Whaaaat's Up Everybody!
This week has gone by pretty quickly, each day really just
marching after the other. It's weird how much of a rhythm you get into in
missionary work. It happens pretty often that I wake up and wonder how on earth
the end of the day is ever going to come, (not dreading the day, just because
of having so many things to do). Somehow the time always comes where my head
hits the pillow and I'm gonezo within 5 minutes. haha. A couple of times on my
mission, especially recently, I have fallen asleep mid-conversation with all
the elders - even sometimes in receiving an answer
or response to something that I said or asked.. I guess it's just proof of hard
work??? haha.
This week was really good though. We've been going to the gym
with one of our investigators, who I just love. Zhenya is his name. He brings
his brother Dima and sometimes even his mom Lesya. They all know English really
well, and love it when we practice with them. The best part of going to the gym
is actually when we all swing by the market on the way to their apartment and
we buy a bunch of fresh food (meats and vegetables usually) and then Lesya
cooks it all for us while we help clean and prep. Their house is literally my
Ukrainian home away from home. It doesn't matter where you are or when it is,
there's always just something better about a mom's cooking. We then have a
lesson with all three of them, who have been investigating the church for 3
years. They always have a ton of questions. Zhenya is the most ready for
baptism, and we're really trying to keep him going on the right path. Me and
him and his little brother Dima are all like brothers. We poke and bug and make fun of each other and are always laughing. I love them a ton.
Fun fact: I've spent more money on the gym this week than food. :)
Sadly, the other elders' baptism fell through. He gave them his Book of Mormon, told them he was never coming back ever again,
and then got up and left. It was super sad for us and especially them. I'm
super happy to have the knowledge that God simply has something better in
store. That knowledge has gone such a long way on my mission and saved me from
so much lingering sorrow that I could hold onto. So many ups and downs come
from LIFE and especially missions, and it's all just part of a perfect plan
that in certain times is simply incomprehensible for us as mortal beings. One
verse that gets me through just about everything is in Isaiah 55 verses 8 &
9. They're so simple yet so profound. When it all comes down to the questions
of bad things happening, I can always come back to that verse that answers all
of my questions. His ways are just higher then ours, and His thoughts are
higher than ours as well. His work and His glory IS to bring to pass the
immortality and eternal life of man, which is a lot bigger than anything that I
will ever have to do. It has become a lot easier for me to trust and ACCEPT His
will.
For our game night, we made our own spikeball! Yeah..
sometimes I miss American stores where you can just find everything that you
need, but it's just not the same here I guess, haha. We went to 4 different
places to get the things that we needed to make our makeshift (slightly
depressing) version of spikeball that took 4 hours to make and 30 minutes to
break. We miraculously found Hula Hoops at the 3rd biggest market in Ukraine,
then bought fishing net at a fishing market, screws in this little shop
about the size of a master bathroom, and the balls in a children's toy
store. Then we bought water bottles to use as the stands.. Yes, it looked and
worked probably exactly like you picture it in your head..
Sports day was DOPE! We had 11 people come, which is a lot,
actually. It was also "Dima Yacked"'s birthday, so he (super
awesome-ly) brought 2 cakes, some juice and water and stuff for his birthday.
He's so hype - I just love the kid. He turned 19. I found out a week ago after knowing
him for 2 months that he's not 25 like I thought and was only 18 until
Saturday. It's like a Ukrainian thing for people to look way older than they
actually are. (sorry to all Ukrainian moms I just offended). Sometimes out street contacting, we'll
talk to who we THINK are college students about our English Practice only to
find out 3 minutes into the conversation that we have to frantically find a way
out of talking to three 14 year old girls. haha
We only had 13 people at church, but 4 of them were
investigators and 2 were less actives! plus 4 missionaries and 3 active
members. The good thing was that Artiom came back from his 2 week vacation, and
came to church!! I was so happy to see the man. We've been kinda nervous about
his baptismal date for the 4th of August, and that he's been on vacation for 2
weeks, and just knowing how fast an unnurtured testimony fades gives us some
stress!! He was showing us all the pictures that he took, and then scrolled to
one that someone had taken of him laying on his towel at the beach READING THE
BOOK OF MORMON!! I'll have to ask him to send me that picture. I had a baby
sigh of relief. The kid is still going strong!! So happy for him and proud,
too!
One last thing is that the weather here is absolutely
bonkers.. All the rain that should happen in a week gets condensed into about four 15-minute periods of pure flooding. It's just absolutely crazy and usually
makes for an intense half hour of missionary work if you're on the street.
I'm really enjoying this city and the work here. My
testimony of the importance of relationships has just skyrocketed. No matter
where you are, if you have special GOOD relationships with the people that
surround you, it doesn't really matter where you are.
Have a good week and cherish your relationships!!
--
Elder Dillon
Stott
Vul. Yabluneva
1
S. Sofiivska
Borshahivka
Kyivska oblast
08131
Ukraine
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