Week 66 - The Roasted & The Roaster

Hey Fam!!!

This week was CRAZY. So much travel and all that jazz.

We had a conference with a 70 this week! Elder Goulden. He roasted us pretty hard but it was a good conference. Getting home was a disaster and miracle all at the same time! There's a story I'll share another time!

Follow up: Our kompot turned to wine over the weekend. I took a big swig yesterday and it was all fizzy and nasty. I've never tasted wine before but this has got to be it, I'm certain of it! Tossed it out.

The rest of the zone was a fan of our shaved legs at conference.

We flame-throwed a huge spider on the ceiling this week. I still hate them. Roasted him good.

Conference was good, and the mission is just an A+ right now for me! Everything is going super super well and I'm loving every single day and week that goes by! It's awesome to see the slow, and gradual change that comes with changing little things about the way that you live. New habits develop into new character traits, and character traits develop into changes of personality and who you are in general. The gospel truly changes lives!!!

Love you all!

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Week 65 - Juice Up and Buckle Up

August 20, 2018

Hello My Family-

So this week was super sick. Elder Baxter (Baxton) and I are getting along literally perfectly. There's not a whole lot more that could be going better between us and our ability to work and live together! We're basically the same exact person, so we've just clicked since day one.

This week we had a ton of stuff going on, and there's no way I'd be able to write about it all, so I'll just give a couple highlights.

1.Elder Gallafent went home this week. It was really weird and sad standing at the train station, watching him get on a train, and then knowing that I won't see him again until we're both at BYU. We have served together for 4 transfers, so we've gotten to know one another pretty well.

2. After an investigator sent us home with a kilogram of grapes, we decided to try and make our own Kompot and it turned out pretty good. This week we branched out a little bit more and our fridge now has 20 liters of this stuff in it. We ran out of room both in our fridge and jars and bottles, so we made our last batch super gnarly. It was like 3 litres of water with 5 pounds of grapes, and no sugar because we ran out. Now I've never tasted wine, but let me tell you, this stuff HAS to be as close as it gets!!

3.I waved down what I thought was a taxi to get to the Lohinov's house for family home evening because we were running late, and then this dude that was driving was just driving like crazy and got us there in 15 minutes instead of the 25 it should have taken. I was kinda sketched out but it was so fun. I asked him how much it cost at the end and he just said "whatever you fellas will give me" so I tossed him 100 grieven and busted out of the car. He would win a record for the most laws broken on the road in the shortest amount of time. And then to top it all off, right before we got out, he pulled up and stopped by cops and swore at them and then kept driving. Craziest fake-taxi driver out there hands down. It also wasn't his car that he drove us in. Yeah.. sorry mom!!

4. We bought train tickets this week to go to Ternopil. We wanted to go on Saturday to meet with a couple of people there, and also to run the English Practice that they hold there. We were kinda worried a little bit on Friday night because we wanted to make it as effective a trip as possible, but we didn't have a ton of things to fill our time with. This is where the ~divine design~ comes in and saves us. We get a call from the sister missionaries in L'viv saying that they have a referral for us from Church Headquarters! (It's always nice to get a referral from Headquarters) Then we found out that we needed to call this guy as soon as possible because the sister missionaries in the Temple Square mission were chatting with him on Mormon.org through google translator, so they needed some help quick! We called this man asap. Long story short, of course this guy lives in Ternopil!! So we called him and told him that we can bring him a Book of Mormon and have a lesson with him there the very next day! What a lifesaver. We met with Yuri in Ternopil after walking right passed him and he said hello, then we walk 100 meters more then we get a text from him that said, "didn't I just say hi to you guys? Or was that not you?" We lost it. It started the conversation with him (the second time around) off on the right foot. We had just eaten in a restaurant called Faine Misto before we saw him, and he says: "hey let's sit down and talk at a cool restaurant here!". Next thing you know we're sitting in Faine Misto drinking more and more Kvass. 

Yuri is one of the coolest guys that I've met in Ukraine hands down. He's so "golden" as missionaries would describe. For 2 hours we just talked about life and the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Book of Mormon. The nicest thing about it all is that this guy has his head so screwed on his shoulders. He's 25 years old, served 5 years as an artilleryman in the army, and has a ton of questions about faith and God. He said that he would go to church and read the Book of Mormon and pray about it! We all became homies even before we taught him. It was one of the most comfortable and "flowy" lessons on my mission so far. We're hoping that he will quickly progress and grow in the Gospel. My guess is that he definitely will. We ended up spending 5 hours with him that day. I'll be sure to fill you in on what happens with him.

6. I'm not even gonna try to beat around the bush on this one, I'll just be straight up honest and say that we found a pair of hair clippers in the apartment, and with me and Elder Baxter being so impulsive, we each ended up testing it out on one of our legs. Getting in bed yesterday and putting on pants today has never felt so weird. We're going for the "least hairy companionship" look at conference this week. :) 

There's the goods for this week!!

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

I love these people

Best haircut I've ever had - dope barber

Week 64 - Vadym and the Taxi Driver

August 13, 2018

Hey fam-

This week was super solid and really really fast. I'm struggling to remember what was actually this week and what was last last week, because I'm mixing them up. We just had a crazy week this week I guess!

We had a ton of moving and a ton of cleaning to do this week getting both apartments crammed into the smaller of the two. We got all the moving done before Elder Corey and Cluff left on Tuesday morning at 6 and 7 AM, but Elder Gallafent and I got left with the vast majority of the cleaning and unpacking.

Elder Gallafent and I were comps for about a day and a half and that went pretty good. Since Elder Baxter got here on Wednesday, we've been in a trio. It will be just me and Elder Baxter after Elder Gallafent leaves this Wednesday to go home, and then Elder Baxter will go home 5 weeks later. I'm killing missionaries left and right this transfer.

Vadym's baptism happened this Saturday! I have no idea how it all pulled together, We had almost no time to prep for it until the day before and the morning of, and we were literally running from place to place on Saturday morning up until the baptismal service that started around 11. To give you an idea of how surprised I am that it didn't absolutely fall apart, I'll have you know that we got to the sauna place that we rent out to do baptisms, and Vadym and I started getting dressed into the baptismal clothes. He had some questions about what it would be that he would wear, and so he asked me, what am I gonna wear again? And then we realized that we literally forgot about his baptismal suit back at the church. Elder Gallafent and President Lohinov ran all the way back to the church while we waited for them. I think this is the first baptism maybe in the world where you get all the way up to being ready to perform the ordinance and then you realize you literally forgot the baptismal suit.. All's well that ends well! That water was SO cold. It was funny because after Vadym got in (the water was up to our chest) he was panicking a little bit and wanted to get right out, so he kept saying "okay come on..let's go..how do I do this..baptize me already" and was frantically grabbing my wrists in all kinds of ways trying to remember how we showed him it would happen. It was just a funny moment I guess. 

He couldn't make the trip back out to church on Sunday, but he will receive the Holy Ghost next Sunday. He's truly a miracle for this branch! They need more priesthood leadership here, just like the do in Uzhgorod, so he will be an amazing help to the branch here.

Another amazing thing this week: Remember the taxi driver I talked to on my last day in Uzhgorod? He has a baptismal date! It was interesting because for some reason on that ride home I just really testified about the Book of Mormon to this 50 year old man, and then we gave him one and he gave us his number. He had to go to Germany for 2 months, so we thought we would lose him for sure. But, sure enough 2 months later on the dot, he showed up at church on Sunday, and hasn't missed a Sunday since then! He's read a decent chunk of the Book of Mormon and is already an amazing (non)member missionary. Super passionate about the gospel. He's getting BAPTIZED on the 18th!!! He's going to be an amazing member there in Uzh, and is in the future probably going to be that solid Melchizedek Priesthood holder that they need to become a branch there. Honestly it's not a huge thing that I talked to our taxi driver about the gospel, but, hearing of all these miracles that are happening with him right now has given me some of the most fulfilling feelings I have felt on my mission hands down. I really wish I could make it down there for his baptism, but we're just swamped in work here in our city.

This week after meeting an investigator who lives on the outskirts in the city, she gave us a ton of grapes (like 2.5 kilos) straight from the vineyard in her back yard. We ate some but they're the kind that are basically 75% massive seeds, (concords??) and so we decided to make some Ukrainian Kompot. We made 12 Litres on Thursday and we're already out of it. We're going to buy more ingredients for a new batch and flavor today at the rynok.

Elder Baxter and I have a goal this transfer to not go to a single grocery store if we can avoid it. We want to be as Ukrainian as possible and only shop at the huuge markets. It might get a little sketchy when it comes to buying eggs, meat and cheese and those kinds of things, but if the Ukrainians can survive then so can we!!! We already made a big mistake when we bought over a pound and a half of Estonian cheese that cost wayyy too little. It was about a third of the price of all the other cheeses, so we just wanted to try it. I have never had a worse tasting cheese in my life. We now have around 600 grams of Estonian cheese still sitting in our fridge. We put it on sandwiches and cover it in sauce to drown out the awful flavor that I can't even describe.

I found out yesterday that Elder Baxter and I are both getting additional callings in the branch here this next week. I'll be the second councilor in the presidency, and Elder Baxter is going to be the clerk. Yay for more work and responsibility!

I was using the restroom this week and I heard something small and solid fall into the toilet. I looked in and couldn't tell what it was, so I assumed it was unimportant and just flushed it. I then left and went to do the button on my pants and realized it wasn't there. I ran back into the bathroom to an empty toilet bowl and left with a loose pair of pants. The other Elders thought it was funnier than I did.

To finish, I studied in 2 Nephi 4 this week on Tuesday, (the only day where we had time for all 3 studies). It might be one of my favorite chapters in the entire Book of Mormon if not my favorite chapter altogether. It's a great chapter with gold in every verse. It teaches us a lot about prayer, trust in God, repentance, humility, sin, and our relationship with Heavenly Father. I invite you to go and study that chapter this week and see what you can get out of it!

On a shorter spiritual note as well, the fruits of sharing the gospel are some of the most joyous and happy moments of my entire life. Taking part in the conversion of someone else, being able to see them grow and develop and even just hearing about the progress they make brings such a specific joy and influence of the Holy Ghost that is truly a huge testimony builder for me. We can KNOW without a doubt that all of this wonderful gospel is so perfectly true simply from the joy and the happiness that we can find in such a lost and confused and frankly depressing world. Jesus Christ and His gospel is what makes it all possible. He is our Savior and our brother and our best friend who loves us perfectly. The things we choose to do, which eventually and gradually form us into who we are, are the way that we can show our love back to Him. The only thing that He requires of us to receive the abundance of blessings in store for us is to keep His commandments, and to sacrifice our heart and our will to Him. Living the gospel is worth so much more than all of the things that we receive in return.

Have a good week! More pics below.
--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine

Found some really old playground equipment

Elder Baxter about to get wet

Pumped for Vadym's baptism

Week 63 - Staying in K-Town

August 6, 2018

Hey fam.

This week flew by like crazy. We were super busy or as a Ukrainian would say it, "we had our butts in the soap this week". I'll just fill you in on some highlights.

Elder Cluff and I ran to a stadium to play football there but got kicked off before I even tied my shoes on the field. Some grandma lady came out and scolded us so I explained everything super nicely how we were just dumb Americans and didn't know we shouldn't be there. She turned into my newest grandma friend!

We contacted for a longgg time this week on the streets. One morning this week we contacted this guy and talked to him for a little bit. It soon turned into us walking with him for 45 minutes on his way to work. We walked past a jungle gym and he asked us if he could work out really fast. We'll sit through anything to be able to teach the gospel out here, so we were sharing the gospel with Anatoliy as he was doing dips, pullups, and knee raises on this jungle gym for a little while. We then walked more with him and then as he had to leave he was just like "eh, nah I'm not interested thanks though." and we were like whaaaaattttt?! So that was a bummer. But, he came to our English practice and game night so we were able to talk to him there.

Speaking of game night, we did water jousting. You basically swing together 2 bags of water that you arm with a weapon and armor, and whoever pops the other one wins. It was fun, especially because I had a plastic plate and a knife as my armor and weapon, going against paper armor and paper clip jousts. If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'. Also, our ceiling broke during it. oops.

We had 2 exchanges this week, one being me with the other Elders of the district, and then the zone leaders from Rivne came down to be with me. They both went good. We have such solid missionaries here in Ukraine and it's such a good confidence boost to be surrounded by good missionaries and good people everywhere you look. On the exchange with Elder McGrath, we ended up getting super binked in our schedule. We contacted for about 5 hours throughout the day. As most people would assume, I enjoy talking to strangers about the gospel, despite the rejections, laughs, mocking, and lack of success that comes with it the majority of the time. And also for the first time this week, I got flipped off by a bunch of teenage girls! I wasn't actually the one who saw it, but Elder Cluff was all of a sudden just like "man, those girls legit just flipped us off". And I wasn't gonna let my man Elder Cluff take that. I asked him which girls it was, and he showed me the group of 5 teenage girls sitting there. I said "let's go talk to them!" and started my way back. Elder Cluff was like no no no Elder Stott don't do it man. But as soon as they saw us walking back, the 4 other friends of the bird-girl started to freak out and laugh and get nervous. I talked to them for a little bit and humbled her, just a little, in front of her friends. She didn't get much nicer during the conversation, but her friends were losing it the entire time. It was pretty funny to be honest.

We went to the gym a couple times with Zhenya and Dima this week. You're now reading the email of the newest ZARYADKA gym member!! We always leave the gym and swing by the market to grab a bunch of food to make all kinds of stuff to eat, then go home and CHOW, then have a super solid lesson with him, his brother, and his mom.

Our investigator who had the baptismal date is moving to L'viv on the 25th because he got accepted into the university there. As happy as I am for him, it's still kinda a bummer. He's actually going to be rooming with Zhenya in the same apartment which is super cool. They both met at church and clicked super well. Hopefully they'll keep spiritually progressing together in L'viv with a branch that has more youth and might help them both see that the Church is more than just the 4 missionaries and 6 members that come on Sunday here in Khmelnytskyy.

Transfers came this week in texts.. it was weird to not get a call from President himself, but either way it's all the same. I will be staying in K-town. Elder Cluff and Corey are both leaving. I'll be in a trio for 1 week with Elder Gallafent and Elder Baxter. After 1 week, Elder Gallafent is going home and I'll be with Elder Baxter for his last transfer before he leaves. I'm SUPER excited to serve with Elder Baxter. Every time there's a conference in L'viv and we sleep at the same apartment, we always would talk and be like "man.. when are we gonna serve together, huh?" AND NOW WE'RE GONNA!! It'll just be me and him in this city now, because numbers are going down in missionaries. I'm pretty sure I'll stay even another transfer after he leaves so I can either train someone or get a new comp from the old Kiev mission and THEN I might leave. I'm excited for the work load to increase, as we will be absorbing another area and now the whooole city is under our stewardship. This might be the most excited that I've been from a transfer yet on my mission. If I had to choose a missionary to be alone with for a whole transfer in one city, Elder Baxter would be one of the first ones I would choose. I'm so ready to kill another missionary and get to WORK and end his mission with the hardest-working transfer on his mission! It's gonna be a blast.

We're also moving EVERYTHING into one apartment, so a ton of this week has been cleaning and moving and packing to get ready to close down our old apartment. We're already all 4 of us in the one tiny apartment, so it's fun as I'm unpacking and everyone else is packing. Bags are everywhere.

This has been the hottest week on my mission hands down. It's only been in the 80s but I swear it's been 95 nonstop for the past week. I take 2 showers every day and we have fans going in the aparment all day. No AC here.

That's about all that happened this week. I'm super excited for this next transfer with the man Elder Baxter. We're gonna get some work DONE!!

Have a good week!!!

--

Elder Dillon Stott

Vul. Yabluneva 1

S. Sofiivska Borshahivka

Kyivska oblast 08131

Ukraine