Hello again everyone! We've had a fantastic week this time around. As I may have hinted about earlier, our area has been really, really slow; we've been excited to get more than three or four phone numbers from people on the street or from tracting a week. However, this past week things are turning around quite nicely. On Saturday, our Zone Leaders told us that one of their investigators actually lives in our area, so we've taken over teaching him, and he has a baptism set for March 17; there's this really cool guy named Serhiy who lives across the street from us that we committed to think and pray about preparing for baptism on March 24 (we should find out for certain tomorrow, because he invited us to go roast shishkabobs with him and his family in the forest outside of Kiev--our apartments are right on the very edge of town, and literally across the street is a forest); and last Monday I contacted a man named Danyil who took a Book of Mormon and said, kind of dismissively, "Yeah, I'll come to church," before walking off, seeming very uninterested. But, lo and behold, he and his wife were there at church, and when we talked to them he said, "I started reading in the Book of Mormon and really liked it. So I read a lot of it out loud to my wife, and we both agree that it's a very special book."
So, things are starting to heat up in our area, which is ironic because things have really started getting cold weather-wise. It snows probably every two or three days, and the sidewalks are fairly treacherous with black ice. There's a little game in the mission where the missionaries count how many times they slip and fall ("fall" as in you end up entirely on the ground--the scores are counted more like golf...). I've only fallen twice so far--the first time being the worst because there was a great deal of packed down snow on the ground one evening when it started to rain, and the rain froze into ice that coated everything--not ideal for staying upright. However, I've been doing better than most; one elder in my district had a week where he fell every single day. But, the fun thing is, when you slip and fall it doesn't hurt at all, and it makes for a funny story afterwards. (I've been fortunate also in that I've only slipped to the side--the worst is falling flat on your back). But, before you start worrying, I've only felt cold once here, and that was one night when it was about 20 below Celsius, the wind was blowing, and this tiny, sharp snow was falling. Other than that, I've actually been really comfortable outside.
I'm excited for my birthday, but more for the fact that I'll be turning 20 than for anything that'll be happening on that day (as it looks now, it probably will indeed involve a good deal of tracting). Thanks to everyone who sent me emails and e-cards! As it turns out apparently, I can indeed get cards through the pouch mail (wish I'd found that out earlier), as long as there's no money in them--they're cracking down heavily on that; every letter we get is opened and resealed because they check them for money. As for packages, here's the information:
There's two ways to send packages to our mision that are recommended. These are through two companies, Roxolana and Meest-America. There info is as follows:
ROXOLANA
19 w. 21st St.
Linden, New Jersey, 07036
Telephone: (973) 763-8778
888 725-8665
Fax: (973) 763-5425
MEEST-AMERICA
609 Commerce Road
Linden, New Jersey 07036
Telephone: 800 288-9949
1 800 361-7345
I'm not sure how the process works--the website probably says far better than I could speculate--but the address here in Kiev is this:
Elder Brett Hurst
Puhkinska 2-4/7 Apt 43
Kiev, Ukraine 01034
It's really important to NOT put "Ukraine Kiev Mission" on the package, because I guess the government would consider it a business package and would slap a rather hefty tariff on it.
All right, I hope that's helpful. There's absolutely no need or anything to send packages whatsoever, I just wanted to include the information.
Well, other than that things are going pretty well. My companion has 18 days before he goes home, so that's been a bit of an extra challenge in our work, but not much of one. Well...yet. We suspect that once he reaches 10 days he'll be more of a burden than anything...
Well, that's how things have been going! Thanks again to everyone who's sent me emails or letters. I hope you all have a good week, and Renee, tell Alli and Mary that I miss wrestling with them too.
Love,
--Elder Brett
No comments:
Post a Comment