This week has been contacting mania for me and my companion! Seriously, crazy amounts. We only have one investigator and we're probably dropping him, so looks like "[CONTANCTING] IS BACK ON THE MENU, BOYS!" It's honestly pretty fun. We've been trying lots of new things to make contacting a little more interesting. This week we went against the cultural taboo and actually tried some serious amounts of tracting.

It was truly miracle after miracle. We were contacting past a building and we saw not just one, but TWO doors which were miraculously left slightly ajar. This is a big deal because if a door is closed there is no way you're getting in unless someone who lives there lets you in (which is so rare). The two doors just stuck out to me so strongly and I could not ignore the feeling that we needed to get in there. I took my companion and we prayed behind the building to know if we were truly being led there. We felt good about it, so we went in! Knocking is actually so much fun sometimes - something that I never believed I would ever say from my days back in Denver. We knocked the entirety of the first section - nothing. We then entered into the second door and kept knocking - nothing. Nobody interested. 

Even though not a single person was receptive to our message, it was one of the few times where I've truly felt like I was being led. I was just filled with happiness. I think it's just a testimony building experience for me that we can be happy even through trials if we remember our purpose and always remember our Father in Heaven's plan for us. It reminds me of the Lord's counsel to Joseph Smith in section 121 of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 7: 

"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;"

Even when we're going through difficult times, we can still feel peace and joy thanks to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even in the face of rejection time after time, I can honestly say that contacting this week was a blast. Those doors being open truly did lead us to someone ready to be taught the gospel, and that was me! One of the greatest blessings of a mission is how much you learn. My knocking on door after door after door is not going to convert any investigator to the gospel, but it will convert me, so I'm willing to continue to push forward trying to spread what is the most important and most valuable thing that we have in this world.

During a different contacting session we were able to find a man who was interested! We gave him a Book of Mormon and he gave us his number. It's our first number that we got this transfer, so we were so excited that my companion gave me a hug. Pretty fun moment. 

One other miracle that we experienced this week came through member work. We had a day where we had absolutely NOTHING planned in. We, admittedly, were not super excited to spend another entire day contacting so we tried to set up some lessons. It was amazing! 3 people were able to do it that very day. The lesson that stood out the most was the final lesson. We went to their apartment and began to talk about the Book of Mormon and our favorite verses. She had not been to church in a long time, but she still remembered her favorite verse, Ether 12:6. She asked us to share her favorite verses and my companion shared 1 Nephi 3:7. We testified to her that we know that God provides a plan for all of us to obey his commands. After she had read and we began to testify, she began to cry. It was such a spiritual moment. We'll continue to work with that wonderful small family and help them receive the full blessings of the gospel. 

Me explaining the Book of Mormon to Ukraine's most celebrated poet, Taras Shevchenko himself. He didn't give us his number though, but maybe next time.

Us eating with some of our homies from English practice after English practice. There's a place called L'viv Croissants which makes, you guessed it, some pretty great croissants.

Me take a picture next to a couple of old friends. We actually just found a bunch of really strange, cool wooden carvings in a park and decided to take a bunch of pictures with them. They were very cool but some were just weird.

Life in Chernigov would not be complete without riding a few cannons and enjoying the view.

This one got a lil' rodeo on me, but I kept him under control. Taming a cannon is hard business.

Anyways, love y'all! Have a great week.

BONUS PICTURE! Here I am inside of the oldest church in Chernigov. The Orthodox churches are extremely interesting - there's no places to sit, they're covered in icons of priests, candles are all around, and gold is everywhere. They're very fun to look at on P-Day.

It's been a crazy week! We ended up in Kyiv for more than half of the week due to a big zone activity last Monday, zone conference, interviews, and then a bomb scare on the Kyiv metro that prevented us from going home... needless to say, pretty eventful.

The zone activity was really fun. All the missionaries from the Kyiv East zone came in to play some games together, learn some cool things, and have the opportunity to contact a little bit with a new companion! It was very fun. I got to go out contacting with one of my good missionary friends Elder Maximo from Brazil. It's great to contact with new Elders because you learn new ways of contacting and always is a learning/teaching experience. We also played some volleyball in which I only ripped a single pair of pants... my favorite pair too. It was OK though because it wasn't bad enough that anyone would notice. Still pretty sad moment for me and my pants, but that's OK, I've bought new pants and I have moved on now and he's in a better place.

Me and Elder Huntsman on an exchange in the big square in center Chernigov

Zone conference was so amazing. President Kumferman gave this incredible presentation about the atonement. Every time I learn more about the atonement I also learn how much I don't know about it. It is truly the most amazing and most important event to have ever occurred. I am so glad that Jesus Christ was willing to, strong enough, and worthy enough to complete the atonement for us. He came to this Earth and did everything that the Father asked of him. Truly the greatest example that we could ever have.

Interviews were wonderful as always! I love going to the Kumferman's house. I get to play Ticket to Ride and eat amazing food! I love the Kumferman's so much.

Us on our ride back to Chernigov. Needless to say, we were all a little tired. 

When we got back to Chernigov things were going CRAZY. Saturday was Chernigov Day and they were setting up so much stuff in preparation. Once Saturday finally came Chernigov was probably the most exciting place to be in in the whole world. There was a huge stage set up, multiple outside bazaars fulls of cool little goodies, and tons of food and people. Also there were these really cool marching bands from different cities in Ukraine, so we watched some of that for a minute after we gave up on contacting (just because it was so busy and hectic and no one was interested in talking during all the commotion). Overall it was super cool and really fun to see the whole cultural event happening!

One of the marching bands getting ready to head out. The marching bands all just played a ton of Bon Jovi and some Michael Jackson and Greenday. Basically just a ton of American music. Needless to say, I was a bit surprised. Pleasantly surprised though. 

Me and Elder Goethals standing near where they had a huge performance with the marching bands with hundreds of spectators.

Sunday there was this huge marathon event that lots of people participated in which unfortunately led to the closer of lots of roads, meaning that the buses weren't running the normal routes which resulted in lots of people not being able to make it to church :( still was a great Sunday though!

All of the preparations for the marathon, starting in the center square of Chernigov.

One thing that was also really amazing - the new Book of Mormon video! It was so good. If you haven't watched it you have to go and check it out. I just want to say that I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that there is so much to gain from reading from it. Every day when I start my personal study, the first thing I do is open up my study journal and make a place to write the personal inspiration I want to receive from my reading that day.  I have found that once I have set up that expectation the Lord just pours out amazing inspiration. When we open the scriptures hoping to receive something the Lord always delivers. I love personal study and I am so grateful for the chance I have to share the Book of Mormon with people.

Bogdan, this cool kid who we contacted. I was talking to someone else and he just walked up to me and waited. After I talked to that lady I turned to him and he thought we were cool so he wanted to walk around with us. After talking and walking to him for a while he wanted a selfie before we went. Cool kid.

Love you all so much, have a great week.

This huge pizza we all ate together. Says it's for '8' people. We proved that wrong pretty easily.

Старейшина Дэй

We missed our bus but the Book of Mormon is still true.

This very old church right across the street from where our church is located. It's very beautiful and very cool. The fountain lights up at night.

This has been one crazy week! We got transfer texts and I'll be staying here for another transfer. I'm really excited about that. We're also going to have 4 elders in this city now! Me and my companion will be with missionaries new to the area, so they're splitting our companionship.

Me and Elder Pincock cooking one of the greatest meals that a missionary could eat - rice, beans, and chicken.

A random picture Elder Pincock got of me as I brush my teeth - this thing I am holding is buckwheat milk. He thinks it's terrible, but I like it. Basically like almond milk, just very different, and very Ukrainian.

It'll be great to have more missionaries here so that we can do more work. The Lord is gathering Israel and we're so lucky to be a part of this wonderful work!

There's this kind of cool, old bridge around where we live. People around there are kind of grumpy when you contact them though.

Something that was really hard but was a great lesson to learn happened on Thursday. We were trying to go out into the country to visit some less-active member's on their dacha (basically their little farming summer-home). We got to the bus stop and we waited and we waited and the bus never came by. The bus only comes around once an hour, so we were very concerned that maybe we had missed it for some strange reason. We decided that if we caught the next one we would still be fine and all would work out. The safest bet, we decided, would be to hurry off to the bus depot where we could catch the next one right from the start. Right before we got there, we saw the bus we needed leaving. We chased after it and tried to do everything we could but nothing worked. It left without us. Pretty sad. We were both extremely disappointed. To make matters worse, the lesson we had scheduled later in the day then called us and informed us that he had to cancel too. We just went from a day full of things to do to nothing. We were a pretty sad bunch. It was a great opportunity to learn to be happy through everything and helped us realize that the Lord has a plan for us. Random things happened through the day that allowed us to accomplish a lot of work and to have a very productive day. It was a great learning experience (even if I would be glad to never need to go through it again.)

Me just standing on some really strange, very sketchy sidewalk. 

Lots of contacting, lots of working, lots of things to do! I am so grateful to be in the service of our God.

One of the large parks here in Chernigov with a very old church in the background.

It's so comforting to read the Book of Mormon. At times when the mission is hard and I need some extra motivation, I know that I can always look towards the Book of Mormon for help. It has so much power. The cute little primary song "Scripture Power" is a real thing! I promise. And if you want that same sort of power in your own life, just open the Book of Mormon and allow it to strengthen you.

I love you all so much.

Salo: The most amazing raw bacon you've ever tasted

This has truly been a week of miracles. Some of the coolest things that have happened on my mission this week happened.

Igor on the left and Vlad on the right.

We met these awesome guys, Igor and Vadim. They work with this organization here in Chernigov and in other cities in Ukraine where they teach kids the dangers of drugs and alcohol and the importance of family. They doing some really amazing work and are really impressed with our message too, considering they have similar themes. They've talked to some missionaries in the past and aren't really interested in changing what they're doing, but it was really nice to see that there are other people out there spreading wonderful messages. Really brightened my day.

We met some amazing new people to teach this week. One is this teenager who goes by Viktor because no one here can pronounce his actual name. He speaks Korean, Russian, Ukrainian, and English, so clearly there's something or two that I can learn from this guy. He is an absolute miracle and proof that the Lord is doing his work in gathering Israel. He got into contact with a different missionary, who got him in contact with us. He said that he's already read the whole Book of Mormon, knows it is true, and is really desirous to meet with us. We've had a lesson over Skype (because he's currently travelling) and it went really well. We're so excited to keep working with him.

Some amazing borscht and salo at my favorite restaurant here in Chernigov. Salo is this really strange thing - it's basically salted raw bacon. It's incredibly tasty and is one of my favorite things. I know it may sound gross, but take my word for it, it's incredible. 

Two people came to church this last week who we're teaching - first time this transfer. I think it might have surprised some of the branch members that we actually are working super hard up here. One used to go to church when he was super young with his grandfather in a different country and was really surprised to see that the church is here too! I wasn't shy to mention that maybe it's a sign that he finds the church everywhere he goes... He came to church and we're going to be meeting later this week.

The other man that came is really interesting. The first time he came to church we actually thought he was a member! We found out when he came to our English Practice that he's actually not baptized, just very interested in the church. He went to the Kyiv open house a long time ago and has been interested in the church on and off since then. We had a lesson with him where he mentioned that he really needs to pray and find out if the Book of Mormon is true. We testified to him super strongly that he will get his answer and reaffirmed this knowledge. He said he will read and pray and then we will discuss baptism soon! We're happy to be a part of finding his path through life.

Me in front of our building. It's a pretty cool one. Cute color. I'm a fan. 

A mission is HARD. It is unquestionably the hardest thing that I have done in my life, but it is the most wonderful thing that I have been a part of. I'm so glad to be a part of this work. When it's hard, I'm often reminded of Matthew 11:

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Whenever I'm having a hard time, I just pray and ask my Heavenly Father to give me strength through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus lives, I know that he is our Savior, and I know that this is his work.

I love you all, I hope you have a great week!

Me and my companion tried this different Ukrainian restaurant today (I just love eating at Ukrainian places.) and they gave me this soup. I don't remember what it was called, but it's got potatoes, carrots, and meat. They warned me, saying that this one is super spicy. Nothing. Ukrainians are super sensitive to spicy foods because they just don't really have that kind of thing in their diet, so things that are just normal to us can be incredibly spicy to them. Still tasted really great though.