2025(6) Faith Leap - Chapter 18: Holding On

 2025(6) Faith Leap - Chapter 18: Holding On

Though I didn't cite it, as I began Chapter 16, I was singing 🎵Oh, we're halfway there! Oh-oh, livin' on a prayer!🎶 Ironic that this week I am singing this song again - but this time the words, "We've got to hold on to what we've got"... 🤣 (Things aren't that bad - I'm just being dramatic.)

I didn't listen to it (I am sure that the whole thing was amazing) but I recently ran across a quote from Elder Kearon from a recent YSA devotional. It seems making the Sacrament meaningful is a recurring theme lately, so that is probably why this jumped out at me. He said, "We invite you to make one hour a week a real focus for finding joy. That sacrament hour on Sunday - let us make that the most joyful moment in the week that we can experience." I have really been pondering this. I think I've mentioned this before: Richard and I have recently realized that we take on the responsibility of everyone else's feelings too often. We've noticed that this is especially so when we are serving in leadership callings (like Bishop, and now Branch President and serving with youth) - where we worry about, and look to fix anything that could negatively impact another's experience at church. (And, as the squeaky wheel gets the grease, the problems we may be looking to fix may not even bother the majority - just the most vocal). So Sacrament meeting being the most joyful part of our week? That seems almost laughable. How do you do that when you are worried about making sure doctrine is correctly taught, translators feel supported, speakers feel appreciated, mothers with crying babies don't feel embarrassed, your own children are being reverent and hopefully getting something out of the meeting, etc...? But this week, I decided to try it. I intentionally focused on joy throughout the meeting. It was a beautiful experience! I felt truly connected to my Savior, and felt a deep love for the members of my branch.  And, one of the miracles of that effort was that, when the "SHUSH" came out of my mouth as a knee-jerk motherly response to the grown men who got too rambunctious at the pulpit, the Spirit must have helped carry it in the spirit of love that I was feeling, because one of them thanked me after the meeting for the reminder - acknowledging that he needed it. I am grateful for his example to me of humility. 

Highlights:

• Lice! 🤢
• God has given me understanding with my recent health challenges, and insight on how to treat them. I am so grateful that I already feel a difference. It makes eating whole sardines worth it
• Our Youth are now accepting invitations to lead out on activities. Miss led one on dancing and stretching and did an amazing job!
• We have successfully rearranged the church building to fit more people - buying us some time while the area looks for a new building.
• Broken things and scorpions round-out the rest of the post

Prayer Requests:

• (Spoiler Alert) I was going to ask you to pray for our lice to be resolved, but then I forgot to publish this post, so there is no longer a need. I am happy to report that we've had full resolution of the lice (the itching has continued, but has tapered off - which we learned is a normal trauma response). Being consistent about treatment efforts was a bit of a headache, but was not nearly as bad or long as I had anticipated. Either lice really isn't that big of a deal, or God blessed us with a miracle. Either way, I am so grateful that it wasn't a bigger deal that that. So maybe just offer a prayer of gratitude today for your miracles. 🥰

Details:

Egyptian Plague Empathy

The frogs are now plentiful enough that the boys can hear them singing to them all night long. But much worse than that: I was wrong about the head itching. Shortly after the last post, we found little bugs in Miss' hair. 😭 I've never dealt with lice before, but I have been crazy thorough with every instruction the internet could provide that is doable here. Gratefully, it was not difficult for us to find a lice shampoo and nit comb. Several rounds of that, nightly olive and tea tree oil treatments, and washing all the things daily. Because we don't have a dryer, we strip beds first thing in the morning, wash them on hot, and hang them in hopes they will be dry in time for bed. At bedtime, we wash all of the towels, hats, and furniture coverings. 

What is extra frustrating is that I don't know the source. I suspect our AirBnb in Kutaisi (see Chapter 15). A reminder that, while it is good to appreciate what I have - no matter how meager, it is also okay to change my circumstances if it is within my power to do so. I wish that I had given more credence to the warning bells about that apartment that I was sure did not have clean bedding...

On the other hand, I don't know for sure that I can blame the AirBnb. Would timing have been right? When Bob first started itching, lice from that stay was my first thought. But I had ruled it out because I couldn't see anything, and because I thought too much time had probably passed before symptoms showed up? But I would rather know that was the cause than have to worry we picked it up from someone they regularly play with - increasing our odds of getting it again. 😝 We have talked to the kids about keeping their heads away from people (no exchanging hats, no more wrestling with friends at church, and no more piggy-back rides from the awesome YSAs). Sigh.

Better Late Than Never

In a mighty "DUH!" moment, it occurred to me this week that it is no wonder I am having some distressing health difficulties: Celiacs are already at risk of nutrient deficiencies because it is more difficult for us to absorb them. It is especially exacerbated when we've been exposed to Gluten. I have been Glutened more in the last 3 months, than in the last 3 years. And while I have been in Georgia, my diet has been sorely lacking the gut-healing foods that I have been so intentional about including at home. The Spirit reminded me this week of two things I felt specifically impressed would be a blessing to me while living in Georgia: 1) this is the birthplace of Kefir! and 2) I am living on the seashore - I can eat fish that was caught just hours before. And yet, I've been here for 3 months, and have yet to take advantage of either of these blessings. 

Some research confirmed that my symptoms are aligned with my suspected nutrient deficiencies, and that kefir and fatty fish are at the top of the list for foods rich in these nutrients. Ever my knight-in-shining-armor, Richard took Bob on a shopping spree (we'd seen pasteurized kefir in the big chain stores, but he figured out where to get it in the little village markets. Turns out, it is everywhere. It just isn't labeled, so you have to know to ask for it) and then he and I learned how to cook sardines. 

This variety is too small to de-bone - so you eat them, bone and all. They taste like the fish sticks that my Mom used to make me eat as a kid. (Hands-down my least favorite meal, right up there with Tuna Helper.) Only sardine fish sticks are crunchy and sharp if you don't chew them well enough. In other words, no - I do not enjoy eating them. But Richard purchased an entire kilo, so we froze 3/4 of them, and I pull out a small handful every few days and force myself to eat them - with a prayer that the Lord will reward my efforts with a magnification of their effectiveness in my body. I do the same with my daily dose of kefir. I actually really enjoyed my kefir drinks at home. I had the fermentation time down to an art and I would mix it with honey and raspberries - it was delicious. Here, I don't have a blender or berries yet, nor control over the time it has been fermenting, so I just plug my nose and gulp it down. But, it is worth it because I already feel a difference. I am grateful for this guidance.

Fun with the Youth

Miss was in charge of a Youth Activity where she led us in stretching and taught a few line dances (we've adapted some popular line dances to some Christian songs - because, if you are going to dance, why not also praise Jesus while you are at it?! It makes me so happy!) Miss did an amazing job. She worked hard to prepare - to make sure she had thought things through, and made sure she knew how to instruct in a way that would be helpful to different levels of experience and language. I was so impressed by how well she did. 

Bob was in charge of our spiritual thought, and he tied it in to Miss' plan by having us plant our feet, put our arm out in front of us and twist as far as we can; he then had us untwist, close our eyes, and visualize us twisting a little at a time further than humanly possible; then we untwisted and repeated the first part - this time noticing that we twisted much farther the second time. He likened this to the exercise of faith: belief in Christ allows us to accomplish more than we could otherwise. 

We also had a Youth Activity led by our two young women. They found a location that really needed clean up done, made assignments for items needed (gloves, trash bags, etc) and had the group clean up the trash and enjoy a snack together. They worked really hard, filling a dozen large trash bags. It is exciting to see the youth catching the vision of the youth program and stepping up to contribute. Bob was especially enamoured by the location because of the legless lizards, rock lizards, and trees to scale. (M and K are noticeably absent because they caught my flu so they stayed home with me).

Rearranging the Church

The first picture listed below is a reminder of what our chapel has looked like - a charming room with an alcove in a historic building's apartment. This room was likely marketed as the master bedroom. The maximum number of chairs we could squish into the room was 43. And, because it is a historic building, we are not allowed to make major alternations to it - which means this room does not have air-conditioning. Now that we have around 50 people attending church, and the weather is warming up, we had to do something to accommodate the numbers, and address the growing complaints about the heat. 

The subsequent pictures show the Elder's Quorum's solution: converting the living and dining room of the apartment into our chapel. We can squish up to 56 chairs in this room, and we can also use the previous chapel and primary rooms (at the back of the new chapel) as overflow, if needed. These rooms still have a good view of the pulpit, and the Mission is ordering us a sound system to improve their ability to hear. This new set-up means that, the moment you step into the church, you are in the chapel. (the view in pic #2 is from door). The restrooms are located at the complete opposite end of the building - which means that, if you need them during sacrament meeting, everyone will know because you have to walk past everyone to get there (from the pulpit in pic #3, you walk down the hall to the right). On the bright side, these two things will hopefully encourage our chronically-late-comers to arrive a little earlier?...This room has an air conditioner, so now the only people who will be roasting are Richard and those sitting up front with him who are in the full sun of the window at mid-day. I love that, as I was reviewing talks from last General Conference just this week, I was reminded of Elder Godoy's accounts of saints in Malawi and Zimbabwe whose church buildings lacked basic amenities and who were so full that many of their members sit outside and watch sacrament meeting through windows. Over and over again, I am being reminded of perspective. 

A silver-lining for our Youth & Primary class, is that we get the alcover room. It is so nice to have all of the space for wiggling!

Broken Things, and why not end with another Scorpion?

Everything at the church building seems to be falling apart. One of the most recent needs was a lock that broke off after Richard locked the door - eliminating our access to that room. Rather than participating in Primary last Sunday, Kroc whipped out his pocket knife and disassembled the lock. (CJ - you should be so proud! If we don't completely deconstruct a lock, can we even call it a Georgian trip? 🤣)

The review mirror of our van fell off. No explanation for how that happened. The last time the van had been used, Richard took it himself and didn't touch the mirror. The next morning, we came out and it was hanging by the wires...Gratefully, the rental company didn't give us any push back. They accepted our story and said they will pay to replace it - the next time we are in Tbilisi... 😝. In the meantime, Richard says it isn't super noticeable that it is gone because the windows of the van are so tinted, he hasn't been able to see anything through the rearview mirror anyway. 🤷🏻‍♀️ (And I say "Richard" because, other than a quick drive from our house to the dumpsters, I have not driven in Georgia. I like my roads slow, predictable, and under-populated).

Miss' tooth spacer fell out! A call to our dentist back home informed us that the teeth start moving/filling in the space right away, so it was crucial that we jump on addressing asap. It took several days to find a place that could do the job (an orthodontist), and have them get back to us, and another several days wait for our appointment. But, gratefully, the spacer was still in one piece, and Miss could get it back in each time it fell out. So we had her wear it throughout the day - taking it out to eat and sleep, so that she didn't accidentally swallow or lose it. She was amazing at being consistent with this direction, never forgetting to put it back in. So the orthodontist was pleasantly surprised at what an uncomplicated fix it was. And, as an added blessing, Orthodontics are WAY cheaper here than in the US.

Just today, we found our third scorpion. (Did I mention the second previously? We found it in the clean laundry - we now know not to leave dirty towels on the floor...) This third one is the first that has ventured out of the downstairs bathroom. It is much more unnerving imagining that they are now roaming anywhere in the house. This is especially true because they curl up to look like a black smudge or mud that got tracked in from a frog hunt. I discovered this one when I went to wipe up a spot on the floor and, fortunately saw it move before I touched it.