Merry Christmas! Or, as the Ukrainians would say, With the birth of Christ! (I'm not sure exactly how that works, or what it's referring to being "with" the birth of Christ, but that's what they say). That's what the subject line above says, by the way.
So, here's how my only Ukrainian Christmas Eve went (the first was in the MTC):
Well, allright, the story actually starts in August, when I was still in my first transfer in this area (this being my fourth). Elder Lewis and I had received a referral from our first counselor in the bishopric. Apparently, he owned his own roofing company and had made quite a bit of money for himself, so instead of living in an apartment, he built a very large house in the woods surrounding Kyiv. (How big is his house? Let's just say he has a sauna and a small swimming pool in his basement). He also has a guest house behind his real house, and at the time he was renting it out for a week to the son of his wife's best childhood friend (who's also a member in the ward) before he left for university in Italy. The son, Pavel, wasn't a member, but was really interested in meeting with missionaries, so Elder Lewis and I taught him almost every day that week, then committed him to talk to the missionaries in Italy when he got there; and then he left, and we never expected to see him again. Flash forward to last Sunday, where halfway through priesthood meeting who should come in but Pavel. After a lot of catching up, it turns out he really did meet with the missionaries, heard all the lessons, and has been attending church every week for the past three months. However, he doesn't feel his testimony of the Book of Mormon is strong enough for him to be baptised, so he hasn't quite made that final step. While he's in town for the holidays, he's living in the same guest house, so our first counselor, Yuri Lysenko, invited us over for family home evening/Christmas Eve. We went over, and after a great discussion with Pavel and Yuri about baptism and the church, we had the largest meal I have eaten in my entire mission; there was literally too much food to be on their large dining room table at the same time, so they were constantly switching out plates. They had chicken, turkey, pork, mashed potatoes, potato wedges, two kinds of really good Ukrainian salad (one made with crab meat, carrots, mayonaise, and pineapple chunks--really good--and the other with peas, potatoes, chicken, and pickles), buderbrod (open faced sandwiches with cheese and sausage), Ukrainian bread, Ukrainian juice, and Russian soda ("Baikal;" I'm pretty sure Dad and I had some before my mission), and then afterward, cake and apple slices. As missionaries, we were required to spend the entire 2 1/2 hours we were there eating continuously. I've never been so full in my life. I stood up and I felt like sitting back down. They then gave us new socks, a little Christmas tree, and two ornaments (snowmen dressed up like metro workers). We got to listen to their little children sing Christmas songs in Russian and their littlest son, Andrushka, recited a whole bunch of little poems. Earlier that evening I had felt a little homesick; not anymore.
Merry Christmas everyone! I can't wait to get certain phone calls tonight! (We'll be in the new apartment, by the way...)
Merry Christmas!
--Elder Hurst
Almost Christmas... (12/19/2007)
Hello everyone! I'd say "Merry Christmas," but the mission will have Christmas next week be a P-Day for us, so I can just email then and be timelier. How's Christmas in America so far? Here in Ukraine, as usual, it's only being celebrated by members of the Church (well...celebrated Western-wise; everyone else celebrates by drinking). The big holiday here, thanks to eighty years of Communism, is New Years, so everyone's buying their New Year's trees and presents nowadays. New Year's here is basically an exact copy of Christmas in America, except a few days later, without any reference to religion, and literally entirely commercial. And it involves a lot more vodka and beer. In fact, the entire holiday season--which, thanks to Ukraine's turbulent history involving calendar changes, involves Western Christmas (Dec 25), New New Years (Dec 31/Jan 1), Old Christmas (Jan 7), and Old New Years (Jan 13/14)--is basically one large holiday. Most businesses literally shut down because no one would come to work anyway. On New Year's Day, the streets are almost entirely empty aside from a few people passed out drunk along the side of the sidewalk. The entire country goes on vacation/hangover for a month.
In other news, we have an investigator with a baptismal date! Her name is Anya. She's a little...strange, but she loves the Book of Mormon and Liahona magazines, and she's really good friends with a slightly less active member. She lives in a little village outside of Kyiv called Irpin. Her date is for January 5, although it may be changed to January 6 because the stake wants all baptisms done on Sunday for some reason.
On December 27, I will have been in Ukraine for one year. That's the official "old man in the mission" mark. The next big step is when the sister in our MTC group, Sister Russin, goes home, because that means we only have six months left. Yikes. I seem to remember that two years used to be a long time.
This week two native sister missionaries joined our district. As district leader, it means that every night I get to try and talk them through some problem in their new apartment, listen to them talk about how little they know the area (then remind them that I know it about as well as they do), and, above all, do it all in Ukrainian. It's fun. One of them is from Armenia, and the other is from Ukraine, from a city called Dnipropetrovsk (they just opened a mission centered in that city earlier this year). Thankfully, they both know English pretty well, so I can fall back on that when necessary (although I've realized a bit lately how much I'm able to speak in Ukrainian and understand in Russian; it's a really cool feeling).
All right, well, that's it for me this week. I'll write again on Christmas!
--Elder Hurst
In other news, we have an investigator with a baptismal date! Her name is Anya. She's a little...strange, but she loves the Book of Mormon and Liahona magazines, and she's really good friends with a slightly less active member. She lives in a little village outside of Kyiv called Irpin. Her date is for January 5, although it may be changed to January 6 because the stake wants all baptisms done on Sunday for some reason.
On December 27, I will have been in Ukraine for one year. That's the official "old man in the mission" mark. The next big step is when the sister in our MTC group, Sister Russin, goes home, because that means we only have six months left. Yikes. I seem to remember that two years used to be a long time.
This week two native sister missionaries joined our district. As district leader, it means that every night I get to try and talk them through some problem in their new apartment, listen to them talk about how little they know the area (then remind them that I know it about as well as they do), and, above all, do it all in Ukrainian. It's fun. One of them is from Armenia, and the other is from Ukraine, from a city called Dnipropetrovsk (they just opened a mission centered in that city earlier this year). Thankfully, they both know English pretty well, so I can fall back on that when necessary (although I've realized a bit lately how much I'm able to speak in Ukrainian and understand in Russian; it's a really cool feeling).
All right, well, that's it for me this week. I'll write again on Christmas!
--Elder Hurst
Merry December 12! (12/12/2007)
Hello again everyone! I hope everyone's staying warm, where applicable (Californians and Arizonans need not read that sentence). The weather's been pretty chilly here, although we've been without snow for quite some time, which is nice. Supposedly, this winter will be the warmest since last year, which was the warmest in the past 300 years or so. It's better than two winters ago, which I've been told was the coldest in 200 years.
We had an interesting little experience on Sunday evening. We were out tracting at about 8 in the evening. People weren't too interested, but we still had about 3/4 of the building left to do, so we were still hopeful. As we rang the doorbell to a large black door, we noticed two sets of heavy footsteps on the stairs. Turning, we saw two militsia--two policemen--coming up towards us. The first one told us to scoot off to the side so they could get past; the second asked us what we were doing there. We told him we were missionaries, and we showed him our tags. They told us to go off upstairs, so we started heading up the staircase when one said, "Show us your passports." We took them out, and the militsioner tried to take Elder Taylor's. Having been thoroughly forewarned about this type of thing, he refused, and the militsioner tried to take it again. Finally, the other guy said, "Okay, come with us to the station." We started heading down the stairs, frustrated that we'd have to spend the next hour or so in a Ukrainian police station just because we weren't going to let them steal our passports, when the person who called the police in the first place started yelling, "Where are you guys?" The militsia, realizing that maybe two American missionaries weren't their top priority, turned to us and said, in English, "Good bye." We turned and headed off quickly. I believe there were about 15 silent prayers answered right there.
In other news, I'm not sure if I've written this already or not, but Elder Stagg, our mysterious relative, is in my district now. It's been a lot of fun. On New Year's here, missionaries are allowed to spend the night together at one of our apartments, so we're excited to get to hang out together.
We have an investigator right now named Lilya. We've been teaching her for quite some time (I found her when I was here with Elder Lewis, if you remember back that far--it was August) and she's finally making some good steps forward. She came to church for the first time last week and really enjoyed it, although she was disappointed in our hymns; apparently they're a lot jazzier in her other church, and they're ALL written in the first person. But, she told us that after she came home she only wanted to read in the Book of Mormon, which she did all that evening. The only problem is that we've discovered she just barely lives in another ward's boundaries, and she's technically Elder Stagg's investigator. Normally that wouldn't be as big of a problem, but we've been teaching her for the past 4 1/2 months, and she knows our ward very well. Our bishop has advised us that we need to pass her to the other elders, which we'll be doing this Saturday. Wish her luck!
Well, that's my week. Thanks for everything! Have a good week!
--Brett
We had an interesting little experience on Sunday evening. We were out tracting at about 8 in the evening. People weren't too interested, but we still had about 3/4 of the building left to do, so we were still hopeful. As we rang the doorbell to a large black door, we noticed two sets of heavy footsteps on the stairs. Turning, we saw two militsia--two policemen--coming up towards us. The first one told us to scoot off to the side so they could get past; the second asked us what we were doing there. We told him we were missionaries, and we showed him our tags. They told us to go off upstairs, so we started heading up the staircase when one said, "Show us your passports." We took them out, and the militsioner tried to take Elder Taylor's. Having been thoroughly forewarned about this type of thing, he refused, and the militsioner tried to take it again. Finally, the other guy said, "Okay, come with us to the station." We started heading down the stairs, frustrated that we'd have to spend the next hour or so in a Ukrainian police station just because we weren't going to let them steal our passports, when the person who called the police in the first place started yelling, "Where are you guys?" The militsia, realizing that maybe two American missionaries weren't their top priority, turned to us and said, in English, "Good bye." We turned and headed off quickly. I believe there were about 15 silent prayers answered right there.
In other news, I'm not sure if I've written this already or not, but Elder Stagg, our mysterious relative, is in my district now. It's been a lot of fun. On New Year's here, missionaries are allowed to spend the night together at one of our apartments, so we're excited to get to hang out together.
We have an investigator right now named Lilya. We've been teaching her for quite some time (I found her when I was here with Elder Lewis, if you remember back that far--it was August) and she's finally making some good steps forward. She came to church for the first time last week and really enjoyed it, although she was disappointed in our hymns; apparently they're a lot jazzier in her other church, and they're ALL written in the first person. But, she told us that after she came home she only wanted to read in the Book of Mormon, which she did all that evening. The only problem is that we've discovered she just barely lives in another ward's boundaries, and she's technically Elder Stagg's investigator. Normally that wouldn't be as big of a problem, but we've been teaching her for the past 4 1/2 months, and she knows our ward very well. Our bishop has advised us that we need to pass her to the other elders, which we'll be doing this Saturday. Wish her luck!
Well, that's my week. Thanks for everything! Have a good week!
--Brett
New comp, drunk grandmas and zone conference (Dec 5, 2007)
Hello again everyone! Things are going really well over here, unless you count the weather, which is either cold and snowing, cold and raining, or just cold. But, other than that, things really are going well.
Transfers came and went, and I have a new companion, Elder Taylor. He's a lot quieter than Elder Higgins was, but from what I hear members in all the places he's served love him, which is good; we've worked really hard on gaining the trust of the members in this area.
So we had an interesting meeting on Saturday. One of our investigators, a lady named Lilya, decided after our lesson that she wanted to give us some herbal tea (Ukrainians love tea) and cookies. Her mom was also there; and you'll need to understand, her mom is an older woman who's pretty much drunk all the time. So, Lilya comes out and sets down her cookies, which are all nicely arranged on a platter, when her mom comes out with this beat-up pot full of something, pulls one of the things out, holds it out to me, and says, "Eat!" Lilya immediately begins slapping her hand and saying, "Go away! Don't give them that!" but then the water for the tea finished boiling and she had to leave the room, leaving Elder Taylor and I with this drunken babushka and her mysterious bowl of food, which she still held out to me (for some reason, only me) and said, "Eat. It's good. It's healthy. Eat!" Our bishop was with us on the lesson, so I turned to him and asked, as casually as I could, "So, Bishop...do you like this?" He shrugged and said, "It's not bad." I slowly turned back, took the thing from the babushka, and took a bite. It wasn't too bad; basically, it was like a crepe with sweetened condensed milk spread on it, except it was really cold, and I'm not sure how fresh it was. The babushka smiled and said, "It's good, isn't it?" I agreed, and then when Lilya came back, her mom said, "You see Lilya? He said he loves it!" Thankfully, after the one, I didn't have to eat any others. However, as we drank our tea, Lilya's mom again left the room, and when she came back she was holding a thick, short wooden rod. Our bishop asked what it was, and she told us that it was what she used to keep children in line. Lilya then jumped in and told us that she usually hides it from her mom so she can't use it. All in all, an interesting experience.
Well, it's that time again, unfortunately. I love you all, and I'll write again next week!
--Brett
PS - That's really cool about Steven! Montreal, eh?
PPS - Thanks for the package Dad! I was able to pick it up yesterday.
Transfers came and went, and I have a new companion, Elder Taylor. He's a lot quieter than Elder Higgins was, but from what I hear members in all the places he's served love him, which is good; we've worked really hard on gaining the trust of the members in this area.
So we had an interesting meeting on Saturday. One of our investigators, a lady named Lilya, decided after our lesson that she wanted to give us some herbal tea (Ukrainians love tea) and cookies. Her mom was also there; and you'll need to understand, her mom is an older woman who's pretty much drunk all the time. So, Lilya comes out and sets down her cookies, which are all nicely arranged on a platter, when her mom comes out with this beat-up pot full of something, pulls one of the things out, holds it out to me, and says, "Eat!" Lilya immediately begins slapping her hand and saying, "Go away! Don't give them that!" but then the water for the tea finished boiling and she had to leave the room, leaving Elder Taylor and I with this drunken babushka and her mysterious bowl of food, which she still held out to me (for some reason, only me) and said, "Eat. It's good. It's healthy. Eat!" Our bishop was with us on the lesson, so I turned to him and asked, as casually as I could, "So, Bishop...do you like this?" He shrugged and said, "It's not bad." I slowly turned back, took the thing from the babushka, and took a bite. It wasn't too bad; basically, it was like a crepe with sweetened condensed milk spread on it, except it was really cold, and I'm not sure how fresh it was. The babushka smiled and said, "It's good, isn't it?" I agreed, and then when Lilya came back, her mom said, "You see Lilya? He said he loves it!" Thankfully, after the one, I didn't have to eat any others. However, as we drank our tea, Lilya's mom again left the room, and when she came back she was holding a thick, short wooden rod. Our bishop asked what it was, and she told us that it was what she used to keep children in line. Lilya then jumped in and told us that she usually hides it from her mom so she can't use it. All in all, an interesting experience.
Well, it's that time again, unfortunately. I love you all, and I'll write again next week!
--Brett
PS - That's really cool about Steven! Montreal, eh?
PPS - Thanks for the package Dad! I was able to pick it up yesterday.
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