Week 65: HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I've got quite the task at hand this week to describe not just one week but one and a half weeks. That's crazy to think...

Next email I'll be trying to describe just 3 days. Hopefully they'll be super exciting всё-таки haha.

Alright so to dive in, we are gonna have to take it back to not just one monday but two mondays ago! We spent the day doing many things but one of the things we did was sharpen our apple pie making skills to get ready for the thanksgiving feast with all the missionaries!

prep/дела

Right now there are a lot of things that we are getting prepared for so that has been a little wild for sure. Helping get things ready for light the world, upcoming zone conference and other things. We have also had a lot of other little projects and things we've be doing and those things have been keeping us busy. The things we've been working on are just things to help our missionaries learning Russian and in contacting and just a whole bunch of different little things like that! It's been fun to work on and I'm excited to see how it all helps our mission. Should be really cool!

Adventure

So we had a free day without lessons so we made the decision to roll on over to the outskirts of our area where all the private homes are and we actually had a really effective time there!! I would love to say we found just a golden family but not this time. We did have a ton of really good conversations because no one there is really hurrying around too crazy. Everyone is quiet and not busy. We did however meet an up and coming singing prodigy whose name was Sergei! Sergei is an older man with a little hunch in his back and his old bicycle. But oh does he have a voice- sleek like silver. He sang a few songs and then sent us on our way. We of course thanked him kindly. It made my day Haha

Video Lessons!!

We are teaching this little man named David. He's a young buck from a small town about 350 kilometers rocks throw away from here. Also on the lesson is the grandma doe Lyubov (aka Любовь being interpreted as "Love") yes love is a name here! So is hope (надежда) so there you go new fact for the day. Things are going really well with them! David is a genius. I don't know what he's done with his little young life to this point but he definitely knows more than I did when I was his age. He said he would read his Book of Mormon and he already spoke in church a few weeks ago so things are looking good for the future! We teach them every single sunday and this one was especially great because we talked about the Plan of Salvation and the idea of seeing loved ones who've passed along as well as living again really resonated with them!

Taras

Our good friend Taras has been extra super busy! Like ridiculous. Just with work and all these other things but basically just with work. His phone stopped working for a little bit and what not but we finally were able to meet with him on Sunday. He finally told us where he works so we were able to come out to him to finally be able to talk some more and make a sort of plan to help him be able to be baptized because he has that really strong desire! So we set a new date for the 14th of December and made a plan for him to be able to get to where he needs to be!

We had 3 exchanges since last time I wrote and they were all really great!! I'm super grateful that we have so many awesome missionaries in our mission! We've definitely be blessed with special spirits here in the Ukraine Dnipro Mission!!

Wednesday!

We went to a returning members house. He's been having problems with his health so we came by and gave him a blessing and brought some food because he didn't have any. He was doing a lot better when we left!

Юрий!

Our friend Yuri is awesome! We had a lesson with him. He's a little older and we met him at the train station and planned to walk to the branch from there Haha. We about didn't make it..Yuri is a strapping man but he only walks about 1 mile every 60 minutes I would guess so it took a good half hour to walk the short distance to the branch and by the time we got there we couldn't do a tour because his legs were to tired. So, we just sat down in the ближайшую room and had a lesson! It went good! He was talking a lot and we decided to show a video if he could focus on that! That did the trick and really brought the spirit! He should make it this Sunday!

Thanksgiving

We started earliesh to make our apple pie round 2 and it looked super gorgeous! Then we took our burning hot pie from the oven to the branch to meet our district to do some contacting together! It went really good! We cut out strips and then had people write what they were thankful for on the strips and we made these little chains! Worked good and was a bunch of fun! Then after that we headed to the mission home. I had forgotten what a nice couch felt like and I about fell asleep Haha. We had a yummy Thanksgiving feast complete with all the necessities! Even had sweet potatoes! Which is a miracle in it of itself because I have yet to see a sweet potato in Ukraine but they're here I guess. Someone found them. Our pie was a hit. Elder Shepherd who is the office secretary and serves there with his wife. Out of nowhere just shouted, "who made this pie??" And he has a little stern voice, so I was afraid to confess to making the pie but I shyly raised my hand and he said, this is an amazing apple pie! Haha who knew?? Only my 2nd apple pie I've ever made and from scratch! It was great to be together as a mission family and be able to talk and get to know some missionaries better!

Spiritual Thought!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Psalm 100:4

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

We have so much to be grateful and so many blessings!! I'm grateful to be on my mission! I'm grateful for all the changes I've seen in my life and the lives of others as a result of being where I am now! I'm grateful for wonderful friends and family who've helped me to be here on my mission!

I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving!!

Love,

Elder Halls