Hello All,
Well, there isn't much to write, we had a fun week, finally got some rain. Most of my time is up because I had to figure out some emailing and picture stuff on the computer. I'll be in Kyiv next week.--
Sister Daniel
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Second to Last Email! E-mail - May 20, 2013
--
The Post-Skype Email... E-mail - May 13, 2013
This is always the hardest email because I often don't know what to write. I guess I could write some funny stories.
Side note first: Mom you will be eating Borshch when you come here, you have to, it's like the only food that's actually Ukrainian. It's actually really grown on me...I really like it. The plans sound fine. It's going to be so cool staying in the hotel in downtown Kyiv. It sounds like Sister Olds and I will actually be in Kyiv that Monday. But I don't want to see you until Tuesday. So you would just need to be at the temple at 230 at the latest on Tuesday, but if you wanted to come a little earlier than that please do.
I got emails from Jolene and Joyce this week...that was a nice suprise!!
Okay...funny story time. So we were here in our little town of Khmenitsky and we were with Sister Olds' sister and her friend and this pack of little girls come up and ask "where are you from?" (we had been speaking in English) We said..."America"...all of the sudden we were the celebrities of Khmelnitsky the little girl and all of her little friends wanted to give us a tour and show us around. It was so funny, she walked forward a little bit to a tree and said, pointing to it "This is a tree". Apparently that's as interesting as it gets in our city LOL.
We had a great time in L'viv hanging out there, and doing missionary work. It is a gorgeous city!
That's about it...It was good to see you. I'm excited to see you in person! Love you!
:)
Sister Daniel
Pictures: the view from a tower in L'viv and the running team in the morning.
-- Sister Daniel
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Easter in Ukraine...a cultural experience E-mail - May 6, 2013
Easter in Ukraine is an interesting phenomenon. Basically everyone actually goes to the Orthodox church and they walk around all day saying "Jesus is Resurrected" and then you say back "Yea, he's resurrected." We decided to go contacting with the tactic of just saying the normal greating and giving people the "Living Christ". It works extremely well, but I couldn't decide if it was almost inappropriate to do that and if most people think that we're actually orthodox. Maybe we'll have a ton of new people at church next week expecting an orthodox church and they'll see how absolutely true our church is and we'll convert a ton of people.
We went to shashlik this Saturday. Shashlik is Ukrainian for shishkabobs and I'm sending you a picture of the event. So normally we have about 20 some people at church but we had over 40 for Shashlik and about half were investigators, it was really cool to see everyone interact.
So for this last week we've been trying to invite all of our members including the less active ones to the shashlik event, needless to say, some of them were not super happy to see us. We went to a village to see one of them. Turns out 3 of our less actives live out there, one of which tried to sick her killer German Shepherd on us. Kind of scary. The funny part is that I couldn't understand every one very well in the village and that was freaking me out. I've been here long enough that I understand just about everyone. Then we figured it out...they were all Polish! There is a village here full of Polish Catholics...and 3 less active Mormons. They were all really nice and it was my first experience with Ukrainian/Polish rather than Ukrainian/Russian.
My companion is great we've become like best friends. She's just really cool. And really fun, and really supportive. AND this note is specifically for John...my companion's best friend/cousin is married to Marie Osmond's son. My companion has met her, talked with her, spent time with her family. And she says that Marie works a lot in the temple in Las Vegas, so maybe when you move out there, you should increase your temple attendance :).
I'm excited for skyping on Saturday...12pm your time.
Love you!!
PS...I almost forgot, I'M GOING TO L'VIV!!!! We're going this week for zone conference, I'm so excited!
Monday, April 29, 2013
Hello Hello! E-mail - April 29, 2013
Okay, so I'm sending some pictures of Khmelnitsky so you get an idea of what it looks like here. There are no mountains, it's pretty flat. On the roadtrip here it reminded me a lot of South Dakota. The people here are really cool in a small isolated place kind of way. They just have so much character, they could be their own movie cast, it's really funny.
The branch is small, on average about 20 people every week including the 6 missionaries. Sister Olds is the Young Womens president, and I'm first counselor in the Relief Society, the president has only been a member for a couple of months so we're helping her out a lot. It's so interesting to me that missionaries in our mission can have two different experiences here. I served in Kyiv for so long and understood pretty well how large wards work and the missionaries role there, but there are a lot of missionaries that serve here and they are basically running the branches. It's been really cool to see how the church progresses in an area. Khmelnitsky is tiny and is just at the beginning, then there is Bila Tserkva, also small but building up, it now has 80+ people at church, awesome!! And then the large wards in Kyiv. You really get to see how the Lord prepares people here to grow the church.
Pictures, Rainbow over the river, and sunset on the river
--
Sister Daniel
Sister Daniel
OkaOkay
A Whole New Life! E-mail - April 22, 2013
Wow, I've forgotten what it's like when you're moved to a new area, it seems like your whole life is starting over. Khmelnitsky is about halfway between Kyiv and Lviv and it's a good
size town. The branch here is famous for being one of the smallest in the mission. When our group first got here there were only 11 people coming to Sacrament meeting and 6 of them were missionaries. Now we get a good 20 maybe. The members here are completely insane. Like, mom's clients crazy. But it is so much fun, they are always just a hoot, and something is always going on.
It's weird being in a small branch again where everyone knows you and the life of the branch is dependent on the missionaries. It's also scary being with a younger companion, in a younger district. We were in branch council on Sunday and I realized that really only myself and Elder Callister, he came in with me, understood what was going on 100% of the time. Scary! Also, none of the missionaries here understand a lick of Russian. So the branch members when they don't want them to understand something, start speaking in Russian. I'm going to be very useful here. The branch president has realized though that I understand him. He's a taxi driver and that is how we got to Khmelnitsky. We paid him round trip and he got to go to the temple for 2 days. I got sick on the way and ended up throwing up. The roads here are terrible and there was too much swerving. We've already decided we'll be going back to Kyiv on a train.
Sister Olds is awesome, she's from Arizona/California/Las Vegas and she's much more similar in personality to me than any other companion I've had. She's also relatively new on her mission, I'm her first companion after her trainer, so she's been telling me about all of the changes in pop culture in America. We've been talking non-stop since we got put together.
Everything is going good. Love you all!
PS. Mother's Day skyping...probably Saturday the 11th. Around 12pm your time, but we still need to coordinate the time.
--
Sister Daniel
size town. The branch here is famous for being one of the smallest in the mission. When our group first got here there were only 11 people coming to Sacrament meeting and 6 of them were missionaries. Now we get a good 20 maybe. The members here are completely insane. Like, mom's clients crazy. But it is so much fun, they are always just a hoot, and something is always going on.
It's weird being in a small branch again where everyone knows you and the life of the branch is dependent on the missionaries. It's also scary being with a younger companion, in a younger district. We were in branch council on Sunday and I realized that really only myself and Elder Callister, he came in with me, understood what was going on 100% of the time. Scary! Also, none of the missionaries here understand a lick of Russian. So the branch members when they don't want them to understand something, start speaking in Russian. I'm going to be very useful here. The branch president has realized though that I understand him. He's a taxi driver and that is how we got to Khmelnitsky. We paid him round trip and he got to go to the temple for 2 days. I got sick on the way and ended up throwing up. The roads here are terrible and there was too much swerving. We've already decided we'll be going back to Kyiv on a train.
Sister Olds is awesome, she's from Arizona/California/Las Vegas and she's much more similar in personality to me than any other companion I've had. She's also relatively new on her mission, I'm her first companion after her trainer, so she's been telling me about all of the changes in pop culture in America. We've been talking non-stop since we got put together.
Everything is going good. Love you all!
PS. Mother's Day skyping...probably Saturday the 11th. Around 12pm your time, but we still need to coordinate the time.
--
Sister Daniel
Moving on...for 6 weeks. E-mail - April 15, 2013
Well, hello family!!
I have to say Mom, your email was very exciting today, I already told Sister Ebeling about everything that is happening. It's really funny because today we have to register her for her classes at BYU and I just remembered how much I love scheduling for classes. It's made me really excited for when I get to do it. I have to admit- we saw conference yesterday and while normally when they speak about marital relationships I just see how that could be used for a companionship, I started to think about an actually marriage. It freaked me out. I'm so not ready to get married, but honestly I feel a lot more ready than I did before my mission.
Anyway, conference was awesome! Our recent converts, the sisters, loved President Monson. Luda said that she was waiting for his talk because, well he's the prophet. She thought he was going to be really serious and never smile. I just had to laugh when I heard that because there's never been a conference when President Monson has even really been somber. I always love to see people when they hear the prophet for the first time. We also had an investigator who came to the English, so she watched it with us. She's 24 and had a hard time sitting still for the whole thing, but she did great. I've really been blessed on my mission to be able to sit and receive a lot of personal revelation, something that I had a hard time with before my mission.
So as the title says, it is time for me to move on from Borshahivsky and from Kyiv really. I'm finally heading out west. I will be serving the next, my last, transfer in Khmelnitsky. It's about halfway between Kyiv and L'viv. And we're having a zone conference this transfer, so I'll finally see L'viv. I'm really excited. My companion's name is Sister Olds, I'll be her first companion after her trainer. We'll transfer on Thursday. This will be interesting because she'll be the first companion that is younger than me in the mission. I sent Sisters Jacobson and Chang home and Sisters Moore and Ebeling are going home with me, so any legacy that I leave in the mission will have to be done through Sister Olds. It's going to be interesting knowing that I only have 6 weeks left, one transfer for sure. Weird.
Love you all, Looking forward to Mother's Day. Easter here is on May 5, so we have a lot of holidays coming up again.
--
Sister Daniel
I have to say Mom, your email was very exciting today, I already told Sister Ebeling about everything that is happening. It's really funny because today we have to register her for her classes at BYU and I just remembered how much I love scheduling for classes. It's made me really excited for when I get to do it. I have to admit- we saw conference yesterday and while normally when they speak about marital relationships I just see how that could be used for a companionship, I started to think about an actually marriage. It freaked me out. I'm so not ready to get married, but honestly I feel a lot more ready than I did before my mission.
Anyway, conference was awesome! Our recent converts, the sisters, loved President Monson. Luda said that she was waiting for his talk because, well he's the prophet. She thought he was going to be really serious and never smile. I just had to laugh when I heard that because there's never been a conference when President Monson has even really been somber. I always love to see people when they hear the prophet for the first time. We also had an investigator who came to the English, so she watched it with us. She's 24 and had a hard time sitting still for the whole thing, but she did great. I've really been blessed on my mission to be able to sit and receive a lot of personal revelation, something that I had a hard time with before my mission.
So as the title says, it is time for me to move on from Borshahivsky and from Kyiv really. I'm finally heading out west. I will be serving the next, my last, transfer in Khmelnitsky. It's about halfway between Kyiv and L'viv. And we're having a zone conference this transfer, so I'll finally see L'viv. I'm really excited. My companion's name is Sister Olds, I'll be her first companion after her trainer. We'll transfer on Thursday. This will be interesting because she'll be the first companion that is younger than me in the mission. I sent Sisters Jacobson and Chang home and Sisters Moore and Ebeling are going home with me, so any legacy that I leave in the mission will have to be done through Sister Olds. It's going to be interesting knowing that I only have 6 weeks left, one transfer for sure. Weird.
Love you all, Looking forward to Mother's Day. Easter here is on May 5, so we have a lot of holidays coming up again.
--
Sister Daniel
What a week! E-mail April 8, 2013
Hello Everyone!
So I'm still here in Ukraine, weird, every time we see President, which is a lot, he reminds us that we're close to the end and gives us some sort of advice. It's kind of funny. Not to mention that Elder Hair, one of the assistants is going home in our group and he's been telling everyone in the ward that we're all going home really soon. Basically, this next week will be General Conference for us, then Stake Conference, and then Easter is on May 5, so he basically said that before they knew it, we would be gone. So all of the members came up to us yesterday in a panic. Including our recent convert who was almost in tears. I was just so frustrated, we had to calm everyone down.
We got to go visit some members this week that we've never been to before, mainly because they live out in the villages and it's just now nice enough to go out there. A member of our bishopric, Denis kept telling us how far out his house was, turns out it's only like 30 minutes from our apartment. Half of our area is farther away than his house! Then the next day we went out to another member who really does live far out there, almost an hour and half away, now they're far. It's always an interesting experience to go out to the villages. It's a simpler way of life. There are really two different kinds, the first is the type of people that live out there so they can have a really nice house and live on their own. The second type is the kind that live there because that's where there family has always lived and they live in a very humble home.
We got some really good news, this week too! Our recent convert in Bila Tserkva, Angela was in Kyiv to meet with President. She had her last interview for her mission papers! Now we're all just waiting on her call! What an exciting thing to be a part of, she's just so excited about the whole thing and really wants to serve in America, we'll see what happens. We also tried to go running again...it wasn't quite melted enough...luckily neither one of us fell.
Right now we are dealing with some more sickness. My body is just giving out...I think it's just a sinus infection, and Sister Ebeling is making me drink everything that is liquid in sight and I can only have soup. That and I can't taste anything because my nose is so clogged. It's miserable. But I got a blessing and everything will be okay. Just got to keep moving.
LOVE YOU!!!!!
--
Sister Daniel
So I'm still here in Ukraine, weird, every time we see President, which is a lot, he reminds us that we're close to the end and gives us some sort of advice. It's kind of funny. Not to mention that Elder Hair, one of the assistants is going home in our group and he's been telling everyone in the ward that we're all going home really soon. Basically, this next week will be General Conference for us, then Stake Conference, and then Easter is on May 5, so he basically said that before they knew it, we would be gone. So all of the members came up to us yesterday in a panic. Including our recent convert who was almost in tears. I was just so frustrated, we had to calm everyone down.
We got to go visit some members this week that we've never been to before, mainly because they live out in the villages and it's just now nice enough to go out there. A member of our bishopric, Denis kept telling us how far out his house was, turns out it's only like 30 minutes from our apartment. Half of our area is farther away than his house! Then the next day we went out to another member who really does live far out there, almost an hour and half away, now they're far. It's always an interesting experience to go out to the villages. It's a simpler way of life. There are really two different kinds, the first is the type of people that live out there so they can have a really nice house and live on their own. The second type is the kind that live there because that's where there family has always lived and they live in a very humble home.
We got some really good news, this week too! Our recent convert in Bila Tserkva, Angela was in Kyiv to meet with President. She had her last interview for her mission papers! Now we're all just waiting on her call! What an exciting thing to be a part of, she's just so excited about the whole thing and really wants to serve in America, we'll see what happens. We also tried to go running again...it wasn't quite melted enough...luckily neither one of us fell.
Right now we are dealing with some more sickness. My body is just giving out...I think it's just a sinus infection, and Sister Ebeling is making me drink everything that is liquid in sight and I can only have soup. That and I can't taste anything because my nose is so clogged. It's miserable. But I got a blessing and everything will be okay. Just got to keep moving.
LOVE YOU!!!!!
--
Sister Daniel
White is a missionary's favorite color... E-mail April 1, 2013
WHITE...is my favorite color by far on my mission.
It's the color of the really fun blizzard that we had, despite the fact that it was cold, snow is always fun, and even though it's melting now, I'm grateful for good boots.
It's the color of the temple. People that come to the temple here, they're special. All members are special, but let me tell you, these ones are really special. They travel for so long to get here and they're just in heaven when they're here. I've been serving by this temple for nearly 9 months, and it still is hard for me to conceive how special this temple is. The life of someone living worthy to enter the House of the Lord is a truly exemplary life. I'm grateful that you are all worthy of that blessing.
It's the color of baptismal suits. This week we had the blessing of being able to witness the baptism of Luda and her family. What an incredible gift. They were so happy and full of love. President baptized two of them and Elder Dutton the other two. He goes home with me, so you'll meet him when you come. It was such a special day, I'll tell you a little about them. Luda and her mom, Katya, dad, Andrey, and sister Maria have always had really strong faith in Christ. First they went to the Pentacostal church, then the Baptist church. Then they brought Luda to Kyiv so she could study at the university here. As they were driving through the city they saw the temple, and were intrigued. Luda asked for permission to come and see what church was like. She just kept coming more and more consistantly, then started to meet with us, and over her Christmas break the whole family went to our church together in their home town. Now, three months later, they are baptized members of the church, and Luda really wants to go on a mission. None of them can wait until they can go to the temple. Our temples truly are a gathering place, they are calling people home, home to their Heavenly Father. What a beautiful work we get to participate in.
I love all of you, I hope you have a good week, and if possible take a trip to the temple and just feel grateful. Zach this is especially for you, because you can walk to yours.
HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!
--
Sister Daniel
It's the color of the really fun blizzard that we had, despite the fact that it was cold, snow is always fun, and even though it's melting now, I'm grateful for good boots.
It's the color of the temple. People that come to the temple here, they're special. All members are special, but let me tell you, these ones are really special. They travel for so long to get here and they're just in heaven when they're here. I've been serving by this temple for nearly 9 months, and it still is hard for me to conceive how special this temple is. The life of someone living worthy to enter the House of the Lord is a truly exemplary life. I'm grateful that you are all worthy of that blessing.
It's the color of baptismal suits. This week we had the blessing of being able to witness the baptism of Luda and her family. What an incredible gift. They were so happy and full of love. President baptized two of them and Elder Dutton the other two. He goes home with me, so you'll meet him when you come. It was such a special day, I'll tell you a little about them. Luda and her mom, Katya, dad, Andrey, and sister Maria have always had really strong faith in Christ. First they went to the Pentacostal church, then the Baptist church. Then they brought Luda to Kyiv so she could study at the university here. As they were driving through the city they saw the temple, and were intrigued. Luda asked for permission to come and see what church was like. She just kept coming more and more consistantly, then started to meet with us, and over her Christmas break the whole family went to our church together in their home town. Now, three months later, they are baptized members of the church, and Luda really wants to go on a mission. None of them can wait until they can go to the temple. Our temples truly are a gathering place, they are calling people home, home to their Heavenly Father. What a beautiful work we get to participate in.
I love all of you, I hope you have a good week, and if possible take a trip to the temple and just feel grateful. Zach this is especially for you, because you can walk to yours.
HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!
--
Sister Daniel
The White Death of 2013 E-mail - March 25, 2013
Hello Hello
Well, what can I say? Kyiv Ukraine is buried under about 3ft of snow, or something crazy like that. It all started on Friday and Sister Ebeling and I had to walk home from the metro, none of the buses would stop. It was about an hour long walk, but wasn't bad with the wind at our back. We walked in what felt like a pioneer trek with people lining the sides of the street. After that adventure, Sister Ebeling woke up with a temperature so we ended up staying inside all day Saturday. The elders told us that if there was any day to be inside, we picked a good one. The snow continued and there was no public transportation except for the metro so the whole city was just walking everywhere. Apparently some of our members walked 4-5 hours to the temple and then made the long trek home after they stayed for a few sessions. Talk about dedication.
The elders were asked to participate in a stake Young Mens activity where the youth would go on splits with the missionaries. Out of the whole stake, only 2 youth made it to the center building, one of which is in our ward. They went out for a few hours on the streets, mainly just helping people push their cars out of the snow...then they realized that Maksim (the young man) lived in the village and there was no way for him to get home except by tank. (which they actually use here to get around in the snow, I've seen them) So he ended up staying the night with the elders with President's permission. He said it was awesome and I think his resolve to someday serve a mission is firmly in place.
Other than the blizzard, which has been the highlight of our week, we went to a school and did a presentation for a bunch of 3rd graders. I was actually surprised by how similar the school is to American schools but it was actually a school for well-to-dos so maybe not the most accurate representation. They were so fun though, and really smart. We had met their teacher on the street the week before and invited her to know more. Turns out, she just really wanted us to talk to her class because we're American. Interesting how many doors I've gotten into because of where I was born...thanks Mom!
So we're teaching this girl named Oksana, she's the daughter of two members and just hasn't been baptized. She's 24 and really cool, but she is struggling to see why she needs the church/needs to be baptized. She loves music, she went and saw Yellow Card when they were here so we decided to show her Brandon Flower's "I'm a Mormon" video. It started and she just turned to us with a look of utter shock and said..."HE'S A MORMON?!?!?" I think she thinks that we're all a little cookie cutter, maybe that helped her realize that she can be a Mormon and still be cool, I mean, I'm cool.
We spent yesterday at President's house...well part of it. We had Sacrament meeting, there weren't very many people there, every one in the stake just had Sacrament meetings. Then we went to President's to celebrate Katja's (his daughter) birthday. It was a good day and ended with us taking the first of the buses home.
Have a good week!
Pictures: Me walking on Kiltseva, the largest road in Kyiv, the cars were on the road with us! and the snow drifts.
--
Sister Daniel
Well, what can I say? Kyiv Ukraine is buried under about 3ft of snow, or something crazy like that. It all started on Friday and Sister Ebeling and I had to walk home from the metro, none of the buses would stop. It was about an hour long walk, but wasn't bad with the wind at our back. We walked in what felt like a pioneer trek with people lining the sides of the street. After that adventure, Sister Ebeling woke up with a temperature so we ended up staying inside all day Saturday. The elders told us that if there was any day to be inside, we picked a good one. The snow continued and there was no public transportation except for the metro so the whole city was just walking everywhere. Apparently some of our members walked 4-5 hours to the temple and then made the long trek home after they stayed for a few sessions. Talk about dedication.
The elders were asked to participate in a stake Young Mens activity where the youth would go on splits with the missionaries. Out of the whole stake, only 2 youth made it to the center building, one of which is in our ward. They went out for a few hours on the streets, mainly just helping people push their cars out of the snow...then they realized that Maksim (the young man) lived in the village and there was no way for him to get home except by tank. (which they actually use here to get around in the snow, I've seen them) So he ended up staying the night with the elders with President's permission. He said it was awesome and I think his resolve to someday serve a mission is firmly in place.
Other than the blizzard, which has been the highlight of our week, we went to a school and did a presentation for a bunch of 3rd graders. I was actually surprised by how similar the school is to American schools but it was actually a school for well-to-dos so maybe not the most accurate representation. They were so fun though, and really smart. We had met their teacher on the street the week before and invited her to know more. Turns out, she just really wanted us to talk to her class because we're American. Interesting how many doors I've gotten into because of where I was born...thanks Mom!
So we're teaching this girl named Oksana, she's the daughter of two members and just hasn't been baptized. She's 24 and really cool, but she is struggling to see why she needs the church/needs to be baptized. She loves music, she went and saw Yellow Card when they were here so we decided to show her Brandon Flower's "I'm a Mormon" video. It started and she just turned to us with a look of utter shock and said..."HE'S A MORMON?!?!?" I think she thinks that we're all a little cookie cutter, maybe that helped her realize that she can be a Mormon and still be cool, I mean, I'm cool.
We spent yesterday at President's house...well part of it. We had Sacrament meeting, there weren't very many people there, every one in the stake just had Sacrament meetings. Then we went to President's to celebrate Katja's (his daughter) birthday. It was a good day and ended with us taking the first of the buses home.
Have a good week!
Pictures: Me walking on Kiltseva, the largest road in Kyiv, the cars were on the road with us! and the snow drifts.
--
Sister Daniel
Another Week! E-mail - March 18, 2013
Hello!!
Well, another week come and gone. Transfer calls also came, and we're staying put. According to the assistants this is a new record for the length of a companionship in the field. Sister Ebeling and I are going on transfer number 5 overall. Although, they told me that President doesn't really consider these next four weeks an actual transfer. So in another month we'll find out again where we will be going.
Email policy changed again, I can now write people outside of the family again, so if any one wants to email me or hear from me, we can do that.
So another reason that I think Sister Ebeling and I will be together one more transfer is that we're really just an extremely effective companionship. Luda and her family are getting baptized on the 29th. Here in Kyiv! It's so exciting. Earlier in my mission, I remember thinking, wow, all the baptisms I've seen have been people that have come out of no where there have been no struggles, nothing. Luda is finally the investigator, seven or eight months of hard work, of her coming back and then not seeing her for a while and finally she's getting baptized and not just her, but her family too! Life is just crazy.
Funny story, yesterday sister Ebeling and I were waiting for a marshrutka to the church. We normally have 3 different options but there is one that takes us the closest so we don't have to walk as far. Well, it showed up! Not only that but apparently we looked really cute yesterday because the driver let us on the bus up in his little compartment so we didn't have to pay. He's like 50 with a wife and two kids. At first I thought we were being kidnapped but I took comfort in the fact that there was a whole bus full of people. Sister Ebeling was so stiff the whole ride, I don't think she said two words. I just chalked it up to good luck, not that the bus ride is expensive at all, but just the fact that we got that bus. So we talked to him for the whole 15 minute ride. It turns out he was a nice guy, yeah, he was hitting on us, but he didn't kidnap us so I was happy. We gave him a pamphlet and invited him to church, who knows right?
Also, we met a totally special girl on the metro, she came and talked to us after we smiled at her, she'll get baptized, someday. After a week of meeting with us and expressing some doubts, she decided she needed to ask somebody if she should read the Book of Mormon. So who did she ask? The Orthodox Church. Duh! I know what they're going to tell you...so we're taking a break from her right now. All of our members thought this was hilarious when we told them.
And there was a funeral for a church member here on Saturday. It started at noon. We left at 8:30pm after the members tried their best to stuff us with food. We weren't even there for the funeral, we had a lesson!
--
Sister Daniel
Well, another week come and gone. Transfer calls also came, and we're staying put. According to the assistants this is a new record for the length of a companionship in the field. Sister Ebeling and I are going on transfer number 5 overall. Although, they told me that President doesn't really consider these next four weeks an actual transfer. So in another month we'll find out again where we will be going.
Email policy changed again, I can now write people outside of the family again, so if any one wants to email me or hear from me, we can do that.
So another reason that I think Sister Ebeling and I will be together one more transfer is that we're really just an extremely effective companionship. Luda and her family are getting baptized on the 29th. Here in Kyiv! It's so exciting. Earlier in my mission, I remember thinking, wow, all the baptisms I've seen have been people that have come out of no where there have been no struggles, nothing. Luda is finally the investigator, seven or eight months of hard work, of her coming back and then not seeing her for a while and finally she's getting baptized and not just her, but her family too! Life is just crazy.
Funny story, yesterday sister Ebeling and I were waiting for a marshrutka to the church. We normally have 3 different options but there is one that takes us the closest so we don't have to walk as far. Well, it showed up! Not only that but apparently we looked really cute yesterday because the driver let us on the bus up in his little compartment so we didn't have to pay. He's like 50 with a wife and two kids. At first I thought we were being kidnapped but I took comfort in the fact that there was a whole bus full of people. Sister Ebeling was so stiff the whole ride, I don't think she said two words. I just chalked it up to good luck, not that the bus ride is expensive at all, but just the fact that we got that bus. So we talked to him for the whole 15 minute ride. It turns out he was a nice guy, yeah, he was hitting on us, but he didn't kidnap us so I was happy. We gave him a pamphlet and invited him to church, who knows right?
Also, we met a totally special girl on the metro, she came and talked to us after we smiled at her, she'll get baptized, someday. After a week of meeting with us and expressing some doubts, she decided she needed to ask somebody if she should read the Book of Mormon. So who did she ask? The Orthodox Church. Duh! I know what they're going to tell you...so we're taking a break from her right now. All of our members thought this was hilarious when we told them.
And there was a funeral for a church member here on Saturday. It started at noon. We left at 8:30pm after the members tried their best to stuff us with food. We weren't even there for the funeral, we had a lesson!
--
Sister Daniel
Spring...Just kidding. E-mail - March 11, 2013
Well, after almost transitioning into Spring, Winter has sprung her ugly head again and once more the ground is covered in snow. Mom, I'll take your 66 degrees any day.
This week was full of miracles, big and small. We got to see Luda and her sister Maria, we've been teaching them for a very long time now and they and their parents are all getting baptized at the end of the month. It's so exciting to see a whole family come to the gospel together. When it happens, it seems the whole mission knows about it, including the members. On our way to meet Luda and Maria we were on the metro, and Sister Ebeling was just being her very happy self, smiling at every one and this young girl just bounced over to sit next to us. She started talking about how much she was looking for us and wanted to know more about God. She talked about how she wanted to meet with Jehovah's Witnesses and immediately we were like "we're not JWs". She said, "I know but I want to know about this book (Book of Mormon) and what it is." Long story short, she came with us to our lesson, then went to the YSA dance afterward, then came to church yesterday, and we're having an FHE with her and a family in the ward tonight. It was absolutely amazing.
We've been focusing a lot on using the Book of Mormon for its intended purpose, to gather Israel, and it's been amazing! So many people want to read it or already have one. Of course, there are some who see it and basically run away, but those that are ready and are truly of the house of Israel recognize it immediately and have to know about it. It's so amazing that you can literally tell when you've found an Isrealite just by how they react to the Book of Mormon. It's even cooler here because there are so many people here from so many tribes. For example, Sister Karpenko is from Dan. Have you met anyone from Dan? I sure haven't. I really feel a connection as a member of the House of Israel here, our last zone conference totally changed my perspective.
We also recently learned about angels and ministering spirits, and mom, before my mission when people had dreams I was just kind of like "yeah...whatever...superstitions" but dreams matter, and it's really cool how many people here have had dreams or visions, there is this really great quote from Parley P Pratt about it. I'll try to find it, Sister Klebingat had it. But I believe that there were a lot of people trying to communicate with grandma, and hopefully she'll start to understand that too.
Anyway, that was my week. Love you all.
--
Sister Daniel
This week was full of miracles, big and small. We got to see Luda and her sister Maria, we've been teaching them for a very long time now and they and their parents are all getting baptized at the end of the month. It's so exciting to see a whole family come to the gospel together. When it happens, it seems the whole mission knows about it, including the members. On our way to meet Luda and Maria we were on the metro, and Sister Ebeling was just being her very happy self, smiling at every one and this young girl just bounced over to sit next to us. She started talking about how much she was looking for us and wanted to know more about God. She talked about how she wanted to meet with Jehovah's Witnesses and immediately we were like "we're not JWs". She said, "I know but I want to know about this book (Book of Mormon) and what it is." Long story short, she came with us to our lesson, then went to the YSA dance afterward, then came to church yesterday, and we're having an FHE with her and a family in the ward tonight. It was absolutely amazing.
We've been focusing a lot on using the Book of Mormon for its intended purpose, to gather Israel, and it's been amazing! So many people want to read it or already have one. Of course, there are some who see it and basically run away, but those that are ready and are truly of the house of Israel recognize it immediately and have to know about it. It's so amazing that you can literally tell when you've found an Isrealite just by how they react to the Book of Mormon. It's even cooler here because there are so many people here from so many tribes. For example, Sister Karpenko is from Dan. Have you met anyone from Dan? I sure haven't. I really feel a connection as a member of the House of Israel here, our last zone conference totally changed my perspective.
We also recently learned about angels and ministering spirits, and mom, before my mission when people had dreams I was just kind of like "yeah...whatever...superstitions" but dreams matter, and it's really cool how many people here have had dreams or visions, there is this really great quote from Parley P Pratt about it. I'll try to find it, Sister Klebingat had it. But I believe that there were a lot of people trying to communicate with grandma, and hopefully she'll start to understand that too.
Anyway, that was my week. Love you all.
--
Sister Daniel
A Great Week! E-mail - March 4, 2013
What a week!
Sister Ebeling and I had the privilege of being a part of a wonderful baptism. Olga is 88 years old. About two weeks ago her 60 something year old daughter came up to us in sacrament meeting and told us that her mother had a vision and now wanted to be baptized. At first, I was a little skeptical because, well she's 88 and has had two strokes and really it just seemed a little weird to go and teach and baptize a lady that old, but we went. And boy, does this woman have the spirit with her. You can totally tell that Heavenly Father is doing his absolute best to communicate with her. She can't see very well, or hear very well, but she is the sweetest thing.
Anyways, we wanted to make sure she was okay mentally to get baptized so we brought Sister Klebingat on the lesson with us. It was apparent to all of us that this little old babushka was definitely of sound mind and totally ready to get baptized. So president got involved, he went with us to do the interview. It was quite out of the box, President asked her I think maybe two questions and she was ready to go, but it was really cool. So yesterday, a few hours after church, Olga got baptized and confirmed. Her family are all members, but less active except for two of them. This is the picture of us with her and her family and also some ward leaders. She was baptized by a brother in the ward, the family's home teacher and one of our Assistants with President watching the whole thing. It was so cool and the spirit was definitely there.
So it was a great week, to top it all off, the girl I've been working with for a long time, Luda, her and her family accepted a baptismal date. Hopefully all four of them will be baptized together in March! She's in the other picture. Miracles never cease. Ever.
I'm still running every morning, I'll send you a picture of the morning run today. Love you all!
--
Sister Daniel
Sister Ebeling and I had the privilege of being a part of a wonderful baptism. Olga is 88 years old. About two weeks ago her 60 something year old daughter came up to us in sacrament meeting and told us that her mother had a vision and now wanted to be baptized. At first, I was a little skeptical because, well she's 88 and has had two strokes and really it just seemed a little weird to go and teach and baptize a lady that old, but we went. And boy, does this woman have the spirit with her. You can totally tell that Heavenly Father is doing his absolute best to communicate with her. She can't see very well, or hear very well, but she is the sweetest thing.
Anyways, we wanted to make sure she was okay mentally to get baptized so we brought Sister Klebingat on the lesson with us. It was apparent to all of us that this little old babushka was definitely of sound mind and totally ready to get baptized. So president got involved, he went with us to do the interview. It was quite out of the box, President asked her I think maybe two questions and she was ready to go, but it was really cool. So yesterday, a few hours after church, Olga got baptized and confirmed. Her family are all members, but less active except for two of them. This is the picture of us with her and her family and also some ward leaders. She was baptized by a brother in the ward, the family's home teacher and one of our Assistants with President watching the whole thing. It was so cool and the spirit was definitely there.
So it was a great week, to top it all off, the girl I've been working with for a long time, Luda, her and her family accepted a baptismal date. Hopefully all four of them will be baptized together in March! She's in the other picture. Miracles never cease. Ever.
I'm still running every morning, I'll send you a picture of the morning run today. Love you all!
--
Sister Daniel
A New Mission and A New Outlook E-mail - February 26, 2013
Hello, Hello...
So thanks to some rather interesting events, I'm actually writing you from President's house today...long story. The most interesting thing about it though is that they have a German keyboard on their computer, which means that the letter y and the letter z are switched! So if something doesn't make sense, that's why.
So you might have seen that Ukraine is getting a new mission starting July 1. Our mission is splitting and all Ukrainian speakers will be out in the Lviv Mission. I'm just glad this is happening after I leave, our mission would be cut in half and I would have a new mission president. Iäm kind of attached to the one I have now.
It's good to hear that everything is going well back home, I'm always a little bit worried that you can't make it without me.
So as for a new outlook, we had zone conference yesterday which is why I didn't email then, and President talked to us a little bit about the House of Israel and what our role is and how we fit in. I tell you, we're going to have some cool discussions at the end of my mission. I also have a list of books to read from the prophets and apostles. We just talked about what it means as members of the House of Israel and Israelites living in a Gentile world. We got President's PowerPoint so someday when I've actually wrapped mz head around this idea I can read it again and have an actual intelligent conversation about it.
Life in Ukraine is good. It's getting warmer and the snow is almost melting. Holidays have slowed down a little bit, the next big one is Easter on April 15.
That's about it. We're currently working with an 88 year old grandmother who wants to get baptized so we're going to take care of that soon. Everything's good. Say hi to grandma for me, I hope she feels better, that's quite the injury.
Love you!
--
Sister Daniel
Sister Daniel
A Snowy, albeit warm week! Email - February 18, 2012
Well, we've made it past what was the extremely cold time of last year, so hopefully we won't have to deal with that at all this year.
I'm really sorry but I just realized I'm out of time. It took a long time to write to mom about coming and I just don't have any more time today.
It was a good week, lots of miracles.
Hope you had a good week too.
I love you all.
Next week p-day is on Tuesday, so you'll hear from me then.
Bye!
--
Sister Daniel
I'm really sorry but I just realized I'm out of time. It took a long time to write to mom about coming and I just don't have any more time today.
It was a good week, lots of miracles.
Hope you had a good week too.
I love you all.
Next week p-day is on Tuesday, so you'll hear from me then.
Bye!
--
Sister Daniel
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Here We Go Again! E-mail February 11, 2013
Hello!
What a great blessing it is to be companions with Sister Ebeling. I've decided I'm going to be the best person ever after this transfer. Right now, we are making goals for the rest of our missions. Like mom so graciously pointed out we're down to 15 weeks. There's a lot of work to in 15 weeks. So right now I'm making a goal to write in my journal every single day until the end of mission and take a picture every day.
So we're still working with our investigators, new ones keep popping up. Like Tanya, here's the story:
Sister Ebeling and I had plans to meet with the new Relief Society President in Svyatoshinsky Ward. We wanted to touch base with her and see if she needed anything, if she knew of anyone in her ward who needed the sister missionaries and also to report on our work with the less-active sisters in the ward. (we take care of three wards in this area) We set up a meeting and she ended up being about an hour late and said she'd meet us at the ward activity that was to start that next hour. So we spent the hour out on the streets talking to whomever we could, contacting. We called the elders to see what the activity was, and we were told that they didn't know there was an activity. It turns out that the elders didn't know about it because it was a Relief Society activity. They were making palmeni and vereniki! (you'll quickly find out what this is when you come to Ukraine) We decided to stick around and wait until the Relief Society President had time to talk and in the meantime get to know the sisters in the ward. Shortly an older woman walked in with her 16 year old, nonmember granddaughter. One of the members quickly invited the granddaughter, Tanya to have a lesson with us, which we did. It was amazing, she was so prepared for the gospel. She accepted a soft baptismal commitment and we set up a meeting for the next day. We don't know what will happen with her, but it was a testimony to us that these activities are definitely something to be around for, we had a similar experience in Borshahivsky (the other ward) the next day! Our members want to invite their friends and family to learn about the gospel, but most of the time don't know how to do it. It very often happens that they will bring their friends and loved ones to fun ward activities, and the missionaries never know that this person came.
So I invite you to invite other people to any ward activities coming up, and tell the missionaries that they're coming! Do this!
Something I've heard a lot on my mission is that this is the Lord's work. He has a plan for everyone to receive the gospel, the only choice is whether or not we will have a part in their story. Whenever you're feeling scared to invite someone to learn more about the gospel, just remember that the Lord is giving you that opportunity to be a part of someone's conversion. I know that the joy we will receive from our friends and family coming to the gospel far outweighs the awkwardness we might experience at the beginning of the exchange.
Love you all! Don't forget to do missionary work!
--
Sister Daniel
What a great blessing it is to be companions with Sister Ebeling. I've decided I'm going to be the best person ever after this transfer. Right now, we are making goals for the rest of our missions. Like mom so graciously pointed out we're down to 15 weeks. There's a lot of work to in 15 weeks. So right now I'm making a goal to write in my journal every single day until the end of mission and take a picture every day.
So we're still working with our investigators, new ones keep popping up. Like Tanya, here's the story:
Sister Ebeling and I had plans to meet with the new Relief Society President in Svyatoshinsky Ward. We wanted to touch base with her and see if she needed anything, if she knew of anyone in her ward who needed the sister missionaries and also to report on our work with the less-active sisters in the ward. (we take care of three wards in this area) We set up a meeting and she ended up being about an hour late and said she'd meet us at the ward activity that was to start that next hour. So we spent the hour out on the streets talking to whomever we could, contacting. We called the elders to see what the activity was, and we were told that they didn't know there was an activity. It turns out that the elders didn't know about it because it was a Relief Society activity. They were making palmeni and vereniki! (you'll quickly find out what this is when you come to Ukraine) We decided to stick around and wait until the Relief Society President had time to talk and in the meantime get to know the sisters in the ward. Shortly an older woman walked in with her 16 year old, nonmember granddaughter. One of the members quickly invited the granddaughter, Tanya to have a lesson with us, which we did. It was amazing, she was so prepared for the gospel. She accepted a soft baptismal commitment and we set up a meeting for the next day. We don't know what will happen with her, but it was a testimony to us that these activities are definitely something to be around for, we had a similar experience in Borshahivsky (the other ward) the next day! Our members want to invite their friends and family to learn about the gospel, but most of the time don't know how to do it. It very often happens that they will bring their friends and loved ones to fun ward activities, and the missionaries never know that this person came.
So I invite you to invite other people to any ward activities coming up, and tell the missionaries that they're coming! Do this!
Something I've heard a lot on my mission is that this is the Lord's work. He has a plan for everyone to receive the gospel, the only choice is whether or not we will have a part in their story. Whenever you're feeling scared to invite someone to learn more about the gospel, just remember that the Lord is giving you that opportunity to be a part of someone's conversion. I know that the joy we will receive from our friends and family coming to the gospel far outweighs the awkwardness we might experience at the beginning of the exchange.
Love you all! Don't forget to do missionary work!
--
Sister Daniel
Friday, February 8, 2013
Winter Wonderland E-mail -- February 4, 2013
Hello!
Well, everything is alright health wise, maybe that helped me overcome something that might have befallen me. I'm always really touched to know that there are people praying for me. You know, we know that there are our families, all primary kids everywhere, that sort of thing but it's really nice to just know that there are people thinking of you. Life here in Ukraine has actually been relatively warm. Around 30-35 all this week. I'm hoping that this year we'll escape from the normally terribly cold February. Just about everything melted with the rain this week but then we woke up this morning and we're back to a white winter wonderland.
Big news in our missionary work, our investigator who is 19 came to church yesterday and brought a friend and bore her testimony in front of our 250 member ward. Plus her family, younger sister, and parents went to church in her hometown, our church! Her mom even said that she (the mom) needs to get baptized! So we're hoping that will spur our investigator into actually doing something herself. This is the one I've been meeting with for the last six months. What's interesting though is that Sister Ebeling and I were talking and we came to the conclusion that even if she never gets baptized maybe it all happened so that her parents could find the church. Interesting how the Lord works.
As for transfers I'm going for another one here in Kyiv with Sister Ebeling. I'm really excited about this, honestly. I love the members here and the work, it's hard, and draining but honestly the hard part is always that desire to just see more of your mission and not feeling like you're stuck. But there are definitely worse places to be stuck. Plus I'm building some great friendships here in the ward, and when you've been in one place for a long time they seem to trust you more to do your work. Just in the last few weeks we've really built relationships with the Bishop and Relief Society President. They're all so amazing!
Sister Ebeling and I are doing great, I've determined that she and I have known each other for a long time and that our friendship is going to last long after this life. We just get each other. We're both very opinionated which means life isn't always sunshine and roses, but it is always fun. I love her so much, we're really more like sisters. We also just have the best time together, we're always laughing about something. Like this week we had the most awkward day ever. I don't remember what happened but all of these really awkward conversations and experiences with members kept happening. Also even though we really planned this week all of our plans would fall through and we'd end up doing something else. I think the Lord gives us these weeks to remind us that it really is His work.
Life's good, the work's good, We just keep moving forward.
LOVE YOU!
--
Sister Daniel
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Still Slippery! E-mail January 28, 2013
Hello all!
Well another very cold week in Ukraine, but I finally bought new boots. No more super slippery, my feet are wet, my toesies are falling off! I now have very warm feet. And my toes are very happy, but the funny thing is no matter how much traction your boots have, unless you have Ukrainian genes, you're going down! I guess the fact my ancestors lived in Ukraine isn't enough to give me the anti-slip gene. The first hour that I had my new boots I fell flat on my butt. More than the pain to my tail bone was the anger that not all of my slipperyness was solved.
So this week we decided to go through with our finding ideas, all went well and I've learned to bake from scratch! I know mom probably just fell out of her chair. We've been making banana bread and brownies like crazy, the only problem is that sometimes we end up eating just as much as we give away! It's interfering with my plans to be thinner when I get home. I would make Sister Ebeling eat them all so there was no temptation but she's trying to lose weight too. Really I'm too nice.
So I read the scripture assigned by Zach (Moses 6:31-34), and yes we read it in companionship study. I liked it. Especially the part when Enoch says that he's slow of speech, that's how we feel everyday. Everything's good here still finding teaching and baptizing.
We'll get transfer calls this week so I'll find out soon what my fate is. It's so weird that Sisters Smith and Dally are going home this transfer. They're the next Ukrainian group up. Which means that we'll be the senior Ukrainian sisters and not very long until it's our adventure home. I really enjoyed Sister Chang's.
Hope everything is good for you! LOVE YOU MUCH!
--
Sister Daniel
Well another very cold week in Ukraine, but I finally bought new boots. No more super slippery, my feet are wet, my toesies are falling off! I now have very warm feet. And my toes are very happy, but the funny thing is no matter how much traction your boots have, unless you have Ukrainian genes, you're going down! I guess the fact my ancestors lived in Ukraine isn't enough to give me the anti-slip gene. The first hour that I had my new boots I fell flat on my butt. More than the pain to my tail bone was the anger that not all of my slipperyness was solved.
So this week we decided to go through with our finding ideas, all went well and I've learned to bake from scratch! I know mom probably just fell out of her chair. We've been making banana bread and brownies like crazy, the only problem is that sometimes we end up eating just as much as we give away! It's interfering with my plans to be thinner when I get home. I would make Sister Ebeling eat them all so there was no temptation but she's trying to lose weight too. Really I'm too nice.
So I read the scripture assigned by Zach (Moses 6:31-34), and yes we read it in companionship study. I liked it. Especially the part when Enoch says that he's slow of speech, that's how we feel everyday. Everything's good here still finding teaching and baptizing.
We'll get transfer calls this week so I'll find out soon what my fate is. It's so weird that Sisters Smith and Dally are going home this transfer. They're the next Ukrainian group up. Which means that we'll be the senior Ukrainian sisters and not very long until it's our adventure home. I really enjoyed Sister Chang's.
Hope everything is good for you! LOVE YOU MUCH!
--
Sister Daniel
Hello from the Snow! E-mail January 21, 2013
Hi Everyone!
Okay, so what a week it has been and this one is starting off really fast. Today we're only doing email and doing the rest of p-day on Wednesday, that's because we had so many people who could only meet with us today so we're running literally all over Kyiv, literally. I've already been in Center and back in 3 different areas today! What a workout. Normally when we have days where we just run I know it's a gift from Heavenly Father because mostly likely that morning I didn't run. But this morning we did a really good workout on the stairs and I even did an ab workout. Life on the mission I guess, I'm determined to be healthier when I get home.
We're finding a whole ton of people right now, referrals mostly. Just proves that the ward loves us! And I love them. I'll be really sad if I ever have to leave, some of the best people ever live here. No baptisms on the immediate horizon, but they'll come. We're working on creative contacting in the mission right now. Basically, it's too cold to walk around and get people to talk to you which is our bread and butter here, so we've been challenged to come up with more creative ways to find people. Sister Ebeling and I put our heads together and decided to sing. So we put out a book table and with our district leader and his companion we did some singing of hymns at the metro. It was kind of cool, at least one Book of Mormon disappeared and we had fun. The only downside is that people kept giving us money. So at the end we gave it to one of the beggars that sit at the entrance of the metro. The funny thing was this was Saturday which was an Orthodox holiday, commemorating the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. So then we went around and contacted people by talking about baptism. We didn't do it enough to have a funny story from it, but we did find a new investigator.
Exchanges were great I was with Sister Russavage who is from Chino Hills, CA. She's awesome and so much fun. She taught me how to make brownies from scratch, another new contacting method.
As for the temple, we're allowed to go 3 times a year, so now that the calendar has reset, Sister Ebeling and I are thinking of going soon. Mom, when I get home we'll go to the temple. Often. Speaking of coming home, the release date is MAY 29, 2013. That's a Wednesday I'm pretty sure.
Give Sister Cortez, Rose, and Candy big hugs from me. I've been thinking of them.
Zach thanks for the email, I'll respond next week. John, still haven't heard anything from your end in a while ;).
All's good in the mission. LOVE YOU!
--
Sister Daniel
Okay, so what a week it has been and this one is starting off really fast. Today we're only doing email and doing the rest of p-day on Wednesday, that's because we had so many people who could only meet with us today so we're running literally all over Kyiv, literally. I've already been in Center and back in 3 different areas today! What a workout. Normally when we have days where we just run I know it's a gift from Heavenly Father because mostly likely that morning I didn't run. But this morning we did a really good workout on the stairs and I even did an ab workout. Life on the mission I guess, I'm determined to be healthier when I get home.
We're finding a whole ton of people right now, referrals mostly. Just proves that the ward loves us! And I love them. I'll be really sad if I ever have to leave, some of the best people ever live here. No baptisms on the immediate horizon, but they'll come. We're working on creative contacting in the mission right now. Basically, it's too cold to walk around and get people to talk to you which is our bread and butter here, so we've been challenged to come up with more creative ways to find people. Sister Ebeling and I put our heads together and decided to sing. So we put out a book table and with our district leader and his companion we did some singing of hymns at the metro. It was kind of cool, at least one Book of Mormon disappeared and we had fun. The only downside is that people kept giving us money. So at the end we gave it to one of the beggars that sit at the entrance of the metro. The funny thing was this was Saturday which was an Orthodox holiday, commemorating the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. So then we went around and contacted people by talking about baptism. We didn't do it enough to have a funny story from it, but we did find a new investigator.
Exchanges were great I was with Sister Russavage who is from Chino Hills, CA. She's awesome and so much fun. She taught me how to make brownies from scratch, another new contacting method.
As for the temple, we're allowed to go 3 times a year, so now that the calendar has reset, Sister Ebeling and I are thinking of going soon. Mom, when I get home we'll go to the temple. Often. Speaking of coming home, the release date is MAY 29, 2013. That's a Wednesday I'm pretty sure.
Give Sister Cortez, Rose, and Candy big hugs from me. I've been thinking of them.
Zach thanks for the email, I'll respond next week. John, still haven't heard anything from your end in a while ;).
All's good in the mission. LOVE YOU!
--
Sister Daniel
Hello Hello E-mail - January 14, 2013
Well hello everyone!
I hope your first week of life after holidays has been good. They're still celebrating here! Well, all of the kids are back to school today but today is Old New Year (don't ask me...kind of an oxymoron right?). At least the fireworks have chilled out. That was always the most annoying part. It's kinda hard to sleep when it sounds like bombs are going off. Life in Ukraine is coooolllldddd. It seems like just yesterday we were hoping for cooler weather and now I can only pray for April. The worst part is everyone just keeps saying it will get colder. Yeah, that's exactly what I want to hear.
Thanks for all the ward updates mom, it sounds like things are moving right along there.
Sister Ebeling and I are settling back into our companionship, this week is sister exchanges so I'll be spending some time on left bank. That's the part of Kyiv that's on the right side of the river on a map. I'll be getting to know Sister Russavage, one of our newer sisters.
Nothing really exciting happened this week, it was just normal trying to stay upright in the snow. We sang a musical number in international branch and spoke on missionary work. After having to give talks in Ukrainian, English is a piece of cake, I don't think I'll ever really be afraid to get up and speak ever again.
Staying warm, thinking of you often. Mom, the baptismal record was really cool, I might have a member of the ward look at it for us and see if he knows anything else. Don't get your hopes up, I might not get to that until after my mission, I have a lot of things to do you know.
Got an email from Sister Chang, sounds like she's doing great back in Taiwan. Mom, I can see why you loved her blog after I read her email. She is hilarious, who would have known? I did!!
Have a good week everyone, Zach I hope you feel better, I've got an ear/throat thing going on so I feel you!
--
Sister Daniel
I hope your first week of life after holidays has been good. They're still celebrating here! Well, all of the kids are back to school today but today is Old New Year (don't ask me...kind of an oxymoron right?). At least the fireworks have chilled out. That was always the most annoying part. It's kinda hard to sleep when it sounds like bombs are going off. Life in Ukraine is coooolllldddd. It seems like just yesterday we were hoping for cooler weather and now I can only pray for April. The worst part is everyone just keeps saying it will get colder. Yeah, that's exactly what I want to hear.
Thanks for all the ward updates mom, it sounds like things are moving right along there.
Sister Ebeling and I are settling back into our companionship, this week is sister exchanges so I'll be spending some time on left bank. That's the part of Kyiv that's on the right side of the river on a map. I'll be getting to know Sister Russavage, one of our newer sisters.
Nothing really exciting happened this week, it was just normal trying to stay upright in the snow. We sang a musical number in international branch and spoke on missionary work. After having to give talks in Ukrainian, English is a piece of cake, I don't think I'll ever really be afraid to get up and speak ever again.
Staying warm, thinking of you often. Mom, the baptismal record was really cool, I might have a member of the ward look at it for us and see if he knows anything else. Don't get your hopes up, I might not get to that until after my mission, I have a lot of things to do you know.
Got an email from Sister Chang, sounds like she's doing great back in Taiwan. Mom, I can see why you loved her blog after I read her email. She is hilarious, who would have known? I did!!
Have a good week everyone, Zach I hope you feel better, I've got an ear/throat thing going on so I feel you!
--
Sister Daniel
Friday, January 11, 2013
Merry Christmas Again.... E-mail -- January 7, 2013
Hello and Merry Christmas!!
Today is traditional Ukrainian Christmas and last night for their Christmas Eve we got to go carolling on Khreshatik (Ukrainian Times Square). It was really fun and the street is just gorgeous. There was a nice light snow and it really felt like Christmas Eve as we sang our traditional Christmas carols in Ukrainian as well as some traditional Ukrainian carols. Life in Ukraine is one big party right now. I've never seen so many smiling Ukrainians all at one time...they're all so happy. This is unusual because overall Ukraine has a hard time feeling hope. Most people we talk to don't have much hope for the future, they feel very limited and very oppressed.
For our English group last week we watched the Mormon Message about the 9/11 survivor and we talked with one of the guys there about disasters here in Ukraine and how people have been effected. Interestingly enough, he didn't really mention Chernobyl, but he did mention an artificial famine that occurred here in 1931? When Stalin took all of the wheat from Ukraine to feed the rest of the Soviet Union. Something like 10 million people (1/5 of the population of Ukraine) died. Petro (the guy we were talking to) said that entire families died out because of it. He said that his grandparents still talk about it.
It's always interesting to me that a people can be so beaten down and still be the most generous, helpful people you will meet. These people literally give clothes off their back to complete strangers, walk grandmas home in the ice so they don't fall, and the kids can't accept anything without first giving something. It's absolutely amazing to me.
Mom- I did get Jessie's letter, I keep meaning to write her back but p-day time just flies here.
I also saw the picture you sent from Cincinnati, Kharkiv is in Eastern Ukraine, the Donetsk mission, but I've heard it's a beautiful city. It's just cool that Cincinnati has a sister city in Ukraine. You have to let me know as soon as you know who the new bishop will be, the mission has to know the change of information.
Cool story, we've been teaching Luda for a while now, well she went home to visit her family for the holidays, well we found out she's been reading the Book of Mormon every night with her parents and sister. They all went to church in her home town this week! The coolest thing is, the town she lives in doesn't have missionaries yet full time because we can't get permission, right now the elders just go every Sunday to go to the branch there. It was such an answer to prayer and fasting.
--
Sister Daniel
Today is traditional Ukrainian Christmas and last night for their Christmas Eve we got to go carolling on Khreshatik (Ukrainian Times Square). It was really fun and the street is just gorgeous. There was a nice light snow and it really felt like Christmas Eve as we sang our traditional Christmas carols in Ukrainian as well as some traditional Ukrainian carols. Life in Ukraine is one big party right now. I've never seen so many smiling Ukrainians all at one time...they're all so happy. This is unusual because overall Ukraine has a hard time feeling hope. Most people we talk to don't have much hope for the future, they feel very limited and very oppressed.
For our English group last week we watched the Mormon Message about the 9/11 survivor and we talked with one of the guys there about disasters here in Ukraine and how people have been effected. Interestingly enough, he didn't really mention Chernobyl, but he did mention an artificial famine that occurred here in 1931? When Stalin took all of the wheat from Ukraine to feed the rest of the Soviet Union. Something like 10 million people (1/5 of the population of Ukraine) died. Petro (the guy we were talking to) said that entire families died out because of it. He said that his grandparents still talk about it.
It's always interesting to me that a people can be so beaten down and still be the most generous, helpful people you will meet. These people literally give clothes off their back to complete strangers, walk grandmas home in the ice so they don't fall, and the kids can't accept anything without first giving something. It's absolutely amazing to me.
Mom- I did get Jessie's letter, I keep meaning to write her back but p-day time just flies here.
I also saw the picture you sent from Cincinnati, Kharkiv is in Eastern Ukraine, the Donetsk mission, but I've heard it's a beautiful city. It's just cool that Cincinnati has a sister city in Ukraine. You have to let me know as soon as you know who the new bishop will be, the mission has to know the change of information.
Cool story, we've been teaching Luda for a while now, well she went home to visit her family for the holidays, well we found out she's been reading the Book of Mormon every night with her parents and sister. They all went to church in her home town this week! The coolest thing is, the town she lives in doesn't have missionaries yet full time because we can't get permission, right now the elders just go every Sunday to go to the branch there. It was such an answer to prayer and fasting.
--
Sister Daniel
Sunday, January 6, 2013
An Early P-day Morning E-mail - December 31, 2012
Hello Everyone,
Well, Christmas (our Christmas) has come and gone and the good news is, Ukrainians celebrate holidays the whole month of January basically. Jan 1, tomorrow is New Years, the big holiday in Ukraine. Then the 7th is Christmas here, then the 14th is Old New Year. Basically January is one big party. This can also make missionary work more difficult and we've been warned to keep all diligence in the month ahead.
It was so great to see all of you! I didn't get in trouble, it's just that Sister Ebeling wanted to skype and then she told that to Sister Klebingat and I had no idea how long I had been on, so it was just coordinating with everyone.
So right now we're in a "tripanionship" Sister Ebeling is with me, but we also have Sister Karpenko with us, she's waiting on her companion, she'll have a short-term missionary this transfer and they'll be ready to go in a couple of days. It's been to merge personalities, but honestly I'm getting to the point where there is just too many people in the apartment. It's amazing how much junk you have when there is just one more of you. That and I've just been really easily annoyed all week. That might have been because I've been like deathly ill.
Basically, Wednesday night I just crashed. It was a flu bug and I was up all night throwing up, I can't remember the last time I was that sick. We ended up having to stay inside for two days straight. Luckily we have some awesome members who came and would take Sister Ebeling to a lesson and bring her back. Our elders were also really helpful in giving blessings and bringing medicine and sprite.
But as for Christmas, we woke up and opened presents. Sister Karpenko didn't have anything to open and is not used to the American celebration of Christmas so we made her open a few of our presents, she thought it was fun. I was so happy with all of my presents, thank you so much.
Just before Christmas we had a baptism, her name is Valya and she is so fun. She showed up for her baptism in leather pants. We knew she didn't have any skirts so we gave her a few from the office, she seemed really happy with them and showed up to church the next day in a skirt, only it wasn't one we had given her, and it was leather. Fun.
Sending you a couple of pictures...I hope, okay so I forgot my cord to connect the camera to the computer. I'm so sorry please don't kill me. I'll try next week.
LOVE YOU!!
--
Sister Daniel
Well, Christmas (our Christmas) has come and gone and the good news is, Ukrainians celebrate holidays the whole month of January basically. Jan 1, tomorrow is New Years, the big holiday in Ukraine. Then the 7th is Christmas here, then the 14th is Old New Year. Basically January is one big party. This can also make missionary work more difficult and we've been warned to keep all diligence in the month ahead.
It was so great to see all of you! I didn't get in trouble, it's just that Sister Ebeling wanted to skype and then she told that to Sister Klebingat and I had no idea how long I had been on, so it was just coordinating with everyone.
So right now we're in a "tripanionship" Sister Ebeling is with me, but we also have Sister Karpenko with us, she's waiting on her companion, she'll have a short-term missionary this transfer and they'll be ready to go in a couple of days. It's been to merge personalities, but honestly I'm getting to the point where there is just too many people in the apartment. It's amazing how much junk you have when there is just one more of you. That and I've just been really easily annoyed all week. That might have been because I've been like deathly ill.
Basically, Wednesday night I just crashed. It was a flu bug and I was up all night throwing up, I can't remember the last time I was that sick. We ended up having to stay inside for two days straight. Luckily we have some awesome members who came and would take Sister Ebeling to a lesson and bring her back. Our elders were also really helpful in giving blessings and bringing medicine and sprite.
But as for Christmas, we woke up and opened presents. Sister Karpenko didn't have anything to open and is not used to the American celebration of Christmas so we made her open a few of our presents, she thought it was fun. I was so happy with all of my presents, thank you so much.
Just before Christmas we had a baptism, her name is Valya and she is so fun. She showed up for her baptism in leather pants. We knew she didn't have any skirts so we gave her a few from the office, she seemed really happy with them and showed up to church the next day in a skirt, only it wasn't one we had given her, and it was leather. Fun.
Sending you a couple of pictures...I hope, okay so I forgot my cord to connect the camera to the computer. I'm so sorry please don't kill me. I'll try next week.
LOVE YOU!!
--
Sister Daniel
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