Well, this has certainly been an interesting week. On Thursday, we traveled from Ivano Frankivsk to L'viv so that we could see Elder Jeffrey R. Holland dedicate a new meetinghouse there, and we had a meeting with him and us missionaries before the dedication. It was really cool. Elder Holland is kind of infamous among missionaries because he has a tendency to go a little crazy when meeting with them. If he thinks the missionaries aren't obedient in some way or another, he'll be quick to get on their case about it. There's a video they show us in the MTC of a talk Elder Holland gave there several years ago. Nowadays its called "The Miracle of a Mission," but the original title was "Don't You Dare Go Home," which kind of shows how enthusiastic Elder Holland is prone to get. So, needless to say, we were a little worried; but as it turns out, when he came he told us that we were one of the best looking, most obedient missions he had ever visited, and so he didn't need to go ballistic. Instead, we had an incredibly interesting lesson about faith, revelation, and prophets. We were able to shake his hand as well, which means I've now shaken the hands of two apostles...
On Sunday we visited a town called Verkhovyna, which is a small town in the Carpathian Mountains. If it wasn't for the usual Ukrainian litter problem, Verkhovyna would probably be one of the most beautiful towns I've ever been to. It sits right in the mountains, surrounded by pine forests and split in half by a large river that people go rafting down. It was really pretty up there. The Carpathian Mountains are beautiful in Ukraine, especially because the Transylvanian region of them lies entirely in Romania, so there aren't any vampires for miles.
I've really enjoyed Ivano Frankivsk. It's strange and fun, and apparently, time goes really quick when you're here, because it's transfers already. And, alas, I'm the one getting shipped out. It was kind of sad at first to have to leave, but President Davis and I talked about it a little (he was in Ivano last night), and apparently the plan is for me to come back some time in the future and serve here for a lot longer. Also, I apparently have some cool assignment for this coming transfer, but I have to wait for tomorrow to find out what it is...
I love you all, and I'll write again soon!
--Elder Brett
PS - I included some more pictures this time around...not as many as I'd like, but as usual the internet club is to blame...these computers are INCREDIBLY SLOW...
CIMG0622 - This is a drawing of me done by a kid in Verkhovyna. Like many Ukrainian kids, he confuses my cyrillic name, "XYPCT" (Khurst) with the Ukrainian word for "crunch," "XPYCT" (Khrust). For many people, I'm Elder Crunch. It's not as glamorous as it sounds.
CIMG0620 - This is Verkhovyna. It's very, very beautiful.
CIMG0447 - A while ago we visited a castle in a town called Kamyanets-Podilsky. It was really cool, and this is my favorite picture from that trip.
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