Week 2 in Ukraine: Lots of Contacting

Mon, Mar 18, 9:40 AM (2 days ago)

Me 'Slamming' with Elder Whiting, which is drinking milk through this super good Russian cookie and then eating it.

This was a week of contacting, contacting, contacting!
We set up lessons to have throughout the week with investigators, less actives, and investigators, and almost everything fell through, so that led to lots of days of just pure contacting. Needless to say, very... very... very fun. Honestly, it's really not that bad, the problem is just that I don't understand anything that anyone says to me, and they don't understand anything that I try to say back, but I'll keep working on it and eventually it will work out. Like it says in 1 Nephi 3:7:

"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no
commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may
accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

The Lord has commanded me to preach his gospel in Russian, so that's what I will do! Maybe not immediately, but eventually. I'll continue to work on it and I know the Lord will bless me.

Me and Elder Prolo at our book table

Something that was fun in our contacting this week - the book table! We set up this little table on a busy sidewalk and put a bunch of Book of Mormons on it and a bunch of pamphlets and just tried to get people to stop and take a look. I was having a really hard time getting anyone to stop because I can't really say anything, but I decided to just ask people walking by if they like to read. It actually worked! There was this one lady who was brushing us off and then as she was walking away I asked "Do you like to read?" and she turned around and became very interested in hearing more about it. I gave her a Restoration pamphlet and she was on her way. It felt great to be able to do something even with my limited vocabulary.

Me and Elder Whiting talking to a бабушка about the gospel

A great spiritual experience I had this week, Yesterday, we felt prompted to go visit this less active in our ward who lives in this very strange part of our area. It took us forever to get there, was very painful on my legs, and it was getting a bit late. When we finally got there, there was no answer at the door! So we decided to knock on the other doors nearby, and they were no answers there either. Instead of feeling super disappointed and that we had wasted our time, I felt proud of us for being willing to follow the Lord's promptings no matter what the circumstances were and felt peace from the Holy Ghost giving me a feeling that although we could not see the fruits of our efforts, we accomplished something. And now, the Lord knows He can trust us and knows that if we are given a prompting we will go.

I know that when we follow the promptings of the spirit, we will be blessed tremendously, even if we cannot see the effects of what we have done. As we try to seek to follow the spirit in our own lives, we will see miracles and will be on the path that the Lord has laid out for us, which is the best path. As we read the scriptures, say our prayers, and go to church, we open ourselves to that guidance from the Holy Ghost and his presence in our everyday lives. There is nothing more important than being able to receive revelation daily from the spirit, and I know that as we seek to do these things we will be blessed with that inspiration needed.

I love this gospel so much, and I'm so glad that I am able to share it in Ukraine! Love you all so much.

First Week in Ukraine

I have finally made it to Ukraine! And it is amazing. I love it here so much already. I am so grateful that I had the chance to serve in Denver. 

Me by a mural next to a fire station across the street from my apartment in Denver. Me and the firefighters were both 'serving' the same great people!

It was truly an amazing experience. 

Me, my companions, and my great zone leaders all together for one final picture in Denver.

(Ashton and Denver mission president President Savage at the Denver airport.)

After 30 hours of plane rides and layovers, I made it into Kyiv! I am in a trio again - with Elder Prolo from SoCal and Elder Whiting from Saratoga Springs. They are so funny and so fun to be around. I love them both so much already. We immediately headed over to our area which is on the west end of Kyiv. Our ward/area is called нова Дарниця (sounds like Nova Darn-eat-sya) and it feels just like a ward from home. The people are so nice and so fun to talk to, I just wish that I could understand anything that they say back to me hahaha. It's really difficult to understand sometimes because I honestly don't know if they're speaking Russian or Ukrainian to me. Western Ukraine is turning more and more Ukrainian only, so many more people are speaking Ukrainian and some even refuse to speak Russian. The very first person that I contacted on the street - we asked him if he believed in God and he says "Yes. I hate Russia though. Russia is the worst." I only know that because my companion told me, but hopefully, things will be alright and people will be nice enough to still talk to me even if they're not a fan of my language. The Lord called me to speak Russian here for a reason, and I'll be sure to find out that "why".

Me and my new companions, Elder Prolo on the left and Elder Whiting on the right.

Later in the week we went knocking for the first time in an apartment building. It was terrifying! Not because of talking to people or knocking on doors, but because the building looked straight out of a horror movie. The old soviet buildings here are really old and pretty sketchy, but they're fun too and the people were pretty nice. If someone isn't interested, they're not afraid to make it obvious haha.  At least it helps us not waste time.

Some inspiring words written in very broken English on the stairwell inside of the first apartment building I knocked in Ukraine.

One great spiritual moment from this week was during this lesson with this great man named Sergei. He takes some English classes here at the church that some of the missionaries offer and then after the class he meets with us to talk about the gospel. I barely understood anything in the lesson, but he asked me how I knew the Church of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon are true. I testified to him in the best Russian that I could muster that I know because whenever I read the Book of Mormon I can feel the spirit of the Holy Ghost and as I have read the Book of Mormon every day and sought after those blessings promised from the Lord, my life has improved so greatly and I have never had so much happiness, peace, and joy. I told him that if the Book of Mormon is true, which I know it is, then Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. If Joseph was a prophet, then this amazing Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. Amazingly enough, he understood! I was so grateful to my Father in Heaven for blessing me at that moment to be able to be a witness of his Son and of his true church restored upon the Earth. I know Jesus Christ lives, I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I love this gospel, and I am so excited for the chance to continue to share this gospel in Ukraine.

Me, the sisters serving in our ward, and some members helping prepare invitations for the ward party.

Love you all so much!

More from Elder Day in another email:

[My] Birthday was great! Went to this really tasty Mexican restaurant with my companions in Denver and the zone leaders. It was so hot I was almost crying but it tasted amazing. I really miss those Elders, but I love the Elders that I'm with now so so much. They're amazing.

The flight to Ukraine was pretty good. I gave away a couple of cards for the church, so that was really great! One was to this really cool teenager that lives in Minnesota and one was to this really cool fella who is an engineer from Louisiana. Whatever happens with them will happen, but it's super awesome that I was able to do that. It was my last time contacting in English, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and it seemed to have worked out. There are no coincidences in the work of the Lord, and that certainly wasn't either.

I have two new companions! I am in a trio again which is so much fun. Their names are Elder Prolo and Elder Whiting and they are so so awesome. I love them both a ton. Right now I'm really scared to talk to people and it's really hard too hahaha. I need to be braver and talk to more people, but it's hard when I feel like I cannot say anything or understand anything they say in response. I'll work on it though. As you said, I want to talk to people. I still do kind of have to force myself to talk to people a little bit, but that is mainly because I just don't feel like I can do anything. Again, I'll just keep working on it.

Whenever we're on one of the really tiny busses, I always try to sit/stand next to somebody and then I say "Hey, it's my first week in Ukraine. I'm studying Russian. Can we practice together?" (I say this in Russian of course) and every single time so far they've always said no.  Hahaha but that's OK, I'll keep on trying.

Ukraine is really really cool though. The air and the humidity here feel GOOD. I don't know why but it just feels really nice. Hopefully, after a while, it will help my skin out a lot.

The people here are really funny. You'll try to stop them so that you can say something to them and they'll just usually walk straight on by and pretend you never existed. Sometimes they do stop and then you tell them you're a missionary and then they decide to pretend they never saw you hahaha. It's all good though :) everything here is great! I'm really loving it. Super exciting place to be.

Goodbye Denver Colorado Mission

Ashton called us on Wednesday to tell us his visa came through and they are sending him to Ukraine on Monday, March 4.
Today I happened to get notified of some pictures he is in on Facebook from the Denver mission. Of course, I saved them all.

I'm guessing these are from when he arrived.

These are from a mission conference.

This one was dated as Feb 14 (Valentine's Day).

Week 4 in Denver and Protected from Crazy Druggies on the Bus

This week has been an amazing week! Nothing super noteworthy occurred, but it just feels amazing to be in the service of the Lord. There were two stories that were kind of interesting that happened.

The first one was on Thursday. We went into the home of a man who is a retired preacher. He said he was really interested in hearing about what we believe. It turned into my very first Bible bash! It was much, much less glorious than I ever thought it would be. It was terrible. My companions and I were really trying hard not to turn the situation into a bashing argument but he was pushing for it really, really hard. He kept asking us questions and then answering it himself with his own interpretation. My companions mentioned a couple of scriptures out of the Bible to kind of show him how we view things but he was not interested in what we think at all. It just turned into him trying to preach towards us. My companion, Elder McMullens said that we would come back later when we found some more answers to his questions and we peeled on out of there. As we were leaving I pointed to my Book of Mormon and promised him that if he read this book he would get an answer to all of his questions. Hopefully, the spirit will testify to him and that will be able to stick.

The second story is a little more strange and not super spiritual, but just kind of funny! There's this street in our area where all of the crazy people just stand and talk at the bus stops without ever getting on. We go to that stop to catch the train so we see some of these people often and I like to say hi to some of the friendly ones as we pass by. A few weeks ago, one of these regulars stopped us and said a bunch of really crazy stuff as he was smoking a joint. We told him we really had to keep moving so he just asked us to pray for him right there, so we said a prayer for him and his wife right there on the sidewalk. Whatever was necessary to keep on moving hahaha. The story continues with this man, as we were waiting for the bus in this same area again and I see this dude out of the corner of my eye. I don't really want to start another crazy and unproductive conversation with him, so I just pretend to not notice him. He definitely notices us though. He walks up to this guy right next to us and asks "Hey, wanna smoke a joint just to piss these guys off?" Gesturing towards us. I wanted to say that I really couldn't care less, but I decided it would be best not to mess with this dude. He then walks right up to us and tries to get me to trade coats with him. I say no and say that I really need my coat and that I really like it and he gets a little upset. He then gets on the bus with us and we decide if he's going to talk to us, we're at least going to change it to a gospel topic. We start talking about how Jesus and how he's blessed our life. He says that: "Jesus' love and example is the only thing holding me back from telling you I have a .357 in my bag and to give me all your money and everything will be alright." I couldn't tell if he was actually trying to rob us or just messing around, but it was a wild situation in general. He ended up getting off the bus really quickly after that and I was just so glad that I didn't have to explain to this dude that I actually don't have any money because I'm a missionary and I legitimately have almost no money. I don't think it would have come across well hahaha. I just thanked Heavenly Father for keeping us safe in this wild, wild world and for all the blessings that I've had in my life.

Speaking of being in a scary situation, something that really impressed me from the Book of Mormon this week comes from 3rd Nephi 4. At this point in the Book of Mormon, the Nephites and the Lamanites have come together in righteousness and have taken on the name of Nephites to fight against the Gadianton Robbers. The righteous people are really scared and are nervous that they won't be able to survive this upcoming war with the robbers, but they followed the prophet, repented of their sins, and were strengthened through the Lord. When they went to battle, 4:10 tells us what happens:

10 But in this thing they were disappointed, for the Nephites did not fear them; but they did fear their God and did supplicate him for protection; therefore, when the armies of Giddianhi did rush upon them they were prepared to meet them; yea, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them.  

When we follow the example of the Nephites and fear our God more than we fear other men, we will be strengthened by the Lord and be able to accomplish those righteous things that we need to accomplish. Sometimes doing what is right is hard. It's not always easy to make the right decision. And as I've been a missionary, sometimes it is really, really scary to do what is right and talk to someone who doesn't look too friendly or knock on the door of someone and not knowing if you're going to get yelled at. But when we fear the Lord more than we fear other men, we will have strength and we will be blessed just as the Nephites were. We have no need to fear those around us when we know that we have the Lord behind us. When we are studying the scriptures, obeying the commandments, and always trying our best to do what is right the Lord will always support us and we don't have to be afraid. I know that the Lord has strengthened me tremendously as a missionary and has made me more brave and confident than I could have ever been without his help. I promise that as we seek the Lord's help,  he will support us.

I love this gospel so much and I know that there is nothing in this world that will bring us more happiness and joy than by following the teachings of Jesus and having the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. I invite you all to continue to do what is right, continue to read the scriptures every day and continue to come unto Christ.

Love you all so very much! Hope you have a great week. :)

Week 3 in Denver and Getting to Call Home

This week was an amazing week filled with some amazing miracles and some great moments!

Me on a very very cold and windy day with the Denver skyline in the background. Sweet is the work.

One of the greatest things that ever happened so far on the mission is something that I'm sure everyone has already heard about - the ability to call home to talk to my family every single P-Day. What an amazing blessing. We were very lucky when we heard the news. The email came out while we were in a zone conference with Elder Nielson of the seventy who is on the missionary council for the church. He announced it to us a few minutes after the news came out and we were able to have a great discussion about it. It was amazing and full of fantastic insight from someone who was heavily involved in the change. One thing that really stood out to me during all of this was he told a story about how the missionary council was debating how long of a time limit they should put on the missionaries to be able to call home. When the idea of the time limit was presented to President Russel M. Nelson he responded simply with "Don't we trust them?" and so now we don't have a time limit. It was great to hear of how much confidence and trust that the prophet of God has in me and my calling, and that I need to continue to work hard of always being worthy of that trust. It also serves as a great reminder to always be obedient. As we go about everything we do in life we should always strive to be obedient and seek out ways in that we can improve how obedient we are. I know that when we try out best to improve and to follow the Lord better we will see tremendous blessings!

Me and one of my great new friends on the mission, Elder Olsen, taking a post zone conference picture.

One amazing miracle that I saw this week came through one of the people that we're teaching. We weren't sure when we should proceed next with her as she has been taught all of the lessons. We decided to pray and we came to the conclusion that we should put her on date [for baptism]. That seemed very challenging because while she had been taught everything, she didn't seem to have retained much and still had some worrying questions and misunderstandings. We followed this prompting with faith and put her on date for baptism. As we prepared for our next lesson with her I just couldn't help but feel so nervous and even sick to the stomach that maybe we did the wrong thing and that maybe we're pushing her too hard and too fast. I prayed for her so strongly and that we would see a miracle occur within her. As we went to the lesson and went over the baptism questions with her so she would be familiar with them it was so amazing. She testified so strongly of the simple truths that we had taught her and of the restored gospel on the Earth today. It was a miracle to me to see that when we follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost things will always turn out for us. I know that we can see these same miracles in our own lives. As we strive to follow the Holy Ghost and always listen to his promptings, no matter if they make sense to us or not, things will always work out for the better and we will be tremendously blessed for our faith.

Me and one of my companions, Elder McMullens, walking home at night during a heavy snowstorm. [Asthon told us on the phone today that he's had to borrow some hats from his Denver companions because he doesn't have any. He was told in his mission papers to not buy such items until he gets to the Ukraine. We may need to re-think that now that he's in Denver.]

I want to leave with a scripture that reminds me of the change that has come with the ability to call home on P-Days for missionaries. It comes from the story of Captain Moroni and his 2000 stripling warriors in Alma 56:47-48:
 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

These verses remind me of a very powerful quote that comes from President Harold B. Lee:

“The most important of the Lord’s work that you will ever do will be the work you do within the walls of your own home.”

This opportunity that has been given to us missionaries to call home on P-Day allows us to continue to serve as missionaries within our area as well as being able to be missionaries within the walls of our own homes. It is a chance to testify to our families of the power of Jesus Christ and his atonement, the Father's great plan that he has set for all of our children, as well as the ability to share the miracles that we have seen in the service to our God. Just as the stripling warriors knew of the truthfulness of the gospel through the missionary work that their mothers did within the walls of their homes, I as a missionary now have the chance to do the same. This is, however, a reminder to all of us that we can all be missionaries within our homes and to those around us. I promise that as we seek to help bring others to come unto Christ we will be blessed for our efforts. If we invite, then we get an A+ grade. It is up to everyone and their own agency to choose whether or not to accept. Always take peace in knowing that as you invite people you are receiving an A+ grade from the Lord. Continue to be a missionary to those around you and a light of the truthfulness of the gospel. I promise that as we seek missionary opportunities, they will be provided to us and we will be blessed tremendously for our efforts.

Love you all so much! Have a great week :)

Second Week in Denver

Mon, Feb 11, 2:54 PM (6 days ago)

This week has been amazing! The first week out here was such a challenge, getting adjusted to missionary life and everything, but this week has been full of amazing experiences and absolute joy. Missionary work is becoming fun! I didn't think that would happen, but I'm really enjoying being out here and helping people to come unto Christ.

This is Elder Hugie on the left, the funniest zone leader in the world. Then my companion Elder Barrick in the back, and then me.

One amazing thing that happened while I've been out here is the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Yesterday we went out to go talk to some less actives and past potentials in the area and to try and see if we could schedule some time that we could come over and visit. On our way to another person's door, I felt that we should turn around and head up to this small apartment complex and knock on some doors. As we did we found one person that was a member that wasn't on our list and wants us to come back and to talk, a man who was sick that day but really wants us to come back and hear about our message, and then when we were walking back down the timing was perfect. There was this woman who was walking up to her door and I said 'Hi! How are you doing?' And we started this little conversation. I eventually said that we're missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and she said that she knew! Her daughter used to take the lessons when they lived in Kansas and she said she thinks they would be really interested in meeting with us again. I was absolutely ecstatic. The spirit absolutely directed us to the right places that day and hopefully, we'll be able to capitalize on the experiences that we had with them.

One thing that's really funny about the area is the crazy people here hahaha. There's a certain bus stop in the area that always has a crowd of people at the stop but none of them ever get on - it's just the place where all the crazy people get together to hang out and smoke funky stuff that you can get in Colorado. The people are always, ALWAYS a little loopy and don't ever really make much sense when they talk to me. They do some really funny things though - the other day this lady was talking to this man who was trying to get her Medicaid or something, a very confusing conversation, and suddenly she just gets really angry, makes a triangle with her hands, and says "I am with the Illuminati! Submit yourself to our will or give up your soul!" The man just said "Nope. You can't do that. Only God has that power." the lady then turned around, began to walk briskly, and said, "That's it, I now have your soul." I was so surprised. I was struggling really, really hard not to laugh. It was just so absurd. Thankfully, I think that man is safe. Like he said, only God has that kind of power and the Illuminati is pretty powerless in this world.

I'd like to leave off with something that I have come to realize over the course of this mission. There is absolutely nothing that is more important in this world than the gospel. It brings so much joy into our lives and so much happiness and peace. I am so very grateful for the opportunity I have to spread this gospel with people and to invite them to come unto Christ. I want to leave you with a scripture that has been on my mind for the past week - 2nd Nephi 33:6. "  I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell."

I love this scripture so much. We can have the same relationship with Jesus that Nephi has, where he glorifies in his Jesus. As we seek to come unto Christ, we can glorify in our own Jesus too. Although it's the same Jesus for everyone, he atoned for us individually. He loves us all as individuals, and he knows us all by name. As we seek to come to know and to learn of Jesus, we too can glory in our very own Jesus. One great way that we can do that is through the Come Follow Me program. I would encourage you all to keep studying with it and receive revelation through its lessons.

Love you all so much. Have a great week!

старейшина Day

First Week in Denver

Denver is awesome! This has been one of the craziest and one of the most fun experiences I have ever had in my life. The area that I am in is so much fun. It's right outside of downtown Denver, and I even have the Broncos stadium in my area. The area is super, super diverse. It's in a poorer part of town. You also get some really crazy people on the bus and waiting at the bus stop with you. Sometimes it's a little scary when they start talking to you, but most of the time they're pretty nice, just a little strange.

Me on the steps of the church overlooking the Denver skyline.

One thing that has been so awesome - my ward is fantastic. There are so many cool members that I already love in our ward. They're amazing people. One thing that we're focusing on though is helping out the inactive members. Unfortunately the inactivity rate in my ward is really, really high but we have a new ward mission leader who is super motivated. We're all working very hard together to put a plan together to help out these people.

We haven't been able to give many lessons, people seem to be crazy busy around here and have strange schedules. One amazing experience though actually came from last night. It was right before we were going to head in, we wanted to go and knock on this door of a lady who was a past potential. She answered and let us in. She's a huge fan of the Bible so we were able to talk about that for a minute, and then the conversation started to turn over to prophets. I bore testimony that we have a prophet in our modern day and we told her the story of the restoration. It was very, very powerful. After the lesson we promised her that if she prayed about our message she would receive an answer. She seemed a little stand-offish, but hopefully it she prays about it sincerely. I know that this is the work of the Lord and I know that I have been placed here for a reason. I know that Heavenly Father is in the details of our lives and that as long as we are living righteously and obeying the commandments he will lead us down the path that will make us most happy.

Love y'all so very much! Hope you have a great week.

P.S.
One super funny thing about this area is Sunday nights. We call it "race night". All of the Mexicans come out with their super crazy rides and start racing down the straightest street in all of Denver, Federal Street, which is where our apartment is too. All night long on Sunday you just here cars racing each other down this road and cops pulling people over. Super funny. The cars are all super crazy too - most of them are ridiculously low riding trucks with some crazy paint jobs, some crazy rims, and some awesome undercarriage lights. Another awesome part is that whenever the street is a little empty and they have no one to race against they just start doing burnouts like crazy. Needless to say, this area is a little wild. Love it so much.