March 16, 2009

(There are 2 Gorlovka, so we asked Dallin which one he was in. This is was his answer.)
I would Google map the one that has a blackish, greenish cloud of pollution over it. No one in Ukraine knows their address, they just explain where they live and I like it like that. The people here are great though. The missionaries play a huge role in the branch, so we get to know all the members really well. We don’t eat at members’ houses very often, but whenever we teach lessons people always give us some fruit tea and cookies or cake. The food here is so good though, the juice is amazing, yogurt and fruit are awesome.
We teach English on Tuesday nights, and then we teach a Spiritual English class on Thursday nights. We basically just teach a lesson or about a principle in English for that, it’s really cool
Everyone says the work is so difficult here, but I have yet to see that side of it. People are interested and listen to us, but we are still turned down 1000 times a day. It’s what I expected missionary work to be, and I don’t think missionary work is easy anywhere. Although it does make it more difficult when it’s freezing cold, raining, and mud EVERYWHERE! I got here just as the snow was melting, perfect timing- the start of what the missionaries call “mud season.” Our shoes and pants cuffs get duked with mud all day long. And no Ukrainian wears shoes inside, so you tie your shoes loose enough to slide them on and off. My heels aren’t used to that so they are all can’t up right now, it’s kinda weird actually. So it hurts to walk but it’s all good, they’ll build up at calluses soon. I’m loving all of it though. It’s hard to wake up and exercise and get going, because it’s cold, but once we get past that every morning and get to work, I love it. I love everything here. The mud, the smells, still getting used to the cigarette smoke, but the food and just everything here. Ukraine is perfect for me. Oh, that reminds me, whenever we come back here, I can’t wait to take you into the apartment stairwells. I bet it was like this for Brady too, but every time we walk into one, the smell never ceases to amaze me. Every stairwell has its open special odor that is a million times worse than anything I’ve ever smelled in Ukraine, it’s great. When that becomes normal to me, that’s when I’ll know I’m a Ukrainian.
But Russian is really hard. It is. I want to understand everything so badly, and obviously I’m improving, just not as fast as I would like. I’m still working hard, and everyday remembering that I need to rely on the Lord more; because from the looks of things, I have no hope on my own. Such as at District Conference yesterday, it’s like Stake Conference. It was impossible to keep up with and understand the speakers. The meeting was really cool though. We met in this chapel in Donetsk that is the nicest church building in all of Eastern Europe. No one knows how, but our mission got all the nicest church buildings. Our chapel is one of the nicest buildings in Gorlovka. It was so cool to see so many members there. There was a great Spirit. And they are sending off 4 missionaries this week, which is amazing, so they all spoke. The choir was great, and it was a neat experience. We met with one of our investigators that night and she’s seems solid. I see so much potential here in Gorlovka, I hope I stay when my trainer goes home. We haven’t met with any of our investigators more than once, but they seem great. I just hope so badly that they will follow up on their commitments. That’s where it becomes difficult.