Week 69- AUSUST- Hi Ho Hi Ho

"I have often said one of the greatestsecrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get theSpirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches bythe Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy.There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all timeand talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work,work, work—there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work.” (President Ezra Taft Benson. Preach My Gospel, Pg. 121)
I think every missionary can admit to falling in "the rut" at one if not many times during their mission. And you know missions...if you're comfortable you are obviously not doing something right. Yup, i was victim of falling face first in that dirty rut, and so Zone Meeting came just in time to the rescue! Fake proposals, free roses, arm wrestling and the most amusing role playing i have ever done sparked something inside and suddenly missionary work was once again...FUN WORK. And you know, work really does bring the greatest happiness. I mean, just think about it! I don't think i can think of anything else that brings such immediate and gratifying joy than missionary work, which really is nothing more than serving others. Even if you never see the reaction of the person you serve or the results of your efforts the feeling is amazing when you just make up your mind and do it. So if you're feeling a lack of special joy serve someone. Someone who doesn't expect it. If you don't know who, pray. I triple dog dare you, and we'll see how you feel.

THE ZONE

On the way home we had to stop by the store and stopped a babushka asking if she needed a bag for her banana's which NATURALLY would start up a conversation about the gospel, and bada bing bada boom...i got her number. My brilliant companion caught me in the act. 

So when you get down to it, the only wrong way to do missionary work, is to not do it. Simple, right? So that got me thinking...we're all great members. We read the our scriptures, we pray, we go the church, we CTR it up all day 'ery day, but it's time to step it up and asking ourselves, "Am i a great member missionary?"
I recently made the missionary newspaper for the ward and quoted a commitment from Elder Ballard when he said, "I feel I should follow up on was delivered just last general conference, when I encouraged members to pray to be led to at least one person to whom they could extend an invitation to learn about the restored gospel before Christmas."
.......Ohhhhhhh THAT commitment.....was that THIS year?
Well Christmas is coming up buddy ol pal, have YOU been working on that extended invitation? 
How you ask? Well here's 3 steps:

1. Living the gospel principles (attract in those elect by living the life of a good member!)
2. Beginning gospel conversations! It's not as bad as you think. If someone were to ask how your week was don't just brush it over with a, "Good, thanks." but plump it up with a, " It was great! I went to an awesome conference and heard this really cool story about..." lada lada lada. Honestly i would be more creative here but the clock is ticking
3. Never go to any church event without atleast inviting someone to go with you. Even a member. Heck, we all need help, and who knows who THAT member knows
4. Im adding this one because it's gold: PRAYER. Don't be shy, use it!

For FHE  we met with the Primary President who is in training to mastering the "French tip" and i happily volunteer thrilled at the thought of feeling like a girl. The process took a bit longer than we thought and we actually had to return the next morning for her to finish, and so i did my personal study right there and then. Talk about pampered studies!

And behold the the 6 out of 10 broken nails as a result of ultimate frisbee. Well, it felt nice to be a girl for a little time atleast....

 Guess who went out to a horse farm in the middle of the Ukraine wilderness? This sister! I swear i felt like i was right in Utah! We met up with one of our potential investigators who comes to English who has a passion for rapping in Russian and a passion for her white stallion who stays out at a horse farm, so we joined along with her!

And if you go just a little further you'll find the disco club!

We may or may not have thought we missed out bus and tried to hitch hike back into town...

Elder and Sister Watt's, the sweetest and spunkiest senior couple in town took us out to lunch in mourning of Sister Roberston going home in only two weeks now. How better to mourn than with a hamburger as big as your face?

So my camera took a little fall and will randomly choose to not focus during once in a life time moments. No big deal Cam, thanks.

There's power in chocolate. A LOT of chocolate. The more chocolate the more power so go crazy. Im telling ya, brownie contacting is where it's at!

Im pretty sure by blogs are officially lame and the most random things ever. Me and ticking clocks were never good friends. I love you all! Missionary work really is FUN work, so go out and have some fun!

XOXOXOXO
-Сестра Ро

Week 68- AUGUST- Awkward & Awesome In Kiev Ukraine

AWESOME

• When your Zone Leader appoints you as District Leader for the day and the entire district texts you telling you that they are home. Is this what power feels like?
• Scarfing down Sharma and a banana right outside the house of your lesson, nothing like meaty, pickled carrot, banana breath for a lesson on the Plan of Salvation
• When members call US and invite US over for a lesson! And all after only sending a simple, "Happy Anniversary! Hope your day is full of love!" text. It really goes to show what little acts of kindness really can do. (READ: FOLLOWING UP. This is where true missionary work comes from!)        
• When you investigator is progressing great! Progressing investigators are great!
• When you have a big empty chunk to your day that destiny would not allow you to fill up (aka everybody you call tell you ,"No") and happen to have the perfect amount of time to go and say goodbye to Sister Anderson.
• Learning that PROGRESS=PERFECTION (in our own sphere)
• While others plan weddings and baptisms on their mission we are trying to get sweet girls to break up with their punk boyfriends
• Introducing Ukrainians to the delicious art of SMORES
• When you have a good classic "bad" day: 5 seconds outside and saying "Good Evening" to a woman and getting cut off with a big and bold "DASVIDANYA!" 5 minutes later getting splashed by gutter water while standing at a crosswalk, and while sitting on a bus making a girl so scared she ran out of the bus dropping her wallet along the way, and then accidently contacting your way to Maidan (forbidden for missionaries) and then getting, once again, gutter splashed on the way home. Good day.

AWKWARD

• Body pains of being a missionary
• Asking a taxi driver if he has a family and him replying, "Why? YOU WANNA MARRY ME?!" 
• When the pay for youth in Ukraine is on the verge of employment abuse. 100 greiven a day= $8 a day= $1 an hour, oh but don't forget you get to eat one whole corn on the cob for the day. 
• When a Provoslavnic priest blesses you with a sprinkling of holy water on your way over the metro..."Oh! and thank you for that refreshing splash in the eye."
• Washing the dishes and lifting a plate to find a big fat soggy dead cockroach chilling out in some soggy bran flakes
• Fishing out a big fat soggy dead cockroach with two spoons. One to catch, one to nudge it in the right direction
• When you're sitting with one of your English students listening to an Elder tell a story about scars he received but can't show due to the location (upper right shoulder) and then hearing her yell, "STRIP! WHOO!" And proceed to attempt to laugh the awkwardness right out of the room...
• When it's actually painful to wake up
• When a fellow missionary's face gets bit by a dog...
• When your having a lesson in a beautiful forest and begin to testify and have a spider crawl on your shoulder
• When homeless people in Kiev start to cause an unstable situation by throwing riots when militia tries to clear them out of Maidan
• Considering to cancel Sports Night due to the bomb threat down in the metro...

Random color shot....this is me and Liza! Just walked up to her in the Metro one day, and now visit her once a week because she is no longer able to come to English due to employment abuse

On the job.

It's a short one this week, speaking of weeks....have a great one!

XOXOXOXOXO
-Cестра Po

Week 67- AUGUST-Crunchy Socks

Now for all of those who know the classic black and white Three Stooges, you'll know what im talking about. If you don't, repent and watch. Do you remember the episode when the three stooges are working in a drycleaning shop busilly ironing away, wearing holes into into pants rubbing away at "sun spots", or trying to flatten a pair of pants that rolls up like a fruit roll up because it got stuck in the pull down window shade. This is really all beside the point, what I'm focusing on is the socks. There was a scene when a pair of socks were so stiff with starch that they thudded to the ground like a pair of cement blocks still holding the shape of a foot. This is the 1 second scene that pops into my head every time i put on or take off my own crunchy socks. It's gotten to the point that i can't even wash my socks because by the time i would need them they wouldn't be dry (i suppose the consequence of having only one pair of socks left) and every evening, when we come home is filled with that same stiff "THUD" sound.

Call me a broken record, but goodness I'm tired. But it's OK, "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." (D&C 64:33) Sister Robertson and I just have to laugh when all our bodies want is a nap and we have to tell ourselves we will get that needed nap in 4 or 5 days, depending on how soon Monday is. In 4 days time i will be on my 15 month mark on the mission, how time flies! Seriously these past 2 or 3 weeks have been some of the fastest! Oh, and how do you know that you companion is on her last transfer of her mission? When she tries jumping across you to get a pen on the other side of the room and it sounds a warehouse of bubble wrap exploding. Never in my life have i heard so many "pops" and "cracks" coming from one body frame.

So starting last Monday i was going through a serious "Growing Up" crisis! Email after email of updates and people moving on and growing up in life seriously popped my bubble of "life is just as i left it." Which meant that certain people weren't married, certain  people didn't have mission calls, certain people were still living in the same homes, had the same jobs, certain best friends weren't getting sun friend and in every bike disaster possible serving a misson in Argentina, certain people weren't in hospitals, certain little sisters didn't have boyfriends they were adorably in love with, certain people weren't going to college, or getting pregnant, or a certain little brother to me was still walking shirtless around the house eating smoothies with protein powder, not serving the Lord for two years in Tonga!

To be honest i still feel like an 18  year old Senior in high school! Waiting to go home and go break the frozen yogurt record with a night on the town with my best friends. It was one of those moments i just wanted to pick up my life and put it all in Never land, so that life would stop growing up without me. So all you people who are a part of my life. Stop it. You're freaking me out.

You know, it also has been a blessing to have been almost literally ripped out of your life and placed into another. It's an opportunity to actually look onto your life and see the fixes you want to  make. Things you wished you would have done, things you wished you hadn't, and now the things you will do, and the things you wont. It's a time to readjust, and really come to appreciate the blessings you took for granted in what was just everyday normal life, because...well, we didn't know anything different!

INTERMISSION: A man selling a hammock on the side of the highway.

So the word "CHANGE" was on my mind, and i went searching for help and answers, and i came across "The Transforming Power of Faith and Character" by Richard G. Scott. It wasn't the word "CHANGE" but seeing how Transformers were pretty professional changing from a pimped semi truck into a massive, ammo loaded, 4 limbed, talking machine filled with fire to save the Earth from death and destruction, it seemed like the next best thing.

I was worried that i would go home to a life that wasn't even my own anymore and go home with nothing but better intentions and desires. I was wanting help in forming actions from desires, and habits from action. I realized that i was defining the meaning of building CHARACTER.

FAITH and CHARACTER are intimately related, and they work to strengthen one another. The more character you have, the more faith you have. The more faith you have, the more character you have. We already know that faith is hope in action. As Joseph Smith said, "Faith is the principle of action and power." So what is CHARACTER? From my studies this is my personal definition. CHARACTER is you "inner" personality woven by countless consistent decisions (be they bad or good) that create who you are. It is when things become "natural" to you that they are woven into your character. So how do you build character? I liked this quote, "We BECOME what we want to BE by consistently BEING what we want to BECOME each day." In other words, "You fake it till you make it." Another great way of forging CHARACTER is to simply, LOSE YOURSELF. This is struggled with for a little bit, being so worried about myself, but there is such truth to, "You find yourself by losing yourself."And to be perfectly honest, it's refreshing!

OK, one more little rant and then I'm done on this subject. "Noble CHARACTER is like a treasured PORCELAIN made of select raw materials, formed with FAITH, carefully crafted by consistent righteous ACTS and fired in the furnace of uplifting EXPERIENCE. It is an object of great BEAUTY and PRICELESS worth." I just loved that because it captured the  heart of the ceramicist inside of me.

OK, so what has this week been like for Sister Roe?

This week was exchange week and i was back with Sister Hardy! It was a fast one, but that didn't stop us from having a great lesson with an inactive member who just doesn't see that to love God is more than just saying it but showing it through daily actions, or stopping us from seeing someone walking their pet ferret which gave us an excuse to stop a woman asking simple, "Umm how do you say THAT in Russian?" which turned into one of the most pleasant friendly on the street conversations I've ever had. It also didn't stop us from buying delicious peaches on the way home from a street vendor starting up friendly "fruit" conversation. Seriously if you want to talk fruit or weather with anyone in Russian, i am your girl. Also, a large leap was made on my athletic scale that night as i, for the first time ever, HULA HOOPED! And this wasn't some wimpy hallowed plastic circle, this was a fellow sisters workout hoop which she likes to call The Hoop of Hell Death" which is seriously the most deathly intense hoop Ive ever seen. I still to this day don't understand the point of it being lined with hard bumps but my entire upper torso is still bruised.

Our English class has been completely transformed and I'm happy to announce that ever companionship in our district, as a result, had a new investigator at church on Sunday! And to think all it took was plate full of brownies and juice. The power of food. It's almost disgusting how well it works.

Sister Robertson and I joined the Elders for a service trip out to the cellos for some service! The Elders chopped at a tree with good ol' fashioned axes while we sweated under the blaze of the sun weeding out the pumpkin patch. Now how it usually happens is that you just barely get started into the knitty gritty of service when you are being called in to eat, and you usually end up eating double the amount of food that you actually worked for. SO, with that in mind, i didn't give myself warm up time and dug right down into that pumpkin patch full throttle. By george i was going to earn that бутерброд (booterbrod= open faced sandwiches)! Now something you should know...Sister Lukach, the member who "hired" us is a professional photographer so after our feast of cucumbers, tomatoes and slices of meat on bread we had a.....photo shoot!

The most adorable couple in Ukraine. Can you believe they only married 20 years ago?! She was lying out on the beach when we walked up to her saying, "What a woman!" Now that's true love right there.

We put a new meaning to the phrase, "Thrust in your sickle"

American PUNCH!

#compstudy after service

Thursday was a great night when we went over to visit some new members to our ward who were living in another members empty home, as they just recently left their home due to the rising danger in Donetsk. Ludmilla and Vladimir and what an amazing couple these two are! They both have such amazing talent, ludmilla is an amazing violinist, raising all three of her daughters in the art, and Vladimir is a religious poem writer, finding his inspiration soon after his baptism into the church. Sister Robertson and I had a thought prepared for them, but the evening drew out into just filling the home with music and poetry which just filled the room with the spirit, better than our thought would have i dare say. Sitting there while listening to Ludmilla play the violin i actually started to cry just thinking of all they are going through. They don't know when they'll go back home, or if they will even have a home if they ever go back. An even greater love for these people grew and such a gratitude to be able to enter the homes of these amazing people who others around the world only watch the news about, and that love motivates me more and more each day.

A classic walk to the metro past the street vendors. Boxes of fruit, veggies, or raw meat, they got it

It has been a HOT week this week! And on our way to the metro i couldn't believe that i was actually starting to see crunchy leaves on the sidewalks! What the....where did summer go?! Speaking of the metro....Sister Robertson and I were just about to get on the escalator going down when our phone started to ring, and knowing that we always lose service underground i pulled to the side to stop and answer the phone. Well....Sister Robertson was completely oblivious to this and got right on. It was just a few seconds later that i all of a sudden heard a lot of commotion coming from the escalator and saw some fool, no joke, running UP the DOWN escalator! Yup, that was my companion. She was plowing and pushing and tackling like a football player with fire in her eyes. Too bad for me that fire was directed directly at me...
Had a cool moment yesterday when we were going on the hunt to track a building and "accidentally" track into a couple from our English class. We realized we really didn't have time, turned the corner...and ran strait into our couple! The creepiness didn't end when Sister Robertson and i would sit on opposite ends of the bus, but facing each other, so that we could broaden the range of victims. You even want to be a stalker spy...go on a mission.

I had the most pleasant surprise and Alex and Kingsly from Brovary came and joined our sports night! It was a little blast from the past and so nice to see them again! Speaking of Brovary, Sister Anderson, my companion from Brovary called and told me that she will be on a plane home on Wednesday. For the past few months her symptoms of dizziness have been getting worst and they have yet to  pinpoint the problem. I am so sad to see such an amazing missionary go. Seriously, she was a better example of a missionary in her short time serving than it takes for a full time missionary to reach by the end of their mission. She was born a missionary, probably came out with a name tag. And as her trainer, i was honored to be trained by her.

A crisp morning view from our back window

So as I'm still on the hunt of building character, can you do me a favor? I once asked for your help in pointing out my strengths, but can you help a sister out and direct me to my WEAKNESSES? Don't worry, this sister can handle it. I know I'm a lot harder on myself than needs be, and would like to get your opinion.

Oh and here's a new Mormon Message for you about THE HOPE OF GOD'S LIGHT. Every day more and more hearts are hummbled and prepared, so let's let that light shine bright, and yes, even bless the hot dogs.

The church is true people, it's a pretty awesome thing that there is NOTHING in your life, no concern, doubt, question, or trial in your life that this gospel can't help you with. 

Enjoy your week and SHOUT OUT TO TALLSKI AND HER 17TH BIRTHDAY!!!

XOXOXOXO
-Сестра Ро