so that was fun.
We got into Riga center, which is where the mission home is. There's a new youth center that we put all of our luggage in and did orientation in. The first thing we did was go get our citizenship or whatever for Latvia and then we went contacting. Which was just--no words. Haha people in Riga center are in a hurry and not the friendliest but it's okay because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to talk to someone who looks like a grease ball either. And that's how I looked, btw.. So gross from the flight.

I went contacting with a Latvian speaking sister so it was rougher than usual.

We spent a few nights in a hotel there doing orientation and getting to know Pres. Boswell, which was awesome. He and S. Boswell are the bomb. We had interviews and talked about how not to get fleas and it was good stuff. I'm officially paranoid. Latvian food was AMAZING though. Like, better than American. And if you know me, that's really saying something.

So they gave me my companion on the third day and her name is S. Weaver. She's from Spanish Fork and she's the best. I don't know how I got so lucky but we get along super well and she's great at making me participate. I made a deal with her that I would make the first initial approach with every contact and say as much as I could and then she'd bail me out. It's brutal but I'm learning a lot. 

We're in Vilnius, Lithuania! The bus ride from Riga is about four hours but for some reason it took five. As we drove into Vilnius, my thoughts were like, "I thought this was a lot prettier on Pinterest." Hahaha it's sooo soviet here. The buildings are all ugly, grey, dirty, and graffiti'd. And there are huge apartment buildings for milessss. But it's cool because there are random patches of forest so that's pretty. And S. Weaver tells me that Vilnius is gorgeous, it's just our area that's ugly. Today we're gonna explore old town, which is the pretty part, apparently. I'll just have to take her word for it.

It rains a lot here, and it's super bipolar. One minute it'll be pouring and the next it's really sunny. But the past two days have been nice because the sun is out and the humidity isn't too bad.

I got over jet lag really fast, so that's good news. My apartment is super ghetto from the outside and I only recognize it from the graffiti but the inside is pretty nice! I really can't complain because we don't have cockroaches. And that's all I ask. 

So we've had a lesson every day since I've been here, which apparently doesn't usually happen. Our first lesson that we had was with Galena and Margarita, a mother and daughter who are really devout Catholics. On the way to the lesson, we took a bus and I was talking to this lady. She asked me how old I was and I told her eleven. Haha such a confidence booster right before my first lesson. But they are so cool! Obvoiusly I didn't understand everything (maybe one word for every thirty or so) but it was cool that I was still able to feel the Spirit when I testified. They had tons of hard questions that we didn't really know how to answer and we actually have to pass them to the Lithuanian elders because they speak better Lithuanian than Russian, but it was a great experience!

We had lunch one day with a member couple, the Haas family. The wife is from Lithuania and the husband is American. They made us German food and I realized that I absolutely despise dill, which is bad news because they use it in all of their bread. Pretty sure I'll get used to it. But the wife was suuuper nice. She told me her conversion story and it cracks me up how animated these people are when they talk. How loud they are, really. 

Our other lesson that we had was actually a miracle. So there's this member Yanina who has a friend named Yakov. He is blind and the missionaries have tried to talk to him before but he was really against it. Anyway, a few weeks ago he was super drunk and he fell in his apartment and cut himself really badly on his neck and bled all over his apartment. The missionaries helped Yanina clean it up so his heart was softened by that a lot. Yanina was supposed to come to our lesson with Galena and Margarita yesterday but when we knocked,  they weren't home. So Yanina is a champion of the sun and suggested that we stop by Yakov's. We went and taught him an impromptu lesson on prayer. He's really hard to understand and he yells a lot but it was so cool that we finally established a relationship with him.

Another great lesson was with Eddy and Nowi. They're from India and we taught them with Elder Packham and Elder Hall, two Lithuanian elders. We didn't expect much from that lesson because we mostly felt like they were just meeting with us because they wanted friends but we got there and  taught them the entire first lesson. They are awesome people and Eddy was super interested. Sort of funny thing that happened: they offered us Coke and I don't really like it but they brought me a mug of it anyway. I took a few sips and then set it on the table next to Elder Packham, hoping that they wouldn't be able to tell that I didn't drink all of it until I left. Haha but Elder Packham is the bomb and when we were about to leave, he saw my cup and just downed it because he didn't want them to be offended. Then we all cram into this tiny, nasty elevator and E. Packem burped right in my face. It was the worst because he ate curry earlier and oh my gosh, just so gross. He was laughing so hard. Har har.

Church on Sunday was great. Probably the most overwhelming experience of my life as of yet, but super funny. Everyone is so nice! I sat by this guy whose name I have no idea how to spell (Alvidas) but he was really nice to me and was helping me with Russian. Church is so different here. There were about forty-five people who came and apparently that's more than usual. I tried to introduce myself to every person but only ended up getting like twenty-five. They all think my Russian is cute, which is better than annoying, I guess. Haha I've set a goal not to talk about how crappy it is, so we'll leave it at that. 

I've already had a lovely amount of embarrassing moments. Haha first of all, I can't tell when people are drunk unless they're swaying or their eyes are all squinty and they smell like pee. Good thing Sister Weaver knows the smell and all that because she's had to pull me out of a few conversations. There are benches right outside our apartment that are always occupied by a group of drunk guys having the time of their lives. And by that I mean they're yelling. Haha it's entertaining. There's also a lady that feeds the birds every day right by our apartment. I don't know how she doesn't pee her pants when she sees a hundred of those things flocking towards her.

Birds, cats, and dogs are now the enemies of my soul, by the way. And speaking of dogs, we asked this guy if we could talk to him for a minute about our message and he was walking his dog. Apparently his response was, "You can talk to my dog," all sassy-like and, me, not knowing Russian, thought he said, "My dog likes you!" So I start cooing at the dog and waving at it and then as we walked away I realized how stupid that looked. Hahaha sometimes it's a good thing that I don't know what is going on.

So everything is really good with me. It's definitely an eye opener that I don't even know how to start natural conversations but I'm learning a lot really fast. Pres. Boswell gave us this really good talk called "The Fourth Missionary" and it talks about giving your whole heart, might, mind, and strength to the Lord. I never really understood what that meant until I read the talk because it seems like a super vague thing to me. But something the guy said was, "There isn't anything we can give the Lord that he doesn't already have except for our will." I never realized that. The Lord has given us free agency and we are in charge of our desires and all that, but He asks us to give that to Him. I guess that's the difference between the people who live the law of consecration and those who don't. I'm trying my best to give up thinking about the future/home as much and to completely give my will to Him. Good things are coming my way; I can feel it.

I can't wait to see pics of Jared's wedding! I wish I could have heard from you guys this week but I hope everything is going well. LOVE YOU ALL!

Love,

Cectpa Gooch

Week 7: August 7, 2013

Hey family!

I feel like I say this every time, but it was the best week so far. Definitely harder than the ones before--more on that later, but I have learned a ton and almost died from lack of oxygen (from da laughz). So, to start off, I think I forgot to tell you that last week or something like that, we met a bunch of Baltic missionaries who came to the main campus for P-day. They are staying on the west campus. There were the Latvian, Estonian, and Lithuanian speakers that we met and it was awesome because we all seem to get along really well. It made me even more pumped to fly to Riga with them.

Sort of sad, but Brat Williams left this week. We really sent him off with a bang though because it was потом day! Remember how I said that our district motto is "потом, потом"? That means, "later, later". We say it all the time because we'll ask Brat Williams a question and his answer will be потом, потом. He promised us that his last day here, he would talk about all of the потом's. So E. Graf has been keeping record of all the stories that he hasn't told us and he brought 'em out and Brat Williams told us a bunch of them. He brought artifacts from his mission and he showed us his planners, PMG, pictures, and a bunch of other stuff. It was the best. He's seriously been such an awesome teacher and we're all really close to him so it was sad to see him go, but the whole thing just made me so excited. He told us this story of an investigator he had who had schizophrenia (sp?) and one time it was fast Sunday. So the guy got up to bear his testimony but he just tells a few really sad stories from his life and then walks off. Then he runs back to the pulpit and starts looking through his bag, saying that he forgot something. He pulls out a bottle of prescription meds and holds them up, asking if anybody wants them because he doesn't want to take them anymore. Haha so insane, but a member in the back just raises his hand and walks up to the pulpit and takes the pills. Haha I guess the missionaries were laughing so hard. Only in Eastern Europe would the members not even blink an eye.

You will never guess what I did this week. Or maybe you will, since I wasn't totally surprised. But I'll preface the story: I was having a hard day. I hadn't gotten any mail for like three days (which shouldn't matter but it does), I was having a hard time with patience, and also I ate some chicken fried misteak. It was rough. So my companion and I were walking back to class from our residence hall and those blasted stairs got me again. I fell so hard on my butt and slid down a few steps. I don't even know how this happens. I black out or something. Haha so I have a gigantic bruise on my butt. It's funny because I still can't kneel and I can't really sit down. I know that sounds awful and it sort of is but it has also been a great source of joy in my district.

Since Brat Williams left, that means that we're done teaching Vechaslav. And Nadyezhda. We got a new investigator, Yana. She was baptized a year ago but stopped going to church as soon as her sister missionaries left. We've only had one lesson with her and S. Wrigley warned us that she wouldn't be friendly at all. I wasn't super concerned because I figure that I'm a reasonably charming person and my testimony is reasonably touching and then I realized that none of that mattered. Haha seriously, it was sad. I even did what S. Kuznetsova suggested and picked her a flower--totally against the rules, btw. Thank heavens the Spirit told me not to say the line, "Anya, I don't like singing but for you, I will," and then follow through with the plan to sing a hymn. Pretty sure that S. Coombs and I would have driven away the Spirit if we sang because neither of us can carry a tune. The whole lesson I was trying really hard to make sure she knew that she was loved, though. I may be absolutely awful at Russian, but I think that I'm pretty alright at focusing on people's needs just because it's a weakness that I've had to rely on the Lord for ever since I've been here. She refused to pray and I was even trying to be bold with her, trying to figure out why. She wouldn't answer our questions or if she did, they were only a few syllables. It was a little frustrating just because all she needs is to understand how to communicate with Heavenly Father and how to build a relationship with him and the Savior.

Since Brat Williams left, we have another teacher. His name is Brat Bush but we haven't met him yet. He'll be our other investigator. Brat Williams kept telling us that we won't even miss him because Brat Bush is so amazing. We're excited to meet him tomorrow.

So, quote of the week that just killed me: We were eating breakfast and E. Graf was talking about how sick he is with the cold and how he has a bunch of nasty stuff in his throat. I was already getting angry because, I mean, we were eating. And then he said this gem: "I literally gave birth out of my throat this morning." I vomited right then and there. Haha seriously though, so gross. He was saying how he was hacking up a bunch of mucus and likening it to a live birth. He's the worst and also he's the best.

Companionship highlight: Sister Roy and Sister McDiarmid are the bomb. They really struggled at the beginning of the MTC because S. McD is super open and proactive in communicating what she wants and S. Roy is the total opposite. S. Roy is the nicest person I've ever met, and I mean that. She does anything for anyone but she never really thinks about herself. As a result, she wasn't communicating with S. McD what she was thinking or feeling, so they struggled to be on the same page. They're a miracle companionship, though. They've worked through a lot of things and are so solid now. S. Roy is hilarious because she's a huge gamer--she loves Assassin's Creed or whatever that game is. And a bunch of other video games. Haha she listens to great music, too. She's the blonde one with super long hair. She's from West Jordan, UT recently but she was born in Illinois.

S. McD is way fun, too. She's a lot like me in the fact that we joke around a lot but she's also great at being focused when she needs to be. She does the best E. Pyne impression. She's from California and she's the oldest. It'll be her 22nd birthday on the flight over to Latvia.

Today we cleaned the temple for service, which was a really cool experience. The sisters get to clean the crystal chandeliers while the elders do the vacuuming and washing windows and all that. We spent our time in a sealing room cleaning the chandelier, and the whole time we were talking to two of the temple custodians. One of them is a descendent of the Reynolds and Dixons in Ashton, if Grams and Gramps know them. We talked all about Ashton and she actually knew exactly where G&G live and I could figure out where her parents live now. It sounds like they're in G&G's ward. It was sort of a tender mercy to have her there because it made me feel like I was at home.

After we finished taking off all the crystals, cleaning them and then putting them back on, we were able to go on a tour. We walked into the celestial room with the lights off and it was awesome to see it light up. I can't wait for it to open next week! I have a feeling it's gonna be a good one.

My favorite part of every day is at night when I herd all of the new sisters into one of the rooms and we go around and share our miracles for the day. After, I tell them something that was on my mind during the day and usually challenge them to do something. I didn't think that it was that big of a deal--I actually thought it might be annoying to them because it takes away from their time to get ready for bed. But today was really cool because one of the sisters, S. Johnson (going to Russia) gave me a card. She said some really nice things but the part that really got me was, "You have made the difference to me." If that is just a glimpse of the difference that I am capable of making when I am being led by the Spirit, then I can't wait to be able to serve the people in the Baltics. Nothing has ever meant more to me than to know that my efforts aren't unnoticed and that it actually does help other people when I take the time to do what the Spirit tells me to. I love all of the new sisters--they are super funny and I think they're all doing pretty well.

Have I mentioned that Sister Wrigley is like my soul sister? She's the type of person who makes you feel like a million bucks whenever she's in the room. And she's hilarious. You should add her on Facebook for me so I don't forget her. Amanda Wrigley. Please and thank you.

I said goodbye to Ashlyn this week too! She's going to be awesome. It's weird that both her and Becca have come and gone while I've stayed here. It finally hit me this week that I'm leaving so soon. We get our flight plans on Thursday, apparently. Jared, you might understand how behind in Russian if I tell you that I literally do not know cases (except for how to decline masculine nouns), I don't know to-shto (I don't have time to spell that in Russian), kotorie, or verbs of motion. I'm dying here. Haha but honestly, I'm not feeling too panicked. It's not like people join the church because of excellent Russian speaking missionaries; they join it because of the way that they feel. I'm focusing on being able to bring the Spirit in lessons and I figure that the Lord will make up the difference.

I've had a lot of cool experiences this week that you'll get letters about. I hope that you are all doing great and OH MY GOSH ASHTON IS CRAWLING? I don't know whether I want to cry about that or not. Give him a hug and kiss for me and squeeze his chubby lil legs. And also, I'm super sorry for forgetting Cal's birthday. I hope it was real fun, my friend. And Jared's wedding is so soon! And Nicole's baby after that?! I better be receiving pics up the wazoo.

I love you all!

Love,

Cecpta Gooch

 

P.S. Please send me McCall's, Lindsi's, Uncle Mike's, and Sadie's address. And yes, an address book would be GREAT. Love you!

Week 6: July 31, 2013

Hey y'all!

 

I'm just gonna start by saying that I'm not trying to be dramatic or anything, but my life changed this week. I guess it's accurate to say that it's changed every week since I've been here, but what I mean is that I learned something that will change how I live the rest of my life. I've heard stories of people talking to God--not face to face or anything but it's like they could hear a voice revealing something to them. Usually it was their own thought but they knew that it came from revelation. And I've always thought that those experiences were really cool and that those people were gifted or something for being able to have a conversation with God.

This week Sister Wrigley started telling us a story about her life in the past few years and it is basically all about how she has followed the Spirit through a really tough trial and there were tons of miracles along the way. I don't have time to write details, but she told us about a time that she was sitting in her car outside the temple (because the temple was closed) and she told Heavenly Father, "I have a pen in my hand and I've written down my questions and I'm not going to leave this car until I have answers." Sort of sassy, right? I thought so, too. But she said she sat there and read off her questions and prayed for a long time, and eventually thoughts came into her mind and she wrote them down, and they were her answers. So then she asked more questions and there were more answers and it filled pages and pages. So then I got to thinking, why can't I do that? Sister Wrigley kept saying that God wants to talk to us and he wants to answer our questions, no matter how insignificant we think they may be to Him. As long as it's important to us, it's important to Him.

On Monday, I decided that I'd ask my questions that I hadn't ever thought to ask: things that have always bothered me or concerns that I didn't think could be resolved. I spent two hours in the morning (during language study, oops. Part of the reason that my Russian is coming along at a snail's pace) and prayed with all the energy of my heart. I know that sounds cheesy but I really mean it. I've never focused so much on a prayer in my life. I asked Heavenly Father to help me know the right questions to ask and to recognize the answers that He gives me. And here comes the boom: it worked! It took a long time and just as I was about to give up (two hours is a long time, if you know what I'm sayin'), a thought came into my mind that I know didn't come from me. It was an answer to a question that I hadn't known I'd been asking and it was advice that I never could have imagined for myself. The next day, I asked Heavenly Father if there was more and if He could teach me how to listen more carefully, and I honestly have pages of personal revelation about tons of different things: my mission, my investigators, what I'll do after my mission, what is to come in my life, and how to obtain the blessings of my patriarchal blessing. It just blows my mind how much Heavenly Father is willing to give us if we keep asking and if we trust and have total faith that He'll answer.

The reason I write this is because I don't want anyone to go another second in life without knowing that Heavenly Father will literally speak with you. I want you to know that you can lead a life guided by the Spirit and that Heavenly Father always meant for it to be like that. He always wants to talk to us and resolve our concerns--we just have to put faith in Him and have a strong desire to listen. Maybe I've been told this all of my life, but it's never really meant something to me until I knew that it could happen for anyone. And it can! So if there's something that's you've been feeling uneasy or concerned about, please pray tonight for answers. You'll get them if you have the faith, I promise.

Sorry to preach, I just feel like that's the most important thing I've ever learned. This week was great, although I don't really know why. Haha lots of things have hit me at once: I got super sick with a cold and just felt like death in general, still chugging along with Russian, and...I know there were more difficult things, I just can't remember them. Anyway, it doesn't make sense for me to not have had a bad day, but it's true. Every day is good here. That's probably because my district is so hilarious and also I'm being lulled into a false sense of security with my Russian.

On Sunday, Sister Coombs and I were called as Sister Training Leaders and later today, we have four new sisters coming into our zone. We'll be in charge of getting them trained and settled tonight, so that should be fun. IYou always hear the advice, "Just make it to Sunday and it'll all be good!" but I think that's stupid. Haha why should you wait until Sunday to have a good day? I've found that it's hard to be discouraged when you're praying to recognize the significance of each day and to recognize Heavenly Father's hand. The calling is going really well--the thought that keeps coming to mind is that the Lord shapes our backs to bear our burdens. I can feel that a lot every day. Like I said, things that shoud be hard or discouraging for me just aren't anymore. It's a huge blessing and I know that it comes from exact obedience. Aaaand my ability to crack myself up.

Speaking of which, Elder Graf and I pulled a fast one on our teachers this week. We've been perfecting the fake slap for a few days--Elder Graf puts his hand in front of his face and I slap his hand and he turns his head so it looks like I slapped him for real if you're stanfding from behind. So we were outside doing a contact activity with Brat Williams and Elder Graf was like, "Sister Gooch, you're an annoying little mama rabbit," which was just stupid, but I pretended to be reeeeal angry and we did the fake slap thing. You should have seen Brat Williams' face! It was priceless. O.O <---that was it. And then the next day we did it to Sister Wrigley and that was even better. She practically fell over. Brat Williams was so pumped to be a part of it though. And yeah, I know this doesn't sound that funny but rest assured that we were laughing for dayzzz.

So for the companionship spotlight: Sister Haroldsen & Sister Bonazelli. Sister Haroldsen is from Idaho Falls and she's super sweet. She loves to tell stories and she's really talented at the violin. A few days ago after dinner, she was playing and all of the elders were clogging to it. Killed me dead. Anyways, she and Sister Bonazelli are headed to Samara, Russia with the rest of the elders in our district. Sister Bonazelli was baptized around two years ago and she is just awesome. Her mom passed away in January from cancer, her dad's an alcoholic, and she isn't close to any of her siblings. It's insane how much people give up to be here, but it's also been cool to hear her say how much peace she has and how confident she is about her future.

It's been great having Ashlyn Clark here, too. We see each other almost every meal and I think it's been a huge blessing for both of us to be able to talk to each other. She's doing great and her teacher is actually a guy who was in one of my classes last semester. I also got to say goodbye to Becca Evans, which was just the best. She left today for Oakland.

So Brat Williams always gets mad when the elders waste their p-days playing floppy golf (you're still supposed to study and prepare for lessons, regardless of the fact that it's p-day) and we were talking about it last week. Brat Williams told them that if they could relate floppy golf to our purpose as missionaries, then it's okay if they play. And since Elder Wixom is a champion of the sun, he likened it to the Plan of Salvation. Haha there are three kingdoms (three rungs on the floppy golf pipe thing) and you're aiming for the celestial. Haha it was great. He's a fast thinker.

And OH MY GOSH I almost forgot to tell you about the funniest part of my week! So we were sitting at breakfast one day and I was telling everyone about the time that Julissa, Mattie and I were walking outside at Eagle High and there was a bunch of bird poop on the ground. And Julissa said something like, "There's so much fetus on the ground," when I thiiink she meant to say "feces". Haha so we were all having a good laugh about that and then Elder Graf asked us if he'd ever mentioned fetus face before. The answer was no. So he proceeds to tell us that there is a certain face that we all have when we wake up in the morning, and this is called fetus face. It's when your eyes are all crusty and gross and he said the only way to avoid it is to shower ASAP and eat breakfast. Hahaha so sick, but I really appreciated his imagery.

Anyways, I hope that everything is going great for you guys. It sounds like lots of good things are happening and I'm pumped to hear how the wedding of the year (not counting Beau and Brynn's, obvi) is pulled off. Beary J. Blige and his Feyonce. Haha I love that. And I love all of you!

 

-Sister Gooch

 

P.S. Thank you for Katzner, Beary! And the clothes are good, I just don't need anymore polka dots :) And are you sending me an address book? And thank you for the contacts! I LOVE YOU ALL.

Week 5: July 24, 2013

Hey y'all!

No joke, it's been the best week so far in the MTC. Just bustin' full of miracles. For one, I saw Becca Evans (summer roommate) and nearly died from joy. And then today, I saw Ashlyn Clark right when she got in here and I'm fairly certain that I alarmed the surrounding people by how fast my little legs ran to her. Haha it was great and she seems like she's doing well.

So there's 2 new districts here and it's been so fun getting to know them. They're funny kids and it's been so cool helping them adjust to the MTC. It's nice to see how much I've progressed in the five weeks that I've been here because I can see how freaked out they are by the language and I totally remember being the same way. And I still kind of am that way but I've accepted that no matter how good at Russian I am, I won't feel prepared by the time I leave. I thiiiiink that's a healthy attitude.

Anyway, having the new district here has really boosted my self confidence. To the point of being full of myself. Haha so to preface this story, you should know that every Sacrament meeting, no one knows who's speaking until after the Sacrament part is over. The branch President announces it. So this last Sunday, I was talking to one of the new districts and giving them advice (LOL) and I really sounded like I knew what I was talking about.

Then Elder Pyne came in and saw that I was distracting them from studying and said, "Sister Gooch, you were part of a miracle today." Knowing E. Pyne, I was expecting him to talk about how I embarrassed myself somehow but when I asked him what he was talking about, he said, "Your name was on the program to speak until the last minute when President Harrison grabbed the program and said to his counselor, "Sister Gooch isn't prepared. Sister Haroldsen will speak instead." After E. Pyne told me that, I was kind of taken aback. At first I was thinking, "Oh my gosh! What a tender mercy!" and thennnn it sunk in. E. Pyne is really good at chastising you without you really knowing it. Seriously though, my stomach just kind of dropped when I realized the implications of what he was saying. There's no way that President Harrison could have known that I didn't prepare a talk, but he somehow knew that I hadn't done what I was supposed to (write a talk for every Sunday just in case). I felt so bad. Haha I know it probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but there's nothing worse than knowing that you can't be counted on. I came on a mission to be a totally dependable servant of the Lord and I can't do that unless I'm obedient in everything that I do. I've been praying for a true conversion to the rules since I don't necessarily enjoy doing everything with exactness, even though it doesn't seem like it's important. And the Lord answered my prayer, just not in the way that I expected. I definitely feel humbled, but it's what I needed.

Oh, and for the weekly description of a companionship, we'll do E. Pyne and Graf. First off, E. Graf might be the funniest person I've ever met. I know I say that all the time but it just blows my mind. His delivery in his jokes is top notch. Sort of unrelated, but he told us how his dad was on his mission and was explaining the First Vision to some people in Japan. I guess he mixed up the word for "personage" and "carrot", so the people thought that he was saying that Joseph Smith saw two "glorious carrots". His companion didn't correct him and they were in awe and his dad kept saying, "I know, it's hard to believe but I know it's true." Hahaha so good. Anyway, E. Graf is from Utah...Sandy maybe? I don't remember. But he just graduated. And he reminds me so much of Jim Halpert in the way that he talks sometimes. This is going to sound like it's a cliche but I mean this in the literal sense: He breaks my bananas. Haha just to make me mad he'll reach over and rip 'em in half because he knows I hate it.

Something that he said this week that killed me was during dinner one time. We watched this super tiny elder walk in the cafeteria and I said something about wanting to hug him. I don't know why I thought it was so hilarious but E. Graf goes, "I just wanna shove a piece of cake in his mouth and tell him to go to bed." Died. Dead.

E. Pyne is from Seattle and there's no better way to describe him than saying that he reminds me of the little kid/baby version of the Grinch. Haha he has super long eyelashes and he's always mocking everyone in this annoying voice that just kills me. I'm sort of making it sound like he's mean, but he's not. He's just hilarious and reminds everyone to laugh at themselves. He's also a champion of the sun at the piano.

And since we're on the subject of how funny he is, I need to tell you about something that has just blown my mind this week. I can never tell if E. Pyne is joking because he's SO good at lying. It's ridiculous. I still don't know if he's actually adopted or not. Haha but he's telling me about the fact that he doesn't believe in dinosaurs and his argument for that was somewhat valid, but then he's telling me that he also believes in mermaids. I was laughing so hard that my face turned bright red. But he goes into this whack explanation of how they're not actually mermaids in the sense that they're half human half fish, but he believes in aquatic apes. Hahaha I can't wait to tell you his theory when I get home but this sentence actually came out of his mouth: "If you want to be taken seriously in this world, you use the term aquatic ape, not mermaid." He also said that "dolphins are the only ones who are intelligent enough to communicate with them underwater, so they're friends." No idea if he's serious because he's just a weirdo like that. Oh, and they're our zone leaders but that's changing this next Sunday.

My companion and I had awesome lessons with Vechaslav (Yes, I realize that I spell his name differently every week) and Nadyezhda. We taught Vechaslav about the Word of Wisdom and I learned a lot about how I teach. I'm getting better at being bold and blunt if it's necessary. For instance, Nadyezhda just wouldn't read the Book of Mormon and she was wondering why she wasn't progressing. I finally asked her why she wasn't reading it and she said it was because she didn't have time. I was quiet for a second and then I asked what the real reason was. Haha we asked her to pray right then and there to find out if it was true and she did and now she's getting baptized. Sister Wrigley (my teacher) was telling us that you have to be bold with Russians and that it's a good thing that I'm not afraid to get to the heart of peoples' concerns. It feels good to at least be doing one thing right, you know?

As for gym time, I've officially decided that I can't play volleyball anymore. I lose the Spirit too easily because I get so mad at the elders that always play because they always try to take over my position. Haha I'm sticking to kickball and running for now.

My district has grown really close this past week. Last Wednesday night, Sister Wrigley changed our plans for class and decided to have us all teach her as one massive companionship in Russian about trust. It was an opportunity that we'd been looking for because we could all tell that she was struggling with something big in her life for the past few weeks. She said it had something to do with her family but she would never say what. And this particular Wednesday, she seemed to be having an especially hard time. Anyway, she gave us about ten minutes to prepare and we all said a prayer to be inspired and be able to say what she needs to hear. I said a personal prayer and immediately after I said amen, a question popped into my mind that seemed a little awkward to ask but I wrote it down anyway. So she came back in and we start the lesson and I kept feeling like I should ask my question. I waited until the moment was right and then I asked her, "Sister Wrigley, do you think that God trusts you?" All in flawless Russian, of course. Haha but she started to get teary eyed and then later, after the lesson was over, she pulled me aside and told me how inspired that question was. She had an experience earlier in life when she felt the Spirit tell her, "I trust you, Amanda. Try to trust me too." So that was awesome. I'm mostly telling you this just so you know that there is no better feeling on earth than knowing that you've conveyed exactly what they Spirit wanted you to.

Sort of a sad thing that we found out is that Brat Williams is starting law school soon so we'll have a sub for the rest of the time when he teaches. Super bummed about that because we all love him.

It's crazy how much I'm loving life here. It took a little bit to adjust to, but I really am loving the MTC. My favorite part of the day is at the very end when my district is just joking around and telling funny stories. I always invite the elders over for movie night. Haha it's a great joke, right? We're hypothetically watching Mean Girls tonight. Haha anyways, I love you all and I hope that your week is great.  Love you.

 

Love,

Sister Gooch

Week 4: July 17, 2013

Helloooo!

So, I have a lot this week. First and foremost, THANK YOU for the package. I love all of the clothes and I love myself again now that I'm not wearing the same things over and over. I realize that this feeling is temporary but I am thrilled for now so I'll take what I can get. Also, Jared: Brother Eckersley taught us the other day and said that he served with you. So that was fun! Also, send me that Russian poem that you got on your mission if you can.

This week has been really great, but has spawned a really unfortunate reputation for me. Haha so here's the thing: I eat a bunch of carrots when the food is less than satisfactory, so this happens often. Anyways, I'm eating one day and I look at Elder Graf and (I'll do my best to describe it but words can't capture the hilarity) he had his nostrils flared and is nibbling on a carrot with his lips tucked in. Apparently it was an impression of me. Hahaha I literally snorted. He said, "If you were an animal, you'd be a mama rabbit." I'm mostly offended at the "mama" part. Like what does that even mean? I look matronly?

Anyway, err'body's drinking haterade because they think I eat carrots like a rabbit. It hurts. Haha seriously though, if you only knew how much crap I get for three things: 1. my name 2. the fact that I sway when I eat/stand and 3. my carrot thing. It's hilarious though. Thank heavens I was blessed with the inability to take myself seriously.

Speaking of which, remember how Elder Harrison is just like the most ridiculous person on earth? Well he still is but we've had some really good conversations this week! Love him to death. He's always trying to get E. Pyne to do crap by saying, "YOU'RE NOT DOWN" and then followed by something like eating a napkin dipped in gravy. (It happened, unfortunately.) E. Pyne gets so annoyed and he never says it back, but last night E. Harrison challenged him to something--I think it was to wake up at 5:00 to do laundry in the morning--but finally E. Pyne broke. "THAT'S IT, I'M DOWN." It was reeeeal funny, believe me. But I tell you that to illustrate the fact that E. Harrison will eventually break you down and make you love him. Haha he's one of the most interesting people I've ever met because he's suuuper confident to the point of annoying but he has like a bajillion friends and he is honestly interested in what you're saying. He would be a great businessman.

And I just decided that I'm going to tell you more in depth about one companionship each week because why not. So E. Dimond is E. Harrison's companion and he just got called as our district leader and E. Wixom was released. He's already awesome. It's hilarious to see E. Dimond and E. Harrison together because they could not be more opposite. E. Dimond is quiet, suuuper humble, and the nicest person in the world. If I'm ever talking and someone interrupts me, he's like, "Go on, Sister Gooch. I'm listening." It's ridiculous how Christ like he is. I die everytime he gets frustrated with E. Harrison because he's just funny when he's mad. It's like a polite disdain. They're both great.

We have TRC every Wednesday and last Wednesday was great. We never seem to be prepared but both S. Coombs and I are pretty relaxed in lessons so it seems to go pretty well. We get feedback sometimes and the things that they had to say were awesome for me to hear. They said that we were relaxed and came in with a spirit of love, which is exactly what I've been trying to focus on. Another high point of the week was our lesson with Veecheeslov. He has always intimidated me because he just sits there all silent and if we ever ask him a question about how he feels about something, he always answers with "good". Haha he doesn't talk much and there isn't much eye contact. But we really tried our best to study what the Spirit prompted us to, which for me was to figure out how he feels the Holy Ghost. We centered our lesson around that and when we had him read D&C 8:2, he was quiet for like thirty seconds. And then he said, "Good." Haha so I asked him what he was thinking and he said that he had thought he needed to see God in order to know that he was feeling the Spirit, but he understood that it's usually more natural than that; that you feel peace or warmth or what have you. Afterwards, I was trying to say something along the lines of, "When I feel the Spirit, it isn't like lightning or thunder. It's a warm feeling." What I ended up saying: When I feel Spirit, not BOOM SCHOOOOBOOM. I feel warm." At least it made him laugh. Haha he got what I was saying. That's why I used hand gestures as well.

What really helped me and why I think that lesson went so well was because Brat Williams had showed me this scripture in Moses 6:32. It talks about how Enoch (I think) was talking about how he's slow of speech and he's wondering whether he can even be a servant of the Lord because of his inadequacies. Basically, the Lord tells him to follow His commandments and He'll fill him with His spirit. Turns out that I'm a lot more effective when I'm not relying on myself.

The other lesson that we had this week didn't go as well. Haha we taught Nadyezhda again and it was just baaaaad. But it makes sense why it was. Earlier that day, I had been having a hard time. I was thinking a lot about how bad I am at Russian and how it's a proven fact that I'm the least advanced in my district (not a proven fact, just me being dramatic), and my thoughts weren't very focused on Nadyezhda. So our lesson was all over the place. Haha we were talking about Joseph Smith and she said that she understood, like, "Yeah, he was a prophet just like you are." And then there was this awkward moment where I thought, "Wasn't I supposed to clear this up within the first ten minutes of us meeting her?" Anyway, we told her that we're just representatives of Jesus Christ and then I accidentally told her that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the future. We all had a good laugh about that. That's why I love Nadyezhda: most of our discussions with her are laughing at our mistakes. She's great and also she doesn't get why she has to read the Book of Mormon because she already has the Bible. And she keeps saying that she doesn't have time to read the BOM because she wants to spend time with her family. In our next discussion, I'm hoping that we can show her that if she just exercises her faith and reads and prays about the Book of Mormon, every aspect of her life will be blessed; including her family and her understanding of the Bible.

I learned a lot of cool stuff about the priesthood this week, too. Before I came here, I had thought that it was obviously the power to act in God's name and it can heal the sick and make you feel good and all that, but I have never understood the true miracle that it is until now. And I probably still don't even understand. It just blows my mind that Heavenly Father trusts us with the same power that He used to create the world. I know without a doubt that I need it in my home when I get married.

I think this week was so good because it finally feels like I'm learning how to control my attitude. I've prayed a lot for Heavenly Father's aid to help me recognize the second that my thoughts turn selfish or negative, because that's when I lose the Spirit and basically render myself incapable of loving others as Christ does. Which makes it impossible to teach. But this week I was able to really tell myself to suck it up and as a result, I feel like I'm actually doing pretty well.

Oh, and I just thought of a few more highlights of my week: 1. My district has no shame in their knowledge of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC songs. During TALL (language study on the computer), everyone has headsets/headphones and most of the elders know the words better to the songs that I do. So much love for them. 2. Beau, tell me what youtube video Ephesians 4:5 reminds you of. Hint: it involves nunchucks. 3. We have learned all of the cases in Russian and E. Pyne has a real zinger concerning that one. He calls himself the Case Boss. Kills me.

We're getting 2 new districts this week! It's crazy that I've pretty much been here for a month. Honestly, it feels like it's gone by so fast. I wish I could write more but I'm gonna try to figure out pictures now so I love you all and hope you have a great week!

 

Love,

Sister Gooch

 

P.S. What the freak is this about everyone getting iPhones? I love that mom's first text to Ash was "Gretchen". Hahahha died. Dead.

Week 3: July 10, 2013

Family!

This past week has been pretty good. And by pretty good I mean awesome. But first things first: HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY BEARY J. BLIGE! I cannot believe that I forgot to tell you that in my last letter but rest assured that I was scatting (sp?) all day in your honor. I hope it was great. It sounds like you guys had an awesome Fourth. Mine was great! We had to teach in TRC (teaching people who aren't your investigators, just church members so it's kind of like home teaching) and it went pretty alright considering the fact that we had like a ten minute warning that we were going to teach. We were supposed to be trained but our teachers forgot. But it was all good because it forced me not to overprepare and then just read from my notes. I'm pretty sure that they do that on purpose to us sometimes--throw a lesson at us without prior preparation just to prove to ourselves that we know more Russian than we think.

Anywho, that went well but it was also a wakeup call because the guy we taught was a returned missionary and I'm 99% sure he wasn't speaking the language that I'm learning. Haha everything was mumbled and so hard to understand. Can't wait to get to the field :)

That night, we were able to watch 17 Miracles which was awesome because I guess it's not that hard to thrill me anymore. But seriously, that movie is great. Afterwards, we all got ice cream bars and went outside to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire. To my great lamentation, I wasn't able to hear Kelly Clarkson. Is that who was there? Haha probably not.

Anyways, it was a pretty good night. I was thinking the whole time how much can change in a year. I'm so happy that I'm here though.

Earlier that day, we taught our new investigator Nadyezhda. We went into the lesson with a few vocab words but other than that I'm learning that it's always better for me to rely on the Spirit rather than read my notes. So it was sort of a miracle from the second that we said hello: I remembered (or rather, I figured out) how to say that Sister Coombs and I didn't know each other before the mission (Nadyezhda asked since we're both from Idaho), how to explain that we were not prophets, the whole First Vision, and a few other things that I can't remember but have no idea how the crap I said them. It's the best feeling to know that the Spirit is teaching through you. The lesson was awesome.

Another highlight from last week was Sister Kuznetsova telling us her story about how she raised money to go on a mission. E. Graf, E. Brewer, and E. Wixom do the best impression of it: "Heevenly Father, I haf two peegs. I sell them eend do all that I can eend then I get call weeth the rest of thee money." She always tells us stories about her telling Heavenly Father, "I want this. I'm going to do this to get it, but you're going to bless me in return." It's just hilarious because she's this tiny person and you can totally see her bossing around Heavenly Father. She's the best.

And speaking of that little rascal, she made us teach her the other day. All of the Elders are sort of scared of her and they all went first. I knew something was up when the first pair comes back and they were laughing and saying how fun she is and how we didn't need our notes and that it was just the best lesson ever. And then when E. Pyne and Graf came back and wouldn't let us hear what they were talking about with the first elders, then I started to feel anxious. Haha they so weren't convincing that everything was good with her. So we were the second to last to go. We approach her expecting this nice welcome and that most definitely did not happen. It was bad. Haha she was sitting at a table and there are benches attached to them. I say hello and start to slide in the bench, all the while telling her that we're missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but she interrupted me. "I don't believe in God." Didn't even get the chance to ask her name! So imagine me awkwardly hovering over the bench and struggling to remember any Russian word besides "okay". Naturally, I couldn't keep a straight face. I asked her what her hobbies were and her response was, "You're from some church that I don't care about, I don't even know you, I don't know who you are, I don't know what you're doing, I don't care about your God, and you're asking me about my hobbies? No." I guess it's a miracle that I could understand that insult. Hahaha seriously though, I couldn't stop laughing the entire time and my companion didn't say a word. So that was great. It was wakeup call #2.

All of the elders were waiting for us when we walked away and we all laughed so hard about it. She was brutal to everyone, apparently. Made one of the sisters cry. It's a good thing that I can't take myself seriously sometimes.

Oh! And for gym, I've been playing volleyball. The first three times that I tried, almost all of the Elders in my district left within ten minutes. Haha but HERE'S THE BIGGEST MIRACLE OF ALL: people actually want me on their team now! Haha that might be an exaggeration but I am just beyond proud of myself for the improvement.

It sounds like we're not moving to Raintree now. But apparently they change their minds every two weeks or so, so we'll see what happens.

The older district left so we're now the oldest Russian speaking missionaries. It's weird to me that I've been here for three weeks. Time really does fly!

It's been sooo hot here but there was a storm and ever since then, it's been so much better.

Elder Graf and Elder Pyne were called as Zone Leaders, which isn't super surprising. They're both awesome. Can I say awesome a few more times? I don't think I've said it enough.

We taught Nadyezhda again this week on Monday and the whole lesson was average until the end. She doesn't understand why she needs the BOM when she has the Bible, and it's difficult to explain exactly why when you have a limited vocabulary. But I was just quiet for a moment at the end and then suddenly I knew how to say everything that I needed to. Moments like that are seriously the best. I made my companion chest bump me and she was mad but it was worth it.

Also! S. Coombs' parents are here and we got to talking and figured out that they know the Raines! McCall, Natalie Coombs played soccer with you, right? So that was great.

She and I are getting along so well and we have finally figured out how to work together. Comp inventory is always like, "I don't have a problem with you. How can we both improve?" Haha I guess that's a good problem to have.

Yesterday was SYL (speak your language), and that means that we have to speak Russian all day. We had to tally the English words that we spoke and write them down and look them up later. It was rough but it got easier as the day went on. It is tempting to preface an entire sentence with, "Kak skazat" (again, don't have time to type that out in Russian, but it means "how do you say") and then just say what you want. It was fun though. I mostly just express myself through grunts.

Also, THANK YOU for the packages of goodies, Mom. Everyone thought I was really somethin as I walked through the halls with that candy bouquet thing.

I'm gonna send you pictures so I've gotta cut this short. I love you all though!!! Have a fantastic week and write me when you get the chance!

Love,

Sister Gooch

Week 2: July 3rd, 2013

Hellooo!

So I have yet another lovely embarrassing story for y'all. Actually, two.

Sister Coombs (my comp) and I taught Anya again (as a last minute thing--literally had twenty minutes to prepare) after I sent you last week's letter. Our objective was to clarify her concerns for baptism--and apologize for not even attempting to understand her. When we asked that, she said that she had agreed last time and she didn't have any concerns. So that awkward last encounter was actually a positive one, we just didn't know it. So, so funny. I didn't know how to set a date for baptism so I just said, "Kakga?" (when?) and when she said, "Я не знаю." (I don't know). I had to sign to her that we wanted her to be baptized in two weeks. Anyways, that was a great experience. Haha and now she's our second full-time teacher, Sister Wrigley. I thought she was a native Russian but she's from Illinois! She's awesome though. Love how funny she is, and she also served in the Baltics. Both of my teachers did. So here's who my teachers are: Full-time are S. Wrigley and B. Williams, with B. Noren subbing occasionally and S. Kuznetsova helping us with the language because she's a native. And she's hilarious. Pretty sure she's the typical Russian: really dry humor and intimidating at first but the BEST.

Also! I'm getting transferred to the West Campus, to Raintree sometime in the next week or two. How do I feel about that? Uhh I think it'll be fine. An adventure.

And Mom, don't worry about my leg. It's coming along and it'll be healed by the time that I bust outta this joint. If anything, mourn over the fact that I no longer think twice when I put on my ugly shoes. Yesterday E. Graf was wearing some reeeeal winners as well and they were ECKO or something. Since E. Harrison always says he grew up in the hood, we came up with the gang phrase ECKO OR DIE. Love the MTC.

So on Monday, I think it was, I was super sick. And I've always heard how annoying sister missionaries are when they ask for blessings like once a week, so I was embarrassed to ask the elders. But it was such an awesome experience. I'm really starting to appreciate the priesthood like I never have before. It was E. Graf's first time giving a blessing and it was everything that I needed to hear. And I wasn't sick afterwards, sooo. Boom.

Speaking of boom, E. Harrison is a robot to me. Haha he is so unreal. I told him two days ago that I'm 99% sure we'll never have a real conversation because all he ever says is something idiotic and unrelated to me followed by "SISTA GOOOOOOCH!" He's the worst in the best way.

Really though, E. Graf is theee funniest person with E. Harrison. During class when E. Harrison is being himself, E. Graf holds E. Harrison's hand up and says, "WHO WANTS TO DIE RIGHT NOW?" I know that's probably not that funny to you but rest assured that I can't even handle it. Also, E. Graf throwing gang signs up with E. Harrison is killer.

And I honestly don't know why, but I am prime joke material. They all really get a kick out of the fact that I'm an English major, and pair that with my last name and you get laughs galore. It really is fun stuff.

As for gym time, it's great. I still can't do much due to the bruised bone and all that, so I generally hang out on the side of the volleyball court and laugh my guts out. The thing with volleyball/sports in general at the MTC is that you can't be competitive, so you can't keep score. It makes volleyball so funny to watch because no matter what, they play the ball. E. Wixom is just insane and dives to get it for the other team and E. Graf is always screaming "I GOT IT" even though he, quite honestly, sucks.

Oh, and Ash, E. Graf's banana eating techniques inspire more hatred than my cereal eating. Get this: he rips the banana in half and then squeezes the ends out like it's a go-gurt. I'm getting angry just typing that.

Companionship inventory (where you sit down and evaluate each other as individual and your companionship as a whole) is the bomb. I absolutely love having someone to tell me what I'm doing wrong and woah that sounds sarcastic but I'm being 100% realzies right now. S. Coombs gets really frustrated with me for the fact that I'm stubborn (when I was sick and before I had a blessing, we went home and I threw up and then made us go back to class because I felt better) and for the fact that I am the wooooorst at getting to know people in Russian. I just get so focused on remembering the Russian doctrine and then I don't remember to evaluate their needs and teach according to them. It's like memorization is first and conveying actual emotion is secondary. So that's frustrating. But that's what is so great about the MTC--they constantly pound into our heads that we aren't here to learn Russian--we're here to learn the gospel of Jesus Christ and to learn how to love like Him. Didn't realize how much faith it requires to not use every second of personal study for learning the language. Balancing time is something that I struggle with but that's where I figure exact obedience is gonna help me out.

It's crazy that we'll be the oldest Russian speakers on Monday. And speaking of the older district: E. Cluff is this hilarious red-head that just kills me. He came into our classroom the other day and said, "We're taking a survey. Which type of cereal would you like to eat 10+ bowls of?" Haha apparently there's this thing where zones try to knock out an entire cereal dispenser (they're huge) before they leave. So that's going to be gross but I'm also pretty excited.

As for sad news that I'm still not entirely over: my Proof glasses are broken. And yes Dad, I'm probably more infuriated than you. Haha do I have a warranty on those suckers? Let's hope so. It's the wood on the ear thingy that broke because a sister in my district accidentally dropped them on the ground. Sorry sorry sorry. Any way you can send me some contacts? I realized that I hate wearing glasses...thanks!

And for the second embarrassing story: we taught our second investigator two days ago. It's just B. Williams pretending to be someone that he taught on his mission, but we treat it as if it's the real thing. So he's telling us how he's unemployed and his whole family is deceased and I'm really feelin' for him and then I go to say the closing prayer. And that's when I realize I never asked for his name.

I'm coming home.

Hahaha just kidding. But really, I don't know what my problem is. My goal this week is to learn conversation techniques. But it's cool, our district motto is "Потом, Потом." (Later, later)

There's this sister, S. Porter who comes into our room every night and she shares a spiritual thought. I liked the one she shared last night because it's such a common thing in our mission to hear that smiling at people is considered super strange in the Baltics. But she said that smiling is not an American or Canadian or whatever culture thing. It's a gospel culture thing and we shouldn't try to blend in because that's not what we were sent there for. We were sent to be different and good, so I thought that was cool.

And OH my gosh, Sheri Dew spoke to us last Sunday. Mike, try not to get too excited. But what she had to say was seriously awesome. She was talking about the fact that so many members get confused by scholars and studies and with arguments against the gospel that sound really smart. But that's because they don't truly have a deep knowledge of the doctrine. The more you know the doctrine of Christ, the harder it is to be confused by the adversary. The only way to learn all that we can is to immerse ourselves in the gospel. There's no way that we can honestly be converted unless we live obediently and receive the blessings that come with that. She said, "There's a reason that we don't sprinkle people at baptism." Don't just sprinkle yourself with a little bit of knowledge about the gospel. Dive in!

And that's my sermon for this week :)

Anyways, it's awesome to be here. Let's be real though, it's hard. I've never changed this much in such a short amount of time but one thing that has been the most incredible help is my patriarchal blessing. Definitely don't know what I'd do without it. And the cool thing about having a companion and even being so close with my district is that we all point out each other's positive attributes and they almost always are something that's already in our patriarchal blessings. So that's fun.

Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone who has sent me letters/packages. Sheryl Alderman, you are a superstar and will be receiving a letter from me soon. I love you all and am so sad that I won't be able to be there for the Fourth but I hope you have fun! Even though it's, like, butt hott everywhere. Seriously, I wanna die every day.

Anywho, LOVE YOU!

Love,

Sister Gooch