Moving to Lugansk

How do you like your neighbor?

"If only we had baptisms it would be like South America"

Abandoned Puppies Part 1

Abandoned Puppies Part 2

Goats grazing at the church

Sleeping in Donetsk

Missionary Hating Dog

Missionary Hating Dog

Having a Party

Having a Party

Having a Party

Doing Service

Doing Service

P-Day in Gorlovka

P-Day in Gorlovka

P-Day in Gorlovka

P-Day in Gorlovka

P-Day in Gorlovka

P-day in Gorlovka

August 10-2009 Not just Mo-Tab anymore

Everything is going great. We're ready for the baptism on Saturday, it'll be Alla, Vladik, and this guy, Michael, from Africa. We hope there will be an english speaking branch in Harkov by the end of our missions for all the Africans that get baptized here, they're the coolest people. Alla is amazing though and reads so much, and because of that she asks really good questions. She's already read Gospel Essentials, the Book of Mormon and D&C, and like every Liahona and other thing we've given her. She's amazing. Saturday is going to be a special day.

This last Saturday we had a branch picnic and we went to this town Sokalova, that is about an hour outside of Harkov. We went to this cool museum that would've been really cool if everything wasn't in Ukranian and I could understand something, but it was still a nice museum. And then we had our picnic next to a big sunflower field, and the weather was perfect so it was really nice.

We're trying to meet with some really cool people that we've talked to, I hope we can meet with them this week. There is this one 18 year old kid and his mom that came to English and were interested in talking about the gospel afterwards. They came up to me to ask about it so we taught them and gave them a book. They seem great and he said he wanted to meet after English this week. We couldn't meet with Urie this week but we have a lesson with them tomorrow so that should be really good.

Last week, the wall fell off only Mo-tab!!! I haven't listened to anything but Mo-tab for the last 5 months! See if you can figure out a way to e-mail music to me. Anyways, I love Alekseevks. President promised me I'm staying, but it doesn't always work out. I think I'm staying here with Whitehead one more though. I want to stay for 3 though, even 4. I love it here.

August 3 2009-Eating radioactive cucumbers

Anyways, life is still great in Alekseevka. Alla is still amazing and she and Vladic will get baptized on the 15th. She's so ready, she could've been baptized yesterday, but it's a lot better for them to do it together. And I guess Vladic's mom lives here too, just not with them, which is weird, but we hope to start teaching her too. Also this 20 year old member here had us start teaching his sister (we think they are twins). She's just a nice, quiet girl, and there's nothing stopping her from joining the church. She just needs to gain a testimony and her brother is a great help and influence in doing that. He wants her to get baptized so badly, ha, he's a great brother.

Urie and his family, still want us to come back but his wife is starting to seem more interested and ready than he is. He's really been studying the Catholic church and is on that probationary time thing where if he is a good member for a certain amount of time, then he can join. They are such a great family. We are just doing everything we can to connect with them. I would do anything to find out what they need or how we can get them to see that this is the path for them. We watched that Together Forever video this week and we feel like it would be good for them to watch as a family. They are just so perfect for the church, I don't know what I'd do if they reject us. It would be hard. But that's not going to happen, they're ready this time around and we're going to stay with them. Last time we gave them a commitment to read the Book of Mormon a little and pray together each night as a family and see how it affects their family. I hope they're doing it.

As for Dad's question and if we eat good food. Yes, we do. I love most all the food that people have fed us here. Our area of Alekseevka gets fed more than any other area in the mission, so it's amazing. Except Monday, I ate the nastiest thing I have yet to eat in Ukraine. And you'll never guess what it was. . . . it was just a big, unpeeled, radioactive cucumber. I don't know, but the skin was just unbelievably disgusting, no matter how much salt I put on it, it couldn't overpower that taste. You're probably thinking, "Oh, it was just a cucumber, it couldn't have been THAT bad." IT WAS. It was awful. I'd probably drink Cameron's "Guaranteed-diarrhea Chilean Mormon Coffee" that we had down there before one of those. It was difficult to eat. They have tons of fruits and vegetables here too that are so good. And right now, there are watermelon and cantaloupe stands on every corner. So life's great. It sounds like you are all still doing great. And I was just informed that we flew into Ukraine 5 months ago. Ha, fastest 5 months of my life, but at the same time it feels like I've been here forever.

July 27-Investigators in Alekseevka

All is still great here in Alekseevka. We are going to put Alla on date on Tuesday. She's already a better member than most. She always stays for all 3 hours, participates a lot, and reads the scriptures a lot more than we even do. She's just awesome. If she's on track and hasn't drunken any tea or beer recently, then we'll probably put her on date for the 8th. My comp also wants to baptize her 10-year old grandson on that day, and he has come to church with her and stuff, but he's only sat in on part of the 2nd lesson, so either we have to start teaching each of them individually or I think we'll push it back a little. So we'll see what happens.
But the story of this week happened when I was on a split with one of our zone leaders, Elder Ketchum from Iowa. He made a computer program that sold for $3 mil before his mission but he didn't get any of it because he was an intern. We have a lot of missionaries that have done pretty amazing things, like one already owns a business and another only has to write his dissertation to get his PHD, and a few others have done stuff like that.
We didn't have any lessons so I decided to start calling old investigators out of the area book while we were talking and getting to know each other. Elder Sutherland, my trainer, served here for only one transfer and I called this guy that they found and he said we could come over that evening. We had a really good contacting session, then went to the lesson. It was absolutely the best 1st lesson I've ever had with someone. We taught him, his wife, and they have 2 young sons. The lesson lasted 1 1/2 hours, but it didn't feel that long. They were amazing, and they definitely could be ready this time around. They asked questions that you just don't hear. They still occasionally read out of the Book of Mormon that they had, and the wife asked us "I know we can feel the Holy Ghost when I pray and read the scriptures, but is it possible to have it with you all of the time?" What?! Of course not, why would you ask such a ridiculous question? We told here it was very possible and talked about it, while also answering their other great questions. Towards the end the wife started to cry as she told us how this reminds her of how happy she was when she met with the missionaries the very first time 7 years ago. I'm so excited to meet with them again. They are such a great family, you can easily see how much they love and care about each other, and they have so much potential.

My Ukranian Hats

the one on the left is like a Newsies hat, but everyone has them hear, and the one on the right, well, let's just say I'll save that one for when I'm no longer a missionary :)

The Lugansk Song