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

May 23, 2012

 Phil and our new grandson, Henry

Owen, Hal and Jacque's brother, Blake

Most Exciting News This week.  We are the proud grandparents of another beautiful little Dance Boy.  Henry (Hal) Chandler Dance was born on May 17^th at 1:13 PM, 7 lbs. 3 oz. and 20.5 inches.  He is adorable  and looks just like Philip did when he was a baby.  It is pretty hard to be on a mission when this kind of event occurs but we know that Jacque and  Hal are both being blessed because of it.  Just wish we could be there to hold him.  Don’t babies just smell so good, and cuddle so good and it just reminds you of heaven. 

Friends from home!!  This last week our Russian Teacher that is from Ukraine and lives in Pocatello came to Ukraine to spend a few months with her family and stopped in to see us.  It was so fun to see someone from Pocatello and she also brought treats from my sister (peanut brittle) and from my mother (a little Mother’s Day book).   We had a fun visit.  We learned that when she lived in Ukraine she was a dancer before she joined the church and went on a mission.  Then she met her husband and while he has been attending ISU they have been living in Pocatello.  We went with them on the metro to the train depot and they are now in Zaporizhzhya with her parents.  She will be coming back through in June to meet a friend from Finland and spend a few days at the temple before she returns to Idaho. 

Today we met Elder Duffin and Elder Perkins for dinner.  Elder Duffin is from Aberdeen and was in the singles Branch when Randy was the Branch President.  All of the missionaries here are terrific and we are proud that Elder Duffin is such a great representative of Idaho.  They are enjoying Kyiv as much as we are.  Elder Perkins is from Bountiful and both of these missionaries are amazing.  Elder Perkins has only been here 5 months and is pretty proficient in Russian.  We’re hoping he gets to stay in Kyiv awhile longer.

Gary and I completed our training for the branch we have been assigned in Lutsk.  Lutsk is a little town (250,000 people) in Northwest Ukraine by the Polish border.  Gary was able to travel there this last week and he said it is a beautiful city and the people he met that are in the branch are great.  It is a nine hour train ride or a 5 hour cab ride away from Kyiv.  There are 35 people in the Lutsk Branch.  We will go up there one or two weekends a month.  The countryside is beautiful  - a lot of farming villages.  It will be such a great experience but we need to get moving on our language skills as using a translator is not very fun.  

A few very interesting entrepreneurial things people have come up with in Kyiv.  I’ll try to include pictures because they are so creative.

·         Collecting and selling plastic shopping bags.   Even though there is no recycling program here people are charged every time you need to have a shopping bag at any store.  So you carry your own with you.  Well, just in case you forget, you can buy one right out in front of the store for equivalent to ten cents instead of forty cents.   (I will help  her out by giving her my huge collection – most of the ones she sells probably come out of the dumpsters.)

·         Selling underwear piled nicely on the sidewalk.  Nothing fancy, just the necessities

·         Having a bathroom scale to weigh people. Light and easy to carry around but seems to generate a lot of interest

·         Selling little jars of shelled nuts.  One lady that does this is about ninety years old and sits on a little one foot high  fence that is a metal  bar about ½ inch in diameter all day while she does counted cross-stitch on cute little girl blouses.   I really want to learn more about her.

·         Want your picture taken with two turtle doves??  Here is the place to get it done.

·         Want to buy a whole dried chicken?  They are right there on the sidewalk for your perusal  - unwrapped of course. Along with chicken liver and gizzards in a little baggie.

        Just in case of a sudden storm and caught without an umbrella, how about a shower cap to wear home.

·         Sitting by the side of the freeway selling coffee – instant coffee, made with water from a large thermos jug that is sitting on top of a crate.

·         Of course you saw Mr. StarDucks last blog and…….

·         And one of the most popular jobs is the butcher.   People will drive up onto the sidewalk in front of the meat market, open their trunk and take out whole dead cow, legs and all.  He carries it into the market and throws it into the cooler.  Gets out the skinned beef,  lays it on the table and with a huge meat cleaver starts chopping.  Then he  passes the meat off to the sales girls who place it on stainless steel tables and the people come in by the droves and start picking through what they want to buy. (None of it is wrapped, of course).   One little lady sits on the window ledge cutting the meat off of the fat from the scraps making stew meat.  There is no hiding what you are getting here.

Uprising at the Market.  Today on the way to the office I wanted to take pictures of all of these people for you but there was real trouble brewing.  Apparently about a month ago someone new bought the market (bazaar) and has tried to get rid of the old sellers so he could move in his friends.  They have held them off a couple of times (former blog) but now it looks like it is over.  The meat market and most of the vendors were gone – police were there- We just really feel sorry for all of these people that have their regular customers and now have to find somewhere else to set up shop.  We’ll be anxious to see what is going on tomorrow. 

Never forget how blessed you are to live in America.  Never take your everyday blessings for granted.  (2 Nephi 1:7 and Ether 2:9) Be willing to stand up for the things you believe in.  Set goals and work toward them every day.  And most important ……praise God from whom all blessings flow.  
Love Gary and Karlene

 Elders Duffin and Perkins after dinner at Domino's

Friends Lena and Rob at the train station

 Instant Coffee Lady

Underwear for sale (Street Sweeper checking it out)

May 14, 2012

We finally did it!  After 6 weeks in Kyiv we finally found a Mexican Restaurant for Gary.  We had taken the double-decker tour of the city bus on the Saturday of the holiday and when we went down to old town we both commented that it looked a lot like New Orleans.  Well, you know how New Orleans has everything…… so we went exploring and ole’….. we found Tequila Restaurant.  It was a pretty good imitation of a Mexican place.  I loved the quesadilla (and since I really don’t like Mexican food you know what that means). They did not have chili Colorado but Gary had kind of a weird looking enchilada and said it was pretty good. You take what you get, right?  On the way home we stopped by Maiden Square (Independence Square) and they were having a big  "Vi- Day" concert celebrating the defeat of Germany and the victory of Russia in World War II. There were about 20,000 people there extending all the way down Khreschatyk.  At the end there was a big fireworks show. And these people don't even like Russia. Anything for a big party.

Sunday we were riding on the metro to church to give our talks on “agency” and I made a really poor choice. Most Ukrainian people on the metro aren’t very friendly and especially at 8:00 AM on Sunday morning. Well, this old farmer guy (probably about 60) got on with his little cart of potatoes heading to market somewhere to sell them. He sat down across from us and I caught his eye for about 2 seconds. He had those beautiful light green Ukrainian eyes….. however one eye was droopy like he had maybe had a stroke. I didn’t want him to think I was staring so I avoided looking his way again. I could feel that he was looking at us as the crowds  got on and off the metro. At the stop at the end of the line – where we get off – he stood up to get off and reached down and picked up a metro token and handed it to me. I tried to tell him to keep it and he gave me the nicest smile and refused. Then he was gone in the crowd. His smile and those green eyes have been haunting me ever since. Why wasn’t I kinder. Why didn’t I give him a warm smile to show that I thought he was an ambitious, hard-working person to be up so early going to market to work all day, knowing that he probably makes about $250 a month (the average salary of the hard-working class. And then he gave me the only thing of any value. Why, Why Why. Decisions, choices, and I could have done better as a representative of the Lord. Lesson learned. No more Ukrainian straight face for me. Everyone in this world deserves a little kindness.

Saturday evening we went for a walk up to Saint Sophia’s square as we knew they were having some kind of an exhibit.  Well, it was amazing.  At first we thought it was just some giant mosaics portraying scenes from the bible.  When we got up close we realized that the mosaics were made from colored eggs. This traveling exhibit was one that we were glad we hadn’t missed. It was an incredibly beautiful work of art. 

Last Thursday I attended my first Zone Conference. (Gary couldn’t go so he was invited by the Mission President to go to Lviv with him tomorrow to the Zone Conference there. )  It was fabulous. Our mission president is from Germany and his wife was the first Russian to attend Rick’s college and actually any church university. He is 44 and she is about 39. They are both converts and none of their family members are converted to the gospel but are really good people. He is totally amazing and has so much insight and knowledge. I’m sure that he will be a general authority soon. Gary and I have been assigned a branch to attend once or twice a month in Lutsk. A small town of about 250,000 that is in northwestern Ukraine by the border of Poland. It is a 9 hour train ride from here but from what we hear the people there are wonderful and the town is great. We will probably be going up there this weekend with the couple that is currently assigned there but is going back to the states the first of June. You’ll hear  more about that adventure later. 

We are really feeling at home here. I am starting to do some embassy work with several of the embassies located in Kyiv.  There is so much to do and our days are very busy. We love and miss all of you. Remember that we’re all here on the Lord’s errand.  We make four covenants of service in the temple and if we don’t keep our covenants the Lord will revoke the blessings. So I guess that means that we all need to be better home and visiting teachers………and missionaries.  Love,  Gary and Karlene

 Our Fun Mexican Restaurant - even staged a photo shoot for us

The V-Day Celebration

 The Mosaic Display

 Close-up of the egg mosiac

Gary at the forefront

Amazing - thousands of eggs. 

May 8, 2012

I’ve decided to go with a little historical blog today but will end with a few other insights.

On September 13, 1991, Elder Boyd K. Packer stood with Elder Dallin H. Oaks and 41 other people on a hillside overlooking Kyiv and Dnieper River near the base of the statue of Prince Vladimir who brought Christianity to Ukraine in 988 A.D and dedicated the land for the preaching of the Gospel.  It is noteworthy that on the same day, statues of Lenin, who was a symbol of communism, were being pulled down in the capital city.  In offering this prayer, Elder Packer said “In this land, we see the day when there will be scattered in the villages here and there a member and yet another member and then a gathering and then a branch and, in due time, stakes of Zion set firmly and permanently upon the fertile soil of the Ukraine.  And in due time, the spires of temples will be seen across this great land.”   These are the words of a seer and a revelator.

It is interesting to note that Elder Packer also said, “We remember those who have lived here in generations past and are now gone.  We pray that this moment might be the beginning of an emancipation of their spirits in the world beyond through …sacred..ordinances…We pray that there will be an outpouring of the Spirit of Elijah, that the names will come forth, the records made available, and the ordinances performed for them in temples in this land.”  This revelation is now being fulfilled in that every week from all over the Eastern European area people are coming to the temple with the records of their family members to perform the ordinances of the temple for them.  A youth group came from Russia and brought 1600 names of their ancestors for baptisms.  Last week the members from Armenia came and spent the week, all day, every day doing the ordinances for their ancestors.  This week members from Romania are here.  I had the privilege of helping with some of the sealing work and although it was in Russian I felt the spirit of the blessings coming to the people, both the members who were being sealed to their families and from their ancestors.  The members from Armenia who received their patriarchal blessings were mostly of the lineage of Gad and Simeon.  All of the ten tribes of Israel have been represented in the linages of the Saints in Eastern Europe. 

Yesterday I went with the Temple Missionaries to the Botanical Gardens  .(Gary doesn’t get as many P-Days as I do.)   There are 45 acres of lilacs blooming and they were so beautiful and smelled so good.  Every kind of lilac you have and haven’t ever seen.  We then went to a Russian Restaurant for lunch.  People in Ukraine eat lunch between 1 and 2 and believe me they are never in a hurry.  It is a good thing as you have to plan on about one hour to get served. 

I also wanted to tell you about the tenacity of the people here.  There is a bazaar (open market and stores) when you get off the metro stop by our apartment.  A few weeks ago about 50-70 armed gunmen held up the common folk and tried to take over the bazaar.  Well, those people would have nothing to do with it and fought back.  I don’t think they will have to worry about being bothered by the armed robbers again.  They now have more protective doors that they shut at night.  The people that work and sell their wares are just coming to work at 6:00 in the morning when we are heading out to the metro and they work until about eight or nine at night.  The ones that line the streets pack up their wares every night, take them home and are back the next day.  It is not only their work but their social life.  The other morning on the way to the office there was a large group of women surrounding one woman.  I peered over their shoulders to see what all the excitement was about and it was “white jeans”.  It really looked like “Black Friday” at Walmart.   I also must mention that there are at least 4 banks per block and about the same number of notaries.  Kind of reminds us of the number of cell phone and cash stores on Yellowstone.  Crazy.  Have a great week.  Be grateful for all of your conveniences and opportunities in America, and remember …..  the Lord has a lot of children to take care of so help Him out whenever you can.  

Love Gary and Karlene

 Park on a hill overlooking Kyiv and the Dnieper River

Lilacs at the Botanical Garden

Just wanted you to know that Starducks is alive and well in Kyiv

Babushka at the bazaar selling her wares

Sellers of goods by the metro

 You'll never see another McDonald's like this one

May 2, 2012

We have been in Ukraine 1 month. There are times when I feel I have lived here all my life. On my early morning walk today I happened upon a scene that could have been straight out of the Sound of Music. Well, let me back up a few days to last Friday. On the way to the market I decided to take a little side road right across from our apartment just to see what the neighborhood was like. I went through a very modern area called the “Forum” which seems to be the local headquarters of about a hundred international businesses. At the end of the road was the hospital – very old – and right behind it the most beautiful cathedral and monastery you can imagine. I tried to figure out how to get onto the grounds but couldn’t so I retraced my steps and went on to the market. Saturday was a working day but Gary came home a little early and I wanted to take him to see the cathedral.     We met a darling girl who spoke English and was out on her break from her office in the “Forum” (Svitka) and we asked her how to find the entrance. She was so eager to take us there that she led the way. She said as she was walking about a month ago, she too had come upon it and wanted to make sure we saw the gardens. Well, I am attaching pictures but it was breathtaking. The well kept grounds were arrayed with tulips, primroses, and the sidewalks were lined with fruit trees in full blossom. (I felt like I was on the “great white way” in the movie Anne of Green Gables) and the aroma of all those blossoms was enough to keep me there for hours. We walked around the grounds where there were several pink dormitories with white lace curtains, smaller chapels, shrines, and the most beautiful cathedral we have yet seen...... And only a few blocks from our apartment, hidden by some really dilapidated apartments. Now, back to today. Of course this has become my favorite place to walk every day. It is so peaceful and serine there. Today at 7:00 AM as I was walking down the “great white way”, up from a dormitory came a young girl, dressed just like Maria in the Sound of Music, scurrying as fast as she could go, (she wasn’t running but walking as fast as she reverently could walk) up to the Abby. Just then the cathedral bells started ringing and I knew that she was late. It was so picturesque and is imbedded in my mind as a cherished memory. 

Monday, April 30, we had a senior missionary meeting with President Klebingat. We had a chance to get to know all of the other Senior missionaries here in the mission and it was a great meeting. We also heard about all the wonderful young missionaries we have in this mission. He will be giving us branch assignments soon and we could possibly be over a branch that is a nine hour train ride away. We would only go there twice a month. We’ll wait to report on that assignment. After our meeting we joined with all of the temple missionaries for a wonderful dinner at a hotel that is close to the temple and heard the greatest love story ever told. Someday I will write it all down for you. It was such a wonderful evening and quite a contrast to our big black tie event last week. The gospel is true and the joy that comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ cannot be found in worldly pleasures. 

This week 87 Saints came to the temple from Armenia. There are twenty-two that received their own endowments yesterday. They will be here all week so the temple will be crowded as the ordinance rooms only seat 40 or 50 with added chairs. They will be going back to Armenia on Saturday so after they leave and before the next group comes in on Monday we will be able to go to the temple. We know a young man that works for the church and he was telling us that when he went with his mother to receive the sealing ordinances (his father died 12 years ago) there was no temple in Kyiv so they went to Freiberg Temple. It took 28 hours to get there in a bus which wouldn’t have been your basic Greyhound. (Kind of like us traveling to the Chicago Temple.) When I commented how much dedication that would take and wasn’t he glad to have a temple closer he said that he really liked the bus ride. He said the people sang hymns, watched gospel videos and really prepared spiritually for the experience. He said that only having to drive an hour now he doesn’t feel as spiritually prepared. Think on that one. We are so blessed and we need to never forget the importance of the blessings of the gospel and the importance of the Temple in our lives. We love you.  

Pokrova Nunnery by our apartment and part of St. Nicholas complex

St. Nicholas's Cathedral near our apartment

 Other senior missionaries

President and Sister Klebingat