Power in scripture study

This week was an awesome week! Ukraine is an amazing place and such a fun place to serve the Lord. This week I started contacting on the street all on my own! It's the most horrifying thing in the entire world. It's really hard to just start talking to anyone because the culture is completely against doing something like that, so what works really well is using a 'survey' that just pushes more and more told gospel questions and wanting to learn more as the questions go along. I started giving it to people on my own and it was the hardest thing ever hahaha. I can't understand them, they can barely understand me, but I'll keep working on it. Most people are really really nice and understand that I'm clearly very new with my language and help me out. One thing is for sure though, the spirit testifies to people no matter what skill level my language is at. I'll continue to try my best to testify to people and to tell them that the truth has been restored!

Eating at Пузата Хата, a really amazing Ukrainian restaurant. We ate there for Elder Prolo's birthday. Food from Пузата Хата. Definitely doesn't taste like anything from America but it is AMAZING.

One really great contact that I had this week was with this man on a bus ride. I asked him if we could practice Russian and he said "We can try" in English so then I was so excited that I could actually talk to this man! Tender mercy from the Lord. I tried to use Russian as much as I could but it didn't get very far, so we just started conversing in English. He said that he wasn't trusting of churches, which is understandable in Ukraine because the prominent religion is very corrupt and essentially a business. I told him that in our church none of our leaders are paid and that I'm not being paid to be a missionary. In fact, I'm paying a lot of money to be here. He was really amazed by that. I gave him a card and he got off on his stop. It felt great to testify to this man that there is a true church on the Earth today.

We also had a TON of lessons this week, which was really fun and very surprising that almost none of them were canceled. We teach a lot of 30/30 lessons which is half teaching them English and half teaching them about the gospel. I'm really useful for the first half and I struggle a lot in the second half, but I'll keep trying. I testify when I can and just trust that the spirit is working through me.

Meeting and eating with the Шулген family.

One amazing thing that has been a great testimony builder for me this week has been the power of scripture study. We had a zone conference that talked about how we can improve our daily scripture study and it was amazing. One of the things that were suggested was not just reading from cover to cover, but serious topical study and searching for themes, connections, and patterns. As I've tried to implement this over the past week my study has improved tremendously. I also talked about this topic in sacrament meeting this week during my first talk! It was really hard but it went quite well. I want to encourage all of you to continue to study your scriptures and seek ways that you can improve your learning. When we actively seek the word of God he blesses us tremendously in our lives.

Elder Prolo, Elder Day, Elder Whiting

Love you all so very much. Continue to grow your faith through prayer, scripture study and church and you will be blessed. Love you!

Call Home:
This morning we also got to talk to Elder Day. He video called from the family history center by the church. He shared some other stories too.
The pigeons are scary and huge, but everyone is nice to them because there isn't a difference between pigeon and dove in the bible there.
People are surprised when he says he likes it there. They expect an American to not like it.
The grandmas there (babushkas) remind him of Grammy Day. Spunky and loving and strict.
The ward there feels just like our home ward. The people act the same, he just can't understand them.
The work is really hard but he is loving it!

Week 2 in Ukraine: Lots of Contacting

Mon, Mar 18, 9:40 AM (2 days ago)

Me 'Slamming' with Elder Whiting, which is drinking milk through this super good Russian cookie and then eating it.

This was a week of contacting, contacting, contacting!
We set up lessons to have throughout the week with investigators, less actives, and investigators, and almost everything fell through, so that led to lots of days of just pure contacting. Needless to say, very... very... very fun. Honestly, it's really not that bad, the problem is just that I don't understand anything that anyone says to me, and they don't understand anything that I try to say back, but I'll keep working on it and eventually it will work out. Like it says in 1 Nephi 3:7:

"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no
commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may
accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

The Lord has commanded me to preach his gospel in Russian, so that's what I will do! Maybe not immediately, but eventually. I'll continue to work on it and I know the Lord will bless me.

Me and Elder Prolo at our book table

Something that was fun in our contacting this week - the book table! We set up this little table on a busy sidewalk and put a bunch of Book of Mormons on it and a bunch of pamphlets and just tried to get people to stop and take a look. I was having a really hard time getting anyone to stop because I can't really say anything, but I decided to just ask people walking by if they like to read. It actually worked! There was this one lady who was brushing us off and then as she was walking away I asked "Do you like to read?" and she turned around and became very interested in hearing more about it. I gave her a Restoration pamphlet and she was on her way. It felt great to be able to do something even with my limited vocabulary.

Me and Elder Whiting talking to a бабушка about the gospel

A great spiritual experience I had this week, Yesterday, we felt prompted to go visit this less active in our ward who lives in this very strange part of our area. It took us forever to get there, was very painful on my legs, and it was getting a bit late. When we finally got there, there was no answer at the door! So we decided to knock on the other doors nearby, and they were no answers there either. Instead of feeling super disappointed and that we had wasted our time, I felt proud of us for being willing to follow the Lord's promptings no matter what the circumstances were and felt peace from the Holy Ghost giving me a feeling that although we could not see the fruits of our efforts, we accomplished something. And now, the Lord knows He can trust us and knows that if we are given a prompting we will go.

I know that when we follow the promptings of the spirit, we will be blessed tremendously, even if we cannot see the effects of what we have done. As we try to seek to follow the spirit in our own lives, we will see miracles and will be on the path that the Lord has laid out for us, which is the best path. As we read the scriptures, say our prayers, and go to church, we open ourselves to that guidance from the Holy Ghost and his presence in our everyday lives. There is nothing more important than being able to receive revelation daily from the spirit, and I know that as we seek to do these things we will be blessed with that inspiration needed.

I love this gospel so much, and I'm so glad that I am able to share it in Ukraine! Love you all so much.

First Week in Ukraine

I have finally made it to Ukraine! And it is amazing. I love it here so much already. I am so grateful that I had the chance to serve in Denver. 

Me by a mural next to a fire station across the street from my apartment in Denver. Me and the firefighters were both 'serving' the same great people!

It was truly an amazing experience. 

Me, my companions, and my great zone leaders all together for one final picture in Denver.

(Ashton and Denver mission president President Savage at the Denver airport.)

After 30 hours of plane rides and layovers, I made it into Kyiv! I am in a trio again - with Elder Prolo from SoCal and Elder Whiting from Saratoga Springs. They are so funny and so fun to be around. I love them both so much already. We immediately headed over to our area which is on the west end of Kyiv. Our ward/area is called нова Дарниця (sounds like Nova Darn-eat-sya) and it feels just like a ward from home. The people are so nice and so fun to talk to, I just wish that I could understand anything that they say back to me hahaha. It's really difficult to understand sometimes because I honestly don't know if they're speaking Russian or Ukrainian to me. Western Ukraine is turning more and more Ukrainian only, so many more people are speaking Ukrainian and some even refuse to speak Russian. The very first person that I contacted on the street - we asked him if he believed in God and he says "Yes. I hate Russia though. Russia is the worst." I only know that because my companion told me, but hopefully, things will be alright and people will be nice enough to still talk to me even if they're not a fan of my language. The Lord called me to speak Russian here for a reason, and I'll be sure to find out that "why".

Me and my new companions, Elder Prolo on the left and Elder Whiting on the right.

Later in the week we went knocking for the first time in an apartment building. It was terrifying! Not because of talking to people or knocking on doors, but because the building looked straight out of a horror movie. The old soviet buildings here are really old and pretty sketchy, but they're fun too and the people were pretty nice. If someone isn't interested, they're not afraid to make it obvious haha.  At least it helps us not waste time.

Some inspiring words written in very broken English on the stairwell inside of the first apartment building I knocked in Ukraine.

One great spiritual moment from this week was during this lesson with this great man named Sergei. He takes some English classes here at the church that some of the missionaries offer and then after the class he meets with us to talk about the gospel. I barely understood anything in the lesson, but he asked me how I knew the Church of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon are true. I testified to him in the best Russian that I could muster that I know because whenever I read the Book of Mormon I can feel the spirit of the Holy Ghost and as I have read the Book of Mormon every day and sought after those blessings promised from the Lord, my life has improved so greatly and I have never had so much happiness, peace, and joy. I told him that if the Book of Mormon is true, which I know it is, then Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. If Joseph was a prophet, then this amazing Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. Amazingly enough, he understood! I was so grateful to my Father in Heaven for blessing me at that moment to be able to be a witness of his Son and of his true church restored upon the Earth. I know Jesus Christ lives, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I love this gospel, and I am so excited for the chance to continue to share this gospel in Ukraine.

Me, the sisters serving in our ward, and some members helping prepare invitations for the ward party.

Love you all so much!

More from Elder Day in another email:

[My] Birthday was great! Went to this really tasty Mexican restaurant with my companions in Denver and the zone leaders. It was so hot I was almost crying but it tasted amazing. I really miss those Elders, but I love the Elders that I'm with now so so much. They're amazing.

The flight to Ukraine was pretty good. I gave away a couple of cards for the church, so that was really great! One was to this really cool teenager that lives in Minnesota and one was to this really cool fella who is an engineer from Louisiana. Whatever happens with them will happen, but it's super awesome that I was able to do that. It was my last time contacting in English, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and it seemed to have worked out. There are no coincidences in the work of the Lord, and that certainly wasn't either.

I have two new companions! I am in a trio again which is so much fun. Their names are Elder Prolo and Elder Whiting and they are so so awesome. I love them both a ton. Right now I'm really scared to talk to people and it's really hard too hahaha. I need to be braver and talk to more people, but it's hard when I feel like I cannot say anything or understand anything they say in response. I'll work on it though. As you said, I want to talk to people. I still do kind of have to force myself to talk to people a little bit, but that is mainly because I just don't feel like I can do anything. Again, I'll just keep working on it.

Whenever we're on one of the really tiny busses, I always try to sit/stand next to somebody and then I say "Hey, it's my first week in Ukraine. I'm studying Russian. Can we practice together?" (I say this in Russian of course) and every single time so far they've always said no.  Hahaha but that's OK, I'll keep on trying.

Ukraine is really really cool though. The air and the humidity here feel GOOD. I don't know why but it just feels really nice. Hopefully, after a while, it will help my skin out a lot.

The people here are really funny. You'll try to stop them so that you can say something to them and they'll just usually walk straight on by and pretend you never existed. Sometimes they do stop and then you tell them you're a missionary and then they decide to pretend they never saw you hahaha. It's all good though :) everything here is great! I'm really loving it. Super exciting place to be.

Goodbye Denver Colorado Mission

Ashton called us on Wednesday to tell us his visa came through and they are sending him to Ukraine on Monday, March 4.
Today I happened to get notified of some pictures he is in on Facebook from the Denver mission. Of course, I saved them all.

I'm guessing these are from when he arrived.

These are from a mission conference.

This one was dated as Feb 14 (Valentine's Day).