Week 16 Pot of Tea

Hello everyone back home and out on missions across the world! This is Elder Halls coming in from Dnipro, Ukraine hope that you are all doing well and had good weeks!!

I can't roll my r's at all and in Russian all the r's are rolled at least a little bit so this week I've been trying to work on that, Elder McMaster told me if I'll say pot of tea over and over again really fast and then try that's how you can learn and it legit worked now I can do it I'm amazed.

This week has been crazy oh my goodness... We probably didn't have a single day where anything went according to plan. I'm not going to lie it was a little frustrating. However, this week I think I learned so many great lessons because of that! Even though it was a roller coaster of a week and not a lot of things went how we thought they would.

Monday this week we had registration, all the missionaries within there first transfer have to get this Ukrainian document that basically extends your Visa that's just the easiest way to describe it! But that was an awesome day! Elder Richards and Sister Pope who I was in the MTC with came to Dnipro and we all got registered together so it was super fun to seen some missionaries from the group that I came here with because it had been a long time!!

We were in a trio a lot of this week with Elder Gerratt he's from this little town in Idaho he came a transfer ahead of me so I knew him a little bit from the MTC! His companion had to take care of some Visa issues in Kiev and Moldova and so they flew him out there and then left Elder Gerratt with us so we were rocking a trio the whole week and it is hard to contact in a trio haha. Because walking up on some stranger when it's just two is strange enough but three people all at once they're going to think that you're trying to mug them or something. So to avoid that we had two out front about 30 feet ahead and then one trailing back haha it was kind of a funny day of contacting!

All the new missionaries came this week from the MTC and because It's my first transfer in the field just finishing I knew all of this missionaries from when I was in the MTC! It worked out that we were in the branch when they were having orientation so I got to see and talk to them all and that was super exciting for me! It's super cool to see these missionaries you already know really well out here in the field! Most of the time it's just me and Elder Rodgerson because we're the only missionaries in our area!

We had an appointment with Alexander and Marina this week and when we first get off the bus at there stop Alexander is there and something just seems weird. He shows us pictures of his baby he just had a little girl super cute, then tells us, "Like seriously don't tell my mom." and then we get to the apartment and his Mom isn't there and he starts going frantic and calls his "wife" and tells her, "She's not here again" his wife says something like, "5 Times?" Then we ask him what's going on and he says, "My mom went to the police, she thinks I'm not taking my medicine so I need to be in a mental home." He proceeds to gather a bunch of things together in a backpack including all the brownies that we brought him and then we all leave together and he goes on the run from his mother and the mental home and is going to sleep at his friends house. The next day he calls us and says everything is good and it sounds like he's back with his mom at her house. So I'm just super confused what is even going on there with that family.

I Want to just share a few little short stories from this week as well:

-We woke up one morning and I go to brush my teeth and turn on the sink water and nothing comes out... So we begin to panic but Elder Rodgerson says that this happens sometimes and that it'll just be a couple days... A COUPLE DAYS?!? How can a country just do that to everyone in the city. Anyway so we cook B-fast without water brush our teeth with our drinking water we by clean our hair with our emergency drinking water supply and then after we go through all that I think maybe we should try the sink again and then the water is already back on...

- The water here is like not drinkable just in general. It comes out of the tub/sink and it's just got like a yellow brownish tinge color, I think it is thinning my hair so I hope that's reversible.

- President invited us to the mission home this week again there was a missionary leaving home and all we had left in the day to do was our studies and dinner so we did it over lasagna in the office, Felt like Christmas there wow.

- I ate Shwarma like 3 times this week and I like Shwarma it's good I still don't know what meat is in it at all but I can continue to look past that.

-I had my first fall. All missionaries have at least one fall because the ground is always frozen here it just takes the right moment. President fell last week too his story about it sounded pretty epic.

Last I just want to share a sweet experience this week! On Sunday I was just really wanting and praying for an opportunity to serve someone or help in some way and after church we had the opportunity to go take the Sacrament to some members who are not able to make it to church because of health issues and while we were there I was some humbled to see their gratitude for our service to them! They also have a piano in their home neither of them play and they don't often have visitors over so I don't know that this piano had been played in a long time but I asked if I could play a song and on this really old and out of tune piano I played Love One Another, and the spirit was so strong! Sister Полянская was brought to tears and I really felt the spirit so strongly and was so grateful in that moment for a loving Mom that taught me to play the piano!

What a great time of the year it is! I hope that we can all turn our thoughts to the savior this coming week and as Christmas gets even closer! At this time of year we have the opportunity to turn our hearts closer and closer to him! I'm so humbled by all that he has done for me and for all of us! I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to be his representative! He has done so much for each and everyone of us!

Love you all and Merry Christmas!!

Elder Spencer Halls