Hello Again (March 14, 2007)

Hello again everyone! I'm pretty sure I start all my emails about the same, so you'll have to forgive me if it's kind of redundant. Anyway, things have been going really well, but first let me say, Happy Birthday Dad!
It's finally warming up to spring weather, which has been fantastic. It's so nice to wake up and have the sun shining. As far as I know, Ukraine doesn't have daylight savings, so I haven't had to miss any sleep as of yet, but it is really strange to think about the fact that this is my second daylight savings time change as a missionary; I was in the MTC for the one in fall. It's crazy that I've been on my mission for five months already. It honestly seems like I went in the MTC two or three weeks ago. It's only when I remember all the specific events that have happened that I realize it really has been a long time. It's funny; when your on a mission, time stops making sense. Some days seem like they last forever, but then every night as I climb in bed, it seems like I just barely got out that morning. Individual days seem like normal, but weeks go past blazingly fast. I'll be talking about something as though it happened earlier that week, but then be reminded it actually happened three weeks ago. This next week is the end of my second transfer in country, which seemed like it was a quarter as long as my first transfer. (This also means that my companion, Elder Hanson, goes home this coming Monday...that's really, really strange to think about).
Well, like I said, transfers are coming up next week, but I've been pretty well assured that I'm staying put, which means that I'll be holding down the fort in Voskresenksy for my third transfer. It's kind of funny how people will ask how long I've been in the area and I'll say "Two and a half months," and then they ask how long I've been in the country and I'll say, "Two and a half months." But, the good news is I really like this area. The work is hard and so far not really producing much visibly, but we are able to serve in a fantastic ward (the Voskresenksy Prykhod, "prykhod" meaning "ward"). The bishop, Bishop Gluko, is a nuclear physicist who translates general conferences into Ukrainian, and his wife, Zoya, translated the Book of Mormon into Ukrainian. There's a family called the Musyenko family that is great; the mom is this really funny lady who works as an artist, and her daughter, Katya, speaks near-fluent English and is probably the closest I've ever seen someone to being a perfect member of the church. Our missionary correlation leader is a large bald surgeon named Valeri (emphasis on the "er") who is the most gung-ho person I have ever met; on the phone once, he told us that we need to spend more time on P-Days playing sports; he then paused for a second and said, "My wife has informed me that I'm not giving you good advice. Good bye."
My language is improving as well. Now, instead of asking me if I'm Canadian or American straight off the bat, people ask if I'm Polish. Apparently, most missionaries somehow develop a Polish accent. I've had a lot of people ask me if I'm German, too.
All right, I've run out of time again, but I love you all, and I'll write again next week!
--Elder Brett