Dear Family and Friends,
I
am doing wonderful! Seriously! This week was awesome, this upcoming
week is going to be awesome...It is just so much awesomeness!
First off, this week, on Wednesday, is my Dad's birthday!
Happy Birthday Dad! He deserves such a shout out because he is the best
dad in the world! I hope he has a great day! :)
Also, a
big shout out to Grandma and Grandpa Lindsey, who got their call this
last week to serve a misison in Martin's Cove! I am so very excited for
them! They will leave right at about the same time that I left last
year! I am so excited for them, because seriously, serving a mission is
the best thing EVER!!!!!
So this week... Let me start off by saying that I am a pretty
boss trainer! I introduced Sister Kelly to all good things Ukrainian,
including Borsch, Shwarma, Street Contacting, Truffles, Super Kontik
Slamming, The Black Sea, Crowded Martys, and more. And to top it off, We
found Kolob together this morning. I had found it before, but I was
able to guide her there :) hehehe I know, I'm pretty great...
We ran to Kolob today. This has to be like the most legit picture of all time. And black and white for dramatic effect.
The black sea, just in time for the sunrise!!! So pretty!!
beach pics and the jellyfish we saw!
But seriously, Sister Kelly and I are having a blast! She is
awesome! I love being her companion! She is so happy all the time and a
cute little bundle of joy! We have been rocking Suvorosky and have had
our own share of small miracles this week!
Us inviting people to conference : )
Our first little miracle was Olga! Do you remember her? I
contacted into her the first week of last transfer, offered her the
opportunity to learn how to grow closer to Christ. She accepted back
then but then repeated would set up appointments with us and then not
come. We decided last transfer that maybe she wasn't ready yet. This
week, we decided to call her and she agreed to meet! And the miracle,
she asked us to come to her house! She gave me her address and we agreed
to meet!! I was so excited! :) Then the day of our lesson came, we went
to find her address! We got there and I was so confused. It wasn't a
house, it was a auto garage. Definitely one of the most sketch places I
had been on my mission. I thought to myself, "Maybe it is around
back"...nope. I was so confused and worried that maybe she had just set
us up. So we called her and she corrected the address and we headed on
our way. Finally we got there and had our first lesson! It was really
good! We taught her about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. She
prayed at the end of the lesson and she committed to read the Book of
Mormon everyday! Awkward moment of the lesson. I learned a new word in
Russian, "толстый".
It means fat. I didn't know it before. This is awkward because Olga
introduced her husband to us as "Fat Alexander" and me, not knowing the
word for fat, almost replied "It's good to meet you, fat" Thankfully, I
didn't, but just the fact that it almost happened is so embarassing! :)
When we went back a few days later, Olga had kept her commitment to read
the Book of Mormon! It was SO exciting! We shared our favorite
scriptures with her and encouraged her to keep reading! She had a lot of
questions, but she is excited to keep reading!
Another
little miracle is Valentina! She is a less active in our branch that I
had never heard of! We saw on a list that her birthday was last Monday,
so we bought her a chocolate bar and made a card and set off to find
her! We got to her apartment, and were standing outside when all of a
sudden we heard this man (from inside) yelling super loud. Sister Kelly
and I looked at each other, the look that says, "Are we really about to
do this?", said a prayer, and rang the doorbell! This old little lady
comes out and says, "What do you want?" We said, "Valentina, we heard
that it was your birthday and we wanted to give you this and tell you
that we love you and were thinking about you and hope you had a good
day." Valentina started crying and talking about how us coming was the
only good part of her day. We set up another appointment with her to
meet some more! She told us then of how she remembered, fondly, several
members of our branch. I'm not sure what is holding her back from
coming but I'm excited to continue working with her! I think it is great
that we can share our love with people, no matter if they are members,
nonmembers, inactives, or anyone! Everyone needs a little love (maybe
not creepy men...but everyone else!) At the end of our visit, I said,
"Valentina, We love you!" and she said, "You don't even know me." And I
said, "but we still love you". It meant the world to her to have someone
express their love for her!
One last small miracle. So
maybe 3 weeks ago, Sister Nielsen and I went and visited Sister
Goncharova. She is a sister in our ward and she had tripped over her dog
and was stuck in her house while she healed. We went and had a lesson
with her and gave her flowers. This last week, Sister Kelly and I went
to visit her agin. Sister Goncharova excitedly told us of our "miracle
flowers". The flowers that we had bought 3 weeks ago, were still fresh
and alive, without the slightest sign of wilting. What a tender mercy
for an older, elderly lady. She said that it brought her so much
happiness and joy to continual see her flowers!
Our miracle flowers!
Some funny things from this week:
*
After our district meeting on Tuesday, we were eating lunch when a
missionary, from another church walked into our church and started
preaching to us. We were respectful at first, but eventually tried to
have an opportunity to share our testimony with him, but he wouldn't let
us interrupt or say anything at all. So we didn't really know what to
do. He just kept talking and talking. We had places to go and things to
do, so after 30 minutes we tried to tell him that. No luck. So
eventually, we stood up and started cleaning up our lunch, and getting
ready to leave, as he is still talking and talking. He went on and on
for like 45 minutes, despite the fact that none of us were listening to
him. Poor guy. He finally left, unfortuately without ever hearing our
message of happiness.
*
One night, the elders got a call from a lady that had read our
"advertisment" and was interested in meeting with us. We were so excited
and set up an appointment for the next day. To our surpirse, this lady
was not interested in the gospel, but in hiring us to work as clients in
her aroma company. According to her, our daily interaction with
inviting people to hear about the gospel would be better if it included
an option to buy perfume. We told her that was not allowed, and she was
disappointed. She insisted, however, to allow us to sample her perfume
and decide if we wanted to buy any. She sprayed so much perfume on us,
we smelled for days! Still smell... oh missionary life. We did show her a
Mormon Message about how we are all Daughters of God. She loved it!
Maybe someday we will be able to convince her to take a break from work
and learn more about the gospel! :)
Us after being sprayed by the perfume lady! We couldn't stop laughing
*
We tried to make Borsch this week! I learned an important lesson, you
will always make more Borsch then you think. We started with a normal
sized pot but somehow ended up with a stock pot full of Borsch. We have
been eating borsch for days and will be eating it for days to come.
Every meal. Good thing it is tasty :)
Also,
this week was conference! I loved the messages from our living prophets
and apostles! I got the opportunity on Sunday to stand outside the
church and invite people to conference and welcome the members. We sang
hymns and handed out family proclimations. It was really fun! :)
Sister Hunt and I (I feel like we always have pics together haha)
Us watching conference
I loved the talks about missionary work and I echo the challenge of
Elder Ballard to invite at least one person to come unto Christ by
Christmas! I strongly believe that it is possible for EVERY member of
the Church AND I know that it is a challenge from our living prophets
and apostles. NOW is the time when we chose if we want to be "doers of
the word" rather then hearers only. Are we going to follow our prophets
and apostles? I am! And I know miracles will come if we do! I can't wait
to hear about your miracles as member missionaries! :) Remember that an
inviation out of love will never be offensive! Our Church is awesome!
Let everyone know, and NEVER be afraid to invite someone, to an
activity, to church, to meet with missionaries! You can never fail when
doing the work of the Lord!
I hope you all know
that I am having a great time here in Ukraine! I love it here! This last
week was great! And there is plenty to look forward to:
* Zone Conference this weekend!
*
I'm speaking in Church on Sunday, yes in Russian! Pray for me! It will
be 10-15 minutes long! Opa! :) Maybe next week I will send it to you (in
english :))
* My birthday in a week and a half. This is my last few days to be a teenager!!! Crazy! I'll enjoy it :)
* Game Night this weekend! I think those are my favorite activities :)
I love you all! You are all great examples to me! Have a great week! Share the gospel!
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