The Lord Sent a Friend on a Hard Day

Sorry that I missed last week, there honestly wasn't much that happened. We went to Kyiv twice, went on an exchange, and just tried our best to find some more people to teach. Didn't work out exactly the way that we wanted it to, but hey, that's just the way contacting is sometimes.

Me at this train station. I just like the way it looked. You can catch a train from here to basically anywhere in Eastern Europe. 

This week has been pretty much the same. Work is going a little slow, but that's alright. Gives me a lot of time to try and work on my contacting skills! I've been trying a lot of Book of Mormon contacting and just straight up church card contacting and just trying to get people talking but it's not doing too great. I'll keep experimenting and figuring out what I need to do.

One thing that was tough was the Ukranian Independence day. We didn't realize exactly how big of a deal it was going to be and put in some contacting time in the evening - big mistake. The streets were empty except for one park in the center of town which was PACKED with people. We tried to contact but nobody was stopping and we got yelled at once or twice for being Americans speaking Russian. Oh well, we try our best.

I really love the branch here. The people are just so fun. The church is so small here so it makes the entire branch one big family. It's so fun to feel their love and to show it back.

I was having a tough day Sunday morning and was so not excited for church. I was just so tired and not ready to have to interact with members and be the example I need to be. When I got to the church, one of the members said "Hey, I've got a surprise for you." I'm like "What?" cause this is super random. She takes me into the kitchen and one of my best friends from Kyiv is there, my man Yaroslav. I love him so much and it truly changed my whole day. He really came up to Chernigov to visit his girlfriend, a member in our ward named Lara (also a great friend). When he saw me he said "I came up here just for you!" and Lara responded "No you did not, you came up here for me." He said "Alright, alright..." and then turned to me and whispered: "We both know why I really came up here big boy." One of the funniest moments of my life and became one of the greatest days I've had on my mission. I know that the Lord is in the details of everything and is always looking out for us. D&C 121:7-9 are so true. I witnessed that just yesterday, in our hardest times, sometimes God gives us our friends to bear us up, fulfilling the truthfulness of verse 9 in that section.

Yaroslav in the center, one of the greatest friends that I've made on my mission, Lara, his girlfriend, on the left, and a random assortment of her siblings/nieces.

We visited Lara's family last Monday, the Shavekos. They were the first members here in Chernigov and used to hold sacrament meeting in their house. They wanted me to get on the trampoline but I was way too frightened.

While I was in Kyiv I had the chance to play more Gatorball on Monday, a weird mix of handball and soccer. This is my friend Bogdan Peshkov who is a member in my old area. He served in Salt Lake on his mission and we like to invite him even though he doesn't like to play.

Me with Elder Gale on the left side, my MTC companion and great friend, and Elder Hart on the right, an awesome missionary who just returned home. We were on the metro heading back from zone conference.

Anyways, I love you all. I know that the gospel is true and that the Lord is gathering Israel! It's a wonderful blessing to be a part of the process. I hope you all have a wonderful week.