The time has come! I know I can't believe it at all still. It still feels like in a day or two I'll board a train and go to my next area.
Last night, on Monday, all of the missionaries going home--my MTC group, Elders Kauffman, Lewis, Jacobs, Stagg, and myself; Elder Campbell, who came 6 weeks after us but due to plane scheduling came home on the early transfer with us; and Sister Mills--met together at President Steinagel's apartment, ate a big dinner, and had a testimony meeting about what we've learned from our missions. After that, we realized that we wanted to do something really special to end our last night, so with permission from president we all traveled down to where they're building the Kyiv Temple (which, by the way, is looking very impressive and looks a lot bigger in real life). Arriving at about 11:00 at night, we all gathered around and sung hymns, said a prayer, and had a moment of quiet meditation gazing at the temple. When we were ready, we returned to the mission home and stayed up talking until about 3:30.
Dad arrived this morning and we started going around the city sightseeing and talking. Tonight we're leaving for Ivano-Frankivsk, where we'll be until Thursday, when we head to Chernivtsi. Friday night we head back to Kyiv to sightsee a little more and go to church in one of my former areas, and then on Monday the long flight begins.
I can't wait to see and talk to everyone again! I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
Amazing!
Hello again everyone! We had a FANTASTIC week as a zone. On Wednesday we had our mini zone conference, which was a huge success, and then on Sunday, when we reported in our numbers, my part of the zone found twice as many new investigators as usual, had more than 3 times as many investigators at sacrament meeting, and overall we did great. It's been great.
In other news, on Saturday--which, by the way, was the 11th of October, or in other words, my 2 year mark as a missionary--we took a branch trip to two little tourist towns in the Carpathian mountains, Vorokhta and Yaremche. The Carpathian mountains are beautiful in the fall! They're covered with trees, and so the mountains are spotted with green, yellow, red, and orange. Several mountains are bright green with random bright yellow trees, and some just seem to glow orange. I took a ton of pictures. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I officially love the Carpathian mountains.
Speaking of love, I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
In other news, on Saturday--which, by the way, was the 11th of October, or in other words, my 2 year mark as a missionary--we took a branch trip to two little tourist towns in the Carpathian mountains, Vorokhta and Yaremche. The Carpathian mountains are beautiful in the fall! They're covered with trees, and so the mountains are spotted with green, yellow, red, and orange. Several mountains are bright green with random bright yellow trees, and some just seem to glow orange. I took a ton of pictures. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I officially love the Carpathian mountains.
Speaking of love, I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
Lutsk, Religious Conference, and Chernivtsi 600...
Hello everyone! We just finished up a pretty packed week...
First of all, last Tuesday we went off to the little northwestern city of Lutsk for an exchange. Lutsk is a tiny little city with very little that's interesting except for a pretty cool castle that we got to see. There's a really nice restaurant right near the castle that served some of the best borscht I've had in Ukraine, as well as a really good Caesar salad and actual fried ice cream. It was a good exchange.
We got in on time to help set up for a large community religious meeting, which was held in our church. Every year the ministry of religion for the city of Chernivtsi invites all the local leaders of the local churches together for a meeting on how to promote religious tolerance and cooperation to help solve local social and community problems, and this year they chose our meetinghouse as the meeting place.
Several local religious leaders spoke about social problems that their churches are working to improve, including a Catholic priest, a Baptist pastor, and the local Seventh Day Adventist leader. Representing our church was President Malonos, the second counselor in the mission presidency, who talked about the abnormally high divorce rate in Ukraine and the need to help the family remain sacred. In doing so, he talked about our belief in the centrality of the family in the plan of God, and the necessity and importance of eternal marriage and families, mentioning that he himself had been married in the temple for time and all eternity. While the crowd had been relatively quiet for all of the other speakers (many barely even paying attention--one young pastor in a really expensive suit read a newspaper for most of the time), everyone was on the edge of their seats for his talk, and almost as soon as they opened the floor for questions everyone tried to challenge his claim on eternal marriage, asking him to show bible verses proving that doctrine. He told them that he wasn't here to convince them whether or not our church is true, but rather to share an important social problem and the revealed solution to it. He bore testimony of Joseph Smith and the Plan of Happiness, and in the end, everyone applauded and commended him on his talk. The Spirit was present in a very strong, literal sense.
This weekend was also the 600th anniversary of the founding of Chernivtsi, and they had a huge celebration for it. We got to wander around a little and take a look, and it was really amazing. Everything was remodeled and made to look really nice, and a lot of little additions had been made, including a street with sidewalks lined with the name "Chernivtsi" written in Ukrainian, Russian, English, Polish, Romanian, and Hebrew. It was a lot of fun, and a really great experience.
Well, hey, thanks for all the emails, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
First of all, last Tuesday we went off to the little northwestern city of Lutsk for an exchange. Lutsk is a tiny little city with very little that's interesting except for a pretty cool castle that we got to see. There's a really nice restaurant right near the castle that served some of the best borscht I've had in Ukraine, as well as a really good Caesar salad and actual fried ice cream. It was a good exchange.
We got in on time to help set up for a large community religious meeting, which was held in our church. Every year the ministry of religion for the city of Chernivtsi invites all the local leaders of the local churches together for a meeting on how to promote religious tolerance and cooperation to help solve local social and community problems, and this year they chose our meetinghouse as the meeting place.
Several local religious leaders spoke about social problems that their churches are working to improve, including a Catholic priest, a Baptist pastor, and the local Seventh Day Adventist leader. Representing our church was President Malonos, the second counselor in the mission presidency, who talked about the abnormally high divorce rate in Ukraine and the need to help the family remain sacred. In doing so, he talked about our belief in the centrality of the family in the plan of God, and the necessity and importance of eternal marriage and families, mentioning that he himself had been married in the temple for time and all eternity. While the crowd had been relatively quiet for all of the other speakers (many barely even paying attention--one young pastor in a really expensive suit read a newspaper for most of the time), everyone was on the edge of their seats for his talk, and almost as soon as they opened the floor for questions everyone tried to challenge his claim on eternal marriage, asking him to show bible verses proving that doctrine. He told them that he wasn't here to convince them whether or not our church is true, but rather to share an important social problem and the revealed solution to it. He bore testimony of Joseph Smith and the Plan of Happiness, and in the end, everyone applauded and commended him on his talk. The Spirit was present in a very strong, literal sense.
This weekend was also the 600th anniversary of the founding of Chernivtsi, and they had a huge celebration for it. We got to wander around a little and take a look, and it was really amazing. Everything was remodeled and made to look really nice, and a lot of little additions had been made, including a street with sidewalks lined with the name "Chernivtsi" written in Ukrainian, Russian, English, Polish, Romanian, and Hebrew. It was a lot of fun, and a really great experience.
Well, hey, thanks for all the emails, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
Banana bread tastes better with baking soda
Hello again! This week was definitely interesting. We had some really cool lessons with our members, trying to get them all ready to start doing some missionary work of their own. We've been doing a little program with them were we read a few scriptures about the atonement, have them make a list of friends and family who aren't members, then pray to see who on that list is ready to hear about the gospel. After that we have a few simple steps like do service, mention you're a member of this church, invite them to meetings, and invite them to talk to missionaries.
So, we decided to make banana bread for someone this week, and we decided to do it with the other elders because...well...they know how to make banana bread. So, we've just finished everything and have had it in the oven for about 10 minutes when someone suddenly realizes that no one added baking soda. Thinking quickly, but not clearly, he pulled it out of the oven and tried sprinkling baking soda on top and kind of mixing into the batter. Despite the well thought-out premise, it actually didn't work, and turned out to be really gross (bubbles of baking soda don't taste very good). The only parts of it that tasted normal were the outside edges that didn't get the soda treatment; they just weren't as fluffy as usual.
Hopefully unrelated, we had a case of stomach flu in our district. Thankfully it's all over, and thankfully I didn't get it as bad as some of the others did, but it wasn't fun. I think that throwing up at 2 am would probably be one of my least favorite mission memories.
Well, other than that, things are great! Thank you all for your emails, I love you, and I'll write again in a week!
Love,
--Elder Hurst
So, we decided to make banana bread for someone this week, and we decided to do it with the other elders because...well...they know how to make banana bread. So, we've just finished everything and have had it in the oven for about 10 minutes when someone suddenly realizes that no one added baking soda. Thinking quickly, but not clearly, he pulled it out of the oven and tried sprinkling baking soda on top and kind of mixing into the batter. Despite the well thought-out premise, it actually didn't work, and turned out to be really gross (bubbles of baking soda don't taste very good). The only parts of it that tasted normal were the outside edges that didn't get the soda treatment; they just weren't as fluffy as usual.
Hopefully unrelated, we had a case of stomach flu in our district. Thankfully it's all over, and thankfully I didn't get it as bad as some of the others did, but it wasn't fun. I think that throwing up at 2 am would probably be one of my least favorite mission memories.
Well, other than that, things are great! Thank you all for your emails, I love you, and I'll write again in a week!
Love,
--Elder Hurst
Cool things ahead
Hello everyone! Well, we just had zone conference again this past week, and it was really amazing. We've talked a lot about doubling baptisms, and our president, President Steinagel, is just the man to do it. He has a great vision for the missionary work here, and he really knows his stuff. This next transfer will be a really good one.
We have a lot planned for it that'll be really cool. Here's our schedule:
WEEK 1 (this week): 2-day exchange with the other elders in our district to help them boost their numbers and get some work going for them
WEEK 2: Exchange in Lutsk, a city I've never been to before
WEEK 3: Exchange in L'viv with the other zone leaders
WEEK 4: Mini zone conference (something I've been organizing for my part of the zone, Ivano and Chernivtsi; it'll be a scaled-down version of zone conference specifically for us and our situations. If it goes like I'm planning, it'll be a great way to train and, most especially, keep everyone excited for the last half of the transfer--most of the time, people are great after zone conference but it kind of wavers off after that)
WEEK 5: Exchange in Ivano to help them with a big Open House they're having
WEEK 6: Exchange in Kyiv, Ivano, Chernivtsi, Odessa, and Kyiv again before a transfer to Boise, Idaho....
It should be a good transfer.
Congratulations again to Mom for her big win! That's amazing. I hope everyone else is doing great, and I'll write again next week!
--Elder Hurst
We have a lot planned for it that'll be really cool. Here's our schedule:
WEEK 1 (this week): 2-day exchange with the other elders in our district to help them boost their numbers and get some work going for them
WEEK 2: Exchange in Lutsk, a city I've never been to before
WEEK 3: Exchange in L'viv with the other zone leaders
WEEK 4: Mini zone conference (something I've been organizing for my part of the zone, Ivano and Chernivtsi; it'll be a scaled-down version of zone conference specifically for us and our situations. If it goes like I'm planning, it'll be a great way to train and, most especially, keep everyone excited for the last half of the transfer--most of the time, people are great after zone conference but it kind of wavers off after that)
WEEK 5: Exchange in Ivano to help them with a big Open House they're having
WEEK 6: Exchange in Kyiv, Ivano, Chernivtsi, Odessa, and Kyiv again before a transfer to Boise, Idaho....
It should be a good transfer.
Congratulations again to Mom for her big win! That's amazing. I hope everyone else is doing great, and I'll write again next week!
--Elder Hurst
It's officially fall now...
Hello again! Well, the weather's begun it's usual downward spiral here. We had some great weather for a long time--really hot and sunny. Now, though, almost overnight, the weather's become cold and rainy. That's one thing that's always been interesting about Ukraine--there's no gray area between seasons. On Thursday it was summer; on Friday it was fall. There's no mistaking it.
Well, our week was a little uneventful this time around. President Steinagel decided to help me have a little more time for doing missionary work (imagine that!) so I've been released from being the second counselor in the branch here. I'm very, very grateful for that. It was nice to be able to sit with investigators for once.
Well, I'm running a little short on time again...I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week! Good luck with everything!
--Elder Hurst
Well, our week was a little uneventful this time around. President Steinagel decided to help me have a little more time for doing missionary work (imagine that!) so I've been released from being the second counselor in the branch here. I'm very, very grateful for that. It was nice to be able to sit with investigators for once.
Well, I'm running a little short on time again...I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week! Good luck with everything!
--Elder Hurst
Miracles from the ashes
Hello everyone! This past week has been absolutely amazing. It has stood in stark and utter contrast to last week, and it reminds me constantly of all the many scriptures and quotes that speak of how trials and suffering purify us and sanctify us in order to receive the blessings of the Lord. Our last week was probably one of the hardest of my mission emotionally, but it was all in preparation for this.
Our week seemed fairly normal until Thursday evening at about 7. One of the girls in our branch, a recent convert named Tonya, had brought her friend, Marina, who had come to English and church a few times but never really seemed too interested. After English we had a spiritual thought about baptism, where one of the sister missionaries here, Sister Muradyan from Armenia, talked about everything that baptism represents and means, especially talking about 2 Nephi 30 and how Christ was baptised although he was perfect and sinless. After, I shared about how baptism was like a contract that had to be stamped with the proper authority; just like how an important contract isn't real until the government places the proper stamp on it (at least here in Ukraine), so baptisms must be not only done properly, but by the proper and actual authority of God in order to be real.
After the spiritual thought, Tonya came up to me and said that Maria had a question for us. This question turned out to be, "How and where did your church get the proper authority?"
This is one of those "golden questions" that missionaries always wish their investigators would ask.
We went aside to the next room and taught her about the priesthood in the church of Christ's time, then about the loss of authority that came with the great apostasy following the deaths of the apostles. We finished by telling her about the restoration of the priesthood to Joseph Smith, and the fact that that allowed for all the necessary ordinances--like baptism--to be done once again. Maria sat there quietly for a little bit, then said, "I know your church is true. Tonya's told me all about it these past few months. I'm going to be moving to Italy in about four days. Is it possible for me to get baptised this Saturday before I go?"
After a little bit of stunned silence, we jumped into action. Friday was spent almost entirely teaching her all the lessons from 1 to 3 and all the commandments; her friend, Tonya, had done such an amazing job being a member missionary that I think we taught her 2 principles she didn't yet know and believe. When we asked her what she already knew about the Book of Mormon, she gave us an answer so complete that we had absolutely nothing to add. We just kind of said, "Uh...yeah...yeah, that's exactly right. Um...moving on."
On Saturday, Maria Dmytrivna Sorochan received the ordinance of baptism and bore her testimony of how this church is truly a living church--about how that's not just a story, not just a legend, but a true actuality. On Sunday she received the gift of the holy ghost and is now a member of the church, almost exactly 40 hours after agreeing to be baptised.
This kind of thing absolutely never happens in our mission. This is definitely the greatest miracle I have seen on my mission, and it's one of the biggest miracles I've seen in my life.
I hope you all are having a great week as well! This has been a week of miracles all over the mission, and I hope that it extends to all of you as well.
--Elder Hurst
Our week seemed fairly normal until Thursday evening at about 7. One of the girls in our branch, a recent convert named Tonya, had brought her friend, Marina, who had come to English and church a few times but never really seemed too interested. After English we had a spiritual thought about baptism, where one of the sister missionaries here, Sister Muradyan from Armenia, talked about everything that baptism represents and means, especially talking about 2 Nephi 30 and how Christ was baptised although he was perfect and sinless. After, I shared about how baptism was like a contract that had to be stamped with the proper authority; just like how an important contract isn't real until the government places the proper stamp on it (at least here in Ukraine), so baptisms must be not only done properly, but by the proper and actual authority of God in order to be real.
After the spiritual thought, Tonya came up to me and said that Maria had a question for us. This question turned out to be, "How and where did your church get the proper authority?"
This is one of those "golden questions" that missionaries always wish their investigators would ask.
We went aside to the next room and taught her about the priesthood in the church of Christ's time, then about the loss of authority that came with the great apostasy following the deaths of the apostles. We finished by telling her about the restoration of the priesthood to Joseph Smith, and the fact that that allowed for all the necessary ordinances--like baptism--to be done once again. Maria sat there quietly for a little bit, then said, "I know your church is true. Tonya's told me all about it these past few months. I'm going to be moving to Italy in about four days. Is it possible for me to get baptised this Saturday before I go?"
After a little bit of stunned silence, we jumped into action. Friday was spent almost entirely teaching her all the lessons from 1 to 3 and all the commandments; her friend, Tonya, had done such an amazing job being a member missionary that I think we taught her 2 principles she didn't yet know and believe. When we asked her what she already knew about the Book of Mormon, she gave us an answer so complete that we had absolutely nothing to add. We just kind of said, "Uh...yeah...yeah, that's exactly right. Um...moving on."
On Saturday, Maria Dmytrivna Sorochan received the ordinance of baptism and bore her testimony of how this church is truly a living church--about how that's not just a story, not just a legend, but a true actuality. On Sunday she received the gift of the holy ghost and is now a member of the church, almost exactly 40 hours after agreeing to be baptised.
This kind of thing absolutely never happens in our mission. This is definitely the greatest miracle I have seen on my mission, and it's one of the biggest miracles I've seen in my life.
I hope you all are having a great week as well! This has been a week of miracles all over the mission, and I hope that it extends to all of you as well.
--Elder Hurst
Email to all missionary parents
Dear Parents and Family of our wonderful Missionaries,
Since our recent arrival in the field, we have wanted to contact each of you and let you know how happy we are to be here in the Ukraine Kyiv Mission and how grateful we are that your son or daughter is here with us. We love our missionaries so much and will do all that we can to help them be safe, happy and successful.
The Lord has much in store for the people of Ukraine. The saints here are so faithful, although many are still new in the gospel and learning how things should be done. The construction of so many chapels and the temple rising outside the city are a testimony to the wondrous growth here. We feel strongly the importance of sharing the gospel with everyone and inviting them to prepare for the coming of the House of the Lord. We commit ourselves to helping each missionary to do that as well as possible.
Sister Steinagel and I want to thank you again for sending us such a wonderful missionary. We have attached an information sheet which might help you to know us better.
Thank you for all your support. We know it is because of your sacrifice that the work goes forward here.
With warm regards,
President and Sister Steinagel
Ukraine Kyiv Mission
Since our recent arrival in the field, we have wanted to contact each of you and let you know how happy we are to be here in the Ukraine Kyiv Mission and how grateful we are that your son or daughter is here with us. We love our missionaries so much and will do all that we can to help them be safe, happy and successful.
The Lord has much in store for the people of Ukraine. The saints here are so faithful, although many are still new in the gospel and learning how things should be done. The construction of so many chapels and the temple rising outside the city are a testimony to the wondrous growth here. We feel strongly the importance of sharing the gospel with everyone and inviting them to prepare for the coming of the House of the Lord. We commit ourselves to helping each missionary to do that as well as possible.
Sister Steinagel and I want to thank you again for sending us such a wonderful missionary. We have attached an information sheet which might help you to know us better.
Thank you for all your support. We know it is because of your sacrifice that the work goes forward here.
With warm regards,
President and Sister Steinagel
Ukraine Kyiv Mission
Not my favorite week
Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a good week this time around. Ours could have better.
So, our investigator Andriy was doing great. He passed his baptismal interview, accepted everything we taught him, understood everything perfectly (he would repeat back whatever we taught in his own words, and then expound on it all perfectly), and was really excited for baptism. We realized that the branch president had been out of town for several weeks and that Andriy didn't really know him, so we decided to let them get to know each other a little better. On Friday--the day before his baptism--we went and picked him up and walked over to our branch president's work. On the way, Andriy told us about how earlier that day a rich man that he used to go drinking with offered to buy him free drinks that day if he'd just start drinking with him again (there's a tradition here that you can't drink alone, you have to have friends--the best number is at least 3--otherwise, you're considered an alcoholic). He then handed Andriy a large beer bottle and left to go buy something for himself. Andriy told us that he set down the bottle in front of the store and literally ran home.
We showed up to the branch president's work in high spirits. Then, the president came and, without so much as a cursory introduction, began to very rudely interrogate him, accusing him of having no actual testimony of the Book of Mormon and of not being prepared for baptism. We left in shock, and Andriy told us that he had some praying to do. The next time we talked, he told us that he didn't feel ready for baptism any time soon.
We've talked to a lot of members and missionaries since then, and almost without exception it's been agreed that he not only had no authority to do the "interview," he had no right to such an aggressive and rude approach, and that our investigator was prepared. We've been in complete shock since then. How will he react to any other investigators who may be ready for baptism?
Well, in other news, we're heading to Ivano on exchanges again this Tuesday, so that'll be a good chance to get my mind off things for a little bit.
Well, I hope everyone has a good week. I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
So, our investigator Andriy was doing great. He passed his baptismal interview, accepted everything we taught him, understood everything perfectly (he would repeat back whatever we taught in his own words, and then expound on it all perfectly), and was really excited for baptism. We realized that the branch president had been out of town for several weeks and that Andriy didn't really know him, so we decided to let them get to know each other a little better. On Friday--the day before his baptism--we went and picked him up and walked over to our branch president's work. On the way, Andriy told us about how earlier that day a rich man that he used to go drinking with offered to buy him free drinks that day if he'd just start drinking with him again (there's a tradition here that you can't drink alone, you have to have friends--the best number is at least 3--otherwise, you're considered an alcoholic). He then handed Andriy a large beer bottle and left to go buy something for himself. Andriy told us that he set down the bottle in front of the store and literally ran home.
We showed up to the branch president's work in high spirits. Then, the president came and, without so much as a cursory introduction, began to very rudely interrogate him, accusing him of having no actual testimony of the Book of Mormon and of not being prepared for baptism. We left in shock, and Andriy told us that he had some praying to do. The next time we talked, he told us that he didn't feel ready for baptism any time soon.
We've talked to a lot of members and missionaries since then, and almost without exception it's been agreed that he not only had no authority to do the "interview," he had no right to such an aggressive and rude approach, and that our investigator was prepared. We've been in complete shock since then. How will he react to any other investigators who may be ready for baptism?
Well, in other news, we're heading to Ivano on exchanges again this Tuesday, so that'll be a good chance to get my mind off things for a little bit.
Well, I hope everyone has a good week. I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
Good news!
Hello everyone! Well, I've got some exciting news. I don't know if you remember our investigator Andriy, but he was a man who came up to us on the street drunk and asking for money, and then as we met with him he sobered up and became a great investigator. Well, about three weeks ago, he had a relapse and started drinking again. We met him on the street, and he looked worse than he had when we first met him. It was really discouraging, but we recommitted him to stop drinking and kept meeting with him when we could. After about two or three days of drinking, he once again stopped drinking, and since that time became even more committed to stopping that habit. He told us that now, whenever he sees his old drinking friends on the street, he just crosses to the other side; he thinks about drinking like he thinks about spitting on the floor in someone's house. He told us that the feeling he gets when he drinks can't even compare to the feeling he gets when he's with us or at church. And this Saturday, he's going to get baptized!
This past weekend, we had the opportunity to visit a city called Uzhhorod. The first time I heard about it was at the very beginning of my mission, and ever since then I always wanted to go visit there. Unfortunately, only zone leaders in the city of L'viv got to go. So, I waited and waited, and it looked like it would never happen until last week when I got a phone call from L'viv asking if we could go in their stead. So, very happily we crossed over the Carpathian mountains and went within 30 kilometers of the Hungarian border to visit the little city. It was really cool, but we had to take a 12-hour-long bus ride to get there. Not fun.
Well, I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
This past weekend, we had the opportunity to visit a city called Uzhhorod. The first time I heard about it was at the very beginning of my mission, and ever since then I always wanted to go visit there. Unfortunately, only zone leaders in the city of L'viv got to go. So, I waited and waited, and it looked like it would never happen until last week when I got a phone call from L'viv asking if we could go in their stead. So, very happily we crossed over the Carpathian mountains and went within 30 kilometers of the Hungarian border to visit the little city. It was really cool, but we had to take a 12-hour-long bus ride to get there. Not fun.
Well, I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
Another week, another email
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good week. I'm sorrow to hear that school's starting again...its kind of strange, actually, that that's happening again, it honestly seems like I just barely read the emails from last year saying that school's starting up again. Actually, to be entirely honest, it still feels like last October, for some reason. I think that's the point when time really sped up for me. It's going by lightning quick now, what with August being more than half over. I only have 1 more zone conference before the end...WEIRD.
So, this transfer we've decided that we're really going to focus on finding and baptizing a family, and something cool happened this week in this regard. Actually, the story starts about 3 weeks ago. We were running late and we had to get to the church, so we took a taxi from where we were (taxis are very cheap in Chernivtsi--about 10 gryven, or 2 dollars, on average). Our driver was a guy named Yuriy who had actually met with missionaries about 4 years ago. He'd been interested, but didn't really want to go anywhere with his teaching, and so he stopped meeting with them. We talked with him, and he was still not too interested, although he was very friendly and actually gave us his phone number. I called to set up with him, but he was busy and not too interested, and then I actually lost his number and couldn't call him back. At the time I didn't think too much of it--we get a lot of numbers of people who aren't actually all that interested, so I didn't feel bad losing it. So, earlier this week we had to take a taxi again, and it just happened to be his. We got to talking and he mentioned that he was married, and that that same week his wife had just given birth to a baby boy! After his son was born, Yuriy really started thinking about religion again and actually began rereading all of the information he had gotten years ago. When we reached our apartment, he turned off the car and asked if we could just talk for a while. After about 15 minutes of talking, he said he really wanted us to go over to meet his family and have a lesson with them. We set up with him for next Sunday evening!
Things overall are going really well here. This Saturday and Sunday morning we may get to go to a little town called Uzhhorod, down on the other side of the Carpathians by Hungary. I've been wanting to go there since my 1st transfer in country. I am SO excited.
Well, I think that's all the news for today. I love you all! Good luck at school!
--Elder Hurst
So, this transfer we've decided that we're really going to focus on finding and baptizing a family, and something cool happened this week in this regard. Actually, the story starts about 3 weeks ago. We were running late and we had to get to the church, so we took a taxi from where we were (taxis are very cheap in Chernivtsi--about 10 gryven, or 2 dollars, on average). Our driver was a guy named Yuriy who had actually met with missionaries about 4 years ago. He'd been interested, but didn't really want to go anywhere with his teaching, and so he stopped meeting with them. We talked with him, and he was still not too interested, although he was very friendly and actually gave us his phone number. I called to set up with him, but he was busy and not too interested, and then I actually lost his number and couldn't call him back. At the time I didn't think too much of it--we get a lot of numbers of people who aren't actually all that interested, so I didn't feel bad losing it. So, earlier this week we had to take a taxi again, and it just happened to be his. We got to talking and he mentioned that he was married, and that that same week his wife had just given birth to a baby boy! After his son was born, Yuriy really started thinking about religion again and actually began rereading all of the information he had gotten years ago. When we reached our apartment, he turned off the car and asked if we could just talk for a while. After about 15 minutes of talking, he said he really wanted us to go over to meet his family and have a lesson with them. We set up with him for next Sunday evening!
Things overall are going really well here. This Saturday and Sunday morning we may get to go to a little town called Uzhhorod, down on the other side of the Carpathians by Hungary. I've been wanting to go there since my 1st transfer in country. I am SO excited.
Well, I think that's all the news for today. I love you all! Good luck at school!
--Elder Hurst
Zone conference in L'viv
Hello again! Well, it seems like we finished one trip just in time to do another. Exactly one week after our little stop by Kyiv, we made a quick trip up to L'viv for zone conference. It was a large relief to be able to do zone conference with the other two zl's. Things went pretty well, and all in all it was a great conference.
This last Sunday, our new mission president, President Steinagel, came to visit Chernivtsi in order to introduce himself to the branch, announce a few ideas for the mission, and...to go contacting with the missionaries. So, Elder Hubbard and I were worrying and preparing all week leading up to this, but it turned out really well. He came over to our new apartment and said that it's one of the nicest missionary apartments he's ever seen--I'm hoping that I stay here until the end...He then also told us that we have a very approachable manner, and that we just look personable and friendly. He told us that we were the type of missionaries who would be perfect for talking to families because we put them at ease. Always nice to hear...especially when we spent all week expecting him to rip us apart.
I can't remember if I mentioned anything last week, but I got your package Dad! Thank you! And thank you Renee and Angie for your pictures--I miss all the little kids, and man do I want to go camping...
I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
This last Sunday, our new mission president, President Steinagel, came to visit Chernivtsi in order to introduce himself to the branch, announce a few ideas for the mission, and...to go contacting with the missionaries. So, Elder Hubbard and I were worrying and preparing all week leading up to this, but it turned out really well. He came over to our new apartment and said that it's one of the nicest missionary apartments he's ever seen--I'm hoping that I stay here until the end...He then also told us that we have a very approachable manner, and that we just look personable and friendly. He told us that we were the type of missionaries who would be perfect for talking to families because we put them at ease. Always nice to hear...especially when we spent all week expecting him to rip us apart.
I can't remember if I mentioned anything last week, but I got your package Dad! Thank you! And thank you Renee and Angie for your pictures--I miss all the little kids, and man do I want to go camping...
I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
Another great week in Chernivtsi
Hello everyone! I hope you're all doing well. Things are going very good here in Chernivtsi; the rain's drying up, the water's on, we just moved into a new apartment that is REALLY nice, and the work is going really well!
Last night we had a lesson with our investigator Andriy Dvirskiy (the man who approached us drunk several weeks ago). He hasn't had a drop of alcohol for almost a month, has smoked maybe 3 times (all more than a week ago), and loves reading about Christ. While we were chit-chatting with him, he quoted "Faith without works is dead," then asked us, "What works do I need to do to show my faith?" We responded with a powerful lesson about the steps of the gospel (faith, repentence, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end), followed by a discussion on how these ordinances can only be done by the true authority of God, about the apostasy and loss of this priesthood power, and the restoration of the authority necessary to perform those necessary ordinances. He understood completely, and accepted a baptismal date for August 30! His mom was there also, and felt the spirit strongly; and while she's not ready now to accept a date, she's definitely interested, and she sees the difference it's made in her son's life. Andriy's dad is also gaining interest rapidly; while before he'd stay in the bedroom whenever we came over, he's started coming out and talking with us, and two times ago we had a conversation with him to let him know what we were sharing with his son. They have a very nice family, and I'm really hopeful about the future. It's such an amazing experience to see, in an almost highlighted form, how our message has completely turned his life around. He used to be a drunkard on the streets, dirty and begging for money; now he's clean, he smiles and jokes, he thinks clearly, he has a job, his eyes look bright and alert, and he loves reading about the Savior. Teaching him has probably been one of the best experiences of my mission.
Also, while I was in Ivano, I was able to check up on Oleg Petronyak, the man we baptized last transfer. He's doing very well; he's still got some kind of funny ideas about a few things, but when he gets converted to a part of the gospel, he stays very true. He has a lot of potential to be a very, very strong member once he gets some more experience and learns some more. Elder Hinkle, the scriptorian/gospel scholar senior missionary there, says that Oleg reminds him of himself when he was first converted to the gospel years ago. I took that as a good sign. Elder Hinkle also told us that a week ago, a man came to church to try and argue with people and disrupt things, and he tried to tell Oleg that the Book of Mormon was a fake. Oleg stood up and said, "I know the Book of Mormon is true! It has everything in the Bible and more, and it's a lot easier to understand! I feel the Spirit when I read it, and I know it's from God!"
Well, the next transfer starts this week, so we'll be heading into Kyiv for zone leaders' council. Our companionship's staying the same, so I'll be with Elder Hubbard another transfer, which is good; he's a lot of fun.
Oh, and by the way, I am INSANELY jealous of your job, Adam!
Thank you all for everything! I hope you all have a good week! I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
Last night we had a lesson with our investigator Andriy Dvirskiy (the man who approached us drunk several weeks ago). He hasn't had a drop of alcohol for almost a month, has smoked maybe 3 times (all more than a week ago), and loves reading about Christ. While we were chit-chatting with him, he quoted "Faith without works is dead," then asked us, "What works do I need to do to show my faith?" We responded with a powerful lesson about the steps of the gospel (faith, repentence, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end), followed by a discussion on how these ordinances can only be done by the true authority of God, about the apostasy and loss of this priesthood power, and the restoration of the authority necessary to perform those necessary ordinances. He understood completely, and accepted a baptismal date for August 30! His mom was there also, and felt the spirit strongly; and while she's not ready now to accept a date, she's definitely interested, and she sees the difference it's made in her son's life. Andriy's dad is also gaining interest rapidly; while before he'd stay in the bedroom whenever we came over, he's started coming out and talking with us, and two times ago we had a conversation with him to let him know what we were sharing with his son. They have a very nice family, and I'm really hopeful about the future. It's such an amazing experience to see, in an almost highlighted form, how our message has completely turned his life around. He used to be a drunkard on the streets, dirty and begging for money; now he's clean, he smiles and jokes, he thinks clearly, he has a job, his eyes look bright and alert, and he loves reading about the Savior. Teaching him has probably been one of the best experiences of my mission.
Also, while I was in Ivano, I was able to check up on Oleg Petronyak, the man we baptized last transfer. He's doing very well; he's still got some kind of funny ideas about a few things, but when he gets converted to a part of the gospel, he stays very true. He has a lot of potential to be a very, very strong member once he gets some more experience and learns some more. Elder Hinkle, the scriptorian/gospel scholar senior missionary there, says that Oleg reminds him of himself when he was first converted to the gospel years ago. I took that as a good sign. Elder Hinkle also told us that a week ago, a man came to church to try and argue with people and disrupt things, and he tried to tell Oleg that the Book of Mormon was a fake. Oleg stood up and said, "I know the Book of Mormon is true! It has everything in the Bible and more, and it's a lot easier to understand! I feel the Spirit when I read it, and I know it's from God!"
Well, the next transfer starts this week, so we'll be heading into Kyiv for zone leaders' council. Our companionship's staying the same, so I'll be with Elder Hubbard another transfer, which is good; he's a lot of fun.
Oh, and by the way, I am INSANELY jealous of your job, Adam!
Thank you all for everything! I hope you all have a good week! I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
I feel a little like Noah
Hello everyone! Well, I don't have a lot of time today, unfortunately, but here's the news-of-the-week. Tomorrow, we hit the road--AGAIN--to Ivano for exchanges, so we'll be gone once more. Then again, things just wouldn't seem the same if we could actually stay in our area...
Also, in all of western ukraine there's been a lot of heavy rainfall that has actually caused a lot of flooding. This has only really occurred in little villages, so there's no need to worry about me here in Chernivtsi, but for some reason the government declared a state of emergency. Basically, it means everything's exactly the same except they turned our water off. It's not so much worrying as it is mildly annoying. However, we may be able to get some good service projects out of it, so that'd be really cool.
I gave a talk in Sunday with about 30 minutes notice. It's such a nice feeling now to be able to not only do that, but in Ukrainian also. I think it's a sign that I'm nearing the end.
Well, I have to run. Thanks for the information about the European Studies major, dad! And I'm very, very interested in whatever Adam's up to......
Have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
Also, in all of western ukraine there's been a lot of heavy rainfall that has actually caused a lot of flooding. This has only really occurred in little villages, so there's no need to worry about me here in Chernivtsi, but for some reason the government declared a state of emergency. Basically, it means everything's exactly the same except they turned our water off. It's not so much worrying as it is mildly annoying. However, we may be able to get some good service projects out of it, so that'd be really cool.
I gave a talk in Sunday with about 30 minutes notice. It's such a nice feeling now to be able to not only do that, but in Ukrainian also. I think it's a sign that I'm nearing the end.
Well, I have to run. Thanks for the information about the European Studies major, dad! And I'm very, very interested in whatever Adam's up to......
Have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
Bus lag?
Hello again! As you've noticed, this email is once again later than Monday. I don't know why, but this transfer has been the absolute craziest concerning traveling around. This Sunday afternoon, we made the 10-hour bus trip to Kyiv again so Elder Hubbard could renew his passport (the lucky punk got to fly to Bulgaria to do it, while I stayed behind on exchanges in a small town called Borispil just outside of Kyiv--I'm so jealous...), then yesterday we made the made the journey back, leaving at 8:30 last night and getting in at 7 this morning. By the way, sleeping on buses is a very strained concept. Especially when Ukrainian roads aren't always up to par.
Also, while wandering around Borispil, we found, of all things, a large bush of natural-growing marijuana. And apparently, that's not rare here in Ukraine.
Well, other than that, there's not much to tell, although I do have a favor to ask of anyone out there. I've been talking with Elder Kauffman, one of my friends from my MTC group, and he's told me a lot about a major at BYU called European Studies. It sounds pretty interesting; would someone be able to send me some information about that? I'd love to read up on it. Particularly about what jobs may come from it.
Other than that, things here are going well. We're excited to be staying in Chernivtsi for maybe as much as a week before going on another exchange with Ivano, then a short week later heading to Kyiv--AGAIN--for transfers. (I'm pretty sure I'm staying put). The weather's been pretty nice here, although kind of hot sometimes. Our investigator, Andriy, who's trying to quit smoking and drinking, is doing great; he only smoked once this week and he didn't drink at all, and he was able to come to sacrament meeting with us. He's a really great guy. It's so cool to get to work with him.
Well, I love you all! Have a great week, and I'll write you again next week!
--Elder Hurst
Also, while wandering around Borispil, we found, of all things, a large bush of natural-growing marijuana. And apparently, that's not rare here in Ukraine.
Well, other than that, there's not much to tell, although I do have a favor to ask of anyone out there. I've been talking with Elder Kauffman, one of my friends from my MTC group, and he's told me a lot about a major at BYU called European Studies. It sounds pretty interesting; would someone be able to send me some information about that? I'd love to read up on it. Particularly about what jobs may come from it.
Other than that, things here are going well. We're excited to be staying in Chernivtsi for maybe as much as a week before going on another exchange with Ivano, then a short week later heading to Kyiv--AGAIN--for transfers. (I'm pretty sure I'm staying put). The weather's been pretty nice here, although kind of hot sometimes. Our investigator, Andriy, who's trying to quit smoking and drinking, is doing great; he only smoked once this week and he didn't drink at all, and he was able to come to sacrament meeting with us. He's a really great guy. It's so cool to get to work with him.
Well, I love you all! Have a great week, and I'll write you again next week!
--Elder Hurst
The one-man show
Hello again! Well, my one-man zone conference came and went, and despite how I felt about it, other people said it turned out pretty well. I had a workshop about the importance of listening to people on lessons as opposed to just speaking and thinking about what to say next, and I guess it turned out pretty well. I don't know; I don't think I'd like to do it this way again anytime soon. It's kind of fun having the whole thing to yourself, but at the time it's a lot of stress piling up all over the place (especially when you're worrying about people delivering the pizzas for lunch on time, members showing up to help with the workshop, and whether the workshop's even going to work because the members have a tight schedule and we're already 30 minutes late...all while trying to take notes while President Steinagel is speaking to us, and while sitting up in front of everyone else in the room so they're all staring at you). I'm actually kind of glad that I had this experience for my first zone conference as a zone leader; everything after this is going to be cake.
We've started teaching a man named Andriy this week. We were very hesitant to meet with him at first because he approached us on the street, drunk, and originally asked us for money, but he said he really wanted to quit smoking and drinking and to find the true church so we set up a meeting with him. At the meeting, we committed him to go 24 hours without smoking or drinking, thinking that if he did, we'd keep teaching him, but if he didn't, then he probably isn't actually interested and we'd just move on. We came back and not only had he kept his committment, he'd gone out and gotten a job. We had a lesson with him about the steps of the gospel (faith, repentence, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end), and told him that he had faith and was now working on repenting of alcohol and tobacco use. He understood completely, and said that once he's repented of them, he wants to get baptized and keep going through the gospel process. It was a really cool experience, and we're really excited to continue teaching him.
Well, we've got to go, we're going to get together with the other missionaries in our district today and make real American-style hamburgers and milkshakes. Mmmm...
I love you all, and have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
We've started teaching a man named Andriy this week. We were very hesitant to meet with him at first because he approached us on the street, drunk, and originally asked us for money, but he said he really wanted to quit smoking and drinking and to find the true church so we set up a meeting with him. At the meeting, we committed him to go 24 hours without smoking or drinking, thinking that if he did, we'd keep teaching him, but if he didn't, then he probably isn't actually interested and we'd just move on. We came back and not only had he kept his committment, he'd gone out and gotten a job. We had a lesson with him about the steps of the gospel (faith, repentence, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end), and told him that he had faith and was now working on repenting of alcohol and tobacco use. He understood completely, and said that once he's repented of them, he wants to get baptized and keep going through the gospel process. It was a really cool experience, and we're really excited to continue teaching him.
Well, we've got to go, we're going to get together with the other missionaries in our district today and make real American-style hamburgers and milkshakes. Mmmm...
I love you all, and have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
All over the place
Hello again everyone! This has been a really busy week for us. Last Monday and Tuesday we were in Ivano on exchanges, which was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we came back home and had our English class before going to bed. The next day, Wednesday, we had enough time for district meeting and lunch before I went on exchanges with Elder Schmidt and the two of us caught a train to Kyiv--I went for zone leaders' council with the new mission president, Elder Schmidt went to see the mission doctor because he has a fungus on his hands and feet and a weird set of cold sores spread on his nose and right eyebrow. I stayed away from his side of the train compartment as much as possible, which is tricky when the whole compartment feels like two phone booths laid on their sides and stacked on top of each other.
So, from their we came back on Friday morning for almost a whole day of actual missionary work. Then came Saturday, when our branch and the Ivano Frankivsk branch met up for a Fourth of July picnic (...on the 5th...). After that was Sunday, and we had church as usual and then finished some preparations for the Elder Hurst Solo Show (i.e., zone conference) this coming Wednesday. It's kind of cool, but really really weird, that I get my own zone conference. My name's on the program all over the place. I'll have to keep a copy of it. Especially if President Steinagel ever makes the mistake of trying to assign me a responsibility again, I can take it out and remind him.
It was sad to read about Grandpa Hurst's passing. He was a great man, and it's always hard to see such things happen to such people. But those who understand the gospel understand that this is not a time of mourning, but happiness, for Grandpa is now free from the heartbreak of our fallen estate. At this time it helps me to think of Elder McConchie's description of the three pillars of eternity--the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. When God created the world, He created it in a state of perfection. Adam and Eve dwelled in the Garden of Eden in a perfect state where God could visit with them and speak with them. When Adam fell, the whole of creation inherited a lower state of being. As Elder McConchie described it, to fall literally means to move from a higher place to a lower place, and so did man, animals, plants, and the very earth when Adam and Eve transgressed. And so life continues even until today, with each of us still bearing the fallen nature of our world. Having fallen, we each now need to climb back to our higher state. How is this possible? If I fall into a ten foot deep hole, no matter how high I reach or jump, I can't reach the top. If I try really hard by myself, I might seem to get close, but in the end I'll still be in the hole, tired and alone. To get out, I need some help. Thankfully, each of us has someone up top reaching into the hole to take our hands and pull us out. When Christ atoned for us, He gave us the opportunity to grasp His hand and be pulled out of our personal hole. Through the Creation, we were perfect; through the Fall, we became imperfect; and through Christ, we can become perfect again, if we so choose. How many people there are around us who ignore the hand reaching down to save us! Grandpa was a man who recognized the Lord and accepted Him readily, and he lived his life in such a manner. He set his feet on the gospel road, and he continued thereon until he passed from this frame of existence to the next. Arvel Hurst is now in the next stage of the plan of God, having successfully navigated our current one. His passing is not a time of grief, but joy; and while we should indeed be sad that we'll be apart for a time, we have the comfort of knowing that that sadness is as lasting as a rainstorm or a summer night. Sooner or later, the sun will come again.
I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
So, from their we came back on Friday morning for almost a whole day of actual missionary work. Then came Saturday, when our branch and the Ivano Frankivsk branch met up for a Fourth of July picnic (...on the 5th...). After that was Sunday, and we had church as usual and then finished some preparations for the Elder Hurst Solo Show (i.e., zone conference) this coming Wednesday. It's kind of cool, but really really weird, that I get my own zone conference. My name's on the program all over the place. I'll have to keep a copy of it. Especially if President Steinagel ever makes the mistake of trying to assign me a responsibility again, I can take it out and remind him.
It was sad to read about Grandpa Hurst's passing. He was a great man, and it's always hard to see such things happen to such people. But those who understand the gospel understand that this is not a time of mourning, but happiness, for Grandpa is now free from the heartbreak of our fallen estate. At this time it helps me to think of Elder McConchie's description of the three pillars of eternity--the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement. When God created the world, He created it in a state of perfection. Adam and Eve dwelled in the Garden of Eden in a perfect state where God could visit with them and speak with them. When Adam fell, the whole of creation inherited a lower state of being. As Elder McConchie described it, to fall literally means to move from a higher place to a lower place, and so did man, animals, plants, and the very earth when Adam and Eve transgressed. And so life continues even until today, with each of us still bearing the fallen nature of our world. Having fallen, we each now need to climb back to our higher state. How is this possible? If I fall into a ten foot deep hole, no matter how high I reach or jump, I can't reach the top. If I try really hard by myself, I might seem to get close, but in the end I'll still be in the hole, tired and alone. To get out, I need some help. Thankfully, each of us has someone up top reaching into the hole to take our hands and pull us out. When Christ atoned for us, He gave us the opportunity to grasp His hand and be pulled out of our personal hole. Through the Creation, we were perfect; through the Fall, we became imperfect; and through Christ, we can become perfect again, if we so choose. How many people there are around us who ignore the hand reaching down to save us! Grandpa was a man who recognized the Lord and accepted Him readily, and he lived his life in such a manner. He set his feet on the gospel road, and he continued thereon until he passed from this frame of existence to the next. Arvel Hurst is now in the next stage of the plan of God, having successfully navigated our current one. His passing is not a time of grief, but joy; and while we should indeed be sad that we'll be apart for a time, we have the comfort of knowing that that sadness is as lasting as a rainstorm or a summer night. Sooner or later, the sun will come again.
I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
In Ivano...again...(but just for the day)
Hello everyone! Well, I'm back in Ivano once again, but this time it's just for exchanges with the elders there, so tomorrow I'll be heading back to Chernivtsi. Things have been going really well, although it's kind of weird; you see, yesterday, President Davis finished his mission and President Steinegal took over. I haven't heard anything from him except that he called someone in my district to sing Happy Birthday to him, but it's so strange that its happened. I really enjoyed President Davis. He was a great mission president.
So, in other news, there's a weird possibly-schitzophrenic and definitely-obsessive-compulsive lady in Chernivtsi who has decided that she wants to marry me. Yeah. Everyone calls her the Cat Lady because she comes to church with a picnic basket holding a little cat. She told me during Gospel Essentials that she has five children--three dogs and two cats. So this will be fun.
We had a branch picnic on Saturday that was a lot of fun. I have a red jacket that says CCCP, and everyone thought it was really funny; then I also have a white t-shirt from Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the three top politicians in Ukraine, that says "VirYU v Ukrayinu," "I believe in Ukraine" (with the 'yu" emphasized for Yulia), and people liked it also. I hope people at BYU have the same sense of humor, because otherwise I'm going to get called a communist a whole lot.
Well, I'm running short on time as usual, so I'll have to wrap up. I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
PS - Happy 55th anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Wing!!!!!!
So, in other news, there's a weird possibly-schitzophrenic and definitely-obsessive-compulsive lady in Chernivtsi who has decided that she wants to marry me. Yeah. Everyone calls her the Cat Lady because she comes to church with a picnic basket holding a little cat. She told me during Gospel Essentials that she has five children--three dogs and two cats. So this will be fun.
We had a branch picnic on Saturday that was a lot of fun. I have a red jacket that says CCCP, and everyone thought it was really funny; then I also have a white t-shirt from Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the three top politicians in Ukraine, that says "VirYU v Ukrayinu," "I believe in Ukraine" (with the 'yu" emphasized for Yulia), and people liked it also. I hope people at BYU have the same sense of humor, because otherwise I'm going to get called a communist a whole lot.
Well, I'm running short on time as usual, so I'll have to wrap up. I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
PS - Happy 55th anniversary Grandma and Grandpa Wing!!!!!!
Better late than never, right?
Hey everyone! Sorry this is a couple days late, our internet club had some serious trouble on Monday, so I wasn't able to send out anything. Unfortunately, that means I'm going to have to be brief, but at least I get to write you all still!
I'm now in Chernivtsi with my new companion, Elder Hubbard. It's a lot of fun here! The branch is really cool, my comp's a cool guy, and the city is amazing. I don't know what it is, but there's something about Chernivtsi that just makes it so much more likeable of a place than any other area. I love Kyiv, and I love Ivano, but I didn't like either of them as immediately as I liked Chernivtsi.
Well, I'm a zone leader now, but because our zone's so large I'm technically a "third wheel" zone leader. There's a companionship of zone leaders in L'viv, and then there's me here in Chernivtsi, and though we talk on the phone a lot, it kind of feels like we're still in different zones. Basically, the zone is split in two parts, with the L'viv elders in charge of one half, and I'm in charge of the other (Chernivtsi and Ivano). Many of my jobs now are kind of fun--zone leader councils in Kyiv, nightly calls to Ivano, and exchanges to Ivano twice a transfer--while one little job is still a little worrying...you see, since our zone's in two parts, we're actually going to have two zone conferences, with the L'viv elders in charge of one, and, well, me in charge of the other. My companion's not a zone leader, so it's literally going to be my show through and through. It's actually kind of exciting, once I get past all of the nervousness.
Apparently, I didn't have enough on my plate yet, so I'm also second counselor in the branch presidency here as well. So, it's a good thing I got to translate so much last transfer when Elder Hinkle conducted sacrament meeting, because pretty soon (as in, this Sunday) that'll be me. Weird.
All right, well, I should get going. I think that next P-Day I'll actually be in Ivano again on exchanges; I'll let you all know. Love you!
--Elder Hurst
I'm now in Chernivtsi with my new companion, Elder Hubbard. It's a lot of fun here! The branch is really cool, my comp's a cool guy, and the city is amazing. I don't know what it is, but there's something about Chernivtsi that just makes it so much more likeable of a place than any other area. I love Kyiv, and I love Ivano, but I didn't like either of them as immediately as I liked Chernivtsi.
Well, I'm a zone leader now, but because our zone's so large I'm technically a "third wheel" zone leader. There's a companionship of zone leaders in L'viv, and then there's me here in Chernivtsi, and though we talk on the phone a lot, it kind of feels like we're still in different zones. Basically, the zone is split in two parts, with the L'viv elders in charge of one half, and I'm in charge of the other (Chernivtsi and Ivano). Many of my jobs now are kind of fun--zone leader councils in Kyiv, nightly calls to Ivano, and exchanges to Ivano twice a transfer--while one little job is still a little worrying...you see, since our zone's in two parts, we're actually going to have two zone conferences, with the L'viv elders in charge of one, and, well, me in charge of the other. My companion's not a zone leader, so it's literally going to be my show through and through. It's actually kind of exciting, once I get past all of the nervousness.
Apparently, I didn't have enough on my plate yet, so I'm also second counselor in the branch presidency here as well. So, it's a good thing I got to translate so much last transfer when Elder Hinkle conducted sacrament meeting, because pretty soon (as in, this Sunday) that'll be me. Weird.
All right, well, I should get going. I think that next P-Day I'll actually be in Ivano again on exchanges; I'll let you all know. Love you!
--Elder Hurst
Transfer!
Hello again everyone! First of all, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!
Well, there's a little bit of interesting news in the mission this week: I'm actually getting transfered! Apparently, I'm pretty good at holding down areas for long periods of time, because between Sviatoshinsky in Kiev and Ivano Frankivsk, I've spent about 1 year of time in 2 areas. However, I am actually getting transfered, and it is actually going to be a third city--Chernivtsi, just a little east of Ivano, as a zone leader. I'm already here, but in about an hour we're heading to Kyiv so my companion, Elder Budge, and I can get our new comps, and so I can go to zone leaders conference. It's going to be weird because I'm going to be a third zone leader, with the other two living in L'viv, so in a lot of ways it'll be like being a lone zone leader instead of a companionship like usual. Also, in just another few weeks (or less, I'm not sure) our new mission president, President Steinegal, will be here, and that will be a VERY interesting change. There's already rumors circulating about how he's going to change the mission, but given the general unreliability of mission rumors, I'm not sure what to expect. All I know is he's going to be in his early 50's and he'll have children with him.
Well, besides that, the only real exciting news is that yesterday I got to translate for a church disciplinary council (!) that was held in Ivano. The person didn't show up, so we held the council in their absence, and it was a little strange and worrisome. It looks kind of like the person we were meeting about was an even bigger problem than we initially thought. Interesting experience. And on that note, I left Ivano.
Well, I hope everything's going well at home! Mom, I sent home two packages with things I've been collecting during my time that I didn't want to pack with me. If you want to open them when they come, feel free, or you could wait and have us all open them together and I can explain them all.....
Well, I should probably get going, but I love you all, and thanks for all your letters and emails! Have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
Well, there's a little bit of interesting news in the mission this week: I'm actually getting transfered! Apparently, I'm pretty good at holding down areas for long periods of time, because between Sviatoshinsky in Kiev and Ivano Frankivsk, I've spent about 1 year of time in 2 areas. However, I am actually getting transfered, and it is actually going to be a third city--Chernivtsi, just a little east of Ivano, as a zone leader. I'm already here, but in about an hour we're heading to Kyiv so my companion, Elder Budge, and I can get our new comps, and so I can go to zone leaders conference. It's going to be weird because I'm going to be a third zone leader, with the other two living in L'viv, so in a lot of ways it'll be like being a lone zone leader instead of a companionship like usual. Also, in just another few weeks (or less, I'm not sure) our new mission president, President Steinegal, will be here, and that will be a VERY interesting change. There's already rumors circulating about how he's going to change the mission, but given the general unreliability of mission rumors, I'm not sure what to expect. All I know is he's going to be in his early 50's and he'll have children with him.
Well, besides that, the only real exciting news is that yesterday I got to translate for a church disciplinary council (!) that was held in Ivano. The person didn't show up, so we held the council in their absence, and it was a little strange and worrisome. It looks kind of like the person we were meeting about was an even bigger problem than we initially thought. Interesting experience. And on that note, I left Ivano.
Well, I hope everything's going well at home! Mom, I sent home two packages with things I've been collecting during my time that I didn't want to pack with me. If you want to open them when they come, feel free, or you could wait and have us all open them together and I can explain them all.....
Well, I should probably get going, but I love you all, and thanks for all your letters and emails! Have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
Baptism!
Hello again everyone! This is actually the second time I've tried writing this letter, seeing as to how, once again, myldsmail is the worst email service in the world. But hey, it happens, right?
Remember our investigator, Oleg? He had a lot of questions and concerns, especially about the atonement, resurrection, and the proper role of women. Oleg's always been a really great guy, but he's studied a lot of different religions for a long time, so he's got a lot of ideas about things that are kind of patched together from a multitude of different beliefs. We've had a lot of very spiritual lessons with him, and thanks to the fact that his testimony's strong enough that he's willing to accept new ideas that may contradict or even discredit his current beliefs, we've been able to work with him all he way until this last Saturday, when he was baptized. It was a really great service, and I'm really proud of him. He's going to be a great addition to the branch here.
I've attached a picture of that, and also a picture of me from a lesson we had last night. There's a member in the branch, Serhey Bazovsky, who's a rock musician, so after the lesson he and I had a little fun...basically, even though I can't actually play a guitar, I sure can hold one pretty well....
Also, concerning my end date: I spoke with President Davis, and we agreed on October 28th. The only hitch remaining is, depending on how fast the mission office orders tickets for the next few groups getting home, the new mission president may be the one who actually decides this. President Davis said that he'd do everything he could to leave notes and things for the new president so he follows through on this, but there is a slight possibility that this date may change. However, I think this is pretty set, so I'd say expect me then!
I love you all, and I hope you enjoyed the first email I sent also! I put a bunch of pictures of Oleg's village there. It's right in the foothills of the Carpathians, and it's very beautiful.
--Elder Hurst
Remember our investigator, Oleg? He had a lot of questions and concerns, especially about the atonement, resurrection, and the proper role of women. Oleg's always been a really great guy, but he's studied a lot of different religions for a long time, so he's got a lot of ideas about things that are kind of patched together from a multitude of different beliefs. We've had a lot of very spiritual lessons with him, and thanks to the fact that his testimony's strong enough that he's willing to accept new ideas that may contradict or even discredit his current beliefs, we've been able to work with him all he way until this last Saturday, when he was baptized. It was a really great service, and I'm really proud of him. He's going to be a great addition to the branch here.
I've attached a picture of that, and also a picture of me from a lesson we had last night. There's a member in the branch, Serhey Bazovsky, who's a rock musician, so after the lesson he and I had a little fun...basically, even though I can't actually play a guitar, I sure can hold one pretty well....
Also, concerning my end date: I spoke with President Davis, and we agreed on October 28th. The only hitch remaining is, depending on how fast the mission office orders tickets for the next few groups getting home, the new mission president may be the one who actually decides this. President Davis said that he'd do everything he could to leave notes and things for the new president so he follows through on this, but there is a slight possibility that this date may change. However, I think this is pretty set, so I'd say expect me then!
I love you all, and I hope you enjoyed the first email I sent also! I put a bunch of pictures of Oleg's village there. It's right in the foothills of the Carpathians, and it's very beautiful.
--Elder Hurst
Another week in Ivano
Hello again! Well, this week wasn't quite as exciting as some of my other ones have been. I did find out that it's probably a pretty sure thing that I'm finishing on October 28th, although I found that out in a pretty roundabout way (someone else was told that there will be no transfers, either in the mission or to home, in September). This Wednesday will be our president's interviews, so I'll ask him then more in depth. It's still pretty strange to me to hear that most other missions don't have the same go-home-date thing that we have; I thought it was universal that you either go home a couple weeks before your two-year mark, or a couple weeks after. Odd.
Because our zone is pretty big, they have, in addition to two zone leaders in L'viv, a third zone leader in Chernivtsi, and that just happens to be Elder Kauffman from my MTC group. He came up to Ivano last week with my secondborn son, Elder Horne, on exchanges, and it was a lot of fun. We all went to Nadvirna to interview our baptismal date, Oleg, and he took us on another little nature hike. They have ski jumps there also, so we hiked to the top and looked out over the entire valley. It was really beautiful.
People here are starting to call me the "super translator" because I have to translate a LOT for the senior couple here. Maybe that's what I need to look into as a career, except I can't stand translating from a native speaker into English, and that's how you're supposed to translate professionally. My mind gets stuck sometimes into Ukrainian mode, so I understand them perfectly, but I have no idea how to express it in English except by translating certain things word by word into bizarre little phrases. The good news is, because of all the translating, I'm getting a great amount of language study.
Well, I should probably get going. I love you all, and I hope you all have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
PS - Happy Birthday Carter!!!!!
Because our zone is pretty big, they have, in addition to two zone leaders in L'viv, a third zone leader in Chernivtsi, and that just happens to be Elder Kauffman from my MTC group. He came up to Ivano last week with my secondborn son, Elder Horne, on exchanges, and it was a lot of fun. We all went to Nadvirna to interview our baptismal date, Oleg, and he took us on another little nature hike. They have ski jumps there also, so we hiked to the top and looked out over the entire valley. It was really beautiful.
People here are starting to call me the "super translator" because I have to translate a LOT for the senior couple here. Maybe that's what I need to look into as a career, except I can't stand translating from a native speaker into English, and that's how you're supposed to translate professionally. My mind gets stuck sometimes into Ukrainian mode, so I understand them perfectly, but I have no idea how to express it in English except by translating certain things word by word into bizarre little phrases. The good news is, because of all the translating, I'm getting a great amount of language study.
Well, I should probably get going. I love you all, and I hope you all have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
PS - Happy Birthday Carter!!!!!
Well, it's short, but it's still an e-mail, right?
Well, I don't have a lot of time today, so unfortunately I'm going to have to keep this short. Hello everyone! Things here are going well. Our investigator, Oleg, is quickly approaching his baptismal date this Saturday, although there is some question about whether or not he's ready. He's had several proposed dates already that have all fallen through, but we have felt very strongly that he's ready for this one. Until a couple days ago, that is, when he started bringing up some kind of strange concerns, mostly dealing with his feelings toward women. He has some odd feelings all around, but the big question now is: is his understanding good enough that he is ready for baptism? People don't need to be perfect to be baptised, but they do need a certain understanding. He's been getting better and better in his understanding of the gospel, so we're hoping he's to that point.
Well, I'm sorry again, but that's all the time I have. I hope you all have a good week, and I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
Well, I'm sorry again, but that's all the time I have. I hope you all have a good week, and I love you all!
--Elder Hurst
Godjagova! (May 19, 2008)
So, unfortunately, thanks to an evaluation I had to fill out about our english programs here, I don't have a lot of time to write today, but there's one story I really have to share.
So, last Friday we were walking home when all of a sudden came a voice in English behind us saying, "Good morning!" After checing my watch to make sure it was indeed 4 in the afternoon, I answered, "Good morning..." I turned to see a rather large man in his 20's jogging up. He told us his name was Bogdan, which he translated as "God giving." (I think it means "Gift of God," or something close to that). He asked us if we were American or English, and we told him that we were Americans. He then saw our Books of Mormon and asked to see one. I tried to hand it to him, but I guess he changed his mind and told me to show him the last verse in the book. I started flipping through the index to get to the last verse, but he stopped me and said, "No, no, the last verse," and turned back to the end of the index. He pointed triumphantly at the article called "Yafet," or "Japheth" in English (one of the sons of Noah--the father of the gentiles, by the way). As we stared in mild confusion, he asked me directly, "Are you a citizen of America, or did you live there illegally?" I told him that I was a citizen, trying to hold back a smile, and then he replied with another question: "What is the tract between the Bible and the Book of Mormon?" We stared blankly, trying to translate it into Ukrainian to figure out what he was trying to say, when he said, "Well, I see you don't speak Ukrainian OR English very well." Trying to speed up the conversation, I asked him if he was interested in our English classes, but he laughed and said, "I study English from the supreme creator of the language." He then started backing away, then raised his arm and pumped his fist in the air and said, "Godjagova!"
It took us almost two minutes, but we realized that, rather than cursing us in Hindu like we initially thought, he actually said "God Jehovah," but with an odd combination of English and Russian pronunciation (there is no "h" sound in Russian, so "Jehovah" is "Yegova"). We walked on for a little while until we saw him waiting ahead of us, talking into a walkie talkie with a rediculously long antennae. As we approached, he said (and try not to strain yourselves too much finding meaning in these words), "One more question. How do you say 'vsesvit' in English?" We answered--"universe"--and he said, "Exactly. There is the universe, right? And Jegovah has a galaxy, the chomatsky shlyakh (milky way). Earth--the fourth planet from the sun, right?" (We decided to let it slide and just see where this was going). "Plate tectonics." He pointed at me and asked, "You know what tectonics are, right?" I nodded. "Good. Ukraine has oblasts, which are like states, right? United States of Ukraine. Our grand city, Ivano-Frankivsk." He pointed at the road. "This is an avenue, right?" We nodded hesitantly. He then held up his hands as if he had just made the final, most fail-proof argument in a drawn-out debate, turned, and walked off and out of our lives. Just another day in Ivano.
I love you all, and have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
So, last Friday we were walking home when all of a sudden came a voice in English behind us saying, "Good morning!" After checing my watch to make sure it was indeed 4 in the afternoon, I answered, "Good morning..." I turned to see a rather large man in his 20's jogging up. He told us his name was Bogdan, which he translated as "God giving." (I think it means "Gift of God," or something close to that). He asked us if we were American or English, and we told him that we were Americans. He then saw our Books of Mormon and asked to see one. I tried to hand it to him, but I guess he changed his mind and told me to show him the last verse in the book. I started flipping through the index to get to the last verse, but he stopped me and said, "No, no, the last verse," and turned back to the end of the index. He pointed triumphantly at the article called "Yafet," or "Japheth" in English (one of the sons of Noah--the father of the gentiles, by the way). As we stared in mild confusion, he asked me directly, "Are you a citizen of America, or did you live there illegally?" I told him that I was a citizen, trying to hold back a smile, and then he replied with another question: "What is the tract between the Bible and the Book of Mormon?" We stared blankly, trying to translate it into Ukrainian to figure out what he was trying to say, when he said, "Well, I see you don't speak Ukrainian OR English very well." Trying to speed up the conversation, I asked him if he was interested in our English classes, but he laughed and said, "I study English from the supreme creator of the language." He then started backing away, then raised his arm and pumped his fist in the air and said, "Godjagova!"
It took us almost two minutes, but we realized that, rather than cursing us in Hindu like we initially thought, he actually said "God Jehovah," but with an odd combination of English and Russian pronunciation (there is no "h" sound in Russian, so "Jehovah" is "Yegova"). We walked on for a little while until we saw him waiting ahead of us, talking into a walkie talkie with a rediculously long antennae. As we approached, he said (and try not to strain yourselves too much finding meaning in these words), "One more question. How do you say 'vsesvit' in English?" We answered--"universe"--and he said, "Exactly. There is the universe, right? And Jegovah has a galaxy, the chomatsky shlyakh (milky way). Earth--the fourth planet from the sun, right?" (We decided to let it slide and just see where this was going). "Plate tectonics." He pointed at me and asked, "You know what tectonics are, right?" I nodded. "Good. Ukraine has oblasts, which are like states, right? United States of Ukraine. Our grand city, Ivano-Frankivsk." He pointed at the road. "This is an avenue, right?" We nodded hesitantly. He then held up his hands as if he had just made the final, most fail-proof argument in a drawn-out debate, turned, and walked off and out of our lives. Just another day in Ivano.
I love you all, and have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
Switch! (May 14, 2008)
Hello everyone! This week I've got a little announcement: our P-Days have been switched! As of next week, I'll be sending emails every Monday instead of Wednesday. So, apparently, this isn't just from our mission, or our area, but it's a worldwide change. Weird, huh? So, I only have to wait about 5 days until next p-day.
In other news, last Sunday was Mother's Day, and I was very excited to get to talk with everyone! I'm glad to hear that everyone's doing well and having fun back in the USA.
We've been doing a lot of work recently in a selo called Nadvirna, and it's really cool how it's been working out. Yesterday, we had a lesson where we got two new investigators and gave another investigator a baptismal date. Soon we'll start doing sports days and English practice out there. Cool stuff!
Well, I need to get going already, but I love you all, and I hope you all have a fantastic week!
Love,
--Elder Hurst
In other news, last Sunday was Mother's Day, and I was very excited to get to talk with everyone! I'm glad to hear that everyone's doing well and having fun back in the USA.
We've been doing a lot of work recently in a selo called Nadvirna, and it's really cool how it's been working out. Yesterday, we had a lesson where we got two new investigators and gave another investigator a baptismal date. Soon we'll start doing sports days and English practice out there. Cool stuff!
Well, I need to get going already, but I love you all, and I hope you all have a fantastic week!
Love,
--Elder Hurst
Rebuilding the branch, stealing the show (May 7, 2008)
Hello again everyone! Now, before I write the rest of my email and forget about this completely, let me get the mother's day information down in its entirety:
The calls will be on Sunday, May 11.
DAD: You will call at 6:50 AM PST (4:50pm here)
MOM: You will call at 10:30 AM MST (7:30 pm here)
THE PHONE NUMBER IS:
011-38-034-272-17-04
All right! That'll be a LOT of fun. I can't believe that after Sunday, the next time I hear your voices, I'll be looking at your faces too. That's a strange thought.
So, the branch reorganization went well. We were very worried that the old branch president would be offended and go inactive, but President Davis handled things very well, and everything's looking good for the future. Our plans to work with members have already started to work, as our elders' quorum president wants us to go and meet his friend and his wife. We also have been getting a lot of good work in a selo called Nadvirna, which also just happens to have some of the most beautiful nature nearby that I've seen. Our investigator Oleg lives out there, and he gave us a guided nature hike tour through a forest and the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. To anyone who's ever thinking of coming to Ukraine, I highly recommend it.
So, here's the highlight of the week. There's a young man named Misha who comes to our English classes. About a month ago, he told us that he was a musician and he'd be having a concert on May 6, and he wanted us to go. Being missionaries, we were pretty certain that we couldn't, but we didn't want to seem too mean so we told him to ask the senior couple here, the Hinkles. Now, the Hinkles are really cool, but if there's one thing they're strict on, it's music. So imagine our surprise when Sister Hinkle comes to us after English one night and says that she heard some of Misha's music, liked it, and gave us permission to go. So, last night Elder and SIster HInkle, Sisters Vershinina and Mills, and Elder Budge and I went to a crowded club called Chimera and got to see Misha's concert. Misha, halfway through, told the crowd he had some American friends there that night, and that he wanted to sing some English songs, including "Behind Blue Eyes" by the Who (except he did the Limp Bizkit version). After the song, the house announcer asked if anyone had questions for Misha; after a few minutes of silence, Misha suggested that his American friends might want to ask him something, and that he could talk to us in English. The house announcer guy (a really annoying MTV-wannabe in a white polo shirt) laughed, said "This is a concert for us Ukrainians, not Americans," then consented and pulled Elder Budge and I on stage in front of the room of people. So there we were, white shirts, ties, and nametags, standing in front of a room of young concert goers and one very obnoxious announcer guy. I turned to Misha and said, "Nu, po pershy, dyakuyu za zaproshenya," which means "Well, first of all, thanks for the invitation." The crowd, and especially the announcer man, weren't expecting us to know anything but English, so everyone starting cheering. I asked Misha how long he'd played guitar, and he answered in English that he'd been playing since he was ten. I turned to the crowd and said, "Vin skazav, sho vin pochinav koly yomu bulo desyat rokiv," which means, "He said he started when he was ten years old." The crowd cheered and clapped, and Elder Budge and I beat a hasty retreat off the stage. That seems to have been my fifteen minutes of fame right there, so I'm pretty sure the rest of my life is a downhill slope. The good news is, Sister Vershinina got it all on camera.
Well, that's been life in Ivano this week. I hope you all have a great week, and I can't wait to talk with you again!
--Elder Hurst
The calls will be on Sunday, May 11.
DAD: You will call at 6:50 AM PST (4:50pm here)
MOM: You will call at 10:30 AM MST (7:30 pm here)
THE PHONE NUMBER IS:
011-38-034-272-17-04
All right! That'll be a LOT of fun. I can't believe that after Sunday, the next time I hear your voices, I'll be looking at your faces too. That's a strange thought.
So, the branch reorganization went well. We were very worried that the old branch president would be offended and go inactive, but President Davis handled things very well, and everything's looking good for the future. Our plans to work with members have already started to work, as our elders' quorum president wants us to go and meet his friend and his wife. We also have been getting a lot of good work in a selo called Nadvirna, which also just happens to have some of the most beautiful nature nearby that I've seen. Our investigator Oleg lives out there, and he gave us a guided nature hike tour through a forest and the foothills of the Carpathian mountains. To anyone who's ever thinking of coming to Ukraine, I highly recommend it.
So, here's the highlight of the week. There's a young man named Misha who comes to our English classes. About a month ago, he told us that he was a musician and he'd be having a concert on May 6, and he wanted us to go. Being missionaries, we were pretty certain that we couldn't, but we didn't want to seem too mean so we told him to ask the senior couple here, the Hinkles. Now, the Hinkles are really cool, but if there's one thing they're strict on, it's music. So imagine our surprise when Sister Hinkle comes to us after English one night and says that she heard some of Misha's music, liked it, and gave us permission to go. So, last night Elder and SIster HInkle, Sisters Vershinina and Mills, and Elder Budge and I went to a crowded club called Chimera and got to see Misha's concert. Misha, halfway through, told the crowd he had some American friends there that night, and that he wanted to sing some English songs, including "Behind Blue Eyes" by the Who (except he did the Limp Bizkit version). After the song, the house announcer asked if anyone had questions for Misha; after a few minutes of silence, Misha suggested that his American friends might want to ask him something, and that he could talk to us in English. The house announcer guy (a really annoying MTV-wannabe in a white polo shirt) laughed, said "This is a concert for us Ukrainians, not Americans," then consented and pulled Elder Budge and I on stage in front of the room of people. So there we were, white shirts, ties, and nametags, standing in front of a room of young concert goers and one very obnoxious announcer guy. I turned to Misha and said, "Nu, po pershy, dyakuyu za zaproshenya," which means "Well, first of all, thanks for the invitation." The crowd, and especially the announcer man, weren't expecting us to know anything but English, so everyone starting cheering. I asked Misha how long he'd played guitar, and he answered in English that he'd been playing since he was ten. I turned to the crowd and said, "Vin skazav, sho vin pochinav koly yomu bulo desyat rokiv," which means, "He said he started when he was ten years old." The crowd cheered and clapped, and Elder Budge and I beat a hasty retreat off the stage. That seems to have been my fifteen minutes of fame right there, so I'm pretty sure the rest of my life is a downhill slope. The good news is, Sister Vershinina got it all on camera.
Well, that's been life in Ivano this week. I hope you all have a great week, and I can't wait to talk with you again!
--Elder Hurst
Keeping myself busy (4/30/08)
Hello again! The weather’s warm, the sun is shining, and I’m stressed out. Tomorrow morning two sister missionaries will be transferred in here, which will be nice except for the fact that we were expecting them two weeks from tomorrow. On top of that, we have had rent and other money troubles with the mission office, we’ve had to pack and clean a whole lot quicker than originally planned, an expensive water filter that used to be in this city has gone missing, someone from our English class wants us to spend P-Day in a village with him and won’t take no for an answer, and I found out that I have to translate for President Davis when he comes to Ivano on Sunday to tell the branch something (we haven’t heard exactly what yet) that has been described as this: “It will divide the branch between the people who are loyal to the leadership, and the people who are loyal to the church”—and I’ll be translating it. So, basically, this has been a busy morning.
Earlier this week we had zone conference, which was a lot of fun. We rode up on a train with missionaries from a nearby city, Chernivtsi, so we got to spend some time with them and have fun together. While there, we learned about working with members of the church to find and teach investigators. President Gibbons from the area presidency was there with us, and he is a very, very wise man. He reminded us about when President Hinckley announced that he wanted the number of convert baptisms to double, then told us some interesting statistics relative to that. Apparently, if the church wanted to accomplish that using only the media department, then the media budget would need to be multiplied by 13; if they wanted to do that by missionaries, the number of missionaries would need to be multiplied by 6; if they wanted to do that by member referrals, the number of referrals would need to be multiplied by 2. We also talked about reasons why members are nervous or hesitant to do so, and they’re all valid, but with some work they can be overcome. The biggest is that members just don’t know what to say (that was my huge problem before the mission). So, what we’ll be doing is meeting with members and role playing with them about how to do this. We’ll give examples and tips, and then they’ll practice on us for a while until they feel confident enough to go do it themselves for real. Role playing’s always kind of awkward, but it’s very effective, and it’ll help out a lot—especially in Ukraine, where people have next to no idea of how to share gospel messages with their friends. So, for those of you out there who are members of the church, I want to issue an invitation to talk to your local missionaries and ask them to meet with you and help you practice how to talk with friends about the gospel (if they’re good missionaries, they’ll agree wholeheartedly); then, once that’s been done, feel free to apply what you learn!
So, apparently Mother’s Day is coming up soon, so here’s our call information:
The calls will be on Sunday, May 11.
DAD: You will call at 8:00 AM PST (6:00 pm here)
MOM: You will call at 10:30 AM MST (7:30 pm here)
If your parents call from the U.S.A. and Canada then they need to dial
011-38-Area code- Phone#
The fun news is, we’re moving tomorrow, so I don’t know what our new phone number is going to be yet. But, as soon as I find out, I will let you know very quickly.
Thanks for everything! I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
Earlier this week we had zone conference, which was a lot of fun. We rode up on a train with missionaries from a nearby city, Chernivtsi, so we got to spend some time with them and have fun together. While there, we learned about working with members of the church to find and teach investigators. President Gibbons from the area presidency was there with us, and he is a very, very wise man. He reminded us about when President Hinckley announced that he wanted the number of convert baptisms to double, then told us some interesting statistics relative to that. Apparently, if the church wanted to accomplish that using only the media department, then the media budget would need to be multiplied by 13; if they wanted to do that by missionaries, the number of missionaries would need to be multiplied by 6; if they wanted to do that by member referrals, the number of referrals would need to be multiplied by 2. We also talked about reasons why members are nervous or hesitant to do so, and they’re all valid, but with some work they can be overcome. The biggest is that members just don’t know what to say (that was my huge problem before the mission). So, what we’ll be doing is meeting with members and role playing with them about how to do this. We’ll give examples and tips, and then they’ll practice on us for a while until they feel confident enough to go do it themselves for real. Role playing’s always kind of awkward, but it’s very effective, and it’ll help out a lot—especially in Ukraine, where people have next to no idea of how to share gospel messages with their friends. So, for those of you out there who are members of the church, I want to issue an invitation to talk to your local missionaries and ask them to meet with you and help you practice how to talk with friends about the gospel (if they’re good missionaries, they’ll agree wholeheartedly); then, once that’s been done, feel free to apply what you learn!
So, apparently Mother’s Day is coming up soon, so here’s our call information:
The calls will be on Sunday, May 11.
DAD: You will call at 8:00 AM PST (6:00 pm here)
MOM: You will call at 10:30 AM MST (7:30 pm here)
If your parents call from the U.S.A. and Canada then they need to dial
011-38-Area code- Phone#
The fun news is, we’re moving tomorrow, so I don’t know what our new phone number is going to be yet. But, as soon as I find out, I will let you know very quickly.
Thanks for everything! I love you all, and I hope you all have a great week!
--Elder Hurst
Pictures! (Apr 23, 2008)
Hello again! Things in Ivano are about like usual--wet. We've had about 2 days of nice weather mixed with 6 days of bad weather (and yes, I know that equals 8, that's how bad the bad weather's been).
Also, something happened this week that has never happened before that I can remember. It's something bizarre and strange. Something almost terrifying. The other day, while at the Hinckles' apartment, I ate a sandwich with a large tomato slice on it...and I liked it. I'll try not to make a habit of it, but it worried me all the same.
So, today I have pictures again!
So, in our English class we had a lesson about pirates, and we all made little pirate hats. Except for a couple less fun people, we all wore them the entire class.
One of our investigators is Oleg. He's a really interesting guy who's very well-read. He's also the guy who doesn't believe in the atonement. He's very nice and very fun to talk to, and just yesterday we got his wife to start meeting with us as well.
Brother Pleshinsky is the first councilor in the branch presidency and a really good man. He has two young daughters and is a great father; but, his faith is kind of shaky lately, so we've been helping him and asking him to help us, including being on lessons with us and our investigator Volodya.
There's a shooting range here in Ivano that advertizes by saying "Blow your bad feelings away."
We got to watch conference finally, and it was amazing! I really liked Elder Holland's talk about an open canon of scripture, and President Monson's closing words. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in Ukraine for the next conference also; hopefully I'll be somewhere where I can watch it a little bit timelier.
Well, that's it for me. Have a nice week!
--Elder Hurst
Also, something happened this week that has never happened before that I can remember. It's something bizarre and strange. Something almost terrifying. The other day, while at the Hinckles' apartment, I ate a sandwich with a large tomato slice on it...and I liked it. I'll try not to make a habit of it, but it worried me all the same.
So, today I have pictures again!
So, in our English class we had a lesson about pirates, and we all made little pirate hats. Except for a couple less fun people, we all wore them the entire class.
One of our investigators is Oleg. He's a really interesting guy who's very well-read. He's also the guy who doesn't believe in the atonement. He's very nice and very fun to talk to, and just yesterday we got his wife to start meeting with us as well.
Brother Pleshinsky is the first councilor in the branch presidency and a really good man. He has two young daughters and is a great father; but, his faith is kind of shaky lately, so we've been helping him and asking him to help us, including being on lessons with us and our investigator Volodya.
There's a shooting range here in Ivano that advertizes by saying "Blow your bad feelings away."
We got to watch conference finally, and it was amazing! I really liked Elder Holland's talk about an open canon of scripture, and President Monson's closing words. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be in Ukraine for the next conference also; hopefully I'll be somewhere where I can watch it a little bit timelier.
Well, that's it for me. Have a nice week!
--Elder Hurst
A cottage in the wilderness outside Ivano (Apr 16, 2008)
Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a good week. Ivano’s been pretty bipolar recently between hot and sunny, and cold and rainy (which is how it is today…). Personally I’d be fine with it picking just one or the other, as long as it picked hot and sunny…
We’ve been pretty busy this week; in fact, we’ve been REALLY busy. We’re the only missionaries in Ivano except for the senior couple, and since they don’t speak any Ukrainian, their abilities here are limited. This all means that a lot of responsibility falls our way; and as senior companion and district leader, a lot of that responsibility falls right on me. It’d be kind of fun if it weren’t for the little times that always spring up where we realize that nothing in our plans is working and everything’s falling apart. Actually, I really like the busy life. I’ve had the opposite before, and trust me, contacting all day every day isn’t a fun way to spend a transfer.
So, one of our tasks has been finding an apartment for when sister missionaries come in next transfer. We’ve been seeing a lot of apartments all over the city and have been visiting a lot of different real estate agencies (it’s almost impossible, if not fully impossible, to find an apartment without an agency here). So, a day or two ago, we met with a real estate agent who told us that she had the perfect place for us. The three of us got on a marshrutka and started traveling. First, we passed by where the Hinckle’s live near the center of town, and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be funny if the apartment was right next to theirs?” But we kept going past that stop. Then, we went past our old apartment building, and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be funny if she showed us the apartment we moved out of last transfer?” But we kept going past it. Next, we past our branch president’s building near the edge of town, and I thought, “We have to be going here. Otherwise we won’t even be in the city.” But we kept going. Eventually, about ten minutes later, we arrived at a small run-down cottage with a very angry german shepherd in a small cage out front. We were taken on a tour of the place, including the bathtub (right next to the front door, as in, in the hallway next to the front door), the water pump (out in the front yard area), and the large field where we could grow our crops. (You’ll notice I didn’t mention them showing us the bathroom. You see, you need to HAVE a bathroom to show it to people.) We decided against it.
Well, I’m out of time already. Things are going really well here. I love you all, and I hope you have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
We’ve been pretty busy this week; in fact, we’ve been REALLY busy. We’re the only missionaries in Ivano except for the senior couple, and since they don’t speak any Ukrainian, their abilities here are limited. This all means that a lot of responsibility falls our way; and as senior companion and district leader, a lot of that responsibility falls right on me. It’d be kind of fun if it weren’t for the little times that always spring up where we realize that nothing in our plans is working and everything’s falling apart. Actually, I really like the busy life. I’ve had the opposite before, and trust me, contacting all day every day isn’t a fun way to spend a transfer.
So, one of our tasks has been finding an apartment for when sister missionaries come in next transfer. We’ve been seeing a lot of apartments all over the city and have been visiting a lot of different real estate agencies (it’s almost impossible, if not fully impossible, to find an apartment without an agency here). So, a day or two ago, we met with a real estate agent who told us that she had the perfect place for us. The three of us got on a marshrutka and started traveling. First, we passed by where the Hinckle’s live near the center of town, and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be funny if the apartment was right next to theirs?” But we kept going past that stop. Then, we went past our old apartment building, and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be funny if she showed us the apartment we moved out of last transfer?” But we kept going past it. Next, we past our branch president’s building near the edge of town, and I thought, “We have to be going here. Otherwise we won’t even be in the city.” But we kept going. Eventually, about ten minutes later, we arrived at a small run-down cottage with a very angry german shepherd in a small cage out front. We were taken on a tour of the place, including the bathtub (right next to the front door, as in, in the hallway next to the front door), the water pump (out in the front yard area), and the large field where we could grow our crops. (You’ll notice I didn’t mention them showing us the bathroom. You see, you need to HAVE a bathroom to show it to people.) We decided against it.
Well, I’m out of time already. Things are going really well here. I love you all, and I hope you have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
Transfer 12 (Apr 9, 2008)
Hello again everyone! Things have been going pretty well here, as usual. The weather was incredibly nice yesterday, which was expecially fun because we went to a village to see one of our investigators, Oleg. He used to be the other elders', but now he's been transfered to us since we're the only ones here anymore. He had a baptismal date, but after our meeting yesterday, that'll probably have to change. He's a really great guy, and he knows the scriptures really well. He has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and he reads and prays daily. However, as it turns out, he doesn't believe in the atonement at all. He says it isn't just that Christ could take upon himself all of our sins, and that he feels that the only person who can suffer for his personal sins is he himself. He also believes very strongly that God and Christ are spirits, believing that when they visit the earth, the elements combine around them to form temporary earthly bodies that sort of dissipate after they leave. He also has some strange views about his family; he doesn't like his wife much at all, and he fells that she's more of a temporary earth wife, and that there's a spirit wife waiting for him in heaven. I've never met someone with these concerns and yet a testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon; it's almost entirely in reverse of what commonly occurs. I'm also very interested in how these concerns didn't come up earlier in his teaching.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to watch conference. That's one of the downsides of serving on the fringe of the church's influence in Ukraine. We've gotten permission to watch conference on the internet at our senior couple's apartment during less effective times of the week, and in about three weeks or so, the church will send the branch a DVD with the Ukrainian translations, so soon enough I'll know what everyone else already does. I've learned on my mission to really enjoy conference, and I was a little disappointed not to be able to see it. However, what I've heard I've really enjoyed, especially Elder Bednar saying "The missionaries are full-time teachers; the members are full-time missionaries." Good stuff!
We're going to be very busy this transfer. Already, our days are packed with things to do. I love it! There's nothing worse than having a spare hour or two with nothing planned.
All right, I should probably get going. I love you all, and next week I'll send some pictures (and maybe videos)!
Love,
--Elder Hurst
Unfortunately, we weren't able to watch conference. That's one of the downsides of serving on the fringe of the church's influence in Ukraine. We've gotten permission to watch conference on the internet at our senior couple's apartment during less effective times of the week, and in about three weeks or so, the church will send the branch a DVD with the Ukrainian translations, so soon enough I'll know what everyone else already does. I've learned on my mission to really enjoy conference, and I was a little disappointed not to be able to see it. However, what I've heard I've really enjoyed, especially Elder Bednar saying "The missionaries are full-time teachers; the members are full-time missionaries." Good stuff!
We're going to be very busy this transfer. Already, our days are packed with things to do. I love it! There's nothing worse than having a spare hour or two with nothing planned.
All right, I should probably get going. I love you all, and next week I'll send some pictures (and maybe videos)!
Love,
--Elder Hurst
Charades in Ukraine=hilarious (Apr 2, 2008)
Hello everyone! I hope you’ve all had a good week. The weather in Ivano has drastically improved; the sky’s been blue, the sun is shining, birds are singing, and you almost don’t have to wear your big winter coat. Until yesterday, of course, when the rain started again (and still hasn’t really stopped).
Last Friday at 4 in the morning my companion, Elder Horne, and another missionary here, Elder Hokanson, already got shipped off to Chernivtsi, where they will spending next transfer, leaving me here with Elder Lewis, my MTC companion. This is the 3rd time on our missions we’ve served together, although it’s only until tomorrow. Then, the only missionaries in the entire city besides ourselves will be the senior couple, the Hinckles. Basically, I’m going to be in control of the missionary work in the entire city and all outlying villages in the area. In other words, I’m going to be very, very busy. Which will be good; I really like this kind of situation. I had the same kind of situation in Sviatoshinsky when I served there, and it was a lot of fun. Also, I’ve discovered the secret to having a happy mission: when you’re busy, not only are you too busy thinking the work to think about home or anything like that, not only does the time seem to go by quicker, but you actually enjoy it; while on the other hand, missionaries who waste time and screw around seem to be the ones complaining the loudest about how long their missions are taking, and how little they like them.
The Hinckles have started a marriage and family relations course here, and I’ve been assigned to translate for them. It’s great, because not only is it a great tool for finding people who are interested in hearing about the gospel, but I also get a lot of free advice about marriage. Basically, the main thing I’ve learned so far is that I’m very, very grateful I served a mission and didn’t just get married, because I knew just about absolutely nothing about marriage before I came here. It’s still quite a ways off into the future, and to be entirely honest it still scares me to think about, but I think one of the greatest blessings I’ve gotten since I’ve been out has been preparation for my future family. In fact, I realized the other day while looking at my patriarchal blessing that the largest section in it (besides the introductory paragraph, which for some reason is really big) isn’t about my mission or anything like that, but about my future family.
Changing gears a little, we had a great family home evening on Monday. We always have FHE at the Hinckles for any members who don’t have families of their own, or for investigators; and there’s one member who comes there, Andriy Kolyaskin, who I can only describe by saying he talks LIKE THIS! He’s pretty strange. He can’t really control the volume or pitch of his voice for some reason, and he’s overall just kind of…odd. So, we were playing charades, and all of a sudden, about halfway through the game, Andriy guesses one of them right. We give him his card, and he starts acting out a monkey. I’m not sure how to describe it, but he certainly got into his role very well. He had his face scrunched up, his arms swinging around, and was making an odd, not-even-close-to-a-monkey kind of sound. We were laughing so hard we decided that the rest of the game we’d just give him the cards and have him act them all out. My favorites were “tea pot” and “telephone.” I have videos, by the way, on my camera. Remind me when I’m home to show them.
Well, I’d better get going. I love you all, and I hope you all have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
Last Friday at 4 in the morning my companion, Elder Horne, and another missionary here, Elder Hokanson, already got shipped off to Chernivtsi, where they will spending next transfer, leaving me here with Elder Lewis, my MTC companion. This is the 3rd time on our missions we’ve served together, although it’s only until tomorrow. Then, the only missionaries in the entire city besides ourselves will be the senior couple, the Hinckles. Basically, I’m going to be in control of the missionary work in the entire city and all outlying villages in the area. In other words, I’m going to be very, very busy. Which will be good; I really like this kind of situation. I had the same kind of situation in Sviatoshinsky when I served there, and it was a lot of fun. Also, I’ve discovered the secret to having a happy mission: when you’re busy, not only are you too busy thinking the work to think about home or anything like that, not only does the time seem to go by quicker, but you actually enjoy it; while on the other hand, missionaries who waste time and screw around seem to be the ones complaining the loudest about how long their missions are taking, and how little they like them.
The Hinckles have started a marriage and family relations course here, and I’ve been assigned to translate for them. It’s great, because not only is it a great tool for finding people who are interested in hearing about the gospel, but I also get a lot of free advice about marriage. Basically, the main thing I’ve learned so far is that I’m very, very grateful I served a mission and didn’t just get married, because I knew just about absolutely nothing about marriage before I came here. It’s still quite a ways off into the future, and to be entirely honest it still scares me to think about, but I think one of the greatest blessings I’ve gotten since I’ve been out has been preparation for my future family. In fact, I realized the other day while looking at my patriarchal blessing that the largest section in it (besides the introductory paragraph, which for some reason is really big) isn’t about my mission or anything like that, but about my future family.
Changing gears a little, we had a great family home evening on Monday. We always have FHE at the Hinckles for any members who don’t have families of their own, or for investigators; and there’s one member who comes there, Andriy Kolyaskin, who I can only describe by saying he talks LIKE THIS! He’s pretty strange. He can’t really control the volume or pitch of his voice for some reason, and he’s overall just kind of…odd. So, we were playing charades, and all of a sudden, about halfway through the game, Andriy guesses one of them right. We give him his card, and he starts acting out a monkey. I’m not sure how to describe it, but he certainly got into his role very well. He had his face scrunched up, his arms swinging around, and was making an odd, not-even-close-to-a-monkey kind of sound. We were laughing so hard we decided that the rest of the game we’d just give him the cards and have him act them all out. My favorites were “tea pot” and “telephone.” I have videos, by the way, on my camera. Remind me when I’m home to show them.
Well, I’d better get going. I love you all, and I hope you all have a good week!
--Elder Hurst
A late e-mail, and a glimpse into the future (Mar 27, 2008)
Hello again everyone from chilly Ukraine! The weather hasn't been as freezing cold as one would expect from Ukraine, but it has been really annoying lately. It shifts a lot from being sunny and almost warm, to being overcast and with snow flurries. The snow never sticks, but it's a little disheartening to look out the window of our apartment and see a bright spring day, then walk outside two minutes later and into winter again. The weather in Ukraine is notorious for changing quickly, but I've found it's actually pretty predictable. You see, you can always 100% accurately tell when the sun is going to be out--it's always when I'm inside. Especially if I'm sitting near a window.
Well, as you may have noticed, this email's a day late. That's because yesterday President Davis came to Ivano to have a lot of interviews with members of the branch, and we were on hand to help him and the elder from our senior couple, Elder Hinckle, with their work (especially translation). We had our president's interviews also, and during it President Davis basically told us our plans for the next several transfers. I'll be staying in Ivano another two transfers (so about three more months) before I'll get transfered somewhere and be a zone leader. (He wouldn't tell me where I'd go because he wanted something to still be a surprise). The other set of elders will be moving out, so it's just going to be me and my new companion, Elder Budge, and the Hinckles still. It's going to make transfer time a little less exciting, but it's always interesting to find out about the future. I think it might be because President Davis is nearing the end of his mission. I think that around the time I'll become a zone leader, he'll be going home. I'm pretty glad that I got a three-month notice on the zone leader thing, because it makes me a little less nervous about it.
Things are going well for us here. The work is going forward, and next transfer we're going to inherit all the work of the other elders in addition to our own. In other words, we're going to be very, very busy.
I love you all, and I hope you have a good week!
Well, as you may have noticed, this email's a day late. That's because yesterday President Davis came to Ivano to have a lot of interviews with members of the branch, and we were on hand to help him and the elder from our senior couple, Elder Hinckle, with their work (especially translation). We had our president's interviews also, and during it President Davis basically told us our plans for the next several transfers. I'll be staying in Ivano another two transfers (so about three more months) before I'll get transfered somewhere and be a zone leader. (He wouldn't tell me where I'd go because he wanted something to still be a surprise). The other set of elders will be moving out, so it's just going to be me and my new companion, Elder Budge, and the Hinckles still. It's going to make transfer time a little less exciting, but it's always interesting to find out about the future. I think it might be because President Davis is nearing the end of his mission. I think that around the time I'll become a zone leader, he'll be going home. I'm pretty glad that I got a three-month notice on the zone leader thing, because it makes me a little less nervous about it.
Things are going well for us here. The work is going forward, and next transfer we're going to inherit all the work of the other elders in addition to our own. In other words, we're going to be very, very busy.
I love you all, and I hope you have a good week!
Bridges in Blizzards and the Infamous Fidget Smelly (3/19/08)
Hello again everyone! We had a pretty good week, although it was overall pretty ordinary. We got to go to a selo on Friday for a meeting with an investigator (selo being Ukrainian for "village," by the way); we rode a marshrutka for about two and a half hours, only to arrive and see him at the bus stop waiting for a marshrutka to another selo an hour and a half away. So, we talked for about ten minutes until his marshrutka came, ate lunch, and then waited to go home. Usually when people stand us up on meetings it's no big deal, but if it requires five hours of total travel time, it kind of becomes a little more frustrating. We were kind of sick of sitting on marshrutkas by the end of the day.
I've been getting several compliments on my Ukrainian recently, which is surprising because I still feel like I'm brand new at it. I had one man on a marshrutka ask me which selo I was from, and our landlord, after overhearing me speak to my companion a little in Ukrainian, asked me what my native language was. I told him English, and he didn't believe me. Another guy told me that I spoke as well as my last companion, who was finishing his mission and had therefore been studying the language for a lot longer than I had. Our last zone conference was done entirely in the language, and ever since then my current comp has been telling me that I speak Ukrainian better than just about any other missionary there. Yeah, i hear that, and then I always remember every single moment from the past week where I'll try explaining something simple (for example, getting a contract stamped) and all I'll see are blank stares.
I finally included some more pictures, as you can see. The one of the bridge is actually from about a month ago. Elder Palsky and I went to a selo called Yaseniv, and about five minutes after we got there, a blizzard started. I don't know if it was technically an actual "blizzard," but if it wasn't, then it was dang close. The town had two parts, a normal small town on one side of the river with roads and stores, and then a REALLY small village on the other side called Verkhny Yaseniv, with cottages and small farms clinging to the side of a Carpathian mountain, and all that connected the two were about three rope and wood plank bridges. It was really cool, and also really cold. (Yeah, that's me on the bridge). (And, by the way, there's a big mountain in the background of the picture, but there's so much snow...you can't see it).
The second picture is of a menu at a place Elder Horne and I ate at yesterday. The menu had English translations under the Ukrainian names, and a few of them were a little odd. There's a few interesting ones in the picture, but my personal favorite is #5. The last picture is a picture of my study journal. If there's one thing I've become prideful of, it's my personal studies (apparently I need to study the fall of the Nephites a little more...). Last transfer especially, I finally started finding out how to study the scriptures very in-depth. These pages are a study of D&C 88, with a little aside in D&C 93 at the beginning. (Elder Hinckle, by the way, is a senior missionary in Ivano who knows a lot about a lot; there's a little aside in there also where I asked him a question and then took notes on his answer).
Well, I love you all and I hope you all have a good week!
Love,
--Elder Hurst
I've been getting several compliments on my Ukrainian recently, which is surprising because I still feel like I'm brand new at it. I had one man on a marshrutka ask me which selo I was from, and our landlord, after overhearing me speak to my companion a little in Ukrainian, asked me what my native language was. I told him English, and he didn't believe me. Another guy told me that I spoke as well as my last companion, who was finishing his mission and had therefore been studying the language for a lot longer than I had. Our last zone conference was done entirely in the language, and ever since then my current comp has been telling me that I speak Ukrainian better than just about any other missionary there. Yeah, i hear that, and then I always remember every single moment from the past week where I'll try explaining something simple (for example, getting a contract stamped) and all I'll see are blank stares.
I finally included some more pictures, as you can see. The one of the bridge is actually from about a month ago. Elder Palsky and I went to a selo called Yaseniv, and about five minutes after we got there, a blizzard started. I don't know if it was technically an actual "blizzard," but if it wasn't, then it was dang close. The town had two parts, a normal small town on one side of the river with roads and stores, and then a REALLY small village on the other side called Verkhny Yaseniv, with cottages and small farms clinging to the side of a Carpathian mountain, and all that connected the two were about three rope and wood plank bridges. It was really cool, and also really cold. (Yeah, that's me on the bridge). (And, by the way, there's a big mountain in the background of the picture, but there's so much snow...you can't see it).
The second picture is of a menu at a place Elder Horne and I ate at yesterday. The menu had English translations under the Ukrainian names, and a few of them were a little odd. There's a few interesting ones in the picture, but my personal favorite is #5. The last picture is a picture of my study journal. If there's one thing I've become prideful of, it's my personal studies (apparently I need to study the fall of the Nephites a little more...). Last transfer especially, I finally started finding out how to study the scriptures very in-depth. These pages are a study of D&C 88, with a little aside in D&C 93 at the beginning. (Elder Hinckle, by the way, is a senior missionary in Ivano who knows a lot about a lot; there's a little aside in there also where I asked him a question and then took notes on his answer).
Well, I love you all and I hope you all have a good week!
Love,
--Elder Hurst
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
