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| just elder muridian being himself |
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| our stupid door won't open when it gets too cold |
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| just some back country of zap, i think it kinda looks like the Seam from hunger games |
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| HAPPY BIRTHDAY! daddy gram and baby monroe |
Monday, January 30, 2012
pictures!!
ice and laughs
Dear everyone,
Last week was a good week. Not as hard as the week before, and full of surprises. Last week was transfers and lo and behold, our whole district is staying together in Zap. The surprise is that the elders switched companions. haha it was really funny when we got transfer texts, all of us just looked at each other and thought, can that be right? It was strange, but they are getting along fine. We are excited for this transfer and we are getting a lot of blessings. Next transfer is going to be crazy. I don't think Sister Clark and I will be together..:( but we will see, we always try to guess transfers and we are always wrong. And it's not for another 6 weeks, so it's great!!
So yesterday I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting...yikes! It was like 15 minutes long, full of bad Russian, but overall it went okay. People are so funny here! In my talk i was talking about how sometimes its difficult to stand up for what we believe in. I was expressing that, and everyone was just like nodding their heads and a few were like "of course!" "i agree!" haha it's so funny. and I said a word wrong, and like 5 people out loud just corrected me haha i love it, it's great. When I was finished, I was walking back to my seat and everyone was like "thank you!" and a few ladies were like "we didn't understand everything, but God helps us understand" haha i love it. they are hilarious here.
It has been FREEZING! More so than last week. It was at least -13 C everyday, probably with a windchill of like -47 haha. It's probably not that cold in Farenheit, but the wind and the ice...oh it's so cold. But, I am surviving and it's bearable for the most part. I haven't fallen yet, but I slip a whole lot on the ice. They don't use salt here or anything, they just throw dirt on the sidewalks over the ice. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't haha. Gotta love ukraine. We called a couple of people last week to see if they could meet, and both of them were like "it's too cold! i'm not coming outside!" haha one less active sweet babushka that we love, we called her, and she was like "girls, i can't come to you it's too cold!" and we were like "no, babushka we will come to your apartment!" and she was like "no, girls! stay inside and rest. you need to do that so you won't get sick." haha i love it. they shoud be used to this weather, but no. haha it's just so funny.
Our investigators are all doing better. We focused our lessons last week on the importance of the Book of Mormom, testimony and how put it all together and stuff. Lydia and Igor look a lot better and we moved their baptismal date to the end of Feb. We got a surprise new investigator, that was an investigator like 2 years ago with the sisters here. She was like "i want to get baptized but i can't pay tithing!" we had 2 lessons with her and went over the baptismal interview questions, talked about tithing, and set a baptismal date for Feb. 11. haha, a miracle. We hope it works out and she is just the cutest lady. We are getting more contacts, referrals, and getting ahold of more less actives that need to come back. It is great.
Russian is coming along..I am getting faster at reading, and cruising through the Book of Mormon. We are promised as missionaries that if we read the Book of Mormon in our assigned language that our language skills will dramatically increase..i'm definitely putting that to the test haha. I just finished the Book of Mormon again last week (in english of course) and I am starting over. It's amazing how much we can learn from it. I have about 200 pages left in Jesus the Christ, and wow I love that book. James E Talmage is one of my new heroes. It is inspiring to learn so much about Christ and His life.
Missionary work is good and we are learning so much everyday. It is like we are stretched as far as we can go sometimes, and stretched more. Sometimes I think "this is a hard thing that the Lord has asked" then I rebuke myself and repent haha. It's an interesting process and cycle. I am really trying to focus/learn all that I can this transfer so that if I need to train next tranfer, then I will be able to haha. Well, I am grateful for this gospel and the opportunity to share it. I'm grateful for warm clothes, good food (because a lot of food here is wierd), and great friends and family. I love you all!! The gospel is true!
Cectpa DeMille
Last week was a good week. Not as hard as the week before, and full of surprises. Last week was transfers and lo and behold, our whole district is staying together in Zap. The surprise is that the elders switched companions. haha it was really funny when we got transfer texts, all of us just looked at each other and thought, can that be right? It was strange, but they are getting along fine. We are excited for this transfer and we are getting a lot of blessings. Next transfer is going to be crazy. I don't think Sister Clark and I will be together..:( but we will see, we always try to guess transfers and we are always wrong. And it's not for another 6 weeks, so it's great!!
So yesterday I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting...yikes! It was like 15 minutes long, full of bad Russian, but overall it went okay. People are so funny here! In my talk i was talking about how sometimes its difficult to stand up for what we believe in. I was expressing that, and everyone was just like nodding their heads and a few were like "of course!" "i agree!" haha it's so funny. and I said a word wrong, and like 5 people out loud just corrected me haha i love it, it's great. When I was finished, I was walking back to my seat and everyone was like "thank you!" and a few ladies were like "we didn't understand everything, but God helps us understand" haha i love it. they are hilarious here.
It has been FREEZING! More so than last week. It was at least -13 C everyday, probably with a windchill of like -47 haha. It's probably not that cold in Farenheit, but the wind and the ice...oh it's so cold. But, I am surviving and it's bearable for the most part. I haven't fallen yet, but I slip a whole lot on the ice. They don't use salt here or anything, they just throw dirt on the sidewalks over the ice. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't haha. Gotta love ukraine. We called a couple of people last week to see if they could meet, and both of them were like "it's too cold! i'm not coming outside!" haha one less active sweet babushka that we love, we called her, and she was like "girls, i can't come to you it's too cold!" and we were like "no, babushka we will come to your apartment!" and she was like "no, girls! stay inside and rest. you need to do that so you won't get sick." haha i love it. they shoud be used to this weather, but no. haha it's just so funny.
Our investigators are all doing better. We focused our lessons last week on the importance of the Book of Mormom, testimony and how put it all together and stuff. Lydia and Igor look a lot better and we moved their baptismal date to the end of Feb. We got a surprise new investigator, that was an investigator like 2 years ago with the sisters here. She was like "i want to get baptized but i can't pay tithing!" we had 2 lessons with her and went over the baptismal interview questions, talked about tithing, and set a baptismal date for Feb. 11. haha, a miracle. We hope it works out and she is just the cutest lady. We are getting more contacts, referrals, and getting ahold of more less actives that need to come back. It is great.
Russian is coming along..I am getting faster at reading, and cruising through the Book of Mormon. We are promised as missionaries that if we read the Book of Mormon in our assigned language that our language skills will dramatically increase..i'm definitely putting that to the test haha. I just finished the Book of Mormon again last week (in english of course) and I am starting over. It's amazing how much we can learn from it. I have about 200 pages left in Jesus the Christ, and wow I love that book. James E Talmage is one of my new heroes. It is inspiring to learn so much about Christ and His life.
Missionary work is good and we are learning so much everyday. It is like we are stretched as far as we can go sometimes, and stretched more. Sometimes I think "this is a hard thing that the Lord has asked" then I rebuke myself and repent haha. It's an interesting process and cycle. I am really trying to focus/learn all that I can this transfer so that if I need to train next tranfer, then I will be able to haha. Well, I am grateful for this gospel and the opportunity to share it. I'm grateful for warm clothes, good food (because a lot of food here is wierd), and great friends and family. I love you all!! The gospel is true!
Cectpa DeMille
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Pictures!!
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| the most awkward pic ever, but that's at babushka krivyets house (the one who casts out satan and prays for money) and that is her christmas decorations. sweet huh? i knew meg would dig the cats picture |
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| the forest with snow |
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| me and sis c after a lesson just waiting for the babushka to make us some tea haha |
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| a random tree still with leaves |
the snow
Dear friends and family,
This last week was full of ups and downs, challenging, great, and full of snow. We love the work here in Zap, but at times it can get a little depressing. Our investigators Lydia and Igor are just really struggling. Lydia seems like she is actually progressing a lot and her faith is growing, but Igor is doubting God and doesn't want to come to church or pray. It is great to see Lydia step up and encourage Igor, but she is sad because he is doubting. We had a really depressing lesson with them last week where we just went over the same issues about authority and all that, and Igor was just doubting and angry. But we also had a good lesson with them later that week and we shared Presiden't Uchtdorf's message "You matter to him". It was good, Igor actually prayed for us, and they came to church on Sunday, so we just are surprised about things sometimes. We met with our Babushka investigator and talked about baptism. She is doing solid on reading and praying, but she is soo stubborn when it comes to talking about baptism and coming to church. But she loves us anyway and tells us to come back. I hope she softens up a little bit haha. We had a couple of great lessons with a few less-actives, and it's always interesting to hear their perspectives on everything. I am finding more and more that the Ukranian people here are very conscious and emotional. A lot of the less actives are just scared to come back because they are worried about what other people will think and they never feel like they are worthy to come back. A lot of people have just simply been offended and don't want to come back. It's all relative and we just keep working with them. We met with our investigators Irena and Nickolai, and they are so funny. We had a great lesson with them the week before and talked about temples, eternal families, and work for the dead. This week they had a lot of questions about it and we answered all of them and had a good lesson. But after they are like "girls, thank you so much. you answered all of our questions! and we understood almost everything you said! but we will need a break now because this is a lot of information and we are very busy with work." we were like...oh..okay? haha so interesting. They are great, just interesting haha. Like I said, our lives here are full of ups and downs.
So it is pretty cold now. It snowed almost everyday, and it gets pretty cold. The wind is the worst...ohhh, the wind. It's pretty awful. But good thing I like to wear at least 3 layers and sometimes put hand warmers in my boots! Oh big news for all russian speakers, the first presidency of the church sent us an email saying that they just finished the Triple Combo for scriptures in Russian, and a new copy of the Book of Mormon. YES!!! we are all overjoyed. The copy of the BOM we have right now isn't all correct with grammar and doesn't get the meaning across sometimes. So we are very happy about that. It has been a long time coming. they have triple combos in ukranian and armenian..but russian has taken awhile haha. but everything is good here. Missionary work and being a missionary is just a whirlwhind of emotions constantly. It has been the lonliest, best, happiest, most depressing, hardest, and most rewarding 5 months of my life haha. We are here to "invite people to come unto Christ" and that is what we do. Whether we are contacting, meeting with investigators, less actives, members, and acquaintances, it is what we do. We try to always remember who we represent and the work that we have been called to do. Russian is definitely the hardest thing I have ever attempted to do, but it is slowly coming along and I feel like I am speaking better and understanding more. Sometimes its hard to convey how I feel about the gospel even in english, and sometimes in Russian it is nearly impossible. Good thing we have the spirit haha. Well i love you all, the work is hard and great, and i am surviving the winter thus far. Everyone says its supposed to be "spring" this week and all the snow will melt but who knows haha. Well the gospel is true, the work is moving forward, and we are happy. I love you all, you are always in my prayers, and I thank you for your support and prayers. LOVE,
cectpa demille
This last week was full of ups and downs, challenging, great, and full of snow. We love the work here in Zap, but at times it can get a little depressing. Our investigators Lydia and Igor are just really struggling. Lydia seems like she is actually progressing a lot and her faith is growing, but Igor is doubting God and doesn't want to come to church or pray. It is great to see Lydia step up and encourage Igor, but she is sad because he is doubting. We had a really depressing lesson with them last week where we just went over the same issues about authority and all that, and Igor was just doubting and angry. But we also had a good lesson with them later that week and we shared Presiden't Uchtdorf's message "You matter to him". It was good, Igor actually prayed for us, and they came to church on Sunday, so we just are surprised about things sometimes. We met with our Babushka investigator and talked about baptism. She is doing solid on reading and praying, but she is soo stubborn when it comes to talking about baptism and coming to church. But she loves us anyway and tells us to come back. I hope she softens up a little bit haha. We had a couple of great lessons with a few less-actives, and it's always interesting to hear their perspectives on everything. I am finding more and more that the Ukranian people here are very conscious and emotional. A lot of the less actives are just scared to come back because they are worried about what other people will think and they never feel like they are worthy to come back. A lot of people have just simply been offended and don't want to come back. It's all relative and we just keep working with them. We met with our investigators Irena and Nickolai, and they are so funny. We had a great lesson with them the week before and talked about temples, eternal families, and work for the dead. This week they had a lot of questions about it and we answered all of them and had a good lesson. But after they are like "girls, thank you so much. you answered all of our questions! and we understood almost everything you said! but we will need a break now because this is a lot of information and we are very busy with work." we were like...oh..okay? haha so interesting. They are great, just interesting haha. Like I said, our lives here are full of ups and downs.
So it is pretty cold now. It snowed almost everyday, and it gets pretty cold. The wind is the worst...ohhh, the wind. It's pretty awful. But good thing I like to wear at least 3 layers and sometimes put hand warmers in my boots! Oh big news for all russian speakers, the first presidency of the church sent us an email saying that they just finished the Triple Combo for scriptures in Russian, and a new copy of the Book of Mormon. YES!!! we are all overjoyed. The copy of the BOM we have right now isn't all correct with grammar and doesn't get the meaning across sometimes. So we are very happy about that. It has been a long time coming. they have triple combos in ukranian and armenian..but russian has taken awhile haha. but everything is good here. Missionary work and being a missionary is just a whirlwhind of emotions constantly. It has been the lonliest, best, happiest, most depressing, hardest, and most rewarding 5 months of my life haha. We are here to "invite people to come unto Christ" and that is what we do. Whether we are contacting, meeting with investigators, less actives, members, and acquaintances, it is what we do. We try to always remember who we represent and the work that we have been called to do. Russian is definitely the hardest thing I have ever attempted to do, but it is slowly coming along and I feel like I am speaking better and understanding more. Sometimes its hard to convey how I feel about the gospel even in english, and sometimes in Russian it is nearly impossible. Good thing we have the spirit haha. Well i love you all, the work is hard and great, and i am surviving the winter thus far. Everyone says its supposed to be "spring" this week and all the snow will melt but who knows haha. Well the gospel is true, the work is moving forward, and we are happy. I love you all, you are always in my prayers, and I thank you for your support and prayers. LOVE,
cectpa demille
Monday, January 16, 2012
miracles
Family and Friends,
The weeks are starting to go by faster and it seems like yesterday that I just wrote. This week was amazing and we truly are seeing miracles here in Zap. It's interesting as I read Jesus the Christ and study the scriptures, there are miracles everywhere. Physical and spiritual miracles. As missionaries we get a front row seat for amazing spiritual miracles, and occassionally phyisical miracles. I love this work!!!
Our investigators are slowly progressing, and we are seeing truly where their desires are. Lydia and Igor are having some serious financial problems (something about some credit they owe) and they are really worried about it. Let's just say Igor hasn't been keeping the word of wisdom, and Lydia is worried day and night about him and their problems. So we went over there last week on Wednesday and she told us all about it and even cried to us. We didn't know what to say or do, then all of the sudden we started talking about the law of the fast, when we had originally planned to teach tithing (ironic, huh?). We bore testimony of what fasting can do, and she immediately understood what it was all about. We told her we would fast with her, and she was glad. We fasted the next day with her and we talked to her a few days later and both her and Igor were fasting. We had another lesson with them on Saturday, and we brought a new member named Alexander. It was such a good lesson, the spirit was so strong. Somehow the spirit worked through me and I talked a lot and threw it down to Igor that he needs to change or else God won't bless them. It felt so good, my language skills are growing slowly but surely. We have peace that everything will be okay with them, and we made it very clear to them that they need to change and repent and follow the commandments and be baptized.
Let's just say last Wednesday was the best day on my mission thus far. We taught Lydia, then we went to this lesson with the elders for a contact they received. This lesson was pretty funny, this lady is an opera singer and she just immediately clicked with the missionaries and just loves us haha. She calles us "her girls" haha. She pretty much asked us about our ancestors, why we are here, and sang us like 5 songs, then we invited her to church and she accepted. She was happy that we sing hymns at church haha. She came yesterday, and we are meeting with her this week sometime.
Then we taught this Babushka that night. Babushka is Luda's mom and Lea's grandmother (2 wonderful members in our branch, they are like the Gilmore Girls of Zap). So Babushka is usually not interested in anything we have to say, but the last time we were over there we gave her some scriptures to read and last week she said she read them and liked them. So we gave a lesson about the brother of jared and about his faith, and Babushka liked it. We gave her like 4 verses to read in the Book of Mormon, and she said she would read them. We were helping Lea with some english after the lesson, and all of the sudden Babushka was like, "girls, you need to give me more scriptures to read, I have already read all these!" so we gave her more verses, and she was like "No, give me a lot to read!" so we assigned her some chapters and she was happy. She hugged and kissed us goodbye and was so happy and wants us to come back. It was truly a miracle, missionaries have been working with Babushka forever.
We also had a few lessons with some less actives that were super spiritual and great. We taught FHE about prophets last week and it was also really great. Life as a missionary is up and down, but always worth it. I am so lucky that I get to witness people accept Christ into their lives and change and follow him. It is amazing to witness people pray for the first time, or read a verse of scripture that touches them. It's hard to see people's trials and how much satan can drag them down, but it's wonderful to know how to help them. Last week was our most successful week number wise, and the best week of the mission thus far. We are being so blessed here, and we are striving to be worthy of those blessings. Sister Clark and I are constantly evauluating what we could do better and how we can change more to become better missionaries. It is beyond great. I am so happy, I love you all, the gospel is the best news to be sharing, and life is great. A side note-there is finally snow, and I think it is here to stay...but I think I will survive. It's actually pretty with snow. I love you all!!!!
Cectpa DeMille
The weeks are starting to go by faster and it seems like yesterday that I just wrote. This week was amazing and we truly are seeing miracles here in Zap. It's interesting as I read Jesus the Christ and study the scriptures, there are miracles everywhere. Physical and spiritual miracles. As missionaries we get a front row seat for amazing spiritual miracles, and occassionally phyisical miracles. I love this work!!!
Our investigators are slowly progressing, and we are seeing truly where their desires are. Lydia and Igor are having some serious financial problems (something about some credit they owe) and they are really worried about it. Let's just say Igor hasn't been keeping the word of wisdom, and Lydia is worried day and night about him and their problems. So we went over there last week on Wednesday and she told us all about it and even cried to us. We didn't know what to say or do, then all of the sudden we started talking about the law of the fast, when we had originally planned to teach tithing (ironic, huh?). We bore testimony of what fasting can do, and she immediately understood what it was all about. We told her we would fast with her, and she was glad. We fasted the next day with her and we talked to her a few days later and both her and Igor were fasting. We had another lesson with them on Saturday, and we brought a new member named Alexander. It was such a good lesson, the spirit was so strong. Somehow the spirit worked through me and I talked a lot and threw it down to Igor that he needs to change or else God won't bless them. It felt so good, my language skills are growing slowly but surely. We have peace that everything will be okay with them, and we made it very clear to them that they need to change and repent and follow the commandments and be baptized.
Let's just say last Wednesday was the best day on my mission thus far. We taught Lydia, then we went to this lesson with the elders for a contact they received. This lesson was pretty funny, this lady is an opera singer and she just immediately clicked with the missionaries and just loves us haha. She calles us "her girls" haha. She pretty much asked us about our ancestors, why we are here, and sang us like 5 songs, then we invited her to church and she accepted. She was happy that we sing hymns at church haha. She came yesterday, and we are meeting with her this week sometime.
Then we taught this Babushka that night. Babushka is Luda's mom and Lea's grandmother (2 wonderful members in our branch, they are like the Gilmore Girls of Zap). So Babushka is usually not interested in anything we have to say, but the last time we were over there we gave her some scriptures to read and last week she said she read them and liked them. So we gave a lesson about the brother of jared and about his faith, and Babushka liked it. We gave her like 4 verses to read in the Book of Mormon, and she said she would read them. We were helping Lea with some english after the lesson, and all of the sudden Babushka was like, "girls, you need to give me more scriptures to read, I have already read all these!" so we gave her more verses, and she was like "No, give me a lot to read!" so we assigned her some chapters and she was happy. She hugged and kissed us goodbye and was so happy and wants us to come back. It was truly a miracle, missionaries have been working with Babushka forever.
We also had a few lessons with some less actives that were super spiritual and great. We taught FHE about prophets last week and it was also really great. Life as a missionary is up and down, but always worth it. I am so lucky that I get to witness people accept Christ into their lives and change and follow him. It is amazing to witness people pray for the first time, or read a verse of scripture that touches them. It's hard to see people's trials and how much satan can drag them down, but it's wonderful to know how to help them. Last week was our most successful week number wise, and the best week of the mission thus far. We are being so blessed here, and we are striving to be worthy of those blessings. Sister Clark and I are constantly evauluating what we could do better and how we can change more to become better missionaries. It is beyond great. I am so happy, I love you all, the gospel is the best news to be sharing, and life is great. A side note-there is finally snow, and I think it is here to stay...but I think I will survive. It's actually pretty with snow. I love you all!!!!
Cectpa DeMille
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Anteaters and visas
Family and Friends,
I hope you all got over the holidays and are back to real life. Ukraine has not only 1 but 2 Christmases, and 2 New Years as well. haha they just looove to celebrate as much as they can. We had to ask around and clarify all the holidays, but here is what we got out of it. The first Christmas for them is Dec 31, so it's combined with New Years as well. I think one of their traditions is kids will dress up in costumes...kind of like our halloween, so really its like 3 holidays combined in 1. The second christmas is the Provoslovnic Christmas (provoslovnic is like the biggest religion here, it's Russian Orthodox). and then they celebrate one more new years and they call it the "old new years" and it has something to do with the soviet union haha. Anyway, that's the rundown on the holidays here. What's wierd though is that it feels like spring here! It was FREEZING right before christmas, snowed right after christmas, was still cold, the snow melted, it snowed again like a week and a half ago, that snow melted, and now it feels like spring. It has been raining on and off a little bit, but it's not super cold. I mean it's definitely not warm, but not freezing like it was. Strange. I have a feeling it will just dump snow on us one day and we will freeze, but who knows.
So this past week was good, life as a missionary is always interesting. A few highlights: so our investigators Lydia and Igor are doing so good, so we are just teaching them all of the commandments to prepare them for baptism. Last week we taught the law of chastity, prayer, and scripture study haha. So we taught the law of chastity and they were pretty silent and accepting the whole time, then at the end we asked them if they would live the law of chastity, and they both just started laughing sooo hard! haha and Igor was like "she's like 70 years old!!!" and we all just kinda started laughing and we were like "well...will you live the law of chastity?" haha more laughter, then they both said yes. haha it was sooo funny. So wednesday was interesting, Pres. Nielsen and Sis. Nielsen came to Zap to do interviews, and i'm just hanging out with sister nielsen while sister clark is in the interview with president, and i get a phone call from the mission office. It was our visa coordinator guy named Vova, and vova was like "oh sister demille! i'm calling to tell you to come to Nepper tomorrow, the police would like to see you. bring your passport and passport pictures." haha i was like "um..ok, see you in Nepper tomorrow." so we do interviews, go buy bus tickets to go to Nepper, go get passport pictures, and it was a crazy day. So we went to Nepper thursday bright and early, meet up with some other missionaries, then go meet Vova to go to the registration office. Turns out that we didn't even need to be there, Vova just took our passports and took care of it. so we went back to the mission office and waited to make sure we didn't need to make an appearance at the registration office. we made spaghetti and hung out with the office elders and the best senior couple Elder/Sister Merril. Then Vova calls and says that we can go, so we go to the bus station and go back to Zap. haha it was so random and so funny. Apparently they are having tons of problems with getting us registered and there are lots of problems with our visas. President told us it is "harder than it has ever been" to get our visas straightened out. Who knows!! we just do our work and when we get a phone call we do whatever we need to haha.
The rest of the week was busy as always and full of good lessons and good people. We are working hard and having a blast. Today we went to the circus! yes..the circus haha. It was like a new years/christmas special thing, and it was hilarious. It included an Anteater pushing a Cat in a toy truck, bears doing handstands, monkeys riding on llamas, and lots of strange dances. Let's just say ukraine is interesting with their performances haha. This week should be busy and good as always, we are working as much and as hard with we can with our investigators, and working on ways to find more investigators. I have been crusing my way through the Book of Mormon again, and I am amazed that I learn something new everytime I read it and how it applies to our life in this generation. I also have been studying Jesus the Christ a lot and learning so much about Christ's life. James E Talmage is brilliant. We are soo blessed to have the gospel!! I feel lucky to be able to share it, even though it is hard. Our branch is improving and we have seen some love and light come back into the branch. I am grateful for the support I receive from all of you, and we are trying our hardest to shed some love and change lives here in the dark part of the world. I am grateful for the scriptures and how much they can help us. I love all of you, and don't worry, i'm not freezing to death! I love you all!!
Cectpa DeMille
I hope you all got over the holidays and are back to real life. Ukraine has not only 1 but 2 Christmases, and 2 New Years as well. haha they just looove to celebrate as much as they can. We had to ask around and clarify all the holidays, but here is what we got out of it. The first Christmas for them is Dec 31, so it's combined with New Years as well. I think one of their traditions is kids will dress up in costumes...kind of like our halloween, so really its like 3 holidays combined in 1. The second christmas is the Provoslovnic Christmas (provoslovnic is like the biggest religion here, it's Russian Orthodox). and then they celebrate one more new years and they call it the "old new years" and it has something to do with the soviet union haha. Anyway, that's the rundown on the holidays here. What's wierd though is that it feels like spring here! It was FREEZING right before christmas, snowed right after christmas, was still cold, the snow melted, it snowed again like a week and a half ago, that snow melted, and now it feels like spring. It has been raining on and off a little bit, but it's not super cold. I mean it's definitely not warm, but not freezing like it was. Strange. I have a feeling it will just dump snow on us one day and we will freeze, but who knows.
So this past week was good, life as a missionary is always interesting. A few highlights: so our investigators Lydia and Igor are doing so good, so we are just teaching them all of the commandments to prepare them for baptism. Last week we taught the law of chastity, prayer, and scripture study haha. So we taught the law of chastity and they were pretty silent and accepting the whole time, then at the end we asked them if they would live the law of chastity, and they both just started laughing sooo hard! haha and Igor was like "she's like 70 years old!!!" and we all just kinda started laughing and we were like "well...will you live the law of chastity?" haha more laughter, then they both said yes. haha it was sooo funny. So wednesday was interesting, Pres. Nielsen and Sis. Nielsen came to Zap to do interviews, and i'm just hanging out with sister nielsen while sister clark is in the interview with president, and i get a phone call from the mission office. It was our visa coordinator guy named Vova, and vova was like "oh sister demille! i'm calling to tell you to come to Nepper tomorrow, the police would like to see you. bring your passport and passport pictures." haha i was like "um..ok, see you in Nepper tomorrow." so we do interviews, go buy bus tickets to go to Nepper, go get passport pictures, and it was a crazy day. So we went to Nepper thursday bright and early, meet up with some other missionaries, then go meet Vova to go to the registration office. Turns out that we didn't even need to be there, Vova just took our passports and took care of it. so we went back to the mission office and waited to make sure we didn't need to make an appearance at the registration office. we made spaghetti and hung out with the office elders and the best senior couple Elder/Sister Merril. Then Vova calls and says that we can go, so we go to the bus station and go back to Zap. haha it was so random and so funny. Apparently they are having tons of problems with getting us registered and there are lots of problems with our visas. President told us it is "harder than it has ever been" to get our visas straightened out. Who knows!! we just do our work and when we get a phone call we do whatever we need to haha.
The rest of the week was busy as always and full of good lessons and good people. We are working hard and having a blast. Today we went to the circus! yes..the circus haha. It was like a new years/christmas special thing, and it was hilarious. It included an Anteater pushing a Cat in a toy truck, bears doing handstands, monkeys riding on llamas, and lots of strange dances. Let's just say ukraine is interesting with their performances haha. This week should be busy and good as always, we are working as much and as hard with we can with our investigators, and working on ways to find more investigators. I have been crusing my way through the Book of Mormon again, and I am amazed that I learn something new everytime I read it and how it applies to our life in this generation. I also have been studying Jesus the Christ a lot and learning so much about Christ's life. James E Talmage is brilliant. We are soo blessed to have the gospel!! I feel lucky to be able to share it, even though it is hard. Our branch is improving and we have seen some love and light come back into the branch. I am grateful for the support I receive from all of you, and we are trying our hardest to shed some love and change lives here in the dark part of the world. I am grateful for the scriptures and how much they can help us. I love all of you, and don't worry, i'm not freezing to death! I love you all!!
Cectpa DeMille
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
pictures!!
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| my favorite spot of the forest in zap |
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| sister clark and i |
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| a kind of bad picture, but the food at a new years party |
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| sister clark and i - cheers! |
Monday, January 2, 2012
the new year
Dear family and friends,
We are having a blast here in Zap for the new year. Christmas came and gone and so did New Years. We thought no one would want to meet with us last week because new years here is like the biggest holiday ever, but we were busy and happy as always. Saturday we actually got permission from our mission president to go to a little get together that a few people were having at our branch president's apartment. So we got there at 2 and stayed for about 3 hours and had ukranian food and fun and it was awesome. Yesterday we only had one hour of church and then came home and hung out. Overall it was a really good holiday season here in ukraine and we are having fun and working hard.
We met with a lot of less actives and people who just needed some encouragement. One of my favorite lessons we had last week was with a lady named Anja. She is totally active in the church, but she is just sick a lot and doesn't make it to church every week. She has a friend that she wants us to teach, so we went over there to meet with her and her friend, but her friend couldn't make it. So we decided to share something from the Liahona with her and we shared "It is better to look up" by Elder Cook ( i think). We read it with her and she started crying and she was like "Girls, i have read this whole liahona but i didn't listen to this article. Thank you for coming over and sharing this with me so i could listen to it again. I needed this" It was so great and she is absolutely adorable. It is amazing to listen to what people need and follow the spirit and help them.
We had a couple of discouraging moments last week, one with a Babushka who is just really kinda stubborn. Her daughter and granddaughter are so amazing and incredible examples to us. They are really solid in the church and are really incredible people. Babushka just won't come to church and isn't interested or something, so it's hard to try and help people like that who won't help themselves. After our message her daughter Luda was walking us outside and told us that her and her daughter Lea, are figuring out ways that they can be more worthy to receive blessings from Heavenly Father to help our branch and Babushka. I wish we could all have attitudes like Lea and Luda.
We are still working with our investigators and helping them progress as much as we can help them. Free agency is the greatest blessing from Heavenly Father, but can be a little frustrating at times as a missionary haha. We are doing great though and we have high aspirations for this branch here and we are trying to make it more unified. I love being a missionary, even with all of the hardships. The Lord is really blessing us as we are trying to do as much as we can here. I promise you all that Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and He knows how we feel, we just need to ask for His help. It is a great time to be alive and to help the work of the gospel move forth. I love you all and thank you for your support!
Cectpa DeMille
We are having a blast here in Zap for the new year. Christmas came and gone and so did New Years. We thought no one would want to meet with us last week because new years here is like the biggest holiday ever, but we were busy and happy as always. Saturday we actually got permission from our mission president to go to a little get together that a few people were having at our branch president's apartment. So we got there at 2 and stayed for about 3 hours and had ukranian food and fun and it was awesome. Yesterday we only had one hour of church and then came home and hung out. Overall it was a really good holiday season here in ukraine and we are having fun and working hard.
We met with a lot of less actives and people who just needed some encouragement. One of my favorite lessons we had last week was with a lady named Anja. She is totally active in the church, but she is just sick a lot and doesn't make it to church every week. She has a friend that she wants us to teach, so we went over there to meet with her and her friend, but her friend couldn't make it. So we decided to share something from the Liahona with her and we shared "It is better to look up" by Elder Cook ( i think). We read it with her and she started crying and she was like "Girls, i have read this whole liahona but i didn't listen to this article. Thank you for coming over and sharing this with me so i could listen to it again. I needed this" It was so great and she is absolutely adorable. It is amazing to listen to what people need and follow the spirit and help them.
We had a couple of discouraging moments last week, one with a Babushka who is just really kinda stubborn. Her daughter and granddaughter are so amazing and incredible examples to us. They are really solid in the church and are really incredible people. Babushka just won't come to church and isn't interested or something, so it's hard to try and help people like that who won't help themselves. After our message her daughter Luda was walking us outside and told us that her and her daughter Lea, are figuring out ways that they can be more worthy to receive blessings from Heavenly Father to help our branch and Babushka. I wish we could all have attitudes like Lea and Luda.
We are still working with our investigators and helping them progress as much as we can help them. Free agency is the greatest blessing from Heavenly Father, but can be a little frustrating at times as a missionary haha. We are doing great though and we have high aspirations for this branch here and we are trying to make it more unified. I love being a missionary, even with all of the hardships. The Lord is really blessing us as we are trying to do as much as we can here. I promise you all that Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and He knows how we feel, we just need to ask for His help. It is a great time to be alive and to help the work of the gospel move forth. I love you all and thank you for your support!
Cectpa DeMille
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