Week 84 - Party Planning and Resolutions

December 31, 2018

Well this week went by super fast. It was such a good and fun week. Christmas was dope. I was so happy to talk to my family and see them. It's so weird that I only have one more Skype right before I come home... Super weird. And I just remember last year how the time especially between the Christmas and Mother's Day call flies by, so it scares me a little bit how little time is left of my mission.

Christmas dinner

We had our branch Christmas party like all day on Tuesday after I got done skyping the family. We bought almost all of the food and did a LOT of preparation for it, but it paid off and the branch helped out a ton, too. There are some super good members here in this branch. The party altogether ended up being a total hit and probably my favorite branch activity that I've ever done on my mission so far. I think my (and Elder Matua's) favorite part was the fact that they put us in charge of making the playlist for the 2 hour "Disko Teka" that was at the end. It was so weird to put that together, but super fun. We had about 50 people show up and it was a total blast. They played the movie The Christmas Carol - the one with the Scrooge in it, and it was pretty sick. We also had a big spiritual thought about Christmas, and then did a couple of games, and then had a huge dinner. We ended up with a lot of leftover food that we had to toss, and it was so sad because we bought like all of it, but what they made was so tasty. I love Ukrainian food so much. We had a photo-shoot that a dope member, Bogdan Polishuk, set up for us and that was fun. He took pictures and videos on his professional camera and GoPro like nonstop throughout the whole thing.

Some of the men in our awesome Rivne branch - Branch President is on far left

Brat Ovchawk

Getting down at the Disko Teka

We had exchanges this week and we went to L'viv. Getting there and coming back was an absolute hassle, because even though Rivne is one of the bigger cities, there are almost no trains that come or go through here to any other city. Even catching a train from Kyiv is hard. So we haggled (is that the right word?) onto a bus that we saw was leaving for L'viv and we basically bartered with the driver for 2 spots on the bus and we got to L'viv at about 11:30 and then he kicked us out right onto the road, not even where we were supposed to go.. haha. We walked the rest of the way to the station and taxied to the Elders' place. It was a really good exchange. I got to see Elder Galmeister, whom I haven't seen in a super long time. I love that kid so much!!! We had a dope finding activity about the new year, and it went really well. One of the sisters took pics, so I'll have to get those from her, too. We did a lotttt of talking there in the center by the park. I got to talk to this one girl and ended up placing a Book of Mormon, after she promised that she would read and pray about it. Her name was Yana. It was one of the cooler conversations that I've had on my mission, and was just such a cool experience because instead of really having anything to say (after she found out that we weren't JWs) she just said "yeah I have a couple minutes, what can you tell me about your religion? What do you believe?" and it was just so amazing to just testify to a random person on the street about God and Jesus Christ and prophets and the Book of Mormon and about the Plan of Salvation. I kinda just took a big breath and started testifying to her until everyone else was packing up and getting ready to go. Our conversation ended sort of abruptly, but it was just a testimony builder for me about how fun and fulfilling it can feel when you're sharing the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!! So often I feel like we take for granted a gift that is so sought out by other people of the world, and we keep to ourselves one of the richest blessings - our knowledge of the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!! So much of the joy of the Gospel comes from sharing it, and I know that for sure. 

Fun thing this week was a combined language study between the 4 elders in L'viv where we played a game of Monopoly 100% in Ukrainian. Boy was it fun to trash talk in Ukrainian. I don't get the chance to trash talk and be my competitive self around most Ukrainians, so it was fun to use some phrases and learn new words in that kind of setting. By the way, if you ask me, I would say that I won.

I had a cool moment during our last 3rd hour of church this year before we switch over to the new curriculum (of which I am a HUGE fan). We watched all these videos and had big discussions and talked so much in detail about what the new program "Come Follow Me" would entail. Watching all the videos and talking about all the blessings that are going to come through this amazing and inspired curriculum just made me so excited. This Gospel truly blesses families and brings them together so tightly and in such a way that truly nothing else could ever provide or offer. I'm so excited to take the studies and things that I learn and learn from others and contribute and see the unity that comes as a result of it - in our own families and ward/branch families! I know that I can't wait to be back with my family studying the material that will be waiting for us. I hope that those of you who have the blessings of being with your family truly take advantage as much as you can of the opportunity to study and discuss and ponder the scriptures together both individually and together. I have seen so many blessings of family study all throughout my own life and in the lives of others, especially on my mission. God truly views families as the most important social unit on this planet, and the Gospel is centered around them! I love my family and am so grateful for them.

I hope everyone has their New Year's Resolutions ready to go for this upcoming week. It's such an exciting time of year. New beginnings, fresh starts, and clean slates all across the board. That's truly what the Gospel is all about, and it's all thanks to our Savior and His Infinite Atonement!! I hope we can all remember to show our gratitude and love to the Savior for His allowing us to be able to start over again and again. I hope that this year will be filled with repentance --so we can become a little bit more like Jesus Christ with every day.

Have a great week!

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Week 83 - Almost Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2018

Almost Merry Christmas!!

Man this week just absolutely flew by. I don't have a lot of time to write today, but that's okay! We had a lot of stuff to do this week and was one of the busiest weeks of my mission for sure. There were lots and lots of preparations for the upcoming Christmas and New Years party, getting me registered into the city, branch presidency stuff, service, exchanges, Christmas Program, and a bunch of other "busy work" kinda things. It's super weird to do a bunch of things that don't really technically count as proselyting, because after such a long time of being away from doing things like street contacting and calling people and setting up lessons and teaching, you start to miss it a lot. I was standing in line at the place where we register to our apartments each time we move, and just standing there forever waiting for them to call my ticket and I just wanted to be doing something else; something like normal missionary work. P-days are great and little breaks are super fun here and there but when you keep doing it for what feels like forever, it's always exciting to finish that last thing on the to-do list and get back to the grind of teaching repentance and baptizing converts!

In the middle of doing some of the busywork stuff, I was jokingly complaining to Elder Matua about how I just wanted my Christmas package from my family and everything would be better, and not 30 minutes later, we got a text from Nova Poshta that my package was waiting for me at one of the stations near the church! Shoutout to my fam and extended fam who are the best people in the world! That was my tender mercy for the day.

We had a dope lesson this week with one of our investigators, Katya. We had planned to give a lesson about the commandments. She came to the lesson at the church and when we asked her if she had any questions, she said that she did before, but that when she read the end of 2nd Nephi, she got her answers! And then, she asked us about baptism. She said: "What do I need to know in order to be baptized?". Our stomachs dropped and me and Elder Matua just looked at each other and were immediately on the same exact page. Boom. Baptismal questions. We taught about baptism and invited her to be baptized, and she said that she is going to be, but just needs to be sure about everything that she's doing. We also taught her how to do Family History work in that lesson and she was talking about how cool it would be to do baptisms for them at the temple!! We're so stoked. The only bummer is that she is going through a lot of complicated things right now, and is going East to be with her mom for the next three weeks, and said that she's going to take a break from everything. EVERYTHING everything. Including reading the Book of Mormon. We were kinda bummed about that, but at the same time understood. She committed to pray each morning and night while she would be gone on her own and with her daughter.

The Gospel, and even more importantly, the person it is centered around, Jesus Christ, is always there for us at exactly the time that we need. The times when it seems like the easiest option is to just give up and stop trying and say "what's the point", are some of the times that we can truly feel the pure love of Christ the most in our lives. I am so grateful, especially at this wonderful time of the year, that we get to remember Him. To truly sit back and ask ourselves where our relationship with Christ is, what our priorities are, and if our will is in harmony with His, thus being in harmony with God's will. I know that the best way to tap into that Christlike love, and also the fastest way to do so is to serve. And to do it with love. When we focus a little bit less on the WHAT it is that we're doing and put the main focus on WHO it is that we our striving to be like, all of the other little details always seem to fall in place. I love my Savior so much and I know that He lives! I have felt the power of His love and His atonement in my life to the point where I simply cannot deny it. I KNOW that His is the only name under heaven by the means of which we can be saved from sin, enabling us to live again with our loving Heavenly Father after this life. 

Merry Christmas! I love you all!!

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Week 82 - Hello Rivne

December 17, 2018

This week was DOPE. As sad as it was to say goodbye to K-town, boy am I happy to be here in Rivne. Being with Elder Matua is non-stop fun and hard work. It's his 3rd transfer, just out of training, and things are going SO WELL! His Ukrainian is so good and it's like he's been a missionary longer than even I have.. haha. It's a great time.

I actually can't even remember what really happened this week. There was a lot of goodbyes that were said, and a lot of busy work things that happen right before and after transfers. Leaving K-town was sad - I didn't get to say goodbye to anyone. 

Saying goodbye to my K-town apartment

And goodbye to Elder Howard

It was super weird going on the train all by myself for 4 hours. I had my guitar with me and I just quietly played in my little room, and the guy who was running down the laundry back and forth from train car to train car would always stop and listen outside my door, because I heard his footsteps slow down and stop every time he passed by both ways. It was so weird to be by myself though.

Solo companion

 This week was awesome getting to know everyone and meeting new investigators and members and everyone. It was so fun and new and refreshing and all that good stuff. I got called to be in the Branch Presidency here, and also as the branch pianist, and also Elder Matua and I teach Sunday School each week. 

The branch here is around 30 members each week, which will lessen the load of having to give talks so often, but I gave one this week! Thank goodness that my mans Brat Yankovskyj read out of a Liahona for 45 minutes just leaving me time for a quick testimony, which was a huge tender mercy, because I only had time to prepare the talk that morning.

It's SUPER cold and snowing here, but we're staying warm because we're so busy!!! It's been snowing all day around 25 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is super icy.

Elder Matua and I run to the gym every morning and get a super good workout to start out every day right!! And we eat SUPER healthy. We both have mission money saved up, so we eat good food. We took a pic of this week's haul. 

We also go bowling every Monday too. We get free drinks every time we break the daily record. We got 2 free drinks haha. We played 6 games in 1 hour!!! I'm about to get reallll good at Ukrainian bowling.

Have a good week everyone!! Light the World!!!

Elder Stott

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Week 81 - Saying Goodbye to K-town

December 10, 2018

Hey Everyone!

Transfers came this week, and I'll be leaving Khmelnytskyy this Wednesday. I'm sad to be leaving this city that I have come to love so much, but changes are good for everyone, and I'm excited to work in a new city. I've been here for 7.5 months now, and the time here has flown by all together even though some days and weeks have been really long. Makes it weird to think about how fast the rest of the mission is going to fly by, being that I have less than 6 months left, now.

I'm going to be serving in Rivne, which I'm super excited about. I'm also super stoked to be serving with Elder Matua!! We are already really good friends on the mission, and I'm nothing but excited to work with him and be his first companion outside of his training. I'm so thankful for everything that I've learned from Khmelnystkyy and this branch, and all my companions that I've had here. I feel like the biggest changes I've seen in myself have happened here in this city. I'm getting binked on saying goodbye to most of the people here, so I don't have a lot of pics. Hoping to get them sometime.

Not a TON happened this week, but a couple of super awesome things. On Sunday, I gave my farewell talk here that ended up being 30 minutes, because there weren't any other speakers except for the visiting Senior Couple missionaries. It was pretty sad for me, to be honest. In what I think is the smallest branch in the mission, it's impossible to not grow so close to every person that is there in attendance. It has been such a neat experience to see the scripture come true from Matthew: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20). It's so true!

In Ternopil we had quite the let down when we went there for the other church meeting that we were going to be a part of, and then no one showed up, so we left, basically having been there for no reason. But on the way to and from a couple of different places there, we had 2 cool experiences. 1) We ran into a group of 5 American girls, and I went over and talked to them! They ended up being 5 missionaries as well, all of different faiths (one being "half protestant half catholic"???) and with time it kinda ended up feeling like some Dan Jones missionary work in England or something, me just standing there and testifying to them and teaching them and answering their questions and stuff like that. It was the first time in a long time on my mission that I was WAY out of my comfort zone and I knew it because it was the 3rd time on my mission that I felt my legs starting to shake a little bit haha. It was intimidating and hard even!! But those are always the BEST experiences because they help us grow so much. There's truly no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone. One of the truest statements I've ever heard. 2) On the way home, we passed a man on the street who heard us speaking English, and after we passed him he said "where are you guys from?" and I thought he was Ukrainian, because he had an accent. We walked towards each other and as soon as he saw our tags he freaked out and was so excited! He said "NO WAYYY!!! I LOVE YOUR GUYS' CHURCH". Dorian is a recent convert from England who had just moved to Ternopil, and we got his number and the next Elders are going to be able to work with him. The Lord works in such mysterious ways to find all of His lost sheep. He allows us to be the ones who leave the 99 and go and find the one, whether we're aware of it or not.

I know this Gospel is true and I love my Savior Jesus Christ!!!

Have a great week.

Ternopil Christmas

Elder Cooker

Dinner at a member's house - so good!

-- 

Elder Dillon Stott
Vul. Yabluneva 1
S. Sofiivska Borshahivka
Kyivska oblast 08131
Ukraine

Week 80 - Conferences and Goodbyes

December 4, 2018

This week was AWESOME. It went by so fast. Holy cow. We were in L'viv for 5 days, for a conference, interviews, and then back home. It worked out weird so that we had interviews on our P-day, then our P-day got moved to the next day, and then we had a day of missionary work in L'viv, and then Zone Conference, and then back home on Friday morning.

The conference was SO good! We talked about Christlike attributes. If I had more time, I would write as much out as I learned, but all I know is that Christlike attributes all lead to one another, and they are all gifts from God. I studied Charity, and it was a great study and I learned so much. And more than anything, about how it is the defining quality that Christ possesses. We can learn so much about how we can obtain those qualities in ourselves as we closely learn from the scriptures and observe just how incredible Christ truly was.

It was a special conference for me, and kind of sad, because I had to say goodbye to Elder Frehner. He's one of the best friends that I've made in my life. Shoutout to him for serving a dope mission and being one of the most loving people that I've ever met in my life. I wish you luck back home, FD! Some of the best talks and laughs that I've had on my mission, and even in my life, have been with this beast of a missionary.

I don't have a lot else about this week. L'viv was an amazing experience and a much needed boost. There is a certain power that comes when people join together in the Gospel and they all "feast on the words of Christ". That power comes in the form of pure joy and happiness. I hope that we can all take glory in those moments and enjoy them to the fullest. I've found out for myself that TRULY, where two or three or more are gathered, the Spirit of Christ is right there with them.

Have a great week!!!

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Week 79 - SIX Months Left

November 27, 2018

We're in L'viv for a conference. Super low on time, so just some highlights from this week:

I had an interview with President Kumferman and it was amaaaazing.

We hopefully have a baptism this Saturday.

For the first time on my mission, we invited someone to baptism on the very first lesson - and he accepted!

Aaand...we had freeze-dried honey ham from America for our Thanksgiving dinner. Elder Baxter's parents sent it to him and he left it here for us when he went home.

Less than a month until I get to Skype home for Christmas.

Also, I hit my 6 month mark this week.

Love you all! Have a great week.

Pizza sent from Elder Mangoober

Early morning Turkey Bowl with Elder Howard

P Day. At the Apple store in the mall

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Week 78 - Old City, New Self

November 19, 2018

Hey Guys.

This week went by super duper fast. Just a couple of highlights for this week.

Exchanges in Chernivtsi!! It was so weird to be back in my 2nd city another time. Sometimes when I go to old cities and it feels like everything around me and ABOUT me should change and revert back to what it was when I was there. But that feeling of progress and becoming better and being back in an old place with my new self has come to be one of the most rewarding feelings that I've felt on my mission and in my entire life in general. All trunkiness aside, it makes me excited to go back to America and BYU and home and just feel that total shock and also that good version of pride! Like just being proud of yourself. I don't know, maybe that's still bad haha. Let's just say it will be interesting to see the difference and changes that have been made in my life!

Good food in Chern

This coming week I will hit my 18 month mark.. That's just crazy. Time is going by way too fast.

I got the chance to study about charity this week and also give a decently long talk about it in church yesterday. Sacrament Meeting and Sunday School can both be such an enriching experience when the people who come are prepared to teach as well as to learn!! I got so much out of both hours!!

This is Masha - she loves church

There is great progress going down in our area, although sometimes it can be kinda slow. But resistance is what makes us grow!!

Right now my studies are taking place in the later chapters of Mosiah. Some of the greatest teachings that I've learned from the Book of Mormon are in these chapters. Not a verse should go by without us thinking about how we can apply the things that we our reading in our own lives.

Have great week and Happy Thanksgiving. You don't always have to be grateful for each and every thing that happens in our life, but we should always have something that we are grateful for in our hearts. Lucky for us, we have a lot of reasons to be grateful. I'm low on time, but I'll share a story about gratitude that really hit home for me in my next email.

Have a thankful week!!!

Fixing up the church

The Ukrainian Tie Lady

Our internet cafe :)

---

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Week 77 - Uhh Lady, Listen Up

November 12, 2018

Hey Guys.

Not a ton for this week. We had exchanges here in K-town and the Elders from Chernivtsi came up and stayed with us for a day and a half. Even though they ate all my food, that I had been saving up, it was still a blast to have them here, haha. I got super humbled in the evening when one of the Ukrainian Elders and I were playing a card game called Castle - I lost maybe 15 times in a row. I haven't lost an ounce of my competitiveness since before the mission, and I wouldn't let him leave until I beat him. Being the great sportsman-like player that I am, as soon as I won, it was bedtime :)

We have seen some great progress in a couple of our investigators, and we should have, by the end of this week, 3 baptismal dates that will be coming up before the end of the transfer. I have a feeling that this is my last transfer in the city, so, although it's not of the upmost/utmost importance, it would be pretty cool to see some of the fruits of my own personal labors here. Most important is that they keep progressing towards taking part in that covenant with their Heavenly Father!!! I know that their future is bright in the Gospel.

We went to Ternopil on Saturday, and it got sucked up with a lot of English practice work and this lady who wants us to come present something at a university blah blah...some program or another and she wants us to be there in Ternopil 3 times a week for 2 weeks and I was like - ha uhhh LADY, LISTEN UP. (changes that we can all see in ourselves from the mish) and I was just like, I'm really sorry, but we're not gonna do that unless we can also do what we're really here to do. (insert gospel message here). We will, of course, be happy to help her out there though. I hope that some investigators comes out of it though! I feel like 18 months ago I would have just rolled over and done what I would think of as "being nice", but people need to know about the gospel more than anything else, and one of the best feelings that I've constantly felt in my mission is the "at least I tried" feeling. It's one that's always worth going out of your own way to let anyone and everyone know about the gospel. 

Church was interesting. There were more non-members than members, and the Branch President got up and spoke on baptism and covenants and all that good stuff and I think everyone got a good push from the Spirit from his talk.

Other than that, not a whole lot else!! No pictures this week. Sorry!

I love you all!! Read the Book of Mormon!! Moroni's promise is not only true the first time that you read through it. Your testimony truly can get REinforced and REinstituted and REjuvinated through prayer and repeated confirmations from the Holy Ghost that it's true and that it is God's word that testifies of His Son, Jesus Christ! I love that book with all my heart, and love this Gospel and all that I've been blessed with because of it.

Have a powerful week!!! Physically, AND Spiritually.

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Week 76 - Testifying

November 5, 2018

Hey Everyone.

Not a lot of time today to get this weekly out..

Halloween was good! We threw a little party and a bunch of people came, and we did some fun stuff. It's kinda stressful feeling like I have to be an activity planner and party planner with basically no resources but my own 2 hands (plus comp) without a Costco or Target nearby. But, we make do with what we have!! It actually ended up being pretty fun. 3 of the people who came ended up coming to church after we invited them all!! A mom and her daughter and her daughter's friend.

Speaking of coming to church, we had 29 people at Fast and Testimony Meeting, which I'm pretty sure is the most that I've ever seen in K-town. We're making some good progress. If I'm not mistaken, I believe 11 or 12 of those 29 were our investigators and other non members. 4 people from English Practice ended up coming!! My favorite part about English Practice and our other activities is the spiritual thought, hands down. We get an opportunity (taking turns each activity) to just stand up in front of everyone at the end and TESTIFY about something!! Some of the strongest spiritual moments on my mission are when I've stood in front of 20-30 people, none who are members of The Church, and I just get to testify about Joseph Smith, The Book of Mormon, The Plan of Salvation, and all the other good topics that we can talk about. This week we were playing the game 20 questions at the end, so I thought I'd relate the game into a spiritual thought so that it was more relatable and understandable to everyone there. The Spirit hit ME like a truck as soon as I testified that God hears us, and that He wants us to hear Him. I talked about how most of the time, we can get by on our own with the questions that we have. Some other times, we can turn to other people for more difficult ones. And then we all have certain questions that, for some reason whenever we get an answer from somebody, it doesn't quite satisfy the question 100%. We still feel like something is missing. Questions like why war exists, why bad things happen to good people, where we come from, why we're here, where we're going after death, and so on. For such questions, we have no choice but to turn to the One  who knows all. It can be such a comforting feeling just to know that one of Heavenly Father's characters is that He is all-knowing. Just as much as He is all-knowing, He is also all-loving in a perfect way that we as humans can not completely comprehend. Luckily, we can always turn to Him at any time about anything!! He will always hear us and always listen,  and in His own time and way, He always answers. What a beautiful principle prayer is!

This week we've made some great progress. We're having a lot more lessons, and things are going a lot smoother. Elder Howard's training is starting to get in the groove little by little! 2 of our investigators who are mother and son accepted a soft baptismal invitation, and I really think that they will be baptized this transfer. I'm so excited for them. I love teaching them. They're probably some of the funnest people I've ever taught on my mission!! Also, we have another one of our investigators who is the 11 year old daughter of a recently reactivated member who will hopefully be baptized this transfer too. The field is small, but white here in Khmelnytskyi!

We're reading from the Book of Mormon as a mission and finishing it before Christmas!! It's such an amazing experience to all of a sudden drop some of my other study plans and read the Book of Mormon in just as much time as it took for the Prophet Joseph Smith to translate it! We're focusing on looking at references to the Savior and His different names and titles used, His attributes in Himself and things He says, and also His attributes in all other people. And then most importantly, references to the Savior's Atonement. I cannot believe how often I am just constantly stopping and marking so many things and references to the Savior. I can say for myself that I know that the Book of Mormon is everything that it is claimed to be, as found in the introduction: "The Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." It's so true!!!

Have a great week. Read the Book of Mormon every day!!!

Protesters blocking traffic

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Week 75 - Conferences, Hit Like a Train

October 29, 2018

This week was completely a blur. I've been in 4 different cities since last Monday..

We went to Kyiv on Tuesday and had a training there on Wednesday, that went really well.

My Zone

It was so good to be there in Kyiv with the whole entire mission, and the train ride there was the funnest that I've had on my entire mission. Our L'viv zone took up a whole wagon and it was just a party for the whole 5 hour trip there. I was with some of the elders from our zone and we legit just played a bunch of card games for the whole time. I had some of the biggest and best laughs of my entire mission. We only played about 5 or so different games, but they were legit just the best, hahaha.

We got to Kyiv, went right to KFC, and then we had the chance to go to the temple! I haven't been in over a year. What an amazing experience it was. I just know for a fact, without a doubt in my mind that the temple really is the House of the Lord here on the earth!! God has a strict set of rules and commandments that we need to live by, and sometimes it can relatively be a big price that we have to pay in this life, to stay worthy to be able to enter in, but I just know that it is always 110% worth whatever the cost is. I hope that those of you who are blessed to live relatively close to a temple take that opportunity and go as often as you possibly can!! I know that as soon as I have the opportunity to go when I'm home, I'll be going as often as I can. The separation that we can experience from the worries of this world and the peace we can feel there is simply unmatched, no matter where else you could possibly be.

We also had the opportunity to hear from Elder Cook and his wife. I got to shake his hand as we all entered the chapel to listen to his instruction to us. Of course, the entire time he talked, we were all scrambling to write down and record as much as we possibly could. But when he began to testify of Christ, the reality of Him, His life, His death, His Atonement, and the fact that He is resurrected and lives today, the Spirit just hit me like a TRAIN. It was so strong and I know that we all felt it, and we can't deny the feelings that we get when we testify of Christ and His life, death, and resurrection. I know that whenever I'm having a hard time feeling the Spirit, I can always testify of Christ, and right away, that Spirit comes pouring back in.

Back home, we've had some good lessons and seen some good progress in the people that we are teaching. Katya and Vlad, our 2 most recent investigators said that they would continue to read the Book of Mormon and ask Heavenly Father if it's true! I can't wait for them to receive their personal witness from the Holy Ghost about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It's soooo important to have that personal testimony, because we can always come back to it whenever doubts or questions or struggles come creeping into our lives as temptations to draw us away from the goodness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It really is the keystone of our religion.

I got to give a talk yesterday in church that I found out about on Saturday evening, and it ended up turning into a 20 or so minute talk on gratitude. It's definitely one of my new favorite topics to study and talk about!!! We can ALWAYS be grateful for the things that we DO have in our lives. It's super cliche, and I wish it wasn't, but if we take 2 steps back and really "count our blessings", it will always surprise us how much bigger that list gets every time we try to number the countless number (ha ha) of blessings that we have!!

Love you all!!!

Said goodbye to Elder Mangum - he leaves for home in 3 weeks

Planes, trains and taxi buses

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Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine