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