Cartoons, Ice Cream, Sleep, Repeat

Yet another week has passed here in the beautiful city of Krasnodar! 

Unfortunately, however, I killed my companion. Yes, that's correct, Sister Kennard has gone on to a better place now. Back to the ol' red, white, and blue states. And she's left me in the care of my former MTC companion, Sister Sommers. She, too, had a companion killed off this week. So, we're here together mending our broken hearts after sending our companions off on a train at 4:30 this morning. 

Our last selfie taken this morning at the train station.​But, all is well! Because now Sister Sommers and I will be companions for the next couple of weeks, working in both Krasnodar (my area) and Novorossisk (Sister S's area). It'll be a little crazy, but all will be well.

The splitting up of these companionships was hard, but even harder was waking up so early.​
Funny story from Primary time!

This week, the Primary sunday school teacher asked the children the following question:What do you want out of life?

The conclusions were the following:

"Transformers!""Watching cartoons, ice cream, and sleep!""Helping mom" (This kid knows what's up)and"A normal life."

I got a big kick out of it since while all that was happening, they were running around the room like crazy as church was just about over.

I've learned a lot about human nature while working with the Primary kids. I pondered about their answers to this question, trying to find the lesson I could learn out of it, and I came to this conclusion. What most people want out of life is watching cartoons, eating ice cream, and sleeping, but why do kids want that? Because they know that whenever they are eating ice cream or watching their favorite cartoon or sleeping, they're having a good time. They're smiling and laughing and being kids. What kids, and most people, don't realize is that it's not those things that are really going to help them enjoy life. They'll come a day when they've eaten so much ice cream it's lost all it's magic, or they've watched cartoons so much it's no longer fun, or they've slept in so much, they can't sleep anymore. Those things are temporal and bring only temporal happiness.

It's things like helping your mom do some chores and then eating ice cream with her afterwards that are really going to be the most fun. It's things like watching "Groundhog's Day" every year on Groundhog's Day with your dad that make lasting memories. It's playing transformers with your nephews that get the most giggles. There's so much more to life than what can be done by yourself! That's why we have families and friends and other people! So life can be the joyous thing it's supposed to be. 

I know that life is meant to bring us joy and that the more we try to look for it, the more we find it. I know that families are created by God to last for eternity and that our families can be together forever. I know that Jesus Christ made that all possible, and I'm so grateful I can say I know that.
 Take some time this week to love the people around you a little more than normal and I promise you'll find more joy than you bargained for!

Love,

Sister Jarvis

Me and my vaders
Art by Sister Moore and Sister Jarvis while we were on splits a little while ago

My district