Hello Family,
Well, it's been another week here in Ukraine. This week for
us was full of adventure. Our p-day was a little different, we had a lesson (or
were supposed to have one) in the morning. Being stood up is one thing, being
stood up when you go out of your way to meet with an investigator on p-day is
just plain mean. So we ended up just going grocery shopping and hanging out at
home last week. This week we are spending some quality time with the elders.
Elder Newsome goes home in two weeks, so we're having a party complete with
volleyball and a grill. We're all anxiously awaiting transfer calls this
Saturday. Sister Ebeling and I are pretty sure we're staying the same, but with
Elder Newsome leaving and Elder Olson finishing his training we expect big
things to happen in Bila. Speaking of big things, we have a baptism this week!
Actually on Zach's birthday! Her name is Angela, I'll send you a picture next
week.This will be the first baptism when I've taught the investigator from the
beginning of her investigation of the church.
As far as investigators go,
we have a lot like I was saying on Skype and they're all so different. My
personal favorite right now is Natasha and her daughter Tamara. Tamara is 12 and
they originally called us to help her with her English, but after some crafty
planning by yours truly they ended up participating in Youth Night and then
coming to Sacrament Meeting. Needless to say, they're most definitely on the
path of true investigatorhood. But the best thing about them is every time
without fail, they bring us flowers, chocolate and give us kisses on the cheek.
It's like having a really awesome boyfriend! Another investigator we have is
Katya. She's a babushka that was given to us by our other investigators, her son
and daughter in law. She's been meeting with JWs for about 20 years but seems
really open to our message and hasn't officially joined the JW church. Granted I
don't really know how you do that so she might actually be a JW at this
point.
So our adventure this week. We left Bila on Tuesday night on a
marshutka to Kyiv. We got there and got to go on the metro to meet the Center
Kyiv Sisters who had our train tickets. They met us at a centrally located metro
stop and gave us the tickets and we made our way to the train station. All was
well and we were actually early. After waiting for about an hour and a half in a
place that is as busy as any American airport we got to board our train. It was
a total Harry Potter moment. We got to our compartment which has four beds. And
found a guy already in there. It was then that we realized the mistake. As
missionaries it is required that we have our own compartment when travelling
overnight by train. Someone had messed up on ordering our tickets. But because
we're greenies and have no idea really how to do anything outside of Bila we
just sucked it up and went. So we shared the compartment with a really nice and
respectful guy and another girl. At least we were all in our 20s. We left Kyiv
around midnight and got to Khmelnitsky about 6am. The next few days we spent
meeting with the other sisters' members and investigators, and going on crazy
exchanges. Then the freak thunderstorm happened. We were soaked! And Sister
Ebeling and I only had clothes for 3 days! Well, the zone leaders were there in
Khmelnitsky and they fixed the tickets problem for the way back to Kyiv. Then we
ran into another problem. We couldn't find our train! It was midnight in
Khmelnitsky and we're running around on the train tracks. After an extremely
stressful 15 minutes we were in our very own compartment heading for Kyiv. We
got back to Bila at 9am on Friday and it was back to work.
Then we found
out we have to do it all again in 3 weeks.
So needless to say, my sleep
pattern is a little off. I woke up this morning and my body was convinced that
it was 630 and time to get up. So I knelt in my bed to pray. Then I decided it
wasn't time yet and went back to sleep. This happened two more times until
finally the alarm went off. During companionship study Sister Ebeling told me
she had woken up a couple of times and every time she did I was kneeling in my
bed praying.
Yep. At least I know that one thing has changed thanks to my
mission, my first instinct when I wake up...kneel and pray.
All my
love.
Sister Daniel
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