Blessings and humor

family and friends,   It was another eventful week in Nickolaiv!!  The work moves forward and we are blessed a lot spiritually, and a lot with humor everyday haha.  Here are a few stories:  So last week we had one long day of contacting on the streets.  People for the most part were not very nice.  Also we were fasting for one of our investigators and all the walking and heat almost took it out of us.  So we decided to break our fast in the late afternoon and grab a sprite and sit on a bench.  We found these benches by these apartment buildings.  We go to sit down and walk past these Babushki, and then sit down and both of us are praying.  The babushki just start calling for us to come over.  Long story short, it was one of the best hour-long conversations of my life haha.  One of them started telling us how she believes in the trinity, and sister johnson just started pulling out scriptures and talking to her about that.  So i just struck up a conversation with the other 2, and they were HILARIOUS! One of them had the funniest voice i have ever heard and the other one told me she has short term memory loss (it happens every 5 minutes, you know? she told me haha), and they loved us! They kept telling us to tell everyone that we know at home that we are such good girls and missionaries haha. They kept asking us about our parents and why we are in ukraine and all that, and when we left they wished us like 100 blessings (health being the most important, of course-as one of them said haha). The one babushka that was telling us about the trinity, changed her mind basically! Sister J pulled out all these scriptures and talked to her about it.  Basically it rocked the poor woman's universe.  She was like "you changed this bible, the words-you changed it!" haha we explained to her "no, this is a ukranian orthodox bible", and she was just distraught.  She was like "50 years I have thought God, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost were all one person..50 years...I can't believe I never knew that they weren't." haha and she loved us and wants to come to church "when it's not so hot because I have high blood pressure you know" haha.  Anyway, those babushki lifted my spirits and gave me a lot of good laughs.  Heavenly Father provides us with what we need, sometimes in strange, but wonderful ways.   A few more awesome things: So our investigator Vika (her parents are way against the church), is now on baptismal date for august 4th! We had a great lesson with her and brought Dasha (a member that is way good friends with vika), and dasha just basically told Vika if she had more faith and was more bold with her parents, she would get baptized.  So Vika agreed to tell her parents she was getting baptized on August 4th and that she was 18, this was her decision, and she would like their support.  She talked to them and they yelled at her and told her they would keep her home that day, but all of us still have a feeling/faith that it will all be okay and will work out.  We are so proud of Vika for talking to her parents, that was a huge step for her!  Also, there has been this girl coming to church who we thought was a member..turns out she's not! We talked to her and asked her if she wanted to take the lessons, and she said yes.  She is super down to earth and is really nice.  The Lord really is blessing us right now as we put forth our effort to preach the gospel and be more diligent.  I see the Lord's hand in this work everyday!  Last night we got invited by one of our investigator's to dinner at her river house.  It was awesome! We ate grilled veal, baked potatoes and onions, ice cream, and tea.  We also brought snickerdoodles and she loved them! She was like "can i have this recipe?" we told her of course, we would bring it to her next time. she was like "no i need it sooner. perhaps i will make these for breakfast in the morning." haha gotta love it.  Anyway, it was a beautiful night and it was sweet being close to nature.  We saw a swimming otter with cheese (i think) in it's mouth, a water snake, and the fishermen in speedos.  I love ukraine! I really love getting to know these people and working side by side with the members here to build/establish the kingdom in Ukraine.  It really is a priviledge to know these people, to see them grow in faith, and to be apart of building the kingdom.  I learn so much everyday and I am in awe of how blessed I am.  It's such a hard task, representing the Lord sometimes.  He was perfect, and I am far from it.  But I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to represent Him and try more to be like Him.  Yesterday we were walking down the street, and I saw this woman staggering towards us.  We have been advised not to help anyone that seems in major trouble or drunk or on drugs or anythings, because of liability reasons for the church.  But this woman looked pretty messed up. It was very depressing, honestly.  Her face was so swollen, blood was gushing from her mouth, she had no shoes, her eyes were purple, and she could barely walk. We can only guess what happened-whether it was her being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or she was a victim of something, I don't know. I wanted so bad to reach out to her and to help her and do as the Savior would do.  But I realize sometimes how these situations could turn bad.  But I thought to myself: How unfortunate it is that we live in a world, where you could be punished or get into really big trouble, for doing something good for someone else.  I was really sad and thought a lot about it, but I realized we can only do so much, and rely on the Lord for the rest.  There are many situations in life that are confusing, we don't know what to do or how to act, and many situations where we are faced with making a hard choice.  I am grateful for a Father in Heaven who hears and answers my prayers.  I can't serve everyone and do everything, but I can serve someone and do something.  Whether that is just smiling at someone, listening, sharing your testimony, or whatnot, we can all do something to make a difference in someone's life.  I have realized lately how much our actions affect others, good or bad.  I don't think we realize how much others watch us and pay attention, because we are different.  If anything, our Heavenly Father watches us and knows our doings.  I challenge you all to change.  Be kinder, act as the Savior would, and realize that as you do this you will be happier and more blessed.  I love this gospel and the power and purpose it brings into our lives.  I know life is hard and we are all faced with questions, like I was seeing that woman.  But God is fair. He sees us, He is aware of us, and His Son is pleading for us.  I love you all and am so grateful for you! Keep up the good fight, my prayers are always with you.  With love,   Cectpa DeMille