Week 51- APRIL-Because Of Him

Well i did have some ridiculous title planned for you but because of recent events and still trying to recover from the seizure of chills i just got from watching the recent BECAUSE OF HIM addition in honor of Jesus Christ and the Easter holidays in celebrating the most miraculous and beautiful moment on Earth i just wanted to give this piece of art the spotlight. Sorry cheesy title, guess you're just gonna have to wait for next week.

I hope you watched it. And then again. And again. And again. Can i even explain to you how much i love my Savior and all that He has done for me? An impossible task. To calm down your own chill seizures ill go ahead and tell you about my week. Good gosh it's been a long week. Funny some of the hardest weeks go by the fastest and what seem to be some of the best seem to be an enternity. The hard days seem to travel at snail pace, and the easy days seem to just slip between your fingers like a slimy frog you just found and decided to adopt as a outdoor pet for the space of 30 seconds. His name is Maskeemovich. 

I couldn't help but laugh as we were out contacting and after facing another denial hearing Sister Anderson say, "Wow, that was a very nice denial. I like that man." When you can appreciate someone just by the rate of harshness of the denial you know you're serving in Ukraine. Thoughs of my setting apart blessing have been popping into my head a lot this week, the particular term of "seed planter." For most of my mission i have been wanting crops, "grow baby GROW!" were always my thoughts! Sometimes i would think that i just don't have that green thumb to missionary work, but  now i can feel the Lord softening my heart. If i bee a seed planter so be it, i'll sow where i walk, and have a heck of a harvest in the next life!

 Things were shaken up a little bit and this week we were actually dogged by one of babushki members, all is well in Zion though because during the walk of "Shut doooown" i got some pictures. Always a good pick me up.

A Ukrainian Soviet Workout Playground

I am still trying to find the moment where i can capture the babushki in action on these things, they work this equipment a lot better than me i assure you

Our Clark adventure this week was filled with a lot of dirt, a lot of shoveling, and a lot of.....alien embryos. At least that's what im betting my money on. There is no other explanation to explain these things....

This week i hit my 11 month mark! Time is a funky thing on the mission. Can't decide whether to say it is flying by or that it's been an enternity since i've had a Cafe Rio burrito. I celebrated by befriending an entire of bench of babushki, diving into an amazing talk called "The Fourth Missionary", recieving news that we would be recieving the entire population of missionaries from the Donesk mission as they have all been evacuated due to civil unrest (in just one day we DOUBLED our missionaries!), and then by throwing a Movie Night! It was such a success! It sparked an interest in one father who's wife is a member (helloooo enternal family!) and brought in quite a few others! Nothing like a good blinchiki buffet and a can of whip cream to bring eternal salvation to mankind.

In celebration of inheriting two new elders, Elder Rice and Elder Lubeck we grabbed our most recent convert Kingsly and took a district field trip to the temple! And get this....we were allowed to do baptisms! Rumor had it that it wasn't allowed for missionaries but with a little arm twisting there are now 45 baptized souls on the other side of the veil. I also learned something at the temple. If you want to look 10 years younger just put yourself in a baptisimal suit and top it with a fluffy white scrunchie.

We made a pit stop at Ocean Plaza, just about the fanciest mall on the planet. Seriously America, Ukraine has got you beat big time. But still supporting the American pride within we feasted down on some KFC.

THE CHICKEN BUCKET

The traveling home is one of my favorite parts

Last night we stopped by our dear Sister Oksana who is an inactive with a husband who is not quite there, but she has the kindest heart and did not hesitate to embrace us, literally, and teach us the ways of knitting. I don't really remember much about those moments, just a lot of hot breathing in my ear....

And here's the best part of the week! General Conference! We settled ourselves down and feasted on banana and nutella blinchiki and the words of the Lord! Given to us by our prophet Thomas S. Monson and his apostles. I couldn't even tell you my favorite talk, but the Sunday Morning Session was to die for. As soon as i get this sent i am finding those babies and printing them off.  Uchtdorfs talk on gratitude, Ballard's talk on following up and the importance of Preach My Gospel, oh my gosh i loved it! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU SHOULD OWN A PREACH MY GOSPEL. That's your challenge. And i WILL follow up. Oh, and remember the words from our prophet and LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR. Believe me, im working on it too.

On another sick day for Sister Anderson i hunkered down with some as close as you can get to a Chips Ahoy cookie and some Russian textbooks. Sister Anderson has been to the hospital twice this week, she has had two MRC scans, and has visited with a nerophycologist. We're not quite sure what is going on but the doctors are pin pointing all her dizziness and headaches and lack of energy on her "little brain" i thought this was a mean "dumb" joke until i realized who was the dumb one and found out that we have infact have a large and small brain. Hmmmm....learn something every day.

Can i ask you for something? Just a little favor for Sister Roe. Would you mind emailing me this week at allison.roe@myldsmail.net and tell me what spiritual gifts YOU think I have? Other Sister have done this and my first opinion was, "Come now, must we really ask for compliments?" But curiousity has hit and now i wonder what others may see that i can not. Come on now, look into those eyes and try to say no.

Happy Easter!

XOXOXOXO

-Сестра Ро

Week 50- APRIL- From The Inside Out

I just have my fingers crossed that this email doesn't disapear without a trace just like two of my others, may they rest in peace
Well hasn't this been a tough but fast six days? I say six because last P-day we weren't even able to do our emails as Sister Anderson was sick and i spent my fulfilliny my duty as companion nurse caring for her as my greasy bangs are being held up with last resor office supplies because of unsolved case of the bobbypin thief. Even being indoors all day Ukraine never seems to give you a little culture shock as i looked out our kitchen window to see....an open coffin funeral service? It would appear so as i watched black cladded spectators, and a poor weeping dedushka (grandpa) weep over the open coffin as little children  watched as they walked home from school.
In celebrationg of April Fools i made a fool of myself in a Ukrainian version of Best Buy as i attempted to buy a new camera. All pride down the drain, and becoming a more and more of a professional of charades with each passing day, i walked out with a newly purchased camera! And let me tell you, it's a beauty! And just in time for exchanges too!
Our sister training leaders made the two hour trip to have a two day slumber party and exchange, and i got to spend an entire day preaching the gospel and digging up setting weed piles on fire, digging up strawberry plants and the occasional frog with her! She is such an awesome sister and a great example of hummble leadership. My favorite quote from her, "Im the kind of sister training leader that makes sisters love their companion when i leave."

This week has really been an up and down week with Sister Anderson and her health. For the past month it has been a roller coaster of staying inside, going outside for literally 3 seconds, getting a sniff of fresh air, and having to go back inside to have your companion collapse on her bed. This week held a particular strange day when all of Sister Andersons emotions gave in and after peeking in a room to see what appeared to be a sobbing rabid raccoon i scooted in our last chocolate bar, my jar of JIF peanut butter and put a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on the door. Time, chocolate, and peanut butter...give me a time when a situation can't be fixed by these things. We still don't exactly know what the problem is but just this past week she went to the hospital in Kiev, coming back with a bag full of medications and still no solid diagnosis, as i was on a day split with Sister Winsor and the Elders learning how to plant potatoes!

With the weather warming up Ukrainians are catching the potato planting fever and so we pulled out our green thumbs and came to the rescue to help Sister Nina, a member of our branch, with the the dirty work. Turns out we were the ones needing help as Sister Nina climbed over fences twice her size, pushed wheel barrows five times her weight, and came up behind us fixing just about every potatoe hole we dug.
What do you get when you put a German, a New Zealander, and two Utahns around a slab of wood, call it table, and in the middle of the Ukrainian cellos? A Ukrainian tea party! Probably one of the most pleasant times of times of the mission knawing on chicken, mashed potatoes seasoned with melted sala, cracking walnuts with nothing but the pure muscles of our thighs, and sipping fresh from the bush mint tea.

Hermana Mathews i just got to tell you that i totally and completely understand that "puff" sounds you used to explain  yourself when you saw yourself in the mirror. Just the other day i pulled out my wallet to pay the marshrutka driver and Elder Roggow saw my drivers license and said,"....is that....you?" Yes, yes, the mission does wonders to you, as i stand there in my "traveling pants" that seem to fit me no matter how many Ukrainian bread treats i devour, and my running sneakers. The Sister Roe before her mission, who took the oath the never, no matter the circumstances, do such a thing, was shaking her head in disbelief and shame that day.

You know, God is a cunning God. I will never figure Him out. This week i have expecially gotten a feel that of what the the Lord tells  us in D&C 58:3-4, "Ye cannot behold with your natural eyes, for the present time, the design of your God concerning those things which shall come hereafter, and the glory which shall follow after much tribulation.
For after much tribulation come the blessings. Wherefore the day cometh that ye shall be crowned with much glory."
Now none of you know this but MY temple is the Provo tabernacle temple, and it's not even yet a temple! A little more than 3 years ago a fire gutted the interior of the historic tabernacle in Provo. Many wondered, "Why did the Lord let this happen? Surely He could have prevented the fire or stopped it's destruction." 10 months later, during the October 2011 conference President Monson announced that the destroyed tabernacle was to become a holy temple. Suddenly we could see what the Lord had always known! He didn't cause the fire, but He allowed the fire to strip away the interior. He saw the tabarnacle as a magnificent temple...the Lord allows us to be tried and tested, sometimes to our maxium capacity. We have seen the lives of loved ones-and mayve our own-figurativly burned to the ground and have wondered why a loving and caring Heavenly Father would allow such things to happen. But He does not leave us in the ashes...He is building our lives into magnificent temples where His Spirit can dwell eternally...the Lord has a plan for each of our lives. Nothing that happens is a shock or a suprise to Him. He is all-knowing and all-loving. He is eager to help us, to comfort us, and to ease our pain a we rely on the power of the Atonement and honor our covenants. The trials and tribulation hat we experience may be the very things that guide us to  come unto Him...and we bind the Lord to keep his promises when we keep our covenants to exercise our faith...but we sometimes, as woman, have a tendency to be very critical of ourselves. During these times we need to seek the Spirit and ask, "Is this what the Lord wants me to think about myself, or is Satan trying to beat me down?" Remember the nature of our Heavenly Father, whose love is perfect and infinite. He wants to build us up, not tear us down."
I could go on and quote the entire talk  (Claim the Blessings of Your Covenats) but i just know that the Lord is teaching me and preparing me for things i can't even see. I relate to my temple. From the day i heard that the tabernacle was going to be a temple i hopped into my Ford station wagon and drove downtown, parked my car, and just stared at that empty but soon to be transformed shell.And thanks to often updates from the pops i get to feel that me and my temple are being built up together! Ok, i guess im not quite done quoting this talk, ""Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions...lift up  your heads and recieve the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love."...I testify of the strength and power of prayer as we express our deepest pains and desires to our Heavenly Father and of the answers that are recieved...and He has helped me to feel great peace about prayers that have not yet been answered."
My trails are not gone, infact i know that there are more ahead of me than i can even imagine. Some trials i have had and am going through now i still can't understand, but i feel the Lord teaching me that when all is said and done all Heavenly Father wants is for us to ove and trust Him more than anything else and in all that we do. Our times of trials are for us to depend and come closer to the Lord. Like my mom said, "Trust in the one who sent forth the winds and the waves." and embrace Moses 6:34, "Thou shalt abide in me, and I in you; therefore walk with me."
And now for the big news....for any of you who were actually paying attention to the announcments of the new additions to the General Authorities you might have caught a name that sounded slightly familiar....does Jorg Klebingat ring a bell? Let me tell you it was caused quite an uproar as we were sitting watching General Conference to hear and then see OUR MISSION PRESIDENT taking his seat as one of the newest additions to the first quorom of the Seventy! He was a sneaky president, sneaking away on "vacation", but even he couldn't trick us. Little did he know that bets were going around the whole mission as to him becoming an addition to the 70. I mean come on, it's President Klebingat! Needless to say he is going to get a piece of me in his letter this week. Well that's my week for me! Im still a missionary under construction, but the Lord is working on me from the inside out, and fingers crossed the Lord starts working on the outside soon...

XOXOXOX
-Cectpa Po  

Week 48- MARCH-Woman

Well, it finally happened. My camera gave it's last little zoom and tapped out. This past month i have been using a camera with a smashed screen that only showed a tiny box of the picture in the top right hand corner. Every P-day was an adventure as i would see, "oh THAT'S what i took a picture of!" And now this week you have none except i did manage to find this sign from the door of the womans bathroom door from some old pictures. Don't know how i managed to let that one fall in the cracks...

(UPDATE! I GOT SOME MORE PICTURES!)

These past few weeks have held some of the hardest inward battles of my life and have yet managed to be some of the fastest. I swear we were just a yesterday at the home of Austin and Kingsly, two of our recent converts who were kicked out of their home and have had to find a new home, giving them an FHE to remember. Their new apartment was naked as a babies bottom and so for our lesson we decided to gift them with things that can bring the spirit more into their home and relate them to how we can bring the spirit into our lives.  And yes, we did manage to spiritually relate to a package of toilet paper.

It's funny how in some of those hardest moments in your life the Lord still manages to bless you with a tender mercy day. My day was March 18, 2014. Tuesday was a day ill never forget and i know it was a result of tender mercy but also all of your prayers. I don't know what i did but something just clicked and i felt like i could conquer the world. No fear, but just pure purpose! We were faced with miracle after miracle as we would tract on doors and get person after person interested in our message and asking to come back, a woman giving us free flowers, a cashier asking us, "what is that book that you have?" and asking us where she could buy one and happily accepting our free gift to her. Tuesday was a day full of service including making a pot of borsh and stopping by one of my favorite members of the branch who has just been having a tough day. I call him my Ukrainian uncle and every time we see him he always asked to make sure that us missionaries are not being sent out of Ukraine.

Don't you hate those moments when you accidently call the wrong number and the person who picks up on the other end starts talking to your like you are best childhood friends and you have no idea who you are talking to? Yeah....me too. I didn't realize until after i had set up a cosmetic appointment that i was talking to the girl we contacted from Mary Kay cosmetics.

This week we had transfers and thought Sister Anderson and I are staying together for another transfer we car pooled with Sister Wallace and Sister Winsor to the mission home to say goodbye to dear Sister Wallace and hello to our new addition, Sister Ford, and go through the temple! It was an amazing experience despite getting tangled up in all the translating cords and having a babushka come to my rescue before i strangled myself. Sometimes life, especially missionary life, can just take it out of you, and im telling you, when it does....go to the temple. If not go in, then just sit outside. Those moments of peace that i had to just sit and think and pray are some of the most peaceful moments i will ever remember. Can't explain it much better than comparing myself to a fully charged electronic device.  Battery charged, let's do this thing.

Reuntied with Sister P!!! Words nor pictures can not even begin to express my joy

Our office elder, Elder Talley, would always call Sister Lambereaux and I "The Row Row's"

Sunday was a day to remember! With our meetings over and a stomach full of homeade borsh and all appointments fallen through with members and a lack of investigators we went out and began the next 4 1/2 hours of contacting. We contacted out way around to try to find former investigators getting a lot of, "Im provoslavny, go away" to, "He's working in Kiev right now, come back later." While on the hunt toward another former investigator and being completely lost i stopped to ask a woman for directions, she happily helped and said, "Hey, you're Mormon" Why yes, yes i am. She contintued to say that she remembers some boys who were Mormon years ago that gave her a church magazine. She told  us how she has been looking into many religions but just felt that there was something missing. "Oh, what's that?" I asked. "A prophet. Like Abraham, Issac, Noah...do you have one of those?" Well as a matter of fact we do! Thomas S. Monson is his name and he is our prophet the Lord has called to guide and direct us in these days. You should have seen the way her eyes light up when she saw that her concerns of so many religions and that indeed a prophet of God guides and directs the Lord's true church. We are planning to meet with her this week and i am so excited to tell you how it goes!
Now i wont go on too long about the struggle with companions but i will tell you that sometimes the Lord will put two people together who just see on two completely different levels, and i know He doesn't just do that for laughs (though im sure a good benefit) but also so that the two can learn from each other. I am one of those. There have been many a days when i say go left, she says go right. And as a result of slipping hummility on for size we have been taking a lot of rights.
So last night with just 30 minutes left on the clock before going in me and Sister Anderson meet a crossroad, literally. I say left, she says right. So we go right. We are walking when we see a woman walking in front of us, she stops to light a ciggarette and we walk past when we find further up it is a dead end, so we turn around and run back into this woman. I already told you that if i meet a person twice and didn't talk to them them the first time i would the second so i go up to her and ask  her if she knows what building was next to us (when in doubt, act lost) when i see that the woman has tears rolling down  her face. Seeing this i ask if we can help and she said, "What for? You don't know me and therefore can't help me." and then walks away. This really hit me as i watched her walk around a corner and down a dark street.  This hit me because i KNEW we could help her. Finally Sister Anderson nudges me and says turn right, so i turn right, but then....."No. We're going left." And i immediatly turn around and start running in the direction of this woman. Ironically enough it is the same street that we ran down the deaf asian woman. I finally catch up to this woman and she just starts crying when she see's that we returned. I didn't know what to say but just said, "Look even if you are not interested in our message i know that God just wants me to tell you that He loves you." Long story short, she accepted a Book of Mormon, and we have a meeting set up with her on Thursday!
Well that was my week! I got one minute left!
Have a great week!

XOXOXO
-Cectpa Po