Week 66- July- Lauvf, Truuue Lauvf, Lauvf Is Whaut Bwings Us Togetha Today

You know, love really is that binding element that this world just needs, And this week i got a good taste of it. I kid you not, Ukrainians are the most compassionate people on the planet. Example #1: Last Monday we got a personal invitation to leave our area and have FHE with my favorite little family in Borshagovsky, my first area of my mission. How she managed for form such a lasting love for a socially awkward Russian speaker such as myself i will never understand, but I'll take it. She told us not to bring anything, so of course we completely ignore her wishes and bring her a Roshan torte. I don't know if you heard but the new President of Ukraine is THE Roshan, the maker of the most popular chocolate company in Ukraine. It somewhat explains how over half the population are missing over half of their teeth...

Now there are two types of Roshan cakes. The delicious kind with the decadent chocolate frosting in between layers of fluffy sponge cake. And then there's the what i like to call, "THE DIABETES." Which is nothing but sugar and a Ukrainian version of Crisco mixed together, held together with slabs of  egg white sugar styrofoam. Top it with a layer of 3" frosting and shredded chocolate and you got yourself a Roshan torte. Ukrainians go mad for this thing. However, knowing i was going to be eating the cake, i went for the fluffy sponge cake. Well, at least i thought i did until the cake was getting cut into and as soon as i heard that first sugar Styrofoam "CRUNCH" the horror hit as all i thought was,"....Oh no...what have i done?" Oh, and another thing about Ukrainians and their torte: there are no leftovers. Mom and dad...im in high need of a dentist. I swear weight loss is nothing but a dream as for every bran of bran flakes i eat in the morning there is a slice of Roshan torte as big as my face just waiting for me in the future. On the bright side though we all got a good laugh and ab workout as i messed up the word "write" and "pee" which happen to be only one reflex different. "...when you study and 'write' out your thoughts, and look back and study what you 'read', i promise the Lord will bless you and you will feel an ever great desire to 'write' as you study from the scriptures."

Compassion case #2: We had a lesson with an inactive member of our church and saw that though she is struggling with money, and living in a 3 room apartment, she has taken in a woman and her daughter who have left their home in Donetsk. This woman has never met missionaries before and was fascinated by us. I'm telling you, the Lord's had is over this, He knows what He is doing.

Compassion case #3: Walking home we happened to come across a VERY drunk man who was swerving right and left at a very dangerous rate. Not a single soul was mad that he cut them off or bumped into them, i even heard a woman saying she was worried he would fall, then when he began to fall two or three men went over to help lift him up and safely put him somewhere where he can sit. When i saw his face, it was not what i expected. I expected a swollen and puffy beat up face, but instead i saw such a kind face, drunk yes, but i could just see that this man needed help. I wondered, "what in your life are you trying to drink away?" It's so sad to see the life style that these people have accepted, what their "standard" is, which makes it all the greater to lift their eyes a little and see what God really intends them to be and wants them to have!

Compassion case #4: A new family who left their home in Donestk just moved into the ward and are now currently living in a home of another member who gave their home over while they lived in their summer cottage. Their homes are not much, but whatever they have they will give. 

Compassion case #5: A sister in relief society made a cake for the entire relief society just to say "thank you" for all the love that she has felt from them since she was baptised into the church

Me and "Toothpick" He has a growth deficiency and is actually 5 years old, but he's a mad Frisbee player

Had a really tough day this week, a day i would rather not remember, but let's just say there was a moment when i just had to sit on a bench at a bus stop and cry. I testify that missions test you to the limit in every extent possible. 

But it's always darkest before the light, and one day as we were returning home after a morning pulling weeds with the Elders (a babushka hurt her leg and she paid us in the form of...you guessed it, cake. Except it was homemade and i guess she ran out of frosting so just used smetana (sour cream) instead of frosting) and we got a text from one of our English students asking us if we could meet that night to talk about who Heavenly Father is! You would think it would be a pretty simple subject but we spent a whole lesson just talking about the character of a loving Father in Heaven, and we now have a new investigator! She has actually done a lot of research on the church, admitting she had read a lot of good but also bad, but she chose to believe the good just from the feeling that she gets from the church and the people there, and also found it very interesting after noticing our prayers were different every time and that they weren't read prayers. 

This week was also the ending of a transfer and the beginning of another, so i am officially into Transfer 10 of my mission, to think that i only have 2 more after this blows my mind. And it was really sad to see a good chunk of a really close district leaving, but I'm also super excited to see what this new transfer will bring. President Packer has assigned the Assistants to serve in our area, saying that the Perchersky district will be the "example" district  to the entire mission. It's a bit of pressure, but let's bring on the miracles!

BEST DISTRICT IN THE WORLD

Farewell Elder Bro!

Farewell Elder Hale!

Farewell Sister Nikogosyan!

Sister Nikogosyan LOVES sharks and her favorite color is yellow so this is what she got from me in her friendship book

That awkward moment when you are running toward the open metro doors thinking that they are going to close at any second and ram into a wall of humans, and then end up standing and waiting there for the doors to shut...

Another "face palm" moment was when at long last Sister Robertson and I planned a lesson that just so happened to be right next to the Bible store. We have been trying to get our hands on a Russian Bible for months and so when we showed up and saw that it was closed i can't deny that i may or may not have had a freak out "cursing" moment right there on the steps of the bible store. Yes, the "F" word....."Freaking." I repented and quickly gathered myself when i saw the worker approaching the shop coming back from his lunch break. 

I am proud to say that the mission really has made me into a professional stalker. A girl walked past with the best perfume i had ever smelt and a whole lot of potential and before i knew it i was on the prowl. Speed walking to catch up, stopping when she stopped to buy some gum, bought water as we waited for her to come out of a electronic store, standing next to her on the metro, and then "boom" attack. What a Sister missionary does to save souls and find a new perfume...

"Gullivers" not even a block away from the church

Sister Robertson and I had a little adventure to a Ukrainian hospital for her knee appointment, it was actually quite nice, except that wrote on her paper with crayon...and i quote, "Me- Ok, so where do we need to go? Rob-"I don't know they wrote it on my paper" Me-......."is that....crayon?" Rob- *scratching sound on paper*.....yup."

On the way home there was a girl head bobbing so bad that you could have placed her right in a hard rock concert and she would have looked right at home. The poor thing. So i talked to her using the most creative phrase i could come up with, "Are you tired?" Hey, it worked!

There was another really neat moment on the metro. I was just standing there when i saw a girl in a floral dress catch my attention more than usual. I took that as a prompting to talk to her, so i was just making my way over when the girl moved and got off of the next stop! I was pretty bummed at missing the opportunity when i made eye contact with the woman who was sitting down and who i happened to move right in front of. I started up a convo asking if she knew who we were and she said she had no idea but could see that we believed in Christ and that was enough to smile about. It was a bummer when i heard that she actually doesn't live in Kiev but going home to the Czech Republic in two days, so i handed her a Mormon.org card and a pamphlet, telling her to get in contact with the missionaries there, and just have the best feeling about her. God works in mysterious ways and im confident that that woman was placed in our path.

Sister Roberston and I went to the temple on Saturday feeling we needed a little temple time, and i ran into Sister Parish and Gillespie who are now companions!

MTC Sisters united!

A quick trip to Dominoe's on the way home....well of course i didn't forget to advertise Mormon.org (bottom left hand corner)

HOME SWEET HOME.
(Topmost right hand corner is the balcony to our bedroom where we dry our clothes)

This.....this is true love. Lemon chocolate ice cream and pistachio. 

It's been a great fast week this week! Full of trials and learning! I hope you can all learn a little something about compassion this week and apply it in your lives. "We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere are that portion of mankind God has given us to love and serve. It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind of we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters" -Spencer W. Kimball

"Of all sad words of tongue or pen, 

the saddest are these:

'It might have been'"

"I have wept in the night 

For the shortness of sight

That to somebody's need

made me blind;

But I never have yet

Felt a tinge of regret

For being a little too kind"

I have full and absolute confidence the Lord's hand is over Ukraine and that compassion are stronger than you think!

XOXOXOXO

-Сестра Ро

Week 65- JULY- 3rd Time's The Charm

Last P-day, after 3 months of try and try again, we finally succeeded in visiting Rodinamat!  And let me tell you, this is one BIG MAMA. Even as a missionary, every once in a while you just need a good ol' soviet culture filled tourist moment, and i was in soviet tourist heaven. While walking the boardwalk towards Rodinamat music was being played over the speakers that lined the walk, and our ears were filled with the song of, "Kasoosha." I fear only those who served there time in the MTC would know the power of this song, but then again for all you normal people out on the world, you always have YouTube...

#Ukrainian Humor

Just smile...

...that's more like it.

It's tough, but im so proud to be a Kiev, Ukraine missionary

Oh, and we got transfer information this week. Sister Robertson and I will be together for our 3rd transfer! Like i said, 3rd time's the charm!

I caught this photo shoot at juuuust the right time

I mean how can you serve in Kiev, Ukraine and say that it's not one of the most beautiful countries? This country has seen a lot of turmoil, seeing to be more fact, but this country is know and blessed, and I'm blessed to serve in it.

Our FHE called and canceled on us just hours before and so we went out with a vengeance to seek out and contact the elect wearing glasses to win the Waldo of the week. Every week we are giving a certain category of people to contact, this week was glasses. While down the metro we contacted to nice looking, but slightly rebellious looking girls to invite them to English and sports night. We said goodbye and headed out determined to tackle if needs be, so as to win the crowing ice cream cone at District Meeting. We even ran into the golden man! We caught him in the moment of trying to startle public restaurant eaters...

We were calling it a night and heading back to the metro when I looked over and saw the two girls we had just contacted in each others arms in a very, much more than friendship way....whoops.

It's been a good week, but not going to lie this week has been a beat up week. I caught my reflection on the elevator mirror yesterday and all i could hear was the dying putting of a car as i saw the frizzy haired, deep eye bagged, and crumbling mascara missionary looking back at me.

It's been tough. Not tough as in trials too numerous and challenging to conquer, but just a lot of learning. A lot of spiritually learning and as i was saying my prayers last night i felt as if i had just ran a spiritual marathon and just felt...exhausted! Spiritually beaten but stronger, and with more spiritual knowledge and nourishment. I can't tell you how many times i was just thinking, or not thinking at all, and all of a sudden scrambling for a pen and paper to write down a thought i had, a new view on things, or something i realized i wanted to study and learn more about, and just about any other thought a 22 year old would have while soaking up the flames of the Refiners fire.

For instance we had just come home for dinner after an afternoon of contacting and i immediately went to a pen and paper, I wrote, "Today not too many people wanted to talk to us today, most shaking their heads and waving us off or saying that they don't have time. The streak stopped when i stopped a woman and introduced ourselves telling her our purpose and how we have prophets today. She wasn't interested nor wanted to give us her number, but the fact that she actually stopped, looked at me, and stayed to listen was enough for me to bear simple testimony and hand her a pamphlet on families...my mission may not see the immediate "success" of some, but you know what? I'm happy with  my mission. Everything about it, all the moments of good and the bad have made me into who i am. Yes, i would love those moments, what missionary wouldn't?" Then i just go on to say how ever since i prayed to see things as they really are it has drastically changed how i view myself and my mission. If I'm so bold to say, it's changed my life. My eyes were really opened to how life really is just this big mash pot of highs and lows, experiences of bad and good, proud memories, and maybe not so much, moments of try try again, but in the end that's what life is. It's not the moments of the past or the lows that define you, those are the things that, in fact, refine you. And yes, i did just quote an EFY song for all you EFY junkies out there.

A week wouldn't be complete without an evening of contacting in the rain. I have to admit i was tired and the rain just sang to me like a lullaby, but we slipped on our already cold soggy shoes and went out, and at first is was tough, people hurriedly passed by, the member babushka we stopped by said we couldn't come in because she had a flu, on the way back i stopped to buy some muddy potatoes from a babushka looking like she just wanted to pack up and go home, and on our return trip home we ran into Jane Rain! At least that's what we call her now. She is an angel, and Sister Robertson and I both admitted to already saying she is worthy of facebook friend status, and we are so excited to meet with her again. Just like everybody else she was hurrying to get out of the rain, but unlike everybody else...she stopped! Not only that but she saw our name tags and didn't even flinch, which is actually quite a common thing around here.

Had my first interview with President Packer and he asked me if Ukraine and my mission has changed me for the better, and I replied with a 100%, "YES." Missions are strange in that way. You can feel so beaten, so bruised, so stretched, so tested, and yet still feel you will cry when it comes to an end and have the utmost confidence that you are leaving a better and stronger person than you were before. I still have a TON to work on, perhaps more than i thought when i started my mission, but as Elder Holland said about his mission it was, "the major spiritual turning point of my life—the beginning of my beginnings." I really have come to find myself more, my strengths and, because every positive has a negative, my weaknesses. For example i never would have thought my observations for the little things was such a defining attribute for me until almost every companion i have had told me that, "I would have never noticed or appreciated that before you." Sometimes a good thing, like noticing a sunset, and sometimes bad, like noticing the practically nude tanning beach below us as we crossed a bridge.

This was just a moment caught as Sister Robertson and i had a surprise trip to the beach along the river today trying to surprise our good friend Liza who works at one of the food shacks. Although we didn't find her we found plenty of Ukrainians with a lot of bod and zip shame. You go Ukrainians.
At our English class this week we had the brilliant idea to play Mad Libs and  creating stories about flying mothers and green talking bears who clapped their faces together while begging for porridge. I also learned the hard way that Ukrainians obviously do not understand nonsensical humor as i do...
Highlight of the week: After two long months...we have hot water!! It took my brain to comprehend as warm water was actually coming out of the bath faucet and i realized...."wait, you mean everybody doesn't take pot baths?" Standing under that shower head i have never felt more spoiled in my life.
Not so much highlight of the week: Our investigator Ina was dropped this week, or more she dropped us with a month of no church attendance and not picking up her phone. Investigators: 0. Potential: Limitless.
Been a tough week for Sister Robertson and the knees. Apparently she has been serving her entire mission through the pain of one damaged meniscus on one knee and a torn on the other. She is a great example to me of enduring and just giving the Lord everything she has got.  This week she is due for another doctors appointment, and we are waiting to hear from Salt Lake City about her results and if her return date will come sooner than expected.
The weekend the ward held a ward picnic with us missionaries hosting as their Indians tribe leaders. Never in my life would i have ever thought my dad's Indian war cry would actually come in handy, but life's always full of surprises.

This is the first member of the church in Ukraine! And he has a chihuahua, this man know's what he's doing...

Praying to see things as they really are has really changed my life, and changed my whole view of my mission and my success as a missionary. I think that's the trick. To not try to fix things as YOU see things, because most likely it's a tainted view point, but to see things as the Lord sees them, and THEN adjust. I guarantee you will find more hope and that things are not as bad as you felt or thought. I really loved this quote, "I believe happiness comes from striving for a better understanding of ourselves."
Have a great week!

THE END.

XOXOXOXO

-Сестра Ро

Week 64- JULY-Bloom'n Hobbits

"When the pain it takes to remain tight in a bud is greater than the pain it takes to blossom....just let it happen." You can always count on cheesy mother quotes to get you through another stage of the Refiner's Fire. Now there are two reasons for this ridiculous title....1) I just discovered that an Elder from my District is the voice maker of Shmegal from The Hobbit. 2) My mother has a strange passion for the Lord of the Rings and you can always count on her to throw in a quote or two...

"When obedience ceases to be an irritant and becomes our quest; it is in that moment that you are endowed with power.....when Frodo stands on the shore with the Ring on his palm, looking...looking...What passed through his heart and mind in those private moments just before he closed a resolved hand around it and set off for Mordor alone? I believe he devoted himself wholeheartedly to a quest, committing himself to an outcome which would carry a huge impact for many; if not all-- certainly far beyond his own personal pursuit of happiness. He chose to do and give everything he could possibly be capable of, to see this thing through....and then the Holy Ghost (ie. cute, little Sam) shows up and lends him all the things he wants and needs but doesn't dare ask for: friendship and comfort, protection and yes, presence--for who really wants to feel all alone in the dark? " Don't you leave him, Samwise Gamgee!

 We know what we should do and be...but sometimes, we're just trying to stay too busy to listen--too lazy. Or maybe just too scared to start....But then, "when the pain it takes to remain tight in a bud is greater than the pain it takes to blossom," just when we think we have to do it all by ourselves, the Holy Ghost steps up, puts a hand on our shoulder and whispers...."Just let it happen...."

Flash forward to the end of the movie; the ring is no more, the world has been saved, and among an oblivious, boisterous, hairy-footed crowd, the 4 hobbits sit in the pub drinking...apple beer...and looking knowingly at one another. They are, shall we say, Wiser For the Wear. Their experience has changed them. They are still fully themselves, but, having passed through the Refiners Fire, they are more themselves than ever: kind, loving, humble, and loyal.

...when they are wholly His, they will be more themselves than ever." This is why we are given commandments--asked to do and give and sacrifice so much: because our Heavenly Father wants to keep us reliant upon Him FOR AWHILE...even gives us weaknesses to keep us humble so that we can emerge with HIM inside us, being a God (or Goddess) like He is and with all His attributes--Wiser for the Wear but MORE OURSELVES THAN EVER.

 See, we aren't broken in our weaknesses, just unfinished. When we are commanded to, "Be ye therefore perfect," understand that perfection isn't flawlessness, but rather, a state of being complete. We are in process, guys."

Talk about a fantasized General Conference talk! It fit in perfectly with my now new favorite talk called, "Becoming Perfect in Christ." It's AMAZING.

This week there was the sad note of having to admit that our investigators are no longer progressing. Roman is still stuck in Lviv, and the "long time, no see" streak has now hit over a month. But we have contacted the mission office to get missionaries in Lviv in contact with him. Also our dear Ina has come down with flu symptoms and was not able to attend church for now the third week. She has been working three jobs to support her and her son and is finding it harder and harder to meet, and her baptismal date is been getting more and more blurry, but we still still hope to work with her as soon as that nasty little bug leaves to help her get back on the path to salvation! For three days in a row we tried to meet with Ina but because of surprise registration and her canceling on us last second we're afraid she wont be making her baptismal date. One morning we were preparing for her lesson and had already, the day before, spent over an hour calling members to join on our lesson, and FINALLY at 10:10pm a member agreed to join. Our lesson was set for 9am and so we got ready early and started preparing for our loving, "throw down" lesson. We were just running out the door, made it out only for Sister Robertson to look at my upper left shoulder...she didn't have to say anything as i just looked down to the empty gap of a nametag and then was tackling those four flights of concrete leg killers faster than i ever have before. I had just clicked on my name tag and was closing the front door when Sister Robertson was on the phone with Ina and gave me the nod to go back inside. "NOOOOO!"the only thing i could do was defeatedly slide down the front door to sit on the mat of our door step.y

But just as our progressing investigator stock reached rock bottom we had a blessing and had some potentials from our English class come to church! The potential of Ukraine just amazes me. I'm almost sad that the not everybody can know of the goodness the people of Ukraine, and how this land truly is blessed and a prepared land for the gospel. I fear all people see now of Ukraine is war. My dad always seems to have a gift of being in tune with my thoughts of the week and this week sent me a very insightful email

"The Kyiv Ukraine Temple represents a departure from the more recent historical sequence of temple building. The temple was announced eight years after missionaries entered Ukraine and was dedicated within twenty years. It ranks with Kirtland and Nauvoo in terms of time between the introduction of the gospel and the opening of the Church's most sacred edifice. Unlike other temples erected long after congregations and leadership have been established, the Kyiv temple was erected in the early stages of the missionary effort. This suggests that temples are destined to play an increasingly important role in taking the gospel message to the living. While temples have always contributed to missionary work, they are now contributing to this work as the Church establishes its presence in a country or region."

The mission of the Kyiv Temple is to bring the gospel out of obscurity in this world as well as in the next. There were only five thousand members among the forty million Ukrainians when Pres. Gordon B. Hinkley announced in 1998 that at temple would be built there. The Church had but a single chapel in Ukraine, dedicated in Donetsk just weeks before the temple announcement. It would be another six years before the Church organized a stake in Kyiv.

It seems, then, that the Kyiv Temple served to establish the Church rather than the other way around, as had been the case with temple building historically."
Another cool fact is that the grandfather of our Mission President actually dedicated the land of Ukraine!

Oh and welcome to the Perchersky district sports night!

Practicing for our musical number for next Sunday

Just heating up some lunch in the church! Leftover hamburger patties for the BBQ we had at mission conference

1st ever homeade sharma!

This week was our District Leaders 20th birthday and we threw him a suprise party! I created a large collage of all our fun adventures together as a district

DISTRICT <3

What it looks like after calling over an hour to members for a member present lesson...

My ONE YEAR MARK IN UKRAINE  was celebrate with ice cream and a short term 30 year old native missionary!

Now go out there and blossom!

XOXOXOXO

-Сестра Ро