August 24, 2012

This week has been an event packed week.  We have been blessed with so many wonderful opportunities.

Sunday was our monthly trip to Lutsk.  I will never tire of the ten hour road trip as there are so many things to see and I absolutely love the countryside of Ukraine.  We had a different driver this week and he took us on a little different route.  He speaks some English so I could even ask him to stop along the way a few times to take some pictures.  I wanted four pictures.  Cottages with their beautiful fall flowers blooming, pumpkin patches, harvesting crops and people in the country setting.  I didn’t quite get all but what I did get was better than ever.  We stopped so I could take some pictures of a flower garden.  While taking the picture I spotted a little couple about 200 yards away sitting in the sun by their house enjoying the beautiful morning.  Of course I couldn’t resist running across the field that was drenched with dew to get a picture (not knowing if they would let me take one or not).  They were so adorable and we communicated as best we could.  They will be in my heart forever and I just wish I could go visit them once a week.   When I got back to the road and turned around they were both waving to us and I got one last picture.  They live about 35 miles out of Lutsk.

 

All in a day's work

Fall Flowers

The cute couple we met on the way to Lutsk

One last picture of the cute couple!

When we got to the church we had another pleasant surprise.   There is a babushka in the branch that we have heard about but  have never met, Sister Matsoxa.  He daughter lives in Poland and is a member.  She had come to see her parents who live about an hour outside of Lutsk and  brought her mother to church.  Sister Matsoxa  is coming to the temple in September to receive her endowments.  The missionaries go out to see her about once a week and take her the sacrament so it was just perfect that we were there this Sunday to meet her.  She is precious.  It will be so fun to see her again in September, along with all of the other branch members that will be coming to the temple.

 

Sister Matsoxa

Gary and I were also very privileged this week to meet a man that was instrumental in helping the church obtain the property to build the temple. He is not a member but has very high regard for the church and was a friend of President Hinckley when he came to Ukraine to pick the place for the temple. The story is so fascinating about the five places that were visited by Pres. Hinckley and the feelings he had about each them. He was in tune with the spirit in not picking the land that he was encouraged to pick just because of its beauty, and was definitely inspired to pick the one that he did pick. Mr. Sydnek had some investigations done on a few of the properties that President Hinckley had a bad feeling about and realized that President Hinckley had truly been inspired as it would have not been wise to build the temple in those locations no matter how beautiful they were. He is an amazing man and has many political connections in Eastern Europe. We are blessed that he is a friend of the church.

 

Friday was the Independence Day celebration (Nezalezhnosti) in Ukraine but activities were held all week long and will continue over the weekend. As they have only had their independence for 21 years all people over about 25 years old remember it vividly. In English class this week we talked about what it was like to be under Soviet control. It was not good. All of the people worked for the government and were paid by the government.  There were some weeks that they didn’t get paid. That meant no food for the family. Parents sacrificed what little food they had for their children. There was basically no freedom of religion. (The reason why the church is only 20 years old in this country). The only time school was held on Sunday was on Easter. That was because they knew the people would go to church on Easter and they really didn’t want them going to church. If you didn’t attend school that day when you returned you had to stand in front of the class and tell where you were on that day and why you weren’t in school. A girl in our branch, Natalia,  told how when she was eight years old she decided she was going to go to church on Easter and not to school. Her family was very strict orthodox but her mother encouraged her to go to school because of what might happen if she didn’t. She refused and went to church instead. Her mother told her that when she was asked to tell where she had been to tell her teacher that she would tell her at the break. For some reason her teacher allowed her to do just that, and when she found out she had been in church she told her not to tell another soul where she had been. When Natalia was baptized and learned that eight was the age of accountability she recalled what she had done the Easter she was eight years old. Independence  is so very near and dear to these people’s hearts. It is because they 

remember not having it and know how different their lives are now.

We were able to attend a few concerts and the festivities for Independence Day this week.  It made us feel so grateful and understand better why Al Sher can always bear such a strong testimony of gratitude in July of every year. We are so grateful for the blessings of liberty we have enjoyed all of our lives; especially those blessings that have allowed us to have our freedom of worship. We are reminded in the Book of Mormon at least twenty-three times what our obligations are to maintain that land of liberty. May we never forget…………

Quote from Neal Maxwell,  Notwithstanding My Weakness.

It is no accident that the lessening, or loss, of belief in certain absolute truths, such as the existence of God and the reality of immortality, has occurred at the same time there has been a sharp gain in the size and power of governments.  Once we remove belief in God from the center of our lives, as the source of truth and as a determiner of justice, a tremendous vacuum is created into which selfishness surges, a condition that governments delight in managing.

Country Pride

Egg from Lutsk region

Patriotic citizen signaling fought in 3 wars

The old and the young

Cute boys

Decorated egg from each region of Ukraine

Enjoying the day