2025(6) Faith Leap - Chapter 9: Merry Christmas, again! Again!

 2025(26) Faith Leap - Chapter 9: Merry Christmas, Again! Again! 

Pictured below: This week's beach treasures made into a Nephite, and a Christmas tree decorated with seashell ornaments and styrofoam snow.

One thing I love about Georgia is the custom of hearing "God bless you" on your way out of any establishment. I have been pondering on this lately. Of course, just as with anything, this can become rote. But what if, each time we said it, it was said with intention? When I hear "God bless you", I hear a prayer, and an expression of gratitude: "Thank you for coming today. Thank you for smiling. Thank you for the friendly conversation. Thank you for making a purchase today. Heavenly Father, please bless them for helping me to provide for my family and for sharing their joy" And, what if, as the receiver, I did the same? "God bless you: Thank you for providing what I needed. Thank you for having the courage to be an entrepreneur. Thank you for your patience with my limited language. Heavenly Father, please bless him for the faith he exercised in starting this business and for treating me kindly." And on up the line - expressing gratitude and asking blessings for the planters, cultivators, harvesters, drivers, packagers, shelf stockers, etc. who made it possible for me to buy this kilo of apples, these rubber boots, this meal, etc. What a different world this would be if we all made a habit of ending each interaction with a "God bless you".

"Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God's love...A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort - at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude." - President Thomas S Monson

"How much happier we are in the presence of a grateful and loving soul, and how careful we should be to cultivate, through the medium of a prayerful life, a thankful attitude toward God and man!" - President Joseph F. Smith

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Life is Good
• Visits with new friends
• Third Christmas! - Celebrated with a road trip and breath-taking hike
• Jesus Treasure Hunts, Groceries, and late night school
• It turns out swimming in the winter is a great way to meet new people

PRAYER REQUESTS:

• Masa and his uncle - who is currently battling lung cancer. Masa grew up with Buddhism as his national religion, but never believed in any kind of God until his family was blessed with a miracle several years ago. Now he believes in God, and has been learning from the missionaries, but there is still so much that is difficult for him to understand and believe. Coming to know Masa has given our family a new appreciation for how much longer and harder the road to Christ can be for the many who live in nations where Christianity is a foreign concept to them - and an appreciation for the truths we take for granted. Masa bore his testimony on Sunday, and some of the things he said were not aligned with our Church doctrine. Our children recognizing the incongruencies gave us an awesome opportunity to discuss the truths he touched on, the additional truths we have, the potential language barriers that could have translated differently than he meant, and the ways that we can help to answer some of his questions. We are loving learning so much from so many - including the real-time extension of Grace we feel and receive.

DETAILS:

So crazy to think that we left home a full month ago! It feels like we just got here! A sweet friend of mine, after inquiring about the children, asked how I am doing? This caused serious reflection. How am I doing, really? I am happy to report that I am truly loving it here. There are plenty of things I miss about home (especially CJ), but everyday is filled with new adventures, fascinating idiosyncrasies, or a refreshing slower pace - so there is no space for homesickness. It feels like our time is flying by and will be over long before we are ready for it to be. Our hearts are overflowing with love and awe for the goodness of the people we are meeting here - people from so many conflicting nations and cultures (literally, in many cases), and yet finding commonality and committed to living peaceably. It is such a blessing to experience.

Earlier this week, we traveled to Osurgetti to visit our friends, the Grays. They speak both English and Russian fluently, so it is nice to be able to freely communicate. The Grays live an hour from Church - through winding mountain roads. We admire the sacrifice they make to attend the Branch and, especially because they are the only other member family with youth/children in the branch, our kids especially miss them when they aren't able to be there. 

We also had our new friends, the Alayas, and Christiny, over for dinner. These young adults are so impressive! The Alayas are 3 of 7 children in their family. Their parents homeschooled all of them in Central America and established a family culture of Teamwork. Now the adult children take turns building new businesses and supporting each other in their ventures. They are movers and shakers. Christiny is only 18 and moved here from Brazil by herself because she works online and wanted an adventure. She is impressively bold in her testimony and a master chess player.

January 7th is Georgia's Christmas - so we celebrated Christmas 3 times this year (before we left home, on December 25th, and this week). Georgian Christmas is mostly a quiet religious holiday. We ended up commemorating by taking an impromptu trip to Kutaisi (about 2.5 hours from Chakvi) with Natalia and her son. We took advantage of the nice weather to hike 4.5 miles (round trip) to a crater lake. Sunshine, fresh air, good company, breath-taking views, snowball fights (the first snow we've experienced this year), soaked shoes and bare feet made for a perfect adventure.

Sweet little miracle from the hike: Before we left that morning, Miss chose to wear her hair down. Several times, I had the thought that I should grab an elastic, just in case. I failed to follow through. Sure enough, as we got closer to the top of the mountain and the wind started blowing, Miss asked for something to pull her hair back. I looked through all of the pockets of our backpack while I told her about the thought I'd had that morning and apologized for not following what I now saw was a prompting. And then, I reached into the pocket of my coat - and there was a scrunchie! My hair is too short to pull back, so I wouldn't have put it there. I put my hands in my coat pockets multiple times a day - yet I had no idea the scrunchie was there, nor how it ended up there. What a sweet love note from God to Miss!

After the hike, we stopped to view this waterfall - the most exciting part of the excursion was driving across the bridge that was patched together with loose sheets of metal. We were legit worried it might collapse out from under us. We also attempted and failed to find the oldest bridge in the country (the setting sun, dropping temperatures, lack of directions, and wet shoes were stacked against us). So, maybe we'll try again another time?

The missionaries in Kutaisi were given an unexpected P-day for Christmas, so we wrapped up our visit by treating the Sisters to dinner at an amazing restaurant. The ambiance was so cool, and we loved every single dish we tried. Family-style is the standard for Georgian restaurants - making it easy and fun to try a variety of foods in one sitting. The sisters always give their leftovers to the Elders, so we met up with them for a moment and learned that they have a friend on date for baptism later this month! We are constantly in awe over the miracle of missionaries. It is wild that we send our barely adult children to every part of the globe to dedicate themselves to sharing about Jesus Christ and his restored Gospel. We love and admire these young people so much! 

We loved the Kutaisi Christmas light displays. And also loved how many of the lights in every city we've seen have been religious, or told the unique story of the area (ie ships and dolphins in the sea-side city of Batumi, depictions of nature in Kutaisi - known for nearby nature sites). Ironic that the only Santa light display we've seen is right in front of the Museum of Religion. 🤔 The kids get a kick out of his green ear.

If you zoom in on this picture, you can see a small white figure on the row underneath the hymn numbers. For our Christmas gift before we left, my sister-in-law gave us a bag full of little Jesus figurines for the kids to give away while we are here. They love gifting them to people. They also love hiding them for people to discover on their own. We have a few Branch members in particular who can't get enough of them and love the treasure hunts.

Attempting to at least occasionally honor our goal for a weekly date, Richard and I decided to take a walk in the sunshine to explore a little more of our village. Because I can't resist the temptation to be productive, it quickly turned into a "purchase everything on our shopping list while we are here" date - which we deeply regretted by the time we were halfway home. This is a picture of us weighed down with an estimated 100 lbs of groceries - including the delicate grocery sack of eggs and strawberries. (Yes - strawberries are grown locally year round and are amazingly sweet!) I am happy to report that not a single egg was damaged on the walk home - though I cannot say the same for our aching shoulders and wrists. Next time, we will take the car.

This is my favorite brand of food here: "No Gluten!" is the largest font and is always right in the center of all of their packaging. Why can't all foods be so neatly catered to my allergy? 😉 Also, me shopping at one of the few Health food stores where I can eat *almost* everything (I learned the hard way that not everything in this store is safe for me. It is frustrating that I have successfully avoided gluten for nearly 3 years back home and now I've been glutened twice in the last 2 weeks. Label translation fatigue. Sigh. Also, this picture serves as proof that I do occasionally fix my hair rather than wearing a hat. 😆)

My mother instilled in me a love for pomegranates that I have passed along to my children. Pomegranates were always included in our Christmas stockings and were viewed as a special winter treat - a social food because we would all gather around the table and chat while mom broke the pomegranate apart for us. Pomegranates are abundant and inexpensive in Georgia, so we are enjoying them often. (And no, this is not how we eat them. I'm not sure why this is how Kroc wanted to pose with his pomegranate. 😂)

Bob is continuing one class with our Commonwealth this semester (his amazing mentors were kind enough to accommodate him joining online. We are SO grateful to them!). He is thrilled to be back in class with his friends. The class goes from 10pm to Midnight our time - so it makes for a long day and a lazy morning, but is worth it.

Without fail, everytime we pass by the car washes in our village, there is a car being washed while it is raining. And, when the wind is blowing, you are sure to find a handful of neighbors sweeping the porch.🤷🏻‍♀️Speaking of sweeping: we have never found a broom in Georgia - not on either trip - that is tall enough for the average human being to stand comfortably while using it. Now that I think about it, at 5'6", I am noticeably taller than the other women in the branch. But Richard seems to be average height. But it is mostly the grandmas who make and use the brooms. So, which came first: are the brooms short because the babuas are short and hunched? Or are the babuas short and hunched because they sweep with short brooms...?

Richard and the twins decided that one last nearly 60 degree day before the rains returned warranted lounging/exercising on the beach and a polar plunge in the sea. (In the end, Richard is the only one who fully committed. The twins went in to their upper legs). It was surprising how many people stopped to watch the crazy Americans and, because of the unexpected entertainment, are now interested in talking to us. Maybe the missionaries should take some notes...😉🤣