Sister Amanda DeMille

Dear friends and family,

This last week was great, busy, and I am glad its a new week. We found a couple of new investigators, keep moving forward with the ones we have, and it's all good here! The Elders here in Nickolaiv passed us this one investigator named Tamara, and her husband Alexander. I will describe Alexander's outfit: blue sweats all the way up to his bellybutton and they are tight at the ankles, a small wife beater tucked in (he put on a sweet button up later, also tucked in), 2 pairs of socks tucked into the sweats, and classy dress shoes. I wish I had a picture, but I'm gonna count on that he will wear it again sometime. It was awesome, to say the least! One of the elders had a little bit of a stuffy nose and Tamara insisted on putting his nose under this hot lamp for 8 minutes on each side. It was pretty hilarious, and didn't work all that well, which made it more hilarious!! They had like 1,000 kittens and we suggested maybe he was a little alergic to the kittens, so she threw them right out! Like literally, threw them. hahah it was so funny! We love her already. Alexander speaks in like all Ukranian, and he was impressed that I knew 5 words in Ukrainian haha.

We had a lesson with Luba this week in Kherson, and we introduced her to the Maxwell's. We went to get her, and we were telling her that we are going to take her with us to see them. She asked how old they were so I told her, and she just put her hand over her heart and said "I want to cry because they are old and are doing what you do". haha a few tears did stream down her face, and we took her along with us. We watched the Restoration and she loved it. It was actually pretty amazing, she told us that she has been searching for the true religion forever, and she felt like when the elders knocked on her door, that she had found it. We gave her this picture of Jesus, and she kissed it and I tried not to laugh. Everything she says is just hilarious and I love her so much! I promised her I would say hi to all my people in America for her, so Luba says hi! haha. She also told us how her daughter used to smoke and she was like "she was trash! but then she stopped, and wasn't trash anymore". She also told us that her daughter has a friend that is a millionare and she was glad that he helped her. She told the Maxwells that they couldn't tell anyone that though haha. She almost came to church yesterday, then I called her and asked if she was on her way and she told me her secret love Father George is sick, and he is laying on his back, she is sad because that is her future husband, and she needed to feed him goats milk. Maybe she will be able to make it next week haha.

We met with our "hippy" investigator named Irina. She really does look like she stepped out of the 60's haha. She has a lot of interesting ideas and has already investigated for 2 years, but we connect with her really well and she is starting to understand a lot more about the gospel. She had some major questions about polygamy, women can't hold the priesthood, etc, but she loved our answers to those and it was a great lesson. Plus it was in a beautiful park haha!

Also that woman we met in the graveyard last week, came to church!! She stayed all 3 hours and loved it. We had a little lesson with her after and she wants to meet more. She told us that she has sinnned a lot and that she needs forgiveness and asks for it everyday. It is interesting seeing how people want forgiveness and hang on to that hope that maybe they can be forgiven one day. It is a tool of satan to tell us we can't be forgiven. I am grateful that we know that we can be forgiven through a process God gave us, instead of just paying money or feeling lost. I love it! We had a lesson with a less active this week in Nickolaiv. She told us how she got baptized in 1995 by Elder Packer's grandson. It was in St. Petersburg, then she moved here to Nickolaiv and she was the first member of the church here. It was crazy to hear her story! Basically she told us she still follows all of the commandments, but is too lazy to do anything or to act on her knowledge. Many people might think this is fine, but not acting is a sin of omittence. I heard a analogy one time that I liked: There was an older couple who had been married in the temple, lived the gospel their whole lives, served God, raised their family in the gospel, etc. They decided they needed a break, so they just bought an RV and traveled around the country for the rest of their lives. They went to church when they had time, but weren't in a ward permanently. Time went on, and they both died and went to heaven. An angel showed them thier mansion in heaven, and it looked like a great mansion, but they walked inside and it was empty. It was beautiful from the outside, empty on the inside. They asked where all the furniture was, and they were told "when you stopped serving God, we stopped working as well". We talked to this less active about how acting is such an important part of the Gospel, and when we covenant with God at baptism, it is a life-long covenant. We will continue working with her, and I have high hopes she will come back.

We had a fun weekend! Another sister serving in Zap was traveling with the Van Bruggens to a baptism in Simferopol, then she came and spent the night with us in Nickolaiv. It was fun to have a guest haha! Then on Sunday, we went on splits. I went with that sister, and a member from our branch to Kherson, and Sis. Johnson stayed here with another member. It was a busy day, a great experience, awesome russian practice, but I missed Sis. Johsnon! haha we will probably do it more though, it's awesome for the members and it's nice to be in 2 places at once. A few more cool experiences: We were walking down this random street in Kherson, trying to take a short cut to the maxwells, and there is this guy working construction, and he just asked us for a Book of Mormon. He was so nice, was so excited to get a book, and gave us his number and everything. We would have never talked to him because we aren't allowed to approach people when they are working, but it was so cool he just wanted the Book of Mormon! He asked us how much it was and was ready to pay for it, and we told him it was free, he was happy! Also we bought some ice cream from this little stand, and the lady working there said the same thing, that she wanted the book and she was interested because it was about Christ. So we just handed it over and gave her our number and it was a great experience! Little things like that are so great as a missionary! Last thing-we finally got our new russian translation triple combos! They are so nice and it is such a blessing to have the new translation of the Book of Mormon, D&C, and Pearl of Great Price all together. Well this is long but I want you all to know that I love serving the Lord and we see miracles and blessings everyday! I love you!

Cectpa DeMille

this is what we call our pyramid. an easy way to keep track of investigators, topped with our egyptian pictures. sorry its far away, but it gives a good idea haha.