A Week of Miracles in Daky

Privet family!

Thank you for your letters and love, it always means a lot to me to hear from you. This past week has been awesome, we're truly being blessed for our service and diligence in the work here. We received 16 new contacts, got 5 new investigators, and gave out over 10 copies of the Book of Mormon. Wednesday we gave out 8 copies alone, it was crazy! We're just doing our best to talk with everyone we can and people are just showing a desire to know more about the Church and why we're here. I don't know what has changed with people all of a sudden listening more but I think it has to do with our attitude and faith. Makeevka is just a place of miracles right now. During district meeting this week Elder Packard told us that after transfer meeting he was talking with President Campero and he said that he purposely put all the best missionaries in Makeevka because we're going to work some miracles here, and he tossed a greenie in to give us some fire haha. Basically this is all coming true. I don't even know where to start so I'll go from the beginning of this week.

A few weeks ago during morning finding we found a man on the street named Sergei. He was kind of in a hurry to work but stopped and talked with us. We've been trying to get a hold of him since then and work something out and we finally did that this past week. I thought we were going to just teach him by a bus stop because that's where he wanted us to meet him but it turned out that he just wanted to meet us there so that he could lead us to his house. We walked in and met his wife Vera then sat down and started talking with them. They have three sons- Denis is 32 and lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Yaroslav is 20 and is studying math in a university right now and Dima is 18, a professional swimmer and is deaf. On the lesson we taught Vera, Sergei and Yaroslav. They were very accepting of the first lesson and the whole time they seemed like members already. MIRACLE! Unfortunately they couldn't make it to Church yesterday because it was the election but we have a lesson set up for tomorrow and will have Brat Nikitenko with us. We are planning on putting them on date for the end of November. We feel that they're ready for baptism already. This is the first family I've taught on my mission. I feel very blessed to have met them and want to do all I can to help them come unto Christ.

Elder Fish and Efoshkin found some Africans from Cameroon on the street a few weeks ago named Bonaventure and Sage. They're both here for school as all Africans here are. Bonaventure knows English and French and even came to the service project last Saturday as well as Church twice already. Sage only knows French so Bonaventure translates for him. He has also come to Church twice. The Elders found out this week that before coming to Ukraine they were part of a gospel congregation that gets together to just read the Bible. It isn't a church or anything, just a religious group that meets and doesn't know which Church to join. Before leaving for Ukraine they prayed with Sage that the very first Church he found would be the true one. After two days of being in Ukraine Elder Fish and Efoshkin found him with Bonaventure on the street. They told their congregation in Africa that they found the true church and so now we're going to send a huge referral to the Cameroon Mission with a huge congregation of Africans ready to receive the gospel. MIRACLE! Bonaventure is on date for November 10 and Sage still wants to think everything out a little longer. Bonaventure also shared his testimony yesterday in Sacrament and it was amazing. He talked about how he's only been here three weeks and usually stays in his apartment but not lnog ago all of a sudden had a strong desire to go for a walk. While on the walk he ran into Elders Fish and Efoshkin. He feels like he's found a new family here away from home and is already doing missionary work by inviting all of his friends to meet with us and come to Church. It's amazing!

I feel that I should share this experience with you as well. Saturday night was a very special night. This whole week as we've been seeing all this success I've also been in a weird mood because lots of the people we find on the street tell us that Daky is one of the most dangerous places to be at night and that we shouldn't be talking to people as we do. It kind of messes with you when people tell you crazy stuff that goes on and tell you to go back to the apartment, so to be honest Saturday night I was kind of doubting going out. But we prayed as always that we'd be protected and see miracles. We had set up a lesson with a former investigator named Valentina so we stopped by her house. It turns out that her husband is less-active and Elder Rallison found her two years ago. She has a testimony that Joseph Smith is a prophet but something is holding her back from baptism. We just left our testimonies with her and will be going back this week. We are grateful we could teach her and receive a new investigator. While we were walking back home Elder Harrison stopped a man who I pre-judged because he looked sketchy. We started to talk to him and something changed about his appearance. He was really listening to what we had to say and was touched by the Book of Mormon. He asked why we would choose him out of all the people on the street to talk to and I said that God brought us together. He then told us he was a bandit and had too many sins to repent of. We testified of the Atonement and repentance to him and he was really touched. He then told us that we were the bravest, kindest people he's met in his whole life and wanted to pay us back somehow. He pulled out a huge wad of 200 grieven bills from his pocket and wanted us to take them. I said we didn't need that and just wanted to give him the Book of Mormon and get his number. He accepted, gave us his number, and we found out his name is Aleksei. He's not sure when he'll be in Daky because he travels a lot but I pray that we can work with him. He wouldn't let us leave without taking something so he gave us each a SuperSnickers. This experience was an answer to my prayer because although this area has some sketchy parts God truly is with us and watches over us. I'll never forget this experience.

And finally last night was full of more miracles. I ended my fast and prayed that we could find everyone on the street that needed the gospel. We left and the first person we met was Richard from Washington DC and a member of the Peace Corps. He said he's seen us before but never really had a chance to talk. We got his number and went on. We stopped by a less-active who has started attending a different church. She was so grateful we hadn't forgotten her and told us to come back again during the week. And then I had the thought that we should ride transport and talk to people instead of walking down the streets. So we went and waited at the nearest bus stop. A lady walked up and asked "What's with the book?" We explained a little bit and found out that she's a member of a church called The Word of Life. We rode the bus with her and got off several stops down. We ended up teaching the first lesson at the bus stop even though it was raining. It wasn't the best environment but she listened and seemed interested. At the end she said she didn't understand some of it because of where we were but we set up an appointment with her tonight to meet again. Hopefully all goes well with this. Her name is Irina. We then talked to a kid named Maksim at the same bus stop. He accepted a Book of Mormon but we didn't get his number. That's alright! We had planned on coming in early to get the training hour of studies in so we got on the next bus and were heading home. It wasn't the bus I thought though and turned before our house so we got off at the nearest stop and talked with a man standing there. It turned out he has always wanted a Book of Mormon but never had a chance to get one. He lives in Elder Fish and Efoshkin's area so we'll be passing him but it was just cool to meet him. Then we talked with a Muslim at the same bus stop. He wasn't too interested but I noticed as we were talking with him that the lady working in the store nearby stuck her head near the window to listen. So after the conversation we went to the little window and I said "We noticed you were listening. Are you interested in religion?" She asked if we were Jehovah's Witnesses (we get that a lot) and we said no, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She didn't know what that was, so then I said Mormonski church. "Oh the Mormons! Yeah ok" She told us her history of church attendance and how she's gone to the word of life, Jehovah's witnesses and baptists but is disappointed with each one and how its run. I then asked her "Do you want to find the truth?" And then she said "Yes of course, I just don't know where to find it." WOW I said to myself. That's D&C 123 right there! So I told her we'd be back in 5 minutes with some things to read because she would be working a 24 hour shift. We ran home, grabbed a restoration pamphlet, marked Moroni 10:3-5 then returned. We left our testimonies with her and she said she'd start reading. We got her number and hopefully soon will meet with her. Her name is Tanya. MIRACLES!

Now really quick some comments/tidbits. Happy Birthday Mom! I love you and hope that it's a great one! As far as my birthday, just send me some money to buy some souvenirs. And also, what souvenirs do you all want from Ukraine? I know I sent some of the nesting dolls home already. Do you want those Russian hats? More dolls? Clothing? Tell me and I'll see what I can do. That's crazy it snowed already, it hasn't snowed yet here. It's definitely gettnig colder though. I'm glad to hear your girls' trip was fun. And that's amazing news about mission calls. The Church is seriously going to flood the earth with missionaries, no joke! Awesome stuff to hear.

Well family I love you very much and hope that all is good with you. Have an excellent week and know that I love this Church and this work. I know it's true with all my heart and am so grateful for all that you did and do that I may be here. Talk to you later!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

Fast Week in Daky!

Privet family!

Thanks everyone for your emails and love, it means so much to me. I'm short on time so I'm gonna type as fast as I can and hope to get everything said that I'd like to. This past week was really successful. We received three new investigators and more than 15 contacts. Ruslan is our first new investigator. He's 22 and is already a lawyer, he also knows great English. Irina is a nice lady we met on the street. She is interested in the Book of Mormon and wants to meet again. And Raisa is an old lady, 73 years old! She lives by our apartment. We're going to keep working with these people this week and hope to find more investigators! Thursday we had a split with the APs and we found 10 contacts in one night, it was amazing! Miracles are just happening everywhere in the mission. Something has changed and we all have a greater desire to share the gospel and be the most obedient we can for the Lord and for the people. It has been a challenge for me some parts of my mission opening my mouth, especially on transport. But now with training Elder Harrison we just decided to always talk to people and it's not that bad, plus the Lord is just blessing us with contacts and people that are interested. Training is going really good. I am learning more and more everyday to rely on the Lord in everything because He knows best. I know that His promises are real and is truly with us as we do the work.

We also had Zone Conference on Friday and interviews with President. There was a great Spirit there and it's just so cool to see how the mission is getting better and better. We had a section about using the Book of Mormon more in proselyting and heard testimonies of the senior couples and missionaries. So powerful. I have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. It grows everyday and the more I read. The Book of Mormon proves that the Bibles is true! What an amazing tool this is in the work. And we had an opportunity to do service on Saturday for a member family in the branch. We helped them clean up a huge pile of old roofing and stuff left by the workers. There were old pieces of rotted wood and brick so we put them in bags and threw them out. The rest we just burned in the back yard :)

Really quick, comments and tidbits. You found the right place on the map, Makiivka. Daky is an area of Makeevka and sounds like Daaakey. Unfortunately I can't send pictures because there's no connection on the computers here. And we get to Church by going to the bus station and then the Church pays for a bus to Donetsk. All the members come and we talk to them as we ride to Church, it's pretty cool. The ride is half an hour.

I love you all very much and wish you a great week! Remember that Heavenly Father is only a prayer away!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

I Love Daky

Privet family!
 

Thank you all so much for your letters, love, and prayers. It means so much to me to hear from you every week. It sounds like you all are doing well. Dad, I'm so proud of you for finishing the marathon!!!! That's awesome! I'd like to ride that with you after my mission. This week has been good, Elder Harrison and I are getting used to the area now and have met with a handful of members/less-actives. I will talk about them now. Brat Aleksei Nikitenko- basically he's the most solid member here in Daky. In the early 90s he met with Jehovah's Witnesses for a few years but grew tired of meeting with them because he knew the Bible better than they did. Then on the street he met missionaries. He had an amazing experience coming to know that the Book of Mormon was true and was baptized quickly after that. He has been branch president twice and now works in the Kiev Temple with his wife a few weeks a month. He knows like every single person in Daky so he's been telling us who to go to and stuff. Awesome guy. Sestra Looda Matveeva- She is a nice older lady who lives by herself. Very active, really smart too, works as a chemist. Brat Nikolai Timohin- Inspiring man. He joined the church and went through the temple about six years ago and right after that lost his sight. He has a really strong testimony and comes to Church every week with Brat Nikitenko's help. He blessed the Sacrament last week and that's something I'll never forget. Sestra Natasha Habenko- Really humble lady. Walks with a cane and does what she can. Likes family history, scriptures, and her grandkids. She's the only member in her family but that doesn't stop her from doing anything. This upcoming week we'll hope to meet more members. Several appointments fell through so we'll see what happens this week.
 

Elder Harrison and I have definitely seen some miracles this week. At the beginning of the week we didn't really have anyone to meet with, no investigators. During morning finding we ran into a lady with a huge dog. We stopped and talked to her and asked her name. She said it was "Sestra Lena." And then we were like, Oh wait are you a member? And it turns out that she is a less-active member. We got her number and she said we could come back on Friday. So we dropped by and it turns out her husband and daughter are not members of the Church. We had Brat Nikitenko with us on the lesson and we taught them the Restoration. They said they'd start reading the Book of Mormon so hopefully they do! We're not sure how often we'll meet with them, they seem really busy, but we have ourselves a part-member family to work with now so it's awesome. That same night we held English club. Four people showed up, one of them is named Ruslan. He is 22 and already a lawyer. He is interested to meet with us so tomorrow we have a lesson with him. And this is way cool, so earlier this week on Monday Brat Nikitenko invited us over to his house for FHE because his daughter is basically professional piano player and Elder Harrison plays piano at church because no one else can and Marina Nikitenko (his daughter) is less-active. So he invited us over to hear her play and share a little thought. We got talking and they asked what we did before our missions so I told them I play drums/percussion and studied in university. Then Brat Nikitenko was like, We should get you together with Marina and Yury (Yury is a less-active musician in our area) and do a concert to get people back to church. I'll start working on that. We're still trying to get a lesson with Yury to meet him but I am faithful that we can work something out and do a concert. Some really good things are happening in Daky and we're just at the beginning! We have also received a few good contacts off the street so now we just need to meet with them. Elder Harrison is an amazing elder already. He's basically already trained, I don't feel like I'm doing much haha. He speaks good enough Russian already that I sometimes forget when we're talking to people that he understands very little so then I have to translate and get him out of sticky situations haha. It's going great though, I love training so far. He's basically training me by his example of everything. He has no fear of talking to people, even on buses which I am not very good at. I'm learning a lot from him and striving to be a good example to him.
 

General Conference was excellent, I enjoyed every talk. I really can't get enough of that now and I feel that's because my testimony of the Apostles and Prophet has grown immensely since coming on my mission. These are the Lord's servants people! The Restoration really happened and you can hear for yourselves what God has to say to us today! Watching Conference on the mission is awesome because we just all get together, eat tons of food, and feast on the word. Everyone got together at the Donetsk Center building (our building) and we watched in English upstairs and the members in Russian downstairs, just like in Center Kharkov last time. My favorite talks were basically all of the First Presidency's in all of conference, Elder Holland's powerhouse talk about Peter, Elder Nelson's talk about missionaries, Elder Bednar's about the difference between testimony and conversion, Elder Don R. Clarke's about Sacrament (he was just here a few weeks ago) and Elder Oaks' about family relationships. During the Sunday Afternoon Session this guy came in off the street and had tons of questions. He came thinking that apostles would be there in person. We met with him with a member and tried to answer his questions but he wasn't listening. His main question was about baptism for the dead. We ended up talking for an hour and a half. I had the impression early on that we should just watch conference and talk to him after but we kept talking. It was only after that I learned that Elder Scott apparently gave a powerhouse talk about baptism for the dead and authority and stuff, basically everything we talked to him about. So the lesson I learned was that we should watch conference because questions are always answered in ways we don't know. After my mission I want to invite friends who aren't members to watch conference with me. It's awesome stuff.
 

And Saturday was Nadezhda's baptism! I actually got permission to attend it since I taught her. It was a great service, she was super happy to be getting baptized. Elder Nuzman baptized her and the members that worked with us came and participated in the service. And Brat Vladimir that Elder Harrison and I baptized came so I got to talk to him and sit with him. He's doing good, he also came to conference yesterday. I really love Center Donetsk, the members are so helpful with missionary work and there is just a good spirit. Nadezhda is golden, she also came to conference and loved it. And I saw Artur there. Awesome!
 

Well family, my time is up. Have a great week!! I love you all! And Happy 50th Birthday Dad!!!!! Talk to all next week!
 

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

Hello from Daky Makeevka!!

Privet family!
 

So this week has been insane, I don't know how else to explain it. I am out of the office and am now serving in DAKY, MAKEEVKA. Makeevka is a city outside of Donetsk, about 30 minutes. We whitewashed in, which means we don't know anything about the area, but I love it already. We have tons of members in our area and are getting to know them really well. Sisters served in our apartment before us so we have high expectations to live up to but it will be fine haha. We talk to lots of people and have a few contacts already so this week we just gotta start meeting with them and getting to know the area better. And I have other news. Hold your breath.... OK.. I'M TRAINING ELDER HARRISON FROM PAYSON, UTAH! He is the oldest in his family of 7, he went to BYU before his mission and studied Greek, super smart, got a full ride to BYU, and we get along great. I kind of had a guess I would train so I wasn't too surprised at transfer meeting when that got announced. Elder Harrison is an awesome elder, I'm convinced that he's the best one I could be training. He's basically training me! He already has amazing Russian, is talking with everyone, and has a great love for the people. I know that we're going to have some great transfers together. Thursday was pretty crazy because we got to the apartment and looked at the area and member books and whatnot and then we're like, Hmm, we need to eat... but I've just been in the office since June and all my meals were made so I don't know what to make hahaha..... but don't worry Mom everything is fine. We get along great and I'm really excited to be in Makeevka at this time. Saturday we participated in a service project with the branch so we got to meet members before Sunday. Very soon the Church is planning on building a new meeting house for Makeevka because they meet in the Center Donetsk one after Center branch gets finished. So we cleaned the site that the Church has purchased. It's a great location. Makeevka needs to have a 75 people average at Sacrament and right now there are tons of less-actives who are just waiting for the new building. But the new building can't be built unless there are good numbers so our work is cut out for us. It's going to be great several transfers though. I know that the Lord always places us in the places we need to be with the people we can grow with the best. My district is great, I love them all. I am training Elder Harrison, Elder Groothuyzen from my MTC group is with Elder Packard (Elder Packard just got trained and is in his third transfer now, he's also the District leader) and then Elder Fish and Efoshkin opened up a new Makeevka area. So I know everyone already and we're going to do some work here!
 

A few cool experiences with Elder Harrison already.... Very first day we were waiting for our taxi to come to the office and pick us up. I said, "Alright Elder, let's go finding while we wait." So we prayed then set off. I gave him the low down on finding and a man was approaching us in the distance. I stopped him and he was pretty interested in listening to the message. I talked about the Book of Mormon and asked him if he'd like to meet us sometime. He did so I asked him for his number. As I was getting out the phone, Elder Harrison just starts testifying like crazy out of nowhere, it was AWESOME! The man definitely felt the Spirit and took the Book of Mormon to read it. We passed him to Donetsk since he lived there, but yeah, miracle first contact. Another experience was we were finding a less-active and the door was locked so we can only call the people on the apartment phone. She wasn't home but Elder Harrison was like, Just say a prayer that someone will answer the phone and let us in. So we did and sure enough the next person we called let us in. The less active wasn't home at all so we left a note then tracted the house. No one was interested but they will be in the future. Basically Elder Harrison is an amazing greenie missionary. I'm so grateful I can be training him.
 

Really quick, some comments/tidbits. I did hear about the age changing for mission service. I already told Brynn my thoughts but I think it's way cool that the age got lowered. It's possible that when I get back Brynn could be getting ready to leave. I am feeling much better, not sick anymore. This weekend we'll be watching General Conferernce so I'll have more to report next week. And yesterday at Church Nadezhda was there and handed me a baptismal invite for this Saturday! She's getting baptized! Miracle!
 

Have a great week family! I love you so much and hope that everything keeps going well for you! Thank you for your prayers and emails, it means so much to me. Talk to you next week!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

Goodbye Donetsk! Miss you already!

Privet family!

Well, the time has come- I am getting transferred out of the office to somewhere new. I'm really sad to be leaving because this area has been my favorite so far on my mission! I have been so blessed to serve here. I have truly grown to love the people with whom I work, as well as the members in the branch. The office has become my home away from home! Sister Irina and Sister Lydia are like my grandmas, the Colemans are like my parents haha. But seriously though, it will be hard for me to leave the office. But wherever I serve next I know that everything I've done here has prepared me for it. It's so amazing to think that Heavenly Father works through us to bring about small and simple things. Working here in the office I've basically seen firsthand how the mission works. It truly is a great and marvelous work to be a part of.

This past week several miracles happened that I'd like to write about. The first is Nadezhda. Elder Nuzman and I met with her on Thursday and had no idea what would happen on the lesson because of the text she sent us last week about her family being against her going to Church and being baptized. We planned a few verses to read with her but mainly planned that we would just need to really teach with the Spirit because what could we say that she doesn't already know? That she should be baptized and abandon her family, even though family is the most important unit of the Church? So we got to the lesson and I remembered a quote from Elder Holland that all we need to do is just listen to our investigator and they will tell us what we need to say. She first told us a story about how she went to the Russian Catholic church with her family last Sunday because they wouldn't allow her to attend ours. Basically she met a priest there who was praying for vodka that had been purchased with the tithing money. He then started to drink and hold a worship service. Nadezhda scolded him and asked him how he could be a priest if he was drunk. He said that because he went to seminary and passed that he was a priest and that she should leave him alone. But she just kept saying all this stuff to him about how the body is a temple and how the Russian Catholic church isn't true and that he was a false priest that he kicked her out of the service. She was really sad because she wanted to come to Church with us and prayed for forgiveness for not being able to. After this intro to the lesson, she brought up a question her family told her about it's a sin to be baptized twice. We explained the importance of receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and turned to Acts 19. From there we were just able to share a few verses from 3 Nephi 27 that talked about the importance of being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. We felt impressed to pray with her on the lesson to know when she should be baptized. We decided on October 6, this upcoming Saturday and told her that she needs to come to Church in order for this to happen. We listened to the Spirit and the lesson went really good. Well, she came to Church yesterday and loved it! She wasn't able to stay the whole time but she stayed for Sacrament and Gospel Principles. Unfortunately, the branch president wants to wait for her to be baptized so it won't be this Saturday. BUT it will be soon, hopefully in two Saturdays. I will keep in touch with Elder Nuzman and keep you all informed how she's doing.

Another miracle was that we finally got moved out of our apartment! and are now living with the APs for the time being. We don't have an apartment to live in so we're living with them until a new one is found. But they are rarely even there because they travel around the whole mission so it will be alright. It felt awesome to move and I must say that cold juice tastes 100 times better than warm juice haha. And the other miracle I wanted to write about happened when I was on a split with Elder Moss Saturday night. We went finding on the streets for the night because no one could meet and literally everyone on the street didn't want to talk with us either. However, we were faithful and tried talking to every person that passed us and at the very end of the night we were blessed with an amazing contact named Dmitri. He was the last one we talked to just before coming in. I stopped him in Russian, then he replied in perfect English! It turns out that he lived in California for five years working for a security company and he knew about the Church because many of his bosses were members! We just got talking and learned about his family and life, then tied the gospel into the conversation. He wants to meet (we're hopefully meeting him tonight) and he told us that if there's anything he can help us with then just call. The Lord truly blessed us for our efforts on the street, I know this to be true. It always blows my mind that within several minutes we become friends with strangers on the street and they want to meet and become friends. That's the power of the gospel. Also this week we met several of our goals, including two new investigators Aleksander and Sasha. Aleksander is mostly interested in English but wants to read the Book of Mormon and Sasha had us over for dinner last night (again, power of the gospel!) but unfortunately he doesn't live in our area so we have to pass him. They're both just contacts from off the street. There are people everywhere, we just need to talk to them.

I love you all very much! Have a great week and keep on keepin on! Talk to you later!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия