September 18, 2013

The Latin phrase Carpe Diem  sometimes translated as “seize the day”   has been a little catch phrase of ours since we saw a movie where it was used in connection with Horace's  Odes. Carpe usually translated as enjoy, seize, use, make use of and Diem which is day together become seize the day.   This has become very wise counsel for me the last eighteen months as I have been presented opportunities in Ukraine, and especially these last few weeks.  I have learned that it is important to make every minute count.  

Where oh where is 'grandma summer'?  The Lord has chosen to bless the people of Ukraine with moisture for the last four weeks with very little sunshine.    Now this has become a little inconvenient for me as we will be leaving Ukraine in two weeks and I was really hoping to enjoy one last beautiful autumn.  There are so many trees and parks in this city and in the fall it is truly a beautiful sight to see. I guess I'll have to be content with seeing all the colorful umbrellas to brighten up the rainy days.  And I still have all the beautiful memories from last September. 

Love all the umbrellas

 The Lord has blessed me with some great opportunities when we have  had a day or two of sunshine.  Katia Serdyuk invited  my friend Jill and me to come to her dacha  Wednesday afternoon and it just happened to be a beautiful fall afternoon.  A dacha for most people is a 25 square meter house located on .15 acre of land and there are hundreds and thousands of these dachas  located outside of the city.  Katia's is very close to the city and is not far from the banks of the Dnieper River.   These small plots of land were given to the people during soviet times for the purpose of growing little gardens and also to give the people  a place to go  for a  getaway during the summer months.  Fortunately they still have these little dachas where they go to garden and enjoy the fresh air of the country.  

Soviet dacha

the garden

Katia and her husband, Vladimir

Back to Katia. Katia is an amazing person that does translating of church materials into Ukrainian and Russian. She also has an orchestra group which you have seen in previous blogs, is a temple worker, and a great help to American missionaries who come to Ukraine.  She not only invited us to come to her dacha but prepared us a wonderful meal and a full afternoon of activities to enjoy. It was an incredible day………the only day of sunshine we had had for three weeks and she very graciously shared it with us. It was an amazing little blessing from the Lord for one day as the rains returned on Thursday. 

Dnieper River by the dacha

grape vines at the dacha

One of the things we will really miss here in Kyiv are all the amazing cultural events that are within walking distance of our apartment. We have been able to attend many operas, ballets, and symphonies which we have loved. This last week we were able to see the ballet Swan Lake, the opera Moses (which we were told by a Ukrainian friend who also attended that it was not the Bible version of Moses and definitely not the Cecil B. DeMille version that we all know and love), and two symphonies which included the 150^th Gala Season Opening of the National Philharmonic.

taking bow at Swan Lake

150th Year of Philiharmonic

friends - Svita and Luba 

Kreschatyk after the concert

Last Saturday we were able to attend our last mission conference. This gave us the great opportunity not only to be spiritually uplifted but to also be able to see many of the missionaries that we have grown to love over the last year and a half. 

That evening was spent having dinner and going to the Season Opening Organ Concert at St. Nicholas church. The rain didn’t dampen the enjoyment we had for all of these events of the past few weeks. 

Dinner at our favorite Italian Restaurant Napules

St. Nicholas - House of Organ

Jill (our organist) at organ concert

After raining all day on Sunday it cleared up just in time for Svita and I to enjoy our Sunday evening walk after the discussion with the missionaries.

On the way to the office

So with all these wonderful opportunities, I really can’t complain about rain.


Yesterday was another sunny day. I was at the temple all morning and stayed a little longer to attend a sealing of a beautiful family from Dubai which is over 2000 miles from Kyiv. As the temple for Eastern Europe, the Kyiv Temple is the temple for their city. I was able to be with adorable little Julianna and then take her to the sealing room for their family to be sealed for eternity. It was a special experience. 

When I returned home from the temple two of the girls from work, Tanya and Ira called with another Carpe Diem opportunity. Since it was the only sunny day in the forecast they wanted to take me to Feofaniya Park, a park located in a historical neighborhood on a tract of land  near the southern outskirts of Kiev. The name of this beautiful park Feofaniya dates back to 1803 when Feofan Shiyanov settled in this area. During the 1860s, Feofaniya belonged to the St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery in central Kiev. Buildings built in the area were constructed in the Ukrainian Baroque style, however, they did not survive. In 1919, Feofaniya was converted to the Soviet state farm, and later transformed into the main observatory for the Institute of Botany of the Ukrainian Academy of Science. In 1972, Feofaniya was declared a park, and from 1992—a government designated park, which belongs to the "Feofaniya" conservatory of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine.  Looking over the park is the beautiful St. Panteleimon's Cathedral.

Ira and Tanya

Kicking leaves

St Penteleimon's Cathedral and Monestary

It was fun to be here as this is where Ira had her wedding party gather and take pictures three weeks ago. It was a beautiful evening to walk around the park and enjoy the beginning of fall colors and even kick a few fall leaves around. And just as we returned to our bus, the rain started to pour down over the area. And once again  another truly wonderful blessing amidst  the storms.

Ira 3 weeks later this time with a fall bouquet

During the first months on our mission here I was able to spend some time with our landlady, Tania, who is a professional photographer. She has published a book  Simply Ukraine, that has beautiful pictures of this amazing country. One thing she taught me was to always have my camera ready for photo opportunities. The carpe minitus of photography so to speak. With this great advice I have been able to take some pretty amazing pictures which I will continue to share on this blog after our mission ends. Here are just a few of them from this week. 

favorite photo of the week

I feel like in life we must always take every opportunity that avails itself to us, follow every inspiration given to us, go forward without fear or hesitation as  the opportunity may never be ours again.     Elder Jacob de Jager quotes the thought that he calls "my Liahona":  I shall pass through this world but once.  Any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now.  Let me not neglect it for I shall not pass this way again."   I think I will adopt that one for myself also.  

Kyiv Temple morning of 9-18-13