dear family and friends,

unfortunately, this email will be short because there is hardly anything new to report! no one would meet with us last week! everyone was busy or cancelled or said "lets do it another time!" it was one of those weeks. we still were effictive and had a good week.  we had a few lessons with members that need attention and one lesson with our investigator Janna-we started teaching the Plan of Salvation.  It's cool to see people's reactions as we answer questions, especially about what will happen after this life.  Sometimes it's hard to give answers to everything because we don't know everything, but we try our best and follow the spirit!

the highlights: we were tracting in a village last week, and this nice man that we had talked to the week before, let us in and showed us his garden.  it was a great garden and he was sooo proud of me that i knew the word for eggplant in russian! haha. unfortunately, his wife came out and was not very happy that we were there. she softened up a bit when we were talking to her cute grand-daughter, but an akward situation!  oh well.  so after that we were talking with this nice lady who was walking her small cow, and then a drunk guy came up and started talking to us in half ukranain and was very upset that we didn't know who "Phil" was.  we walked away from that, but he followed us all the way through this village! good thing we can walk faster than drunk people.  overall it was an interesting village day.  

last week we taught "advanced" english and we talked about fashion, and they loved it. it was wierd because it was all boys, so it was us 2 and 8 boys haha. but they are good sports and respectful.  here is a russian fact:  so in russian, you can do what i like to call "cutsie form" which means on the end of words, you can put "echka".  for example: thank you is "spaceeba" but in cutsie form, or endearing form its "spaceebechka".  so i like doing that because russians laugh and it is just funny. but apparently, if you "cutsie form" the word "lie"-not telling the truth, it actually just means "teaspoon". so one of the guys at english said something that i didn't believe, so i said "thats a lie!" (in russian using cutsie form), and the whole class busted up into laughter for about 10 minutes. they thought it was the most hilarious thing anyone could have ever said! i just felt kinda stupid but laughed with them and i learned my mistake real quick! haha i love blunders in another language.  also, a few people in our english class love watching the "I'm a Mormon" videos, and they ask me for suggestions every week, and they just love them.  If only they would just love to be a Mormon, instead of just watching about them haha.  

our week ended very strange. we had a lesson with an older woman in our branch that we just love, and she fed us at the end unexpectedly.  it was just potatoes and mystery meat, but it was really good, just a little greasy.  well my companion Sister Dickison had to get her gallbladder taken out in the mtc, and greasy foods upset her stomach now.  so saturday she started mentioning that her stomach was hurting really bad and she looked in a lot of pain, so we canceled our plans and went home.  poor thing, she threw up like all night! i felt so bad for her! it lasted the night and sunday we didn't even go to church, we just stayed home and she slept all day.  i'm glad it didn't last longer and everything is all good now.  but sometimes wierd things like that just happen and you just have to deal with it!  

well i want you all to know that the gospel is true and the plan of salvation is God's wonderful plan for us. it is such a blessing to have the knowledge we have and i love sharing it with people.  i'm thankful for all of you and your support, and my prayers are always with you!  i love you all dearly!!  

love, sister demille

                                      us out at night waiting for a lesson! like my new scarf?



                                                  just out in the wilderness in a village

family and friends,

it was another good week here! always full of surprises, ups and downs, and craziness, but good!  last week we had to do a LOT of registration.  to live here we have to have our visa, be registered in the country, in the city where we serve, and at our apartment.  it is such a long process and they just make it so difficult for us to be here. but i think it all was successful and we look forward to more registration soon haha.  

so this week we found 2 new investigators-one of them is a girl named Lena we contacted a while ago. We had a great lesson with her and she has 2 really cute daughters! She is interested and really liked us.  We also had a woman "passed" to us from the elders. her name is  Tonya and she is so funny and great! She just has a lot of interesting questions regarding why there are so many churches and all that.  I am just so grateful for the truth that we have and how clear it is.  Ludmilla is still doing awesome and we are continuing to prepare her for baptism!  

Yesterday Pres. and Sis. Van Bruggen were at church here.  It was so fun to see them and they both gave amazing talks.  Sis Van Bruggen talked about forgiveness and how we all need to forgive others.  She shared the example of Nephi and his brothers going back to Jerusalem to get Ishmael and his family.  On the way home, half of them wanted to go back to Jerusalem, and Nephi had to give his usual discourse of following the commandments.  We all know after that, that his brothers tried to kill him, but the cries of the women softened thier hearts.  They repented and asked for forgiveness, and Nephi FRANKLY forgave them.  There was no hesitation, no grudges.  After that it says that they went back to "the tent of their Father."  It really got me thinking that one day, we will all go back to the "tent of our father", in heaven of course.  Are we ready to do that? We never know when we will be called back to live with our Father.  I thought a lot about how so many people spend so much time holding on to things of the past that only result in anger, grudges, and a life of hurt.  I encourage you all to think to yourselves: "am I ready to go back to the tent of my Father?" if not, think of how you can get ready! Read Alma 5 and ask yourselves the same things Alma asks his people.  We just never know when our time on Earth will be over and with that in mind, we all need to prepare.  

of course, we always have funny experiences and meet interesting people.  We end up contacting a lot on the streets at night, and for some reason about every single person we talked to last week asked, "aren't you scared to be out here at night?" or said "girls, go home! it's not safe out here after dark." one guy said "i have talked to your spiritual brothers before and it's okay for them to be out at night. but talk to them and tell them that you can't be out at night. i very very much worry about you girls out here" and a lot of people give us the usual "it's not allowed for you to be out here at night girls!" haha we thought it was kind of ironically funny that everyone keeps telling us that.  we try to stay on well lit streets, but there aren't too many of those here in Nickolaiv haha.  i haven't really felt unsafe, but don't worry we will watch our backs.  one guy we met asked us if we had boyfriends waiting for us at home and was almost appalled when we told him we didn't. he was so worried about us and was like "hurry and go home and find husbands!" haha it was hilarious.  also i swear, we can never get the dress code right here. either we are not wearing enough clothes or we are wearing too much! Everyone always gets mad that we aren't wearing coats (even if it's not cold) but when we wear coats, they are like "girls, aren't you hot? it's not time for coats" hahaha. we just try to do our best and please the Babushki here!  We had a couple of close calls with marshutka accidents haha. no accidents occurred, but it's pretty intense when they are racing down roads and almost run into eachother.  the adventures of a missionary!  

well that's all i got for the week! time is flying by and my russian is improving which i am very grateful for.  i know the scriptures are true and they give us guidance in our lives. i am just simply grateful to serve the Lord and be an instrument in his hands.  i love you all and my prayers are with you!!

cectpa demille

Outside our apartment



family and friends,

I know you all already got to watch conference, but we got to this weekend and it was so good! I was amazed at how many very personal experiences were shared, but how they can have an impact on a wide variety of people.  I of course loved Elder Holland's talk about the apostles in Christ's time.  As I read the New Testament this last time, I thought the exact same thing--that the apostles were kind of like "children"--so young in the gospel. I found a new respect and love for the apostles back then because of the great faith and work that they had and did.  I also loved Elder Eyring's talk and Elder Bowen's talk.  Well, they were all good of course!  Anyway, it was a great experience.  We listened to it in English in one room, and the church members listened to it in Russian in another room.  I am grateful for the age change of missionaries and we anticipate that there will be a lot more missionaries!!  It's exciting.

Well, we had a really good week.  We found Ludmilla!! She finally answered her phone and explained that her and her husband had been fighting, so she moved out of there and in with her daughter and grand-daughter.  We had a great lesson with her and talked about baptism, and she will get baptized in a few weeks! (if all goes as planned of course!).  She is amazing! We met with her again later that week and she had finished the book of mormon (like we asked her to), but then started it over again because in her words "once is not enough!".  We taught her the law of chastity/word of wisdom, and she willingly agreed to follow both of the laws.  I remember about 3 weeks ago, sister johnson and I gave her a strength of youth pamphlet.  So when we started asking her if she had any problems with the word of wisdom, she was like "I read that brochure and I found out you don't drink coffee or tea, so I stopped and I haven't drank for a few weeks now."  I was so happy and so impressed!! She came to conference on sunday with her grand-daughter, and stayed both sessions and had a great time with the members! She is so prepared and so awesome! I feel like such a lucky missionary to teach someone this prepared. But we still have the responsibility of making sure she is prepared, and we are trying our hardest.  We also met with another woman for the second time, named Janna.  She is the one who used to kind of be athiest, and now believes in God. We taught her the Restoration and watched the movie with her. She thought it was very interesting and really liked it.  It was cool to see her reaction and she is such a nice lady.  Other than that, we are working a lot with the branch, and doing a LOT of finding.  Sometimes its rough, but we get through it.  We meet some good people like this girl named Lena that we met last week.  She told us she goes to church and she likes church and everything, but that the Bible isn't clear sometimes.  She wants to meet with us soon and I hope it works out!  The other night we were contacting on the street on our way home and we talked to this one guy and then his friend came up and was talking to us.  They were asking me why God doesn't protect them in their time of need, etc. and I was just testifying that God is always there for us, no matter what.  Then they just changed from being slightly argumentative, to calm and friendly. They even gave us the advice that "at this time of night you should not be on the streets, it is not permitted for you, it is dangerous out here!" haha it made us laugh and we went on our way home. 

The weather here has been crazy crazy.  Last week it was still warm, then we had a few rainy days and it was really cold! I even pulled out my pea coats and sweaters and boots and tights. Now all of the sudden today it feels like humid and warm.  It will get cold soon, and I will be prepared with all of my winter gear gathered.  I'm looking forward to the winter even though missionary work in the Winter is quite different. 

Well I love this work and this gospel! It's hard, but the thing that keeps me going is that I know the gospel is true, and it's as simple as that.  I know there is a special work to be done here in Ukraine and it's pretty great to be apart of it.  I thank you all for your support and prayers, I really feel the strength from them.  I love you all! Keep the Faith!!

cectpa demille

Looking out our apartment window

Sis. DeMille and Dickison ready to watch Conference 

dear fam and friends,

last week was so fun and went by so fast!! we got transfer news, and then we geared up to go to nepper last week. monday night we made a quick trip to Kherson and stayed there that night, then got up early on tuesday and went to nepper.  tuesday we met up with Sister Van Bruggen, then contacted around, got some food, and then went back to the Van Bruggens.  It was SO fun to be in nepper again! We hadn't been there for 6 months and it was so fun to see the city in the fall time..i had only seen it in winter!  We got to see a lot of the sisters and some elders we hadn't seen in awhile, and it was so fun.  We stayed in nepper from tuesday until friday morning, so we got to spend a lot of time there and spend time with the Van Bruggens.  They are amazing and my love for them grew a lot last week as i got to know them more.  It was such a good opportunity! President is so funny, he gave us coconut ice cream every night and did companionship study with us every day haha.  One morning he even gave us ice cream for breakfast, it was awesome!  So wednesday i was in a training meeting for awhile and it was just 6 elders and i haha.  We went and got some lunch together, and it reminded me of when i traveled over here with only elders.  Then later that day we got to meet our new companions and get to know them a little bit.  My new companion is Sister Dickison from West Jordan, UT.  She is awesome!! We have already settled in with each other and it will be a great companionship.  She is catching on quick and is such a trooper! I'm lucky to have a great companion!  We got to do a little tracting in Nepper and it was fun to be out in the country in nepper.  We also got to go to the "Welcome Party" for the new missionaries. One of the branches put it on, and it was so fun! They did a little skit, sang a few ukranian songs, and then fed us delicious Borsh.  Also, one day sis johnson and i were wandering around and we were hungry for dinner, so we got a Sharma...which is like a burrito kind of, but ukranian style and delicous.  Then we wanted a drink, so we went into this grocery store and we not only found drinks, but DONUTS!! I haven't had a donut since the MTC and it was sooooo good. The little precious things in life :)  then we sat down and ate that while we watched this guy play the violin in the main square..it was pretty perfect!!  Needless to say, the nepper trip was awesome and I learned so much.  We got back to Nickolaiv on Friday afternoon and got to work.  We did a lot of contacting this weekend and it was good, but tiring.  We found a new investigators that the elders gave to us, her name is Janna.  We had an awesome lesson with her! She told us before that she was kind of athiest, but after the lesson with us she told us that she really feels that God is her Father.  She came to church yesterday and liked it, and we made plans to meet again this weekend.  We haven't gotten ahold of our golden investigator Ludmilla which makes me kind of nervous (we can't lose her!!), but i hope and pray (a lot!) for her that we will get in contact with her soon.  We are going to be doing a lot of finding and hopefully we can find those who are searching for the truth.  We all heard about the conference news about changing the ages for missionaries, and we were all SO stoked!!! It's such an amazing time to be apart of the Lord's work and I hope there will be a lot more missionaries heading out.  I bet more missions will open up and we will see the prophecies come to pass that the word will spread forth to "every nation, kindred, and tongue".  The Lord's work is not easy, but I have learned more doing this work than I ever imagined.  We are so blessed and I owe my whole life to the gospel!  I hope you all enjoyed conference, we will get to watch it this weekend I think.  It's fun training again and it will be a good experience!  I love you all, the work moves forward, and the gospel is true!  LOVE

cectpa demille

friends and family, 

it was a good week, and transfers were surprising.  I'm staying in Nickolaiv..and training a new missionary!!  Sister Johnson is permanently moving to Kherson and will be there with an awesome sister.  Crazy!! I'm really surprised, i thought i was leaving for sure.  I very well could be here for the rest of my mission!  I'm excited and a little overwhelmed, but it will be good!! 

the updates:  so we met with our investigator Larissa in kherson and put her on baptismal date for the end of october.  who knew that meeting a nice old lady in a graveyard would end up wanting to get baptized!  she accepts everything and loves us, but we are a little questioning on if she really understands the seriousness of it. 

time will tell!! we had a miracle happen this week. so our "golden" investigator here in nickolaiv Ludmilla, has been MIA for the past few weeks.  but we stopped by and she was home, and told us how she had been sick-haha she says "i probably was sick because i must have done something disobedient to the gospel"-and she told us how she had been reading the conference ensign and such.  then she tells us how she went to her other church (it's called the new commadment or something) and she told us that she was sitting there and listening to the pastor, and realized that they weren't doing anything in accordance with the gospel. so then she thought to herself "i'm going to leave" haha and she left! and as she was leaving she told us "then i got a thought that said, you need to go to the church with the girls!" so then she asks, "can i come to church with you on sunday?" we of course said yes, and set a time to meet.  we stopped by another time later in the week but she wasn't home, so we were a little nervous for sunday morning. but we walked to her house, and she was waiting outside all ready to go!! and she brought her cute 5 year old grand-daughter with her! we almost cried, it was so amazing. and she loved church-took notes the whole time, commented, asked questions, and wasn't shy to get to know the members. and the members were great with her!! i have never had a church meeting with an investigator go so well.  we will probably set a date for baptism this week.  she is amazing!! i have never met someone more prepared than her.  it was such a tender mercy from the Lord and we were so happy.  sister johnson and I and 2 other girls from the branch sang a musical number "I am a child of God" and everyone loved it hahah.  

the work is moving forward and we are seeing blessings.  it will be a long road ahead of us with finding a lot more and searching for the elect, but I will try to do my best because the Lord has entrusted this part of His vineyard to us.  sometimes i don't know if i can do it or if this will be worth it or something, but the Lord qualifies who He calls and it's the last time that we will get to work in the "vineyard".  i love doing missionary work and preaching the gospel.  we get a lot of rejections every day, see sad things, but it's also wonderful and i know that it's an important work. i love you all and i'm thankful for your support!! i know the church is true and there is no other way in this life that we can obtain true happiness.  i love you all and the work moves forward!!

sister demille



Mama Luba and Amanda




Sis. J, Amanda, and Olga




Sis. J, Amanda, Olga, and Olga!!




The Shnirova Family



Vika and Amanda



The Branch Pres. and his Family



A cool Monument