Week 57- MAY- Bread Of Life

It's always interesting how I never really know what my focus should be for my weekly email, and as i see the pictures from my week loading my heart as well is being loaded with gratitude. This week especially has been packed with gratitude almost as much as galupsi cabbage leaves are filled with ground mystery meat.

That little spiritual veil was lifted just a little more this week as the Lord helped me to begin to realize then importance of SCRIPTURE STUDY. As a missionary i guess you can say it is a requirment to study from the scriptures, that "we have to," a "rule," a "law," but let's just face it and admit that it's a BLESSING! I was just reading from my scriptures and from Preach My Gospel and was studying from "Faith in Jesus Christ" from chapter 6 and read, "Your faith in Jesus Christ grows as you become better acquaited with Him and His teachings. As you explore the scriptures and search them,  you learn of His ways, His love for all people, and His commandments." and then i remembered of all the times, in countless blessings, how i have been counseled to to make a reading of the sciptures a part of my daily life. That as i read the scriptures I can learn more of Christ, become better aquainted with him, and build a stronger faith. Because "When you have faith in Jesus Christ...you accomplish what the Lord wants you to accomplish."

It hasn't been easy, yes it definently is easier on the mission, but remember before my mission when i felt that every scriptures study had to be this long revelation process of highlighting and underlining and writing down revelation as angels are pouring them down in bucket loads from above. And if i didn't have that time...i wouldn't. Or when i did i would feel that such a short period of time, or trying to just get a few versus in before bed was a "waste of time." "What am i getting from this?" "I have no idea what i just read." "That didn't help me at all" "Well, that didn't answer my question as to why that that boy isn't madly in love with me and ask me out on a date already." 

I learned....just have faith. Just reading the scriptures alone is an act of faith, and Just that fact that you are reading is where the blessings come from. When the Lord see's effort, He blesses. Don't have expectations and never EVER say that reading the scriptures, even a verse, is pointless. Every single one of those words was written by a prophet of God. Im telling you, it's some good grub. So if you're hearing that spiritual "grummble grummble" in your stomach, FIGHT THE HUNGER.

Speaking of hunger.... this week i had awesome blessing of going to one of my favorite families from my very first area i served in here in Ukraine. We were taught the ways of galupsi and ate platefuls of cabbage meat leaves topped with sour cream as they shared with US a spiritual thought! This is a family with hearts of gold, and let's not forget that they set up a skype session with Oksana!! Shout out to Oksana! I still say it was strange to skype your from your bedroom as you skyped me from California with crusty eyes...

Brother Alexander said i looked like Einstein...you have no idea what Ukrainian heat and humidity does to bangs, im almost didn't even need a bobby pin and could just slick them back all nat-ur-al

All day ery day

Getting caught in the rain, seriously some of the best moments of a Sister missionary

What happens at the end of a long day...

Walks through the park mmmm....delicious to eyes

What can we say? Babuski like their benches...

And apparently so do the homeless men...

I went on an exchange with Sister Nikogosyan this week, yes she is Russian, from St. Petersburg actually, and it was an awesome JUST DO IT exchange. It's the motto of our mission and something i have been wanting to be better at doing. For all us girls who love to talk and maybe struggle with actually doing, work on this, our husbands will be eternally grateful. Just doing it will lead you to do things like visting  a member at the hospital with balloons, or baking banana bread for the begging gypsie mother and child down by the metro stop.

A view from the bedroom

Sister Nikogosyan LOVES soccer

"FAMILY AND LOVE"

Our investigator came to church on Sunday! And brought us a balloon bouquet! Primary is going to LOVE her

Big change this week! We moved from our apartment! The black mold was getting too much, pretty sure if i took a deep breath i could drown from all the humidity. And so we packed up the entire apartment witht he help of the Elders and our Sisters and moved into a new apartment! And let me tell you i dont' even feel like im living in Ukraine! It's like an American hotel with...air conditioning! Let's not forget the Dominoe's directly across the street...i guess it's a good thing it's on the fourth floor with no elevator.

We had a sleepover last night to break in the new apartment as i will be saying farewell to Sister Robertson for a week as she takes a visa trip to Latvia with a couple other sisters and i will be with Sister Larcaball serving back in....BROVARY! Can this week get any better? The only thing that could make this better is a baptisimal date....oh wait.....WE DID!  Our investigator agreed for June 14!!!

Let me also say it's pretty cool to sit there and testify to an PROGRESSING investigator about the truthfulness and need of the Book of Mormon. Just think of it...why do we NEED the Book of Mormon? Have you ever tried to think of knowing that Joseph Smith was a prophet without the Book of Mormon? That's what got me. The Book of Mormon testifies that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that the Lord still works through prophets today, and that this is a LIVING church. 

If you don't know where to start with your studies this is what i do. I always begin just by reading one chapter from the Book of Mormon. Just in order, so just start from the beginning and work your way through. Then i find something to get me a little deeper. I read something from Preach My Gospel that i want to know more about or be better at, or a talk from General Conference, etc. and then with a spiritual notebook open and pen in hand i write down things that stick out to me and look up scriptures along the way. If you are an organized freak just as I you will make sections for different subjects. Faith, Humility, Temples, Church Attendence, take your pick and JUST DO IT!

Count your blessings, JUST DO IT, and read your scriptures!

XOXOXOXO

-Сестра Ро

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Week 56- MAY-That Awkward Moment When You Think Your Skirt Is Caught In The Escalator

I've had a lot of awesomes and awkwards this week:

AWESOME

• Phones that allow you to have 20 "meow"ing reminders in one day. Even representatives of the Lord can forget to brush their teeth sometimes...
• Discovering that one of your best friends is PREGNANT and that you are going to be a STEP-AUNT!
• De-humidifiers
• FINALLY TEACHING AN INVESTIGATOR! After 6 long transfers i was finally teaching a REAL investigator, my second of my mission, and even better....in English! *Cue angelic chorus and disco ball*
• The authority and power that a missionary feels when they teach, it's pretty awesome
• Eating dinner out and all of a sudden having a dog jump up right on to your lap! Who needs dessert? I'll take the dog! (1)
• The temple! (4)
• Taking a dinner break on a bench right next to my favorite cathedral in Kiev! (3)
• Thunder rain storms. First of all i just love them. Secondly, it always reminds me of the night that me and my little brother and sister sat outside on the porch at 3am bonding and watching
• MISSIONARY WORK (2)
• Sitting on a Metro and seeing "Life is a Beautiful Struggle" on a T-shirt
• When you sister has a BABY!!  Welcome Isla Sorella Eley!! (6)
• When the font isn't filled up for a baptism and the elders are then pulled into a cycle of bathroom sink to font with a bucket to help things along
• Actually meeting with a potential investigator! No excuses, no dogging, but an actually meeting and Sunday stroll through some botanical gardens (5)

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AWKWARD

• Walking around trying to find an inactive member and  having a ball roll up to your feet and see a little boy running for it with his mother close behind. I seize the chance to be "normal" and kick the ball back to him soon involving myself in quite a good game of kickball. I start whipping out my athletic skills and show him how cool it is to throw the ball up in the air and kick it as hard as you can to see where it goes, no aim, just destiny and wherever the wind blows. He happily follows my example, throwing, kicking, and watching the ball fly until it slams into a car window, bounces off and flies right into a woman's face.....well, there goes that teaching opportunity
• (Look at title)
• Looking more pregnant than your pregant best friend. I mean it's a good 3-4 month baby pouch. Time to whip out the flowy skirts...
• Having your LAST interview with President Klebingat...time! Where did you go? Come back!
• When a 5 minute nap on the kitchen table in the church turns into a 20 minute nap and your waking up to a soaked sleeve and half your face covered in knit sweater and button indentions
• Tasting cookie dough so delisious that it makes you cry. That's the power of brown sugar and vanilla extract for ya
• When you make eye contact with a dog and for a moment, just one moment, you feel that your chahuahua from home is looking at your through the eyes of another....Tsuki? (3)
• Dozing off and on during a lesson with a babuska. The padded chairs, dimmed lighting, the scent of soaking dentures in the air...it's enough to put anyone to sleep
• Having such a bad case of mold in your "Swamp Cave" apartment that quest "find a new apartment" has just begun
• What peanut butter can do do Sister missionaries (2)
• Ukrainian manicans...I think the next couple months of my nightmares have just found a new character...(1)

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Say your prayers, read your scriptures, go to church, and don't teach little children how to drop kick a ball. Have a great week!

XOXOXOXOXO
-Сестра Ро

Week 55- MAY- It Was Mom

IT WAS MOM. That's right mother. It's all your fault. It's all your fault that i am right now serving my Lord and Heavenly Father in Kiev, Ukraine. It's all your fault that i now have an even stronger testimony of the amazing blessings we can receive and strength we can receive if we just have faith and follow this gospel. It's all your fault that i have a inspired general conference talk just for me almost every week i open my inbox. It's your fault i  have such a love and appreciation for the little things in life, and i do also blame you that i laughed as i myself saw a tree branch wiggling and "tickling" the wind. It's your fault that i am know giving "rocky rocky's" to my companions. It's your fault that i am cooking in Ukraine with the very same measuring cups you and i used together when i was just knee high to a grass hopper. It's your fault that i can always say, "there's a story in that." It's your fault that i have memories of being driven to preschool with a warm Tupperware container of freshly baked banana bread muffins for snack time. It's your fault that The Goonies will forever and always hold a special place in my heart. It's your fault i was always able to lick the spoon. It's your fault that i am still working on that black cat cross stitch that you helped me start when i was baptized. It's your fault i will always and forever have Landscapes and a candle burning in my home. It's your fault that i salivate whenever i think of your homemade bread. It's your fault that i have an eternal family. It's your fault that i once wet my pillow when i was little just thinking of not having a mom. It's your fault that i worked those bouncy pig tails with the yarn bows while walking down those elementary school hallways. It's your fault i always want to save my cereal milk. It's your fault i eat ketchup with my eggs. It's your fault that i have been raised to know that i can always find my answers through the scriptures and prayer. It's your fault im craving a hand massage. It's your fault i blushed as you went around collecting all my friends "green eggs and ham" breakfast. It's your fault i have dad. It's your fault that yoga will never be the same without you. It's your fault that i am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It's your fault that i reminisced on the times you would throw warm freshly dried laundry on top of us. And yes, it's your fault that Mothers Day, for me, is a special holiday. So Happy Mothers Day mother! And always remember, it's your fault. 

My view as we weekly planned at a park no more than 10 minutes from home

Flowers? For me? Shucks.

XOXOXOXO

-Сестра Ро

P.S. I HATE it when technology decides to erase an hour of blood sweat and tears. Enjoy the pics.