4th of July in Ukraine

July 8

Me in front of the 'Motherland' statue

This was a really interesting week. Something really interesting that happened was we got smart phones! Pretty exciting. They definitely make the work a lot easier in some aspects, but right now the adjustment to it from a really old dumb phone is really weird. It's been kind of distracting needing to switch all of our contacts and trying to make sure everything works properly again so we can be effective, but we're trying our best. It's pretty interesting but once everything is figured out it will make everything so much easier.

Me and Elder Larson on a Ukrainian flag painted tank. Glory to Ukraine.

We had a super fun 4th of July celebration this last week. We went over to our Missionary Coordination Leader's house. He speaks perfect English and made us some of the most amazing burgers that I have ever had. Maybe it's just been being distanced from good, ol' fashioned, home made burgers for so long, but they tasted SO GOOD. Me and Elder Larson made brownies and ice cream and wow, I really felt like I was back in America for a minute. Felt pretty good. We shared a cool message with him about receiving revelation and then we were on our way! Back to contacting and inviting all to come unto Chirst!

Me being amazed by some amazing Soviet tanks

One of the funniest things that has happened recently was this family that we met. We were just contacting on the street and this man named Igor came up to us and said "Hey, there's these girls that live with me at my house. They don't do anything all day and are drug addicts. Come over and please teach them." At first I was so confused and really felt like that was probably the worst idea in the entire world. I was sure this guy would get us into his apartment, pull out a kitchen knife and then just demand all of our money. Elder Larson said "Yeah, sure." and in my head I was screaming "WHAT?!" but I said a silent prayer in my heart and felt like it was a good idea, so we would let the situation play out. We go in and these 3 girls are all just asleep on their bed. He starts waking them up and threating to pour water on their head if they don't start talking to us. It's all pretty funny and pretty strange. They're pretty cool people and really funny. They asked us to show where it was written in the Bible that they can't do drugs. We explained that it's not directly written that we can't do drugs, and then tried to explain some of the logic behind needing the Holy Ghost and how drugs deny us of that, but they weren't super interested. We decided to reschedule and come back later.

Elder Podoliako, one of the few natives in our mission, Elder Clifford, one of my good friends in our zone, and me. We had just gotten our smart phones and were challenged to make our 'biggest face'.

We came back a few days later and we had no idea how to get back to their apartment. Their apartment phone that we can call that would let us in the front door doesn't work, and we didn't get any of their numbers, so we didn't know what to do. We started just shouting their names at their open windows, but nobody came. We started to pick cherries off of a nearby tree and throw it at their window so they would come to it, but that didn't work either. A lot of people were now staring at us too so we decided to stop that. We just called their neighbor on the little apartment caller at the front door and said we needed to talk with "their neighbor, Igor." Miracle of the Lord, they let us in. We knock on their door - nothing. We knock again - nothing. We wait a little minute and they open the door. They were all completely asleep again. We talk to them for a while, decide that they're not ready for a lesson again, but instead just try to become friends with them for a few minutes. They're really funny and I really like them. We say that we'll come back again in a few days and they need to be ready! They're like OK, sure - give us something to read so that we'll be ready! I was so amazed that they were asking us to give them a commitment. I gave them a Book of Mormon and told them to read everything up to 1st Nephi. I really hope that something will pan out there.

Me and Elder Gale, my MTC companion, snagging a selfie together right after getting our smart phones.

Anyways, I love my mission so much. It's been such a fun experience. Even the difficult times have been some of the best times of my life. I love you so much, and I hope that you all have a wonderful week.