September 20, 2012

One exciting thing about living in a city with a population of four million plus is that there is so much to see. Sometimes I get worried that I won’t be able to see it all in the next year, so while the weather is warm we have been choosing different routes home from the office, from the temple and just plain scouting the neighborhood to see as much as we can see before winter sets in. Our apartment location is kind of a hub of Central Kyiv in that there are new and exciting things to do in every direction. (I think I may have mentioned this in an earlier blog). It is just a matter of being willing to get out of your rut and taking off in a new direction or on a different mode of transportation and guaranteed, you will see something new. 

So this blog will be pictures from our latest walks home. And then just a few other miscellaneous things. Sort of a potpourri of camera shots – always something interesting in Kyiv. 

First we will take the route down Volodymyrs’ka Str. You’ve seen the first few blocks with  Shevchenka University (Red University) and the National Opera of Ukraine. One thing that hasn’t been on the blog is the restoration of the what will be the most beautiful hotel in Kyiv when it is finished. We have been watching this for months and now it is almost done. On down the street is the building that used to house the Fundukley’s Gym for Women and is now the headquarters of the Ukraine SBU - equivalent to the KGB.  It is guarded as well as all other government buildings and the embassies. With all the trouble in the world with embassies right now we are concerned if we will get any confirmations for our appointments with the twelve we have requested visits with. (I almost said the twelve we have targeted – not good in this present circumstance.) 

Hotel restoration

Headquarters of the Ukraine SBU

Moving on down to Tithing street – Went down this street specifically to get to the beginning of the most adorable children’s park I have seen. It runs all along a ravine that looks over the Podol area, and is just below St. Andrew's Church.  This is a great place for kids during the day and becomes the lovers lane in the evening. No matter when you walk down through this area it has a fun, festive atmosphere.   All of the mosaic playground and other sculptures are just adorable. There are so many young people posing for pictures here it is almost impossible to get pictures without strangers in them. 

Cute pictures of the Children's Park

On the way to the park we came upon a weird restaurant that I had read about in the local newspaper.  It is called a Pagan Restaurant as it has many pagan artifacts. They also have books and other Ukrainian things for sale.  It was interesting but maybe we’ll eat somewhere else. 

Gorodets’koho Arkhitektora str. Right when you start walking down this street you feel like you are in Western Europe – up-scale shops, restaurants, buildings and absolutely no graffiti on the buildings. It is really a classy area. This street leads up to the House of Gargoyles’ on Klovsky Plateau. It is thought that the architect, Gorodetsky, that built this house was expressing his passion for nature and hunting as he was an avid hunter. (Kind of like people in the US decorating their houses with their taxidermy trophies.) The concrete sculptures of elephants, rhinoceroses, lizards, frogs, antelopes, eagles, serpents,  crocodiles, mermaids, eagles, lions and whatever, decorate the house inside and out. It is truly one of a kind. The Klovsky Plateau is really a beautiful area – no through street, just a plaza. Across from this house is the President of Ukraine’s Administrative Building. (Another reason no cars are allowed in the area.) And just down the street and around the corner is the National Bank of Ukraine which is a very beautiful and well preserved edifice. 

Pictures of House of Gargoyles:

President's Ukraine Administration Building

National Bank of Ukraine

Enough on sightseeing. When you get back to Lukyanivs’ka Square you find the common everyday people selling the mushrooms that they have gathered in the forests, and apples of every variety you can imagine. Apples are a plentiful crop here. You pass by the city workers mowing the tiny parks everywhere with weed eaters (another job I would hate to have here) and then every day they blow the leaves into piles and clean them up. Oh, and one other thing I forgot to mention, speaking of lawn mowers, the temple got a riding lawnmower. Oh happy day for the groundskeepers. 

Gary has been really busy at work. A lot of things going on and hopefully some of his projects will get resolved after the election which is in a month. 

My English Conversation classes are growing and I have to say I am learning so much from my students. I really wish I could bring them home with me. I have never been around such humble people with such great faith. They are a constant inspiration to me. 

Our Lutsk Branch came to the temple this week. Not many were able to get off work and come here for the week but we have seen some of them and the temple is a great blessing to all who are able to come here.  

It is dark when I leave in the mornings to go to the temple and when I get there it is so beautiful to see the temple with all of the lights shining through the stained glass windows. I feel so blessed as I walk up the sidewalk knowing that I will get to spend the day there with people I love, people with great hope and faith and a knowledge of the great Plan of Salvation. 

Quote for the week is by James E. Faust. 

Fundamental to temple worship is the principle that God is “no respecter of persons”. Within the hallowed walls of the temples, there is no preference of position, wealth, status, race, or education. All dress in white. All receive the same instruction. All make the same covenants and promises. All receive the same transcendent, eternal blessings if they live worthy to claim them. All are equal before their Creator.

Kyiv Temple, taken Sept. 18, 2012

September 10, 2012

Fall has always been one of our favorite seasons and it is definitely fall in Ukraine. The days are shorter, the breezes cooler, the sky is bluer and there is kind of a magic in the air. We have always loved the quote by Ernest Hemingway, "Best of all he loved the fall...the leaves yellow on the cottonwoods, leaves floating on the trout streams and above the hills the high blue windless skies." Well, we don't have the Sun Valley background that inspired this quote but Kyiv is beautiful in the fall.

Fall Morning in Kyiv

Country School

Fall Flowers

Fall Harvest

It has been fun seeing the pictures of all of our grandchildren as they head out to school this fall; new clothes, big smiles and looks of anticipation. Oh, and how could I forget, heavy backpacks. It is not too different here in Ukraine. There are some interesting traditions that we have been able to observe this fall. First of all, the Saturday before school starts is Knowledge Day. All of the children dress up in their best black and white attire – the girls with bows in their hair and the boys dressed in dark suits and ties. They go to their schools with their parents to visit and meet with their teachers. They also have a huge festival on Kreschatyk. There are vendors selling school uniforms, school supplies, and just a lot of gaiety and fun for the students. There are also performances from different schools with all the students dressed in their uniforms. The night before school the students all stop by the markets to buy their teachers flowers, another tradition. And the day school began, Sept. 3, there was definitely a difference in the public transportation. School students ride free. The amazing thing to me was that we saw young children, elementary school age, riding the metro unsupervised. They were as business like as the older people heading to work. I’m sure that they have been trained well by their parents but it was still surprising to me. 

Kindergarten

Elementary Girl with First Day Bows

College girl on her way to Red University

First Day

Middle School Boys on their way to school

August 29--another classroom

Interesting Map of U.S.

City Elementary

10 year old girl on her way to school

Education is so very important. I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of life-long learning. There are over a billion people on the earth today that are illiterate, but in certain situations there are probably many more. I have learned over the last five months what it is like to be illiterate. It doesn’t mean that you are lazy or stupid. You can instantly become illiterate when you are put into a situation where you are unfamiliar with the language or culture. Kind of a situational illiteracy, but it is real. You find out what it is like not to be able to read labels in grocery stores and you buy things based on the picture on the label. After years of cooking, you suddenly have no clue how to operate a stove, an oven or even change the clock on a microwave and there are books and books of directions but you cannot read them. You do your best but it is mostly a trial and error procedure. You can’t read the notices left on your apartment door telling you that there will be no hot water from the city for the next month. Even though you may know how to pronounce the letters in the alphabet and can read most all words, you have no idea what the words mean. You may know lots of vocabulary but how to put the words together to communicate is a different story. We have definitely learned compassion for all people everywhere in similar situations. Even though you start off in this almost helpless like state, it is interesting to observe other people in the same circumstance and how different people react to this state of helplessness. Those who get out and mix in their environment, make friends, ask for help, and seek the Lord’s blessings, invariably come out on top. It makes us appreciate the young missionaries so much because we see them mastering the language, adapting to their surroundings and becoming knowledgeable in such a short time. When you observe a large number of them all together as we did at Zone conference this last week it is impossible to deny the hand of the Lord in their adjustments and their ability to communicate in this language.  What an example these young ones are to all of us.  

Zone Conference

The temple re-opened on the 4^th, my birthday. It was a great place to spend my birthday. A large group of  saints (I call them that because that is what they really are) from Romania and Moldavia came to the temple last week. They have so many wonderful stories to tell. This is a quote from the life story of the District President of Romania. 

"I was raised in the spirit of prayer, of regularly going to church, the Orthodox Church, and this is why I always felt close to sacred things. I spent my childhood in my native village where I graduated from secondary school during the communist atheism. I mention this atheism because I want to bring here an unpleasant story that happened when I was in the 3rd grade. Before an inspection, we were given atheism materials and we were instructed into how foolish it is to go to church, how there is no God, etc. After being prepared and taught how to answer questions, the school inspection group came. We were given some forms and told to fill them out. I was the only one in the class that professed faith, the belief in God and how good it is to go to church. After the forms were checked, I was brought before the class and mocked. But there was joy in my heart because I kept my faith and I didn’t deny the existence of God."

After being rejected from becoming a Priest in the Orthodox church, he joined the military. In 1994, he and four other men hid in a container and escaped to Canada. They were in the container 12 days. It was in Canada that he was converted and joined the church. In 1996 he felt a strong urging to go back to his home country. His friends thought he was crazy to go back to Romania after all they had gone through to get to Canada, but he felt like he was called to go there to spread the gospel. If you would like to read his entire story, let me know and I can send you the Word document.  He is amazing..

Birthday Dinner

Another exciting piece of news is that a stake was formed in St. Petersburg, Russia over the past weekend so we now have three stakes in Eastern Europe.

Then on Friday, Sister Mastoxa cam from Lutsk to receive her endowments. She actually arrived on the train Thursday but after the eleven hour ride was dehydrated and had to go to the hospital. (She is almost 90.) It was such an exciting day for her and her daughter who is from Poland. It was a little frustrating not being able to converse freely with them but we spoke heart to heart.

At the temple with Sis. Mastoxa

Sunday the International Language Program students arrived and we were assigned four to home teach.  They teach English in the schools all over the city. They are definitely a little afraid – I’m sure that they had no idea what to expect when they arrived here and they are feeling that “situational illiteracy” that we experience in a foreign country. I know they will all love Kyiv by the time they leave in six months.

It was an incredibly busy week but we feel so blessed and are so happy to be here where we can learn from so many wonderful people.  

Quote for the Day:  “What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?”

August 30, 2012

The temple has been closed the last few weeks for cleaning. Because of the unique location of our apartment and its access to so many great adventures here in Kyiv, I was somehow chosen to be the social director for the Temple Missionary Couples. These couples have been so good to us and serve so faithfully in the temple. They live out at the temple which is an hour away from town and they really don’t get out and about much. So, with Gary in tow, we were able to take them on a few sightseeing outings, getting them acquainted with the metro, and cultural event activities the last few weeks. It has been really fun.

One of the afternoons we went to the World War II Museum which was closed the day that Gary and I had gone there earlier in the summer. It is absolutely the most well done, fascinating war museum I have ever seen. Well, okay, I haven’t seen all that many, as a matter of fact this was the first, but it was incredibly well done. We were there for three hours and unfortunately weren’t allowed to take pictures inside but take my word for it--AMAZING!  It is located underneath the Motherland Statue which you have seen before in my blog. (The statue is 102 meters high and weighs over 500 tons. The Motherland Statue isn’t really loved by the people here because it is taller than the great Orthodox Church at the Lavra and the people consider that unacceptable.) The museum is definitely a tribute to all who lost their lives in the war and shows the great respect this country has for World War II.

Outside the Great Patriotic Museum

In an area near this Statue and Museum there is currently a festival of flowers. There are over 300,000 flowers planted for everyone to enjoy during Independence Week. It is kind of like a Ukraine version of the Festival of Roses in California but instead of floats there are ground exhibits. Each area of Ukraine has made an exhibit with flowers and natural items. However, most of the displays are planted flowers and plants. We have been very fortunate to have had the weather cool down so this has made the exhibit even more beautiful. Also, there are hundreds of vendors selling plants, bulbs and seeds of all kinds. If I had a yard and garden I know where I would be spending my extra money.  

Native dress from different areas

Festival of the Flowers

Vladimer in the country

The Goat Country

Dancers performing at Pageant of Regions

Along with going on sight-seeing activities I have been the ticket broker for social events. This last week we have been to three incredible concerts. Last Thursday was the Symphony Orchestra of the National Philharmonic of Ukraine with a program which featured Mozart and Debussy, and then this week we went to a Pop’s Concert which was a tribute to English and American composers including Beatles, Abba, Led Zeppelin, Clapton, etc.  It was really a fun evening. And then of course the wonderful concert with the Philharmonic and the Opera singers.

Opera Concert

We also went to a new French Restaurant in town that has only one choice on the menu - steak and fries. It comes with a tasty salad, baguette, flank steak in a delicious light French sauce and the best French fries ever (and I really don’t even like fries but these are good!) and all for only $10.00 American. It reminded us of about 45 years ago when the Sizzler opened and the cost for a steak and fries on Monday night was $.99. Now those were the good old days. 

Our new French restaurant

Even though we spent some of the time with friends, we were not on vacation like they have been. We spent the work finalizing the plans for the Embassy visits which will start in September and working on building approvals, plans and real estate. 

Just so you know that we are always keeping focused on missionary work, we very seldom go anywhere that people don’t come up to us (whether they're American, Ukrainian or people visiting Ukraine), and ask us about our church. For instance, on the way to the concert last night a young Jewish man walked down Khreschatyk with us. As I was telling him about the Jews that went to America in the Book of Mormon, Sister Ricks, secretary to the Mission President, was handing him all sorts of pass along cards and literature. That has happened a lot lately - people coming up and wanting to talk about Mormons. I think it may have something to do with Mitt Romney running for President.  And yes, they think we are all polygamists.  And while we are on the topic of missionaries, mothers of future missionaries take note!  The attached picture illustrates one of the many things that you must teach your sons before they leave on their missions - how to defrost a refrigerator freezer. One of the interesting things we learn while doing apartment checks. 

One of our many surprises during apartment checks

Our thoughts and prayers are again with many friends and family members at home.  Some have health concerns or other problems, and some are experiencing exciting new beginnings. A special thanks to Ron and Marsha Losser for being such great neighbors. 

Quote for the week:

“If you are going to survive volunteering, you can’t do so because you think the people you’re helping deserve it. You can’t help people because they’ll thank you. You have to help them because Christ loves them and He’s loving them through you. You volunteer because in doing so, you represent Christ to them in the here and now - even if they don’t see him in you. “   Wilma Hepker