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!