October 13, 2013

The last week of our mission in Ukraine was filled with many sad farewells, and the reality of leaving brought an awareness of just how much I had grown to love so many people in this wonderful country. As I walked and rode through the streets of Kyiv for the last time I felt gratitude for all that I had learned and enjoyed here over the past eighteen months and realized that perhaps I had begun to take for granted the sights and sounds of Kyiv. I walked a little more slowly (people here walk so fast) so that I could appreciate the buildings, the history, the beauty and the common everyday things that had been a part of my world for a time.

Federal Reserve

October Palace

Fire Station and Tower

St. Sophia's

Waiting at the bus and tram stops I thought about how many times I had waited or ran to catch busses and trams to get to the office, the temple, the church or just to meet up with someone to go on an adventure. Did the people recognize me as an American or had I finally blended in and become one of them. I thought about the bus drivers that I had come to recognize and wondered if they recognized me. Did the cashiers not ask me for a ticket because they knew I had a pass or because they thought I was just another old babushka. I will never forget my last day when a new cashier asked to see my pass………she made my day. Did the people on the bus know that after a year and a half I would with a heavy heart be leaving this city. Would they wonder where I had gone. I definitely had become a people watcher and my final days were spent imprinting on my mind their every word, action and mannerism. They didn’t know how much I would miss them.

Tram Stop

Bus Stop

Walking down the streets I absorbed the sights around me. The beautiful old colorful buildings, the statues and monuments, the street ally where I had my Russian lessons, St. Sophia’s, the National Opera, the dimly lit descents, the fruit and vegetable markets and again the people that had been so much a part of my life.

Fountain at Golden Gate

Parking lot attendant at Service Center

One of the greatest blessings of our mission was our heightened capacity to love. The knowledge that we gained about the history of this country and these people - their trials, their previous years of oppression, their great national pride, their resourcefulness, their sacrifice and their love of family – have endeared them to us forever. The beauty of these people has captured and will always hold a part of my heart. Our association with the people of Ukraine has influenced our attitudes in a profound way. I realize just how much they have taught me and how much they have become a part of us. There will never a day go by that we do not think of them and remember them with love. 

Friends at the office

friends at the temple

Herding goats

Final Lunch with President and Sister Klebingat

gifts from the office

We will also miss the dedicated, hard- working missionaries in Ukraine. They are obedient and have been blessed with the gift of tongues. They have this same love for the people that we do. And it is wonderful to think that we will be able to see some of them again and watch the impact the mission has made on them as they move forward in their lives.

final dinner and goodbye

9-11 Broken Heart Memorial with two great Missionaries

On our layover in Amsterdam as we were leaving, there were seventeen missionaries heading to the Kyiv Mission at the gate next to ours. It was so fun to see and talk to them knowing that the work was going forward and only wishing that I could have gotten to know all of them better. Some were so busy talking to other passengers about the gospel that they weren’t able to take time for a picture. Oh what they have to look forward to….

Amsterdam Airport - Missionaries heading to Kyiv

There are so many wonderful memories that I haven’t taken time to document, and thousands of pictures that haven’t been included in my blogs that for a time I won’t let our mission end. I want to share with the world the beauty of what we have seen and experienced.  And if it is only a record for me, it is something I will treasure as the years go forward.   To be continued………………….. пока, пока………………..

Kyiv Temple

Quote for the Week - Homeward Bound by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

In the quiet misty morning

When the moon has gone to bed,

When the sparrows stop their singing

And the sky is clear and red,

When the summer's ceased its gleaming

When the corn is past its prime,

When adventure's lost its meaning - 

I'll be homeward bound in time

Bind me not to the pasture

Chain me not to the plow

Set me free to find my calling

And I'll return to you somehow

If you find it's me you're missing

If you're hoping I'll return,

To your thoughts I'll soon be listening,

And in the road I'll stop and turn

Then the wind will set me racing

As my journey nears its end

And the path I'll be retracing

When I'm homeward bound again

Bind me not to the pasture

Chain me not to the plow

Set me free to find my calling

And I'll return to you somehow

(softly)

In the quiet misty morning

When the moon has gone to bed,

When the sparrows stop their singing

I'll be homeward bound again.