pics

zoopark

front gates!

just me sitting on a hippo

us in the bird cage! it was weird haha

changes, zoo, and rain!

family and friends!

As always, it was another busy week here in Ukraine.  I will start out with a few funny stories.  So we are on a marshutka (like a bus van thing, public transportation) and i'm sitting on the end, and this lady keeps trying to like scoot next to me and stand by me, and it's getting annoying.  So all the sudden she like taps my leg and motions for me to scoot over, then tried to sit on my lap!! haha then she did the same thing to the guy in front of me. we laughed so hard!! I love drunk people at 9 in the morning.  On a different way on our way home from Kherson, we ended up on this marshutka with a bunch of drunk people.  They were all talking about/singing Barbara Streissand and doing all these crazy dance moves.  I laughed so hard, and they were very entertaining! Then a Backstreet Boys song came on, and we definitely enjoyed that! After we get off the marshutka, we see this couple.  The guy is dressed in all mustard yellow (seriously, he was colonel mustard with perfectly waxed eyebrows), and he is just hilarious to watch.  Him and his girlfriend just start making out, then she accidentally stepped on his foot so they stop, and he like rolls his eyes, pulls out a wet-wipe, and cleans off his perfectly white shoes.  Apparently that's not cool to step on his white shoes!  I love moments that just make you laugh and smile, it makes everything better!! You will all be pleased to know that this morning we went to the Zoopark!! I saluted the bald eagle in honor of the best holiday this week, was in awe of the 3 tigers i saw, and tried not to be worried that the door was open to the giant alligator cage...  It wasn't like an american zoo, but it was pretty great and we had a blast!!

So we always have lunch at district meeting and eat a lot of food. So we had district meeting, then we had a lesson with a member in Kherson.  We go over to her house and she is just busy cooking in the kitchen.  You basically just can't say no to food here, so we sit down and had feast number 2 for the day.  It was really good food, but oh man i thought i was going to throw up if i took one more bite.  Then she talked for like almost 2 hours straight and it was painful to listen because i was so full! I just have to sit and pray silently in those kind of situations haha.  We also have been helping this woman named Mamma Anna teach another member, Marina, the lessons to go to the temple.  Mamma Anna is very passionate about the temple, and is taking it upon herself to make sure Marina is ready haha.  But i really am so grateful for temples that dot the world, and for members who are worthy and willing to go do work in the temple.  I love the temple and miss it!!  We had a great experience with a less active woman (Luba) here in Nickolaiv.  We have been meeting with her and she has become more and more active, and we just love her.  So she has this man (Yuri) and his wife renting a room from her, and she invited him to listen to our lesson with her.  It was such a great lesson!! Luba taught so well and her testimony was so strong about the restoration! She quoted scriptures, bore strong testimony of how the church is true, and how the restoration makes sense.  We wrote down every principle from the restoration and listed blessings that she has recognized in her life under each principle.  It was a great visual way to show her the blessings that she has, and it was interactive.  Yuri was very interested and responsive, and told us he would pray about our message.  We hope to go back soon and meet with him and his wife! We have been trying to call this woman from the area book named Anna, and we have talked a lot, just never met her yet.  So i see this woman at church yesterday and ask her her name and stuff, and she was like "I'm anna!! we have talked a lot on the phone!" so we just laughed and after church we met with her and got to know her.  She LOVED church and commented on how good she felt.  She wants to meet with us on wednesday, and it was refreshing to talk to someone so nice and so eager to learn.  The Lord is blessing us and it's so special to see His hand in this work.  

Pres./Sis. Nielsen left last week, and now we have a new president, Pres./Sis. Van Bruggen.  We are having a little meeting as a district with him tomorrow, so that will be good to meet him! We are nervous, but excited.  This week will be busy.  We have to go to Kherson tomorrow for our conference with the new mission pres., go to kherson again on wednesday for interviews with the new president, go to kherson thursday for district meeting, and back to kherson on sunday for church.  Traveling back and forth is a lot of time and tiring, but we love both cities.  Last week it rained a lot here in Nickolaiv (unlike utah unfortunately!), and it was SOO nice!! It cooled it down quite a bit, and the weather was great. Now it is hot again, but it's all good.  I have been reading the New Testament, and I am currently in Luke.  I am so grateful for the Bible! I know a lot of "plan and precious truths" are taken from it, but without the Bible we would not have the stories and miracles from Christ's life here on Earth.  He truly was the perfect teacher, example, and the most perfect person that ever lived.  I love reading about the parables and the miracles.  How truly blessed we are to know of our Savior and have a personal relationship with him.  There are so many people who don't know of Christ, or if they do, might not have a personal relationship with Him.  I am so thankful for the knowledge we have and that through Christ, we can become better every day!  I was also reading in Mosiah this morning about Abinadi, and how truly brave he was.  He, along with many others, sacrificed his life for the work of the gospel.  I love the scriptures and I encourage you to read them everyday!! I love you all and i thank you for your prayers and support.  Light some fireworks for me this week, God bless America!!!

Cectpa DeMille

pics

June 25, 2012

this is our toilet. it flushes and it's clean. hooray!

this is our oven! big red.

this is me studying

nickolaiv train station.  we rode on a train to the dacha.

pics

June 25, 2012

this cat ran into some bleach i think.  tell nala not to do that.

the dacha house

more of the dacha

tender mercies

June 25, 2012

family and friends,

Last week was as always, busy, but we saw a few small miracles and we are being blessed.  We see "interesting/crazy" things and a lot of small wonders all the time.  It's interesting to have this perspective on the world as a missionary and have one focus.  I look around at people and i just think "alright, who of you are ready??" haha. I truly love this work and everything that we get to see.  We get a front row seat to seeing people change and sharing the most beautiful message the world ever knew.  i love it!!!!

as far as the highlights: so we have this investigator in Kherson, Elena. I have talked about her before, but she is the poor woman, she has faith, but sometimes lazy to act.  so we had a lesson with her this week, and honestly, we didn't know what to talk about.  we knew we wanted to talk about the importance of sacrament meeting and taking the sacrament, but we didn't know what else to say.  i have never done this before, but we went into that lesson undecided and unprepared.  as we walked up to her house, we just decided to stop and have a prayer.  it was quiet and no one was around, so it was perfect.  then we went right in to the lesson.  it was one of the best lessons i have ever had! we did what we were supposed to as missionaries (invite, testify, teach, etc), but we did all that with boldness that i have never experienced before, and did that with love.  she tried to come up with all these excuses for why she hadn't been to sacrament meeting, and we kindly rebuttled all of them in a Christlike way haha. we just basically owned her in her excuses.  she asked again about being baptized and we just said until she comes to sacrament meeting, we can't pick a baptismal date for her.  so she came to church yesterday, but during sunday school haha. well that's a bit of an improvement of walking in during 3rd hour.  little by little, people progress.  but that lesson will always stand out in my mind. i truly learned for myself the meaning of the scripture "it will be given to you in the very moment". i love seeing tender mercies from the Lord everyday!!

we have been trying to do a lot of following up, but nothing major is happening yet. we don't have hardly any investigators, but we are trying to find those who are ready.  a few interesting/crazy things we saw and did last week:  so one day we were getting on the bus to go to Kherson, and there was this woman in all black with a vail, and i could tell she was some kind of priestess or something.  well i just thought "cool, someone else trying to tell people about God!" then she looked back at me, glared with this piercing, evil glare, and crossed herself!! man i don't know what it is, but people think we are evil.  i felt a wierd presence and i sure didn't like that. but she did it a few more times and i just got over it haha.  i thought about it the whole bus ride though.  i can now easily spot those who are true Christians and followers of Christ.  "by their works ye shall know them".  i thought of how i think it's great that there is other people out there trying to do what we do, bring people closer to God.  and even though I know that ours is the only true church and I have been called of God to represent Christ, I would never put any one else down who called themself a servant of God.  it's just interesting how people react around us sometimes, and I am glad that I have legit authority haha.  

we have been continuing doing service and building this lady's house out of mud and straw. i love it!! another funny thing. we set up an appointment with this lady Olga who is a dentist.  I told her my uncle is a dentist at home, and she was like " can i meet him?" hahah i was like "well he lives in america" and she was like "okay, give him my card." hahah she is a little crazy.  so we usually meet her at her office, but this time she wanted us to go to her house.  long story short: we asked a billion people where this address was, went to like the wilderness of ukraine, and thought we were in the right place. then we asked another lady and she told us to go back the way that we came. so we are waiting at the bus stop, and this young guy that's tan, in a muscle shirt, and on a motorcycle just drives on up.  he starts speaking in broken english and is like "i need to help you, you are lost!" haha so he writes the address down on a sticky note, and helps us get on the bus and talks to the bus driver for us.  then i look at the sticky note and it says "these girls are from america and can't understand anything" hahahahaha we almost died laughing.  then we ended up at a bus stop right across the street from olga's office!! haha so we call her and we are like, okay come meet us so we can go to your house. then she is like "but i'm at my office and i'm busy!" and we were like "olga, you told us to meet you at your house!" and she was like "oh!" haha she is crazy. so we went to her office (let's just say i would never get my teeth cleaned there) and we waited, then we just left because she was busy. people are so funny sometimes and i love scatterbrained women!! haha keeps our lives interesting.  

yesterday i had to give a talk in church, and it went pretty well. i only had to be corrected on like 2 words instead of 100! improvement is good.  and then us missionaries sang "armies of heleman" because they have never heard primary songs.  and everyone was like crying and loved it.  the elders have this hilarious investigator named Gussein, and he told me he loved my talk.  He is a really awesome guy, and so so so hilarious. He is getting baptized in a few weeks, and it has been so awesome to see him change.  even though he isn't our investigator, we truly have seen him change and it's so great.  i love it!!! We also got to go to a "dacha" this weekend. it's like a garden house in the country.  we got to weed the garden, then have lunch with all the women. it was good to see a relief society activity go on, and it was great. well, the work is moving forward little by little. pray that we can find more people to teach, because we really are trying!! i love you all and i'm so grateful for your support. i love this work, and i know that our Savior lives and loves us!!! 

Cectpa DeMille

pics

June 18, 2012

us in our awesome kitchen

me just building something out of straw and mud

us and the baby bunnies that she had at her house

time flies! or flys? I can't spell anymore!

June 18, 2012

dear family and friends,

it was another busy week and I'm glad it's p day haha.  Here are just a few of the highlights.  So we made rice krispies for the picnic last weekend and everyone loved them, so we decided to do a demonstration of them on how to make them this week for a relief society activity.  So we made coffee cake, demonstrated how to make rice krispies, and made rach dip with veggies.  Oh man, they loved the ranch dip.  They saw the veggies and then the dip. they were like "for what reason do we need this sauce with the vegetables?" and we just told them to try it! haha so they did and they immediately wanted the recipe.  I explained that i just had a packet of ranch that my mom sent then i just mixed it with buttermilk and mayo and such.  They were like, "okay we get that you made it with buttermilk and mayo. but what are these green things in it? and how do i make it?" haha we just settled on finding them a recipe online and translating it haha. it took a long time to get them to settle on that.  but they liked everything and it was a good activity, even though only 3 women came.  We also got to do service last week for this woman in Kherson that is re-modeling her house.  She had us scrub walls to prep for wall paper, and i made a door frame out of mud and straw.  yes, mud and straw.  that's what her house is made out of! it's pretty awesome. i can check that off my mission bucket list now!! 

things in nickoliav are also good. we have been finding new investigators from the Area Book and it has been really good.  we had a few good lessons last week with new people.  we are trying to follow up on other people that we have found.  we have an investigator Vika here, and she is so great. i seriously love her, she has great faith and is such a good girl.  She is 18, but she lives with her parents and her parents won't let her get baptized.  she has been investigating for 3 years and she prays everyday that she can be baptized.  We asked her what would happen if she just got baptized, and she said her parents would kick her out.  Please keep her in your prayers! We don't really know what else to do besides pray for her.  we asked her if we could meet her parents and if that would help, but she said no.  so we just keep praying for her.  she is so adorable.  She has taken it upon herself to help us with our accents, so she has us read out loud and correct us on pronunciation and such.  It is hard work and i feel like a five year old. haha, but i really do want to speak russian well and to sound well.  sometimes i wonder if i will ever learn russian, but I tell Heavenly Father every day that He called me russian speaking, so I need help haha.  It has been helping studying with our district and having Vika help us.  learning russian is humbling all around.  i hear people tell their cats and dogs something and the cats and dogs obey and do what the person says.  Then i'm like "wait what did they say?" haha, so cats and dogs understand more russian than i do sometimes.  russian will take a while, but hopefully before i leave this mission i will speak russian haha.

there is another girl in our branch here named Dasha. we have been helping her study Preach My Gospel, because she wants to serve a mission, she is also so adorable and asks amazing questions.  she plays the piano really well and yesterday she played a musical number and it was "armies of heleman".  i have heard that song a billion times, but i was really touched when i heard it yesterday.  i think about the armies of heleman in the scriptures, and how heleman calls them his sons "because they are worthy to be called sons". and how even though they were young, they were exactly obedient, cared more about their father's lives than their own lives, and remembered what their mothers taught them.  they pursued the lamanites with boldness and without fear.  because of their diligence and obedience, not one of them died.  some of them received wounds, but they all survived. the other armies with them all suffered losses. they were good armies and pretty obedient, but not like the armies of heleman.  i compare it to life and to missionary work.  through life we might receive wounds, be faced with danger, hardship, see losses, and have to make hard choices, but if we are obedient and diligent, we won't suffer in the end.  there is a big difference between doing all that you can and being obedient, than just being a good person and following some of the commandments or something.  i love the armies of heleman for their example to us.  their parents were good, just like Nephi's parents.  think of how many generations were saved because of the goodness of the parents, and the goodness of their sons.  i love their example!! 

i have realized something, that everyone in life faces hard things.  i knew this, but on my mission it has become more apparent of how we can act when faced with something hard.  i think of interruptions in life: some just happen, and some interruptions are "Godly".  I read a talk recently about Christ's mother Mary, and John's mother Elizabeth.  Both of these women experienced "Godly" interruptions.  Elizabeth wanted a child for her whole life, and at the time when it was not the best time for her to be pregnant, she was pregnant.  then there is Mary.  she had ordinary dreams of having a family with Joseph, but wanted that time to be after they were married.  she received a "Godly" interruption, and was informed that she was pregnant before marriage.  I think of how these women handled their interruptions, and also their husbands.  Godly interruptions can affect not only the person directly, but also their family and friends.  But people like Mary and Joseph accepted this interruption, and handled it the best they could.  I appreciate them for their examples of nobleness and relying on God.  i know that sometimes interruptions are hard, whether it's a Godly interruption, or just a life interruption.  But i know that we can take a look at these interruptions and amidst all the confusion and heartache, we can decide for ourselves how we will act and if we will rely on God.  I really really know that if we rely on God, everything will be easier.  He can see the big picture for us, and He wants what is truly best for us.  I am grateful for the knowledge that we have of the Gospel and the comfort it brings.  We all know our purpose, and that can bring us peace in hard times.  I love you all and I'm grateful for your prayers and support! The work is moving forth, and remember that we are all Sons and Daughters of God! I love you all!!!

Cectpa DeMille