Hello Family!!
Well the weather has caught up with us and it is
officially fall. The temperature here has been floating between 10 and 20
degrees Celsius. I don't really know what that is in Fahrenheit, I just know
that at 20 and below you need to wear at least a light jacket and around 15 you
start wearing tights and boots. Ukraine is an interesting place when the weather
changes. The grandmas tell you what you're supposed to be wearing and if you
don't have the appropriate attire you will be told.
So this week I spent
2.5 days in Voskresensky. The Northeastern corner of Kyiv. It was really fun to
see a different area, meet other members and spend time with a different sister.
Sister Chang is from Taiwan, she is totally awesome! This was my second exchange
with her and it was just a lot of fun. I'm going to send you a picture of us
doing the "GET BAPTIZED" wave! She helped me prepare to surprise Sister Moore on
her birthday which was this last Friday. It was really cool to be able to spend
our birthdays with each other, it was like being able to say thank you for when
we celebrated my birthday.
So we went to see a less active on Sister
Moore's birthday...they gave her a stuffed pig that says "я люблю тебя" (I love
you in Russian) when you squeeze it. Saturday we went to a baptism, it was fun,
the other sisters were late so we had to set up. It's all okay, until your
mission president shows up! He has a habit of showing up to everything in our
area, probably because he lives here, but it's just extra stress that I could do
without. On Sunday we went to church and then went to see one of our really
great families in the ward.
Oh...almost forgot the "I'm a Mormon"
campaign came to our mission and were taping some of our members for the
website, well they came to our ward on Sunday and filmed everything. Apparently
it's for church training or something, but if you see random pictures someday
with me in them it was in Ukraine.
So people here are kind of obsessed
with us getting married after our missions. The sisters especially when I left
Bila Tserkva all of the grandmas blessed me with a cute husband and good kids,
and I learned another secret from the member we went to see last night. She says
it really doesn't matter what you look like or how much make-up you wear, the
most important thing to a man is the smell coming from the kitchen! She then
went on for a half an hour about how if we wanted a husband we need to learn to
cook well. It was hilarious.
Speaking of Bila Tserkva, I had the great
joy of seeing Pasha and Marina at the temple on Saturday just after they had
been sealed!
I love this work!
Love you all,
Sister
Daniel
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Swan Lake and Chernobyl E-mail September 17, 2012
Hello Family,
I realize this is a little later in the day but we had to change our p-day
schedule around a bit. Really what it was is that we have this part-member
family in our ward, Andrei and his wife Svitlana. Svitlana isn't a member and we
really want to baptize her, she's actually a former who found the church for her
husband. Well, now her husband wants her to get baptized so that they can get
sealed in the temple. I think this is a great idea! So we tried to meet with
her. The thing is she works on Sundays so she took off right after Sacrament
Meeting, so as any good missionary would do, I chased her down. I mean really,
the woman comes to church every week, and her husband has been a member for
about 3 years and is totally solid, she needs to meet with us. So we asked her
about life, and before we could get to the part about us meeting with her she
said she works at a salon. Well, Sister Moore has been needing a haircut. So she
said come tomorrow (today, Monday) so we went, expecting her to be there to cut
Sister Moore's hair, and she wouldn't let Sister Moore pay for it. We got there,
and she wasn't there, but it turns out she's like the boss at this salon and
they wouldn't let Sister Moore pay them! So Sister Moore got a free haircut but
we didn't get a new investigator. Will someone please tell this woman that all
we really want to do is meet with her so she can be baptized, get sealed in the
temple, and have eternal happiness?
So after that debacle in center Kyiv, Sister Moore and I decided to hang
out there today. Center Kyiv is beautiful and I definitely feel like I'm serving
in Europe when I spend time there. We decided to go to the Chernobyl museum, and
it was awesome! They have these headsets you can wear so that you can hear the
whole display in English. It was really interesting and kind of uneasy feeling.
I think I have a whole new perspective on the situation because I live here and
have totally fallen in love with the people. They are so resilient, they take
everything in stride and even the oldest grandma won't let you help her with the
sack of potatoes she's carrying on her back. (or the basket of mushrooms she's
got...there must be a mushroom convention in Kyiv today)
This last week we actually had the majority of our p-day on Thursday night.
We went with the Ricks (the office couple) and Elders Newton and Newman (our
zone leaders) to see Swan Lake. It was incredible. The ballet dancers here are
so precise and the theater is really cool. Sister Ricks did a really good job
picking out the seats. The theater here still has individual chairs for every
person. I took a lot of pictures but forgot to bring my camera to Internet
today.
This coming week we have exchanges so for a few days I'll be on left bank
in Voskresensky. I've never been there in that part of Kyiv, but I'll be with
Sister Chang, she and I had an exchange together a couple of transfers ago.
That's pretty much it. I don't know if you keep up with the mission website but
apparently president puts up all of the letters he sends to us each week,
they're interesting if you want to read them.
Love you bunches,
Sister Daniel
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Behind the Iron Curtain E-mail - September 10, 2012
Hello!
Well, according to the Ukrainians it is officially fall. Fall starts on the first of September and apparently even the weather listens to the babushkas. The temperature has dropped and we can now see our breath in the morning when we go running. We had zone conference this last week, President went in depth with the Plan of Salvation, it was really cool. We also talked a lot about just telling people what our purpose is when we meet them on the street. In case you don't understand that means telling people on the street that we want to baptize them! It's actually started some really great conversations.
This week I've been continuously amazed at the strength of the members here. They come out and help us and just tell of their conversion stories and you just know that the Lord puts people in certain places for a reason. In International branch this week the stake president came and spoke. He gave his whole talk in English! President Konchenko is so cool. He came up to us before the meeting (we had met him and had a lesson with him and an investigator about a month ago) and told us this joke. Well, first he asked us what language we spoke, when we replied "Ukrainian" he immediately switched from Russian into Ukrainian something that a lot of people here have trouble with. So here was the joke (he said it in Ukrainian so this is a rough translation). He had a Chinese friend who worked here in Kyiv. He studied and spoke Russian fluently. He met this girl, also from China but she only speaks Ukrainian. President Konchenko asked them how do you understand one another if one of you speaks Russian and the other Ukrainian. The man said..."easy, when we're together we speak in Chinese". Maybe you had to be there but watching him it was like an older Ukrainian man telling a joke to his two granddaughters, he was so cute!
He's also an extremely smart and spiritual man. He joined the church in 1994. The church had been here for 2 years. He was approached by two missionaries on the street. He accepted it and got baptized, it wasn't until a year later that he even had Doctrine and Covenants in Russian! He's also a physicist. He talked today about Neil Armstrong and how he remembered when he walked on the moon. One of my favorite things about serving here is talking to the older generation who were living here at the time of communism. I never thought I would be able to see how life really was for them here, but I've seen pictures and heard their stories and felt their pain. President Konchenko said that one reason he stopped and talked to the missionaries is because they had a Book of Mormon, he said at that point in their country they weren't even allowed to open the Bible.
What a beautiful thing the gospel is, it unites people. A physicist from the former USSR and a 23 year old American girl believe the same things, have the same hopes, understand and rely on the same Savior. How blessed I am to see the gospel change lives, and to see my life improve is merely a really great side effect.
LOVE YOU ALL! Keep sharing the gospel.
Sister Daniel
Well, according to the Ukrainians it is officially fall. Fall starts on the first of September and apparently even the weather listens to the babushkas. The temperature has dropped and we can now see our breath in the morning when we go running. We had zone conference this last week, President went in depth with the Plan of Salvation, it was really cool. We also talked a lot about just telling people what our purpose is when we meet them on the street. In case you don't understand that means telling people on the street that we want to baptize them! It's actually started some really great conversations.
This week I've been continuously amazed at the strength of the members here. They come out and help us and just tell of their conversion stories and you just know that the Lord puts people in certain places for a reason. In International branch this week the stake president came and spoke. He gave his whole talk in English! President Konchenko is so cool. He came up to us before the meeting (we had met him and had a lesson with him and an investigator about a month ago) and told us this joke. Well, first he asked us what language we spoke, when we replied "Ukrainian" he immediately switched from Russian into Ukrainian something that a lot of people here have trouble with. So here was the joke (he said it in Ukrainian so this is a rough translation). He had a Chinese friend who worked here in Kyiv. He studied and spoke Russian fluently. He met this girl, also from China but she only speaks Ukrainian. President Konchenko asked them how do you understand one another if one of you speaks Russian and the other Ukrainian. The man said..."easy, when we're together we speak in Chinese". Maybe you had to be there but watching him it was like an older Ukrainian man telling a joke to his two granddaughters, he was so cute!
He's also an extremely smart and spiritual man. He joined the church in 1994. The church had been here for 2 years. He was approached by two missionaries on the street. He accepted it and got baptized, it wasn't until a year later that he even had Doctrine and Covenants in Russian! He's also a physicist. He talked today about Neil Armstrong and how he remembered when he walked on the moon. One of my favorite things about serving here is talking to the older generation who were living here at the time of communism. I never thought I would be able to see how life really was for them here, but I've seen pictures and heard their stories and felt their pain. President Konchenko said that one reason he stopped and talked to the missionaries is because they had a Book of Mormon, he said at that point in their country they weren't even allowed to open the Bible.
What a beautiful thing the gospel is, it unites people. A physicist from the former USSR and a 23 year old American girl believe the same things, have the same hopes, understand and rely on the same Savior. How blessed I am to see the gospel change lives, and to see my life improve is merely a really great side effect.
LOVE YOU ALL! Keep sharing the gospel.
Sister Daniel
Hello Family! E-mail September 3, 2012
Hello My Favorite People!
Well another week here in Ukraine.
As always life here is full of adventure. We went to a village this week called Irpin. The road we drove in on was called Karl Marx street and we found this huge statue of Lenin. See Picture below. We went there to see a former investigator who wanted to meet with us. The only thing is she told us that she couldn't once we got there after standing on a bus for 40 minutes. We then decided to visit some less actives that lived there. We tried to find one of them and instead ran into a guy wearing a Yankees baseball cap. I asked him if he liked the Yankees just to start a conversation and he tried to give me the hat! He doesn't understand what the Yankees are, in fact, I'm pretty sure the whole idea of baseball has never crossed his mind. When we informed him that we had hideous accents because we were Americans his whole demeanor changed. Suddenly, we were creatures of legend, and he actually tried to kiss my hand. Then he invited us to come and see how real Ukrainians live. (NO THANK YOU!) Anyway, on our way out of Irpin we found this really cool lady that wants to meet with us and talk in English.
Our investigators are doing great. Both of them (Olga and Luda) have come to church more than they've actually met with us one on one. Those of you who are recently returned missionaries will understand how weird that really is. Luda had been in her home town (3 hours by train away) for the last few weeks and we were worried she would come back with no desire to meet with us. We were pleasantly suprised to see that in fact she read the Book of Mormon with her family, and read a lot of Doctrine and Covenants and all of the Pearl of Great Price. She's awesome!
We got to help our members build their house, that is really fun.
The work rolls along...
Love you!
Sister Daniel
Well another week here in Ukraine.
As always life here is full of adventure. We went to a village this week called Irpin. The road we drove in on was called Karl Marx street and we found this huge statue of Lenin. See Picture below. We went there to see a former investigator who wanted to meet with us. The only thing is she told us that she couldn't once we got there after standing on a bus for 40 minutes. We then decided to visit some less actives that lived there. We tried to find one of them and instead ran into a guy wearing a Yankees baseball cap. I asked him if he liked the Yankees just to start a conversation and he tried to give me the hat! He doesn't understand what the Yankees are, in fact, I'm pretty sure the whole idea of baseball has never crossed his mind. When we informed him that we had hideous accents because we were Americans his whole demeanor changed. Suddenly, we were creatures of legend, and he actually tried to kiss my hand. Then he invited us to come and see how real Ukrainians live. (NO THANK YOU!) Anyway, on our way out of Irpin we found this really cool lady that wants to meet with us and talk in English.
Our investigators are doing great. Both of them (Olga and Luda) have come to church more than they've actually met with us one on one. Those of you who are recently returned missionaries will understand how weird that really is. Luda had been in her home town (3 hours by train away) for the last few weeks and we were worried she would come back with no desire to meet with us. We were pleasantly suprised to see that in fact she read the Book of Mormon with her family, and read a lot of Doctrine and Covenants and all of the Pearl of Great Price. She's awesome!
We got to help our members build their house, that is really fun.
The work rolls along...
Love you!
Sister Daniel
Transfer Week in the Home Area E-mail - August 27, 2012
Hi Family!
So this week was really interesting. It was transfer week and even though Sister Moore and I are not getting transferred, since we're in the area with the mission office/mission home we end up hosting a lot of those who are transferring. This meant that all week we had about 5 sisters in our apartment. Needless to say by the end of the week we were really tired. It was really cool to spend time with all of them though. Sister Stiles went home this week, that's just kind of weird because she's Sister Ebeling's trainer so by default she was kind of like the mom of the Ukrainian speaking sisters. Sister O'Neil who is a Russian speaking sister is getting sent out to Lviv. That never happens because they only speak Ukrainian out there. It gives me hope that maybe I'll be able to serve a transfer in Odessa at some point. It would be really cool to run into some long lost relatives.
So we spent a lot of time on the streets this week just talking with people. We do this a lot. You meet some of the most interesting people. We have a couple of solid investigators right now. Luda is 19. She's studying at a University here and she's totally solid, reads the Book of Mormon, comes to church. I really hope I get to see her in white and in a baptismal font soon. We also have Olga. She's funny, I like her a lot. She teaches philosophy at a university and is extremely intelligent. When we first found her, she had a lot of misconceptions of the church, like women in the church are uneducated. I did my best to disprove that one. I think she's going places too.
Sister Moore and I are in matching yellow today. I'm running out of things to say. Zach, are you excited about school? Where are you living? You're going to have so much fun!
I don't know what else to say.
So I love you... Have a good week!
Sister Daniel
So this week was really interesting. It was transfer week and even though Sister Moore and I are not getting transferred, since we're in the area with the mission office/mission home we end up hosting a lot of those who are transferring. This meant that all week we had about 5 sisters in our apartment. Needless to say by the end of the week we were really tired. It was really cool to spend time with all of them though. Sister Stiles went home this week, that's just kind of weird because she's Sister Ebeling's trainer so by default she was kind of like the mom of the Ukrainian speaking sisters. Sister O'Neil who is a Russian speaking sister is getting sent out to Lviv. That never happens because they only speak Ukrainian out there. It gives me hope that maybe I'll be able to serve a transfer in Odessa at some point. It would be really cool to run into some long lost relatives.
So we spent a lot of time on the streets this week just talking with people. We do this a lot. You meet some of the most interesting people. We have a couple of solid investigators right now. Luda is 19. She's studying at a University here and she's totally solid, reads the Book of Mormon, comes to church. I really hope I get to see her in white and in a baptismal font soon. We also have Olga. She's funny, I like her a lot. She teaches philosophy at a university and is extremely intelligent. When we first found her, she had a lot of misconceptions of the church, like women in the church are uneducated. I did my best to disprove that one. I think she's going places too.
Sister Moore and I are in matching yellow today. I'm running out of things to say. Zach, are you excited about school? Where are you living? You're going to have so much fun!
I don't know what else to say.
So I love you... Have a good week!
Sister Daniel
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