finally settled in (hopefully)

Dear friends and family, It was another busy week here in Kherson and Nickoliav.  We officially moved back to Nickolaiv into our new apartment.  It is big, pretty unique, and still great location, so we are happy.  We took a taxi last week from Kherson to Nickolaiv (the cities are an hour apart), and it was hilarious.  The elders were with us and we called the taxi and we threw everything in the car. I sat in the front seat and the driver reaches across me, all up in my business, and buckles me in my seatbelt haha muttering about how us girls need to be safe! I am just laughing and all red in the face and I look at the elders and they are just doubled over laughing.  Good times with taxi drivers! Last week besides moving, we met with a lot of less actives and got to know more members both in Nickoliav and in Kherson.  We witnessed a very interesting contrast one day.  We went to visit a less active named Olga, and another less active came for the lesson.  We shared Pres. Uchtdorf's message "You Matter to Him".  We started reading it and Olga just stops us after the part where he quotes Moses and says that man is nothing.  She is like "Moses is wrong and so is this Uchtdorf guy".....we were like what?? that offended my soul a little bit, you can't say that Moses is wrong, he is MOSES!!! And Pres. Uchtdorf is Pres. Uchtdorf and you can't say that he is wrong either!  Then Olga just went crazy!! She is like, how dare he call us nothing! Look at us, we are made out of molecules and all this junk and goes on and on.  So we take control and read a couple more paragraphs that explain what he means and she liked that, but kept going on about how they were wrong that man is nothing. Then the other less active, Larissa, is like telling Olga to calm down and explains how she feels about it which was great and right in line with where we wanted to go with the lesson.  But Olga just couldn't let it go and kept arguing.  Long story short, Olga told Larissa that basically she was nothing and junk like that, and Larissa left basically in tears, but told us that she was happy to meet us.  So we didn't offend her or do anything wrong, but the situation was bad.  Olga just kept going and tried to tell us why she was right and how Larissa was wrong.  We pretty much just got up and were like "well, thanks!" haha we were nice, but abrupt.  It was the craziest situation and we realized how far she was away from the light of Christ.  Later that day we went to an older woman in our branch.  Her name is Anna and everyone calls her Mama Anna.  She is so adorable and probably one of the best people I have ever met.  She saves up her pension (like social security money) every year so that she can go to the temple.  Her and another lady in our branch go together and they save up enough money to go for 5 days, and they work in the temple from morning until night.  They can only afford to go once a year for a week, and they look forward to that week all year.  The contrast of being with angry Olga to angel Mama Anna was so drastic! One place was empty of the spirit, the other was so full of the spirit, it was almost tangible.  I love the temple and I miss going to the temple so much, but I don't know if I could handle 5 days straight in the temple, it would be exhausting! But these people here who don't get to go to the temple a lot, cherish their time there and I am so blessed to be able to hear their experiences!  There are some very special people here that I am getting to know, and it is such a priviledge to associate with modern pioneers.  Other than that crazy day, it was a great week.  Last week was Sister Johnson's birthday, so we had a few celebrations for that, complete with the Russian version of "Happy Birthday"! They have the version of the normal birthday song, but then they have this extra one that is pretty hilarious and fantastic.  The elders even led their english class in a round of happy birthday for her haha.  It was great.  We are hoping that our situation here is permanent and that we can just focus on both branches like crazy.  There is so much work to be done, it's overwhelming, but I am grateful to do it and I know that we are supposed to be here in these 2 cities.  When we lived in Nickoliav the first time, there were these 3 Babushki that would sit on this bench outside our apartment and always talk to us.  We saw them again this weekend and they were stoked! They were like, "girls!!! you are back!! we thought you left but you are here again and we are so glad!!" haha it was so funny.  They made us give them the rundown of what has been happening lately. Gotta love little moments like that.  Another cool experience was that we found out that the branch in Nickoliav worked hard to get missionaries back in the city.  They decided that if they all learned the First Discussion (the restoration), they knew that the missionaries would come back.  So they all learned how to teach The Restoration, and then we found out the apartment was good to go.  I love seeing people exercise their faith!!   It truly is a wonderful time to serve the Lord and assist in the gathering of Israel.  I am so grateful for the Savior and His sacrifice for us so that we can go return to Heavenly Father.  We have to work everyday at overcoming our weaknesses, but it is worth it as the Lord helps us.  I am very grateful for your prayers and support.  Some days are really hard and I just tell myself to keep going, but sometimes I receive extra strength that comes out of nowhere, and I know it is from the prayers at home.  So thank you all!!! The gospel is true and it always, always will be.  Have a great week!! Cectpa DeMille