Another Week of Miracles on Left Bank

Privet family!

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!

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! 

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!

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!!

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!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

A Week of Elevators, Shopki, Drums, and Things

Privet family!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

Changes in a World of Changing Values

Privet family!

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.

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.

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 createfan.com. 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.

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!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

I GOT MY FLIGHT PLANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHURCH TRAVEL CWT DATE 13MARCH13

50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST AGENT VH/PE BOOKING REF 8B6SHL

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111 ARMKNECHT/MEGAN BET 278893-R

FAX : 801-240-5115 BORGET/BRANDON RICH 237371-R

HODGSON/KYLER KALIL 243632-R

MISSIONARY TRAVEL KEOWN/TAYLOR BRENT 219641-R

UKRAINE DONETSK MISSION

SERVICE DATE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

UKRAINE INTL AIRLINES 09JUL DONETSK KIEV 710A 820A

PS 48 TUESDAY INTERNATIONAL BORYSPIL INTL

Y ECONOMY TERMINAL B

NON SMOKING NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 1:10 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737 ALL SERIES PASSENGER

DELTA AIR LINES 09JUL KIEV AMSTERDAM 200P 400P

DL 9467 TUESDAY BORYSPIL INTL SCHIPHOL AIRPO

K ECONOMY TERMINAL D

NON SMOKING DINNER NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 3:00 DURATION

KL 1386 FLIGHT OPERATED BY KL KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLIN

AIRCRAFT OWNER: KL KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737 ALL SERIES PASSENGER

DELTA AIR LINES 09JUL AMSTERDAM DETROIT MI 510P 725P

DL 249 TUESDAY SCHIPHOL AIRPO DETROIT METRO

K ECONOMY TERMINAL EM

NON SMOKING DINNER NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 8:15 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 777-200/300

DELTA AIR LINES 09JUL DETROIT MI SALT LAKE C UT 945P 1137P

DL 1349 TUESDAY DETROIT METRO SALT LAKE CITY

K ECONOMY TERMINAL EM TERMINAL 2

NON SMOKING NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 3:52 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A320-100/200

RESERVATION NUMBER(S) DL/HAEPGV KL/8B6SHL PS/R0PTW

Where Did the Transfer Go?!

Privet family!

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 -

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.

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.

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.

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!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

ps - read together Alma 44:3-5. I read these verses this past week and found them very insightful.

Another Week in Mariupol

Privet family!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия

Week of Miracles on Left Bank

Privet family!

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.

NINA GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!

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.

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.

 

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.

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!
 

с любовью,

Старейшина Каун

Украинская Донецкая Миссия