Trip to Denver

This letter to me (mom) the day after he arrived in Denver. The day before we were able to talk to him for a little bit while he waited in the airport. We had some technical difficulties with the pay phones, but luckily a nice member there at the airport let all the missionaries use his cell phone.

Hi mama!

Yeah it was super weird with the pay phones in the airport. They were pretty terrible to say the least. Ate up tons of my coins and things. Totally a waste of money, so thank goodness that the kind member was willing to let all of us use his cell phone. It really meant the world to me to be able to talk to you and Dad. I don't know why, but it got to me so much harder than it did when I skyped you and the family. I was bawling so badly talking to you and Dad on the phone. I'm sure you heard it when I was talking, but I could barely say anything I was crying too often. It was just so good to hear your voice and Dad's voice and to hear how excited you were to talk to me. Probably the best experience on the mission so far.

The picture [see pic above] came from this girl on the train on the way to the airport - her name was Madi and had just gotten home from her mission like 3 weeks before. She said "Hey, do y'all want a picture? I'll take it then you can give me your mom's number and I'll send it to them." We said yes of course. She read out loud the reply but didn't respond. I can't remember exactly what you said - something about my smile I think. Thanks so much mama. I love you so much.

I've been here in Denver for over a full day now. I have two companions - Elder Barrick and Elder McMullens. They're both super awesome and really fun. It was their P-Day today, and since we only got put together and out into the actual field at around like 2 o'clock, we had to do a lot of other things before we could get to some real work. We taught a message to a member and did some contacting! I'll keep striving to be good like you said and to love people. I need to be more brave! It's scary to talk to people, but I'll try harder. 

Also, my area is a little bit of the Denver city downtown itself! It's a super diverse part of town and really exciting. Also, the Broncos stadium is in my area, so one of these days I'll go snag a picture by it.

Love you so much mama. So so much. 

Ashton's Thoughts on Visa-Waiting to Denver

Hello mama!
This week has been very awesome. It was really sad to say goodbye to all the amazing buddies that I made in my district as well as the other one that came in at the same time as me, but honestly I'm not bothered at all by this opportunity to be here for an extra week as well as the chance to serve in Denver. You and Dad's response email to the news sounded more disappointed than I was hahaha.
I've been thinking about that a lot lately - how this is clearly not an accident. There's nothing that happens to us that the Lord didn't want for us to happen. That means, out of all the missionaries that left earlier this week that could have been sent to Denver, the Lord put his trust in me to be the missionary to go and serve him in two different missions for a short period of time. There's somebody - or hopefully some people - that really need me out in Denver, and that just makes me so ecstatic. Honestly I am so excited to go to Denver mama. So so happy that the Lord has put his trust in me to do this, and that I can go and make a difference in that mission if I work hard and try my best. Out of everyone in my district, I was the first to put in my visa papers, and the only one to not get it, so clearly the Lord has something in plan for me. It reminds me of a scripture - in Alma 17:29, the other servants to the king helping take care of the sheep are weeping because they're afraid of being killed, but Ammon is so excited, because this is a chance for him to show the gospel and the power that he has. That's what I think about my transfer, rather than weeping or being sad that I'm not going right to Ukraine, I'm excited because this is just an unexpected turn for me in a plan that our Heavenly Father has personally curated for me. Same with your story about Pathway. We may not be able to understand why things the way they are, but as long as we have faith in the path Heavenly Father has put us on, everything will be alright and we will be blessed for following along his plan of happiness designed for us.

That's exciting that you all have a pass [to the Legacy Center]. Sounds very fantastic. I haven't been very good at exercising here, I just play volleyball and 4-square and speed, which is exercise, but it's not like serious exercise, you know? So when I get into the field I'm excited to get into some real exercise and I'll be walking around all day and things.

Good on AliDab for being a good pack mule with her car. I wasn't very good at that hahaha but hopefully I did a good enough job for you. I promise I'll be a better son when I come home :)

Love you so very much my mamasita. Thanks for emailing me, I really appreciate it.
Love ya
Hugs and kisses too
старейшина Day

New Companion and Enjoying the MTC

Hello! Hope everyone had a good week. I sure have. After the unexpected news that I would not be going to Ukraine this past Monday, I was a little disappointed for a day, but now I am just so excited to be able to possibly serve the Lord in Denver! It's been an opportunity for me to grow my testimony of God's plan for me. Obviously this change was unanticipated on my end, but not for God. If God wanted me to be in Ukraine right now, I would be in Ukraine, but instead he has given me the chance to hopefully be a good influence on the Elders staying in the MTC currently, as well as help the new Elders coming in be more comfortable and provide them with a friendly face that they can turn to in their times of need.

A picture of my old district and my new district last week after a trip to the temple. My new companion is Elder McSweeney, second from the left. He is from Rugby, England and will be serving in St. Petersburg.

I also cannot wait to go and serve in Denver! Honestly I have never been more excited to serve than I am now. It'll lessen the harsh learning curve of missionary work. I'll be able to practice teaching in English, contacting in English, and making friends with members and people all in English, so by the time I get to Ukraine hopefully I will be an expert at everything except for Russian. This change of events reminded me of a scripture. In Alma 17:29 Ammon is a servant of the Lamanite king, helping take care of his sheep with the other Lamanite servants. Their flocks are scattered and the other servants begin to cry because they fear that they will be killed for losing the flock. Ammon, rather than becoming saddened or fearful, rejoices within his heart that the Lord has given him this opportunity to show them the power of the Lord and give them the message of the gospel. I have decided to adopt that same attitude. Rather than be sad that I am not going to Ukraine, I am so happy that I have the chance to serve the Lord in an unexpected way, in the city of Denver speaking English.

Me and my new companion, Elder McSweeney

I know that the Lord has a plan for each and every one of us, and when something happens that goes against what we were expecting, we should just go with the flow rather than push back against Heavenly Father's will. I know that if we are humble and submit ourselves to his will, becoming his servants, he will bless us tremendously and we will always be happy. I love this gospel so very much and I am so excited to go and spread it's happy message wherever the Lord wants to send me! As long as I'm doing what's right, I know that the Lord I will be sent where I'm needed, and I know that that's true for all of our lives. Love you all so very much. Keep reading your scriptures, saying your prayers, and doing what's right!

 - старейшина Day

Urgent Matter-No Visa

I have special permission to send you this email!  (Sent on Friday, 1/18/19)

I have received an email that my visa has not arrived! Not sure how to
feel about this news. So far I’m the only man in my district that has
received notification that I have not received my visa. This is a good
time to say that I did turn in all my visa information on time and
that the other two Kyiv missionaries that have their visas turned
their information in months late. Clearly this is all part of God’s
plan for me and my mission. I have another week in the MTC, and if I
don’t receive my visa within the next week then I will serve in the
Colorado Denver North mission for a transfer! Very exciting news.
Either way, this will be incredibly beneficial for me. If I only get
an extra week in the MTC then it’s another week for my Russian to
improve (which I greatly need) and if I end up serving in Denver then
it’ll be a wonderful opportunity for me to practice teaching in
English before moving over into Russian. Hopefully that will lessen
the steep learning curve of being a missionary.

Anyways love you all, have a great week!

Russian Candy and Almost Time to Go

(Sent on Wednesday, 1/16/19)
My MTC stay is almost over! I can hardly believe it. It has been one of the most amazing and uplifting times of my life so far. I received my flight plans a few days ago - Salt Lake to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Kyiv. If all goes right and I have my Visa then I won't be emailing for a week and a half or so until I'm in Ukraine on my next P-Day. We just have to assume that we have our Visas. We'll get a letter in the mail either tomorrow or on Friday if we don't have our visa, so we're all very scared of receiving any mail these next few days. Out of the group that left before us only one person did not receive their visa and it was for Lithuania, so I have confidence that I'll be able to make it to Ukraine just fine.

A

Me and some Russian candies that our teacher, Sister Baugh (who is photobombing my picture) gave to our class. A little different but pretty good.

One really amazing experience that I was able to have this week - we were practicing doing bus contacting considering that we will be on the bus in our missions (we're all public transportation for travel). Half of us were missionaries, and the other half were people sitting on the bus playing some sort of character. I was a missionary for this roleplay, so we were sent into the hall where the bus-goers received a person to be on the bus. When I came back in I sat on this bus and started talking to Elder Perry a.k.a. Sergei. As we talked for a minute I asked him to tell me about his family. He said that he had two daughters and a son. I said that I have four sisters and one brother and that I love my family very much. Then, I wasn't sure why in the moment, but I testified about how I love my family so much and I know that I can be with them together forever after death. He had to get off the bus soon (our teacher would tell us when their stop was coming up) so I asked him if we could talk more about these things later. He said yes, gave me his number, and then hopped off the "bus".

Me with another Russian Snack - A piece of shortbread with a really cute picture of a cow.

After we finished our roleplay Elder Perry told me that his character's wife had died, and although he told me he had two daughters and a son, if I were to ask him additional questions it would have eventually made it to that subject. It was amazing to see in hindsight that I was guided into talking to him about how we can see our family after death, and that we can always be together forever. Without even knowing, I was testifying to him that he can be with his wife again with their kids. It was so cool to see the spirit guide me like that. Hopefully I'll be able to share some experiences like that with real Ukrainians. Although the situations in the MTC may be fabricated, what we learn and what the spirit testifies to us are real. It's a preparation for what's to come, so as I practice listening to the spirit now I will be ready to listen to the spirit in Ukraine.

Love you all so very much. Keep reading your scriptures, saying your prayers, and going to the temple. If you do all of those things, your faith will never falter. Sometimes the basics are some of the hardest things to do, but I know that when we do these things our lives can be blessed in a magnitude of ways.

Love y'all

 - старейшина Day

A Great Week!

This week was a great week! One of the greatest blessings that I've noticed so far is that it seems like the language is coming along much better than before. It is still a huge challenge, but the Lord surely is blessing me. One of the greatest moments from this week is when we were teaching our "fake" investigator, Viktor, and we asked him if he could talk to his boss about not working on Sundays so that he would be able to attend church. He said he wasn't sure. I was then able to tell this story of when I asked one of my bosses if he wouldn't schedule me on Sunday because I wanted to keep the sabbath day holy. My boss was very understanding and understood that it was what I believed so didn't schedule me on Sundays. I told Viktor that he should ask his boss too and he will be understanding as well. It just felt so awesome to be able to tell the entire story in Russian! The gift of tongues is certainly real and everyday that I continue to progress with this language is certainly a testimony of that. Without the Lord, I would not be able to accomplish anything. It is all through him and I thank him for everything that he has given me everyday.

Me and Elder Perry and Elder McQuivey in our class.

One thing that has been really quite fantastic and has helped me a lot throughout this week is I have begun writing down 3 things that I did well for that day everyday. On the days where I've been discouraged and feel like I didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked or that I'm not doing well enough, once I force myself to think back and look at what I've done well that day it is not nearly so gloomy. I would encourage everyone to take the challenge and to write down three great positive things that you were able to accomplish that day. It has made a major difference for me, and I hope that it does the same for you!

My companion didn't want a picture. haha

One last great thing that was very prevalent from this week - I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so very much, and I know that they love me so much too. My favorite song in the whole world is "My Heavenly Father Loves Me". It is a testimony of how much Heavenly Father loves us through how much he has given to us. Everything that we have is because of our loving Heavenly Father. I am not giving up anything to come on this mission, because everything that I have been given is from my Heavenly Father. This is one of the only opportunities I may ever have to give back to him with my agency. That's why agency is so amazing and powerful - it is the only thing that Heavenly Father has given us that he cannot take away, and that is why I have chosen to serve a mission - my choice of serving him for two years is one of the only things that I can give back, so I try my best to make the most of it and give as much as I can to my dear Heavenly Father.

Love y'all, hope you have a great week. Keep doing the basics and you will never fall away!

 - старейшина Day

(sorry I don't have any pictures mom, this week was really boring in that regard haha. I'll try harder next time. Love ya)

Happy Russian New Year

This week was certainly a rollercoaster! So many great moments and so many challenging things as well. One of the most exciting things was right towards the beginning of this week, we had a lesson with жанна (one of our fake investigators) and she mentioned that she was reading the Book of Mormon and that she felt good. We asked her if she thought what it was saying is true and she said she wasn't sure. I had such a strong impression to tell her that it was the Holy Ghost who tells her these things, and that he testifies of all truth. I then told her that I know that if she prays about the Book of Mormon that night she would be able to know that the Book of Mormon is true through the Holy Ghost. The next lesson, she said that she believes that it's true. It just felt so incredible to be able to say those things to her and in Russian. One of the best parts about this MTC is that although the lessons might not be exactly "real", what we feel and what we learn from them is. Hopefully that experience will teach me something that I can use again in the field.

Me and Elder Jorgensen (pronounced "Yawn"-son). Our "Great Dane" of the zone. Headed out to Moscow earlier this week. Because the Russians celebrate Christmas on January 7th, he's lucky enough to have two this year!

One extremely challenging thing about Russian is that I cannot understand a thing that anybody says hahaha. Not sure how I can get more practice with that considering I'm already hearing it all the time, but hopefully my brain starts to put it together. We gave a Skype lesson to a wonderful
бабушка from some unpronounceable city in Russia which was very exciting. It went very well, but sadly every time I asked her a question I could never understand anything that she said. Every time she said something about a point that we mentioned or bore her testimony on something, all I would say is "Thanks. Good." and that's it hahaha. I'm sure that once I actually get to Ukraine I'll figure it out because at that point my brain won't have a choice.

For new year's we couldn't throw a party or anything of course, and we can't stay up until midnight cause I need those blessings from being asleep at 10:30, so instead we celebrated the Russian new year at 3 in the afternoon! It was really funny. We got almost all the elders from our zone and went a study space on the roof of one of the buildings in the MTC and celebrated a little bit. We had some Martinellis and Doritos. Honestly can't ask for more than that. My goal is to work harder this next year. That's one thing that I can always improve on - being a harder worker. As I look back at how I've spent my time so far in the MTC, I cannot help but wish that I would have worked harder. I refuse to be able to do that for the rest of my mission. At the end, I want to be able to look back and be able to honestly say that there's nothing else that I could have done.

Love you all, hopefully you set some great goals for yourselves this year! 2019 is going to be one to remember!