One Wilding Week

May 6, 2019
This has been one wilding week, to say the least. It's probably been the fastest week of my mission so far just because it's gone by so quickly.

 A contacting activity we did with our sisters involving asking people why families are important. Makes contacting fun!

First things first, the week started off really strangely in the beginning. We had a bunch of black mold in one of our bathrooms (which is super bad for you. Like horrible.) so our landlord had to come over with his wife so that they could remove it. They wanted us to be there the whole time so about half of our Wednesday was wasted by some stupid mold. Felt pretty bad. He made us deep clean the kitchen the whole time, which was DISGUSTING. Missionaries have lived in that apartment for about 6 years now and let me be the first person to tell you - that kitchen absolutely looked like elders had lived in it for 6 years straight. We pulled out the counters and it was so disgusting behind it. So disgusting. He made me get in there and scrub that bad boy to kingdom come. Luckily he was really proud of me because I did such a good job. He's actually a really nice and funny guy so it wasn't too bad.

We had dinner with a few members this week and they're all just so amazing and so funny. One thing that I absolutely love is the humor of these amazing Ukrainian people. They are just so funny and so wonderful. It's truly amazing to see the wonderful bonds that are created around the world from people just desiring to come closer unto Christ. We have brothers and sisters everywhere! One of my favorite members in our ward,  брат Паша (Brother Pasha, who always calls me 'Elder Good Day') did some magic tricks for us and gave us some of the most amazing juice that I've ever had. On the other side of the spectrum, we had yet another Iranian party with one of our investigators and one of the sister's investigators. It's always so fun and they always love to hear the spiritual messages we've prepared for them. Our investigator gave us this Iranian drink and it was the absolute NASTIEST thing that I have ever tasted. He said it's a mix of water, yogurt, and lots of salt. So much salt. It tastes like the ocean mixed with rotten milk. He loves it, but wow, that made me really second guess Iranian food.

Something that was really funny was during Sunday our bishop asked to have a little spiritual thought right at the beginning of the second hour of church to talk about what we should say during testimony meeting. He said that when we talk about really complicated and strange church terms such as 'celestial room' or 'endowment' it's not great for investigators and can often make them confused and feel somewhat strange. He said that when we bear testimony it needs to be simple, concise, and just full of spiritual truth that the spirit can bear witness of like a missionary does. Then, he suddenly asked me to come up in front of everyone and bear my testimony to them as an example. He picked me because he knows that I can barely say anything, so the only thing that I can testify of is the most simple aspects of the gospel. (The thing is, I couldn't understand a thing of what he was saying, so everybody laughed that I didn't have a clue what was going on. I laughed too cause I figure it's better to laugh than to cry 😉) I bore my testimony and said what I could say and then the bishop gave me a huge hug. Needless to say, I love my ward so much. It's full of so many amazing people who are so strong in the gospel.

My exchange with Elder Read from American Fork where we ate some really good pie!

Another really cool thing we got to experience was our exchange into center Kyiv. It's like an entirely different city. It's nothing like the old Soviet concrete-block buildings that populate our area. It looks way more like a western-European city. It's so beautiful and there are so many foreigners who live there which makes it a very fun place to contact. For P-Day today something really fun we did is we visited this old Soviet statue which commemorates the birthplace of all the Slavic empires, the Motherland Monument. Underneath there is an AMAZING WW2 museum which our investigator, Ivan, wanted to show us. Absolutely a blast. (Also we ordered some tacos today to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Gotta do something to help us remember that America really exists somewhere out there.)

Motherlandstatue.jpg - The photo of us in front of the really famous statue. Really cool and super huge.

ukrainetank.jpg (and the other one) - A really cool tank painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. For some reason it's fine to play on them, so we took advantage!

This week my spiritual thought comes from what we can learn about the atonement through the Book of Mormon. As I explored the analogy of Lehi's dream more this week I thought about where the atonement of Jesus Christ comes in. I thought about how no one holds onto the iron rod perfectly. We all get lost in the mists of darkness at times. Luckily, our loving Heavenly Father has given us a way in which we can always return to the Iron Rod as if nothing had happened and that is true his wonderful son, Jesus Christ. Just as we have the Light of Christ in our own life, he is our light in those mists of darkness. Through his suffering, we can be forgiven of our sins and still be able to experience the fullness of the love of God. I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ and for his atonement and all that he has done for me. I would encourage you all to search for more knowledge of Jesus Christ and his wonderful sacrifice for us in the Book of Mormon as you read this week.

I know the Book of Mormon is true, I know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for each one of us, and I know that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us!

Have a wonderful week, I love you!