Hello Family,
So first of all, if you got an email today with a picture
of me on it with some sisters you probably don't know, one of the former sisters
that served here a long time ago was back visiting and wanted to send you a
picture.
Another point, we got transfer calls yesterday. Sister Moore and
I will be together for another six weeks here in Kyiv. We're both really
excited. We'll get to celebrate her birthday together too.
Well, it has
rained for a week straight here in Ukraine. At the beginning of it, last Monday,
Sister Moore said, this will clear up tomorrow, right? Obviously she lives in
the deserts of Utah. When I informed her that we were probably in for a wet week
she didn't believe me.
So as for me, I have lost some weight. I do have
goals to lose more, but we'll have to see. I ran 2.5km on Saturday! And today we
ran from our apartment to the temple. It was really fun, we had other sisters
with us.
I really don't know what to say other than I love you all so
much! Keep sharing the gospel and loving life!
Sister Daniel
Friday, August 24, 2012
Hello Family! E-mail August 16, 2012
Well...it was just another week here in Kyiv! NOT! This past week was my
birthday and because I have the most awesome companion ever we had a lot of fun
this week.
As part of our transfers here in Ukraine we get to go on exchanges in week 4. All of the sisters in the Kyiv zones get to do exchanges for a few days. And Zach, the reason that they're a couple of days instead of 24 hours is because some of our areas take a good 3 hours to get to. So this week I stayed in our area here in Kyiv with Sister Pliha. She's from Latvia and really cool and so much fun! Sister Moore went to her companion, Sister Karpenko who is Ukrainian. So Sister Moore and I we're actually together on our half-way mark. Which was on Thursday!! I can't believe we're 9 months through already.
As part of our transfers here in Ukraine we get to go on exchanges in week 4. All of the sisters in the Kyiv zones get to do exchanges for a few days. And Zach, the reason that they're a couple of days instead of 24 hours is because some of our areas take a good 3 hours to get to. So this week I stayed in our area here in Kyiv with Sister Pliha. She's from Latvia and really cool and so much fun! Sister Moore went to her companion, Sister Karpenko who is Ukrainian. So Sister Moore and I we're actually together on our half-way mark. Which was on Thursday!! I can't believe we're 9 months through already.
I was glad to hear that Zach's talk went well. About 3 months ago,
president told us that the only thing we're allowed to have up on the stand with
us when we give talks are our scriptures. It is so nuts trying to talk in
Ukrainian with nothing to help but your Ukrainian scriptures! It's so
interesting here because in the smaller branches like in Bila, if we messed up
on phrasing or didn't know a word the congregation just shouted it at you. It's
actually kind of funny. I had to give a talk in Bila once and president happened
to show up for that branch. It's a good thing he doesn't understand Ukrainian
very well. He's fluent in Russian.
So Saturday, it was my birthday so we decided to do some fun stuff. We went
for our morning run at 6 like usual, no deviation, president is giving me
monthly goals on my running. Supposedly by the end of this month I should be
able to run 2.5km without stopping. I'm getting there. (just in case you were
wondering, president is a mountain marathon runner, so basically I'm getting my
own boot camp!) Then we came home and Sister Moore made blinchikies...basically
crepes but the Ukrainian version. She also gave me some presents she very
sneakily bought. Then we did our study and went to Puzata Hatas for lunch. It is
this restaurant that you will be going to when you come to Ukraine, all very
Ukrainian food, and a missionary favorite. After pigging out we went and bought
some birthday cake for me. (we had already had a cake earlier that week. We
celebrate mine and Sister Filipovskaya's birthdays at the exchange) I overcame
my natural man, and instead of buying a whole cake we only bought a piece each,
along with a pony candle. So we did missionary work the rest of the day with
some phone calls from other missionaries very loudly and off-key singing happy
birthday, but I was very grateful. Then we returned home for the night and had
our slice of cake with caramel ice cream! And because it's our tradition to go
to a movie on our birthdays, we watched "Mountain of the Lord". That was my
birthday, it was awesome.
That was my really big week, it was super fun. I'm one year older and on
the downward slope of my mission having crossed the half way mark.
Love you all,
Sister Daniel
Hello Family! E-mail - August 8, 2012
Well another week gone by and I have no idea what to write. We're sitting
here doing our email time with the assistants. It's kinda funny you don't
really get to know your assistants until you work in the same district with them
I think.
This week coming up is a big week. Not only is it my birthday (only the
most important day of the year), and on top of that this week also marks my
halfway point on the mission. On August 9, I will have been a missionary for a
total of 9 months. Crazy!
We are having success here, we're teaching a 19 year old girl, her name is
Luda and she is awesome! She asked about baptism when she came to church this
week, and we got to show her our baptismal font and asked her if she would be
open to being baptized and she said "yes"! VICTORY! Now we just have to actually
ask her to be baptized.
I don't know what else to say other than I've very grateful for the
birthday presents all of the clothes fit. And are very cute, I'll send you
pictures over the next few weeks.
Zach I want more information from you, spend some time and write to
me!
Love you all so much!
Thursday, August 2, 2012
A Lesson With the Stake President E-mail - July 30, 2012
Hello Family!!!
Congratulations to Zach for making it home safe! All is well here in Ukraine. How are the Olympics? You have to keep me updated! Do you all remember back in February when a senior couple came to your ward from my mission. They were on their way home from their mission here. Their names are Elder and Sister Terry. Well, they're back in Ukraine for a mission again! They said they were in the Hebron ward last week! I know you weren't there, but I just thought it was cool that they were there.
I can't believe that I'm going to be 23 in 2 weeks which also means that my halfway mark is coming up. It all happens in the same week! Mom - I was going to email the form back to them but after looking on their website I think it would be easier to fax it. So I'll try and get it done this week. I don't know if I need my account number or not.
Things are speeding up here in Borshahivsky. Our first week together was kind of a mess, because I was a mess. I'm going to try to get some letter writing done today while we're on the Metro, but grandma is the priority. I'm going to write her first.
Kyiv is a lot of fun. Much busier than Bila and it takes us an hour to get anywhere! We also meet some crazy people. I've met 3 people since I've been here who are totally racsist, and there is always some drunk guy trying to talk to us. Life is an adventure here.
So about the title of my email. We were sitting in International branch (it is a branch, mostly missionaries) and in walks one of our walk in investigators. She sits down. Then at the end of the meeting our stake president walks in and sits down next to her. After the branch he starts talking to her, and she stays for the Borshahivsky ward. This is like 5 hours of church total. He talks with her inbetween the meetings and then asks her to come to a lesson right after the ward. She agrees. So she's been at church for like 7 hours. We have a lesson with him and her, he answers all of her questions and gets her to meet with us again. After the whole experience, he just says that he felt like he needed to come to our building today. Normally he goes to church downtown. The whole thing was one big miracle.
Last week for p-day we went the spoosk. It is the souvenuir street in Kyiv. I bought all of you something but it may be a while before I get to sending it out. We're going back today, I hopefully won't spend as much money this time.
I'll send some pictures. Love you!
Have a good week!
Sister Daniel
Congratulations to Zach for making it home safe! All is well here in Ukraine. How are the Olympics? You have to keep me updated! Do you all remember back in February when a senior couple came to your ward from my mission. They were on their way home from their mission here. Their names are Elder and Sister Terry. Well, they're back in Ukraine for a mission again! They said they were in the Hebron ward last week! I know you weren't there, but I just thought it was cool that they were there.
I can't believe that I'm going to be 23 in 2 weeks which also means that my halfway mark is coming up. It all happens in the same week! Mom - I was going to email the form back to them but after looking on their website I think it would be easier to fax it. So I'll try and get it done this week. I don't know if I need my account number or not.
Things are speeding up here in Borshahivsky. Our first week together was kind of a mess, because I was a mess. I'm going to try to get some letter writing done today while we're on the Metro, but grandma is the priority. I'm going to write her first.
Kyiv is a lot of fun. Much busier than Bila and it takes us an hour to get anywhere! We also meet some crazy people. I've met 3 people since I've been here who are totally racsist, and there is always some drunk guy trying to talk to us. Life is an adventure here.
So about the title of my email. We were sitting in International branch (it is a branch, mostly missionaries) and in walks one of our walk in investigators. She sits down. Then at the end of the meeting our stake president walks in and sits down next to her. After the branch he starts talking to her, and she stays for the Borshahivsky ward. This is like 5 hours of church total. He talks with her inbetween the meetings and then asks her to come to a lesson right after the ward. She agrees. So she's been at church for like 7 hours. We have a lesson with him and her, he answers all of her questions and gets her to meet with us again. After the whole experience, he just says that he felt like he needed to come to our building today. Normally he goes to church downtown. The whole thing was one big miracle.
Last week for p-day we went the spoosk. It is the souvenuir street in Kyiv. I bought all of you something but it may be a while before I get to sending it out. We're going back today, I hopefully won't spend as much money this time.
I'll send some pictures. Love you!
Have a good week!
Sister Daniel
The Closest I'll Get to Being a Temple Square Sister Missionary E-mail July 23, 2012
Hello Family,
I'm glad that everything seems to be slowing down, and that recovery is taking place. Zach I'm sure is more than a little excited to be home. Are you one of those weird RMs who has no idea what to do now that they're not a missionary?
Well, with everything going on, I'm not sure how much I've told you about my new area and my not so new companion. So as you'll remember Sister Moore and I were companions in the MTC. She's awesome...I love her a lot and she's been a godsend this week. She's just as great as she was in the MTC and she and I know Ukrainian better. It's actually really cool that I'll hit my halfway mark in the mission with the same companion I started with. We've already planned that on our 9 month mark (August 9) that we're going to tell each other how much we've progressed throughout our missions.
So I'm in Kyiv. We actually have the western part of the city, about a third of it. Ours is the largest area in the mission and it's a lot of work. We have the international branch, which includes all of the temple missionaries, the people that come here with ILP which is a program where college age kids come and teach English (a lot of them are LDS), and the people that work at the US Embassy in Kyiv. There are a couple of families that fit that description. Then we have the Borshahivsky ward. This is our main ward. It's huge! Being in Bila for so long, I forgot that wards are hundreds of people, not just 100 people in the whole city. The members here are really fun and totally cool. A lot of them serve in the temple. Then we also have Svyatoshinsky ward. We don't go to that ward, they meet in another building but we have their area and are going to start working with the members there.
Borshahivsky is the home area. It's where President lives (he's in the international branch) and where the temple is, and where the office is. And about once a week we walk the temple grounds because people just go there to be in a peaceful place so we teach them if they show up. This also means I get mail as soon as it gets here. Mail comes every Tuesday so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Work here is starting over again, we're a new companionship and we have to jumpstart it.
This week was hard, but we have Sister Ricks, our senior office sister and her husband Elder Ricks, they're from Rexburg, like half of our senior couples. And they are awesome and basically like a set of grandparents for us here. She's been taking good care of me, and we see President often, and he always checks in. So I'm good.
I love you guys, Zach just because you're not required to write emails weekly doesn't mean you can stop writing me!
Have a good week!
Love,
Sister Daniel
я вас люблю дуже багато. I love you a lot.
I'm glad that everything seems to be slowing down, and that recovery is taking place. Zach I'm sure is more than a little excited to be home. Are you one of those weird RMs who has no idea what to do now that they're not a missionary?
Well, with everything going on, I'm not sure how much I've told you about my new area and my not so new companion. So as you'll remember Sister Moore and I were companions in the MTC. She's awesome...I love her a lot and she's been a godsend this week. She's just as great as she was in the MTC and she and I know Ukrainian better. It's actually really cool that I'll hit my halfway mark in the mission with the same companion I started with. We've already planned that on our 9 month mark (August 9) that we're going to tell each other how much we've progressed throughout our missions.
So I'm in Kyiv. We actually have the western part of the city, about a third of it. Ours is the largest area in the mission and it's a lot of work. We have the international branch, which includes all of the temple missionaries, the people that come here with ILP which is a program where college age kids come and teach English (a lot of them are LDS), and the people that work at the US Embassy in Kyiv. There are a couple of families that fit that description. Then we have the Borshahivsky ward. This is our main ward. It's huge! Being in Bila for so long, I forgot that wards are hundreds of people, not just 100 people in the whole city. The members here are really fun and totally cool. A lot of them serve in the temple. Then we also have Svyatoshinsky ward. We don't go to that ward, they meet in another building but we have their area and are going to start working with the members there.
Borshahivsky is the home area. It's where President lives (he's in the international branch) and where the temple is, and where the office is. And about once a week we walk the temple grounds because people just go there to be in a peaceful place so we teach them if they show up. This also means I get mail as soon as it gets here. Mail comes every Tuesday so I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Work here is starting over again, we're a new companionship and we have to jumpstart it.
This week was hard, but we have Sister Ricks, our senior office sister and her husband Elder Ricks, they're from Rexburg, like half of our senior couples. And they are awesome and basically like a set of grandparents for us here. She's been taking good care of me, and we see President often, and he always checks in. So I'm good.
I love you guys, Zach just because you're not required to write emails weekly doesn't mean you can stop writing me!
Have a good week!
Love,
Sister Daniel
я вас люблю дуже багато. I love you a lot.
The Gathering E-mail - July 16, 2012
Dear Family,
Okay, so I did want to write a little bit about what I learned at Sister's conference this last week.
Okay, so I did want to write a little bit about what I learned at Sister's conference this last week.
President Galbraith came and spoke, he's the temple president and he began
talking about Elijah and his importance. We talked about how nearly everyone in
the world knows that Elijah will return before "the great and dreadful day of
the Lord", but as to what his mission is and how we can understand that mission,
really only the church knows. We then talked about April 3, 1836. It was a
holiday that is celebrated by the Jewish faith, Passover. On that day Joseph
Smith and Oliver Cowdery were visited by four men.
The first of course being the Savior accepting the Kirtland temple.
The next being the great prophet Moses, who gave Joseph Smith the keys to
the gathering of Israel. (Interesting note here: this is not the keys to
missionary work, that was restored by Peter, James, and John)
Then came Elias and he committed the dispensation of the gospel of
Abraham, or for those of us who don't understand that (me) he gave the
ability to organize people into family groups.
Then finally came Elijah and he gave the keys to sealing those families
together for time and all eternity. What a tremendous responsibility and awesome
blessing. President Galbraith went on to talk about how important these keys are
and how a very small amount of men hold these keys. At the time the coolest part
about what he said came next.
He talked about how after Babylonian captivity the ten lost tribes became
even more lost when they decided not to return to their heritage but instead
went to the land northward to practice their religion. And where is that land
northward? It's Ukraine! Every tribe in the house of Israel is represented here.
Even one of our sister missionaries who is from Ukraine is from the tribe of
Dan. President went on to say the reason why this temple here is so important is
because we as missionaries (the great majority of us Ephraim) are here gathering
the house of Israel. And we are gathering them not to a far away place, we're
gathering them to their covenants. We're gathering them to the temple. These are
the last days, Ephraim is gathering the lost, and it's happening right here in
our mission, at our temple.
Today was really hard. But I know that we have the ability to live as a
family together forever through our temples. When President called me this
morning to tell me the news he asked if Aunt Barb had been a member. When I told
him she wasn't, he said there was work to do. And it's true, we'll do the work,
and we'll all go home, together.
I know this church is true, I know that my service as a missionary isn't
wasted, and that as hard as it will be for the family to understand my calling
is here right now. I love you all so much. I'm grateful for the knowledge I have
that this life is not the end, that God loves us and that we will be able to
return and live together in the prescence of our loving Heavenly Father. I will
continue to pray and devote my time and energy to my work here and know that the
Lord blesses his faithful servants.
John 14:27 aPeace I leave with you, my bpeace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto
you. Let not your heart be ctroubled, neither let it be afraid.
I love you.
Sister Meaghan Daniel
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