November 12, 2012

It’s raining so it must be Tuesday. For the last four weeks every Tuesday it has rained. My friend Jill and I think it is a test of our faith since that is the day we go to the temple together. It isn’t too bad until we get to the final walk down the highway that leads to the temple. We are usually pretty much cold and wet by the time we arrive but it is always  a nice reprieve from the weather to go inside and enjoy the peace that one gets from being in the temple.  

Tuesday Rain

Last week at the temple I had a wonderful opportunity. Sasha Cheremnova from Tomsk Russia (in Siberia) came to the temple for the first time to receive her endowment and I was able to be her escort. It was very gratifying to be with someone that was so grateful to have the opportunity and to be able to share the joy with her.   Although she left to go back to Russia I will keep her memory in my heart.  Also, Lena Cantor’s mother was at the temple all week. Lena is from Ukraine but now lives in Pocatello and was our Russian teacher the month before we came to Ukraine. She also visited here last summer on her way to stay with her parents in Zaporizhzhya. It was great to finally get to meet her sweet mother who spent every waking hour in the temple doing proxy work for her relatives. 

Lena's Mom, Sister Hripco

Sasha Cheremenova

While I was at the temple, Gary was sporting a pizza party for the office staff. It of course was two for one day at Domino’s and we usually order two large pizzas and get two free.  Well, when Gary had the receptionist order four large pizza’s and get four free the word got out fast and about twenty five people showed up for the party. It was a lot of fun and I was sorry to have missed out, and since I wasn’t there, there are no pictures.

  

Wednesday was a great day to be working at the temple.  I had a break in my schedule and got to visit with one of the Temple Matrons and she told me the most wonderful story about how sometimes God answers our prayers in a different way than we expect. Her 92-year old mother had a dog that she loved more than anything. One night during a horrible thunderstorm the dog got lost. It was gone for over a month. She was heartbroken. During the time the dog was gone she developed  heart problems and was admitted to the hospital.  Everyone continued praying for the dog to return. While she was hospitalized a mother and a little seven year old boy came to the house with the dog. It had come to their door during the storm and they had been taking care of it ever since. The little boy had fallen in love with the dog. When they went to get it clipped they found the computer chip which had the owner’s phone number. The little boy was then the one that was heartbroken. Linda’s father couldn’t bear hurting the feelings of the boy, and knowing that his wife was in serious condition and would not be coming home he told the little boy he could keep the dog. It was a time of great joy. The one request of the ill mother was that her daughter go to the boy’s home and take a picture of her dog with the little boy. When Linda went to take the picture the mother told the story of how the father had left their family the day the dog came to their door. The dog had been a great source of comfort for the little boy at this time of sorrow. Sometimes God answers our prayers by letting us be the means of comfort for another person’s needs. We never know what He has in mind when we put our faith in him.
 

Saturday we had the wonderful opportunity of participating in our first Mormon Helping Hands Activity. We know we would have had this opportunity last summer after the fire in Pocatello but we weren’t there so we were excited when this opportunity came up. Our International Branch and two other Ukrainian Branches met at Babi Yar (see previous post)  at 9:00AM to rake and clean up the main area of the sixty or more acre park. It was a cold morning but there were no complaints as we gathered to get ready for our day of work.  The city delivered us the rakes and we donned our “Mormon Helping Hands” vests and cheerfully began raking. While we were raking many people passed by but one lady stopped and asked what we were doing. When she was told, she asked if she could help so she was given a rake and a vest (that she didn’t want to relinquish at the end of the day.)

Loving to help

Mormon Helping Hands at Babi Yar

It was fun to see the huge piles of leaves and debris at the end of the project. And we were hoping the same little truck that brought us our rakes would come back to haul off the leaves after we were gone.

Sunday was our Primary Program “Choose the Right” in Sacrament Meeting. Although we only have nine children in our Branch Primary the program was inspirational and the Spirit touched the lives of the members of the audience. I love my work in the primary as teacher, chorister and counselor but we have some new families that have moved in so now I am down to just being the Counselor.

 

Our Primary

This week our scripture study has focused on Faith. (Alma 14-32)  There are so many examples of great faith in those chapters. As we look around us there is also much evidence of faith among the saints at the temple and at the office. We love their great examples.  There are some Russians that can speak perfect English without any accent at all. They have never even been to America. When you ask them how they learned to speak English so well they answer that it is a gift from God. You can ask any one of them what their greatest possession is and they will say their testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They love the scriptures and scripture study is a major part of their lives. They have so little and have amazing gratitude for the really important things in life. Their faith has kept them strong during the trials of their lives. The one thing that they cherish above all is the love that our Heavenly Father has for them and that he hears their prayers. Their exemplary lives are a blessing to us.

The quote for the week by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland echoes our sentiments completely.

“My thanks to all you wonderful members of the Church—and legions of good people not of our faith—for proving every day of your life that the pure love of Christ ‘never faileth’.  No one of you is insignificant, in part because you make the gospel of Jesus Christ what it is—a living reminder of His grace and mercy, a private but powerful manifestation in small villages and large cities of the good He did and the life He gave bringing peace and salvation to other people.  We are honored beyond expression to be counted one with you in such a sacred cause.” 

Kyiv Temple 11-7-2012