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

August 16, 2012

While waiting for grandchild #14, I decided I’d try to get the blog done before he comes and then he can be in our blog on his birthday. Dianne is in the hospital as I write waiting for little Beckham Theo Pabst to arrive. And through the miracle of the internet and SKYPE we have visited with her several times during labor.  (Three hours later)  Sure enough, adorable little Beckham came into the world at 10:24 AM and weighed in at 7 pounds 5 ounces and 21 inches long. Dianne and Beckham are both doing marvelous as you can tell from this picture. Their whole family is so happy. It is hard to believe that from 12,000 miles away we could see our new little grandson, eyes wide open and looking around at one hour old. We feel so blessed. Just looking forward to when we can be there to hold him. I’m glad I got the rest of this blog written before he arrived – as nothing seems quite as exciting as this day.

Dianne and Beckham Theo Pabst (3 hours old)

This has been an event filled week. Starting with last Thursday when Boyce Fitzgerald, Director of Temporal Affairs for Eastern Europe and his predecessor David Stapley came to talk to all the missionaries and employees at the Service Center.  They are great leaders and we so appreciate all that they do for the Eastern European Area.

Boyce Fitzgeral, David Stapley, and Alex Kikhno

On Saturday, we chose an adventure North of the Lukianivska Metro Station (the one that we leave from all the time) - a direction that we had never been before. We had heard that Nikita Khrushchev had a dacha (summer home) somewhere in the area and we were going to find it.  Well, let me tell you, not very many people even know about this historic location as it was pretty hard to uncover. Even though he was born in Ukraine, he obviously was not a revered public figure as evidenced by the disrepair of this once beautiful acreage. Even though it is overgrown, the bridges crumbling, the water in the streams gone, the gazebos falling apart, the house in horrible condition, and only a pedestal remains of his statue, we could tell that this was at one time the Camp David of Russia. Now, it would make a perfectly lovely setting for a great mystery novel. The following are pictures of an estate that I’m sure 99% of Ukraine is not even aware of. We really enjoyed meandering through the acreage on the broken up stone pathways and thinking about the grandeur that was there fifty years ago. 

Khrushchev's Dacha

Anybody home?

Dacha

One of many bridges


Another bridge


South side


Arch entry to a path down to a small dam and pond


Outdoor oven or fireplace

Within the next two hours we saw three wedding parties pass by.  Two drove by in front of our apartment.  One with a flower decorated black limo, the next was a large motorcycle with a side car with the bride’s dress blowing over the edge and the third…………the only one I got a picture of was a Mustang, yes Mustang, limousine with the bride, groom and a few attendants going down the highway at about 100 KPH.  That one I was able to capture while we stood waiting at the bus stop.

Wedding party going down the highway

Saturday evening the Temple Missionaries and Temple Presidency hosted a picnic for all of the ordinance workers on the lawn next to the church at the Temple site. It was a great party. Pork steaks were cooked in a large barbeque pit and all the rest of the fixings were made by the hostesses. They expected about 85 people and 125 came but even so, there was plenty of great food and a “lovely time was had by all.” The picture that I took of the Kyiv Temple as we arrived at the party made the front page of Meridian Magazine’s August 16 Magazine. One of the missionaries I sent it to forwarded it to Janice Kapp Perry and there it is…………….my picture. Not knowing anything about it you can imagine my surprise when I saw it less than a week after I took it. Just another wonder of the internet.

Top: pork chops cooking

Bottom: Enjoying the great food and company at party at the temple

My picture of the temple (8/11) that was in Meridian magazine

On Monday the rain started. When it rains here it really rains. The umbrella’s leak, the busses leak, the metro leaks, the malls leak and it is generally just a really wet experience. Tuesday was the beginning of the second 24 hour period of rain. As I sloshed through the mini lakes on the way to the Temple at 5:20 AM on Tuesday morning I felt very happy to be going to the temple where it would be warm, dry and not leaking. I was definitely glad not to be a fruit, vegetable or whatever sales lady working at the market this morning. They come there rain or shine with their umbrellas and large pieces of plastic to cover their wares. Yes, so much to be grateful for. I looked around in the Temple at several of the little babushkas in white and thought how blessed they were and I will always look at the ones in the market and think of them as children of our Heavenly Father with different challenges that they overcome. 

Umbrellas in vestibule of temple on Tuesday

Tuesday morning Gary’s boss from Moscow (Bob Lockhead), and the Moscow counterpart to Gary (Lary Walker) arrived for a three day stay. Lary Walker and his wife actually came for their visa renewal visit but turned it into a business trip which was great. Tuesday evening we had a dinner at the Panorama Room of the Dnipro Hotel which had a beautiful view of European Square with three major landmarks: the National Philharmonic built in 1882, the Ukrainian House (formerly the Lenin Museum but now a trade show center) and the Friendship Arch in front of the Dnipro River. Following dinner we went to a Pop’s Concert of favorite movie melodies at the Philharmonic. It was a really fun evening. Along with the Moscow people we invited Sherwood and Georgia Ricks (the Mission President’s office missionaries) President and Sister Galbraith (The Temple President and matron) and Alex and Tania Kikhno (the Service Center Director and wife). We had a wonderful evening.

Dinner at the Panorama room at the Dnipro Hotel

Gary then spent the next two days reviewing cases, meeting with attorneys etc. with the Moscow people.  Very successful days, I might add, in getting things formulated for some of the matters at hand here in Ukraine. 

Room with a view

One other picture I wanted to add is of a girl that passed by our apartment on the way to her cello lesson.  I’m not sure if they have cello backpacks in the US but we see kids with their instrument backpacks all the time on the metro.  They aren’t lucky enough to have parents chauffer them around in a car to all of their lessons. 

Girl with cello

Quote for the Week comes from Mother Teresa and helps us look at our lives from a different perspective:

            “I always say I’m a little pencil in the hands of God.  He does the thinking.  He does the writing.  He does everything—and it’s really hard—sometimes it’s a broken pencil.  He has to sharpen it a little more.  But be a broken instrument in His hands so that He can use you anytime, anywhere……We have only to say Yes to Him.”

August 8, 2012

The “Dog Days of Summer” will be over before you know it. And just what are the “dog days of summer”?

Everyone knows that the “dog days of summer” are the hottest and muggiest part of the season. Webster defines them as “the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere; a period of stagnation or inactivity.” It’s when you really don’t feel like doing much because of the heat so you just kick back and enjoy the rest of the summer. Well, it has indeed been that here in Kyiv. As a kid I loved the dog days of summer. The last few weeks before school started were a treasured part of my memories. Night games like “kick the can” and “no bears are out tonight” were on the agenda when it cooled down in the evening. No school bells ringing for me again this year but what is amazing is that ten of our fourteen grandchildren are starting school or pre-school in three weeks. So live it up because the “dog days of summer” are almost over.

 

It is amazing what you see when you leave at 5:20 AM and head to the metro. It is a different world out there. I saw the funniest thing this morning. It has been really hot here with no rain. A big ten-ton truck with a water tank pulled in front of me on the sidewalk (no big deal as cars do that all time) but then this truck turned into the park next to our apartment and drove down about ten stairs to get to the flower bed to water the flowers.  As he was driving by he was spraying the flowers and shrubs with a hose that was hooked up to the water tank. Now I know why all the stairs into the park are so broken up. I hope you can picture how funny this was because I was so mesmerized by this event that I didn’t get my camera out to photo document it. It was hysterical.  (Gary thinks I am easily entertained – it is true.)  

Stairs in the park

The next bit of entertainment occurred when I was on the metro. This is my idea of a great way to make money – going from wagon to wagon on the metro playing a saxophone and accordion entertaining the people on their way to work. You can see from the picture that once again I was the only person that was really entertained by this event. I even took a video after putting 10 rph in  their cup. ($1.50)

Entertainment on the metro

Moving on to the bus. Today it was a little more of an adventure than I was hoping for. The best advice that my landlady, Tania, gave me was to never get on a bus if you don’t know where it’s going.  Today that translated in to “never get on a bus if you don’t know what number it is.” All of the routes are numbered and the two routes that go to the temple are #56 and #777.  There are also three kinds of buses. Mini-Marshrutkas (13 seats but usually after the first four stops there are forty people on the bus), the Marshrutkas (about 30 seats – carry up to 100 people – in the summer we call this the massage plus a sauna for the price of the ticket) and the larger city bus (two buses long and usually pretty comfortable). We generally try to wait for a city bus if we think there might be one coming along. This was the day I had to be at the temple at 7:00 but only a marshrutka was at the bus stop. The marshrutkas have a tendancy to sit at the bus stop for about ten minutes or 15 minutes waiting to fill up. After I had sat there for about five minutes a big city bus came around the corner. I decided to bolt and get on the city bus. One problem. I didn’t look at the number.  (#35). We got halfway to the temple and the city bus took  a right turn off the freeway and away from the temple. Yikes! I ran up the aisle and asked the driver to stop, which they never usually do unless they are at a bus stop. Luckily he could see the panic in my eyes and let me out. Thus I had to walk back to the highway and head to the next bus stop. Poor choice of shoes today and no bus stop in sight. Then to make matters worse I was walking along and the marshrutka that I had abandoned at the first bus stop passed me by. Rats!!!  I walked about a mile and a half to the next bus stop, waited for bus #56 and barely made it to the temple on time. I learned this lesson the really hard way as the temperature was about 85 and 100% humidity. I really can’t whine about my little inconvenience when I know how much hotter it is on a bus. I only had to walk a few extra miles in the heat; I didn’t spend 56 hours in a hot bus. Once again humbled by the saints from Russia. 

Marshrutka vs.

City bus!

On the final walk to the temple I have to update you all on the coffee lady that sells instant coffee on the side of the highway. (See Blog May 23).  I don’t know if I mentioned that when I first started greeting her  she was meaner than second skimmings – well after the last five months of my cheery "hellos" she has started being nice. You really can change people with kindness. We even enjoyed  an ice cream together one day. You just can’t ever give up being nice to people. 

  

It was fun having the Armenians at the Temple this week; talk about a group of people that have their lives focused on the gospel. They are amazing and make us feel like an unappreciative privileged class. The sacrifices we make in this life are so insignificant compared to their sacrifices. There were 19 people that received first time endowments, hundreds of family names done and extra baptismal sessions were added so they could finish all 1500 ancestral names that they had researched and brought. One brother said he had a strong impression that one name had been left out of the sealing work. A few minutes later a temple worker confirmed that fact. He testified that in addition to the Holy Spirit prompting you, the spirits of the people whose work is being done can also speak to your mind in the temple. He knew this to be true from experience.

  

On the way home I always have the pleasure of walking through the fruit and vegetable market. We have more fresh fruits and vegetables here than you can imagine and very inexpensive. (We still have raspberries which are about $l.00 for a pint, potatoes are about ten pounds for fifty cents, large red, green, orange, yellow or white peppers are about 25 cents each). I love walking through the stands buying food for dinner. One of the reasons I really love this market is that it reminds me of  one of my favorite books “So Big” by Edna Ferber. I always take care to buy from the people that take pride in arranging their products in attractive ways.  

My favorite corn and peach girl

Straight from their garden

The fruit and vegetable market

So, you are probably now asking, "Is this just a daily adventure or are Gary and Karlene really doing something worthwhile?" We love it here and are keeping really busy with all of our little projects. We are learning more than we are teaching. We are realizing our blessings more than you can ever imagine. We are trying to bless people’s lives that have materially far less than we have but so much more than we have but instead they bless our lives with their untold examples of sacrifice and humility. We are making lifelong friends with people that we may never see again after the next fourteen months but who we’ll never forget. It is an experience of a lifetime.

 

Quote for this blog comes from President Uchtdorf’s “Forget Me Not” talk which given in October 2011.

 

“While understanding the what and the how of the gospel is necessary, the eternal fire and majesty of the gospel springs from the why. When we understand  why our Heavenly Father has given us this pattern for living, when we remember why we committed to making it a foundational part of our lives, the gospel ceases to become a burden and, instead, becomes a joy and a delight.  It becomes precious and sweet.”

August 1, 2012

We have now been in Kyiv for 4 months.  Gary celebrated the occasion by bringing home the most beautiful bouquet of sunflowers ($12.00) and taking me to Domino’s Pizza for two-for-the-price-of-one night. We feel so blessed to have adjusted to this lifestyle so easily as it is totally different from how we lived in Pocatello.

Anniversary Sunflower Bouquet!

The first adjustment was not having a car. You really have to think of so many things ahead of time when you don’t have the convenience of a car;  for instance, how to bring about 50 pounds of groceries up the hill a mile without a car. Well, you get a little babushka cart and forget about who sees you as you trudge up the hill. Next, you have to leave for your destination not just five or ten minutes early but thirty to ninety minutes early. If you want to ask directions there are not many people you can trust. They all think they know what you are asking but they really have no clue and are just trying to be nice. The other day we were once again searching for a restaurant that Gary has heard about since we got here.  (The Arizona – Mexican) Well, once we got in the general vicinity we asked some policemen on the street thinking they might know. Well, even though Ukraine wants English and not Russian as their second language, no one speaks English. The three policemen that we asked for the directions just shrugged their shoulders. A little babushka came out of nowhere and indicated the way to the restaurant. After we had walked about 5 blocks (Salt Lake City Blocks) she came bustling after us to tell us we had made the wrong turn. She was going to take us there. As she refused to be photographed from the front I got a rear shot of her leading Gary totally astray. Back down the street for four blocks and yes, to a restaurant but definitely not the one Gary had in mind. It was so hot that day but we still got a big laugh out of our gullibility. She didn’t speak a word of English and just kept yapping a mile a minute to Gary in Russian. It was hilarious. We never did find the restaurant we wanted and that will definitely have to wait for another day.

Gary being escorted to the Arizona...or maybe not!

Jobs I have definitely decided that I would never want.  Meat market lady – the smell drives me crazy just walking by the market let alone having to stand there all day selling fresh meat. Metro train driver - I can’t even imagine being underground driving through tunnels all day in the little engineer’s compartment and never knowing what was going on in the real world. Just seeing those masses of people waiting at each station and hoping you won’t crush someone trying to catch the train after the announcement “the doors are closing”.  Those doors have no mercy. 

Saturday in lieu of hiring a driver and going to Chernobyl we opted to go to the Chernobyl Museum with the Stuarts.   It was really quite depressing.  Over two and a half million people were affected by the nuclear explosion and it is really uncounted how many are still being effected by the leaking radiation. Lucky for Kyiv the wind was blowing toward Poland, Russia and Latvia when the explosion occurred as Kyiv is less than sixty miles downwind from this place. Actually you are not allowed to even get out of your car or bus if you go there. It looks like a ghost town (see pictures). A survivor of Chernobyl that has written a book about it was there giving a lecture and had an interpreter so we were very fortunate to get to hear about it by the translator.   

Before and after pictures

Chernobyl Museum

Gary and the jeeps outside museum

Marcia and Karlene in front of museum

We met the nicest man named Steve Hudson from Georgia (USA) at the museum.  When we told him we were missionaries he was so interested in all that we were doing and in the fact that we have a temple here.  He has been to Utah and amazingly drove to Manti to see the temple there and couldn’t believe we had such a large beautiful temple in such a small town.  He is Baptist but if anyone out there knows any missionary headed to Georgia you might put him on your list.  We gave him a pass along card and Mormon.org card.  He was headed back to the US the next day; just here on business.  A month ago I also ran into a man from Boise that was here on some business with radio towers.  His attorney was Mike Rowe which was really amazing that you would run into someone half way around the world that has someone from Moffatt Thomas as his attorney.  Small world….isn’t it.
Gary's work has really picked up this week. His wrist is doing much better and that is a good thing. It was also great that his accident happened during a low work period before the onslaught. It is definitely an interesting business he is in; too bad that it is all confidential or you could hear a few unbelievable stories.


We went to Lutsk on Sunday and had a great time. There are now two sister missionaries there along with Elder Ciminski and Elder Callister. The Sisters Smith and Irizarry fixed us lunch after church. Elder Callister had also made some garlic cheese biscuits that were like the ones at Red Lobster – sort of. I had baked some amazingly good brownies and they were a real hit; especially with our driver. He had four brownies piled high with ice cream.    The branch there is doing great. It is amazing that there are several people that come to church every Sunday and have for many years. They participate in all the discussions, prayers, classes etc. but have not yet been baptized. We’re hoping that they will soon be able to participate in all the blessings of the gospel that being baptized can bring them. 

Gary's new secret pond

Heading down the highway

King of Bunker Hill

House on the way to Lutsk

Lunch with the missionaries

Missionaries Callister, Ciminski, Irizarry and Smith

Satan is alive and well in Ukraine. On Sunday morning at 6:00 a busload of saints left Armenia headed to the temple for the week and hoping to arrive Tuesday morning at 6:00 AM to begin their week of temple work. Nineteen of the saints were coming for their first time endowments. They were stopped at the Ukraine Border during the early morning hours and were not admitted to the country until after 9:00 AM. So after spending 40 hours traveling they then spent the night sitting on bus with the outdoor temperature about 86 and very humid. The border police wanted to get bribe money to let them come into the country but these people could barely afford the transportation to get here. They finally arrived at the temple Tuesday afternoon at about 2:30 PM after being on a hot bus for about 56 hours. When they arrived they were all very tired and hungry but were going to shower and be at the 4:30 PM session.  Faith-  45 , Satan – 0.  That is what I love about serving at this temple; the faith, humility and dedication of the patrons that come to the temple.

Right now the temple sidewalks are lined with sunflowers. I would like to close with a quote from one of my favorite fiction authors Willa Cather. This quote is from My Antonia. 

"All the years that have passed have not dimmed my memory of that first glorious autumn. The new country lay open before me: there were no fences in those days, and I could choose my own way over the grass uplands, trusting the pony to get me home again. Sometimes I followed the sunflower-bordered roads. Fuchs told me that the sunflowers were introduced into that country by the Mormons; that at the time of the persecution, when they left Missiouri and struck out into the wilderness to find a place where they could worship God in their own way, the members of the first exploring party, crossing the plains to Utah, scattered sunflower seed as they went. The next summer, when the long trains of wagons came through with all the women and children, they had the sunflower trail to follow. I believe that botanists do not confirm Fuch's story, but insist that the sunflower was native to those plains. Nevertheless, that legend has stuck in my mind, and sunflower-bordered roads always seem to me the roads to freedom."

I am sure that as the Saints arrived at the temple today and saw the beautiful welcoming sunflowers, they felt the joy of the peace and freedom that they would enjoy for the rest of the week.

                Sunflower welcome at the Temple