80s on my wrist (Ask Hunter what that means Mom)

Mon, Apr 15, 2019

Walking to Serve (Walking across a square in one of the more beautiful parts of Kyiv as we head to a city-wide service project)

This week has been a crazy week. It feels like that every week on the mission honestly. The craziness started off earlier this week on the last P-Day, where after we ate dinner with a wonderful family in the ward I sprained my ankle on the walk out of the apartment. One thing that's really difficult about Ukraine, the concrete is laid so poorly here and is so messed up that it would be lawsuit after lawsuit in the United States. So sadly the concrete got the best of me this last week and destroyed my ankle. I could barely hobble back to our apartment. The next day I woke up and my ankle didn't hurt. I was so excited that it was OK and we could continue working, but as soon as I started walking around shooting pains went throughout my ankle. Sadly I was out for the count that day as we slowly watched my ankle swell up to a huge size. On Tuesday, my ankle still hurt so badly so I asked my companion, Elder Whiting for a blessing. After that my ankle began to heal tremendously. After having the worst ankle sprain of my life I've been able to continue to work and function pretty close to normal. Absolutely the miracle of healing to be able to continue to function as a missionary and having my ankle heal this quickly.

Weekly Planning (A picture of us during weekly planning. I am the scribe of the group as we write what we want to teach our investigators this next week on the window. Elder Prolo was having a very 'exhausted' moment during the time of this picture.)

Something amazing that I was able to witness was stake conference here in Kyiv this past Sunday. It was so amazing to see so many wonderful saints from Kyiv gathered together in love for the Lord. Sadly, almost the entirety of the meeting was held in Ukrainian so it was impossible for me to understand, but there's nothing more exciting than seeing all those gathered together in unity for their love of our Lord.

Lenin Pin (A very cool Soviet-era pin I bought featuring Lenin and some very inspiring words)

After that, there wasn't anything absolutely amazing that happened this week besides lots and lots of work and trying to help our investigators come closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Another amazing thing that happened this week was during a lesson with one of our tougher investigators. We were teaching him about the Book of Mormon and sadly I could not understand anything that was being said (like usual though). During the lesson, I felt such a strong impression that I needed to ask him why the Book of Mormon would be important to him personally. Although I could barely understand what his response was, I could tell that the question was very important to ask him at that moment and helped him realize how important the Book of Mormon is to his life. When it was my turn to testify of the power of the Book of Mormon at the end of the lesson, the Russian was able to come out so easily. Although I always struggle with saying anything in Russian, when I testified at that moment I knew exactly what I should say and how to say it. it was amazing to be a mouthpiece for the Lord and to testify to this wonderful son of God of the truth of the restored gospel. I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven for helping me explain this wonderful truth that I have discovered for myself.

Game of Thrones (We did another escape room this week which was so fun. It was a real challenge but we beat it with 5 minutes left!)

We received transfers earlier this week and sadly Elder Prolo will be leaving this wonderful trio to go down to Moldova. Elder Whiting and I will continue to hold down the fort here in our area Nova D. He was wonderful to serve. we had some amazing times serving together this transfer. We worked so hard and had so much fun doing it. There's nothing more fun than working for the Lord and trying to do what he would have me do. Helping people become closer to their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the greatest work I could be a part of. I am constantly reminded that there is nothing more important than our relationship with our Savior. I had my interview with my mission president earlier this week, and I was reminded that our goal should be to make the Savior the focus of our lives. When he is our focus, everything else will fall into place. I would encourage you all to continue to work to place the Savior at the center in your life and continue to build your personal relationship with your dear Lord and Savior.

It's been a transfer of hard work and amazing miracles. I'm sad that it has come to an end, but I'm so excited for what the next transfer has in store.

I love you all so very much, and I hope that you all have a great week!