May 30, 2012

Best advice of the week. “Get off the bus!” First of all, Ukrainians don’t usually speak, smile, start conversations and most of all don’t give advice to strangers, but Saturday was different.  We were on our way to the 1530 Birthday Celebration of Kyiv  and hopped on a regular bus (not a crowded marshrutka) which was one of those two buses long with an accordion thing in the middle. As soon as we got on we realized that this wasn’t the local crowd we are used to. About twenty screaming, dirty, food throwing, fighting gypsies had invaded the local bus. Just as we were standing there wondering what was going on, one of them came up and started admiring Gary’s watch just as Gary was taking his money out of his pocket to pay for the ticket. Just then another came up and motioned for us to take two seats right in the middle of all of them.  Well, I didn’t know that Ukrainians could speak English but they all said in unison, “Don’t!” This kind of startled us but by then we were in the middle of the aisle with gypsies in front of us and in back of us and they were starting to fight with each other in an attempt to distract us. Realizing what they were doing, we pushed through the crowd to the middle of the bus and an English speaking Ukrainian said, “Get off the bus!” Gary asked where he should pay for our very short ride and he said “Just get off the bus. There is going to be trouble.” So we hopped off the bus with him and that was when I realized that I had my camera around my neck and wondering why wasn’t I snapping some shots of all this ruckus. Oh, well. We were safely off the bus and have never seen another gypsy since. We also wondered just what happened but felt protected by our friends, the Ukrainians.

The next morning on our way to church there were about a hundred military police in the metro.  We weren’t sure if the party had gotten out of hand the night before or if preparations have begun for the Euro Games which begin next week in Poland and Ukraine. Things could get a little crazy with another million people coming into the city.

The market has reopened with new owners. The first few days things were a little slow but people need to eat and that is where they get all their food every day so life goes on. One thing we noticed was that the women were the vocal participants when things were at their peak. The men stood guard and the women dealt with the police. Interesting.

On Monday the senior missionaries had an activity at an Architectural Museum.  It was out in the country and they had 9 little villages representing the different areas and customs of Ukraine. It was so adorable and reminded us a little of Nauvoo. We were meeting with the Mission President in the afternoon so we didn’t get to stay long, so we will have to go back there on our own some day to see more.

 Field trip with other senior missionaries

 Little church

 Inside church

 Gary at cute thatch roof house

 Inside little thatched house

Our meeting with the President Klebingat was an introduction to the Addiction Recovery program that is just getting started here. We had a three hour training and will be working with our branch on starting a group. We will be going to Lutsk every third and 5^th Sunday. On the third Sunday we will hire a driver to take us the five hours to get there. (Kind of like being over a branch in McCall if you live in Pocatello, but the roads aren’t as good.) We will leave at 4:00 AM and get home about 10:00 pm. On the 5^th Sunday weekend we will take the train over (9 hours) on Friday night and then come home on Sunday night (11 hours) and get home just in time for work on Monday. We will have activities with the Branch on that Saturday.

The missionaries there, as everywhere, are awesome and we have a member named Lucy that speaks English and is an amazing go-getter. Gary has also accepted a call as the International Branch Mission Leader and I will be helping in the primary when we are in Kyiv.

We took Elders Duffin, Perkins, and Jensen to Domino’s for dinner and to see the “Nutcracker” last night at the National Opera House. It was terrific. Elder Perkins is getting transferred to Odessa and Elder Jensen is an Elder from Kazakhstan which is a country about in Mongolia; 1200 miles away and 5 hours by plane. He comes here once a month to get his visa renewed. Kazakhstan is one of the countries that we are working with in the Embassy Program. Right now they only give missionaries one month visas, they are not allowed to wear their missionary badges or proselyte. They work with less active members and members and try to get members to invite friends to hear the discussions. It is very frustrating and helps us all realize exactly why we must pray for leaders to soften their hearts to missionary work. There are more problems in countries that are primarily Muslim.

I have started English conversation classes for the employees in the service center where Gary works. They are mostly Ukrainian speaking and just want to learn proper grammar, new phrases, how to write etc. We meet on Monday and Wednesday at lunch and after work. They are the nicest people and I am learning what a crazy language English really is. For instance, words starting with K – knife, knowledge, etc and words that start with the K sound but start with c – car, club, coin, class, etc. You get the picture. And I thought Russian was hard. Our Russian is coming along and we will get there soon. I have a hard time not laughing as Gary imitates our teacher’s mouth gyrations while saying the words. He is such a dutiful student. Once in a while she will say “Say, what is your name.” and he says “What is your name?” and then she reminds him “In Russian, please.” She gets a little frustrated with me for not doing the weird mouth thing, but I have to think of the wrinkles I may get if I do as she says. 

In two weeks we will have another stake conference. Elders Christofferson and Rasband will be visiting. The Priesthood leadership meeting will be four hours long.

I threw away the first batch of brownies that I made since being here. I found out that cornstarch just doesn’t make the best of frostings. Oh, another thing, you can’t judge what a substance is by looking and feeling it, or by what the last tenant has labeled it, and never trust a “Fagor” oven.

The Plan of Salvation is definitely a rescue plan for all of us. If we keep our covenants, forsake and repent of our sins, and have faith in the mercy of Christ, we shall “inherit the Kingdom of God” and “our joy shall be full forever.”  2 Nephi 9:18

 New found friend. She is 78 years old and makes the best cookies ever...and makes beautiful cross stitch. She sits on this fence all day. She is adorable.

 Needlework pictures made by my new friend. $1.20 each.

 Guy selling pictures with two turtle doves (see last blog post)

 Cute graduates

 Little slow at the meat market

Unique fence