Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Hello friends and family! Well, I will start with today. Yeah, great Prep. day. We ran to a place to get my hair cut, then ran to the bus station and then got on a bus for one hour to some random village (or small town you could say), but on the ride we were jam packed. Some dude had a dog on the bus and it got car sick and blew chunks on my leg and shoe and Elder Palsky's Bennie (little hat). Whatever! Then we got there, had lunch and played a game of Risk. It was great, but we don't have a ton of time today. We should have stayed in town, but it was fun and I got a pic of the dog and stuff.

Well, we are working dang hard. We have a investigator we are working with. He is changing every day, but he still has a few problems that we are helping him with. It will be hard, but he is a dang wonderful guy. We also have a kid we are working with, 22 years old and he is a computer programmer. I have never seen someone read a scripture the first time and break it down and understand it like he does. He explains scriptures better then most members I know, and on the first time he reads them! He understands the scriptures and he will be baptized, but only with time. He is really busy and hard to meet with.

The video I am sending today was this morning. It's a quick tour of my apartment with an unexpected surprise...we did not plan that. It's a little funny. I hope you enjoy it as much as me! I think its dang funny.

I love you all and miss you a ton! I will add one photo to another email next week of the dog event.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

It's been a great week I must say. My companion is trying to wear me down I think, but its not working! I am almost done with my meds that President Davis had me start on. I am glad we have a world-renowned doctor as a Mission President; he helps a lot.

Well for this last week we now have 2 baptismal commitments in our companionship! One is an architect that designed the building which he lives in. It's dang cool. We had this weird drunk man follow us after a contact and so we started going faster and he started running after us! He wanted to go as fast as us. Really weird. It was funny though. We have a few other people we are trying to work with. They are moving in the right direction. It's so much fun. I got to meet this guy from New York this week. He is Ukrainian, but he lives in New York and speaks almost perfect English without an accent. Right now he lives in Lvivok.

This was weird - we were contacting people on the street and this old man needed some help with some stuff he had, so my companion offered our help. I started to pull his stuff for him, but right as I do that, he pulls this huge thing of metal off of a pay phone and puts it with the stuff I am dragging! But I did not know how to say, "Hey, I cant help you steal stuff," so I helped him a lil bit longer and was like, "Ok, we are really busy." Yeah, that was weird.

The weather here has been bizarre. It was -14c then it went to +6c. That's huge! All the snow melted, but today it snowed again and its colder, so that was weird. I hope it stays around -5c. That's not so bad (about 24F).

Other then that, not too much going on. I am sending a pic of preparation day last week playing the Russian version of Risk and a video at this PC cafe today (very brief).

I love you all!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Well, I am short on time, but let me tell you about my week. It is a bit crazy. I have been all over the place, like Kiev, on a few trains, in Ivano, in a nearby celo and in L'viv for Zone Conference. ZC was great. We talked about a few subjects; one was baptism. I am really feeling good about it. We have 1 new baptismal commitment since I got here and we have 2 more planned. I think we could get 4 commitments with all the people we have! It will be hard, but it's something I know can be done. My new companion is wonderful. He is the most obedient companion I have ever had. It's hard to keep up with him. It's really very hard while I am sick, but I am getting better fast. I am short on time. I wanted to upload a video, but it was barely too big, so I will do it next week. Dang. I love you all! Will talk next week.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

OK, well you all know I am in Lutsk...well not anymore! I was there one transfer and they took me and Elder Woods out and sent 2 new elders there. We will be ok, but we will miss the city. He is off in a new city - its called Helmeninski (not sure how to spell that in English!). But yeah, it's cool, but I was not ready for this. I love the members and our investigators and it was just so nice there, and my companion was there 4 transfers, so I figured he would be leaving and I would be getting a new companion. But they pulled me out, so on to the new. I packed up and went and had dinner at a member's house named Sasha and then went to the train to Kiev. On the way there my luggage broke even more then it was before, so it stinks really bad now. The wheels broke and it just drags on the ground, but I will deal with it for now. Not sure if I told you all again, my fourth pair of shoes are now coming apart. They were the warmest pair I had. Now they get a bit wet. Well, I am in Kiev now and I found out I am going back to a city I've been to...who would have thought. I served in Ivano for 3 months, then served out in Lutsk for 6 weeks, then get called back out to Ivano again. I was really excited to be called back out there. It is a great city with lots of wonderful people, but it was really weird. Saturday morning we picked up tickets without names on them and then at 10:20 at night they said, "you and your companion are leaving - be ready to leave by the time your train leaves." That stunk. I used my morning study time and time after church to pack up. I don't think I ever packed so well before. Normally I take a few days and I do it slow - this was fast and in one day. But while I am in Kiev and here until tomorrow I have been with Elders Taylor and Hurst in their apartment until I go. Hurst was a missionary that came to Ukraine the transfer before I went in the MTC (like 1 and a half weeks) and Taylor is a Russian speaking Elder that came into the country the same day as me, so it has been fun. Lots of MTC stories. My new companion in Ivano will be Elder Lewis. Elder Palski is still there; he will be getting Elder Hurst. So, we will work hard and see what we can do. I love you all! I will talk next week. Goodbye!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Well, we all know that this last year was wonderful and packed full with surprises, but we have more to go! I just want to let you all know that this time of the year I miss you all so much and knowing that you are all back home supporting what I am doing makes me feel really happy. I hope that everything is going great for you all.

Let me give you a update for the week - I got my package from Heather with all types of things I have forgotten about. It's so weird when you live without something, you forget about it. It's not needed anymore. Mind you, I really loved the things that I got for Christmas and I am glad I got them, but its just interesting to me that I don't need them anymore.

The work in the area is really feeling good. We have been working hard every day, talking to people on the street and at their doors, sharing what we know to be true. Yeah, it's hard, but it works. We have been working long days with no solid investigators, but we called a man that missionaries in the past have taught and he is really cool. He is from the Czech Republic and speaks Russian, so it's hard to understand him - He's speaking a 2nd language and with a thick accent! But we have met with him and we have a new baptismal date in Lutsk! It's not for a while because he needs to visit Czech, but he is coming back and we are excited!

I said I was going to send photos this week, but I forgot my card reader. I stayed at the other Elder's apartment for the night for New Years. We watched movies in English, movies like Cars/тотчки and Ratatouille/рататуй and Greatest Game Ever Played/триумф, to name a few. We were not allowed out last night after 6pm. It was not safe in general. It's the biggest holiday of the year; many people drinking, lots of fireworks went off today. We also have to be in by 6pm tonight, so it's a laid back day. It was so interesting when I was at the apartment just chilling on the couch I felt almost like I was back home. I never just chill anymore. I never sit down for more then 30 mins anymore, just to do nothing. I only do that maybe a few times a week when I have lunch. I eat fast and then relax for a few mins and head out again. Missionary life - I would never trade it for anything!

Well, I love you all! I will talk next week. Bye for now.

English - bye! Ukrainian - папа=papa! Russian - пoка=paka!