Week 43- FEBRUARY- Chicken Heads

We've all had those days, those days when you feel like a chicken with it's head cut off. We'll Ive had one of those weeks. But let's take it to another level now, and go from a running headless chicken physically to a running headless chicken...spiritually? Yeah, it's been tough.
It's funny how Satan never hesitates to put his foot out to make me trip and stubble and fall after i JUST felt i got back up and was ready to run a marathon, OK half marathon, OK a 10K, OK so maybe i don't like running, but point is...Satan is punk. But Satan doesn't know who he is messing with. He's messing with one of the Lord's messengers, he's messing with a pair of the Lord's shoes (thanks Weston), and let me tell ya, these shoes are going to leave Satan in the dust.
What are some of these sneak attacks Satan uses you may ask? Well for me it was something as small as a choice of mood and attitude. Seemingly so small, but let me tell you this little stumble took me a good two or so days to recover from! So if your companion is trying to get you to recite the first vision, or asking you to explain what the Book of Mormon is before the clock has even struck 6:30am, when you're feeling you only took a short and nap and that your week has just one big loooooong day, and before your eyes have even fully uncrusted, don't do what i did and just glare through the crust, but count your blessings that you have a companion who is not a bipolar morning grump like you are. If you are reading your emails and find that your little brother just had his 10th going on 11th baptism in his fourth month of the mission, don't pout and clean off your dusty empty shelf with your own tears, but count your blessings that you found and made a goldmine of friends in a reenok (ourdoor market) and placed 4 Books of Mormon!

And instead of whining while carrying around your bucket of Russian throw up (sorry about the disturbing imagery here) count your blessings that that bucket has opened up a door to an inactive member of the branch who has offered every morning to helping your clean that bucket out. Let me tell you, attitude will save you some BIG tumble and fall episodes. Take it from the girl who was known as the girl to biff head first into the grass while playing tag, known as the the girl to trip both up and down the stairs with, ironically, always an armful of loose papers, and the girl who is on slip and bif count #6. It's. Not. Fun.
Happy Valentines Day! I love holidays because it not only helps me pick out my outfit (hmmm...i should wear something red...but i only have one red shirt....hmmm decisions decisions...) but it also helps me pick out my personal study  topic...LOVE! aka CHARITY! Did you know out of faith, hope, and charity, that CHARITY NEVER FAILETH?! As the apostle Paul says, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." Now i don't know about you but those are some strong words and needless to say charity is THE attribute to have. The new "cool" thing so to say. Charity is the new black. Do you get my point? So next time you want to bump charity to the bottom your "TO DO" list you just remember Paul and I. Wow, did i just put myself up with an apostle?
I also took great council from this scripture in Moroni 7:45, "And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Im telling ya! If you ever feel you are lack'n a little som'n som'n, charity is where you will find it.
You do crazy things when you're in love, well in the case of a missionary i guess it's better to say that you do crazy things when you are in....charity? Crazy things such as running like made through mushy muddy forests and dark streets with arms full of roses and homeade borsh and brownies. You know the phrase, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach?" I would like to correct that phrase and say, "The way to ANYONES heart is through their stomach."

Sister Anderson sharing the LOOOOVE

A romantic walk home through the park??

This week we had a little Ukrainian cooking fest with our Land Lady! We pay her the rent and she pays us in  teaching us the ways of making homemade vereniki (little dumplings filled with really whatever you want, in this case a savory ricotta like cheese, topped with sour cream) and borsh!

Well it's taken me two months time but i feel i have finally grown a love for Brovary. Hey, don't judge me, if you served in an area like Illichyovsk you would have had the same problem too. Had a great moment this week while trying pick up Sister Anderson's post vika after getting her registered when we showed up at the Ukrainian registration off which was nothing more than a mob of stale ciggarete breath and musky fur (gosh i love it) and then a man asking us what we were doing and then yelling out into the mob, "Hey! This girl is American and doesn't know what she is doing!" Aaaaand thank you for narrating my life. The people here that i have been blessed to  know and befriend are just amazing. And let's not forget the outdoor street markets! A cabbage and body bag full of sweet "corn puff fingers" (Ukrainians version of popcorn)? Yes please!

Thirsty? We got milk!

Once your stomach is filled join the Maidan riot just down the street!

Oh and thank you all for the birthday wishes, i must give you all credit for originality and for all the times Taylor Swift's popular hit, "I'm feeling 22" was quoted.
It's tough weeks like these that you ask yourself, "what is it that keeps me pushing on?" One of my sisters actually asked me this once and i came across a scripture that captured it perfectly for me. "And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some."-Alma 26:30 I think sometimes we don't give hope enough credit. I think sometimes we see hope as a weak form of faith, but it's so much more than that! Hope is the anchor to our souls! President James E. Faust's words, not mine. So if you find yourself thinking, "well i don't feel i have much faith, but i do have hope" give yourself some credit! Hope is a Christlike attribute! Study it in Preach My Gospel and you will know you are more on your way to becoming like Christ than you know.
Though you may sometimes if not often feel that the Lord is not near or feel like the Lord is holding out on you, for instance you think you can hear him saying, "Nuh uh uh uhh, that wasn't good enough, try harder and THEN you will get my blessing." than stop it. Stop doing what i did. Just keep doing what you can, and the blessings will come. We're in this together, remember? I just want to quote a little from this weeks letter from our mission president's wife Sister Klebingat, "...the Lord is aware of each of your situatins, of eachof your family members' situations and of all the complexity of your circumstances. He is aware of your emotional state, He knows your gifts, talents, fears, and insecurities...He knows what experiences you need in order to overcome all things and to learn as much as you can in this life to max out your potential....Knowing that the Lord is aware of each of you and loves you individuall, one by one, should tell you that you recieve customized experiences (positive and negative) that have the potential to produce needed growth in you. In all sense, all these experiences, whether positive or negative, can be regarded as blessings....the blessings will come in His time, according to His will and His perfect knowledge of your needs and abilities, and of course according to the matchless love He has for you...the best course of action is to learn to submit your will to Him and allow Him to mold you into the best version of yourself."
Let's be our best selves this week!

XOXOXOXO
-Сестра Ро