tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83907443184030890212024-02-07T21:26:16.860-08:00Donetsk DrummerStacey and Brynnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09327809050892426669noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-31636087444449856372013-07-01T23:26:00.000-07:002013-07-04T23:26:39.345-07:00The Quickest, Hardest, Most Rewarding, Craziest, Scariest, Best Two Years For and Of My LifePrivet family!!! So basically this is the final email I'll probably be sending to you. Where has the time gone, right? Well maybe for you it's been long but it's seriously flown by for me. It is super weird to only have one more week left. Lots of stuff is going through my head, so sorry if this email is all over the place.<br />
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This past week was the best one so far of the transfer. Elder Kumferman and I taught 11 lessons total and got 3 new investigators, plus met many of our goals. Here are the investigators/progress with the ones you already know.</div>
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Chris - He is a former investigator we met on the street. He is from Nigeria. We hope to put him on a date and get him to Family Home Evening soon. But we can't go to his apartment anymore because the guard hates us haha.</div>
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Igor - He is a street contact, about 50 years old. Born in St. Petersburg. He invented a street fighting technique and is a certified fighter/instructor. We met him in a park and he gave us his "propaganda" like fighting DVDs and cool soviet pins. He wants me to look into getting his business into America. He took a Book of Mormon and wants to meet in a few weeks.</div>
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Stanislav - He is a former investigator from a few years ago. He has heard all the lessons and had a baptismal date but then had some concerns come up like betraying Russian Orthodox/faith of his forefathers, the church being a business, and the word of wisdom. He is very well off money wise, he owns two businesses and is a diving instructor, certified fencer, and his family lives in Norway. We met and just got to know him. One of the Elders who taught him sent a calendar to him through the office and so we used that as a way to meet. He wants us to come over this week and drink some tea and stuff with him. We need to probably get President Alosha with us because he has some tough concerns. He has also gotten into anti-Mormon stuff so yeah. But he's very cool though and will be a solid member.</div>
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Kingsley - We met him last night and were thinking of dropping him but he said that if he gets an answer that he will be baptized. He is just lazy and never reads or progresses but read a little bit and wants us to pray for him to receive an answer. He could potentially be baptized soon.</div>
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We also met some amazing members. </div>
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Gorskiy family - Sergei has been Branch President twice, is a Temple worker, has shaken hands with Gordon B. Hinckley and almost all the Apostles. He is nicknamed among missionaries as "The Kharkov Healer" because he gives amazing Priesthood Blessings haha. Very solid member. We shared a short thought about miracles and they proceeded to tell us some miraculous stuff they've seen as members of the church. His wife is very faithful and loves missionaries. And their son got baptized and married in the Temple like 5 years ago. Sergei is very proud to be from the tribe of Judah, the same tribe that Jesus is from.</div>
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Chetverikov - We met them last night and got to know them. They were baptized in '96 and their oldest son served in Moscow, youngest is on a mini-mission right now in Donetsk. Just a very solid family.</div>
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Crazy Lena - I love this lady! We helped get water for her at the big community fountain then we met and sat in a garden and had a lesson. She is a little crazy but not too crazy. She loves taking pictures and spending time with missionaries.</div>
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Wednesday we had a cool experience. All of our lessons fell through which left us in a down mood. Kingsley dogged but after this we realized we were by an inactive brother named Femmi that President wanted us to find so we dropped by and found him home and talked for like 45 minutes. He promised to come to church yesterday but unfortunately something came up so will come next week. And then our lesson with Chris fell through since he was sleeping haha so we decided to just contact on the street and met a man named Nikola. It was his first day in Ukraine and was from Italy. He knew very little English and hardly no Russian but somehow we understood each other. He has a friend that is Mormon and he wants an Italian Book of Mormon. So it was just cool to see where we were supposed to be instead of these lessons working out. </div>
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And <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629392" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">Saturday</span></span> was my TWO YEAR MARK on my mission! I spent it on a split with my Zone Leader son, Elder Harrison, in center Kharkov. We contacted many people and talked with an old babushka named Lidia Fyodorovna. She was out walking her dogs and stopped to talk with us. She has read like every book about religion out there, including the Book of Mormon, but doesn't believe any of it. She was a professor of science for 30 years and so everything we told her she just said "You don't know that. You're only 20 years old and it's just because you grew up in a believing family." We testified that God loved her and she said "You don't know that! If He's so loving then why does Ukraine suffer so much? Why do bad things happen? You don't know that! Also, if you expect to convince people with how bad your Russian is then you're also wrong!" hahaha so we were feeling kind of frustrated with this conversation and walking back to the center apartment experienced a tender mercy - a taxi drove by us and the man in the passenger seat yelled out the window to us: "God loves you!" It was so awesome to hear those words because I almost never do from people on the street! The rest of the split was great, Elder Harrison is an exceptional missionary. I'm very proud of him.</div>
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Well, here's some final comments/tidbits. President and Sister Campero have left and President Lochhead and his wife have arrived. He is a lawyer and was in Moscow for the last while for the church so knows some Russian. And from what the Assistants say, he is very loving, his life is filled with the Gospel, and he teaches like a General Authority. After 14 hours on the plane and 5 hour meeting with President Campero he just wanted to go talk to people and teach a family. And apparently he got a contact on a marshrutka by himself yesterday! He sounds like a very good man. This upcoming week we have interviews with him on Wednesday and then Thursday is a Zone Conference with him and President Malm from the Area Presidency. Should be awesome. And then <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629393" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">next Monday</span></span> I'll get on a train and go to Donetsk, have final interviews, dinner with him and Sister Lochhead, and then begin my journey to the Promised Land!! So weird. It's gonna fly by faster than I can fly back home to you all! But I'm excited and ready for my final week. </div>
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Family, I love you so much, words can't describe it! THANK YOU for everything - for love, prayers, support, encouragement, letters, skype calls. You mean the world to me. <b>I know that this Church is true. Thomas S. Monson is a living Prophet in our day. Through Joseph Smith the church was restored and the Book of Mormon was translated. God lives and answers prayers. Jesus is the Christ. He guides His Church today. This work is the most important thing that we can ever do. And the Ukraine Donetsk Mission is the greatest on the earth. </b></div>
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I wish you all an awesome week and will see you in 8 days!!!!!!! Tell everyone I love them and am grateful for their influence in my life. And please tell America Happy birthday on the 4th for me!! And save some snappers or fireworks, ok? </div>
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I LOVE YOU! </div>
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-5626562398300450152013-06-24T23:13:00.000-07:002013-07-04T23:14:11.347-07:002 More 2 Go!Hey privet family! Thanks so much for the emails, love, support, and prayers. They mean so much to me. This past week was full of more ups and downs, just another roller coaster haha. It is very weird to be at the end. I'm still going strong, don't worry, but it's just hard to describe my feelings. I've been reflecting a lot about my mission every day and just striving to get down on paper everything going through my head. Here's some highlights from the week.<br />
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We met with three investigators - Raad, Tolu, and a new one, Leonid. Raad is still the same. We're probably going to stop meeting him just because there's no progress happening. We will try to meet once more with Akbar on the lesson and go from there. He's super nice, just very rooted in the Muslim faith. Tolu is still very busy with school so we met on the street and read a verse from the Book of Mormon. He wants to invite us over this week to play us some songs on piano since he's a music major so hopefully this works out. Many people here are just super busy with school which is understandable. And Leonid is the husband of an inactive sister. The sisters ran into him on the street and passed him to us. We dropped by last night and got to know him a little bit. He answered the door with his shirt off (pretty common here lol) and invited us in. He's in his sixties and his wife actually started going back to Provoslavni church and was at their dacha. He was very nice and well, Ukrainian. Grew up atheist, went to church like one time to get his kids baptized by the priest there, and that's about it. Mostly we just talked about our lives and what we do as missionaries. We talked a little about prayer as well. He said we could come back again in September because he's going to their dacha until then next week so we'll write a record for him for the future missionaries. Unfortunately Anton has been super busy and Natasha has been as well. So our work seems slow right now. However, yesterday we were going through our area book and calling former investigators and I called one who seems very promising who wants to meet again Tuesday so we're really hoping this will be good. This last Monday we had Family Home Evening at the Arnesons and took Anton with us. He seemed to like it and talked to the Arnesons quite a bit. It was also Paddy's birthday, so several brothers came as well. Anton was supposed to come to church yesterday but something came up and he couldn't anymore so we really hope he can make it this week. </div>
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Saturday we had final interviews with President. It wasn't my real exit interview but basically was in a way. It was a great conversation with President one on one. He asked me if I was happy and then the question, "How was your mission?" 'It's been a dream,' I said. 'The best two years for my life.' We talked about some experiences I've had, trials I've faced, and then he told me "Elder Keown, I consider you one of the best missionaries in this mission. You have grown so much since the start and it is evident in who you are today. I love you." I didn't expect these words but am very humbled by them. President is one of the biggest role models in my life. He and Sister Campero came to Alekseevka yesterday for their final Sunday in Ukraine. Sister Campero bore her testimony and President talked. It was actually a miracle because tons of youth and less-actives came to see them speak. President encouraged everyone to get their kids to Youth Conference in September, which will be in Western Ukraine. Seminary, Institute, and Youth Conference prepare the youth for missions, marriages, and leadership in the church. And then this morning we watched the worldwide broadcast as a zone called "The Work of Salvation." President and Sister Campero came in at the end and gave final hugs to us before they left for Donetsk. It was sad to see them go, they love this mission, these people, and us with all their hearts. I felt like a part of me left with them. But all will be well with them in their future, they have done so much good for so many people. The new Mission President and wife will be here a week from today, and then next week we'll have another Zone Conference with them and President Malm from the Area Presidency. Should be awesome! </div>
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You all should watch that broadcast called "The Work of Salvation" by the way. Brynn told me she watched it but you guys should too. You can find it on <a href="http://lds.org/" target="_blank">lds.org</a>. With a whole new wave of missionaries come new ways and responsibilities to do the work. They placed a big emphasis on member-missionary work and don't want missionaries to be finding as much anymore. I really liked the broadcast but honestly it was hard to relate to because I haven't done a lot of member work on my mission. Members have helped on lessons and baptisms which has been awesome but I've never received a referral or invitation to teach someone's friend or family member with that person present as shown in the broadcast. But the mission is taking a huge turn towards members. The new president is coming and President Campero has prepared the mission to make the change. It's hard to explain so just wait until I get back. </div>
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I love you all so much! Everything you have done and do means the world to me. Know that you're in my prayers and I think about you every day. Have a great week and I'll talk to you next time!</div>
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-70974337277720812622013-06-17T23:05:00.000-07:002013-07-04T23:07:07.226-07:00Down to Donetsk, Back to Kharkov!Privet my family! I'm not sure about yours, but my past week FLEW by. And I don't have too much time to write but here's some highlights for you.<br />
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First off, investigator progress. We met with three investigators last week, Raad, Aleksander, and a new one, Anton. </div>
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Raad is a practicing Muslim and we met him with a member from Pakistan here named Joshua. It was hard to teach him because he just wanted to talk about who Jesus Christ was, not why we need Him. Every time we tried to say something he just cut us off and "corrected" us because he doesn't believe Christ to be anything more than a prophet. He is different than Akbar because Akbar wanted to change religions and knew who Christ was. This week we will try to get Akbar with us on the lesson. Joshua says we're just wasting time because we need to read the Koran in order to understand Raad's view. <br clear="all" /><div>
Aleksander read from the Book of Mormon, but asked many basic questions like "Why is your church different from the rest? I think that all churches are true." His big problem is that he can't come to church. If he came to church then he'd really know why we do the things we do. We might be going to his summer house this Saturday to help him pick cherries so we'll see how things turn out.</div>
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And Anton is my new favorite investigator. We ran into him on our way to Raad's lesson Tuesday night. He is about 6' 3", knows awesome English, and is 29. He plays tennis and was actually on his way home from tennis. We gave him an English club invite and then he came Friday night. He liked it a lot and actually translated the story and spiritual thought. And after English he asked "What makes your church different?" So we sat down with him and had a great first lesson in English with a little Russian and found out his history. When he was 6 he started studying English because his Grandpa immigrated to America and wanted his family to come as well. Life went on and Anton's parents got divorced, then his mom and step-dad actually decided to move to Italy for work. They are very smart scientists and apparently do pretty well. So Anton got left in Ukraine and his parents set him up to become a Computer Engineer in University. But he hated this and decided to try his luck gambling. He turned out to be a pretty dang good gambler and started making $15,000 a month (this comes out to be a Ukrainian millionaire after 1 year.) He bought a car, house, and toys, but always felt something was missing. He kept gambling and eventually ended up losing everything in a huge bet. He said that God must have had different plans for him. So he sold his house, car, and now lives in his mom's apartment as a translator for English and German. Our topic for English club was The Apostasy, and during our lesson he said that he just felt lost. It seems that everything has led up to him meeting us. He accepted a Book of Mormon and said something that most Ukrainians don't: "I don't care whether its Mormons, Catholics, Pravoslavnies, you show me their fruits and I'll decide from there." So many times people here the word Mormons and automatically decide. Anton is special. And on Saturday he invited us to come play tennis with him, so we spent a little time with him and got to know him better. Elder Kumferman played tennis all throughout high school so loved it. I'm not that good haha but it was a sweet experience. And Anton is coming to Family Night tonight at the Arnesens, so we're hoping he can make some good friendships there. New investigators are good!</div>
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This past week we also had a zone meeting about member missionary work, and I didn't know this would be the last one but bore my final testimony! It was very weird because I've seen so many other missionaries do so who always say 'yeah, the time comes fast' and never believed them until now. There was a great spirit at the meeting though.</div>
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Saturday we got to go to a WWII Museum with the branch and did a picnic afterwards. This was probably one of the coolest experiences of my mission. I had no idea that Kharkov was such a historic city. The stuff I saw in the museum was unreal. I took tons of pictures and videos to better remember it. I have plans after mission to really understand the history of Ukraine and former Soviet Union better. This was a great starting point to that. </div>
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And yesterday was Mission Conference in Donetsk. We left on a bus at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629391" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">4 AM</span></span> from Kharkov with all the missionaries, arrived in Donetsk at 9, 10-12 was the Donetsk District Conference so I got to see all my favorite members from Donetsk, Makeekva, and Mariupol, then 2-4 was Mission Conference. The speakers were President and Sister Campero, President and Sister Bennett (Europe East Presidency) and President and Sister Soares (Presidency of the Seventy). Conference was very different than a year ago, but in a good way. The mission has grown a lot and so focus on member work is being pushed. The main topic from President Soares though was to cast out all fear. We all made covenants with God to serve in Donetsk in the pre-mortal life and renewed these covenants by writing Thomas S. Monson back that we'd do it. He talked a lot about having a good attitude for the new Mission President as well because it won't be an easy change. There's a lot more but I just don't have time to say everything. Yesterday was awesome though. Probably the best news was to hear that Brat Vladimir Vovk (convert with Elder Harrison in Donetsk) got the Melchizedek Priesthood! He's definitely the strongest out of all the converts. </div>
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Now for some comments/tidbits. Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you so much! And in case you didn't hear, Elder Nelson organized the first Stake this past week in Armenia. He came over with President Bennett and Elder Soares and talked with the Camperos personally. It's so cool to see the work moving forward in this area of the world and to see/hear of the lives of the Prophet, Twelve and Seventy. </div>
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This work is true, I know it with all my heart. Have an awesome week and I'll talk to you later!</div>
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-44376485602840172852013-06-10T22:53:00.000-07:002013-07-04T22:54:17.601-07:00One Down, Four To Go!!Privetchik family!<br />
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WOW thanks for your emails, I'm pretty trunky right now, not gonna lie haha. I'm SO glad to hear you got to go to Moss's homecoming. That punk didn't write me yet and then I saw on President Alyosha's iPad yesterday that Moss posted the time and date on facebook so I thought there was no way you'd make it there but everything worked out perfectly I guess!</div>
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This past week has been a great start to my final transfer here. It seemed like it was super long but every day was filled with great experiences. Elder Kumferman and I are keeping pretty busy with everything since we're the only Elders in Alekseevka. President Alyosha doesn't have counselors so it feels like he just relies on us a ton to do stuff, mostly translate/help with the brothers but we do more than that. We told him he needs counselors but he disagrees haha. So we're pretty involved in the branch, which is good. It's keeping me busy. At the end of this month the brothers will be taking a Temple trip, June 27. Hopefully there will be 9 brothers going. But they need to figure out money and tickets pretty quick here so we had a meeting after church yesterday. It ended in them just arguing in pidgeon with each other (pidgeon is brother English) and was kind of dramatic but hopefully things will be in order by Wednesday. Kumferman and I also are dealing with three apartments in Alekseevka (his old one, mine, and the Seev Cave) so this past week we had to deal with an angry landlady since that apartment got closed. We gave her the money and stuff for the final rent but it wasn't pretty. I'm really not sure if we as missionaries should even be dealing with closing apartments and stuff but it's whatever. Just add it to the list of crazy things I've done. The mission at this time is putting a focus more on meeting with members than getting contacts. Maybe I already talked about this, don't remember, but it needed to happen. We met with a solid member family last night, Sasha and Irina Gorski. Sasha's dad has been Branch President twice and was one of the first members in Kharkov. However, Sasha didn't join the church until 10 years ago when he was like 21. His parents fasted EVERY SUNDAY that he would join the church and after seven years he finally joined! Crazy huh? We had a great visit with them, just got to know them, showed our pictures, saw their pictures, heard their conversion stories, and then we almost forgot we hadn't left a spiritual thought because they gave us cake and compote haha. They want us to come over again, which is just what we want. President Campero wants the missionaries to push for referrals and helping members share the Gospel. This upcoming week we are hoping to work with more members. However, despite contacts not really counting anymore, we got 9 this week which is the most I've got in a long time, one of which seems super promising, Sasha. He randomly came to English thanks to an invite from his friends, really liked meeting us, and even stayed for the spiritual thought (no one ever stays, its sad!) He reminds me a lot of Artour. He's 21, knows ok English, was impressed by the church and our temples, and wants to meet this week. We can for sure see him being baptized if he can come to church. </div>
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As far as investigators, this past week we met with three - Kingsly, Aleksander, and Tolu. Kingsly is from Cameroon and first met with sisters. He is pretty cool, just doesn't have time to read Book of Mormon. He believes in the Bible but doesn't see the importance of Book of Mormon so we talked a little about the importance and asked him what his favorite verse was from the Bible. He said John 1:1. We talked about that and then the thought came to me to show how the Book of Mormon teaches the same principles. So we jumped to 3 Nephi <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629387" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">9:15</span></span>-22 and this really brought the Spirit into the lesson. We left him with 3 Nephi 11 and hope that he can read that. Aleksander is the man that Elder Jones and I met with. Used to be atheist, but progresses a little bit each time. He has heard all the lessons now but goes to his cottage each weekend and has never been to church. This week we'll hope to talk about baptism with him and the importance. And Tolu is from Nigeria. He is here as a music major and plays piano. He is very close to God and believes that all churches are good, doesn't matter which one you go to, all lead to God. So we talked a little about church organization (Ephesians <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629388" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">4:11</span></span>-14) and the importance of authority. He too doesn't have time to read the Book of Mormon, but if he did and prayed he would for sure get an answer. We didn't make progress with Natasha this week but are hoping to meet at the end of the week. She could potentially be baptized before I go home if we can get her on a date.</div>
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We are working with several recent converts and less actives right now. Last Monday we met with Crazy Lena. She is 60 years old and LOVES missionaries and LOVES pictures, especially with flowers. So we went and helped her get water from the free fountain and then took some pictures with her. She is a great member, just less active because of working on Sundays. She knows Natasha very well (Natasha and her daughter Karina are friends) so if all works out we'll be meeting Natasha with Lena. Ken is a brother from Nigeria, got baptized in December. Out of all the brothers he understands the most but is also super sneaky haha. Like he only meets with us if we make deals (we have to give him candies, or chocolates, or planners lol) He is a punk but pretty solid. And we had an excellent lesson with Apostle 13. He got his nickname from his friends because he's religious and is actually a comedian that gets hired for shows and stuff. He talked about the difference between before baptism and after and its just really cool to see. We helped him choose two friends that are ready to hear the Gospel, so hopefully things go well with them and he can refer them to us. And we also met with Henry, another brother from Nigeria. He messed up his toe and had to get surgery so has been at his house because he can't walk too much on it. We found out it was his birthday on Saturday so we called him up, wished him Happy Birthday and found out he wasn't doing anything for his birthday. That's no way to celebrate! So we went over and brought a cake with us and met. We also gave him each a tie. He was so happy to see us because he didn't want anyone to know about his birthday, but at the same time wanted to celebrate. Hopefully he can come to church this next Sunday, as his toe is doing a lot better. This past week I have really been praying for service opportunities each day and just striving to do something good for someone. So far each day the Lord has given us opportunities and it's been awesome. Sometimes big things, sometimes small, but through helping others in a time of need or just to make their life a little easier is truly the way to happiness.</div>
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This upcoming week is gonna be crazy, we already have things planned out for each day, so it's gonna fly by. And this next Sunday, June 16, we're having Mission Conference in Donetsk! So we're leaving Kharkov Sunday morning at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629389" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">3:30 am</span></span>, busing down there, then we get to go to the Donetsk District Conference (gonna see all of Donetsk members and Mariupol!) then there will be a lunch with President and Sister Campero, President Bennett, and Elder Ulisses S. Soares from the Quorum of the Seventy. And then we will have our conference with all the missionaries, bus back up to Kharkov, and hopefully get back by <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629390" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">9:30</span></span>. It's gonna be awesome, can't wait!!</div>
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Well, that's about it for this week. Know that you're all in my prayers and that life is good. I miss you all a ton but I'm keeping busy and can't wait to see you all pretty soon! Tell everyone I say hello and pass my love to them! Have a great week and I'll talk to you later! </div>
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с любовью,<br />
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Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-60540493973312805792013-06-10T22:36:00.000-07:002013-07-04T22:38:42.032-07:00FIRM & FINAL Itinerary For BORGET HODGSON KEOWN<div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">TELEPHONE: <a href="tel:801%20240-5111" target="_blank" value="+18012405111">801 240-5111</a> BORGET/BRANDON RICH 237371-R</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">FAX : <a href="tel:801-240-5115" target="_blank" value="+18012405115">801-240-5115</a> <wbr></wbr> HODGSON/KYLER KALIL 243632-R</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <wbr></wbr> KEOWN/TAYLOR BRENT 219641-R</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> MISSIONARY TRAVEL</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> UKRAINE DONETSK MISSION</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">SERVICE DATE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______ </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">UKRAINE INTL AIRLINES <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629369" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">09JUL</span></span> DONETSK KIEV 710A 820A</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">PS 48 TUESDAY INTERNATIONAL BORYSPIL INTL</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Q ECONOMY <wbr></wbr> TERMINAL B</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> NON SMOKING <wbr></wbr> NON STOP</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> RESERVATION CONFIRMED <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629370" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">1:10</span></span> DURATION</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737-300 MIXED CONFIGURATION</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> SEATS 08D/08E/08F NO SMOKING CONFIRMED</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">DELTA AIR LINES <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629371" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">09JUL</span></span> KIEV AMSTERDAM 200P 400P</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">DL 9467 TUESDAY BORYSPIL INTL SCHIPHOL AIRPO </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">K ECONOMY TERMINAL D</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> NON SMOKING DINNER NON STOP</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> RESERVATION CONFIRMED <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629372" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">3:00</span></span> DURATION</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> KL 1386 FLIGHT OPERATED BY KL KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLIN</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> AIRCRAFT OWNER: KL KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737 ALL SERIES PASSENGER</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> SEATS 12D/12E/12F NO SMOKING CONFIRMED</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">DELTA AIR LINES <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629373" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">09JUL</span></span> AMSTERDAM DETROIT MI 510P 725P</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">DL 249 TUESDAY SCHIPHOL AIRPO DETROIT METRO</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">K ECONOMY <wbr></wbr> TERMINAL EM</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> DINNER NON STOP</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> RESERVATION CONFIRMED <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629374" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">8:15</span></span> DURATION</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> AIRCRAFT: BOEING 777-200/300</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> SEATS 48F/50G/50F NO SMOKING CONFIRMED</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">DELTA AIR LINES <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629375" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">09JUL</span></span> DETROIT MI SALT LAKE C UT 1005P 1204A</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">DL 1349 TUESDAY DETROIT METRO SALT LAKE CITY <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629376" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">10JUL</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">K ECONOMY TERMINAL EM TERMINAL 2</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> RESERVATION CONFIRMED <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_592629377" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">3:59</span></span> DURATION</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> AIRCRAFT: BOEING (DOUGLAS) MD-90 </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> ETKT:PS/566 7241415764</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> ETKT:DL/006 7241415772</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">HODGSON/KYLER KALIL 243632-R</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> ETKT:PS/566 7241415765</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> ETKT:DL/006 7241415774</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">KEOWN/TAYLOR BRENT 219641-R</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> ETKT:PS/566 7241415766</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> ETKT:DL/006 7241415775</span></span></div>
Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-10978724871146019262013-06-03T22:31:00.000-07:002013-07-04T22:33:40.982-07:00The Final CountdownPrivet family! Thank y'all for the letters, it means a lot to hear from you. Sounds like life continues to go on in the Promised Land. Today is day 1 of transfer 16. It's so weird that I'm at this point, I have tons of crazy feelings right now. Super excited to end here with Kumferman in the Seev Cave, we get along great and we've set some good goals but at the same time I'm starting to get trunky and kind of tired of the missionary schedule. I got some emails today from former companions who just got home and their journey back to the promised land was EPIC! Flights getting cancelled that led to them having to stay in Kiev, mix ups with the airports, 4 new sets of flight plans, crazy stuff! But in the end they all made it back to the airport and said it was glorious. I can't wait!!<br />
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There are a few new things since last Wednesday so here we go. We found a new investigator named Akin. He is a brother here from Maryland studying medicine. And turns out he knows Harold, so small world. He is 21 years old and is going back to America for the summer in a few weeks. He is Catholic. When we first met him on the street we weren't wearing our proselyting clothes because we were coming from exercise. So when we met him the second time in our white shirts and slacks carrying a Book of Mormon he was like "Whoa guys, whatchoo dressed up for? Aww man, and you brought the Mormon Bible too!" Our first little meeting (we sat down at an outdoor restaurant) he said he's not going to convert so don't even try and we basically just talked about a ton of stuff. He can't believe we do everything we do. "Being in Ukraine sucks enough, and on top of that you can't have girlfriends, watch tv, movies, or have fun? And you cook for yourselves? Sounds like prison man!" So we talked a lot about our daily life and why we're here. He respected us for what we're doing but isn't too interested in the Gospel. We found out he plays basketball every weekend so we asked if we could come and play and he said sure. So Saturday we went and played basketball with him/other brothers and Ukrainians in the area on a street court. We were in teams of 4. We won our first game but lost the second, then it started pouring rain so we called it quits. Akin wanted to talk to us again so we went to the same little restaurant place and chatted. This time though he asked us "So what's with the Mormons? Like, how do they live their lives different than mine?" So we explained several main differences, like word of wisdom, law of chastity, tithing, church attendance, and a few other ones. He agreed with all of it. He also asked what will happen after this life according to Mormons, so we talked about a few Plan of Salvation doctrines. Kumferman said jokingly, "So basically Akin, you should become a Mormon" and then he said 'I don't know man, I gotta think about it." It was pretty cool to see his change from the first chat to this one. We haven't set up with him again yet but we want to give him a Book of Mormon this week and try and get something going with Harold. </div>
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Since we are working two areas we have some other investigators that Moss and Kumferman were working with as well. One is Sergei. This guy has been coming to church every week for like 10+ years but doesn't want to meet with missionaries. Funny side note, my first week in Alekseevka I went up and shook his hand and asked how long he'd been a member (looks like a member). He said '20 years' so turns out he's not a member after all lol. Only in Ukraine. So we're gonna try and get him meeting with us. Another investigator is Natasha, she is 23 and friends with a member. She should've got baptized already but the member went on a vacation to Kiev last transfer and so progress stopped. She is probably the closest to baptism out of everyone right now. This transfer we've set a goal of 2 baptisms and to work with as many members as possible since most of them live in our area. Member work is starting to become a greater focus than contacting now, which should've happened a while ago. It should be a great final transfer.</div>
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Elder Kumferman is the District Leader and we have the smallest district I've ever been in on my mission. We are the only elders and Sister Bull is training two new sisters, Hopin and Walker. May I just say that I fear very much for the new sisters in the mission! There are 10 new ones and are all just really young. I hope they don't get Ukrained too bad. One of the sisters in our district told us she is the youngest in all of Europe East (turned 19 in the MTC). Hopefully they last and stay strong. I don't think it's a good idea to send such young girls here but God knows all so can't argue with that. Also this last week a missionary from Kharkov serving in Kiev got home. He flew into Donetsk and got released then came up to Kharkov on the transfer bus with all the missionaries coming up. So we waited at the branch building with a ton of members greeting him. It was awesome, I don't know him at all but you can just tell he's an RM. This also made me a little trunky haha.</div>
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Friday Elder Kumferman and I went and ate lunch with Elder Bolingbroke and his parents. They flew in to pick him up and are touring the mission. That was pretty weird to be honest. Bolingbroke has changed a lot since I served around him in Mariupol, probably just because he's finished his mission, but also because his parents were there. They seemed to be in culture shock at Ukraine, but said it wasn't as bad as they imagined lol. I'll explain things later when I get home. And Saturday the Alekseevka sisters had a baptism. A brother named Richard got baptized. He's been here 10 years and married a Ukrainian so knows pretty good Russian. Michael, one of the members in the branch, baptized and fellowshipped him and bore his testimony about this yesterday, basically just talking about how member missionary work is the way to go. Good stuff. Richard should be a strong member for the brothers. We found out that if all the brothers baptized here were active they could have their own branch. There are several less actives/brothers that have gone missing so President Alyosha really wants us to work with them to do home teaching/find the missing, especially as the Temple trip is coming up at the end of the month. This will probably be a huge focus this month as well. </div>
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I love you guys so much! I hope your week is awesome and filled with good experiences. Know that you're always in my prayers and that I'm doing good. The Church is true, I know it with all my heart. If I didn't, there's no way I'd be out here! <br />
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Talk to you later!<img alt="Inline image 1" height="387" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui=2&ik=828baa35e7&view=att&th=13f09d8bc2d269b9&attid=0.1&disp=emb&realattid=ii_13f09d7c09937e64&zw&atsh=1" width="517" /><br />
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-86717776043971556692013-05-29T14:11:00.000-07:002013-07-04T14:12:35.987-07:00Coming Full Circle<div dir="ltr">
Privet family! Man I feel like I haven't written in a really long time. Thanks for your emails and updates, they mean a lot to me. Glad to hear that things are relatively good, minus craziness with school. This past week and a half has been crazy, not really sure how to explain it. Last week was my final full week with Elder Jones. I think we worked our hardest yet, but unfortunately didn't see the success we wanted. All we've wanted to do is put someone on date but it hasn't happened. It's been a transfer of ups and downs. Many investigators that he and Rooney met with haven't been able to meet and the ones we've been meeting haven't gone anywhere. We spent lots of time on the streets and only had two lessons total, both with Vadim young. He also isn't progressing and we have told him now that if he drinks anymore we will stop meeting with him. We met and worked out in the morning Saturday and that night he came to the member meeting for Kharkov District Conference drunk...we explained that this isn't fair to the members who have changed their lives to have someone come drunk to the church, let alone it is disrespectful to God. He agreed and so hopefully he can kick the booze. We're following up with him daily so we hope he can stay strong. Last week I also translated for another brother to get his Temple Recommend, his name is Michael or his nickname is "Apostle of Laughter 13" haha. He passed so now all the brothers have recommends! Their temple trip is at the end of June. <div>
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Thursday we went on a "super split." One of the assistants, Elder Coakwell, came with Elder Harrison (yes, the Harrison who I trained). They were with us for two nights. It was super weird to be with Harrison again, this time as my Zone Leader. He has changed a little bit since I trained him but is still about the same haha. He truly is filled with charity for everyone around him. He is the type of missionary that literally talks to every single person, for example, we were on our way to district meeting and were already late 10 minutes and he stopped a guy on the way and we talked another 10 minutes. He is a good Zone Leader and is striving to do his best. And now his Russian is on fire (it was already better than mine when I trained him) serving with the native after me pretty much perfected it. We got 4 contacts on our split total but none of them have turned out yet. We'll see what happens with them in the upcoming week. All in all it was a good split. </div>
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Friday President Alosha threw Elder Moss a going away BBQ. They have a BBQ at their house (we call it the Seev Cave) and President loves barbecuing so we got together and had a great time. We were just talking about how time has gone by so fast. A year and a half ago I was a greenie at his other house with Schoen not knowing anything lol and now I am serving in his branch, understanding and speaking Russian. President's a pretty sweet guy, perhaps one of the strongest members in Kharkov. That night Elder Jones and I were contacting and wanted to get one more before coming in. We walked by some guys playing basketball and we remembered one of our transfer goals was to teach the gospel through basketball. We both looked at each other and said "I'm down if you are" so I walked up to them and said "Hey, we have a proposition for you. We will play you 2 on 2 and if you win we'll buy you juice and candy. But if we win then you have to listen to our gospel message." The one guy looked at his friends, then back at us, and said "You're gonna play in those clothes?" Yeah, we'll play in them, don't worry. "OK, let's play." haha so me and Jones played against them at this court right in front of our dom. We played to 15 and ended up winning 15-7. It was weird playing basketball again, haven't played in so long. The guys were mad they lost haha but agreed to listen to us. They all sat on a bench and we taught them a short restoration lesson. We offered them Books of Mormon but they didn't really want them, they're content with being Pravoslavni (Eastern Orthodox). However we got their number though to play again sometime so this is good. Saturday was a Zone Meeting in the morning, then the first session of Kharkov District Conference in the evening. Zone Meeting was amazing, I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a while. the Zone Leaders talked about the principle of accountability and responsibility, the Atonement, our callings, and faith. I have a set a goal for my last transfer to really be accountable for all that I do through daily prayers. So many times I just get into the motions and forget why we need prayer. The evening session was good, all the members watched the training videos from the church that came out recently about the Priesthood where some church leaders are sitting in a circle and discussing how to use Priesthood. I had to translate for the senior couple which was really hard cause of the fast speakers on the videos for 2 hours but I think I got the main points across for them. If you haven't noticed I seem to always get stuck translating haha because I'm the oldest in Alekseevka and Kharkov. It's sometimes scary stuff but I've had many good learning experiences doing it. This is definitely a spiritual gift I've developed on my mission, gift of interpretation of tongues.</div>
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Sunday was the actual Kharkov District Conference from <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1765165199" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">10-12 am</span></span>. It was weird seeing old members that I haven't seen for a year. The speakers were the District President, the District Relief Society President, President Campero, Sister Campero (who spoke Spanish and President translated that into Russian) and the Kiev Temple President and his wife. And you guessed right, I translated for all the English speakers haha. It was super frustrating because we couldn't get the translating equipment to work but finally did halfway through District President's talk. I sat in a side room with the headset and watched a TV with the speakers on it. The topics were sanctifying yourself, daily scripture study, family home evening, the temple, and the doctrine of election (D&C 29:7) This final topic very much interested me because it was what the Kiev Temple President talked about. My patriarchal blessing specifically says that I would be called to serve among the Lord's elect and my whole mission President Campero has put an emphasis on "finding the elect." The Temple President expounded on this scripture and talked about what it means to be elect. The elect are everyone who fought on Christ's side in the pre-mortal life. So even those who died without the chance to have the gospel in Ukraine are elect and their work must be done through their ancestors, the members of the church in Ukraine right now. It was an awesome talk. Sunday night Harold invited all the missionaries over to his house. He gave us playoff updates of course and we just talked/ate with him. He shared his conversion story and said final goodbye to Elder Moss. Then that night we all stayed at the Seev Cave because Monday morning Moss left early for Donetsk and so I've been in a threesome with Jones and Elder Kumferman since Monday. It was super weird to see Moss go/the whole group who left. I have spent my whole mission around them and now they're gone! Elder Moss called us Monday night and gave me some advice for my final transfer. I can't believe it's almost here! So crazy. </div>
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We met with Vadim old yesterday and unfortunately dropped him. He hasn't prayed about baptism and that commitment was three weeks ago. He just can't make up his mind. He believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet and Book of Mormon is true, but that everyone is a prophet and that all paths go to God. He has met missionaries a very long time and hasn't done too much progress. It is sad but he understood fully why we're going to stop meeting so it's good. And last night transfer calls came out.... Elder Coakwell called and we all gathered around and listened on speaker phone. "Can I speak with Elder Jones?" "Yeah, he's here." "Elder Jones, you have received a transfer call. You're coming down on the transfer bus Thursday morning, <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1765165200" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">6 am</span></span>. Come with bags packed." "Awwww man, I don't wanna go!" he said. "Sorry Jones, it'll be good though. Now can I talk to Elder Keown and Kumferman?" "Yeah we're here listening." "OK so Elder Keown, you need to pack your bags as well and move to the other Alekseevka area." Wait, I'm moving to the Seev Cave with Elder Kumferman?" "Yeah, you're going to be finishing with him." silence..."Yeeeeeaaaah!!!!!!!" SO I will be finishing my mission where Elder Moss just finished, in the Seev Cave with Elder Kumferman. My area with Jones was called Pavlovo Poley, this one is just Alekseevka. But we're going to be working both areas because they're not putting missionaries in Pavlovo Pole. So we're gonna be super busy but I'm way excited. It was a bittersweet moment having Jones there to see me learn I'm going to Kumferman but all is well. I don't know what I did to deserve this put I am very grateful and just ready to work this area until the end. I have come full circle because I started my mission in President Alosha's house as a greenie and am ending in his way nice one in Alekseevka. We have air conditioning, a BBQ, all new appliances, and heated tiles, plus a TV to watch Mormon Messages/church dvds on. I am very content with where I'll be ending. Still super surprised but very excited. I was Kumferman's first companion in country when he came in because his trainer was in Bulgaria and I have served around him this past transfer so we already know each other pretty well. He's from Idaho, his dad teaches Russian at BYU-Idaho, and he's now going into his ninth transfer. I'll send a picture next time.</div>
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Alekseevka is a super ethnic place, I love it. Yesterday we got a contact in the morning who is a brother here from Maryland studying medicine, met with Paddy in the evening (from Cameroon) then after went contacting and talked to people from Turkmenistan and China (there's tons of students in Alekseevka) and throughout the day spoke Russian! It's awesome.</div>
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And to end this email we found out that the Elders who left yesterday morning (Moss and all them) didn't get out of Ukraine because their flight got cancelled from Donetsk to Kiev in the morning which messed up all the rest!!! So they got new flights to Kiev, stayed there in a hotel and probably went to the Temple. I'm pretty sure they're on their way to America right now so keep them in your prayers. We'll see now what happens to my group in 6 weeks!</div>
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Family, I love you all so much. Thank you all for all that you do and tell everyone I say hello and send my love. Know that you are always in my prayers and I am doing well. Have an awesome week and I'll talk to you on Monday! </div>
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-42578092028254223092013-05-20T13:18:00.000-07:002013-07-04T13:18:30.158-07:0020 Months in Ukraine!<div dir="ltr">
Privet family! Thanks so much for the letters and love, it really means so much to me. So unfortunately we don't have any new investigators from this past week but I have several experiences I'd like to share with you. First off, here is some investigator progress. Only two invesigators could meet this week, the others we couldn't get a hold of. <div>
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Oleg - I don't know if I've talked about him before. He was found in January by the missionaries here and is very nice. He used to be a Baptist preacher but has since stopped being religious. We met with him and his friend in the branch who is a member, Brat Maidan. We wanted to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ but ended up talking about the importance of the Book of Mormon and sharing our testimonies/how we came to know that it was true. He asks lots of crazy questions, most of which are psychological, and Brat Maidan said "Oleg, we can answer your questions really easily, but it's not going to be the answers you want until you read and pray about the Book of Mormon and get your own answer." I really liked this. So many times members on lessons just get off on crazy tangents but he told him how it really is. So we'll see if Oleg has read and wants to continue meeting.</div>
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Vadim - We're not super sure what to do with Vadim, but know that we need to just keep meeting with him often or else something crazy might happen. We work out a few mornings in the week with him and then read the Book of Mormon after. On Friday he came to the church looking really down and sad. We did some working out, then really had a spiritual lesson reading from the Book of Mormon. I don't even remember where we read, just that he felt the importance of it and the Spirit. He left the lesson with a smile.</div>
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I went on a split with Elder Kumferman this past Tuesday, he's a pretty sweet Elder. When I was in the office I actually served with him a few days while his future trainer was in Bulgaria. This is Elder Moss's final week in Ukraine, he's going to Donetsk this Sunday and will be out early Tuesday morning, so we'll be serving in a threesome with Elder Kumferman next week until transfers. It's super weird seeing Elder Moss go, just because I started my mission with him. </div>
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Since there are many brothers in the branch President Alosha relies on us to translate for them/help them out with branch callings and stuff. So every Sunday I've been translating the temple prep class for them and this last Wednesday I translated four interviews to get temple recommends/callings in the branch. One brother in particular, Paddy, made me smile. He's been a member for like a year and a half and just got his first Temple Recommend. After receiving it, he ran down the hall shouting, "Everyone, I just got my first temple recommend, I'm so excited! Jones, take my picture so I can put it on facebook!" It has been really cool working with the brothers and getting to know them so far. They're planning on going to Kiev at the end of June so this next week we'll be helping them get their family trees done and registered on <a href="http://familysearch.org/" target="_blank">familysearch.org</a>. And Harold (you remember him) moved so we helped him with this and he gave us playoff updates haha. His cousin plays for the Thunder so he was bummed about them losing as well. Definitely an interesting turnout in the playoffs it sounds like. </div>
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Now for some comments/tidbits. We started a new English program last Friday so we'll see how the success goes here in Alekseevka. Not too many people came but maybe more will come as the weeks go on. I'm not really a big fan of the English program but perhaps it will get better with time. Next week P-day is on Wednesday so I won't be writing until then. Transfer calls are coming out Tuesday night. I don't think I'm going anywhere, but anything can happen. Jones might get transferred but everything's just up in the air. The APs told me that I'll like what happens so we'll find out what that means. And Saturday was a baptismal service in Saltovka.We took Vadim and attended the service. This is a lady that the Alekseevka sisters found and then passed to Saltovka. She is kind of a crazy lady, like twenty years she wanted to be baptized but the branch said no but she passed all the baptismal questions and the district leader in Saltovka saw her ready for baptism. There was some drama between missionaries and Branch President there because she was ready but Branch President didn't want to baptize her but in this case it comes down to the District Leader so she was baptized. It was good to go to a baptism, I haven't been to one of those since Mariupol. I really want to help one more person to the waters of baptism. Sometimes it seems that everything you do just doesn't do anything. We're really hoping these last weeks of serving together that we can put someone on date. And count your many blessings that you have hot water! Once a year in Kharkov it gets turned off to save money or something, not really sure, but most doms here don't have hot water at all, including ours. So cold showers until June 15, yea!! And finally, yesterday at Sacrament Meeting a guy from Colorado showed up. He knew some of the members and was talking it up with them but I didn't have a chance to meet him before meeting started. When it came time for speakers, President gave him the pulpit and explained that he was one of the FIRST Donetsk missionaries 20 years ago. So this guy got up and bore his testimony (in Russian, still knows it, very respectable) and just said basically "Wow. I can't believe I'm standing here right now. We started with four members and now you have ninety. It's good to see that you have very strong testimonies and that the work we started hasn't gone to waste." It was awesome to hear this man testify. It really strengthened my testimony that our efforts are all used for good and the church will continue to grow as the Lord sees fit.</div>
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Family, I love you all so much. Know that you are in my prayers and I think about you often. Thanks so much for everything, you are the best! I know this church is true and changes lives. Have a great week and I'll hear from you next Wednesday!</div>
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-57791167257584770212013-05-13T13:51:00.000-07:002013-07-04T13:56:53.362-07:00Only 26 Baptisms by June 30th<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">My dear Missionaries,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I resend you the letter that the Area Presidency sent this morning. </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Now you know who is leaving and who is coming as your new Mission President. </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Remember our goal till the end of June – 51 (we need only 26 baptisms in the coming 7 weeks) </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">You probably read already my last e-mail regarding the new way to report progressing investigators On Date. </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">With that in mind and anticipating One baptism of two On Date, we need to have 52 On Date. The good news is that this should be done during the next 4 weeks since the baptisms usually become true about three weeks after the investigator accepts to be baptized. </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Since we have 35 companionships we should try to have, in each companionship, 2 On Date (rated 7 > 10) by June 9<sup>th</sup>. You probably are saying ‘that is easy’; If you think, pray, visualize and teach families, 2 is even much easier. </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Dear missionaries, Be Smart, work with the church members and especially the District and Branch leaders. Now you have the lists of almost all of the active members. Their relatives and good friends are the Low Hanging Fruit that we want to bring to the church first. </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Contacting should continue if you don’t have planned lessons. 15 quality contacts per companionship per week will give you the basis for the baptisms that we are seeking. </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Remember D&C 4:4 The field is white, ready to harvest.<u></u><u></u></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">I testify that the Lord and His angels will be with every diligent and obedient companionship.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"></span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">With love,</span></i></div>
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<b><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Edwardian Script ITC"; font-size: 16pt;">President Campero</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #4a442a; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">7 May 2013<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Dear Mission Presidents, Stake Presidents, and Area Seventy of the Europe East Area:<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We are writing to inform you that President and Sister Vladimiro Campero of the Ukraine Donetsk Mission have been released from their service by the First Presidency as of July 1st of this year. President Campero has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and the Brethren have instructed him to devote his time, energy, and faith to fighting this cancer. This is a huge loss to all of us in Eastern Europe. There is no one more beloved than the Camperos. They have served admirably and effectively.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">For your information, Brother Robert Lochhead, our Area Office of General Counsel (OGC), and his wife K'Lynn, have been called to preside over the Donetsk mission starting on July 1st. Brother Lochhead will be leaving the OGC office next week and will be replaced by Brent Belnap, who has been working with the Kirton and McConkie law firm in Salt Lake City for the last year. Brother Belnap has been consulting on EEA matters for the last several months and will be well apprised of the issues all of you are facing.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">We thank, say goodbye, and wish well the Camperos, and let them know that they are in all of our prayers. We congratulate and welcome the Lochheads to their new role. We thank Brother Belnap for his willingness to assume this challenging and valuable assignment.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Sincerely, <u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Europe East Area Presidency<span class="HOEnZb"><span style="color: #888888;"><u></u><u></u></span></span></span></div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-15386520039554915802013-05-13T13:47:00.000-07:002013-07-04T13:47:59.961-07:00Long Time No See!Privet again family! So basically this email will probably be a little short since we talked about tons of stuff on Skype. It was AWESOME to see you all and catch up a little bit. I know that Heavenly Father truly watches after you. Here are some other highlights from the week that I forgot to mention.<br />
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Family Home Evening/Eating Monday - the Senior couple here in Kharkov, the Arnesons, hold FHE every Monday. It is open to all to come with their investigators who know English so we always go with Vadim and most of the brothers come as well. The brothers call FHE 'Eating Monday' because the Arnesons make a ton of food for everyone haha. This past Monday we played a game called Chinese Writing. Brynn probably knows how to play this. You have four butter knives and choose someone to go out of the room. The remaining people in the room choose one person to be it, and then use the knives to make a "pattern" on the ground to show the person who went out who has been chosen. But really the knives don't mean anything and it's all an inside game where someone mimicks the body movements of the chosen person haha. So basically the brothers couldn't figure out how we knew who it was every time and it was tons of fun. </div>
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I went on a split with Elder Moss, probably my last split with him. He is going home in two weeks and is pretty trunky. Bags are packed and is ready to go. Our lessons dogged on us so we pretty much just contacted/found this cool private home neighborhood in a forest by his area. Elder Moss is known around the mission for being a gospel genious. He knows the scriptures and ancient/modern history inside and out. So our studies were very inspiring to me. Companion study we talked a lot about the temple/marriage and in personal study I was pondering about Lehi's vision and applied this to being a returned missionary, always have the temple in sight. I was looking for a picture in the Liahona of this vision and came across the article by President Uchtdorf called "Always in the Middle" from July 2012. This is something I needed to be reminded of, that we are always in the middle of life, no matter where we are. A missionary at the end of his mission is still in the middle of things. Elder Moss is one of my best friends here on the mission. He is like a brother to me.</div>
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And finally, some investigator progress. Johnson is no longer on date since we can't get a hold of him. We'll keep calling but unfortunately I think he's off the map. Vadim young is doing okay. We work out with him a few mornings in the week and read the BOM with him. He is the one with schizophrenia so sometimes he's excited to meet, sometimes he's very depressed and lonely. We asked him how we can best help him and he said to just continue to meet and read. And Igor read the first 8 chapters in the Book of Mormon but has had many doubts about the apostasy and restoration. Jones and Kumferman taught him while I was on my split so I don't know exactly how the lesson went but this week we will be teaching the Plan of Salvation. And we got a referral from Elder Jones' MTC teacher that wants to meet this week so we'll see how this goes. Her name is Sasha. Basically we need new investigators!!!!</div>
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That's about it for this week. I love you all very much and thank you for your prayers and love. Have an awesome week and remember who you are and share this testimony with others!! Talk to you next time!</div>
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-29492215353829109232013-05-06T17:10:00.000-07:002013-07-04T13:43:04.036-07:00Two Instead of Three<h3 style="background: white; margin-left: .5in;">
<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">My beloved Missionaries of our Ukraine
Donetsk Mission.</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif";"> <o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">This morning came
to my mind a few scriptures and I will explain why I mention them to you.<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Our Area president,
President Lawrence, called us and read a letter that the First Presidency sent him
stating that President Campero and Sister Campero will serve two years instead
of the original three. This change is only because President Campero should
take care of his health, at this time, as his first priority.<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The news was
initially distressful but soon after we understood that this is another
expression of the love of our Heavenly Father, He knows us personally and he is
mindful of our real needs, regardless of our best wishes, so, </span></i><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/eccl/3.1?lang=eng#primary"><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Ecclesiastes 3:1</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">1 applies to us, too. To
everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, <o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">In the
Lord’s vineyard He calls us and He releases us, so that means that after we
have been called we should do our very best and also prepare ourselves to be
released. Every single action of our Lord is for our good. </span></i><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/42.4?lang=eng#3"><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Alma 42:4</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And thus we see, that
there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time
to repent and serve God. </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I shared this news
with our family and also with my Assistants; they said, very inspired, President,
Now what is your goal until the end of June?<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I ponder about it
during the night and this morning after my prayer I opened my eyes and in front
of me was an empty piece of paper. A strong thought came to my mind, “Today is
the first day of your future, now you can start with renewed energy.” Yes, I
can see my life from a new perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The goal that we
should accomplish together in the next two months is to achieve the goals that
we already established together, 100 baptisms during this 2013 year, that means
that by the end of June we shall bring to the feet of our Savior at least 51
brothers and sisters. We should do this for the correct reasons not only for
the numbers. I strongly believe and know that we have all the resources needed.
Elder Holland taught during the last General Conference that it doesn’t matter
how big or little our faith is, we should apply to the fullest the Faith that
each of us have. Our Master said, “If ye have </span></i><a href="http://classic.scriptures.lds.org/en/matt/17/20b" title="TG Faith."><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">faith</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> as a grain </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">of</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">mustard</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">seed</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, ye shall say unto this </span></i><a href="http://classic.scriptures.lds.org/en/matt/17/20c" title="Ether 12: 30; Moses 7: 13."><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">mountain</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be
</span></i><a href="http://classic.scriptures.lds.org/en/matt/17/20d" title="TG God, Power of."><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">impossible</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> unto you.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Are you ready to accomplish
our promise? <o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A long time ago, I said
to our President Bennett that he is to me like Moroni and our missionaries are
like the Stripling warriors that Helaman taught and guided. You are the Stripling
warriors that need this nation. Today in Ukraine we and our members of the
church are not at war in the straight sense, but we are all at war with the toughest
enemy of our souls. Consider the verse in Alma 46:12. We all have to defend </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">our</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> religion, and freedom, and </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">our</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> peace, </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">our</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> wives, and </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">our</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> children </span></i><a href="http://classic.scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/46/12a" title="2 Sam. 10: 12; Neh. 4: 14 (10-14); Alma 44: 5; Alma 48: 10 (10, 24)"><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">in</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> memory of </span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal;">our</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> God. This is our time to act with the power of God and His angels.
D&C 4:4 For behold the </span></i><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/4?lang=eng"><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">field</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> is white already to </span></i><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/4?lang=eng"><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">harvest</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">; and lo, he that thrusteth in
his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in </span></i><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/4?lang=eng"><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">store</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> that he perisheth not, but
bringeth salvation to his soul; <o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The new Mission
President will arrive probably on July 1<sup>st</sup> and it would be great if
he can start with a positive mission, one that achieves what promises to our
Lord. Read once more D&C 4:4. Yes, the </span></i><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/4?lang=eng"><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">field</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> is white already to </span></i><a href="http://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/4?lang=eng"><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">harvest</span></i></a><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I testify that to
save souls (invite to come and abide with our Savior Jesus Christ) is the most
important work that any man or woman should do on this earth. <o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
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<i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">With increased love.
</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Edwardian Script ITC"; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">President and Sister Campero</span></i><i><span style="color: #0000cc; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-67743642343233561212013-05-06T17:02:00.000-07:002013-07-04T13:39:50.908-07:00What Goes Up Must Come Down<span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Privet family, kak dela?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Yesterday was Orthodox Easter here so we're a little behind on the holidays. But actually a little Ukraine fact, almost every day is a different holiday but they are holidays for orthodox kings and queens/icons. The next holiday coming up though is May 9, Victory Day. This is when Nazi Germany was captured by USSR in WWII. It's a pretty big deal here and already kids have been on break and there will be tons of parades and stuff. Maybe I'll get some pictures, we'll have to see.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">Things are picking up a little bit in our area, we found three new investigators this past week - Johnson, Erik, and Igor, and JOHNSON HAS A BAPTISMAL DATE! We found him on the street coming home Tuesday night. He is a brother here from Nigeria and knows one of the brothers in the branch already, Michael. We had a great first lesson with him and he said 'Of course I'll get baptized!' So the date right now is May 25 but we found out yesterday that we're having Kharkov district conference that day so we'll probably have to move it back into June. And he didn't make it to church yesterday which was a bummer so hopefully he can come this upcoming week. He seems pretty promising and should get along great with the other brothers. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Erik is the boyfriend of a less-active in the branch named Aliona. Aliona is friends with Anya who we just helped get active again. His lesson was mostly just asking questions about the church and why we do what we do. We're not sure exactly how serious he is but he took a BOM and wants to read it. We found out yesterday that he and Aliona broke up now though so this might effect if we meet again or not. Aliona might have forced him to listen to us haha but that's not a bad thing.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">And Igor is a former investigator. He's a really nice guy, in his 40s and divorced. He is unemployed right now because he does some type of industrial work that isn't needed anymore. He wanted to rent us his apartment which is super nice but it's too expensive for the mission. When he was meeting with the other elders before me (Jones already knows him) he said that he feels God is too busy to answer his prayers. Elder Rooney (Jones' previous comp) told him that this isn't true and that he should pray. He finally prayed and claims to have seen Christ and talked face to face with him. He says that it's all thanks to Rooney and pretty much worships him now. I asked him what Christ told him and he says that Christ told him to love all people and that there aren't any bad people on the earth. I don't know if I believe his vision or not, I think it's possible he saw an angel but I don't know. Lots of people I've talked to say they've seen things, even members. We taught him about the BOM and he said he'd pray again and start reading. We stopped by yesterday since he didn't come to church and gave him the Del Parson picture of Christ and he invited us in to have some Coke and hard boiled eggs. (By the way, Ukrainians dye their eggs using oil peels. You boil the peels then add the eggs and they come out a really pretty dark red.) He's a super nice guy, we'll see where he goes.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">We also met with some brother members, Paddy and Herold. So Paddy got baptized when I was a greenie and he's doing great. We helped him make plans to share the gospel with his family since he's the only member. All the brothers are getting ready right now to go to Kiev Temple for the first time so it's gonna be sweet. And Herold got baptized back in 2007 and is married to a Ukrainian with three kids. He fed us great food and brought us up to date about all the crazy stuff going down in America right now. He moved to Utah not too long ago and I found out he might just live in our stake! His kids go to Cottonwood Elementary and he said that he knows President Little. He's going to med school right now through the U of U but is also doing some studying/working here because it's way cheaper and he knows Russian. He's way sweet, I'm gonna need to find him when I get home. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Progress with other investigators- we only met with the two Vadims. We were going to drop Vadim old but then had an alright lesson about prayer with him. He said he knows the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is true but doesn't want to get baptized. He is very unsure about everything. We might need to drop him if he hasn't prayed about baptism. He's just met with missionaries for a long time and so if he's not progressing than we've got people that are/can find people that will. And Vadim young. We worked out with him on Friday morning and he was doing ok, then Saturday there was an easter activity at the center branch. We invited him to it and he wanted to come, but it got to be half an hour late and he still hadn't shown up. So we called him again and he said he was almost there so we went out and waited for him. He walked up pretty drunk, like we could smell him from a mile away and he had buzzed his hair off. (He used to have really long and curly hair) He came up to the door and we're like "Vadim, what happened man?" He said that he was remembering his dark past and needed to forget it so he got drunk. "Where did you get the money?" 'The barber gave me money for my hair'....This was so sad to see. He then said, 'So can I come in? The members have seen me drunk before, they won't mind. But you're my friends, you're the missoinaries. I trust your decision.' Wow, I really felt a slap in the face from his words. Sometimes I forget just how much we mean to people. I don't know Vadim that well and would consider him an acquaintance, but he really depends on us. And then I got to thinking that if I was really his friend then he wouldn't be drunk right now. Elder Jones and I decided that he shouldn't come in but that he should go home, sleep off his decision, and then we'd see him tonight at FHE. He agreed. But from this experience I have been reminded of just how much I mean to these people. Too often I get caught up in the motions of missionary work that I forget why I'm really here. Vadim needs our help right now and the Lord has seen fit to trust Elder Jones and I with him. This was a hard lesson to learn but I feel that it was needed. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">And now I have some pretty shocking news. President Campero sent out an email today that he will be finishing his mission at the end of June as ordered by the First Presidency due to his health issues. We will be getting a new mission president on July 1. I forwarded you his email so you can read it. He really wants us to achieve our goal we set together, 100 baptisms before he goes home. I feel a very increased desire, almost burning duty, to do all I possibly can to make this happen and do my part, sacrificing more than ever and giving it my all. President will be coming to Alekseevka on Friday and doing some training with our district so I'm looking forward to this very much. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I love you all and pray for you always. Have a great week, tell everyone that I send my love, and I'll SEE you Saturday on Skype!</span></div>
Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-87773461801988380122013-04-30T20:55:00.000-07:002013-06-23T16:53:11.357-07:00The Seev Cave<div dir="ltr">
Privet family!<br />
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Sorry this e-mail is one day late. Yesterday we were pretty busy and didn't get to internet at all. We helped Elders Moss and Kumferman move into President Alosha's super nice American house. It is like the house I lived in when I was a greenie but 100X nicer - heated flooring, all new furniture and appliances, a plasma tv, an attic, and a grill for barbecuing. (We had a BBQ yesterday - it was pretty sweet.) So again, sorry I didn't write we were busy all day helping them move. </div>
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My first week back in Kharkov has been good. Elder Jones and I had 9 lessons, the most I've had in a long time. Here are some of the investigators we're teaching right now and their progress.</div>
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Maksim and Oleg - So Maksim is 18 and has been meeting with missionaries for a while. He knows the church is true but doesn't want to get baptized until he goes to America for work. He brought his friend Oleg and he seems to be religious and interested a little bit in the Book of Mormon. They both know English and we had a pretty cool experience teaching them. Maksim asked a question about some anti-Mormon crap he read (basically that Joseph Smith thought up everything, was crazy, needed money, blah blah) and he asked us our opinion about Joseph Smith. I asked him where he's reading right now in the Book of Mormon and he's in Moroni 7. So I said, 'Let's read there and see if we find an answer.' So we started reading and we only read to verse 18 because he answered his own question from reading the verses about "an evil man can't do good...a dirty fountain can't bring forth clean water". We asked him what he thought about this (if Joseph Smith was an evil man why would he 'write' a book inviting all to come unto Christ) and he said he answered his own question that Joseph Smith didn't think up the religion himself. It was pretty cool to just read and see the power of the Book of Mormon in action. </div>
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Aleksander - He is about 60 years old and used to be atheist. Elder Jones and Rooney worked with him and taught him a lot, even helping him pray for the first time. He's heard all the lessons now, but he can't come to church because he works at his dacha on the weekends. Jones and I are gonna try and go help him sometime and see if just one time he can come to church. He's very nice and knows ok English.</div>
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Vadim 1 - This guy is an eternal investigator. Not really sure about him yet. He's in his fifties and we went over the baptismal questions with him. He doesn't think there needed to be a restoration and asked us some basic questions. I'm not sure if he really understands our purpose here, even though we explained everything to him. I just wonder sometimes when people have met on and off with missionaries for like 5 years and ask questions like "So why are you on a mission? Why is the Book of Mormon important?" We'll see about him.</div>
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Vadim 2 - He is a special guy, also meeting with missionaries several years. He has schizophrenia so this is a challenge to work with. In meeting with him though I've been really trying to love and be patient with him. He's heard everything, comes to family home evening and church each week, but is really scared of baptism. He has made a pro and con list of baptism. We started working out with him a few days this week in the mornings and then reading the Book of Mormon with him in English. He has great English. He also has a history of drinking. I think the best thing for him is just to continue to be his friend and help him feel the Spirit.</div>
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Sasha - This guy is also eternal, meeting with missionaries for year and half. He is a Baptist and also doesn't understand the restoration, mainly authority for baptism and saving ordinances. Apparently Jones and Rooney stressed authority with him a ton but he still doesn't get it. He asked me what is needed for salvation which I guess he asks all missionaries, maybe looking for some different answer than baptism and receiving Holy Ghost by proper authority. We'll see what happens with him.</div>
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There're tons of people to meet with, I really hope we can find some people that are ready for baptism soon! </div>
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Here's some highlights of this past week as well for you - Tuesday we had Zone Meeting. I didn't really learn a lot of new things, just reminders of small things to improve in. Elder Moss bore his final mission testimony. It was awesome to hear, we've both grown so much and have had the privilege of serving around each other on and off during the mission. That night he and Elder Kumferman dropped their keys down a hole haha so they came and lived with us for two days. This was a tender mercy getting to spend time with both of these elders. Our district is awesome. Elder Jones and I have also been working with a less-active girl named Anya. She is pretty much active now and sat on many of our lessons. She is getting ready to go to the temple next week with the mission so it's awesome to see her active again. I don't know her super well because I haven't been in Alekseevka that long but she's a pretty solid youth from what I can see. We also went and helped President Alosha on Friday do some service. When the Burrs were here they organized a program where there is a big community church garden and you come and work in the garden and can get your own vegetables and stuff. We're getting that going now so we did stuff like shoveling holes for a fence, planting, and painting. I have pictures but my thing isn't working today so maybe next time. Ukraine is really a beautiful place, it was cool to just be working out in a nice big garden and seeing meadows and stuff in the distance. </div>
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I also had a pretty cool contacting experience I'd like to share with you. Saturday night on the way to our lesson we were talking with people and talked to a guy from Sedan. He knew English and so we got his number for English classes. We kept walking and for some reason it seemed like all the people we passed were just staring at us and judging us for who we were, kind of like the feeling you get when you are walking and you know people are just staring at you. So we kept walking and then all of a sudden this guy on a bike came up behind us and said in perfect English, "Hey guys, you don't know me and I don't know you, but I just want to say thank you for all that you do. Not that many people understand what you do here, but I do and really appreciate it. Keep up the work." We talked briefly and he has met with missionaries and come to English but is just super busy right now with life to be religious. This was for sure a tender mercy, totally made my week. That night after the lesson we were walking home and we passed a group of older guys drinking. They were making fun of us and saying dumb stuff but before I knew it I had stopped them and started talking with them. They were super surprised (as are a lot of people) when we talked back to them in Russian and told them who we were and what we do. I pretty much talked the whole time with this guy named Denis. He kept on telling me all this ridiculous stuff like "You're wasting your time, go back home and get back to normal life. Church is just a big business and you're getting worked. Find a girl here and go back to America where you came from. You can't see your success here, you're doing nothing. You can't bless someone through this message, it's a bunch of crap." This is the edited version :) So pretty much we just bore our testimonies to him that in due time he'll come to see the Church's truthfulness and the future of Ukraine changed and that it's his choice to believe this way. There was a lot more I wanted to tell him but he was getting drunk and so it's probably better I kept my mouth shut. It was just pretty crazy to see day and night in people, someone who really appreciated the missionaries and someone who could care less. Experiences like this just strengthen my testimony even more that the church is true. Why do so many people fight against the truth instead of accept it? Because Satan has a deep control on their heart. I've been reading Doctrine & Covenants lately and have been impressed by the doctrine of light, that everyone has the Light of Christ and light grows as we are obedient to commandments. But the absence of light is darkness (or absence of Christ in someone's life) and Satan has a hold on these hearts who are kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. Therefore our service and work here is of utmost importance.</div>
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I love you all very much and hope you have an awesome week. Know that you're in my prayers and that God lives and loves you very much! Talk to you next week!</div>
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с любовью,<br />
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Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-26815299837889374292013-04-22T20:35:00.000-07:002013-06-21T20:56:59.410-07:00Back to the FuturePrivet family! How are you doing? Sounds like everyone is keeping busy which is good. Well, life is pretty good here on the mission. I will fill you in on things since my last email!<br />
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Transfer meeting was Thursday and I honestly didn't expect to hear where I've been assigned - I'm back in Kharkov to finish my mission, serving with Elder Jones in the Alekseevka Branch!! I never thought I'd make it back up to Kharkov, I haven't been here for almost a year. It's pretty weird being back here but I'm happy. The Branch President of Alekseevka (maybe you remember) is Alosha Miroshnichenko, my landlord from Cold Mountain who lived above me. It was crazy seeing him again since the last time he saw me I was a greenie. He's happy to have me in his branch. I've also seen a few other faces I knew when I was a greenie. It's weird talking to them, they all remember me but now I can actually talk Russian with them so it's cool. And my comp is pretty sweet, Elder Jones. He is from West Jordan and got to Ukraine in November. Side note/small world - His dad Mark Jones graduated from Cottonwood and his grandparents live just beyond the Sinclair on 9th East, across from the elementary school dad went to. He is pretty young on the mission (transfer 5) and is still 19 years old but we get along great. And Elder Harris was his trainer so Harris talked about him a lot so I knew a little about him already. He'll keep me in line as I finish my mission. He is District Leader and senior comp so unless something changes I'll finish my mission as a normal missionary, no leadership or anything! Freedom!! I just get to work hard everyday and not worry about call-ins and meetings and all that stuff. I'm pretty happy with where I'm at! And my district is great - myself, Elder Jones, Elder Moss (yes, The Elder Moss, MTC companion, he's going home at the end of May one transfer early), Elder Kumferman, and Sisters Helsten and Bull. Don't really know the sisters that well but they seem pretty cool. </div>
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So Alekseevka Branch is pretty awesome. There are tons of brothers in this branch, and by brothers I mean African brothas here for school. They come here because it's cheaper or easier to get education and lots of them have joined the church here. There are about 10 members and several of their friends come. We haven't met with any investigators yet but Jones tells me that we are teaching 6 brothas right now named Michael, Edmond, Luke, Theddy, Toosin (Cash), and Jay. I met Edmond and Luke yesterday at church, they're pretty cool. Apparently they almost got baptized but they never come to church on time and miss Sacrament Meeting. So we're hoping to get them baptized. We have several other Ukrainian investigators as well but just need to meet with them it sounds like. The past missionaries in this area got tons of contacts and first lessons so we're going to focus on meeting with these people who only know about the Restoration and get them to church. This area has tons of potential, I'm pretty excited to be working here. Jones says we have a lot of lessons in English so it's gonna be weird teaching in English again. And my first Sunday yesterday I had to give a talk! The missionary that got transferred was supposed to do it but passed it to me. Such is my luck. My topic was "How reading the Book of Mormon helps us share the gospel". I pretty much used Preach My Gospel Chapter 5, I think it went well. I don't write out my talks anymore so I can't really send you a copy. Sorry! </div>
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Upon getting to Kharkov I called Akbar and told him I was back. He wanted to meet the next day so we met Friday night. It was great seeing him again! But honestly he's not doing so hot. He can't find a job anywhere and the church hasn't been able to help him he says to get citizenship here (there is a new Ukrainian law just passed that foreigners can't be given jobs) so he thinks he'll go back to Iran pretty soon. He's going to hide the fact he changed religions and maybe go to Armenia or somewhere he can find work. I felt impressed to talk about patriarchal blessings with him. It went pretty good I thought and he wants to receive one. The only problem is that the patriarch is coming here in August so he doesn't think he'll be here anymore. He wants to get one though so I hope very soon this works out. He's going to play a huge role in getting the church into Iran.</div>
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Now for some comments/tidbits. Elder Harrison (the one who I trained) is now my Zone Leader. This is pretty weird for me but I always knew he'd be ZL pretty early on in his mission when we were together. We're going on a split this Wednesday, I'll catch up with him a bit. </div>
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I love you all so much! Have an awesome week and keep on keeping on! D&C 84:85.</div>
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с любовью,<br />
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-54017875696720986302013-04-17T20:23:00.000-07:002013-06-21T20:26:55.352-07:00Last Week in the Promised LandPrivet family-<br />
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Well, I will start off by telling you about last night. We got a transfer call at 9:00 from President Campero (which is weird because the APs always do calls) and he said, "Are you home?" 'Yeah.' "Good. I called to say that you're BOTH GETTING TRANSFERRED. But don't worry, it's a good thing, you'll understand later." Then he hung up the phone...This isn't what we expected at all!!!! Elder Harris has been here a total of 4 weeks and next transfer is his last one. He wasn't happy at all to get this news. The APs even told us when they came down for Denis' baptism that he was staying and I probably was too. But things have changed. I really wanted to stay and keep working Left Bank and see more miracles here but I have learned on my mission that whenever transfers come it's always something better, even if we don't think that way. Our thoughts are not the Lord's. So today will be spent finishing packing, cleaning, writing whitewash notes for whoever is coming to our area now, saying goodbye to people if we even have time, then tomorrow morning at 8:30 the transfer bus comes to our apartment, transfer meeting is at 1, and I'll probably be assigned to my final area. It's crazy being a missionary, so much moving and goodbyes, but I know the Lord's hand is in it all. My guesses for transfers are as follows - either Elder Harris and I stay together and go to a new area, I train one of the three new greenies coming in, or go somewhere else. Only time will tell! </div>
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Last Tuesday we had Zone Leader's Council. It wasn't as spiritually uplifting as I expected, but it was good though, we talked about lots of topics and where the mission is going at this time. Our focus is the family - families can be together forever, teach families - investigator families or part-members, emphasizing the family proclamation. And this was the last ZLC with all elders. There has been a new guideline made for all missions around the world that there will now be sister coordinators (basically sister APs) because of all the sister missionaries serving now so all the meetings will be "Mission Council". But this probably doesn't concern me anymore haha, just thought you might be interested about that announcement. I'm very grateful for the time I've spent down here in Mariupol. The people I've met have changed my life forever. The branch is very special, I have experienced true love between the members and missionaries. And I have grown so much spiritually as well as in leadership skills. I was blessed with awesome missionaries to work around. I will miss Mariupol but I'm excited to see what is in store for me to end. </div>
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Elder Harris and I have been doing lots of contacting/tracting chastni doms (private houses= normal size houses put together like neighborhoods). You walk up to the fence and if there's a doorbell you can ring it, if not you can yell for them to come out or just move on to the next house. It's a pretty wild experience. And there are always huge dogs that can easily jump the fence just barking and drooling everywhere the whole time you wait for the person to come out. We had a few people say we could come back but then it didn't work out (example - a lady in a really nice house said we could come back. We went back two days later and walked up to the gate and a really sketchy guy sitting in a parked car told us we had better get lost or else some bad things were gonna happen). We think it was a mafia house. But anyway, moving on, there continue to be tons of miracles happening in Mariupol right now!!! The sisters finally got Natasha on date for May 4! I don't know if I've talked about her, she is a member referral, about 30 yrs old with a son named Vlad, 12 yrs old. She directs the choir that the member sings in (we went to their concert a few months ago). She is basically a member already, comes to church each week plus FHE, and it's just super awesome she is getting baptized. She wants Vlad to get baptized as well and serve a mission. The sisters are also working with a great family that President Gushin referred, a mom and two sons. They have committed to baptism, just no date yet. And Elder Bolingbroke and Fife two weeks ago were walking out of their apartment and a lady came running up to them asking if they were Mormon missionaries. They talked with her, turns out she lived in America with a friend and heard about the church there but just didn't have time to find out more. She knows English, came to conference, and is on date now for May 4. AND Elder Harris and I got a <a href="http://mormon.org/" target="_blank">mormon.org</a> referral, FIRST OF MY MISSION. He's way awesome, his name is Georgi and is a good family man. He saw the Kiev Temple recently and looked the church up. He's already into 1 Nephi 17, maybe further, and we were going to meet him tonight but have passed him to the elders since we're getting transferred. He also came to conference, only saw a little bit but seemed to like it a lot. He'll for sure get baptized soon. We also taught a lesson to a man named Sergei. He is the husband of a lady we contacted a few weeks ago. It turns out the wife gave him the Book of Mormon we gave her and he read the whole thing and had tons of questions for us! So we met after conference. He is an atheist, but the lesson was really good though. His thought process at the end seemed to be that "If I believed in God, this would be the only true church, it's the most logical". Perhaps he'll get baptized sometime in the future as well. </div>
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I'm running out of time so sorry if this is rushed. Conference was awesome. We watched it in Russian with the members and then in English. I received many answers to questions, mainly about what to do as a returned missionary. The answers were simple - keep sharing the gospel and my experiences with everyone, especially family members; marriage should be a top priority :D; my education is important to God; don't forget the basics - church, prayers, scripture study, temple; and President Monson's formula of success - 1) Study the scriptures diligently 2) Plan life with a purpose 3) Teach with testimony 4) Serve the Lord with love. It was an excellent conference, just what I needed. It really impressed me that President Monson talked about missionary work and obedience as well.</div>
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I'm out of time! I love you all so much!!!! Have a great week and know that you are always in my prayers. God lives. Jesus is the Christ. Thomas S. Monson is our prophet today. The Book of Mormon is true. Talk to you all on Monday again!</div>
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с любовью,<br />
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-85670862413542844572013-04-08T19:57:00.000-07:002013-06-21T20:12:16.477-07:00Another Week of Miracles on Left BankPrivet family!<br />
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Well, Elder Harris and I experienced a huge miracle this past week - Tuesday we were talking about the possibility of Denis getting baptized at the end of the week and if it could work out or not. We talked about it for a while and came to the conclusion that if his mom would let him (since the weather's getting nicer now) that we could probably get everything in order for it. We called him and asked what his mom said about the whole thing and he said he could get baptized!! We asked again to make sure we didn't hear wrong, he said yes, and then we planned everything out and met with President Gushin the next morning on Wednesday. We decided who would do what and assigned his home teachers and Brat Ruslan to baptize him, and have the other branch missionary give a talk about baptism and the Holy Ghost. And we planned the service to be Sunday at 9:00 right before church so that he could get baptized and then receive the Holy Ghost during Sacrament meeting. We called President Campero and got permission for all of this as well. And then Saturday, the assistants came down from Donetsk to hold the baptismal interview for him. I went with Elder Coakwell and President Gushin on the lesson and we taught a short spiritual thought about the Holy Ghost/answered his questions and then Elder Coakwell held the interview. He passed with flying colors and then yesterday was his baptism! We went early in the morning and helped him get down the stairs in his wheelchair into brat Kichenko's car (his home teacher). And another miracle - his mom came to the baptism to support him! She's not very religious but knew that it was important. We've been praying for her heart to be softened so that all of this could happen and it did. So they went with Brat Kichenko and we went in a taxi to the church since no buses were coming. We showed up right at 9:00 and TONS of members came to support him even though it was an hour before church started, as well as several investigators. The baptismal service was wonderful, very spiritual and inspiring. Denis was so happy to finally be getting baptized. The time came for his baptism and his home teachers (Brat Valeri and Andrei) plus Ruslan all baptized him because he couldn't stand up. So two of them held him and the other said the prayer and they all helped him go under. He came up looking so clean and free from any troubles at all. You could just tell he understood that his old life was done away and his new one was just starting. He was just beaming with light. We listened to the Sisters give a Restoration lesson while they got him dressed and then sacrament started. He got the gift of the Holy Ghost and during the ordinance the Spirit was very present, maybe the most present I've felt in a while. Everyone sustained him as a new member and then after Sacrament congratulated him then we took him home because he was really tired and worn out. Denis is such a great example of faithfully following Jesus Christ with courage. Regardless of his physical limitations he understood the importance of baptism and chose the right path. I'm very grateful for the small role that I could play in helping him be born again. Now we need to find new investigators, we literally only have one. His name is Zaor from Armenia. I'm pretty sure I've talked about him, we meet on the street because he can't meet anywhere else. He's 60 years old and works gluing up advertisements around the city. He's reading the BOM and is trying to come to church sometime. Other than him we have no one. Back to the streets and working with recent converts now!</div>
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Wednesday night we traveled to Donetsk because Thursday was Zone Conference. We were told we were having interviews with President Wednesday and then we got to the office and found out they were actually with President Podvodov, who is the first counselor in the mission presidency and been acting as President while he's been absent. I wasn't super thrilled about this because I wanted President Campero and really didn't want to have my interview in Russian but it went better than I expected. President Podvodov is a good man, just sometimes comes off as really strict and intimidating. He asked me about my family, favorite scripture, Christlike attribute I've acquired the most on my mission, Christlike attribute I think that Ukrainians need, and how Mariupol is doing. I feel like I've developed patience the most out of all the attributes and that Ukrainians need charity. After interviews we made plans to go back to Daky so that Elder Harris could visit a member family there (he served there a year ago) and so that I could visit the Heyleaks again because they haven't been meeting with Elder Robison and Newey. I went on a split with Robison which was awesome to catch up (Cold Mountain was a very long time ago, we've both totally changed) and visited the Heyleaks. They're doing pretty good, but have stopped reading the Book of Mormon unfortunately. They say they don't have time, but I don't know how much they actually want to know if its true. We left a small thought about keeping commandments as this is where our conversation went and they said they'll think about coming to conference next week. It was Sergei and Yaroslav there. Sergei was bummed I was only in Daky for one day, he said "tell your leaders that I say you need a vacation from Mariupol in Makeevka for a week and that your staying with us!" but he was really serious though haha. Actually when I walked in and gave him a hug he said that I've lost some weight being down in Mariupol and doesn't want me returning there. Don't worry Mom, I'm eating more than enough food. He also told me that whenever I come back to Ukraine or whatever that I can stay with them as long as needed and he also wants to see me off at the airport when I go back home. I love this family! </div>
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Thursday was Zone Conference. To be honest it wasn't as spiritually uplifting as I wanted it to be. Mostly everything was in Russian for the first time because President Podvodov planned it and it was just really really long. Everyone gave talks and linked them into the Atonement, like Elder Coleman's was "Finances and Atonement" Elder Southam's was "Word of Wisdom and Atonement". Probably my favorite parts of this conference were having some time to read my patriarchal blessing and reflect on where I'm at in my progress and Elder Robison's final testimony. He just got up and bore powerful testimony of his mission, the Savior, and the Atonement. He's a great man and has changed so much since we served together. He's going home at the end of this month and will be my third companion home. Then next transfer Elder Harrison and Harris are going home, making 5 of my comps at home, and then its my turn. So weird!</div>
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Now for some comments/tidbits. Saturday we had "Helping Hands" and cleaned up trash by the sea. We collected 46 garbage bags of trash, it's pretty ridiculous how much trash is everywhere here. It's actually really sad. Tomorrow is Zone Leader's Council so I'm writing you from Donetsk in the office right now. Elder Harris and I are going to Gorlovka tonight because there's another Zone Leader there who is training so Elder Harris will stay with him while we go to Zone Leader's Council tomorrow, plus he wanted to see an old convert so President gave us permission. And conference is this upcoming weekend, Saturday and Sunday. We'll be watching it as a district at the branch, probably in the family history room around the computer. I can't wait, final conference is going to be awesome!!</div>
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I love you all so much and hope that you are doing well. Have an excellent week and know that you are in my prayers always. Until next week!</div>
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с любовью,<br />
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-75508517991414275272013-04-01T21:06:00.000-07:002013-04-07T21:07:54.498-07:00A Week of Elevators, Shopki, Drums, and ThingsPrivet family! <br />
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This past week has been crazy, tons of stuff happened every day so I'm just going to do a day-by-day account and see if I can get it all written for you. Here we go!</div>
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Monday - Pday. All the normal things like studies and shopping, then we played some ping pong at the branch and went to FHE at Sasha's house. Sasha is a recent convert who is also a branch missoinary. He's awesome, like 28 or 29, pretty well off, and knows great English. He found the church through English. The turnout was really good, Tanya, Elder Bolingbroke and Fife's investigator/Sasha's friend came, as well as Natasha, the sister's investigator. Tanya and Natasha come to everything, they're basically members. But Tanya's husband is against baptism so she can't be baptized yet. And Natasha is just worried what people will think when she joins. They're both Saints though.</div>
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Tuesday - We planned on getting two contacts and only had a little more than an hour to do so. We planned to do this before our lesson with Denis. So we got to the area and started looking for apartment buildings with open doors that we could go in and tract because it was freezing cold on the street, like -3. So we finally found a door and went to the top. Every door we knocked if they opened just got slammed back in our face. After several of these Elder Harris was like "Elder, I feel like this is worthless. Let's go on the street." I also felt the same way so we left the podezd and were out on the freezing street again. In the distance I saw a lady walking towards us and I had the thought to stop her and get her contact, no matter what. I talked to her as she walked by and she said she was in a hurry. So I started walking next to her and talking. She asked what church we were and I said the Mormon church. "The Mormons? Wait, really?" Yeah, we're Mormons. "Just last week me and my husband were talking about your church wondering what's with you!" So then we started talking about the Boof of Mormon and whatnot and got her number, plus she referred us to her husband. She said to call in a few weeks. And then after this we still had some time and found another dom with an open podezd. We went to the top and the second door we knocked was a really nice babushka who gladly accepted a Book of Mormon and a return appt. for Friday. Miracles! Then we went to Denis. We talked about the Atonement a little bit and showed that baptism brings a remission of sins, not just repentance alone and that we need to come to church in order to get baptized. His commitment was talking to his mom and sharing his feelings because we feel that she thinks that we just want him to get baptized, not him. It was a good lesson. That night we had another FHE at President Gushins. We gave a spiritual thought and there were like 20 people there, great turnout. We played a fun game where you have to suck m&ms through a straw into your cup and roll dice and stuff. We quite enjoyed this, FHE is always fun. After this like 9 of us hopped into the freight elevator in President's dom. We got to the bottom and IT BROKE!!! We were stuck at the bottom! For over an hour!! It was me, Elders Harris, Bolingbroke, Fife, Tanya, Natasha, Ruslan (recent convert), Zhenya (less active) Alona (RS Pres). It was actually pretty fun haha, we called the operator lady and she could care less about our situation so they were all saying really funny stuff to her and making tons of jokes as we waited. I don't know how to explain it, just not expected. As we waited Brat Oleg the first counselor and Artur a cool kid from English were working on getting us out. Neighbors came out and complained about the noise and made fun of us for being stuck, etc, and then after an hour we were free! For sure something I'll never forget.</div>
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Wednesday - We started a split with the other Elders. Elder Bolingbroke came to me on Left Bank and we went and played soccer with President and some youth in the branch because school got cancelled this whole week due to snow. So we played indoor, it was pretty fun. I'm really out of shape though! We also held English class for the last time. I gave a spiritual thought about Pray to know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. There were about 20 people that stayed for the thought and President Gushin translated for me (the thought is in English and translated into Russian) I felt the Spirit testify to me of the truthfulness of the restoration as I spoke. I just hope that the people there were able to feel it and want to know more. English is over now for four weeks as we find new people and then we'll start the 8 week course again on May 1. After English we had a lesson with Tanya. It started off great and she was opening up about her husband and how we can help him not be angry about the church and let her be baptized. But then Ruslan came in (recent convert) and was offended we hadn't invited him on the lesson so Tanya invited him to stay and we ended up talking about forgiving others and love. Ruslan seems to be offended at everyone in the branch for really silly reasons, and at us for not inviting him on all lessons, blah blah. He's in our area and we need to meet with him and explain his role as a branch missionary and that he can't act like that and ruin lessons. The branch is having a lot of problems right now, you don't need to know but basically just people getting upset over little things. We're doing what we can as a district to just maintain good relationships because everyone likes the missionaries. President Gushin is a stud, only 25 and the branch president dealing with a lot. He gets along very well with us and helps a ton. He's a great guy.</div>
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Thursday - Woke up to yet another blizzard. Elder Bolingbroke and I didn't want to go outside and talk to people at all, but we decided to anyway. As we were walking down the street we stopped an older guy maybe like 60 yrs. old and I was like "Good morning!" and he says 'haha, you have to talk to people about religion, no one cares about you' and so we're like "well, we like being here and there are people ready to hear" and then I tried to change the subject a little with "how are you doing today?" and then he grins/sneers through his gold teeth and says 'Better than you my lads!' and just walks off in the snow with his cane and shopka hahaha. I thought this was hilarious, it's so Ukrainian/Russian culture, just really bold, tell you what's on my mind response. We kept going and stopped another older man named Gennady. He said he believed in Christ and recently had a hole in his lung 17 mm but after he started believing it shrunk to only 8 mm. He took a Book of Mormon and then said he has tuberculosis! So we're not sure if we can meet with him or not, still not sure what to do about this situation. We ended the split at district meeting and set some good goals. Oh, fyi, the sisters are back in the district now. So we set the following goals for our short transfer (it ends April 18) As a district, 1 baptism, 5 on date, 5 at church every week, 100 contacts, 10 new investigators. We feel that we can achieve these and are on our way to doing so. I had a great split with Bolingbroke, we get along really well and are planning on keeping in touch after the mission. </div>
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Friday - Elder Harris and I were able to set up a lesson with Oleg, a former investigator from about 2 years ago. His nickname from Elder Mironchenko who found him is 'Oleg the Gentle Giant.' He reminds me a lot of Santa Claus. He almost got baptized but couldn't stop drinking black tea and also stopped coming to church. So we met him on the street and were basically like "Why aren't you baptized?" And he admitted his problems are church attendance and black tea still. He wants to get baptized though, it's interesting. We think he's scared of commitment. But we're thinking of making him a calendar with things to do each day building up to his baptism and he seemed to like this idea. Now we need to meet with him and get him to church, see if he's serious or not. In the evening we set up with the nice babushka from Tuesday. Her name is Nelya. We showed up though and she had her son come to the door saying she was sick and wanted to return the BOM, and wasn't interested anymore. Bummer! But we left it with him and told him to read it or give it to someone else. Our goal was 2 contacts again and we had said in our prayer that we would stay out until we got them. So we tracted the rest of that building and the second to last door on the bottom another nice babushka opened up who was Russian Catholic but wanted to know more about us. She took a Liahona and said we can come back soon! Then we went out on the street and felt like we should walk towards a grocery store. We felt that we'd find someone before we got there and then celebrate by buying some doughnuts inside (we heard from other missionaries they sell doughnuts) So we went walking there and sure enough, as we got by the store, we walked by a lady and I felt I should talk to her. It was almost the exact same as Tuesday. She didn't want to talk to me, but I kept pushing and just talking about the Book of Mormon and she finally wanted to read it and give her number. It's amazing to see how people change during conversations, how they are touched by the spirit. We went into the store and bought those doughnuts but they turned out to be really dry and not very good haha. But hey we got our goal and maybe some potential investigators.</div>
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Saturday - So Tanya has a friend named Vova who is a studio drummer! Ever since she found out I play she's been trying to hook us up and so she called and said we could come and jam on his drums! So me, Elder Harris, and Tanya went to the outskirts of town past some coal factories to this really sketchy building and met him there. He pulled up in his Jaguar and introduced himself, then showed us his studio. He had an electric kit and an acoustic kit (just normal drums). It was really weird playing again! My mind wanted to play certain things but my hands didn't cooperate. This was kind of depressing haha but I'm faithful I'll get back into music after the mission. Just need to practice again. Vova said it's really bad we haven't played so long and was also Atheist and said something like "yeah, it's a shame you gave up your talent for some business all the way in Ukraine. Why would you even come here? What a waste" So the best we could do was testify but as far as teaching him the gospel probably need to wait a little. If we go back though I want to talk to him more, we didn't have too much time. BUT I GOT TO PLAY THE DRUMS! After this, we had a lesson with Rustam (the one whose picture I sent) about seeing others as who they can become. It was a good lesson. We also found out during this that daylight savings time was tomorrow so we had to run to get home. I still despise daylight savings if your wondering haha. But there is better news though - PRESIDENT CAMPERO CAME BACK! All his tests went well and he is feeling good. We're very happy to hear that he's back.</div>
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Sunday - Church was good, Elder Harris had to give a talk (I dodged that one) and as a disrict we had 8 investigators at church! New record! Afterwards we had branch council, then later on had another lesson with Denis. This one we just filled him in on what he missed from church (families, atonement) and asked what his mom said. When it gets warmer, she'll let him come and he can be baptized. So now we're just waiting for the weather. We walked around tonight and talked with people, for the weather is very nice now. The snow is practically melted and people were more willing to talk. </div>
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So this is my week. Lots of stuff happened and we are seeing success bit by bit, miracle by miracle. I know that God lives and is with us in our daily lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. He loves each and every one of us. And the Book of Mormon is the word of God, translated by Joseph Smith, His prophet. I read D&C 100 yesterday and was reminded that as I serve, you are all taken care of. I know that Heavenly Father watches after each of you as well. I hope you all have a great week. Know that I love you so much and pray for you often. I can't believe it's April. Basically three months now! Just gotta live each day like its the last and don't look back. Thanks so much for your love and those Easter pics. I tried to send some pics today but it didn't work. Maybe next week. But I'm out of time. Love you all and talk to you later! <br clear="all" /><div>
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-89170784391934763002013-03-25T21:01:00.000-07:002013-04-07T21:02:03.918-07:00Changes in a World of Changing ValuesPrivet family!<br />
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Thank you all for your emails, prayers, and love. It always means so much to me. It's weird that it's P-day again but it's been a good one so far. I bet you're all wondering who my new companion is? Well, I was pretty surprised at transfer meeting because I thought I'd be training but I am now serving with Elder Harris from Kaysville, UT! He is pretty cool and we get along just fine. He played percussion for several years and knows Gerrit (Elder Seymour) pretty well! So it's a small world. And for the first time in a long time, he is older than me in mission age, only by 1 transfer though. So he's in Elder Robison's and Bolingbroke's group going home at the end of May. SO if I stay in Mariupol next transfer I will be his last companion. Pretty sure I will but transfers have been changing all the time so it's hard to say. President Podvodov talked about this at transfer day and said that transfers were changed several times due to many different factors and he felt instantly who needed to be changed and with who. He asked us to all pray about our new companions though because the mission at this time is truly how the Lord wants it. I prayed and feel that this is true. Elder Harris is a hard worker and we seem to have the same views about a lot of things so I'm excited to work with him. We decided that we want to put a focus on working with part-member families because there are several of those here on Left Bank. This transfer is only going to be 4 weeks because of some scheduling things with Salt Lake so it's going to fly out the window. Our zone is pretty unique right now. Elder Harris and I together, missionaries at the end of their missions, Elder Bolingbroke and Fife, also going home in May and a greenie, and Sisters Erekson and Armknekt, going home in July with me and August. Basically we're an old district except for Elder Fife, but this also means we will have a lot of experience. But right now it's only us elders because Sister Erekson was still sick at transfers so they put her in Donetsk to recover fully from whatever Mariupol did to her (super bad air quality because of the factories) but then at the same time a new sister serving in Makeevka had had enough and went home so they put the sisters that should be here in Makeevka in a threesome and the APs are looking for a mini-missionary to serve in Makeevka but if they don't find any then it will just be us elders here this transfer. Interesting stuff. Sorry I just realized I've been ranting on and on and maybe it's boring to you but it's whats going through my mind right now haha. </div>
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The only investigator I have to give an update on is Denis. He's doing good but now his mom doesn't want him coming to Church until summer. And her other concern is that Denis won't make it to church, let alone stay for three hours because he can't sit up straight. So we've been thinking that maybe everything we've been telling his mom is coming off just things WE want to see happen, not what Denis wants and have asked Denis to explain his feelings to his mom. Tomorrow we have another lesson and are bringing our branch mission leader along so that he can meet him and maybe add some insight to the situation. There're a lot of things that go into play, like after baptism will he come to church every week, who will make sure that happens, etc. He is ready for baptism, no doubt, but we're running into a wall now it seems. This upcoming week looks promising, we've talked to several people on the phone (just old contacts and investigators) who are interested in meeting with us. Basically we just need to get out and really work the area, something that Sanger and I couldn't do. We're hoping to find several new investigators and really get the work moving.</div>
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Now for some comments/tidbits. No, I don't know who all will be flying home with me from other missions. And we can't leave the airport anymore on trips, so my flights home will just be sitting in airports and waiting for the next flights unfortunately. I really wanted to go to the Kiev Temple again but someday I'll make it back here. And it snowed a lot here yesterday, I forgot to mention this. The roads were really bad because there's no snow plows or anything like that. Most of the snow has melted for the most part already but people say winter will be here until April now. I thought we were done with winter! And for our district meeting Saturday we had a lesson about family history. It's a lesson I'd like to share with you all in FHE when I get back. But we got on the family history website, as well as <a href="http://createfan.com/" target="_blank">createfan.com</a>. We still have a few more family names to find but it's really cool to see all of the generations of family go back. I want to get more into family history when I get home. And you may have been wondering this the whole time you've been reading my email - but the title of this week's email is from Preach My Gospel because the world gets darker and darker and darker every day.</div>
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I love you all and hope that you have a great week! Know that you're always in my prayers and I think about you often. The church is true, I know it with all my heart. I'll talk to you all next week!</div>
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-68459494943937507212013-03-20T20:53:00.000-07:002013-04-07T20:54:31.252-07:00I GOT MY FLIGHT PLANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! <div>
<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">CHURCH TRAVEL CWT DATE 13MARCH13</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST AGENT VH/PE BOOKING REF 8B6SHL</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">TELEPHONE: <a href="tel:801%20240-5111" target="_blank" value="+18012405111">801 240-5111</a> ARMKNECHT/MEGAN BET 278893-R</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">FAX : <a href="tel:801-240-5115" target="_blank" value="+18012405115">801-240-5115</a> <wbr></wbr> BORGET/BRANDON RICH 237371-R</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> <wbr></wbr> HODGSON/KYLER KALIL 243632-R</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> MISSIONARY TRAVEL KEOWN/TAYLOR BRENT 219641-R</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">UKRAINE INTL AIRLINES 09JUL DONETSK KIEV 710A 820A</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> NON SMOKING <wbr></wbr> NON STOP</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> RESERVATION CONFIRMED 1:10 DURATION</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737 ALL SERIES PASSENGER</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">DELTA AIR LINES 09JUL KIEV AMSTERDAM 200P 400P</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">DL 9467 TUESDAY BORYSPIL INTL SCHIPHOL AIRPO</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">K ECONOMY TERMINAL D </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> RESERVATION CONFIRMED 3:00 DURATION</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> KL 1386 FLIGHT OPERATED BY KL KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLIN</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">DELTA AIR LINES 09JUL AMSTERDAM DETROIT MI 510P 725P</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">DL 249 TUESDAY SCHIPHOL AIRPO DETROIT METRO</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">K ECONOMY <wbr></wbr> TERMINAL EM</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> RESERVATION CONFIRMED 8:15 DURATION</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> AIRCRAFT: BOEING 777-200/300</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">DELTA AIR LINES 09JUL DETROIT MI SALT LAKE C UT 945P 1137P</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">DL 1349 TUESDAY DETROIT METRO SALT LAKE CITY</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">K ECONOMY TERMINAL EM TERMINAL 2</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> RESERVATION CONFIRMED 3:52 DURATION</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;"> AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-100/200</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Lucida Console;">RESERVATION NUMBER(S) DL/HAEPGV KL/8B6SHL PS/R0PTW</span></div>
Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-38723374718595537692013-03-20T20:49:00.000-07:002013-04-07T20:50:35.908-07:00Where Did the Transfer Go?!Privet family!<br />
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WOW so a lot has happened in these past 10 days. Maybe too much that I can't include everything but here's the main things -</div>
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Transfer calls came out last night and Elder Sanger got one for some reason! We were both pretty shocked. I'm kind of sick of 1 transfer companions. We learned so much together even though we were inside a lot and were planning on really getting out this next transfer and working Left Bank like nobody's business now that his ankle is almost healed. But everything happens for a reason of course and our thoughts aren't the Lord's so all you can do is accept it and move on. I have a feeling I'm going to train again. Tomorrow we're going to Donetsk for transfer meeting and then I'll get my new comp. Whoever it is I hope we get along really well and he's ready to work the hardest he ever has. Also from the district Sister Wagers got transferred so we'll be getting a new sister down here as well. Such is life on the mission, you get attached and then you have to start all over again. Elder Sanger and I got along very well from the beginning. I feel like I've known him my whole life. He taught me some good lessons though, mainly to expect the best and plan for the worst. Also to do everything you can, regardless of the circumstances. I'll miss him a lot.</div>
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Denis is doing good, we moved his date to April 13 now. We hope it warms up soon so that he may come to church. If not, we'll move it again. He's heard all the lessons and seems to remember them for the most part when we ask him questions. He's almost done with 2 Nephi. We've been getting out a little bit and walking around for an hour at a time with Sanger and were blessed to find some promising contacts. We also found a new investigator. His name is Zaor, from Armenia. He's about 60 years old and is pretty believing guy. And we're really pushing to work with Olya, Nina's friend. She came to the Gushins' FHE and loved it, we watched the Restoration film and said she feels like Joseph Smith on a search for the true church. We haven't been able to meet with her yet because she's really busy but when we do we can both see her getting baptized.</div>
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Now for some comments/tidbits. First, could you get me Doug Wolf's address at the U? I want to send him a postcard before I get back. And I got an email from the percussion department and the percussion concert is April 2 if you're interested in going. I'm glad you enjoyed the pics, I'll try to send a few each week like I usually do. It's annoying when the computer places don't have the right hookups. Thanks so much for the Easter package stuff, I will enjoy that I'm sure whenever it gets here. You guys are the best! I sent you all an email with my flight plans, can you believe that?!?! Crazy stuff!!!!! And we received news from President Campero - he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.. so sad. He is waiting for the results to come back and the doctor told him he can probably return at the end of March, early April. This Saturday we're going to fast for him that all goes well. He seems to be taking it fine in his emails he sends us but it's still really sad. The Lord will keep him healthy though, I'm sure of this. And on Monday Elder Frandsen's group went home! It's so weird that he's gone. He's my second companion to be home now, and next transfer Elder Robison is going home and will be my 3rd. I'm getting old! Also, I talked with Elder Schoen and he got married back in January!!! Crazy stuff. Elder Frandsen's homecoming by the way is March 31. He said he'll have his mom call you with the info and stuff, you should definitely go if you can. </div>
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I'm all out of time now but know that I love you all so very much and am grateful for your prayers and love. There's nowhere else I'd rather be than here at this time in my life. I know that this Church is true and has been restored through Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and contains the answers that we need to solve our problems and come closer to Christ. Have an excellent week and I'll talk to you later!<br clear="all" /><div>
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с любовью,<div>
Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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ps - read together Alma 44:3-5. I read these verses this past week and found them very insightful.</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-24659973533739740892013-03-11T16:06:00.000-07:002013-03-17T16:10:39.828-07:00Another Week in Mariupol Privet family!<br />
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Another week has come and gone, it's pretty weird to me for some reason. This past week has been good, I have a few experiences I'd like to share with you.</div>
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The biggest event was Zone Leader's Council in Russian with President Podvodov. Tuesday night Elder Sanger and I bussed up to Donetsk and stayed with the APs then Wednesday was our council all day. I was asked to prepare the spiritual thought which was really stressing me out preparing for it because the spiritual thought influences the whole council because very little planning goes into it, it's mostly driven by the spirit. So I was feeling a lot of pressure getting it ready and prayed that I'd know exactly which topic to talk about. (This was Sunday night the APs told me I had to give the thought) So in my studies I prayed and felt very strongly that I needed to talk about success and what that all entails on a mission. I used page 10 of Preach My Gospel and a few verses from Alma 26:23-24, 27-28, 30. These verses talk about the results of the missions of the sons of Mosiah, their successes and trials, and compare very easily with our mission. My time came to present the thought and it went very smoothly and everyone added good comments, especially President Podvodov about getting called to be a mission president and no one understanding what that even meant and calling him foolish for wasting three years of his life. My spiritual thought really guided the rest of the meeting as we talked about different successes of the mission and what we can do to have more success and trust from the members and non-members. The biggest thing is going to be striving to have members present on all lessons and an increased focus on our Russian abilities. You may be surprised to know that after Preach My Gospel came out missionaries' language capabilities plummeted because the lessons weren't memorized and so baptisms went down. So we're making a bigger push of more responsible study and application of the language. We will be trying to memorize 10 words a day and a verse from the scriptures. It's pretty tough but I think it will help us out a ton. ZLC all in all was much better than I expected and a spiritual experience for me, even though it was in Russian.</div>
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This morning Elder Sanger called the doctor in Kiev and he told him that he can lose the crutches and start walking on his own! So we've been walking around today without them and things are going well so far. This past week we were blessed to get some promising contacts on the street and we are really hopeful they will turn out for us this week. Now that Sanger is walking without crutches we'll be on the streets much more often and talking to more people, it will be an amazing week! </div>
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Nina is doing great, we met with her last night and talked about her family tree and sharing the gospel with friends and family. She is already doing this and invited her friend to church with her yesterday named Olya. She also came to her baptism. She is really interested to meet with us and so later this week we'll have a lesson. She could possibly be baptized quickly, she just seems to have that look that she is ready to listen. So Nina is well on her way to being the best 73 year old member missionary that I know! And progress with Denis, we've basically taught him everything now and are reviewing the lessons. We set a new date for April 13 to baptize him. When the weather gets warmer his mom said he can come to church so basically everything is dependant of the weather. We are also trying to work with his mom. She sat on a lesson for 10 min but then left. She's really nice, just isn't too interested in listening right now.</div>
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Now for some quick comments/tidbits. No we didn't change clocks yet. I think that will be next week. It is getting warmer, about 50 degrees F now, so this is good. Its been raining and is super foggy right now. President Campero is waiting for his doctor appt. and will probably be there a few more weeks. </div>
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I love you all and wish you a great week! I'm so thankful for the experiences I'm having here and for your love and support for me. This church is true, I know it with all my heart. Talk to you next week!<br />
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с любовью,<br />
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Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-22871910380484581562013-03-04T20:36:00.000-08:002013-03-10T20:40:31.771-07:00Week of Miracles on Left Bank Privet family!<br />
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Thanks for all the love and updates from the week. Send everyone my love and that I'll be seeing them pretty soon. This past week was our best yet so I'll start from the top.</div>
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NINA GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!</div>
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We didn't even plan for this to happen but here's the whole story. So we met with Nina on Monday night and had President Gushin with us. We talked about temples and family history work, especially baptisms for the dead and sealings. (She's been wondering how to go to the temple and what goes on there) It was a good lesson and at the end we brought up her baptism again and how she felt. She said again that she wanted to still inform her children about it and wait. At this point on the lesson President had to go so he left and we stayed. During this period of time we racked our brains for a scripture to share or something that would move the lesson forward. I remembered that before leaving the house I had looked at Alma 7:14-16. I had forgotten this the whole lesson but when it came back to memory I turned there and suggested that we go with it. So Nina came back into the room and we shared these verses with her. She really liked them. Elder Sanger then said something like "Nina, you are ready for baptism and the longer you put it off the longer you live without the gift of the Holy Ghost. But when you get this gift though, it will be easier to talk to your kids and explain everything." She agreed then I added "Yeah, and the longer you wait the more time you give Satan to tempt you to fail." Then Sanger added "So waiting is from Satan, getting baptized soon is from God." The Spirit was strong and testified to her right there that she needed to get baptized and was ready. She then said, "OK, you're right, I've just been putting it off and putting it off but I've just been living without the gift of the Holy Ghost. I want to be baptized." It was one of the most spiritual lessons I've had on my mission. We put her on date for Saturday, March 2, then after the lesson called branch President and the mission leader and got the service organized. Friday night the APs came down to interview her and start a split with us and she passed everything fine then Saturday was the baptism! Brat Valeri Gushin baptized her and there was a great turnout and spirit present. Elder Sanger and I gave her a picture of Christ and some flowers, which she was very grateful for. And then yesterday she was confirmed the newest member in Mariupol! This makes 4 baptisms in Mariupol this year already, and last year total they had 3. She even bore her first testimony afterward for Fast Sunday as well as Brat Valeri about missionary work and Preach My Gospel. Awesome stuff. The work is starting to take off here. From this experience I've learned a few things. One, the importance of involving members in the whole baptismal process. Brat Valeri introduced her to the sisters, they taught her the first half and we finished the second half. We had members on every lesson and had Brat Valeri baptize her. And now she's getting ready to go to Kiev and do baptisms/submit names. She's an amazing lady. I feel very blessed to have played a small role in her baptism. The second thing I've learned is something that Elder Mironchenko told me about on our split. As you serve your companion and really focus on having Christlke love for him, then He'll bless you with people to teach. As we serve and do what we can the Lord blesses us. </div>
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We also are soon hoping to get Denis baptized. His mom gave the OK for him to get baptized but he can't come to church until it gets warmer in several weeks. We will start re-teaching the lessons again just to review and go from there. Also this last week on our split with the APs we were able to get in contact with some former invetigators that Elder Mironchenko taught when he was a greenie here. We are hopeful that we can start teaching them the lessons again and get them to church. </div>
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Now for some comments/tidbits. President Campero is doing good, he's waiting for his results and then will probably have surgery. In his place is President Podvodov, President's first counselor. He was mission president in Saint Petersburg and got back right when I came into country. This Wednesday I have Zone Leader's Council again so we'll be making the trip to Donetsk. And the meeting will only be in Russian so it's going to be interesting because the Podvodov's don't know any English! I did hear about all the new missions created. Did you hear that there's a new one in Ukraine? It will be the Lviv Mission, it is Western Ukraine and will balance out Kiev a little bit. Also Elder Bolingbroke's greenie is finally coming to Ukraine tomorrow. He's been serving with a native from Kharkov and we're happy to finally have a full district of English speakers so we'll have a new member of the zone/district this week. I went on a split with the Kharkov elder last Tuesday, it was fine it's just super hard living with a Ukrainian I'm not gonna lie. There is just a different mindset about everything. And Happy March! I realized that at the end of this week will be my 2 year mark of opening up my call... that was quick. So celebrate for me by getting a Wendy's frosty or something haha. And I will order that egg for us. </div>
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I love you all so very much and wish you a great week! Know that you are in my prayers always and I think about you often. I'm so grateful to be here at this time and for the experiences I'm gaining every day, every transfer. This truly is a marvelous work that we are all involved in. I know that God lives. Jesus is the Christ. And His church has been restored through Joseph Smith. I'll talk to you next week!<br />
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с любовью,</div>
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Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-27075106985721755562013-02-25T20:31:00.000-08:002013-03-17T21:53:59.499-07:00This is The Azov Sea, Huh? Privet family! <br />
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I can't believe another week has gone by. For some reason this past one was very fast. This week wasn't exactly the best going by numbers but the work is definitely progressing forward. To be honest these first few weeks in Mariupol have been some of the toughest on my mission because Elder Sanger can't walk around too much so we spend time inside working the area book and trying to get in touch with former investigators and not a lot of time on the streets talking to people. I don't blame him for not wanting to walk around all day on crutches because he needs to keep his foot resting as much as possible but it's tough when we're both the type of missionaries that go out and get things done if this makes sense. However, through all the setbacks we have been blessed with two investigators that will hopefully be baptized soon, Nina and Denis.<br />
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Nina - You know Nina, a very sweet babushka who is a referral from Valeri Gooshin. She has come to church every week and is totally ready for baptism, she just wants to talk to her family about everything and make sure they're on the same page. Yesterday at church she really enjoyed sacrament and was feeling the spirit strongly. I sat next to her and she turned to me afterward and said "Sorry I cry all the time when I come to church, I just can't keep the tears back." I told her that people just feel the spirit differently and that she shouldn't be sorry haha. She talked to Elder Sanger about her baptism and invited us to come over for a lesson tonight. We really hope we can put her on a baptismal date again and baptize her soon. We will also be talking about temples/family history work.<br />
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Denis - I don't remember what I've told you about Denis but he's a very humble guy who is handicapped due to years of hard drug usage. Elder Sanger and I weren't sure how much he understands because he's just really slow in answering and moving but from our two lessons this week we both know now that he is definitely able to get baptized and understands the lessons we teach. I've been doing a little study on D&C 20:37 and the requirements of baptism and as long as they can repent and make the needed changes to their lives and are humble enough then they can be baptized. We both prayed about Denis and like I said from teaching him we both feel that he understands and has the capacity to repent, he's just very slow. He has read the entire Bible and is currently reading (as of Friday) Jacob 5. He wants to get baptized but now there are a few other problems we need to overcome - 1) He needs to come to church. For this to happen we'll need to get a taxi or use a member's car to drive him to church and then use his wheelchair because he can't move on his own. Also, his mom doesn't want him going to church while it's cold outside.. And 2) His mom needs to get on board with us. She doesn't sit on lessons, she's just home every 4 days from work to open the door for us to come in and teach him. We told her he has a desire to be baptized and she said "Well he's already been baptized, why do you want to baptize him again? We tried to explain it a few different ways without offending her and finally Ruslan (recent convert that comes with us on lessons) said that 'He wants to be a member of our church and to do that needs to get baptized.' She seemed to understand kind of and said she'll think about. We invited her to sit on the next lesson but she doesn't really want to. She's a super nice lady though. But somehow things will work out, they always do. We'll be teaching him tithing and fasting this week and then he just needs to hear a few basic commandments that he probably already keeps and he's heard everything. His date is March 16 but we might move it back based on things. <br />
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We also found another investigator, Lilia. She is Ruslan's mom and has met with missionaries before, last summer. She's a member of the Charismastic church, (not really sure what that even is haha) and they do things such as read the Bible, have Holy Ghost, and speak in tongues. We listened to her talk for a very long time and then we got in a little bit about how the Bible teaches WHAT Christ did and the Book of Mormon teaches WHY. She seemed to like this and committed to read Alma 32 about faith. It would be extremely difficult being a recent convert in Ukraine, I'm not gonna lie. Ruslan is 22 and investigated for a year and got baptized in December. He's now a branch missionary and comes with us a lot. But his mom isn't on the same page as him. She's glad that he found God through the Mormon church but that's as far as that goes. The biggest concern that everyone has here is that "Bog adin" or "there's only one God and it doesn't matter which path you take to get to him. He gives everyone a different way and loves all His children. God is in your heart." We suggested that maybe they can read together. We'll see how she's doing this week. <br />
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Now for some comments/tidbits. Yesterday for the first time on my mission we went to a Ukrainian concert! A member in the branch, Nadezhda, sings with a choir and the sister's investigator, Natsha, conducts the choir and they announced it and invited everyone to come. We went with Nina and a less-active on Left Bank, as well as Ruslan and our district and the Gooshins. It was pretty cool, they had a small orchestra pit and played traditional Ukrainian music, as well as Spanish and French songs. It made me miss playing at home! Don't get too worried but President Campero is in SLC right now at a hospital doing some health stuff. He'll be there for three weeks and will hopefully return back. What he needs done can't be done here. Keep him in your prayers. I will tell the Gooshins that you say thanks, they are awesome members. Mom, you probably won't believe the things I like now hahaha. I basically eat everything, I've found a liking to many things I used to hate. "Fell outta the club" is a missionary phrase here in Donetsk. I will tell you what that means after I get home :) I just talked to the elders in Daky today and found out a few things - Lera, the 15 year old we taught is getting baptized this Saturday! And one of the Africans I taught with Efoshkin is getting baptized this Saturday as well, plus the sisters investigator there. Makeevka is doing good! And final thing, you talked about wanting some good souvenirs for the family. Mariupol branch has a sister who paints beautiful wooden eggs with whatever you want on it. They cost $50. I am thinking of getting one for us but need your suggestions. My idea is a Salt Lake Temple with our picture on the back with "Together Forever" in Russian. Tell me what you think, the sister can do pretty much anything.<br />
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I love you all and wish you an awesome week! Know that you are in my prayers and that I think about you all often. Talk to you next week!<br />
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с любовью,<br />
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Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-81691618629684243692013-02-18T20:25:00.000-08:002013-03-10T20:45:12.809-07:00Yep, I Fell Outta the Club<div>
Privet family!<br />
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Wow, I can't believe my first week has come and gone already. It was definitely not what either of us expected/would wish on anybody. Beginning of the week was fine, we did get pizza with James and Shelly (they invited us again tonight for the final time, they're leaving tomorrow and everything's in order with their adoption). And then Tuesday is where things got bad.. for breakfast I had a banana that we bought at the store but it turned out to be unripe, still green. I didn't think it was that green but I shouldnt've eaten it. I felt progressively worse throughout the whole day but was still going fine though. We had a lesson with an investigator named Denis, then a recent convert lesson with Ruslan and family night with President Gushin's family. By famiy night though I was in a bad way, like chills and headache and stomach pain. At the end of the FHE branch president's dad asked me if I was alright and I said I had a headache and then everyone just started going crazy and worrying and all of a sudden he got out a blood pressure thing and was taking my reading!! He said that I had a really bad reading because my heart was beating super fast and then asked me what I had been eating. They found out about the banana and said I shouldn't ever eat the bananas here in Mariupol because they're death! So it was probably the most interesting FHE I've ever been to haha. But we came home, I felt like crap, then slept. In the middle of the night I felt awful and couldn't sleep and threw up, but that felt good though. So now it was Wednesday and I woke up feeling like a train ran over me. Basically Wednesday I slept on and off and when I wasn't sleeping I was in the bathroom, it was bad! And I wanted to study but had a bad headache all day so it was miserable. And then Thursday Elder Sanger started having the same symptoms as me and we were both going in and out of the bathroom. Even worse! Thursday I felt better though because my headache went away. And Friday we planned on getting back to normal but Sanger started throwing up Friday morning so Friday was out as well. We called the doctor in Kiev and he had us drink a concoction of water, salt, sugar, and baking soda. It was nasty but helped us stay hydrated. And then Saturday we basically got back to normal for the most part, had district meeting and talked to people again on the streets. Through this all though Elder Sanger and I did some great bonding though, maybe the best bonding at the start of any of my companionships haha. But please don't worry about us, we're back to normal now except for Sanger still being on crutches. He still has 4 more weeks of that. The branch has been SUPER HELPFUL especially President Gushin and his family, they bought things for us and made sure we were fine. But yeah, not anything I would wish on anyone. I think the banana started it but I really had the flu though because I passed it to Sanger. Fun times.<br />
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Not regarding this though, we had progress with investigators and building the relationship with the branch.<br />
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Nina - She is beyond ready for baptism BUT she doesn't want to get baptized until her family understands her decision. This means Saturday isn't going to happen. She said it will be soon and wants some time. She'll make it :)<br />
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Denis - He is an invalid that the sisters found through contacting his mom on the street. He is 35 and did some hardcore drug usage in his life and is now a vegetable. He can't move on his own and sits at home all day. It's so sad. We weren't sure about his level of understanding because he wants to get baptized but one of the requirements of this of course is repentance so we prayed and studied about this topic and his situation and met with him again last night. We both felt that he has good enough understanding to repent sincerely and follow Jesus Christ. We set a baptismal date for him for March 16! We will need to get him to church somehow, probably carry him into a car and then get a wheelchair, but we're faithful this can work out. He's super humble and enjoys our meetings. I hope he can get baptized!<br />
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Now for some comments/tidbits. The Mariupol branch is gung ho about missionary work, it's amazing. The members absolutely love missionaries and are willing and ready to help. We are getting to know a recent convert named Ruslan very well. He got baptized 2 months ago, is now a branch missionary as of yesterday and came on 2 lessons with us after church. He's 22 and wants to go on a mission. Awesome! We're very grateful for the members of this branch, I hope we can do a ton of work and help several people come to the waters of baptism. Mom, tomorrow I'm starting my D&C Countdown. Start at the official letter #2 and read a section everyday backwards. It's scary I've only got the D&C left for time. I'm doing my best everyday to use time wisely and learn the things of importance. That's crazy about the meteor in Russia! I did not hear about this, first time.<br />
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I love you all so very much! Thank you for your love, prayers, and support. Have an excellent week and I'll talk to you later!<br />
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с любовью,</div>
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Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия<br />
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(from Mariupol) with love,</div>
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Elder Keown</div>
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Ukraine Donetsk Mission</div>
Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8390744318403089021.post-45940243168674421542013-02-11T16:43:00.000-08:002013-03-10T20:47:10.284-07:00Hello from Left Bank, MARIUPOL!!<div>
Bolshoi privet family!<br />
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This past week has been insane, I don't even know where to begin. I'll go from this last Tuesday night after Elder Harrison and I received transfer calls. We were both bummed that we got whitewashed (this means both companions transfer out by the way) but feel like we left Daky in good hands. Wednesday (last P-day) was spent packing all day/we went bowling as a district one final time/met with the Heyleaks. They weren't very happy to hear the news but they understood that it's just part of the mission. We taught them about the faith process (Alma 32) and left our testimonies with them. Sergei bought Elder Harrison and I a gift as well- a bottle of Ukrainain cologne! Haha. I really hope that they keep meeting with missionaries, if they come to church they'll know it's true and get baptized. But now seving in Daky are Elders Robison and Newey so we feel that they'll take good care of the investigators and members there. OK so Thursday we had transfer meeting in Donetsk. President announced news in the mission (27 investigators on date!) and then the APs announced transfers- I am now serving in Mariupol with Elder Sanger! He is from Oregon and is going into his 7th transfer. So far we get along great. He was just serving in Kharkov and had some bad luck and slipped on the ice up there and messed up his foot pretty bad though so he's on crutches for this whole transfer. But this isn't stopping him from working though. He's a trooper. It just takes us a lot longer to get around but other than that all is well. So along with my new area came more leadership- I have been called to be Zone Leader! My Zone has 6 missionaries (4 elders and 2 sisters). President has called zone leaders in the outermost cities and then in Donetsk and Kharkov the zones have like 20+ missionaries. So it is very comparable to a district but since we're so far away from everyone we also function as a zone. As part of this calling, I attended Zone Leader's Council at President's apartment Friday morning, so Thursday night I stayed in Donetsk. By the way, the other members of the zone here are Elder Bolingbroke, a mini missionary from Saltovka named Elder Zabutiluk, and Sister's Wagers and Erekson. The mini will only be here one or two more weeks though because then Elder Bolingbroke will train a new missionary who didn't come in on time due to breaking his foot at the MTC. But back to ZLC, it was a great meeting. There are tons of responsibilities being a Zone Leader, I basically oversee the work in Mariupol and conduct training as needed with our weekly meetings (like district meetings). The other big part of Zone Leader's Council was emphasizing the fact that we should make the branch we serve in OUR branch, just as we would at home, and have the kind of relationship with the members as we'd have with our families. The next ZLC is the beginning of March so I just pray I can fulfill this calling to the best of my abilities down here.<br />
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Mariupol is an amazing place, it might very well end up being my favorite area (and possibly my last one on my mission). We live about 15 min. from the Azov Sea and the branch is amazing. It is like a huge family. And yesterday I had to give a talk (again) haha. The elder who got transferred from Mariupol passed me the assignment but it was fine though, my talk went better than I thought. I talked about D&C 4:3 and what it means to have desire. The branch welcomed all of us very warmly, it might be the best first day of church I've seen on my mission. The branch president is awesome, his name is President Gooshin. He's 25 and just got back from Novosibirsk mission a year ago. He lives 5 minutes from our apartment and has helped out a ton so far, plus he knows perfect English. I'm sure we'll get to know his family very well. And you might find this interesting, all the snow has melted down here! The sea is still frozen but there is absolutely no snow. It's cold because we're by the sea but that will go away pretty soon probably. This winter has been weak, last winter was 10 times colder. AND one more awesome piece of news-- Elder Sanger and I put an investigator on date last night for February 23!! She's golden, she is a member referral from the Gooshin family and the sisters taught her basically everything except some commandments and then got transferred. Her name is Nina. She is 73 years old, loves church, and has been inviting friends to come each week. So mark the date! And there's one more investigator on date as well in the Center area for next month. The work is progressing down here, that's for sure. They already had 3 baptisms in January. We will keep it up!<br />
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Now for some comments/tidbits. Elder Harrison got transferred to Kharkov, the Alekseevka branch and HE IS TRAINING THE RUSSIAN ELDER FROM SAMARA! I'm pretty proud of him, he's going to be a great trainer. I didn't see him doing anything else, he's born to train and lead. They'll do some great work up there. It sounds like Joe's ready to enter the mission field. I can't believe that his time has come now. Tell him good luck for me. Here's a question for you - was I an active child growing up? I told a member here when my birthday is and she said there's some belief that if your date has lots of 1s it means you were an active child. I told her I'd ask haha. And this is also interesting- there is an American LDS couple from South Jordan in Mariupol right now adopting three kids. They've been here for a month now and are leaving next week. They come to church and I met them yesterday because I translated for them. I don't know their last name, perhaps I can find it out. But they invited us to get some pizza with them today so we'll be doing that. It's a small world!<br />
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Well, I hope this email has answered some questions for you all. Missionary life is a roller coaster. One moment you are very comfortable with your area and then all of a sudden you end up by the Azov Sea wondering what happened haha. It will be an interesting first week figuring the area out and meeting people but all will be just fine. I love you family! Know that you are in my prayers and thoughts everyday. I hope that all is well with you. Have an excellent week and remember that God lives, Jesus is the Christ, and the Book of Mormon is true. Talk to you next week!<br />
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с любовью,</div>
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Старейшина Каун</div>
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Украинская Донецкая Миссия</div>
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Staceyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02706859295929180424noreply@blogger.com0