Elder Dillon Stott - Ukraine, Kiev Mission: Week 21

TRANSFER CALLS!!

I got a call on Friday morning! Turns out, I'll be heading down south to Chernivtsi on Wednesday morning to be serving with Elder Likhachov, another Ukrainian native missionary!! It will be the last transfer of his mission. It's gonna be super fun and a ton of hard work. Chernivtsi is a beautiful city with castles and much more interesting stuff to do! I'll have a lot more pictures I hope. It's going to be a huge blessing for me and learning the language especially! I've ONLY had Ukrainian companions thus far on my mission! It's really hard to see short term progress, but just giving a talk in church yesterday felt a billion times more comfortable. Being able to be led by the spirit rather than your sliver of vocabulary and knowledge feels a whole lot better. For everyone.

This week was super interesting. Everyone dogged us on Monday evening, but we taught our investigator Sasha. He had gotten beaten up by some random guy in the park just because he was reading the Book of Mormon on the bench. It was super sad to see him all scratched up and I'm 99% sure his nose is broken. But man, what a beast he is. Lots of things happen that we can't explain. Everything requires our faith. Faith in Heavenly Fathers plan for us, and trusting in the fact that His plan will always be better for us, whether we know it or not. Whether we're in trials or easy times in life, it's all part of the plan. All we have to do is simply (and sometimes a lot harder than simply) hold on. And not let go. That night in line at the grocery store, this man kept staring at me from another line. It was really starting to bug me because I knew that HE KNEW that I KNEW that I saw him. You know? Then he said, "Excuse me, are you Mormon?" (with a French accent). Turns out he was from France, who knows why he was here, but he just went on to compliment our religion and who we are as people. He talked about how we looked so nice and he could just tell that we were missionaries because we look exactly like the ones they have in France! It was super nice to talk with him. It was just casual but at the same time an important lesson was learned. You have no idea who is watching you, which is why it's always important to act like, and do the things that you would as if EVERYONE was watching you! Puts a big responsibility on our shoulders as missionaries.

Mission conference was SO awesome (pics below). It was my first mission-wide conference, where I finally got to meet all of the missionaries in Western Ukraine. There, we talked about a lot of important and really interesting things. I learned sooo much and received answers to questions I didn't even realize I had! We had to say goodbye to 8 of the missionaries here, because they will be gone by the time we will have our next conference. We talked a lot about Jacob chapter 5. It is a super deep and kind of confusing allegory about a vineyard of olive trees. There are a ton of things that you can get right on the surface, but we went super deep and found out so many more things from those verses, that really teach about the Character of Christ and who He is for us. I invite you all to take some time to read, study, and then, most importantly, apply what you learn there!! Such an awesome chapter from the Book of Mormon.

Another journalist bombarded one of our activities this week saying that she's going to try to shut us down with an article in the newspaper! It's okay though. We've already had our fair share of journalists out to get us--and we're still here! I just felt bad that she was so offended by our free art class. Who even hates art! Oh well. Maybe she'll come! Yeah, I don't think so either.

We also had another funny experience this week. Yesterday we did an activity out on the streets to promote our English practice. I met an Italian man. We talked about our English practice and he was interested. Then he asked who we are and why we're here. As we pointed at our badges, he immediately exclaimed, mixing his Italian and Ukrainian, Mama Mia! Mormoni? And then quickly ran away dragging his confused wife with him. It was just one of those things you had to be there for. We're used to those kinds of things though hahaha.

I gave my leaving-Ivano-talk in church yesterday. It's going to be weird to leave the only city I've ever served in, but i'm so excited to be able to go somewhere new. Honestly, time has seemed to go by super slow so far here in Ivano, which typically happens during your first 12 weeks in the field while you're getting trained. But all the missionaries say that time starts to really fly after your first city. As of now, I'm just packing my bags, getting ready to further the Lord's work in Chernivtsi! Also i'm super excited because I have friends in Chernivtsi! Elder Galmeister, Sister Romney who was in my district during the first transfer, and also Sister Stromberg who I'm super excited to serve with. There are also brand new missionaries coming in this Wednesday, so I will no longer be the mission baby. One of the Elder's coming in will also be with us in Chernivtsi. SO EXCITED!!

Godspeed.

Elder Stott