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
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