This only begins to describe the the sate of mind i am in right now. Well, what's left of it at least. What im trying to say out of this nonsensical title is..."it's been real. it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun." That was for you Sister Matthews. Ok i am officially making no sense, so let me just tell you about my week and maybe you can get a feel of what im trying to say.
On Ukrainian Christmas Day Sister Prach and i joined the two of the relief society sisters to deliver goodies and presents to orphans! We traveled to this little orphan resort/village in the middle of the woods, and spend the day braiding hair, petting kittens and simply just sharing some love. These children are surrounded by it, no like literally, the word "love" is written on almost every wall, and it was just so heart warming to see all the children taken so well care of. While sipping on some compote which is a sweetened fruit water, but in this case i swear was not make with berries but substituted with some form of bile meat we got a surprise visit from...more carolers! Goodness these children sure enjoy reciting poetry! This is the 3rd holiday of children carolers, any more? We shall see...
Patience has still been a constant battle but i feel i may be finally coming off victor as i still managed a smile and the best attempt of a laugh as i carried the entire weeks worth of groceries home solo after Sister Prach said she could slip, fall, and "bleed to death" if she carried heavy bags on ice. So i just took comfort that if i slipped, and fell that with God's mercy i would have a loaf of bread to cushion my fall.
This week i have been called to repentance! Repentance and obedience. Our Mission President and Alma have made that very clear. It's all about obedience people! And as a missionary the call to obedience is like it never was and ever will be. In our weekly letter from President he said this, "When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest, in that moment God will endow us with power. If you are not at least striving to be exactly obedient you will never in this life come to truly understand what faith is and how to apply it. Even if you think you lack the faith now you can at least begin by acting as if you have it and by being diligent and exactly obedient "for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." President Klebingat has always got just the right amount of tough love, and i honestly don't think i could do this mission without him!
Our landlady prepared Sister Prach and I a full Ukrainian feast! We arrived to just pay rent, and she had a table set with beet and potato salad, Kootsya (a traditional, only for holidays, served cold, sweet, almost cracked wheat sort of dish with enough poppy seeds to fill in every crack in your teeth...believe me, i would know), and goloobtsi (the most time consuming but delicious mixture of meat and rice wrapped in cabbage leaves and cooked low and slow). On the subject of Ukrainian food, of course the subject of sala comes up. And i, being a fool, not seeing any hidden jars of sala behind curtains in window sills talk up a storm of, "oh yeah! i love the stuff! mmmmm...." only to see her getting up, go to the freezer....and out comes the sala. (Sister Roe face palm) Why do i always do this to myself? And that is how Sister Roe set herself up for a plate full of frozen pig fat and garlic gloves for desert...again.
Burping up garlic fumes i lent a helping hand translating some indian hair dye our land lady bought from, i can only assume, black market. I don't know...I'm not sure if i would want anything that says, "mix 1/2 Tablespoon of oxygen with 1/2 cup of water" on my head...
Sister Prach made a feast of her own for us saying she makes the best burrito's Ukraine has ever seen. Me, being a lover of burrito's, do not argue. I walk into the kitchen to see her cooking what appears to be bits of charcoal, only to squint my eyes, and look closer to see it was meat, or once was. "I think that's done." I said, but she told me that she was waiting for all the "water" to evaporate. Now im not sure if you have a love for dumb kitchen sayings, but this was hilarious to me, and was still laughing as we sat down to some tasty meat pebble tacos. Also, i didn't think it was possible but i think i found another equal if not better way to describe our sit down eatings together, particularly this one. Beauty and the Beast, when the Beast eat's breakfast. Look it up, watch the 5 second scene on reply for 10 minutes and you would just about got it. My motto: when you can't use words to describe, use movie scenes.
One of our evenings was spent with some members with some young'ns, and knowing ta every child in the Brovary branch is out of control we thought we could keep it under control by the use of soup ladles, pot lids, a sieve, and leg bandage to teach the armor of God. Yeah, not the most brilliant idea as our lesson was filled with loud pots falling to the floor, crying for turns, hitting, one of the kids getting hit in the head with a soup ladle by his sister, more crying, door slamming, and us giving our "and the moral of the story is..." to a set of very exhausted looking parents.
I had an exchange with Sister Snell this week, one of our sister training leaders on goal "How To Lose Your Life In The Mission Field." At times i wondered if she meant this figuratively or literally...For those 24 hours there was not a personal in sight that we didn't talk to. She would being making small talk like it was nobodies business, i would be stopping a lady in the park saying, "Hello! Good day! How are you? We're here as missionaries to share a very important message about Jesus Christ that we know to be true and will bless you, your family, and your future family for eternity...so....do you come here often?" The amount of steamy blushing in the cold was numberless but Sister Snell would just laugh, give me a pity pat on the shoulder and say, "For the Fridge!" Which is this awesome little saying i have now adopted that sums up, "Well you tried your best, it wasn't good, but Heavenly Father is going to take that moment, put it on His fridge, and love it." I can't even imagine all the numberless valleys of fridges in heaven i've decorated...and to just add to fridge Sister Snell and on while walking home down a dark alley (figures) were turning a corner just as an Asian lady was turning another, we do what any missionaries would do and make a U-turn and follow her. We say a friendly hello, she doesn't hear. Another, no reply. By now the moment is defiantly reaching the red part of the awkward scale, after a couple moments of "Hey! Hey you! Hellooo! Hi! Hey! We just want to talk to you!"we finally catch up with her to find...she's deaf. Well, uhhh...don't really know how to get myself out of this one...Embrace the awkwardness...embrace the awkwardness...
Sister Prach and I had a little bonding moment together our last night as a companionship. While walking home i wasn't in the highest of moods i will admit so when she told me to stop i was like, "Ugh! what now? Another pebble in your Uggs?" But then she told me to look up and the sky was filled with stars! You may not know this about me but i LOVE to star gaze. Just looking up at the stars makes you feel so much closer to heaven, it's just gives you this special feeling. So we climbed to the top of a hill and sat under the large nuclear atom statue and watched. Walking down i thanked Prach for stopping me and tellin me to "look up" and we went home and we ate ice cream cones on our beds. By "we" i mean "me" because Ukrainians think if you eat ice cream when it's cold outside you might as well be licking death itself.
And so on Saturday, the hardest two week adventure came to a close and with a lot of kisses on the cheek and perhaps a too exaggerated compliments to the father later, i said farewell to Sister Prach. That day Was there for the baptism of our second black African, and said hello to a threesome once more! Our now newest member of the branch is Kingsly, and it was a great day to see him take his first step the best life ever as i can still remember him saying he would only be baptized on the condition that the water was juuuust right. Phff! I'm still shivering from my baptism as the woman who filled up my fond accidentally let all the hot water drain! Aww well, it gave the Spirit more of an opportunity to warm me up i suppose.
The reunited threesome started off with bang as we had to move all of Sister Winsor's and Wallaces belongings to my apartment due to "remont" that has to be done to fix some invisible crack in the wall. I swear Ukrainians would go through a serious identity crisis if they didn't have some sort of remont to do. Ukraine is just this big mish mash pot of architectural era's, there is not "tear it down, build it up." it's all about patch up work. i've seen a shack with the interior of a mansion and a mansion with the interior of a shack. And so we spent our afternoon packing and making the 3 back and forth trips to the two apartments. Each of us taking on the identity of homeless humpbacked babushki with backs loaded down with anything with straps that could suffice for a handle. My item of choice: a laundry/body bag stuffed with...well I wouldn't doubt a body the weight that it was, strapped to my shoulders like a backpack. Oh! Perfect movie image for ya! If you have seen my favorite movie of all time, the Labyrinth, and just take the face of that creepy old woman in the junk yard and replace it with mine. "Oh! My back! My back!" (sorry everybody, im pretty sure only my family would know what im talking about).
Every 10 feet or so i would have to stop to rest, and at one point I just sniffed, scuffed my feet on the ground like a bull and booked the last 50 yards like a quarter back. Felt pretty good about myself until Sister Wallace asked, "Have you seen the TV show Biggest Loser? That's what that just reminded me of." Hey at least im not the humpbacked girl carrying a dozen eggs in a kleenex box. Both of us were laughing so hard we didn't have time to be offended.
And so we have settled into to our new home, i have already forbidden the sisters to not harm Mr. Paook my favorite slightly perverted bathroom spider with a groovy taste of interior design, and awaiting to see what these next 4 weeks have in store for us!
Have a great adventure filled week yourself!XOXOXOXO
-Cectpa Po
This is a great update!!! Miss you! :)
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