One year ago today we received our call to Kyiv, Ukraine. We passed our halfway mark last week. With all the snow and ice this past month,
our theme song has been “Slip Sliding Away.” Even though we still have a lot of snow and ice we now are thinking this
song could easily apply to the time we have left here in Kyiv. Time is going by so quickly and is
definitely slip sliding away. We have
started to feel a sense of urgency about all of the things that we still want
to experience here in the short time we have left.
This week started out with our Second Christmas Eve on Sunday the 6th. We had a wonderful day at church. A really big tradition that Ukrainian’s have
on Christmas Eve is going caroling and then going to church. We do the opposite. We go to church and then we go caroling. Some local church members, through Facebook,
organized a group caroling activity on Khreshatyk on Sunday evening. It was the highlight of their Christmas for
those participating and probably many of those watching. They loved how all the people passing by
stopped to listen and take pictures and it made everyone so happy that they had
made a difference on Christmas Eve.
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| Carolers and Missionaries |
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| Caroling on Christmas Eve |
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| More carolers |
Second Christmas Day. Since
first Christmas Day we got up and left for the temple at 6:00 AM I didn’t have
time to make my traditional Danish to give away so that is what I did this
Christmas morning. However, it was a lot
different than being at home and running next door or half a block down the
street to the neighbors. For the first
delivery, it was a walk to the bus stop, get on the bus, go another mile and a
half, walk another few blocks and up an escalator to the fifth floor. The other one meant going the opposite way a
mile, getting on the metro and going four stops. Needless to say the Danish were not delivered
warm as it was about 15 degrees outside, but it made me feel happy to carry on
one of our American traditions in Ukraine.
In the afternoon we went with the Bartons and Stuarts to the Flowers of
the Snow exhibition at Spivoche Pole. As
this is located near the Lavra where there are several churches, it was the
place to be on Christmas Day. Most
people after attending church walked down to the exhibition where there were
over 1000 species of flowers displayed in large sculptured blocks of ice. They were beautiful. Then there was Ukrainian singing and dancing
down by the big stage and Christmas tree. The most fun of being there was not seeing the beautiful flowers but
watching all of the people all dressed up in their beautiful fur coats and hats
(it was kind of like the Easter Parade in New York) and enjoying the day. It was also fun mingling and dancing with the
people who were all just so friendly and happy. Just like the day should be. It
was memorable.
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| A fun way to get to the Flower Show |
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| Bartons and Stuarts |
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| Christmas at the Ice Flower Festival |
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| Always someone posing |
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| Beautiful boy |
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| More from the Ice Festival |
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| New dancing partners |
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| The dance |
Our really cold weather returned on Wednesday. When I left to go to the temple at 5:20 AM it
was -13 with the wind chill and I don’t think there is a calculation you add in
for the humidity factor here but there should be. With it being so cold, the snow that was
falling glimmered like diamonds all over the ground. And there was the most beautiful crescent
moon I have ever seen. Maybe some of you
saw it that morning also. It was a very busy day at the temple with people from
the Kyiv and Moscow missions attending. I think I forgot to mention that last week the first two nineteen year
old girl missionaries from Moscow went through the temple before leaving for
the MTC in Spain. There are exciting times ahead with all the
younger missionaries starting to arrive. Several people in the US have written to us about new missionaries
coming to Ukraine so we will get to connect with more people from home. It is
such a small world.
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Cedar wax wings enjoying the paradise apples
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Tonight we had three little visitors come to our door…. Sasha (about 11) Denis (about 8) and Donya
(about 5). It was really unusual as you
have to have someone let you into the apartment building and we are on the
fifth floor. I think they were very
surprised to see Americans answer the door. They just stood there so cute and the sad thing is that we used up all
our Russian phrases and all we were able to get was their names. We had no idea what it was they came for,
money, food, to use the toilet, the telephone; those are the only things we
knew to ask. They would not come in out
of the cold so I gave them some cookies and they were on their way. Someone at work said that maybe they were
the three Wise men; Gary said maybe they were the three Nephites, but I say
they were a stark reminder that we need to start working a lot harder on my
Russian.
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| The Three Nephites |
Thursday I ended up having to walk to the office on the coldest day of
the year. I got part way there by bus
and then for security reasons, all of the transportation was stopped and roads
blocked from St. Sophia’s down to Red University. The President was at the SBU (militia
headquarters – which are a block from St. Sophia’s) and until he returned to the
Parliament everything was stopped. I
must say that people were not too happy but I had a great time taking pictures
all along the way and even saw a few things I might have missed had I not been
walking to work.
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| No traffic this morning |
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Yes, we even go to the playground when it's -10 outside!
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Christmas tree in the park
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Friday was a very interesting day. I had an appointment to get my teeth cleaned. Actually Gary had this same experience on
Wednesday but hearing about it and experiencing it were two different
things. The office was in a little walk-up on Khreshatyk. Something you could easily miss if you were
not looking for it and it opened to stairs. I went up one flight, then past all the kegs in the hallway outside a
bar and up another few flights of stairs. Next option was to go up a little spiral staircase (not likely) or go in
one of two doors. I picked the one that
looked most obvious and it was a men’s room. Up three stairs and into the other door which led into a hallway waiting
room. The office itself had two
stations. The one which the hygienist used
for cleaning was divided by a five foot partition from the one for the
dentist. The hygienist was adorable and
spoke English. I won’t go into any more
details but I will say that it was very reasonable and another very memorable
experience that I am glad I was able to have. One interesting thing was that she asked me if I was a missionary like
my husband and said she had never seen any of our churches in town. So, when I left I gave her an Article of Faith
card that had the address of the temple and a phone number to call to find a
church. When she looked at the card she
was surprised that I was not a missionary of the same church as my
husband. He was a missionary for the
“Mormon Church” and I was a missionary for “The Church of Jesus Christ.” She also said that her mother was very
interested in studying about churches so I will drop by a Book of Mormon for
her mother.
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| Friends in waiting hall |
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| Spiral staircase |
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| Which door please? |
It was snowing as I walked home down Khreshatyk and it was still very
festive as the celebrating still goes on until Old New Year on the 14th. I have really enjoyed this Christmas season
here and all the new traditions we have learned.
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| Khreshatyk |
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| Petting zoo on the Khreshatyk |
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| Finally all lit up! |
Quote for the week:
Yea, all things
which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and
the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart; yea, for food
and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven
the soul. And it pleaseth God that he
hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be
used, with judgment……… And in nothing
doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who
confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments. D & C 59:18-21
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