Now that our mission in Ukraine has ended I have decided to continue to share pictures and memories of our time spent there. Please join us on Gary & Karl's Big Adventure Part 2.
Gary & Karl's Big Adventure
Follow Elder and Sister Dance as they set out on their 18 month mission to Kyiv, Ukraine!
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
October 28, 2013
One of the things that always fascinated me about Kyiv was the
stairs. Climbing stairs was something
that that was as commonplace as walking. Stairs to get to your flat (unless you had a lift), stairs to pass under
the streets, stairs to enter and exit metros, stairs to get up ascents and down
descents. Outside of your apartment, one of the reasons for so many stairs is
that Kyiv is built on “seven hills” but really more like at least fifteen
hills. So climbing stairs is just an
expected part of walking. The thing that
was interesting about stairs is that there is no code dictating the rise and
the run of stairs so they are just built to get a person from one level to
another without much thought to consistency. There is also no city ordinance that stairs have to be maintained. Maybe that is what makes stairs so
interesting in Kyiv.
I loved all the differences in the stairs. I loved the old crumbling stairs, the
centuries old staircases in the cathedrals, the sidewalk stairs and the stairs
that made daily walks a bit more challenging.
Focusing on stairs I have many photographs of the Stairs of Kyiv so
just take a walk through history and take a look at some very interesting
stairs.
To me stairs are symbolic of many things. All of the Lord's creations are symbolic and all things are the Lord's creation. All of these pictures of stairs have symbolic meaning for me. These temple stairs symbolize to me eternity, love and brightness of hope.
Quote for the Week by Elder John Widstoe
We live in a world of symbols. We know nothing, except by symbols. We make a few marks on a sheet of paper, and we say that they form a word, which stands for love, or hate, or charity, or God or eternity. The marks may not be very beautiful to the eye. No one finds fault with the symbols on the pages of a book because they are not as mighty in their own beauty as the things which they represent. We are glad to have symbols, if only the meaning of the symbols is brought home to us.
Hotel Stairs |
Stairs to Education |
Stairs to the tree top |
Stairs to Vladimir's Statue |
Stairs to transfer station |
Stairs to Dimitrivska |
Stairs out of Metro to Independence Square |
Well worn stairs |
Historical Stairs |
Stairs out of the dacha |
Handmade stairs |
Stairs not to be forgotten |
Stairs to upper floor of St. Cyril's Cathedral |
Stairs to Golden Gate |
Stairs with symbolism |
icy stairs |
not the stairs to the dentist office |
Stairs in Botanical Garden |
winter stairs |
Stairs to apartment |
flooded stairs that go under the highway |
Stairs from the Motherland Statue |
street stairs |
stairs to bell tower |
New stairs to St. Nicholas Cathedral |
stairs to lookout on Andrevska |
Stairs from Water Well |
Stairs to Podil |
Museum Stairs |
St. Sophia's Bell Tower Stairs |
Construction stairs |
Stairs at Palates Sportu |
Add caption |
Monument stairs |
Stairs from European Square to Podil |
Museum Stairs |
Crumbling Stairs |
Stairs in Kyiv Ukraine Temple |
Quote for the Week by Elder John Widstoe
We live in a world of symbols. We know nothing, except by symbols. We make a few marks on a sheet of paper, and we say that they form a word, which stands for love, or hate, or charity, or God or eternity. The marks may not be very beautiful to the eye. No one finds fault with the symbols on the pages of a book because they are not as mighty in their own beauty as the things which they represent. We are glad to have symbols, if only the meaning of the symbols is brought home to us.
Monday, October 14, 2013
October 13, 2013
The last week of our mission in Ukraine was filled with many sad
farewells, and the reality of leaving brought an awareness of just how much I
had grown to love so many people in this wonderful country. As I walked and rode through the streets of
Kyiv for the last time I felt gratitude for all that I had learned and enjoyed
here over the past eighteen months and realized that perhaps I had begun to
take for granted the sights and sounds of Kyiv. I walked a little more slowly
(people here walk so fast) so that I could appreciate the buildings, the
history, the beauty and the common everyday things that had been a part of my
world for a time.
Federal Reserve |
October Palace |
Fire Station and Tower |
St. Sophia's |
Waiting
at the bus and tram stops I thought about how many times I had waited or ran to
catch busses and trams to get to the office, the temple, the church or just to
meet up with someone to go on an adventure. Did the people recognize me as an American or had I finally blended in
and become one of them. I thought about
the bus drivers that I had come to recognize and wondered if they recognized
me. Did the cashiers not ask me for a
ticket because they knew I had a pass or because they thought I was just
another old babushka. I will never
forget my last day when a new cashier asked to see my pass………she made my day. Did the people on the bus know that after a
year and a half I would with a heavy heart be leaving this city. Would they wonder where I had gone. I definitely had become a people watcher and
my final days were spent imprinting on my mind their every word, action and
mannerism. They didn’t know how much I
would miss them.
Walking
down the streets I absorbed the sights around me. The beautiful old colorful buildings, the
statues and monuments, the street ally where I had my Russian lessons, St.
Sophia’s, the National Opera, the dimly lit descents, the fruit and vegetable markets and again the
people that had been so much a part of my life.
One of
the greatest blessings of our mission was our heightened capacity to love. The knowledge that we gained about the history of this country and these
people - their trials, their previous
years of oppression, their great national pride, their resourcefulness, their
sacrifice and their love of family –
have endeared them to us forever. The
beauty of these people has captured and will always hold a part of my
heart. Our association with the people
of Ukraine has influenced our attitudes in a profound way. I realize just how much they have taught me
and how much they have become a part of us. There will never a day go by that we do not think of them and remember
them with love.
Friends at the office |
friends at the temple |
Herding goats |
Final Lunch with President and Sister Klebingat |
gifts from the office |
We will
also miss the dedicated, hard- working missionaries in Ukraine. They are obedient and have been blessed with
the gift of tongues. They have this same
love for the people that we do. And it
is wonderful to think that we will be able to see some of them again and watch
the impact the mission has made on them as they move forward in their
lives.
final dinner and goodbye |
9-11 Broken Heart Memorial with two great Missionaries |
On our
layover in Amsterdam as we were leaving, there were seventeen missionaries
heading to the Kyiv Mission at the gate next to ours. It was so fun to see and talk to them knowing
that the work was going forward and only wishing that I could have gotten to
know all of them better. Some were so
busy talking to other passengers about the gospel that they weren’t able to
take time for a picture. Oh what they
have to look forward to….
Amsterdam Airport - Missionaries heading to Kyiv |
There
are so many wonderful memories that I haven’t taken time to document, and
thousands of pictures that haven’t been included in my blogs that for a time I won’t let our mission
end. I want to share with the world the
beauty of what we have seen and experienced.
And if it is only a record for me, it is something I will treasure as
the years go forward. To be
continued………………….. пока,
пока………………..
Kyiv Temple |
Quote for the Week - Homeward Bound by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
In the quiet misty morning
When the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing
And the sky is clear and red,
When the summer's ceased its gleaming
When the corn is past its prime,
When adventure's lost its meaning -
I'll be homeward bound in time
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow
If you find it's me you're missing
If you're hoping I'll return,
To your thoughts I'll soon be listening,
And in the road I'll stop and turn
Then the wind will set me racing
As my journey nears its end
And the path I'll be retracing
When I'm homeward bound again
Bind me not to the pasture
Chain me not to the plow
Set me free to find my calling
And I'll return to you somehow
(softly)
In the quiet misty morning
When the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing
I'll be homeward bound again.
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