Week 10 Ты знаешь что Мы здесь на Победе

After months and months of anticipation I'm finally here in Ukraine!! It's super great! I remember touching down in Ukraine and just feeling that this is where the Lord needed me! I was so filled with love and excitement and I was so ready to get to work and start to invite others to come unto Christ! 

We left the MTC on monday in the afternoon it was happy and sad! We were all happy to see our fellow missionaries head out to Russia and the Baltics and Kiev Ukraine but at the same time we've all become such close friends that it was hard to see everyone go and know that we wouldn't be serving in the same areas and it'll be a long time before we can see each other again! It's amazing how close we came together as a district in those 9 weeks and I know that I have made wonderful friends that will be friends throughout my life! Love my MTC district!

Well we had a long day of flying monday to tuesday and by the end of it I was so beat! I couldn't for the life of me sleep on any of the planes so when we were about halfway to France me and Elder Dunn were the only ones awake probably on the whole plane so I was glad he could keep me company. The other missionaries on our plane had like zero problem sleeping though like they got a good 6 hours on that flight it was ridiculous haha.

Wednesday we met our companions and found out where our first area would be and my companion is Elder Rodgerson and the two of us are serving in Dnepr in a part of the city that they call pobeda it's outside the center of the city where it's super busy we're about 15-20 minutes away from everything. Elder Rodgerson is awesome! He is from Draper, Utah so super close! He's been in the mission for over a year now he knows really good Russian so he has been a huge help to me! I've loved having him around! We buddies we have a good time! A little more about Pobeda it's a pretty big area and there are huge parts of it that I haven't even been near yet and we're the only two missionaries here everyone else serving in Dnepr is in Center (8 missionaries) and Left Bank (4 missionaries) so there is lot for us to do! It's mostly apartment buildings around us in our area and there isn't always a ton of foot traffic.

Wednesday we had English class and it was so much fun! We had 14 people come which is a record for Pobeda and we passed out a bunch of more English cards so this week were expecting even more people! Anyways English class was super great had a ton of fun and met a lot of new people so that was really good! 

We don't really have anyone we are currently teaching Elder Rodgerson and Skiba just had a baptism before I got here and so we are starting from scratch basically. We did met this new guy named Davie he's from the Ivory Coast and we met with him on Friday and that went really well we taught him the restoration and it was all in English because he speaks English and French. So in his kind of good English we are hoping he could understand us... Anyways we found out that he really really loves Jesus like so much which is great. He was talking to us about it, "Jesus Jesus is the.. the emphasis.. emphasis... If you love Jesus if you believe Jesus... You are my friend." He talked about that same sentence for about a solid 3 minutes it was awesome. He was excited and wanted to talk with us again! We're good friends with him and I think he'll come to church this week! 

We met with the Polyakov family on Friday and it was awesome they're a super great family super strong in the church and they speak Russian slow for me because they knew that I just barely got there and I was very thankful for that! They speak some English too so that was also helpful! Anyway Brother Polyakov has been sick so he asked if we would give him a blessing and that was a super cool opportunity! I was able to do the annointing and that was super cool to do it in Russian and it was something that I hadn't ever done or even practiced but I felt the Lord's help and I was able to say all the words right and it was so powerful. 

Church was awesome on Sunday I bore my testimony in Russian and that was an amazing experience to feel the spirit as I was bearing my testimony in their native language. 

A little bit about Ukraine
-Mashrutkas: They're basically these little bus vans (not quite bus size but bigger than a van) and they are everywhere they run routes all over the city and they are always jammed pack super tight like so tight. And when you think that you couldn't possible fit more people in. They open the door and three more get in and then another two and you just wonder how it's even possible. Well this morning I think it was the most packed one I've ever been in wow we were packed in tight. 

-The People: They aren't really beat around the bush people if they don't want to hear what you have to say or don't like you you'll know. We were trying to place some BofMs and I walked up to this man and say добрый день (good day) and he looks at me and just shakes his head and walks right pass haha. We have fun trying to talk to people me and Elder Rogderson lots of laughs!

I'm so grateful to be here in Ukraine I know more than ever how important the gospel is and how it can make people so happy! After spending the whole week out in the normal Ukraine world and then finishing with Church on Sunday there was a stark stark contrast entering into the branch and feeling the spirit and seeing the joy on the faces of the people there! I love this gospel and I know it is true!!

Love,


Elder Halls

Some pictures from the mission office (we are the office Elders) of Dnipro Center


Fast Sunday dinner we loaded up holy cow

A dope tank by the office

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