Week 97 - Raking, Learning, Teaching, Testifying

April 1, 2019

Pryvitchyk.

Happy birthday to my best friend who is ever so conveniently my older brother at the same time!! Love you, big guy!!

So yeah, his week went by super duper fast! It was one of the faster ones, but longer ones at the same time because we were just all over the place!! It was super good though. We had 3 different conferences!!

On Tuesday we did service all day at a member's grandma's property on the outskirts of the city. I have literally never raked so much in my life. It was pretty good though. The weather was decent, and it only rained a little bit! It was fun to help her out though. They fed us some of the most Ukrainian food ever afterward and it was soooo tasty. Lots of good kompot, and some other super classic foods. Traditional Ukrainian food might actually be my favorite food of all time. We each took a shot at pickled whole tomatoes, and just popped em in our mouths and went at it. It was so rough hahah but a classic experience. It's one of the only Ukrainian foods I don't like!! But I got it down okay. You get weird and super useful blessings like being able to down almost any food as a missionary.

We had a Mid Transfer Training that was super duper good and uplifting! Then the next day right after, we had a Zone Conference. They were both so good. We talked a ton about the Great Apostasy, and I learned so much! I was surprised about truly how much prophets have testified of the apostasy. The Old Testament is full of prophecies of the Great Apostasy to come after the death and resurrection of Christ, Paul in his epistles talks a lot about it as it is currently happening, and we have prophets and apostles in our day, who testify that it once was! It's so important to understand and know how to teach the apostasy, because if there was no apostasy, then there would be no need for a restoration. The better we understand the apostasy, the more we appreciate and understand the Restoration of the Fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days! It was so good.

We also talked a lot about our studies, both personal studies and companionship studies, and man. Those are 2 of the most important hours of our days here as missionaries! I'm super excited to take the studies I have left on my mission and just juice the heck outta them. 

Probably the highlight of the week is this guy Misha that we are meeting with. Teaching him is so cool. It's just like a Gospel discussion with one of your buddies. We just sit, talk, teach, pray, read scriptures, and testify! He has read the Book of Mormon like a madman!!! He always has sooo many questions about it, many of which are comparisons drawn between it and the Bible. We spend a lot of time on each lesson teaching doctrine from the Bible and making those vital connections in the Book of Mormon that fill all the gaps and answer the questions that come up when we study the Bible alone. He read the entire Book of Mormon in about 5 days, and we got such a dope text from him that said that he read the entire Book of Mormon, and wants to know if he can become a member of the Church, and how to go about doing that. I was absolutely floored. That kind of thing has almost never happened on my mission. Of course, we'll be working with him very closely this coming week! Thank you so much for those of you that are keeping him in your thoughts and prayers!! Please keep praying for him, he needs it now more than ever! It's so cool teaching him, because I learn so much myself looking for scriptures and doctrines in the Bible and Book of Mormon that answer so many important questions. The Book of Mormon really truly DO testify of one another. I'm so blessed to have that knowledge, and even more blessed to share that knowledge with everyone that I can here in Ukraine!

Back in Rivne, we had branch conference. One thing that I've seen in the last while on my mission is that there is something to get out of EVERY talk, every segment, and every discussion that we have at church, or conferences, or anywhere and anytime. It doesn't matter who is talking, or what the topic is. All you have to do is pray and pray and pray some more that the Holy Spirit will inspire you and teach you from what the speaker is saying or teaching! It's such an amazing experience.

That's all from me. You're all the best!

Week 96 - Miracle Week

March 25, 2019

What's up everybody!!!

We've had just the busiest week on my entire mission this week, it's been crazy. We've been having lots of lesson and have received a lot of new people to teach! It's been so crazy. We've seen miracles nonstop, some of which are just so precious to me that I can't even share all of them!!

I also was inches away from getting jumped and robbed from behind on Monday night, which was kinda scary, especially after, when we got away and inside our apartment, they were all 3 peeping in our windows and stuff... but hey, the Lord protects His missionaries. Cool stories all about that little one, too. Don't worry mom!!!! You should see the other guy :)

We have really tried our hardest to set goals and plans and stick to them this week, and even though we don't achieve a lot of our goals, the Lord makes up for it and THEN some by providing us with so many miracles and people to teach, and so many miracles. I've found this week that when you do what He asks, He doesn't always immediately bless you while you're doing that one thing that you planned to do, but in one way or another, He provides you with the blessings that He promises to.

We've been running around and have been so tired every night, but it's the best feeling knowing that you can comfortably return and report to the Lord that you dedicated your day 100% to Him.

I know the Gospel is true. A lot is required of us, but through every last trial of our faith, He blesses us. And at the very end, when all is said and done, He has everything to give us:

2 Corinthians 1:9 "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."  

I love you all so much and am praying for you constantly!!! 

Please pray for the people that we are teaching and the people of Ukraine. The Lord has so many blessings that He is waiting to pour upon these wonderful people, and the key that unlocks those doors through which these blessings flow are our prayers to Him on His children's behalf!

Have a great week !!!!!

Service project with Zena

Favorite place to eat

Soldiers doing a demonstration - it's election season

Week 95 - Lost It All

March 18, 2019

This week was super good!

It was a little bit slow, but that's okay. We've had a lot of activities and are working with a lot of members.

We had exchanges and I got to be with Elder Eller, my first son. Boy do I love that kid!! What a good missionary. It's weird to train someone and then have them as your Zone Leader, and man, I just love him so much. 

I started cutting Elders' hair this week too hahahaha. Not too shabby for my first 2 cuts in my life... Besides Matua's!!!

Check out that fade

It was a rough week and a hard start to the transfer, because our phone blitzed and lost every. single. last. contact. Numbers and addresses for all of our investigators - gone. It's been pretty rough starting from 0... The Elders here (including me) have been bad at recording everything into the Area Book, which is where we are supposed to write down and track of alllllll the information basically about everything, and instead, we just kept everything in the phones... 

Learning from that, it's so important to WRITE THINGS DOWN!!! I've definitely become a journal guy on my mission, and always have at least one journal with me on hand at all times. Recording things like inspiration, doctrine, things we learn and feel from our studies really shows God how important all of it is to us!! We receive so many blessings from doing so. And also, anything that we can record and remember serves as a helping hand in time of need, at any point in the future. The more we know about Christ and His gospel, the more we can live and love just as He did. I know that to be true!!!

Have a great week everyone!!!

Our church building

We ran to the top of this overlook - it about killed me

Grandpa fishing the river by the train

"Don't forget to pray to God"

Cool old pink church

Pokemon alive and well in Ukraine

Week 94 - Pics Only

March 11, 2019

My new comp, Elder Thornton

Krayivka - old bunker

The Rivne Squad

Week 93 - Training x 3

March 4, 2019

Good Morning America!

2 things this week for big news! 

1. I'm training for my last 2 transfers!! I don't know who he is yet, but I already am so excited to serve with him and I already love him!! It'll be my 3rd time training, and I'm so stoked to be able to finish my mission working my butt off with a brand new missionary with that greenie fire!!

2. We're getting smartphones!! I think we'll get them my last transfer (in 6 more weeks). It's gonna be so good for the work here! I'm also deep down happy that I'll get used to one before I come home so I don't feel like a doofus all the time asking all the youngins how to use it! My current Nokia will surely not be missed :)

I'll give a better update next week with tons of pictures!!!

Love 

Elder Stott

Week 92 - Ice Bucket Challenge - Lost

February 25, 2019

Hello Everyone -

Transfer calls are coming up this Friday! It's probably my last week with Elder Matua, which is a fat bummer. I've loved serving with him tons!!! I'm pretty sure I'm staying here for the rest of my mission and getting my 3rd greenie, but we'll see. I'll let you guys know!

Really quick. Two words to describe this week: Exchanges, busy. And another bonus word: COLD. We hosted 2 different exchanges, and over the course of 4 days had Elders coming in and out of our apartment. The exchanges were both super good and super busy! We set a baptismal date with our investigator Tina, who will hopefully get baptized on March 16th!! We also were able to find a bunch of people who were interested in finding out more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with whom we are going to need to get in contact! When the ZLs were here, we had a competition to see who could get the most IPs, and whoever lost would do the Ice Bucket Challenge that night in the freezing cold like 0 degrees. Elder Cluff and I got soaking wet and freezing cold that night. We took a video of it too of course. Still worth the success we found that day! (sorry it doesn't load on mobile...)

We had an awesome lesson with our investigator Katya, who is going through some tough family stuff right now, and it's getting between her and being baptized. We talked about the importance of baptism with her at her lesson and also how important it is to be able to have the Holy Ghost with us, especially during hard times, and she just said "guys, don't worry. I've already made my decision. Even if the whole world is going to be against it, I'm still going to get baptized". It's always so cool to see such faith in God's children who are being reminded of His wonderful Gospel. So as of now, we are kinda just waiting for things to get settled in her family before she can have that baptism, so please keep her in your prayers!

Also this week was the closest I've ever been in my life to getting hit by a car!! Don't worry though mom I'm okay!

Plus one more - Happy upcoming birthday to my dad this coming Saturday who is turning the big 5-oh! You're the best, pops. Thank you for everything, and especially your example to me. Thank you for being such a role model of a father and a husband for me! I love you!!

Have a great week guys.

Elder Stott

Note to self - don't throw the football on a windy day in a crowded square

Breakfast of champions

Guess what our main source of protein is?...

Week 91 - Valentines Day and an Audit

February 18, 2019

What's up Everyone!

I'll keep this one short, because you all know the news! Missionaries can now call or skype home on P-days! Like everyone else, upon first hearing it, I had mixed feelings and didn't know if it was the best idea. But, the more I talk and think about it, I realize just how many good things there are about it! I'm so stoked to see all those goobers!! I'm so grateful for modern revelation that exists in Christ's true church through modern day prophets and apostles! 

We spent P-day in L'viv and went bowling as an entire district after visiting an Armenian Historic Church in downtown L'viv that is I think 500ish years old, or maybe older. We celebrated Elder Lukach's birthday and had a cake there at the bowling alley and that was super fun.

We had a branch Valentine's Day activity that was pretty good too. The best thing about it was the fact that for the first time, missionaries didn't have to do all the planning and putting together of the activity! We were just able to show up early and help set up, and that was it! It was especially fun for me, being that it was all stress-free. haha. Honestly I totally forgot about Valentine's Day in the first place until about half way through the day. It was so funny to me to see the difference between the first Valentine's Day and this one, because on the first one I was just so sad and all that, but this year it was just a joke hahaha. First year missionaries, keep your chins up!!!!

We had a couple of referrals come in this week from Salt Lake, and one who lived about a 45 minute bus ride away showed up at church! I was nervous because he was sitting by himself, and I was on the stand, so for the whole meeting I thought he felt kinda lost, but we talked afterwards for a while and he loved everything about it. He took a Book of Mormon, Liahonas, the Come Follow Me study program, and other stuff too. He was asking what he has to do to get baptized into the Church, and so we got to talk about that too! His name is Ihor, he's around 55 years old, and is a general/leader in the army where he is stationed in Dubno. Please keep him in your prayers!

Because I'm in the Branch Presidency, I got to take part in the audit that we did with a member from Kyiv whose calling is related to Church Finances and all that stuff. It was my 2nd one on my mission, because I did it back in Chernivtsi, too. It was a looong tedious process, but man, I learned SO much from doing it and was actually grateful for the experience. I was writing a bunch of stuff down and soaking up as much as I could, and when the man from Kyiv left, he shook my hand and said "good job, I can tell you learned lots today." and that was dope. Fulfilling our callings in The Church is sooo important. It's our way of showing God that He can trust us! As we serve others in our small and simple, and maybe seemingly insignificant means, we our blessed so much! No act of service goes unnoticed by our Heavenly Father.

Have a great week!!

Our favorite pizza - with an egg cracked on top