Week 10  Finally in Georgia!

Rachel has been looking forward to seeing this church since she was called. It is one of the largest churches in the world. It is called the Holy Trinity Cathedral, aka Sameba.

Rachel in Georiga. They are holding a very typical treat in Georiga. It's called Churchkhela. It's either hazelnut or walnuts dipped in flour, sugar and grape juice mixture. She didn't say if she liked it or not. 

Hey everyone! I am finally in Georgia. It's been a crazy past week. It went from finishing up my stay at the MTC, traveling, traveling some more, and finally doing missionary stuff in Georgia. My MTC stay was awesome I met some pretty amazing people. To my teachers who might read this, y'all were amazing! Because of you and you pushing me to my best, I am able to do things here without fear and just dive in which I never thought I would be able to do. 

Rachel's trainers in the MTC. Brother Muir, Brother Van Allen, Sister Reece, and Rachel

Traveling to Georgia was a process. It all started Utah where we travel to LAX. I saw Elder and Sister Black on the plane in Salt Lake City. They were flying back to Chile after visiting Utah for a granddaughter’s baptism. [parent note: Ken and Janelle Black are from our home ward in Livermore, and are serving a senior mission in Santiago Chile. Senior couples have different rules than regular missionaries. They can leave their missions for family events. Rachel has known them her whole life.] It was good to see some familiar faces. Los Angeles was a whirl wind. Trying to get to our gate, call our families, and eat all while trying to stick somewhat together. Calling home for some was a struggle, many of missionaries calling cards did work or only gave them a few minutes. Luckily, mine worked just fine and I had a long phone call with the family [parent note: Amy and I were at home and dad was on speaker from his car. He was on travel for work.  The call was 40 minutes long, but felt like only 4] The flight to Moscow Russia I was lucky because no one was sitting next to me so I passed out for a good solid 10 hours, my body was exhausted! From Moscow Russia we flew to Yerevan, Armenia and then drove to the mission home. I was there for the night.  It was there were I meet up with a Georgian sister missionary who had been helping out at the mission home. Together we travel another 6 hours to Tbilisi, Georgia by car. The car ride was so bumpy with a lot of turns and twists, I even got car sick and I never get car sick. By the way drivers here are insane, almost got into a wreck like the first day on the mission. When we got to Tbilisi one of the roads were blocked so we had to get our luggage and walk for 5 minutes to the church where I met my trainer/companion Sister Van Broklian (I think that's how you spell it in English....). After that we went to our apartment in Saburtalo. We are the farthest away from all the missionaries and it takes a long time to get to church. Sister missionaries actually haven't been in the area for a long time so that's really cool. Friday I had a “cultural day” and saw a bunch of sights and had dinner with the all the missionaries. Georgian food is sooooo good. Saturday we had a baptism which was all in Russian, so that was interesting. After that we went caroling in the city. I did some finding there, but most of the people that spoke to us spoke English. Sunday was cool because the branch that I am in has people from all around the world. I heard 7 different languages during the entirety of church. I gave a talk that Sunday which was chill. What was crazy was that I wasn't even nervous for it. Church is small, but the people there are great. That night we went to an American family house for an activity with the Georgian members. We made ginger bread houses which was cool. They have a dog. So I finally got to pet a dog! There are dogs everywhere here, but we cannot pet them.  So heavenly father is testing me. The only reason I got to pet that dog was because it was American. And now it’s today. We got a lot planned today so I’m really looking forward to it.

Pictures from her "cultural day" in Tbilisi.

Other stuff: I have like no idea what anyone is saying which is cool. [parent note: Rachel sarcasm coming through] I'm not stressing about it too much though, I am just happy I have a companion really. I talk as best as I can and my companion helps with the language barrier at times. My thing is I can say more than what I can understand...so that's good and bad. It’s chill though, I am just surprised I am taking it this well. I thought I would be freaking out, but I’m not. Just taking everything one step at a time. Whats weird is that even though its only been like 4 days in Georgia, it feels so right. I can feel the spirit testifying to me that where I am is where the Lord needs me. I have never felt that in my life before and it's amazing. I think because of that it helps me to feel peaceful and calm during times that I would normally be freaking out. Being a solo missionary in the MTC I think really helped me to get over a lot of my fears and just do what I can, as well as wait for the Lord to make up the rest.

Well that's the week...kind of. I have a lot more things this week and a lot more teaching. Til next time!

-და ჯენსენი 

I guess they can trace back their lineage of trainers. 

Bulletin of in coming missionaries at the mission home. 

At the mission home in Yerevan, Armenia