First of all, i love improper grammar on T-shirts. Secondly, for all of you who have been to Lagoon you will have a better chance of understanding my week as my week has been a lot like that innocent looking but oh so jerkishly terrifying ride....THE MOUSE TRAP. You know jerks are fun, but after a while you are just clinging on for dear life wondering, "How many more jerks are there?" wondering if the next jerk will send you over the side at gravities mercy. This week has been a great week! But there have also been a lot of tense jerks. Oh, here comes another scene for ya. I think I've said this before but when i can't find words to describe i find movie scenes. Emperors New Groove. When Ezma and Kronk are taking the roller coaster down to their secret lab. Sometimes as we go through the double twist, stomach drop, 90 degree loop da loop of our week we are a Kronk screaming, "Ezma, put your hands in the air!" other times, and yes i admit a couple days from this week i was an Ezma...hunched over with my hands on the rail, not a smile to be found. OK, so that's not particulary true, this imaging in my head just made me laugh and i just couldn't help myself. Seriously, finding movie scenes to capture moments of you life is sometimes the most hilarious thing to me. My companion now doesn't even ask when i randomly burst out laughing when im writing in my journal.
The 4th of July was celebrated a little early this week and on Monday we went over to a friend of ours who previously served his mission her in Kiev and is now working for the American Embassy. And when a missionary knows that somebody works at an American Embassy that can only think of one thing, access to.....American merchandise. We had all been looking forward to this night for a while and it even took a little pre-preparation. A couple days previously Sister Roberston and I had just finished with our District Meeting and had just been given wads of cash from each missionary who all wanted a slice of America. On our way home we met up with our friend, and stood to the side of the sidewalk to make the exchange. The scene in my head goes as follows:
American provider: "So what do you want?"
Us: "This is the list (pulls out wrinkled napkin with list written on it)
American provider: Oof. This is gonna be tough, i might have to charge extra.
Us: Just do what you gotta do. When can you get it to us?
American provider: I pick up my drycleaning on Friday, that's when ill give you the call
Us: OK. Now just one more question.....double stuffed...rootbeer....peanut butter cup....how much is that going to cost?
The rest doesn't need to be said, but at that moment i don't think i have ever been so close as to knowing what black market deals feels like.
But in the end i got my rootbeer float and that was good enough for me!
Tuesday, about an hours ride out of Kiev you would have found two sets of Sister missionaries down in the dirt pulling weeks out from the strawberry gardens, or would have caught us during out "break time" on the recliners, while Sister Nikogosyan read to us about her favorite animal on the planet: the great white shark. As much as i love those warm blooded killing beasts i found much more joy in photographing the most beautifully adorable child on the planet.
This week we also took a little adventure to the American health clinic (well this HAS been quite an American week hasn't it?) for a ultrasound on Sister Robertsons knee, which has been causing her quite a lot of a pain throughout her mission. They told us it was a girl! And by that i mean all they found was a little excess liquid in her knees but not enough to cause extreme pain. Oh the myteries of the body....but let me tell you i have never had such an extreme change of cultures then when i walked from the streets of Ukraine into the waiting room of an American health clinic. It was like slamming strait into an American wall. Yeah...try imagining that one...
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| I <3 BABUSHKI |
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| Somebody got the wrong memo... |
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| #Temple selfie fail |
And mom, just that you would like to know i had a mom moment when i caught myself with tin foil and a plastic zip lock back cutting watermelon and wrapping leftover hamburger patties in preparation for lunches to come. I truly am your daughter.
President Packer, after lunch, took us all out and had us all line up in the parking lot. He told us different steps that an investigator takes from the time that he or she meets the missionaries. For example, "Meeting the missionaries and agrees to meet," "agreeing to read the Book of Mormon", "coming to church", "ACTUALLY reading the Book of Mormon." and then with every "step" the investigator took, we would take out own steps as to how we feel that investigator is progressing towards true conversion. The end of the parking lot being the finish line. In the end all of us had actually gone way too far and funnily enough some missionaries were already across the lot before the investigator had even completed all the steps! The moral of the lesson was, THIS WORK IS NOT ABOUT JUST DOING, IT'S ABOUT LETTING THE SPIRIT IN AND CHANGING THE PERSON WITHIN."
And finally the night we had all been waiting for. I had offically been made the leader of activities and so put on my hard hat and went to work ordering the district around to prepare for our Minute to Win It night. It took a lot of Kontiks, milk, hot dogs, ping pong balls, watermelon, tights, flour, M&M's, juice, cookie straws, chopsticks, and a LOT of time and effort and needless to say STRESS but the outcome was worth it! In the end everybody had a great time, and our potential investigator, showing up in a very revealing crochet top (when in Ukraine) is very excited to meet again! We even had two homeless men show up just in time for the hotdog eating contest! At the end they went around and collected every scrap of bun, emptied out every drop of juice for the box, and at the end of the night i caught them digging through our trash bins for anything they might have missed inbetween. Well, even if we dont get an investigator from that night we can be sure that there will be two homeless men with full stomaches.
I hope you all had a wonderfully patriotic 4th of July! In less than a week i will be hitting my year mark in Ukraine! You know you have been away from America awhile when you get a lump in your throat while singing "America the Beautiful." Wow, i really am my mother.
I just want you all to know that i love my Savior Jesus Christ. I may not have a lot of investigators to teach, i may not be teaching Argentinian weddings or be having my 25th baptism in Tonga, but i am so grateful to me a missionary of the Lord in Kiev, Ukraine. I know that the Lord's hand is in each of our lives and each trial we face and every awkward baby step we take brings us that much closer to our Heavenly Father if we just exercise a little faith and press on. I learned something big from President Packer this week, it's, "IM EXCTIED TO IMPROVE." Perfection is an unachievable goal, but progression is 100% achievable with the Lord help, and repentance, and humility, and strawberries with smetana.
I love you all and thank you so much for all your prayers!
XOXOXOXO
-Cectpa Po
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