August 21, 2013

In the morning of my life I shall look to the sunrise.

At a moment in my life when the world is new.
And the blessing I shall ask is that God will grant me,
To be brave and strong and true,
And to fill the world with love my whole life through.

In the noontime of my life I shall look to the sunshine,
At a moment in my life when the sky is blue.
And the blessing I shall ask shall remain unchanging.
To be brave and strong and true,
And to fill the world with love my whole life through

In the evening of my life I shall look to the sunset,
At a moment in my life when the night is due.
And the question I shall ask only I can answer.
Was I brave and strong and true?
Did I fill the world with love my whole life through?

This song from the movie “Goodbye Mr. Chips” is one of my very favorites. It has become my theme song while I have been here in Ukraine…………….to be brave, to be strong, to be true to God and to show love to all those around me. The people here are easy to love and I have learned so much from them.

Riding on the tram going to the temple at 5:30 in the morning I have learned humility and gratitude. I feel so blessed to be going to such a beautiful peaceful place but on that same tram with me are hundreds of other people heading to markets and bazaars to work from 6:00 AM until 7:00 PM in the heat, cold, wind, rain or whatever the day may bring. Some of them look so weary but they are always there with the carts and bags and whatever they need to take to work to be able to live.

I have learned kindness and love from so many people here. The lady in the market that when she sees me automatically says “Romaine” and who will leave her stand and go out of her way to find me some Romaine whether I need it or not; the ticket ladies on the busses that find someone to give me their seat which is really embarrassing (do I look that old); my friends that want to show me the beauties of their city and are willing to do it on their free time; the loving Eastern Europeans that give so many hugs and smiles at the temple (that is the way we communicate); the primary children in our branch, the wonderful missionaries, and all the people I work with at the service center and the temple. With that many people to love, who couldn’t be happy all day. Of course there are way too many for me to   even begin to name them all…….. Victor, Gregorio, Sveta, Valencia, Helena, Lydia, Zoya, Olga, Leesa……………….In the next month I will do a blog of all the wonderful faces of Kyiv but this was a busy and exciting past week so I’ll take time to tell about it.

I will start with last Friday the 16^th. My adorable friend Sveta who has been in a few of my past blogs came to our apartment for a missionary discussion. Elder Karadzhov and Elder Porter came to teach her. It was a wonderful experience even though I really could not understand much of what was said. She truly has a special spirit.

Sveta with plant she brought to me

Elder Porter and Elder Karadzhov

Saturday was the wedding shower for Irina. It was absolutely so much fun. Wedding showers are not really something that is done in Ukraine but maybe it will become a new tradition after this one.  We had the shower at the lounge area at the Stake Center.  A friend drove me there with my eight huge bags full of food, decorations, prizes and gifts.   For games we played the make a wedding dress out of toilet paper contest; who can keep from crossing their legs contest, the bride guessing what the groom knew about her and "words of wisdom."  Just some common wedding shower games but they all turned out really fun. Then we had a luncheon. The girls at work thought that maybe about twelve people would come so that is how many we planned for and there were twenty so it was really successful. The only problem after the shower was getting all the presents packed up compact enough to carry  home on the metro. (I was down to one small bag, thank heavens.)  Vladimir, the groom,  came with a backpack to help Irina take the gifts home. What a surprise for him.  Next week I'll have all the wedding news.

 

Some of the shower guests

On Sunday evening Sveta invited me to go with her and her daughter to a concert celebrating the 1025 anniversary of the Baptism of Kyiv. It was an amazing concert with many great performers and the historic subtitles were in English.  It really helped me gain an understanding of why the orthodox religion is so important to a lot of people here. Over the years they have had many of their priests martyred or imprisoned and they have been persecuted by the non-believers.  During Soviet times, many of their churches were totally destroyed and they were not allowed freedom to worship as they are now. We have some of the same events in the history of our church and it does increase your testimony and love for the Lord.

 We walked to the concert and home which was about five miles each way but it was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed our time together.  It was interesting to watch all of the people walking to home, metros or busses from the concert.  We also passed Olimpiska Stadium where a soccer game had just ended and we guessed Ukraine had lost because the fans weren't very jovial as they are when the Dynamo's have won.  We  crossed through Taras Shevchenka Park it was full of  families who had gathered to enjoy their Sunday evening.  This was a side of the night life in Kyiv I had never seen .  

Palats Ukraina Concert Hall

finale at concert

Winter garden in concert hall

outside after the concert

Catholic Church we walked by on the way home.

August 19^th  Orthodox Church celebrates the Transfiguration Feast. The Tranfiguration is ranked as one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox liturgical calendar.

In Ukraine, this holiday is also called the second Savior feast or “Apple” Savior (Yabluchnyj Spas) . Besides apples, on this day faithful bring to the churches other fruits and crops: peas, potatoes, cucumbers, rye, barley, etc. Blessing of grapes and various fruits and vegetables on this day symbolizes prosperity and fertility of all creation in eternal life.  There are many people that have brought their apples, honey, herbs, vegetables and flowers to sell to those who would like to participate.  It is very similar to the blessing of the baskets of food at Easter.

Vendors outside of church selling items to use for blessing (does this seem a bit familiar to the vendors outside of the temple in Jerusalem)

Vladimir's Church  

Blessing of fruits and vegetables

Monday was also another holiday.  It was the birthday  of the tram.  We are not quit sure which birthday but the tram we rode (and the only one we saw like it) was all decorated with balloons, banners, pictures, curtains and new shiny seats.  

The birthday tram

One of the pictures on Birthday Tram

Tuesday was transfer and going home day for some great missionaries. Elder Karadzhov, Sister Filipovska, Sister Busch and Elder Perkins are heading home and since Elder Feuz will be the only one going home next transfer he joined them for the farewell events.

Elder Karadzhov, Elder Feuz, Elder Perkins

Sister Filipovska and Sister Busch

Missionaries going home (except Elder Feuz) with Pres. and Sister Klebingat

Actually Elder Feuz  will be going home on the same flight that we are on October 2^nd and we are so excited that he will be with us all the way to Utah. We have so many happy memories of when he was here in Kyiv.

Tuesday evening we took Elder Grange, his new companion Elder Landry and Elder Hinkson to dinner.  Elder Hinkson is from Smithfield, Utah and there are ten children in his family, two of whom were adopted from Ukraine.  Elder Landry is from Mississippi.

 

Dinner with Elders Grange, Hinkson, and Landry

Wednesday was a special day at the temple. I was able to meet Brother Visile who is the Romanian District President that I wrote about several blogs ago that came to Canada in a container on a container ship. He is so awesome and has a wonderful family. He also has so many wonderful thoughts. I’m waiting for his story to become the next “Mormon Movie”.    I was also able to attend the sealing of a young couple from Donetsk, the Barbakov’s. His brother is leaving soon and will be serving in the Spokane Washington Mission. 

Romanian District President Brother Vasili

Barbakova Wedding Picture

So that was my wonderful week. 

 

Quote for the week by Elder Russell M. Nelson:

Love for family and friends, great as it may be, is much more profound when anchored in the love of Jesus Christ. Parental love for children has more meaning here and hereafter because of Him. All loving relationships are elevated in Him. Love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ provides the illumination, inspiration, and motivation to love others in a loftier way."

Kyiv Ukraine Temple, August 2013